Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very happy 90th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929) with a guest article by Shalan Lal
(Lata Mangeshkar turns 90 today. This momentous occasion demanded something special befitting the milestone. However, in the year of the Ravi celebration on SoY, most readers almost took it for granted that today I would write on her songs by Ravi. As the readers are aware, in this series the spotlight has been on his main female playback singer, Asha Bhosle, to whom Hans Jakhar has paid a handsome tribute on her birth anniversary earlier this month. Lata Mangeshkar being Ravi’s ‘other’ singer, was placed in an unfavourable situation. This dilemma resolved itself when Shalan Lal sent me her comprehensive treatise on her, analysing the ‘conditions’ that made the Lata Mangeshkar phenomenon. The rhetorical question in the title implies that there would never be another one like her. While emphasising the theory of ‘conditions’, Shalan also acknowledges that her voice had a divine quality, and there was something beyond her training, upbringing, hard work, and other conditions, that was transcendental and beyond any physical explanation.
The original article Shalan sent me was too long for this blog, and I have severely reduced it, without losing the essence of what she is trying to say. I am happy that she has allowed me editorial freedom in this regard. Let us join her in wishing a very happy 90th anniversary to the legend, Lata Mangeshkar. And thank you Shalan for your significant article for this special occasion.
As the SoY regulars are by now familiar with her style, Shalan never writes a piece without saying something highly provocative and controversial. I have added my own comments on some of her observations at the end of the article.
Shalan Lal is a UK-based academic having wide interest in art, culture and literature. – AK)
The top question creates the following forbearance:
“Que será, sera. Whatever will be, will be? The future’s not ours to see
Que será, sera”
Yes, Indeed!
Today on 28 September 2019 Lata Mangeshkar completes her 90 years and there will be celebrations on the filmy planet and in the Indian social and political world. She has already won numerous awards including the highest Indian civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’. She is known as “TheQueen of Melody, The Voice of the Nation, The Voice of the MillenniumandThe Nightingale of India etc etc.”
Mine is a rhetorical question. Some will think it as a pompous question; others may think that it is melodramatic. I do not see any harm in raising it.
The answer from the audience surely will be instantaneous and a unanimous emphatic “No, no and never”!
This I venture to say is an expression of sheer love for the icon Lata! There is a need for deeper examination of the ‘conditions’ that made Lata Mangeshkar. I had my Eureka moment to examine her on this basis when I watched a BBC series titled ‘The Planets’, presented by Brain Cox, a renowned expert on Space Science and the Solar System.
In one of his lectures, titled ‘Godfather Planet Jupiter’, Professor Cox explained that when the Big Bang happened billions of earth-years ago, and the sun and solar system came into existence to cool down to present time, it was Jupiter which is hundreds of times bigger than our earth, kept on guard and destroyed most of the asteroids or gobbled them up which were on the loose and going around destroying other planets, or whatever coming in their way, behaving like the wild west cowboys.
Jupiter helped to create an atmosphere on the earth and did not allow the water to dry up so life could be born and sustained. It was also instrumental in the occurrence of the orbit around the sun and also the larger orbit called the Solar System. Hence there are seasons on the earth, and human beings could eventually evolve and come up to what they are now. Unless what Jupiter had done occurs elsewhere in the space, it is unlikely that another earth can happen. Mere water is not enough to have a living world. Many planets have water in frozen conditions. But Jupiter took billions of earth-years to do what it did.
These are called the ‘conditions’ and did not occur anywhere else according to the present knowledge.
