S.D. Burman

Soft melodies, aromatic of the loamy soil of Bengal, remained S D Burman’s trademark till the last. After composing soothing harmonies for 40 years, Dada Burman proved that age is no impediment for creativity. The only great composer to be active and in demand till the end, S D Burman had just released successful scores in films like Jugnu, Chupke Chupke and Abhimaan in the mid-70s before he slipped into a coma.

Sachin Dev Burman’s early life was infused with music. Born into the royal family of Tripura, he began his training in classical music under his father. The sensitive Burman surmounted early reverses in his career as a singer and soon became a celebrated music director in Bengal’s cinema. His decision to move to Bombay with the Ashok Kumar starrer, Eight Days (’46) was seen by many Bengalis as the obliteration of his creative genius. However, with the Do Bhai (’47) song `Mera sunder sapna beet gaya’, Burman exhibited that his talent could prosper on the rocky terrain of Bombay too.

But within a couple of years, disillusioned with the blatant materialism of Bombay, Burman deserted the Ashok Kumar starrer, Mashaal, halfway and decided to board the first train to Calcutta. Fortunately, friend dissuaded him at the last moment for gems like Vaqt ne kiya’, `Gaata rahe mera dil’and `Mere sapno ki rani’ would have otherwise remained locked in Burman’s creative vault forever.

Dev Anand’s Baazi (’51) marked Burman’s ascent to the top and the beginning of a long association with Navketan. Simply structured yet beguiling songs like `Tadbeer se bigdi hui’, `Jaayen toh jaayen kahan’ or `Chhod do aanchal’ became Burman’s forte. In fact whenever his assistant, Jaidev, composed intricate classical numbers, S D Burman would reprimand him saying, “My songs should be hummed even by my servant at home.”

Even in the face of the heavy orchestration resorted to by Naushad, C Ramchandra and Shankar Jaikishen in the 50s, Burman continued to spin light melodies (`Aaja pancchi akela hai’ or laane kya to ne kahi’) using only a few Indian musical instruments. Impressed by his mastery, famous directors like Guru Dutt (Pyaasa, Kagaz Ke Phool) and Bimal Roy (Sujata, Bandini) consistently worked with him.

Ill health and a temporary squabble with Lata Mangeshkar caused a slump in his career in the early 60s but his superlative compositions for Guide (’65), Jewel Thief (’67) and Aradhana (’69) showed that S D Burman could still dictate trends.

Occasionally, Burman lent his sonorous voice to the theme songs of films like Bandini (`Mere saajan hai us paar’), Guide (`Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir’) and Aradhana (`Safal hogi teri aradhana, kahe ko roye’).

Burman was 62 when he composed the score for Aradhana. Competing with son, Rahul and other westward looking music directors, S D Burman continued to enthrall audiences with Indian music in films like Sharmilee (’71) and Abhimaan (’73).

S D Burman’s death in 1975 marked the end of the last phase of the golden age of melody.

Hemant Kumar

An unflinching idealist, fiercely committed to bettering his score rather than quantifying his body of work. Hemant Kumar never thrust his vocals on any song. He could have insisted on singing each and every male number that he composed. After all Hemant Kumar was always a name to ‘record’ with! But he chose Kishore Kumar to vocalize the resplendent nostalgia of Woh sham kuch ajeeb thi in Khamoshi while Hemantda stayed in the background for Dharmendra) with Tum pukar lo.

This was typical of Hemantda, Never an attention-seeker either in real life or his musical output, he always wanted his songs to speak for him. Competition never daunted him. In the 50s when Bengal’s matinee idol Uttam Kumar insisted only on Hemant Kumar’s playback, the singer convinced the superstar that Bhupen Hazarika was just right for a particular song in a big budget melodrama. Likewise in Mumbai Hemantda was accepted as Biswajeet’s ghost-voice after the chartbusters in Bees Saal Baad and Kohraa. Still the composer got Mohd. Rafi to duet with the unusual voice of Aarti Mukherjee in the coltish Saara mora kajra, in the film Do Dil, starring Biswajeet.

