Just like the way in which Rafi could elaborate a particular word or phrase in multiple ways in a song, we can write about his songs by looking at them from different aspects. That is why there cannot be any limitation to blogs on Rafi. I keep writing about various artists throughout the year but when it comes to 24th December and 31st July, it always has to be about Rafi.
On his 45th death anniversary , I thought of looking at some of his songs that are written beautifully and with his exceptional singing he elevates these songs to an even higher level . Rafi sahab must have sung around 5000+ songs and the number of music directors who had composed these runs into hundreds with equally hundreds of lyricists who wrote them. Among the most prolific lyricists who wrote the songs of Rafi are : Majrooh Sultanpuri, Anand Bakshi, Rajendra Krishan, Hasrat Jaipuri and Shakeel Badyuni. One day I may write a blog taking up the best songs from these and few other lyricists. Even for some obscure lyricists , he had made their songs immortal by his exceptional singing ! For this blog, I am not applying any criteria and just selected ten songs that came to my mind due to their inherent lyrical beauty and Rafi rendering them in a brilliant manner.
Rafi’s uniqueness was in his dedication to give his best to each song , irrespective of whether they were for big banners or lesser-known banners. Also, his diction was always superb , with no difficulty for us in understanding the words of the songs. Crystal clear pronunciation of Hindi and Urdu words was his strong point. Added to the clarity, he used to add his special touch , emphasizing few words, singing the same phrase in different ways in different stanzas , even rendering the entire song in a tone that suits the emotion of the song.
This blog is specifically about those songs , in which Rafi sahab enhances the beauty of the song by the way he picks up few words and phrases and embellishes them in his inimitable style. I have restricted myself just to ten such songs that are purely my personal favourites. Of course in all these songs one common factor is that the lyrics are also outstanding.
The songs listed her are mainly my personal likes; I am sure any other Rafi fan would have an entirely different list ! One more important note that I would like to add is that many of his top songs that became epics for having some of the best lyrics ever written , like Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par and Yeh Mehlon Yeh Takhton ( Sahir Ludhianvi for Pyasa), Bichde Sabhi Bhari Bhari( Kaifi Azmi for Kagaz Ke Phool) , Caarvan Guzar Gaya ( Neeraj for Nayee Umar Ki Nayee Fasal) etc were already covered by me in an earlier blog “ Few extraordinary songs of Rafi sahab” . Those were songs, which if anyone else had sung would not have made any impact . Since I had covered those songs elaborately in that blog , I am not including them here.
The songs are listed in chronological order of their film’s release with details of song viz, Lyricist -song title-film-year- music director mentioned in that order. Giving the entire lyrics for each song would make the blog too lengthy and so I have tried to highlight the best part of the song or the best part where Rafi sahab had enhanced the lyrical value of the song to the best of my ability.
Many songs in YouTube that have visuals sometimes have an issue of not enabled for playing in an embedded form and so in such cases, I have linked only the audio version of the song.
Kaifi Azmi-Jane Kya Dhoondti Rehti Hai Yeh Aankhen-Shola Aur Shabnam-1961-Khayyam
Kaifi Azmi wrote some of the most memorable songs , immortalized by the sheer singing power of Rafi sahab. In his early days, Khayyam composed some of his best songs with the help of Rafi .
Aarzu jurm, wafa jurm, tamanna hai gunaah
Ye wo duniya hai yahaan pyaar nahin ho sakata
Kaise baazaar ka dastur tumhe samajhaaun
Bik gaya jo wo kharidaar nahin ho sakata
Starting off with a leisurely pace , Rafi goes to the high notes at the end , conveying the softness of the lyrics in the beginning and the frustration towards the end. How superbly he breathes life to the hard-hitting lines of Kaifi Azmi with “bikh gaya jo wo khareedar nahin ho sakta ”in a way that only he can do.
2. Raja Mehdi Ali Khan-Mein Nigahen Tere Chehre Se Hataoon-Aap Ki Parchhaiyan-1964-Madan Mohan
Madan Mohan & Raja Mehdi Ali Khan were a great team. And if we add a romantic song , rendered by the master in that genre , then what else do we need! RMAK wrote many such beautiful ghazals for Madan Mohan.
Just that one word ‘ tauba tauba…tauba taubaaa’ is enough to make this song immortal. And in the line “tujhse nibh jaayegi, mein inse nibhaoon kaise” , one can sense the helplessness in his tone.
3. Sahir Ludhianvi-Mehfil Se Uth Jaane Walo-Dooj Ka Chand-1964-Roshan
Sahir is the superstar among lyricists and it is very difficult to choose one song written by this genius. As I had mentioned in my introduction, I have already covered his landmark songs. Mehfil se uth jaane walon is a hidden gem, not heard much and is one of the best by Rafi among the hundreds of songs that he had rendered in an ‘ intoxicated’ manner ( figuratively – everyone knows he was an absolute teetotaller , but rendered the best songs for an on-screen sharabi!!). Watch out for that ‘Mere Sathi’ each time he sings – it is sheer delight to listen . Also the hollow laughter after “ achha khasa khel raha” , which he repeats again in the last stanza. Rafi’s mastery lies in adding these special touches with a razor-sharp precision: a more-than-required exaggeration will make it over-powering and anything less would not make any impact. He knew exactly how to do those ‘ harkats’!!
Do din tumne pyaar jataya , do din tum se mel raha
Achha khasa waqt kata aur achha khasa khel raha
Ab us khel ka zikr hi kaisa, waqt kata aur khel tamaam
Long back, I had written about this song for a different blogsite dedicated to Rafi sahab and that was my very first blog! One of the best lullabies ever sung by a male playback singer, Shailendra’s mastery was in conveying profound philosophy in simple words that even a common man could understand.
Shankar- Jaikishan create a soulful melody and Shailendra’s imagination is at its height:
So gaya chaman-chaman, so gayee kali-kali
So gaye hain sab nagar, so gayee gali-gali
Nind kah rahi hai chal meri baahen thaam
Note how Rafi brings his voice almost to a whisper in the line ‘So gaye hain sab nagar, so gaye gali-gali’
Again, in the last stanza, the sorrow in these lines is so beautifully brought out by Rafi in a way that only he can.
Kaun ayega idhar, kiski raah dekhe ham
Jinaki ahaten suni, jaane kisake the kadam
5. Hasrat Jaipuri-Yeh mera prem patra padhkar -Sangam-1964-Shankar Jaikishan-last few lines by Vyjanthimala
Hasrat Jaipuri wrote some of the best romantic songs in Hindi film music and this could arguably be his best ever. The very beginning of the song shows the class of Hasrat:
Mehrbaan likhoon, Haseena likhoon, Ya Dilruba likhoon?
Hairan hoon ke aapko is khat mein kya likhoon?
Rafi’s special touch: In the very first line, he comes out with a softer ‘ ya dilruba likhoon ‘ , and at the end ‘ is khat mein kyaa likhoon , he perfectly conveys the dilemma of the hero as to what he should write to his lover! In many songs Rafi did almost 90% of the job of the on-screen actor!
Watch out how he goes to a high note till the word ‘bhatkegi’ in the line Agar mar jaaun ruh bhatkegi tere intezaaar main and then rapidly glides down in a silky tone with ‘ tere intezaar mein ’.
6. Majoor Sultanpuri-Janewalon Zara Mudke Dekho Mujhe-Dosti-1964-Laxmikant Pyarelal
The film Dosti had unknown actors, but had one of the best ever scores by Laxmikant Pyarelal for whom this was a major springboard to fame. What great songs Rafi had rendered-wish I could include all of them here! Majrooh weaved magic with his immortal compositions in all the songs.
Can there be any other better way of conveying the emotions of a differently-abled person than these lines?
Is anokhe jagat ki main taqdeer hoon ,
Main widhaata ke haathon ki tasveer hun, ek tasveer hun
Is jahaan ke liye, dharti maa ke liye
Shiv ka waradaan hun, main tumhaari tarah
Throughout the song one can hear how Rafi conveys the earnest plea of a differently- abled person asking the society to consider him as one among them only and not different from them. And his special touch comes with those subtle variations every time he sings “ mein tumhari tarah”
7. Gopaldas Neeraj-Aaj Ki Raat Badi Shok Badi Natkhat -Nayee Umar Ki Nayee Fasal-1966-Roshan
Gopaldas Neeraj was a well-known Hindi poet long before he entered the film world. Roshan immortalized him in the hall of fame with his masterpiece Swapn Jhare Phool Se Meet Chube shool se. I rate this as one of the best ever lyrical composition in Hindi film music. However as I had already covered this song in an earlier blog, I have picked up one more hidden gem from the same film. Dripping with romance , Neeraj’s sublime description of the hero’s lover is brought to life with Rafi’s vocals that seem to be drenched in honey. Though the entire song is a masterpiece in poetry, the last stanza is something magical! Note how Rafi renders the “ aur bezaaar” and also that special tone he lends to the line “ Ho…aisi rangeen ghazal raat na phir gaayegi”.
The last stanza lyrics goes like this:
Raat rani ki yeh bheeni si nasheeli khushboo
Aa rahee hai ke jo chan chan ke ghani dhalon se
Aisa lagta hai kisi dheet jhakore* se lipat
Khel aayee hai tere uljhe hue baalon se
Aur bezaar….aur bezaar na kar mere tadapte dil ko
Aisi rangeen..ho aisi rangeen ghazal raat na phir gaayegi
Aaj to tere bina neend nahin aayegi
Dheet jhakore meaning-a stray or wanton gust of wind
8. Shakeel Badayuni-Kal Raat Zindagi Se Mulakat Ho gayee-Palki-1967-Naushad
Naushad and Shakeel Badayuni are inseparable. While there are many articles about the great lyrics of Sahir, Shailendra, Kaifi ( absolutely no doubt they richly deserve that and I am myself a great fan of their lyrics ) but Shakeel is somehow is not talked about much. He has written some of the best Urdu shayari that were immortalized by the venerable Naushad and when Rafi teams up with them , it is sheer magic.
The tune is simple and more so the orchestration is minimal like most of Naushad’s songs. At around 6 minutes, this song is quite an unusually long song with just three stanzas only. Each stanza is lengthy and note how Rafi breathes life into each and every word, emphasizing few here and there. The basic idea of my blog is to showcase such songs, which sound so great due to the sheer power of the lyrics and how Rafi renders them to a perfection.
9. Prem Dhawan-Allah Hi Allah Kar Pyare Bhai-Pavitra Papi-1970-Prem Dhawan
Everyone must be aware of the anecdote about the young Rafi , who as a child used to be enthralled by a fakir’s singing in his village and he used to just follow him . It is my own imagination that he might have remembered this fakir when he sang this song and one can get the feel as if a fakir is singing it.
Prem Dhawan is one the rare artists who could compose music , lyrics and he was also a choreographer-truly multi-faceted artist. The song appears in the film at various situations and Rafi has sung this in a totally different tone.
This particular stanza seems to have been written for the farishta Rafi who has given us so much pleasure through his immortal songs :
Kabhi kabhi is duniya mein yaro
Aise farishte bhi aate hai
Kisi ko apna sab kuch deke
Khali hath chale jate hai
Jaise sukh ki chhaya deke
Jaise sukh ki chhaya deke
Badal jaye bikhar pyare
Bhai allah hi allah
Allah hi allah kar pyare bhai
10. Anand Bakshi-Mehbooba Teri Tasveer-Ishq Par Zor Nahin-1970- S D Burman
The song that is most popular from this film Ishq Par Zor Nahin, is Yeh Dil Deewana Hai . But in this song , Anand Bakshi, well known for his romantic songs, comes out with superb poetry to describe the hero’s mehbooba ( lover) and her beauty.
Observe how Rafi plays with the words “ Kis tharah” , and an ‘extended’ “tasveer” and that special touch to that “ suna hai” in the line tere jaisa koi kahin dekha na suna hai.
Acknowledgement & Disclaimer
I sincerely thank the publishers of following blogsites & Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded here only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
A voice that can convey varied emotions like an intense pathos , the ebullience of a girl in love, a devotional fervour , the carefree tease of a cabaret dancer etc. It is really difficult to describe the voice of Geeta Dutt (born Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri). When we observe the different female playback singers of Hindi film music, we have sweet-as-nectar Lata Mangeshkar, Suman Kalyanpur and at the other end , powerful , ringing metallic voices like Shamshad Begum, Noorjahan . Somewhere in-between Geeta could find a niche for herself , with a combination of a commanding voice that can also sound so melodious. So we could hear the pain in her Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam, the peppy Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu or Babuji Dheere Chalna and also a mellifluous Koi Chupke Se Aake Sapne that she sang in her last film before fate snatched her away cruelly at the young age of 42.
Like it happens purely by chance, the time I am publishing this blog is close to the anniversary of Geeta Dutt that falls on 20th July and just few days back, on 9th July , it was the birth centenary of her husband and noted film producer-writer-actor-director Guru Dutt.
Like the intense films that her husband used to make , their personal lives were also entangled in many twists and turns. Both were great artists and unfortunately except for few years , their married life was not a happy one with Guru Dutt very sadly passing away in 1964 at the age of 39 and Geeta Dutt followed eight years later , when she was just about to complete 42 years. There are many articles in the Internet about their personal lives and it must be known to many also and hence I will not elaborate further on that and instead focus more on her fabulous songs.
Geeta was one of 10 children born to a wealthy zamindar family in a Faridpur district in East Bengal, that is now Bangladesh. Her family moved to Calcutta and Assam in the early 1940s, leaving behind their land and properties. In 1942, her parents moved to an apartment in Bombay. Geeta was twelve and continued her schooling at the Bengali High School.
During her days in East Bengal , she trained as a singer under her music teacher, Hirendranath Nandy before her family settled in Bombay. The composer K. Hanuman Prasad heard her singing in her house when she was in Bombay and was impressed by her voice . He gave her the first opportunity to sing in the mythological film Bhakta Prahlad. She was given two lines to sing for two songs. Though she sang for few movies subsequently , it was the 1947 film Do Bhai that gave her the much-needed breakthrough, with the popular song “Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya” scored by S. D. Burman becoming a hit. There was no turning back for her and soon she started singing for more than a dozen films in the next two years. Despite one more legend, Lata Mangeshkar storming the music industry in 1949, with Barsaat , Mahal etc , Geeta had her own place and was well established as a leading female playback singer.
In 1951, the film Baazi turned the career of many artists apart from that of Geeta Dutt- S D Burman the composer , Guru Dutt for whom this was his debut as a director and also for Sahir Ludhianvi, the great lyricist. Her songs in the Hindi film Baazi, with music composed by S. D. Burman, were highly well-received with the song “Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le” being an eternal favourite. It was also during the song recording for this film that she met and fell in love with Guru Dutt .
Apart from Hindi she was also well received in Gujarati films despite not knowing the language, and of course in her native Bengali films. After their marriage, she sang in all of Guru Dutt’s subsequent films with songs from films like Mr. & Mrs. ’55, C.I.D., Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam being etched in our memory.
There was a time when Guru Dutt did not want her to continue her singing career and coupled with the personal turmoil she faced in her married life with Guru Dutt , she turned to alcohol and slowly her career started declining in the late-1950s. The music composers who gave her immortal songs , S D Burman and O P Nayyar drifted towards Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle respectively. Unfortunately she could not even take the opportunity of the spat between Burman da and Lata for few years as he had started preferring Asha .
Fate brought in a severe blow to her when Guru Dutt’s passed away in 1964 ( was it suicide or an accidental overdose of sleeping pills with heavy drinking-it is still debated). She performed even more infrequently in films. After a long hiatus , for composer Kanu Roy, she recorded three superb songs for Basu Bhattacharya’s film Anubhav in 1971. Just like a lamp that burns the brightest just before fading out , these songs show how she was still able to render classic masterpieces.
In all , over a 25-year career, Geeta Dutt recorded over 1,400 songs in various languages , mostly in Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati, few in languages like Marathi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, and Nepali. With Guru Dutt, Geeta Dutt had two sons, Tarun (1954-1985), Arun (1956-2014) and a daughter, Nina (b. 1962). She died on 20 July 1972 due to liver cirrhosis aged 41, in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Geeta Dutt had a voice that can convey various emotions with an intensity that was unique to her. Compared to her other illustrious contemporaries, she was relatively less trained in the techniques of singing , but could compensate that with the intensity and emotions she brought out in her singing.
I have tried my best to list out 25 songs -some very popular and few that are relatively rare. Listing is in chronological order of the year of the film, with song-film-year-music director-lyricist and any co-singer mentioned in that order. The usual disclaimer -these are purely my personal favourites and it is very difficult to capture that huge variety of songs she had rendered in a short article.
<Some of the links to the songs embedded here do not play from the video version of the songs due to restrictions in Youtube and in those cases I have provided only the audio version links>
Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya -Do Bhai-1947-S D Burman-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
Geeta Dutt would have been just 17 years old when this song was recorded-what a maturity in her voice and the emotions she had conveyed became one of her greatest strengths.
2. Ghunghat Ke Pat Khol re tohe piya-Jogan-1950- Bulo C Rani-Meera Bai
This Meera bhajan composed so nicely by one the legends of the vintage era of Hindi film music, Bulo C Rani ( for a long time I was under the wrong impression this was a female music director but it was actually a male Bulo Chandiram Ramchandani!). The devotional genre was one more feather in her cap for Geeta Dutt.
3. Tadbir Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer-Baazi-1951-S D Burman-Sahir Ludhianvi
It was a unique strength of Geeta Dutt that she could render a song full of pathos or a devotional one with as much skill as the fun-filled , peppy numbers like this one. It is said that people used to watch the movie Baazi only for this song, repeatedly! That ‘hey hey heyyyyy’ by her makes this song immortal.
4. Suno gajar kya gaaye-Baazi-1951- S D Burman-Sahir Ludhianvi
Burman da composed this with a grand orchestration that was rare in those days. A fast paced, combination of Spanish gypsy and Arabian music styles , Burman da truly excelled in this composition. The way Geeta Dutt sings the second antara-Husn bhi faani aur Ishq bhi faani hai marks her distinct style.
5. Yeh kaun aaya Baazi-1951- S D Burman-Sahir Ludhianvi
The film Baazi had both Geeta Bali and Kalpana Kartik and note how Geeta Dutt renders this song , picturized on Kalpana in a different tone when compared to those she sang for Geeta Bali.
6. Jai Jagadish Hare -Anand Math-1952-Hemant Kumar- Composed By Sanskrit Poet Jayadeva Circa 1200 AD-With Hemant Kumar
One of the masterpieces from Hemant da, Anand Math was his debut film in Hindi as a composer. This could be one of the rarest songs of HFM in which a Sanskrit shloka was taken from the 13th century work ‘Geeta Govinda’, by a Sanskrit poet Jayadeva . It is amazing to note that way back in 1952 , Hemant da had conceptualized this with two contrasting tunes. He recites the main shloka and Geeta Dutt follows him , repeating the lines Keshava dhrut meena shareera jaya Jagadeesh hare, Keshava dhrut wamana roopa jaya jagadeesh hare, Keshava dhrut Rama shareera jaya jagadeesh hare, Keshava dhrut Budhha shareera jaya jagadeesh hare and Keshava dhrut Kalki shareera jaya jagadeesh hare in a different tune. Imagine in the year 1952, with primitive recording technology and maybe just one mike for both the singers , they created such magical compositions.
The baritone of Hemant da contrasted with the intense devotional fervour in Geeta’s voice is something that remains in our mind long after the song is over.
7. Na Yeh Chand Ho Ga-Shart -1954-Hemant Kumar-S H Bihari
This song has two solo versions, one by Hemant da and one by Geeta Dutt . Both are classics in their own way.
8. Babuji Dhire Chalna-Aar Paar- 1954- O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri
Contrast this with the Na yeh chand hoga that you might have just heard. Apart from S D Burman, it was O P Nayyar who gave maximum number of hits for Geeta Dutt. One can say this was the signature style of Geeta! The way she adds that special charm in the word “ Chalna” -simply superb!
9. Hoon abhi mein jawan ae dil- Aar Paar- 1954- O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri
Continuing on similar lines to that of Babuji Dheere Chalna, this is one more delightful song by the magical team of OPN-Geeta -Majrooh. One difference is that Geeta renders this in a fantastic intoxicated tone. All the songs from this film could be included! I had to sacrifice them for the sake of brevity- Geeta’s fabulous duets with Rafi- Mohobbot Kar lo ji bhar lo, Arrey na na na tauba tauba, Sun sun sun zaalima pyar humko are simply outstading! Geeta’s solo Ye lo mein haari piya and the sad version Ja ja ja bewafa kaise pyar …those days all the songs from a film used to be super hits!
10. Aan Milo Aan Milo -Devdas- 1955- S D Burman- Sahir Ludhianvi-
Duet with Manna Dey
This is one genre that was absolutely Geeta’s forte! The devotional songs that she rendered were evergreen classics. Manna da adds more charm to this with his inimitable style .
11. Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Ji Mr. & Mrs. ’55 – 1955- O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri-Duet with Rafi
One of the iconic songs of Johnny Walker- Rafi and Geeta at their playful best! And when we have the foot-tapping rhythm of Nayyar sahab, what more do we want?!
12. Jaata Kahan Hai deewane-CID -1956- O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri
Those days the censor board officials were strange! They had this song removed from the film due to the words “ phi phi…kuch tere dil mein phi phi…kuch mere dil mein phi ..phi!!! They thought the words phi phi was gibberish. Fortunately we have the audio! And what a scintillating performance by Geeta Dutt-note that extra drawl she added to the word ‘ kasam….aaaa’ as they say in today’s lingo-she just rocked!
13. Aye Dil Mujhe Bata De-Bhai Bhai- 1956-Madan Mohan-Rajendra Krishan
The normally staid and melodious Madan Mohan comes out with one more rocking number for Geeta Dutt. I do not have the statistics with me , but I think there must be very few songs he had composed for her. But legends, when they get even one song, grab the opportunity and make it an immortal classic.
14. Aaj Sajan Mohe Ang Lagalo-Pyaasa-1957-S D Burman- Sahir Ludhianvi
The character played by Waheeda Rehman conveys her unrequited love through this song that is composed as a bhajan – a classic example of Burman da’s superb composing skill. That dhol , a typical percussion used in Bengal , coupled with Geeta Dutt’s voice that brings out the pain sets the tone for this evergreen song. Pyasa had some of the best ever songs by Rafi like Yeh mehlon yeh takhton, Sar Jo tera chakraye, Jinhe Naaz hai Hind par woh kahan hai but in the midst of all those , this one by Geeta has its own place in Hindi film music. Of course there is another famous duet Hum Aaapki aankhon mein is dil ko …but sometimes radio, and almost all the albums have repeated this song so many times that I have not included that here.
15. Tum jo mil mere humsafar-12 ‘O’ Clock-1958-O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri-Duet with Rafi
A soft and subtle romantic duet by OPN that brings out the voice of both Rafi and Geeta so nicely.
16. Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu-Howrah Bridge- 1958-O P Nayyar-Qamar Jalalabadi
The quintessential rock and roll style that was in vogue for most of the 50’s and 60’s , I think this song doesn’t need any thing to be written about. An eternal classic that describes the music of OPN and also the style of Geeta Dutt for whom this has become almost a signature song. This is equally popular with today’s generation as it was around six decades ago.
17. Mujhko tum jo mile yeh jahaan-Detective-1958-Mukul Roy-Shailendra-Duet with Hemant Kumar
Mukul Roy was brother of Geeta Dutt and a music composer too. During the stressful times that Geeta had in her personal life and even after her death, he took care of her and her children. The film Detective had some of the best scores by Mukul Roy. This is a delightful melody.
18. Nanhi Kali Sone Chali Hawa Dhire Aana -Sujata -1959-S D Burman-Majrooh Sultanpuri
One of the most famous lullabies of HFM. Caresses you as a gentle breeze.
19. Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam-Kaagaz Ke Phool- 1959-S D Burman-Kaifi Azmi
My title for this blog has the lines from this song-tragically Geeta’s best song describes how fate brought in a tragic end to both Guru Dutt and herself. The way she has sung this is something that no one can replicate. That pangs of separation is conveyed so well but at the same time in an understated way. Considered as a cult classic movie now, Kagaz Ke Phool was a commercial disaster for Guru Dutt and he never directed a movie after this. Though he made few films afterwards that had his distinct touch , officially he credited the title to others.
His trusted photographer of the black & white era V K Murthy’s artistry is apparent in the way this song has been shot. Each frame is a painting.
20. Na mein dhan chahoon na ratan -Kala Bazaar-1960- S D Burman-Shailendra-Duet with Sudha Malhotra
One of the most beautiful bhajans ever composed in HFM ( some say this was Jaidev’s creation who was assisting S D Burman at that time) , this is a rare combination of Geeta with Sudha Malhotra.
Shailendra , as usual comes out with gems of wisdom with few words.
21. Na Jao Saiyaan Chhuda Ke Baiyaan -Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam-1962-Hemant Kumar-Shakeel Badayuni
The three songs from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam that I have listed here do not need any description. Words will simply fail to explain them. Just close your eyes and get yourself immersed in them. The music of Hemant Kumar, lyrics of Shakeel Badayuni and last but not least Geeta Dutt’s out-of-the world rendition transport you to another world.
24. Mujhe Jaan Nah Kaho Meri Jaan-Anubhav- 1971- Kanu Roy-Gulzar
The last two songs in my blog is from the film Anubhav that was directed by Basu Bhattacharya , part of the trilogy by him on marital discord -Gharonda & Avishkar . Though Geeta sang in one more film after this, but this was her swan song. With almost nil orchestration , the immensely talented but sadly sidelined music director Kanu Roy brought out the best in Geeta Dutt’s voice in the three songs from this film. I have excluded Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota just for the sake of having the traditional 25 number of songs in my blogs!
25. Koi Chupke Se Aake- Anubhav- 1971- Kanu Roy-Gulzar
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer: I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded 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 The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
Sometimes it so happens , purely by coincidence , that when I select an artist for my blog, his/her birth anniversary falls to close to the date I may complete it. It gave me immense pleasure to note that this blog will be published close to the 96th birth anniversary of a unique music composer and singer who was well known in the 50’s & 60’s and gave some immortal melodies with his honey-laced vocals and equally melodious tunes.
Aemala Manmadharaju Rajah, popularly known as A. M. Rajah (1929–1989 ) was born on 1 July 1929 in Ramapuram village, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. His father died when he was just three months old and the family later moved to Renukapuram, Chittoor District , A.P. He completed his graduate studies from the famous Pachaiyappa’s College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Music was always his passion and he used to win many prizes in the college music festivals.
Whilst studying , Rajah wrote, composed, and sang two songs in Telugu with the instrumental support of the music director K. V. Mahadevan for His Master’s Voice. These songs were broadcast by All India Radio and caught the attention of S. S. Vasan, noted film producer. After listening to these songs, Vasan, with the approval of his music director Emani Sankara Sastry, booked Rajah for his upcoming film, Samsaram. The song Samsaram Samsaram Samsaram, sakala dharma saram was well received by the listeners and he had made his mark. Slowly he started singing in his mother tongue Telugu and other languages like Malayalam and Kannada.
He even acted and sang in Pakkinti Ammayi (1953), which was a precursor to the famous film Padosan in Hindi and Adutha Veetu Pen in Tamil. Those days many Hindi films used to be dubbed in Tamil and one such film “ Aah” was released as “ Avan” in Tamil. In 1953, Rajah and Jikki were chosen by the leading composers Shankar- Jaikishan and Raj Kapoor to render the songs in the Tamil version and it is said they were the first pair from South to go to Mumbai and sing . Rajah also sang in a few Sinhala films produced in Chennai and Sri Lanka with Jikki and K. Jamuna Rani.
In the early years as a singer he had sung for the leading actors of those time like M G Ramachandran & Sivaji Ganesan in Tamil, N T Rama Rao & A Nageshwara Rao in Telugu, Prem Nazir and Satyam in Malayalam. Later on , in Tamil films, T M Soundararajan became the voice for both MGR and Sivaji and Rajah had his voice perfectly matched as the voice of another leading actor Gemini Ganesan. Only with the rise of P B Sreenivas as voice of Gemini, Rajah became less preferred. There are many stories about his stubbornness and short-tempered nature that made him a misfit in the whimsical film industry. I find some similarities between these stories to that of another such genius music composer in Hindi films Sajjad Husain. We do not know what happened exactly and hence I will not dwell upon them. Many artists have such strong individual principles or beliefs that they do not compromise with and hence they are often misunderstood , especially in the commercially driven film industry.
As listeners , our loss is that due to this trait, most of the leading composers of Tamil films, M.S Vishwanathan and K V Mahadevan did not have many songs for him and hence we can only wish we had more from these greats. Never-the-less whatever Rajah sang , they are hits and are with a sublime melody that one would like to listen now, even after 60-70 odd years they were composed. His voice had a very soft feel , almost one can say a feminine touch that suited intensely romantic songs, pathos and those with a classic base. He would also surprise us with a peppy “ Oho Enthen Baby Nee Vaarai Enthen Baby” and “ Paatu Padava Paarthu Pesava” that shows his versatility.
Rajah’s debut as music composer was for Sobha , a Telugu film made in 1958. Later his close friend and noted producer-director-writer C. V. Sridhar gave him the second break as an independent music director, in his own debut film as director-Kalyana Parisu. He fulfilled his promise that the day he directed his first film, Rajah would be its music director. Rajah received the Madras Film Fans Association award of Best Music Director in 1959 for this film. This film was a roaring success for both C V Sridhar and Rajah.
In the year 1958, Rajah married Jikki ( Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni) with whom he had earlier sung many duets, They were blessed with six children and some are still associated with music . It is commendable that despite Jikki being his wife, Rajah had sung many memorable songs with other singers like P Susheela and S Janaki in his own compositions . Of course many duets of Rajah & Jikki are evergreen.
Due to his own difficult ways, he slowly withdrew himself from the film industry after the mid-60’s and focused on his tourist car business in which he was successful. Also he did lot of music shows with Jikki in India and abroad and kept himself active with his music. Many years later , in 1971, the unassuming , genius composer V Kumar coaxed Rajah out of his self-imposed exile and gave him an opportunity to sing “ Mutharame Un Oodal Yennavo” song for the film Rangarattinam and it became a hit. Music duo Shankar-Ganesh came up with one more evergreen number Senthamaraiye Senthen Ithazhe for the film Puguntha Veedu in 1972. Later Rajah also composed for few films in the early 70’s but they were not so popular except for few like Raasi Nalla Raasi for Veetu Mapillai in 1972.
On the 8th of April, 1989, while travelling for a music show in Kanya Kumari, Rajah got down from the train in the Valliyur station as he was concerned about a boy from his troupe missing. Unfortunately when the train started moving , he tried to board , but slipped in the gap and got crushed by the train . A very sad and unfortunate end to a great genius. To the best of my knowledge one more genius music director Vasant Desai had a similar unfortunate fatal accident , slipping in an elevator shaft in his own apartment block in Mumbai.
When one more Raja from Pannaipuram , Tamil Nadu entered the film industry with his musical hit Annakili in 1976, the film maker Panju Arunachalam added the prefix Ilaya to differentiate from A M Rajah and he was subsequently known as Ilayaraja. It is interesting to note that for a very brief period , Ilayaraaja had worked as a guitarist for A M Rajah also !
I have listed 30 songs , and arranged them in two parts: first part has A M Rajah as a singer in other music directors’ compositions , second part has Rajah as a music director with songs that he had sung solo/ with other singers.
Since the number of songs are higher than my usual list that has 20-25 songs, I am keeping the description minimum for the sake of brevity.
Part 1-A M Rajah singing for other music composers (Song/ Film/ Year of film/ Music director/ Co-singer/ Lyricist/)
Samsaram Samsaram-Samsaram-1951- Emani Shankara Sastry-A M Rajah-Kothamangalam Subbu
Rajah’s debut film as a singer and note how at the young age of 22 , his voice and singing had so much of maturity!
2. Sirpi sethukkatha porchilaiye-Ethir Parathathu (1954)-C N Pandurangan-A M Rajah -K.P Kamatchi Sundaram
I had never heard this song till the time I started writing this blog-what a superb tune, depth, pathos in Rajah’s singing and not to forget the legend Sivaji’s expressions in enacting the song on screen. While researching for my blogs I came across this composer C N Pandurangan-and do not know much about him. I should try to explore more of his music-appears to be one more unrecognized artist in the film world.
3. Mayakkum Maalai Pozhude-Gul-E-Bakavali-1955-Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy ( Originally composed by KVM for Koondukili)- A M Rajah with Jikki
I learnt that this tune was originally composed by K V Mahadevan for the film Koondukkili but was not included and later it was taken for this film , with the credit accorded to Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy who had composed all others songs in this film. In his early days, Rajah had sung for both Sivaji and MGR and those were popular ones too.
4. Vaarayo Vennilave-Missiamma-1955- S Rajeshwara Rao-A M Rajah & P Leela-Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
With immortal songs like this , Rajah became the de-facto voice of Gemini Ganesan. This one is so popular even today with that superb mandolin-could be one among the best songs that used this instrument. My recent blog on P Leela also included this song-two legends singing together!
5. Brindavanamum Nandakumaranum- Missiamma-1955- S Rajeshwara Rao- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
It is interesting to note that this song alone was taken as it is for the Hindi version of this film ( Miss Mary -1957 ) by Hemant Kumar, whereas other songs were originally composed for the Hindi version. It is said Rajah was always inspired by the singing of Mohammad Rafi and Tlaat Mehmood and one can find that gentle, ghazal-like feel in many of his songs and compositions. Interestingly the Hindi version Brindavan Ka Krishna Kanhaiyya was sung by Rafi & Lata.
6. Then Unnum Vandu-Amara Deepam-1956-T Chalapati Rao- A M Rajah &P Susheela -K.P Kamatchi Sundaram
A lilting melody by the vetran music director in Telugu films, T Chalapati Rao-Rajah and P Susheela had sung many such sweet romantic duets.
It is my own observation that when female singers with a powerful voice like Bhanumati sing along with a gentle -voiced male singer , those songs have their own unique charm. One more example of Rajah with a super-hit song for MGR.
8. Kanmudum Velayilum Kalai-Mahadevi-1957-Vishwanathan -Ramamoorthy- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Kannadasan
Songs like these are simply gentle breeze that caresses us while we get immersed in their inherent melody and in the honey-laced voice of Rajah.
9. Thendral Uranguya Pothum-Petra Maganai Vitra Annai-1958-Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy- A M Rajah &P Susheela – A Maruthakasi
There must be few songs like this that have so many words in the lyrics . One of the most popular songs of Rajah , this can be heard multiple times without getting bored simply because of the impact of lyrics, tune, and exceptional singing by the two legends-Rajah and Susheela .
10. Aadada Manamum-Kalathur Kannamma-1960-R Sudarsanam- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Ku Ma Balasubramaniam
R Sudarshanam was always referred to as Sudarshanam Master-and he proves that he is a real master with this composition and the next one in my list. Note those fast-paced rhythm with table, dholak and bongos and that exquisite accordion! Rajah’s voice literally feels like a rose petal when he sings that second charanam-Roja-Puthu Roja-Azhagu Roja , fully enhancing the tune beautifully thought out by Sudarshanam master with a change of pace!
11. Kangalin Vaarthaigal- Kalathur Kannamma-1960-R Sudarsanam-A M Rajah &P Susheela-Kannadasan
I was under the impression that only TMS-P Susheela gave excellent duets, till I listened to so many from Rajah-Susheela pair. Though these may be lesser in number, many of them are evergreen and still sound so fresh.
12. Thuyilatha Pen Ondru Kanden- Meenda Sorgam-1960-T Chalapathi Rao- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Kannadasan
Any song that has the good old waltz rhythm is always a hit! And when you have the gentle vocals of Rajah , a superb piano , excellent orchestration , including that special touch of Chalapati Rao towards the end of the song with a delightful piano replacing the usual question and answer “ yaaro-neethan” , what else do we want!
13. Kalaiye Yen Vazhkaiyin Thisai-Meenda Sorgam-1960-T Chalapathi Rao-A M Rajah & P Susheela-Kannadasan
Rajah proves in this song what a great command he has on the classical genre. This superb Bhageshri raagam based melody is an absolute delight with that innovative humming of P Susheela. The alaap at the very beginning of the song is something to cherish -Rajah is simply superb in this.
14. Mutharame Un Oodal Yennavo-Rangaraattinam-1971-V Kumar-A M Rajah & L R Eashwari-Vaali
As mentioned in my intro , it was after a long hiatus Rajah was coaxed out of his self-imposed hibernation that V Kumar gave him a second innings with his song. A unique combination of Rajah with L R Eashwari. V Kumar had his own distinct style and he used to experiment with different pairs of singers-Rajah’s voice in the 70’s had a slightly different texture.
15. Senthamaraiye Senthen Ithazhe-Pugunda Veedu-1972-Shankar-Ganesh-A M Rajah & Jikki-Vaali
The duo Shankar-Ganesh started off as a team but due to the unfortunate demise of Shankar who was the younger brother of noted music director C R Subbaraman. Later Ganesh continued with the title Shankar -Ganesh and created his own niche. This song is one of the most popular after Rajah’s come back.
Part 2- A M Rajah as a music composer (Song/ Film/ Year of film/ Co-singer /Lyricist)
A M Rajah got his first break to compose music in Tamil films with C V Sridhar’s Kalyana Parisu. Both the film and its music were well received and this set the stage for Rajah to compose music for many films. However I have selected three of his major works as they contain some of his best compositions-Kalyana Parisu, Then Nilavu and Aadi Perukku. Among his works in the 70’s I could find one song that stood out-from the film Veetu Mappillai.
Vaadikkai Maranthathum-Kalyana Parisu-1959- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram
What a terrific fast paced interlude Rajah had thought of in this song, with those beautiful string arrangements! Not to miss that superb humming by Susheela and Rajah…
2. Kathalile Tholviutral Kanni- Kalyana Parisu-1959- A M Rajah & P Susheela-Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram
This film was known for the lead pair’s failure in their love and this song became sort of an anthem . The intense pathos in both the composition and singing stand out.
Jikki was known for her exceptional vocal skills and had sung for many other composers also, apart from her husband Rajah’s tunes.
4. Kaalaiyum Neeye Maalaiyum neeye-Then Nilavu-1961- A M Rajah & S Janaki -Kannadasan
One more example of Rajah’s command over the classical genre similar to Kalaiye En Vaazhvin . Was it a co-incidence that one had P Susheela humming throughout the song and the other one S Janaki? There are conflicting ideas about the raagam in which this is based-Hamsanandi or Basant-I am not an expert and I would just like to close my eyes and listen to this scintillating rendition.
5. Oho Enthan Baby- Then Nilavu-1961-A M Rajah & S Janaki-Kannadasan
Then Nilavu was without any doubt the magnum opus of Rajah with all the songs being super hits. And this song and Paatu Padava are the most famous of his songs.
6. Nilavum Malarum- Then Nilavu-1961- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Kannadasan
One more example of my theory-any song that has a waltz-based rhythm will always be a mega hit! Both Rajah and Susheela render such a great romantic melody!
7. Paattu Padava- Then Nilavu-1961-A M Rajah -Kannadasan
For many this could be one of the most popular songs of Rajah. I find shades of O P Nayyar’s typical tonga-rhythm ( horse hoof beat) and even his typical orchestration style in this but one should really appreciate that Rajah had not taken any specific song but just took the essence of OPN’s style . That mandolin , flute and violin arrangement is absolute class!
8. Chinna Chinna Kannile- Then Nilavu-1961- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Kannadasan
This song is picturized with the lead actors Gemini Ganesan and Vyjanthilamala in a Kashmiri style costume and Rajah composes a superb lilting melody that is in perfect sync with that.
9. Malare Malare Theriyatha- Then Nilavu-1961- P Susheela-Kannadasan
When it comes to solo songs , especially with a touch of pathos , then who else but the great legend P Susheela to render it. This film also has an excellent solo-Oorengum Thedinen Oruvarai Kanden- by Jikki but I had to exclude that -already my blog has crossed its usual length!
10. Thanimayile Inimai Kaana-Aadiperukku-1962- A M Rajah & P Susheela -K D Santhanam
After Kalyana Parisu and Then Nilavu, if there was one film that had superb songs composed by Rajah , it was Aadi Perukku. This one is also one of the well-known songs of Rajah.
11. Pengal Illaatha-Aadiperukku- 1962- A M Rajah & P Susheela -Kothamangalam Subbu
Qawwali is a genre that is very rarely heard in Tamil films. Rajah shows his mastery even in this genre.
12. Kannizhantha Manithar Munney Oviyam- Aadiperukku-1962-A M Rajah & P Susheela-Kannadasan
Kannadasan as usual comes out with so many similes to describe the story in his inimitable style , superbly composed by Rajah , sung by him along with Susheela.
13. Puriyathu Vaazhakaiyin Ragasiyam Puriyathu-Aadiperukku-1962-P B Sreenivas -Suratha
I had never heard this song and also never thought there could be a song composed by Rajah but sung by P B Sreenivas, whose voice also somewhat sounds like Rajah’s. In fact PBS later on became the de-facto voice of Gemini Ganesan. Though picturised as a background song, this is a very rare song and has some excellent lyrics by the lesser-known poet Suratha , tuned in with an intense pathos by Rajah.
14. Kaveri Oram Kavi Sonna Kaathal-Aadiperukku-1962-P Susheela -K D Santhanam
Apart from the superb singing by Susheela and a beautiful westernized orchestration by Rajah, do not miss the superb dance by Chandra Babu. One can keep admiring Rajah’s vast repertoire in composing so many genres. I really cannot understand why songs like these were never heard much.
15. Rasi Nalla Rasi-Veetu Mappilai-1972-A M Rajah & Jikki-Vaali
A M Rajah made a comeback as a singer and composer in the 70’s but by that time music trend was slowly changing . Still he did come out with some memorable songs like this one, singing along with his life-companion Jikki.
Whenever I try to write about those artists , whose songs I had not heard much till the time I start writing my blog, I am fully aware that I am not doing a good job as one should have immersed oneself for a long time in that artist’s music. However , personally for me it has been a great experience to listen to such a huge variety of music and it shows how many such legends had enriched our film music with their incredible talent.
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer: I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
Quarantine from reality series in YouTube by Ragamalika TV
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded 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 The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
Can we not borrow these lines from the famous poet Mirza Ghalib and take the liberty of saying this about the legendary music composer Ghulam Mohammad himself who had tuned these lines so beautifully for the film Mirza Ghalib . Not only this song, all the songs from this 1954 film were composed so exquisitely by the composer , who , as luck would have it, remained on the sidelines and his name is never remembered by most of us , except those who are seriously into the golden era of Hindi film music. It is a small consolation that when our government first decided to include the award for best film music at National level, Ghulam Mohammad was the first recipient and he got it for this film.
If we look at the music of just two of his films, Mirza Ghalib and Pakeezah, they can be counted among the best in Hindi films, that was in the league of the top composers. But, sadly the man remained one among the many such music composers who were unsung and forgotten . Fate was so cruel to him that it snatched him away around four years before his magnum opus Pakeezah got released. He could not see the adulation its music had received at that time and continues to be appreciated even today.
Ghulam Mohammed’s exact date of birth is not known , but the year was 1903. Born in a village , Naal, Bikaner, Rajasthan, into a family of musicians, his father, Nabi Baksh, was an accomplished tabla player. He learnt the dholak and tabla from his father in childhood. He got further training in the tabla, dholak and pakhavaj from Hyderabad’s Ghulam Rasool Khan. At the young age of six , he was paid a salary of Rs 25 per month in Lahore’s New Albert Theatre Company and Bikaner’s JB Company. In 1924, his father took him to Bombay, where after a struggle of eight years, in 1932 he got the chance of playing tabla in Saroj Movietone’s Productions’ “Raja Bharthari”. Thereafter, he assisted Anil Biswas, and later Naushad, with whom he had a long association , from 1943 (Sanjog) to 1952 (Aan). Ironically , Naushad was around sixteen years junior to him!
Like few other music assistants and arrangers like Dattaram for Shankar -Jaikishan, G.S Kohli for O.P Nayyar , Ghulam Mohammad also composed music independently even while assisting Naushad. However, unlike others, Ghulam Mohammad’s music had a distinct style , much different from that of Naushad. It is said he had composed independently for around 30 films. There is some confusion as to what was his first film that he composed independently . Some mention Mera Khwab (1943) as his first film, while Doli (1947) and Tiger Queen (1947) are also attributed as his first films. Making a debut as an independent composer at the age of 40 is quite late in film industry. However GM ( as I will refer to him henceforth for the sake of brevity) pursued diligently and with the film Amber made in 1952 , his songs started getting good attention. One of the songs from this film, Hum Tum Yeh Bahaar -a duet by Rafi & Lata sounds so fresh today as it was around 73 years ago!
This was followed by great songs in films like Dil-E-Nadaan (1953), Laila Majnu ( 1953), Rail Ka Dibba (1953-maybe the first rap song of Hindi films?) etc. In 1954 , he established his name among the great stalwarts of Hindi film music by his evergreen compositions for the film Mirza Ghalib that were based on Ghalib’s ghazals. Almost all the songs from this movie are masterpieces. He even won the 1955 National Film Award ( it was known as State Award then) for Best Music Direction for this film.
But inexplicably , he did not get the opportunities despite the excellent music in Mirza Ghalib; few films like Do Gunde in 1959 & Shama in 1961 had good songs , but Ghulam Mohammad continued to be on the sidelines .
The noted film maker Kamal Amrohi signed him up for his magnum opus, Pakeezah , a film that was started in 1956 and ultimately released in 1972! There were many reasons for the delay, primarily the separation of the film maker Kamal Amrohi and his wife , the well-known actress Meena Kumari and her deteriorating health because of her unfortunate addiction to alcohol. During its release the film was initially having a lukewarm response but the demise of Meena Kumari a month after the release made the film a box office hit. Not to deny the most important fact that its music is considered one among the best scores in Hindi films.
As luck would have it, Ghulam Mohammad had left this world in 1968, four years before the film’s release and could not experience the great accolades for his compositions. Naushad, had completed the back ground score and it is said , few songs also. In all there were some 15 songs originally composed by Ghulam Mohammad for the film but only six were retained in the film. Later , HMV released an album Pakeezah Rang Barang that had rest nine songs.
If we have to describe Ghulam Mohammad’s music, it was an eclectic mix of tunes based on classical raagas, a deep understanding and importance to the lyrics that were tuned in perfectly as evident from his songs based on Ghalib’s ghazals, excellent percussion arrangements (as he himself was a master of many percussion instruments) , an orchestration that used mostly Indian instruments like Sitar , Sarangi , Shehnai , but at the same time integrated beautifully western instruments like different types of guitars, piano etc.
I have tried to compile his best songs and grouped them film-wise as in some of his films almost all the songs are great compositions. They are arranged chronologically , with the song name, singer(s) and lyricist mentioned.
Amber (1952)
Hum Tum Yeh Bahaar Dekho-Rafi & Lata-Shakeel Badayuni
A lilting , romantic melody that has a fast-paced rhythm and when it is sung by the eternal pair of Rafi & Lata , then it is bound to be pleasing to the ears. One of the earlier hits of Ghulam Mohammad. Also a rare occasion when Rafi sang for Raj Kapoor!
Dil-E-Nadaan (1953)
2. Zindagi Denewale Sunn, Teri Dunya Se Dil Bhar Gaya-Talat Mehmood-Shakeel Badayuni
One of the best songs of Talat , for whom Ghulam Mohammad had composed so many great songs. The opening notes with a guitar strumming sets the tone and then the velvet vocals of Talat, the sublime lyrics of Shakeel and intoxicating melody of the tune take you into a different world.
3. Jo Khushi Se Chot Khaye, Woh Jigar Kahan Se Laaun- Talat Mehmood-Shakeel Badayuni
Instead of guitar , it is the sarangi that sets the sober mood for this ghazal. The velvet vocals of Talat were extensively used by Ghulam Mohammad in his various songs. Like many songs of GM, the importance to lyrics is paramount and Shakeel Badayuni was a solid support to him in many such songs.
The ‘caarvaan’ of GM with Talat & Shakeel continues in this 1953 version of Laila Majnu, with one of the career best songs of Talat. Observe how GM used a typical waltz -like rhythm for a ghazal. The violins are simply haunting and tug at your heart.
Lata joins the ‘caarvan’ in this song and GM keeps the orchestration to bare minimum as the raag Bhimpalasi on which it he had composed it conveys the mood of the song so effectively.
Rail Ka Dibba (1953)
6. La De More Baalma Aasmani Chidiyan-Rafi & Shamshad- Shakeel Badayuni
If someone thinks GM was mostly composing very sober , serious songs , here is a delightful , absolutely rocking number.
Can we say this was the first ever rap song in Hindi films?!!
And when those yesteryear masters compose even a rap song , observe how melodious and delightful it sounds. Not the terrible ear shattering modern versions! The lung power of Shamshad is even greater than that of Rafi and she simply shines through the song. Just watch out from 1.45 mins in this clip-for 15 seconds she sings breathless!
Mirza Ghalib (1954)-All Lyrics by Mirza Ghalib
We now come to a masterpiece of an album by GM and I had mentioned in the beginning of my article, songs from just these two films- Mirza Ghalib and Pakeezah are enough to record the contribution of GM to Hindi film music in golden letters. Each song that I have listed here is a gem . GM had composed for Talat and Suraiyya some of their career-best songs. Ghalib’s best ghazals have been brought to life by the excellent tunes of GM ; there may be some other composers also who might have set these ghazals to tune but GM ‘s compositions stand out. Those who are going through this blog are requested to listen to all these songs in the links provided below -someone has been kind enough to provide English translation for the immortal poetry of Ghalib .
Among the songs that I have listed here, Aah Ko Chahiye Ek Umr is truly mesmerizing with a fast-paced tune and do I have to say anything about the great Ghalib’s lines-“ Khaak ho jaayenge hum , tumko khabar hone tak”! ( I will not be there by the time you realize my love). And Rafi, as usual gets just one song that is picturized on a fakir and in that , he leaves his inedible mark! The opening lines of this blog are from this. Suraiyya renders three solo gems- Aah Ko Chahiye , Nukta Cheen Hai & Yeh Na Thi Hamari-the last one is absolutely stunning with the high notes at the end . Talat’s intensely emotional Phir Mujhe Deeda-E-Tar and Ishq Mujhko Na Sahi show us why he was called the King of Ghazals.
Each song mentioned here is a gem to be listened to again and again and I am sure listeners will agree with me when I say GM is no less a composer than the stalwarts who got their fame in Hindi film music.
7. Dil-E Naadan Tujhe Hua Kya Hai-Talat and Suraiyya
8. Phir Mujhe Deeda-E-Tar- Talat
9. Aah Ko Chahiye Ek Umr-Suraiyya
10. Hai Bas Ke Har Ek Unke-Rafi
11. Nukta Cheen Hai Gam-E-Dil-Suraiyya
12. Ishq Mujhko na Sahi Vehshat hi Sahi- Talat
13. Yeh Na Thi Hamari Qismat- Suraiyya
Kundan (1955)
14. Aao Hamare Hotel Mein-S.D. Batish & Sudha Malhotra-Shakeel Badayuni
Similar to the peppy song from Rail Ka Dibba , enjoy a lighter mood with GM ‘s song. These songs show GM’s skill in composing a variety of genres.
Maalik (1958)
15. Man Dheere Dheere Gaye Re-Talat Mehmood & Suraiyya-Shakeel Badayuni
One more example of how GM could bring out the best from both Talat & Suraiyya. A romantic song with that typical understated melody that has been the hallmark of GM’s style.
GM creates the same magic with another eternal pair- this time with Rafi & Lata. An intensely moving song , with superb sitar and sarangi that can easily be considered as good as having been composed by any of the stalwart composers who are considered as the “top ten”.
Shama (1961)
Apart from Mirza Ghalib and Pakeezah , if there was another film in which all the songs were too good, it was Shama. It had excellent songs rendered by Suraiyya ( who had acted along with Nimmi ) , Suman Kalyanpur & Rafi. Suraiyya’s Dhadkte Dil Ki Tamanna can be considered as one of the best from GM , a rare but intensely emotional Dil Gam Se Jal Raha by Suman , a lively romantic solo by Rafi-Who Saadgi Kahe Ise and once again Suraiyya surprises us with Mast Ankhon Mein Shararat.
Dhadakte Dil Ki Tamanna has a superb combination of Sitar , Sarangi & Guitar , with that brief pause in the last line of each anatara. One should not forget the superb lyrics by Kaifi Azmi—woh gam haseen hai jis gam ke zimmedaar ho tum!
Note how GM had used Suman Kalyanpur to traverse the high notes in Dil gam se jal raha . Note how GM had structured of the antaras in “Mast ankhon mein shararat” with a sudden shift in notes from a high to low, executed superbly by Suraiyya.
17. Dhadakte Dil Ki tamanna-Suraiyya-Kaifi Azmi
18. Aap Se Pyaar Hua Jata Hai- Suraiyya-Kaifi Azmi
19. Dil Gam Se Jal Raha-Suman Kalyanpur- Kaifi Azmi
I come to the last but the most important work of Ghulam Mohammad. Each song from Pakeezah will continue to enthral the generations to come. There are very few films in which we see each song a classic masterpiece . When we listen to a particular one , we would like to say this is the best among all, then we tend to think the same about the next one we listen ..and the next one….
The percussion in Chalte Chalte is something simply out of the world and personally , I like this song so much that I can listen to this multiple times on a loop! Apart from being a treat for the ears, just observe the camera work in Inhi Logon Ne Li Le-one can see the dancers in buildings far away, at multiple locations-so meticulous picturization. A word about the principal photographer Josef Wirsching who was a German but settled and worked in India for around 20 films, with Mahal( 1949), Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayee( 1960) being other famous films apart from Pakeezah. Unfortunately, like GM, he also passed away before the release of Pakeezah, in 1967.
The intensely classical Thade Rahiyo, the complex percussion arrangement in Aaj Hum Apni Duaon ka , the cool-as-a-breeze Chalo Dildar Chalo are songs that can be made only once in a decade!
The raagamalika in Mausam Hai Aashiqana has one of the best orchestration by GM with each antara is set in different raag. It is difficult to describe the songs of Pakeezah in one or two paragraphs-maybe one day I will try to write an exclusive blog on them.
Among the unreleased songs, I have included just one here-a solo by Rafi .
22. Chalte Chalte Yuhin Koi Mil Gaya -Lata-Kaifi Azmi
23. Inhi Logon Ne Le Li Na Dupatta-Lata-Traditional
There are conflicting versions about exactly how many songs were totally recorded for Pakeezah film -some say 15 , some 20! Also there is a controversy whether Naushad completed only the back ground score or even composed 3-4 songs that were not included in the film. I am not an authority on these and would like to avoid getting into controversies. For me the music of Pakeezah is something that I can keep listening multiple times . As a token of good faith to the composer, Kamal Amrohi compiled the tracks that were not included in the film and had them released by His Master’s Voice as ‘Pakeezah Rang Barang’.
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded 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 The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
When someone takes the name of noted playback singer P Leela today, I think a majority may not be knowing her or even confuse her with the more popular P Susheela. True to the main idea behind this blogsite, I am trying to write about all such forgotten artists so that at least in future their names and contribution to film music will always be remembered.
P Leela had a different voice that was both melodious and had a majestic ring that suited Carnatic classical , folk, and of course the light music genres for films. She has sung around 5000 songs in all the south Indian languages -her native Malayalam, Tamil , Telugu , Kannada and in other regional languages of India. She was given the titles Ganamani, Ganavarshini, Kalarathnam etc among many others.
In the 1950’s & 60’s she had sung extensively in Tamil films and of course in other languages also , but my knowledge is restricted to the Tamil film songs and so I will try to make a humble attempt to write about some of her great solos and duets. It has indeed been a great experience for me, mostly ignorant about many great artists of the golden era of Tamil music , to discover their songs.
Porayath Leela was born in Chittoor, Palakkad district of Kerala to V K Kunjanmenon Menon and Porayath Meenakshi Amma. She was the youngest among three daughters-Sharadha, Bhanumathi and Leela. Her father was a teacher in Ramavarma Higher Secondary School , Ernakulam . It was her father who inspired her to learn music and her first guru for Carnatic classical music was Thiribuvana Manibhagavadhar, the uncle of musician T. V. Gopalakrishnan. Later on she was trained by many other vidwans like Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagawathar, Paththamadai Krishna Ayyar, Maruthuvakudi Rajagopala Iyer, and Rama Bhagavathar. On the advice of the headmistress of the school where Leela was studying , her father took her to Madras ( as it was known at that time) in the year 1944 and she learnt music like in a gurukulam under the tutelage of Vadakkancheri Ramabagavathar in Mylapore.
In the year 1948 , Leela got her first break as a playback singer in the film Kanganam that had music composed by Padmanabha Sastry. In the same year she also sang in the Malayalam movie Nirmala . By the 50’s she started singing in almost all the south Indian languages.
In an era when stalwarts well-versed in Carnatic classical music like M S Subbalakshmi , M L Vasanthakumari & D. K. Pattammal were singing for films also, it was P Leela’s immense talent and versatility that enabled her to create a name for herself. Leela could sing a song that had pure Carnatic classical base -Kathiruppan Kamala Kannan , a folk song with the right accent and intonation- Thazhayam Poo Mudichu) , a westernized tune- Raja Magal Roja Malar that had an Arabian feel, a folk and classical touch all in one song , an intensely moving female version of Endru Thaniyum Intha Suthantira dagam etc. For almost 20 years , starting from the late 40’s till late 60’s she was active in Tamil films. Of course in Malayalam she was one of the most prolific singers and was quite active till the late 70’s.
When the Guruvayoor Dewaswom decided to bring out the album Narayaneeyam (Bhagavata Purana in poetic form composed by Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, a celebrated Sanskrit poet of Kerala in 16th century) , names of several musicians like M.S. Subbalakshmi , M.L. Vasanthakumari were considered and finally the Dewaswom approved P Leela to sing Narayaneeyam. “I got the chance to sing Guruvayarappan Narayaneeyam which I consider as an honour…”said Leela.
Known for her humility , in spite of being a very successful singer in all southern language films , she spent her later years with her nephews and nieces and focused more on classical concerts and light music programs. Unfortunately her marriage with a lawyer was not successful. During her lifetime she got many awards from various southern states , including the Kalaimamani award from Tamil Nadu, but as it always happens , the government of India awarded her the Padma Bhushan , posthumously in 2006.
An example of her humility and kind-heartedness was her gesture of suggesting the name of S Janaki, who was at that time still trying to make it big in Tamil films , for the masterpiece Singara Velana Deva in the film Konjum Salangai -a song that warranted matching the high octaves of Karakurichi Arunachalam’s nadaswaram. Very few in the music world would help a competitor!
