I have friends who like to do things that are beyond popular acceptance. They would, therefore, tell me how they like the singing of, say, Asha Bhosle or Geeta Dutt or even Suman Kalyanpur over that of Lata Mangeshkar. They also like to blur the lines between human qualities and singing talent. The biases are quite strong despite Lata Mangeshkar being the recipient of the highest national civilian award, the Bharat Ratna and more awards than any other singer.
I don’t share this penchant. I have always been enamoured by Lata ji’s singing. Outstanding, extraordinary, ethereal, and superbly melodious are the words that come easily to my mind when I think of her singing. Perhaps the only bias of my own that I have is that if there is any song (and there are plenty) that have been sung separately by her and male singers, I would like to listen to her renditions; eg, Jeevan ke safar mein rahi that was also sung by Kishore Kumar.
As far as I am concerned, Lata ji was the incarnation of Goddess Saraswati, and she was the true Nightingale of India.
Lata Mangeshkar sang for all major and even minor music directors. The first time her name appeared on the screen (she had been singing uncredited for many years before that) was for the 1949 Raj Kapoor movie, Barsaat. She sang for Shankar Jaikishan as many as nine of the ten songs, two of these being duets with Mukesh. The movie was a super-hit largely because of her songs such as: Jiya beqraar hai, Hawa mein udhta jaaye, Barsaat mein hamse mile tum, Mujhe kisi se pyar ho gaya, and Meri aankhon mein bas gaya koi re. Surprisingly, she pulled it off by singing for both Nargis and Nimmi in the movie.
Soon, she became so influential that most music directors accepted her writ that she be regarded as the first choice of a female playback singer in any movie. The only music director who stood up to that was OP Nayyar.
Music directors devised songs so as the make use of her extraordinary melodious voice, range, modulation and other nuances. Some succeeded more than the others. However, there was one music director who brought out the best in her singing: Madan Mohan. Madan Mohan’s collaboration with Lata Mangeshkar started with the 1951 movie Ada and since you are keen to see how the maestro handled her in the very beginning, here you are:
You would notice that the songs were penned by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Prem Dhawan. Lata ji’s most popular song in Hindi movies was also by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Madan Mohan, in Raag Pahadi: Lag jaa gale ke phir.
My Lata Song #1
Lag jaa gale ke phir
Indeed, when Lata ji left us on 06 Feb 2022 during the COVID-19 lockdown, on the same day I had a tribute ready for her with the same song, but with both the stanzas re-written by me:
Songs are not just songs for me; these are also memories. Some of my best memories are associated with Lata Mangeshkar and, as you can make out, my voice in my first song in her honour displays more of emotional choking than of any great singing talent. Clearly, the shock of losing her was more than that caused by COVID-19.
My Lata Song #2
Woh jo milte the kabhi hamse deewano ki tarah
It took me nine months to sing another Lata Mangeshkar song. This time I fortified myself with a lot of practice to get over my obvious disadvantage in being a male nobody singing for the legendary female singer.
I selected another song composed by Madan Mohan. The lyricist was another great: Majrooh Sultanpuri, the recipient of the highest cinematic award by the government of India: the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
I had taken the song from the 1963 Nandlal Jaswantlal movie Akeli Mat Jaiyo starring another great, Meena Kumar opposite Rajendra Kumar.
Hopefully, in this you would notice my maturing into an acceptable singer singing songs of my favourite female singer: Lata Mangeshkar:
My Lata Song #3
Nainon mein badra chhaye
This was sung by me in her honour on her second death anniversary on 06 Feb 2024. Once again, the composer was Madan Mohan. She lovingly referred to him as he “Madan bhaiya”. However, she was often annoyed with him for making her sing songs that were far beyond her comfort levels. This was one of them. I listened to her in an album wherein she introduced each song. For this song in Raag Bhimpalasi, she commented about what a perfectionist her “Madan bhaiya” was and how he banged against the glass door of the recording studio and broke it when he noticed some of the musicians playing off tune.
The lyrics were by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. The song is from the 1966 Raj Khosla movie: Mera Saya starring Sadhana; the second of the trilogy of movies that Raj Khosla made with Sadhana.
