Solo Song List | 1931 – 1940 | 1941 – 1950 | 1951 – Onwards |

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Rajkumari

Rajkumari began her career as a singer on All India Radio, way back in 1934. HMV contacted her for an album in Gujarati. Initially she started working as an actress in Hindi films. Her first major role was in Balwant Bhatt’s Nai Duniya (1934) produced under the banner of Prakash Pictures. She played important roles in many films produced by Prakash Pictures including Bombay Mail (1935). Bombay ke Sethani (1935), Azad Veer (1936), and Snehlata (1936). In these films, she was paired opposite Jayant – father of famous villain Amjad Khan.

Later she switched to playback singing and sang for many leading composers including Anil Biswas, O.P Nayyar, Gyan Dutt, Shyam Sunder, S.D. Burman, Naushad and Roshan. she remained a particular favorite with Roshan, who used her voice in Bawre Nain (1950), Anhonee (1952), Raag Rang (1952) and Naubahar (1952). Her famous songs include Ghabra ke and Ek teer chala from Mahal (1949), Nazroun mein samane sai from Hyderabad ki Nazneen (1952), Kajrari matwali from Nau Bahar (1952), Mere roothe huwe chanda from Bawre Nain (1950). She also sang with K.L. Saigal in Bhakt Surdas (1942) and Noor Jehan in Naukar (1943). The last song she sang was a bhajan for Gulzar’s Kitaab (1977) composed by R.D. Burman. One of her last public performances was in 1996, when she received the Aashirwad Navratna Award. She also appeared in the popular music-based programme Sa Re Ga Ma – Ummer Siddique

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Madan Mohan & Suraiya

Madan Mohan and Suraiya were friends and according to Madan Mohan’s only sister Shanti Mahendroo, “… we used to stay at Marine Drive near Suraiya’s residence. At that time Madan used to perform in the children’s programme aired by All India Radio. Madan along with Suraiya, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and my younger brother Prakash used to act and sing in those musical programmes. Subsequently, my father bought a bungalow near the Bombay Talkies studio in Malad and we shifted there.”

Suraiya, Madan Mohan, Madan Mohan's wife and Lata Mangeshkar

Professionally, Suraiya and Madan Mohan collaborated only for 1 odd film i.e. Khubsurat (1952). Starring Nasir Khan and Suraiya, the film was an utter flop but two of its songs Yeh chand sitare kiya jane and Mohabbat Mein Kashish Hogee sung by Suraiya and Talat  respectively are still heard today and appear in various compilations and CDs.

Suraiya sang four songs for Madan Mohan, details are provided below:-

C.H. Atma



Back to Legends – Noor Jehan

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Noor Jehan

Noor Jehan the Melody Queen reigned supreme over the South Asian music scene for more than six decades. She rose from near oblivion of the backwaters of Kasur, then hardly more than middle-sized Punjab town, to the dizzy heights of stardom as far back as the 40s, with songs ranging from classical to folk and ghazal to geet. Her mastery over melody with a strong background of classical music remains unmatched. She sang Punjabi songs and Urdu ghazals with equal ease and amazing finesse.

Noor Jehan was born in Kasur on Sept 21, 1926. Her given name was Allah Wasai. She started her career on the stage at the age of six when Dewan Sardari Lal, financier of a theatre in Calcutta, took her there with her two older sisters Eiden Bai and Haider Bandi, who were both stage singers. The three sisters instantly shot into the limelight. Allah Wasai became Baby Noor Jehan.

Director K.D. Mehra cast them in his Punjabi film Pind Di Kuri in which Noor Jehan sang her first film song. One of the film’s songs, Langh aaja patan channa dey o yaar, became an immediate hit, and remains a popular number even today. The picture was released in 1935, and the next year Noor Jehan was given roles in Fakhri-i-Islam and Heer Sial. In 1937, when Pancholi Studio was set up on The Upper Mall in Lahore, its owner, Dilsukh Pancholi, employed Noor Jehan and her sisters for the film Gul Bakawli. It set a record at the box office.

In 1940, Noor Jehan was cast in Yamla Jat, with M. Ismail in the male lead, and the following year she sang for the film Chaudhry. The same year, Pancholi started work on the Urdu film Khandan for which he acquired the services of Syed Shaukat Husain Rizvi as director. Rizvi had edited every film in which Noor Jehan had acted or sung since Calcutta, and their association was to later blossom into love and marriage.