The former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu , Jayalalitha had paid a glowing tribute to her after her demise:
“One of the greatest vocal musicians of India, who made a name for herself by singing exquisite songs in her mellifluous voice in Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu both for the film industry, as well as in Carnatic music. She had also rendered melodious devotional songs. Though she had been decorated with a number of awards including the Kalaimamani Award of the State Government for 1991-92, she was the epitome of humility and considered her contributions in the field of music a humble service to humanity and an offering to the Lord. In her passing, we have lost a great singer, leaving a great void in the world of music.”
With the limited knowledge that I have about her repertoire , I have selected 25 best songs by her , arranged in chronological order with the song , film , year, co-singers, music director and lyricist mentioned in that order.
Amaidiyillatha Maname Yen Maname-Pathala Bhairavi-1951-Duet with Ghantasala-Ghantasala-Thanjai N Ramaiah Dass
A lilting romantic melody, with that typical majestic voice of Leela complementing Ghantasala , with whom she had sung so many songs in Telugu. The tunes of the 50’s had their own sweet charm.
2. Perinbame Vaazhvile Endrume-Devaki-1951-Duet with Tiruchi Loganathan-G Ramanathan-A Maruthakasi
I tried to get a good quality link to this song, but was unable to do so. A song that has so much energy bursting forth, composed by the veteran G Ramanathan, who had given so many memorable songs for P Leela. And what to say about Tiruchi Loganathan-whatever he sang were superb!
One interesting thing about this film is that , it is picturized on V M Janaki, who was the wife of late M G Ramachandran and was the heroine in the film.
3. Ellaam Inbamayam-Manamagal-1951-M.L Vasanthakumari & P Leela-C.R Subbaraman-Udumalai Narayanakavi
C R Subbaraman was a legendary composer who had nurtured one more genius in Tamil film music-our own Mellisai Mannar MSV! The song Ellam Inbamayam is a great classical composition by C R Subbaraman, sung by M L Vasanthakumari and P Leela , and picturised on Padmini , in her debut film and her sister Lalitha. It is rare to see a song picturized with so many shots . It is said that the veteran actor-comedian , N S Krishnan who had produced and directed this film , had introduced all the technicians involved at the end credits of the film-definitely a unique concept for 1951! Note how P Leela has rendered this so well , singing with an established Carnatic classical singer like M L Vasanthakumari. Such songs will remain for posterity and it was truly a great experience for me to listen to this song after so many years.
4. Yaanai Thandham Pole-Amarakavi -1952-Duet with M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagawathar-G Ramanathan-Suratha
After the infamous Lakshmikanthan case , the legendary M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar did act in few films , but unfortunately they were not super successful ones as compared to the 40’s which was the zenith of his career. However when listen to this song, we wonder why songs like this did not become famous. A superb composition , composed by G Ramanathan , sung so well by P Leela and MKT. Note the innovative counter-melody created by G Ramanathan at the end of the song when P Leela does a humming that goes counter to the main song.
5. Konji Pesum Kiliye- Amarakavi -1952-Duet with MKT-G Ramanathan-Suratha
One more hidden gem from the same film -note how P Leela matches the high octaves of MKT so effortlessly. The song sounds deceptively simple but if you listen carefully , you can discover what intricate notes have been weaved in by GR and how both the singers have rendered them so well.
6. Vaaranam Aayiram Soozha Valam Seidhu -Thooku Thooki-1954- Duet with M.L. Vasanthakumari – G Ramanathan- Nachiyar Thirumozhi by Aandal
Thooki film is known for bringing together the two legends -Sivaji Ganesan and TMS together. Although the song Sundar Soundari Nirandariye is more popular, I have selected another song as the former is sung together by Leela & A. P Komala whereas the Vaaranam Aayiram Soozha Valam Seidhu has once again MLV and P Leela rendering a superb song in their typical classical style. The lyrics are from the literary works of Aandal , a devotee of Vishnu, composed in the 8th century. She is the only woman Aalwar among the twelve great devotees of Lord Vishnu.
7. Vaarayo Vennilaave -Missiamma-1955-Duet with AM Rajah-S Rajeshwara Rao-Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
Among the songs in this list, I think this one must be known to most of the readers. An evergreen melody composed by S Rajeshwara Rao with that mandolin being supreme in the orchestration. Beautifully picturized on Gemini Ganesan and Savitri, songs like this will remain evergreen for centuries.
8. Therinthu Kollanum Penne-Missiamma-1955- S Rajeshwara Rao-Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
This song is surprisingly not that much popular in spite of having a superb piano playing throughout the song ( I understand that Piano was played by one Ramachandran Diwakar). It is very rare to see a song picturized with the leading lady playing a piano in our films.
9. Mayame Naan Ariyen- Missiamma-1955- S Rajeshwara Rao-Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
The film Missiamma and Vanjikottai Valiban had some of the best songs from P Leela. Only after listening closely to P Leela’s songs, I realized how she was able to mould her voice to different genres. It is really a pity that she was not utilized more in Tamil films ; of course I do not have anything against her illustrious contemporaries like P Susheela & S Janaki who are great artists without any doubt. This is only a longing that we could have enriched the treasure of the golden era with more of P Leela’s songs also.
10. Vaanga Machan Vaanga-Madurai Veeran-1956-Solo & Duet versions (with TMS) -G Ramanathan- Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
If one listens to this song immediately after listening to the one in S. No 9, my observation must be ringing true. The way she adapts to a folk style in Vaanga Machan Vaanga is something truly amazing. There are two versions -the first one has P Leela dominating the first part only to handover the baton to another legend, TMS who elevates the song to an even higher level. The second link has a solo version by Leela.
11. Aaha Inba Nilavinile Oho Jagame -Maya Bazaar-1957-Duet with Ghantasala- Ghantasala- Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
One of the most entertaining films from the yesteryears, May Bazaar also had superb music. Although S Rajeshwara Rao was originally signed up , he left the film after composing 4 songs due to some differences , it was Ghantasala who completed the major part of the film. A soothing melody, with a scenic boat ride on a moonlit ride , the gentle voices of Ghantasala and P Leela take you into a tranquil world.
12. Kannudan Kalandhidum Subadhiname- Maya Bazaar-1957-Duet with Ghantasala- S Rajeshwara Rao- Thanjai N Ramaiah Das
One more duet by the P Leela and Ghantasala that has a pleasing melody from the blockbuster film Maya Bazaar.
Although I am not an expert in identifying the classical raagas, I understand this song is set on Charukesi raagam. An excellent rendition by P Leela , with so much of devotion and emotion that she has given to the song , especially at the high octaves in the charanam .
14. Thai porantha vazhi porakkum-Thai Piranthal Vazhi Pirakkum-1958- T. M. Soundararajan, P. Leela, S. V. Ponnusamy & L. R. Eswari-K.V Mahadevan-A Maruthakasi
Almost everyone in Tamil Nadu would be familiar with this song that is invariably played in radio on Pongal festival , the beginning of the Tamil month “ Thai.” No one would ever believe that P Leela’s mother tongue was not Tamil, when we listen to her songs-she sang with a perfect accent , more so when singing such folk songs that give a flavour of the rural life in Tamil Nadu.
15. Kathiruppan Kamala Kannan-Uthamaputhiran-1958-G Ramanathan- T K Sundara Vadyar
Right at the beginning of the song, by hearing that typical beat of tabla , we can understand it is the legendary G Ramanathan’s composition. And who else to render a classic raagamilka song other than P Leela . Her mastery is evident throughout the song. It is a raagamalika consisting of Saramati, Tilang and Mohanam raagas.
You can discover the versatility of Leela’s singing when you listen to this this song. Effortlessly she renders this fast -paced peppy number, with so much of energy!
17. Kannun Kannum Kalanthu-Vanjikottai Valiban-1958-Duet with Jikki -C Ramachandra-Kothamangalam Subbu
I had covered this song in detail in my blog “ A musical journey-Tamil film music” and in that I had focused more on the music director C Ramachandra and his outstanding orchestration . P Leela brings the right classicism to Padmini’s dance while another legend , Jikki ( P Krishnaveni) provides an equal counter-point by lending her vocals to Vyjanthimala’s dance. One can write pages about this song that is well known to every one interested in old Tamil songs, but I do not know how many would be remembering the singers who gave us this wonderful song.
18. Raja Magal Roja malar- Vanjikottai Valiban-1958-C Ramachandra-Kothamangalam Subbu
From the same film , here is one hidden gem , that somehow remained a distant second to Kannum Kalanthu . While the latter was a duet with Jikki, in this song it is all the way P Leela who has rendered one of her all-time great songs. The song consists of three different parts with each one in a different genre that only a genius like C Ramachandra can think of. Starting off with an Arabian style , the song in the next part shifts to a typical folk genre and then moves on to a sort of westernized classical waltz and finally comes back to Raja Magal Roja Malar. P Leela proves her prowess in all the three styles and comes up with an immortal song. Those who are listening to this for the first time are bound to listen repeatedly in a loop!
It is surprising that we have a popular song of P Leela under the music direction of Mellisai Mannargal Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy only in the year 1959 ! Although she had been singing for them right from Genova film (1954) and then in few films also in between, to the best of my research , I could not find any popular song in this combination. But what a great song this is! With just 3-4 instruments V-R composed a masterpiece of folk song that would always be listed at the top whenever one tries to make a list of best Tamil film songs in the folk genre. P Leela’s diction is so perfect to suit a typical village girl , with the veteran TMS adding his own charm.
Honestly, I listened to this song for the first time only while working on this blog. Many songs from the film Bhaga Pirivinai were quite popular but somehow I had not listened to this earlier. A friendly teasing between the hero , Sivaji Ganesan, and a group of village girls, beautifully written by Pattukottai Kalyana Sundaram and superbly rendered by TMS & Leela. Not to miss the enactment on screen by the legend Sivaji.
Although S Janaki’s life-time best song Singara Velane deva is the most popular song from this film, this one is equally mesmerizing. A scintillating dance number composed by the veteran S M Subbaiah Naidu and rendered by Leela in her typical style.
23. Nilave Nee Intha-Pattinathar-1962-Duet with TMS-G Ramanathan-T.K Sundara Vathyar
I keep discovering so many unheard gems while working on my blogs. That is the greatest reward for me! Note when TMS sings for himself on screen, the voice sounds so different from his songs for MGR or Sivaji! And what to say about Leela? She has moulded her voice to suit the mood of the song , proving that she was one of the foremost playback singers.
By the 70’s , the number of songs by Leela in Tamil films had reduced drastically, with MSV mostly composing songs with P Susheela or L R Eashwari and rarely S Janaki. The music composer C N Pandurangan is relatively lesser known , but I understand he had composed for 40 films in a career spanning 30 years. Despite being immensely talented commercial success evaded him and hence he is almost unknown today. This rare song in 1972 has P Leela singing with the same fervour. Once again a classical melody.
I was totally surprised to note that Leela had sung for Ilayaraja! Knowledgeable readers may comment if there was any other song in Tamil from these two. This song is from an obscure film Karpoora Mullai that was a remake or rather dubbed version of the Malayalam film Ente Suryaputhriku ( the link to the song also mentions that film only) . Even more surprising to note is that the song is mostly in Sanskrit and lyrics has been credited to Ilayaraja. It is supposed to be based on a very rare raaga-Rukumambari. Note how at the age of 57 , Leela has rendered this so nicely.
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
Ms Subashree Thanikachalam’s QFR series in YouTube
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded 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 The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
After having covered many legendary music composers, lyricists, and singers in my blogs , both in Hindi & Tamil films, I thought of breaking the monotony of organizing my blogs artists-wise and start a separate section on “ theme” based songs. Of course , I have a huge list of artists yet to be covered , but I thought it is good to do something different .
And when we think of one theme or word that has been the most common one in many songs in Hindi films , right from the vintage era to the present times, it is Zindagi-literally meaning life .
If one starts listing out songs that have Zindagi as the core theme , it will run into hundreds or maybe thousands! I will try using some filter to work out a list that may help in fine tuning the selection of songs. Initially I thought of selecting one song that had Zindagi in the mukhda of the song , from each of the prominent male and female playback singers. But on second thoughts , I felt selecting them lyricist-wise might be a better way. So here we go with 20 selected songs that are primarily about Zindagi. I have covered almost all the major lyricists and few relatively less-known.
The word Zindagi is basically derived from the Persian language and has been extensively used in Urdu and Hindi. The Hindi equivalent is Jeevan. Many decades ago , when I was staying in hostel during my graduation , in a small town deep south in Tamil Nadu, I was one of the very few guys to listen to Hindi songs. Many of my friends were not familiar with Hindi and they used to comment “ most of the Hindi songs have Zindagi or Duniya”! True to some extent, but when I started searching for songs composed by each lyricist that has Zindagi in the mukhda, I could not find any popular song by some of the lyricists! For example , despite extensive searching, I could not find any popular song by the lyricist Gopaldas Neeraj who had written some of the most philosophical songs! Maybe my own poor top-of-the-mind recall and research could have resulted in leaving out some of the lyricists or even some of the popular songs!
Zindagi is a word that was used by our lyricists to denote many things. Sometimes it is literally life, sometimes it may refer to one’s love or lover, in other situations it can even refer to the struggles one undergoes in life etc. I am not an expert on poetry/literature/etymology etc and so will restrict myself to how I enjoy listening to these film songs and briefly touch upon the salient part of the lyrics to the best of ability.
Since I have gone by the rule of one song per lyricist, the music directors and singers covered may not be extensive, but to my own surprise , I find many of the major ones covered. Of course repetitions are bound to be there. Also I have selected those songs that have the word Zindagi in the mukhda of the song. Mostly it appears in the first line itself , some starting with that word , but in very few songs it appears in the second line of the mukhda. Also the entire song need not be as such describing Zindagi. With that disclaimer , let me take you through 20 songs that I could list out .
These are arranged in the chronological order of the year of the film, with the lyricist name mentioned first, followed by , in that order-song, film, year, singer(s) and music director. Also some of the songs may be relatively unknown -I have selected their song purely for the excellent lyrics that talks about Zindagi. As I always mention , my selection may not be everyone’s selection. Readers can enrich the blog by mentioning their own favourites in the comments section !
Shakeel Badayuni : Yeh Zindagi ke mele-Mela-1948-Rafi-Naushad
Shakeel Badayuni’s name is known mostly to those who love the songs of golden era. Although he is identified as Naushad’s trusted shayar, he had written many memorable songs for Hemant Kumar and Ravi also . In this song look at the way in which he condenses the philosophy of life in so simple words:
ye zindagi ke mele,ye zindagi ke mele,
duniya me kam na hoge, afsos hum na honge
duniya hai mauj-e-dariya, katre ki zindagi kya
paani me mil ke paani, anjaam ye ke faani
and further…
Ek din padegaa jaana, kya waqt kya zamana
Koi Na saath dega,sab kuch yahin rahega
Jayenge hum akele , yeh Zindagi ke mele
Naushad’s simple orchestration is carried through by the exquisite poetry of Shakeel Badayuni and Rafi’s evocative singing.
If Shakeel painted a sad reality and ephemeral nature of life , Rajendra Krishan captures Anarkali’s ode to love by stating that Zindagi is for that person who falls in love. He goes on to say Zindagi hai bewafa …Loot pyaar ka maaza
This song also has a sad version , when Anarkali’s love is not accepted by Jahangir’s father , Emperor Akbar, and she is supposed to be buried alive…note how Rajendra Krishan comes out with these superb lines:
Shailendra, one of the greatest poet-lyricists , had the knack of conveying profound philosophy in absolutely minimum words. Taking off with the popular doha from Kabir, he compares life to a dream…where there is no difference between truth or false .
Rangi ko naarngi kahe, bane dudh ko khoya
Chalati ko gaadi kahe, dekh kabira roya
Zindagi khwaab hai
Khwaab men jhuthha akya aura bhala sach hai kya
Sab sach hai
Dil ne ham se jo kaha, ham ne waisa hi kiya
Fir kabhi furasat se sochenge, bura tha ya bhala
Ek katara maya aka jab patthar ke honthon par pada
Us ke sine men bhi dil dhadka, ye us ne bhi kaha
The last stanza is the best one…
Ek pyaali bhar ke mainne gam ke maare dil ko di
Zahar ne maara Zahar to murde men fir jaan aa gayi
4. Qamar Jalalabadi-Aye Meri Zindagi Tujhe dhoondhoon kahan-Adil-E-Jahangir-1956-Talat -Husnlal Bhagatram
In this Qamar Jalalabadi’s song , Zindagi refers to the hero’s lover who has been separated from him. This song also has a female version sung by Lata , with different anatara. I came to know about the Urdu word ‘ mehmil’ -literally means a camel’s saddle and figuratively ‘ that by which anything is supported.
Qamar sahab has used it so beautifully in these lines:
Ae meri zindagi tujhe dhoondhoon kahaan
naa to mil ke gaye naa hi chhodaa nishaan
Naa wo laila rahi naa wo mehmil rahaa
paas manzil pe aake lutaa kaarwaan
ho lutaa kaarwaan
ae meri zindagi tujhe dhoondhoon kahaan
5. Jan Nisar Akhtar-Mere Zindagi Ke Humsafar-Shrimati 420-Geeta Dutt-O P Nayyar
While selecting the major lyricists for this blog, I almost forgot this great lyricist who had penned some of the most memorable songs. Also , while my focus was mainly on the lyricists, somehow my listing included all the main singers , excluding Geeta Dutt, till I discovered this song. Here the word Zindagi is used in close association with a partner who travels with one’s life . Jan Nisar Akhtar had a great collaboration with O P Nayyar and this is a rarely heard song . In the early years, OPN had used Shamshad Begum and Geeta till he discovered Asha .
meri jindagi ke humsafar
dekhna yaha bhin ek najar
tera mera raz kya
is kadar bhi naz kya
thoda thoda pyar kar le
kal ki kuch nahi khabar
6. S H Bihari-Yeh Hansta Hua Carvan Zindagi Ka-Ek Jhalak-1957-Hemant & Asha-Hemant Kumar
I discovered this song while searching for songs to be included in this blog and what delightful discovery it turned out to be! As one may observe while going through these 20 songs, many of them are pathos , but some like this one is a delightful , happy one. S. H Behari has written it so well.
ye hansta huaa karavaa zindagi kaa
naa puchho chalaa hai kidhar
tamannaa hai saath chalate rahe ham
naa bite kabhi ye safar
zami se sitaaro ki duniya me jaaye, haan haan wahan bhi yahi geet ulfat ke gaaye…
Asha only keeps responding with one or two words in between, but the way Hemant da has composed this song , it is truly delightful. It was truly a pleasant surprise for me to know that this song has a cover version sung by Mukesh…I think Mukesh must have sung very few songs in Hemant da’s composition and both these versions have their own unique charm. I am giving the link to both of them here.
I could not find any reason why there were two lyricists for a song-it is absolutely rare in film songs. Set in Malkauns raag by Hansraj Behl and sung superbly by Rafi this is a very rare song and is made immortal by Rafi’s emotional singing.
Badlaa to aise badlaa hai kuchh rang-e-gulsitaan
ik phuul pe bahaar hai ik phuul pe Kizaan
zindagii bhar gam judaai ka mujhe tadpaayegaa
har nayaa mausam puraanii yaad lekar aayegaa
From the lyrics it appears to be picturized on a lover conveying his pangs of separation . The line ‘har nayaa mausam puraanii yaad lekar aayegaa ‘ sums up the essence of the song-even as time flows with changing seasons, he is still haunted by the old memories of his love.
For every song that talks about the struggles in life or separation brought into one’s life by failure in love life , there is an equally cheerful one also.
Here Kavi Pradeep says life is a song that seems to blossom like spring after the hero and heroine fall in love.
