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
In my two previous articles on the same subject ( the link for which I have given below) I have already covered some details about composers like Chitragupt, Sardar Malik, Narayan Dutta, Dattaram, Sapan Jagmohan and G.S.Kohli, who all left their distinctive mark on film music . As we all know, the nineteen fifties, sixties and the seventies were considered the golden years of hindi film music.
Everything about Hindi cinema was at its best - the talented and beautiful stars, some great film makers and some of the best artistes and along with them were some of the best music composers ever. Before I forget, I must say that the singers of those days made all the difference and there were so many of them having their own style of singing - Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey, Talat mehmood, Suman Kalyanpur, Shamshad Begum...so many of them , each a legend in his or her own right!
In this article I would like to write about 3 more composers who wre in the same category as the previous six composers. I will be discussing about Ajit Merchant, Iqbal Quereshi and Bipin Babul ( composer duo).
Ajit Merchant ( 1925 - 2011 )
Veteran Gujarati music director Shri Ajit Merchant was basically a criminal lawyer from Mumbai who was also interested in music. Encouraged by his father , young Ajit had the opportunity of experiencing concerts of well known artists such as Ustad Abdul Karim Kha and other greats of his time which spurred him on to learn classical music under Pandit Shivkumar Shukla. Ajit Merchant began composing music in 1945 when C.C.Mehta, a well known Gujrati film maker invited him to give music replacing someone else.
His songs are enjoyed even today by those who love Gujarati music. Siner Mukesh was instrumental in introducing Ajit Merchant to Hindi film music. He gave music in Hindi films like Sapera(1961), Refugee(1948), Indra Leela(1956), Challenge(1964), Chandi Pooja(1957), Lady Killer(1968), Divadandi(1950), Lady Killer (1968) .. Known to be very punctual and a man of his word Ajit Merchant was respected as a composer although his first love remained Gujrati cinema.
From what I see ,Manna dey was his favorite singer since he gave him some of the most melodious tunes to sing. His 'composition for Sapera 'Roop tumhara aankhon se pee lu ' is one of the most romantic numbers ever sung by Manna dey, so also a duet from the same film Raat ne gesu bikhraye sung with Suman Kalyanpur !
I am listing down a few favorite songs composed by Ajith Merchant – 1, Roop tumhara aankhonse peelu ( Sapera) 2, Raat ne gesu bikhraye ( Sapera) 3, Khatil hai teri ada ( Lady Killer) 4,Mein bhi majboor sajan ( Challenge) 5, Dil karta hai dekhoon tujhe ( Lady killer).
Iqbal Quereshi
Iqbal Quereshi was always interested in songs and singing . He started his career by singing for All India Radio .He later began composing music for movies like Sipah Salaar, Panchayat, Pahadi Nagin, Fauladi Mukka, Night Bird, Teer Andaz etc. His last films as composer, by the name Ikbal Gill, was for Kaala Coat , Jaan Pehchan, both released in the early 90s. The irony is that his movies and compositions often got easily mixed with another composer called Iqbal Qureshi .
Iqbal Qureshi also worked with almost all the big names in playback singing like Suman Kalyanpur, Asha Bhonsle, Mohammed Rafi, Mubarak Begum, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Geeta Dutt and also some of the singers of the eighties like Anuradha poduwal and Amit Kumar. Some of the films for which he composed music were Cha cha cha, Love in Simla, Yeh dil kisko doon, Umar Qaid, Qawali ki raat, Banarsi thug, Bindiya, Dastan e laila majnu, Bombay by nite.
His compositions have always been melodious nd some of his most popular songs have been Mukesh’a Mujhe raat din yeh khayal hai from Umar Qaid, Mohammad Rafi’s Mein apne aap se gabraa gaya hoon from Bindiya ,Tha thaiya kathe aana a popular Lata - Getta dutt duet from the film Panchayat, Lata Mangeshkar’s Yaad suhani teri from Banarsi Thug and Subhaa na aaye sham na aaye and a popular duet Ek chambeli ke manduve thale sung by Asha Bhonsle and Mohammad rafi from the film Cha cha cha..
