Chitragupta

Book Review: “चल उड़ जा रे पंछी (संगीतकार चित्रगुप्त: व्यक्ति एवं कृति)”

चल उड़ जा रे पंछी…
संगीतकार चित्रगुप्त: व्यक्ति एवं कृति (खण्ड 1 एवं खण्ड 2)
By: Dr. Narendra Nath Pandey
Kautilya Books, New Delhi: 2022
ISBN: 978-93-90885-68-8
Pages: (256+474=730)
Price on Amazon: ₹1500 (Hardcover)

I have to start with a disclosure. The author of the above book, Dr Narendra Nath Pandey, is well known to me, having studied in the same college and lived in the same hostel, he being four years senior to me in the Physics Department. This small hostel of Patna Science College was known as a house of nerds, but Narendraji stood out even those days with his interest in literature, theatre and radio plays. After college our paths separated; I moved into the wide world of anonymity, and he into academics, finally retiring as University Professor of Physics. Along the way he pursued his other interests; the Research Council of the University gave him special permission to do research in the Hindi Department, finally honouring him with D. Litt.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Rajendra Krishna with Chitragupta and Ravi: Reaching for the skies

Guest article by Hans Jakhar in continuation of his series on Rajendra Krishna

(When some readers observed that the lyricists have not been give their due importance on SOY, Hans Jakhar offered to write a series of articles on Rajendra Krishna’s combination with different music directors. He has already written two articles in the series on his association with two of his most famous combinations – with C Ramchandra and Madan Mohan. Continuing the series, in this article he covers Rajendra Krishna’s prolific combination with two other music directors, Chitragupta and Ravi. Among his several guest articles, he had earlier written on Shakeel Badayuni’s combination with Ravi.

Not everyone relates to lyrics as intensely as Hans Jakhar does. In most music lovers’ mind a great song is associated with the voice (singer) and the tune (music director). We often lose sight of the contribution of the lyricist, except for a very few prominent ones. Hans has shown his special expertise in analysing the lyrics of a song.

Once Hans takes up a work, he does a thorough job of it in spite of time constraints. He has done this article in face of his personal difficulties. Thank you Hans for another thorough article on a lyricist-music director combination. – AK)

Rajendra Krishna with Chitragupta and RaviWith Chitragupta and Ravi we move into the Rafi territory. It is not that C Ramchandra (CR) or Madan Mohan (MM) did not use Rafi enough, but their main focus was Lata Mangeshkar. CR did not care for Rafi after he got settled with Lata Mangeshkar, and even for MM, Rafi was in an assisting role. When in the 1960s MM used Rafi on a larger scale his use of Rajendra Krishna declined due to Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Kaifi Azmi getting the lion’s share of good Rafi songs in that phase of his association with MM.

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Chitragupta’s duets for Rafi: Melody Personified

A tribute to Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) on his 40th Remembrance Day

Chitragupta-RafiToday is the 40th Remembrance Day of Rafi. He was the most versatile playback singer of the Golden Era of film music and, more importantly, he was universally known as a good human being, without malice to anyone, and a generous kind-hearted soul. Someone has said, Rafi Saheb ko maloom hi nahin tha ki duniya mein sharaafat ke siwaa bhi koi cheez hoti hai (Rafi Saheb didn’t know that there was anything other than decency in the world). God snatched him at a very young age. Had his life not been cut short, he would have got much higher State honours than Padmashree. But he ruled the people’s hearts. As the news of his sudden death, on 31 July 1980, spread like wild fire, thousands of people – rich and poor, famous and ordinary, celebrities and commoners – poured out on the roads, braving Bombay’s monsoon downpour, to join his funeral procession. I was looking for something special to pay a tribute to him on this day.

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Chitragupta – Magic Maker with Lata Mangeshkar

When I try to compile the most melodious, the most beautiful songs of Lata Mangeshkar, the following songs invariably come to my mind:

Song Film
Kare kare badra ja re ja re badra Bhabhi (1957)
Na to dard gaya na dawa hi mili Kali Topi Lal Rumal (1960)
Sajna sajna kahe bhul gaye re pukar ke Chand Mere Aa Ja (1960)
Rang dil ki dhadkan bhi lati to hogi Patang (1960)
Main hun gori nagin dekhungi rasiya Nache Nagin Baje Been (1960)
Balma mane na Opera House (1961)
Kajra na dekhe gajra na dekhe Suhag Sindur (1961)
Aaj ki raat naya chand leke ayi hai Shadi (1962)
Dil ka diya jala ke gaya Akashdeep (1965)
Uthegi tumhari nazar dheere dheere Ek Raaz (1969)

Correction: Main hun gori nagin dekhugi rasiya in the above table is a Rafi-Lata duet

All these songs are composed by Chitragupta and they should figure in any list of Lata’s best.

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