Ga rahi hai zindagi har taraf bahar me kis liye
char chad lag gaye hai tere mere pyar me
is liye
zindagi bhar ke liye tu baanh meri tham le
jab talak ye sans hai har sans tera nam le
ek nayi duniya khadi apane itezar me kis liye
char chad lag gaye hai tere mere pyar me
is liye
9. Prem Dhawan-Mujhe Pyar Ki Zindagi denewale-Pyar Ka Sagar- 1961-Rafi & Asha-Ravi
Prem Dhawan was a lyricist, music director and a choreographer and even acted in two films. Mostly known for his soul stirring patriotic songs , in this song he gets into a romantic mood . Although the hero is happy that he got his life through the love from his lover , he has lot of apprehensions whether it will last, whether she will turn away from him in future and even if the world may conspire to separate them! However she assures him that she has totally surrendered herself to his love and even asks him to test her!
Mujhe Pyar Ki Zindagi denewale
Kabhi gam na dena Khushi denewale
Mohabbat ke waade bhula to na doge
Kahin mujhase daaman chhuda to na loge
Mere dil ki duniya hai tere hawaale
Mujhe pyaar ki jindagi denewaale
10. Shiv Kumar Saroj -Khamosh Zindagi Ko awaaz de rahe ho-Naag Mandir-1966-Rafi-Lakshmikant Pyarelal
Very few might have heard this rare song from an obscure film called Naag Mandir, written by an unknown lyricist Shiv Kumar Saroj. He was an announcer in the famous Radio Ceylon and written a handful of film songs. When there is Rafi to sing, even such obscure songs become eternal melodies.
khamosh zindgi ko aawaj de rahe ho
tute huye haatho mein kyu saaz de rahe ho
benur meri aankhe aur dur kaa safar hai
uthate hain paanv lekin gir jane ka bhi dar hai
gir jane ka bhi dar hai
par kaat ke kisi ke paravaj de rahe ho
11. Majrooh Sultanpuri-Hui shaam unka khayal aa gaya wohi Zindagi ka sawaal aa gaya-Mere Hum Dum Mere Dost-1968-Rafi-Lakshmikant Pyarelal
While searching for popular songs written by Majrooh one of the most prolific lyricists, I could not find any song that immediately came to my mind .I could only dig out this song, that is no doubt very popular but has the word Zindagi appearing in only the second line of the mukhda!
Hui shaam un ka khyaal a gaya
Wahi zindagi ka sawaal a gaya
12. Kaifi Azmi -Zindagi Hai Kya Bolo Zindagi Hai Kya -Satyakam-1969-Kishore Kumar, Mukesh & Mahendra Kapoor-Lakshmikant Pyarelal
My search for one more famous lyricist , Kaifi Azmi also turned out to be almost futile like that of Majrooh , till I came across the film Satyakam. The film is considered as one that had a career best performance of Dharmendra in the role of a person who tried to tread the path of truth in his life despite numerous hurdles. There are two songs in this film that talk about Zindagi and both are superb ones; however I selected this one for the excellent lyrics that not only talks about Zindagi but ‘ aadmi’, ‘ dosti’ and that too in a very interesting manner. The three singers , Mukesh , Kishore and Mahendra Kapoor singing together is one more rarity! Kishore and Mahendra Kapoor give comical interpretations for Zindagi, Aadmi, Dosti etc whereas Mukesh comes out with a sober meaning for the same. Superbly composed , written and sung.
The other song from the same film is Do din ki Zindagi Kaisi Hai Zindagi, by Lata which is also too good.
13. Sahir Ludhianvi-Zindagi Ke Rang Kayee Re-Aadmi Aur Insaan-1969-Asha-Ravi
When one thinks of Sahir’s songs with ‘Zindagi’ the top of the mind recall will always be Mein Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata from Hum Dono and Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi woh barsaat ki raat. However I had covered these two songs in detail in my earlier blogs and so I have selected a less popular but no doubt a masterpiece by the great combination of Ravi & Asha -who gave so many good songs that were unfortunately never acknowledged by the singer herself.
Zindagi ke rang ki re, saathi re
Zindagi ke rang ki re
Zindagi dilon ko kabhi jodati bhi hai
Zindagi dilon ko kabhi todati bhi hai
Zindagi ke rng ki re
Zindagi ki raah men khushi ke phul bhi
Zindagi ki raah men gamon ke dhul bhi
Zindagi ke rang ki re
Zindagi kabhi yakin, kabhi gumaan hai
Har qadam pe tera mera imtihaan hai
Zindagi ke rang ki re
14. Indeevar -Zindagi Ka Safar Hai Kaisa -Safar-1970-Kishore-Kalyanji Anandji
Indeevar pleads his inability to comprehend life-he goes on to say no one has understood it nor known it well. The film Safar has the hero struck with a terminal illness and so the song captures his mood .
Zindagi ka safr, hai ye kaisa safr
Koi samajha nahin, koi jaana nahin
Hai ye kaisi dagar, chalate hain sab magar
Koi samajha nahin, koi jaana nahin
Zindagi ko bahut pyaar hamane diya
Maut se bhi mohabbat nibhaayenge ham
Rote-rote zamaane men aye magar
Hnsate-hnsate zamaane se jaayenge ham
Jaayenge par kidhar, hai kise ye khabar
Koi samajha nahin, koi jaana nahin
15. Hasrat Jaipuri -Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana-Andaaz-1971-Kishore-Shankar Jaikishan
One of Kishore Kumar’s iconic songs, and also my eternal favourite for the superb lines written by Hasrat Jaipuri , the out-of-the world yodelling by Kishore da and a peppy rhythm and orchestration by …who else…the great Shankar Jaikishan. Though Hasrat shares Indeevar’s thoughts partly-that is , he also agrees no one knows what will happen in our life tomorrow, but paints a brighter, optimistic picture .
Many-a-times we tend to dismiss film songs as not class, but it is to the credit of lyricists and poets like Hasrat who convey profound philosophy in a language that anyone can understand.
Zindagi ek safar hai suhaana
Yahaan kal kya ho kisane jaana
Chaand-taaron se chalana hai age
Asamaanon se badhna hai age
Pichhe rah jaaega ye zamaana
Hansate gaate jahaan se guzar
Duniya ki tu parwa n kar
Muskuraate hue din bitaana
Maut ani hai aegi ek din
Jaan jaani hai jaaegi ek din
Aisi baaton se kya ghabaraana
16. Yogesh -Zindagi Kaisi hai paheli-Anand-1971-Manna Dey-Salil Chowdhury
Yogesh wrote excellent songs for Salil da in addition to few other composers. The film Anand had two songs by him -Zindagi Kaisi hai paheli and Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye.
Yogesh talks about life as a riddle that sometimes makes you laugh and sometimes cry. And unwillingly we get caught in the race to run behind our dreams and ultimately a day comes when we go beyond our dreams into the other world.
Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haae
Kabhi to hnsaae, kabhi ye rulaae
Kabhi dekho man nahin jaage
Pichhe pichhe sapanon ke bhaage
Ek din sapanon ka raahi
Chala jaaye sapanon se age kahaan
Jinhon ne sajaaye yahaan mele
Sukh-duhkh sng-sng jhele
Wahi chunakar khaamoshi
Yun chale jaaen akele kahaan
17. Anand Bakshi -Zindagi Ae Zindagi Tere Hai Do Roop-1972-S D Burman-S D Burman
A very rare and almost forgotten song, I had not known earlier that Burman Da got the National award for best music for this film. Anand Bakshi is more known for his lively , romantic songs rather than philosophical songs . But in this song he has gone all out and written a masterpiece. Not only Zindagi, but he goes on to say Chandini, Aadmi and Dillagi-all have two sides to them.
Burman da used to sing the title song for some of his films and must have sung just a dozen odd songs in his entire career in Hindi films , but whenever he sings with his unique voice that had an earthy feel, it becomes a masterpiece. The flute used throughout the song is simply out-of-the world ( though I have not researched , could have been Hariprasad Chaurasia as he had played for many of Burman da’s songs-purely my guess)
zindagi aye zindagi zindagi, tere hai do rup
biti hui raato ki bato ki tu chhaya
chhaya vo jo banegi dhup
kabhi tere kinare thi thandi thandi hay re
ab tu hi mere ji me aag lagaye
chandani aye chandani chandani, tere hai do rup
tute hue sapno ki apno ki tu chhaya
chhaya vo jo banegi dhup
aate jate pal kya hai samay ke ye jhule hai
bichade sathi kabhi yad aaye kabhi bhule hai
adami aye adami adami, tere hai do rup
dukh sukh ke jhulo ki phulo ki tu chhaya
chhaya vo jo banegi dhup
koi bhuli hui bat mujhe yad aai hai
khushi bhi tu layi thi aur ansu bhi tu layi hai
dilagi aye dilagi dilagi, tere hai do rup
kaise kaise vado ki yado ki tu chhaya
chhaya vo jo banegi dhup
18. Gulzar-Tere Bina Zindagi Se Koi Shikwa-Aandhi-1975-Kishore Kumar & Lata-R D Burman
Aandhi film had some of the best songs from the team of Gulzar and R D Burman. I think for a majority of Hindi film music lovers, Gulzar is a favourite lyricist-personally I am not a big fan , though I do like most of his early songs and selected few from his later years like this one. Composed superbly by Pancham da and sung brilliantly by Kishore and Lata, this one can count among their best duets ever. Gulzar captures the emotions of the couple who are unable to spend time together with the immortal lines:
Tere bina Zindagi se koi shikwa toh nahi, shikwa nahi, shikwa nahi
Tere bina Zindagi bhi lekin , Zindagi toh nahi, Zindagi nahin, Zindagi nahin , Zindagi nahin
19. Sudharshan Fakir-Zindagi Zindagi mere ghar aana- Dooriyan-1979-Bhupendra & Anuradha-Jaidev.
Sudharshan Fakir was a Urdu poet and lyricist and is well known for his ghazals , many that were popularised by Begum Akhtar and Jagjit Singh.
Note the excellent poetry in the lyrics-I think there is no need to explain anything-the various stages in life – from falling in love , getting married and having a child (princess-“ shehzaadi” !) are all captured so beautifully by Sudharshan Fakir.
Zindagi, zindagi, mere ghar ana, ana zindagi
Zindagi o zindagi mere ghar ana, ana zindagi
Mere ghar ka sidha sa itana pata hai
Ye ghar jo hai chaaron taraf se khula hai
Na dastak zaruri na awaaz dena
Mere ghar ka darawaaja koi nahin hai
Hain diwaaren gum aur chhat bhi nahin hai
Badi dhup hai dost, kadi dhup hai dost
Tere anchal ka saaya churaake jina hai jina, jina zindagi
Mere ghar ka sidha sa itana pata hai
Mere ghar ke age mohabbat likha hai
Na dastak zaruri na awaaz dena
Main saanson ki raftaar se jaan lungi
Hawaaon ki khushbu se pahachaan lungi
Tera ful hun dost, teri dhul hun dost
Tere haathon men chehara chhupa ke jina hai jina, jina zindagi
Magar ab jo ana to dhire se ana
Yahaan ek shahajaadi soyi hui hai
Ye pariyon ke sapanon men khoyi hui hai
Badi khub hai ye, tera rup hai ye
Tere angan men, tere daaman men
Teri ankhon pe, teri palakon pe
Tere qadamon men isako bithhaake jina hai jina, jina zindagi
20. Raja Mehdi Ali Khan- Kaise kategi Zindagi tere bagair- Tere Bagair Album-2009-Private Album-Rafi-Madan Mohan
I was surprised to note that Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, who wrote many superb ghazals for Madan Mohan did not have any popular one with the Zindagi word. Then I discovered this -a relatively new song in the sense that it was initially recorded for a film that was never released and much later , in 2009, Madan Mohan’s son Sanjeev Kohli released many such hidden gems of Madan Mohan through an album titled Tere Bagair. Now how Madan Mohan’s music was far ahead of his times-a superb ghazal , written so well and above all rendered with a passion that can be done only the great singer – Rafi sahab.
kaise kategi jindagi tere bagair, tere bagair
paayunga har shay mein kami tere bagair, tere bagair
kaise kategi jindagi tere bagair, tere bagair
phule khilein tu yun lage, phul nahi yeh daag hai
taare falak pe yun lage jaise bujhe chiraag hai
aag lagaaye chaandani tere bagair, tere bagair
chaand ghata mein chhup gaya, saara jahaan udaas hai
kehati hai dil ki dhadkane tu kahi aaspaas hai
aake tadap raha hai ji tere bagair, tere bagair
kaise kategi jindagi tere bagair, tere bagair….
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded 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 The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
If I have not covered a living legend like Sistla Janaki in my blogs it is because of a simple reason . The dilemma of how to select few songs from the huge number of hit songs that she has rendered in Tamil films alone, apart from all the other South Indian languages, in a career that spans around six decades. Of course, my own limited knowledge about her songs also prevented me from writing about her till now. Even now, I am not confident if I would be able to do some justice to her, but let me at least try.
S Janaki ( henceforth I will refer to her as SJ ) , a living legend, has rendered some of the most difficult songs in film music. In her own words , the song “Shiva shiva ennada naaligeyeke” for the Kannada film Hemavathi was her toughest song , composed in Thodi and Aabhogi , alternating between these two ragas and the lightning speed in which she sings the swaras towards the end of the song is something unbelievable. I am providing the link to that song here:
Almost similar , but more melodious, is her famous Singara Velana Deva from the Tamil film Konjum Salangai, in which she matched the virtuosity of the legendary Nadaswaram player Karakurichi Arunachalam, note by note. For many legendary singers , unfortunately we do not have any authentic source on exact number of songs rendered by them . SJ might have definitely sung thousands of films songs, albums, songs for TV & Radio , sung as solo, duet and with multiple singers. I do not have any official statistics for this number. Since she sang in all the four southern languages , it must be at least in the range of 10,000-20,000 in my own estimate.
Born on 23rd April 1938 to Sistla Sreeramamurthy & Satyavati in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Her father was an Ayurvedic doctor and teacher. Although she never had any formal training in classical music, she did learn some basics from a Nadaswara vidwan Paidiswamy. In the town of Sircilla , she spent her childhood and at the young age of 9 , she sang for the first time on stage. Later , when she was in her twenties, on the advice of her uncle she moved to Chennai and approached the noted music director R Sudarsanam. However it was with the composition of T Chalapathi Rao for the film Vidhiyin Vilayattu in 1957 ( the song was En Aasai Paazhunaathu Eno) she began her glorious career. Immediately after this film she started singing in Telugu and Kannada. Statistically , she is said to have sung the maximum songs in Kannada, followed by Malayalam , Telugu, and Tamil.
Although SJ was singing many songs in Kannada, Malayalam & Telugu , in Tamil till the mid 70’s she sang lesser number of songs as P Susheela was already established as the number one female playback singer during the 50’s & 60’s . However, in my opinion, SJ sang some of the best songs of her career during that period. Of course , in 1976 , there came a turning point in her career with the film Annakili , after which there was no looking back for her in Tamil film music .
Her versatility is unmatched- she could sing like a small kid, intensely emotional songs, folk songs, pure classical songs, devotional songs and one of the most popular genres- her romantic and sensuous songs-all with equal fervour. The ease with which she reaches the higher octaves is simple unbelievable. Starting her career with the yesteryear legends like G Ramanathan, KV Mahadevan, Vishwanathan -Ramamoorthy she could easily adapt her singing style to newer generation music directors like Ilayaraja, A.R Rehman , Vidyasagar etc. Of course she did the same in other languages like Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu but I am restricting my blog to only the music I am aware of, i.e. Tamil and that too within my limited ability.
I have tried my best to select few songs from her vast repertoire and tried including a mix of her early songs that are also my personal favourites, and her later, more popular songs. They include her fabulous solos and some of her best duets. Songs have been arranged in chronological order of the film’s year of release , with song , film, year , music director , lyricist, and co-singer.
I have to confess here that my knowledge about SJ’s songs is limited-I have listened to few of them and they are mostly from the pre-90’s and so many readers may find my selection a bit strange. I have tried my best to include her best solos and duets with most of the prominent male playback singers – SPB ( the most popular pair! ) , TMS,P.B. Sreenivas, KJ Yesudas, Malaysia Vasudevan, P Jayachandran, M.S Vishwanathan & Ilayaraja . Among the composers , I have not ventured into the songs she must have sung for many later composers in Tamil films as I have very little idea about that period.
Singara Velane Deva” –Konjum Salangai -1962-S.M Subbiah Naidu-Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam-Nadaswaram played by the legend Karakurichi P. Arunachalam
Though SJ was singing for almost 5 years in Tamils films, this epic “ duet” of SJ with the Nadaswaram played by the maestro Karakurichi P Arunachalam is considered as one her career best. It is said that initially they considered many other singers , but ultimately selected SJ to sing this , matching the high octave of the nadaswaram. The making of this song itself is an interesting story and this has been explained so nicely & comprehensively by Ms Subashree Thanikachalam in her QFR series and I am providing a link to that here. The way in which SJ matches each and every note of the nadaswaram is something that has to be mentioned in golden letters of the annals of Tamil film music history.
The song:
The story behind the song’s creation
2. Kannan Mananilayai” –Deivathin Deivam -1962- G Ramanathan-Mahakavi Subramanya Bharatiyar
A rare song that is truly a gem from the early years of SJ’s career. A superb raagamaligai from the great composer G Ramanathan ( I have written about this song in my blog on GR) , that starts off with Bhimpalasi , then meanders to a soft Bhageshree and ends with raag Bihaag that smoothly flows with romance. Matching step by step with SJ is the veenai played with so much of classicism . No doubt SJ had her most popular and brilliant songs in 70’s and later, but her earlier songs had a purity and innocence that was unmatched.
3. Pon Enben Siru Poovenben-Policekaran Magal-1962- Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan-Duet with PBS
Sounding so sweet in lower notes is a difficult thing to achieve. PB Sreenivas and SJ are too good in this song that starts off at a slow pace and with lower octaves. And then after Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy ‘s scintillating interlude with veenai , flute & strings the song shifts to a faster tempo and higher notes. An immortal melody from V-R based on Darbari Kanada raagam. I consider this as one of the most melodious duets of PBS & SJ.
4. Chinnanjiriya Vanna Paravai-Kungumam-1963-K. V Mahadevan-Kannadasan-Duet with TMS
The same raagam Darbari Kanada is handled in a different way by another legendary composer, K V Mahadevan. In this , TMS joins SJ and both render a masterpiece together, matching note by note so well. The intricate alaapanai towards the end of the song seem so effortless when these two legends sing together.
Hidden amongst the more famous songs in this film like the evergreen TMS & P Susheela duet Muthukalo Kangal and P Susheela’s solo Enge Neeyo Naanum ange unnodu, this SJ solo remained a relatively unheard one , but as usual SJ shows her immense talent in singing this in a truly amazing way. The starting itself is at such a high note and the excellent orchestration by MSV adds so much power to the song. Those who are hearing this for the first time, like me, are sure to hear it repeatedly.
6. Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen -Avalukendru Oru Manam-1971-M.S Vishwanathan-Kannadasan
As I keep discovering more and more gems of SJ from the Black & White era films, I am truly amazed at the immense variety of songs she had rendered. The tune , interludes & charanam are all vintage MSV! Superb shehnai as in most of MSV’s old songs and when we have SJ going all out , then it has to be a masterpiece.
7. Sollathan Ninaikiren- Sollathan Ninaikiren-1973- M.S Vishwanathan-Vaali-Duet with MSV
Whenever I listen to this song, I wonder how futuristic , MSV’s tunes were!
There is a sweet contrast in the voices-rustic, heavy voice of MSV coupled with a soft and velvety voice of SJ. As such MSV sang very rarely and with SJ , must be just a handful. The tune itself is so mesmerising and the orchestration by MSV , with those superb guitars, flutes, that solo violin, MSV’s trademark piano-all simply out of the world. The last stanza is normally not heard in the audio versions and I think only the film version has it.