(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 this when he argues with evidence that Shakeel collaborated with Ravi at a stage when his career was at a standstill and he was looking for opportunities outside Naushad-Ghulam Mohammad fold. With Ravi’s Midas touch, Shakeel Badayuni zoomed into a new trajectory with a greater variety of songs and with different music directors. Hans’s article is different from a routine of bio-profile and some song list, and is a valuable addition to SoY on analytical ways to look at a lyricist. Thank you Hans. – AK)
Shakeel Badayuni’s name automatically reminds us of Naushad. The two were inseparable. But, there is always a ‘but’, but I will delve into that later. First we should talk about their association which started in 1947. Various sources say that their association started with Dard, which may or may not be true, because I have seen many times such claims were found to be wrong. Naushad had 3 films in 1947. For Elan he used Zia Sarhadi. In Natak he used Majrooh Sultanpuri, Khumar Barabankavi and Shakeel Badayuni. Majrooh was given 1 song, Khumar five songs and Shakeel four songs. Majrooh came with Naushad in 1946 in the films Keemat and Shahjahan. Khumar wrote three songs in Shahjahan. It might be possible that Shakeel was tested first in Natak and then given all the songs of Dard. And it is also possible that Shakeel started in Dard, but Naushad used him also in Natak and used the other two because of some prior commitment. So we can be sure of only one thing, that their association started in 1947.
But once Naushad settled on Shakeel, he took him into his fold and continued with him uninterrupted up to 1965. In 1966 he remembered Khumar Barabankavi again for Saaz Aur Awaz and for Saathi he recalled Majrooh. Before Shakeel he had been using various lyricists for his films. It is also quite possible that in the earlier films he did not have enough say on this count. Naushad also tried to gain work for Shakeel outside his own films. Since Ghulam Mohammad was getting spill-overs which Naushad refused due to his intention to do lesser films, he also got Shakeel as some kind of dahej. In addition to this Naushad got work for Shakeel in Shanti and Char Din which were being directed by his friends. So we see that in the period from 1947-50, out of 172 songs, just about a dozen songs were given to Shakeel outside the Naushad fold.
In the period from 1951-60 also the same trend continued. Naushad used Shakeel’s lyrics for all of his 12 films which had 134 songs and Ghulam Mohammad gave 117 songs to him in 14 films. Besides these two, Sardar Malik, who had composed three songs with Ghulam Mohammad, used him also for 6 songs of Chor Bazaar. Sajjad Hussain gave two songs in Rukhsana, and Moti Ram, one in Lachak. Ravi made an entry in Shakeel’s life in 1960 and gave him two films: Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Ghunghat. So out of the 283 songs which Shakeel wrote in this period, if we leave out 20 of Ravi, there were 263 songs out of which Naushad and GM accounted for 251 songs.
So the question would be asked what is the basis of the title of the write up. For this I would have to bifurcate the statistics. Up to 1955 all was going right, Shakeel wrote 198 songs during this period. But 1956 and 1959 were two blank years for him. In 1957 and 1958 Naushad and Ghulam Mohammad had two films each in which Shakeel wrote a total of 43 songs. Besides that Ghulam Mohammad was left with no work. Out of the two films he gave music for, one was produced by Naushad and GM had only Shama and Pakeezah in hand which were never-ending type of films and in them also Shakeel was not the lyricist. Naushad was getting handsome amount for his films and he could afford lesser films, but Shakeel got paid for what he wrote. So work-wise he was in the need of another source.
I don’t know how their combo materialized, but Ravi came to Shakeel as a godsend. He not only provided much needed work, but also got him freedom from the shackles Naushad (may be unintended) had put around him in the matter of what type of lyrics he could write. I remember AK had said when presenting Rafi-OPN songs, that he read a comment somewhere that OPN rescued Rafi from the staid classicism of Naushad. Like AK I also do not agree with this comment, but it is true that Naushad had took on himself the mantle of saving classic music and Indian traditions in Hindi films. After he became the undisputed number one, he had a lot of influence on the situations and songs to be used. In addition, he worked mostly with a limited set of heroes, directors etc in the 50s and 60s. He rarely used during this period qawwalis, mujra songs, very romantic or fun songs. Johny Walker was the one who was given songs as a compulsion in films; he had quite substantive roles in Mere Mehboob and Palki, but was not given a song. Naushad had a great eye for the lyrics and even helped Shakeel in earlier phase, but due to his influence on Shakeel he interfered a lot in this department. Besides that Naushad had the habit of taking credit for songs and even lyrics to himself and he used various public platforms for this purpose. Due to all this a perception arose among the other composers who used to compose a variety of songs that Shakeel is a writer of only special kind of songs suited to Naushad only.
