As a small child I remember while passing by a radio I heard for the first time the song "Tu Pyaar ka Sagar hai---". Something in that voice and the music made me stop and listen to it . Ever since it has been a top favourite song of mine, which from time to time I listen to. It was the mesmeriseing voice of the play back singer Manna Dey. Yesterday he passed away forever but has left his beautiful voice in nearly 4000 songs for the world to listen to forever.

He was the last of the great legendary singers of the century gone by who made their mark in Hindi music through the medium of cinema. After Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mehmood and Kishore Kumar, he was the last to go. He sang his first song in the movie Tamanna in 1942 and did not look back. His voice attracted admirers and he was to make singing his career.

Born on May 1,1919 in Kolkatta, Manna Dey was interested in singing from a very early age. In fact he used to do stage shows at the age of ten onwards. In college also he used to participate in singing competitions and stood first in all three years of his college stint. His interest in music was so strong that he did not become a lawyer which his father wanted him to become.

Manna's junior uncle was the famous singer/music director of his time, K C Dey  who also sang in films. He had seen the young boy's interest in singing at an early age and came forward to tutor him in singing so that he could make a career of it.  He accompanied his uncle in 1942 to Mumbai and there worked under him and later on under another great music director S D Burman as their assistant.

In 142 he got an opportunity to sing his first filmy song as a duet with the famous singer Suraya for the film Tamanna. The song "Jago aayee Usha Panchi Bole Jago" became a hit. The music for this song was given by his uncle K C Dey. Most of the songs he sang during this period were well received and became popular. He sang his first songs for S D Burman was the now evergreen Upar Gagan Vishal for the film Mashaal.

Post 1947, he sang under leading music directors including  Anil Biswas, and with fellow singers like Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhonsle, Shamshad Begum and Lata Mangeshkar. During this period he was to establish his reputation as a classical singer but with great ease could also sing fusion of classical and pop music based songs. The fifties and sixties saw him blossom as a singer with a unique style and the classical raga based songs gave him a universal appeal and he became a niche singer. 

His songs for Raj Kapoor are ever green songs sung under the baton of Shanka-Jaikishen . The  song Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua from Chori Chori has become a cult classical song. They were to work together in movies like Aawara, Shree 420, Boot Polish, Mera Naam Joker giving immortal songs heard with delight today also. 

He went from success to success and recorded nearly 758 hindi songs between 1953 - 1969. It was an R D Burman song Aao Twist Kare in 1965 from the film Bhoot Bhangla which made him tick with the young cine goers. It also made him in a way the voice of comedian Mehmood for whom he would sing many songs the most famous being Ek Chatur Naar  from the film Padosan. Another song Yeh kahani Hai Diye Ki Aur Toofan Ki from Diya aur Toofan composed by Vasant Desai is a perennial favourite for its energy. The song Aye Mere Pyare Watan from Kabuliwala would bring tears to many listeners staying away from their homes. This song and Laga Chunri Main Daag from dil hi to hai would make him a national favourite and these songs would be sung by hopeful singers in singing contests to demonstrate their skills. Yet another classical evergreen from that era is Pucho Na kaise Maine Rain Betayi from the film Meri Surat Teri Ankhen. One can go on and on.

His voice had a unique charm which was enhanced by his mastery over classical sur and ragas. It is this which set him apart from other equally talented singers of his time with whom he had to compete. He always had this feeling that he was very few times asked to sing for the hero but that notwithstanding almost all songs he sang for non heroes have gone to become immortal. This is because of the very high quality of his singing.

With Rafi he sang 101 duets and with Asha 160 duets. He recorded 31 songs with Kishore and the most famous was Ek Chatur Naar from Padosan under R D Burman. But Kishore was to give him a tough period as he became the in demand singer upon release of Aradhana. However Manna Dey continued singing the odd songs which invariably became chart busters like Na Maangoo Sona Chandi from Bobby. It was Rajesh Khanna for whom he sang many songs which extended Manna's singing career. Songs like Zindagi kaisi haiPaheli (Anand,1971),Tum Bin Jeevan Kaisa Jeeavan (Bhawarchi, 1972), Gori Tori Paijanya(Mehbooba, 1976)  were sung by him for Rajesh Khana and became hits.

It was in 1972 that he gave up recording Hindi songs but continued sing Bengali films and also bhajans and ghazals in different languages. He sang around 1262 filmy and non filmy Bengali songs, 86 Gujarati and 56 Marathi songs. He recorded his last Hindi film song in 2006

He was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke Award by GOI. He received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

The voice that gave songs like Dharti kahe Pukar Ke, Aey Bhai Dekh Ke Chalo, Kasme Vaade Pyar Vafa, Jhumta Mausam Mast Mahina, Yeh Dosti Hum NahiChodenge, Aey Meri Zohra Jabeen, Yeh Raat Beegi Beegi, Yari hai Iman Mera and on on is no more.

Born as Prabodh Chandra Dey and christened as Manna Dey by his uncle he was the last of the great legendary singers of the nieteen forties, fiftes , sixties and seventies. There will never be another like him.

RIP Mannada.

Playback singer is the ghost voice of the leading actor of Bollywood. He plays a significant role in the success of him, to place him as a singer, romantic young man or emotional person. It’s true, though actors have excellent acting skills, it is not possible to give the best onscreen as singers. That’s where playback singers do their job. As it is almost impossible to imagine Indian cinema and Bollywood without songs and dances, playback singers enjoy an unparallel status among celebrities. That may be the reason why they get more admiration that those who give to the song – lyricist and music composer. Most recently I have published an article on top 5 female voices of Bollywood. Now let me try to find the best male voices. I have presented them on the basis of their popularity as well as their contributions to Bollywood. So, here goes my list.

5. Sonu Nigam

Undoubtedly Sonu Nigam is one among the top voices of Bollywood. He is regarded as the best male voice of Bollywood at present. So, in my list I place Sonu Nigam among the great 5 male playback voices of Bollywood all time. Sonu Nigam’s name comes first among those playback singers of present times who struggled a lot to give his own signature to singing field and able to reach the stardom everyone dreams about. He entered Bollywood during early 90’s giving a few hit numbers like ‘Acha sila diya’ of Bewafa sanam. Yet he struggled a lot in music field at a time when Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan and Abhijeet were at top. He used to recreate Mohd.Rafi’s voice and has released a few albums under T-series consisting of Mohd.Rafi’s golden hit songs. People accepted him as he renovated Rafi’s voice in present times. But it became a curse too, as he was often regarded as the clone of Rafi in the present times. Sonu was a lot inspired by Rafi’s voice and singing style too.Sonu Nigam understood his mistake at the right time and corrected it during the second half of 90’s. He was good looking and when he appeared in his own Album, Keemat singing the song ‘E dilruba’ for Bipasha Basu in 1997, people began to notice him. Exactly in the same year, he got the opportunity to sing along with Roop Kumar Rathod for the top songs of the year, ‘Sandese Aate hain’ of Border and ‘Yeh dil deewana’ of Pardes. Song of Border was noticed, yet he had to share the credit along with Rathod. Though Sonu sung energetically for ‘Yeh dil’ and delivered a hit, songs sung by Kumar Sanu were noticed most. Both these movies were released in association with 50th Independence Day celebration of India. ‘Hum se rahoge kya hamesa hafa’ and ‘Ek din kahi’ of Aur pyar hoga, composed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan were also gone without noticed. In 1998, he sang the song ‘Sath rangeela’ along with Kavitha Krishnamurthy. A.R.Rehman used his voice nicely and in each stanza, his voice was experimented with high notes and low notes as well as sudden drift from one mood to another. According to Sonu Nigam, he had to take a lot of effort and sing in high pitch to deliver the song. Yet, he didn’t receive any awards for this movie. Similar to Pardes, his work went unnoticed in the hit numbers of Sukhwinder Singh and Udit Narayan.

In 1999, his pop album Deewana was released. This album was just opposite of his previous pop number ‘Bijuriya’. Romantic songs were so fresh and people loved the new singing style of Sonu. Songs were composed beautifully too. Deewana was the top album of 1999 and very soon, he came to limelight. Following the success of Deewana, next year ‘Jaan’ was released. He was seen in its music video along with his first heroine of album, Bipasha Basu. Jaan was just a sequel of Deewana, yet became more successful than Deewana. In 2001, his third romantic album ‘Yaad’ was released in a row. These three albums played a significant role in establishing as an established name of Indian pop music. Along with it, he became busy in playback singing too. In 2004, he released his album ‘Chanda ki doli’.

A.R.Rehman gave a few hit songs to Sonu Nigam andhe was the music composer who played a significant role in placing this singer as the most wanted singer of Bollywood. After Dil se, he gave the song ‘Ishq bina’ – the top song of Ishq and ‘Bol sajni’ of Doli sajake rakhna to him. In between, he sang a few top hit songs like ‘Tere rang balle’ and ‘Mere saasom’ of Soldier, ‘Mujhe raat din’ of Sangursh, ‘Suraj hua maddham’ of Kabhi khushi kabhi ghum, ‘Tu fiza hai’ of Fiza and ‘Panchi pawan’ of Refugee for other music directors and placed himself among the group of playback singers with distinct style and unique voice. Again, it was A.R.Rehman who placed him as the no.1 singer of Bollywood. When Mani Ratnam’s Alayppayuthey was remade to Hindi, all tunes were kept as such and he gave the most romantic song to Sonu Nigam, keeping full belief in him. The original ‘Pachai nirame’ was sung by Hari Haran. When the title song of Saathiya was shown in music channels during November 2002, it was something like a treat to those who love melodies and good songs. This song remained at top in many music channels for weeks. Not only that, he accumulated almost all musical awards including Filmfare for the first time, telling the whole world that no one can defeat him in playback singing in male voice. He repeated his success the following year with the title track of Kal ho na ho composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, thus cementing his position as no.1 in Bollywood, once again. Har ghadi badal rahe, not only accumulate all music awards of television channels and magazines, it won him the first national awards in the best playback singer category too. This song is regarded as the best song, Sonu has sung till now.

Success was at his foot step and he began to deliver hits one after the other, singing all the top romantic songs of Bollywood. A few best songs during 2000’s include – Kis ka hai yeh tumko and Tum se milke of Mein hoon naa, Meri neend jaane lafi hai of Chal mere bhai, title track of Kabhi alvida na kehna, Kismat se tum of Pukar, Mere haat mein of Fanaa, In lamhom ki daaman mein of Jodha Akbar, Pehli pehli baar yeh and O mahi ve of Kya yehi pyar hai, Abhi mujhmein kahein of Agnipath, Mein agar kahoo of Om Shanthi Om, Shukr alla of Kurbaan, Rabba mere rabba of Mujhe kuch kehna hai, Title song of Hum to deewana kar gaye, Waada raha of Kakee, Do pal ka khabom ka karwa of Veer Zaara, Khamoshiyan gun guna of 1 2 ka 4, Chori kiya re jiya of Debaangg, Pal pal of Lage raho Munna bhai, Gusthak dil tere liye of Dil maange more, Chiggy wiggy of Blue, Zubi zubi of All is well of 3 Idiots, Tu meri adoori pyaas and Kaise tum mujhe mil gaye of Gajani, Suraj hua maddham, Le jaa and You are my Soniya of Kabhi khushi kabhi gum, Thanhai of Dil Chatha hai, Choti choti rathein of Tum bin, Nagada nagada of Jab we met, Piya bole of Pareenitha and Soniyo oh soniyo of Raaz-The mystery continues. He has been the top sought voice in the past one decade or so, for all the leading actors of Bollywood including Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan. Though he tried his luck as a hero in Bollywood, it didn’t click and soon he identified his destination as ‘singing only’.

His plus points: His voice is so sweet and magical and no one can sing romantic songs as perfect as Sonu Nigam. He has good knowledge of Indian classical music and ragas and shows this versatility in the songs he sang till now. Despite had to wait for about 7-8 years in Bollywood, his hard work and mentality to understand and work on his negative points helped him to reach a position that’s not at all easy for all. 

My favourite 5 songs of Sonu Nigam: Saathiya of Saathiya, Har ghadi badal rahi of Kal ho na ho, Kismat se tum of Pukar, Mein agar kahoo of Om Shanthi Om and Rabba mere rabba of Mujhe kuch kehna hai.

4. Kumar Sanu

No doubt, he was the most popular singer of Bollywood during 1990’s. He, along with Alka Yagnik has delivered numerous melodious duets during this decade and his most popular compositions belong to music duo Nadeem Shravan. If we want the name of a single playback singer who brought great reforms to music industry when it was drifted towards deep dough during 1980’s, Kumar Sanu’s name is taken first. Though he started his singing career in Bollywood during late 80’s, it was the trend settling music of Aashique in 1990 that gave immense success to Kumar Sanu as playback singer. Music lovers loved his songs most and accepted his voice as golden voice, with both hands. Most recently, after 23 years Aashique 2 is released. Though he has not become a part of this revived musical journey, it was with Kumar Sanu’s songs that Ashique 2’s music was most compared with. A lot of playback singers have come to Bollywood greatly inspired from Kishore Kumar – Kumar Sanu,  Shaan, Amit Kumar, Abhijeet Bhatacharya, Vinod Rathod and a few more. Most of them have adopted singing style of Kishore Kumar and we can see slight shades of this great singer in them. Yet, of all these singers, the playback singer who became most successful was none other than Kumar Sanu.

He can be regarded as ‘Kishore Kumar of new generation cinema’ and he has popularized Bollywood music a lot. The contributions given by him are very significant at a time when Bollywood faced a down fall in music during 1980’s. He has strived a lot to bring back Bollywood music back to its original track and has become successful too. His powerful voice was most used for Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt during 1990’s as they both carried hard-hearted roles during that time. Apart from Nadeem Shravan, Anu Malik and Jatin Lalit used his voice most.‘Saasom ki zaroot’, ‘Tu meri zindagi’, ‘Mein duniya bhula doonga’ and ‘Ab tere bin’ were top chartbusters of 1990’s and it’s not at all easy to point out the best. Yet, ab tere bin won him the first Filmfare awards. After the success of Aashique in 1990, Kumar Sanu’s career graph noted a straight move upwards. Very soon, his successful association was created with Alka Yagnik and maximum of their hit songs till 1997 were given by music duo Nadeem-Shravan.

