(While I had already scheduled the first part and was working on the draft for this part on Husnlal-Bhagatram, I was also in touch with Pt Husnlal’s US-based son, Dinesh Kumar Prabhakar, and Pt Bhagtram’s Mumbai-based son, Ashok Bhagatram Sharma. Communication with Ashokji was difficult as he has kept himself outside the digital word, but I was delighted to get a call from Dineshji who was in Delhi, and I had a most memorable meeting with him and his mother, the 90-year old Nirmala Devi, the wife of late Pt Husnlal. I have incorporated the gist of my conversation with them in the later part of this post.)
Husnlal-Bhagatram shone like a meteor very briefly, during 1948-51, when their main singers were predominantly Lata Mangeshkar, Suraiya and Rafi. During this period, they created some absolutely mesmerising songs, but in many songs there was a repetitiveness in the melody and orchestration. In the Golden Era of playback singers, they did not diversify much beyond their above preferred singers. Thus, they were behind the curve when Mukesh and Talat Mahmood were creating waves. However, whenever they used them, HB showed their immense potential, for example in Kismat bigadi duniya badli (Mukesh, Afsana, 1951), or Ai meri zindagi tujhe dhoondhoon kahan (Talat Mahmood, Adal-e-Jahangir, 1955). If there was any doubt that they had a limited range, they dispelled it with an absolutely superb song in Kishore Kumar’s voice (duet with Lata Mangeshkar), Lahron se pooch lo ki kinaaron se pooch lo (Kafila, 1952). We also get a sprinkling of some nice songs in Shamshad Begum’s voice.