But Ravi changed all this. He was the one composer who never asked the lyricist to write to already prepared tune so Shakeel was on home ground because with Naushad he had never been asked to write to the tune. With Ravi he wrote qawwalis, mujras, romantic songs, comic songs, sad songs and all type of other songs which situation warranted. There were no restrictions and the effect showed in his songs.
The first film was Chaudahvin Ka Chand, which was a Muslim social with Lucknow as background and which showed the ills of parda system. Three friends, one getting married and the other falls for his wife without knowing this fact and the third friend tries to help which results in comic situations. The first friend is indebted to the second and is torn between friendship and love. So the situation was ripe for comic songs, mujra songs and also sad songs for the hero as well as heroine. And there was a qawwali too. All that Shakeel was longing for. Guru Dutt got back all his losses of previous films. Ravi became a front runner and Shakeel was seen in another light by the film world. The other film of 1960, Ghunghat was by some coincidence another film depicting evils of parda system in Hindu society. That was also a big hit with a variety of hit songs. Then came another social Gharana, which brought Filmfare award (Husnwaale tera jawab nahin) for Shakeel for second year running for again praising the heroine, which he could not do with Naushad. Watching the success Ravi’s Guru , Hemant Kumar also teamed up with Shakeel for Bees Saal Baad, Saheb Biwi Aur Ghulam and Bin Baadal Barsaat. ‘Kahin deep jale kahin dil‘ sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Bees Saal Baad brought the third Filmfare award to Shakeel for lyrics. The other film of 1961 Wanted, nobody wanted to see.
The Ravi-Shakeel juggernaut moved on. Shakeel wrote lyrics for six of Ravi’s 12 films for the year 1963. Of them Gehra Daag and Grihasthi were hits; Mulzim, Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya and Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya were so-so and Nartaki failed despite great songs. Then came three great hits, Door Ki Aawaz (1964), Do Badan and Phool Aur Patthar (both 1966), followed by two flops Aurat (1967) and Ummeed (1971). The partnership culminated with the death of Shakeel.
In all, this combo had 15 films and 114 songs. Break up was 85 solos (45 for females and 40 for males) and 29 duets (21 male-female, 5 female-female and 3 songs with more than two singers). Singer-wise, Rafi got 37 solos and 19 duets, Asha Bhosle got 34 solos and 26 duets and Lata Mangeshkar got eight solos and two duets. Other singers on the female side were Geeta Dutt – two solos, Shamshad Begum – three duets, Kamal Barot – two duets, Usha Mangeshkar – one solo and four duets, and Usha Khanna – one duet. Other male singers were Mahendra Kapoor – one solo and four duets, Talat Mahmood and Ravi – one solo each, and Manna Dey – one duet. The dominance of the big three was so complete that in 107 songs one or the other from them was present. Only the six solos and one duet were the songs in which none of the big three was present.
This Ravi-Shakeel bonding was not only special in terms of success – they produced 8 hits out of 15 and close to 90 gems out of 114 songs – but it brought Shakeel, besides the freedom, work also. In the 60s after his success with Ravi, 8 composers got him to write lyrics in 14 films which had 84 songs.
Now I will present the songs. As the series on Ravi is yet to come to an end and it is certain that Ravi’s combo with the big three Asha, Rafi and Lata will bring about separate posts, so I have selected songs keeping that in mind. Normally I believe in giving the best. The selected songs have a variety with particular emphasis on they being different from Naushad-Shakeel combo. I will keep the list to 10 and leave others for friends.
