Laxmikant Pyarelal, Best song composed by them for Guru Options

[Nimii]

Hey pplz

Which would you consider as the best song that was composed by this duo for Guru?


Post your choice!

N

[Nimii]

Indeed an excellent article -
Here is the complete article for easier access.

Kishore Vs Kishore

Reams have been written about how Kishore Kumar, when he finally came into the mood to playback for artistes other than himself and Dev Anand, decimated the competition offered by such stalwarts as Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh and Manna Dey. Volumes have been penned on how Destiny contrived to aid Kishore with the simultaneous upswing of Rajesh Khanna and the Burmans and the rise of Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, all in those few decisive years from the fag end of the ?60s and the early ?70s.

But as we complete 12 be-sura years without this eccentric genius called Kishore Kumar and his exquisite genius, let us ponder upon something that largely went unnoticed, and certainly unwritten: about how Kishore Kumar competed with Kishore himself. And what do I mean with this apparently crazy, even asinine statement? Simply this : When Aradhana happened (and everyone knows that the late Rahul Dev Burman, urf Pancham urf RD, had the lion?s share in the creation of the three Kishore hits Mere sapnon ki rani, Roop tera mastana and Kora kagaz tha yeh man mera), RD was still a struggler, better known as Dada Burman?s son and associate music director. And Rafi was comfortable at the top.

Aradhana itself had two fabulous (and hit) Rafi duets composed by - to the best of our knowledge - the senior Burman. RD himself had delivered ace after ace from 1966 - Teesri Manzil, Baharon Ke Sapne, Abhilasha, Padosan, Pyar Ka Mausam (with that singular Rafi-Kishore battle Tum bin jaoon kahan which Kishore had won) and Waris, but had not made headway because with Rafi as his mainstay, he could not forge his own identity.

All that he proved with these films was that he was different from dad(a) Burman. On the other hand, the eternal Rafi-bhakts Laxmikant-Pyarelal had, come 1969, left Shanker Jaikishan with their wits scattered for the first time since the early ?50s with humdinger after humdinger in the same post-1966 period. And but for a few exceptions, all these scores were dominated by Rafi - Aye Din Bahaar Ke, Aya Sawan Jhoom Ke, Sajan, Anjaana, Sadhu Aur Shaitan, Intequam, Wapas, Mere Humdum Mere Dost, Izzat, Jeene Ki Raah, Jigri Dost, Night In London, Taqdeer and other films with hit Rafi ?singles?.

LP were securely perched at the top, with names like V.Shantaram and Manoj Kumar as the latest names in their bag - and no opposition to speak of. And RD, Kishore and Aradhana came like a giant bump as LP were speeding on the Numero Uno highway. Once Aradhana hit the nation like a thunderbolt - and I will never forget the hysteria its music generated - RD was ready to unleash himself with pet voice Kishore in the flood of assignments that came his way for the first time.

His The Train, Mela and Caravan were just his last pending triumphs with Rafi as the only or main voice. With Kishore Kumar himself on the crest of a wave, RD had no qualms or fears about his favourite voice.

He could afford to give the sort of music which he really relished, music which was to earn him the tag of being the most innovative Indian film composer of all time.

That Rajesh Khanna was himself like a locomotive in full steam helped, of course. But RD thrust Kishore even on Rafi-centric stars like Dharmendra (Do Chor), Sanjeev Kumar (Seeta Aur Geeta, Anamika), Shashi Kapoor (Aa Gale Lag Jaa), Jeetendra (Caravan, Parichay, Jaise Ko Taisa) as well as on newcomers like Randhir Kapoor, Navin Nischol, Vijay Arora, Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Mehra and Rakesh Roshan.

In short, Kishore did not hold merely the centerstage in Pancham?s sur - he held the entire stage! And RD?s songs weren?t quite like anything heard before in our films. Neither were they wholesale Western adaptations, nor were they in the traditional film music mould.

They were an exotic amalgam of Indian and Western, of traditional core and modern packaging. In 1971-2, such was the Kishore wave that even the mediocre Hum to hai rahi dil ke (Caravan) which is now almost forgotten was more popular than the thee excellent Rafi duets which endure to this day, but RD and Kishore were something khaas. Yeh shaam mastani, Pyar diwana hota hai and Yeh jo muhabbat hai (Kati Patang), Raat kali ek khwab mein ayee (Buddha Mil Gaya), Chanda o chanda (Lakhon Mein Ek), Koi maane ya na maane (Adhikar) and Hone wali hai Gangaram ki sagaai (Pyar Ki Kahani) were just the exciting beginning of the superb melodies and riveting rhythms that they created together.

Caught in the Kishore wave, LP, whose previous but notable association with the singer was limited to Kishore Kumar ?s acting vehicles like Mr X In Bombay, Shriman Funtoosh, Pyar Kiye Jaa and Hum Sab Ustad Hain, had begun to employ Kishore Kumar sporadically. Laxmikant was a composer who thoroughly needed to absorb an artiste?s style and USP before employing him; whenever he could not he just ignored the singer, whether it was Talat Mehmood, Abhijeet, Poornima or Kumar Sanu.

So, after due study, the versatile and prolific tunesmith had yielded two songs for Jagdeep (Khilona and Darpan), three for Mehmood as a comic (in Jawab and Humjoli) and others in Bachpan and Satyakam .

But there were only two memorable songs - Sui jaa taara for Mehmood as a hero in Mastana and Sa re ga ma pa in Abhinetri . It was in 1971 that LP realised that their good friend and contemporary RD and Kishore Kumar, individually and especially together, could not be wished away. Rafi, so to speak, was firmly entrenched in their system, but it was at this point of time that LP for the first time unsheathed that daunting weapon - their remarkable chameleon-like power to change with the times - which enabled them to surmount every challenge for two more decades.

With Kalyanji Anandji never obsessed with one-upmanship, SJ on the decline, every other giant passe and Dada Burman choosy, the stage was thus set for the ruling champions - LP - and the surprise challenger Pancham to have a battle royal for the baton. And thus came about the real, the truly solid, the immensely -stimulating (for them) and the eminently rewarding (for music lovers) super hit muqabla between them.

The LP-RD battle was fought mainly on the Kishore battleground, as Rafi mattered only to LP, and though LP basically went the Lata way and RD the Asha way, both (one speaks of LP as one entity) did come up with winners for the other sister.

The same was the case with Anand Bakshi and Majrooh - the master composers? pet poets - though Bakshi did more work with LP than Majrooh and the reverse was the case with RD. And how LP - even without jettisoning Rafi - gradually acclimatised themselves to Kishore in their own special way, and challenged the challenger with his own raambaan weapon to success is a saga without parallel among the exciting professional battles which have been fought in the world of Hindi film music.

Rising swiftly to the occasion, LP, whose leitmotif was solid melody as against RD?s trendy rhythms, got Kishore Kumar to vocalise the feather light Accha to hum chalte hai, a benchmark in the conversational song genre, and the ?fizz?ical Jawani o diwani tu zindabad in Aan Milo Sajana as the first follow-up to their first Kishore offering to the new phenomenon Rajesh Khanna, Khizaan ke phool (Do Raaste).

Then amidst the Rafi-dominated score of the Muslim social Mehboob Ki Mehndi, LP made Kishore do something hitherto considered unthinkable - they made the comic-and-sad specialist sing a languorous ghazal -Mere diwanepan ki bhi dawa nahin.

Still reluctant to sideline Rafi, they yet made Kishore Kumar sing for a hero unthinkable minus Rafi?s voice, Rajendra Kumar, in Tum ko bhi to aisa hi kuchh in Aap Aaye Bahaar Ayee - another Rafi-based score. For different intrinsic reasons, as well as due to the all-pervading neo-popularity of Kishore, all four numbers became huge hits and lead the other male songs on the charts.

