September 2020 – The world is too small? or Is it?

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – September, 2020

Welcome to September 2020 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We first pay our tributes to S Mohinder and Ashalata Wabgaonkar

S Mohinder: Indian music loses composer of catchy melodies – A popular music composer of the 50s and the 60s, S Mohinder passed away at the age of 94, leaving behind a repertoire of classical music-based songs.

Naushad and S Mohinder. (Photo: S Mohinder’s family)

Last of the doyens: S. Mohinder – Sharad Dutt – Destined for greatness, S Mohinder’s (a.k.a. Mohinder Singh Saran) journey took him from the depths of obscurity to the centre of a booming film industry where his unique compositions cemented his storied legacy

Marathi actor Ashalata Wabgaonklar, who has also worked in popular Hindi films including Shaukeena and Namak Halal, passed way on 22-9-2020

We pick up other tributes and memories:

Asha Sings for Salil Chowdhury is commemoration of Asha Bhosle’s 87th birthday and Salil Choudhary’s 25th death anniversary (5th September 2020)

N Datta: The Third Musketeer for Asha Bhosle – After O P Nayyar and Ravi, N Dutta is the third music directors to use Asha Bhosle’s voice as the main stay of his compositions.

Ijaazat is a strangely poetic take on divorce that was rare in 1980s Hindi films – Naseeruddin Shah and Rekha’s portrayal of a divorced couple in this Gulzar film is more loving and honest than many marriages that do last.

The Many Faces of 9/11 – The multilingual, multicultural film ‘11’09’’01 – September 11’ is a collage of 11 different visualisations, each 11 minutes, 9 seconds and 1 frame long, of what September 11, 2001 meant in different contexts.

Teachers and Students: Ten of my favourite songs commemorates the classroom, the bond between taught and teacher, and education itself on the Teachers’ Day. We pick up one rare song as our tribute- Dali Pe Baithi Das Chidiya – Deep Jalta Rahe (1959) – .Roshan – Shailendra

Music and lyrics: How Shailendra gift-wrapped cosmic truths through his songs – Ganesh Vancheeswaran – Once, Raj Kapoor took him along to meet the story-writer KA Abbas, another of Kapoor’s close collaborators. Abbas is said to have narrated a new story over a couple of hours, all the while ignoring Shailendra. At the end of the narration, Kapoor asked Shailendra what he made of it. The poet replied, “Gardish mein tha, aasman ka taara tha. Awaara tha.” Here is one of Shailendra’s title song –

Chalti Jaye Duniya Ki Dagar – Door Ka Rahi (1971) – Hemnt Kumar – Kishore Kumar – Shailendra

Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Majhli Didi is a family drama driven by strong women – Based on legendary Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Mejdidi, the movie stars Meena Kumari and Lalita Pawar in a progressive take on adoption.

Bawarchi — the Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic that humanised Bollywood’s first superstar – Rajesh Khanna, who delivered 17 hits in a row & had a fan following which included women who married his photos, was akin to a deity. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Bawarchi made him more relatable.

In continuation of the Hemant Kumar Centenary celebrations, Hemant Kumar’s male playback singers has chosen to stick to basic tenet that a music director knows which voice would do justice to his composition, while selecting the song for the list. Henatayan 2 further explores Hemant Kumar’s career , from 1960s onwards.

Shailendra Sharma @ Golden Era of Bollywood has posted following memorial tribute posts:

Chitragupta’s duets for Rafi: Melody Personified continues with the series of well-known music directors, known for his greatest songs: Naushad, SJ, OP Nayyar, SD Burman, Roshan, Madan Mohan and Ravi.

Kishore Kumar and Chitragupt – The Euphonious but Underrated Pair .Kishore Mukar’s songs with Chitragupt may be less in numbers, but was quite profuse in terms of calibre.

Music and lyrics: ‘Thodi Si Bewafaii’ and the magic of one-off collaborations between Khayyam and Gulzar

Khel Khel Mein had Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh at their fresh-faced, adorable best – Ravi Tandon’s 1975 movie was part college romance, part murder mystery. And it had great songs by RD Burman.

September 2020 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up (Shankar-) Jaikishan and Hasrat Jaipuri’s Songs Fading From the Memory 1960 – 1961

Till now we have covered

1949 -1954 in 2017
1955 – 1957 in 2018
1958 – 1959 in 2019.

We will now take up the articles on other subjects:

Female Dance Duets – Part 1 presents dances in royal court and Part 2 lists dances presented as mujra songs.

Two Dances by Ruby Keeler Influencing Two Dances by Helen (and a little about something that both dancers may have had in common) viz. Ruby Keeler dancing on a giant typewriter n Ready, Willing and Able (1937) vis-à-vis Helen’s “Typewriter Tip Tip Tip” dance in the Merchant Ivory film Bombay Talkie (1970) and Footlight Parade (1933) vis-à-vis Mera Naam Chin Chi Chu – Howra Bridge (1958) Asha Bhosle – O P Nayyar – Qamar Jalalbadi

On a different wavelength: Why Vanraj Bhatia is the foremost composer of Hindi New Wave cinema – Shwetant Kumar– Bhatia’s work across these films is a testament to both his versatility and his technique.

In the Micro View of Songs of 1945 we have taken up solo song of Vitage Era Male Singers – Part [1] and Part [2] and those of KL Saigal

In continuation to out tradition of ending the post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi, each one of which basically has a link with the topics discussed in the present post. Presently, we remember a few Mohammad Rafi songs composed by S Mohinder.

Mil Kar Jayen Hum Preet Ke Diwane – Jeevan Sathi – with Shmashad Begum – S Mohinder – Hameed Khummar

Suno Suni Ek Nayee Kahani – Naata (1955) – S Mohinder – Tanveer Naqvi

Maa Na Mare Kisi Ki Bachpan Mein – Zameen Ke Taare (1960) – S Mohinder – Indra Chandra

Mohammad Rafi solo version –

Duet version with Asha Bhosle –

Itni Si Baat Fasan Na Banao – Ek Ladkee Saat Ladke (1961) – with Asha Bhosle – S Mohinder – Majrooh Sultanpuri

I look forward to your inputs to enrich the contents of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

Disclaimer: This monthly series of posts is my best-effort-based compilation of posts on Hindi film songs that I normally visit regularly. As I record my sincere thanks to all the original creators of these posts, any other posts that I have nor covered herein shows my lack of awareness of existence of such posts and is by no means any disrespect to their work. The copyrights to the posts, images and video clips remain the properties of the original creators.

The Micro View of Best Songs of 1945 @ SoY :: Male Solo Songs – K L Saigal

We have two films – 9 solo songs of K L Saigal to listen in the year 1945, of which only Janam Janam Ka dukiya Prani is known to me,

K L Saigal’s Popular Song

Janam Janam Ka Dukhiya Prani, Aaya Sharan Tihari – Tadbir – Lal Muhammad – Swami Ramanand

HFGK mentions second version of this song, for which digital version does not seem to be available.

K L Saigal’s Other Songs

We get to listen K L Saigal in eight different styles here..

Aayi Hai Tu To Kaise Dil Apna Dikhaun Main – Kurukshetra – Pt. Ganpat Rao – Jahmil Majhhari

Kidhar Hai Tu Meri Tamanna, Chirag Dil Ka Mere Jala Ja – Kurukshetra – Pt. Ganpat Rao – Jahmil Majhhari

Muhabbat Ke Gul Haye Tar GuNdhata HuN – Kurukshetra – Pt. Ganpat Rao – Jahmil Majhhari

Tu Aa Gayi…..Dil Ki Tamanna Jag Uthi – Kurukshetra – Pt. Ganpat Rao – Jahmil Majhhari

Chahe Tu Mita De Chahe Tu Bacha Le – Tadbir – Lal Muhammad – Swami Ramanand

Hasaratein Khamosh Hai Aur Aah Beqararar Hai – Tadbir – Lal Muhammad – Swami Ramanand

Main Panchhee Azad Mera Kahi Door Thikana Hai – Tadbir – Lal Muhammad – Swami Ramanand

Main Kismat Ka Mara Bhagwan – Tadbir – Lal Muhammad – Swami Ramanand

We will conclude next Micro View of Male Solo Songs with My Top Male Solo Songs.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – September, 2020

Welcome to September 2020 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

For the year 2020, we have chosen the core subject of Revisiting Basic Quality Concepts w.r.t. the sustained success of the organization As of now we have visited

History of Quality in January 2020
The Sustained Success of Organization in February 2020
Organizational Context in March 2020
Understanding Needs and Expectations of the Interested Parties in April 2020
Risk Based Approach in May 2020
Opportunity Based Approach in June 2020
The Organizational Knowledge for the Sustained Success in July 2020
Competent people for the sustained organizational success in August 2020

We take up Process Management for Sustained Success as our next core concept this month–

The importance of process as the fundamental block of every management systems of an organization is now universally accepted.

Unfortunately, ‘process’ is normally seen with a narrow utilitarian concept of the tool for managing the set of related activities. At best, it is considered a link in chain of different processes that makes up the management system. As result, many times its usefulness in in continually improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization’s performance also is underplayed.

The organizational knowledge that is inherently stored process management gets locked up in either the dusty files or on the huge database servers, behind well protected ‘security’ locks. This traditional approach to the process management falls short on fundamental process management requirements as a live vehicle to carry the organizational knowledge:[1]

These limitations help in providing the road map of a process management platform can help you prioritize process excellence and set your organization on the road to greater success.[2]

The stages of development in the ISO standard 9004 reflects the changing emphasis of importance of process management as a tool to attain sustained success. From being a set of guidelines for improved performance, it became guidelines for process improvement, and then process improvement itself became the approach to manage the sustained success, and now links it to the quality of the organization for achieving sustained success.

The Clause 8 relates process management of organization’s core and support processes behind the scenes of an organisation’s sustained success. This creates a system in which the needs and expectations of interested parties thrive in the vibrant quality of an organisation. The Quality of organization being now defined as “the degree to which the inherent characteristics of the organisation fulfill the needs and expectations of its customers and other interested parties, in order to achieve sustained success”.

The 2018 edition of the standard recognizes that by developing the leading KPIs that are linked to the organization’s dynamically changing context w.r.t. the needs and expectations of its customers and other relevant interested parties, “Organisations deliver value through activities connected within a network of processes.”[3]

The detailed note on Process Management for Sustained Success can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlink.

We will now turn to our regular sections:

In the series the Organizational Culture, we have taken up Measuring Organizational Culture – Measurement of organizational culture acts as guide to the roadmap for improving culture and the performance through better decisions, by more engaged people and more cohesive culture leads to improved performance .

We now watch ASQ TV, wherein we look at a relevant video from the archive:

What is the Baldrige Program? – The Baldrige Program was established in 1987 to encourage American organizations to practice effective quality control in the provision of goods and services so they could better compete in a demanding global market.

To learn more about the Baldrige Excellence Program Click Here.

From Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems this month we have picked up one article

Advantages of Wait Time and what we do with that time. You can either keep fuming and fretting or regard this as gift of time. In the latter case, this can be gainfully utilized to perform something which was being postponed because of ‘lack of time’ – be it develop possible solutions to till now unresolved problems, plan (revise) day’s to-do-list, or just creatively relax and recharge your batteries. The possibilities are endless, in fact limited by your own determination and imagination. But there is no doubt that this is THE time to create a better life for you and the others you influence

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the subjects of Basics of Quality and Organizational Culture and their role in Creating and Maintaining Sustained Success.

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

[1] 5 Key Factors to Creating Successful, Sustainable Process Management – Ivan Seseji

[2] 5 ways process management can drive sustainable success

[3] Achieving sustained success with ISO 9004:2018 – Hope Kiwekete

Measuring Organizational Culture

Understanding the organizational culture provides insights into the inter-relationships, and behaviours, of people within the organization, which in turn explains why an organization acts in manner that it does. Measurement of the organizational culture helps in assessing the strength and weaknesses of values and beliefs that shape these inter-relationships and behaviours.

Measurement of organizational culture is also well studied and documented subject. We have taken up here only a tip of these in-depth studies, to brief us about a few techniques and their strengths and limitations.

One typology that has received a lot of research attention is the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) where culture is represented by seven distinct values (Chatman & Jehn, 1991; O’Reilly, et. al., 1991).[1]

Dimensions of Organizational Culture Profile (OCP)

There is one prerequisite in all organizational culture cases that makes it strong – corporate culture analysis.

To do it, there are several methodologies that can help you take a look at your corporate culture and values.

BNS (Business Needs Scorecard) to Measure Positive and Potentially Limiting Values, is one of the most precise methods to measure organizational values.

BNS as a diagnostic tool in cultural value assessment that uses 6 sections to categorize positive and potentially limiting values:

Finance – values that impact the growth of the company in terms of profits and financial performance.
Fitness – values that describe productivity and the general performance of your employees.
External relationships – values that affect your company’s relationship with outside players, including partners and customers.
Evolution – values that impact creativity and innovation of your company as well as its growth in comparison to your competitors.
Culture – values that influence communication and trust between the employees and corporate leaders.
Contribution to society – the alignment of your corporate values with the values of society.

This method allows you to perform a comprehensive analysis of your corporate values, especially from the perspective of leadership and what it takes for you to observe these values as a leader.

OCAI (Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument) Method to Measure Organizational Culture helps in measuring the active and passive values. It uses the so-called Competing Values Framework.

This method uses a diagram, which helps to identify the direction that the organizational values work towards:

Image credit: OCAI-Online

The result gives an answer about which corporate culture dominates in the company, indicating the changes that need to be made to create the organizational culture the leadership aspires to build.

Employee Surveys for Precise Engagement Rates is one of the most informative and precise ways to measure organizational culture. Besides, you actively engage your employees in creating your organizational culture.[2]

Since May 2016, Dr Tom Reader and Dr Alex Gillespie have led an academic research project to develop a new approach to measuring corporate culture. Funded by the AKO Foundation (a UK charity), this research has produced the Unobtrusive Corporate Culture Analysis Tool (UCCAT).

UCCAT is a theoretically based and scientifically tested methodology for analysing and benchmarking corporate culture. Uniquely, rather than gathering employee interviews and questionnaires to assess culture, UCCAT analyses publicly available data (e.g. annual reports, financial records, press releases and databases) indicative of a company’s cultural ‘footprint’. These data points are termed “unobtrusive indicators of organisational culture” (UICs). Each UIC represents an observable and measurable aspect of organisational activity indicative of culture (e.g. research spending, customer engagement), and can be understood as a ‘dipstick’ into a company’s culture. When aggregated together in terms of cultural dimensions, UICs allow corporate culture to be assessed from the ‘outside’.

The final UCCAT tool consists of 60 unobtrusive indicators of culture (UICs) which are grouped into 6 dimensions of corporate culture (with 10 UICs used to measure each dimension). The following Table presents the definition for each dimension, and a single UIC indicative of it.

As can be seen in this table, each UIC is scored in terms of being positive or negative. If the data is not clearly positive or negative, then the UIC is scored as indeterminate. If data is not available, it is coded as missing. Where all 60 UICs are scored for a company, this leads to two key scores.

First, for a given company, each corporate culture dimension is scored in terms of positive UICs minus negative UICs (so 6 positive indicators minus 4 negative indicators would derive a score of 2). This provides an insight into those aspects of corporate culture for which an organisation is strong or weak.

Second, for a given company, an overall corporate culture score is derived through calculating the total number of positive UICs minus negative UICs (so 40 positive indicators minus 20 negative indicators would derive a score of 20). This provides both an overall assessment of corporate culture (in terms of positivity), and is used to benchmark companies against one another.

Several case studies were conducted with the help of UCCAT. Three key observations can be made from the results of these case studies. The anonymity of the companies examined is reserved.

First, the corporate culture profiles generated through UCCAT appear to discriminate between companies. For example, the sample’s two joint overall top performers had 23 more positive than negative indicators compared to the sample average of 7.3. They were also top performers in the dimensions of Transparency, Governance and Customer Focus, for instance with online archives of accessible company documents going back 28 years. Conversely, the company with the sample’s poorest overall performance had 28 more negative than positive indicators: with Governance, Transparency, and Planning being particularly problematic.

Second, UCCAT provides specific insights for understanding the culture of companies. For example, one of the strongest performing companies (e.g. in terms of Employee Focus and Transparency) performed poorly on the dimension of Customer Focus. Conversely, one of the weakest companies (e.g. in terms of Governance, Customer- and Employee Focus) performed well on Transparency. Thus, UCCAT is able to identify cultural dimensions that should be monitored and potentially investigated for both weak and strong performers.

Third, some comments can be made about the patterns of UICs for each company. UICs such as “adapting to a negative event” focus on signs that a company is improving its culture: for example, by admitting and demonstrating willingness to learn from negative events. Other UICs focus on rarely occurring but highly concerning indicators. For example, the UIC of “adjusting CEO bonus”, which reveals problems in governance whereby failure is rewarded. Crucially, no single UIC or culture dimension can be used to determine corporate culture. Rather, overall patterns are telling, and paint a picture of corporate values and practices.[3]

Traditional methods provide static, or at best episodic, snapshots of organizations that are constantly evolving. And they’re limited by researchers’ tendency to assume that distinctive and idiosyncratic cultures can be neatly categorized into a few common types. Several researches have used big-data processing to mine the ubiquitous “digital traces” of culture in electronic communications, such as emails, Slack messages, and Glassdoor reviews. By studying the language employees use in these communications, we can measure how culture actually influences their thoughts and behavior at work. The Big-Data Analytics have ushered in a new scientific approach to measuring culture.[4]

Measurement of organizational culture acts as guide to the roadmap for improving culture and the performance –

Measurement helps in informed decision-making
Helps in understanding what resources will be required and where and when to invest for better RoIs.
Involvement of a wide spectrum of people in the process of management helps in their better understanding of the culture-related issues, and also helps build better engagement.
Better decisions, by more engaged people and more cohesive culture leads to improved performance.[5]

[1] Measuring Organizational Culture

[2] How to Measure Your Organizational Culture and Values by Ryan Pell

[3] Developing a tool to measure corporate culture from the ‘outside’ – Brett Heasman

[4] The New Analytics of Culture – Matthew Corritore, Amir Goldberg and Sameer B. Srivastava

[5] The Importance of Measuring Organizational Culture –Andrew Barenz, Client Engagement Associate

Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs: September 2020

(Shankar-) Jaikishan and Hasrat Jaipuri’s Songs Fading From the Memory 1960 – 1961

Hasrat Jaipuri (a.k.a. Iqbal Hussain) – B: 15-4-1922 | D: 17-9-1999- had his own distinctive style, whether it was his Urdu or Hindi poetry of Hindi film lyrics. One of the basic corner stone of RK’s Shankar-Jaikishan- Shailendra Hasrat music team. Starting with Barsat (1949), the first break-up came when Shailendra passed away in 1966, Jaikishan’s death in 1971 is said to have so loosened the bond, that Shankar started to seeking collaboration with other lyricists as well.

Jaikishan (a.k.a. Jaikishan Dahyabhai Panchal) – B: 4 November 1929 | D: 12 September 1971] was considered to be more creative with romantic tunes. Background scores were his forte. Jaikishan also had fair amount of training and exposure to music in his early years. His father was a musician to royalty in Gujarat.

SJ- Shailendra-HJ team is one of the most unique examples of four persons of very different temperaments working as a seamless team, complementing each other’s strengths and supplementing the weaknesses. The outcome was always an incredibly unique blending of four individual talents into most melodious, ever green, works of sheer brilliance.

Even as it is quite difficult to filter out Hasrat Jaipuri’s lyrics in Shankar Jaikishan composed songs that would not have been popular, I usually scan the titles of the songs and filter out the ones that does not immediately ring up in my memory. In this month of Jaikishan’s birth and Hasrat Jaipuri’s death, we have commenced remembering (Shankar-) Jaikishan and Hasrat Jaipuri’s Songs Fading From the Memory on this platform since 2017.Till now we have covered

1949 -1954 in 2017

1955 – 1957 in 2018

1958 – 1959 in 2019.

Presently, we will spread our net over the years 1960 and 1961. 1960 had 5 SJ films and 13 Hasrat Jaipuri songs, whereas 1961 has 6 films and 23 songs. Incidentally the songs that got filtered in this selection provides not only a very representative kaleidoscopic view of his style, but also present Shankar- Jaikishan’s knack of working out a popular song with due amount of experimentation. 1961 also is the year which had Junglee, which is considered to be game changer in Shankar Jaikishan’s approach to song compositions,

Itni Badi Mehfil Aur Ek Dil Kisko Du – Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi (1960) – Asha Bhosle

The film had serious storyline, so in spite of having an ample sprinkle of some of the great songs, need to fit in an item song (which is how these songs are known today) must have been felt. SJ has come up with an innovative improvisation of Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat song

Bata De Meri Jaan ke Tere Dil Mein Kya Aai – Chalaak (UR) (1960s) – Mukesh

The film is an unreleased project that had Raj Kapoor and Madhubala in the lead roles. Madhubala is said to have gamely put in efforts to complete the film despite of her extremely aggravating health. The film ultimately had to shelved. The clip here is a version that Mukesh had rendered in a stage show at South Africa.

Tirchi Nazar Se Yun Na Dekh – Ek Phool Char Kaante (1960) – Mohammad Rafi

Here we have a mandatory Johnny Walker song. Rafi follows copybook mannerisms to suit Johnny Walker’s antics on the screen in the mukhada. SJ have cleverly weaved in a cat sound, too. Rafi is to render the first two lines of first stanzas is in a breathless singing to correspond with actors making a fast lap in the swimming pool. The camera has smartly moved away from Johnny Walker, who returns with his antics at the end of the stanza, with Rafi repeating the charm of mukhada with some more spices.

Ho Maine Pyaar Kiya, Haye Hay Kya Zulam Kiya – Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960) – Lata Mangeshkar, chorus

It is said that when SJ-HJ-Shailendra team first heard the story idea, they could hardly see any room for Hindi film style songs in a dacoit-reform based story. However, Raj Kapoor’s showman instinct had more than enough scope for songs, which were accepted very well by the public. Raj Kapoor has very conveniently squeezed in a heroine- swimming scene vide this song, even her friends too joining in the bonus.

Dekho Ji Dekho Sun Lo Ye Baat, Jivan Mein Ek Baar Aana Singapore – Singapore (1960) – Lata Mangeshkar, chorus

Here we have title cum theme song from this film. The song is lip synced by Maria Menado, an Indonesia born actress (who played a Singaporean girl Maria in this movie) and some Singaporean extras.

Aside: The film had one more title song in Ye shahar badaa albelaa (Singer: Mukesh; Lyrics: Shailendra). However, since the titles were used as part of the song orchestration, the preceding song was also, perhaps, required!

Arre Tu Kahan Kho Gaya Balam Matwaraa Main Dhundhu Tujhe Kahan GaliyaN Aur Chaubara – Singapore (1960) – Lata Mangeshkar

The full scale participation of SJ and their orchestration team has made this mandatory Padmini dance song into a grand spectacle, with dholak as base rhythm instrument, A Dattu Theka slipped in very dexterously, with multi-instrument large scale orchestra in the interlude scores in the accompaniment.

The following three songs have been actually filmed as one sequence in the film!

Seeto Peeto Reeto…Jaan-e-Bahaar Assalaam – Jab Pyaar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961) – Lata Mangeshkar

This dance song is thrown in the film as an item number. Hasrat Jaipuri chips in with Anokhe Bol in the first line to add spice to the songs.

This song was in fact a prequel to build the atmosphere for the song which was to follow.

Is Hirsoo Hawas Ki Duniya Mein – Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961) – Lata Mangeshkar

A signature Sakhi – a two-line couplet, recited without any instrumentals support – from Hasrat Jaipuri has been given a very special dimension by the Lata Mangeshkar’s rendition to exactly rhyme with Asha Parekh’s expression, and even her diction.

Is Hirsoo Hawas Ki Duniya Mein
Armaan Badalte Dekhe Hai
Dhokha Hai Yaha Laalach Hai Yaha
Imaan Badalte Dekhe Hai

Daulat Ke Sunehre Jaadu Se
Ae Dil Tadapnaa Achhaa Hai
Chaandi Ke Khanakte Sikko Par
Insaan Badalte Dekhe Hai

The main song now takes the center stage.

Teri ZulfoN Se Judai To Nahi Mangi ThI, Qaid Mangi Thi Judai To Nahi Mangi Thi..- Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961) – Mohammad Rafi

The composition is noted in the annals of Hindi Film Music as one of the finest composition.

Anand Desai and Antara Nanda Mondal have presented the lyrical and musical nuances with meticulous details in Love is… Claiming Rights: Teri Zulfon Se Judaai to Nahin Mangi Thi

Nain Tumhare Mazaedar O Janab-e-Ali – Junglee (1961) – Mukesh, Asha Bhosle

50s and 60s films ready-mix recipe always had a comedian song as a standard ingredient. Shankar Jaikishan have added color to the element by using Mukesh’s voice. Shashikala in a comedy role is sort of scoop.

Jana Tumhare Pyar Mein Shaitan Ban Gaya Hun – Sasural (1961) -Mukesh

The rustic innocence of Mukesh’s voice is matched by Mehmood’s credulity-mannerisms on the screen. Whether the whole experiment was conceived by the direction- music team by design or is enacted by Mehmood to synchronize with the way song is composed, is not known.

Aye Aasmaan Ke Rahi, Tu Hi Gavah Rahena…. Haye Sawan Ban Gaye Nain – Karorepati (1961) – Asha Bhosle

SJ again comes up with a very successful experiment of using Asha Bhosle’s voice for a poignant song. It should be interesting to know what factors will have moved SJ to this decision, since they are normally considered to be die-hard users of Lata Mangeshkar voice for such songs. Hasrat Jaipuri also shows his mantle as master of al types of moods.

Kabul Ki Mein Naar, Meri Aankhein Rasili Katar – Karorepati (1961) – Kishore Kumar, Geeta Dutt

SJ have used a very smart improvisation of Gujarati folk dance rhythm – evidenced in more clear way during the interlude pieces – in this Pathani mood song. Use of Geeta Dutt is also a rare occasion in SJ songs.

Suno Bhai Humne Peeli Hai – Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1961) – Talat Mahmood

It is interesting to note that the version used in the film has the word “suno bhai hamne PAA li hai thhodi”, whereas the original sentence of the song was “suno bhai hamne PEE li hai thodi”, on the objection by the Censors. Talat Mahmood would probably have not sounded drunk ieven if he really was. We do not have any authentic information on how Mukesh sounded drunk when he was fully drunk in the company of Raj Kapoor, but his songs sounded as pious as his sheer romantic songs. K L Saigal would come heavy with a few pegs for his shootings, but his dialogue delivery of song diction never hinted even a trace of that heavy dose of Whisky!.

Aiga Aiga Ye Kya Ho Gaya – Boy Friend(1961) – Mohammad Rafi, Aarti Mukherjee

Hasrat Jaipuri has very deftly weaved in Marathi words from the scene preceding the song, wherein Dev Anand collides with a (Marathi) Bhajiwali (the vegetable vendor)

And of course, SJ are at their experimentative mood in using voice of Arti Mukherjee to partner Mohammad Rafi in this duet in these days of Lata – Rafi tiff over royalty issue. Incidentally, it was Jaikishan who played the role of mediator to solve the difference.

Aside trivia: Madhubala is her usual naughty jesting self. She ought have trade-marked her these mannerisms. She has already tested these mannerisms in Achhchhaa Ji Main Haari Chalo Maan Jaao (Kala Pani , 1958). And, yes Dev Ananad too seems to be veteran of facing these jests on the screen, having tested at the hands of Kalpana Kartik in Aa Ja Panchhi Akela Hai (Nau Do Gyarahaa, 1957)!

Ab Char Dinon Ki Chutti Hai – Aas Ka Panchi (1961) – Mohammad Rafi, chorus

Shankar Jaikishan have used Subir Sen and Mukesh also as Rajendra Kumar’s playback in Aas Ka Panchhi. This is the only song they have brought in Mohammad Rafi, and with what a telling effect….

We will continue our journey of Shankar Jaikishan’s songs in Hasarat Jaipuri’s lyrics in our future episodes.

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.

The Micro View of Best Songs of 1945 @ SoY :: Male Solo Songs – Vintage Era Singers [2]

We had taken up first batch of 10 Vintage Era Male Solo Songs fro the year 1945 last week.

Presently, we will take up the concluding batch of 10 more Vintage Era Male Solo Songs fro the year 1945.

Falak Ke Chand Ka Hamne Jawab Dekh Liya – Ek Din Ka Sultan – G M Durrani – Shanti Kumar – Wali Sahab

O Varsha Ke Pahle Badal, Mera Sandesh Le Jana – Megh Doot – Jagmohan – Kamal Dasguta – – Faiyaza Hashmi

Mubarak Ho Ye Jalsa Tajposhi Ka – Nagma-e-Sahara – Khan Mastana, Chorus, – C Ramchandra – Ehsan Rizvi

Hawa Tera Jo Udhar Ho Jaana, Sandesha Mera Tu Leti Jaana – Parinde – Surendra – Pt. Govind Ram – Rammurti

Pinjare Ke Panchhi Ud Ja Re, Ud Ja – Preet- Bulo C Rani – Bulo C Rani – D N Madhok

Tooti Hui Kashti Ka Kaun Bane Sahara – Sanyasi – Amar- Naushad – Pt. Budhhi Chandra Agrawal ‘Madhur’

Hindustan Ki Khatir Hum Jaan Lada Denge – Village Girl – G M Durrani, Chorus – Shyam Sundar – Wali Sahab

Kahe Man Bechain Sajani – Wasiyatnama – Asit Baran – R C Boral – Zakir Hussain

Main Us Se Karu Pyar – Yateem – G M Durrani – Khursheed Anwar – Zia Sarhadi

Muddat Ke Bad Aye Ho, Kahan Kaise Mijaj Hai – Zid – Sundar, Chorus – G A CHisti – Shanti Swaroo Mathur

HFGK mentions the singers as Sundar and chorus, whereas the female voice in the song comes in more like a duet song.

We will take up Solo Songs of K L Saigal for the year 1945 in our next episode.

Hemant Kumar’s Hindi Song Compositions – Songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle

Hemant Kumar (16-6-1920 | 26 September 1989) had already shown flare for music composition from his early childhood. Even though his formal career did commence as a singer, his talents as a composer also did not have to wait longer to get formal recognition. Of course, in so far as Hindi Films is concerned, the first ever film for which he got to compose the music was good eight years after he sang his first film song. He then went on to compose music for 50+ films for next 27 years.

Hemant Kumar’s start as music director in Anadmath (1952) was on a reasonably high note. It soon reached peak with Nagin (1954) and Shart (1954). Both these films had excellent run on box office mainly on the backing of the songs of the film. Hemant Kumar then continued to score at least one musical hit for every two or their films for which scored the music, irrespective of the box office outcome of the film. As it happens with majority of the film songs, the songs from the films that did well on the box office has had longer recall value in the minds of the listeners. These are the songs that have normally cemented the image of Hemant Kumar as the composer in our minds.

The full spectrum of Hemant Kumar’s range as a composer has four distinct shades of grey – his solo songs in his own voice, his songs in the voice of female singers, his solo songs in the voice of other male singers, his own duets and his duets in the voice of other singers.

Presently, we will take up the segment of Hemant Kumar’s female songs to explore breadth and depth of Hemant Kumar’s compositions

In terms of the singers, the solo songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt, in that order, occupy more that 80 % of the female-singers-spectrum of Hemant Kumar’s compositions. Hemant Kumar mostly used Lata Mangeshkar as his lead singer when he did not use Geeta Dutt. Quantitatively and qualitatively, he had still had enough room for using Asha Bhosle’s talent fully. One major impact of this heavy skew in the distribution of the female solo songs was to lead me to explore Hemant Kumar’s musically relatively less successful films to dig out songs of the other female singers. In the process, I had excellent opportunity to listen to many forgotten Lata/Geeta or Asha songs from these films as well.

These deep-sea explorations have resulted into a several large catches of songs of these three singers. I, therefore, have luxury to choose from the less heard songs of the less remembered films to present a different perspective of the rich legacy of repertoire of Hemant Kumar’s female song compositions.

Lata Mangeshkar

Like his other contemporary Bengali music directors, S D Burman or Salil Chowdhury, in the Hindi Film world of that period Lata Mangeshkar was the clear first choice of Hemant Kumar. The natural melody of the Lata Mangeshkar’s voice was a logical and obvious choice for the soft Bengali tone of these music directors.

Hemant Kumar’s compositions in Lata Mangeshkar’s voice, normally, keep being published at regular frequency on several social media. So, I have picked up only one song from an early film and other one from his few of the last films, to present as encompassing as possible range of Hemant Kumar’s female songs

Kahan Se Le Ke Aayi Hai Kaha Majburiya Meri….. Meri Taqdir Ke Mailk Mera Kuchh Faisala Kar De – Shart (1954) – Lyrics: S H Bihari

The song opens with a couplet that epitomises the helplessness of the protagonist. Hemant Kumar deploys short pieces of violin ensemble that accentuates the pathos mood of the song.

Mitwa Re Bhul Gaye The Rahein Mitwa – Rahgir (1969) – Lyrics: Gulzar

This song also renders the mood of pathos – caused by the separation of the lovers. Hemant Kumar has used high scales of Shehnai in the interlude, to immediately follow the line wherein chorus also joins the song. The song is classic Gulzar poetry which is always a challenge for the music director. However, Hemant Kumar’s natural bent for melody returns with a complex, and yet a melodious composition.

Geeta Dutt

Hemant Kumar did use Geeta Dutt as lead female voice in his maiden film Anandmath (1952) – 5 songs. He then used her voice as lead singer in only Laalten (1956) – 6 songs; Police (1958) – 6 songs and of course, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1960) – 3 songs. He did keep using her off and on, in solos or duets, in films like Ferry (1954)- 2 songs; Samrat (1954) – Songs; Shart (1954) – 2 songs; Bahu (1955) – 3 songs; Bhagwat Mahim (1955) – 1 song; Arab Ka Suadagar (1956) – 2 songs; Bandi (1957) – 3 songs; Ek Jalak (1957) 3 songs; Fashion (1957) – 2 songs; Hill Station (1957) – 3 songs; Kitana Badal Gaya Insaan – 3 songs; Miss Mary (1957) – 1 song; Yahudi Ki Ladki – 5 songs; Hum Bhi Insaan Hai (1959) – 2 songs and Duniya Jhukti Hai (1960) – 1 song. If some of the songs are remembered even today, some were lost quickly.

Aa Re Bhanvare Aa, Maheki Meri Man Ki Bagiya – Anand Math (1952) – Lyrics: Shailendra

Since Geeta Bali seems to be on an espionage or a luring mission into the British camps, she resorts to amorous gestures, matching her singing to her physical movements. Geeta Dutt supports such gyrations with matching variations of her singing. Hemant Kumar has so vividly woven an earthy folk-based composition with the situation.

Rangili Rangili Chhabili Rani Nindiya, Aa Mere Raja Ki Ankhiyo Mein Aa – Ferry (1954) – Lyrics: Rajinder Krishna

Hemant Kumar sets the lullaby to a soothing, soft orchestration.

Agar Pyar Mein Muskuraaye Na Hote – Laalten (1956) – Lyrics: Kaif Irfani

Hemant Kumar has set Geeta Dutt’s voice to a tone that exudes pathos, and then goes on to support that with short pieces of orchestrations.

Aaja Zara Mere Dil Ke Sahare – Ek Jhalak (1957) – Lyrics: S H Bihari

I always had an impression that this song is only a duet of Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt. This solo twin version is a find of the work for this episode.

Aside: The song is considered to have been inspired from Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (1955) song.

Koi Door Se Awaaz De, Chale Aao, Chale Aao – Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) – Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

After the success of Bees Saal Baad (1960), Hemant Kumar and Shakeel Badayuni again team up here. The deep-from-the-memory, haunting, softly echoing, sound of the song in the voice of Chhoti Bahu draws Guru Dutt to the place where he finds the bangles of the Chhoti Bahu. The film goes into the flash back. (@.4.14 to 5.38 of the film soundtrack). The short, soft, sounds of violin in the background in the following frames speak volumes for Hemant Kumar’s creativity as a composer.

Incidentally, it is in this opening that the Hindi version dramatically differs from the Bengali version of the film.

The present song returns at the end of the film to encapsulates the haunting melancholy of the loneliness of Chhoti Bahu

Asha Bhosle

Asha Bhosle, technically for the most part, did not enjoy the status of a lead singer in Hemant Kumar’s scheme of things. But Hemant Kumar has always done full justice to the range of her voice, in terms of number of songs that he gave to Asha Bhosle, as well in terms of variety of the music content. As a result many of Hemant Kumar -Asha Bhosle songs, like De Di Hame Azadi Bina Khadag Bina Dhal (Jagriti, 1954), Yaad Rakhana Pyar Ki Nishani Yaad Rakhana (Nagin, 1954), Sakhi Ri Sun Bole Papiha Us Paar (Miss Mary, 1957) or Bhnwara Bada Nanadan and Saaqiya Aaj Mohe Nend Na Ayegi (Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) are respectfully placed in Asha Bhosle’s most respected songs ever.

I have selected a few representative songs here, as a sample of the wide range of Hemant Kumar’s Asha Bhosle songs.

Chalo Chale Maa, Sapno Ke Gaon Mein – Jagriti (1954) – Lyrics: Pradeepji

The song is a twin version song. The first version has strong undercurrent of hope of good tidings to come. Hemant Kumar has epitomised the high hopes by setting the opening scale of each stanza on a high note. The second version has pensive pathos mood. Hemant Kumar reframes the initial high notes of the stanza by extending them over the whole line.

Bade Bhaiya Laye Hai London Se Chhori, Dila Do Hamein Bhi Dulhan Gori Gori – Ek Hi Rasta (1956) – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Hemant Kumar conjures a beauty in the form of a children song. He seems to have taken all care to use only those instruments that are mostly seen being used on the screen in the song.

Hemant Kumar’s ingenuity as a composer is evidenced in the second stanza, wherein the song switches over to qawwali style singing because the lyrics talk about the Baarat (bride’s marriage procession).

The transition from qawwali back to the original marching rhythm is also very deftly managed @ 3.39

An interesting Trivia : @1.00 to 1.5 we get to listen a piece on harmonica which is the theme of another great Hemant – Lata duet from the film – Sanwale Salone Aaye Din Bahar Ke

We fast-forward to the later part of the Hemant Kumar’s musical filmography.

Bin Badal Barsat Na Hogi – Bin Badal Barsat (1963) – Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

Hemant Kumar has chosen to base the composition of this dance song on a folk tune, but the interlude orchestration has all the elements of a mystery-film song, since there seems to be some hidden story that connects the protagonist (Nishi) on the dance floor with the key spectator– Biswajeet. Asha Bhosle’s delivery of the song is also so composed that the elements of mystery and underlying melancholy of the main protagonist’s feelings remain evident.

Kyun Mujhe Itni Kushi De Di, Ki Ghabarata Hai Dil – Anupama (1966) – Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Here is a dance song staged on the screen as a party song. Hemant Kumar has again successfully used Asha Bhosle’s voice to blend the two moods, one obvious mood of joy, befitting what can be seen on the floor and the other a hidden underlying mood of the protagonist (Shashikala) in sync with lyrics of the song

Note: Originally published on SoY as Hemant Kumar’s Female Playback Singers . This part is the edited and improved-on-the-inputs-of-discussions thereupon version.

We will take up Hemant Kumar’s Hindi Song Compositions in Other Female Voices in the Second Part

The Micro View of Best Songs of 1945 @ SoY :: Male Solo Songs – Vintage Era Singers [1]

We have grouped here male singers who can be considered to have had noteworthy presence in the vintage era period. I have been able to locate 20 songs on YT (G M Durrani -4; K C Dey and Khan Mastana – 3 each; and Umakant, Ashok Kumar, S D Batish, Charlie, Amar, Jagmohan, Surendra, Bulo C Rani, Asit Baran and Sundar 1 each. There a few more songs identified with names of male singers in HFGK, but for the the time being these are not yet posted on YT, nor do I have any access to their digital versions, if they are available with some one.

Yeh Chand Hamein Hans Kar Kuchch Yaad Dilta Hai – Aadhar – Umakant – S N Tripathi M A Razi

Aankhein To Hui Band, Magar Dard Jaga Re – Begum – Ashok Kumar -H P Das – G S Nepali

Aa Hosh Mein Deewane – Bahijan – S D Batish – Shyam Sundar – Padtau Lakhanavi

Zindagi Fareb Hai Fareb Se Nibhaye Ja – Chand Tara – Charlie – Gyan Dutt – Swami Ramanand

Mera Chana Masaledar, Kahata Hum Sabse Lalkar – Chhamia – G M Durrani and Chorus -Gyan Dutt

Hare Murare Madhukait Mere – Devdasi – K C Dey – Krishna Chandra Dey – Pt. Narottam Vyas

Hari Ke Nam Bina Re, Radha Naam Bina Re – Devdasi – K C Dey, Chorus – Krishna Chandra Dey – Pt. Narottam Vyas

Roye Ham Charano Pe Bhagwan – Devdasi – K C Dey – Krishna Chandra Dey – Pt. Narottam Vyas

Bansi Wale Shyam Pyare Krishna – Dhanna Bhagat – Khan Mastana – Khemchand Prakash – Pt. Indra

Panchhi Pinjara Hua Purana – Dhanna Bhagat – Khan Mastana – Khemchand Prakash – Khavar JamaN

For the purpose maintaining reasonable size of a post, we will take up next 10 songs next week.