Aap Ke Kamre Men Koi Rahta Hai..

Almost forty years ago to date, Nasir Hussain released, perhaps his most ambitious, and most successful movie – in its own right a cult movie (my wife and her three brothers still sing the theme song with the same fervor) – Yaadon ki Baraat. 

Working on his favourite formula of Lost & Found – this time about three brothers, the movie also had some of RD’s most amazing compositions – which ensured a recall & a repeat value for the movie, forever.

One of the songs was very unlike a normal movie song for those times. A friend had remarked once: Pancham’s music was the celebration of life itself. That being the case, this song is a perfect example of joie-de-vivre. 

The sequence had a fair share of drama to begin with. Tariq, one of the heroes – who being a singer in the hotel, is entertaining the patrons with some serious jamming, before in a very formulaic manner, misses out reuniting with one of the lost brothers - Vijay Arora. The actual song starts after this melodrama – with Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle grooving to some excellent guitar chords.

What makes the composition different is the whole treatment – conversational in style as well as lyrics – with the singer also inviting patrons to join him in chorus. 

However, before showcasing this song, today being the Dashmi – last day of Durga Pooja, sticking to my promise, let me first give you the original Bangla composition. 

Bandho Dared Andho Kare , from black & white movie of 1970 -Rajkumari - starring Uttam Kumar & Tanuja, and sung by Asha & Kishore..

And now the song from Yaadon ki Baraat.

An absolute turnaround in the treatment as the composition turns into a full-fledged rock sound. While Kishore pitches in for both the heroes, once the final jamming starts, RD grabs the opportunity to pitch in with his own voice too. Since the song had Zeenat Aman as one of the characters, Asha brings in Dum Maro Dum – thus increasing the heat & the glam quotient of the entire composition. 

Enjoy this amazing number..

Agar main kahun jo dekha, nahee tha woh koyee kwaab
Pada tha table pe chasma, woh kiska janaab

Gore gale me woh muffler, tha kis hasin kaa

Jara haath dil pe rakh ke, hame dijiye jawaab

Aapke kamare me koyee rehata hai 

Bendhechhi Bina Gaan..

It was not only Pooja songs which RD later used in Hindi movies. In 1981, he composed music for “Kalankini Kankabati” – a Bangla movie having stellar star-cast that included Mithun Chakraborty, Sharmila Tagore, and the top most Bengali star – Uttam Kumar. 

Unfortunately, during the making of this movies, first the original director of the movie & then Uttam Kumar – passed away. As a result, despite being one of his best scores, it did not attain the kind of billing, it otherwise would have. 

This movie had a song, sung by Parveen Sultana – in semi-classical mode – Bendhechhi Bina Gaan. Listen to this song on, before I put across its Hindi counterpart from another superstar’s movie – which was one of his best works – but remained under-rated:

If Bangla movies were ruled by Uttam Kumar – there was only one superstar in late 70s to mid-80s in Hindi movie world. Yes, Amitabh Bachchan – whose birthday it is today! In 1983, Hrishikesh Mukherjee casted him, alongwith Rakhee & Vinod Mehra in “Bemisaal”. The movie – apart from a very fine story, superb direction & great performances, also had RD giving some really soulful music, which included this gem – picturised on Rakhee & Amitabh, and sung by Lata Mangeshkar: