Chitragupt Shrivastav    : 16^th November 1917 -14^th Jan 1991

Many would have heard the song “ Chali chali re patang meri chali re” , “ Chal ud jaa re panchi ke ab yeh desh hua begaana” or “ Jaag Dil-E-Deewana, Rut Jaagi” etc without realizing who had composed  such timeless classics. These and many more such melodious songs were composed by Chitragupt Shrivastava ,  one  of the most under-rated, unrecognized music directors in the Hindi Film Music world. He was also one of the most educated music directors, having obtained double M.A degrees in Economics and Journalism!

Chitragupta Srivastava was born  in Karmaini village of Gopalganj district of Bihar He initially  worked as  a lecturer in a Patna college. Music , however was his passion and like many others , he  took the decision to try his luck in the Hindi Films . Starting off  as assistant to the veteran composer  SN Tripathi, he tried his hand as independent music composer for some  devotional/ mythological films.  Apart from the low-production value mythological films , he also worked on some “ stunt” films all with lesser-known actors. He was unfortunate to be not in the radar of the big stars like Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and also the big banners. Only the well-known production house from Chennai -AVM gave lot of opportunities to him apart from another  producer-director- Phani Majumdar. He was, however ,  very successful in the Bhojpuri film music , having composed for the first Bhojpuri film “ Ganga Maiyya Tohe Piyari Chadaibho” ( 1963) for which the  great lyricist Shailendra had worked with him.

The golden era of Hindi film music ( roughly 1950-70) was dominated by  the stalwarts like Naushad, C Ramachandra, Shankar-Jaikishan, O. P Nayyar and S.D Burman who were  the most successful and critically acclaimed   top five music composers. Equally talented and also  critically acclaimed , there were other composers like Vasant Desai,  Madan Mohan, Roshan, Ravi,  Jaidev, Salil Choudhury, etc who created a niche for themselves .  Towards the late 60’s and subsequent period, music composers like Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and R D Burman ruled the music scene with their own new style of music. Between all these , Chitragupta somehow managed to create a name  for himself and composed great music even if the films for which he worked were mostly by lesser-known banners or with relatively lesser-known  actors. Commercial success and the notoriously biased “ awards” eluded him , but the songs he created are appreciated by music lovers to this day. Melody reigned most  supreme in his music.

The ” notoriously biased” awards always eluded this great melody master Chitragupt, but he got some solace , when his sons Anand-Milind got the Filmfare award for best music direction for their Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak that was a breakthrough film for them and a huge commercial success.

Just as a representative sample, I have lsited 15 of his evergreen songs in their chronological order of year of release. The film name/year of release/song/ singer(s)/ lyricist are mentioned in that order.

1. Bhabhi-1957/Chal Ud Jaa Re Panchhi/ Rafi/ Rajendra Krishan

Chal Ud jaa re panchi is one of the topmost songs from the team of Chitragupta-Rajendra Krishan-Rafi. A very emotionally moving song, Chitragupta should  be considered among the top  legendary music directors for this one song alone !  There is no  elaborate music arrangement or orchestration in this simple tune. Powerful  lyrics by Rajendra Krishan and the immortal rendition by Chitragupt’s most prolific male singer – Rafi  created this magical song and it remains  one of the topmost songs of HFM.

Rafi and Lata , both had some of their career best songs in the compositions of Chitragupt. With some 261 songs , Chitragupt stands number three in terms of the highest number of songs composed for Rafi after Laxmikant-Pyarelal & Shankar-Jaikishan!

The song appears in various stages in the film and it is nice to hear the entire song in a good quality audio in the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lscS_eej2JE

2. Bhabhi-1957/Chali Chali re patang meri/Rafi & Lata/ Rajendra Krishan

An evergreen song played during the Sankranti festival when kite flying is popular, this is a super hit song from Chitragupt with his  signature style . Rafi had few simple passions in his personal life and kite flying was one of them. He must have thoroughly enjoyed singing this one!

Chitragupt does a beautiful arrangement of making Lata join Rafi after the line “ yun mast hawa mein lehrayee, jaise udan khatola uda jaaye in the first antara and the other way in second antara, with Rafi joining Lata after the line Rang meri patang ka dhani , hai yeh neel gagan ki rani.

The humming by Rafi and Lata in the interludes is also so sweet.

3. Kaali Topi Laal Rumaal-1959/Laagi Chhute Na Ab To Sanam/Rafi & Lata/Majrooh Sultanpuri

One of the most iconic song that describes, Chitragupta’s style of composing pleasing melodies, this song used to be played regularly in  Vividh Bharati and I remember having heard this from the time I was around 10 years old. Chitragupta composed another song with almost similar tune “ Teri duniya se door chale hoke majboor “ for the film Zabak in 1961 that had lyrics by Prem Dhawan.

The defining style of Chitragupta’s music was that you will mostly  not find any elaborate orchestrations or some extra-ordinary preludes & interludes , but it was compensated to a great deal with a very sweet melody underlying the whole song. It is always had a soothing effect on you. Not to forget -the lilting mouth organ played through the song.

