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:

Jaago Sone Vaalo

Whenever Kishore & Pancham came together - and fortunately such were innumerable occasions - they infused soul in the music they created. Perhaps one of the reasons could be both being genius in their own right. While Kishore Kumar was a "harfanmaula", RD was no less. Add to it their rebelliouss nature that went against anything which was conventional. 

Listen to their first ever song together from Bhoot Bungla. This was RD's 2nd movie as the music composer - that too after 4 years of having composed the music for Chhote Nawab. Once again the producer was Mehmood, who this time also decided to venture out as a director. For one of the situations in the movie, Mehmood decided to re-create the ambiance of West Side Story, with the song choreographed in the style of a street fight. 

A prelude that is almost a minute long, leading to Kishore's trademark yodelling before he picks up the song & elevates it to a classic. The music has a haunting quality to it, with chorus adding to the impact.

Another reason to feature this song today being the death anniversary of Hasrat Japuri, the prolific lyricist & poet, whose only movie with RD was Bhoot Bungla. Please listen to these lines when sung by Kishore, and I am sure you too will be mesmerised:

Tootaa jo aaj, Dil kaa vo saaz
Rone lagaa ek bad nasib
Hansane lage duniyaa ke log
Koi huaa barbaad
Jaago sone vaalo 

Dekha na, Haye Re Socha Na..

Bombay to Goa is one of the most beautiful routes for driving your car - and perhaps with lesser vehicular traffic and more patience, in late 60s could have been more safe also.

Bombay To Goa, made in 1972, was a comic caper centered around the journey through this route. However, unintentionally & unknowingly, the movie changed the route of Hindi Cinema – to some extent. Actually, it could also have been a route changer for the entire country as a whole. Why? Read on.

It is said that originally Mehmood wanted to caste a particular person for the role of the hero in this movie. However, the intended choice was not an actor at all. He was also not interested in acting career & turned down the offer, as his choice of career at that time rather was something more high flying - literally.

Amitabh was the next choice, who had already made a guest appearance as a fight master & trainer in Mehmood’s previous movie – Garam Masala. For Amitabh, who had not been able to deliver a single solo hit till then, this turned out to be a movie which at least did better than average business.

More important, this was the same time when Prakash Mehra, having been rejected by all top heroes for his next movie based on Salim-Javed’s script, was looking for a hero. Apparently, Javed Akhtar, after seeing this movie recommended Amitabh for the hero’s role in Zanjeer – and rest is history. Zanjeer actually set the trend of Hindi Cinema as the movies went from soft & mushy hero to someone who could take the villains & establishment head-on – The Angry Young Man.

And yes, if the talk about Mehmood’s original choice is true, then while I am not sure about the fate of the movie with that person as a hero, there surely could have been a twist in the nation’s history, because that person was Rajiv Gandhi - the elder son of then Prime Minister of India – Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

With this small prelude, let me give you the most popular number of Bombay to Goa – another chart topper created by Pancham - popular then and popular now, even in the remix format - always getting the guys rocking on the dance floor:

Main Bhookha Hoon...

Its pouring outside - a perfect time to listen to some of the melodies that RD composed with rain as a backdrop.

Before that, however, on the death anniversary of Mehmood - an actor par excellence, let me share with you a song which had both RD & Mehmood sharing the screen - including even singing the song.

So here is, to two great friends - off the screen as well as on the screen, from the movie Bhoot Bangla.

 

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