Lata Mangeshkar - The Queen : Part 5 - The early 50s. The years of consolidation

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Though Lata's first Hindi film song, for Ghulam Haider, was in 1948, by 1950, she had already built a reputation for herself in the film industry. She was slowly becoming the number one female singer, with music directors trusting her to carry the film's music on her frail shoulders. Lata showed that she was ready to take on the responsibility and delivered hit after hit. Anil Biswas was to say, "After Lata entered the field, music directors lost their fear. Now they could compose fearlessly, being confident that Lata would deliver whatever they had conceived." By the time we enter the 1950s, we see Lata was already the emerging star.

The 1950s also saw the rise was newer music directors, who would later make a great name for themselves: Madanmohan, Salil Choudhary, Jaidev, S D Burman, and O P Nayyar. The other music directors like Shankar Jaikishen, Roshan, and C Ramachandra, who had started their careers in the late 1940s, would see their careers flourish in the 1950s. To a large extent, the late 1940s to the mid-1950s can be considered a golden age for Hindi film music, especially wrt to great melodic compositions. No other film industry in India had such a variety of music directors as the Hindi film industry: Anil Biswas, Sajjad Hussain, Naushad, Ghulam Mohammed, Shankar Jaikeshan, Husnlal Bhagatram, Hansraj Behl, S D Burman, Roshan, Madan Mohan, O P Nayyar, Salil Chaudary, C Ramachandra, Vasant Desai and many more. All of them, with the exception of O P Nayyar, depended a lot on Lata to do full justice to their compositions. No wonder Lata sang some outstanding compositions during this time period.

In this part, we will look at some of the great songs Lata sang between 1951 and 1955. We will also see how her voice and singing style have changed over the years.

Let us start with this Sajjad Hussain's composition for the 1951 film, Saiyyan, 'woh raat din who shaam ki'

This is a brilliant composition, putting a lot of demand on voice range, voice control, and vocal dynamics. Observe how Lata has to move from 'kahaniyaan' to the next line using a huge meend. The rhythm, too, is such that the singer has to be in full control and sing at that the right pace, for it is easy to slow down or run away in such compositions. Lata negotiates all the challenges thrown at her by Sajjad Hussain with great aplomb. Her meends are breathtaking in this song, and her voice has started shedding the childishness that was heard in the earlier years. Now her voice is highly refined, her vocal dynamics honed to perfection under various great music directors, and it adds to the song's melody. Slowly, people would get used to listening to such melodies in her voice so much that they would reject these kinds of melodies in any other voice.

Next, from 1951. The movie 'Sazaa'. Music of S D Burman. 'tum na jane kis jahan mein ko jaye' 

Another brilliant composition. Another sad song. Another superb execution. This super hit song also uses Lata's voice effectively, exploiting both the inherent melody in the voice and the vocal range. The composition is simpler compared to the earlier one but is an equally effective melody. Lata's confidence shines in this song, making it clear that she is in complete command of her craft.

The year 1951 also witnessed the start of one of the greatest collaborations in Indian film music, the collaboration between Madan Mohan and Lata Mangeshkar. The first film they worked together was the 1951 film 'Adaa'. From this movie, the melodious 'preetam meri duniya mein'.

I am not sure in which month his movie was released, but you do find traces of the very young Lata in the mukhda. The tune is such a delight. A free-flowing melody, where the melodic simplicity dominates over structural complexity.  This is a ghazal, a form that was favored by Madanmohan. Madanmohan squeezes out the melody from Lata's voice, and this song gives us a clear idea of what would follow from this duo. Lata is also at complete ease in this song.

We have seen that Lata can deliver sad songs with great finesse, but she was also called upon to deliver a variety of songs. Here she is singing a fun song with C Ramachandra (Chitalkar). From the 1951 film, 'Albela.' 'shaam dale kidki kule'

There will be an eternal debate if Geeta Dutt, or her sister, Asha,  delivered such songs better. Lata's voice is wonderfully melodic in this song, but does it have the fun and verve that Geeta Dutt or Asha could bring in their voices? While you cannot complain about Lata's pitch-perfect singing, an extra dash of vivacity that was required is possibly missing in this song. 

On the other hand, her voice was perfect for love songs as can be witnessed in this duet with C Ramachandra (Chitalkar) again. 'kitna haseen hain mausam' from 'Azaad' (1955)

Lata's superbly melodic rendition contrasts with the voice of Ramachandra. By 1955, Lata had established herself as the queen of singers in the Hindi film music world and this rendition clearly establishes that fact. This is THE voice of Lata that we would hear in the 50s and the 60s. The singing is confident, and the voice is honey soaked, with every syllable spelled out clearly. The joy of the tune is transmitted without any loss in translation to the listener.  

Here is one more wonderful love song, the iconic 'pyar hua ikrar hua,' from 'Shree 420'. A 1955 film. Lata and Manna Day.

This was supposed to be a rage during those times. It has since become an icon for all those rain-based love songs. The real-life romance between Raj Kapoor and Nargis during those days would have added more allure to the song. In terms of song construction, it is a fairly simple melody that Lata would not have much difficulty delivering. By this time, she was the voice of all the leading heroines of Hindi films.

In those days, a singer was accepted as a great singer only if they could deliver classic raag-based melodies. Lata proved her mettle many times in this particular aspect of film music. Here is a wonderful Yaman based melody of Roshan, from the film 'Raag Rang' (1952). 'eri aali piya bin'

This is a wonderful and complex composition in raag Yaman. Lata's ability to deliver classic ragas perfectly was cemented with songs like these.  Rajan Parrikar, a critic of Hindustani music, always speaks fondly of Lata's perfect with respect to the swara sthanas. The great master, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, is supposed to have remarked, 'khambakth kabhi besura nahin gaathi.' (She never sings out of tune.)

Lata's extraordinarily melodic voice was well suited for singing loris( lullabies.)  As can be expected music director made good use of voice in loris. Here is a Salil Choudhary's melody, from the 1953 film, 'Do Beegha Zameen'

This is one more song with a deceptive pace. Missteps are easily possible. Lata negotiates the tune and rhythm deftly to sing an all-time great lori. 

Now let us look at a couple of seminal hits. Frist from the movie 'Nagin' (1954). Music of Hemant Kumar. 'tan dole man dole' 

This song was an All-India hit, and it influenced a lot of copies across languages. The 'been' played in this song left a great impression, so much so that any song involving snakes would have such a 'been' being played. (Of course, the 'been' playing is because the snake charmers play it, but Hemant Kumar gave it such a charming melody that this became the signature tune for all 'been' playing.) According to Wiki, the 'been music' was created by Kalyanji on clavioline and Ravi on the harmonium. 

The other super hit Lata song was on the lips of almost every citizen of India was from 'Anarkali' (1953) 'yeh zindagi usi ki hai' under the baton of C Ramachandra.

 This song had a Telugu version that was sung by P.Susheela. This song sees Ramachandra at his inspired best, and Lata was his muse. She delivers it with such a force that it broke all barriers of language and resonated with all listeners across the country. Added to it was the pathos inherent in the situation. Songs like this and 'man dole' made Lata a household name across India.

There are so many more gems of Lata during this era, but I must stop now. The idea was to see how she transitioned from a hesitant singer in the late 40s to a confident singer at the start of the 50s to a complete singer by the early 50s. I have also tried to give you an idea of the range of songs she sang. 

In the coming episodes, we will talk once again about her collaborations with music directors like Sajjad Hussain, Shankar Jaikishen, Madanmohan, Roshan, Ramachandra and Salil Choudhary. 

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links