Following the success of Aashique, songs of Saajan were released in 1991. It repeated the same history of Aashique giving him Filmfare awards straight for the second time, song was ‘Mera dil bhi’. Duets like ‘Mera dil bhi’ and ‘Dekha hai pehli baar’ were sold in records and this initiated the success association of this amazing pair of Bollywood music. In 1992, Deewana was released. ‘Aisi deewangi’, ‘Teri ummeed’ and ‘Sochenge tumhe pyar’ repeated the same magic of Saajan, winning him his third Filmfare for the song ‘Sochenge tumhe pyar’ pictured on Rishi Kapoor. Again music was given by Nadeem-Shravan. It created an illusion in the market that Nadeem-Shravan Kumar Sanu combination has a magical touch to change everything to gold. It was true too! In 1993, songs of Baazigar and in 1994, songs of 1942 – A love story presented him Filmfare awards once again, thus breaking the record of Kishore Kumar for winning Filmfare successfully for 5 years. Ironically he didn’t win Filmfare after that at least once, though has been nominated many times including Pardes, Humraaz, Kuch kuch hota hai and Hum dil de chuke sanam. Songs of Baazigar like Baazigar oh baazigar and Yeh kaali kaali aakhein and songs of 1942 A love story like Ek ladki ko dekha to and Kuch na kaho are still considered treasures of songs of 90’s. Indispensably, he was the top voice of Bollywood during first phase of 90’s. He continued his successful journey during its second half too, though became busy in politics during 2000’s. He virtually left Bollywood during early 2000’s at the peak of his singing career and giving his place to Sonu Nigam.Kumar Sanu has been the top choice of Shah Rukh Khan during 1990’s since his first hit song ‘Aisi deewangi’. Other hit songs include ‘Tujhe dekha to yeh jaana sanam’ of DDLJ, ‘Ek din aap yoon’ of Yes Boss, ‘Do dil’ and ‘Mehbooba’ of Pardes and ‘Ladki badi anjaan’ of Kuch kuch hota hai. Though it is not an easy task to list his best songs, let me try a little bit.

I am not mentioning those songs that I have already told about. I am sure I may miss a lot of gems among them. ‘Aakhon se’ and ‘Jaadu hai’ of Ghulam, ‘Suno zara’ of Bada din, ‘Yeh bequdi si’ of Hum ho gaye aapke, ‘Aankhon ki gusthakiyan’ and ‘Chand chupa baadal mein’ of Hum dil de chuke sanam’, ‘Pehli pehli baar mohabbat’ of Sirf Tum, ‘Haan judai se dartha hai dil’ and ‘Dil mera churalo’ of Kareeb, ‘Tip tip barsa’ and ‘Churake dil’ of Mein khiladi tu anari, ‘Ghunghat ki’, ‘Nahin yeh ho nahi saktha’ and ‘Hum ko sirf’ of Barsaat, ‘Odli chunariya’ of Pyar kiya to darna kya, ‘Jeeta hoon jis ke liye’ of Diljale, ‘Dheere dheere pyar ko’ of Phool aur kaante, ‘Mera ik sapna hai’ of Khubsurat, ‘Kaho to zara mein’ of Albela, ‘Pyar ke liye’ and title track of Dil kya kare, ‘Raah mein unse’ of Vijay Path, ‘Jab kise ki taraf’ of Pyar to hona hi tha, ‘Gawa hai’ and ‘Jab se tumko’ of Damini, Title song of Yeh dil aashiqana, ‘Dil kehta hai’ and ‘Dil mera churaya kyon’ of Akele hum akele tum, ‘Mujhe pyar se dekhne wala’ of Ek Rishta, Title track of Silsila hai pyar ka, Soldier soldier, Mere dil jigar se and Mehfil mein baar of Soldier, Dekha tujhe to of Koyla, Title track of Kahi pyar na ho jaye, ‘Dil mera akela’ of Mela, ‘palkein ho khuli ya bandh sanam’ of Takkar, ‘Ladki badi anjaan’ of Kuch kuch hota hai, ‘Yu hi kat jaayega’ and ‘Mujhse mohabbat ka’ of Hum hai rahi pyaar ka, ‘Dekha jo tumko’ of Kasoor, ‘Jo haal dil ka’ of Sarfarosh and Tum dil ki dhadkan and Dil ne yeh kaha hai of Dhadkan.His plus points: He has only plus points! It’s futile to search his negative marks. After the great three singers have one, Kuman Sanu is one such big name of Bollywood who carried forward the foot prints given by the music legends of yesterday. He has been one among the most powerful voices India has ever witnessed. His voice contained that magic, enough to bind even the music hating people towards him. His voice has that flexibility enough to afford the real characteristics of the actor as well as the role he is playing in the movie. Also, his voice carries that intensity most suited for playback singing.My favourite 5 songs of Kumar Sanu (It has been a very difficult choice to me): Mohabbat ho na jaaye of Kasoor, Aankhon ki gusthakiyan of Hum dil de chuke sanam, Dil mera churaya kyon’ of Akele hum akele tum, Tum dil ki dhadkan/Dil ne yeh kaha hai of Dhadkan and Churake dil mera of Mein khiladi tu anari. 

3. Mukesh

This playback singer finishes third in my list. If I say, he is the voice of Showman Raj Kapoor, you people will surely agree with me. Yes, he was the hot favourite of Shankar Jaikishen whenever he has created something new for Raj Kapoor. His contributions to 1950’s and Black and white movies are really significant. He was the real master of tunes and melodies and has rendered his beautiful voice for almost all leading actors from Raj Kapoor to Amitabh Bachchan. Among all his songs, I feel that ‘Kabhi kabhi’ is one such memorable song that has attracted the youth of all times since its release in 1977. Mukesh was a great fan of Kundan Lal Saigal and his songs of first phase of his career show a deep influence of his songs. It was Naushad who helped Mukesh to come out of ‘KL Tag’ and develop a singing style of his own. Though in many early films of Dilip Kumar, Mukesh’s voice was most sought most, gradually Mukesh became the voice of Raj Kapoor and together, along with Shankar Jaikishan, they have given many hit songs for movies like Jis desh mein ganga behthi hai, Shree 420, Chalia, Teesri Kasam, Sangham, Awara and Anari. Earlier Manna Dey’s voice was used most for his films including Boot polish and Shree 420. In certain movies, voices of both these singers were used parallel in RK movies. He has sung many hit songs for Manoj Kumar too.

In fact after Raj kapoor, his voice was most used for Manoj Kumar. Roti Kapada aur makan, Be-Iman, Shor, Purab aur paschim, Himalay ki gode mein and Anita are few such memorable movies.  Mukesh magic slowly faded with the rise of Mohd.Rafi as a star during 1960’s. Majority of songs were sung by Mohd. Rafi during this time. During 1970’s, his career faced a deterioration post Kishore Kumar – Aradhana magic. Yet he was able to deliver major hits during 1970’s like Kabhi Kabhi and Kahi door jab. Though Kishore Kumar’s voice was used most for Rajesh Khanna, post his super stardom status, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Salil Chawdry used Mukesh’s voice for songs of Anand. Kahi door jab din and Meine tere liye are still considered classics of Bollywood music. A few other hits of 1970’s include his National award song of Rajni gantha – Kahi baar yuhi dekha hai and Filmfare winning songs Sabse bada naam of Pehchaan, Kabhi kabhi and title song of Manoj Kumar starrer ‘Be-Imaan’. It’s really surprising to note that, though Mukesh’s songs were most popular during 50’s and his career has witnessed a disintegration afterwards, he won 3 out of his 4 Filmfare awards during 1970’s, the time when Kishore magic was spread all over the country! Really a remarkable achievement of this great singer. Earlier, he has won Filmfare once for the song, ‘Sab kuch seekha hum ne’.

Mukesh has sung less than 1200 songs in his life time. Really a small number if we compare it with number of songs sung with his contemporary singers. But most significant fact is that, instead of giving first preference to the number of songs, he concentrated on the quality of songs. That’s the reason why those few songs always come above the songs of singers, who give preference to quality also. Yes, it’s hard to believe that Mukesh has sung only 1200 songs!!! His best songs are Suhana safar of Madhumati, Mujhe is raat ki tanhayi mein of Dil bhi tere hum bhi tere, Sab kuch seekha humne of Anari, Bol radha bol and Dost dost na raha of Sangham, Sawan ka mahina of Milan, Chalia mera naam, Mera dootte hue and Dum dum diga diga of Chalia, Waqt karta jo wafa of Dil ne pukara, Mere joothe hai japani of Shree 420, Kabhi kabhi and Main pal do pal ka of Kabhi kabhi, Aawara hoon of Awara, Jeena yaha and Jaane kaha gaye woh din of Mera naam joker, Kahi deep and oh meine tere liye of Anand, Oo janewale of Bandini,  Ik pyar ka nagma hai of Shor, Haa tum bilkul vaisi ho of Himalay ki gode mein, Mera pyar bhi tu hai of Saathi, Title song of Aas ka panchi, Title song and Aa ab laut chalein of Jis desh mein Ganga behthi hai, Jinhe hum bhoolna chahe of Aabroo, Dheere dheere bol of Gora aur Kala, Zubaan pe dard bhari of Maryada, Deewano se mat pooch of Upkaar, Jo tumko ho pasand of Safar, Ek din bikh jayega of Dharam Karam, Jis gali mein tera ghar na of Kati patang, Koi jab tumhara hriday of Purab aur paschim, Mein na bhoolunga of Roti Kapada aur makan, Tum bin jeevan kaise beeta of Anita and Sajan re jhoot mat bolo of Teesri Kasam.

His plus points: What should I say more about the innocence hidden in Mukesh voice? It’s nothing short than magic and the story of his soul! His voice is so distinct and hides a lot of pain and sorrows too and very often, that pain serves as the best ailment of our mental agonies. If you are distress, play a few Mukesh songs and just close your eyes and sit somewhere; your pain is gone! His songs have the deepness of life and blue seas!

My favourite 5 Mukesh songs: Kabhi Kabhi title song, Jis gali mein tera ghar of Katti patang, Kahi door jab of Anand, Aa ab laut chalein of Jis desh mein ganga behthi hai and Dost dost na raha of Sangham.

2. Kishore Kumar

Now we have reached position 2.  I know it well many Kishore Kumar fans won't agree with me, that I have given no.2 to this versatile singer. In fact, always no.1 position has hot debate. Top person should have a strong opponent. Isn't it? Let me say, Kishore Kumar is not too short than Rafi Saab. He lost the throne by merely 5 or 10 points according to me. If it is about the discussion of Rafi and Kishore, we need to check through all angles. Mohd rafi climbed top of him just due to his immense knowledge in classical music. Yet, I need to say Kishore Kumar has been the most popular singer for a few decades and it is Kishore Kumar’s voice which every singer tries to imitate most. What does it mean? It shows the magic with which he conquered millions with his style of singing and unique voice. ‘Line starts from where I stand’ – it simply suits this singer most, because most of the popular playback singers and pop singers say, ‘Kishore Kumar and his singing style is my inspiration and positive energy’. It’s true too! That’s the reason why songs of R.D – Kishore combination are remixed and played at disco stations most.  

Kishore Kumar is one among the most versatile artists of Bollywood – Fine actor, comedian, singer, film director and a producer also. He was a great entertainer also. That’s the reason why the term ‘Versatility’ suits this person most. Kishore Kumar is a phenomenon or an institution who has been a great inspiration to many artists to follow. He is fondly called Kishore da by his fans and he fully dominated musical world from the start of 1970’s till middle 80’s when music faced a sudden down fall. During 50’s and 60’s, he did a few movies also, of which his role as a comedian in Padosan and Chalti ka naam gaadi was noted most. Kishore Kumar is not a trained classical singer. Yet the way he sings, it’s hard to believe that he has no formal training! I often wonder, if he has learnt music, could he have delivered his songs more perfectly? I really doubt so. His each and every song is something like a cherry on the top of a cake – just perfect! Everyone is familiar with the story of movie ‘Aradhana’ and how he got opportunity to sing the top two songs of the movie that were already reserved for Mohd.Rafi.

Kishore Kumar was a good singer earlier also. He has delivered many hit songs like Mein hoon jumru of Jumru, Kehna hai and Mere samne wali of Padosan, Gaatha rahe of Guide, Haal kaisa hai and Ik ladki bheegi of Chalti ka naam gaadi and Eena meena deeka of Asha. But Aradhana brought him a special gift that was not given to him earlier though he has spent more than one decade in the industry. It’s often told, it needs the right thing to meet at the right time and right occassion to make us lucky. That happened in Kishore Kumar’s life too. Songs of Aradhana placed him at the top of the stars in a day, the position that appears in everyone’s dream only and he stayed there till death took him away. When S.D.Burman fell ill, his son R.D.Burman completed the assignment of Aradhana. I often think, if those two songs were given to Rafi itself, would Aradhana have become such a big hit? Like a Tsunami, would Rajesh Khanna become the first super star of Bollywood? Would Kishore’s talent remain there without anyone’s notice waiting for the knock of luck? What Bollywood world and music would have looked like if those songs were not given to Kishore?  No idea! But one thing is quite sure. Biggest reformation that has ever come in Bollywood is the waves of Aradhana and its songs, no doubt! Also, when 1960’s paved way to 70’s, it was not like the change of a decade, but something like change of a century or millennium. Such a massive change was witnessed by Indian film industry after the release of Aradhana. Career of Mohd.Rafi and Mukesh faded forever. Also, this single movie changed the fate of many leading heroes of Bollywood like Manoj Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Viswajeet, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Jeetendra and even Jubilee Kumar Rajendra Kumar! The magic of Mere sapnom ki raani and Roop tere masthana have not lost its black magic power yet! 