This is the first song in which I tried Lata’s alaap in the interlude. Please click on ‘Watch on YouTube’:
My Lata Song #4
Woh chup rahen to mere dil ke daag jalte hain
By this time, I had grown in confidence that I could do justice to the greatest female playback singer that we had. At least I won’t be jeered.
Now, I started looking at songs that were widely acknowledged among her most difficult ones. One of them was this one from the 1964 Vinod Kumar movie Jahan Ara starring Mala Sinha in the title role with Bharat Bhushan as her historic lover Mirza Yusuf Changezi.
It was composed by the maestro Madan Mohan in Raag Ramdasi Malhar on the lyrics of Rajinder Krishan.
Please enjoy my rendition of Woh chup rahen…
My Lata Song #5
Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-bazaar ki tarah
Lets now go to the 1966 movie Dastak that established Rajinder Singh Bedi both as a director and as a story-writer. The movie won as many as three national awards: for Best Actor, Sanjeev Kumar; Best Actress, Rehana Sultan; and Best Music Director: Madan Mohan. Its songs are considered classics.
Majrooh Sultanpuri, who joined the Hindi movies at the best of Jigar Moradabadi, had been often criticised for having come very far from the traditional Urdu poetry that he used to be very good at. However, in this ghazal, he stuck to the traditional norms and created one of his best ghazals in Hindi movies.
Here, I have used two stanzas that were used in the movie and also two others that were not used.
I hope you would like my effort:
My Lata Song #6
Jeevan ke safar mein rahi milte hain bichhad jaane ko
I have already mentioned how when a song has been sung by Lata ji and another singer in a movie, I prefer her version.
In this 1955 Subodh Mukherjee movie, Munimji starring Dev Anand and Nalini Jaywant, Kishore Kumar sang for Dev Anand and Lata ji sang for Nalini. It is rated as one of the best sung songs of Kishore Kumar. Yet, I always liked the pathos in Lata’s version.
It was penned by Sahir Ludhianvi and composed by Dev Anand’s favourite music director, SD Burman.
Please enjoy my rendition of Lata ji’s version. Surprisingly, the fans liked it:
My Lata Song #7
Agar mujhse mohabbat hai mujhe sab apne gham de do
In the 1964 Mohan Kumar movie, Aap Ki Parchhayiyan, Madan Mohan had two songs composed in Raag Darbari Kanada: one each by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. The Rafi song is also one of his best: Main nigahen tere chehre se hatayun kaise?
Lyrics were by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. Lata ji sang for Supriya Pathak who was in the lead role opposite Dharmendra.
Please enjoy my rendition of this beautiful Lata song:
My Lata Song #8
Jo tum todo piya main nahin todun re
I took this from the 1981 Yash Chopra movie Silsila wherein Amitabh Bachchan had a silsila (affair) with Rekha whilst he was married to Jaya Bachchan (nee Bahaduri).
This poem (hymn) was penned by the 16th century Rajput princess who renounced everything since she considered she was married to Lord Krishna.
Lata ji had sung this earlier for the 1955 V Shantaram movie Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje starring Gopi Krishna and V Shantaram’s second wife Sandhya. In that movie Vasan Desai had composed it in Raag Bhairavi.
Then in the 1979 Gulzar movie Meera Vani Jairam sang it for Hema Malini and won Filmfare Award for another hymn in the movie: Mere to Giridhar Gopal. Of course, by that time, Lata ji, having won as many as four Filmfare Awards had declined any further such awards so as to give other singers a chance.
I liked this version of the hymn for Silsila that was composed by the duo Shiv-Hari.
Please enjoy my rendition of this. This was the second song by me of Lata ji that wasn’t composed by Madan Mohan:
My Lata Song #9
Aaj socha to aansu bhar aaye
I have always been struck by the beautiful melancholy of the simple but powerful lyrics of this song by Kaifi Azmi. However, I had considered that I was not up to singing it with all its nuances. Madan bhaiya brought out one of the best in Lata ji in this.
So, I went about doing riyaaz especially for this and finally sang it when I lost my close friend and soul mate, JP Singh Hanspal.
Even his wife, Renu, and son, Sunny commented how appropriate it was to their own emotions after JP’s loss:
The song was from Chetan Anand movie Hanste Zakham starring his favourite actress Priya Rajvansh opposite Navin Nischol.
