Month: February 2022

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – Volume X – February 2022 edition

Welcome to February 2022 edition of Xth Volume of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

Lata Mangeshkar (1929-2022): Nightingale has fallen silent – India has lost one of its most prolific and significant artists – the last of her kind. She leaves behind not just her vast oeuvre, but a legacy of a voice that could bridge differences and bring together people with its sublimity.

Till the end, Lata Mangeshkar remained her own person – Mrinal Pande – Her long and distinguished career is not a tragic tale of continuing to shoulder the burden of someone else’s idea of how a woman should sing. She was a genuinely many-voiced singer who considered it an asset to be able to sing for over three generations of stars…..Still it would be wrong to pin her down to a single identity, of a grand dowager queen of music, all white sarees, and an isolation of fervent religiosity and meditational silences. …. But she was very much her own person.

Lata Mangeshkar was India’s inner voice – Pratap Bhanu Mehta – If Lata Mangeshkar became representative of India, it was because the lyrics she sang, and the forms in which she expressed them, contained all of India in them: All of its languages, cultural registers, even its conflicts. It was not benchmarking India to a single measure; it was rather connecting its superabundance.

How Lata Mangeshkar learnt to read and write (despite having gone to school for only a day) – In the edited excerpts from a Nasreen Munni Kabir’s conversation book, Lata Mangeshkar: In Her Own Voice, the acclaimed singer remembers her formative years.

‘Close to the sublime’: Why no book on Hindi film music is complete without Lata Mangeshkar – Ganesh Anantharaman presents excerpts from his book, Bollywood Melodies.

During the support commentary that Harish Bhimani was providing during the live broadcast of Lata Mangeshkar’s funeral procession, he recalled that on one occasion he had asked her about her one song that spontaneously comes to her mind. This was the song that Lat Mangeshkar recalled:

Bairan Neend Na Aaye – (Chacha Zindabad -1959) – Lyrics: Rajinder Krishna – Music: Madan Mohan

On being asked the same question to him by Lata Mangeshkar, Harish Bhimani recalled

Man Mohana Bade Jhoothe ..- Seema (1955) – Lyrics: Shailendra – Music Shankar Jaikishan

If I apply the same test to me, the two Gujarati songs that pop up are:

Have Sakhi NahiN BoluN NahiN BoluN Re – Lyrics: Dayaram – Music: Purushuttom Updhyay

Rk RajkaN Suraj Thavane ShamaNe UgamaNe JaI UDe – Music: Harindra Dave – Music: Dilip Dholakia

As can be expected, homages have been showered by almost every newspaper, journal and other social (digital) media. We will confine ourselves to homages from our regular blogs for our present episode.

We also lost Sandhya Mukherjee this month.

Though He Actually Never Met Her… – Gulzar voices his “deepest regard” for Sandhya Mukherjee, the Geetasri who never needed any Padma to become the voice of romance for generations. Ratnottama Sengupta explores how Gulzar connected with the iconic actor-singer foursome of Bengali cinema – Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Hemant Kumar and also Sandhya Mukherjee.

We also sadly bid farewell to Bappi Lahiri who passed away on 15th February 2022

We now move on to the other tributes and celebrations for the month –

Remembering Zohrabai Ambalewali, for her full-throated voice, which had cast its own spell furing’40s.

When ‘villain of the millennium’ Pran shocked the audience as he played a noble soul in Manoj Kumar’s Upkar – Pran, despite of several outstanding path-breaking roles he played there after, is still remembered as the quintessential villain of Hindi cinema,

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

From Rangeela to Pinjar, Urmila Matondkar’s effortless evolution on screen whilst also pulling off the complexities of Rangeela’s Mili and Pinjar’s Puro

In the series of articles on Sahir’s Songs of Romance, commemorating Sahir Ludhianvi’s birth centenary,  we now take up Sahir Ludhianvi’s Eighteen-films association with S D Burman.

February 2022 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Talat Mahmood: Duets with Shamshad Begum.  To commemorate the memory of Talat Mahmood in the month of his birth by taking up the theme of his rare duets, till now, we have explored –

In 2017, an overview of Talat Mahmood’s duets receding from the memory.

In 2018, Talat Mahmood’s duets with rare co-singers,

In 2019, Talat Mahmood’s duets with Mubarak Begum and with Madhubala Jhaveri,

In 2020, Talat Mahmood’s duets with Geeta Dutt, essentially from 1950 to 1952, and

In 2021, Talat Mahmood: Duets with Geeta Dutt, from  1954 to 1957, with one duet even in 1972.

Here is a photograph of Madhubala on the 53rd anniversary of her death (23rd February) posted on BollywooDirect:

Madhubala’s films opposite Bharat Bhushan – Madhubala has done four films with Bharat Bhushan – Gateway of India was a one-woman show with the story revolving around the character of Madhubala and the other actors forming the supporting cast, Kal Hamara Hai saw her play the lone double role of her career, Phagun had her in a triple role and Barsaat ki Raat is one of the greatest musicals ever to have been made in our film industry.

We now move on to posts on other subjects –

The Other Songs of Kavi Pradeep, a.k.a. Ramchandra Narayanji Dwivedi (06/02/1915 – 11/12/1998) – the songs essentially which are neither patriotic nor inspirational.

Manna Dey: A Story of Amazing Versatility – In a career spanning 60 years, Manna Dey excelled across a variety of genres – film songs, ghazals, bhajans, classical and pop – he regaled generations of listeners with his romantic ballads, zany rock and roll numbers, playful qawwalis and intricate raga-based songs. In Part 1, Bipin Parekh presents a detailed study of Manna Dey’s musical life and discography to understand and appreciate his massive repertoire and career graph. Part 2 presents analysis of Manna Dey’s association with 195 music directors and his output of 1363 Hindi songs spread over 932 films.

From Bollywood Rewind – Sampada Sharma – Indian Express’s weekly column:

In continuation to our tradition of ending the post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi that are relevant to the topics covered in the present episode, we will institute a series where in we wiil listen to Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar’s duet with a music director for the first time in a Hindi film, every month for the rest of the 2022,:

Chalo Ho Gai Taiyaar Zara Thehro Ji – Shaadi Se Pahle (1947) – Lyrics: Mukhram Shaarma – Music: Paigaonkar-Karnad

YuN To Aapas Mein Jhagadate Hai Khafa Hote Hai – Andaz (1949) – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri – Music: Naushad Ali

Apni Nazar Se Door Voh, Unki Nazar Se Door Ham – Bazaar (1949) – Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi – Music: Shyam Sundar

Ab Haal-e-Dl Ya Haal-e-Jigar Kuchh Na Puchhiye – Ek Thi Ladki (1949) – Lyrics: Azeez Kashmiri – Music:Vinod

Zara Tumne Dekha To Pyar Aa Gaya – Jal Tarang (1949) – Lyrics: Kaif Irfani – Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

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.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume X – February 2022 Edition

Welcome to February 2022 edition of the Xth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the Xth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is inspired from the editorial of the January 2022 special Issue of Prabuddha Bharata (The Awakened India) – Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

For our present episode, we take up the article, Living safely in the digital way of life, by Swami Satyapriyananda.

Here is the excerpt from the article:

The principle behind a happy, contended spiritual life is to take care of our needs avoid luxuries. In the digital way of living this can be interpreted as installing and using only those apps that you (really) need. This can be better done when the influence of digital way of living is understood so as to use digital way of living safely and effectively. For that purpose, the article discusses basics of a few aspects of the digital way of living:

Digital World: The digital world is about processing ‘data’ and generating digital ‘information’ for the fast access from a variety of sources, for fast communication between people or machines (objects) and fast decision making. We got connected with the rest of the world very easily and very fast, too. However, a family though seated together has each of its member lost in his or her digital addiction.

The Ecosystem of the Digital World:  The ecosystem of the digital world comprises of devices (hardware) of different types and types for running different software(s) the internet, cloud computing sever data centers, actuators, sensors and the devices connected through them, a variety of gadgets like cameras, autonomous vehicles like drones, robots and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) software(s) running over all of them. Most of the apps are very intuitive and deceptively simple in the hands of the users, But the design and build of these apps are very complex. So has been the modern life too, on one hand it has become very simple, with the help of this ecosystem, but had become over complex also because of the overpowering presence of that very ecosystem.

Artificial Intelligence: AI is software that really has made the devices really smart, by mimicking how the humans think. However, AI algorithms, inherently, encode their programmer’s biases and prejudices as well.

The discussion of all components of the ecosystem would be too complex and lengthy to be covered in an article like the present one.

The usage of digital way of living is becoming almost all pervasive with different e-applications like e-Governance, e-banking, e-healthcare, e-communication like smart chats or virtual video conferences, e-education, e-supply chains, e-maps and positioning, digital photography and video making and sharing, etc.

The biggest trap to lure the user to the app is making it available as free. In order to pay for that ‘free’ service, monetizing of the end-applications has led to abuses like usage of personal data for targeted advertising, pushing political, religious or social agendas or fake news and rumors, fraudulent usages, and intrusions into the one’s privacy. Has any lunch ever been free in its true sense?

Using these devices and the apps is like riding a tiger by its tail. A small error or oversight can lend the user into major financial loss apart from the loss of one’s critical data and privacy or using it too much can lead to various disease from eye problems or muscular strains to even depression

The golden rule(s) to live safely in the digital way of living are:

      • Input the barest minimum personal data to achieve one’s legitimate needs.
      • Keep distance from seductive offers
      • Be your own master of your time and your execution plans.
      • Stop all types of auto-notifications. Never carry your phone with you when you eat or sleep.
      • Do religiously follow the applicable guideline for safe and secure us of the app, as provided by the app provider.

The Bitter Truth that we need to remember on the Way Forward is that we, the human beings are indeed conditioned by external stimuli, as are these devices by the embedded software. But, then we have a mind of our own, not like those devices which are just dumb machines. In the name of (fast changing technological) progress, we should not surrender the unimaginable powers of our mind to that dumb machine.

One must set before oneself the goal of each phase of one’s life and an ideal to follow. Use the beneficial features of the digital way of life only to the extent that takes us forward in the life-long endeavor. Also, do ensure that these smart devices do not use us – our energies, our time and our life.

In other words, the way forward in live safely in the digital way of life is out smart the smart devices.

The search for the present day contexts of staying safe in the digital life, one will find several meaningful and updated articles on protecting yourself in digital world, with variations like tips to safe against cybercrime, or tips to stay safe online. One may find very useful discussions at platforms like TED.com, like -.

We will now turn to our regular sections in 2022 too.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on–

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems :

  • Focus on What’s Important – If wait until the things get perfect, that day will never come. If we use what we have, howsoever flawed or imperfect as it may seem, we will soon be on the way to making substantial improvements. … All we must do is to start from where we are, with what we have and persistently do what we must do. “All you can do is all that you can do, but that all that you can do is enough.” There is no limit to where one can progress if we break our self-imposed barriers.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  • Indecision: From Aristotle and Buridan to Metastability and Digital Circuits –  Aristotle is said to have sarcastically asserted to the version that the earth is stationary because it being spherical, all forces acting equally from all direction, renders it motionless by the famous statement that the assertion “was as ridiculous as saying that a man, being just as hungry as thirsty, and placed in between food and drink, must necessarily remain where he is and starve to death.”,

Similarly, Buridian paradox of free will’s donkey starves to death because he remains indecisive to choose which of the bale placed at equal distance to choose.

Michael Hauskeller, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Exeter , explains by providing examples and scenarios that suggest that based on our experiences, feelings, and preferences, we must have a reason, known or unknown, for our decisions. And the biggest reason for having to decide, one way or the other, is reality, or time.

To help with decisions on the shop floor, Bill Tandler suggests we turn to GD&T. from Grim, Depressing & Troublesome into Grand, Delightful & Tantalizing,”

[Editorial note: When we outsmart the smart devise, we turn the digital way of life into GD&T, Grand, Delightful & Tantalizing way of life.]

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs – February 2022

Talat Mahmood: Duets with Shamshad Begum

Talat Mahmood (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998) did commence his career in Hindi films in 1945, but his career got really moved to top gear only after success of Aye Dil Mujhe Aisi Jagah Le Chal JahaaN Koi Na Ho (Arzoo, 1950 – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri  – Music: Anil Biswas). That also was the period when the careers of two other cotemporary male playback singers, Mohammad Rafi and Mukesh, were also getting the right momentum. Add to this the fact that Talat Mahmood’s attention was also getting divided between his playback singing and acting in the same period. However, his four-decade long, 740+ songs rich career conferred this velvet-voice singer the uncrowned title of King of Ghazals.

Shamshad Begum (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013), acclaimed as the ‘first’ female playback singer of Hindi cinema had a very unique voice – quite different with her contemporaries, like Noor Jehan, Kanan Bala, Suraiya, Amirbai Karnataki, Zohrabai Amablewali etc.  of ‘40s or like Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle and the like of ‘50s and ‘60s. She had created her own space from her very early films like Khajanchi (1941) and Khandan (1942). Even during the periods of 1950 to (almost) 1955 and then at the end of the career years 1967-1968 she commanded a respectable fan following.

As such, the common period of peaks of Talat Mahmood and Shamshad Begum can be seen to be between 1950 to 1955., beginning with Babul (1950- Lead actors – Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Munnavar Sultana – Music: Naushad). As the fate would have it, even after the stupendous success of Babul, Naushad had started shifting to Mohammad Rafi (for Dilip Kumar) and after success of Andaz (1949), he had already moved to Lata Mangeshkar as the lead female playback singer. Even in Babul, Shamshad Begum was playback singer for ‘parallel’ lead heroine Munnavar Sultana only. So Shamshad Begum could have capitalized on that success sonly if films with similar star configurations would have been lined up! Other major, first-line music directors, like S D Burman, Shankar Jaikishan< C Ramchandra, Madan Mohan, Roshan etc. who were using Talat Mahmood very successfully in those years were not using Shamshad Begum as lead singer. O P Nayyar was the only one who did use her as lead singer, but then he did not use Talat Mahmood as his preferred male singer.

The result is that we have (just) 10 duets of Talat Mahmood and Shamshad Begum, including 3 triads. Of the 10 duets, Babul itself had 2 duets + 1 triad. Rest of the seven songs are distributed among six music directors, all of them generally considered as not belonging to the front-line music directors (the only exception here being that of Vinod).

Coming back to the subject of the present episode, we commemorate the memory of Talat Mahmood in the month of his birth by taking up the theme of his rare duets. Till now, we have explored –

In 2017, an overview of Talat Mahmood’s duets receding from the memory.

In 2018, Talat Mahmood’s duets with rare co-singers,

In 2019, Talat Mahmood’s duets with Mubarak Begum and with Madhubala Jhaveri,

In 2020, Talat Mahmood’s duets with Geeta Dutt, essentially from 1950 to 1952, and

In 2021, Talat Mahmood: Duets with Geeta Dutt, from  1954 to 1957, with one duet even in 1972.

Presently, we take up Talat Mahmood’s duets with Shamshad Begum.

Milte Hi Aankein Dil Hua Diwana Kis Ka – Babul (1950) – Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni – Music: Naushad

Shamshad Begum easily matching the softness of Talat Mahmood is one major reason that has made the song evergreen.

Duniya Badal Gayi Meri Duniya Badal Gayi – Babul (1950) – Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni – Music: Naushad

Elaborate orchestration by Naushad, effortless of pathos in Shamshad Begum’s delivery of her part and the natural tranquility of Talat Mahmood’s voice easily draw the listener into the mood of the song.

Nadiya Mein Utha Hai Shor, Chhayi Hai GhaTaa Ghanghor,  Jaana Door Hai …. Nadi Kinare Saatha Hamaare Sham Shuhani Aayee – with Mohammad Rafi and chorus – Babul (1950) – Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni – Music: Naushad

It is more of a technicality that song has to be classified as a triad, since Mohammad Rafi chips in more as part of support system that makes the song basically a ‘boat song’

Chhod Babul Ka Ghar Aaj Mohe Jaana Pada –   Babul (1950) – Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni – Music: Naushad

This song is technically not classified as a duet because primarily it is Shamshad Begum solo being played a credit title song. But, in later versions, Talat Mahmood sings only one line before the song is transformed into Shamshad Begum plus chorus playful dance song. In one more version, the song comes up as slow paced Talat Mahmood solo, The song comes again at the end of the film wherein Mohammad Rafi takes the song to a very high scale crescendo to match the rising pain of the tragedy of the story of the film.

However, irrespective of the way the song has been used in the film, the song is a classic example of the way Shamshad Begum and Talat Mahmood’s voices can blend with each other, if so desired.

Jawani Ke Zaamane Mein Jo DIl Na Lagega – Madhubala (1950) – Lyrics: Rajendra Krishan – Music: Lachhiram

Here is a very pleasing composition wherein even Talat Mahmood comes up so naturally in playful mood.

From all the accounts, the songs of the film had met with good deal of success at that time. However, even with the lead star cast of Dev Anand and Madhubala, the film was a disaster at box office, and the song, unfortunately remains among fading from the memory category now.

Laila Laila PukaruN Main Ban Mein – Mr. Sampart (1952) – Lyrics: Pandit Indra – Music: Balkrishna Kalla

The song comes up in the film as clips of different shots of the films that the heroine has enacted as part of the story (based on R K Narayan’s famous story, Mr. Sampat, The printer of Malgudi. As such, Talat Mahmood and Shamshad Begum sing each of the clips as solos.

O Mruganayani Madhubahini Menka Tum Ho KahaaN – Mr. Sampat (1952) – Lyrics: Pandit Indra – Music: Balkrishna Kalla

The duet is presented here with a disclaimer that some sites mention P G Krishnaveni and Geeta Dutt as the singers,

Bura Hua Jo Inse Hamare Naina Lad Gaye Ji – Laadla (1954) – with Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle – Lyrics: Raja MahendI Ali Khan – Music: Vinod

This is a typical ‘noNk-joNk’ genre song but is unique for two pairs of couples involved in the melee of repartee.

Mohabbat Bas Dil Ke Itane Se Afsane Ko Kahete Hai -Mangu (1954) – Lyrics: S H Bihari – Music: Mohammad Shafi

Mohammad Safi has deftly used harmonium in this ‘qawwali’ style song. Talat Mahmood gracefully plays cheerful mood. Shamshad Begum’s voice is usually very thin.

Aside: The film did have O P Nayyar as a n additional music director, but the credit of using Talat – Shamshad in a duet remains with Mohammad Shafi, who had introduced Suman Kalyanpur in this film, while O P Nayyar had used Asha Bhosle for the first time for his song.

Kehana Mera Maan Le Ye Yaar -Shaan-E-Haatim (1958) – with Balbir – Lyrics: Raja Mahendi Ali Khan – Music: A R Queresh

The song is credited as triad, however the clip available has only Balbir’s voice. The film and the song are so obscure, that no further information seems to be available.

I am not able to trace the digital footprint of the song, Dekho Baras Rahi Barsaat – Titli / For Ladies Only (1951) – Lyrics; Sahrai – Music Vinod, on the net.

The utterly short association of Talat Mahmood and Shamshad Begum is so strongly overshadowed by their songs from Babul (195) that the range and variety wich can be seen in the other duets probably remains unappreciated. Well, that is the irony of fate of HFM, with which we have learnt to live with.

We will take up Talat Mahmood’s duets with Asha Bhosle in the next episode in this series.

The Eponymous Principles of Management : The Murphy’s Law and Its Variants – The Sod’s Law : The Irony of Fate

The Sod’s Law – if something can go wrong, it will[1]– is broader, in the meaning and applicability, than the Murphy’s Law. It reflects more on the mockery that fate plays with a ‘sod’ – that poor chap.

The Sod’s Law is not just about things going wrong, but with the ironies of fate. ‘Life’s little ironies’, as Thomas Hardy called them. And in fact, Hardy’s novels can best be read as illustrations of the inexorability of sod’s law.

This is best illustrated by the example of the probability of the tossed coin falling ‘heads’ or ‘tails’. The 50:50 mathematical probability of coin falling heads or tails remains true with our poor chap, sod, but it falls ‘heads’ when he expects it to be ‘tails’ and falls ‘tails’ when he expects it ‘heads’. Thus, Sod’s Law states how something will go wrong just exactly when one most wants it to go right.

Murphy’s Law is an American point of view. However, since the name Murphy has a strong Irish connotation, the British side prefers to use term Sod’s Law. However, apart from this rather simplistic comparison of the two laws, if we closely read the wording of each law, we do see the relative simplicity of Murphy’s Law and has more positive and optimistic clarification by Capt. Edward A. Murphy which reads, If it can happen, it will.’” So, if things would only go wrong when they can, one can always take preventive action so that they don’t. That way. Murphy’s law provides a forceful, energetic incentive to be more careful:,

On the other hand, the close reading of Sod’s law shows it will operate however careful and energetic you are. The best that anyone can do is ‘hope for the best and prepare for the worst; accept what the fate has hidden in its store. When it comes out in open accept that as it has come —preferably with a wry smile.

Of course, there are a few lucky one who always call their bet correctly, every time, much against the normally expected pattern of luck favouring a bet in any set of ‘free’ play of betting. One may even like to call it an exception to the Sod’s Law.

Also excluded form the scope of application of Sod’s Law are the ‘Black Swan’ events, events that happen extremely rarely, like scientific discoveries, historical events and artistic achievements and the like. Being extremely rare, they don’t happen often enough for to be able to work out the patterns of their occurrence, so to say, almost in random pattern. In other words, the application of the law, typically, is about the events that happen in the normal course of our lives. But if one looks back over a longer span t=of time, even these evets invariably happen, and thus do follow Sod’s Law.

The bottom line is, whether person is stupid enough not plan actions with respect to what is seen on the future or a wise one who does all possible elaborate planning to ensure that anything and everything preventable in the foreseeable future is explicitly addresses through some or other type of risk mitigation system, the world of the nature has far too many variables to make the Sod’s Law to come into play.

[1] Sod’s Law Explained

Sahir’s Songs of Romance : 18 Films Association with S D Burman

The much-needed nourishing touch that seeded-in-1948- career of poet-lyricist, Sahir Ludhianvi would have dreamt, and the equally much needed escape velocity providing boost that S D Burman’s seeming to be steadying career required came in the form of Thandi Hawaein Lahera Ke Aaye (Naujawan, 1951 – Lata Mangeshkar), boosted further by Tadbeer Se Bigadi Hui and Suno Gajar Kya Gaye (Baazi, 1951- Geeta Dutt) and Tum Na Jaane Kis Jahaan Mein Kho Gaye (Sazaa, 1951 – Lata Mangeshkar) in the same year. What followed was a seven-year phase that this unique combination of two extremely talented and perhaps equally strong-willed personalities of the golden era of the Hindi film industry gave us music that we all so fondly remember in one of the most remembered 18 films association of a music director who believed in primacy of melody and a lyricist who sore by the importance of lyrics to make a film song meaningful.

S D Burman (10 October 1901 | 31 October 1975) was known to refuse films where the filmmaker wanted ‘hit’ songs, he would firms stand by his motto, “I compose only good songs”. S. D. Burman won only a few ’popular’ awards – because he never cultivated them – but his greatest triumph lay in the fact that his choosiness made every score count. There was a time in Bombay when the lyrics were set to tune by the music directors. S D Burman changed that theory. The tune first, the lyrics later. How S D Burman and Sahir Ludhianvi would have worked together with their totally contrasting approach on this aspect is not known, there is no denying the fact that their 18 films association remains a golden chapter in the history of Hindi film music.

Starting from first film with S D Burman Naujawan (1951) to 18th and the last film, Pyasa (1957), with him, Sahir Ludhianvi penned songs for 16 films with other music directors.  In comparison to this, in the same period, S D Burman did only nine films with five other lyricists.

I have selected one, relatively less heard, song from each of the 18 films that S D Burman and Sahir Ludhianvi worked together, except Radha Krishna (1954) which was a devotional theme film and Taxi Driver (1954), Devdaas (1955), House No. 44 (1955), Munimji (1955), Funtoosh (1956), Pyasa (1957), because the songs from these films are so well known.

Dekh Ke Akeli Mohe Barkha Sataye, Gaalo Ko Chume Kabhi Chhittein Udaye Re, Tip Tip Tip ……. ….. – Baazi (1951) – Geeta Dutt

chali naa jaye chal lachaku jaise dal
saadi bhigi, choli bhigi, bhige gore gal

lute har shingar paapi jal ki dhar
khuli sadak pe lut gayi logo main albeli naar

paanv phislata jaye tan hichkole khaye
aise mein jo hath pakad le mann uska ho jaye
bas ho jaye

aise me jo hath pakad le mann uska ho jaye

Are Kahaan Leke Jaihho Ram… O Zulmi Naina… …. ….  …  Dekho Arre Dekhoji Kuchh Bhi Kar Lo Jeet Hamari Hai – Naujawan (1951) – Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar

o zulmi nainaa waalon
tum daaman laakh bachaa lo
hamse bachnaa hai mushqil
ye nainon ko samjhaa lo
jahaan chaloge sang chalenge
ban kar tumhri chhaayaa

tum aisi qismat laaye
ke ham jaison ko paayaa
aur ham wo qismat waale
ke tumne khud bulwaayaa
arre kyaa daataa ki den hai dekho
raah mein heeraa paayaa

o nainon ke matawaale
dheere-dheere ye man
huaa teraa sajan
din aaye milan waale
….   ……   ….. …

….   ….. ….  ….. ….
jeet kahaan ki haar kahaan ki
dil khoyaa dil paayaa

Chori Chori Meri Gali Aana Hai Bura, Aayeja, Aake Bina Baat Kiye Jaana Hai Bura, Aayeja– – Jaal (1952) – Lata Mangeshkar

achchhe nahi yeh ishaare, pedon tale chhup chhupaake
aao na do baatein kar le, najaron se najarein milaake
din hai pyaar ke mauj bahaar ke
dekho bhole bhaale, ji ko tarsaana hai bura

dil aa gaya hai toh pyare badnaam hone ka darr kya
ishq aur wafa ki gali mein, duniya ki ghum ka gujar kya

din hai pyaar ke mauj bahaar ke
dekho bhole bhaale ji ko tarsaana hai bura

Preet Sataye Teri Yaad Na Jaaye…. Dil Deke Gam Le Liya – Lal Kunwar (1952) – Suraiya

jahar bhari ye kaisi baji shahnaai
thes jiya pe lagi aankh bhar aayi
aa re balam tere gam ki duhai

ruthe nasiboN ko kaise manayein
chhota sa dil aur lakho balayein
ghut ke gam se kahiN mar hi naa jaye

MaiN Pankh Lagake Ud JauN, Aur Phir Naa Palat Ke AauN – Armaan (1953 – Asha Bhosle

lehroN mein jhuluN, taroN ko chhu luN, lehroN mein jhuluN
ambar ki chhati se lag kar sapnoN mein kho jauN
anjani raho mein chhup kar anjani ho jauN
aur khud bhi khoj naa pauN

lehroN mein jhuluN, taroN ko chhu luN, lehroN mein jhuluN
badali banakar ban ban ghumuN bijli ban muskauN
jharnoN ki jhalar mein baithi geet suhane gaauN
duniya ko najar na aauN

Hamare Munder Bola Kaga Sakhi Ri, Bichhde Balam Ghar Aayengein – Babla (1953) – Rajkumari

ghunghat mein sansein lahakegi
mori suni ratiyaN mahakegi
sakhi birha ke gam sabhi bhulenge
hum sunke unke kadam ko

jab wo aangan mein aayengein
more sapne sach ho jayenge
leke man mein umang maiN
to khelungi rang piya pyare ke sang

jab un bahoN mein jhulungi
maiN jag ke sudh budh bhulungi
aaj main huN magan
mera man hai magan
leke jivan ka dhang

Lag Gayi Ankhiyaan Tum Se Mori. O More Saajan Tum Se Mori Akhiyaan – Jeevan Jyoyi (1953) – Geeta Dutt, Mohammad Rafi

sharm kho hi gayi laaj kho hi gayi
main to duniyaa se hi aaj kho hi gayi
ahaa haa haa ye kahaani nayi sun lo
saari duniyaa se hi main to kho gayi
par kisliye, o lag gayi ankhiyaan

aaj meri nazar ko chamak mil gayi
dil ko ik mithi mithi kasak mil gayi

man ke taaro mein laharaayi masti ki dhun
anaginat paayalein baj uthi chhun chhunan chhun chhunan
o more baalam o mere sanam
o sanam tumpe mori lag gayi ankhiyaan

Jaam Thaam Le, Jaam Thaam Le, Sochte Hi Sochte Na Bite Saari Raat – Shahenshah (1953) – Shamshad Begum

saj ke aayi hai shishe ki pari
dhundh ke laayi hai diloN ki khushi
jannat se kudarat ne bheja tere liye inam

,,,,  ,,,,, ,,,   ,,,,   ,,,,, ,,, 

dunia ke har dukh ka daru ek sunahari jam

subah dur hai rat ki qasam
dil ki maan le mere sanam
masti ki in ghadiyoN mein kya soch samajh ka kam

,,,,  ,,,,, ,,,   ,,,,   ,,,,, ,,, 

zulfoN ke saye mein nadaN kar bhi le aaram

Gori Ke NainoN Mein Nindiya Bhari, Aa Ja Ri Sapno Ki Nilam Pari, ….. . Arre O Mere JakhamoN Ki Fitkari, Aa Bhi Jaa KyoN Der Itni Kari – Angarey (1954) – Shamshad Begum, Kishore Kumar

o nilam pari ruth jaungi maiN, kiya toh naa aaungi maNi
khamosh rahne mein hai behtari
aati huN, aati huN, dam lo ghadi,

aa bhi ja kyoN der itni kari

too hur hai aur maNi langur, too hur hai aur maiN langur huN
ulfat ke hathoN se majabur huN
gussa naa kar, naa kar, gussa naa kar
o meri besuri, o meri besuri, aa bhi ja kyoN der itni kari

Dil Nahi To Na Sahi Aankh To Milao Ji, Sawan Ki Raat Hai – Society (1955) – Asha Bhosle, chorus

us taraf gagan pe kale badaloN ka shor hai
badaloN ka shor hai
is taraf diloN mein mast dhadkanoN ka dour hai
dhadkanoN ka dour hai
ruthane ki rut gai ab to maan jao ji

kachhi kachhi bundiyon ki ras bhari fuhar mein
ras bhari fuhar mein
aur hi maja hai do dilo ki jeet haar mein
do dilo ki jeet haar mein
jindagi ki har khushi daav par lagao ji

kho na jaye ye sama is samay mein kaam lo
..  ….. …..   ….   ….   ….  …  ….   .  .  .
jisse mil gaya ho dil uska hanth tham lo
.. … ..  .  .  .  .  .
mast hoke do ghadi khud ko bhul jao ji

Till we get another opportunity to revisit Sahir Ludhianvi – S D Burman association, we move on to another 18 films association, that with N Dutta in our next episode.