Radio Heroes

 Kishore Kumar was definitely number one for me, among singers I heard on radio. Then came all others, maybe Asha Bhosle was second, if I had to choose. Rafi, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Lata, and so on. Among the older generation before these, I liked Shamshad Begum and Mubarak Begum, and Geeta Dutt.

Much later, I came to appreciate KL Saigal and Pankaj Mullick. And ghazal singers- Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hasan (I have seen live concerts of the later three)

The announcers of Radio Ceylon/Sri Lanka were favourites, but Ameen Sayani was an all-out winner with many sponsored programs like Binaca Geet Mala, S. Kumar's ka Filmi Muqaddama, and so on. 

The Chhaaya Geet on Vividh Bharati was a favourite (it's on right now- what a coincidence!). Otherwise, Aap hi ke Geet on Radio Ceylon which had the latest hits from current movies.

Why am I recounting all this? Because Feb. 13th is World Radio Day. That's why!

Mahendra Kapoor- the Unsung Hero of Singing

In the era that was dominated by Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Lata and Asha (still termed the Golden Era of Hindi film music by many), there were a few other singers who were pretty good. One such was Mahendra Kapoor. Though he may not have had the range of Kishore and Rafi, he had a few great songs, which I am a fan of.

I think one of his best was from Gumraah- Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum..beautiful lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi and great music by Ravi added to the overall effect. Check it out here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzbO1mjFPOM

Another song from Hamraaz had the same effect, and was a big hit- Neele gagan ke tale, dharti ka pyar pale- it has a tranquil quality that is rare in love songs. It was well-picturised too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoityCJ22hs

Lakhon hain yahaan dilwale, aur pyaar nahin milta, from Kismet, filmed on Biswajeet, is another favourite of mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqMT9rbyUI

Some of his duets with Asha Bhosle were big hits too. One was this Mumtaz-Dharmendra song from Aadmi aur Insaan- Zindagi ittefaq hai, kal bhi ittefaq thi, aaj bhi ittefaq hai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsl8QOj2tHA

OP Nayyar

This was a music director who always made tunes that were peppy, and had a great sense of rhythm. I am going to list out a few of his compositions, which may prove the point. He was also known for using Asha Bhosle a lot more than other female singers, and some of her great songs of the pre-RD Burman era were the ones she sang for him as music director. Ok, enough of the lecture. Now the demo.

1. Piya piya piya mora jiya pukare ..this is a delightful duet (Kishore Kumar at his yodeling best, and Asha Bhosle). The typical hoofbeat rhythm which you find in many of Nayyar's songs appears in this too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmdtYWFMtFo

2.  Pukarta chala hoon main. This is another of his songs that is still a favourite of many. Mohammad Rafi is the singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLKBwutnPwA

3. Woh haseen dard dedo jise main gale laga loon. (Asha Bhosle).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3uKcarywDI

4. Yeh hai reshmi zulfon ka andhera na ghabraiye. Asha Bhosle again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbJnQan-qQQ

5. Lakhon hain yahan dilwale aur pyar nahin milta.. (Mahendra Kapoor sings this one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqMT9rbyUI

6. Khoobsurat sathi itni baat bataa kitna pyar hai dil mein tere.. (Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX6SlN6--Jc

Asha Bhosle by Raju Bharatan- Book Review

A must read for fans of a great singer. I am happy that the musical journey of a country has been captured by a serious writer like Raju Bharatan. Being interested in Hindi films and music, I have read several biographies/autobiographies such as those of Dev Anand, but the singers' and music Directors' biographies are special. Having read RD Burman's life story earlier, it is interesting to read about the role played by them in each other's lives.

It was actually OP Nayyar who brought her individuality to the fore, though other music composers played their roles (SD Burman among them). After a split with him, she teamed up with RD Burman and created many songs that shattered records and won them lifelong fans. Some also had RD Burman singing with her (Piya tu ab to aaja, in which he mostly said, Monica, O my darling), and the picturisation of some of the others (the Teesri Manzil songs like Aaja aaja main hoon pyar tera, and O Haseena zulfonwali are good examples) brought her a lot of attention. She was actually good at all types of songs and sang some ghazals for Umrao Jaan impeccably. Her duets with Kishore Kumar and Rafi are among my favourites.

Though she played second fiddle to Lata Mangeshkar, who was the first choice of most music directors, the number of songs Asha sang are a few thousand, and she left an impact in many of them.

A lovely read, if Hindi music interests you.

Live Concerts

I have been to a few- Shankar Mahadevan, Sudesh Bhosle, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar-RD Burman-Asha Bhosle, Pandit Ravishankar, Pankaj Udhas (aka Punk Rock of India- just a joke), Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ghulam Ali+Mehdi Hasan, and a couple of them dedicated to people no more- SD Burman, and Mohammed Rafi, for instance.