8. Then sinthuthe vaanam -Ponnuku Thanga Manasu-1973-G.K Venkatesh-Kannadasan-Duet with SPB
G.K Venkatesh , the legendary composer in Kannada films , scored for few Tamil films only but whatever he composed were superb tunes. The golden combination of SPB & SJ would later go on to create great waves in Tamil films with Ilayaraja, GKV’s protégé . It is said that GKV was quite busy during the time of composing this song and he had created the basic melody and gave it to his assistant Ilayaraja to arrange and conduct . Note how SJ effortlessly reaches the high octaves in the lines “ Vaidehi munne raghuvamsha raman.”
Although SJ was singing for a long time in Tamil films and even more in the other southern languages, it was this song that took her to the Mt Everest of Tamil film music! The brilliance in IR’s composition was evident in his very first film , that continued at least for another two decades, almost uninterrupted.
SJ’s mastery over the emotions in the song , along with her trademark pitch makes this a milestone song in her career.
If IR had triggered the SJ wave with Annakili, MSV , who , till then had relatively given only few songs to her, came up with a masterpiece. In my purely personal opinion , this is one of her greatest songs. I simply cannot get tired listening to this. The way SJ carried this song is very difficult to explain. MSV comes up with a unique concept of starting the song with a fast tempo & chorus humming. His typical drums give the kick start and then SJ makes her grand entry like a superstar in a film scene with her extraordinary alaap. The core theme of the song , as usually written so well by the great Kannadasan, is about how the heroine feels after falling in love after years of slogging to support the large family she is burdened with . MSV’s tune, Kannadasan’s words and SJ’s singing -all create the exact feel for the situation. That is why songs created by those legends are evergreen.
After Annakili , this was one more feather in SJ’s cap. IR’s guitar, flute , strings that dominate the prelude is etched in our memory even after 48 years . This song brought the first National award for best female playback singing for SJ ; she continued to win three more National awards. There might not have been even a single day when this song was not heard at the time of its release.
One phrase from summarizes this song: ‘Jillendra Kaatre’…cool breeze. Whenever you listen to this you feel a cool breeze caressing you.
Matching note by note , the sound of ‘kuil’ (nightingale) in this song, SJ could come out with a super hit song in this movie , that also had the great classical singer M Balamurali Krishna rendering his immortal Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran.
13. Antha Purathil Oru Maharajan-Deepam-1977-Ilayaraja -Pulamaipithan-Duet with TMS
The first few years after he stormed the Tamil film music scene , Ilayaraja was having a creative explosion! Whatever he tuned turned out to be a super hit. TMS and SJ sang very few songs together and that too in IR’s composition, they were very few, but this is one song that remains in our memory whenever we think of this rare combination. Note how SJ modulates her voice in the line “ Aasai kanindhu vara avan paarthaan; annam thalai kunindhu nilam paarthaal.”
In songs like this, SJ proves that apart from those high pitched, intricate/difficult, and romantic songs, she can also render a sober , melodious song with equal fervour.
When we listen to this song, the first impression is on the extraordinary tune and orchestration of IR. But it is also the excellent singing of SJ, who took this song to a different level, and made it into a masterpiece. Especially the way she elaborates that “ kanatha…ondrai theduthe” with those subtle pauses and drag.
Like Senthoorapoove , Kaatril Yenthan Geetham , this is one iconic solo of SJ under the baton of the maestro Ilayaraja. One of my all-time favourites of this combination, the multi-layered orchestration by IR is simply world class. SJ brings the right tone to the song , with a restrained singing in some places and then going all out in the higher notes in her typical style.
That intricate humming right from the beginning of the song to the first charanam and the second one , and of course the usual orchestration brilliance of IR set the mood for the song.
18. Pothi Vechha Malliga mottu-Mann Vasanai-1983-Ilayaraja-Vairamuthu-Duet with SPB
The hero of this song is of course SPB , who embellishes it with all those intricate nuances that he is well known for. Equally SJ matches him in each and every note. And when these two sing together it is always magic!
19. Vetti Veru Vasam-Mudal Mariyathai-1985- Ilayaraja-Vairamuthu-Duet with Malaysia Vasudevan
Mudal Mariyadai had some of the best songs from the team of IR & Vairamuthu although it is said that they did not like the film and never watched it! It even fetched Vairamuthu a National award for best lyrics. One of the best duets of Malaysia Vasudevan and SJ , with both effortlessly gliding through those high octaves in the charanams.
When two legends , MSV & IR teamed up for this film , the music is bound to be a milestone. The former had composed most of the songs in the films, with IR taking care of the arrangements and orchestration. A soft melody that lingers in your mind with SJ conveying the feelings of separation by a lovelorn woman so evocatively.
21. Kodiyile Malliyappu-Kadalora Kavithaigal-1986-Ilayaraja- Vairamuthu-Duet with P Jayachandran
Just around 3 months back we lost this legendary singer-P Jayachandran. If someone could look at the statistics of his Tamil songs, he must have had the one of the highest percentage of hits. This eternal duet by him and SJ , with that out-of-the world orchestration by IR has always been my personal favourite.
22. Adi Aathhadi -Kadalora Kavithaigal-1986-Ilayaraja- Vairamuthu- Duet with Ilayaraja
From the same film Kadalora Kavithaigal, we have one more excellent duet of SJ, this one with the composer himself. Also the unique experimentation by IR by creating an overlap of the singer’s voice adds so much charm.
23. Thoongatha Vizhigal Rendu-Agni Natchatiram-1988-Ilayaraja-Vaali-Duet with KJY
It has been IR’s mastery to take a classical raagam and compose a catchy film song , embellishing it with a superb orchestration . And when it comes to a classical base song, then who else but the Gaana Gandharvan K J Yesudas to join with SJ and come out with a timeless classic.
24. Sundari Kannnal Oru Sethi – Thalapathi -1991-Ilayaraja-Vaali-Duet with SPB
It was a real dilemma for me to choose from the numerous hits of the golden combination -SPB & SJ. All songs from Thalapathi were super hits and this duet
is one of the most famous from this duo.
25. Nenjile Nenjile-Uyire-1998-A. R Rehman-Vairamuthu
I have limited knowledge of Tamils songs after 1990 , especially those SJ hafd sung with composers other than Ilayaraja. I have to admit that I was aware of the Hindi version of this song that was also composed by ARR ( film Dil Se) sung by Lata Mangeshkar when her voice was past her prime. Only when searching for some best SJ songs for ARR , I came across this -even at the age of 60, SJ’s voice sounds so youthful.
With that I conclude my article on the versatile S Janaki. I only wish I had listened to many more songs of her . Normally I do not venture into the songs in other languages that I am not very familiar , but would like to make an exception here. This Malayalam song-Thumbi Vaa Thumbakudathin from the film Olangal, written by O N V Kuruppu ,has been my personal favourite and so posting the link here:
IR must have liked this tune so much that he later took into this into a Tamil film -Sangathil Padatha Kavithai for the film Auto Raja and in Telugu as Aakasham Ennatido for the film Nireekshana . All had one common singer-S Janaki!!
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
QFR series in YouTube by Ragamalika TV
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded 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 The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.always known as S Janaki and shortened SJ for simplicity , in my blogs , it is because of this . The dilemma of how to select few songs from the huge number of hit songs that she has rendered in Tamil films alone, apart from all the other South Indian languages, in a career that spans around six decades. Of course, my own limited knowledge about her songs also prevented me from writing about her till now. Even now, I am not confident if I would be able to do some justice to her, but let me at least try.
SJ , a living legend, has rendered some of the most difficult songs in film music. In her own words , the song “Shiva shiva ennada naaligeyeke” for the Kannada film Hemavathi was her toughest song , composed in Thodi and Aabhogi , alternating between these two ragas and the lightning speed in which she sings the swaras towards the end of the song is something unbelievable. I am providing the link to that song here:
Almost similar , but more melodious, is her famous Singara Velana Deva from the Tamil film Konjum Salangai, in which she matched the virtuosity of the legendary Nadaswaram player Karakurichi Arunachalam, note by note. For many legendary singers , unfortunately we do not have any authentic source on exact number of songs rendered by them . SJ might have definitely sung thousands of films songs, albums, songs for TV & Radio , sung as solo, duet and with multiple singers. I do not have any official statistics for this number. Since she sang in all the four southern languages , it must be at least in the range of 10,000-20,000 in my own estimate.
Born on 23rd April 1938 to Sistla Sreeramamurthy & Satyavati in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Her father was an Ayurvedic doctor and teacher. Although she never had any formal training in classical music, she did learn some basics from a Nadaswara vidwan Paidiswamy. In the town of Sircilla , she spent her childhood and at the young age of 9 , she sang for the first time on stage. Later , when she was in her twenties, on the advice of her uncle she moved to Chennai and approached the noted music director R Sudarsanam. However it was with the composition of T Chalapathi Rao for the film Vidhiyin Vilayattu in 1957 ( the song was En Aasai Paazhunaathu Eno) she began her glorious career. Immediately after this film she started singing in Telugu and Kannada. Statistically , she is said to have sung the maximum songs in Kannada, followed by Malayalam , Telugu, and Tamil.
Although SJ was singing many songs in Kannada, Malayalam & Telugu , in Tamil till the mid 70’s she sang lesser number of songs as P Susheela was already established as the number one female playback singer during the 50’s & 60’s . However, in my opinion, SJ sang some of the best songs of her career during that period. Of course , in 1976 , there came a turning point in her career with the film Annakili , after which there was no looking back for her in Tamil film music .
Her versatility is unmatched- she could sing like a small kid, intensely emotional songs, folk songs, pure classical songs, devotional songs and one of the most popular genres- her romantic and sensuous songs-all with equal fervour. The ease with which she reaches the higher octaves is simple unbelievable. Starting her career with the yesteryear legends like G Ramanathan, KV Mahadevan, Vishwanathan -Ramamoorthy she could easily adapt her singing style to newer generation music directors like Ilayaraja, A.R Rehman , Vidyasagar etc. Of course she did the same in other languages like Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu but I am restricting my blog to only the music I am aware of, i.e. Tamil and that too within my limited ability.
I have tried my best to select few songs from her vast repertoire and tried including a mix of her early songs that are also my personal favourites, and her later, more popular songs. They include her fabulous solos and some of her best duets. Songs have been arranged in chronological order of the film’s year of release , with song , film, year , music director , lyricist, and co-singer.
I have to confess here that my knowledge about SJ’s songs is limited-I have listened to few of them and they are mostly from the pre-90’s and so many readers may find my selection a bit strange. I have tried my best to include her best solos and duets with most of the prominent male playback singers – SPB ( the most popular pair! ) , TMS,P.B. Sreenivas, KJ Yesudas, Malaysia Vasudevan, P Jayachandran, M.S Vishwanathan & Ilayaraja . Among the composers , I have not ventured into the songs she must have sung for many later composers in Tamil films as I have very little idea about that period.
Singara Velane Deva” –Konjum Salangai -1962-S.M Subbiah Naidu-Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam-Nadaswaram played by the legend Karakurichi P. Arunachalam
Though SJ was singing for almost 5 years in Tamils films, this epic “ duet” of SJ with the Nadaswaram played by the maestro Karakurichi P Arunachalam is considered as one her career best. It is said that initially they considered many other singers , but ultimately selected SJ to sing this , matching the high octave of the nadaswaram. The making of this song itself is an interesting story and this has been explained so nicely & comprehensively by Ms Subashree Thanikachalam in her QFR series and I am providing a link to that here. The way in which SJ matches each and every note of the nadaswaram is something that has to be mentioned in golden letters of the annals of Tamil film music history.
The song:
The story behind the song’s creation
2. Kannan Mananilayai” –Deivathin Deivam -1962- G Ramanathan-Mahakavi Subramanya Bharatiyar
A rare song that is truly a gem from the early years of SJ’s career. A superb raagamaligai from the great composer G Ramanathan ( I have written about this song in my blog on GR) , that starts off with Bhimpalasi , then meanders to a soft Bhageshree and ends with raag Bihaag that smoothly flows with romance. Matching step by step with SJ is the veenai played with so much of classicism . No doubt SJ had her most popular and brilliant songs in 70’s and later, but her earlier songs had a purity and innocence that was unmatched.
3. Pon Enben Siru Poovenben-Policekaran Magal-1962- Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan-Duet with PBS
Sounding so sweet in lower notes is a difficult thing to achieve. PB Sreenivas and SJ are too good in this song that starts off at a slow pace and with lower octaves. And then after Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy ‘s scintillating interlude with veenai , flute & strings the song shifts to a faster tempo and higher notes. An immortal melody from V-R based on Darbari Kanada raagam. I consider this as one of the most melodious duets of PBS & SJ.
4. Chinnanjiriya Vanna Paravai-Kungumam-1963-K. V Mahadevan-Kannadasan-Duet with TMS
The same raagam Darbari Kanada is handled in a different way by another legendary composer, K V Mahadevan. In this , TMS joins SJ and both render a masterpiece together, matching note by note so well. The intricate alaapanai towards the end of the song seem so effortless when these two legends sing together.
Hidden amongst the more famous songs in this film like the evergreen TMS & P Susheela duet Muthukalo Kangal and P Susheela’s solo Enge Neeyo Naanum ange unnodu, this SJ solo remained a relatively unheard one , but as usual SJ shows her immense talent in singing this in a truly amazing way. The starting itself is at such a high note and the excellent orchestration by MSV adds so much power to the song. Those who are hearing this for the first time, like me, are sure to hear it repeatedly.
6. Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen -Avalukendru Oru Manam-1971-M.S Vishwanathan-Kannadasan
As I keep discovering more and more gems of SJ from the Black & White era films, I am truly amazed at the immense variety of songs she had rendered. The tune , interludes & charanam are all vintage MSV! Superb shehnai as in most of MSV’s old songs and when we have SJ going all out , then it has to be a masterpiece.
7. Sollathan Ninaikiren- Sollathan Ninaikiren-1973- M.S Vishwanathan-Vaali-Duet with MSV
Whenever I listen to this song, I wonder how futuristic , MSV’s tunes were!
There is a sweet contrast in the voices-rustic, heavy voice of MSV coupled with a soft and velvety voice of SJ. As such MSV sang very rarely and with SJ , must be just a handful. The tune itself is so mesmerising and the orchestration by MSV , with those superb guitars, flutes, that solo violin, MSV’s trademark piano-all simply out of the world. The last stanza is normally not heard in the audio versions and I think only the film version has it.
8. Then sinthuthe vaanam -Ponnuku Thanga Manasu-1973-G.K Venkatesh-Kannadsan-Duet with SPB
G.K Venkatesh , the legendary composer in Kannada films , scored for few Tamil films only but whatever he composed were superb tunes. The golden combination of SPB & SJ would later go on to create great waves in Tamil films with Ilayaraja, GKV’s protégé . It is said that GKV was quite busy during the time of composing this song and he had created the basic melody and gave it to his assistant Ilayaraja to arrange and conduct . Note how SJ effortlessly reaches the high octaves in the lines “ Vaidehi munne raghuvamsha raman.”
Although SJ was singing for a long time in Tamil films and even more in the other southern languages, it was this song that took her to the Mt Everest of Tamil film music! The brilliance in IR’s composition was evident in his very first film , that continued at least for another two decades, almost uninterrupted.
SJ’s mastery over the emotions in the song , along with her trademark pitch makes this a milestone song in her career.
If IR had triggered the SJ wave with Annakili, MSV , who , till then had relatively given only few songs to her, came up with a masterpiece. In my purely personal opinion , this is one of her greatest songs. I simply cannot get tired listening to this. The way SJ carried this song is very difficult to explain. MSV comes up with a unique concept of starting the song with a fast tempo & chorus humming. His typical drums give the kick start and then SJ makes her grand entry like a superstar in a film scene with her extraordinary alaap. The core theme of the song , as usually written so well by the great Kannadasan, is about how the heroine feels after falling in love after years of slogging to support the large family she is burdened with . MSV’s tune, Kannadasan’s words and SJ’s singing -all create the exact feel for the situation. That is why songs created by those legends are evergreen.
After Annakili , this was one more feather in SJ’s cap. IR’s guitar, flute , strings that dominate the prelude is etched in our memory even after 48 years . This song brought the first National award for best female playback singing for SJ ; she continued to win three more National awards. There might not have been even a single day when this song was not heard at the time of its release.
One phrase from summarizes this song: ‘Jillendra Kaatre’…cool breeze. Whenever you listen to this you feel a cool breeze caressing you.
Matching note by note , the sound of ‘kuil’ (nightingale) in this song, SJ could come out with a super hit song in this movie , that also had the great classical singer M Balamurali Krishna rendering his immortal Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran.
13. Antha Purathil Oru Maharajan-Deepam-1977-Ilayaraja -Pulamaipithan-Duet with TMS
The first few years after he stormed the Tamil film music scene , Ilayaraja was having a creative explosion! Whatever he tuned turned out to be a super hit. TMS and SJ sang very few songs together and that too in IR’s composition, they were very few, but this is one song that remains in our memory whenever we think of this rare combination. Note how SJ modulates her voice in the line “ Aasai kanindhu vara avan paarthaan; annam thalai kunindhu nilam paarthaal.”
In songs like this, SJ proves that apart from those high pitched, intricate/difficult, and romantic songs, she can also render a sober , melodious song with equal fervour.
When we listen to this song, the first impression is on the extraordinary tune and orchestration of IR. But it is also the excellent singing of SJ, who took this song to a different level, and made it into a masterpiece. Especially the way she elaborates that “ kanatha…ondrai theduthe” with those subtle pauses and drag.
Like Senthoorapoove , Kaatril Yenthan Geetham , this is one iconic solo of SJ under the baton of the maestro Ilayaraja. One of my all-time favourites of this combination, the multi-layered orchestration by IR is simply world class. SJ brings the right tone to the song , with a restrained singing in some places and then going all out in the higher notes in her typical style.
That intricate humming right from the beginning of the song to the first charanam and the second one , and of course the usual orchestration brilliance of IR set the mood for the song.
18. Pothi Vechha Malliga mottu-Mann Vasanai-1983-Ilayaraja-Vairamuthu-Duet with SPB
The hero of this song is of course SPB , who embellishes it with all those intricate nuances that he is well known for. Equally SJ matches him in each and every note. And when these two sing together it is always magic!
19. Vetti Veru Vasam-Mudal Mariyathai-1985- Ilayaraja-Vairamuthu-Duet with Malaysia Vasudevan
Mudal Mariyadai had some of the best songs from the team of IR & Vairamuthu although it is said that they did not like the film and never watched it! It even fetched Vairamuthu a National award for best lyrics. One of the best duets of Malaysia Vasudevan and SJ , with both effortlessly gliding through those high octaves in the charanams.
When two legends , MSV & IR teamed up for this film , the music is bound to be a milestone. The former had composed most of the songs in the films, with IR taking care of the arrangements and orchestration. A soft melody that lingers in your mind with SJ conveying the feelings of separation by a lovelorn woman so evocatively.
21. Kodiyile Malliyappu-Kadalora Kavithaigal-1986-Ilayaraja- Vairamuthu-Duet with P Jayachandran
Just around 3 months back we lost this legendary singer-P Jayachandran. If someone could look at the statistics of his Tamil songs, he must have had the one of the highest percentage of hits. This eternal duet by him and SJ , with that out-of-the world orchestration by IR has always been my personal favourite.
22. Adi Aathhadi -Kadalora Kavithaigal-1986-Ilayaraja- Vairamuthu- Duet with Ilayaraja
From the same film Kadalora Kavithaigal, we have one more excellent duet of SJ, this one with the composer himself. Also the unique experimentation by IR by creating an overlap of the singer’s voice adds so much charm.
23. Thoongatha Vizhigal Rendu-Agni Natchatiram-1988-Ilayaraja-Vaali-Duet with KJY
It has been IR’s mastery to take a classical raagam and compose a catchy film song , embellishing it with a superb orchestration . And when it comes to a classical base song, then who else but the Gaana Gandharvan K J Yesudas to join with SJ and come out with a timeless classic.