Iqbal quereshi was immensely talented and has been able to retain his popularity right upto this day with those who love old film songs of the fifties and sixties... I am listing ten of his best compositions which are all my personal favorites – 1, Yaad suhani teri bani zindgani meri ( Banarsi thug) 2, Subha na aaye sham na aaye ( Cha cha cha) 3, Mujhe raat din yeh khayal hai ( Umar qaid) 4, Aaj mausam bhi masthi mein gaa ne lage ( Banarsi thug) 5, Yeh zindgi ke raaste ( Love in Simla) 6, Phir aane laga yaad wohi ( Yeh dil kisko doon) 7, Jab tak duniya rahe rahenge ( yeh dil kisko doon) 8, Woh hum na the woh tum na the ( cha cha cha) 9, Kiya hai dilruba pyar bhi kabhi ( love in simla) 10, O piya jaana na ( Umar qaid).
Bipin Babul
Bipin Dutt and Babul were composer duo of the fifties and sixties, again small time having composed music for a few, mostly smaller B and C grade films. Bipin-Babul both started their career as assistants to the great music composer Madan Mohan. They began composing music on their own in the early fifties starting with the film Shaahi Mehmaan, a small budget movie and later Salaam-E-Mohabbat.
They later went on to give music for films such as Chandu, Chaubees Ghante, Bus Conductor, Jungle King, Raat Ke Raahi after which they split in the mid sixties and continued o give music independently but sadly they hardly got any films after that .. Chaalis Din was the first film for which Babul composed music after the split. And Bipin gave music for the film Kya Yeh Bambai Hain. Very few details are known about the musicians. However, they gave some very melodious and foot tapping music in films like Chaubees Ghante, Jungle King where Babul himself sang a couple of songs along with Suman kalyanpur, Reshmi roomal , Raat ke raahi and even in Chalis din...
Some of their melodious compositions and my own personal favorites are as follows – 1, Zulfon ki ghata le kar sawan ki pari – (Reshmi roomal ) 2, Is pyar ki basti mein hum rehethe hai masti mein ( Jungle King) 3, Raat kitni haseen ( Badal aur bijlee) 4, Hum e haal e dil tumse kehena hai ( Chaubees ghante) 5, Zindgi mein rang bhra hai pyar ka ( Bus conductor) 5, Aa bhi ja bewafa ( Raat ke raahi) 6, Aankh mein shokhi lab pe tabassum ( Reshmi roomal) 7, Mein is masoom chehre ko ( Baghi Shehzada) 8, Aise bhi na rootho ( Dawat) 9, Gardish mein hai taare ( Reshmi roomal) 10, Tum poochte ho ( Naqli nawab)
Conclusion
In this article like the previous two articles, I have written about three more composers namely Ajit Merchant, Iqbal Quereshi and Bipin Babul who never got their due in their life time and largely remained relegated to small budget and lesser known films. But they were all talented and had their own distinctive style of composition and were able to come up with some very catchy and melodious music that is popular, is remembered and loved by music fans to this day.
I would again say that this goes to show that there was no dearth of talent during the golden era of music which was before the advent of rock and disco tunes which influenced the film music to the extent that melody took a back seat and noise took over.
( The images are from wikimedia image gallery)
(http://www.boddunan.com/articles/entertainment/10-music/21840-melody-makers-of-yesteryears-unforgettable-melodies-part-2.html) http://www.boddunan.com/articles/entertainment/10-music/21406-melody-makers-of-yesteryears-unforgettable-melodies-part-1.html )
Music, food for the soul
Music ,especially melodious music that you have been listening to all your life time becomes such an integral part of you and your life style that it stays with you as a constant companion. I can hear a song from years ago and it transports me right back to a particular moment, am able to recall clearly when I heard it the first time and all other details related to it. There are some good times, occasionally some sad times, but the songs get imprinted on our memories forever.
Music is the food for the soul..We all like to go back to our own special time in life and if the music doesn't take you back far enough in your time it fails you. As people get older they understand better that time passes but memories linger and life is but a sum total of these beautiful memories. When a really favorite golden melody plays on the radio ( although I may have it on my mp3 player or my desk top) , I am transported right back to the exact time in my life that i first heard it , some during my childhood and some during my teen years etc .. They don't make music like that anymore !
I remember the first time I listened to 'Apne toh har aah ek toofan hai' from the film Kala Bazar , on the radio when I was a little girl, and can still feel the magic of 'O sajnaa barkha bahaar aayi', when I listened to it on the radio years ago, and ' Nain ka chain churakar le gayi' and 'Chale jaa rahe hai muhobbat ke maare'....or Asha Bhonsle's soul stirring ' Kis jagah jaaye kis ko dhik laaye zakme dil apnaa..incomparable melodies.
Then there were all those melodious duets, so many of them ' Mil mil ke gaayenge' or 'Aaja re ab mera dil pukare' or 'Yaad kiya dil ne kahan ho tum' , 'Raahi matwale', Dekh hamen awaz na dena' so many more, each one a masterpiece in its own right , coming together of brilliant melody and lyrics, never to be forgotten .These melodies have been giving a new meaning to our lives ,makes life worth living..;
I slide back now to decades gone by and pay homage to a few more of those versatile composers who were brilliant but never got to see fame like some of the other more famous composers did...In my first article I have covered 3 music directors namely Chitragupt, Sardar Malik and Narayan Dutta ( popularly known as N Dutta)...
Dattaram
I can easily identify Dattaram’s unique tunes when I hear them even for the first time...I still remember the sweet melody of Meethi meethi batonse bach na zara from the film Qaidi no 911 composed by Dattaram. Dattaram Wadkar was a native of Goa and was popularly known as Dattaram in film circles.
Dattaram assisted Shankar Jaikishen in many of their films and one can see that their style influenced him greatly. But with all that he developed a distinct style of his own which was at once recognisable to music lovers. His romantic duets were extremely popular especially the ones with the great singer Mannadey like ‘Masthi bhara hai sama, Na jaane kahan tum the, Yeh Nasheeli hawa, Pyar bhari yeh ghatayen,...and solos like Aansoo bhari hai ( Mukesh ), Haal e dil hamara ( Mukesh) ,Aansoo bhari hai ( Mukesh ), Itne bhade jahan mein( Suman Kalyanpur).
Dattaram came from humble background , starting his life in Mumbai as a dock worker , being not well educated and poor. But, he had a keen sense of music and had learnt to play the tabla and began to play for Shankar Jaikishen’s Music team after Dattaram accidentally met him at a gym where he was helping out . Having seen Dattaram's potential Jaikishen encouraged him to assist in many of his compositions, and that’s how we see many later day music compositions of SJ having Dattaram’s mark on them especially in films like Main Nashe mein Hoon and Begunah , an unreleased film starring Kishore Kumar which had an immensely melodious duet by Mannadey and Lata Mangeshkar ' Din Albele pyar ka mausam, which could only have been composed by Dattaram under the direction of Shankar Jaikishen!
He also became close to Raj Kapoor and composed for a few of his films outside of his banner like Parbvarish and Shreeman Satyavadi . He got a chance to compose independently in 1957 for the film Ab dilli door nahin, in which the song Chun chun karthe aaye chidiya sung by Mohammad Rafi became a major hit.
Later he composed music for films like Parvarish, Neeli Ankhen, Shriman Satyawadi, Qaidi no 911, Dark Street, Kala aadmi, Baalak, Santan, Zindgi aur Khwab and a few others. But once Shankar Jaikishen died ,Dattaram too lost his importance in the Rak Kapoor camp and he decided to call it a day in mid seventies going back to Goa and living a quiet life there... He is known for his compositions which are catchy, melodious and memorable – never to be forgotten by those who like old film music..
I am listing down ten of my personal favorites among his compositions..
1, Yeh Din din hai khushi ki (Jab se tumhe dekha hai) 2, Masthi bhara hai same ( Parvarish) 3, Yeh Nasheeli hawa (Neeli Aankhen) 4, Bheegi Hawaon mein (Shriman satyawadi ) 5, Tere teer kho hum ne pyar se (Qaidi no 911) 6, Dil dhoondtha hai sahare (Kala Aadmi )7, Itne bade jahan mein ( Dark Street) 8, Beete hue din kuch ( First Love) 9, Na jaane kahan tum the (Zindgi aur qwab) 10, Luti zindgi aur gham muskuraye (Parvarish)
A solid composer who contributed to the best of his ability ...
G S Kohli
Another very talented composer, who has some of the most melodious songs to his credit- G.S.Kohli was yet another composer who never got his due in his life time but now is being hailed as one of those who knew what melody was all about. He started out as an assistant to none other than O.P.Nayyar and helped him out in many of his popular films .
