In my earlier posts on Mahendra Kapoor I have described him as the most ‘unloved’ singer. The general impression is that his entry into films started with his winning the ‘All India Murphy Metro Singing Contest’ in 1957 for which the judges were Anil Biswas, Naushad, C Ramchandra, Vasant Desai and Madan Mohan. One of the incentives of the competition was that the winner would get a chance to sing in films composed by the judges. However, Mahendra Kapoor had been singing in films in bits and pieces prior to the contest. He debuted as a singer in Madmast (1953), composed by V Balsara, in a duet with Ghan Indorewala, Kisi ke zulm ki tasveer hai majdoor ki basti. He also sang a qawwali in the film with SD Batish, Unhein dekhein to wah munh pher…Humein aankh dikhatein hain. But the music of this film failed to create any impact. Mahendra Kapoor got his first solo, Tere dar ki bhikmangi hai data duniya sari, in the film Diwali Ki Raat (1956), composed by Snehal Bhatkar. In the same year he sang a duet with Sabita Banerjee, O bedardi jaane ke na kar bahane, in the film Lalkar, composed by Sanmukh Babu. These songs, too, sank without a trace.
Music Directors
Categories by music director.
Sachin Karta’s Last Visit to Agartala
A tribute to SD Burman on his 44th death anniversary with guest article by Moti Lalwani
(The month of October starts with SD Burman (b. 1 October 1906 – d. 31 October 1975) and ends with him. Around the time I was thinking of writing a review of HQ Chowdhury’s ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’, Moti Lalwani, a renowned authority on the maestro, sent me a number of his articles on him. Even though SD Burman is the most comprehensively covered artiste on the Songs of Yore, I decided to celebrate the month of October 2019 as the month of SD Burman, entirely with guest articles by Mr Lalwani. This is the fourth and the culminating article in the celebration, after his earlier articles on SD Burman’s role in the success of Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt, and his reputation as the pioneer of composing the tune first.
Mr Lalwani had long been passionate about the music of SD Burman, even when he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T. After retiring from the company more than two decades ago, an octogenarian Mr Lalwani has since devoted his life to serious study and research on SD Burman. His channel on the YouTube has over 150 videos of interviews etc. of people associated with Burman Da. He manages a Facebook group on the maestro, which has about 7600 members. Mr Lalwani has been quoted a number of times in Mr Chowdhury’s book, and Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material.
The Grand Finale of the series is a befitting article, a very poignant piece about Sachin Karta’s visit to Agartala in 1948-49, his ancestral Princely State, on the 12th day ritual of his elder brother’s shraddh. He had already given up his princely role and had surrendered himself to music. No more a royal, he nevertheless received a royal welcome as the King of Music. This turned out to be his last visit. – AK)
The news of a rare visit to Agartala by Kumar Sachin Dev Burman, aka Sachin Karta, used to spread like wild fire. After all, Sachin Karta was a scion of the royal family who had broken away from the mould to pursue his passion for music, a taboo in the royal family. The royals were supposed to encourage promotion of various arts including music, certainly not make a career out of it. In his case, Kumar Sachin Dev Burman had declined an offer to become a minister of education in the Tripura cabinet, where, once his late father was the Prime Minister.
SD Burman: Pioneer in Composing Tune First
Guest article by Moti Lalwani
(Which comes first – the lyrics or the music – has been a recurring debate in any discussion on film music. In the continuing series on celebrating October 2019 as the month of SD Burman, Moti Lalwani writes the third guest article after his last two articles showing how Burman Da had his way on selection of singers and gave Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt great name and fame. In this article he says that SD Burman was the pioneer of composing tune first, and the lyricist was asked to write the song fitting the tune.
I had my doubts on this categorical assertion, which I shared with Mr Lalwani. My impression was that composing the tune first had been the general practice from the very early days of film music. This goes back to the silent era when as the movie ran on the screen, live musicians would sit in the ‘pit’ playing various instruments. Some of these tunes acquired popularity, and the audience would shout, मास्टरजी वो बीनवाला ट्यून बजाइए, and so on. This article should trigger an interesting discussion as we have many readers who are deeply knowledgeable.
As the SoY regulars are aware from the last two articles, Mr Lalwani, an octogenarian, is deeply passionate about SD Burman, and is an acknowledged authority on him. During his professional career, he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T and retired from there from a high position over twenty years ago. I am happy to present the third guest article from Mr Lalwani. – AK).