Khandan was the first picture in which Noor Jehan was cast as the leading lady. She was only 15 years old at that time, and the prefix Baby was now dropped from her name. It is said Pancholi did not like the togetherness of Noor Jehan and Rizvi, and after the film was completed – released in 1942, it went on to become a hit – he sacked the actress. Noor Jehan’s leading man in Khandan was Pran.

Rizvi and Noor Jehan then moved on to Bombay where the former started making Naukar, based on a story by Saadat Hasan Manto. The film flopped, but the two decided to get married. Rizvi then made Dost in which he played the role of Noor Jehan’s brother. This too flopped. Between 1943 and 1946, Noor Jehan acted in Duhaai, Nadaan, Lal Haveli, Bhai Jan, Village Girl, Badi Maan, Zeenat, Anmol Ghari, Dil and Hamjoli. Zeenat proved extremely successful at the box-office, and its qawali number, Aahen na bhareen, shikwey na kiye… is still fondly remembered by many.

Two Noor Jehan films were released in 1947 – Mirza Shahiban and Jugnu. Jugnu was directed by Rizvi and was a resounding success. Noor Jehan’s leading man in Jugnu was Dilip Kumar and the music was by Feroze Nizami. The song Yehan badla wafa ka… was on the lips of young and old alike.

After partition in 1947, Noor Jehan and Shaukat Hussain Rizvi shifted to Lahore where they were allotted the Shori Studios, subsequently renamed Shahnoor Studios. Here, Rizvi started his new picture Chanway (1951) which also did well. It was at this point that Noor Jehan decided that she would sing only for films in which she also acted. In 1952 came Dupatta which was directed by Sibtain Fazli. She also acted in Imtiaz Ali Taj’s Gulnar which did average business at the box-office. A little later she appeared in M.A. Rasheed’s Patey Khan and seemed to have fallen in love with its distributor, M. Naseem. This created a gulf between Noor Jehan and Shaukat Rizvi and their marriage broke up.

Other films in which Noor Jehan sang and acted included Agha Gul’s Lakht-e-Jigar, Masud Pervaiz’s Intezar, Anwar Kamal Pasha’s Anarkali, J.C. Anand’s Nooran, Hassan Tariq’s Neend and Khurshid Anwar’s Koel. Her films Pardesan and Ghalib failed which led to differences between Noor Jehan and M. Naseem, and the two parted ways.

Noor Jehan then came close to Ejaz who was then being cast as a hero in several films, and the two were soon married. She then decided to quit acting and concentrate on playback singing. She sang for Masud Pervez’s Heer Ranjha, with the music being provided by Khurshid Anwar and the songs written by Ahmed Rahi. Many of the numbers, including Mein tey ho ho gaiyee qurban rey, were immensely popular. She became the centre of attraction for all film-makers who vied with on another to have her sing for their ventures.

For the loved ones, it seems that Noor Jehan has the quality of being a paras or a good luck charm. From Khandan to Gulnar, she had been a part of Shaukat Hussain Rizvi long career in films both before and after independence. After their divorce Shaukat could make only three films, Jaan-e-Bahar, Ashiq, and Dulhan Rani, but none of these clicked with the audience, creating doubts in the film trade about the capabilities of the maker of such great hits as Khandan, Zeenat, and Jugnu.

Similarly, Ejaz too went through the same kind of turmoil soon after he separated from the singing goddess and never quite reached the form that he had once attained with her. Ejaz then turned to production and made Dosti starring Shabnam, Rahman, Husna, and himself under the competent direction of the veteran Sharif Nayyar, and shot on locale partly in London and partly in the beautifully photographed northern areas of Pakistan. Yet the main attraction turned out to be the musical compositions of A. Hameed sung in the voice of the crooner, Noor Jehan. Chitthi zera saiyanji ke naam likh de and other lyrics by Tanvir Naqvi enthralled film-goers for so long that the film broke all previous records and became yet another diamond jubilee (in local cinema lingo `diamond jubilee’ refers to a hundred-week run) bonanza of Pakistani cinema.

It is estimated that since 1935, Noor Jehan sang some 3000 film and non-film songs which is a record. Her rendering of Faiz’s Mujh Sey Phehhli Si Mohabbat, recorded for the film Qaidi, moved the great poet so much that he was reported to have gifted the poem to the singer. Her patriotic songs sung during the 1965 conflict struck an emotional chord among the masses. Her colorful personality had inspired the incomparable Manto sketch entitled Noor Jehan Suroor-i-Jehan.