Now let me mention the association of Kishore Kumar with R.D which brought great reformation to Bollywood music. Many critics even blamed that R.D. killed Indian music and classical tunes by westernizing them. But the truth is that music given by this duo stand above times! Also, it’s accepted even by the modern generation! Their association was something like change of time, that was most needed. Even if everyone complain about westernizing Indian tunes, if you hear Kishore Kumar songs of R.D compositions like ‘Chingari koi’, it’s a clear proof that this song is purely based on Indian tunes. Now a few hit songs of this wonderful combination. Yeh kya hua and Chingari of Amar Prem, Musafir hoon yaaro and Saare se saare of Parichay, Pyar deewana and Yeh jo mohabbat hai of Katti patang, Mere samne wale and Kehna hai of Padosan, Meri bheegi bheegi si of Anamika, Tum bin jao kaha of Pyar ka mausam, Hum to hai rahi dil ke of Caravan, Agar tum na hote title song, Hume tumse pyar kitne of Khudrat, Mere dil mein aaj kya hai of Daag, O mere dil ka chain and Chala jaata hoon of Mere jeevan saathi, Hum dono, do premi, Ek ajnabi haseena se and Bheegi bheegi of Ajnabi, Hum bewafaa of Shalimar, Aap ki aakhom mein and Aaj kal pao of Ghar, Diya jalthe hain of Namak Haram, Raat kali of Budha mil gaya, Dil mera kise ne of Amanush, Koi haseena jab of Sholay, Jaanu meri jaan of Shaan, O maaji re of Khushboo, Zindagi ek safar of Andaaz, Soni soni meri tamanna of Yadom ki barat, Kitne bhi tu karle sitam of Sanam teri kasam, Yeh wada raha title song, Bachna e haseeno and Humko to yaari of Hum kise se kum nahi, Jaane jaa, Nahi nahi and E jawani hai diwani of Jawani Diwani, Ek mein aur ek tu and Sapna mera of Khel khle mein, Aanewala pal of Golmaal, Dilbar mere of Satte pe satta, Karvatein badalthi rahe and Zindagi ke safar mein of Aap ki kasam, Mere nayana of Mehbooba, Phoolon ka taron ka and Saanchi re of Hare Rama Hara Krishna, Tum aagaye ho and Tere bina zindagi se of Aandhi, Title song of Kasme vaade, Kya yehi pyar hai of Rocky, Panna ki tamanna of Heera Panna, Chehra hai ya and Sagar kinare of Saagar and Suniye kahiye of Baton Baton mein – Uf! I am exhausted collecting the amazing gems of this combination. They contain all type of flavours. It seems it’s a hasty job to collect Kishore Kumar songs without picking R.D.Burman. Kishore Kumar’s son, Amit Kumar was given all songs of super hit movie Love story in the year 1981.

Though S.D.Burman liked Rafi most, he has given a few songs to Kishore Kumar. I would say, songs of Sharmilee are the best. Khilte hai gul yahan is one beautiful song sung by Kishore Kumar in S.D.Burman’s composition. Other hit songs include Yeh dil na hota bechara and Pal bhar ke liye of Jewel thief, Phoolon ki rang se of Prem Pujari, Meet na mila de of Abhimaan and Badi sooni hai of Mili. All these songs have happened after Aradhana’s success. Yet he has sung for SD during 50’s and 60’s too. Though Kishore Kumar is most famous for his funny songs and fast numbers, I feel that depth I felt with Kishore Kumar’s philosophical songs related to life – I have found nowhere else! It is really surprising to find that Kishore has proved his versatility in every type of songs he has given us.

Now let me list other top songs of Kishore Kumar. Neele neele ambar pe of Kalaakar, Kaate nahi katthe of Mr.India, Yeh jeevan hai of Piya ka ghar, Mein solah baras ka of Karz, Title song and Sun jaa of Haathi mere saathi, Title song of Kora Kaagaz, Mein pyasa tum savan of Faraar, Tum se badkar of Kamchor, Mere naseeb mein e dost of Do raasthe, Acha to hum and title song of Aan milo sajna, Waada to nifaya of Johny mera naam, Pal pal dil ke paas of Blackmail, Thoda hai thode ki jarurat hai of Khatta meeta, title song of Ulchan, Kaike paan and title song of Don, Ki pad gumguroo of Namak halal, Imthihaan ho gayi of Sharabi, Chookkar mere man ko, Chalte chalte title song, Tere jaisa yaar and Saara zamana of Yarana,  Pardesiya of Mr.Natwarlal, Ghunguru ki tarah and Le jayenge of Chor machaya shor, Rote hue aate hai sab, Salam e Ishq and Oh saathi re of Muquaddar ka sikander and Gore rang pe of Roti.

His plus points: Versatility, self experimenting and the sixth sense to connect with tastes of listeners. Nothing in this world can replace his powerful voice and unique style. I am no one to tell about the positives of this genius, whole India knows what Kishore da has given to us, just magic!

My favourite 10 songs of Kishoreda: It’s ridiculous to choose 5 best songs of Kishore da. It’s an impossible task to me. So, I am choosing my 10 favourite songs. Now also I need to think a lot. Pal pal dil ke pas of Black mail, Mere sapnon ki rani and Roop tera masthana of Aradhana, Title track of Agar tum na hote, Yeh jo mohabbat hai of Katti patang, Mere dil mein aaj of Daag, O mere dil ke chein of Mere jeevan saathi, Dilbar mere of Satte pe satha, Aanewala pal of Golmal, O saathi re of Muquaddar ka sikander and Kehna hai of Padosan. 

1. Mohammed Rafi

Now we have reached position no.1. Mohammed Rafi, fondly known as Rafi Saab is my most favourite male playback singer. I know well, a lot of people will also agree with me. But let me tell you, it doesn’t mean Kishore Kumar’s talent was not perfect. Just when I compared these two, though it’s foolishness for a person like me to compare the great two pillars that support the whole roof of Bollywood music I dared to attempt it. Both two singers are very close to my heart and Bollywood music is nothing without these two. For the knowledge of classical music only I placed Mohammed Rafi ahead of Kishore Kumar. Mohammed Rafi is often regarded as the most talented male playback singer of India and his contributions to Indian cinema is amazing!

He started his music journey during 1940’s in the black and white of Hindi cinema. Naushad played a significant role in nourishing the career of Rafi. Songs of Baiju Bawra given by Naushad was the turning point of Rafi Saab’s career. Later he became the favourite of every leading music director including Shankar Jaikishen, Roshan, S.D.Burman and O.P.Nayyar. Anonymously he was no.1 male playback singer of late 50’s and 60’s, followed by Mukesh. His downfall was witnessed in 1970 with the release of musical hit ‘Aradhana’ and was not able to reach the previous position though delivered many hit songs.

‘O duniya ke rakhwale’, ‘Tu ganga ki mauj mein’ and ‘Man tarpat’ of Baiju Bawra were fully based on Indian classical music and Rafi gave life to these three songs perfectly. Very soon he attained stardom and singer of top slot. Though Shankar Jaikishan used Mukesh and Manna Dey for singing Raj Kapoor’s songs, songs of other heroes were given to Mohd.Rafi. S.D.Burman’s favourite singer was Rafi only. That is the reason why he reserved all songs of Aradhana for Rafi! All the major hits of S.D.Burman were sung by none other than Mohd.Rafi.

Special mention is needed for songs sung by Rafi for Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar. No doubt, Rafi’s voice suited these two actors most and both used to insist on Rafi’s voice for their playback singing. Association of Shankar Jaikishen and Mohd Rafi for Shammi Kapoor songs has given as a golden chapter of memorable songs that music lovers always wish to hear repeatedly. Now let me begin with memorable songs of Rajendra Kapoor sung by Mohd.rafi. Majority of its music is given by Shankar Jaikishen himself. E nargees e masthana, Ajee humse bachkar and Phoolon ki rani of Arzoo, Baharon phool barsao of Suraj, Yaad na aaye of Dil ek mandir, Jeevan mein piya tere saat rahe of Goonj utti Shehnai, Tum kamsim ho and O sanam tere ho gaye hum of Aayi Milan ki bela, Kaun hai jo sapnom mein aaya of Jhuk gaya aasman, Yeh mera prem pathr of Sangham, Tere pyare pyare of Sasural and title song of Mere Mehboob are the top memorable songs of Jubilee Kumar. In fact, Mohd Rafi gave his voice to all these songs.

Shammi Kapoor-Mohd Rafi combination needs special mention. Except a few movies, majority of Shammi’s movies belong to SJ compositions. Their success association began with Yahoo song of Junglee. But let me begin with O.P.Nayyar first. All songs of Kashmir Kali are just beautiful - songs like Chand ka roshan, Isharom, Haure hai, Subanalla, Kise na kise se, Kisko pyar, Deewana hua and Yeh Duniya belong to Rafi. In Ravi’s composition, Baar baar dekho of China town is a very special song. In Usha Khanna’s composition, title song and Yun to humne of Tumsa nahi dekha and In Kalyanji-Anandji composition, Govinda aala re of Bluff master belong to Mohd.Rafi. In R.D.Burman’s music, all songs of Teesri Manzil are just amazing – Tum ne mujhe, Oh mere sona re and Oh haseena.

But the grand list goes to Shankar Jaikishen only. From Junglee to Andaz, SJ has always chosen the best songs for both Shammi Kapoor and Mohd.Rafi. Let me mention a few. Chahe mujhe and Ehsaan hoga of Junglee, Batameez kaho of Batameez, E gulbadan and Laal chadi of Professor, Badan pe sitare of Prince, Aaj kal tere mere, Dil ke jaroke and Mein jao tum so of Brahmachari, Tumne pukara and Woh dekho mujhse rootkar of Raj Kumar, Tumse acha kaun hai and Meri mohabbat of Janwar, Tum mujhe yu of Pagla kahi ka, Title song, Deewane ka and Raat ke humsafar of An evening in Paris, kabhi humne nahi socha tha of Tumse acha kaun hai, Nazar bachake, Mujhe kitna pyar and Title track of Dil tera diwana and Hai na bolo of Andaz are the best.

He was the voice of Dev Anand too, particularly in the 60’s. Let me mention a few hit songs of this combination – Dil ke bhavar and title track of Tere ghar ke samne, Dil pukare of Jewel thief, Khoya khoya chand of Kaala Baazar, Acha jee mein of Kaala pani, Abhi na jao and Mein zindagi of Hum Dono and Tere mere sapne, Ka se kya ho gaya and Din dhal jaaye of Guide.

Apart from these songs, let me mention a few hit songs of Rafi belonging to other actors.  Let me include the songs before Aaradhana magic – Chaudwin ka chand title track, Choo lene do of Kajal, Tujhko pukare of Neel Kamal, Sau baar janam of Ustaadom ke ustaad, Aa gale lag jaa of April Fool, Aa ja re aa zara of Love in Tokyo, Chura liya hai of Yaadom ki baarat, Kar chale hum fida of Haqueeqat, Woh hai zara of Shagird, Aap ke pehloo mein aakar of Mera Saaya, Gar tum to yakein, Title song of Mere humdum mere dost, Mast baharom of Farz, Aaj purani of Aadmi, Salaamath rahe of Parasmany and Chahoonga mein tujhe of Dosthi. During 70’s and 80’s also, he has sung a few memorable songs like Kya hua tera wada of Hum kise se kum nahi, Kitna pyara wada of Caravan, Chura liya hai of Yaadom ki baarat, Meine poocha chand se of Abdulla, Tum jo mil gaye ho of Hasthe Zakhm, Dard e dil of Karz, Parda and title song of Amar Akbar Antony and Khilona title song.

His plus points: God gifted pleasant voice is his biggest plus point. Though he looks silent and a great classical singer who sings only slow songs, he proved it wrong with highly energetic songs of Shammi Kapoor. He has sung every type of song with perfectness and any word to define his versatility is something like foolishness. So, I leave it to reader’s choice.

My list of 10 favourites: I am really confused with the choice. Yet I have tried my level best to add my most favourites. Aa ja re aa zara of Love in Tokyo, Sau baar janam of Ustaadom ke ustaad, Tum jo mil gaye ho of Hasthe Zakhm, Tum ne mujhe dekha of Teesri Manzil, Dil ke jaroke mein of Brahmachari, Ehsaan tera of Junglee, Ajee humse bachkar of Arzoo, Woh hai zara of Shagird, Dil pukare of Jewel thief and Badan pe sitare of Prince.

These singers missed the list

I am extremely sorry that I couldn’t include these names in the list. Among the singers of golden era of music, I missed three great names – K.J. Saigal, Manna Dey and Mahendra Kapoor. In the medieval period, names of Yesudas and S.P.Bala Subramaniyam need special mention. Both these legends have won maximum awards in National singing category. As they have concentrated on South most, they have given fewer number of songs to Bollywood, yet so precious. Among the present generation singers two names I missed most are Udit Narayan and Rahet Fateh Ali Khan. Suresh Wadkar, Hariharan and Abhijeet are also great names. Hoping I haven’t missed any other big names to mention.

Read best female voices of Bollywood: http://www.boddunan.com/articles/entertainment/10-music/22544-top-5-female-voices-of-bollywood-all-time-%E2%80%93-my-countdown.html

Image source: Wikipedia

Bollywood – The magical world of music and colourful dances and discussions are incomplete without mentioning the lovely music and amazing dance steps. Most recently I have submitted an article based on music; it’s about best 10 music directors all time. This time, I would like to forward my talks and continue with best singers of Bollywood who have given their voices to the great compositions of those versatile composers all time. Yes, I am dealing with best playback singers of Bollywood, who have rendered their melodious voices to actors onscreen and made their romantic and melodrama scenes most successful.

