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...

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 ...

Here is the link to read all parts of this series. In this part and the next couple of parts of this series, we will talk about Lata's partnership with famous male singers: Mukesh, Rafi and Kishore. We start with the partnership of Lata and Mukesh. It is very difficult to find two contrasting voices than Lata and Mukesh. Mukesh is a mystery for many people. People accuse him of slipping from the 'sur' sometimes; he is accused of being nasal, and it is well known that his vocal range was limited. He also had the reputation of being suitable only for singing sad songs. Lata's voice was in contrast to that of Mukesh. Her range was incredible, her voice dripped honey, and she could sing any song that the music director threw at her. There is another important contrast between the two. For many music directors, Lata was the first choice. Whereas a lot of music directors were not keen on working with Mukesh, maybe they felt his range was too limited for them. So you don't...

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links Salil Chaudhary occupies a unique place in the pantheon of great Hindi film music directors. Many of his compositions were different from the regular style of other music directors. His ability to blend Western Classical elements in Indian film songs gave a different flavor to his tunes.  There were also a lot of sudden straight notes in his tunes: those were captivating but would have been a challenge for a singer.  Salil Chaudhary, or Salilda as he was fondly called, and Lata's collaboration produced some amazing gems which are still popular amongst music lovers. (She sang for him both in Hindi and in Bengali, but since I am not conversant with the Bengali songs of Lata, I will restrict myself to Hindi.) Lata was Salilda's preferred female lead singer in Hindi film music. As with other music directors, Lata did immense justice to Salilda's songs as well. Salilda's first Hindi film was Bimal Roy's, ...

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...

It is always interesting to compare and contrast two versions of the same song sung in different languages by different singers. I am not talking about dubbed movies but where the songs were made in each of the language with the same intensity and was a hit in each of these languages. Rafi's "chal ud jaa re panchi' from Bhabi can be contrasted with Ghantasala's rendition of the same song in Telugu, "payaninche o chiluka". (If fans of respective singers are involved in this comparison business it can lead to bloodshed. Just check out the youtube comments for this Telugu song!!)  A movie which moved everyone to tears and made Rajesh Khanna almost a legend was 'Anand'. Other than Rajesh Khanna's acting, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's direction, the film is also known for its superb music. How many films can boast of songs like, 'maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chuni', 'naa jiya laage na', 'zindagi kaisi hai paheli' and the...