In the early days, a director would narrate the scene to the songwriter, who would then write lyrics based on the scene. The director and the songwriter then would go to the music director who would compose the tune based on the scene and the meter of the lyrics.
SD Burman realised that this system had a handicap for the music director who could not use his creativity freely. He believed that for the song’s popularity, it was necessary to have a good tune, based on which the songwriter could always fill-in the words to suit the tune.
SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Establishes Geeta Dutt As a Frontline Singer)
Gust article by Moti Lalwani
(We are aware that SD Burman had an uncanny ear for selecting a singer for a particular song. In this he didn’t care for the reputation of a celebrity artist, director, producer, or singer. He was the Master of Music, and he made the final choice. That is why there is no major playback singer for whom he didn’t give some songs of eternal importance. In the last article Moti Lalwani showed how SD Burman had his way on Hemant Kumar for the song ‘Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan’. Continuing the same theme, Mr Lawani shows how Burman Da established Geeta Dutt as one of the frontline singers during the era when Lata Mangeshkar hit the music scene as a Tsunami.
Mr Lalwani is one of the recognized authorities on SD Burman, having spent a major part of his productive life studying and writing about him and interviewing people associated with him. This was in addition to his professional career as a Mechanical Engineer with L&T from which company he retired over twenty years ago. Mr HQ Chowdhury’s celebrated book, ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ quotes him several times. Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material. I am happy to present the second guest article by him in the celebration of this October as the month of SD Burman. Thank you Mr Lalwani. – AK)
Geeta Dutt (nee Roy), born on 23 November 1930, had no formal training in music. Pandit Hanuman Prasad, who used to compose for mythological films, heard her voice and made her sing just one line in a chorus in his film ‘Bhakt Prahlad’ (1946). Young Geeta would have been about 15 years old when she sang that line in the chorus, as the recording was done earlier.
SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Has his way on Hemant Kumar)
Guest article by Moti Lalwani as a tribute to SD Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975)
‘Ye raat ye chandni phir kahaan’ by Hemant Kumar, lyricist Sahir Ludhiyanavi, composed by SD Burman
(When I wrote a review of HQ Chowdhury’s book ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ sometime back, I had mentioned that an acknowledged authority on SD Burman, who has spent his lifetime studying him, and interviewing people associated with him, had sent me some of his articles. The time has come to disclose his name. Anyone who has seriously studied SD Burman would be familiar with Moti Lalwani. Mr Chowdhury has referred to him eight-nine times in his book; Sathya Saran’s ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ is largely based on his material. Mr Lalwani was always a fan of SD Burman’s music. That became a serious passion to counter some RD Burman-fanatic on a music forum, when he spoke sarcastically of SD Burman.
Mr Lalwani’s channel on the YouTube has over 150 short videos of interviews and other materials associated with SD Burman. He manages a Facebook group on the maestro which has 7600 members.
By profession he was a Mechanical Engineer with L&T, and after working with them for 29 years, he took voluntary retirement long back. Thereafter, he ran his own company for ten years. Even as an octogenarian, his zest for life has not waned, and now he continues serious study and research on SD Burman.
SD Burman is known to have his own methods for choosing which singer would best suit a particular song he was composing, and in this he would brook no interference. His choices were at times against conventional wisdom, but the final product turned out to be outstanding. I am happy that Mr Lalwani’s debut article on the SoY is on this theme, and it shows how the maestro had his way on Hemant Kumar for ‘Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan’, overriding the doubting voices. I have decided to celebrate October as SD Burman-month as it begins with him and ends with him, all with Mr Lalwani’s articles. – AK)
After a successful career in Calcutta, Hemant Kumar (1920-1989) shifted to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1951 to work for Filmistan Studios. He had sung very few Hindi songs till then, and his voice was unknown to the Hindi/Urdu music lovers. Composer SD Burman had already established himself, with successes in Do Bhai (1947), Shabnam (1949), Mashal (1950), followed by Baazi, Bahar, Naujawan and Saza, all released in 1951 and doing very well.