My Lata Song #10
Unako ye shikayat hai
The 1958 movie Adalat had some of the most memorable songs/ghazals of the maestro, Madan Mohan. OP Nayyar had this to say, “Just two ghazals of Madan Mohan are better than my complete life’s works.” That’s indeed very high praise.
I included this ghazal in My Favourite Five Songs Of Lata Mangeshkar.
This was penned by Rajendra Krishan. To be able to sing this made me fly, especially the alaap in the prelude.
I still have a lot of Lata ji’s songs to sing. However, it was very, very satisfying to be able to sing this:
I hope you liked my choice of songs and singing.
I shall inform you when a follow-up post comes up.
I am fond of Mohammad Rafi; indeed, so fond of him that I consider him the best, the most accomplished, and most versatile singer that the world ever produced. A few years ago, when I started to learn singing at a very late stage in my life (I am 71 years old now and I started to learn singing only about three to four years ago), I realised that there is no better singer to learn from than Rafi saheb. Such is the aura of his singing that if an ordinary, amateur, and untrained singer like me can sing at about five percent of his ability, I can start patting myself on the back. Rafi saheb was the A to Z of good singing. When a great contemporary, Manna Dey, was asked to rank Rafi as a singer, Manna Dey’s prompt and thought provoking response was, “I rank Mohammad Rafi as #1 to #10.” By this, he obviously meant that all other singers were and are ten ranks below.
I sang this on 03 Aug 2021 on the birth anniversary of my favourite lyricist: Shakeel Badayuni. Ravi composed it in Raag Pahadi. Shakeel and Ravi combine made many songs together describing the husn (beauty) of the beloved; indeed, the best in this genre’.
One thing that would hit you about it is that even though it is among the difficult songs of Rafi saheb, I sang it at a fairly early stage of my learning to sing.
This is from the 1964 movie Shagun starring Kamaljeet and Waheeda Rehman. Ten years after doing this movie, they got married.
It is from the 1949 AR Kardar movie Dulari starring Madhubala, Geeta Bali, and Suresh.
This is from the 1965 Amar Kumar movie Mere Sanam starring Biswajeet and Asha Parekh. The movie was a remake of Come September starring Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida.
This is, by far, the best and most popular song in Raag Pahadi. As I said earlier, it won the lyricist Shakeel Badayuni the first of the hat-trick of Filmfare Awards. Ravi composed the song.
The 1963 movie Taj Mahal was also directed by M Sadiq. It starred Pradeep Kumar as Emperor Shajehan and Bina Rai as Mumtaz.
This was the title song of the 1968 movie Pyar Hi Pyar starring Dharmendra and Vyjayanthimala.
This song was composed by Ravi in Raag Pilu on the lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi. It was sung by Manna Dey as playback for Balraj Sahni singing to his wife Achla Sachdev in a doston ki mehfil at home on their wedding anniversary.
This is from superstar Rajesh Khanna‘s debut movie Aakhri Khat, a 1966 movie directed by Chetan Anand. He was offered this role in the movie after winning the All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare. Indrani Mukherjee acted opposite him.
Its lyrics are by Tajdar Taj and composition is that of Ratandeep Hemraj.
This was a beautiful 1958 Shaheed Latif movie Sone Ki Chidiya (penned by Ismat Chugtai who later wrote Garam Hawa). The movie is about Nutan who is an impoverished orphan. A relative’s family adopts her. Everyone in the family treats her like a servant. And then, she comes into money with her talent. Now, everyone treats her as a Sone Ki Chidiya. She wants to commit suicide being ill treated by the family both when she is poor and then when she becomes rich. Balraj Sahni inspires her with this song.
It is from the 1973 movie Naina based roughly on Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca. It starred Shashi Kapoor, Maushmi Chatterjee and Rajshree.
I am very fond of this Mukesh-Lata duet singing for Jeetendra and Sharmila Tagore in an open truck.
This duet is from their 1969 movie Raja Saab. Mohammad Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur sang for them. Both the lyrics by Anand Bakshi and the tune by Kalyanji Anandji have a Punjabi touch about it.