There were no shortcuts for Hemant Kumar. He couldn’t make creative compromises even if he wanted to because he didn’t know how. His forte was simplicity and honesty of expression. He never cluttered his compositions with orchestral flourishes to camouflage their inherent weaknesses because there weren’t any to begin with.

As a singer Hemant Kumar embodied the search and discovery of perfection through songs like Yaad kiya dilne kahan ho tum, Rulakar chal diye, Log pite hain and Jab se mili tose ankhiyan. Every composition was sung in a style so different and unique that they became cornerstones of subtle romanticism.

Hemant Kumar Mukherjee sang and composed in perfect harmony. To him music was a platform for sincere self expression rather than an occasion to show off or exhibit his knowledge of the nuances of musical styles. A deeply knowledgeable musician erudition sat lightly on Hemantda’s shoulders. For him skill was superseded by accessibility. He forever wanted to reach out to listeners with tunes that they could share. Hemantda sang and composed for listeners from a plane of expression where he was one of the masses. To do this he never had to lower his standards or dilute his talents. Success came naturally to him in whatever he sang or tuned.

The last song that Hemantda sang in Hindi was Aaja mere pyar aaja for R.D.Burman in a comedy called Heeralal Pannalal in 1978. It was a befitting finale to an illustrious but never cheaply flamboyant career. Exactly twenty-five years prior to Aaja mere pyar for R.D. Burman Hemantda had sung his way into singing superstardom for RD’s father S.D. Burman in Jaal.

A success in whatever he tried–singing and composing in Hindi or Bengali–Hemant Kumar was a far more talented versatile and skilled musician than we can ever imagine. When we listen to Hemantda singing Chandan ka palna with Lataji or composing an enigmatically enriched  tune like Hawaaon pe likhdo for Kishore Kumar we are forced to conclude that in order to be a brilliant creative artiste one must first be a good human being – Subhash K Jha

Hemant Kumar

But it was as a singer that Hemant Kumar obtained an unique berth in the hall of fame. Like Anup Jaiota says, Hemantda’s voice conveyed both the depth of the ocean and the heights of the skies. It is a voice that communicates a profound romance. It is the voice of experienced articulation rather than eager romance. In songs like Main garibon ka dil hoon watan ki zubaan and Hai apna dil to awaara, Hemantda’s seriously reflective vocals soar to the heavens in search of the most exquisite answers to the riddle of life. He was both the riddle and the solution, the singer and the song simultaneously typifying the given experience in a song as well the universal truths underlining the specific song.

Today as we look back on the profound career graph of this expressive singer composer we encounter a never-ending terrain of beauty and harmony helmed by a man who could sing like an angel because he came close to being one in real life.

Hemantda’s career as a singer began in his teens when he sang on radio. In 1937 he recorded his first Bengali songs Janine janite jadi and Balogo more. He began training as a Rabindra Songeet singer under the well‑known practitioner of the style Aanadi Dastidar. Early vocal influences of Pankaj Mullick soon gave way to his own distinctive style.

So pervasive was the `Ilemant Kumar style’ in Bengali films and such was his indomitable powers as a vocalist that all the vocalists in Bengal who followed him modelled their vocals on the singing style of Hemantda.

His compositions in Bengali films like Bhulai Naai and ’42 in the 40′s pioneered a neoclassical movement in Bengali popular music. Hemantda kept opening new frontiers in Bengali cinema with his singing in the 50s. As a composer he shifted base to the mecca of national popularity (Mumbai) where he made an instant impact with the everlasting patriotic strains of Vande mataram in Anand Math. As a singer in Mumbai, Hemantda became a voice to `record’ with in 1952 when he sang Yeh raat yeh chandni phir Kahan in the thriller Jaal for the debonair Dev Anand. Though Dev Anand preferred the voice of Kishore Kumar he still regards the acutely romantic Yeh raat (filmed by Guru Dutt among the fishing nets of a Goan beach) as a favorite.

The association with Guru Dutt continued. In 1957 Hemantda sang one of his career’s best solos Jaane woh kaise log for Guru Dutt in Pyaasa. Songs like these branded Hemantda as the melancholic romantic. However there was a lighter equally persuasive side to Hemantda’s vocals tapped in flirtatious evergreens like Zaraa nazro se keh do jee nishana chuk na jaya and Dil ki umangein the duet with Geeta Hutt, which joyfully exemplifies the vocal genius of Hemant Kumar.

The singer’s special status as a composer-singer hasn’t gone unnoticed by musicologists who have recorded Hemantda’s ability to impart minute details into his renditions. Hemantda’s colleagues like Sachin Dev Burman from Bengal and C.Ramchandra from Maharashtra liked to sing their compositions. But only Hemant Kumar could make an equally successful career as a singer and composer.

It’s hard to say which of the two capacities provided Hemantda with maximum satisfaction. If he excelled as a composer in the Kohraa charmer Yeh nayan dare dare did he fare any lower on the scale of excellence as a singer in the same song? On two songs – Oh zindagi ke denewale and Tere dwar khadaa ek jogi from Nagin. Hemantda could assume two disparate personas of the heartbroken lover and the singing mendicant.

The booming baritone that Uttam Kumar refused to part with no matter what the occasion, communicated the distinct flavour of middle-class romanticism. Hemantda’s vocals were seasoned in the ovigerous vinegar of life’s most precious experiences. The vocalist could express these experiences with an honest and tuneful transparency. He didn’t believe in vocal jugglery, nor did he attempt to sound greater than the sum-total of the composition.

The abiding appeal of Hemant Kumar’s songs is attributable to his expression of the common man’s desires with uncommon genuineness. While Kishore Kumar and Mohd Raft’s vocals represent velvety romance, Hemant Kumar’s chosen thread of expression is cotton– homespun,natural, comfortable subtle and very middle-class in its appeal.

Hemantda was a traditionalist as well as an innovator. If he brought the strains of the Rabindra Sangeet to Hindi music he also introduced electronic music into Hindi cinema through Man dole in Nagin. So popular was the music in Nagin and such was the singer-composer’s sway in the charts that Vyjanthimala was catapulted to instant stardom singing Man dole. To this day the orchestra plays Man dole each time thedancing actress enters a restaurant or a public function.

An unassuming beauty characterized Hemantda’s melody -motivated compositions. Heroines loved the chance to lip-sync Hemantda’s tunes. Did Vyjanthimala ever look more captivating than she did in Nagin’s Man dole? Waheeda Rehman and Sharmila Tagore were infinitely beautified through Hemantda’s O beqaraar dil and Kuch dil ne Kaha in Kohraa and Anupama, respectively.

If as a composer Hemantda elevated feminine beauty to poetic heights as a singer he qualified the subtly rugged side of screen heroism. His songs for Dev Anand ( Yeh raat yeh chandni, Dil hi umangein, Aaya toofan, Teri duniya mein jeene se ), Biswajeet (Beqaraar karke humein, Zaraa nazron se keh do jee, Raah bani khud manzil ) and Dharmendra (Ya dil ki suno, Tum pukar lo) lent a supple poetic romanticism to the image of the actors without interfering with their rugged he-man images.

Hemant Kumar

“Which rival musician would provide that kind of encouragement to a then unknown musician like me?” Bhupen Hazarika shakes his head in wonderment. Hailing a taxi Hemantda took the stupefied young Bhupen Hazarika to the HMV office in Calcutta and a deal was finalized on the spot. Later in Mumbai Hemant Kumar, already a reputed singer-composer, introduced Bhupen Hazarika to Lata Mangeshkar and a host of eminent musical luminaries telling them about this talented young musician named Bhupen Hazarika.

Bhupen Hazarika isn’t isolated in his appreciation of Hemant Kumar’s generosity. Other musicians, fellow composers and singers recall how he went out of his way to encourage them and accommodate them into his compositions as well as into those of his colleagues.

Sandhya Mukherjee who became famous in Calcutta as the voice of Suchitra Sen was brought to Mumbai to sing the frolicsome duet Aa gupchup gupchup pyar karen under the baton of Sachin Dev Burman, reportedly on the recommendation of Hemantda.

In a world where self-interest not only takes precedence, but also limits the human vision, Hemant Kumar always went out of his way to help his colleagues from the music world. To him the rites and processes of music creation weren’t isolated. He saw himself as just one unit in the creative universe– a brick in the creative wall.

