Little known music composers from Hindi films

 

Recently I heard a few songs that are not the usual ones that we have either heard on radio or watched on TV in various music channels. This was on YouTube and the video (actually not a video per se, just an audio on YouTube) was Geetmala (erstwhile Binaca Geetmala) presented by Ameen Sayani where he plays a few lines from the top songs of various years; but full songs that didn't appear in the year end list. I was listening to the songs of 1961 when Ameen Sayani mentioned about a song and the music director Lacchiram! Later he played another gem and mentioned the composer as Suhrid Kar. The music directors Lacchiram and Suhrid Kar were unknown to me. I did some search on them and a few other music composers about whom less is known and here is a presentation of some of the songs by these composers. Lacchiram and Suhrid Kar are mentioned of course, but I have added Iqbal Qureshi and Sardar Malik too to this list. 

 

Let me know if there are other music composers who are similarly less known, but whose compositions are amazing!

 

(Note: The embedded YouTube videos will play when you click on the "Play" icon as of now. However, I have noted that over time the videos are taken down due to privacy issues. In that case you need to use the "Search" option on YouTube to locate the songs if you want to watch them/ listen to them.)

 

 LACCHIRAM

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35ZHJVoLRaU)

Film: Razia Sultana (1961)

Actors: Jairaj and Nirupa Roy

Singers: Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle

Lyrics by: Anand Bakshi

Dhalti jaaye raat, sun le dil ki baat....

 

 

 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN4AmWzgZEY)

Film: Main Suhagan Hun

Actors: Ajit and Mala Sinha (though for the song, the actors are not these two)

Singers: Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle

Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Gori tore nainwa kajar bin kaare kaare....

 

 

C. ARJUN

C. Arjun is not related to another famous music composer - C. Ramchandra. I heard somewhere that when he debuted the producers were reluctant to sign him because he was an unknown music director. A friend suggested to Arjun that he shouldn't reveal that he is unrelated to the more illustrious composer if anyone were to ask him. He should just nod his head. He got his first movie and gave us some very good songs!

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2L18SWM2Ac)

Film: Punar Milan (1964)

Actors: Jagdeep and Ameeta

Singers: Mohammed Rafi

Lyrics: Indeevar

Paas baitho tabeeyat bahal jaayegi....

 

 

 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFrV5xTcQEE)

Film: Susheela (1964)

Actors: (no video)

Singers: Talat Mahmood and Mohammed Rafi

Lyrics: Jaan Nisaar Akhtar

Gham ki andheri raat mein.....

 

 

 

The last song is of course from his most famous movie - Jai Santoshi Maa. This was released in the same year that Sholay and Deewar were released; but this movie was also a huge superhit and possibly collected more profit than any other movie in 1975 and later. 

 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ8VKSh3rL0)

Film: Jai Santoshi Maa (1975)

Actors: Kanan Kaushal, Bharat Bhushan, Ashish Kumar, Anita Guha 

Singer: Usha Mangeshkar

Lyrics: Kavi Pradeep

Main to aarti utaaroon re Santoshi Maata ki.... 

 

 

IQBAL QURESHI

 

 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDlpzJUtBzg)

Film: Ye dil kisko dun (1963)

Actors: Shashi Kapoor, Raagini

Singer: Mohammed Rafi and Usha Khanna

Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi

Phir aane laga yaad wohi pyaar ka alam.... 

 

 

 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2zPlCvHd3g)

Film: Cha Cha Cha (1964)

Actors: Chandrasekhar, Helen

Singer: Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle

Lyrics: Makhdoom Mohinuddin

Ek chameli ke mandve tale.....

 

 

 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl9_gnVZroI)

Film: Umar Qaid (1961)

Actors: Sudhir

Singer: Mukesh

Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

Mujhe raat din ye khayaal hai......

 

 

 

SUHRID KAR

As I mentioned in the beginning, when I heard this song in that Binaca Geetmala programme by Ameen Sayani, I realized that I had heard this song a few times, but never realized that the composer was an "unknown" one! What an amazing composition by Suhrid Kar!

 

An internet search revealed only one movie for which he composed songs; otherwise he was involved in screenplay and story writing for other movies. Other songs in the movie are relatively less heard; but this one is a classic.

 

 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu0EKMlXf3U)

Film: Kaanch ki gudiya (1961)

Actors: Manoj Kumar and Sayeeda Khan

Singer: Mukesh and Asha Bhosle

Lyrics: Shailendra

Saath ho tum aur raat jawaan......

