Lockdown Legends ( Day 15) : Switching Singers

Legends are not only people. Films are legends. Songs are legends. And so are the anecdotes and the efforts which go behind making of films and songs. So, it makes sense to turn our attention to such events and happenings  which have turned legendary in the Hindi film folklore.


The instances recalled today are the curious cases of  change in the singers of legendary songs. Now, such changes may take place due to various reasons, but the interesting point here is that the singers were changed after the recording was done. It happens sometimes that the music director , during rehearsal, doesn't get the effect required and the singer is changed to a more suitable incumbent. But doing so  after recording does not happen normally. Hence,legendary !

The first instance I recall is said to have happened during the making of the 1952 Bimal Roy film Naukri.
 Since Kishore Kumar was the hero of the film, the singer-actor justly assumed that he would sing his own songs. But Salil Chowdhury, the formidable music director from Bengall had sought Hemant Kumar’s vocals and had a portion recorded also.   Kishore rushed to Chowdhury’s music room at Mohan Studios, Andheri, only to be told: “But I have never heard you before… Not one song of yours did I hear in Calcutta.”
Kishore, pursuing his case, later went to Chowdhury with records of two of his best songs — “Marne kee duaaen kyun maangoon” (Ziddi, 1948) and “Jagmag jagmag kartaa niklaa” (Rimjhim, 1949). Chowdhury dismissed both as “laboured”. It was only after Bimal Roy  put in a word that Chowdhury relented, though under protest
Kishore Kumar justified the director’s trust by infusing the simple yet touching lyrics with sincerity. Kishore kumar went on to sing 24 more songs for Salil da in all the four decades from 50s to 80s.


                                          



And here is the sad version of the song, Salil Chaudhary recorded in the voice of Hemant Kumar !


                                        

Two interesting events happened during the making of the music of the film Aadmi (1968) , whose composer was Naushad. One song which was a solo, 'Na aadmi ka koi bharosa' was to be sung by Mohammad Rafi.  The recording was held up because of   Rafi's trip abroad and  Naushad was forced to record the song  in the voice of Mahendra Kapoor. But before the picturization , Rafi came back . Naushad changed the tune and recorded the song in the voice of Rafi.  

Then there was a duet , " Kisi haseen aaj baharon ki raat hai",  in which both Dilip Kumar and Manoj Kumar were present and Naushad had already recorded the song in the voices of Rafi ( for Dilip) and Talat Mehmood( for Manoj Kumar) and all was well.

However,after  the solo song incident,  Manoj Kumar ( whose ghost voice by now was Mahendra : remember 1967 film Upkar's    Mere desh ki dharti )   insisted that the Talat portion in the duet be re-recorded by Mahendra. Since Mahendra Kapoor had no other song planned in the film, the assertions by Manoj Kumar were taken seriously.

When it was decided that the song will be re-recorded , Mahendra Kapoor   said he couldn’t do it as he had idolised Talat saab.  As told by Rohan Kapoor, his son, Mahendra Kapoor met Talat and shared the decision. “Talat saab, magnanimous as he was,  said, ‘You’re like my son. If you don’t sing it, someone else will. So it was with Talat saab’s blessings and consent that Mahendra Kapoor sang the song".   The record , which already had been released , only contains the Rafi - Talat duet whereas the film has  the Rafi - Mahendra Kapoor version.

 Here are the two versions, one after the other.

While switching  the singers had  happened in the 50s on the request of the director and in the 60s, due to the insistence of a star, in the 70s, this happened because of a completely different reason !


HMV had been the giant record company since times immemorial in India and had   the copyrights of almost all the  songs in Hindi films. During the late 1960’s The Gramophone Company of India, Ltd. was challenged in the market for Indian repertoire by the formation of Polydor India, Ltd., who had a disc pressing plant at Kandivlee, north of Bombay.  Thus developed a market struggle between the ‘Gramophone’ and ‘Polydor’ companies in India for the rights to songs from the films being produced by numerous motion picture producers in India.

In the early 70s, film producers started to shift to Polydor and they notched up important projects , some of whom proved to be chartbusters, thanks to the composers of the films. The Train, Sachcha Jhootha, Johny Mera Naam, jawani Diwani are some of Polydor's early successes. In fact, if you listen to SAREGAMA (  the new avatar of HMV) Geetmala Ki chhaon mein, a  2010 series by Ameen Sayani based on Binaca Geet Mala Hit Parade , the songs which were recorded by Polydor are not played and  only mentioned by sayani , as HMV does not have a copy right.