This accounts for the illimitable reserves of abiding sweetness in the creative faculties of God’s chosen one – Hemant Kumar.

Hemant Kumar was also a very talented composer. Lata Mangeshkar (who sang Hemantda’s most cherished tunes into the hall of fame) reminds us of Hemant Kumar’s proficiency. “Hemantda believed in simple tunes. He didn’t subscribe to elaborate orchestras. Since he was a singer himself he could explain his requirements in their exactitude”.

The results are to be heard to be believed. From the sinuous Man dole Lataji moves magnificently into another province of Hemantda’s melodiousness with Chhup gaya koi re. Kahin deep jale kahin dil composed by Hemantda for his own production Bees Saal Baad, was a very very special song for Lataji. Prior to this song the Nightingale had fallen ill. Doctors expressed serious doubts whether she would be able to sing again. Lataji pointedly chose to return to the recording room with Kahin deep jale kahin dil. If a Hemant Kumar composition couldn’t prove her vocal supremacy all over again, nothing else could.

Lataji made a stupendous comeback with Kahin deep jale kahin dil even winning the Filmfare award for best playback singer for this intricately woven jewel of a haunting melody. Two years later Hemantda gave his favorite singer two other melodious treats in his next home production Kohraa. Between O beqaraar dil and Jhoom jhoom dhalti raat. How does one choose the better melody?

Hemant Kumar never composed anything but the best melodies. Compromise was alien to him. Whether he composed a flirtatious Saara mora kajra churaya tune or a sublime Kuch dil ne kaha it was always his dil which spoke up on Hemantda’s behalf in the language of the lilt.

The piece de resistance of Hemantda’s career as a composer in Mumbai was Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. For the one opportunity that Hemantda got to compose for Guru Dutt’s cinema (which was dominated by the music of S.D.Burman and O.P. Nayyar) Hemantda pulled out all stops for a score that ranks as one of the ten best ever composed for Hindi cinema.

Between them Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle created a universe of pain and romance in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. From Geeta Dutt’s Na jaao saiyyan to Asha Bhosle’s Bhanwara badaa nadaan, each number numbs, each songs stuns each note cuts deeply in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. In a repertoire cluttered with monumental melodies Hemant Kumar’s Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam ranks as the best score in Guru Dutt’s cinema.

Quality work was the hallmark of Hemantda’s oeuvre. At least three of his scores in the 60s qualify among the greatest of the decade. These are Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam,

Anupama and Kohraa. If we sample Na jaao saiyyan, Bhanwara badaa nadaan, Kuch dil ne kaha, O beqaraar dil and Jhoom jhoom dhalti raat from the three monumental scores of Hemant Kumar in the 60s we are left wondering about this tunesmith’s tireless tenacity and his power to harness melodies into widely acceptable shapes and sizes.

Hemant Kumar

“Listening to Hemantda I feel as though a sadhu sitting in a temple is singing a Bhajan,” comments the nightingale Lata Mangeshkar about the unique unvanquished Hemant Kumar” who was not only a fabulous singer but also an equally indomitable composer. As Lataji astutely tells us, in Hemant Kumar’s voice one could experience an amalgamation of Rabindra Sangeet, Bengali folk music, modern and classical elements.

Every distinguished creative artiste is born with one gift. But Hemantda was born with several gifts. As a singer he reigned supreme in Calcutta and Mumbai. As a composer his versatility and staying – power in the charts were astonishing. From Nagin and Jaal to Bees Saal Baad and Kohraa the 50s and 60s were decades that `belonged’ prominently to the unique talents of Hemant Kumar.

Hemant Kumar Mukherjee was born on 16th June, 1920 in Varanasi. Music seemed to be an inherent part of his life from the outset. Why else did he leave school to become a professional singer at the age of 17 ?? !! At an age when young Hemant’ friends were taken up with teen sensations, the earnest boy studied music under stalwarts like Phani Baneerjee and Shailendra Prasad Gupta. The early training stood Hemant in good stead. He could impart a luminous but light – weight classicism to his film music without making his tunes cumbersome or over-erudite.