4. Kaali Topi Laal Rumaal-1959/Daga Daga Vai Vai Ho gayee/Lata/Majrooh Sultanpuri

Normally one  would not associate his music  with such  prominent percussion  as melody was always his focus. But this one has a superb rhythm . One interesting word in the lyrics of this song is that “ che-kunam” that means an expression of  dilemma or bafflement.

5. Patang-1960/Rang Dil Ki dhadkan bhi/Lata/ Rajendra Krishan

This is the first song that comes to one’s mind whenever  Lata’s songs for Chitragupta  are thought of. One can feel that ‘dhadkan’ in the way he had composed the song right from the start of the song with that beautiful little pause after the words “ laati to hogi”. When the tune, lyrics and singing complement each other so well, you always get a song that will remain with us for centuries.

6. Opera House-1961/Balma Maane Na/Lata/ Majrooh

Whenever the best songs of Lata are talked about, some of the top music directors like Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishan , Madan Mohan, Roshan, Salil Chowdhury come to one’s mind. But it would be surprising to note that Chitragupta had composed some of Lata’s career  best  songs.  Balma Maane na is such a brilliant classical song composed in raag Malkauns and can be easily rated among Lata’s top songs. It is really a pity that most of Chitragupta’s songs were for smaller banners and stars -the so called ‘B’ or ‘ C ‘ grade films. His songs always remained TOP CLASS irrespective of the films.

7. Mein Chup Rahoongi-1962/Koi Bata de dil hain Jahan/Lata & Rafi/ Rajendra Krishan

A fast-paced duet of Lata and Rafifrom the same film ‘Mein Chup Rahoongi’. Teasing romantic lines from Rajendra Krishan:

Koi batade dil hai Jahan, kyun hota hai dard wahan

Teer chalake yeh to na poocho, dil hai kahan aur dard kahan

8. Ganga Ki Lehren-1964/Chedo Na Meri Zulfen Sab log /Kishore & Lata/Majrooh

One more soft, romantic melody from the team of Chitragupta-Majrooh -Lata and Kishore. Although Kishore had sung few songs only for Chitragupt, he always gives his best . Listen to the way Kishore sings in his typical style with a drawl , the lines “ hum ko deewana , tumko kaali ghata kahenge”.

9. Oonche Log-1965/Jaag Dil-e-Deewana/Rafi/ Majrooh

Oonche Log was a remake of the Tamil film Major Chandrakant that was directed originally by the legendary Tamil film director K Balachandar. The Hindi version was directed by Phani Majumdar, who had given many opportunities for Chitragupt.

Oonche Log,  was one of Chitragupta’s career best film-all the three songs mentioned here are truly masterpieces. Rafi’s “Jaag Dil-E-Deewana” sung in a very soft , sensual style can be easily considered one among his top 25 songs.

10. Oonche Log-1965/Haye Tere Chanchal Nainwa/Lata/ Majrooh

Uniquely picturized song -a young Feroz Khan holding a transistor and listening to this song and we can  hear   Mahindra Kapoor’s voice crooning softly along with Lata , humming the last lines in each antaraa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkkCdjAE-R4

11.Oonche Log-1965/Aaja Re Mere Pyaar Ke Rahi-Lata & Mahindra Kapoor/ Majrooh

It was during the period in which Rafi & Lata did not sing together and so in duets,  whenever the male singer was Rafi , it was mostly Suman Kalyanpur or Asha who sang with him and whenever the female singer was Lata , it was mostly  Mahindra Kapoor  who got the chance to sing with her. This is one such example and one of the very beautiful romantic number of Mahindra Kapoor.

12.Aakash Deep-1965/Dil Ka Diya Jalake gaya/Lata/Majrooh

Lata was known for her ease in rendering songs at high octaves and so it is relatively rare to hear her sing in the lower ones. But in this song, Chitragupta had Lata singing almost at a whisper and what a great song this turned out to be!

13. Aakash Deep-1965/Mujhe Dard-E-Dil Ka pata na tha/Rafi/ Majrooh

A hidden gem of Rafi-the way he gives that special touch at “ Mazee mein tha” in the line “ Main akele yoon hi maze mein tha” is something one must listen to carefully ,  appreciate and enjoy! Great composition by the melody master.

14. Aadhi Raat Ke Baad (1965)/Bahut haseen hain tumhari ankhen/Rafi &  Suman Kalyanpur / Prem Dhawan

A rarely heard duet , again from the time period when Suman got chances to sing duets with Rafi. This is one more example of the lilting melodious tunes that Chitragupt was so good in composing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBX4OiHJjcc

15. Vaasna-1968/ Yeh Parbaton Ke Dayare Yeh shaam ka duan/Rafi & Lata/ Sahir Ludhianvi

I saved the best one from Chitragupt for the last in this list of songs. One of my personal favorites , this song captures the essence of his style . An excellent tune , with masterly use of violins, accordion , saxophone and guitar , aided by a mild percussion that enhances the song to a great level. Rafi , Lata at their best and with the Shehenshah among lyricists-Sahir Ludhianvi joining in , we get an evergreen song that will live for centuries .

  I sincerely thank the publishers of following blogsites & Internet sources  for the information that I could gather for this article:

1. You Tube
2. Wikipedia
3. Songsofyore blagsite

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. I would also like to thank various blogs/articles published in the Internet from which I had obtained many information while writing this.