Back to 70s.
The success of the films mentioned above forced the big company to devise a strategy to counter the rapidly rising competitor. HMV exploited the lax Copyright Act 1957(section 52) , which permitted cover versions just by filing a notice of intent and paying nominal royalty, without the necessity of seeking permission, to make cover versions of the music of these films. HMV employed new siingers ( Ambar Kumar, Krishna Kalle etc.) to sing these re-recorded songs and sold the LPs. Gullible fans bought them thinking they are original and HMV raked in money even from the recordings made by their competitiors.


The cover version LP











The Original LP



          








Leaving you with one such recording,  after which  the original song from Johny Mera Naam is also presented in the voices of Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, composed by Kalyanji anandji. 

The cover version                                                                   


The original


                                            

 Years later , Gulshan Kumar ( for T-series) paid HMV back in its own coin when he made a flourishing empire whose foundation was an array of cover versions by up-and-coming singers !

Lockdown Legends ( Day 14) : The Rebel Qawwal

There are a few songs which catch the attention of public in such a manner that it becomes like an anthem, liked by one and all. Such songs, if they are from films, tend to spread like wildfire and there is no one who is unaware of the song. Today's artiste is credited with singing the song which captured the imagination of the whole nation and the singer is Aziz Nazan. The song? We'll come to it ...


Aziz Nazan was born ( in 1938) in Kerala in an orthodox Muslim family, which meant that music was discouraged and every time he was found to be singing by his family members, he was punished badly. Only after the death of his father ( he was 9 then)could he pursue his inclination for music which he had shown from the early age.He joined Orchestra and began to sing the songs of Lata Mangeshkar. After some time he joined the famous Qawwal, “Hamein to loot liya mil ke husn walon ne” fame Ismail Azad’s party as a chorus singer. Gradually he got a recognition as an individual qawwal.
 

His non-film career took off when, in 1958, He signed a contract with The Gramophone Co. In 1962,his record “Jiya nahin maana” was released and became a big hit. With this album he cemented his place as a Qawwal.In 1968 his record “Nigah e Karam” was released and it became a great hit among Qawwali fans.
Around the same time he sang a qawwali for the film Palki, " Main idhar jaaoon ya udhar jaaoon"


  
                             

In 1970, he recorded a song with Columbia  Music Co. and   this number was hugely popular.In 1973 film “Mere gharib nawaz” was released. In the middle of the film, a 20 minute reel of Aziz Naza, singing this number shown and  because of this number film “Mere gharib nawaz” got significant success.  In 1974 I.S. Johar added this song “Jhoom barabar jhoom sharabi” in his film “5 Rifles” and  all hell broke loose ! 
The song was an instant hit with the masses and is still considered one of the highlights and reasons of success for   Johar's film.


                                  


 In his early life he used to go to the house of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab, who lived in the same area of Bhendi Bazar, Many of the Ustads of the Indian classical music gathered at his house every day. Aziz Nazan used to listen to them singing or playing, and of course learned a lot from them. After he got fame, he became shagird of Mohd. Ibrahim Khan Sahab, younger brother of music director Ghulam Mohd. And assistant of music director Naushad, and he began to take regular lessons of music.

After some time he got a chance to learn music from veteran music director Rafiq Ghaznavi, who was the Ustad of music director Madan Mohan and Ghulam Mohammad.

He learnt classical music and to play many instruments like harmonium, tabla, bongo etc. He had a good sense of rhythm. Being a Malabari,his mother tongue was Malyalam and he got his institutional qualification in Gujrati mediam, but to sing Qawwali he had to learn Urdu, so he learned Urdu from a Shair named Sadiq Nizami.

He, thus, equipped himself to sing one of the most difficult genres of music and excelled in it due to his hardwork and innate talent.

Madan Mohan invited him to his recording studio for a song which he sang with Amnar Kumar, Mohammad Rafi and noted qawwals Shankar-Shambhu.