He began his independent career with a small film called Lambe Haath in 1960.One of the songs Pyar ki raah dikha duniya ko sung by Mohammad Rafi was an instant hit and G S Kohli became known in the film industry. Later he composed melodious music for mostly B and C grade films like Mr India, Namasteji, Adventures of Robinhood, Faulad, Shikari, Char Darvesh etc...
It is to his credit that two of the most loved songs of Rafi ‘Maana mere haseen sanam tu rashke maahtaab hai’ and Pyar ki raah dikha duniya ko was composed by him ( for the film Adventures of Robinhood and Lambe Haath respectively ) His background score was superb and his tunes very melodious and hummable.
Now to list down ten of my favorite songs composed by G.S.Kohli
1, Maana mere haseen sanam (Adventures of Robinhood ) 2, Baharo tham lo ab ke (Namasteji) 3, Dil hai hamara phool se nazuk (Faulad) 4, Pyar ki baat nigahon se jataya na karo (Adventures of Robinhood) 5, Pyar ki raah dikha duniya ko (Lambe haath ) 6, O matware saajna chalak gaya ( Faulad) 7, Agar mein poocho jawab doge (Shikari) 8, Pyar ke daman se lipte (Char Darvesh) 9, Tum ko piya dil diya (Shikari )10, Hame kyo jo harsu (Namasteji)
Sapan Jagmohan
Sapan Jagmohan was yet another composer who missed mass adulation and great popularity because he got overshadowed by other big names like Shankar Jaikishen, Ravi, Naushad, Kalyanji Anandji , Roshan – there were so much of talent in the film industry during those days. In fact, even the second rung and the so called C grade composers were far more talented than the top music directors of today.
Sapan Jagmohan, music composer duo made up of Sapan Sengupta and Jagmohan Bakshi began their career as assistants to various big directors and began to compose on their own in the sixties beginning with the film Begaana which had many catchy and breezy tunes like Bulati hai bahar by Lata Mangeshkar, Phir woh bhooli si yaad by Mohamad rafi and Na jane kaha kho gay by Mukesh.The songs were well received and became very popular after which they followed it up with films like Jimbo finds a son,Aayega aanewala etc...
They composed music for more than 40 films mostly small time, sometimes even unheard of films right until the nineties after which they decided to call it a day. Some of the outstanding tunes that they composed came from their earlier films like Begaana, Teri Talash mein, Gustaki maaf, Chetana, Kagaz ki naav etc... Over the years they came to be associated with a style of music that sounded very similar to that of R.D. Burman.
I am now listing down ten of my own favorite tunes composed by Sapan Jagmohan
1, Aajaa re, kho diye hai sanam teri talash mein ( teri talash mein 2, Raaz e dil hum se kaho hum to koyi ( teri Talash mein) 3, Bulati hai bahar chale hum dono ( Begaana ) 4, Jeevan hai ek bhool sajanwa bin tere ( Chetana) 5, Sajna mera jiyare jhale ( Gustaki maaf) 6, Main to har mod par tumko dhoonda sada (Chetana) 7, Na jaane kaha kho gaya wo h zamana( Begaana) 8, Ulfat mein zamanein ki ( call girl) 9, Hum hai jahan woh pyar ki ( Call girl) 10, Sun pyare sajnaare man gaaye ( Insaaf ki mandir)
Conclusions
I have written about three more composers in this article who never got their due all though they were talented and were able to compose some catchy and melodious music for films, but could not give out their best because the only films they were offered were either B and C grade films or the left overs that the other famous directors could not take up.This also shows that there was no dearth of talent during the golden era of fifties, sixties and early seventies !
There are many such composers in the film industry who composed unforgettable melodies in spite of all the struggle they faced and I will keep adding a few more of those in my future articles about Melody Makers of Yesteryears...
The Golder era of the fifties and sixties
As far as Hindi film music was concerned the 1950s and the 1960s (in fact this was true of other languages as well) were considered the golden era. It was a period of time when meaningful lyrics and melody were of prime importance and we got to see the best of everything - some of the greatest actors, very beautiful leading ladies and some great film makers and music composers.