I took this Talat Mahmood song from the 1952 V Shantaram movie Parchhain starring himself and his wife Jayshree.
And now we have songs during the Birth Centenary Year of the greatest singer on earth: Mohammad Rafi.
Rajesh Khanna re-ushered the era of Kishore Kumar into Hindi movies. However, even he would have acknowledged that the songs Rafi saheb sang for him were classic, popular, and added to the success of the movies.
This is from the 1964 movie Rajkumar with Shammi Kapoor in the title role opposite Sadhana.
Many a times you come across a Mohammad Rafi song that didn’t become as popular as others, but nevertheless with superb rendition, lyrics and composition.
It is a classic composition of Naushad Ali on the lyrics of Shakeel Badayuni for the only production of Dilip Kumar: Gunga Jumna starring him with Vyjayanthimala.
Once again, with the magic of Mohammad Rafi singing for Rajesh Khanna.
This is a beautiful composition of RD Burman for Sanjay Khan’s movie Abdullah starring him in the title role with Zeenat Aman as the object of his love.
It is from the 1954 movie Shart starring Deepak and Shyama. SH Bihari‘s lyrics both for the Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt versions actually say everything that I wanted to tell her: we shall be together and even death won’t do us apart.
By this time, I was singing somewhat regularly to and for Lyn. As is the case with most of us, this then was one of the first songs sung to Lyn. It is from the 1964 movie Kohra starring Biswajeet and Waheeda Rehman. Kaifi Azmi‘s lyrics were composed and sung by Hemant Kumar:
I knew it won’t be long before I shall be singing Shakeel Badayuni – Naushad song to her. Shakeel happens to be my favourite poet and lyricist. All these years, I have known that Shakeel said exactly what I want to say to Lyn in her condition.
This is from the 1963 movie Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, the title of the movie taking its name from the mukhada of the 1960 K Asif movie Mughal-e-Azam, put together by Shakeel Badayuni and Naushad Ali.
The first one was a Talat Mahmood song composed by Sajjad Hussain. The maestro, Madan Mohan, was so fascinated by Sajjad’s composition that he used the same for his Tujhe kyaa sunayun main dilruba.
This is from the 1953 iconic movie Anarkali starring Bina Rai in the title role with Pradeep Kumar as Salim, prince to emperor Akbar.
The third of the five songs for that wedding anniversary was from the 1965 super-hit movie: Arzoo. Rajendra Kumar in disguise as an old man sings in the party thrown by Sadhana‘s father.
The fourth of the five songs for that wedding anniversary was by Shakeel Badayuni. He has the only hat-trick of Filmfare awards, ie, from 1961 (the second ever Filmfare award for a Lyricist) to 1963. The first two of these were composed by Ravi. This was the second one.
And the final song of that anniversary, ie, fifth one of five, was this duet between Mohammad Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur singing for Rajendra Kumar and Vyjayanthimala for the 1966 super-hit movie Suraj.
The first of the six songs was this gem by Madan Mohan in Raag Jhinjhoti. It was penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri by using (by permission) a line of a nazm by Faiz Ahmad Faiz made famous by Noorjehan singing it: Mujhse pehli si mohabbat mere mehboob na maang.
This is from the 1970 movie Bhai Bhai starring Sunil Dutt and Asha Parekh. It was penned by Hasrat Jaipuri and composed by Shankar Jaikishan. It was sung by Sunil Dutt singing to Asha Parekh in a party.
The third of the six songs sung on the Dec 2022 anniversary has special meaning for me. This is from the first movie (released on 01 Jan) of the year 1966: Nai Umr Ki Nai Fasal. This R Chandra movie starred Rajeev and Tanuja and has some of the best songs sung by Mohammad Rafi. I saw the movie on a portable screen in our colony in Jawahar Nagar in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.
I have always been impressed with this song sung on separate occasions in the 1969 movie Pyar Ka Mausam starring Shashi Kapoor and Asha Parekh. Kishore Kumar sang it for Bharat Bhushan and Rafi saheb sang it for Shashi Kapoor.
The 1962 movie Aarti starring Pradeep Kumar, Meena Kumari, and Ashok Kumar has some of the most unforgettable songs penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri and composed by Roshan.