1. Sharma ke ye kyun sab parda nashin byAsha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum from Chaudahvin Ka Chand (1960)
Shakeel so smoothly moved into the qawwali mode as if he was daily writing qawwalis. See the sample.
महफ़िल में हुस्न की जो गया शान से गया
जिसने नजर मिलायी वही जान से गया
Later in Phool Aur Patthar he wrote a perfect comic qawwali too.
2. Meri pat rakho girdhari by Lata Mangeshkar from Ghunghat (1960)
Ghunghat has three absolute gems from Lata Mangeshkar: Laage na mora jiya, the fast paced Mori chham chham baaje payaliya and this one. Since she is AK’s field he would select or describe the other two, but to those who look down upon Ravi as a composer I have a poser, how many composers have been able to weave three such solos from Lata which keep you spellbound. Believe me, in the film situations they are even more effective than audio. The way this song is picturised is the ultimate for a devotional song. Body language, each movement and expression makes Beena Rai’s prayer look sincere.
3. Daadi amma daadi amma man jao by Asha Bhosle and Kamal Barot from Gharana (1961)
This is one of the best children songs. The singers keep alternating between the child actors and every movement of theirs is superb and Lalita Pawar as roothi hui daadi expresses 50 different emotions. What a great actress she was.
A sample of the lyrics
कहो तो तुम्हारी हम चम्पी कर दें
पियो तो तुम्हारे लिए हुक्का भर दें
हंसी न छुपाओ ज़रा आँखें तो मिलाओ
4. Maine bhi husn ki nazaron men jagah payi hai by Talat Mahmood from Wanted (1961)
As I said this was a useless film and the hero was particularly horrible. The same film company brought him again as hero with Waheeda Rahman in Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya. Talat Mahmood has only this song for this combo, so I chose this song. He sings here a beautiful fast-paced romantic song. Talat’s only other song is the famous solo from Ek Saal,Sab kuchh luta ke hosh men aaye to kya kiya. Why did Ravi not give him another song after these two gems?
5. Ding dong ding dong ding by Geeta Dutt from Grihasthi (1963)
In my younger days, if I was going somewhere and this song started, I would stand there and wait for the ‘Ding dong ding dong ding lala‘ part to come. I never cared to listen to the rest of the lyrics. The other song which had this ‘ding dong‘ effect for me was Mukesh’s ‘Bam babam bam bam lahri’. This is a song where lyrics are simple and the tune and singer have got the better of lyrics.
6. Agar koi humko sahara na dega by Usha Mangeshkar from Nartaki (1963)
This film has two very great numbers from Asha Bhosle and Rafi, but they will get their due in their posts. This film had two solos, one from Usha Mangeshkar and the other from Mahendra Kapoor, both of which were hits in their times. But MK’s song might get a chance if he is covered separately. Otherwise also this Usha song appeals more to me and when she sings well it is always a good song.
7. Hum bhi agar bachche hote by Rafi, Manna Dey and Asha Bhosle from Door Ki Aawaz (1964)
Shakeel wrote a number of comic songs for Ravi, most of them for Johnny Walker. I had selected the Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya song, but that I posted on the Ek bangla bane nyara post. Then I selected ‘Ek musafir ko duniya mein kya chahiye’. Then it struck me that of all the major singers used for this combo only Manna Dey is left out. So I included this song. This is one of the most remembered songs for birthdays and for a child’s birthday it is a must. One thing to note is that all of Joy Mukherjee’s songs were sung by Rafi except this one. Such was the bonding between Rafi and Johny Walker that when he was there the playback for the hero was given to another.