I enjoyed all of them, because hearing music live, specially from the artist himself, is a different feeling, and he/she brings some story about the music or songs to the event.

Favourite Songs

Hindi film songs- a list of favourites.

Yeh dil na hota bechara, kadam na hote awara

Dil aaj shaayar hai gham aaj naghma hai

Hai apna dil to awara, na jaane kis pe aayega

Hey, maine kasam li, hey, tune kasam li, nahin honge judaa hum..

Chala jaata hoon kisiki dhun mein.

O mere dil ke chain.

Tum kitni khoobsoorat ho yeh mere dil se poochho.

Tum mile pyar se mujhe jeena gawara hua.

Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jate hain jo makaam, woh phir nahin aate

Aap ki aankhon mein kuch mehke hue se khwab hain

Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat..

Are yaar meri tum bhi ho gazab ghoonghat to zara odho.

Ek pal ka jeena phir to hai jaana.

Aanewala pal jaanewala hai..

Kai baar yun bhi dekha hai yeh jo man ki seema rekha hai

Seene mein jalan aankhon mein toofan sa kyun hai, is sheher mein har shakhs pareshan sa kyun hai.

Kehna hai, kehna hai, aaj tumse yeh pehli baar

Gore rang pe na itna guman kar, gora rang do din mein dhal jayega

Meri neendon mein tum mere khwabon mein tum

Hum the woh thi aur smaa rangeen samajh gaye na..

Meri pyari Bindu..

O mere Raaja, khafa na hona, der se aayi..

Wahan kaun hai tera musafir jayega kahan.

Mehbooba, mehbooba,

Lakhon hain yahan dilwale aur pyar nahin milta

Kuch na kaho, kuch bhi na kaho..

O  haseena zulfonwali jaane jahan..

Jawani janeman haseen dilruba

Parde mein rehne do parda na uthao

Dilruba, aa meri bahon mein aa..

Asha Bhosle Turns 83

She is an amazing artist. I am not sure when I learnt to recognise her voice, but it had a magical quality. I was not much into female singers, what with Kishore Kumar occupying centre-stage in my choice of film songs, but she was so good that I paid attention. Some songs that may have attracted me initially were- Parde mein rehne do, parda na uthao.. from Shikaar, Haal kaisa hai janaab ka (Chalti ka Naam Gaadi) and Ga mere man ga (from Lajwanti), a couple from Mere Sanam and Jewel Thief (Raat akeli hai, bujh gaye diye, filmed on Tanuja), and later on, some duets with Kishore Kumar.

Jaane jaan dhoondhta phir raha from Jawani Diwani was a great number, and so was Dum Maro Dum, the iconic song from Dev Anand's film Hare Rama Hare Krishna.There was a steady stream of seductive songs she sang for Helen, like Piya tu ab to aaja (Caravan) and Yeh mera dil pyar ka deewana (Don), or Simple Kapadia (Jab chhaye, mera Jadu, koi bach na paaye, in Lootmaar). Pyar hua hai jabse, mujhkko nahin chain aata is another favourite duet of mine.

Lots of other songs can be listed, like Chura liya hai dilne jo tumko, nazar nahin churana sanam, or Kehdoon tumhe, ya chup rahoon, or Jawani jaaneman, haseen dilruba (Namak Halal), Aao huzur tumko sitaron mein le chalun,..and  Tumhi rehnuma ho, meri zindagi ke (Do Raha).

She also excelled in the ghazal-style songs in Umrao Jaan that were all classy- In aankhon ki masti ke deewane hazaaron hain.., Dil cheez kya hai aap meri jaan leejiye.., Yeh kya jagah hai doston.

Happy birthday to a great singer.

OP Nayyar

This guy was unique. His music was playful, sensuous, seductive, and he had a distinctive hoof-beat rhythm in many of his songs too. He in later years also wore a hat that made him look different. His best songs had Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi singing them, but occasionally, he composed a couple with Kishore Kumar. This is a list of some of my favourites, which I never stopped enjoying.

Maang ke saath tumhara maine maang liya sansaar..

Aao huzur tumko sitaron mein le chaloon, dil jhoom jaaye aise baharon mein le chaloon..

Jaiye aap kahan jaayenge

Pukarta chala hoon main gali gali bahar ki bas ek chhaon zulf ki,...

Chain se humko kabhi tumne to jeene na diya, zeher bhi chaha agar tumne to peene na diya.

Mera naam chin chin choo, from Howrah Bridge.

Banda parvar thaam lo jigar...phir wahi dil laya hoon...

Lakhon hain yahan dilwale aur pyar nahin milta....

Babuji dheere chalna, raah mein zara samhalna...bade dhokhey hain is raah mein.

Badal jaaye agar mali chaman hota nahin khali, baharen phir bhi aati hain..phir bhi aayengi.

Tu hamari thi, jaan se pyari thi,....tu auron ki kyon ho gayee..I liked the guitar in this a lot.