24. Sundari Kannnal Oru Sethi – Thalapathi -1991-Ilayaraja-Vaali-Duet with SPB
It was a real dilemma for me to choose from the numerous hits of the golden combination -SPB & SJ. All songs from Thalapathi were super hits and this duet is one of the most famous from this duo.
25.Nenjile Nenjile-Uyire-1998-A. R Rehman-Vairamuthu
I have limited knowledge of Tamils songs after 1990 , especially those SJ hafd sung with composers other than Ilayaraja. I have to admit that I was aware of the Hindi version of this song that was also composed by ARR ( film Dil Se) sung by Lata Mangeshkar when her voice was past her prime. Only when searching for some best SJ songs for ARR , I came across this -even at the age of 60, SJ’s voice sounds so youthful.
With that I conclude my article on the versatile S Janaki. I only wish I had listened to many more songs of her . Normally I do not venture into the songs in other languages that I am not very familiar , but would like to make an exception here. This Malayalam song-Thumbi Vaa Thumbakudathin from the film Olangal, composed by Ilayaraja , written by O N V Kuruppu ,has been my personal favourite and so posting the link here:
IR must have liked this tune so much that he later took into this into a Tamil film -Sangathil Padatha Kavithai ( film Auto Raja) & and in Telugu as Aakasham Ennatido ( film Nireekhsana) . All had one common singer-S Janaki!!
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
QFR series in YouTube by Ragamalika TV
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded 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 The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
We all know that Mohammad Rafi was one of the most versatile singers , who could sing any genre of song . There is one more unique aspect that many would be aware at the back of their mind but might not have given much thought about it. This blog is an attempt to showcase that .
Whenever I used to listen to his songs like ‘Mein rickshawalla’ , Mein hoon albela tangewala’ or Sar jo tera chakraye , I used to wonder for how many ‘ occupations ’ or one can say street vendors he might have lent his impeccable vocals ?! I was pleasantly surprised to note there are quite a few songs that I could dig out! The sheer variety is simply amazing. From selling ice cream, insurance, chaat, paan, massage service, driving a rikshaw , a tonga, even offering marriage brokerage service, he has not left out any occupation!
These songs may not be the best in terms of musical quality , but I would say that they are still quite enjoyable. It must have been his innate humility to sing for any actor on screen, any music director , any banner /producer with the lowest budget that must have resulted in such a huge variety of songs.
Readers may find an overwhelming number of articles on Rafi in my blogsite. I have so far covered many artists from Hindi & Tamil films and would continue to cover hundreds of them in future , but Rafi would always be appearing in between as he is always closest to my heart!
There is one more topic that is in my mind-we find many cities appearing in Rafi’s songs. One day I may publish that also , though I may have to do some digging to check how many cities have been covered! With Rafi there is no dearth of topics!
So here we go! My selection of 20 songs arranged in chronological order based on year of the film. I have mentioned the commodity or service that is being sold or offered in the song and then the song , film, year, music director and lyricist.
Toy seller:Tera khilona toota balak-Anmol Gadi-1946-Naushad-Tanveer Naqvi
Although Rafi was singing from 1944 and must have sung around 40 songs till 1946, it was this song from Anmol Gadi that made everyone notice a new singer on the horizon. That film was totally dominated by songs from other legends like Noor Jehan, Shamshad Begum , Suraiya etc , with Rafi getting only this single song. Singing for a toy seller , Rafi slowly but firmly started his ascent to the great heights in his career . Note the antara that is unique and sung almost breathless with primitive recording techniques prevalent during 40’s.
2. Fruit SellerMain Mali Ka Chhokra Mera Bagh Hai Jamuna Paar-Sarkar-1951-Pt Gobind Ram-Qamar Jalalabadi-Duet with Shamshad Begum
I could not get any link that has the visuals but from the audio it appears Rafi is selling fruits and Shamshad Begum , vegetables! Pt Gobind Ram was a popular and successful composer in the 1940’s . It is interesting to note that in 1951 , one could get Kashmir Apples -4 for one rupee!!
3. Balloon seller:Le lo gubare humare pyare pyare-Bandish-1955-Hemant Kumar-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
In this 1955 film also Rafi had just this song, picturised on the noted comedian Bhagwan selling balloons. Hearing Rafi in a Hemant Kumar composition is quite rare. Notice the difference in the singing style of Rafi from the 1946 ‘Tere Khilona’ to this in 1955. He is more confident and does the all the variations in his typical style. I found a strange thing-all the videos that have the visuals are just around 1.5 minutes! And so I have posted two links-one to just to show the visual selling of balloons and one that has only audio but the complete song.
4. Barber: Mera naam phataphat mera kaam jhataphat-Shahzada-1955-S Mohinder-Tanveer Naqvi
Unfortunately I could not get any video that has the visuals but the lyrics proves it is picturized on a person assuring he shall give a good and fast haircut! This film had two music directors-Nashad and S Mohinder with almost 3 songs composed by each. S Mohinder had composed some very good songs in Hindi films but went on to focus more on Punjabi films and became immensely popular there.
5. Perfume seller : Jungle ghooma basti ghooma ( Le le mera ittar)-Badshah Salamat-1956-Bulo C Rani-Shafiq Kanpuri
This is an absolutely hidden gem , with Rafi going all out and creating the typical intonations ( note in how many variants to that Le Le!) that a street seller normally does while selling his wares. Once again I failed to get a video link that has the visuals and only we can imagine how it would have been on screen! A word about the music director of this song: Bulo C Rani , many may erroneously think it is a name of a lady but he was a male music director , born, Bulo Chandiram Ramchandani and was a popular composer in the vintage era but later on faded out , not able to withstand the competition from many stalwarts of the golden era and it is sadder to note that at the age of 73 he was supposed to have committed suicide .
6. Masseur (Tel Maalish): Sar jo tera chakraye-Pyaasa-1957-S.D Burman-Sahir Ludhianvi
Among the many songs that Rafi sang for different “ on screen” occupations this one must the most popular. In an otherwise serious film that had Rafi’s epic Yeh Mehlon Yeh Takhton and Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Who Khan Hai, we can only admire the great singer’s versatility . The way he sings this , it sounds exactly as if Johnny Walker singing for a road-side oil masseur.
7. Panwala: Aana O bhai jaan khilaoon pan lagake chuna -Taxi Stand-1958-Chitragupt-Majrooh Sultanpuri
It is sad that we do not get visuals of most of the songs . There is no limit to the variety in Rafi’s singing. Just note the change in tone -he sings one line in straight manner and immediately in the next line he changes it to that of a typical panwalla!
8. Vegetable seller (Sabziwala):Muliram aur bhindiwala ka nikala-Dulhan-1958-Ravi-S.H. Bihari
Ravi seems to have scored maximum number of songs for Rafi in this particular niche genre. There are 6 songs composed by Ravi out of 20 songs I have listed here ! When we hear this song we can understand why Rafi seems to have been the favourite of almost all music directors for such songs. I do not think any other singer would be able to demonstrate so much of variations.
9. Chatwala: Baaman ho ya jaat -Kaarigar-1958-C Ramachandra-Bharat Vyas-Duet with Chitalkar
Composed by C Ramachandra superbly with a Bhangra and Lavani style , this is one more hidden gem I discovered. When you hear this , you will definitely get a feel having a great chaat on the famous Chowpati beach in Mumbai! This song is also a foodie’ s delight as the three stanzas cover the most popular chaats: Ragda , Bhel puri and Paani Puri!! Chitalkar ( C Ramachandra) & Rafi singing together is one more rarity to be enjoyed.
10. Photographer: Dilbar pe ho na kaboo photo kheenchalo Babu-Pehli Raat-1959-Ravi-Majrooh Sultanpuri
There was a time when Johnny Walker always had one song picturized on him in every film , with Rafi singing for him. In this he is providing his professional touch for getting a nice photo and even enacts how to pose for a pic!
One of the most popular songs in this genre, picturized on another comedian, Mehmood, for whom Rafi has sung so many hit songs. The great lyricist Shailendra was truly a genius -he could write simple lines to convey great philosophy even in a song like this. The last antara is typical of Shailendra…
Raat din har ghadi ek sawaal, ek sawaal
Rotiya kam hain kyun, kyun hai akaal, kyun hai akaal
Kyun duniya me kami hai ye chori kisne ki hai
Kahan hai sara maal, kaha hai sara maal
12. Bangle seller:Le Lo chudiyan-Ghar Ki Laaj-1960-Ravi-Rajendra Krishan
Once again we have Johnny Walker , this time selling bangles on street. Observe the way Rafi says “ Chudi….chudiwala” ..he sounds exactly like a street seller! That was his exceptional skill!
13. Insurance agent: Babu insurance kara lo-Kala Admi-1960-Dattaram-Hasrat Jaipuri
Today we have a bombardment of sales pitch from various insurance companies in all media, social media , through pesky calls on our mobile phones ! We are totally frustrated with the unsolicited calls we get on our mobile phones. Wish someone can make a pitch in a funny way like how Rafi does in this song!
14. Cucumber seller (Kakadi) : Laila ki ungliyan-Ghar Ki Laaj-1960-Ravi-Rajendar Krishan
In the song Muliram aur Bhindimaal ka nikala diwala he was selling all types of vegetables; this one is a specialization ! He goes on to extoll the virtues of the humble cucumber and compares it with a lady’s finger!
15. Ice cream seller: Zindagi hai kya sun meri jaan-Maya-1961-Salil Chowdhury-Majrooh Sultanpuri
Salil da was inspired from the legend Charlie Chaplin’s composition called Terry’s Theme which was the theme music of his film Limelight. It fetched Chaplin his only competitive Oscar for Original dramatic score well after two decades ( the film was made in 1952 but was released fully in the USA only 1972 as his film was banned earlier in that country due to his “ supposedly communist leanings”).
Salil da , whenever he takes some excellent tunes from western music creates wonders and full justice to the composition. One of the most melodious songs in this list, Rafi’s vocals match Dev Anand so well . One melts like an ice cream while listening to the line ‘ zaban mein meethi karoon aa yahan.’
16. Tin Plating of Utensils (Bartan kalai):Bartan kalai kara Lo-Girls’ Hostel-1963-Ravi-S.H Bihari
Today many would not even know what is ‘ tinning of brass and copper utensil.’ This is something unique to our country as we cook many acidic or alkaline food that may react adversely with brass and copper and may be harmful for the body. So a thin coat of tin is applied inside the utensil so that it provides a safe barrier. Rafi has not left out even this relatively obscure occupation. The mukhda starts off with a parody of the famous song Hum Bekhudi Mein Tumko Pukare Chale Gaye that was also sung by Rafi , composed by S.D Burman for the film Kala Pani.
17. Tangewala: Goda Pishori mera , tonga Lahori mera (Mein Hoon Albela Tangewala)-Pyar Ka Bandhan-1963-Ravi-Sahir Ludhianvi
Although O P Nayyar might have composed most of the songs that had that typical horse-hoof beat rhythm, I could not find any song that suited this theme. So we have a relatively leisurely-paced horse driven by Raj Kumar that is typical of Ravi’s rhythm pattern . One more very popular song in this category , and Rafi does a superb job of singing for a tangewala played on screen by Raj Kumar!
18. Home guard: Mein albela Home guard-Johar in Kashmir-1966-Kalyanji-Anandji-Indeevar
Who could have ever imagined a song with a theme of Home guard! I.S Johar was a sort of rebellious actor who mostly acted in comical roles in Hindi films but was one of the few Indian actors to have acted in internationally acclaimed films like Lawrence of Arabia and Death On The Nile . He produced & directed in a series of films that had his name in title like Johar Mehmood in Goa, Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong etc.
19. Street magician: Beta jhamoore keh de duniya ko -Biradari-1966-Chitragupt-Prem Dhawan – Duet with Manna Dey
Although the premise for the song is that of a street magician , the song’s lyrics are more philosophical and written so well by Prem Dhawan. When two legends sing together , Rafi & Manna Dey then it has to be a superb song! Very rarely heard composition of Chitragupt.
Long before online matrimony sites , dating sites had come into our world there used to be a marriage broker who ‘ arranged’ marriages. Rafi has a song for them also! Picturised on a lesser-known comedian Johnny Fernandes , this film had very melodious & famous songs like Jab Jab Bahar Aaye , Aaiye Bahar Ko Hum Bant Le . Rafi’s excellent versatility is fully evident . Only he can do full justice to an intensely emotional Jab Jab Bahar Aaye and in total contrast, this comical one for a marriage broker in the same film.
I will try to come out with such off-beat topics with Rafi’s songs in future. With Rafi, there can never be a dearth of theme!
Acknowledgement & Disclaimer
I sincerely thank the publishers of following blogsites & Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded here only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
In the year 2004, many newspapers published a report that Shamshad Begum, the noted playback singer had passed away , when she was very much alive and living with her daughter , son-in-law, and grandchildren, in Powai, Mumbai. No doubt it was sheer negligence by the media. It was also a reflection on the famous short-lived public memory . To some extent, it was also due to her own decision to stay away from the film industry, having been disillusioned with the politics in film industry. Actually, it was another Shamshad Begum, a lesser-known actress and happened to be the grandmother of actress Saira Banu who had passed away , which the media reported wrongly! Surprisingly this was much before the social media and fake news dominated world in which we live today!
In the early decades of Hindi films, singers with a resonating, powerful voices ruled the music scene. Singers like Ameerbai Karnataki, Kanan Devi, Zohrabai Ambalewali, Noorjahan, Suraiyya, Khursheed and Shamshad Begum are some of the famous female playback singers from that era. Among them, few like Noorjahan and Khursheed migrated to Pakistan after the partition of our country, whereas other singers faded into oblivion with Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt , Sudha Malhotra, Suman Kalyanpur , Asha Bhonsle gradually replacing them.
However, it was Shamshad Begum ( I will refer to her as SB for brevity) who remained successful even till the 60’s despite many other new singers entering the industry. Her decision to stay away from limelight was partly due to the disillusionment with the politics in the industry and partly due to the sudden demise of her husband in a road accident in 1955. It is good to note that the government honoured with the Padma Bhushan award when many other legendary singers had to be content with lesser awards or no awards at all!
During her peak years, she commanded a price that was unbelievable for those times. In one of her interviews , she had stated that her father’s advice to her always kept her in good stead. “Do not be too sweet that people would take you for granted and at the same time do not be too bitter so that everyone would avoid you.” She maintained a dignified relationship with all her associates and simply focused on her singing alone.
Born in Lahore in the undivided India on 14th April 1919, to Mian Hussain Baksh and Ghulam Fatima , she was one among the eight children of her parents . She started singing at the age of 12 in weddings, social functions and being from a conservative family , her father did not allow her to be photographed , although he reluctantly agreed to her singing career. As she had promised to her father that her face would not appear in public , it is said that only , much later , in 1970’s people could see her photograph!
Right from her school days, she was recognized for the quality of her voice and used to lead the school prayers. She had no formal training in music and though her parents were not much in favour of a career in singing , her uncle supported her and took her to a recording company Jenophone/Xenophone ( that was later taken over by HMV) . The well-known composer Ghulam Haider, who had given breaks for many legendary singers gave her a contract and it is said that she got around Rs 5000 for completing many songs for that recording company. Unfortunately those songs and many other songs that she would go on to sing live for All India Radio in Peshawar and Lahore are not available as they were never recorded but broadcast live.
When she was around 15 years old , she met Ganpat Lal Bhatto , a Hindu lawyer and married him , despite opposition from her family due to religious difference. They had a daughter Usha Ratra who married an Army Colonel Yogesh Ratra and she spent her last days with them and her grandchildren who were very much devoted to her.
She got her musical skill honed by Hussain Bakshwale Saheb a sarangi maestro and also by Ghulam Haider himself. She was one of the highest paid singers in Hindi film industry, with a voice that some compared to that of a temple bell , resonating , majestic , and flowing like a river effortlessly. She could sing a western style or cabaret song , a folk song , a peppy romantic duet , a sad ‘ bidaiee’ song, a qawwali -all with equal fervour. The 1941 film Khazanchi was a landmark film for her as she sang all the eight songs in that movie with the film and songs becoming a great hit.
She was once that most favoured female playback singers for all the top music composers of the 1940’s and 50’s . During the vintage era she sang for Ghulam Haider, Pt Govindram , Ghulam Mohammad followed by the legendary Naushad, C Ramachandra , S.D Burman & O.P Nayyar. In the industry she was a senior to most of the later day legends like Rafi, Talat, Kishore , Mukesh, Lata , Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhonsle etc . Even Naushad was junior to her and he had acknowledged publicly the fact that it was mainly due to Shamshad lending her vocals to many of his early hits, he got immense fame.
It is SB’s bad luck that all these four music directors, who worked with her in many hit songs, gradually shifted their focus to other female playback singers. C Ramachandra and Naushad started giving more songs to Lata, S.D Burman to Geeta Dutt , Asha Bhonsle initially and later on to Lata. O.P Nayyar initially worked with SB & Geeta Dutt but later on he shifted to Asha till they had their bitter rift. Although I could not get any authentic information on exactly how many songs SB had sung, it is estimated to be around 2000. Not only in Hindi, she also sang in Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati and even 2-3 songs in Tamil! I have given the link to a rare Tamil song by her in dubbed version of the hit film Aan at the end of this blog.
It is really difficult to select few songs from her vast repertoire , especially when we see that most of her songs during the golden era were super hits!
I have tried to select a few to the best of my ability , trying to showcase the huge variety in her singing. Songs are arranged in the chronological order of the song, film ,year of film’s release, co-singer, music director and lyricist mentioned in that order.
< Though I have tried to embed almost all the songs that can be played here itself, there are two songs which are not allowed by the respective uploader in YouTube and so you may have to click and view it in YouTube seperately>
Sawan Ke Nazare Hain-Khazanchi-1941-Ghulam Haider-Ghulam Haider-Wali Khan
The film Khazanchi was adapted loosely from a silent English film The Way of All Flesh made by Victor Fleming in 1927and it is considered to be one of the early blockbuster movies of Hindi cinema. It is to the credit of Shamshad Begum that she sung all the songs in this movie, mostly solos and one or two duets with Ghulam Haider himself.
2. Kahe Koyal Shor Machaye Re – Aag -1948-Ram Ganguly-Behzad Lucknowi
Whenever I listen to the songs of the film Aag, I always wonder why Ram Ganguly could not recreate the magic in later films. It is my personal observation that the music in this film was something far ahead of its times. Apart from this solo, Shamshad had a superb duet “ Solah baras ki bayee umariya” with Rafi , a funky Raat ko Jab Chamke Tare with Mukesh and another solo Dil Toot Gaya Ji in this film.
3. Dharti Ko Aakash Pukare – Mela-1948-Mukesh-Naushad -Shakeel Badayuni
Mela had some of the excellent scores of Naushad from his early years. Mukesh had his Gaye Jaa Geet Milan Ki, Rafi had his Ye Zindagi Ke Mele but it was Shamshad who sang a whopping 9 songs in the film! Dharti Ko Aaksh Pukare, though a very brief song , tugs at your heart with the pathos rendered soulfully by SB.
4. Mein Bhanwara Tu Hai Phool- Mela-1948-Mukesh-Naushad-Shakeel Badayuni
A vintage Naushad composition , with a superb combination of Mukesh’s soft voice and SB’s powerful voice providing a unique melody!
5. Chandini Aayee Banke Pyaar O sajna-Dulari-1949-Naushad-Shakeel Badayuni
One more quintessential Naushad composition. However we can notice how Naushad changes track by giving Lata around 9 songs and only 2 for SB! Must be the effect of the immense success of Barsaat when Lata stormed the industry and slowly started replacing other singers.
6. Na Bol Pi Pi More Angna-Dulari-1949-Naushad-Shakeel Badayuni
With just two songs given to her in this film by Naushad as compared to the lion’s share to Lata, SB makes the best out of them with these two evergreensongs.