 

 

 

SARDAR MALIK

Sardar Malik is better known as the father of Anu Malik now. But avid listeners of Hindi film songs would know Sardar Malik before Anu Malik entered the scene.

 

The first song in this list is the classic, Saaranga teri yaad mein sung so beautifully by Mukesh. Many of us may not know that the 'mukhda' was first recorded with Rafi since the producer insisted that Rafi sang the song. So Sardar Malik obliged; but later he stuck to his guns that the song had to be sung by Mukesh. After some time he got his way and got Mukesh to sing this song. The following video has the Mukesh version in the beginning, but around 4:14, you can also listen to the Rafi version. 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umss8tARjxY)

Film: Saaranga (1960)

Actors: Sudesh Kumar

Singer: Mukesh - also listen to the Mohammed Rafi version starting from 4:14

Lyrics: Bharat Vyas

Saaranga teri yaad mein.....

 

 

 

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EOLN2kaCLY)

Film:  Mera Ghar Mere Bachche (1960)

Actors:  Subiraj and Naaz

Singer: Mukesh and Suman Kalyanpur

Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

Bahaaron se poocho mere pyaar ko tum..... 

 

 

The following song finds a place among the most favourite songs of Rafi himself as he has revealed in an interview!

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl5iQKS9KcM) 

Film:  Bachpan (1963)

Actors: 

Singer: Mohammed Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur

Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

Mujhe tumse mohabbat hai, magar mein keh nahi sakta......

 

Mohammad Rafi - his best songs

 

Five songs that legendary singer Mohammad Rafi rated as his best

(from: https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/five-songs-muhammad-rafi-considered-as-his-best-death-anniversary-39-5866984/) 

 

Written by Sumit Paul

Sukoon-e-dil ke liye kuchh to ehtemaam karoon
Zara nazar jo mile, phir unhein salaam karoon
Mujhe toh hosh nahin, aap mashvara deejiye
Kahaan se chhedoon fasana, kahaan tamaam karoon

—Shakeel Badayuni

(Let me do something worthwhile for the peace of heart/When I get to see her, I greet silently/I’m clueless, you’d better advise/Where to start it from and where to end).  

The last line of Shakeel Badayuni’s immortal quatrain seems apt to define the boundless musical greatness of the one and only Mohammad Rafi, who breathed his last 39 years ago on Friday, July 31, 1980. Even after almost four decades, the genius of Rafi is still discussed and deified. The reason is obvious. He was born to sing. Ek maamooli mutrib hoon, faqat gaana jaanta hoon (I’m but an ordinary singer; I know just to sing), he had once said. That was his disarming humility.

Out of the 7,405 songs (not 26,000; that’s an exaggeration by hardcore Rafi fans) in several Indian languages, Rafi sang 4,334 Hindi songs. Nearly 70 songs have no official LP records and were never uploaded on YouTube. All India Radio, Urdu Service and Vividh Bharati also don’t have many songs that the stalwart sang in his distinguished career. I’m afraid, even writer Raju Bhartan’s Rafi Geet Kosh doesn’t have these songs like, Ae meri jaane-tamanna, meri jaan-e-ghazal….‘ (Film Sundari, 1950), Ek jaam pila de saaqi, raat abhi hai baaqi  (Tere Do Nain, 1951), among others.

When it comes to picking up Rafi’s five best songs, one really gets confounded because the man sang so many fabulous songs that choosing just five best is akin to looking for a needle in the haystack. Way back in 1961, when Vimala and Kamini Ganjwar of Radio Ceylon interviewed him for a Hindi magazine and asked Rafi about his best songs, the singer replied, “Muhabbat zinda rahti hai, muhabbat mar nahin sakti (Changez Khan, Qamar Jalalabadi; Hansraj Bahal, 1956), Maine chaand aur sitaron ki tamanna ki thi (Film: Chandrakanta, Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianavi, Music: Dutta Naik aka N Dutta, 1956) and Aaye bahaar ban ke lubhaye chale gaye (Film: Raajhath, Lyricist: Hasrat Jaipuri, Music: Shankar-Jaikishan, 1958).”

But, when late Sadiq Ali of BBC interviewed him in 1979 and later for The Jung Group of Newspapers in Pakistan, Rafi selected some amazingly beautiful, but very rare songs as his best and didn’t mention any of the three songs that he liked in 1961. This proves that a creative person’s perceptions dramatically undergo a sea-change to accept something altogether new and novel.