LP?s confidence in Kishore Kumar increased - and shrewd composers that they were, they began to settle in the Kishore groove even as one ompositional foot was firmly anchored in Rafi-land. Thus it was in 1972 that Kishore Kumar?s two aces with LP - Sachaai chhup nahin sakti (Dushmun) and Yeh jeevan hai (Piya Ka Ghar) scored at the charts even against the might?n?merit of RD?s masterpieces like Chingari koi bhadke and Yeh kya hua (Amar Prem) and O mere dil ke chain (Mere Jeevan Saathi).

Never mind the fact that the RD songs proved to have more lasting value ; market -standing always depends on initial popularity. And while the Dushmun hit had LP once again breaking fresh ground by giving Kishore-da a mujra-cum-qawwali, the Piya Ka Ghar number is still considered a front-ranker among the songs of Kishore, LP as well as Anand Bakshi by connoisseurs and music insiders.

In 1972, LP also yielded several other Kishore songs, many of them hits. Among those still cherished were Dil ki baatein (Roop Tera Mastana), Jani o jani (Raja Jani) and Pyar ko chahiye kya ek nazar (Ek Nazar). But the year was the peak of the RD-Kishore combo, and we had unlimited gems from them in films as varied as Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Amar Prem, Jawani Diwani (a trio of films which saw RD try out three aspects of Kishore Kumar?s range with spectacular success and incredible innovation), Parichay, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Seeta Aur Geeta, Samadhi, Do Chor, Raampur Ka Lakshman, Bombay To Goa and that exotic object d?art from Gomti Ke Kinare - Aao, aao jaan-e-jahaan.

But LP were gearing up for their day with Kishore Kumar. In 1973, RD used Kishore extensively, but mediocrity and repetitiveness crept in with films like Raja Rani, Anamika, Do Phool, Shareef Badmaash, Joshila, Double Cross, Jheel Ke Us Paar and Bandhe Haath. And RD and Kishore Kumar could match their 1972 act only with Main shaayar badnaam (Namak Haram), Waada karo nahin chhodogi tum (Aa Gale Lag Jaa), Jaana hai hamein to jahan (Daulat Ke Dushmun) and the songs of Yaadon Ki Baaraat.

Since 1970, K-A too had begun to yield a hit parade with Kishore in over a dozen films, and L-P now had two strong opponents. ?They kept us on our toes,? Laxmikant confessed to me once. L-P had luck and consistency always on their side and 1973 saw them use Kishore Kumar to devastating effect in original and - for Kishore - unusual winners like Mere dil mein aaj kya hai (along with the two chartbusting duets in Daag), Haal kya hai dilon ka (the Anokhi Ada qawwali), Jaipur ki choli (Gehri Chaal) and Qusoor teri nazaron ka hai?(Nirdosh).

After 1974, LP had consolidated their multi-pronged use of Kishore Kumar. The pitch they made him sing at was way different from RD, SD, KA or anyone else. They dared give him more qawwali?s like Hamein kya garaz log kya maante hain (Anari), Kahin janaab ko and Tu mere pyaale mein (Amir Garib), ghazals like Sarakti jaaye hain (Deedaar-E-Yaar) and even the devotional tenor-laden Prem ka rog lagaa (Do Premee). They got him to sing the semi-classical Aap ke anurodh pe (Anurodh), the esoteric Daakiya daak laaya (Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein), the Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi-esque Manubhai motor chali (Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein), the freaky Jhatpat ghunghat khol (Sindoor), the seductive Kaate nahin kat-te (Mr India), the disco numbers Om shanti om and Paisa yeh paisa (Karz) and even convoluted compositions like Hafte mahine saal (Avtaar), Na hansna mere gham p e (Anurodh) and Chal dariya mein doob jaaye (Prem Kahani).