                          
He composed and directed music of all of the non-film Qawwalies he sang. His created music which was beyond the tradition of the Qawwali, so he got the title “Baghi Qawwal” or “The Rebel Qawwal”.  In an era when Qawwali was based only on tabla and harmonium, he introduced western instruments like mandolin, bass guitar, congo, bongo, wind instrumental section   to Qawwali. besides this he introduced new rhythm patterns and tough challenging music parts and music arrangement to the Qawwali.
  Aziz Nazan became a big name as a playback singer also. He sang in many films there after like Rafoo cakkar (bhajan bina chain na aaye , Fakira (hum to jhuk kar salaam karte hain 1976), Nehle pe dehla (sun le tu binti meri haji ali), and Trishna (1978) to name a few of them. In Trishna he acted in a special appearance and song “Husn wale kisi ke yaar nahin hote hain” was picturised on him.In Qubani , he sang the title song.

Leaving you with a non film Qawwali by Aziz Nazan , who passed away in 1992.

Lockdown Legends ( Day 13): The Creative Combination

Bollywood has had a great tradition of pairs of composers giving music in films ( starting from Husnlal-Bhagatram) , each one being a giant in his own right. A team of music directors brings a lot of experience and a combination of their individual skills , making the scores more melodious and successful. Today we examine the works of a less successful but very creative duo: Sapan Jagmohan !


Sapan Sengupta and Jagmohan Bakshi were two singers in Salil Chaudhary's choir and also were backup singers in Hindi films.Theirs was an interesting mix - the lilting rhythms of Punjab (Jagmohan Bakshi) with soft melodies of Bengal (Sapan Sengupta). Their overall style evolved, occasionally imbibing from various sources, but inherently built around their individual music backgrounds and inherent abilities.

Sapan Sengupta spent his childhood as a neighbour of renowned composer and singer Pankaj Mullick, whose son was his best friend. The influence was evident:  Sapan regarded him his guru, getting to learn and draw inspiration from the man’s work and prevailing musical atmosphere
On the other hand, the love of singing and music brought Jagmohan Bakshi   to Bombay. Graduating from Lucknow University, Jagmohan was known to be fond of dancing and singing as a child.
With love for music and partition memories being common, they soon became good friends. While Sapan also composed for All-India Radio when in Bombay, Jagmohan Bakshi’s individual singing attempts in a few films did not give him the fame he was looking for.

In 1961,  they decided to team up and form a composer duo. Their first film was released in 1963 ( in the same year that  Laxmikant Pyarelal, another aspiring duo got their Parasmani released, having  chartbusters songs) as their film Begana was released.Though the film did not do well, one song was very popular and played frequently on Vividh  Bharti



                                     

They had to wait till 1966 for their next project. The music scene in early 60s was extremely competitive . While all the stalwarts of previous years ( Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, Hemant Kumar, S.D.Burman, ravi , O.P.Nayyar, Madan Mohan and Kalyanji Anandji) were still active, new composers such as Laxmikant Pyarelala, R.D.Burman and Usha Khanna had started to make an impact. The duo needed all their skills to survive in the rat-race !

Apart from an occasional hit ( like the beautiful title song in Teri Talash Mein -- a great haunting melody and another title song in Gustaakhi Maaf) , the 60s were , in general, a barren phase for the second SJ team !

The 1970 film Chetna changed all that and its music was a big hit, bringing limelight to the Sapan Jagmohan team. Mukesh's beautiful rendition of Naqsh Lyallpuri's amazing words (  “Pyar ki raah mein, phool bhi they magar, maine kaante chune”) made the song 'Main to har mod par tujhko doonga sadaa' a big hit. The song was played at No.23 in the 1971 Binaca Geetmala, as the film was released in late 1970.

                                          


Sapan Jagmohan started to get films and in each film they were able to give one or two  good songs.Songs which were mildly popular were  from films such as Doraha ( tumhi rehnuma ho),Nayi duniya naye log ( do honth hile , ek geet suna) and Alingan ( Pyaas thi, phir bhi taqaza na kiya and Maat ang chola saaje re) before they hit the bulls eye with Call Girl(1974). The tandem song Ulfat Mein zamaane ki was a big hit and the  refreshing duet Hum hain jahan wo pyar ki, alongwith the title song, I am a call girl made the album a good one to listen to.


The success of Sholay and Deewar meant that the era of romantic musicals was fading away and action films were the films of future. With compositions suiting soft romantic situations, Sapan Jagmohan  were handicapped and had infrequent work and that, too in B-grade films. They had a few successes like Kagaz ki Naav  har janam mein hamara milan ) , Sajjo rani ( Nathaniya ne haaye raam) Mera Jeevan ( mera jeevan kuchh kaam na aaya) and Abhi to jee lein ( tu laali hai savere wali) were undoubtedly some of their compositions at par with the best of songs, though  none of them made it to Hit Parades.

The Eighties were worse than the Seventies and SJ found themselves literally out of work and whatever they had was inconsequential. The fact that they were mostly relegated to B-grade movies and that seldom affected their enthusiasm proves what they were made of. As a result, their music, at least until the late 70s, rarely sounded indifferent. One wonders where they constantly drew their energies and motivation from. They made a great team with lyricist Naqsh Lyallpuri ( the association was involved in 70% of the songs) and Asha Bhonsle who sang many of their songs.
When one looks at Sapan Jagmohan’s career as a whole, they emerge as strong and well-rounded composers. The time of their period in the industry was not conducive : in their earlier years they had a stiff competition and later, the era of musicals was over, leaving them high and dry. 

Leaving you with a breezy Kishore Kumar songs, recorded a couple of years before he died. The voice sounds young and the composition is an absolute pleasure to listen to.

Lockdown Legends ( Day 12): The Forsaken Performer

The story of this artiste is another testimony to the fact that success is such a volatile thing. Blink and its vanishes. Armed with a diploma in acting,  a talented actress makes her place in the film world and when it appears that she is here for the log haul, things don't go her way and the loss is for her as well as the film industry.

I am referring to Rehana Sultan, one of the finest actresses to have come out of FTII Pune. She was the first actress from FTII to have got a leading lady role just after passing out. In fact, she had two roles in her bag. Two roles, which were to take her to dizzying heights and change her life completely, though in a manner of a left-handed compliment !

The first film to hit the screens was :  Chetna !
Chetna was  based on the daring topic of a man trying to reform a prostitute by marrying her. The bold scenes and sensuous portrayal of Rehana was touted as the major attractions, as the poster of her naked legs dominated every wall and hoarding. The interactions between the prostitute and her customers was explicitly shown, bordering on soft porn.

                                             

The film was produced and directed by B.R. Ishara, who had directed three films earlier, but with little success. The film had newcomers Anil Dhawan and Shatrughan Sinha. The music was composed by Sapan Jagmohan ( Sapan Sengupta and Jagmohan Bakshi coming together) which was popular. This song on Rehana was relatively  less heard, though.

Close of the heels of Chetna, another film Dastak was released. Dastak was produced and directed by noted poet and writer Rajinder Singh Bedi. A writer of immense talent, Bedi was considered one of the most gifted of the Progressive writers who changed the course of Hindi cinema.

 The film was about the travails of a struggling newly-wed couple who unwittingly rented an apartment, previously occupied by a dancing girl, in a red light district in Mumbai.Sultan played a lonely and tormented woman, trapped in her apartment, while her husband, played by the versatile star Sanjeev Kumar is away at work. They both suffer knocks on their door from unruly clients of the previous tenant.
Rehana Sultan was just out of the film institute when Rajinder Singh Bedi offered her the film. Her delicate features and sense of vulnerability add to her appeal. She was sensual without trying to be. Sensitive handling of a delicate topic by Bedi , assisted by his cameraman Kamal Bose and editor Hrishikesh Mukherjee , made this one of the early signatures of art films in India.

 Rehana won the National Award for this film, as did  her onscreen husband, Sanjeev Kumar. The music of the film was composed by Madan Mohan and the songs were simply out of the world. 'Mai ri main kaase kahoon', 'baiyaan na dharo' and 'tumse kahoon ek baat paron se halki' were exquisite compositions. But the piece de reistance was the ghazal Hum hain mataa-e-koocha-o-bazaar ki tarah.

 Madan Mohan the  National Award for Best Music Direction and  Hrishikesh Mukherji earned a rare Filmfare Award  for his work as Editor.


                                   

Both the films were successful and Rehana found herself as the most talked about newcomer. In addition, she won the National Award for her acting in Dastak. The films were, however, soon forgotten under the deluge of Rajesh Khanna superhits that would follow.  

Though Rehana, in views of critics , " shattered every canon of the industry by accepting the role of a call-girl and mouthing bold dialogue", this became her undoing too. Despite some critics calling  her the "original superstar of new wave cinema for her two unconventional films" and work being appreciated by the iconic Indian director Satyajit Ray, she found herself inundated with what Bollywood loved to call "daring and bold roles".

Producers offered her scripts full of "rain and bathing scenes", a ruse to show skin. She literally ran away from a film because the producer gave her a "shocking" script. She rejected most such offers and waited for substantial roles. The wait, however, was long.

 Her two-film curse is the stuff of an actor's worst fear: typecasting. The brilliant actress was typecast into roles that required her to doll up and be glamorous. Films like 'Haar Jeet', 'Tanhai', 'Dil ki raahein' and 'Savera' had competent performances, but didn't manage to make a dent in her image.Her films were projected in advertisements as having "bold" scene, even when there were none.

 One of her films Prem Parbat ( whose prints are not available anymore), however, had a beautiful song picturised on her, which we shall never be able to watch. 

                                                

Another Rehana film Kissa Kursi Ka produced by Amritlal Nahata was banned during Emergency and its reels were destroyed. By the late 70s, she was reduced to taking up films like 'Agent Vinod' and 'Agent 009'. These were  regrettable choices for an actress who delivered such a memorable performance against one of the most talented actors of that generation, Sanjeev Kumar. 

Rehana married producer director B.R Ishara, who had directed her in Chetna and then she faded out of films. Her last few inconsequential films released in 80s and early 90s.The film  industry lost a great actress and it again outlines the curious ways it runs.

This song from Sajjo Rani turns out prophetic for Rehana , as her dream remained unfulfilled.

 

Lockdown Legends ( Day 11): The Wannabe Superstar

The star we are focussing today could have been a superstar, the manner in which he had started. However, life is all about the 'law of averages' and this was true for him too. From a perfect take-off , he settled for side roles and then character roles within a few years of his debut.....and he is --- Navin Nishchol !


The year was 1970 and Rajesh Khanna had taken over the crown of reigning superstas and his fan following was increasing by the day. Safar, The Train, Aan Milo Sajna, Kati Patang and Sachcha Jhootha , all Kaka films left options for other films only if you didn't get tickets to these films.

Dev Anand with Johny Mera Naam and Manoj Kumar with Purab aur pashchim were drawing big crowds.Dharmendra had his loyal following on display with Jeevan Mrityu, Sharafat, Tum Haseen main Jawan and Kab kyn aur kahan....

In the midst of all this, no one gave a chance to a small budget film Sawan Bhadon with two newcomers Navin Nishchol and Rekha. The music was composed by Sonik Omi, an uncle-nephew team who had debuted 4 years back and were already doing B-grade films.

Sawan Bhadon became a surprise hit and the hero of the film Navin Nishchol ( the first Gold Medallist from FTII, Pune to have made it big)  gained maximum out of the success. The songs were also played frequently on radio and a star was born !


                                      

Nishchol followed Sawan Bhadon with another film with a superhit musical score: Buddha Mil Gaya! The film had one of the most enduring songs by Kishore Kumar (Raat kali ek khwab mein aayi  ) and from then on, Navin started to get great songs in films such as  Nadaan ( jeevan bhar dhoondha jisko), Sansar( ki bas tasana chhodo) , Paise ki gudiya ( Meri baat ke maane do)   and Ganga Tera paani Amrit ( title song).

Around hat time another newcomer was finding his niche in the film industry. When the two newcomers were cast in a film , Navin had the hero's role and the newcomer called Amitabh Bachchan had the anti-hero role, having negative shades. The song picturised on both of them showed clearly who the had the higher billing: the one who got the heroine !
Simple!!



                                      



Navin Nishchol's luck ran out in a matter of 4 years , during which he had a couple of hits like Dharma and Dhundh and an acclaimed film Hanste Zakhm. A few good songs and then he found himself struggling for roles as the action roller-coaster started to dominate the proceedings.Rakesh Roshan and Rishi Kapoor were vying for the romantic leads and on the top of it, with Zanjeer, the " Angry Young Man" had arrived !

When Nischol had made his debut as a hero, he was labelled the poor man's Rajesh Khanna, who was at the peak of his career and had given the superhit Kati Patang.
And Rajesh Khanna himself was struggling in the post Sholay and Deewar period.

By the time 80s arrived, due to stiff competition and limited USP ( can't visualise him as a daku, kisan or  mazdoor ) Nishchol got two-bit roles as one of the many less important characters in multistarrer. Take the case of Desh Premi 1982, where he was playing a police officer and Amitabh was in a author-backed double role.

The tables had turned and though he got a song with Amitabh, it was clear who was the hero: the one who got more footage...and claps !
                              



Navin Nishchol was out of his breath , but the 90s saw him in a new role, as the Idiot Box became an inseparable part of Indian homes. In the sitcom Dekh Bhai Dekh , produced by Jaya Bachchan , he was cast as the elder brother and with a talented line-up of Farida Jalal, Sushma Seth, Shekhar Suman, Bhavna Balsavar, Deven Bhojwani and Lilliput and  the serial was a laugh-riot.

Save for a sombre role in Ek Baar Kaho, a semi-autobiographical role in Bollywood Calling and a measured performance in Khosla Ka Ghosla , not much is left to remember in his later years. What we remember him mostly for are the melodies which were picturised on him.


Leaving you with the title song of Dekh Bhai Dekh, which is now on air on DD, during the Lockdown.

Lockdown Legends ( Day 10) : Struggling Singer

The singer featured today was destined to achieve great heights and he did succeed to an extent.However, his foray into Non-film songs brought him better dividends and it kept him away from Hindi film music. The period of his active career was during the 70s and 80s, which also were not the best years for new singers , since the old guard ( Mohd. Rafi, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar and Mahendra Kapoor) was still in control.

This is  about  Manhar Udhas , the first male singer of the new generation( having been born in the 40s) who persevered in a highly competitive atmosphere and was able to make a name for himself. . Manhar belongs to a musical family ( his brothers are Pankaj and Nirmal, both singers in their own right) and is the owner of a mellifluous voice.

An interesting thing happened in the early years of Manhar. He had already sung for two films ( Fareb 1968 and Nanha Farishta 1969) and was hunting for more work. His brother-in-law, who was making Gujarati films in Mumbai, introduced him to music directorsKalyanji Anandji.  Manhar  used to hang around the recording studios of Kalyanji Anandji to help them in song recording. Once singer Mukesh was not immediately available. So it was decided to dub a song of the film Vishwas ( 1969) in the voice of Manhar and later on Mukesh would sing over it.  When Mukesh heard the song he said that Manhar  has sung the song perfectly and there was no need to record the song in his voice!
 The song became a hit. It proved to be turning point in his career.
That song " Aapse humko bichhade huye, ek zamana beet gaya" was played very frequently on Vividh Bharti and Manhar's voice though resembling Mukesh, got noticed.  

 
While Manhar kept on getting a few songs here and there, his big opportunity came when he sang for Amitabh Bachchan in the film Abhimaan ( 1973). When S.D.Burman chose Manhar for this song, everyone was surprised. Mohd. Rafi ( Teri bindiya re ) and Kishore Kumar (tere mere milan ki ye raina) were the two other voices of Amitabh in this film.

Sachin da was fond of  breaking the  trend of one playback singer for a particular hero/heroine. For one hero/heroine in the same film, he often chose up to three singers, and did it successfully many times ( examples: Shabnam, Manzil, Jewel Thief ) very successfully.

However, the song could not help Manhar much as it was shadowed by other songs of the film, which became more popular and this jinx continued with him in many films. 

Though his duet with Asha Bhonsle in Kagaz ki naav ( har janam mein hamara milan) was praised, work was infrequent. his songs in Des Pardes ( nazar lage na saathiyon) and Aap to aise na the ( tu is tarah se meri zindagi mein shaamil hai) brought fleeting success.

Then he got a good song in Feroz Khan's Qurbani ( Ham tumhe chahte hain aise), pleasant romantic song.  However, again this beautiful song trailed behind 4 other Qurbani songs ( all of which got into annuals of Binaca Geet Mala) and Manhar could not capitalise on his effort.

It was in  the mid 80s and Subhash Ghai's film Hero which catapulted Manhar to super-success as the voice of new hero Jackie Shroff. His duet with Anuradha Paudwal topped the Hit parade in 1983 edition of the popular radio programme.
Manhar had finally arrived, as a couple of other songs of the same film were also popular.

                                            


Feroz Khan reposed his faith in Manhar ( Jaanbaaz- 1986) and Subhash Ghai also repeated him in Ram Lakhan 1989 ( tera naam liya) and Saudagar -1991( ilu ilu) , making the decade of 80s and 90s bring fruits of labours of 25 years, for Manhar Udhas.

Manhar , during this period, diverted to Gujrati ghazals and Sai bhajans and this became his main focus, as the film offers dwindled. He has managed to entrall the audiences in one way or the other, even though he was  not able to reach the top bracket.

