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.

Lata Mangeshkar Museum

Some 300 metres from IIM Indore's gate 2 is a two-storeyed house. This is a remarkable storehouse of Indian film music- all in LP records- named after Lata Mangeshkar. The owner/curator has collected these, and claims that he has all Hindi music ever made for films, from 1932 till 1990.

I spent some time looking at his collection, and got a customised CD made of some of my favourites. In the process, I also figured out what one man can do, if he sets his mind to it. I had converted some of my own collection of Hindi music into cassettes, but that was just a few hundred selected songs over a few years in the seventies.

This collection of records is amazing. To add to this he also has written four voluminous books about the songs of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. Might acquire one of them sometime. They are in Hindi, and that may be why I haven't seen them in mainstream bookstores anywhere.

Remarkable.

Dil in Hindi Film Songs

Expectedly, the word Dil figures often in Hindi film songs, as the songs are about matters of the heart, more often than not. Some of my favourites-

Dil aaj shaayar hai, gham aaj naghma hai, shab yeh ghazal hai sanam..from Gambler.

Yeh dil diwana hai, dil to diwana hai, deewana dil hai yeh dil deewaana (emphasis as per spelling on the word deewana)..from an old movie that I don't remember..Ishq Par Zor Nahin?

Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se..Prem Pujari classic sung inimitably by Dev Anand on screen.

Chupke se dil dede nai te shor mach jayega from Maryada.

Dil tera deewana hai sanam,..mohabbat ki kasam, mohabbat ki kasam..old Shammi Kapoor film.

Yaad kiya dil ne kahan ho tum, a classic Hemant Kumar- Lata Mangeshkar duet from an old Dev Anand- Usha Kiron starrer Patita. Watch it here. What a melody!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YY2pZa22Io

Chand mera dil, followed by Aa dil kya, mehfil hai tere qadmom mein , and then Tum kya jano, mohabbat kya hai, dil ki mefil sanam ...in Hum Kisi se Kum Nahin, the Nasir Husain potboiler with its garish sets that set up a dance competition between Rishi Kapoor and a handsome Tariq..fabulous entertainment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5INCEEMc3MA

Classical Music in Movies

I don't understand classical music too much, but sometimes, it is moving when you listen to it. I do listen to it occasionally. Of late, I have heard two great exponents- Bhimsen Joshi and Kumar Gandharva. But this is about its use in Hindi film music.

Many songs sung by Manna Dey fall into the 'classical category', or the semi-classical. But Mohammad Rafi sang a few too, and Lata Mangeshkar must have sung many.

Laga chunri mein daag chhupaoon kaise, is one of my favourites. Saw it on a TV show recently. Tere naina talaash kare jise woh hai tujhi mein kahin deewane from the old Talaash was also good.

Rasik Balma, I am guessing, is based on some raga-very melodious. Mere naina saawan bhadon, phir bhi mera man pyaasa also sounds like one.

Madhuban mein radhika naache re, was a very good song in this genre. So was Kahin deep jale kahin dil from Bees Saal Baad. And Nigaahen milane ko jee chahta hai..., Jab deep jale aana (Chitchor), and many other songs from it- Tu jo mere sur mein, for instance.

Ka karoon sajni, aaye na baalam from Swami has a haunting quality to it. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hariprasad Charasia in their brief film career also composed a few good ones, in Silsila for example.