As a hero or heroine, an actor has a few limitations. One of those includes a sweet voice to carry away with song sequences of the film and in most cases, actors are not talented to give their voices for tunes though such practices existed during 40’s and early 50’s. Also, voice of the singer should equally match and blend with the person who lip-sync it onscreen. Now I remember an incident related to the shooting of the song ‘Nayana Barse’ of Woh kaun thi. The song was pictured in the snow of Shimla and Sadhana had to lip-sync to the song. But due to some reason the song recording couldn’t take place and the composer Madan Mohan had to record it in his own voice. For the film shooting, Madan Mohan’s voice was used where Sadhana lip-sync to it. As news was already spread that it’s a mysterious ghost story, many people even wondered what type of ghost story is this, where the female ghost sings with male voice! This incident happened about 50 years back in some hill station of Shimla and yet it can’t deny the fact that singer’s voice attributes a lot to the success of composition, lyrics as well the movies. A song becomes perfect only if the words are clearly dictated with correct pronunciation and clarity without the loss of a beat or melody. 

So, through this article, I would like to explain briefly the contributions given by 5 best female playback singers of Bollywood. I would like to begin my prepared list with most popular and successful female voices of the industry. Also, I would like to present it as a countdown from number 5 to top person of the list. I have prepared it based on the popularity, talent as well as the contributions. So, here goes my list – beginning with no.5.

5. Shreya Ghoshal

Perhaps she is the only lucky star of Indian playback singing industry who managed to win National awards for the first ever recorded song. ‘Bairi Piya’ of Devdas was recorded in the year 2002 and when Ismail Darbar recorded the song in Shreya’s voice after telling her that it’s just a final practice, no one even imagined that this song will be chosen as the best Indian female voice of the year. Not only to Hindi, she has been giving her amazing contributions to almost all Indian languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali.

She is one among those lucky winners who got opportunity to sing in Bollywood, through music reality shows of Indian television. When I thought about female singers of present times, two names flashed in my mind. One is Shreya and the other – Sunidhi Chauhan and both these talented singers rose to limelight through reality shows of television. When I had to choose one among these two to sum up the list of 5, without hesitation I could choose Shreya Ghoshal’s name.

When Shreya was chosen as the winner of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, a new singing world opened to her and she truly followed the traditions of many great singers and musicians of Bengal who gave their valuable contributions to Bollywood. Kishore Kumar, S.D.Burman, R.D.Burman, Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik – the list is so long! Bollywood music is incomplete without these persons too!

When director Sanjay Leela Bansali found her at an episode of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’, he offered her all the songs pictured on Aiswarya rai, for his next movie, ‘Devdas’. Songs Bairi piya, Silsila yeh chahat and Dola re became instant hits and gave her many appreciations including Filmfare and National awards. She repeated the same success next year with the song, ‘Chalo tumko lekar chale’ and ‘Jaadu hai nasha’ of Jism for which she won her second Filmfare the successive year. The same year, the ‘Chan chan’ song of Munnabhai MBBS and ‘Aye meri zindagi’ of Mere Saaya also become success. She performed in the song ‘Har Taraf’ of Mere Saaya.

The instant success of Jism made her the most wanted female singer of the industry. She continued her success in Bollywood with a series of songs like ‘Mujhe tumse’ of Tumsa nahi dekha, ‘Hulchul hua’ of Aaja Nachle, ‘Pal pal’ of Lage raho Munnabhai, ‘Koi tum sa nahi’ and ‘Chori chori’ of Krishh, ‘Tumhe jo meine’ and title track of Mein hoon naa, ‘Betaab hai dil’ of Phir milenge, Yeh ishq hai of Jab we met, Barso re of Guru, ‘Jaane do na’ and Title song of Cheeni kum, ‘Tujh mein rab’ of Rab ne bana de Jodi, ‘Maine chun liya’ of Dil maange more, ‘Hadh se zyada’ of Rakt, ‘Agar tum mil jaavo’ of Zeher, ‘Dheera Chalna’ of Paheli, ‘Waada raha’ and ‘Dil dooba’ of Kaakee, ‘Khabar nahi’ of Dosthana, ‘Bahara’ of I hate love stories, ‘Zubi zubi’ of 3 idiots, ‘Piya bole’ of Parineeta, ‘Saas mein’ of Jab tak hai jaan, ‘Teri meri’ of Boduguard, ‘Chikni chameli’ of Agneepath, ‘Mein agar kahoon’ and ‘Dhoom tana’ of Ohm Santhi Ohm, title track of Ashiq banaya aapne, ‘Oo lala’ of Dirty picture, ‘Acha lagtha hai’ of Aarakshan, ‘Sukr Alla’ of Kurbaan, ‘Kyun in dino’ of Kambaqt Ishq, ‘Soniyo’ of Raaz – The mystery continues, ‘Kaise kahoon’ of Gajani, ‘Chori kiya’ of Debaangg, ‘Oh saathi re’ of Omkara, ‘Teri ori’ of Singh is Kingh, ‘Mere dolna’ of Bhool Bhulayya and ‘Ab to forever’ of Tara ram pam. It’s just a collection from a huge hit of songs. It can be noted that in majority of her association with movies, she has sung just one or two songs; surprisingly those songs are the most noticed ones and nominated for Filmfare awards.

Now, when the composer needs a melodious voice to perform his song, no doubt, Shreya Ghosal is the first choice and that’s the reason why I placed this ‘Melodious queen of present times’ in my hit list. Now when loud and special voices are given first preference, Shreya stands in a different corner with millions of fans following her melodious voice. No doubt, her melodious voice, classical base and dedications are the reasons behind her super success at a comparatively young age with many awards including 4 National awards and 10 Filmfare awards collectively – indeed a unique record.

Author’s opinion – Unique and melodious voice – this factor prompted me to include her in the top 5 list. No doubt, she is the voice of present youth and she has proved her versatility in all languages she had attempted singing. If I say about my mother tongue, it’s the most difficult Indian language to speak and dictate correctly and when we hear her Malayalam songs, no one can even recall that she is a Bengali. Her voice quality is also perfect and that’s the reason why she is the no.1 singer of Mollywood at present and has won many awards including Kerala state awards twice. Also, no other female singer of present Bollywood can sing melodious tunes with cuteness and expressions, more beautifully that Shreya, no doubt! It’s just perfect and nothing else.

4. Kavitha Krishnamurthy

Ranking 4th, it’s none other than Kavitha Krishnamurthy – one among the most versatile singers of 90’s and 2000’s. Though she had to struggle a lot of big opportunities during 80’s, middle 90’s placed her as one among the most versatile singers of the industry. She has given contributions to the industry during hit songs of Karma, Chaal baaz, Mr.India, thus becoming the voice of Sri Devi during that period. ‘Har karam’ of Karma, pictured on Nutan, ‘Tum se milkar’ of Pyar chuktha nahin pictured on Padmini Kolapuri, ‘Karthe hai pyar’ and ‘Hawa Hawai’ of Mr.India, ‘Naa jaane kaha se’ of Chaalbaaz – all pictured on Sridevi are among the most noted songs of 1980’s. Most of her songs were later dubbed by other artists during this period, thus leaving chances for her. It happened in 1942-A love story too! When her songs were kept intact by the music director R.D.Burman, we witnessed one among the finest works of present times. She won all music awards for female playback for the song, ‘Pyar hua chupke se’. Actually the female version of the hit song, ‘Kuch na kaho’ was first recorded by her voice later by Lata Mangeshkar.

After the success of melodious tunes of 1942-A love story, she didn’t look back and became an established singer during 90’s. Yet she was placed behind Alka Yagnik who was the first choice of directors. With the success of ‘Pyar kya chupke se’, she was given Manisha Koirala songs most. Their combination gave many hits too – Aaj mein upar of Khamoshi, Ikaraar karna and Oh piya of Agni sakshi, Becheniyaan of Gupt, Dhanti paseena of Guddu, Jaan leva of Moksha, Telephone dun mein of Hindusthani, Maharaja title track, Tu hi tu of Dil se and Tu hi re of Bombay. Before 1994, Kavitha has rendered her voice for ‘Barso re’ of First love letter and Saudagar songs like ILU ILU and title track for Manisha. She was the favourite of music composers like A.R.Rehman, Ismail Darbar and Jatin Lalit, who have given her the best songs of her career.

Sanjay Leela Bansali who has directed movies like Khamoshi, Hum dil de chuke sanam and Devdas has given the best songs of her career. It’s for the couple of movies - Hum dil de chuke sanam and Devdas, composed by Ismail Darbaar that her voice is noted most. He has also given her songs for the love triangle movie – Mehbooba, acted by Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt and Manisha Koirala. Songs of Deewangee is another instant. Pyar se pyare is quite a popular number. Till now, Hum dil de chuke sanam is considered as the masterpiece of Kavitha – the movie for which she got maximum recognitions. Songs include title track, Albela sajan, Nimbooda and Dol Baaje. The same combination repeated the magic for their next venture Devdas. Kavitha gave her voice for all Madhuri’s songs including Dola re and Maar daala and Hamesha tum ko chaaha.

Apart from Ismail Darbar, the composer who has wisely used her voice was none other than A.R.Rehman. His songs include Tu hi re of Bombay, Kismat se tum, Sunta hai and Key sara, Paigaam laaga saawan of Lakeer (she did its original version in Tamil too), Nazrom ki milne se and Humdum pyara pyara of Viswa vidhatha, Mein albeli and Dheeme dheeme of Zubeidaa, Satrange re of Dil se, Chalo chalo of Nayak, Chand aaya of Dil hi dil mein, Oh jaan de de re of Daud, Bol sajni of Doli sajake rakhna, Ishq bina of Taal, Jaaniye yeh kaisa of Rangeela and Telephone dun mein of Hindusthani.

Other hit songs of Kavitha Krishnamurthy include all songs of Bhairavi, Mere piya ghar aaya of Yaarana, Aakh mare of Tere mere sapne, Ghungat mein chand and Mera ek sapna hai of Khoobsurat, Bole chudiyan of Kabhi khushi kabhi gum, Woh ladki hai kaha of Dil chahta hai, yeh dil sun raha hai of Khamoshi, Bin tere sanam, Kahi pyar ho na jaaye of Baadal, Meri duniya hai of Vaastav, Khuda gawah title song, Phool title song, Teri hi aarzoo hai of Chandramukhi, Chori chori of Dalaal, Chandni raat mein of Baagi, Hai huku of Gopi Kishen, Yeh duniya of Pardes, Dol bajne laga of Virasat, Tu cheez bade hai of Mohra and Hadh kardi aapne title song. 

Author’s opinion: As a great lover of Bollywood music, I feel that hers is a god gifted voice. I have closely heard her voice many times and very often felt that spirituality is associated with her voice – such a lively voice! Something divine is present in her voice; a strange feeling that I can’t explain. I had felt such a feeling that soothes my mind while hearing one more singer’s voice only. It’s none other than Lata Mangeshkar, whom I often believe to be the incarnation of Saraswathy. Such thoughts are higher when I hear her slow melodies with less instruments and devotional songs. She has sung only a few songs in my mother tongue Malayalam. For a movie – E Snehatheerathu, music composed by her husband L.Subramaniyam, I had several times felt the divinity behind her voice, particularly Shiva devotional song and a romantic number, “Udayaarkka kiranagal”.  

3. Alka Yagnik

Undoubtedly Alka comes third in my list. Since she has sung ‘Ek do teen’ for Madhuri Dixit in 1988, she remained as the most popular female voice of Bollywood for two decades or so. From classics to folk, from romantic to item numbers and from melodious tunes to teasing songs, Alka Yagnik has proved to be the best female voice of industry in present Bollywood. It’s not at all easy to count one or 100 of her best songs of Bollywood. It can be said that she is the most sought female voice of the industry since early 90’s, though she has reduced her work considerably now. She remained the first choice for all music directors and was the strong contender of Kavitha Krishnamurthy during 1990’s. Yet, most of the music directors gave the leading songs to this magical voice. Once I read somewhere, she was the most paid playback singer of Bollywood during middle 90’s. 25,000 rupees was a big amount that time!

She has proved several times to the best voice of all leading ladies of present Bollywood including Madhuri Dixit, Karishma, Kareena, Priety Zinta, Aiswarya, Urmila, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Raveena, Juhi Chawla, Sonali Bendre and Shilpa Shetty. Though she didn’t bring much variations to her voice while singing for different heroines on screen, it didn’t look odd anywhere onscreen and she is considered to be the most perfect female voice of present times. Among all co-singers she was most successful with Kumar Sanu, with whom she has given the best duets during 90’s. She has also given wonderful duets with Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. She holds the record of maximum Filmfare in singing category Female along with Asha Bhosle. She has been consecutively nominated for 14 years with 35 nominations – a unique record that may stay forever unbroken.

She started her career in Bollywood during early 80s of which ‘Mere Angane mein’ of Laawariz is most popular. It’s a challenging role to choose the best gems of her singing career. Yet I would like to gather a few, though I may miss some. Her most notable works include Hum hai rahi pyar ke, Saajan, Raja, Raja Hindusthani, Kuch kuch hota hai, Kabhi khushi kabhi ghum, Hum tum, Qayamat se qayamat tak, China gate, Baazigar, Hum ho gaye aapke, Mein Khiladi tu anari, Taal, Dil chahta hai, Josh, Har dil jo pyar karega, Aitraaz, Lakshya, Sarfarosh, Raju ban gaya gentleman, Ashoka, Fiza, Rakshak, Raaz, Humraaz, Yes Boss, Karan Arjun, Soldier, Zubeidaa, Umrao jaan, Khal nayak, Dhadkan, Khalnayak, Kaho na pyar hai, Aap mujhe acha lagne lage, Kya yehi pyar hai, Jaan, Jaanwar, Ishq hai tumse, Takkar, Silsila hai pyar ka, Khiladi, Aarzoo, Mission Kashmir, Kahi pyar na ho jaaye, Akele hum akele tum, Tere naam, Koyla, Chalte chalet, Swades, Mangal Pandey, Kabhi alvida na kehna, 1-2-ka 4, Lagaan, Phir bhi dil hai Hindusthani, Kisna, Fida, Kyon ki, Deewana, Pardes, Pyar kiya to darna kya, Dulhan hum le jayenge, , Kal ho na ho, Gulaam, Ek rishta, Barsaat, Mela, Chal mere bhai, Vijaypath, Fiza, Regugee, Khamoshi and Kasoor.