Well, when I met Sadiq Ali in Sargodha, Punjab-Pakistan for my second Doctorate on ‘Rafi ki aawaaz ki naghmai baareeqiyan‘ (the musical nuances of Rafi’s voice), he provided rare insights into the songs which Rafi shared with him. To start with, the first song that Rafi always considered as his best was: Kaise kategi zindagi tere baghair (Film: Kaise kategi zindagi, unreleased, 1963). This song was the closest to the great man’s heart as it was to be picturised on his best friend Uttam Kumar, the icon of Bengali cinema. Had it happened, it would have been Uttam’s maiden foray into Hindi cinema. The film had to be shelved owing to lack of funds. But its song ‘Kaise kategi zindagi….’ survived and was brought to listeners’ notice only after the demise of Rafi in 1980. This song has the longest prelude — one minute and 16 seconds — in the history of film music and it’s on the Stradivarius violin, first and last time used in Indian film or popular music, played by Kunwar Mahendra Pratap Singh, the scion of a royal family in Rajasthan.

The song, which he considered to be his second-best, was: ‘Gham-e-hasti se bas begana hota, khudaya kaash main deewana hota‘ (Film: Wallah Kya Baat Hai, Lyrics: Anand Bakhshi, Composer: Roshan Lal Nagarath, 1962). In this film, Rafi jokingly nudged Shammi Kapoor that, ‘Parde pe aapko ye naghma zara sanjeedgi se gaana hai‘ (You’re supposed to lip-synch on celluloid with controlled emotions). Contrary to Shammi’s flamboyant image, this is one song which is very sombre. Rarely played nowadays, Shammi Kapoor cried after listening to this song and Roshan Lal Nagrath asked Anand Bakshi after its recording, “Recording room mein koi farishta gaa raha tha kya?” (Was there an angel singing this song in the recording room?). Rafi didn’t take any money for this song.

Now comes his third best: Mujhe tumse muhabbat hai magar main kah (not ‘keh’, this is erroneous English transliteration of Hindi/Urdu terms) nahin sakta (Film: Bachpan, Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri, Music: Sardar Malik, 1963, print and video unavailable). This magnificently romantic number was filmed on Salim Khan, the handsome father of Salman Khan, who came to Bombay from Indore to become a hero. Sadiq Ali added that Rafi asked Hasrat: “Parde pe kaun hoga?” When he came to know that a young man was the hero, he sang extra-soulfully so as to establish the young Salim Khan. Music critics Rustom Irani, Malika Rastogi and Ravindra Kapoor are of the view that this song is the epitome of romanticism with its words and Sardar Malik’s amazing composition. Rafi’s rendition was the icing on the cake. Hasrat shared that Rafi requested to make a few alterations to the song and they were duly incorporated, but the unassuming great said, “Mujhe kahaan shayari aati hai?” (I don’t know anything of poetry). It was Navin Nishchal’s favourite song and whenever the actor met up with Rafi, he requested him to sing it. Rafi always obliged.

The fourth song was Kahin se maut ko laao ke gham ki raat kate (Film: Mera Qusoor Kya Hai, Lyrics: Rajendra Krishna, Music: Chitragupt Srivastav, 1964). This is considered to be the depressingly most beautiful number ever recorded in Indian cinema. Picturised on Dharmendra, Rafi was not very happy with the lyrics and requested the lyricist to make it less depressing. “Ye kuchh zyada hi ghamgeen hai...” he said. But on that very day, he got the news about the passing away of his childhood friend Darshan Singh at a hospital in Lahore. He cried and phoned Chitragupt and lyricist Rajendra Krishna that he’d sing the song sans any change as a tribute to his friend, who Rafi had helped financially and also got him admitted to the Military Hospital, Lahore Cantonment. The song exudes pain and pathos in such a manner that unless you listen to it, admiration will be akin to describing a rainbow to a blind man. The director R Krishnan and S Panju cried hysterically after watching and hearing it on the screen.

The last song that he chose was the finest nazm: ‘Kahin ek maasoom nazuk-si ladki‘ (Film: Shankar-Hussain, Lyrics: Kamaal Amrohi, Music: Muhammad Zahoor Khayyam Hashmi aka Khyyaam). This is a long nazm (not a ghazal, it’s often mistaken for a ghazal by the uninitiated announcers and listeners). Rafi was very happy after recording this song and the taciturn legend hugged Kamaal Amrohi and said, “Aap likhte kyon nahin?” (Why don’t you write more?). He corrected a word grammatically in this song. The word was ‘qalam‘, used in Urdu as a feminine gender (muannas) and in Persian as a masculine gender (muzakkar). Rafi suggested that ‘Qalam haath se chhoot jaata (not jaati)’ will sound better because we often say in Persian: Qalam goyad ke man shah-e-jahanam…Qalam kahta, not kahti, hai ke main duniya ka baadshah hoon: (The quill proclaims that I’m the Emperor of the world). Rafi fell in love with the imagery used by Amrohi and complimented Khayyam on his lilting composition.

