Sachin Dev Burman  :1^st Oct 1906, Death: 31^st Oct 1975

Majrooh Sultanpuri ( Actual name: Asrar ul Hassan Khan)  -Birth: 1^st Oct 1919, Death: 24^th May 2000

Two legends born on the same day , but 13 years apart.

One of them ,  Sachin Dev Burman , a  music maestro born in the royal family of Tripura , who got to score his first Bengali film when he was around 31 years and his major hit Hindi film at the age of 41 years.  At an age when many of his contemporaries had peaked their creative output and were almost calling it a day, Sachin da had just kicked in!!.  His  heady cocktail of classical , folk and westernized orchestration mesmerized the Hindi film music world for around three decades. He perfectly knew which singer had to sing a particular song and that’s why he could bring out the best in both Rafi &  Kishore . At the time when most of the composers had not considered Kishore for their music, it was Sachin da who gave some wonderful songs for him. Again , he could bring out the best from both  Lata & Asha , with the latter getting some of her career best songs during the period in which there was a  rift between Lata and Sachin da . Not to forget some evergreen songs for other singers as well that would turn out to be their landmark songs . Like Jalte hain jiske liye for Talat, O jaanewale ho sake toh laut ke aana  for Mukesh, Yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahan for Hemant, Poocho na kaise maine rain bitayee for Manna Dey.

The other , Majrooh Sultanpuri ,born  Asrar ul Hassan Khan, in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was one of the most prolific lyricists (around 2000 songs for 350 films), having written for  music composers right from the  veteran Naushad Ali ( in 1946) to the new generation Jatin -Lalit in late 90’s , spanning more than five decades of artistic career. He was also the first lyricist to be honoured with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award. Majrooh’s words were sung by  the legends of the golden era starting from the great K L Saigal, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Talat Mehmood, Lata , Asha etc  to the present day Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu etc. From “ Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya” to “ Raja Ko Rani Se Pyaar Ho Gaya”. I don’t think any other lyricist had such a long innings!

When these two great artists come together , what do you expect? Not much in terms of quantity but without any doubt ,  some of the best iconic & great  songs of the 50’s and 60’s .

Majrooh , in his own words had described his journey with  his couplet:

Mein akela hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil magar,

Log saath aate gaye aur caravan banta gaya

(“When I started towards my destination, I was all alone in my efforts
but as I  went on , others joined  me and we became a force to reckon with”)

 Majrooh got introduced to Hindi films as a lyricist by Naushad in the film Shah Jahan (1946)  and the song “Jab dil hi toot gaya , hum jeeke kya karenge” sung so beautifully by K L Saigal became very famous. Majrooh wrote for so many other  composers like Anil Biswas, O P Nayyar, Naushad, Roshan, Madan Mohan, Salil Chowdhury, Chitragupt, N Dutta , Ravi, Laxmikant -Pyarelal , R D Burman etc. However in this blog we are going to look at his association with Sachin Dev  Burman.

Muzroo, as Sachin da  would address Majrooh , came late into his fold in  the year 1957 for the film Paying Guest. After the immensely successful musical score in the Guru Dutt film Pyaasa , there was a rift between the great shayar Sahir Ludhianvi and Sachin Dev Burman ( reportedly on who was instrumental for the success -the lyricist or the composer!-for us , listeners, everything was magical about that film’s music). This  paved the way for Majrooh’s association with Sachin da  . As such S D Burman had composed music for around 92 Hindi films only in a career spanning  30 years or so. The number of films S D Burman and Majrooh worked together must be around less than 20 ( purely my guess!) but let us not look at the quantity , but the quality. What amazing songs both the legends created , more so when joined by another legend, the  charismatic actor Dev Anand . For the Dev Anand’s Navketan films, this duo created many eternal melodies. Majrooh had the ability to mostly write for the tunes (unlike many of his contemporaries who preferred to have their own lyrics set to music ) and that complemented Sachin da’s music so well.

Sachin da had fabulous association with other lyricists like Shailendra, Sahir, Neeraj, Anand Bakshi and similarly Majrooh also wrote many unforgettable melodies  for other composers already mentioned in this blog.

Let us now list out some of the magical songs from the pen & baton of Majrooh & Sachin da set in alphabetical order with the film and singer(s) in brackets. Also I have attempted to highlight the finer points  in the music and the lines in  some of the songs.