It’s not all an easy task to collect the best of Alka Yagnik. I may list more than 500 songs of my favourite. So, let me mention 27 best songs of my choice though I am really confused with the choices – Saawariya of Swades, Pardesi of Raja Hindusthani, Meri mehbooba of Pardes, Raah mein unse of Vijay path, Dekha tujhe to of Koyla, Hai naa of Dulhan hum le jayenge, Hum ho gaye aapke - title track, Saasom ko of Hum tum, Aapke pyar mein of Raaz, Churake dil mera of Mein Khiladi tu anari, Hai mera dil of Josh, Raja ko rani se of Akele hum akele tum, Taal se taal mila of Taal, Jo haal dil ka of Sarfarosh, Gazab ka hai din of QSQT, Kuch kuch hota hai title song, Oh re chori of Lagaan, Ek do teen of Tezaab, Suraj hua madham of K3G, Ek din aap of Yes Boss, Dil laga liya of Dil hai tumhara, Sun sanana of Ashoka, title track of Silsila yeh pyar ka, Jhangariya of Krishna, Soldier title track, Dekha hai pehli baar of Saajan and Mohabbat na ho gaaye of Kasoor. The above list of songs and movies are enough to prove the supremacy of this great singer of Bollywood.

Now, in the midst of digital recording and fast numbers we have lost this great voice somewhere. Though she has remained as the top voice of about 2 decades or so, her voice is not heard much nowadays! Let us hope, she comes back with big hits giving surprises. 

Author’s opinion – If I am asked to say a few words about Alka Yagnik, ‘voice quality’ is the first thing that comes to my mind; also, the clear and sharp voice that reaches our heart through an easy path. Her voice quality best suits for recording and also suits every heroine of present times. Though I felt her voice was too thin for heroines till middle 90’s, as time passed by, her voice became matured and grew as the finest voice of present times.  

2. Asha Bhosle

Still hot debate is going on for the top position elder sister or younger one. Yet, according to my tastes and interests, I give second position to ‘the pop queen of Bollywood’. Perhaps she is the most versatile female singer of India, who has experimented with all ingredients and shades of Bollywood music. It benefited Asha Bhosle most when her elder sister decided not to sing for cabaret compositions. Regardless of type of song given, she sang each and every single piece given to her without hesitation because she respected the word ‘music’. Now I remember an incident of female playback singer K.S.Chitra of south, I read from her interview in a magazine. During 80’s, once she was offered a Tamil song with vulgar words and in the recording studio, she refused to sing. But music maestro Ilaya Raja advised her not to do so, as it’s an insult to music and Chitra still keeps as the best advice of the music industry. Whenever I remember this incident, Asha Bhosle’s face comes to my mind first. Yes, she is one among those singers who has never become choosy for the songs given to her and the success that she attained through her career is only due to this principle that she followed throughout her life.  

Perhaps she is the singer who has been criticized most and compared with the works of Lata Mangeshkar – the leading singer of the industry. Yet she didn’t care anything and climbed steps one after the other reaching the top. Now also, I feel surprised how she was able to sing the song ‘Rangeela re’ and ‘Tanha’ of Rangeela when she was 61 and ‘Hai rama’ of Lucky for a 16 year old girl when she was 71. Also, it’s to be noted that she is one among those dedicated singers of Bollywood who strived hard to attain a position that she actually deserves. There was a time during 50’s and 60’s when she was given second heroines’ or supporting actresses’ songs and she has sung those songs gracefully. When melodious songs were given to Lata, dance numbers were reserved for Asha that time. Thus she played second fiddle role always. It took many years of hard work to get out of her elder sister’s shadow and she developed her own unique singing style to place her among the most established singers of Bollywood and that’s the reason why many singers of present times see her as their role model. It’s also to be noted that though Lata was the first choice of all composers except O.P.Nayyar, it was Asha who has sung maximum duets with Mohd.Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mahendra Kapoor!

As a singer she developed her own style of singing during middle 60’s and early 70’s. Yet I would like to point out a few best songs of Asha during 50’s. I may miss many as I am not proficient in songs of 50’s, yet let me attempt. Aayiye meherbaan of Howrah bridge, Kaali ghata chaaye of Sujatha, Chod do anchal zamana kya kahega of Paying guest, Chanda chupi of Light house, Sar par topi and title track of Tumsa nahin dekha, Haal kaisa hai janab of Chalthi ka naam gaadi, Aada hai chandrama of Naurang, Dil syam se of Thokar, Acha jee main haari of Kaalaapani, Zameen se hamein aasmaan par of Adalat, Kya karoom mein of Sanskar, Eena meena deeka of Asha, Aakhom mein kya jee of Nau do gyarah, Jab dil apna and Salaam le of Ruksana, Maang ke saath tumhara, Saathi haath battaana and Ud jab jab sulfein of Naya Daur and Koi aaya dhadkan kehti hai of Lajwanthi are only a few among those gems composed during the golden era of Bollywood music. It is solid proof that music director O.P.Nayyar played a significant role in toning Asha Bhosle’s career who has given all the best compositions to her. Surprisingly he has never used Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. It’s believed that there was a personal relationship between O.P and Asha and they parted in 1974 with the song, ‘Chain se humko kabhi’ of the movie ‘Praan jaye par vachan na jaaye’.

Now before proceeding further, let me list the best songs of O.P.Nayyar – Asha Bhosle combination. He solely used Asha’s voice in almost all movies during 1960’s. Some of them include ‘Deewana hua badal’ and ‘Isaarom mein’ of Kashmir ki kali, ‘Yehi who jagaa hai’ of Yeh raat phir na aayegi, ‘Aakhon se jo uthari’ of Phir wohi dil laaya hoon, Bahut sukriya and Aap yuhi agar of Ek musafir ek hassena, Zara hole hole chalo, Hoton pe haseen and Aaj koi pyar se dil ki batein of Sawan ki ghata, Roka kai baar, Kajra mohabbat wala, Jaaiyiye aapk and Yeh reshmi zulfaien of Mere Sanam and Who haseen dard de do and Kitne haseen hai jahan of Humsaaya.

Now a list of Asha’s songs of 60’s of other music directors’ composition – Raat ke humsafar of An evening in Paris, Parde mein rahne do (Shikar), Itni badi mehfil of Dil apna aur preeth paraye (SJ composition), Aaja aaja, Oh hassena and Oh mere sonare of Teesri Manzil (R.D.Burman composition), Abhi na jao chodkar of Hum dono (Jaidev composition), Mere mehboob mein kya nahi of Mere Mehboob, Aaj kal shaql deedar of Leader (Naushad), Sach hue sapne tere of Kaala bazaar and Raat akeli hai of Jewel Thief, Gun guna rahi hai of Aradhana (S.D.Burman composition), Neeli neeli khatha of Hum Hindusthani (Usha Khanna composition), Tore man darpan of Kajal, Zindagi ke rang kai re of Aadmi aur Insaan and Na yeh zameen thi of Sagaai (Ravi’s composition), Tere khayalom mein hum of Geet gaaya patharom ne (Ramlal’s composition) and Jhumka geera re of Mera Saaya (Madan Mohan composition) are only a few selected songs among the long list. 

Her association with R.D. Burman during early 70’s produced the finest songs of both their careers. Their association gave a new direction to Bollywood music and provided the basement of fast numbers, cabarets and rock songs. A few of them include Dum maro dum title song, Jaane jaa of Jawani Diwani, Yeh mera dil of Don, Piya tu of Caravan, Sapna mera toot gaya of Khle khel mein, Chura liya and Lekar hum diwana dil of Yaadom ki baraat, Yeh ladka hai Alla of Hum kise se kum nahin, Aao na gale lag jaaona of Mere jeevan saathi, One two cha cha cha of Shalimar and Duniya mein of Apna Desh. They got married in 1980 and they continued giving hit songs to Bollywood. During this time, equal preference was given to melodious tunes as well. ‘Katra Katra’ and ‘Mere kuch samaan’ of Izzazat can be quoted as examples. O Maria of Saagar was a popular dance number of this combination that time and ‘Tum se milke’ of Parinde, a romantic number popular still now.

Other hit songs of Asha Bhosle during 70’s and 80’s include Ulchan sulche na of Ulchan, Jab tak rahe tan mein jiya of Samadhi, Jaaneman of Ek choti si baath, Sajna hai mujhe of Saudagar, Dil cheez kya hai and Justaju jisko of Umrao jaan, Sona maahi sona of Soni mahawaal, Kise nazar ko tera of Aitbaar, Koi sahari baabu of Loafer, Kab se bichade hue of Laawaris and many fast numbers. With the beginning of 90’s, we witnessed a slow degradation of Asha’s career except a few songs like ‘Kitabein bahut se’ of Baazigar and ‘Jeene ke bahana’ of Khoon bhari maang. She made a huge come back at the age of 61, with the songs of A.R.Rehman’s composition – Rangeela (1995). It can be said that she has been a hot favourite of a particular director during each decade. Her carrier was well nourished by O.P.Nayyar during 1950’s, 1960’s and early 1970’s, then followed by R.D.Burman and after his death in 1994, by A.R.Rehman.

Now let me mention a string of hits born in A.R.Rehman-Asha Bhosle combination till now. Rangeela re and Tanha of Rangeela, Radha kaise na jaale of Lagaan, Mere dil ka woh of Kabhi na kabhi, Kahi aag lage of Taal, Oh bawre of Daud, Rang de of Thakshak, Dhua Dhua from Meenakshi and Mehrbaan of Tehzeeb. Perhaps she might have sung less number of songs of A.R.Rehman, but all of them have become huge success worldwide. Other hits with rest of music directors include Hai rama of Lucky – No time to love (Adnan Sami), Jab dil mile of yadein and Mein naachoon bin paayal of Fiza (Anu Malik), Ajnabi mujhko of Pyar to hona hi tha, zara sa jhoomloom of DDLJ (Jatin Lalit), Kambaqt ishq of Pyar tune kya kiya (Sandeep Chowtha), Habba habba of Jogger’s park (Tabun Suthradar) and Le gayi of Dil to pagal hai (Utham Singh).

Now she holds the Guinness records for maximum recorded songs – a unique record and I have tried my maximum to include the best and popular songs of her career. It’s to be noted that people who loves pop and fast numbers than melodious tunes will prefer to place her name top of Lata, no doubt!  

Author’s opinion: From teasing numbers to rock and from classical songs to romantic, she has shown an amazing capability to handle all sort of songs. No doubt, she is the most versatile female singer India has ever witnessed. She never said ‘no’ to any song offered to her and that’s the first reason behind success. She accepted all types of criticisms and took its positives to put the next step forward. Among all singers, perhaps she is the only person whose voice didn’t fade with time and now also has enough caliber to sing for a school girl. That’s the reason behind her success. She has always remained as the second choice of many directors, yet she managed to bring maximum variations in those offers given to her thus achieving the tag of ‘The most versatile singer of Bollywood’. It’s only in terms of voice quality she lost first position in my list. 

1. Lata Mangeshkar

Let me start saying a note – It’s foolishness to describe about the talent and contributions given by this living legend of the industry. She is now 80+ and has completed 70 years the industry. She is the most wanted female voice of India and for many people, a day begins with her bhajans. I don’t know where to start about this great personality as she has been my biggest inspiration of my life. Her voice soothes millions of hearts and serves as medicine where medical science retreats. Each and every song that she rendered her voice is so precious and not at all an easy task to list best 100 or 1000. Yet I would prefer to pick my all favourite songs belonging to different decades and composers and may miss a few too. Though I am a great fan of Lata and Asha, it’s for the first time I write something on these two great legends and perhaps I may miss your favourites in the midst of my choices.

As it’s possible for me to write in many pages on Lata, I would like to brief it to give you an impressive column to read. There are many facts about Lata Mangeshkar. Let us begin with those interesting facts first. When Royal Albert Hall, London recorded the graph of her voice, it was given the title of ‘By far the most perfect voice of the world’! Undoubtedly it’s true too! Millions of fan followers around the world accept this fact that hers is the most melodious voice of the world till now. She is the first Indian to perform there too. Not only that, she is the only playback singer from India who is able to sing in 3 octaves; the rest can sing only up to 2 octaves. Though Goa is her home town, she has never sung in Goa. She always sings barefooted showing respect to singing.

Now to begin with her singing career and memorable songs that I feel the best. As a singer, her voice was rejected during late 40’s saying, ‘too thin voice for a heroine’. To financially support the family she had to work as a child artist in many black and white movies of past time. Her debut as a singer was through a couple of Marathi movies and her first Bollywood movie was ‘Paa Lagoon’ for the movie Aap ke seva mein, before Indian Independence. After that how many incidents have she witnessed till Bollywood grew from stage to another! And in every part of those reforms, Lataji has given significant contributions too.

It was music director Ghulam Haider who served as her mentor giving her first big breaks in Bollywood. The song was ‘Dil mera thoda’ of Majboor. Next year, the song ‘Aayega aanewala’ of Mahal pictured on Madhubala was released and after that began the real success journey of Lata Mangeshkar. During 50’s and 60’s many leading heroines used to insist on Lata’s voice for songs of which Madhubala comes first. Earlier she was criticized for poor dictation of Hindi and singing style of Noor Jahan – the top singer of Bollywood during 1940’s. Later she developed her own style of singing, a distinct voice that everyone loves to hear again and again. She was the only singer who was able to bring tears to the eyes of our Late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, when she sang the song ‘Ee mere watan ke logo’ written by Pradeep.

I know it well it’s my foolish attempt to write about the best singer India has ever produced. Yet it’s my humble attempt to choose at least a few great works done by Lata from 30K+ songs she has given to Bollywood. As I have told earlier, Aayega Aanewala was the first big break of her singing career and from early 1950’s, she became every director’s hot pick for female voice. Yet I feel it was during late 50’s that she established as the unchallengeable voice of Bollywood music. By that time, her voice grew a little more mature thus suiting the heroine’s voice to perfection. It’s my opinion only.

Baiju Bawra of Naushad’s music is still considered a classic. All sound tracks of this movie are exceptionally beautiful and she gave voice to Meena Kumari onscreen. As a singer this movie brought Mohd.Rafi to limelight too. After the success of Baiju Bawra, she became the leading female singer for music directors, Shankar Jaikishan, Hemant Kumar, Roshan, C.Ramachandra, Salil Chowdhury, Ravi, S.D.Burman, Madan Mohan and Naushad. Actually, all leading songs of Shankar Jaikishen – Raj kapoor movies during 50’s were sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Now let me give a brief note on hits on Lata during 1950’s; it’s only a selected list of songs. Aaja re pardesi, Sulmi sang and Bichua of Madhumadhi, Itna na mujhse pyar bada of Chaaya (Salil Chowdhury), Ghar aaja mere pardesi of Awara, Pyar hua, Mud mudke and Ramayya of Shree 420, Aaja sanam, Panchi banoom, Jahan mein jaathi hoon, Yeh raat and Rasik balma of Chori Chori, Saajan sang kahe of Main Nashe mein hoon, Yeh shyam ki tanhaayiyan, Raja ki aayegi baaraat and Aaja re of Aah, Woh chand khila, Tera jaana and Dil ki nazar of Anari (Shankar Jaikishan), Jise tu kubool kare and O jaane wale of Devdas, Jeevan ke safar mein and Ankh khuli hi of Munimji, Chand phir nikla of paying guest (S.D.Burman).

She has ruled the industry as ‘Nightingale’ for about 4 decades or so. She has been the favourite of all music directors from 1950’s to 2000’s. But has two exceptions – O.P.Nayyar of old era and Nadeem Shravan of present times have never recorded even a single song with Lata, though she has been the leading singing lady of the industry. Her voice was well used by great composers like Shankar Jaikishen, Laxmikanth Pyarelal and Madan Mohan who played significant roles in polishing her career. She was the first choice of Naushad too. She has also given hit songs with S.D and R.D and new generation composers like Jatin Lalit and A.R.Rehman. As it’s not possible to tell everything about her songs, let me conclude this article by listing her best songs of my choice. As it is challenging to prepare the list based on movies or decades, let me try to list Lata’s best from 60’s under different music composers. I have excluded 50’s from this list and hoping I have included the best. It’s my sincere effort too! Please excuse if I have missed your favourites.

Shankar Jaikishan – Mujhe tum mil gaye and Sayonara of Love in Tokyo, Tera mera pyar amar of Asli Naqli, Ajeeb Daasthan of Dil apna aur preeth paraye, Tera aana of Anari, Ajee rootkar and Bedardi balma of Arzoo, Yeh kaha of Silsile, Ehsaan hoga and Ja re ja of Junglee, Aaja aayi bahar of Raj Kumar, Ek bijli giri of April Fool, Mein ka karoom of Sangam, Tum mujhe yoon of Pagla kahi ka, Gumnaam title track, Dil ek mandir title track and Ruk jaa raath

S.D.Burman – Abke sajan and title track of Chupke chupke, Chanda hai tu and Kora kaagaz of Aaradhana, Piya bina, Nadiya kinare and tere bindiya of Abhimaan, Rulake gaya, Dil pukare and Hoton mein of Jewel thief, Khilte hain gul and Megha chaaye of Sharmilee, Piya to se, Mose chal, Gaata rahe and Aaj phir of Guide, Tere ghar ke samne title song, Rangeela re of Prem Pujari

R.D.Burman – Tere bina and Aaj kal paon of Ghar, Bindiya chamkegi of Do raasthe, Waada karo of Aao gale lag gao, Na koi umang of Katti Patang, Bahom mein chali aao of Anamika, Tum aagaye ho of Aandhi, Aaja piya and Kya jaanoom sajan of Baharom ke sapne, Beete na bitai of Parichay, Khamosh sa afsana and Seeli hawa of Libaaz, Bai batoor of Padosan, Jaane kya baat hai of Sunny, Agar tum na hote title song, Karvatein of Aap ki kasam, Na jaa and Nisulthana re of Pyar ka mausam, Dilbar of Caravan, Bheegi bheegi raat and Hum dono of Ajnabi, Kya yehi pyar hai of Rocky, Sawan ki jhoole of Jurmana, Panna ki tamanna of Heera Panna, Gum hai kise ke of Rampur ka Laxman, Raina beethi jaaye of Amar Prem, Kasmewada title track

Madan Mohan – Naynom mein badra and Title track of Mera saaya, Tere liye of Veer Zaara, Zara si aahat of Haqeeqat, Nayana barse and Lag jaa gale of Woh kaun thi, Betaab dil ki and Aaj socha tho of Hasthe Zakhm, Woh bhooli daasthan of Sanjog, Aap ki nazarom ne of Anpat

Laxmikanth Pyarelal –Woh hai zara, Dil vil and Ruk jaa of Shagird, Suno sajna of Aaye din bahar ke, Bhor  bhaye panghat pe and title song of Satyam Sivam Sundaram, Oh babul pyaare of Johny mere naam, Sola baras ki and Title track of Ek duje ke liye, Jaane kyon log of Mehboob ki mehndi, Yeh dil tum bin kahi lagtha nahi of Izzat, Mein tere ishq mein of Loafer, Oh ghatha sawari, Sajna and Sa re ga ma of Abhinetri, Sheesha ho ya of Aasha, Mere saasom ko of Badalthey rishthey, Chalo sajna of Mere humdum mere dost, Sawan ka mahina of Milan, Koi nahi hai of Pathar ke sanam, Jhoot bole of Bobby, Dafliwale of Sargam 

Salil Chowdary - Oh sajna of Parekh, Na jaane kyon of Choti si baat, Itna na mujhe se of Chhaya, Ragnigantha title song 

Khayyam - Yeh mulaquat of Khaandan, Aap yun faasulom se of Shankar Hussain, Dikhayi diye yoon of Baazar, Kabhi kabhi title song

Hemant Kumar – Kahi deep jale kahi dil of 20 saal baad, Kuch dil ne kaha of Anupama

Kalyanji Anandji - Ek tu na mila of Himalay ki gode mein, Chod de saari duniya and Chandan sa badan of Saraswathi chanda, Rootte rootte piya and Mere Padne mein of Kora Kagaz

Others:   Pyar kiya to of Mughal E Azam (Naushad), Milti hai zindagi mein of Aakhein (Ravi), Jiya jale of Dil se, Khamoshiyan of 1 2 ka 4, Ik tu hi sahara of Pukar  (A.R.Rehman), Tere mere hoton pe and Mere haathom mein of Chandini, Tu mere samne of Darr (Shiv Hari), Dil to pagal hai title song and Are re are (Utham Singh), Tujhe dekha to and Mere khabom of DDLJ, Humko hamein se of Mohabbatein (Jatin Lalit), Dil hoom hoom of Rudali (Bhupen Hazarika), Yaara sili sili of Lekin (Hridaynath Mangeshkar), Bhool gayi sab kuch of Julie, Pal bhar mein yeh of Swami (Rajesh Roshan), Sun sahiba sun of Ram teri Ganga maili, Dil mein tujhe bitake of Fakira (Raveendra Jain), Ajnabi kaun ho tum of Sweekar kiya meine (Usha Khanna), Yeh dil aur unki of Prem Parbat, Tumhe dekthi hoon of Tumhare liye (Jaidev), Dil diwana of Meine Pyar kiya, Title song and Deedi tera dewar of Hum aapke hain kaun (Ram Laxman), Chalte chalte of Pakeezah (Ghulam Mohammed), Tere pyar ka aasra of Dhool ka phool (N.Dutta)

Though I have shared numerous songs in this list, let me tell a few words on my favourites too. ‘Nayana Barse’ of Woh kaun thi is so special to me. I consider this song to be the best of Lata Mangeshkar, whom I see as the most influential person of my life till now. 

Author’s opinion – As I firmly believe that it’s foolishness to describe about the real power of the glowing star among the singers, I leave my words to readers’ imagination. Just I need to say something about my hidden desire that I have been carrying in my heart for about two decades or so. If someone asks me, whom do you want to meet once in your life time, it’s none other than Lata Mangeshkar. I really want to touch her feet once. I can say 100% that her voice and songs have played a significant role in shaping my personality and I can hear her songs for days continuously without any break. I learnt to love, remain patient, show emotions and enjoy happiness through the words she told through her uncountable songs! That’s what the position of Lataji in my heart. I often feel that she is the incarnation of Goddess Saraswathy; that’s the reason why she remained unmarried! It’s not possible for common man to reach a goddess. Though she had quarreled with almost all leading singers and composers during 60’s, the truth is that, it’s not possible for anyone to hate her or her music. Hers’ is a gifted voice that has the miraculous power to cure diseases and lessen mental ailments. That’s my firm belief.

Images: Wikipedia
Read about 10 best music composers of Bollywood – My choice

Most recently we have celebrated 100 years of Indian cinema. What a great achievement! All of us know it well, Indian film industry is the biggest of the world and India stands first in the number of films released every year. So, at this shining occasion let me try to find those great Hindi music directors who have contributed most to Bollywood. Very often, Indian film industry has faced criticisms for giving importance to dance and music than script and story. After all, we Indians love music a lot! Music and dance are integral parts of our culture and we, Indians can’t imagine a world without music. Obviously those interests are well reflected in movies and songs play a significant role in the success of Indian movies. So, through this article, I would like to name those great 10 geniuses who have contributed wonderful tunes to millions of music lovers all over the world.

I know it well it’s not at all an easy task to take 10 best jewels from a midst of 100 shining stars. While searching those 10, I may leave a few precious gems and a few may go unnoticed. I may pick a few less significant stars too. As I have not learnt music and I am not proficient in Indian classical music, some mistakes may occur from my side. I have a few limitations as well. I have been hearing Bollywood music from my early childhood and old melodies sung by Lata and Rafi are still running through my veins. So, I am preparing this countdown based on the popularity of songs since I started hearing music. Even if I tried a lot, I had to leave a few of my most favourite music composers taking in account, their overall popularity. If I miss some great names in this list, please forgive me, as I know well, it’s not a good job to compare one jewel with the qualities of other. Within my limitations, let me try to give full justification to my task and take account of popularity of music from golden eras of 50’s to fast tracks of new decade - 2010’s. After all, each decade has contributed a lot to the music world and I would like to bind 70 years of Bollywood music within one article.

It took hours and one or two days to prepare this list and I present before you ‘My playlist of 10 best composers who have given great contributions to Bollywood music’. It’s to be noted that I have given preference to over all contribution of music directors than their most noted few works.

10. Shankar Ehsaan Loy 

Shankar Mahadevan – Ehsaan Noorani – Loy Mendonsa – The magical trio that creates wonderful tunes of Bollywood at present times. Let me begin my list with this most successful trio of Bollywood. Though they have given music to only a few films, they have been the most successful music directors in the past Jupiter year after A.R.Rehman. That’s the reason why I have included them in my list, considering new generation music and music lovers among present teens. Another fact is the magical tunes of Kal ho na ho, for which they accumulated numerous awards including National Awards.

Shankar Mahadevan was a familiar face in the music industry during late 90’s with his album ‘Breathless’. Though he has sung for many hit A.R.Rehman Tamil numbers like Thaniye (Rhythm –2000), Hoo lala (Minsara Kanavu – 1996) and Chandana thennale (Kandukondein Kandukondein -2000) for which he got a National award, he was shot to fame once his collaboration with Ehsaan and Loy clicked and their combination gave amazing tunes to Bollywood. Their first project ‘Dus’ never saw the outer world though its music was released. ‘Suno gor se duniyawalom’ is a great patriotic song to increase the flow of blood through our veins; it’s a great dancing number too. After the instant hit of ‘Instant Karma’ – the remix of R.D.Burman tunes and a couple of movies, Mission Kashmir and Aalavandhan, music of ‘Dil Chahta hai’ in 2001 changed the fate of this trio. Farhan Akhtar was the new director of the industry who tried to experiment with new subject and new looks of leading trio – Aamir, Saif and Akhshay Khanna. He tried to experiment with music too, giving opportunity to new music directors of Bollywood.  Shankar Ehsaan Loy did that job pretty well and their work was well noticed. They included all types of songs in a single album – romantic track ‘Jaane kyon log’, friendship tracks ‘Koi Kahe’ and ‘Dil chahta hai’, comedy track ‘Jise doondta’ and parting/sad track ‘Thanhayee’. After that, till now they are among the most wanted music directors of Bollywood.

After the super success of ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, came the masterpiece of Shankar Ehsaan Loy. It’s none other than ‘Kal ho na ho’. I have been closely watching the work of this trio for the past few years. According to me, it’s the best work ever done by this magical trio and no other work can replace the melody and magic of ‘Kal ho na ho’. Title track sung by Sonu Nigam of ‘Kal ho na ho’ is enough to place these directors among the top composers of Bollywood all time! A track that brings tears to our eyes whenever we hear it!

They give equal preference to melody as well as new generation foot tappers and that’s the reason why they are popular among the masses. I have noticed that they have always tried to include both melodious and fast numbers within the same album. For example, the movie with the philosophical song, ‘Kal ho na ho’ has also included ‘It’s the time to disco’ and ‘Mahi ve’. The movie with fast number ‘Jhoom barabar jhoom’ has also given the sweet melodious romantic ‘Bol na halke’ – perhaps one among the best 5 romantic tracks of this trio. ‘Kyon Ho Gaya Na’ with romantic song ‘Aao na’ has also included fast number ‘No no’. The movie with fast number ‘Bunty aur Bubli’ and item number ‘Kajra re’ has also included ‘Chup Chup Ke’, giving opportunity to a new comer Mahalekshmi.

