FROM ANKHEN TO JAILOR
By Kohinoor Dasgupta
HINDI films of the last century often had a scene or two at a railway station or on board a train. The protagonist would thus meet people or leave them behind. What more did a screen writer require to begin or end a story, or set up a song?
Now imagine this scene in front of Dadar railway station in 1948: Jaidev is there. With him is Roshan. (Both Jaidev and Roshan would become famous music directors of Hindi films.) Roshan spots a young man whom he knows. He turns to Jaidev and says, "Jaidev, let me introduce you to a peerless personality, Madan Mohan.” Madan Mohan walks over. As soon as the preliminaries are over, he starts sharing his tunes.
Jaana tha humse door/ Lata Mangeshkar
Jaidev recounts this chance meeting in the five-volume set of Madan Mohan’s music in RPG/HMV’s Legends collection which was released in 2000, twenty-five years after the composer's death at age fifty-one. Jaidev’s remarks are followed by the song Jaana tha hum se door, bahane banaa liye/Ab tumne kitni door thikane banaa liye from Adalat (1958).
“You wanted to leave; made excuses/Now you live at a distant address.”
Madan Mohan: The Unforgettable Composer also includes a memory from Mahendra Kapoor. As a small boy, he occasionally saw the composer while traveling on a local train. Kapoor did not know who Madan Mohan was, but the latter’s terrific whistling ability was draw enough at the time.
Subhas K. Jha writes in the booklet provided with the set: "In his youth Madan Mohan joined the army during the world war II. In 1946 he was employed at the All India Radio in Lucknow where he came into contact with such vocal geniuses as Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Begum Akhtar.”
Therefore, at the time of that Dadar station meeting, Madan Mohan was ex-Military and had worked briefly at A.I.R. Lucknow.
Humse na dilko lagana musafir / Shamshad Begum & Madan Mohan
Madan Mohan’s first film as music director was Ankhen (1950). The film has a rarely heard duet sung by him and Shamshad Begum, Humse na dilko lagana musafir, humse na nazren milana ji (Don’t tangle with me, traveler, don’t be smitten with me). This song is an apt introduction to Madan Mohan’s career-long experiments with form and formula in Hindi film music. The two singers, without belaboring the point, demonstrate a catchy tune and a Hindustani Classical music-based riposte. Madan Mohan intended to create Hindustani Classical-based film music which would delight anyone who bought a ticket to see a film.
Chinchpokhli / Shamshad Begum & Madan Mohan
Now consider the number Chinchpokhli (Chinchpokhli is a locality in south Mumbai, and a commuter train station on the Central line) from the Filmistan extravaganza Shabistan (1951). This one, composed for a dance by the elegant Cuckoo, sounds like a postscript to Humse na nazren milana. Here Madan Mohan even caricatures his plight of trying to hold on to Classical music, while Shamshad Begum casually belts out foot-tapping filmi over-simplifications of Classical genres. As the tagline of Dekh Kabira Roya would say in 1957: "Truth is stranger than fiction. Comedy is exaggeration of truth.”
Mere piya se koyi ja ke keh de / Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar recorded several observations specially for the Legends set. She said that the first song she recorded for Madan Mohan was Mere piya se koyi ja ke keh de/Jeevan ka sahara teri yaad hai (Go tell my love that I exist by remembering him) from Ashiana (1952).
However, the film Ada, in which Mangeshkar sang Sanwari surat man bhayi (I like your dark good looks!) was released earlier, in 1951.
Dil dil se milakar dekho / Kishore Kumar
Ada’s rambunctious soundtrack also features Kishore Kumar (yes, he began singing Madan Mohan’s compositions that early), Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, S.D. Batish and Jis dil mein basana chaha tha by Talat Mahmood. Shamshad Begum showed off her range and prowess in a sitcom duet with Kishore Kumar. Kishore Kumar, with a voice like a divinely tuned instrument of the incipient rock-and-roll movement in USA, would reprise the role of musical combatant a few more times under Madan Mohan’s baton, in Chacha Zindabad (1959), Ladka Ladki (1966) and Bawarchi (1972). The combat might be a slapstick gender bender, or he might take a side in a West-influenced versus Indian Classical music debate. However, Kishore Kumar had no such combative song in a movie that he also acted in, Mem Sahib (1956), which was about traditional values versus age-old greed in a modern packaging. Instead, his character, Sundar, gently urged Meena (Meena Kumari): Dil dil se milakar dekho (Give love a chance).