In her later years, critics say Noor Jehan had overexposed herself and descended to the level of singing double-entendre songs which were popular but a far cry from the standards she had set for herself earlier in her singing career. Noor Jehan is survived by two sons and four daughters. The sons, Akbar Rizvi and Asghar Rizvi, run Shahnoor Studios and one of the daughters, Zille Huma, is a popular singer. Noor Jehan and Lata Mangeshkar shared many things. Both were born in September and both started their singing career from childhood. Both played roles in feature films and both remained active for about 60 years as singers. Besides, both Noor Jehan and Lata worked in the film Badi Maa, made in Bombay in the forties, and both sang thousands of hit songs – Source(s) - Various

Profile – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Fact File – Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Talat Mahmood

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Dil-e-Nadaan (1953) film poster

Talat Mahmood sang maximum number of songs for C. Ramchandra, Madan Mohan, Vinod, Ghulam Mohammed and Shanker Jaikishan.

Talat Mahmood acted in 13 Hindi films, out of which 3 of them were with Nadira (Waris, Raftaar, and Dak Babu), 2 of them each with Suraiya (Waris and Maalik) and Shyama (Dil-e-Nadaan and Lala Rookh).

Talat Mahmood sang 3 songs for Pakistani films during his visit to Pakistan. 2 of them for Chiraag Jalta Raha (1962) and 1 for unreleased film Ghanghour Ghata. Chiraag Jalta Raha marked the debut of 3 Pakistani legends – Deeba, Mohammad Ali and Zeba.

Talat’s first non-film song was Sab din ek samaan nahin tha.

Talat’s first film song was Jago musafir jago from Rajlaxmi (1945).

Talat’s last released album was Ghazal ke saaz uthao in 1986 by HMV.

Talat married child star Latika Mullick (Nasreen) on 20th February, 1951 and have 2 children – Khalid and Sabina.

Suraiya

I had the privilege of meeting actress Suraiya and having lengthy conversations with her on several occasions during my tenure as chief representative of our national airline in Bombay, in the nineties. It was during those meetings that she narrated several interesting anecdotes concerning different phases of her career and the impact of some of the master composers on her style of singing. Such as how Anil’da (Biswas) taught her to breathe in while singing so that it was not caught by the microphone or how Khwaja Saheb (Khursheed Anwer) would lean over the harmonium, with his long hair covering half of his face, while singing a tune to her: Naushad Saheb put her to rigorous rehearsals even when she used to be dead tired after marathon shooting schedules: or how while recording her first song as a child she was made to stand on a wooden stool in order to reach the height of the microphone.

She often recalled fondly the days when as a child from her Marine Drive residence she would walk down to All India Radio (A.I.R.) studio to participate in the children’s programme in which Raj Kapoor and Madan Mohan who later attained fame as an actor, a film maker and music director respectively, used to be her co-artists. The legendary Z.A.Bukhari was then the station director at the A.I.R. Bombay.
Suraiya entered the film industry as a child actress with Taj Mahal (1941), for which maestro S.D. Burman, who was till then known for his Bengali songs, rendered his first Hindi song Prem ki pyaari nishani under the musical baton of Madhulal Master. Suraiya’s next assignment was for Tamanna (1942), for which she also rendered her first duet with then budding singer Mannadey – Jaago aayi usha. It was tuned by Manna’s uncle the well known singer, music director and actor K.C. Dey.

After few other rather insignificant singing and acting assignments (Ujala, Station Master) maestro Naushad selected her as the playback voice for leading lady Mehtab in Sharda (1942). The movie became a turning point in Suraiya’s career as a singer, with two of her songs Panchhi ja, peechhe raha hai bachpan mera and Mere dil ko sajan samjhado becoming very popular. Incidentally, Mehtab was the only actress to whom Suraiya lent her voice in three movies (Sharda, Qanoon and Sanjog). It was quite an incidence per force, that many years later in a female duet situation in Shama (1961) besides singing for herself, she became the ghost voice for Nimmi as well when the other singer Suman Kalyanpur failed to dub her portion of the song. Also two of her songs (Hawa uda kar layi, O bewafa karke jafa — music: Dhani Ram) recorded for an incomplete movie of her’s, were later included in another film Taqdeer (1958) and picturized on its leading lady Shyama.

