Music And Movies

Here is the link to read all parts of this series. Kishore Kumar had tremendous respect for Lata and used to call her Lata Didi. They knew each other from the late 40s, having sung together for Kemchand Prakash and Anil Biswas in the late 40s and early 50s. The story of their meeting is funny, and Lata had narrated it in many places. Kishore's trajectory as a singer was quite different from Lata's, even though he had been singing since 1940s. Initially, Kishore Kumar wanted to be an actor. Most music directors of those times saw him as Ashok Kumar's younger brother who wanted to act, and not many saw him as a singer. His lack of formal training in Hindustani classical music was seen as a handicap, and through the 1950s and most part of the 1960s, he ended up singing only for the films he acted in and the films of Dev Anand.  Dada Burman and Dev Anand had a lot of confidence in Kishore's abilities as a singer, but most other music directors preferred Rafi. Also, during t...

Here is the link to read all parts of this series. Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi were probably seen as a natural pairing due to their being the most in-demand female and male voices, respectively, and also because both were trained in classical music. Their approach to music was different, though. Rafi believed in emoting very explicitly with his voice, while Lata preferred her voice to be under her control all the time. Rafi's tone, too, was different from Lata's. His vocal modulations had a more in-your-face attitude compared to Lata's polished performance in this aspect. Of course, the way they sang depended quite a bit on who the composer was, but overall these can be seen as the major difference in their approach.  Lata and Rafi had some differences in the early 1960s and didn't sing together for a few years. During the rift, Rafi was mostly accompanied by Suman Kalyanpur instead of Lata, while Lata was accompanied by Mahendra Kapoor during that time. (I would say that ...

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links No one changed the soundscape of Indian film music more dramatically than R.D. Burman, lovingly called Pancham by his admirers. There were other trendsetters earlier, like C.Ramachandra, O.P. Nayyar, and others, but the impact R.D.Burman had on not just Hindi film music but on Indian film music was an order of magnitude greater than his predecessors. The sound he pioneered was without equal, and suddenly the music of other music directors felt old. R.D. Burman, with his musical intelligence and with inspiration - and sometimes borrowing - from the West, came up with a signature style of his own, which is an influential style even to this day. Though R.D. Burman got his first break in 1961, in the movie 'Chote Nawab,' his initial success came in the later part of the 60s with movies like 'Teesri Manzil' and 'Padosan.' When his partnership with Kishore Kumar was cemented with the rise of Rajesh Khann...

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 Lata's collaboration with S.D.Burman, aka Dada Burman, was an enduring one. It lasted for two and half decades till the death of Dada. It survived various changes in trends, and it survived a huge misunderstanding that kept them apart for a few years. They together created a huge number of unforgettable songs. Logically, I should have written about Dada Burman around the same time I wrote about Anil Biswas and C.Ramachandra because Dada Burman was very active in the 1950s. I write about him after having spoken about Lata of the 60s because their greatest hits happened more in the 60s. Those songs are famous even to date and are enjoyed by people of all ages even today. Dada Burman was a unique music director who could morph his style to suit the times. His songs, whether composed in the 50s or 60s or 70s, sound fresh even now. Hindi film music went through multiple trends from the late 40s to the 70s. Many music direc...

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...