8. Husn se chaand bhi sharmaya hai by Rafi from Door Ki Aawaz (1964)
हुस्न से चाँद भी शरमाया है
तेरी सूरत ने गज़ब ढाया है
हाय इन प्यार में डूबी हुई आँखों की कसम
आदमी क्या है फरिश्तों के बहक जाएँ कदम
बिन पिए मुझपे नशा छाया है
मुस्कुराये जो तेरे लब तो बहारें आयी
खिल गए फूल पड़ी तेरी जहाँ परछाईं
तूने गुलशन मेरा महकाया है
These are the lyrics of this fabulous song. After his new found freedom, Shakeel wrote many romantic songs for Ravi but the most famous has always been ‘Chaudahvin ka chand ho’. This one has since taken the back seat, though in the 60s and 70s it was very popular. But, to me this ranks above ‘Chaudahvin ka chand ho’. This is so short and sweet.
9. Sun le pukar aayi aaj tere dwar by Asha Bhosle fromPhool Aur Patthar (1966)
Ravi’s list cannot be complete without a solo by Asha. Their combo was so enriching and bewitching. As the mukhda suggests this is a devotional song. Asha had come of age by then and shows this with great confidence in this song.
10. Ye kaun hai jiske aane se by Mahnedra Kapoor and Asha Bhole from Aurat (1967)
This duet is just magic. Asha and MK combined in Kaajal for ‘Agar mujhe na mili tum to main ye samjhunga‘ to create a gem and they do the same here. Padmini was the common factor in both the songs. This film also had ‘Naari jeevan jhoole ki tarah‘. The lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni in the song were great. A sample
ये किसकी नशीली ज़ुल्फों की परछाईं पड़ी है लहरों पर
आकाश में इक बादल भी नहीं नदिया में घटा घिर आयी है
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer: The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over these songs, which rests with the respective owners, such as Saregama India Limited and others.
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.
A tribute to Shailendra (30 August 1923 – 14 December 1966) and Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), the lyricists in tandem, on Shailendra’s 96th birth anniversary
A common refrain of the readers from time to time has been that the lyricists have not been given due importance on this blog. A new reader Neeruahaf, who has been actively participating for some time, has also mentioned this and strongly suggested, while commenting during the discussion on the songs of 1946, that I introduce an award for the best lyricist of the year too. I have explained that my reasons are twofold: one is practical, it only creates another overlapping category for mapping the songs. And two, it is accepted that we remember songs by the films, singers and music directors, and rarely by the lyricists. As an illustration I mentioned Shailendra (30 August 1923 – 14 December 1966) and Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), who featured together as lyricists in most of the films composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. I doubt if there is any tell-tale sign to determine who wrote which song. Let us examine this further as a tribute to the two lyricists, who worked in tandem a great deal, on the 96th birth anniversary of Shailendra.
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.
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 Bangladesh by TOITOMBOOR in 2011, was always mentioned with great respect. Therefore, when my post on his non-film (Hindi) songs on his death anniversary on October 31, 2012 sowed the seeds of a long series on SD Burman, I was very keen to get a copy of this book to make myself better informed on the maestro. But alas, the book was not available anywhere, not even in Bangladesh, as it was out of print. Nevertheless, the series on SD Burman turned out to be the longest one among all the greats I have covered on SoY. This was propelled also by the readers, because twice when I thought I had declared the series ‘closed’, the readers mentioned that some more singers were still left for whom SD Burman had given their career best songs. And, thus, in three phases he got the most exhaustive coverage on the blog. Along the way I discovered a huge treasure trove of Bengali songs sung by him of such incredible beauty that I wrote on it, describing it as the ultimate SD Burman, despite my handicap of not knowing the language, by taking the help of some Bengali friends.
How I wished then I had access to Mr Chowdhury’s book! However, it was a great pleasure to see him visit and interact on the blog. I also had occasion to exchange some mails with him on some queries. When all this was long past gone, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book has been recently published in a revised and updated second edition, in Delhi, and to enhance my delight, a fellow blogger-editor, Antara Nanda Mondal, whom I admire a great deal, was associated with the project. When I congratulated her, she very kindly sent me a copy of the book. That in itself was not a compelling reason for writing its review, but along the way, another acknowledged authority on SD Burman, who has spent his lifetime studying him and interviewing people associated with him, has been in touch with me to explore the best way to get his materials out in the public domain. I realise that Songs of Yore cannot do full justice to his materials; it has to be another book, or a platform dedicated to SD Burman, but I have agreed to post in October at least three articles written by him, making October 2019 the month of SD Burman. Incidentally, October starts with SD Burman (b. 1 October 1906) and ends with him (d. 31 October 1975).