Suraiya graduated to adult roles with Ishara (1943), playing second lead opposite small-timer Satish with Prithviraj Kapoor and Swarnlata playing the leading roles. In this movie she had only two songs to her credit, a solo (Panghat pe muraliya baaje) and a duet (Baaghon mein koyal boli) with Satish. In Station Master and Ishara her voice was used for the character she played. In Anmol Ghadi she was the third angle of the love triangle, the other two being Noor Jehan and Surendranath. She sang three songs in it.

There is no denying the fact that Naushad Ali, Husnlal – Bhagat Ram and Khursheed Anwer played significant roles in Suraiya’s career but such stalwarts as Anil Biswas, S.D. Burman and Ghulam Mohammad also enhanced her popularity as a singer. Then there were other music directors she teamed up with just once or twice but rendered some extremely melodious though not so popular numbers.

In a career spanning 22 years, Suraiya sung in five or six films and acted in approximately 65 movies which do not include the incomplete ones like Jaanwar (with Dilip Kumar) and Paagal Khaana (with Bharat Bhushan).

From the late forties to the early fifties she remained the highest paid as well as the most worshipped star of the Indian cinema – Sultan Arshad

Profile – Fact File

Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Suraiya

Suraiya was born as Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh on June 15 ,1929 in Lahore, British India (now Pakistan) and was the only child of her parents. Some sources say she was born in Gujranwala.

Suraiya’s father owned a small furniture shop in Gujranwala. Later he moved to Lahore and Suraiya was taken to Bombay on the request of her mom, maternal grandmother and uncle. No one heard of Suraiya’s father again after that time.

According to an article published in Shama Magazine, there is a possibility that Suraiya’s Grand mother was actually her mom.

Suraiya sang more than 340 songs in her career spanning > 20 years.

Among male singers Suraiya sang maximum duets with Rafi (24 Duets) and among female singers she sang maximum duets with Lata and Shamshad Begum (5 Duets each).

One of her films Amar Kahani (1949) was re-released as Kanchan in 1955.

She sang maximum number of songs for Husnlal Bhagatram and Naushad.

According to many sources Suraiya and Nargis were arch rivals and never used to get along with each other.

Suraiya worked with all top stars of her era with the exception of Dilip Kumar. The details of why she never worked with Dilip are provided here

As an actress, she worked the most with director D.D. Kashyap in 5 films – Aaj Ki Raat, Badi Behan, Kamal ke Phool, Do Sitare and Shama Parwana; with A.R. Kardar in 4 films – Dard, Dillagi, Dastaan and Deewana and with M. Sadiq in 4 films – Jagbiti, Dak Bangla, Kajal and Char din. She shared great chemistry with director A.R. Kardar and 3 out of the 4 films they worked together were hits (Dard, Dillagi and Dastaan).

Suraiya has the rare honor to work with many other singing-stars of her time including Noor Jehan (Anmol Ghadi), C.H. Atma (Bilwamangal), Talat Mahmood (Maalik and Waris), Mukesh (Mashuqa), K.L Saigal (Tadbeer, Omar Khaiyyam and Parwana) and Surendra (1857 and Anmol Ghadi)

Although a singing star, Suraiya started her career as a playback singer for actress Mehtaab. She sang for Mehtaab in Sharda (1942), Kanoon (1943) and Sanjog (1943). Many years later, she also sang for Nimmi in Shama (1961) besides singing for herself,  because the other singer Suman Kalyanpur failed to dub her portion of the song.  Also two of her songs – Hawa uda kar layi, O bewafa karke jafa — (music: Dhani Ram) recorded for an incomplete movie of her’s, were later included in another film Taqdeer (1958) and picturized on its leading lady Shyama.

Profile – Fact File

Filmography – Interview – Photo Gallery

Back to Legends – Suraiya

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Suraiya

The young Raj Kapoor used to teasingly call her `kallu’ when the two started out by doing children’s radio programmes for AIR. When she entered films with bit roles, Naushad had to make the barely-into-her-teens girl stand on a stool to enable her to reach the mike to playback for the much older Mehtaab, in Sharda.

Few would have predicted that this dark, plain girl, neither a classic beauty nor endowed with training in classical music, would one day become the country’s most enduring female singing superstar — Suraiya.

Indeed, this diamond in the rough of the early 40s shone by the close of the decade. Famous for her personal predilection for glittering diamonds, she had acquired a professional singing repertoire of shimmering gems too. Her honey-rich voice in songs like `Woh paas rahe ya door rahe’, ‘Tere naino ne chori kiya’, `Tu mera chaand main teri chaandni’ and the rare classical number, `Manmor hua matwala’, created hysteria. A famous fan is Dharmendra, who remembers walking miles to see Suraiya’s Dillagi 40 times! This exotic songbird had numerous lesser-known fans too, who thronged the seaface outside her Marine Drive residence every day just to catch a glimpse of her Cadillac.

