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29 June 2008
Remembering Madan Mohan & Pancham
And, if I didn't mention it earlier, I was born in June too! J
This week marked the birth anniversaries of two Hindi film music composers who I absolutely adore – Madan Mohan Kohli and Rahul Dev Burman. It is difficult for me to say exactly why I have such fondness for their compositions, but the fact is that I return to their compositions quite frequently.
As my tribute to Madan Mohan and RDB, I can easily come up with a Top 10 list or something like that, but after the hugely involved listing exercise I indulged in for close to 3 months, I don't think I want to do any other list (at least for some time). (For those interested in lists, I did an RDB Top 25 list a few years back).
I thought it would be cool to dig out some gems from the oeuvre of these composers, which are usually not talked about. Some of these songs might be well-known, but they usually get overshadowed by other creations of these composers.
Madan Mohan Kohli: When we talk of Madan Mohan today, it's mostly in reference to his association with Lata Mangeshkar. Together they created endless masterpieces. Given how much everyone loves to talk about the Lata-Madan Mohan combo, it would come as a surprise to many that the number of Madan Mohan songs sung by Asha Bhosle is not significantly lesser than those sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Agreed that the proportion of 'great' Lata-MM songs far exceeds those by Asha, but there still exist many gems. Here are some non-Lata compositions by Madan Mohan that I want you to savour.
Shokh Nazar Ki Bijliyan (Woh Kaun Thi, 1964, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan): This song would easily figure among the one of the best Madan Mohan compositions, and in my opinion is among Asha's best as well. Wonder why this song has been so badly ignored. Asha's singing in this song (particularly note the antaras) makes this song sound a bit like an O P Nayyar creation, but I guess that was because this song came at a time when Asha Bhosle was heavily under the influence of OPN's style.
Zameen Se Humein Aasman Par (Adalat, 1958, Rajinder Krishan) - Madan Mohan is mostly known for his solo compositions, but one of my all time favourite romantic duets is his composition - Zameen Se Humein by Mohd. Rafi and Asha Bhosle.
Ae Dil Mujhe Bata De (Bhai Bhai, 1958, Rajinder Krishan) - One could almost say that Madan Mohan's choice of a female singer started at Lata Mangeshkar and ended with Asha Bhosle, but this is one number by Geeta Dutt that ranks among the biggest hits of Madan Mohan's career.
Rahul Dev Burman: Like Madan Mohan, Pancham's pet singers were the sisters as well. Come to think of it, so complete was the domination of the sisters till the 70s, that a major chunk of any composer's work would include songs by either of them. I am picking up 3 songs from Pancham's huge repertoire of songs, which were sung by female singers other than Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.
Hari Din To Beeta Shaam Huyi (Kitaab, 1977, Gulzar) - This song was sung by Rajkumari, one of the top female singers of the 1940s, who had settled into retirement in the 50s except for a few odd songs in between. This evocative song was penned and picturised wonderfully by Gulzar. Watching this song, there can be little doubt that this was the perfect voice for this song. The quivering in the voice brought about by ageing seems tailor-made for this song. Watch this video to see how Rajkumari's voice seems perfect for Dina Pathak.
Kabhi Kuchh Pal Jeevan Ke (Rang Birangi, 1983, Yogesh) - Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Rang Birangi is one of my favourite comedy films of all time. Who can forget the character of Dhurinder Bhatawadekar? The film's music never caught on, but it had a lovely same-sex duet by Anurada Paudwal and Aarti Mukherjee. Who would have thought that Anuradha Paudwal, who had been the most vocal 'victim' of the so-called 'Mangeshkar Monopoly', would be called to sing by Pancham, a ghar ka aadmi? This could well have been a Lata-Asha duet and there is nothing special that Anuradha or Aarti lend to the song, but as a composition it's an under-rated gem. Watch this video (Anuradha sings for Deepti Naval and Aarti Mukherji for Parveen Babi... ignore the minor goof-ups -once in the middle and once at the end - when the two actresses seem to undergo an sudden inexplicable change in voice)
Do Naina Aur Ek Kahani (Masoom, 1984, Gulzar) - Talking of Aarti Mukherji, one cannot help but talk about this wonderful song from Shekhar Kapur's Masoom. This solo fetched the singer a Filmfare Award. Personally, I don't like Aarti Mukherji much. She has a nice voice, but what is lacking is the clarity of enunciation. The words do not come out very clearly when she sings them. Anyway, we're talking about Pancham here and this is surely among his many good compositions.
P.S. I got some comments on this post about Asha Bhosle's Saba Se Ye Keh Do from Bank Manager. I personally rate it as the best Asha song by Madan Mohan. I did not include the song here as I could not find a clipping for same. Now that a clip of the song is available on youtube, I'm including it here:
Saba Se Ye Keh Do (Bank Manager, 1959, Jalal Malihabadi)
15:45 Posted in Film, Music | Permalink | Comments (9) | Email this
| Tags: lata mangeshkar, hindi film songs, hindi film music, film music, r d burman, pancham, madan mohan | 
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Hey Aditya,
Compiling this list was a great idea and you have come up with some excellent choices, but you have missed the song which is, imo, the best MM-Asha song ever .... "Saba se yeh keh do" from Bank Manager (tee hee) - 1959.
Posted by: Vishal | 29 June 2008
Also, don't you like Parween Sultana's "Hamen Tumse Pyar Kitna"?
Posted by: Vishal | 29 June 2008
Vishal, this was not supposed to be a complete list of best songs. just 3 random picks. :)
Posted by: Aditya | 29 June 2008
Hi Aditya, I understand. I just felt that *any* such list would be incomplete with these songs :) And I was just wondering if you had heard Saba Se Yeh Keh Do. And I know this is late (and is long due), but thanks a LOT for spending so much time compiling that wonderful Lata through the decades list. Being a Lata bhakt like yourself, that list has been invaluable for me and I ended up hearing many, many more wonderful songs...thanks to you. I have been meaning to comment on each and every one of those posts, but have been too lazy. I might just do so one day. :)
Posted by: Vishal | 30 June 2008
Vishal, I really did want to include 'saba se ye keh do' - I love that song. My main intent was to get the readers of this blog savour the songs I talk about. I searched a lot, but could not find a clipping of 'saba se ye keh do' either on youtube or esnips (two places I usually pick up the clips from). The other Asha-MM song (duet) I wanted to include was Humsafar Saath Apna from Aakhri Dao (and I even had the youtube clipping), but dropped it for some later post.
Thanks for appreciating my Lata posts. I loved researching for and writing those posts.
Posted by: Aditya | 30 June 2008
Aditya,
I loved listening to these oldies, which I know I'd otherwise never have consciously gone back to. I may have mentioned this elsewhere already (possibly brangan's blog), but my knowledge of Hindi MDs of that era is very limited, in the sense, I tend to throw everyone into the RDB bucket or the Khayyam bucket (ditto for Tamil MDs - IR being the I'll-take-it-all-and-thanks bucket). Yes, I WAS that kind of an ignoramus.
All I know is my parents were addicted to these songs on Vividh Bharati during 70s, 80s (mom especially was an encyclopedia on who sang what, which film etc, but I somehow never picked that up) and my sis and I got to do our homework during weekend afternoons with these melodies for a backdrop, wafting soulfully in and out of our consciousness. So it's wonderful to, finally, (given that I'm now ACTUALLY interested in knowing who the heck is credited with singing/composing these beauties as opposed to giving the songs the white-noise treatment from back then) be privy to all this additional info you've painstakingly culled. And oh, I enjoyed your LM post(s) too.
It makes me deliriously happy to know that, even though I've never paid attention to many of these songs as they played on the radio back when I was growing up, I seem to still have such a vibrant recollection of them, even as I listen to them here, now...Isn't it interesting, how the subconscious kinda soaks things up that you don't have a freaking clue it did? (I'm sure you've heard others say this as well.) Masoom is one exception though - because I can distinctly associate it with a shift of residences back in the 80s: My family moved to a different part of Chennai during my V std hols and this song from Masoom was one of the first Hindi "things" I saw on DD when my dad hooked up the b/w TV at our new residence (while the rest of the stuff was lying around the house in various stages of unpacking). My sister and I promptly curled up in front of the TV while the adults did all the heavy-lifting....man, those were the days! (Can I EVER dream of sitting around now, watching TV, while someone else did all the heavy-lifting for me? Not unless I have a kick-ass divorce lawyer handy OR two Ghatotkajas for kids...kidding, of course!) :-)
Posted by: Sagarika | 03 July 2008
Sagarika, Thanks for visiting again. If this post has brought alive some of your childhood memories, my job is done. A major portion of the 'beauty' of these old songs is my eyes is not because of a great composition, or great writing, or great singing. A lot of that has to do with the memories associated. Take away the memories, and many of these songs will get reduced to something purely technical!
Posted by: Aditya | 04 July 2008
Love this selection of oldies. You are absolutely right about memories making or marring these oldies for us and your selection invokes the most beautiful memories ever. Masoom was the first Hindi movie I saw in a theatre as a kid and its songs still invoke the bitter-sweet feeling that a touching movie like that invoked in a small kid! The others ofcourse, bring back memories of lazy summer vacations with Vividh Bharti's "chhaaya geet" playing in the background.
Posted by: bollyviewer | 08 July 2008
Besides "saba se yeh kah do", I also love Asha's "mere piya chhede jiya" from the film Chacha Chowdhury. "Jaane kya haal ho", Asha's ghazal for Madan Mohan from Maa Ka Aanchal is quite well known and quite good too. I absolutely love "thodi der ke liye mere ho jao" from Akeli Mat Jaiyo. From Aakhri Dao is another decent song "hai unki woh nigahen".
There are a few sountracks - Memsahib, Chowidar, Night Club, Ilzaam etc- that have a bunch of decent Asha songs. Night Club also has a couple of good Geeta songs.
For an excellent analysis on Lata v/s Asha songs of RDB, I am sure you must have read the posts on RMIM by Asif. RDB has used many other female singers, but that percentage will be very low.
Cheers
Posted by: Anil | 08 July 2008
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