A tribute to old Hindi film music. Songs of the 30s through the 60s.
A tribute on her death anniversary January 31
Aside from Lata Mangeshkar Suraiya is among my top favourite female singers. She debuted as a child artiste in 1942 (film Sharda). Within three years she rose to become one of the top singing stars acting opposite the greatest legend KL Saigal in 3 films. Within the next three years her beauty, singing and romantic pairing with Dev Anand both on-screen and off-screen became a national craze.
Double tribute on their birth anniversaries
Mohammad Rafi’s birth anniversary falls on December 24 (b 1924) and Naushad’s on December 25 (b 1919). This close proximity also extended to their music. Rafi was to playback singing what Naushad was to music composing – both at the commanding heights of their profession for over two decades. Their collaboration produced some of the best and most memorable music of the Golden Era.
A tribute on his death anniversary on November 16
I have expressed great admiration for Roshan at several places in my blog. Among the greatest and most melodious songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Roshan compositions occupy a very high place. He did not achieve big commercial success as some of his peers, but for music lovers he was among the greatest, especially as regards his songs for the two titans Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. His compositions were unmistakably identifiable with incredibly beautiful use of the flute and sarangi.
Guest article by Subodh Agrawal
(My friend Subodh Agrawal is a great music lover and a keen follower of my blog. He once suggested I write on films songs based on classical ragas. This was already in my mind, but then I realised Subodh is much better equipped to do it. I am grateful that he accepted my request to do a guest series of articles on this theme. This curtain raiser showcasing his favourite 10 iconic songs on different ragas is delightful to read not only because of his deep insight but also for his fluent and witty style of writing. I am sure there are many more to come from his pen. – AK)
I was trying to motivate AK to do a few lists on songs based on ragas. He bounced it back to me, thanks to some pretensions I have of knowing something about classical music. I have accepted the commission with some reluctance, being well aware of how little I actually know about it.
Best love songs of Vintage Era
I have been in the New Theatres mood since I wrote my last post on Pankaj Mullick. BN Sircar established New Theatres in Calcutta in 1931, i.e. the same year the first talkie Alam Ara was released in Bombay. Music has been an integral part and a defining feature of our films ever since. And so it has been with the New Theatres as well. It is also not surprising that love has been the dominant theme of our songs. But the New Theatres took love to entirely unexpected heights. It was not merely a matter of semantics that pyar, mohabbat, ishq for them was Prem or Preet. It also denoted for them something deeply spiritual, other-worldly and supremely blissful.
A tribute on his birthday May 10
I became seriously acquainted with Pankaj Mullick several years after I had thoroughly absorbed KL Saigal. This would probably be the normal sequence for any non-Bengalee what with Saigal having acquired an iconic status, and generations of listeners having grown on a Saigal song every morning at 7.57 AM which would be the last song on Radio Ceylon’s programme Bhoole Bisre Geet.
The trigger point was an evening dinner gathering of friends when Chakko (short for Chakravarty, that was his name) sang Ye raatein ye mausam ye hansnaa hansaanaa. The impact on me was mesmerizing. Chakko was by no means a professional singer, it was one of those gatherings where everyone sings, some being a little better than others. Soon after I came across an LP of his songs, which not surprisingly had this song at the top. Coming to the internet age I heard many more of his songs, both films and non-films, in Hindi and Bengalee, and became more aware of the vast world of beautiful gems of Pankaj Mullick beyond Piya milan ko jana (which seemed to be the only song played in the radio days).
Mahendra Kapoor was the favourite singer of BR Chopra Films, and Ravi was their favourite composer. BR Films-Ravi-Mahendra Kapoor combination gave a large number of well known songs. After Ravi, the only music director who used Mahendra Kapoor in a significant manner was OP Nayyar, apparently on rebound when he had some rift with Mohammad Rafi. Following behind would be Kalyanji Anandji, who used Mahendra Kapoor to some degree following the great success of Mere desh ki dharti on Manoj Kumar in Upkar (1967). His songs with other music directors are few and far between.
If ever there was a song that could be described as the defining song of a singer, Mahendra Kapur’s Chalo ek baar phir se ajanabi ban jayen hum dono is one such song.
Mahendra Kapur, who came to the film world through a singing talent competition in the late fifties, was seen as a Rafi clone. That can be a great handicap; the world of film music is replete with the tragedies of clones not being able to come out of the shadow of the original star.
Hemant Kumar in his voice brought the beauty of Bengal and melody of Rabindra Sangeet. When he joined with Lata Mangeshkar the effect was magical. Easily the best duets of Hindi films are of Hemant-Lata. One can also safely say no song of Hemant Kumar was pedestrian. With his deep resonant voice he could be nothing but melody personified. As for Lata, she surpasses any superlative. Here is my selection of their best duets.