In that longest interview of his life, Rafi shared some rare gems and even admitted that he ought not to have sung songs like Savere wali gaadi se chale jayenge, ‘Main jatt yamla pagla deewana’ or ‘John-jaani janardan.’ Yet the humble man added: “Mujhe zindagi aur kisi shakhs se koi shikayat nahin rahi” (I’ve no grievances whatsoever).

He also mentioned that there were quite a few songs that were close to his heart like “Mujhe dard-e-dil ka pata na tha” (Akashdeep, 1965, Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri and music: Chitragupt), ‘Jaag dil-e-deewana rut jaagi‘ (Oonche Log, Majrooh Sutanpuri and Chitragupt, 1965), ‘Zindagi ke safar mein akele thay hum‘ (Film: Nartaki, Music: Ravishankar Sharma, Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni, 1963) etc. Sadiq told me that Rafi had a premonition of his death during the interview in December 1979 and January 1980. He shuffled off the mortal coil after a few months. The posterity will forever remember you, Rafi sahab. Some individuals are simply indelible. Their incandescent memories can never be erased.

Sumit Paul is an advanced research scholar of Semitic languages, civilisations and religions.

 

 

 

 

Lata didi

Lata Mangeshkar, at the pinnacle of playback singing passed away in Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai in February 2022, leaving many mourning her leaving the mortal coil. We needn't be sad. She was 92, had a fulfilling life and left the world after ensuring that her songs are available for future generations to listen to and enjoy!

I doubt if there is any genre of film songs that she hasn't sung. Maybe not qawwali, since I haven't heard any....but maybe she may not have left that genre. Here is a selection of songs that have given untold pleasure to me while listening to them. I am giving the links with the youtube videos embedded here.

The first has to be the bhajan that was a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi too! I am embedding the Live recording of Lata's rendering of the bhajan here.

(Please note: Some embedded videos may not be displayed because of copyright issues. I have given the YouTube link below the embedded videos in case the embedded videos don't play)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ_8-O8EvZg)

The next song is from a classic Dil Ek Mandir "Ruk jaa raat thehar jaa re chanda". The pathos of the situation is brought so wonderfully by Lata Mangeshkar that you want the night to not end.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CadsK5qwhdw)

Now for another prayer song. This is from the Dev Anand classic Hum Dono. The song Allah tero naam. The song is so strong on devotion that one is bound to have some tears well up in their eyes listening to the voice and modulation of Lata didi.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prJ9NbOycEI)

The next song is about 'rains'. Among Hindi film songs, the songs on rain (barkha, saawan, etc) have been classics - especially the ones from the 1950's to the 1970's. There are so many, so please excuse me if this not not among your favourites! This one is from Parakh. The song, O sajnaa barkha bahaar aayi  has some wonderful musical accompaniment.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI50w-uttTA)

The next one is from the movie Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi. The film had Meena Kumari and Raj Kumar in central roles. The former as a nurse in the latter's hospital. Secretly pining for Raj Kumar, but unable to express her love, she finds that Raj Kumar is betrothed to another lady. The song in a party on a boat has some excellent musical accompaniment. Enjoy.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU-hut9lGQ4)

The next song is a dance number picturised on the beautiful and excellent dancer, Vyjayanthimala from the movie, Amrapali. The song expresses the love that the leading lady has for her lover when she is waiting for him. The song, Neel gagan ki chaaon mein has excellent music and dance choreography. The movie had music by Shankar Jaikishen with all songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55LRrp3XNA4)

Among Lata's songs that are picturised on the leading lady or supporting actress with a child, the one in Aradhana is always a classic. The song Chanda hai tu, mera suraj hai tu is different from the other songs in the movie, and that is why I have included it here!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXSEr_hg7iE)

With a view to be different, here is a cabaret number sung by Lata. Probably the only cabaret number that she sang as if to tell her more accomplished sister, Asha Bhosle (in that genre) that what you can do, I can do too and with some panache to boot. The song is fromt the film, Inteqaam. The song is Aa jaane jaan.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dCDKtYElYQ)

The next and the last one in this blog is from the movie Mughal-E-Azam. The song, Pyaar kiya to darna kya was filmed on the ravishing Madhubala and was a super duper hit. One aspect that caught the attention of listeners was the echo effect in the song when technology was not there to record such an effect. A rumour started doing the rounds that Naushad had asked Lata to record the song in a bathroom to get the effect in the recording. However, in an interview (https://bit.ly/3SrJsQC), Lata had this to say, "The only way to do it (getting the echo effect) was singing the same line of the song at three different places and then overlapping the recordings." So, Lata Mangeshkar started from a room and then came to a hall and finally to a room where the recording device was put. Later, that effect made the song memorable.