Now, before I go to the next name, let me tell a few words about the best compositions of Shankar Ehsaan Loy after ‘Kal ho na ho’. My name is Khan, Taare Zameen Par, Rock on!, Don, Don 2, Heyy baby, Zindagi na milegaa dobara, Kabhi alvida na kehna, Lakshya, Wake up Sid (All songs except Ikthara), Karthik calling Karthik, Luck by chance and Viswapooram. Let me mention a few more hit songs too - Bumbaro and Socho kya of Mission Kashmir, Aaj ki raat of Don, Tumhe dekho naa, title track and Mitwa of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Bol na halke of Jhoom barabar jhoom, Senorita of Zindagi na milegaa dobara, Andere se dartha of Tare Zameen par and Uff tere adaa of Karthik calling Karthik. This trio proved that it’s not numbers that count, but the quality and effort behind each composition to make it so special!

9. Jatin-Lalit

As I have already told I am trying to take contributions of all decades, how can I exclude melodies of 90’s? Actually, it’s a tie between Jatin-Lalit and Nadeem-Shravan. I was also a bit confused to number them. As Jatin-Lalit has never won Filmfare awards and Nadeem-Shravan has won it many times and they initiated the melodious music trend of early 90’s, Jatin-Lalit was dragged just behind them.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le jayenge, Kuch kuch hota hai, Fanaah, Yes Boss, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gum, Hum Tum, Raju ban gaya gentleman, Sangursh, Mohabbatien, Jab pyar kise se hota hai, Pyar to hona hi tha, Pyar kiya to darna kya, Gulaam, Aakhen, Chalte Chalte, Albela, Phir phi dil hai Histusthani, Sarfarosh, Jo jeeta wohi sikander, Raju Chacha, Vaastav, Khubsoorat, Khamoshi – the musical, Fareb and Dil kya kare – the precious gems of Bollywood of 90’s and a few from 2000’s. It seems the essence of melody was added more than what’s required for Bollywood music and that’s the reason why, Jatin-Lalit compositions still look fresh and young. It can be said that music of block buster hits of great Khans of Bollywood till 2006 were given by Jatin – Lalit, thus contributing a lot to their successful career. 
Though the brothers have given valuable contributions to Bollywood and their movies are still leading the charts with box office records, it’s a bit unlucky that these talented music directors have never won Filmfare awards. Very often, they faced huge contest with A.R.Rehman and they have missed it every time. Their story looks similar to Madan Mohan of yesterdays, another unlucky composer who has never won Filmfare in his life time.

Most recently music of DDLJ has been listed as the top Hindi track all time by BBC Asian Network. DDLJ is the longest running Indian movie, that still runs its 18th successive year in Mumbai and no doubt, Jatin Lalit’s tunes have contributed a lot to the huge success of the movie. If we take the best romantic songs of past 25 years, ‘Tujhe dekha to’ and ‘Ho gaya hai’ will surely enjoy an honourable position in the list. When the name Jatin-Lalit comes to my mind, the first attribute that I associate them with is ‘sweet melodious tunes with less instruments’. Yes, I am not at all confused in adding this music duo to the list of great Bollywood composers who have given preference to melody than anything else. After all, the real beauty of a song is melody! How many times have we heard the remixed versions of his first song, ‘Bin tere sanam’ of Yaara Dildara and ‘Pehla Nasha’ of ‘Jo jeeta wohi sikander!

It was 1998 which brought great success of Jatin-Lalit. Soon after DDLJ, they got a lot of fan followers all over the world. Yet, year 1998 needs special mention. All songs of the movies Ghulam, Kuch kuch hota hai, Pyar kiya to darna kya, Bada din, Jab pyar kise se hota hai and Pyar to hona hi tha were mega hits, thus giving no.1 position to this music pair. People still remember them for the melodious tunes like ‘Aakhom se’ of Ghulam, title track of Kuch kuch hota hai and ‘Jab kise ki taraf’ of Pyar to hona hi tha.

Now let me list a few more memorable melodious songs of Jatin Lalit. All songs of Ghulam, DDLG, Kuch Kuch hota hai, Hum Tum, Yes Boss and Fanaa have been instant hits. Bole Chudiyan of Kabhi khushi kabhi gum, Baahom ki darmiyaa and Yeh dil sun raha hai of Khamoshi, Suno zara of Bada din, Waada raha sanam of Khiladi, Tauba tumhare of Chalte chalte, Oh oh jaane jaana of Pyar kiya to darna kya, Kasam hai of Raju Chacha, Pehla Nasha of Jo jeeta wohi sikander and Hum ko hamein se from Mohabbatein need special mention. Soon after the release of melodious Fanaa in 2006, the brothers announced their separation. That time, they were at the peak of their success. When they separated, their music and melody also parted and they were not able to restore their previous success through solo compositions, though ‘Munni Badnaam Hui’ of Debaang gave a Filmfare to Lalit for the first time! 

8. Nadeem - Shravan

As I have told earlier, it’s because of the hat-trick Film fare awards they won in the early 90’s and numerous nominations they have earned, I find place for this music duo above Jatin Lalit. Nadeem Saifi and Shravan Rathod – together known as Nadeem-Shravan have given new definition to Bollywood music in 90’s. We lost melodious tunes of Bollywood during early 80’s and Bollywood was in the grip of disco dances and music that never passes through our souls during this time. Full credit goes to this pair who brought great reformation to Bollywood music through Ashique in 1990. No doubt, they were the most sought music directors of early 90’s till 1997, till Nadeem got negative publicity for Gulshan Kumar murder case. They never own big blockbuster hits like DDLJ or Kuch kuch hota hai of Jatin-Lalit. Yet, they were able to deliver constant hits from Ashique to Pardes and thereafter, though Nadeem left the country.

Nadeem-Shravan has given valuable contributions to 1990’s to nourish it well. After Ashique, they gave a string of hits including Saajan, Phool aur Kaante, Saath rang ke sapne, Dhadkan, Mere jeevan saathi, Agnisakshi, Jeet, Pardes, Raja, Raja Hindustani, Dilwale, Hum hai rahi pyar ke, Barsaat, Kasoor, Raaz, Sirf tum, Hum ho gaye aapke, Jeena sirf mere liye and Dil hai tumhare. After Nadeem left India in 1997, Shravan continued to compose songs under the name Nadeem-Shravan and has delivered many hits including Dhadkan, Kasoor, Raaz, Sirf tum, Hum ho gaye aapke, Jeena sirf mere liye and Dil hai tumhare.

After a series of B-grade movies, real entry of this pair to Bollywood was through Gulshan Kumar’s Aashique, which brought a new singer also to limelight. It’s none other than Kumar Sanu, with whom Nadeem-Shravan has delivered many magical numbers like Mera dil bhi of Saajan, Meine pyar tumhe se of Phool aur Kaante, Jeeta dha jis ke liye of Dilwale, Tere umeed and Sochenge of Diwana, Do dil and Mehbooba of Pardes, Tum dil ki of Dhadkan and Dekha ho tumko of Kasoor. He has given some wonderful numbers to Udit Narayan as well. Raja Hindustani and Dhadkan can be included in this hit list.

Now let me list a few more hit songs of this lovely pair. All songs of Saajan, Aashique, Dhadkan, Deewana, Raja Hindusthani, Barsaat, Kasoor, Sadak, Dil hai ki manta nahin and Phool aur Kaante have been blockbusters. Apart from those movies, Akhiyan milao and Zara phir se kehna of Raja, Ek dil hai of Ek rishta, Dayya dayya of Dil ka rishta, Tumhe na dekhoo tho of Rang, Jab se tumko of Damini, Aap ke pyar mein of Raaz, Kyom bequidi si of Hum ho gaye aapke, Khubsoorat hai woh of Salaami, Dilbar and title track of Sirf tum, Saasom ka chalna and Yaara o yaara of Jeet, title track of Dil ka kya kasoor, Saat rang ke sapne, Jeena sirf mere liye, Hum tumhare Sanam and Sapne saajan ke need special mention. 

No doubt, through the numerous melodious numbers this pair has given to music lovers, their position in the top 10 music directors in the history of 100 years of Indian cinema is undoubtful. Now let me mention lyricist Sameer’s name too. Sameer – Nadeem Shravan combination has given the maximum hits during 90’s. 

7. Laxmikanth-Pyarelal

Discussion of Bollywood is incomplete without mentioning Laxmikanth-Pyarelal’s name. They have given music to 600+ movies, which itself is a record. Born in financially low background families, passion of music and same age brought these two persons together – Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma and Laxmikanth Shantharam Kudalkar. Though they worked as assistants and music arrangers of almost all leading music directors of 50’s and 60’s that time except Shankar Jaikishen and O.P.Nayyar, it took years and lot of hard work to get an independent film in the industry. The first released movie of these friends was ‘Parasmany’ in 1963. Following Parasmany, came Dosthi in 1964. The songs ‘Chahoonga mein tujhe’ and ‘Mere dosti mere pyar’ were enough to place this duo in the top list of music composers that time.

According to many music experts and critics, Laxmikanth-Pyarelal is regarded as one among the geniuses of Bollywood who was proficient in ragas and classic music and most important thing to note is that, their music was purely original. The contributions given by these music directors can never be expressed in a word or two and they continued the history till late 90’s when Laxmikanth parted from us in 1998. Still, Pyarelal continued to give music for a few movies under the tag ‘Laxmikanth-Pyarelal’. Their Bollywood career spanned to about 40 years and they have enjoyed the same status, the whole period throughout. They have touched the veins of all generations belonging to different decades and that’s the reason why, we can see the remains of that decade in each and every tune of Laxmikanth-Pyarelal. From Dosthi to Khal Nayak and from Shagird to Tezaab, he has always noticed the pulse of the market and have produced songs that situation actually demands. That’s the reason why his songs always looked trend.

During 1960’s he has given many amazing compositions like Shagird, Dosthi, Milan, Intequam, Pyar kiya jaa, Aayi din bahar ki, Aaya sawan jhoom ke, Pathar ke sanam, Farz, Do Rasthe, Mr.X in Bombay, Lutera, Night in London, Mere Humdum mere dost, Jeena ki raah and Parasmany and during 1970’s, his hit numbers include Upkaar, Roti Kapada aur Makan, Haathi mere saathi, Ek Nazar, Loafer, Bobby, Roti, Charas, Abhinetri, Dushman, Jeevan Mrityu, Khilona, Humjoli,Satyam Sivam Sundaram, Mehbood ki mehandi, Aap aaye bahar aaye, Sargam, Suhaag, Shor, Dream girl, Amar Akbar Antony and Aan milo sajna.  80’s witnessed some rocking numbers like Karz, Kranti, Mr.India, Chaal Baaz, Ram Lakhan, Tezaab and Naseeb. But he has offered some melodious tunes for movies like Hero, Asha, Nagina, Karma, Pyar juktha nahin, Sanjog, Meri jung and Prem Rog. During 90’s their most noted works are Khal Nayak, Prem Diwane, Jeevan ek sangursh, Khuda gawah, Ashiq awara, Deewana Masthana, Saudagar, Bhairavi and Hum.

It can be noted that they have given the most valuable contributions during 1970s and majority of their super hits were born that time. But during middle 80’s, their quality slowly deteriorated and they began to give weak tunes to Hindi films. Their work during 60’s and 70’s are really commendable, but when they give preference to quantity than quality during 1980’s, it well reflected in their music. Though number of movies were numerous, songs with touching tunes were very rare during this period. This combination along with Bappi Lahari gave importance to fast numbers to get attention of youth and now, after 25 years, none of those tracks are live and nobody hears those tunes! The weak tunes that they gave during this era prompted me to put them one place down in my top 10 list. Otherwise, they would have surely found sixth position in my list.

6. Naushad

Sixth position goes to one and only Naushad. He was one among the great composers of golden era of music who shaped and structured present music. I am a very small person to describe about this great person. Yet I would like to add a few remarkable works of Naushad. He was a great musician who gave importance to Indian classical music and used them wisely in movies according to situations. Can anyone forget the melodious numbers of Baiju Bawra or classical tunes of Mughal-E-Azam? Those songs are still alive in millions of hearts after 50 or 60 years of release! His musical journey started in 1940 with Prem Nagar and Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story was his last contribution. It’s quite surprising that after 1990, he has given music to only two movies – SRK and Manisha Koirala starrer ‘Guddu’ in 1995 and Taj Mahal in 2005, the most expensive film of Bollywood till then.

As I am not proficient in movies of 1940’s, I would like to discuss about Naushad tunes of 50’s and 60’s. He has done a commendable job in Black & White movies of 1940’s and 1950’s and a discussion of golden era of Bollywood music will remain incomplete if we don’t mention his name. Among my favourites of Naushad during 1950’s, Baiju Bawra (1953) comes first. Udan Khatola and Mother India need special mention. During 1960’s, apart from Mughal-E-Azam, he has given his best for movies like Mere Mehbood, Ganga Jamuna, Aadmi, Sangursh and Dil diya dard liya. It can be noticed that Dileep Kumar – Naushad was an amazing combination during 1960’s. In 1971, another lagged project similar to Mughal-E-Azam was released and it repeated the history of the same movie. It was none other than Pakeezah, the movie remembered for ‘Chalte Chalte’ and ‘Chalo deedar’. Slowly his musical career noticed deterioration and only one noted movie during 1980’s in Dwani of Malayalam starring Prem Nazir, Shobhana and Jayaram. Based on Indian classical music, songs like ‘Janaki Jaane’ and ‘Manasanilayil’ were well appreciated and still remain popular after 25 years of release.

5. A.R.Rehman 

A.R.Rehman – the most versatile, popular and gifted composer of present times, who has become an icon since the Oscar awards and BAFTA awards in 2008. Though India is famous for its culture, tradition and music based on 72 ragas, only A.R.Rehman has been able to make it internationally popular. After a couple of super hits of early 1990’s, he earned a lot of criticisms too, for repeating the same style and using too many instruments for Indian tunes. Many critics even claim that Rehman has lost his charm after Roja, Dil se, Indian, Rangeela and Bombay. But through the series of mega blockbusters during late 90’s and new millennium like Taal, Dil se, Lagaan, Alaippayuthey (Saathiya), Jodha Akbar, Rhythm, Rang de basanthi, Slumdog millionaire, Gajani, Jaane tu ya jaane naa, Guru, Rock star, Dilli 6 and Sillunu oru kaadal (Tamil), he proved that music is in his veins and that he follows the tradition of his father R.K.Shekar, the great music composer of Malayalam of yesterdays. No doubt, he is the most celebrated music director of present times whose tracks create new selling records. He has completed 22 years in musical industry. Except a few down flows, his career has been steady throughout these years.