There was more to Suraiya than just her songs. Gradually she picked up the rudiments of acting too. After all she had had a long apprenticeship, from playing opposite dancer Mumtaaz Ali, in the Devika Rani -Jairaj starrer Hamari Baat, to holding her own as the second lead against Noorjehan (Anmol Ghadi) and Munnawar Sultana (Dard). Yet her reign at the top was brief. In the ’48-’49 phase, with her trio of hits, Pyar Ki Jeet, Badi Behan and Dillagi, she became the highest paid female star who regularly broke hearts and records.

However, most of her 50s films flopped till she made a short-lived comeback with Sohrab Modi’s Mirza Ghalib, in which she made vivid, the role of the married Ghalib’s lover. Along with an emotionally fluid performance where her expressions of love, expectation and hurt just seemed to merge into one another, the queen of cadence also recorded what is still regarded by many as the definitive Ghalib. No less a personality than Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru praised her saying, `Tumne Mirza Ghalib ki rooh ko zinda kar diya,’ (You have brought Mirza Ghalib to life).

After ,Mirza Ghallb, Suraiya retreated into a fantasy world surrounded by her family who still called her ‘baby’ and who led her to believe that the tourist crowds at Marine Drive had in fact come to see her. While at the top, Suraiya had had the power to bestow her favours on a young Gregory Peck look- alike, Dev Anand, and to do seven films with him without a single hit. Their love story was the stuff legends are made of but Suraiya’s strict grandmother put her foot down hard and threw Dev’s ring into the sea. Suraiya too was not ready to give up her position and the wedding bells failed to ring out.

Suraiya lived in her apartment on Marine Drive in Mumbai until her death in 2004 at age 75.

Mukesh

Perhaps the only calculating thing Mukesh ever did was to engineer an elopement to marry his beloved Saral. That was the name of the Gujarati girl Mukesh fell in love with and wished to marry. Families on both sides disapproved. Friend and mentor, Motilal was called in to perform the Kanyadaan.

Mukesh was in private a fun loving, outdoor person. Fond of his drink but not addicted to it he would often say ‘Sharaab’? Din mein kabhi chhuo mat, raat ko kabhi chhodo mat!. (Never drink before dusk, never miss a drink after dusk). Harish Bhimani writes that drink made Mukesh ever so endearing. After a peg or two he would ask for a harmonium and regale his friends with his favorite songs. Soon, vintage Mukesh would come alive, free of the claustrophobic confines of a singing booth, without the electronic aid of microphones, amplifiers, mixers and giant speakers.

It was probably this easy going, open nature that drew composers to him. Infact there wasn’t a single prominent composer who didn’t need Mukesh’s voice at one time or the other. O.P. Nayyar who never saw the need to use Mukesh, summoned him reluctantly for Sambandh. The song ‘Chal akela’ became a milestone both in the composer’s as well as the singer’s career. For Kalyanji – Anandji, Mukesh sang in a record breaking 57 films. Laxmikant Pyarelal, used Mukesh in 45 films including their first film Parasmani. The last song Mukesh sang was ‘Chanchal, sheetal, nirmal komal’ for Laxrnikant Pyarelal in 1976.

Raj Kapoor’s creative dream team , that produced the memorable music associated with his films consisted of Mukesh , Shankar-Jaikishan, Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri – a team that produced ‘Chod gaye balam’, ‘Awaara hoon’ , ‘Raat andheri door savera’ and ‘Mera joota hai japani’.

On hearing the news of Mukesh’s death on August 27, 1976 Raj Kapoor broke down and said ‘I’ve lost my voice’. Mukesh left behind a treasure house of innumerable songs including the eight volume evergreen rendition of the Tulsi Ramayan. Anyone who passes by Mukesh’s residence in Mumbai cannot miss Mukesh Chowk where Mukesh’s Ramayan is played every morning.

