Music And Movies

Here is the link to read all parts of this series. In this last part, let us look at Lata's legacy. Lata came into Hindi film music when modernity was creeping into it, and music directors like Ghulam Haider, Anil Biswas, Sajjad Hussain, Shankar Jaikishen and others were pushing the boundaries of Hindi film music. It must be said that she became an integral part of this push towards modernity. The range of her voice and her singing skills enabled music directors to compose music without fear, for they know Lata would give perfect expression to their musical ideas. She was sought after by every music director in the initial days, though later, O.P. Nayyar did not work with her. She was an integral part of the golden generation of Hindi film music that spanned more than two decades, from the late 40s to the late 60s.  Lata has left behind an amazing body of work, that would be extremely difficult for any current-day singer to match. This is due to two reasons: one, music directors ar...

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links The end of the 60s pointed towards the change in guard regarding Hindi film music. Newer music directors like R D Burman, Laxmikanth Pyarelal, and Kalyanji Anandji started giving big hits. The old guard that included Naushad, Shankar Jaikishen, and O P Nayyar, among others, was starting to fade. Only S D Burman was able to hold his fort during this time.  Another important development took place during the end of the 60s. The actor called Rajesh Khanna was catapulted into stardom almost overnight due to the success of his movie, 'Aradhana.' In this movie, whose songs were humungous hits, both Mohd Rafi - the dominant male singer of those times - and Kishore Kumar sang songs for Rajesh Khanna. Yet, the public loved Kishore's voice for Rajesh Khanna, and that led to Kishore replacing Rafi as the most in-demand male playback singer. The other association that became a super duper hit was between R D Burman and Ki...

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links Every music lover has their own concept of what was the Golden Era of Hindi film music. Some, like me, believe that the late 40s and the early 50s were the greatest time for Hindi film music. Some claim the 60s, and some love the RD Burman era of the 70s. Whatever it may be, when it comes to Lata, as far as popular imagination is concerned, her greatest 'hits' happen to be in the 60s. (Of course, it is not logical to divide musical progress by decades. It is not as if when the decade changed, some changes abruptly happen. This is more for our convenience.) Before some of the lovers of 1950s Lata ger angry with me, I want to state that the decade of the 60s has the most number of hits that are still present in the popular imagination. These songs define Lata to even the current generation of music lovers. The music directors, who were initially responsible for providing Lata with hits and guidance, were slowly fadi...

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links In an earlier part of this series, we saw Lata's growth in the initial part of the 50s when she started climbing to the top and by the mid-50s was already the most established voice of Hindi film heroines. She started delivering hit after hit under the baton of almost every music director. She became the most sought-after voice of all: music directors, heroines, producers, and directors. In this part, let us look at some of her major hits from the late 50s.  (I have to put a caveat here. She sang a huge number of songs during the later part of the 50s. So it is almost impossible to list down every hit song. So I will be restricting myself to some songs only. The idea is to show her range and also her work under various music directors.) We will start with beauty from 1956. 'yeh raat bheegi bheegi' from 'Chori Chori.' A composition of Shankar Jaikishen.  Lata leaves her stamp in this song right in the b...

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