Leaving  with a Sai bahajan by Manhar , in these grave times to give us strength.

Lockdown Legends (Day 9) : Deserted Diva

 

Hindi film industry is an amazing place. True to the plots of many of its films, there are as many rags- to- riches stories as those of the reverse kind. Today's story is about a singing sensation who created history and was , in times to come, relegated to history ! 

Rajkumari joined hindi films at the tender age of 8, as a child actor in Radhe Shyam aur Zulmi Hans (1932), thus becoming one of the pioneering figures in the Indian talkies. She worked in theatre for few years, before returning to films, joining Prakash Pictures as actor and singer. In the meantime, she had recorded her first song for HMV, at the age of 10 !

She had much softer and sweeter voice with a narrow range than the leading singers of the time. In the next two decades she sang for 100 films, till the early 1950s.

In the 30s, she acted and sang  ( as was the norm at that point of time) and had many films to her credit which kept the box office busy. She began getting fed up with having to watch on her figure and decided to stick to just singing as a career. By the time she quit Prakash Pictures, playback singing was introduced with and she began playback singing for leading actresses , becoming the first female playback singer of Indian cinema.

The 40s was a busy time for the singer. She was competing with Zohrabhai Ambalewali, Amirbai Karnataki, Shamshad Begum, Uma Devi ( aka Tuntun)  and Suraiyya and giving them a tough time. She was working with the leading composers and was a respected name in filmdom.
                                      



From late 40s and upto mid-50s, changes took place in the hindi film music world. New singers such as Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Roy and  Asha Bhonsle had their own distinct vocal qualities and were racing ahead at a fast pace. Rajkumari had her hits too such as Sun bairi balam sach bol re..ib kya hoga, kajrari matwari madbhari do ankhiyan, tumhe apna banaya tha and a couple of songs from Mahal (1949).

Incidentally, this was the beginning of the end of road for Rajkumari because it was from  this film that Lata Mangeshkar had arrived with Aaayega aanewala. The Rajkumari songs were equally fascinating and hence,  it was a big loss for the Hindi film music that she lost out to new singers.



                                       


Rajkumari all but ended her career in 1955 and in the whole of 60s she was practically out of the hindi film music scene. While composing the background score for the film Pakeezah 
(Work on this film started in 1956 but it was released only in 1971), music director Naushad spotted her singing in the chorus.
 The original music director Ghulam Mohammad passed away during this period and Naushad was brought in to complete the remaining songs. He was taken aback by this, having greatly respected her in her heydays, and heartbroken to hear that she was reduced to singing in the chorus to make ends meet. As a result, he helped to give her an entire song to herself, Though the song was recorded, it could not find a place in the released version of the film and remained in the LPs. This was the song composed by Naushad for Rajkumari after 30 years

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However, Pakeezah was not the last film of Rajkumari. In the 70s, R.D.Burman was composing for a Gulzar film, Kitaab ( 1977) and he recalled Rajkumari to sing a bhajan in the film. The song has been picturised on Dina Pathak . Based on the Bengali kirtan "Hari Din Toh Gelo Sandhya Holo" written by Kangal Harinath in the 1800s, the song is known for Chunibala Devi's rendition in Satyajit Ray's classic "Pather Panchali" (1955).

The bhajan brought down the curtains of a fantastic career of 45 years, punctuated with successes, failures and a third element......... isloation !

PS: While on Rajkumari, it is not out of the way to state that there were 4 artistes named Rajkumari !
This article was about Rajkumari Dubey ( she had married one V.K.Dubey who was also from Benares, her birthplace).

 There was one Rajkumari from Calcutta and was thus called Kalkattewali. She acted with Saigal in Devdas and also sang songs in the film and was active till 1938 only.
The third Rajkumari was known as Rajkumari Shukla. Basically she was an actress. Making matters complicated, she sang a song in  a movie Panghat ( 1943)  dominated by Rajkumari Dubey !). Both of them acted together in a few films.

The fourth Rajkumari, was T R Rajkumari (her actual name being Thanjavur Ranganayaki Rajayee). She was a famous Tamil film actress who had acted in the Hindi as well as Tamil version of Chandralekha(1948), essaying the title role of Chandralekha, a village belle and a circus artiste (Uma Devi had sung most of the songs of that movie). This was her only Hindi movie.