SD Burman: A music director or a singer?
I have been quite unequivocal that I place Naushad at the pinnacle among music directors. I was also very fond of the music of Roshan and Chitragupta. And I kept the New Theatres stalwarts at a special pedestal, not to be compared with anyone. But when it came to singing, SD Burman with his mere about a dozen (14 to be exact) Hindi film songs and some non-film songs I was aware of, was out of this world for me. My discovery of his Bengali songs only consolidated my romance for SD Burman as a singer. It was interesting to see the anchor, at the launch of the book in Delhi, ask Mr Chowdhury precisely this question, and he was quite unambiguous. It depends in what context this question is asked; for the lovers of Hindi film songs, he is a great music director. If you are asking the same question in Bengal, SD Burman is among the greatest singers the state has produced.
And therein lies the special importance of Mr Chowdhury’s book. You get a vivid picture of SD Burman’s place among the greatest singers. He had a sound training in classical music and, in his time, he sang in concerts along with the likes of Ustad Fayyaz Khan and Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. Everyone recognised the emotional appeal of his singing, because he had absorbed his music from the sounds of the birds, rivers, nature around him, and from boatmen, his servants and wandering minstrels. He regarded folk as the soul of classical music, and made a distinct impact in Hindi film music with his beautiful use of folk elements and instruments in his compositions.
The book does full justice to SD Burman’s career as a music director as well. No matter who is your favourite – like mine Naushad – you can’t but agree that there are at least two aspects that set him above everyone. One, no one else has composed for such a large number of singers some of their all-time great songs. Just think of:
Rafi – Hum bekhudi mein tumko pukare chale gaye; Kahin bekhayal ho ke; Din dhal jaye haye raat na jaye
Kishore Kumar – Mere labon pe dekho aaj bhi taraane hain; Dukhi man mere; Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat; Ye dil na hota bechara; Mere sapnon ki raani kab ayegi tu
Manna Dey – Upar gagan vishal; Hato kaahe ko jhoothi banaao batiyan; Mat ro mata lal tere bahutere; Kisne chilman se maara nazara mujhe
Hemant Kumar – Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan; Jaane wo kaise log the jinke pyar ko pyar mila; Hai apna dil to awara; Na tum humein jaano na hum tumhein jaane
Talat Mahmood – Jaayein to jaayein kahan; Mitwa laagi ye kaisi unbujh aag; Jalte hain jiske liye
Mukesh – Chal ri sajni; Ae dil-e-awara chal; O jaanewale ho sake to laut ke ana
Lata Mangeshkar – Ye thandhi hawaayein; Jhan jhan jhan jhan payal baaje; Mora gora ang lai ke; Jogi jabse tu aya mere dware; Raat ka sama jhoome chandrama
Asha Bhosle – Nazar laagi raja tore bangle par; Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko; Sach huye sapne mere; Koi aya dhadkan kahti hai; Tujhe mili roshni mujhko andhers
Geeta Dutt – Mera sundar sapna beet gaya; Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le; Aaj ki raat piya dil na todo; Jaane kya tune kahi; Aaj sajan mohe ang laga le; Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam
Suman Kalyanpur – Chhodo chhodo mori bainya saanwre; Na tum humein jaano
Suraiya – Nain deewane; Man more hua matwala
Shamshad Begum – Ye duniya roop ki chor; Duniya ka maza le lo duniya tumhari hai; Sainya dil mein ana re
Mind you, this is a list of only solo songs. The above singers in different combinations have also given matchless duets.
