My top ten...Gender Reversal in songs

The second issue of  My Top Ten is here...

In the last edition , sometime in June this year, the topic was the tweaking of lyrics by the creator himself to give a new song. Actually, it was a double whammy since for each lyricist there were two songs.

This time the focus is on the aspect of creation of a song: lyrically, musically and visually !

Solo songs have been a part and parcel of Hindi film music. There have been tandem songs ( two different singers singing the same/similar solos), playback songs ( actor on screen lip-syncing the singer, who is off-screen)  and background songs ( singer sings to a visual of actor, who is not lip-syncing).

This week we take stock of songs in which the innovative combination in a background song is attempted: the gender of the actor and singer is different !

One of the earliest songs in this super-genre must be the Talat Mehmood song sung for Bahar 1949, exhorting the heroine to fight the difficult circumstances. An inspirational song , sung in his velvet voice and soft style, the song is as soothing as it is melodious. On second thoughts, I feel that it was easy then, since the movie-watching audiences were discerning and such sensitive portrayal must have appealed to them, rather than appearing odd.

                                       

One of the most endearing films to have been made was Bandini by Bimal Roy. Each song in the score was a gem and the picturisation of all the songs was breath-taking. This song   is sung by Mukesh and  features Nutan on the screen.   Her yearning is so well expressed by the male voice, that  one does not miss the vocals of  Lata or Asha.
S.D.Burman and Bimal Roy were masters of their fields and therefore this song is plausible even when there is a gender reversal.

Next in line is a beautiful Hemant Kumar song  on Waheeda Rehman.
 The 1969 film Khamoshi is considered a classic and so are its songs. There was  the mesmerising Kishore solo.  Then there was the  song which had   Lata's ethereal rendition and  Gulzar's out-of-the-world lyrics ( "aankhon ki mehakti khushboo").

Topping the score is  the composer's background song   ( in a class by itself), which shows  Waheeda Rehman  getting emotionally torn, which is  being  aptly expressed in the lyrics.   Hemant Kumar's voice does the rest !

The next song is again picturised on Waheeda Rehman, but the male singer is Kishore Kumar. Kishore, in the early 70s , was rising phenomenally and reaching one peak after the other. He had started to sing for heroes other than himself and Dev sahab, once he had sung for Rajesh Khanna.

Such was his demand that most  composers and almost all heroes wanted him to be their playback voice. His mentor S.D.Burman considered him competent for this background song in the film Zindagi Zindagi ( 1970), while Waheeda Rehman goes through trials and tribulations. 

R.D.Burman, it appears, took off from where his father left, as far as background songs are concerned.  He got the support of his directors, too. In Amar Prem ( 1972) , Lata Mangeshkar's background song on a young Vinod Mehra , which was the slower version of the popular songs.

This gender reversal was where the female voice conveyed the feeling of  déjà vu by the protagonist. The rare occurrence of a female singer and male actor combination ! 

In a unique instance of its kind, father S.D.Burman sang under the baton of son R.D.Burman in Amar Prem . Interestingly, in the same year, the son sang under the direction of father in Ye Gulistan Hamara.

The Amar Prem song, with credits being rolled and a displaced Sharmila Tagore commencing
 her tale of woe. The audience were primed through the song, which is a gem, of course.
No one can do it, like Dada Burman. 

In 1974, Kishore Kumar again conveyed the loneliness and futility of protagonist Jaya Bhaduri's life in the title song of Kora Kagaz. The song was a liked by both classes and masses and it was the most popular song that year, going by Binaca Geetmala Annual hit parade, the only such programme those days. These days, however, the Youtube views and like/dislike is a better barometer !
Going by the internet,  views of the title song of  Kora Kagaz are  half   of Jai Jai Shiv Shankar ( Aap Ki Kasam)  , the song which had to be content with second spot !

Coming back to Kora Kagaz, the song is immortal, for which M.G.Hashmat, its lyricist will be remembered always, if not for any other song. The gender reversal, of course, is perfect.

Hema Malini, we all know, is a great dancer, apart from being a competent actress. It is therefore, surprising when we hear a male voice giving the background supplement to the visual treat on the screen. This happened in the film Mrig Trishna 1975, when Mohammed Rafi's vocals  complemented Hema Malini's " mudras" , making this one of a kind.

