Kitna Pyara Waada Hai...

With formula driving the Hindi movies always, almost each movie has a tailor-made situation to infuse a romantic duet. And irrespective of the actors performing, the most popular duo to perform these duets were Lata & Rafi. With their mellifluous & pure rendition, and their command over ragas, together, they always managed to create that effect of pure romance which was difficult to match for most of the other singers. 

Pancham had worked with them , as assistant to his father in a number of movies - specially those of Navketan banners. However, there have been very few numbers where he himself used their magical chemistry for a romantic duet. This, despite Lata being one of his favourite singers. Partly, this could have been due to him preferring Kishore for most of his male songs. 

Yet, when he did work with them together, the compositions & the songs turned out to be not only super hits, but also have been rated amongst Rafi & Lata's best songs together. 

One such song was in 1971 from the Jitendra & Asha Parekh starrer - Caravan. Being a Nasir Hussain movie, with a story woven around gypsies, the compositions - across the movie - were outstanding. Pancham used the theme of road journey to bring in sounds that were as varied as jazz, the blues as well the folk. Amongst all the compositions, one closest to Hindustani sound was this lovely duet with a two-paced composition. The interesting part is the way song ends with a refrain on Harmonica as the caravan moves on. This refrain was later used by Pancham for another of his composition - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - from Aa Gale Lag Ja. 

Of course, with Majrooh in his prime, Lata & Rafi lending their voices to suitably subtle & coy Asha Parekh with dancing Jitendra - much before white shoes became his trademark - the songs could not have been anything but sweet & melodious - to remain a chart toppers for years to come.

Pal Do Pal Ka Saath Hamara

What was just started as a one-off post to mark the 75th birth year of Pancham became a way of sharing my fascination with Pancham's music with the big world of Pancham-fans all over - some known and a lot many stranger earlier, but not any more. 

It would be apt to use an oft-quoted couplet from Majrooh, with whom RD created some of the biggest hits of his career:

Main Akela hi chala tha Jaanib-e-manzil, Magar

Log Aate Gaye Aur Caravan Banta Gaya

Talking about the caravan & the journey, here is another of Pancham's hit. This is in format of a quawwalli - a format which Pancham mastered, specially in 80s. 

The song, picturised on a fast moving train - from The Burning Train by Ravi Chopra - is a prelude to the mishap that is about to take place. Hence, keeping true to the format and the situation, the composition starts with Harmonium & Shehnai, and then becomes double paced to match the romance and the joyous mood inside the train, juxtaposed with the mood outside, where the train is racing towards a disaster. Unfortunately, despite a huge star cast, and a season of hugely popular disaster movies from Hollywood, this movie itself proved to be a disaster. However, Rafi & Asha's rendition in this excellent composition, proved to be a big draw, and is popular even now.

Philosophically, this is extension of Majrooh's couplet. While Majrooh wrote about gathering people on the journey, Sahir who penned the verse here, wrote about the need to enjoy the life now, due to its fickleness and the inevitability where by the end of the journey one is always left alone. Ironically, this was also the last movie of Sahir, just before his leaving for another journey - alone.

Nazaron ke shok nazrane Hontho ke garm paimaane

Hai aaj apni mahafil men, Kal kya ho koi kya jaane

Yeh pal kushi ki jannat hai, Is pal me ji le diwane

Aaj ki kushiyan ek haqiqat, Kal ki kushiya afsane hai

Pal do pal ka saath hamara, Pal do pal ke yarane hai

Is manzil par hai milne vale, Us manzil par kho jaane hai

Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai..

On one of my recent road journeys, while listening to the music, I realised there are very few road or journey songs in Hindi movies. Amongst those which come to mind immediately, there are a couple of songs which have Gulzar, RD & Kishore in common. 

To take you to one such journey songs, we need to travel back from Ghar of 1978 to the first movie where RD & Gulzar joined hands together - Parichay. The movie, though based on a Bengali story, had a structure similar to that evergreen musical hit Sound of Music. Naturally, it was essential that it was sound in music department - in its Indianised version too. 

RD achieved not only that, but in the process also created the song which got Lata & Bhupendra a National Award. I have played this song - Beeti Na Beetai Raina - already.

However, the song I was talking about is the one which movie opens with - a sequence just like the one Sound of Music opens with - the journey of the main protagonist. Gulzar wrote the verse that create a strong imagery of a journey, with hero travelling on a tonga. Straying away from a well-trodden path of using typical Indian instrument to create the sound of tonga-ride, RD created a composition - apparently while in the shower - which has a strong guitar influence - backed by other instruments including accordion and resso. 

And then the icing - Kishore's rendition - that feeling of being in love with the journey itself, when he sings:

Ek Raah Ruk Gayee to Aur Jud Gayee

Mai Muda To Saath Saath Raha Mud Gayee

Hawaaon ke Paron par Meraa Ashiyana

Musaafir Hoon Yaaron

Na Ghar Hain Na Thikana

Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai

Bas, Chalte Jaana

Ab Jo Mile Hain...

I mentioned yesterday about how difficult it was to differentiate the voices of Mangeshkar Sisters - when they sang in tandem in Dulhan Maike Chali. It was all the more difficult because each of them, like a true playback singer, were trying to ensure that their voice was matching with the performer on-screen. Fortunately, each one was singing for only one of the characters.

Now here is a song, where there were two different performers on the screen - in two different kind of characters exhibiting two contradictory moods - and yet RD used only one singer. 

Ab Jo Mile Hain to - from caravan picturised on Aruna Irani & Asha Parekh had Asha Bhosle singing for both the actors. Starting seductively to match the on-screen persona of Aruna Irani wooing Jitendra, the song has a strong bossa-nova influence - perfectly matching the moves of Aruna Irani.

Half-way through, the seduction gives way to unrequited love and as the song changes the mood, one can not but notice that subtle yet distinct variation - in Asha's voice, in the lyrics and in the music. With Asha Parekh performing at her best, the song manages to bring out the pain that she is going through. 

No wonder, this song has remained one of the most popular one of Asha-RD-Majrooh combination.

Tu hai hawa, shola hu main,

Mil key bhee jo mil naa sake

Bujh naa sake tere bina, 

Tere bina jal naa sake

Listen to this here:

Dilbar Dil Se Pyaare..

Aruna Irani was the heroine of Bombay to Goa, and had a couple of songs in the movie - one of which was not retained in the movie at all. Since, this was a road movie, perhaps the script could not find situations where her talent for dance could have been utilised.

However, she might not have had anything to complain because just a year back, despite Asha Parekh being the heroine of the movie, it was Aruna Irani who walked away with some of the best compositions that RD had created in that year.

Come to think of it, It could have been a coincidence, but Aurna Irani, over the years, did manage to get some very unconventional songs from RD - be it a parody or a song full of melancholy or a classical composition. I will take you to those later, but for now, here is Lata & RD combining to create a track that sounds fresh even now.

Hear the beats, and the piece on rabab, and the sax, and Lata stretching & modulating her voice just enough to create the yearning - all that which goes into making this song from Caravan very special.

O Maajhi Re...

Burmans - RD as well as Sachin had a special affinity to the songs with boats & 'mallahs'.

One can not forget SD's Mere Sajan Hain us paar from Bandini Or Jewel Thief's Rula ke Gaya Sapna Mera - where the music in sync with the waves, moving boat, and imaginative use of sounds like ship's horn create a melancholy of impending separation.

RD, Gulzar &Kishore combined to utilise one such situation in Khushboo to create a gem that sounds as fresh today as it was 38 years ago:

Paaniyon me bah rahe hai kai kinaare toote hue
Raasto me mil gae hai sabhi sahaare chhute hue
Koi sahaaraa majhadhaare me mile vo
Apanaa sahaaraa hai