There were so many talented artists, that listeners and movie goers were spoilt for choice. On the one hand we had the Great Greats like Anil Biswas, Naushad, Husnlal Bhagat Ram, Ghulam Mohammad, Vasanth Desai, C.Ramchandra,S.D Burman,Roshan, Ravi, Shankar Jaikishen, Salil Chaudhury, Sajjad Khan, O.P.Nayyar and others , who were all institutions in their own right and had their own distinctive style of composing music unlike the metallic noise you get to hear these days which all seem to sound the same - loud,vulgar and inspid! And then there were the second rung composers who in my opinion were no less talented than any of the above mentioned greats, but unfortunately they were not considered by the great film makers since they had a vast choice of quality composers , so had to remain satisfied composing films for B or C grade films. The films may not have made any impact but the songs are remembered and loved to this day because these composers too worked hard and gave very melodious songs for the films even if some of them never got as far as the theater. But the song albums became very popular and were heard on the radio...
In this article I am going to write about 3 such music composers namely Chitragupt, Sardar Malik and Narayan Dutta, who were not often approached by any of the top movie makers like Bimal Roy, Nasir Hussain,Guru Dutt , Raj kapoor or Mehboob Khan but nonetheless they did make an impact and once in a while did get a chance to work with some top film makers and whenever they composed music for any film, they came out with some of the most melodious and meaningful compositions .
Chitragupt ( 16t November 1917 - 14th January 1991)
Chitragupt's full name was Chitragupt Shrivastava and he was born in a village called Karmaini in the state of Bihar on 16 November, 1917. Coming from a middle class family, he studied post graduation in Economics and Journalism. He Worked as a lecturer in Patna just to please his family but since he was very interested in films and music , and unable to convince his family to accept his wishes for a career in that line, he had to run away to Bombay to pursue a career as a composer in films. Those days there were already established music composers who were all extremely talented and it was not easy for Chitragupt to make a career on his own.
He began by assisting S.N Tripathi who was known for his melodious classical compositions, and got a break in 1946 for a small time film which never got released. However, after working for a few more obscure films he was recognised as a talent to reckon with when a Swash buckler film Sindbad the Sailor starring Ranjan and Naseem Bano ( Saira Bano’s mother) was relaesed with one of the duets ‘Ada se jhoomte hue dilonko choomte hue yeh kaun ‘ sung by Mohammad Rafi and Shamshad Begum became a huge hit! That was the beginning.
Later he did work for some big names like the AVM production house which churned out many hindi films in the late fifties and sixties like Main bhi ladki hoon, Ek Raaz, Bhabhi, Ghar basake dekho, Grihasti ,Maya Bazaar etc and all these films had melodious music that are remembered to this day. Mohammad Rafi’s ‘ Chal ud jaa re panchi ‘ from Bhabi and ‘ Kush raho ahale chaman’ from the film Main chup rahhongi have become his signature tunes easily recognisable by Chiragupt’s distinctive style of composition.
He composed music for nearly 200 films, the last film being Insaaf ki Manzil in 1988 !But most of his compositions were for fantasy and stunt movies which were easily forgotten but the songs were very popular always being heard of on Vividh Bharati and Radio Ceylon by popular choice. I have always been a great fan of this composer and find his compositions very melodious, soothing and timeless.
I am listing down ten of my favorite songs composed by Chitragupt. 1, Ada se jhoomte hue ( Sndbad the sailor) 2, Do dil dhadak rahe hai aur awaz ( Insaaf) 3, Woh Chand chamka woh noor chalka( Son of Sindbad) 4, Jab se hum tum Baharon mein ( Mein Shadi karne chala) 5, Chanda se hoga woh pyara ( Mein bhi ladki hoon) 6, Chal ud jaare panchi ( Bhabhi) 7, Aaaja re mere pyar ki raahi ( Oonche log) 8, Chanda ki kirnon mein lipti hawayen ( Intezaar) 9, Chand ne kuch kaha taron ne kuch suna ( Daaka) 10, Yeh hawa yeh fiza yeh sama ( Taxi Stand)
I could pick a hundred more melodies that I have been listening to all the time ...no matter what the films were and actors were Chitragupts compostions and melodies will remain right there at the top and he would be remembered with a lot of love and respect by all those who love old songs.
Sardar malik ( 1925 – January 2006)
Another great composer in my opinion was Sardar Malik , who is the father of Anu malik who is famous and o[popular now. But Sardar Malik had it tough and his entire career was that of struggle and hard work because he was never considered as one of the top composers those days and had to remain satisfied with what was offered to him .But the kind of amazing melodies he came up with were not to be forgotten.