Shakeel Badayuni: Revitalising bond with Ravi
Guest article by Hans Jakhar (This is the second guest article by Hans Jakhar on the trot after his debut with Asha Bhosle’s songs by Ravi. He had given enough indication that he would be writing on Shakeel Badayuni’s partnership with Ravi. Hans’s forte is mastery over data. And you see full evidence of thisREAD THE FULL ARTICLE
Ravi and Asha Bhosle: A class combination
Wishing Asha Bhosle a very happy 86th birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933) with a guest article by Hans Jakhar
(Asha Bhosle, despite being the most recorded artiste by miles, remained the ‘other’ singer for most music directors of the Golden Era. All the accolades and the most melodious songs went to her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar. Ravi is among the rare major music directors whose ‘first’ female playback singer by choice was Asha Bhosle. In the ongoing series on Ravi it was natural that her primacy would be highlighted, and no one is better suited than Hans Jakhar to pay a tribute to her on her 86th birth anniversary with her songs for Ravi. Hans is puzzled that some of us are hesitant to count Ravi among the ‘greats’. He is not only a fan of Asha Bhosle, but he also has a deep empathy for her for having suffered the ‘Sister Tax’ in her career.
With this article Hans debuts as a guest author. I am sure the readers would not be surprised by it, the surprise is why it has taken him so long. His comments on the blog posts are full of facts, analysis and insights. Hopefully we would see more from his pen.
Hans is a B. Com and LLB, which reflects in the way he presents his arguments. After working for over 20 years in the central secretariat service in various ministries, he took voluntary retirement and now straddles between two worlds: the rural Haryana, which is his home state, and the urban metropolis of Delhi. The series on Ravi inspired him to write on his songs for Asha Bhosle, for which I am sure the readers of SoY would be grateful to him. Thanks a lot Hans – AK)
Some time back Dr Shetty made a comment to the effect that Asha Bhosle could sing all the songs Lata Mangeshkar could, and in addition she could sing many which Lata could not, so why should Asha be not called the best singer. This thought of his has stuck with me, because, I have come across many who held the same view. There were some who rated Suman Kalyanpur the better singer. My elder sister who is four years older than me held the same view. In fact, in those days of the late 60s and early 70s, there were a number of magazines in circulation which gave stories about Lata’s manoeuvres. My sister made very angry remarks against her on that count, Suman Kalyanpur was her favourite by far. Though I was younger, I tried to cool her down. At that time I did not have much knowledge about these things and was also a bit hesitant in arguing, especially with elders, so I gave just one argument, that Lata must have special talent and because of that the composers were giving her more songs.
Ravi’s best duets for Rafi
In my last post I covered Ravi’s best solo songs for Rafi. He composed about 250 songs for Rafi, including duets. It is a huge number in absolute as well as relative terms. Only two, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Shankar-Jaikishan, have undisputedly composed more Rafi songs than him, as can be expected. Chitragupta is in the same range or marginally more than him. About 42% of these songs are duets, including male-male duets, and songs having more than two singers. Over 100 duets is a significant number, and several of them are so good, no discussion on Ravi’s songs for Rafi is complete without mentioning his duets.
Book Review: “Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman”
Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman By HQ Chowdhury Published by Blue Pencil, New Delhi, 2018 ₹599 (Available for less on Amazon); pp 437 Among all the biographies of SD Burman – I am aware of at least four, all well known – the ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ by HQ Chowdhury of Bangladesh, first published in BangladeshREAD THE FULL ARTICLE
Rafi’s best songs by Ravi
A tribute to Rafi on his 39th death anniversary (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980)
Rafi being undoubtedly the most versatile playback singer of the Golden Era, he sang a number of great songs for many music directors. For most composers, he was their leading singer. Who gave the greatest songs for Rafi? I put Naushad, SD Burman, OP Nayyar, Roshan and Shankar-Jaikishan in the Elite Five. Immediately in the next level would be a number of composers, such as Madan Mohan, Chitragupta and Ravi, and if you go further in time, Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Ravi’s output for Rafi songs (250, including duets) was huge, outnumbered only by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Shankar-Jaikishan, who were hit machines. It is comparable to Chitragupta’s 259 songs for Rafi; and it is comfortably ahead of other music directors, including those in the elite group. But is it only about quantity? Where would these figure among Rafi’s most iconic and greatest songs. (Note: Hans mentioned in comments on my first post on Ravi that he gave 234 songs for Rafi, but I am going by the detailed Excel sheet of Rafi songs prepared by Muveen, which I have shared with many readers earlier.)
READ THE FULL ARTICLE