Music Directors

Categories by music director.

N Datta: The Third Musketeer for Asha Bhosle

Guest article by Hans Jakhar wishing Asha Bhosle (b. 8 September 1933) a very happy 87th birth anniversary and also greeting the unlucky genius N Datta

(By now we all know that Asha Bhosle is the most recorded singer, and has sung far more songs than her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar. Yet Lata Mangeshkar came to be acknowledged as the apogee of female playback singing in the Golden Era. She was the singer of choice of every music director for their best and most complex compositions, except a handful of MDs for whom Asha Bhosle was the main singer. N Datta is one of them, and what superb songs he gave for her as well as other singers! He was an unlucky genius. When Hans Jakhar wrote on Asha Bhosle’s last birth anniversary on her songs by Ravi, Arvinder Sharma commented that her predominance in N Datta’s music is relatively even more pronounced than Ravi.

I have no hesitation in admitting that I am an unabashed Lata-partisan, and that may be reflecting on SoY too, but fortunately we have a large band of Asha Bhosle fans. Hans Jakhar is the undisputed flag-bearer of this brigade which provides more than balance if there is any hint of bias on the other side.

But in my defence, in the very early stage of this blog, I wrote my first post on Asha Bhosle on her 78th birth anniversary nine years ago. Thereafter, I have written a number of posts on her songs by different music directors with great respect, because those songs are very special to me. Hans, in this article, has fairly acknowledged it. N Datta’s songs for Asha Bhosle are very dear to me, yet if someone has to write on this combination, no one could do it better than Hans. I am happy that he accepted my request to write this tribute to them as our greetings to Asha Bhosle on her 87th birth anniversary.

Hans brings his legal and commerce degree and long working with the government to full use in writing on film music, too, with his mastery over data and reasoning. It gives me great pleasure to present his third guest article for SoY which has all the hallmark of his sharp skills. – AK)

N Datta-Asha BhosleThe year 1955 was a special year for Asha Bhosle. Two composers who were inclined to use her more than any other female singers came out of the stable of pro-Lata Lata Mangeshkar composers and straight-away started using her as the main female singer. One of them, Ravi, was discussed last year. The other was N Datta who was an assistant to SD Burman. In the same year, the third pro-Asha composer who later became only Asha, OP Nayyar also had a big success with her in Baap Re Baap which, though not a block-buster, was quite a successful film. Success of the songs like ‘Raat rangili chamke taare‘ and ‘Piya piya piya mora jiya pukare‘ gave him the confidence to use her extensively, especially after moving out of Guru Dutt films. At a personal level, her biggest achievement was recording 300+ songs, which no singer had yet achieved.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Hemant Kumar’s Female Playback Singers

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav in the series of centenary tributes to Hemant Kumar (b. 16 June 2020 – d. 26 September 1989)

(Is Hemant Kumar a major singer or a music director? For his fans his mesmerising singing overshadows his contribution as a music director. Ashok M Vaishnav is known for going deep into data analysis and classification – SoY regulars have seen his perseverance in his mega-series, Multiple version songs. Ashokji plans to write a series of guest articles on Hemant Kumar’s various facets as music director, as a part of his centenary celebrations, which were set off brilliantly by N Vankataraman’s outstanding tribute, titled ‘Hemantayan – Part 1’, on his Birth Centenary, 16 June 2020.

Venkataramanji is planning his Part 2 on 26 September 2020 to coincide with Hemant Kumar’s death anniversary. His scheme, as the readers must have noticed, is to divide Hemant Kumar’s life and career in two parts chronologically – the first part going up to 1960 – taking a comprehensive overview of his career as a music director and singer in Hindi, Bengali and other languages, as well as his non-film songs.

It was very kind of Ashokji to offer on his own to supplement Venkataramanji’s two-part overview with some articles going into more detail on Hemant Kumar’s career on various parameters. Here is the first article of his planned series, on his female playback singers (in Hindi films). Since I have written on his songs for Lata Mangeshkar long ago, Ashokji only mentions her few songs, focussing more on his wide range of other female singers. He consciously chooses less familiar songs as a prudent policy.