Tum chand ke saath chale aayo / Lata Mangeshkar
Ashiana was a high-profile project starring Raj Kapoor and Nargis. The subject, death-defying love, gave Madan Mohan the opportunity to pull listeners into an ethereal space created by intense love and longing. Young Lata Mangeshkar’s Tum chaand ke saath chale aayo, yeh raat suhaani jo jaaye (I seek you in the moonlight, the night lacks your charm) reflects the rustic simplicity of Gaura (played by Nargis) in style and words, and yet it is the first one in a series of Madan Mohan songs which depend on the quality of Mangeshkar's voice to cross over into fantasy.
Mera qarar le ja / Lata Mangeshkar, with a vocalized intro shared with Talat Mahmood
Mera qarar le ja / Talat Mahmood
Mera qarar le ja (Take away my tranquility) is sung separately by Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood and is a messaging app throughout the ghost story.
Main paagal mera manwa paagal/ Talat Mahmood
Meri yaad mein tum na / Talat Mahmood
Mahmood’s meticulously sung Main paagal mera manwa pagal (Yeah, call me crazy) begins in a gentle, ironical way that belies the words, and goes on to express the crazy clarity of unreason. An earlier song which Mahmood sang under Madan Mohan's baton began in a similarly quiet way. Meri yaad mein tum na ansu bahana (Don’t cry for me) is easily the most inspired composition of Madhosh (1951), a film based on the novel Pankala by R.V. Dighe. Raya (played by Manohar) sings Meri yaad mein seemingly at a point of no return in his relationship with Soni (Meena Kumari). Mahmood sang the number with great artistry, building the mood of dejection with Raja Mehdi Ali Khan’s words.
Not many people may know that Ustad Vilayat Khan played the background sitar in Madhosh.
O ji zara zara / Suraiya
O ji zara zara/Dil ke tadpanewale, idhar dekhta ja, udhar dekhnewale (Look this way for a second), written by Shams Azimabadi for Khubsurat (1952), was sung by Suraiya the singer-star. Madan Mohan introduced the ask by the catchy "zara zara”. Suraiya’s great voice was the deepest female timbre that Madan Mohan ever used, as far as I have heard.
Also from Khubsurat, Mohabbat mein kashish hogi (If our love isn’t meh) written by Shaukat Jaunpuri bestows a scoop of joy in the form of this line sung by Mahmood:
“Sitaron mein, gulon mein, chand mein tum mil hi jaoge”
(In the meantime, I will look for you among the stars, flowers, and the moon)
Madan Mohan created this music for Mahmood’s voice, and for the character played by Nasir Khan. Was ever a challenge to the fates, or faith in the tenacity of affection conveyed in so gentle yet urbane a manner? This line (and Mahmood’s best work for Madan Mohan) does not transport us to a metaphysical plane. Instead, we are pulled in by empathy. Every mortal is familiar with the struggle to live and love.
Hamare baad ab mehfil mein /Lata Mangeshkar
To conclude the Legends compilation, Mangeshkar re-sang a ghazal from the Naseem Banu starrer Baghi (1953). She was in her twenties when she first recorded the song, written by Majrooh Sultanpuri.
"Hamare baad ab mehfil mein afsane bayan honge
Baharen humko dhundengi, na jane hum kahan honge
Isi andaaz se jhoomega mausam gayegi duniya
Mohabbat phir haseen hogi, nazaren phir jawa honge
Na hum honge, na tum hoge, na dil hoga, magar phir bhi
Hazaron manzilen hongi, hazaron karwan honge.”
When we are gone, people will talk about us.
Returning springs will find us gone, who knows where we will be?
As now, the season will be splendid, and people will sing,
Love will be beautiful, and the world new made.
Neither I nor you, nor our love, will survive,
Still, there will be thousands of destinations, and as many travelers. [My translation]
The composition is simple and stately, the music a perfect vehicle for the words. It is no small thing to be part of Nature’s pageantry, even though every caravan is allotted a short time to find its destination.
Sultanpuri went on to write many more ghazals for Madan Mohan. In his tribute, included in the Legends compilation, he says:
"Ghazal mein jo romance hona chahiye, jo rang hona chahiye, woh Madan Mohan ki tarah kisi ne nahi diya.”
(The romance, the ethos that a ghazal should have, no one infused those (qualities) the way Madan Mohan did.) [My translation].
Badi barbadiyan lekar / Lata Mangeshkar
Badi barbadiyan lekar meri duniya mein pyar aaya (Love destroyed me), sang Mangeshkar, for Dhoon (1953). Kaif Irfani's words fit snugly in the notation and Madan Mohan presents the thoughts musically without skewing the melodic graph of natural speech.
"Wafaa tadpi, khushi royee, loote arman, hansee duniya
Jo aansu aankh mein aaya woh hokar bequarar aaya.”
Faith struggled, happiness cried, hopes were crushed, the world smiled.
These are not easy tears [My translation]
Banni, teri umeed hume / Zohrabai Ambalewali and Rajkumari
Zohrabai Ambalewali and Rajkumari joined voices for the merry wedding song of Dhoon, "Banni, teri ummeed humne lakhon moti bonye.” (Girl, I threw away hundreds of thousands of pearls for you).
Basti basti, parvat parvat / Mohammed Rafi
Sunil Dutt made his debut in Railway Platform (1955). Ramesh Saigal wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues for this film, and Sahir Ludhianvi the songs. Mohammed Rafi’s songs, Basti, basti, parvat parvat gaata jaye banjara (The nomad sings) and Kitna balal gaya Bhagwan! (How changed is God!) became anthems of the marginalized. I used to hear the songs on Mumbai’s commuter trains in the 1990s. Waifs and blind men would sing them in the hope of earning a meal. Kitna badal gaya Bhagwan was invariably changed to Kitna badal gaya insaan! (How changed is mankind!)
Chand maddham hai/ Lata Mangeshkar
The first couplet of Mangeshkar’s Chand maddham hai, asman chup hai (The moon’s wan, and the sky mute) is a melody plucked out of ether. Only the minimalistic accompanying music catches up its poignancy and unreal aura. The body of the song is poignant in a more traditional musical manner, and suits Naina (played by Nalini Jaywant). Naina is unlettered but moral, innocent and steadfast, a type that is doomed to be considered "old-fashioned" and gullible in any time. Naina, we imagine, would express her woe in such words and music as heard in the body of the song.
Although the opening notes of Chand maddham hai resemble Kehti hai yeh thandi hawa (This cool breeze says) from Ilzaam (1954), the songs become unrecognizable as siblings, thanks to the genius of Madan Mohan.
Kadar jaane na / Lata Mangeshkar
The AVM Studios production Bhai Bhai (1956), appropriately starring brothers Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar, is bound to figure in every discussion of Madan Mohan because of his unusual Bhairavi-based composition Kadar jaane na (He doesn’t appreciate me). The song, enacted by Nimmi, earned high praise from the doyenne of ghazals, Begum Akhtar, herself.
Ay dil mujhe bata de / Geeta Dutt
No less popular was Ay dil mujhe bata de, one of Geeta Dutt’s breeziest numbers, for Shyama, who, in the film, has designs on Ashok Kumar’s character, owner of Superior Motors, Madras. (When the film started, Ashok Kumar was working in his private office, and on the wall behind him was a lovely poster of the Plymouth Explorer.)
In one scene of Bhai Bhai the irrepressible Kishore Kumar treats us to a couple of lines without music:
"Mera bangla hai sansar.
Sab chukta ho jayega baba, jab pohoonchenge us paar.”
(The world is my bungalow/ All debts will be paid when I reach the Other Side.)
Shyam similarly casually rumbled Main tera chand tu meri chandni for a hot second in Shabistan (C. Ramchandra shared the music direction credits for this film). Madan Mohan, who paid great attention to background music, must have loved the song bombs. He himself hummed a Hindustani Classical tukda in Mem Sahib (1956) for Chacha (played by Gyani), the wise and loving uncle of Meena (Meena Kumari).
Yeh nai nai preet hai / Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar
The 1956 Dev-Anand Geeta Bali starrer Pocketmaar was written and directed by H.S. Rawail and is possibly the only Hindi film in which a hero introduces himself as "Dukhiram Bairagi”! Madan Mohan composed a Pahadi-based, folksy number for Geeta Bali in a rural setting: Balma anaadi manga de ghoda gaadi (Husband, buy me a horse-drawn carriage), sung by Mangeshkar. However, it was a Mangeshkar-Mahmood duet that made it into the Legends set: Yeh nai nai preet hai (New love). The song has Mahmood’s dreamy voice presenting one of the tropes of Old Bollywood: that romantic love was the great escape. It was the location-defying caper of the human spirit, a means of escape from the relentless pressures of living and making a living. This phrasing was Rajinder Krishen’s:
Chalo chal dein wahan
Zameen aur aasma
Gale milten jahan
Bana lein wahin ashiyan
Let’s go,
Where earth and sky
Embrace
Let’s build a home there. [My Translation]
I mean, if ever there was a blandishment!
Mujhe pyar ki lagan / Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi, Mahendra Kapoor & Madan Mohan
Mala Sinha got her first Madan Mohan numbers in Ek Shola (1956). Mujhe pyar ki lagan (I am obsessed with true love) was the theme of a dance drama staged by the heroine. Asha Bhosle shows her stamina and ability in the theatrical number, in which Rafi, Mahendra Kapoor and Madan Mohan accompany her, plus a chorus and an impressive orchestra. The song, written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, begins with Mujhe pyar ki lagan and ends with Jhoom ke man matwala mera (My ebullient heart) whose tune, curiously, looks ahead to both of Bhosle’s Anupama (1966) numbers, Bheegi bheegi fizaa and Kyun mujhe itni khushi de di, which were composed by S.D. Burman.
Yeh bhool hui, bhoole se kabhi / Mohammed Rafi
Madan Mohan composed a great qawwali-style number for Rafi in Fifty-Fifty (1956), Yeh bhool hui bhoole se kabhi hum teri tamanna kar baithe (I erred, I wanted you), written by Rajinder Krishen. Rafi, as usual, gives his all. Like a sophisticated qawwal, he builds suspense and provides resolution in every verse. As a sophisticated playback artiste, he wraps the wit in exquisite emotion. A verse from the song:
“Kya tumne kaha, kya humne suna?
Kyun raaz yeh khulta gairon par?
Khud apni zubaan se hum apni ruswai ka charcha kar baithe.”
"What you said, what I heard,
How would strangers know?
It was I; I told the tale of my ruin.” [My translation]
Madan Mohan was pushing the boundaries of formulaic situations in this film. Mangeshkar’s Yeh to bata rasiya (Tell me, lover) is so correct with the Classical borrowings that it creates an extra-generic space musically.
Gateway of India (1957) was written by Jagdish Kanwal, based on an idea by Mrs. Santosh Kanwal. The offbeat plot has a wicked uncle dispatching thugs to abduct an heiress. The young woman leads them a merry dance on the sleeping streets of south Bombay. Gateway of India was produced and directed by Om Prakash (whom later generations of moviegoers knew as an able character actor and comedian), who was a friend of Madan Mohan’s.
Chik Chocolate and his music makers, presumably musicians who played for many Madan Mohan songs, made a courtesy appearance in the film.
Rajinder Krishen wrote the songs, and Madan Mohan found himself in the flow. I am not sure that Sapne mein sajan se do batein (Two words in a dream) was used in the film. But I can guess which slot it was designed to fill! There was that record player which was extorted with the express goal of playing a "Leela Mukherjee” song! A framed photograph of Lata Mangeshkar herself was used for "Leela Mukherjee”’.
Do ghadi woh jo paas aa baithe / Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar
Fortunately, the Mangeshkar-Rafi duet Do ghadi woh jo paas aa baithe (If she sat beside me for a little while) was filmed, and how! Music, poetic dialogue, candlelight and the beautiful players, Madhubala and Bharat Bhushan, transform a shabby room into a space where earth and sky may well be embracing.
Anju (Madhubala) has only just met the poet. He was sitting under a streetlamp on Dalal Street, Mumbai, stuck after writing the line Do ghadi woh jo paas aa baithe. It was child’s play for whip-smart Anju to complete the couplet. "Hum zamane se door jaa baithe” (I would forget the rest of the world), she whispered impatiently, to shut him up, worried that her pursuers would hear him. "Hum zamane se door jaa baithe" was more than a poetic rejoinder. The thought came out of the top of Anju's head. Finding a safe place, away from the sort of people whom she had run into all night, was her fervent wish at that pre-dawn hour. Rajinder Krishen found the good words. Madan Mohan created the music that put the soul into the scene. Om Prakash envisaged the scene.
Yeh raat bari mushkil hai (Perilous night) by Geeta Dutt is a nightclub number. Before the first Bond film was made, Anita Guha in a black gown could be one of those dancing silhouettes accompanying early 007 title songs.
The Rafi-Mangeshkar duet Dekhta chala hoon predates Rafi’s Johnny Walker style.
Kaif Irfani wrote the songs for Chhote Babu (1957), including Mahmood’s Do din ki mohabbat mein (Two days of being in love), Mahmood’s duet with Mangeshkar Teri chamakti ankhon ke aage (Your sparkling eyes) and Mangeshkar’s foot-tapping Main khadi khadi (Just like that), sung in the accompaniment of a festive orchestra. The last song is reminiscent of Mangeshkar’s own song Kitni haseen hai raat from Azaad (1955). Manna Dey’s bhajan Tum mere swami Antaryami (You are my Lord, o Omniscient) sounds like his famous song, Kaun aaya mere man ke dware (Who stepped into my heart?) in ovo.
Kaun aaya mere man ke dware / Manna Dey
Kaun aaya mere man ke dware was created for a farcical Padosan-like situation in Dekh Kabira Roya. The film was based on an interesting story by Manoranjan Ghosh. The song is used twice in the film. I admire the situation in which an aspiring Classical singer (played by Anoop Kumar) sings the number with singleminded devotion, unswayed by the comedic context. Using a professional artiste’s voice for a film character was perfectly in order.
Film ghazals
Dekh Kabira Roya was no different from other films of the day in one respect only – it had many songs. One of them was Hum se aaya na gaya by Mahmood. Out of all the memorable ghazals he had composed, Madan Mohan picked this one for his Vishesh Jaimala program. He also spoke about the nature of a film ghazal:
"Mehfilon mein ghazal gaaneka ek style hota hai, jaise Begum Akhtar ka style hai. Lekin filmon mein hum is tarah ghazal pesh nahin karten. Balke gaanewale ki awaaz, film ki situation aur ghazal ka mood dekhte hue raag ka chunao karten hain. Iske ilawa dhun itni asaan banane ki koshish karten hain ki sunnewalon ko samjhne aur gaane mein dushwari na hon.”
"Ghazals are sung at concerts in a particular style, for example, Begum Akhtar’s style. However, we don’t present ghazals in this way in films. Instead, we choose a Raag taking into consideration the artiste’s voice, the film situation, and the mood of the ghazal. Apart from that, we try to make the tune so easy that the listener wouldn’t find it difficult to understand (the ghazal) or sing it.” [My translation]
You can hardly go wrong with such scrupulous standards! Humse aaya na gaya (I demurred) based on Raag Bageshree, is a great illustration, not only of Madan Mohan’s views on composing a ghazal for a film, but also of his immersion in the ragas. He knew their souls and spirits so well that he could abstract a tune from them with nuances only, without labeling them with any recognizably Classical vocalism. Kaun Aaya derives from Bageshree too but is so different from Humse aaya na gaya!
There is much to like about the music of Dekh Kabira Roya. Mangeshkar’s Lagan tose lagi balma (In love with you) is as hypnotic as infatuation. Sudha Malhotra renders the bhajan Tum meri rakho laaj Hari (Protect me, Lord), and Ashkon se teri humne tasveer banayi hain (Portrait painted with tears) by Asha Bhosle is magic when she renders these sound-engineered words by Rajinder Krishen:
"Tadpayegi jab dil ko saavan ki haseen ratein,
Tanhai main kar lenge tasveer se do baaten."
[When I am sad on monsoon evenings,
I will talk with your portrait.]
Madan Mohan, in seven short years in the film industry, had figured out how to reconcile his love for Hindustani Classical music with the demands of commercial Hindi cinema. He was already pulling crowds to theaters. Most title rolls put his name just above the Director’s.
O mati ke putle / Mohammed Rafi
Sheroo (1957) has a beautiful Malkauns-based bhajan sung by Rafi, O mati ke putle, itna na kar tu ghumaan (Mortal, be not proud). In another film of the year, Samundar, the duet Le gaya dekho dekho dil bhi hamara (Grabbed my heart too!) finds Geeta Dutt in form, while Rafi gamely acts inebriated. The exciting background music of Mangeshkar’s Aaja kahin se aaja (Waiting for you) mimics the roar of waves.
Bada hi CID hai / Mohammed Rafi
The Rafi-Johnny Walker heist is under way by the time Rafi sings this Rajinder Krishen couplet in Chandan (1958):
"Bada hi CID hai neeli chhatriwala
Har tale ki chabi rakkhe, har chabi ka tala!"
The guy holding the sky-umbrella is a copper.
Keeps the key to every lock, and the lock for every key! [My translation]
Unko yeh shikayat hai ke / Lata Mangeshkar
Yun hasraton ke daag / Lata Mangeshkar
Rajinder Krishen wrote the screenplay, dialogue, and lyrics for the Nargis-Pradeep Kumar starrer, Adalat. The film is famous for the Mangeshkar ghazals, Unko yeh shikayat hai ke hum kuchh nahin kehte (He complains that I say nothing), Yun hasraton ke daag mohabbat mein dho liye (Love washed away all traces of my youthful aspirations) and Jaana tha humse door. There is nothing metaphysical about these Mangeshkar numbers. Madan Mohan knew he was composing for a film character who has stopped dreaming. Nirmal (played by the great Nargis) sings Unko yeh shikayat hai first at a college mushaira (Mangeshkar, without musical accompaniment) and again towards the end of the film. Yun hasraton ke daag Nirmal sings at her first mujra. The film confronted its audience with the hypocrisy of social norms. College-educated Nirmal takes a job as a music instructor. The music school becomes the focus of a huge scandal. It is painted as a house of ill repute. Nirmal was uninvolved in any of the clandestine activities, and a court of law finds her blameless. Still, Nirmal’s aunt slanders her, her mother dies of shame, and she is thrown out of her home. She trains as a nurse, she marries, has a child, but old slander dogs her steps. Finally, she lands in an actual house of ill repute, and society, bored with her misery, forgets her. Sixty-five years after the film was made, Madan Mohan's music keeps us connnected to Nirmal’s plight.
Aakhri Dao (1958), even today an enjoyable film, was written by Dev Krishen, based on an idea by C.J. Pavri. The songs were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri. Shekhar, another friend of Madan Mohan’s, shows comic flair and extreme commitment to his role! He is well supported by Johnny Walker and Nutan. A discerning listener catches new touches in background music, such as the piece that plays after Sheela (Nutan) changes into her washed and pressed clothes at a laundry.
Tujhe kya sunaoon main dilruba / Mohammed Rafi
Aakhri Dao also managed to do the impossible: fault Madan Mohan for plagiarism for the Rafi number Tujhe kya sunaoon mai, dilruba? (What shall I sing for you, sweetheart?) whose tune sounds like Mahmood’s Sangdil (1952) song Yeh hawa, yeh raat, yeh chandni, scored by Sajjad Hussein!
Why did Madan Mohan compose this song? The usual answer is, oh composers of the day borrowed from one another all the time! I prefer to think that Madan Mohan played a joke on us! Deception was key to Aakhri Dao. Tujhe kya sunaoon mai, dilruba? is sung by car mechanic Rajkumar Saxena (Shekhar) pretending to be industrialist Pyarelal Gupta. Rajkumar is infatuated with Sheela, and one unintended lie splits him into two. The Sangdil song was also rooted in deception. There the character played by Dilip Kumar was infatuated, but with a different woman, not the one he was apparently wooing. Deception, get it?
Hum pyar mein jalnewalon ko / Lata Mangeshkar
Sameer Haider Kamal wrote the remarkable story of the Sohrab Modi film Jailor (1958). The Rafi-Bhosle bhajan Mujhime chhup ke mujhi se door (Hiding in me, but aloof?), the eternal plaint of the devotee, pleases the ear. The "radio song” Boondaniya barsan laagi re (Rain!) is Lata Mangeshkar at her fiery best singing a Megh Malhar-based composition. The best song, universally loved, is Hum pyar mein jalne walon ko (Those of us who know the anguish of love) sung by Mangeshkar. Even ghazal king Mehdi Hassan is known to have hummed it. Madan Mohan caught the exact grain of Chhaya as created by intuitive actress Geeta Bali in the film. The song, written by Rajinder Krishen, is neither whiny, nor a protest. Nor is it a resolve to move on. It is a sightless and (until very recently) underprivileged woman’s attempt to understand her longing for a man whose face she has not seen and does not expect to see. (Psst: When did Chhaya learn to play the piano?)
In the collage:
Row 1 (l to r): Madan Mohan, Manohar, Naseem Banu, Cuckoo
Row 2 (l to r): Nargis, Kishore Kumar, Geeta Bali, Raj Kapoor
Row 3 (l to r): Geeta Bali & Dev Anand, Nimmi, Shammi Kapoor & Meena Kumari, Nutan & Shekhar
Row 4 (l to r): Madhubala, Nargis, Anoop Kumar, Anita Guha
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