Tu Ne Chheen Liya, Dil Ka Chain Piya

Bandhe Haath's music had some more gems which people started relishing only after the movie's flop status became irrelevant, and Pancham's own stock had risen high.

One of these was a number sung by Lata Mangeshkar, for a very oft-repeated situation of heroine dancing around the hero. The location was also quite cliched - Chhota Kashmir of Aarey Colony in Goregaon.

The lyrics & the composition though are sounding much more fresher. Majrooh uses the imagery that is provocative while the composition adds the lovely lilting silken touch to it. The heroine - Mumtaz - in love, tries to express her emotions to the sombre looking Amitabh, with her usual sparkle & froth, also suiting her role as a dancer in the movie. Lata too pulls out all stop in her singing to match her step by step.

Interesting to note are two aspects - one, the interlude before the first stanza has a tune on saxophone while the interlude after the same stanza has that same tune in Saxish mode but this time on Guitar; and two - the subtleness of the percussion which add to the lilting mood.

On a lighter note, looking at the clumsiness of AB's performance in the romantic scene, specially in another typical to-kiss-or-not-to-kiss scene of those years, it is clear as to why he hit the bull's eye only after getting into the avatar of the Angry Young Man - with romance always at the back-burner.

Anyways, listen to this lovely number from Bandhe Haath:

Dil To Lei Gava...

Aap ki Kasam was released in 1974, amidst the downward trend of Rajesh Khanna. On the other hand, just a year ago, Zanjeer had marked the beginning of a rising graph for Amitabh Bachchan. Zanjeer was his first major hit, after a series of 13 flops (excepting Bombay to Goa - which had an average run on the box office, when first released).

Just before Zanjeer, came a movie which was last of Amitabh’s series of initial flops. Bandhe Haath – written & produced by O P Ralhan, which had Amitabh in his first double role alongwith Mumtaz, Ajit & O P Ralhan. 

This was Pancham’s second movie with O P Ralhan. The first one was Hulchul, which had no song, but a few very interesting dance compositions. 

Bandhe Haath, as I said earlier, failed to make any impression at the box office. As happens with most of the flops, even its music really did not create any waves. In the bargain, some of Pancham’s brilliance failed to shine – at least for the time being.

It was much later that Bandhe Haath’s music got some recognition. Listening to the quality of these compositions, it still was not enough though.

Take for example this number, a dance composition with Mumtaz dancing her heart out to an effervescent medley of instruments with funky rhythm and rapid African beats – alongwith mouthing of some of inane words -  that under anyone else’s baton could have resulted in a chaos. However, with R D at the helm, it sounds cohesive as well as energetic – something like Caravan’s Daiyya Main Kahan Aa Phansi.

On screen while Amitabh tries his best to keep up with Mumtaz, off screen, it is Manna Dey & Mahendra Kappor playing a supporting role to an absolute in-form Asha Bhosle. And just as a trivia, the police inspector in the scene is character actor Ram Mohan, whom Pancham later lent his voice for, in that  classic from Kitaab – Dhanno ki Aankhon Men.   

However, why digress? It is time for Asha Bhosle & Mumtaz to step up the beats in Dil To Lei Gava..

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlx4r8_dil-to-lai-gava-bandhe-haath-1973-asha-manna-day_music