While fellow Bengali musician Said Chowdhary couldn’t quite master the popular idiom Hemantda could set aside his learned antecedents to infuse a freshness and modernity into his songs.And that too without sacrificing tonal propriety.

Let’s take an immortal solo like Yeh raat yeh chandni. The tune contains jolting jazz-tinged interludes which fit into the overall design of the song like a hand in glove.

When we listen to Hemant Kumar’s songs, we relive the most cherished and choicest moments from our film music. We marvel at the melodist’s mastery over the language of the heart and the secrets of the soul with such rapid fire explosions of hugely successful chartbusters that we often forget decades, eras and generations have passed by since Hemantda’s period of popularity.

The sound of Hemant Mukherjee is the sound of today. The past translates effortlessly into expressions of tuneful emotions. If Man doley in Nagin had audiences throwing coins at the screen in Mumbai, in Calcutta Hemantda regaled audiences as the legendary Uttam Kumar’s voice singing such all-time hits in Bengali as Nir chotto khati nei and Ei path jadi na shesh hoi.

Hemantda virtually had the best of both worlds. And yet his head remained firmly on his shoulders. Friends were floored by his utter simplicity and genuineness as a human being and his generosity of spirit. The distinguished filmmaker – composer – singer Bhupen Hazarika who was closely associated with Hemantda remembers him as one of the most generous human beings he had ever met.

Bhupenda still recalls his first encounter with Hemant Kumar. “I had the opportunity of knowing what a great man Hemantda was.”

Bhupenda recalls going to Calcutta as a student to collect royalty for songs he sang as a child artiste from a private music company. Suddenly a tall handsome man appeared in front of Bhupenda. By then Hemant Mukherjee was nationally famous as Hemant Kumar, singing both film and non-film songs. Bhupenda saw the famous singer composer approaching him. After introducing himself Hemantda offered to take Bhupenda to his own recording company HMV.

Happier days of the sixties. Bashir Ahmed discusses a song with Bangladeshi singer, Meena Ali, while young Naseema Garaj listens intently.

When first I heard this most haunting number, Mera dil najaney kab se tera pyar dhoondta hai, from Iqbal Yusuf’s cloak-&-dagger movie, Hill Station, released in 1972, I was transported back to the days when I had visited East Pakistan at a very young age. The song seem to nostalgically harken back to the days when all seemed so hunky dory with our world, enveloping us in a false sense of security that nothing untoward can happen to our lovely world of warmth and good will. But, Jo khizan mein kho gaee hai who bahaar dhoondta hai was a melancholic cry from far away land of dream that is lost forever. Composed by that brilliant music director, Nashad, it was sung by Bashir Ahmed, his last song for a Pakistani film!

Not many people know that Bashir Ahmed, the famous singer and playback from Bangladesh, was not Bengali. In fact he didn’t even know Bengali language. He belonged to a Delhi Saudagran family, but was born in Calcutta (Kolkata now) in 1940. He was crazy about music, and was accepted as a pupil by Ustad Vilayat Hussain at the age of 15. Later, he came to Bombay, and became a pupil of Ustad Barey Ghulam Ali Khan. He got lots of encouragement from him. In 1960, Bashir Ahmed migrated to Dhaka.

In Dhaka, his mentor and brother-in-law, Ishrat Kalkatvi introduced him to Robin Ghosh. Ishrat Sahab was writing songs for film Talash, although eventually, Suroor Barabankvi contributed more songs to the film. Robin Ghosh was making tunes for the film, and he gave Bashir Ahmed a chance to prove himself. Bashir Ahmed sang some beautiful numbers for Talash, including that unforgettable soft romantic one, titled Kuch apni kahiyye, kuch meri sunyey. Bashir sang another most famous song, Main rickshawalla matwala, which those who have listened to it can never forget. He had two other songs in the film, both duets. With such a famous beginning, he was sure to stay on. Bashir was also a poet and a lyricist, with a pseudonym B.A Deep. Film-maker, Mustafiz they contacted Bashir and asked him to write a song for his film, Saagar, which he did, titled Ja dekha pyar tera, and sang it too. Similarly in Robin Ghosh’s another lilting offering, Karwan, in 1964, Bashir wrote and sang a memorable hit, Jab tum akele hoge hum yaad aaeingey , which used to be played quite often during the sixties on radio Pakistan. So, he wrote film songs, as B. A. Deep, and also continued to sing as Bashir Ahmed for films like Saagar, Karwan, Eindhan, Milan, Kangan and Darshan. He won a lot of approval from the West Pakistan too at that time, for those songs in Darshan. The hits from the films were Yeh sama pyara pyara, Yeh mausam yeh mast nazarey, Tumharay liyay iss dil mein, Din raat khayalon mein, Hum chaley chor kar, Gulshan mein baharun mein too hai and Chun liya ik phool ku, with Madam Noor Jahan.