Many readers have rightly observed that SoY is blessed with very generous guest writers. We are all lucky. Thank you Ashokji for your guest article. – AK)

 

Hemant Kumar with his female singers 2

Hemant Kumar (16-6-1920 | 26-9-1989) had already shown flare for music composition from his early childhood. Even though his formal career commenced as a singer, his talents as a composer also did not have to wait longer to get formal recognition. Of course, in so far as Hindi Films is concerned, the first ever film for which he got to compose the music was a decade after he sang his first film song. He then went on to compose music for 50+ films for the next 27 years.

(Note: Many sites mention film ‘Irada’ (1944) as his debut as a singer in Hindi films. However, it is now generally accepted that his first song was ‘Aankhon ki oat jo rahta tha’ in the film ‘Meenakshi’ (1942). – AK)

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Remembering Ajit Merchant

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav as a tribute to Ajit Merchant on his 95th birth anniversary (b. 15 August 1925 – d. 28 March 2011)

(Talents from various regional languages have enriched Hindi film music. Music directors and singers from Bengal have occupied a central place in Hindi film music. From the recent generation AR Rahman has been incredibly successful in both Tamil and Hindi. Due to some quirk of fate similar success has eluded those from Gujarat, though they gave some immortal songs in Hindi, and occupy an iconic place for their contribution in Gujarati film music and Theatre. Ajit Merchant is one such talent whom Ashok M Vaishnav pays a tribute on his 95th birth anniversary.

Ashokji is an engineer by profession, and after retirement he is engaged in management training. He has a deep interest in music. SoY regulars know him as the creator of the mega series, Multiple Version Songs, and his deep analytical interest in exploring various facets of songs. He has been also introducing us to Gujarati music. Thank you Ashokji for highlighting the contribution of Ajit Merchant to Hindi and Gujarati film music. – AK)

Ajit MerchantAjit Merchant (15-8-1925 | 28-3-2011) belongs to that Hindi cinema club which includes some incredibly talented but commercially not successful music directors as members. These music directors have their names in the roll of honours, on account of just a song or two from the few that they could get to compose in their career.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Madan Mohan: The Pied Piper of Bollywood in Different Moods

Guest article by DP Rangan as a tribute to Madan Mohan on his 45th Remembrance Day (b. 25 June 1924 – d. 14 July 1975)

(Two years ago to this day, DP Rangan wrote a tandem article on Roshan and Madan Mohan about their classical songs, with annotation by Subodh Agrawal, which set the stage for a series on them. The series concluded with Madan Mohan’s daughter Sangeeta Gupta’s nostalgic piece about him as a family man and a maestro. However, meanwhile Mr Rangan had also been working on Madan Mohan’s songs in different moods, and he was disappointed that, with the series closed with the calendar year, his piece might not see the light of day.

You can never have enough of Madan Mohan; he was a multi-faceted talent, composing songs for all the major playback singers, and songs in all possible moods. I am happy to present M Rangan’s guest article as a tribute to Madan Mohan on his 45th Remembrance Day. Thank you Mr Rangan. – AK)

Madan MohanUnder inspiration from the blog master AK, I wrote a  tandem post involving Madan Mohan and Roshan on 14 July 2018 which was Roshan’s 101st birth anniversary, and in a unique coincidence, Madan Mohan’s 43rd death anniversary.  It grew steadily through a number of posts exploring many aspects of their genius, ending with Madan Mohan’s daughter’s fond article on him titled ‘Remembering my father and the legend’ on 25 December 2018. The announcement of the closure of the series by AK disappointed me somewhat because I have been working on a post on Madan Mohan’s songs in different moods. As I don’t see any duplication with the posts in the series (though some songs might have figured earlier), I am happy that AK agreed to post it on Madan Mohan’s 45th Remembrance Day.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Hemantayan – Part 1

A tribute to Hemant Kumar on his Birth Centenary (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) by guest author N Venkataraman

(Lata Mangeshkar once said in an interview about Hemant Kumar, “Listening to Hemant Da, I feel as though a sadhu sitting in a temple is singing a bhajan.” But a more endearing observation was made by Salil Chowdhury: If God had to sing, he would do it in the voice of Hemant Kumar. After you read this article, you would say, if Hemant Kumar wanted someone to write a tribute on his Centenary, he would have N Venkataraman do the honours.

