by: gopalshroti
When the Filmfare Best Playback Singer Award was first introduced in 1958, both male and female singers had to compete for the same award. The competition was thus doubly keen in the years 1958 and 1959. Lata won the award in 1958 for ‘Aaja re perdesi’-Madhumati-Salil Chaudhary number. Next year in 1959, the Award went to Mukesh, who put all rival voices, male and female in the shade with the runaway hit by Shankar Jaikishan, starring Raj Kapoor……?….song ‘Sab kuchh seekha hamne na seekhi hoshiari’ film Anari.-There was a spell during which Lata did not sing for Shankar. Yet Mukesh managed to persuade Lata to sing for Shankar in ‘Sanyasi’. This is inspite of the fact that his duets with Lata in the film offerred him little scope as a singer. Pl recall the Lata-Mukesh ‘SANYASI’ duet with which Lata began singing for Shankar again?…..”Sun baal brahmchari main hoon kanya kunwari’.-A Mukesh number composed by Shankar came to be an all time classic which was filmed on Dilip Kumar. But Dilip wanted Talat Myhmood to sing it, while Shankar wanted Mukesh, since he has composed the tune for his voice. At the toss of a coin it was decided Mukesh wud sing the song……song and the film?….’ye mera deewanapan hai ya muhabbat ka suroor’-Yahudi.-Mukesh has gone on record as saying that most of the themes songs of the Shankar Jaikishan duo were composed by Shankar. Yet there were three theme songs filmed on Raj Kapoor and sung by Mukesh that were composed by Jaikishan….songs and films? …’Awara Hoon’(Awara), ‘Main aashiq hoon baharon ka’ (Aashiq), ‘Mere man ki ganga’ (Sangam)…….
”Those who say he was ‘besura’ do not know their job as composers…This is film music, not Beethoven’s symphony. We are peoples’ composers and Mukesh was the people’s voice.” The music director who said that composed the ‘mera joota hai japani’ and ‘ramaiya vastavaiyya’ numbers of ’shri 420′, as also, ‘Dil ka haal sune dilwala’ and ‘Pyar hua iqrar hua’ numbers. In the first two numbers, this music director employed the voice of Mukesh for Raj Kapoor, and in the latter two songs the voice of Manna Dey for Raj Kapoor….who was the composer, Shankar or Jaikishan…..indeed Shankar. and in ‘Dil ka haal sune dilwala’ the ”chu-chu” in between when antara ends,was from the tongue of Jaikishan….However when Jaikishan actually came into the scene of Shri 420, all songs were recorded by Shankar….Jai on his part composed the emotional Nargis dream song: ”O jane wale mud ke zara dekhate jana, munh pher ke to chal diye mujhko no bhulana”….2. There was a song in Aah, sung by Mukesh but also filmed on him……yes it was ‘Chhoti si ye zindgani re, chaar din ki jawani teri’.3. Once Jaikishan composed a tune for Mukesh. The singer sang in such style that Jaikishan felt it should be filmed on himself on the screen…..the song and film…?….’Ai pyase dil bezubaan, tujh ko le jaoon kahan’-film Begunah (1957)banned within a week of its release due to some reasons…Thanks God, I saw Jai lip-moving on piano.4. This song was composed by Jaikishan immediately after the Nargis-Raj Kapoor team had broken up. There was a taunting tone in Hasrat’s lyric, written for a film in which Mala Sinha played Raj Kapoor’s heroine. There is no way of knowing whether Mukesh, who sang it for Raj Kapoor approved of the sentiments expressed in it, in the context of Nargis-Ral split…….which song and film?…….’kisi nargisi nazar ko dil denge hum’ for ‘Main nashe main hoon’(1959), a song in which the accent was on the word ‘nargisi’
The voice that has no end…still when we hear Mukesh, the golden era comes alive…even there are thousands of youngsters fans of his voice.We have not found a replacment for him..The imitators are many. But the sound of music and magic made by the original Mukesh endures as never before. HIS SONGS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. There was something languorously lingering about Mukesh’s voice. Humulity was his hallmark…It left him with an open ear to all composers, may be Shankar Jaikishan, Anil Biswas or Kalyanji Anandji. He cud adjust to all.THIS IS MY HUMBLE REMEMBRANCE ON HIS BIRTHDAY i.e.22 JULY.MUKESH DETRACTORS WERE MANY. THAT too many top composers like C Ramchandra did not tune with him at all. But then Anil Biswas was C Ramchandra’s mentor and Anil B iswas presented Mukesh at his sonorous best, starting with Saigal-style ”Dil jalta hai to jalne de”(in pehli nazar). What a surpassingly resonant experience it was to hear Mukesh in ”tal mile nadi ke jal mein” (anokhi raat-Roshan).Not for nothing did Raj Kapoor pick MUKESH up as the voice reflecting his Atma. Take Raj K apoor playing DIWANA (opposite saira banu). Take in that movie, Jaikishan’s ”Ai sanam jisne tujhe chand si surat di hai” and Shankar’s ”ham to jaate apne gaon, sabko raam raam raam”. The two compositions belong to the two antithetic genres – to two composers diametrically different in their tuning outlook even in the face of going by the label of the inseparable Shankar-Jaikishan. Yet Mukesh’s approach was exactly as indicated by Shankar for ”ham to jaate apne gaon”, exactly as required by Jaikishan for ”Ai sanam jisne tujhe”…….
It was this firm commitment of his that made Mukesh such a favourite of Shankar Jaikishan….Shankar said that Mukesh alone cud give that special effect he needed in a theme-song like ”Dost dost na raha”….He further said that he certainly needed to work on Mukesh’s vocals, but the end effect wud be so telling that the listner came to discern there was a certain result that cud be got from Mukesh only.
It was Shankar who generally composed the title song or the theme song of a S-J film…..Therefore said Mukesh that he always made it a point to remain in Shankarji’s good books. From whom else cud he hope to get a ”Sajan re jhooth mat bolo”…..But does this mean Mukesh was any less keen when on the rare occasion, the title song done by Jaikishan….Not in the life….Take ”main aashiq hoon baharo ka”. this was done by Jaikishan. Do anybody find it less appealingly rendered by Mukesh for that reason?
Or take another ”bol radha bil sangam hoga ki nahin” . This was yet another title tune done by Jaikishan. And it was for a prestigious RK show like ‘Sangam’. Mukesh cud never think to differentiate with Shankar or Jaikishan. Shankar might have been his title-tune staple, his mainstay. Yet Mukesh kept his vibes going with Jaikishan too, for his tune he rendered in the beginning of their career, ”Awara hoon”. Mukesh humility excelled in dealing with other composers too. For example in other RK movie, RDB had to tune up on insistence of Raj Kapoor for Mukesh in Dharam Karam -”ek din bik jayega mati ke mol”…Dada Burman hardly took Mukesh, but when Kishore Kumar shied away to sing this song which was not on the lips of Dev Anand, the hero. Thus Mukesh came in with Dada’s warning that he wud cancel the number if he was not satisfied with the recording. This encouraged Mukesh to give the solo all he had….that is ”chal ri sajni ab kya soche” (Bambai ka babu)….still this falls most vibrantly on the ears….Why Mukesh was valid on Amitabh Bachchan in ”kabhi kabhi”-’main pal do pal ka shayar hoon’–is the poetry of Sahir enriched by the compositional artistry of Khayyam and in ”kabhi kabhi mere dil main khayal aata hai”….this was his humility, which rendered ‘’sawan ka mahina pawan kare sor” in Milan on Sunil Dutt (Laxmi-Pyare), and in Saraswatichandra ”chandan sa badan chanchal chitvan” (Kalyananji Anandji) and many more to recount.
Why did people in Ethiopia like Sangam as much as Egypt? Israel liked all three films Awaara, Shree 420, and Sangam but Shree 420 edged out the other two quite a bit. Then of course, Russia fell in love with Awaara, less so with Shree 420 and Sangam--much less there.The former Czechoslovakia immensely took for Jagte Raho and of course in India it was a total flop. (non SJ) What was the impact of music in these movies in different countries.Russia and Eastern Europe had songs of Awaara and Shree 420 on their lips. Not so of Sangam songs. All of middle east in general were very fond of songs of Sangam. Israel also, but more towards the songs of Shree 420. Which film had what message and for what country it made more touching and meaningful impact...... ..etc Somewhat of a good topic for a sociology and economics as well as filmology dedicates. Some answers for our main questions might be lurking in these above queries. But coming back to the journalist question that was posed to Raj Kapoor, this was in the mid eighties before Ram Teri Ganga Maili. His answer was that America was made up of very individualistic people making up the society, lacking strong culture and tradition. His films were strong in culture, traditions, and also slow moving for Western society. He said there was no way it would have done well in US. 