Listening regularly to Hemant Kumar’s compositions was enough to make Bashir note details of arrangement in the songs. This made him suggest the instrument that should be used for that particular song. His usual orchestra was on the softer side, and mostly he depended on the piano, the flute and sitar or sarangi, and very rarely did he resort to the guitar, the clarinet or the saxophone. You can see that even in Hum chaley chor kar in Darshan, where he has to go a little on the higher plain, he still worked well in the piano. In Milan, Rehman’s own production, during which he lost one of his legs, the artistes worked almost free for him. Basher too, did not take any amount for two songs he wrote for Milan, phrased Tum jo milay pyar mila, which he sang with Noor Jahan, and Jo mujh se door sahi. Another hit from Milan is Tum salamat rahu muskurao hanso.

Bashir Ahmed’s other songs include songs like Hum to urtey panchi hain from an unreleased film, Urte Panchi, Beete hue din raat and Zara kitab se nazar hattaiye from film Maina, Main hu aik awara from Footpath and Phir aik baar wahi naghma gunganana du zara from film Gori, Ae mere daur ke dukhi insan from the art film, Iss Dharti Par etc.

In 1971, when the situation worsened, he came to this wing, and stayed here for five years. Unfortunately, he was not encouraged in the industry and the Hill Station songs, namely Mera dil najaney and Mere seene per sar rakhdo remain his only contributions in this period. A film that was made on the Dhaka Debacle in the late70s, called Sangtarash, also included his numbers, namely Bol zara kuch duniyawaley and Mukhrey mein chand, but the film, despite pleadings of the film-maker to the military regime of Zia, remained unreleased. So, he went back to Bangladesh in 1975, and only sings private songs in functions now – Zulqarnain Shahid

Pankaj Mullick

A venerated composer, singer, and actor, Pankaj Mullick was one of the leading music directors of the early days of the sound era. Born in Calcutta, Mullick had an early interest in music. He gave up college to concentrate solely on music, and went on to be trained under Durgadas Bannerjee and Dinendranath Tagore. After releasing his first record in 1926, he joined the Indian Broadcasting Company. His association with radio lasted long; during this time he presented such popular programmes as Sangeet Shikshar Asar and Mahishamardini.

Mullick joined films during the silent era. His first film assignment was to provide background music by conducting a live orchestra during the screening of International Filmcraft’s silent films, Chasher Meye and Chorekanta. He then joined New Theatres as a composer for the costume epic, Yahudi Ki Ladki. During the 1930s, Mullick, along with R.C. Boral, composed music for some of the most famous films of the era, such as Devdas, Maya, and President. Mullick was especially lauded for his work in Mukti, where he composed music for one of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs, Diner sheshe ghumer deshe. The film also featured several of Tagore’s lyrics and original tunes.

The period after Mukti saw Mullick focus on playback singing and acting. Some of his most popular renditions include Kab tak niras ki andhiyari (Doctor), Piya milan ko jana (Kapal Kundala), and Ye kaun aaj aaya savere savere (Nartaki). He eventually turned his attention back to composing film music.

In 1973, Mullick was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to Indian cinema. He played an important role in shaping the successful singing careers of such musical giants as K.L. Saigal and Kanan Devi. Mullick has also been credited with popularizing Rabindra Sangeet in Hindi. His autobiography, Amar Jug Amar Gaan, was published in 1980.

Listen!

Piya milan ko jana , Singer – Pankaj Mullick, Music – Pankaj Mullick, Film – Kapal Kundala, Year –1939