Sardar Malik was born in 1925 in kapurthala in Punjab and learnt music from Ustad Allauddin Khan and was trained as a dancer under the famed Uday Shankar. Sardar Malik was a good and initially sang some punjabi songs and later moved to Mumbai where he started getting both singing and composing assignments. But whe he saw the brilliance of playback singers such as Rafi and Mukesh, he realised he could not match them and so decided to compose music instead.
He was married to the sister of Hasrat Jaipuri and since Hasrat Jaipuri was already an established lyricist, he did help him out. But his early films like Renuka (1947) and Raaz ( 1949) were not his best.. His first important film was first Laila Majnu (1953) a Nutan and Shammi Kapoor starrer in which he gave music under the direction of Great Ghulam Mohammad. Later came films like Ab e hayat ( 1955),Saaranga ( 1960), Thokar ( 1956), Bachpan ( 1963), Chor Bazar etc.... less than 30 films in all but unforgettable nevertheless !
Sardar Malik has composed two of Mohammad Rafi's most romantic compositions – Mujhe tumse muhobbat hai magar mein keh nahin saktha ( Bachpan) which incidentally was picturised on Salim who is Salman Khan’s father and Dil ki baazi jeet ke bhi haare ( Madan Manjari) picturised on none other than Ajit !
I have many favorites among Sardar Maliks compositions, however I am listing down 10 of my favorite songs 1, Mujhe tumse muhobbat hai ( Bachpan ) 2, Tere hum o sanam ( Bachpan) 3, Haan deewan ab mein ( Saaranga) 5, Ae gham e dil kya karoo ( Thokar) 6, Chalta rahe yeh caravan ( Chor bazar) 7, Koyi chand koyi taara( Taxi 555) 8, Dil ki baazi jeet ke bhi haare ( Madan Manjari) 9, Neeli neeli ankhiyon mein dhoobi dhoobi jaaon( Naag Mohini) 10, Wohi oodi oodi ghatayen hai ( Mee ghar mere bache).. A very talented but neglected composer who will remain in our hearts forever!
Narayan Dutta ( 1930- 1987 )
Narayan Datta Naik was a resident of Oroba in Goa. His was the usual story of running away from home when he was a teenager to make a career in films. But he realised that it was not easy and since those were the times when there was an abundance of talent in the film music world each one a giant in his own way and he had to learn the basics. He did learn some classical music and started his film career as a music assistant of the great composer S D Burman.
N. Datta assisted Dada Burman in a number of films in the fifties and learnt a lot from him and one can see Burman Da's stamp in some of Narayan Dutta's compositions especially yeh baharon ka sama sung by Lata Mangeshkar.. N.Datta got his first chance to compose independently for Raj Khosla's Milaap (1955), and the muisc was appreciated by audience and other composers as well.There were some really beautiful songs like 'Ye Baharon Ka Sama, picturised on both Dev Anand and Geeta Bali and 'Jaate Ho To Jaao Par Jaoge Kahan, one of Geeta Dutts very popuklar songs.The music of Milaap became extremely popular and N Datta came into the category of film industry's most eminent musicians during the early years. But after composing for films like Sadhana, Dhool Ka Phool and Dharam putra for BR Chopra he was not able to maintain the pace and began composing music for all kinds of films.
However, his melodies were appreciated very well by the audience and even smaller films ran on the strength of his music. Like for example films like Dr Shaitaana, Gyara hazzar ladkhiyan, Black cat, Rustom e baghdad, Kala Samundar, Dilli ka dada were all small budget films but were musically acclaimed...N Datta gave music for about 40 films in all and all of them were melodious and remembered to this day and were chartbusters at the time they were released.
Now I come to the part where I am going to add 10 of my own favorites songs composed by this composer.. 1, Kis Jagah jaaye ( Light house) 2, Mein jab bhi akeli hoti hoon ( Dharamputra) 3, Yeh Baharon ka sama ( Milap) 4, Yeh hawa yeh fiza yeh sama ( Mr X ) 5, Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao ( Didi) 6, Dhoonde nazar nazar ( Dilli Ka dada) 7, Tera aana bhi dhoka hai ( Mere arman mere sapne ) 8, Jigar mein darad kaisa (Apna ghar apni kahani) 9, Mein tumhi se yeh poochthi hoon ( Black Cat) 10,Maine chand aur sitaron ki tammana ( Chandrakanta).
I have written about just 3 composers here and will continue to add more such forgotten but unforgettable composers who have made their own special contributions to the yesteryear film music..
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