Piya piya piya mora jiya pukaare hum bhi chalenge saiyan sung tumhare..Kishore and Asha

Aankhon hi aankhon mein ishara ho gaya ...and a very unusual combo of Kishore and Shamshad Begum, that goes "Meri neendon mein tum mere khwabon mein tum." If you have missed it, you can watch this-
http://www.hindilyrics.net/lyrics/of-Meree%20Nindon%20Me%20Tum.html

Enchanting Songs 1

There are some enchanting songs that I heard over the years, and then lost track of them. Mostly, these were heard on the radio when there was nothing else. One such was this ...'Khoobsoorat sathi, itni baat bataa'- from the film Akalmand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0UCnS_m8cc


Another that I heard again recently was 'Ankhon ankhon mein hum tum ho gaye deewane'..a lilting melody from Mahal starring Dev Anand!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBt7wtmlVVc


Obviously, this list will keep growing ..this is episode no. 1.

Women I Admire

Note: This is a re-run, to celebrate the 30,000 readership of this blog. This was one among the top ten read blog posts. I could add a few more women to the list, particularly colleagues and students, but will refrain from doing so, for reasons mentioned in the post. 

There are several, despite my usual take-offs on the 'better half' of our species (which is due to genetic wiring, and not my fault). Let me try and list a few, with reasons completely my own -defensible or not- for admiring them. I am sticking to those in public life, to prevent a 'tu tu main main' (you you, me, me in Hindi, or a dogfight in plain English) among women who are in close proximity for either excluding them, or including some others- wonder how the kings with 100 wives managed the politics. Anyway, here goes.

Nandita Das gets vote number one, for sounding real. That may not seem like a big deal, but most people in public life look fake to a degree, and she is the closest I find to being a real person. What she achieved or not is irrelevant to this measurement parameter.

Hema Malini for looking so good, that she beats her daughters hollow at 50 (or whatever her age is). She really made us believe, apart from one or two others, that dreams can come down in human form. The only fault I can find in this dreamy apparition is her Hindi diction, but what the hell?

Indira Rajaraman, a professor of economics who taught us at IIMB. She was the only one who could make me understand a bit of macroeconomics (what's that?) which sounded like gobbledygook until then.

Preity Zinta for standing up to testify against some threat callers from abroad, when no one else was willing to go on record.

Medha Patkar, for obvious reasons-standing up for rights of the dispossessed in a never-ending fight, knowing that it will never end.

A couple of nuns in my primary school (forgot their names, sadly) who controlled the unruly class consisting of more than 50 boys and girls and managed to smile sweetly through it all. 

Enid Blyton, for creating wonderful stories for kids to savour. Childhood might have been boring if she had not existed.

Agatha Christie, for creating Hercule Poirot, my favorite detective. Just his description- the egg-shaped head, the carefully waxed moustache, his mannerisms and his 'little grey cells' made the books starring him unputdownable. What imagination! 

Asha Bhosle, for her energy, lovely voice and the come-hither quality that she brought to the many songs that required it.

Finally, Draupadi, for managing five husbands. I am sure it must be as difficult as managing five wives, if not more.

Asha Bhosle is 79

Thinking of new adjectives for her is actually a waste of time, because Roget's thesaurus has been exhausted in the attempt. What I can say is that she has one of the most beautiful voices ever to have graced any music world, and we are lucky that she was born and did her singing in India. Where would we be (particularly people of my generation), without her melodies?

Her music was like a bed of roses, in a world full of angst. Sixties, when she probably came into her own, was not a happy decade for India, what with shortages of sugar, kerosene, cooking oil, and sometimes grains and milk. But listen to her sing, and all thoughts of those hardships vanished. I think that was the quality she brought to it. My first introduction to her songs was probably in the movie Shikaar where she sang 'Parde mein rehne do, parda na uthao, parda jo uth gaya to bhed khul jaayega', followed by Jewel Thief in which she sang a Tanuja song 'Raat akeli hai, bujh gaye diye, aake mere paas, kaano me mere'..to seduce Dev Anand with his crimped neck enveloped in a scarf- it was wonderful!

She quickly followed up (in my chronology) with the Teesri Manzil gems (Helen owes her one), and then 'Piya tu ab to aaja', and a number of  fast-paced OP Nayyar songs, and to me in those days, the greatest of them all. Dum Maro Dum. This song alone must have had the greatest impact on a generation, I am quite positive- though I don't have research to prove it. The magic that RD Burman's music and her voice together created was something, even beyond this song. For instance, 'Jaane jaan', from Jawani Diwani is a classic, where her voice appears completely different.

Well, I can go on and on, but I will just say that her voice was always youthful, and it's no wonder the youth idolised her. But she also made an impact on the serious (older?) listeners with her Umrao Jaan ghazals. 'Dil cheez kya hai aap meri, jaan leejiye'..wow, she is great medicine for the blues, to drive them away.