Venkataramanji needs no introduction to the regular readers of SoY. He is a management professional based in Kolkata, but on SoY we know him for his scholarship and breadth of knowledge. Truly a Renaissance Man from Bengal. I am grateful that he has agreed to write a superb tribute to Hemant Kumar on his Centenary in two parts. In the first part he covers Hemant Kumar’s career up to 1960, giving us a broad panorama of his family roots, his early life to his emergence as a singer and composer of great repute in both Hindi and Bengali, including films and non-film songs. This article also gives a summary of his output in other regional languages. Thank you Venkataramanji for your great effort. – AK)

Section-1: 1920 – 1940

Hemant Kumar 1The Mathurapur- Laksmikantapur railway tracks pass through South 24 Parganas, leaving in its trail many old-world, sleepy stations. One such station is BAHARU. BAHARU, one of the many janapadas, that grew up along the old Bhagirathi offshoot from the ancient times, finds a mention in Bipradas Pipilai’s Manasavijaya, composed in 1495; BAHARU, the place where the Dewan of the East India Company, Nandakumar Bose, in the beginning of the 19th century, built a temple for Shyamsundar, acquiring stones from Chunar and requisitioning architects from Jaipur, to recreate Mathura-Vrindaban for his aged mother; BAHARU, the origin of Joynagarer Mua, a sweet well-known all over Bengal, made of Kanakchur, a sweet-smelling variety of rice (popped or puffed) grown in this region, mixed with good quality of liquid palm jaggery and desi ghee; BAHARU, the place where the famous singer and music director Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay spent eight years of his childhood and the village his ancestors originated from.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

“Guide, The Film: Perspectives”

Book Review

Guide

Guide, The Film: Perspectives
Lata Jagtiani & Other Writers
Blue Pencil, New Delhi, 2019
ISBN: 978-81-939555-2-9

An unintended blessing of Corona-enforced lockdown, I thought, was that I would be able to finish some half-read books and watch and rewatch some of my favourite films. With this thought I resumed ‘Guide, The Film: Perspectives’ which had been sitting on my desk for a while. My desire appeared to be facing a serious setback as Doordarshan decided to take us back to their golden era by carpet-bombing DD National and DD Bharati with their classic serials, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Buniyad, Dekh Bhai Dekh and NFDC films etc. I didn’t want to miss the nostalgia, but by then I was quite engrossed in the book and I had to finish it by rationing my time between different pulls.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Best songs of 1946: Final Wrap Up 4

And the SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

Wishing Merry Christmas to the readers and a tribute to Naushad on his Birth Centenary (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006)

Naushad-Ghulam Haider-Hansraj BahalI need not have put a question mark about the best music director of 1946. Rarely one comes across such a single-horse race. This was the year of Naushad all the way. The SoY regulars would recall from my reviews of 1947, 1948 and 1949 (I am doing the review in the reverse chronological order) that he continued his dominance in these years too, being chosen the best music director in 1947 jointly with C Ramchandra, and unambiguously in 1948 and 1949. He did one better in 1946, by making the competition in all categories – male solos, female solos and duets – a Naushad race.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Ravi’s many-splendoured genius with the ‘other’ singers

RaviWe now come to the end of the series on Ravi. In my opening post in the series we saw him as a many-splendoured genius with a large number of songs for themes and occasions, which have acquired an iconic status, many of which made the readers exclaim, Oh, this is also composed by him! Yet when some of us hesitated in bracketing him among the ‘greats’, Hans Jakhar was not pleased and challenged that at the end of the series we would concede that Ravi deserves to be called a ‘great’ music director. Without getting stuck on the semantics, please recall subsequent posts in the series: Rafi’s solos, Rafi’s duets, Asha Bhosle’s songs by him, Ravi’s special partnership with Shakeel Badayuni, Ravi’s songs for Lata Mangeshkar, and Mahendra Kapoor. That is a massive list of superhit songs with most of the major playback singers. But that is not the end of his work. He composed great songs for other playback singers too, and in this respect he ranks with those music directors whose special strength was their diversity in working with different playback singers, unlike some who were fixated on a couple of their favourites.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Ravi’s ‘other’ female playback singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Another tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her turning 90 (b. 28 September 1929)

Ravi-Lata MangeshkarLata Mangeshkar turned ninety two months ago to this day. On this special day Shalan Lal wrote a comprehensive article on her, analysing the ‘conditions’ that made the Lata Mangeshkar-phenomenon possible, while acknowledging that there was something divine about her voice, something transcendental beyond any physical explanation. Many readers were also expecting a post on her songs by Ravi, who is being felicitated on SoY in the series on the leading music directors and, in fact, were somewhat disappointed that there may not be one on this combination.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE