Urge to Fly - music

Meena Kumari & Geeta Dutt - Mirrored Lives

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:01:00 +0530

I had written this post originally on the occasion of Geeta Dutt’s birth anniversary on November 23, for the blog section of geetadutt.com, the only comprehensive site dedicated to this wonderful singer. Here’s the link to the original post.

When it comes to listing the all time great actresses of Hindi cinema, Meena Kumari’s name would surely figure prominently. Known as the Tragedy Queen for her mastery in portraying sad roles, Meena Kumari demonstrated her acting prowess in a number of films in the 1950s and 1960s. Born Mahjabeen Bano on August 1, 1932, Meena Kumari’s acting career started as a child artiste in Leatherface in 1939. After a few mythological and fantasy films as an adult, Meena Kumari’s big break came with Baiju Bawara in 1952. The film earned her the first Filmfare Award for Best Actress and established her position as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema.

On watching a teenaged Meena Kumari lip-syncing to barely-out-of-her-teens voice of Geeta Roy in Sri Ganesh Mahima (Shri Krishna Vivah) in 1950, little would anyone in the audience have realized that that the lives of these two remarkable ladies would uncannily mirror each other over the next two decades.

When Geeta Roy sang for Meena Kumari for the first time, she was already a star, while Meena Kumari was just managing to gain a foothold as an adult actress. In the beginning, Meena Kumari did a lot of mythological films like Veer Ghatotkach, Shri Ganesh Mahima, Hanuman Patal Vijay, where…

Lata Mangeshkar Sings for R D Burman Part 2

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:06:00 +0530

As we move beyond 1975, Pancham continued to compose lovely melodies for Lata Mangeshkar. Unfortunately, Lata’s voice quality had started going down due to age and she sounded a tad tired in some of those songs. How one wishes all these delightful compositions had come at least a decade earlier. And as we moved into the 1980s, Pancham’s compositions also started becoming a little repetitive, although one did not see any compromise on the melody front, at least in the songs he composed for Lata. There were many RDB soundtracks in the late 1980s that were eminently forgettable, and there are very few Lata-Pancham songs worth mentioning.

Pancham was quite disappointed by the failure of Shakti Samanta’s Mehbooba in 1976, and although it had a very good soundtrack, the songs did not get their due when the film was released. The piece-de-resistance of this Lata dominated soundtrack was the haunting Mere Naina Sawan Bhado, a tandem song based on Raag Shivaranjini. Both the versions – by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar – have their own charm.

Mere Naina Sawan Bhado – Mehbooba (1976, Anand Bakshi)

Pancham might have composed more songs written by Anand Bakshi, Majrooh Sutanpuri or Gulshan Bawra, but if there is one lyricist with whom he had a special tuning, it is Gulzar. Whenever the two came together, the result was consistently good. And the Lata-Pancham-Gulzar trio rarely disappointed. In my opinion, some of the best Lata-Pancham songs are written by Gulzar.

Kuhu Kuhu Koyaliya Bulaye– Devdas (Unreleased,…

Lata Mangeshkar Sings for R D Burman - Part 1

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:44:00 +0530

When Rahul Dev Burman was signed on for Chhote Nawab, his first film as an independent Music Director, he was clear about one thing - that Lata Mangeshkar should sing for his first film. This was the time when papa Sachin Dev Burman and Lata Mangeshkar were engaged in a cold-war following some misunderstanding in 1957. It is difficult to say whether it was his putra prem that resulted in SDB making up with his favourite Lota, but RDB’s first recorded was sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Ghar Aaja Ghir Aaye, an exquisite composition in Raag Malgunji, demonstrates RDB’s strong grounding in Indian classical music (he had learnt sarod from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan). It is noteworthy that for his first song RDB selected a Raag that had till then not been used much in Hindi Film Music (I know of only one instance that predates this song)

Ghar Aaja Ghir Aaye - Chhote Nawab (1961, Shailendra)

Thus began a partnership that would result in close to 340 songs over the next 30+ years. I strongly believe that it is impossible to make a 'Best of RDB' list without including a few Lata songs (the reverse is possible, though). I also believe that Pancham reserved some of his best tunes for Lata, although his output with Asha Bhosle is much wider and deeper.

In the 1960s, Pancham wasn’t as prolific as in the subsequent decades. In fact, his second release as a composer came 4 year after his debut. Like Chhote Nawab,…

Lata Mangeshkar Sings For Shankar Jaikishan - Part 2

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:40:00 +0530

The Lata-Shankar Jaikishan association that produced such delectable melodies in the 50s, continued to remain strong, at least till the mid sixties. Of course the melodies paled in comparison to the 1950s, but that was true of the music scene in the 60s as a whole. At least in the earlier part of the 60s, there are many Lata-SJ songs that are popular till date.

In 1960 came Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi, a Kishore Sahu directed Meena Kumari starrer tearjerker that had some nice Lata songs. My favourite from this film is the evergreen Ajeeb Dastan Hai Ye, a ditty that I like as much for Lata’s voice as for the preludes and interludes, and of course the excellent choral use.

Ajeeb Dastan Hai Ye - Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi (1960, Shailendra)

The other Lata-SJ song that I love from 1960 is O Basanti Pawan Pagal from Raj Kapoor’s Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai. This tune is a classic example of how SJ used some pieces of melody from the background score of their films to create a full-fledged song. The tune of this song came from the background music of Awaara.

O Basanti Pawan Pagal - Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960, Shailendra)

It was at this time that SJ also started a trend of sorts by making Lata sing tandem versions of songs that were originally composed for a male singer (in most cases, Mohd. Rafi). This meant that she had to sing at an…

Lata Mangeshkar Sings For Shankar Jaikishan - Part 1

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:28:00 +0530

“I believe no one can equal the music composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. They composed classical songs, cabarets, dance numbers, love songs, sad and happy songs. Few composers have been able to match their range. Their music has extended the life of many films - films that would have otherwise been forgotten..." Lata Mangeshkar (in Nasreen Munni Kabeer’s book, Lata Mangeshkar in Her Own Voice)

1949 was a significant year for Lata Mangeshkar in that it marked the beginning of her domination in the world of Hindi film playback singing – a domination that would last several decades. This year also saw the debut of one of the most successful composer duo in Hindi films – Shankar Jaikishan. Over the next 35 years, Lata and SJ collaborated on over 450 songs, many of which are firmly etched in the minds of Hindi film music lovers.

In the first part of this post, I will talk about the songs from the period 1949-59. This was the period when, in my opinion, SJ were at their creative best and Lata at the pinnacle in terms of voice quality. This was also the period when Lata was the main singer for SJ. She sang an unbelievable 65% of all songs composed by SJ during the period. And I really mean ALL songs, including those sung by male singers. During this period there were several SJ soundtracks (Kali Ghata, Parbat, Poonam, Aas, Aurat, Patrani, Halaku, etc. ) where every track had Lata’s voice – solo, chorus backed,…

Lata Mangeshkar Sings for Laxmikant Pyarelal Part 2

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:19:00 +0530

In the first part of this post, I had talked about the collaboration between Lata Mangeshkar and Laxmikant Pyarelal in the 60s. The 60s had accounted for less than a quarter of all songs Lata sang for the composer duo. A major chunk of their collaboration (about 350 songs) came in the 70s. In this post I will talk about the Lata-LP collaboration from 1970 till 1996, when she sang her last song for LP in RK’s Prem Granth. I must add a disclaimer here. Given the sheer volume of work they did together, one post is not sufficient to list down all their good songs. My intention is just to mention some of my favourite Lata-LP songs, which will hopefully also give an idea about the range of work they did together. Also, I am focusing only on Lata solos.

Although their successful spree had started towards the end of the 60s, the decade of the 70s truly belonged to LP (along with Kalyanji Anandji and Rahul Dev Burman). Churning out hits after hits with consistent regularity, they clearly seemed to have a good handle on the commercial aspects of music making. Personally I think that quantity took the better of quality in their output in the 70s. There was limited innovation and more monotony in their compositions, especially as we move into the 80s where neither Lata’s vocal prowess nor LP’s composing abilities were at their best. Yet, it would be unfair if one were to ignore some good…

Lata Mangeshkar Sings for Laxmikant Pyarelal Part 1

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:19:00 +0530

In her career spanning six decades, Lata Mangeshkar has sung Hindi film songs for more than 170 composers. Over the next few weeks I will be writing several posts on her collaboration with composers for whom she has sung the maximum number of songs.

I am no fan of Laxmikant Pyarelal’s music. However, when we talk of Lata there is no way we can ignore this highly prolific and successful composer duo. Lata and LP have collaborated for close to 700 songs (I think the actual figure is around 680), that range from plain mediocre to truly sublime, from cacophonous assault on the ears to sweet melodies. Given the sheer number of songs the duo composed, it is only natural that consistent quality is difficult to find in their repertoire. What is, however, noteworthy about LP’s collaboration with Lata is that very few other composers have created such a wide variety of songs for her to vocalize. Unfortunately, when we talk of LP today, all that is discussed is the heavily orchestrated, dholak dominated cacophonous mess that characterized their later output. If one carefully sifts through their output, especially their creations vocalized by Lata, one will come across many gems. Through this post I would like to reveal some of the beautiful melodies that the Lata-LP combination produced.

