Concluding the series of tributes to Usha Khanna with her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers
Usha Khanna’s debut score in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) sounded so much OP Nayyar-ish that you may get the impression that she too would exclude Lata Mangeshkar completely and her female singer would be predominantly Asha Bhosle as she was in Dil Deke Dekho. But from her very second film Hum Hindustani (1960), just as she showed great felicity with Mukesh, she also composed a superlative Lata Mangeshkar song in the film, Chori chori tori ayi hai Radha, kadam tale haule haule. Usha Khanna showed remarkable competence for composing for most of the prominent female playback singers, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur and others. My first post was on her best songs for Rafi, and second on Mukesh and other male playback singers. In these two posts I have also included their male-female duets. The third and last post in the series of tributes to Usha Khanna is on her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers. Since their duets with male singers are already covered this would be limited to their solos, and female-female duets.READ THE FULL ARTICLE
The last post was on Usha Khanna’s best songs for Rafi on her 83rd birth anniversary (b. 7 October 1941). This was also a tribute to Rafi as a part of his centenary celebrations. How does she do with other playback singers? This is where she presents a big surprise. After her debut with Dil Deke Dekho (1959), her main male playback singer in Hum Hindustani (1960) was Mukesh! She gave many memorable songs for Mukesh subsequently, such as Teri nigahon pe mar mar gaye hum, Gori tere chalne se mera dil kurban, Chaand ko kya maloom chahta hai use koi chakor, Aaj tumse door hokar. Each a quintessential Mukesh-gem. It seems quite a misnomer to include Mukesh among ‘other’ singers. It is as if Usha Khanna was born to compose great songs for Mukesh. Similarly I remember an all-time great song by Manna Dey and one by Mahendra Kapoor composed by Usha Khanna. Her spread of singers for their memorable songs is not very wide, but enough to include her among important music directors of the Golden Era. In this post I present a sample of her versatile talent; I would also include duets of these male singers.