The 80s were more action-oriented and therefore, emotional songs ( that too, of the background variety)were difficult to come by. The quality of music was also on the decline and one really did not expect the directors to take up an experimental song.
 Kudos , therefore, to director B.S. Thapa to have allowed this Mahendra Kapoor song on Reena Roy. The allusion to Seeta indicates the life and times of the protagonist

The last song in this anthology is from a film of the 90s. The voice of Jagjit Singh on the hapless, but  expressive Kajol,  says it all. The loss of a loved one is emoted by both the male singer and female actor , making it an unforgettable song.

And a good one to end the episode with. 

 

My top ten.... a new series !

After a rather long sabbatical , it is now time to resume the Random Thinking,  to come up with compilations and anthologies to entertain, enlighten and enthuse the lovers of hindi film music.

In 2017, I had started off a series of blogs, once a week to be exact, based on the news highlight of the week and connecting it to hindi film songs down the years. The series was posted for 50 weeks, a reminder of Golden Jubilees of those years.

I had intended to start a new series in 2018, but events got into the way and it took me quite some time to get back to writing.

So, this week I am kicking off with a new series

MY TOP TEN

The songs will be on a theme and I have selected my favourites, in no particular order . So, don't mind if your choice is missing. But, do mention it in the feedback to enrich the anthology.
Who knows, it may lead me to change my mind, too !


Here is the first instalment of the MY TOP TEN series, designed to be infrequent, as are all research-based works.

Lyricists using similar words for two songs
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I was doing some research on the lyrics of great lyricists. During the study, I came across an interesting instance where a lyricist used the same song in two films.

Surprisingly, the lyricist is none other than Sahir Ludhianvi who repeated his lyrics again...

The team of Sahir Ludhianvi , S.D.Burman and Guru Dutt in the film Pyasa ( 1957)   gave some very beautiful songs. In this film, the song Jaane kya tu ne kahi is one of the highlights of the score. However, the prelude to the song is a couplet recited by Geeta Dutt in "tarannum". This triggers Guru Dutt into interacting with her and then she breaks into the song. The lines sung by were "Phir na keeje meri gustaakh-nigaahi ka gila".

Interestingly , Sahir expanded these lines into a full-fledged ghazal in the film Phir Subah Hogi
 ( 1958), converting it into a popular duet.

   

I found out later that there are many lyricists who re-worked or adapted or used similar lyrics in more than one films. We take a look at another  song by another lyricist whose mukhda was used many years later.

This is a Lata Mangeshkar song from the Shammi Kapoor-Shyama film Mirza Sahiban ( 1957). The composer is Shardul Kwatra and the lyricist is Varma Malik. Shammi Kapoor, before becoming the incarnation of alpha male had portrayed soft roles of forlorn lover as in this film and Laila Majnu. The song of separation appears to be a routine song of this genre.

The song would have been one of the many such songs, had the lyrics not been used 17 years later by  Varma Malik, who  used the lyrics of this song, "Tabiyat theek thi aur dil bhi beqarar na tha "  in Manoj Kumar's Roti Kapda Aur makaan ( 1974) in the chartbuster "Mehangayi Maar gayi" as a lyrical interlude ( from 2.02 onwards).

                                       

 Majrooh Sultanpuri had been a lyricist who worked with more than two generations of composers, right from Keemat in 1946  to Ek se badh kar ek in 2004, if you are not counting Yaar meri zindagi
( 2008), which was released many years after being made. .

In the year 1965, amongst the many films he worked on, two films had songs with similar lines !
 Both songs started off with the same words ( and meaning)  , so the mukhda, "Aise to na dekho "  appears to be the same. Of course, the development of the songs was different suiting the situation.The Dev Anand song was a solo, wooing Nanda. The Pradeep Kumar- Meena Kumari song is a duet. The composers were also different. Both songs are equally delightful to listen, however.

 Rajinder Krishan was a prolific song writer, having written songs for varying situations and scenarios. His first film as a lyricist was Zanjeer ( 1947) and his swan song was Ulfat Ki nayi manzilein ( 1994), a film which was released some 30 years after it was made.

Let us check up  two of his songs, which are very similar in words and meter.

