Music And Movies

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 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 In the last part, we saw the partnership between Lata and C.Ramachandra and the many hits they gave together. Another important music director (duo) who established Lata as the numero uno of Hindi film music singing was the Shankar-Jaikishen duo. Shankar-Jaikishen broke into the Hindi film music world through the movie 'Barsaat.' They then went on to rule the Hindi film music world for over two decades, churning out super hit numbers for many films. They formed successful partnerships with major heroes like Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, and Rajendra Kumar, to name a few. They were the court musicians of RK Films. They withstood competition from music directors like Naushad, C.Ramachandra, O.P.Nayyar, and S.D.Burman to remain in the top slot.  Their association with Lata started from their first film itself. 'Barsaat' was not a major milestone in their career, but the songs of that film became a major milest...

  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...

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links In the last episode , we had a look at the milieu of the 1940s Hindi film music and got an idea of who were the major singers of those times. We also got a good idea of the singing style of the 40s. In this part, we look at some of Lata's songs in the 1940s and the partnerships she started building with music directors. In the last part, we saw that Lata got her major breakthrough in Hindi film music in the film 'Majboor'. Ghulam Haider was the music director. This film was released in 1948. Other music directors also started showing interest in her singing that same year. In 1948 and 1949, Lata managed to sing some memorable songs and started a partnership with some legendary music directors. We saw that Kemchand Prakash's 'ayega ayega' from 'Mahal' was Lata's breakthrough song. The song that launched her stardom. This is in the year 1949. In the year, 1948 itself, Kemchand Prakash ma...

When I first saw the young Shammi Kapoor on Chitrahaar, I refused to believe it was Shammi Kapoor!! For the Shammi Kapoor we knew growing up was a huge man with a beard, who acted in elderly roles. This person dancing and prancing around was hyperactive and did not look anywhere like the Shammi Kapoor we knew. It took some time for me to realize that they were both one and the same. So drastically had Shammi Kapoor changed over the years. (I had this same confusion when I saw a young Prithviraj Kapoor. I thought he was Sashi Kapoor!! The resemblance is very strong.) During that dark era, where there was only one TV channel, all of us used to crowd into either my aunt's place or at my cousin, Padmini's place, to watch Chitrahaar on a weekday (was it Wed or Fri?) and Rangoli on Sunday morning. While each one had his or her own preference of actors and songs, everyone felt happy when a Shammi Kapoor song was screened. It didn't matter if you thought he wasn't a great act...

(Shankar Jaikishan) Given the A/C room bound lives that many of us lead, we have forgotten that every day has its own seasons. The winter of the mornings, the summer of the afternoon, the spring of the dusk. Of these, it is dusk which I miss nowadays, either being stuck in my job or in traffic!! I still remember fondly the evenings my friend Bala used to walk  from Boiguda via Secunderabad Railway Station all the way to Paradise to have a burger at Universal Bakery. The walk inevitably happened during the time when the day started preparing itself to meet the night. The sound of the birds in tree lined road leading to station, the dim light on the horizon and the vehicles slowly switching on their headlights. A strange feeling comes over you at that time. A feeling that cannot be described in words. For lovers, it is that time of the day to be with their beloved. If your beloved isn't around, the pain of the separation hits them hard during this hour. I have read man...

After post on songs based on Bageshree, I received some good comments, both in the comment section as well as through mail. Everyone had their favourite Bageshree and told me that I missed it in my post. There were some songs that I didn't know and some I had deliberately not put in keeping the length of the post in mind. Now that I have clear proof that people can't get enough of this raga, I will do an additional post now to cover the other songs. Ofcourse, even after this there will be many Bageshrees left behind. Don't blame. Blame the composers, who had a soft corner for this raga. Before we proceed further, I am sure many of the carnatic music aficionados  know that the carnatic raga considered closest to Bageshree is Sriranjani. This is as per the swaras but it is clear that the emotions they invoke are quite different. But don't be surprised if you hear a bit of Sriranjani in Bageshree. It is very much possible and is not a problem in your hearing!!! One son...