One of the most famous songs by Chitalkar ( C Ramachandra) and Shamshad Begum, this is a duet that sounds as fresh as if it was composed yesterday. One of the TV channels I used to watch earlier and also our good old Vividh Bharati might have made an over-kill of playing this song almost every day and for a moment I thought if I should include any other CR ‘s composition instead of this, but on second thoughts, this is a great iconic song to be left out!
I had included this song in my blog on the genius composer Sajjad Hussain and generally I try not to repeat the songs. But I have to make an exception to my own ‘ unwritten’ rule! This song, though I heard it very recently is a hidden gem that I do not understand how it remained an obscure one till now. A fantastic composition that is typical of the maestro Sajjad, superbly rendered by SB.
9. Chod Babul Ka ghar – Babul-1950-Naushad-Shakeel Badayuni
One of the most famous “ bidayee” ( when the bride leaves for her husband’s house after marriage) , SB has once again given an immortal song with Naushad. It was Naushad’s firm belief in keeping the orchestration to the minimum in such songs and let the singer elevate the song to the height it deserves.
10. Milte Hi Aankhen Dil Hua- Babul-1950-With Talat Mehmood-Naushad-Shakeel Badayuni
I read somewhere that the newcomer Talat Mehmood was a bit nervous during the rehearsals for this song and it was the veteran Shamshad who boosted his morale by encouraging him to shed his inhibitions and what an evergreen duet this turned out to be. Whenever the Begum sings a duet , her voice overpowers the male singer!
11.Sharmaye Kahe Ghabraye Kahe- Baazi-1951-S D Burman-Sahir Ludhianvi
Shamshad delivers a superb foot-tapping cabaret number in this SDB composition.
12. Saiyyan Dil Mein Aana Re -Bahaar-1951-S D Burman-Rajendra Kumar
A 32-year-old SB singing for an eighteen-year-old Vyjantimala! A peppy song by the great Burman da to suit her breezy style of singing. Though I hate the concept of remixing old classic gems ( and mostly spoiling them!) I see that many of SB’s songs are popular with the remixing guys!
13. Duniya Ka Maza Lelo – Bahaar -1951- S D Burman- Rajendra Krishna
SDB takes us through Arabia and Hawaii with the fabulous interludes , superbly enacted on the screen by the great dancer Vyjanthimala and last but not least, a power-packed singing by the Begum!
Although this song is a triad, Rafi has only a small part humming “ O jee ho…” throughout the song and Lata also has an equal stanza, somehow SB, with her resonating voice, dominates the song.
16. Badi Mushkil Se Dil Ki Beqaraari- Naghma- 1953-Nashad-Nakshab Jaravachi
There is always confusion between the names Naushad and Nashad. I wonder why Shaukat Hussain Dehlvi/Shaukat Ali Hashmi called himself Nashad , which in Urdu signifies “ joyless,” “cheerless” . Maybe it was an intentional , antonym to his bitter rival Naushad which means , cheerful, happy! Anyhow, leaving that aside, this is a complex , difficult composition which SB renders with effortless ease.
17. La De More Baalma Aasmani Chudiyan – Rail Ka Dibba -1953- Rafi-Ghulam Mohammad-Shakeel Badayuni
Long before terms like ‘ breathless singing’ , ‘rap songs’ became a rage, SB and Rafi gave this superb , peppy rap song. Both of them render a breathless antara , effortlessly!
18. Kabhi aar kabhi paar – Aar Paar-1954- O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri
SB’s best songs in the early years were with the stalwarts like C.Ramachandra, Naushad , S.D.Burman , and later on , it was the turn of another great composer from the musical land of Punjab, O.P Nayyar with his foot-tapping rhythm and beats to give equally great songs for her.
19. Boojh Mera Kya Naam Re- C.I.D- 1956- O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri
The film C.I.D had some of Shamshad’s most memorable songs like the solos Boojh Mere Kya Naam Re, Kahni Pe Nigahen Kahin Pe Nishana and the triad with Rafi & Asha that remains so popular till now, Leke Pehla Pyaar Bharke.
20. Kahin Pe Nigahen Kahin Pe Nishana – C.I.D-1956-O P Nayyar-Majrooh Sultanpuri
An iconic song that defines the singing style of Shamshad Begum. OPN ‘s interludes mostly get repeated throughout the song but one does not feel bored as he makes it so catchy!
I am now running short of words as I cannot keep thinking of synonyms to words like evergreen/immortal/fresh /masterpieces for all the songs of SB! This only shows a whopping 75-80 % of her songs have been super-duper hits!
22. Mere Neendon Mein Tum Naya Andaaz -1956- Kishore Kumar-O P Nayyar-Jaan Nissar Akhtar
One of the rare duets of SB with Kishore , the two voices match each other perfectly well. And what a mesmerizing tune by OPN! The song lingers in your mind long after you have stopped listening to it.
By mid-50’s , Shamshad had reduced her singing due to the sudden demise of her husband in 1955 in a road accident. It was mainly due to the persistence of the producer-director Mehboob Khan , who managed to convince her to sing for this film after her brief hiatus.
24. Teri mehfil Mein kismat-Mughal-E-Aazam-1960-Lata-Naushad-Shakeel Badayuni
In the early years Lata and Shamshad had sung many songs together. This famous qawwali from Mughal-E-Azam was the last time they sung together. When it comes to qawwali, Shamshad was way ahead of others , but to her credit, Lata has also sung this well , despite this genre not being one of her strong points.
One may observe the huge gap between the years-from 1960, we now straight away come to 1968! It is to the credit of OPN that he gave the Begum a last memorable song. Technically this is not her last song as she sang for few films like 1970 Heer Ranjha ( Nache Ang Ve in Madan Mohan’s music with Jagjit Kaur) and I understand the song Main Papi Tum Bakshankar was her last recorded song.
As a bonus song, I am providing a link to her Tamil song ( Naan Raaniye Rajavin-Tamil dubbed version of Aan-Naushad-Kambadasan) . It is always a pleasure to listen to a legend from Hindi films rendering a song in my native language! This is from the dubbed version of the famous film Aan..the Hindi equivalent of this song was Mein Rani Hoon Raja Ki
Acknowledgement & Disclaimer
I sincerely thank the publishers of following blogsites & Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded here only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
Around a year back, I had written about the legendary music director G Ramanathan and also on the journey of Tamil film music over last 50 years in this blogsite. For a greater part of my life , I had not listened much to old Tamil songs even from the years 1950-60’s leave alone from the previous vintage era of 1930-40’s. So it was only during the last few years when I started my blogs , I started listening to them and now-a-days I spend more time hooked to Tamils film songs. For me both Hindi and Tamil golden era songs are equally great , but heart goes more towards one’s mother tongue ! And the more I listened to Tamil songs, I find they were comparatively more rooted in classical base , with the 30’s and 40’s being almost equivalent to a Carnatic classical music concert, albeit encapsuled in 3- 4 minutes!
Ever since I listened to the song Bhoomiyil Maanida Janmam from the film Ashok Kumar that was sung by the first superstar of Tamil cinema , also known as Ezhisai Mannan ( the king of seven notes) Mayavaram Krishnasamy Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar, popularly known as MKT, I was completely fascinated by his singing! One may not believe if say that I literally listened to that song at least 15-20 times the day I first came across that song! The lyrics, tune and singing made a great impact on me. MKT was someone I had heard long back and would have hardly listened to just two or three of his songs. It was even a surprise to me when I thought of writing about this singer.
Later on I listened to his immortal Vadaname Chandra Bimbamo, Manmatha Leelaiyai Vendrar Undo, Amba Manam Kaninthu etc and even created a personal playlist for me in YouTube and started listening to many of his songs often during my morning walks. There was a magnetic attraction to his voice , that people used to say resembled a musical instrument in its tonal quality. A human voice that was absolutely without any flaw and pitch-perfect. A lesser talked about aspect about him is that he was an equally accomplished Carnatic classical music exponent , but only due to the unfortunate fact that his concerts were never recorded into exclusive gramophone records, this aspect remained unrecognised and people know him only as an actor-singer in films.
Born on 1st March 1910 to Krishnaswamy Aachari and Manikathammal in Thanjavur , his family later moved and settled in Tiruchirapalli. They were traditional goldsmiths, but the young MKT was neither interested in academics, nor in the family business. From a young age he was attracted to music and used to listen to the Thevaram and Thiruvasagam sung in temples and later on the songs in stage plays of the well-renowned S.G. Kittappa, who was to some extent his inspiration. Like any father of those days, Krishnaswamy Achari was against the young MKT getting attracted to music .There is an anecdote that one day he ran away from home and was later traced through some friends in Kadapa, a town in Andhra Pradesh, singing devotional songs . Seeing many people listening to his son, his father later brough him back to Trichy and reluctantly agreed to his interests.
MKT started singing bhajans organised by the temples and sabhas and slowly his fame as a musical prodigy spread everywhere. His talent was spotted by one F.G. Natesa Iyer, a railway employee, who was running a drama troupe in Trichy by the name of Rasika Ranjani Sabha. Mr.Iyer, in fact, was on the lookout for a boy to act in his drama ‘Harischandra’ as Lohidasan. He approached MKT’S father , Krishnamurthy and got his approval after much persuasion to take him in his drama troupe. Having made an impact at that young age , he later on honed his singing skills by learning from many veteran theatre performers and one Madurai Ponnu Iyengar, a renowned violinist. He had also learnt music from the Alathur brothers ( Srinivasa Iyer and Sivasubramania Iyer -were not real brothers but were called by that name as they were disciples to one Alathur Venkatesa Iyer , father of Sivasubramania Iyer).
In the year 1934, he got his first assignment to act in a movie “ Pavalakkodi that was made by Lakshmana Chettiar and directed by K Subramanyam. This film had a whopping 50 songs of which 22 were sung by MKT! Those days it was normal for films to run only through songs and dialogues were minimal. Also the songs used to be recorded as and when the filming was done. Pavalakkodi is supposed to have been the first commercially successful Tamil film , and ran for around 9 months.
From then the career of MKT rose meteorically and many super hit films followed like Naveena Sarangadara, Sathyaseelan, Chintamani, Ambikapathy, Thiruneelakantar, Ashok Kumar, Sivakavi, Haridas. The film Haridas had the unique distinction of running for almost three years at a theatre in Madras , now Chennai.
Like many other actor-singers of that era, both in Tamil and Hindi films, acting was not a major skill required . Singing ability alone made stars out of the artists. And in that aspect , MKT scored very well with his majestic pitch-perfect singing, strong classical base, and an extraordinary ability to glide through the high notes . The ten odd films that he acted in a period of same number of years made him the first superstar , with a fan following that even today’s top actors or singers could envy. He was mobbed in the train stations when he travelled, sometimes , his fans allowing the train to pass only after he obliged by coming out and waving to them and singing few lines. He was a trend setter when it came to hair style, with his trademark “ Bhagawathar Crop” !
But then, life always throws something unexpected. In his own words , he had once said: Ennai pol vaazhnthavarum illai, thaazhnthavarum illai-“ No one had lived liked me and no one had fallen like me”! His meteoric rise to a stardom was followed by an unexpected sad turn of events that shattered his life.
In the year 1944, MKT , along with the well-known comedian N S Krishnan and studio owner Sriramulu Naidu were arrested for an alleged conspiracy in the infamous “ Lakshmikanthan murder case”. I would not like to elaborate much on that unfortunate incident in his life , for which there are umpteen articles in the Internet. The victim was a notorious blackmailer , who used to write scandalous stories about celebrities in his magazine and extort money to buy his silence. The attack was carried out by a group of assailants and a case was made out that these three were the alleged conspirators. Despite a battery of well-known lawyers defending them , MKT and NSK had to undergo around two years of jail ( Sriramulu Naidu was however acquitted). Only after the Privy Council in London ( it was still British rule at that time) intervened and instructed the Madras High Court for a re-assessment of the case , they were acquitted. Noted lawyer of that time , V.L Ethiraj fought his case and got the acquittal and those who live in Chennai may know him as the founder of the famous Ethiraj College. To this day , the case is unresolved as to who were the actual conspirators.
By the time MKT became free in April 1947, the film making trend had changed towards more social themes with less importance to songs. Although he even produced and acted in Raja Mukthi (1948), Amarakavi ( 1952), Shyamala ( 1952) and Pudhu Vazhvu ( 1957), all the films failed . Coupled with this setback, he suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and even partially lost his eyesight and passed away on 1st Nov 1959. Though some say he passed away in penury, there are reports to the contrary , that mention that he might not have had the earlier luxury, but still had a decent life thanks to some benefactors. That brings me to one important caveat for this blog-I had to rely on what material I could go through in the Internet and many anecdotes, stories on him can be unverified. I would focus only in his music and leave the rest to one’s own interpretation.
To be honest , I never thought I would write about the legendary M.K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in my blog , mainly due to the fact that I had not listened to many of his songs and it was from a bygone era that I was not much familiar. Many , even in my age-group may not be fascinated by these songs , but as I had discovered , once we listen to them , we can find a unique charm and at least for posterity, I wanted to include them in my blogsite as a tribute to this legendary singer.
I should add one special note on Papnasam Sivan, the noted composer and lyricist who had composed most of MKT;s songs and he was later ably assisted by the veteran G Ramanathan who used to arrange and orchestrate his compositions.
I have tried to compile few of his best songs . These are sequenced in chronological order of the film’s release , with song-film-year-music director-lyricist mentioned in that order. To the best of my ability, I have tried to mention the raagam that the song is based on. Readers may be surprised to see two different links embedded for many songs. I have intentionally done that as one is the film version and the other a gramophone record version. Former has the typical vintage feel and the latter , slightly better acoustic & orchestration effects. Enjoy both the versions!
Pavazha maal varayil-Tiruneelakantar-1939-T N Rajaratinam Pillai-Thiruvaliyamuthanar ( Tiruvisaippa-a devotional poetry on Lord Shiva from Tirumurai) ; Raagam- Bhairavi and Kalyani
There is an interesting anecdote behind this exceptional Virutham . A virutham is a devotional verse sung in Carnatic music concerts. Viruttams do not possess a set tala and are solely improvised using one or more ragams. It is one of many forms of manodharma-spontaneous improvisations-in Carnatic music. Based on information passed on hearsay, the noted Nadaswara vidwan T.N Rajaratnam Pillai had tuned this Virutham in Bhairavi and Kalyani and asked MKT to render this as it would be played in Nadaswaram . That is why , although this film’s music is officially credited to Papanasam Sivan, this particular segment is supposed to be based on the TNR’s sangathis.
One can just immerse into this exceptional rendering by MKT that exactly sounds as how it would have been played in a Nadaswaram!
This song, unlike the earlier one I posted from the same film, is more popular .
3. Bhoomiyil Manida Janmam-Ashok Kumar-1941-Alathur V Subrahmanyam-Papanasam Sivan; Raagam-Sindhu Bhairavi
This is the song that inspired me to listen to this great singer and explore his other songs and ultimately made me write about him in my blogsite. This is one of the rare MKT films in which music is scored by someone other than the veteran Papanasam Sivan. Alathur brothers, as mentioned by me in the intro, were mentors of MKT and this tune is a mesmerizing one. Lyrics by Papansam Sivan is one more feather in the cap.
4. Satvaguna Bodhan -Ashok Kumar-1941-Alathur V Subrahmanyam-Papanasam Sivan; Raagam-Saramati-Jonpuri?
An interesting feature of this film is that Puratchi Thalaivar MGR acted in a small role in this film. You can see him in the first link below! I think he was credited simply as Ramchandar in the titles.
5. Unnai Kandu Mayangatha- Ashok Kumar-1941-Alathur V Subrahmanyam-Papanasam Sivan; Raagam-Bhairavi
A pleasing song set in Bhairavai raagam, with that typical MKT’s ease of gliding through the high octaves fully evident.
I am an ignoramus when it comes to knowledge about classical raagas. Based on what I could ascertain from the Internet, the raagam Kunthalavarali is a lighter Carnatic raagam and maybe that is why I could feel the song is so melodious and if I may use the word , “ breezy” to hear.
There is an interesting anecdote about this song. Originally Papanasam Sivan had written the Pallavi as “ Mugam Adu Chandra Bimbamo” ..when MKT heard and practised this, he felt it sounded like Muhammad and requested Papanasam Sivan to change and he obliged by changing it to Vadaname . One of the very popular songs of MKT, this has a modern and fresh feel even when we hear it after some 82 years! Wonder if any of the film songs composed now-a-days will be remembered even after few weeks or months!
Superbly written and composed by Papanasam Sivan, the film revolves around a poet Poyamozhi Pulavar , who was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and refused to sing about Shanmukha , his son. Later , Lord Shiva himself showed to him the unity of the forms of both the deities and then he started singing in praise of Shanmukha also. In this song one can appreciate the subtle way in which Siva Kavi puts forth his views why he cannot sing in praise of the son , when he is devoted to the father!
I do not know much about the story of this movie apart from what I had written earlier. From the lyrics it appears the poet had strayed away from the path of devotion and got carried away into a materialistic life , ignoring all the virtues. This song must be a repentance after he realizes his folly.
The 40’s films had very strong classical and devotional elements and this is a classic devotional song , composed in Panthuvarali raagam.
This raagam conveys pathos, intense yearning, and a pleading quality.
11. Manmatha Leelaiyai Vendraar Undo-Haridas-1944- Papanasam Sivan (with orchestration by G Ramanathan)-Papnasam Sivan-Co-singer-T.R. Rajakumari; Raagam-Charukesi
If there is a single iconic song of MKT , it is this! Popular to this day, the orchestration by G Ramanathan way back in 1944 is something truly trend-setting.
12. Krishna Mukuntha Murare- Haridas-1944- Papanasam Sivan (with orchestration by G Ramanathan)-Papnasam Sivan; Raagam-Navaroj
No doubt Haridas ran for three years , with evergreen songs like this, set in a relatively rare raagam, called Navaroj.
13. Ammaiyappa Ungal Anbai-Haridas-1944-Papanasam Sivan (with orchestration by G Ramanathan)-Papnasam Sivan; Raagam-Raagamalika-Kanada-Atana-Jonpuri
Once I started listening to MKT’s songs I realised why, despite having poor recording facilities, orchestration etc, these linger in our minds. The answer must lie in their strong classical base that is eternal.This raagamalika is a best example.
14. Vaazhvil Or Thirunaal-Haridas-1944- Papanasam Sivan (with orchestration by G Ramanathan)-Papnasam Sivan
Among the songs that I have listed so far, this could be the only one to be called a light music. I think the opening lines might have been inspired from a Hindi song Loot Liyo Mana Dheer , sung by Kanan Devi and composed by R.C. Bohral for the film Jawani Ki Reet made in 1939.
The white horse that MKT rides in this song is his own. The film starts with this song and one can see the early signs of a “ superstar” entry that was adopted by his successors!
15. Rajan Maharajan-Shyamala-1952-G Ramanathan-T.V Rajee-S.B Dinakar Rao-Kambadasan; Raagam-Huseni
I conclude my limited selection of the golden hits of MKT with this superb song that appeared in one of his four films that were made after his release and though all the films flopped, this song is nothing short of a masterpiece. Unlike the short 3-minute songs in most films, this is a full six minute long , but MKT keeps you totally immersed , with his exceptional , intricate alaapanais. I am not sure who had actually composed the music as this film credits three music directors!
I have not been able to listen to the duets of MKT and hence my selection has been only solo songs. That may require more digging into the great legacy he had left behind so that I can come back with a sequel!
As a bonus , I am providing the link to a tribute paid by the well-known Seerkazhi Govindarajan that he had composed & sung immediately after MKT had passed away. The song includes phrases from some of MKT’s popular songs and is a rich tribute to the legendary actor-singer.
Acknowledgement & Disclaimer
I sincerely thank the publishers of following blogsites & Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
You Tube
Wikipedia
https://www.karnatik.com thanks to this site for information on raagam base for many songs of MKT.
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded here only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
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