In Baarish ( 1957), Rajinder Krishan wrote a duet, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Chitalkar, "Phir wohi, chand, wohi hum , wohi tanhayi hai" . Hindi film music lovers will immediately note the similarity between this song with the celebrated Talat Mehmood song in Jahan Ara , 7 years later.

That song was also written by Rajinder Krishan, which was an adaptation of the less popular earlier song. The composer of the earlier song was C.Ramchandra and that of the latter, Madan Mohan .
CR's tune is a tad lively and Madan Mohan's composition is melancholic. Probably that is the reason it became more popular.
The Baarish songs starts at 00:56

 In 1961, Prem Dhawan wrote a beautiful duet for the film Zabak. The song, composed by Chitragupt and sung by Rafi and Lata was Teri duniya se door, chale hoke majboor, hamein yaad rakhna. The song was a hit and is remembered to this day.

In 1970, Prem Dhawan re-worded the mukhda to give another beautiful song, this time a solo. The film was Pavitra Paapi and the song, sung by Kishore Kumar was Teri duniya se , hoke majboor chala, main bahut door, bahut door, bahut door chala. This song, composed by Prem Dhawan himself , is also etched in our memory.

Javed Akhtar, who turned a lyricist with Silsila, wrote a song in 1985 and then tweaked it to give another song with similar mukhda in 1998 

The song in Arjun was Bhoori aankhon wala ek ladka , sung for Sunny Deol by Dimple Kapadia.

In 1998 , in the film Duplicate, Shahrukh woos Juhi Chawla with Javed's words ( written for Shabana, probably), Katthai aankhon wali ek ladki, similar to song of Arjun ( slight change of colour).

                                        

And now it is the turn of one of the most prolific lyricist of all times : Anand Bakshi. The interesting thing about the song is that the catch- phrase of this song got popular when he used a full 20 years later !

In Jigri Dost ( 1969) , Anand Bakshi wrote a song which had a great hook-phrase but it was shadowed by more melodious songs of the film.Twenty years later, Bakshi Sahab used the same phrase " Tirchhi Topi Wale" in the film Tridev ( 1989) , which was an instant hit coupled with the cries of Oye oye !

                                       

Indeevar is one lyricist who has seen the good and bad times of Hindi film music. Associated with composers of old generation as well as young crowd, he has been consistently writing songs. 

His song with mukhda "Pyar Kabhi kam na karna sanam" for Ek Mutthi Aasmaan (1973) was a peppy duet, composed by madan Mohan and very popular on Vividh Bharti.
Years later he wrote a song with almost same lyrics for a Bappi Lahiri film Prem Pratiggya 1989

                                         

Just as music directors re-work, adapt or repeat their tunes for different films, lyricists also re-word their lyrics sometimes for similar situations.
Let us  listen to a song by Hasrat Jaipuri about the aspirations of the young generation and note that similar sentiments were expressed 11 years later in a similar situation.

Shararat (1959) had this delightful song by Kishore Kumar , which gave hope that the young generation is out to do great things, if left unfettered.

Hum matwale naujawan, manzilon ke ujaale/
log karein badnaami, kaise ye duniyawale//

11 years after Shararat, in Umang (1970) Hasrat Jaipuri again wrote a song about the youth of this country , who were at the cross-roads , with the colleges and campuses erupting with discontent. Hasrat sahab, gave vent to their expressions with this song, sung again by Kishore Kumar and also composed by Shankar Jaikishan again.

Hum log hain aise deewane, duniya ko jhuka kar maanenge/
manzil ki dhun mein aaye hain, manzil ko paa kar maanenge//

                           

                                                                             

Shailendra is one lyricist, from whom we expect least repetition. However, the Jaagte Raho ( 1956) phrase "Zindagi khwab hai", on which the immensely popular classic song , sung by Mukesh ( composed by Salil Chaudhary ) was created, was used by Shailendra again.

The second time the phrase was employed by Shailendra was for the 1965 film Chhoti Chhoti Baatein, for which the song was a more serious and melancholic one, different from the philosophical sense of the first song. This was also sung by Mukesh under the baton of Anil Biswas, this time.This was intentional on the part of Shailendra as he was asked to pen a Tribute to Recently Deceased Motilal---so he chose one of his own good songs picturized on Motilal !

                      There are many other instances of lyricists re-wording their lyrics for a different film. In fact there have been instances of  the complete songs being used in more than one film.
Wo kahani, phir sahi....