1. Achha ji mein hari chalo maan jaao na (Kaala Pani, Rafi & Asha)- the evergreen roothna-manana song with great interludes; Majrooh squeezed in a little bit of philosophy even in such a light hearted song with: Jeevan ke yeh raaste lambe hain sanam, kaatenge yeh zindagi thokar khake hum!!
2. Aankhon mein kya ji , rupahala baadal  ( Nau Do Gyarah, Kishore & Asha) –if it was Rafi & Asha in the earlier song, it is now Kishore & Asha..with excellent flute and guitar synchronized beautifully with Asha’s humming. Every antaraa ending with the catchy line “Dekhne mein bhole ho par ho bade chanchal” .
3. Aisa To Na Dekho , Ke humko nasha ho jaaye (  Teen Devian, Rafi) ..what a subtle  line “ khoobsurat si koi humse khata ho jaaye” ..added to that, the honey laced voice of Rafi with so much of expression and the magnificent orchestration of Sachin da make this and eternal melody.
4. Arre yaar meri tum bhi ( Teen Devian , Kishore & Asha)…as I had mentioned in the beginning, Sachin da knew  exactly what he wanted and so in the same film for Dev Anand he used both Rafi and Kishore so beautifully. Right from the brief bird-like chirping flute after the line Ghoongat to zara udho, going on to the  ever- changing interlude music, Sachin da had composed this so well. The resonating  voice of Kishore , Asha at one of her best ever performance and at the end of the song, Kishore in his typical style spicing it up a bit with ‘hmmm hmmm’ after ‘ Ghoongat to zara udho’ ….all these serve up to us a dish that is being relished for ages!
5. Chal ri sajni ab kya soche,kajra na beha jaaye rote ( Bambai Ka Babu , Mukesh) -Mukesh had very few songs with Sachin da but whatever he sang for him  were masterpieces. This one is a “made for Mukesh “ song and with Majrooh’s lines Babul pachtaye haathon ko malke, kahe diya pardes tukde ko dil ke, aansoo liye soch raha door khada re, will make anyone’s eyes moist.
6. Deewana mastana hua dil jaane kahan hoke bahaar aayi ( Bambai ka babu, Rafi  & Asha) ..Asha take off with her exquisite humming and then renders the first two antaraas so nicely …but wait…Rafi makes his typical late entry with the third antaraa and takes the song to an even higher level. Sheer magical composition  & singing.
7. Haal kaisa hai janab ka, kya khayal hai aapka ( Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi,  Kishore Kumar & Asha) . Need one say anything about this song… everyone must have heard this so many times.. Kishore and Asha go hand in hand with the trademark yodelling by Kishore. If one can observe keenly the song is almost conversational but look at how the quartet of Sachin da, Majrooh, Kishore and Asha made this into an iconic song!
8. Hai apna dil to awara , Na jaane kis pe aayega ( Solva Saal, Hemant Kumar)-Hemant da , being an ace composer himself , sang some excellent songs for Sachin da and other composers as well. Whenever anyone thinks of the very unique instrument morsing ( or morchang) this song will definitely come to mind.
9. Honthon mein aisi baat mein dabake chali aayi ( Jewel Thief, Lata & Bhupinder) An epic composition for which it is said that Sachin da waited for few months to get a particular percussion instrument. An entire article can be written about this song that has a magnificent orchestration, choreography ( what a great dance by Vyjantimala!)  and superlative singing by Lata, not to forget the lines of Majrooh.
10. Hum Bekhudi mein tumko pukare chale gaye  ( Kaala Pani, Rafi) ..if Honton pe aisi baat had a plethora of instruments, this one has just a simple tabla and some violins and a sarangi with only Rafi’s masterly singing taking the full song through to great heights. “ Utara jo nasha to humne yeh jaana , saare zindagi ke sahare chale gaye”….what lines by Majrooh!!
11. Jalte hain jiske liye, teri aankhon ke diye ( Sujata, Talat Mehmood) the song that fetched Talat his first and only Filmfare award. I had already written about this song in my blog on Talat Mehmood…the following lines are worth repeating:

Dil mein rakh lena ise haathon se yeh chhoote na kahin

Geet Nazuk Hai Mera , Sheeshe Se Bhi

Toothe Na Kahin

Gungunaaoonga Yuhin , Geet Mein Tere Liye

12. Kahin bekhayal hokar, yuhin chuliya kisine (Teen Devian Rafi) -This is the third song in this list from the same film Teen Devian.  

Mere dil mein kaun hai tu, ke hua jahan andhera, 

Wahin sau diye jalaye, tere rukh ke chandini ne

What an imagination by Majrooh !..adding charm to these lines are the lilting melody with flutes & sitar  in interludes and inimitable singing by Rafi.

13. Pawan Diwani Na Mane , Dr Vidya , Lata-Set in raag Bhageshri , this dance number is very rarely heard. When it is picturized on one of the best dancers ever in Hindi films, viz Vyjantimala , then what can we expect? Perfect match to the excellent tune, lyrics and singing.

14..Saathi na koi manzil, diya hain a koi mehfil (Bambai Ka Babu , Rafi)-In some songs , there is no need of any orchestration. The tune, the singer and the words are enough. In this song there is  just a percussion to give the taal, and a guitar and flute …when there is Rafi to elevate such songs to a different level, what more is required?

There is a subtle change in the tempo of the song at the last antara and Majrooh completes the song with that antara:

Pathar ke aashna mile, Pathar ke dewata mile

Sheeshe ka dill iye , jaaun kahaaan

15. Tere Naina Talash kare jise wo hai tujhi mein kahin deewane (Talash, Manna Dey) The best way to complete this list is with this rare gem. Although Manna Da’s Poocho na kaise meine rain bitayee composed by Sachin da is an all time masterpiece, that was written by Shailendra. But this song is no less than that, with one of the unique combinations of Tabla and Mridangam (which is a prominent percussion instrument in Carnatic classical music).

Special Acknowledgements:  I sincerely thank the publishers of various blogsites & Internet sources  for the information that I could gather for this article. Also a special thanks to Mr Manek Premchand for the invaluable insights in his book : Yesterday’s Melodies, Today’s Memories.

Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been mentioned here   only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.