In fact 1974 itself was a LP-Kishore songfest with lovelies like Shor mach gaya shor (Badla), Gadi bula rahi hai (Dost) and Ruk jaana nahin (Imtihan) and the multiple hits from Manchali, Badla, Amir Garib, Roti and Majboor. And Amir Garib and Prem Shastra?s diverse scores so impressed Dev Anand that LP stepped into Burman bastion Navketan with Jaaneman.

In 1974, RD had Kishore-based triumphs like Aap Ki Kasam, Ajanabee, Heera Panna and Manoranjan, but the repetitiveness had become a shade irritating. Not even the superb Dil se dil milne ka (Charitraheen) could compensate for the utterly lacklustre RD scores - all Kihore-based - like Humshakal, Trimurti, Ishq Ishq Ishq, Dil Diwana and Madhosh , which RD gave filmmakers for whom he had given exceptional musical just a film earlier. He fared better in 1975, with Aandhi, Khel Khel Mein, Sholay, Warrant and that once-in-several-blue-moons song O hansini (Zehreela Insaan), but the damage was done.

With the release of Dharam Karam, comparisons were inevitable with LP?s magnificent Bobby for the RK banner. And the first blow to the sensitive Pancham?s morale came with Dev Anand shifting loyalties to LP for Jaaneman after the dismal musical showing of Ishq Ishq Ishq. And as if this twin blow wasn?t enough, Rajesh Khanna had a temporary spat with RD - with whom he had always vibed personally even as he professionally kept LP on standby after the hits they were unceasingly giving him - and ?defected? to LP. And finally, Shakti Samanta, after RD?s array of hits for him like Aradhana, Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Ajanabee and Mehbooba, signed LP for Anurodh. Truly speaking, RD never recovered from these multiple injuries.

Post- 1976 (where RD?s Mehbooba was the sole saving grace), RD could only give one score - Nasir Husain?s Hum Kisise Kum Naheen - of the calibre he possessed, his swan song 1942-A Love Story excepted. Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand and Shakti Samanta all came back to him, only to leave him again, thoroughly disappointed and disillusioned that the sensitive Pancham could never again work with them at the same ?pitch?. After 1975, the number of truly memorable Kishore Kumar songs for RD can be counted practically on one?s finger tips : Mere naina saawan bhadon (Mehbooba), Aanewala pal (Gol Maal), Rimjhim gire saawan (Manzil), Hamein tumse pyar kitna (Kudrat), Kiski sada ayen mujhko bulaaye (Red Rose), Yeh vaada raha (Yeh Vaada Raha), Hamein aur jeene ki (Agar Tum Na Hote), Saagar kinare (S aagar), Kahin na jaa (Bade Dil Wala) and Jaane kis din kab kahan (Shakti). As can be seen, most of these songs were duets. LP, on the other hand, delivered success after success, and having warded off all challenges, helped Rafi back into the reckoning - as he suited their style more - with Manmohan Desai?s backing in 1977. But right till the end they were never really unfair to Kishore Kumar. ?But Kishore Kumar would always complain that we never gave him our best songs,? Laxmikant told me once. But the singing phenomenon never realized that LP had made him their prime weapon in upstaging Pancham, and in the process had demolished myths of Kishore?s narrow range, and given him and themselves some of their finest compositions. Compositions which included the not-so-popular classy (and classic) creations like their songs from Dost, Imtihan, Mile kahin do ajnabi (Manchali), Main aaya hoon leke saaz haathon mein (Amir Garib) Maine kuchh khoya hai (Mere Sajana), Yeh mausam aaya hai (Aakraman ) Tere baghair jaan-e-jaana (Anari), Har raat ek si hoti hai (Aadha Din Aadhi Raat), Aaja ho aaja ke mere dil ne tadap ke (Anurodh), Ek ritu aaye (Gautam Govinda) and Mere hosh le lo (Bandish) before they gradually sidelined the singer in the ?80s. Unlike RD, they neither were trapped in an image, nor did they allow the versatile Kishore to be tied down by a false image.

Rajiv Vijayakar
source courtesy: http://www.screenindia.com/oct22/music2.htm