But none of the places was a bathroom. She categorically denied the rumour but said that she is immensely proud of that song.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzVG01dDTCA

Thanks for reading!

Rocketry - the movie

I watched the movie yesterday. I had heard about it for the last few months but hadn't seen the trailer that was released a few weeks earlier. Wanted to see the whole movie and not the trailer which would have biased me.  Being an engineer by qualification and an industrial and quality engineer by profession, grabbing the scientific terms and the technical details wouldn't be too difficult, I thought. How wrong I was! It is not as if I understood the terms 'thrust', 'pressure', 'combustion', etc and how they impact the design framework of rockets, but the way it was presented in the movie made me realize that the makers had taken some pains to ensure that even though the terms may not be understood by the lay people, at least its importance in the context of the movie would not be lost on many. Kudos to Maddy for making that happen.

The challenges at work that Nambi Narayanan faced in ISRO and the obstacles that he had to cross to learn the latest technology in France and bring the rocket parts from Russia later were captured wonderfully well; though one could not help but agree to what Suriya (I watched the movie in Chennai - Tamil dialogues - some issues regarding that will be discussed later) remarked in the movie, 'it looked like a James Bond movie!" Whether Nambi Narayanan really did imitate James Bond or Maddy did with cinematic liberty, only Nambi Narayanan and his close associates can answer! That doesn't take away anything from the movie, though.

[Warning: Spoilers ahead - not much though]

Being a biopic on the rocket scientist, it is obvious that the character of Nambi Narayanan would be the central focus of the movie. Any comment that other characters were given short shrift doesn't go well with what the director wished to convey in the given 150 minutes (approximately). I cannot but remark that Meena (Simran in the movie) was superb in the time she got in the movie and her performance as the troubled wife of Nambi Narayanan was heart-wrenching. Maddy really lived the role, and as Nambi Narayanan has remarked in his interviews, it is as if God ordained that the two should meet and that Maddy should not only be making the movie, but also act as Nambi Narayanan. Other roles of Kalam, Vikram Sarabhai, Unni, U R Rao, etc were capably performed by the actors.

The production values and the art direction, especially in scenes where the team tests engines in France, were wonderful.

By and large, the whole movie wasn't heavy on emotions. But they came to the fore during the scenes where Nambi Narayanan returns home from jail only to find his wife under severe depression. At the same time, the public is seen raising slogans against Nambi Narayanan and throwing stones at his house with the police mutely standing by - as if complicit in the whole sordid affair. That small scene plus where the CBI officer informs his superior about the role of Gopal, the Police Inspector, shows where and how the conspiracy may have been hatched. 

I watched the movie in Chennai and if at all I have some issue, it is that it looked very odd to me to hear Tamil being spoken by the foreign characters and even the characters like Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan. I can only speak about myself here and I would have preferred the characters to speak in the language that was spoken there with subtitles helping the viewers understand what is being spoken. With so many webseries nowadays where that is the norm, it shouldn't have been too difficult to get this organised.

On the whole a wonderful movie and a rich addition to the growing collection of the best Indian movies of the millenium. My only wish is that Nambi Narayanan's wish - knowing who hatched the conspiracy and punishing them - is fulfilled soon!

Subterranean Farming

 Last night I had a dream. Now, to set the record straight, I am not a dreamer of the Dr. Abdul Kalam type who said, "dreams should keep one awake". This was about underground farming.

I dreamt that I had visited one such farm a few metres below ground where there was an experimental farm growing cash crops. I thought I have solved some great land shortage issue by making people take up this innovative way of using land below for agriculture! 

However, I am not alone. Others have dreamt of this already and made it a reality. As usual, my dream is only a reflection of some one else's reality.

Experimental Subterranean farming

Among the myriad advantages of underground farming is the fact that we can have farms below ground in urban centres where land for agriculture is non-existent.

I am sure more and more adventurous spirits will take up this over the next decades since more and more agricultural land near cities and metropolises is being taken away for non-agricultural uses.