Matwali Aankhon Wale

There have been item numbers & item dancers - aplenty - on Hindi screen, but there has been only one who could be sexy, seductive and yet so graceful. Yes, this is about Helen, who celebrates her birthday today.

If Zeenat was lucky to have RD as composer for her initial movies, RD was lucky to have one of the best dancers of Hindi movies to dance on some such compositions of RD that seemed to be made only for her. 

O Haseena to Piya Tu Ab to Aaja to Mehbooba - the songs that RD composed for her were much more than just the dance numbers. Those fluid and sensuous moves of Helen, in sync with the variety and often innovative compositions that RD created - seemed almost heavenly.

Actually this teaming seemed pre-ordained - with RD's very first movie had Helen grooving like a doll with Mehmood to one of the evergreen compositions of Chhote Nawab - RD.

Here it is:

Ghar Aaja Ghir Aayi

Pancham has been known for the music that he composed for Majrooh, Gulzar & Anand Bakshi. Real wordsmiths they all were. But there are other lyricists with whom RD created magic - not as often as we would wish - but magic for sure.

Chhote Nawab, the movie from where RD began his independent journey - provides one such rare combination: Pancham & Lata with lyrics by Shailendra.

Here is a song from the movie, the first ever that Lata Mangeshkar sang for Pancham, also the first song amongst his vast repertoire of the monsoon inspired compositions.

The composition, in Raag Malgunji, & mellow rendition of Lata Mageshkar brings the melancholic feelings of a forlorn heart in an overcast sky right inside the room. The interludes that mix Saarangi & Sitar with the sound of Ghunghroo & that brief & very subtle lilting pause at the beginning of the last line of each stanza is indeed an interesting and  an auspicious start to the career of a maverick & trend-setting music composer  - himself a Chhote Nawab: 

Soona soona ghar mohe dasane ko aaye re

Khidakee pe baithee baithee saree rain jaye re

Tap tip sunata mai toh bhai rey banwariya

Ghar aaja ghir aaye badara sanwariya