As clones of his contemporaries have flourished, surprisingly Mukesh clones have never been successful. Even the singer’s son, Nitin, whose voice closely resembles Mukesh, found the going tough. According to Nitin, his father’s, was a hard act to follow. ‘Papa would wake up at 5.am., however late he might have slept and do riyaz for a couple of hours. Then he’d go for his daily walk, to Hanging Gardens in Mumbai. He knew everyone who came there and I think he must have befriended every flower’ – Subhash K . Jha (Legends – Mukesh)

Mukesh

There were other actors who benefited from the use of Mukesh’s vocals. Dilip Kumar who openly admitted his admiration for the singer. The pensive ‘Mr. Bharat’ Manoj Kumar who used Mukesh’s voice in most of his films. ‘Tum bin jeevan kaise beeta poocho mere dil se’sings the forlorn Manoj to the reluctant sanyasin Sadhana in Anita. There’s the wonderfully hummable ‘Ek pyar ka naghma hai’ from the painfully realistic Shor. And there are flirtatious songs from ‘Sanyasi’ where a chaste Manoj resists the gorgeous temptress Hema Malini.

Even the debonair, head shaking, puff sporting Dev Anand had his share of introspective songs from the noble Mukesh. The beautiful “bidaai” song with its sensitive chorus from Bombai Ka Babu bewitches us completely. A regal Suchitra Sen, large liquid eyes brimming with tears, walks away from her father’s home and true love in ‘Chal ri sajni ab kya soche, Kajra na bah Jaye rote rote’. The song was made for the soft, brooding vocals of Mukesh. Today, its virtually impossible to imagine that S.D. Burman had used Mukesh’s voice only when the original choice Kishore Kumar was unavailable. Mukesh had even been told that his rendition would be scrapped if it wasn’t up to the mark!

Even in contemporary cinema Mukesh continued to sing for younger heroes who were completely identified with Kishore’s voice. The sweet songs of pleasure and pain from Anand sung by the stricken Rajesh Khanna could not have found a better voice, ‘Kahin door jab din dhal Jaye’ or ‘Maine tere liye hi saath rang ke’.

The angry young man Amitabh plays the mellow poet in Kabhi Kabhie and sings to the doe eyed Rakhee ‘Kabhi Kabhie mere dil mein’ or ‘Main har ek pal ka shair hoon’. Kabhi Kabhi came to typify mature mellow love, far away from the jiggling, bustling madness of modern love.

Mukesh’s extraordinary humility and total sincerity made him an extra – special person. When Kalyanji — Anandji wanted Mukesh to dub the lines sung by Manhar in the duet ‘Aapse humko bichde huey’ as agreed to by Manhar, Mukesh refused with a smile, ‘Why break the boy’s heart! He has done such a fine job’ he said.

Early in his career, Mukesh had frankly told composer Sardar Malik to give him songs, that would camouflage his tendency to go offkey. Later, Mukesh was always quick to admit that Mohammed Rafi was markedly more versatile.

As Anil Biswas says, ‘During my career of fifty years as a music director I’ve come across thousands of people. I must say that Mukesh was a real gem, an elevated soul, sincere to the core. Warm and friendly and totally unaffected by the glamour and hullabaloo of life’. Mukesh was known to serve as a mediator among warring parties and within the film industry was fondly referred to as ‘Guni Jaan’ (Noble Soul).

Many music directors who were just starting out on their career came to Mukesh with songs in their heart and no money in their pockets. Mukesh gladly sang their songs for free. Nitin, recalls how bothered his father would get, when he learnt that on concerts abroad, his musicians had to stay-in less expensive hotels. Mukesh would always insist on shifting to the same inexpensive accommodation.

‘No wonder his musicians simply adored him’ Nitin remembers fondly. Mukesh never forgot old friends or favors. Friends in school, remember Mukesh regaling them with Saigal’s songs during the lunch break Accompanying him on the harmonium was Roshan Lal who himself later became a famous music director in Mumbai. Mukesh and Roshan remained friends for life.- Roshan recorded the immortal ‘Teri duniya mein dil lagta nahin’ in his dear friend’s voice. In turn, Mukesh used Roshan for his first and only production Malhar. It was only right for Mukesh to sing Roshan’s last songs ‘Oh ho re taal miley’ and ‘Dulhan Se hamara Milan hoga’ from Anokhi Raat.

In 1965, Mukesh got together with Motilal and Anil Biswas for the film ‘Choti Choti Baatein’ — produced by Motilal. When Motilal passed away before the film’s completion, Mukesh look upon himself the responsibility of completing the film, undergoing tremendous financial difficulties to concretize Motilal’s  dream project.

Obviously such a good, generous soul would be surrounded by friends who genuinely cared. In the 50′s, due to the lack of assignments, Mukesh had to withdraw his children from school. Actors like Raj Kapoor, Manoj Kumar rallied around him, using his voice to deliver hit after hit .