LP made their debut with Parasmani (1963), a fantasy film with a hugely popular music score. Lata Mangeshkar sang 5 songs in the film, out of which Hansta Hua Noorani Chehra (a duet…

Discovering Geeta Dutt

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:27:00 +0530

It is no secret that when it comes to Hindi film music, the one singer I’m completely obsessed with is Lata Mangeshkar. I never had to ‘discover’ her. My earliest memory of a film song has to be one of her songs. Her voice was always a part of my growing up years.

If there is any female playback singer other than Lata Mangeshkar that I am a big fan of, it has to be Geeta Dutt. I must admit that I have only discovered her very recently. I mean I always enjoyed listening to her popular numbers like Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo (Howrah Bridge) or Babuji Dheere Chalna (Aar Paar) or the all-time classic like Waqt Ne Kiya (Kaghaz Ke Phool), but in my mind the image of Geeta Dutt largely remained that of a singer who excelled in only one kind of genre – the club song – with a few sprinklings of pathos-dripping songs here and there. And, boy was I wrong! As I listened to more and more of her songs, I realized that her repertoire is so wide that it is difficult to slot her in a particular genre. That’s what I mean, when I use the word ‘discover’ in her context.

Technically speaking, Geeta Dutt probably lacked in terms of vocal range, but she more than made up by her remarkable quality of injecting the perfect emotion in her songs. Hers was a voice that made its way straight to the listener’s heart.

My…

Lata Mangeshkar Songs With Less Famous Composers Part 3

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:16:00 +0530

Continuing from my earlier posts on Lata Mangeshkar songs with relatively less-famous composers (Part 1, Part 2), I would like to talk about some music directors with whom Lata Mangeshkar has done very little work, but their collaboration has resulted in some great melodious songs.

Pt. Amarnath – Not to be confused with Pt. Amarnath, the elder brother of the composer duo Husnalal Bhagatram, Pt. Amarnath Chawla was essentially a classical musician. He composed music for only one film – Garam Coat – where each song was a real gem. All songs in the film were sung by Lata Mangeshkar. My favourite from this film is Kahiyo Roye Dukhiyare

Kahiyo Roye Dukhiyare (Garam Coat, 1955, Majrooh Sultanpuri?)

Some other songs from the film are also available on youtube: Zulfon Wale Ko Kya Pata, Nanha Mora Dole and Jogia Se Preet

Jagmohan – Another composer with whom Lata Mangeshkar worked in only one film. The 1955 film, Sardar, had two Lata Mangeshkar solos, among which I rate Pyar Ki Ye Talkhiyan among Lata’s best for any composer. Later on

Pyar Ki Ye Talkhiyan (Sardar, 1955, Kaif Irani)

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Sailesh Mukherji - To the best of my knowledge, Sailesh Mukherji composed music for only two films – Parichay and Savera. Parichay had an intricate tune in the form of Jal Ke Dil Khaak Hua, that is another one of my favourite Lata Mangeshkar song of all time.

Jal Ke Dil Khaak Hua (Parichay, 1954,…

Lata Mangeshkar Songs With Less Famous Composers Part 2

noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:36:00 +0530

In a previous post I had talked about some songs Lata Mangeshkar has sung for relatively less famous music director. In continuation of that post, I present to you a few more music directors.

Sardar Malik – Anu Malik's father did not meet with much success. In one of his early films, Thokar, he had some nice compositions, but if at all he's known today it's because of his compositions in Saranga. Ironically, he did not get much work after Saranga and virtually disappeared into obscurity. One of his songs for Lata Mangeshkar in the 1954 film Chor Bazar makes one wonder why someone who could create such an evocative melody did not get enough work.

Huyi Ye Humse Nadani (Chor Bazar, 1954, Shakeel Badayuni)

Datta Naik– N. Datta worked as Sachin Dev Burman's assistant before he turned into an independent composer in 1955. His very first film as a music director – Milap – had a lovely Lata melody – Ye Baharon Ka Sama. He did limited work with Lata Mangeshkar, but their collaboration almost always resulted in great compositions. Just as an example, listen to this song from Black Cat.

Sitare Rah Takte Hain (Black Cat, 1959, Jaan Nisar Akhtar)

Sudhir Phadke – Strictly speaking, Sudhir Phadke cannot be categorized as a "less famous" composer, as he was quite a name in the Marathi music industry. However, his output in Hindi films was limited. Most of his compositions for Lata were based on classical music, the most famous being…