The other point which Mr Chowdhury highlights is, SD Burman always sounded contemporary and he evolved himself with the times. That is why when his stalwart peers fell by the wayside, he could hold his own even in the 70s till his death, when the music style had changed significantly.
SD Burman was the Ring Master of his singers; he would rehearse a song with several singers, no one knowing whom he would finally choose. It was amazing that he could shuffle Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar and Talat Mahmood around the same time for Dev Anand. He knew and saw with his divya chakshu which song would sound the best in the voice of which singer, and in this he would brook no interference from the director, producer or the hero. His great talent with a variety of singers also helped him during his 5-years’ hiatus with Lata Mangeshkar – so what if she was not there, there were Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, for whom he composed some immortal songs.
SD Burman: A royal prince surrendered to music
But I have jumped ahead; Mr Chowdhury has written the book in a linear manner, starting from SD Burman’s family background, to his early formative years, to his Calcutta days in three chapters, and to his Bombay days in five chapters. His ancestors were the rulers of Tripura state, but some technical issues in succession forced his father’s branch to move to Comilla (now in Bangladesh), where SD Burman was born. Later, the family were rehabilitated in Agartala and were also given some administrative responsibilities, but Sachin Karta was not meant for princely duties. He had surrendered himself to the folk music of Bengal and music had subsumed him. He tried to pursue MA in English in Calcutta, but this distracted him from his main passion. He cut his first record of a Bengali song in 1932, and soon he was creating waves. In the 1930s and 40s, he was among the most highly regarded and successful singers of Bengali songs. He continued recording Bengali songs even when he was a successful music director in Bombay. He sung a total of 170-plus songs, including Hindi and Bengali film songs.
Interestingly, Mr Chowdhury’s next Chapter 11, titled ‘His Music’, starts with the question: “Is Dada a singer-composer or a composer-singer?” The book also contains interviews of various singers and others and their tributes to SD Burman.
SD Burman gave importance to voice and emotion in a song, therefore, his orchestra was minimal. He was also fastidious about what exactly he wanted, and would threw out if an extra violinist was called for the recording.
The book dispels many myths about RD Burman being the real composer of some songs of Aradhana, and debunks attempts by some quarters to undermine SD Burman and show the son in a better light than the father.
SD Burman: The Man
The book describes with fondness some fascinating and amusing aspects about SD Burman, the Man: his love for paan; his passion for football; his stinginess; his nostalgia for Comilla and East Bengal; his heavy East Bengal accent and his difficulty with Hindi, which he could not overcome despite his three decades in Bombay. You get a lovely picture of a temperamental avuncular man, Dada (elder brother) for everyone, who would be in a foul mood if his favourite football team, East Bengal, lost, when everyone knew the recording had to be cancelled; and if the team won he would host lunch for everyone, which was but a rare occurrence; a simple, innocent man who was clueless about money matters; the anchor in his life, his wife Meera Dev Burman, who was extremely possessive of him, which also led to some rumours about strains in their family life.
SD Burman’s career as a singer and music director
I have read only one other biography of SD Burman, and Mr Chowdhury’s clearly scores with an exhaustive list of songs sung by him, and films with details of songs composed by him.
Is the book flawless?
Is the book flawless? No work of this magnitude can be. There are some inadvertent errors and omissions, and lack of clarity at some places, which I have shared with Mr Chowdhury. One such is misattribution of Ye hawa ye raat ye chaandni (Sangdil) to Khayyam (instead of Sajjad Hussain). Another is the omission of Megh de paani de chhaya de ram (Guide)from the list of ‘Songs sung by Dada’. At a couple of places in the list, the information given is likely to create some confusion.