Till now, A.R.Rehman holds the record of maximum awards for music direction in National Awards as well as Filmfare (Hindi and South). He is the only music composer to won international awards too! He owns the credit of introducing many new talents to music world. Making hit songs from freshers with different voices, he told the whole world that only sweet and melodious voice is not essential to deliver good songs. It’s not at all easy to list the best of A.R.Rehman numbers. A few people love melodious numbers of Roja and Bombay while youngsters are interested in foot tappers like ‘Pappu can’t dance’ or ‘E udi udi’. Yet I would like to list a few all-time Bollywood hits of A.R.Rehman, though majority of them belongs to Tamil too. Tu hi re and Kehna hai kya of Bombay, Roja jaane man and Yeh khula wadiyan of Roja, Radha kaise na jale and Ore chori of Lagaan, Saathiya and Chupke se of Saathiya, In lamho ki of Jodha Akbar, Kabhi kabhi aditi of Jaane tu ya jaane naa, Chalo chalo mitwa of Nayak, Barso re mekha of Guru, Dheeme dheeme of Zubeidaa, Khamoshiyan of 1-2-ka 4, Jiya jale, title track and Chayya of Dil se, Tu meri adoori and Kaise mujhe of Gajani, Saddha Haqq and Nadan parindey of Rockstar, Kismat se tum of Pukar, Rangeela re and Tanha tanha of Rangeela, Jiya re and Ishq shava of Jab tak hai jaan – The list is too long! Before taking a long time to read, let me go forward with next composer of my countdown. But I am concluding with one word – though A.R.Rehman is the composer of present times who has been criticized most for westernizing Indian tunes, no other music director of Indian film industry has become as popular as Rehman. Also, he is credited with wide variety of tunes and instruments used in his work, a role model whom every music composer of present times loves to follow. His romantic tracks as well as fast numbers are equally popular, making everyone praise the amazing blend of instruments used in recording. That’s the reason why songs recorded 15 or 20 years ago resemble songs of 2010’s in voice quality. 

4. Rahul Dev Burman

R.D.Burman – the music composer who connected past with present and who brought westernized style to Indian music, keeping in mind tastes of Indians. I often feel surprised with the tunes and musical instruments used by R.D.Burman 35 years back in a few songs like Oh haseena, Roop tera masthana (completed the work of Aradhana with Kishore Kumar’s voice), Dilbar and Monica of Caravan, Oh mere sonare and Tumne mujhe of Teesri Manzil, Wada karo of Aa gale lag jaa, Aanewaala pal of Golmaal and Chura liya hai of Yadoom ki barat. Though he has worked as an assistant for many hit movies of late 50’s and 60’s like Guide, Kaagaz ke phool and Chalti ka naam gadi.

Teesri Manzil of 1966, starring Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh was the first hit of R.D.Burman. During 1960’s he has done a few movies like Bhoot bangle, Padosan, Baharom ke sapne and Pyar ka mausam and they proved successful too. He recorded the song ‘Tum bin jao kaho’ in the voices of Both Rafi and Kishore Kumar, for ‘Pyar ka mausam’. During late 1960’s and early 1970’s, he completed a few unfinished works of his father also. ‘Aradhana’ – the movie with blockbuster music belongs to this category where, R.D. gave full credits to his father for its composition. This movie gave a shining singing star to Bollywood too – Kishore Kumar. There began the magical pair Kishore-R.D too! Though Rafi has sung numerous songs for R.D, including Teesri Manzil, Hum kise se kum nahin and Yadon ki baraat, Kishore-R.D combination was noted most. Rajesh Khanna can also be included in the successful combination. Kishore Kumar and R.D.Burman began to give a succession of hits like Kehna hai and Mere Samne wali of Padosan, Yeh jo Mohabbat hai and Pyar deewana of Katti Patang, Zindagi ke Kasam and Karvaten of Aap ki kasam, Aanewala pal of Golmaal, Dilbar mere of Satte pe satta, Zindagi ek safar of Andaaz, Raat kali of Budda mil gaya, Aap ki aakhom mein and Phir wohi raat of Ghar, Oh meri soni of Yaadom ki baraat and Gum hai kise ke pyar from Rampur ka Laxman. We witnessed R.D. growing as a genius through these songs, capturing millions of music lovers’ hearts. But he lost his way somewhere in the middle 80’s. The disco era couldn’t accept melodious tunes of R.D.Burman and that’s the only reason why he was dragged behind. Yet he didn’t compromised his talent with reckless and mislead music of that time and that’s the reason why I placed him in position 4, for not participating in degradation of Bollywood music during 1980’s. Songs of Rocky, Love story, Parindey, Libaaz, Yeh wada raha, Satte pe satta, Agar tum na hote and Ijaazzat have been exceptionally well made! That’s the reason why such movie songs of 80’s stand now also, as evergreen.

His glory started during early 70’s and it existed till the middle 80’s. He has done many experiments with songs, by using unusual things for producing its background score. He is the only music director of yesterdays’ whose tunes has been used repeatedly for movies as well as remixes and they have been used in discos and celebrations also. That shows the mesmerizing power of R.D.Burman’s music. When he left the world suddenly, he produced his masterpiece ‘1942-A love story’ after a series of flops during late 80’s and early 90’s, the movie that accumulated maximum music awards in 1994 after his death. Before I proceed further, let me name a few more hit movies of R.D.Burman – Amar prem, Sholay, Satte pe satta, Parichay, Sanam teri kasam, Mere jeevan saathi, Ajnabi, Seeta aur Geeta, Kinara, Saagar, Shalimar, Masoom, Betab, Hera Panna, Khubsoorat, Aa gale lag jaa, Padosan, The train, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Jurmana, Khudrat, Shaan, Yeh wada raha, Kaalia, Apna desh, Anamika, Deewar, Aandhi, Mehbooba, Kasme wade and Khel khel mein.

3. Madan Mohan

Many of you people may feel surprised why I placed this music maestro above R.D, Naushad and Laxmi-Pyare. It’s not for the numerous compositions done, but for a few amazing combinations, we admire an artist most. No doubt, Madan Mohan can be surely included in the list. He is one among the most talented artists of Bollywood who has never received appreciation he deserved, when he was alive. But when he left the world during 1975, the period after that began to understand the inner meanings of compositions he has done till then. He made Indian tunes popular using classical instruments and through folk songs and romantic numbers, he brought the best of many singers’ voice. Lata Mangeshkar is one among the leading singers of the industry whose voice was well used by Madan Mohan. That’s the reason why her most popular songs belong to this music director.

Even after giving significant contributions to music industry through melodies, he has never received Filmfare. Woh Kaun thi, Heer Ranja, Haste Zakhm, Mera Saaya and Haqueequat can be listed in ‘just missed’ tag though the lovely songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar still remain evergreen. He has given wonderful songs to Lata, mostly pictured on Sadhana and Priya Rajvansh. In 2004, his unreleased tunes were used by Yash Chopra for ‘Veer Zaara’ and nominated in Filmfare too, 20 years after his death though he couldn’t win it.

Once Lata Mangeshkar told that it’s very difficult to learn Madan Mohan’s compositions. It’s because, though they appear easy, it’s not an easy task to conquer Madan Mohan tunes purely based on Indian ragas. He was a composer who knew the soul of Indian music. Though his work went unnoticed and he didn’t get big directors’ or actors’ movies, his work still remain extra-ordinary and will remain forever. Aap ki parchayiyam, Mausam and Jahaa Aara are other hit movies of his composition. Aap ke nazarom ne samjha of Anpat, Woh bhooli daasthan of Sanjog, Zara si aahat of Haqueeqat, Mein to tum sang of Man mauji, Lag ja gale and Nayana barse of Woh kaun thi, Mera saaya and Nayanom mein of Mera saya and Tum jo mil gaye, Betaab dil ki tamanna and Aaj socha of Haste Zakhm still fascinate people who are really serious in hearing old melodies.  

2. Sachin Dev Burman

Without any hesitation or second thought, it was an easy task for me to place S.D.Burman at no.2 position. From melodious romantic numbers to folk dances, he was a composer who created magic on Indian screen with his lovely music. His songs have the smell of soil and sweetness of melody and for the numerous songs he contributed to music lovers, he still remains one among the most popular composers all time. He has composed music for about 100 Bollywood movies and each one can be termed as ‘classic!’

He started journey in Bollywood through ‘Do Bhai’ in 1947 and till his death in 1975, he remained the inseparable part of Bollywood and Bollywood music. His name is counted among legends, who has given valuable contributions to Bollywood through folk and classical tunes. Among all singers, Mohd.Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar were his favourites with whom he has recorded songs most. He has played a significant role in the career growth of both these leading singers of Bollywood. But doing late 50’s, he gave opportunities to Asha Bhosle too. The movies of 50’s, termed as classics have used S.D.Burman tunes – Kagaz ka phool, Devdas, Pyaasa and Sujatha. He gave music to some simple movies like Chalti ka naam gaadi, Jaal, Nau do gyarah, Kaalapani, Munimji, Taxi driver and Funtoosh. It continued in 60’s too through the movies – Guide, Aradhana, Meri surat teri aankhen, Jewel thief, Tere ghar ke samne, Prem pujari and Bandhini. Aradhana is still considered a trendsetter that gave new direction to Bollywood music. This movie gave a new perspective to Indian music during 70’s.
He was continuously ill for a few years, yet he continued to give a lot of melodies to Indian music. Sharmilee, Chupke chupke and Abhimaan can be counted among the best movies he has done during the last phase of his life. Before I reach the top of the chart, let me give the list of a few memorable works of S.D.Burman. Mere sapnon ki rani and Roop tera masthana of Aradhana, Chupke chupke and Ab ke sajan of Chupke chupke, Khilthe hain gul and Megha chaye of Sharmilee, Piya bina and Teri bindiya of Abhimaan and Suno meri bandoo re of Bandini, Hoton mein koi baat and Dil pukare of Jewel thief, Kaun ho tum jo of Teen deviyaan, Tere ghar ke samne title song, Gaata rahe and all other songs of Guide, Rangeela re and Phoolon ki rang se of Prem pujari, Choodi nahi of Gambler and Khoya khoya chand of Kaala Baazar are a few among those gems defined by Burman da. It can be noticed that Dev Anand was associated with Burman da most and a lot of beautiful songs have born in this combination.

1. Shankar Jaikishan

Now we have reached the top position of the list. It’s not surprising that Shankar-Jaikishan (Shankar Singh Raghuvanshi and Jaikishan Jayabhai Panchal) decorates the top most position of the list. Perhaps they lead far ahead of all other 9 music directors. Many music directors have come and gone, yet no other music director has been able to replace the music given by this duo. The unparallel composer pair Shankar-Jaikishan has ruled the musical charts for about 20 years till their drift and death of Jaikishan in 1971. By that time, they had already contributed the best songs ever made in Bollywood! 

As in the case of other music directors, it’s not at all easy to list 10 best or 100 best songs of Shankar-Jaikishen. Each and every piece of their lovely music is just extra-ordinary and can’t be explained in words! The major hits of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor were exclusively given by this magical pair. While Mukesh attributed his voice for Raj Kapoor, Mohd.Rafi became the voice of Shammi Kapoor. Years may come and many new music directors may arise. Yet the magic created by this pair using Indian traditional tunes and limited instruments without the help of electronic equipments and highly advanced recording techniques will remain as wonders till the end of this world! No doubt, I have no hesitation in giving no.1 position to these emperors of Bollywood.

With the beautiful lyrics written by Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra and Neeraj, SJ has delivered maximum hits. As this article is too lengthy, I would like to conclude it as early as possible mentioning the names of a few best compositions of SJ. Barsaat, Shree 420, Jis des mein Ganga behthi hai, Awara, Sangam, Junglee, Arzoo, Dil tera diwana, Prince, Seema, Yahudi, Professor, Anari, Teesri kasam, Aah, Amrapali, Chori chori, Boot polish, Hariyali aur raastha, Love marriage, College girl, Sasural, Jab pyar kise se hota hai, An evening in Paris, Nagina, Seema, Yahudi, Gumnaam, Jukh gaya aasman, Dil apna aur preet paraye, Brahmachari, Sasural, Janwar, Love in Tokyo, Suraj, Rajkumar, Pagla Kahi ka and Dil ek mandir – the list is not complete!

Conclusion

Though I have chosen 10 best composers, unfortunately I had to exclude my favourite composers – O.P.Nayyar, Salil Chaudary, Roshan, Khayyam and Kalyanji Anandji who have contributed a lot to Indian music. I need to mention three special names also – Hemant Kumar, Ilayaraja and Raveendra Jain, who couldn’t find space in my list. Among new music directors, Ismail Darbar is most promising. I would also like to mention the name of Usha Khanna - perhaps the only succesful composer of Bollywood, female.

Present music can never be compared with the past. But as I have prepared this list based on the contributions of 100 years of Indian cinema, how can I neglect the valuable contributions of past 25 years or so. That’s the only reason why I had to exclude a few great music maestros like O.P.Nayyar and Salil Chaudary from the list to add new generation music directors who have added nice melodies to present Bollywood. After all, we should take care of all generations and their interests too! Now it’s the time of copy cats and I never prefer to take their names in my columns.

Let me conclude adding one or two facts. Though I gave full marks to these 10 composers and agree that, their contributions are simply the best my favourite Hindi composition is not composed by anyone of these 10 composers or sung by leading stars of Bollywood. The title song of Akhiyom ki Jarokom se is my personal favourite, written and composed by Raveendra Jain and sung by Hema Latha.  
N.B: All images taken from wikipedia