Month: April 2018

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – April, 2018

Welcome to April, 2018 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We begin our April, 2018 episode with two very different posts on the common subject of Baisaakhi..

Celebrating Baisaakhi Bollywood Style.. Kedar Sharma (probably) used this situation for the first time in 1946 film Duniya Ek Sarai

Doing Something Different This Baisakhi is a tribute to some of the Shikhs who did a god deal of work in cinema, regardless of whether they faced the camera, wrote the song, composed it, sang it, or filmed it.

Gulzar wearing a turban

And, now, we take up the tributes in April, 2018:

BALRAJ SAHNI -A Journey from Shanti Niketan To Bollywood that ended on 13 April, 1973, about a month before his birthday, and immediately after completing the dubbing of his last epochal film, Garm Hawa.

Ace animator and filmmaker Bhimsain dies at 81 – The filmmaker died on 17-4-2018 night in Mumbai. – In 1970, Bhimsain made his first animated film, The Climb, which won the Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. A series of films followed that embraced a range of styles and concerns, including Na, Ek-Do, Munni, Freedom is a Thin Line, Mehmaan, Kahani Har Zamne Ki and Business is People. The best-known and the best-loved among them is the National Film Award-winning Ek Anek Aur Ekta (1974), meant for children and the children within all of us. After Gharonda (1976), he also directed Dooriyan (1979). Bhimsain also directed live action and animated shows for television in the 1980s and ’90s, such as the children’s comedy Choti Badi Baatein, Vartmaan, and the first Indian computer-generated animation series Lok Gatha (1992).

B R CHOPRA – One Of The Architect of Golden Era Of bollywood. His first ever production was flop, before he went on direct Afsana (1951) and then founded his own banner B R Films in 1955.

Black Sounds Beautiful is a tribute to Benny Goodman, perhaps the greatest jazz clarinetist ever, who was a great inspiration to musicians’ abroad, like our C Ramchandra and his arranger Johnny Gomes, who played the clarinet as well.[A few nuggets as exmaples]… Wo Humse Chup Hain Hum Unse Chup Hain (Sargam, 1950) ǁ Tum Kya Jaano Tumhaari Yaad Mein (Shin Shinaki Bubla Boo, 1952)….The post goes on narrate very interesting aspects of clarinet. So, Is the post a tribute to clarinet? Indeed, that is what the title is all about.

Shakeel Badayuni – The Creator of Immortal Love,Romance and Dejection Songs resisting all temptation to write about social causes.

G S Nepali-The Forgotten Lyricist  whose association with Bollywood spanned around two decades, beginning in 1944 and ended with his death in 1963

People with Books in Hindi Cinema is celebrating World Book Day by presenting 10 scenes in Hindi Films with a character is shown with a book.

April, 2018 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs is dedicated to Hasrat Jaipuri – Beyond Shanker Jaikishan: 1953 – 1955, in continuation with April, 2017 episode of Hasrat Jaipuri’s songs for ‘other’ music directors for 1950-1953.

We also have more excellent articles on Hasrat Jaipuri :

And, now the posts on other subjects:

Songs that tell a story – The purest form of this genre is when a character simply tells a story to a group of children without any allegorical meaning. But the more common form is when a protagonist uses this device to narrate his (or her) feelings which he/she was hesitant to tell directly.

Ten of my favourite Swimming Pool songs – was a favorite location for Hindi Films, as that provided the maximum possible liberty to show the beauties in as natural conditions as can be decently done. Placing a song along with further  justified the swimming pools.

My Favourites: Bathroom Songs are not the song that a novice singer sings in the privacy of the bathroom so as to avoid the ridicule in public. These are the songs that magnify the ‘bathing (female as well as male beauty’ (within the bounds of what Censor Board of India would permit).

Amitabh Bachchan isn’t the only one who is unhappy about the 60-year cap on copyright –Archana Nathan – Film families and producers too believe that their inheritance should be their right.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall – “Vanity and her junior partner pride are often used interchangeably, and they do mean somewhat the same thing. The post goes on to list articulations of vanity through songs in Hindi cinema. The vain actor is listed, and the lyricist too. Relevant words are mentioned where found necessary.. To cite an example from our films, there is a Lata Mangeshkar song in Samrat Chandragupta (1958), which goes thus: “Mujhe dekh chaand sharmaaye, ghata tham jaaye, Main nikloon to kahe haaye—zamaana kahe haaye!” (“The moon blushes when he sees me, the cloud misses a heartbeat, and the world goes wow when I step out”). Do note that this is not praise from others. These are examples of people admiring themselves.”

Barsat Ki Raat Part 2: The Qawwali Duels – Monica Kar, with additional inputs from Peeyush Sharma, revisits the classic musical Barsat Ki Raat 1960, exploring the evergreen memorable songs and scenes of this delightful romantic story. While Part 1 dealt with the romance that began on a rainy night, Part 2 explores the multi-hued nuances of the three stunning qawwalis in the film, easily among the best musical duels the world of Hindi film music has ever seen.

Praised to the Skies is about a very high romantic flattery of uncommon kind, that would make the recipients go red with the blush.

Songs Picturised in a Recording Studio – Such songs actually are meant to underline the circumstances in the movie or the emotions, a character is going through at that point! Or the songs appear as a part of the movie, where the character is a singer. [I, of course, immediately recollect Tum Jo Hamare Meet Na Hote from Aashiq in this category.]

Never on a Sunday is a collection of songs filmed while (usually) the heroin waters Tulsi (Holy Basil) plant….Apart from this, the article needs for reading the use of two altogether different situations that is no..no on a Sunday…!!!!!!

We may never watch it but a new book lets us read the script of Satyajit Ray’s unmade sci-fi film – In 1967, Satyajit Ray wrote the script for ‘Alien’, a film that was to be produced by Columbia Pictures in Hollywood. But the ill-fated movie was never made.

Edited by Sandip Ray, Harper Collins India.

Jaane Kya Dhoondti Rehti Hai: Of a World Where Love Is Incinerated – Among the most introspective nazms in Hindi films, Jaane kya dhoondti rehti hai from Shola Aur Shabnam (1961) rises high above the apparent, inflicting a stinging comment on the rich-poor divide in society. Anand Desai and Antara Nanda Mondal explore the finer nuances of this smoldering song of catharsis, written by Kaifi Azmi, composed by Khayyam and sung by Mohd Rafi.

The ‘Bedardi’ Songs , the songs in sad and happy situations …

The Tragedy Queen and the “Nautch Queen of New Jersey” (thoughts after reading two very informative articles) – which are The Truth Behind Pakeezah Unveiled and Nautch Queen of New Jersey  respectively.

SoY has presented Best songs of 1947: And the winners are? in the series. We will commence our Micro View soon enough.

In our tradition of ending our post with article on Mohammad Rafi or a topical song of his, I have picked up songs that basically have link with the topics discussed in the present post.

Main Kho Gaya Yahin Kahin -12 o’clock (1958) / OP Nayyar / Majrooh Sultanpuri

Aji Ham Se Bach Kar Kahan Jaiyega – Aarzoo (1966) – Shankar Jaikishan- Hasrat Jaipuri

Aa Bedardi Balma – Chhora Chhori (1955) – With Lata Mangeshkar – Roshan – Kedar Sharma

I earnestly seek your suggestions / inputs / criticisms so as to make our Film Blog Festival more interesting and live.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – April, 2018

Welcome to April, 2018 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We have chosen – ISO 45001:2018 – as our base topic for discussion this month

After a pretty long wait, ISO 45001 is now published on 12th March, 2018.

Here are a few videos that explain the key features of ISO 45001:2018:

ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OH&SMS)

ISO 45001 Simplified

ISO 45001:2018 Overview – Safety Management System

It would naturally be interesting to know how ISO 45001: 2018 stands as compared to OHSAS 18001:2007.  Detailed comparison of ISO 45001_2018 with OHSAS 18001_2007 and guidance-explanation notes on the changes is a summary of inputs from different sources to present all key information on the same page.

Making the migration from BS OHSAS 18001 to ISO/DIS 45001 lists the three top themes in ISO 45001:

  1. Management commitment – Where 18001 took a reactive approach through delegation of hazard control responsibilities to safety management personnel, 45001 shifts this to a “leader”, or management, commitment coupled with workers’ participation, as demonstrated by a top down approach.
  2. Worker Involvement – An important component of employee engagement is the removal of barriers and opening up visibility for workers to review audit findings and incident investigation outcomes.
  3. Risks vs. Hazards – ISO 45001 prescribes a more proactive approach to early hazard identification and risk control. Internal audits, conducting pre-task risk assessments like JSAs and SWMS and workplace monitoring will become the new norm.

The currently OHSAS 18001 compliant organization shall have to migrate to ISO 45001 within 3 years from the publication of the new standard, i.e. by 12th March, 2021 –

Migration to ISO 45001 – Transitioning to ISO 45001 – How to get started

Migration from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001

PECB have some excellent videos regarding:

ISO 45001 Key Implementation Steps

and

Using ISO 45001 to Achieve Excellence in OH&S Management and Performance.

For more updated information the recommended sources are:

We will now turn to our regular sections:

For the present episode we have picked up Paul Niven’s article The First Law of Creating OKRs @ Measurement-Driven Management column of Management Matters Network…. No matter how much you hope and try, OKRs cannot overcome a lack of strategic understanding on the part of employees. In fact, the opposite is true, hence the title of this article.

We now watch one of the latest ASQ TV  episodes:

  • Living the Tiny House Lifestyle – Karen Chaudiere describes how she and her husband are building a tiny house and transitioning to an entirely new lifestyle. Watch this Quality for Life story.
  • New Competencies for the Quality Professional – Pat La Londe and Liz Keim oversaw research into the future of the quality professional. In this episode, the ASQ past chairs discuss new competencies quality professionals must have to stay relevant as leaders for employers and clients.

Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems postings for March, 2018 are:

Focus: In today’s world, no matter the culture in which we live, most of us are presented with a multitude of options. Being presented with so many options can be perplexing and, at times, overwhelming…The confusion of so many options will largely disappear once we know how to focus. In this sense, focusing relates to clarity…Concentrating attention on something specific, whether it be an event, problem or person, we summon all our energies to bear on it; thereby, it shuts out irrelevant or insignificant details…This technique will work even if we find ourselves caught in a crisis, where our attention seems to be demanded everywhere at once. Remember one of life’s truisms. Our experience in life is determined by where and upon what we choose to focus our attention and energy, just as a photographer must decide on where to focus the lens and what to leave out. If we let our attention wander, we’ll be confused and fuzzy, just like the picture that results from a lens that is not held still.

I look forward to your inputs / criticisms/ observations to enhance the utility of our Quality Management Blog Carnival.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs: April, 2018

Hasrat Jaipuri – Beyond Shanker Jaikishan: 1953 – 1955

Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April, 1922 – 17 September, 1999) kept his literary soul alive by attending the poetry concerts even when he bodily served as a bus conductor in his early Bomaby days.  Similarly he maintained a live contact with Urdu poetry even when the burden of earning his family’s daily bread kept him tied up writing the lyrics for Hindi Films.

With around 350 films and 2000 recorded songs, Hasrat Jaipuri’s last releases were Saazish with Jatin-Lalit and Sher Khan (with Bappi Lahiri) in the penultimate year of his life. At the time of his death he was working on a few small films and a book of shaayari. “I never discriminated between small and big films and composers. I have the biggest list of music directors among any lyricist – from SJ and Sajjad down to Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan and Jatin-Lalit,” says the man who was master of romance even amidst his versatility.

Hasrat Jaipuri is invariably remembered for his songs composed by Shanker-Jaikishan. But the hard core fans of Hasrat Jaipuri do treasure his songs composed by ‘other’ music directors as well. In April, 2017 we had put together some of his less-remembered songs composed by ‘other’ music directors, starting from the beginning of his career in 1949 till the most remarkable two-some songs of Anarkali in 1953.

Presently, we continue with Hasrat Jaipuri’s some more songs composed by ‘other’ music directors in 1953 till 1955.

Aaye The Thodi Der Ko Betaab Kar Gaye – Khoj(1953) – Ashima Banerjee – Music: Nisar Bazmi

The film had Raja Mahendi Ali Khan’s 4 and Anjum Pilibhiti’s 1song against two by Hasrat Jaipuri. His song, in Jagjit Kaur’s voice – Mera Chanda Mein Teri Chandni – does not seem to be available on net.

Nissar Bazmi is remembered for Chanda Ka Dil Toot Gaya Hai (Mohammad Rafi) from this very film. He then migrated to Pakistan, where he created Ranjish Hi Sahi Dil Ko Dukhane Ke Liye Aa, in Mahendi Hasan’s voice, for ‘Mohabbat’ (1968).

Aa Jaane Bahar Aaja – Paapi(1953) – Asha Bhosle – Music: S.Mohinder

The film had Surjeet Singh Sethi, Rajinder Krishna, Butaram Sharma, Sharshar Sailani having 1 song each, whereas Raja Mahendi Ali Khan and Hasrat Jaipuri had 2 each.

Incidentally, the use of Dholak for rhythm of the tune seems to resemble Shanker-Jaikishan’s style.

Aa Jaao Mere Pyare Arma Tujhko Pukare Dil Dhundh Raha Hai Tujhko, Hum Pyar Ke Hai Mare Hum Pyar Ke Hai Mare – Hamlet (1954)- Asha Bhosle – Music: Ramesh Naidu

The song does seem to have a little difficult tune, but the lyrics maintain the simplicity, creating a very soft, expectant atmosphere while awaiting the arrival the beloved.

Jaoon Mein Kahan Data Jo Apanaa Kaam Hai Vah Kiye Jaa Rahi Hun Main, Ab Tere Dar Ki Khaaq Liye Jaa Rahi Hun Main – Pipli Saheb (1954) – Lata Mangeshkar  – Music: Sardul Kwatra

The film has two songs by Shailendra, 1 by Verma Malik and 6 by Hasrat Jaipuri.The present song is a classic pathos song.

Aaye Toh Kaise Aaye, Majbur Kar Diya Hai
Duniya Ne Do Dilo Ko, Phir Dur Kar Diya Hai

Mil Jaye Tumse Aake, Sahara Nahi Koi – Sangam(1954) – Geeta Dutt, Talat Mahmood – Music: Ram Ganguly

I have chosen this duet over its rather more popular one – Raat Hai Armaan Bhari – simply to highlight the prelude couplet, In Geeta Dutt’s mellifluous voice that does remain a distinguishing feature of Hasraj Jaipuri’s songs.

Mara Re Mara Re Aanke Katar Dekha Mera War, Tera Dil Kiya Hai Para Para -Aab-E-Haayat(1955) (Music: Sardar Malik)

The film had 1 song each by Raja Mahendi Ali Khan and Kaif Irani, 2 by Qamar Jalalabadi and 6 by Hasrat Jaipuri

This is a (the then) club genre song that sets the tone of mid-east Arabian culture. These songs always had lyrics that carried a subtle message to the Hero.

Mohabbat Bane Hai Vo Din Suhane, Ghadiyan Milan Ki Dil Ke Tarane – Aaj Ki Baat(1955) – Talat Mahmood –  Music: Snehal Bhatkar

Hasrat Jaipuri has once again collaborated with Raj Baldev Raj and Kaifi Irani (3 songs each).

The song has Talat Mahmood at his soft peak, that seems to have been facilitated by Hasrat Jaipuri’s simple lyrics, which continue to retain the poetic charm, well complemented with soft orchestrarion.

Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baaje – Jhanak-Jhanak Paayal Baaje(1955)  – Ustad Aamir Khan, chorus – Music: Vasant Desai

It must have been quite a challenge to pen lyrics for a song that appears in the credit titles of the film, and yet  must measure up to status of a classical singer of Ustad Amir Khan Saheb’s class.

Raag Malika – Jhanak-Jhanak Paayal Baaje(1955)  – Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar –  Music: Vasant Desai

Jhanak Jahank Payal Baje was a pure art film, in which songs had to support the dances, filmed on highly artistic sets.

I have picked up this song as one more example of Hasrat Jaipuri’s ease to pen lyrics for a song that runs different classical raags.

Hasart Jaipuri had written one song – Raat Aayi Hai Javan (Singers: Mohammad Rafi, Shamshad Begum) under the baton of Bipin Babul for ‘Shahi Mehmaan’ (1955) (Music: Bipin-Babul), which unfortunately does not seem to available on YT. One can find some other songs from this film on YT. If the song would have been on YT, it would have made an ideal end to the present episode.

Since we do end each of our episode with a song by Mohammad Rafi, I would go back to Pipli Saheb (1954) for this song –

Lo Aaye Jhoomti Pilpili Are Chal Dhal Hai Gilgili – with Lata Mangeshkar

Hasrat Jaipuri has very deftly rhymed seemingly nonsensical lyrics (Pilpilli – Gilgilli) and weaved the title of the film in the song, while still making the song retain its natural playfulness.

We will continue remembering Unforgettable Songs that seem to Fading away from our Memories every second Sunday of the month……..

Disclaimer: All images are sourced from net. All copyrights of the respective image remain with the original owner of the image.

Business Sutra |6.1| What can be measured?

Business Sutra |6| Measurements

We have covered five episodes of Devdutt Pattanaik’ TV serial on CNBC 18:  Business Sutra.

The 1st episode presented to us the most visible form of the business – the corporation: its meaning, its purpose and its action perspective. In the 2nd episode Devdutt Pattanaik discusses Leadership: Role of the leader, Context of the leader and Leadership in different business cycles. The 3rd episode relates to the Business Ethics and Morals:  business ethics and dilemmas, relationship between owner and the organization  and The Right (Dharma) – the Ramayana way and the Mahabharata way. The 4th episode deals with Conflicts, of the Board and the CEO and that of the means vs. ends. The 5th episode takes unto the realm of Education, wherein Part 1 covered the basics of education to the (potential) leaders in Ram’s Education, Part 2 addressed the Knowledge Transfer to Next Gen and Part 3 dealt with the issue of student motivation.

Devdutt Pattanaik takes up one of the most fundamental tenet of the management theory in the 6th episode the series. In the prologue to the episode, he states that, ‘Every B-school teaches students that what cannot be measured cannot be managed. Implicit in this comment is that there are many things out there that cannot be measured, hence cannot be managed. But is that true? We cannot measure our relationships yet we manage them one way or another. The need for measurement comes from the desire to get to a truth that is independent of human bias, independent of human beings. But is truth independent of humanity. Organizations are a bunch of human beings – so an organization’s truth can never be objective. It will be subjective. It will be informed and influenced by the goalpost and the values one chooses to believe in.’

He ends his submission with the lines from the poet Alvar (Tamil mystics who lived at least a thousand years earlier):

“I wonder who is measuring.
I wonder what is measured.
I wonder who determines the measuring scale.
Are they different or the same?”

Business Sutra |6.1| What can be measured?

It would be almost axiomatic to assume that the modern western management science and the practices too, rest quite solidly on the foundation of measurements. In order to make the measurement as objective and as dynamic, it has cast its net wide into several other social, economic or pure and applied sciences. From the beginning of 20th century till now and even thereafter, all-encompassing debate keeps overflowing the western management literature.

The subject is highly researched and hotly debated, resulting into the considered outcomes that span form one of the spectrum to the other.

So, we leave the detailed pursuit of the western management thoughts on “What can be measured” to our readers and take up the Segment 1 of the episode 6 wherein Devdutt Pattanaik takes up the subject of What can be measured?.

Can everything be measured? Is all measurement accurate? Is it true that if you cannot measure it you cannot manage it? Are we headed for measurement overkill? Is that why in mythology the god of accounting or measurement is none other than Yama the god of death?

But the truth of our modern lives is that everything has to be measured – whether it’s our personal ambition, personal happiness or our professional output and therefore professional success. How do you escape measurement?

When we use the word measurement, we are trying to create an objective reality. It is the one that we all can agree is the reality. But there is another reality that exists which is the subjective reality – the personal reality.

Let me explain this in the form of a story. One day Narad came to Mount Kailasa, with a mango in his hand. He said this mango is for the one who runs fastest, who goes three times around the world the fastest and so Ganesha and his brother Kartikeya decided that we will go for the race. Karthikeya immediately leapt on his vehicle, a peacock and flew around the world three times. As he started his rounds, Ganesha sat right in the center doing nothing. He just sat there waiting, while his brother was flying around the world, once and then twice. Just when his brother was about to complete the third round, Ganesha got up and just went around his parents once twice thrice and said I won the race. Kartikeya contested the claim. Ganesha says you went around THE world, whereas I went around MY world.

What matters more in this story is the difference between objective and subjective reality. Karthikeya represents objective reality in this narrative and Ganesha represents subjective reality. Both types of realities matter. So when we are talking about measurements we focus only on one half of the truth – the objective reality. We have completely ignored the other half of the truth which is subjective reality, which is gut feeling, which is qualitative, which cannot be measured. It is about taste, it is about instinct, it is about intuition which cannot be measured. Some of the greatest success stories in the world are based not on objective reality but on the subjective realities of imagination.

But everything today in the world is driven towards measuring everything, whether it is objective or subjective. Is your argument then that some things just cannot be measured?

Some things cannot be measured. Emotions cannot be measured.

But you can create them – are you happy? Are you very happy? Are you very very happy? There is some form of measurement.

Let me tell you the danger of the story of what happens when you try to measure EVERYTHING. You’ve heard about the tragedy of King Lear, the Shakespeare play. It is about the tragedy of a king who tries to measure the love of his daughters, This play is based on a German folktale of the goose-girl which of course all Indians will claim is has its origins in India.

The story is that of a father who asks his daughters how much do you love me? The eldest daughter says I love you as much as sugar and the youngest daughter says I love you as much as salt. In the father’s mind sugar had a higher score and so he said the elder daughter loves me more and the younger daughter does not love me. He, therefore, rejects the younger daughter. Yet from the younger daughter’s perspective she was trying to say how much she loved him because you cannot eat anything unless it contains salt. You cannot eat anything unless it has some salt. So it is the matter of your perception.

The measuring scale may be objective but the measurer is not nor is the person who’s reading the measurement. So if I look at a measure scale, on one side is the person who measures and the other side is a person who is reading the measurement. There are two people, each one coming to the table with his respective bias, with his prejudices. We are completely ignoring this. We assume that if an auditor comes into the picture he will figure out the truth..

Because he is more objective…

The auditor is a human being, with his own prejudices, with his own bias, with his own power games, coming to the table. We do not realize that what the truth that emerges is not just the measure what the measuring scale tells us but a combination of the reading on the measuring scale as well as the subjective realities of the person who measures, the person who is reading the measurement and then the auditor in between. So what you get is a very warped reality.

But there is no solution to this, because we have to measure in the modern world.  In large organizations if you want to reward, you have to understand how good the performance is before you reward it. Therefore measurement is embedded in almost every stage – how the individual performs in an organization, how a team performs, how the organization itself performs for shareholders, for stakeholders, etc. So, how do you get away from measurement, while fully acknowledging that part of it is subjective and part of it is objective?

We are trying to create a world which is 100% objective and therefore we are assuming that we will create a fair world. This is The Promised Land, where everything is 100% objective. This is the goalpost – I want to create the objective world, a fair world. But if you recognize that no matter how hard we try, we will only be 50 percent objective.  Therefore, all our measurements will have flaws in them. I am closer to reality if I am comfortable accepting that the balance sheet is not THE truth, the CV which comes to me is not THE truth. It is an indicator of the truth, but not the whole truth. That recognition is sometimes missing, because of what I call as an  over reliance on measurement. Today it is only about measurement, where as it should be also about measurement.

Let me give you an example of subjectivity. You have heard the story of a king called Mahabali who will give everything to anybody whatever they want. Suddenly, a dwarf comes in front of him. The dwarf says give me three paces of land. Mahabali says yes take three paces of land. So the dwarf starts taking the first step. The moment he takes the first of the three paces, this dwarf turns into a giant and takes the gigantic paces. Within the paces covers the heaven and earth and then he has no place to put his third foot. He says where I should put it. The Mahabali says put it on my head. With that he is crushed and shoved under the earth.

The story talks about subjectivity of measurement. What I think is three paces and what the other person thinks is three paces is very different. So the person who created the measure and the person who is using the measure are looking at very differently. That is where conflicts emerge. We would like there to be this one absolute measurement scale, but everybody’s reference point is different. That is the point that is referred to in the Indian mythology – not in its philosophy. The word measure is based on a on a Sanskrit alphabet called MA, from where comes the word Measure. From this not only the word Measuring Standard comes, which is the reference measuring scale, but also the word Maya which is delusion.

So what one is basically told is be careful of measurements….

So, like the western school, Indian Mythology does not outright reject the measurement. Both have very meticulously laid out that sole focus should not be on the measurement but the measures should also be viewed holistically – from the perspective of why measure, for whom to measure, to measure in what context, how to and how much to measure, when to measure, etc.

In our continuing journey of Devdutt Pattanaik’s TV serial Business Sutra, we will move on to the 2nd segment of the 6th episode – Objective vs. Subjective Measurements, in our next episode.

Note: The images used in this post are the irrevocable property of their respective creator. They have been taken up courtesy the internet, so as to illustrate the point under discussion.

S D Burman and “Other” Male Playback Singers :: 1

SD Burman’s compositions with (the so-called ‘mainstream’) male playback singers like Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Hemant Kumar or Manna Dey or songs in his own voice seem to have been discussed well on different blogs . The discussions have been observed to spread over different contexts like songs composed for heros – for Dev Anand as well as for ‘other’ heroes, composed on comedians like Jhonny Walker or Mehmood, Kishore Kumar or Mohammad Rafi’s duets with either Geeta Dutt or Asha Bhosle or Lata Mangeshkar and many other variants and sub-variants .

The statistics also reflect a similar picture.  The songs that S D Burman has composed for Kishore Kumar (115 songs) and those for Mohammad Rafi (90 songs) constitute around 60% of the total around 342 male (solos, duets etc.) songs. If we add S D Burman’s songs for other mainstream singers like, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey, we would cover around 83 % of SD Burman’s male songs  His songs in his own voice would add further add up to 4%.

This 87% songs account for (2+4+1) 7 singers.  If we call this a classic 80+% ‘Head’ of a rank-frequency power law curve, the 34 songs spanning 18 ‘other’ male singers, a good  13 % of S D Burman’s male songs,  would make a perfect ‘Long Tail’ that does not seem to have been discussed as much.

For the purpose of our discussion of S D Burman’s songs for ‘other’ male singers, we will slice SDB’ career in three period slots such that  each one has had a very definitive set of external factors that seem to reflect his selection of ‘other’ male singers.

As we will see in a short while, each of these three phases has its own distinct pattern in so far as SBD’s use of ‘other’ male singers. It would also be not out of order to note that, barring a few cases, most of these singers have appeared only in song(s) for only one S D Burman-composed film.

 [1]

1946-1949

For our present post, we have taken S D Burman’s songs of ‘Other’ Male singers for the first phase of his career. That phase commences from the beginning of SBD’s Hindi Film career in 1946 and would end in1949, leaving out ‘Mashal’ for the next phase.

S D Burman had composed music for 8 films in this period. We have covered 5 films in our post. The 3 films we have not covered are:

  • Chittorvijay (1947) songs do not seem to have a trace of the digital version on net. The film had had Raj Kapoor, Madhubala, Surendra etc. in the lead. The lyrics of the first line of the songs would lead us to believe that the songs were in female voices. But the trail goes cold beyond that.
  • Vidya (1948) had Dev Anand and Suraiya in the lead. The male songs, filmed on Dev Anand, have been rendered by Mukesh.
  • Shabnam (1949) had Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal in the lead. Here too, the male songs are rendered by Mukesh.

This period has one more Raj Kapoor film for which S D Burman has composed the music. Raj Kapoor sings his own songs for that film. 1n 1950, SDB-RK had one more film – Pyas. The male songs, filmed on Raj Kapoor for that film, have gone on to Kishore Kumar.

With these major indicators, the scenario for S D Burman’s career’s first phase can best be summarised as:

This period of 1946-1949 is the period when The Trio of Hindi Films – Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor – were still the budding, struggling, young actors. Their star-image blazing films were to appear only in 1949 or thereafter. Since they were not stars themselves, they seem to have gone on with any playback singer who was the then flavour of the day. S D Burman himself was still not on the firm footing. That was to happen in Mashaal (1949), His branding association with Navketan was to happen in 1950 with Navketan’s maiden venture Afsar. Moreover, Male playback singing  is yet to become the oligopolic turf of ’50-60’s singers Mukesh, Talat, Rafi or Manna Dey. The actors on the screen were still expected to playback their own songs.

We open the curtains for the day with this rather long prelude –

S D Burman – S L Puri

S L Puri seems to have played minor to major roles in several films between 1934 and 1957. Not very definitive documentation on him seems to be available on net.

Babu Re Babu Re Dil Ko Bachana – 8 Days (1946) – with S D Burman – Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi / G S Nepali (?)

What we have is an audio clip, so we assume that S L Puri would have sung for himself, However for who did  S D Burman played back is not known.  These details apart, S D Burman singing a very light song is novel, and a pleasurable, experience!

S D Burman – Chitalkar

How would SDB and CR have teamed as music director-singer combination remains a matter of conjecture – may be C Ramchandra was still not established as music director in his own rights, so he would have been accepting the stand-alone singing assignments or was his availability on Filmistan rolls the catalyst for this combination ? We know not.

Ik Nayi Kali Dubli Si Dulhan Ban Ke.. – 8 Days (1946) – with Meena Kapoor – Lyrics:  G S Nepali

The song appears to be a wedding-occasion song, but cast in a lighter tone.

S D Burman – Chitalkar music director-singer duo has one more song on the records. The song is from a film which dates a good six years after their maiden combined venture. However, we have included that song here to bring all the songs of SDB-CR combination on the same page.

Teriya Teriya Teri Yaad Sataye Teri Yaad – Chalis Baba Ek Chor (1954)- with Lata Mangeshkar – Lyrics: P L Santoshi

The way Teri Yaad has been played up as Teriya Teriya, the mood, and the composition of the song would lead to believe that song would have been composed by C Ramchandra !.  Moreso, when film belongs to the phase of S D Burman’s career where he, and for that matter most of the then other established music directors,  had well settled with using only the main stream male singers for his songs.

Is that P L Santoshi’s influence, since he was the director of the film as well?

S D Burman – Ashok Kumar

This is the first year of S D Burman in Hindi Film Industry. Ashok Kumar is already the default lead actor for Filmistan banner at that time. Ashok Kumar also used to sing his own songs in that period. So, the combination would not cause many surprises.

Their next association was in Mashaal (1950), by which time Ashok Kumar probably had decided to focus more on his acting. So it is also not surprising that S D Burman has used different singers for Ashok Kumar after this one film.

In the subsequent instance of such a situation, in Meri Surat Teri Aankhen (1963), S D Burman has even used two different singers – Manna Dey and Mohammad Rafi – as he used to do for Dev Anand too, by that time.

Dol Rahi Hai Naiya – Shikari (1946) – with Chorus – Lyrics : G S Nepali

 Dol Rahi Hai Naiya – Shikari (1946) – with Paro Devi – Lyrics : G S Nepali

This is the twin of the foregoing song.

Har Din Hai Naya – Shikari (1946) – with Amirbai Karnataki  – Lyrics : G S Nepali

S D Burman – Shyam Sundar

That this Shyam Sundar is not the then famous actor Shyam is not difficult to know.  It seems there was another Shyam Sundar who as primarily a music director.  Making any statement beyond that is simply outside the domain of my limited knowledge of the pre-1950 Hindi Film Music world.

Loot Liya Dil Chitchor Ne – Dil Ki Rani (1947) – Shyam Sundar – Lyrics: Y N Joshi

Hero’s sidekick friend has landed upon photograph of the beau who has stolen way his heart. So who would miss the occasion of the pulling the leg and get away with?

Muhobbat Ki Na Khana Mithai Na Khana Muhobbat Ki Mithai  – Dil Ki Rani (1947) – Shyam Sundar – Lyrics: (?)

HFGK is silent about the singer or the lyricist. When we llot the video and listen to the song, it is not difficult to surmise that singer is none other but Shyam Sundar.

Sar Phod Phod Ke Mar Jaana Kisi Se Dil Na Lagana – Dil Ki Rani (1947) – Shyam Sundar – Lyrics: Y N Joshi

It seems that now the well-wisher friend of the hero has taken up on himself to get the hero’s lady love to nod in favour of his friend.

S D Burman- Raj Kapoor

Dil Ki Rani (1947) is the second instance when S D Burman and Raj Kapoor have teamed up. In those years, that cannot be the news. The news is Raj Kapoor singing for his own song – whether on his own volition or on the direction of the music director S D Burman, is obviously not known. The fact remains that this is only one such incidence of the kind.

O Duniya Ke Rahanewalo Kahan Gaya Chitchor Bolo Kahan Gaya Chitchor – Dil Ki Rani (1947) – Lyrics: Y N Joshi

Hero is an upcoming singer. Here he is recording his song for radio.

O Duniya Ke Rahanewalo Kahan Gaya Chitchor Bolo Kahan Gaya Chitchor – Dil Ki Rani (1947) – With Geeta Roy – Lyrics: Y N Joshi

The song has become so famous that people from all walks of lives keep singing the song. Technically, this can be termed as Raj Kapoor’s playback song for other actor(s).

S D Burman – G M Durrani

The film is Do Bhai (1947). By now, S D Burman seems to have settled with choosing Geeta Roy for female playbacks.  Incidentally, Mera Sundar Sapna Bit Gaya is the first major evergreen, all-time hit song under S D Burman’s baton.

Aji Preet Ka Nata Toot Gaya – Do Bhai (1947) – with Geeta Roy – Lyrics: Raja Mahendi Ali Khan

G M Durrani was a well-established singer then.

S D Burman – K S Ragi

KS Ragi is one more unknown name to me.  So I search for more information on him on some more versed blogs on the film songs. I do not have to search a great deal, since I land upon a post guest written by Shri Arunkumar Desmukh, wherein he has provided this basic information about K S Ragi:

“Kewal Singh Ragi was born and brought up in Hanamkonda, Warangal in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (now it comes in Telangana).. When he was in his teens, he ran away to Bombay.. and as luck would have it, managed to get entry into All India Radio and started singing there. He was in Bombay for 12 years. He not only got a chance to sing in films,but he composed music too as well as acted in some films,like Daag-52 and Patita-53 etc….He sang in films from 1940 to 1952 and sang songs with Geeta Roy, Shamshad Begum, Uma Devi, Kishori (supposedly, his own sister), Zebunnisa, Khursheed, Roshan ara Begum, Razia Begum etc.…. Some of the films he sang in were, Do Bhai-47, Namumkin-46, Hamari qismet-49, Siskiyan-58, Bulbul-51, Humraz-40, Azamaish-52 etc. He gave music to Bulbul-51 and Siskiyan-58 (unreleased).”

Yaad Rakhana Mujhe Yaad Rakhana, Preet Ki Duniya Meri Abaad Rakhana – Do Bhai (1947) – with Geeta Roy – Lyrics: Raja Mahendi Ali Khan

A close look at the video clip shows that the present song as well as the previous song has been sung by the same actor – Ulhas – on the screen, but S D Burman has chosen to use different playback singers.  This practice of choosing different singers for the same actor in one film – most particularly in the case of Dev Anand – based on the demands of his tune was to become a major differentiator, in the years to come, that separated S D Burman form his peers .

S D Burman – Surendra

The film is Kamal (1949). Surendra was already an established actor-singer by this time. However, S D Burman has very deftly handled the actor as a singer.

Main To Hun Udaas, Woh Bhi Hai Saukh Jafar Gham, Unke Bhi Dil Mein Dard Hai, Ae Dil-e-Udaas Kyun – Kamal (1949) – Lyrics: Prem Dhawan

Is the use of Ae dil-e-Udaas Kyun, which were closely rhymes similar to K L Saigal’s Ae Dil-e-Bequarar Kyun do we see a subtle attempt to encash Surendra’s fame as ‘Bombay K L Saigal’!

Ab Raat Gayi Beet Re – Kamal (1949) – Lyrics: G S Nepali

Here is the song that presents both Surendra and S D Burman the way we have always known.

Jhoom Jhoom Ke Naache Manwa Gaye Ja Gaye Ja – Kamal (1949) – Lyrics: Prem Dhawan

To me, it appears tune is more akin to S D Burman’s style of singing!

Kahane Ko Hai Taiyar Magar Kaise Kahe Hum – Kamal (1949) – with Geeta Roy – Lyrics: G S Nepali

Surendra joins in only the last stanza.

S D Burman – Motilal

S D Burman once again explores the vocal chords of someone who is known as an actor …

Pyara Pyar Hai Sama My Dear Come to Me – Kamal (1949) – with Meena Kapoor – Lyrics: Raja Mahendi Ali Khan

Most of us would not be able associate either Motilal or Raja Mahendi Ali Khan in such a light mood!

Thus ends the period when it is said that S D Burman was highly dissatisfied with the fruits of his labor at Bombay and was very actively considering going back to Calcutta.

At this point his career is delicately poised at To Be or Not To Be.

We also take a pause at this point and will resume S D Burman’s career journey through the vehicle of his songs for ‘Other’ Male Singers in the next part of this post.