But there is one problem with the book that lies at the door of the editors/publishers. There are long passages interspersed within the text, containing quotes or citations from third persons. These sometimes run into several pages, and one is lost whether it is said by the author or by another person. You have to trawl to find where the quotation started and where it would end. This problem had an easy solution. The neatest is to separate it from the main text by font change or giving it a right indent. Another common practice followed is to start each para with a single quote, as long as the citation continues, and finally close with a double quotation mark. I hope when the book comes up for the third edition, and I wish it does, these will be cleaned up.
Since I am talking of a would-be third edition, let me give another suggestion to enhance the book. SD Burman adapted about 40 of his Bengali songs into Hindi as either non-film songs sung by himself, or film songs, some sung by himself and the rest by other playback singers like Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Suraiya etc. Since there is already an exhaustive list of all his songs, it should be possible and would be useful if these songs and their adaptations are mentioned at one place. And lastly, wouldn’t it sound better to add the definite article to the title of the book, i.e. ‘The Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’?
Nevertheless, the book is truly a labour of love, and rightly deserves all the acclaim it has got. Its reincarnation in the revised and updated second edition is a boon for those who were looking for the book. If you love your SD Burman, this is a must-have book.
And before I part, I can’t help sharing two songs from the Ultimate SD Burman: Ami chhinu eka, which has several legends behind it, discussed on this blog earlier, and especially mentioned in the book; and Ki kori ami ki kori, bone phagun mone aagun, my great favourite and number one in my list.
Aami chhinu eka (1940), lyrics Sailen Roy/Ajoy Bhattachrya (?), composed and sung by SD Burman
Ki kori aami ki kori, bone phagun mone aagun (1961), lyrics Robi Guha Majumdar, composed and sung by SD Burman
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.)
Having a shelter over one’s head is one of the basic needs of humans. Having one’s own house used to be the lifetime’s dream. It happened only once at the time of retirement when one pooled in all the savings to make this investment. But this meant buying sand, cement, steel, stone-chips, cables, tiles, bathroom, electric fittings, and dealing with masons, carpenters, electricians and plumbers. You supervised in grime and dust, and dealt with cantankerous and recalcitrant workmen. Till a generation back this was how a middle class person got his house made. It was far from the romance of ‘Chhota sa ghar hoga baadalon ki chhaon mein’.
Guest article by DP Rangan as a tribute to Bharat Vyas on his 37th death anniversary (18 December 1918 – 4 July 1982)
(One oft-repeated complaint against Songs of Yore is that it does not give due importance to the lyricists. I have given my reasons from time to time, which may not be very convincing. I do not know whether DP Rangan was guided by altruistic motives to come to the rescue of the blog, but his offer to write on Bharat Vyas came as a big surprise. By now we are aware of his tremendous enthusiasm and capacity to write on different themes – this is his 19th guest article – but one thought familiarity with the language was necessary for writing on lyricists. For Mr Ranagn, no challenge is too great to deter him. The result is a comprehensive write-up on Bharat Vyas, one of the most respected lyricists for elegance of his language. The two Excel sheets he has prepared of Bharat Vyas’s Filmography would challenge anyone priding himself as a number-cruncher. My compliments and thanks to Mr Rangan for a very painstaking article. – AK)
Invention of moving films for single viewer by Edison of USA and its further enhancement by Lamar brothers of France for simultaneous view by many in a sort of theatre had added new dimensions to entertainment for the people and the fever grew exponentially from then on. The epoch of silent movies started at the turn of the last century, but introduction of talkies in 1927 in the USA revolutionised picture viewing throughout the world and India joined the bandwagon almost from inception. The first talkie, Aalam Ara, was released in Mumbai in 1931 to a riotous start with the necessity of police intervention for control.
And the SoY Award for the Best Male Playback Singer goes to?
Now we come to category-wise discussion of the best songs, following from my overview post on the Best songs of 1946. Understandably, the total number of MEMORABLE SONGS mentioned in the post (81) was the lowest so far in the series on year-wise reviews. Since we are going back year to year, this is a function of entering into less and less familiar territory. The male solos in the list were 22 in number, divided among the following singers:
