Suman Kalyanpur: A Bitter Legacy Options

[Pradeep]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1217758,00110003.htm

Sometime having a good voice as a singer can be a bane. And worse will be matters if yours' resembles one of the best in the industry. Not only will you be expected to play second fiddle by the trade and called upon to sing only if the other singer isn't there or has had a fallout with the music director or her co-singer, but you would also be short-changed in terms of getting to playback for songs meant for you. Or a music composer will not work with you simply because he 'prefers' other singers.

Suman Kalyanpur is one such living example. Born on January 28, 1938 in Dacca, Bangladesh, Kalanypur got her first break at the age of 18, in the film Mangu (1956) with the music director Mohammad Shafi. However, the film wasn't destined to kickstart her career yet, for midway through the film, Shafi was replaced with O P Nayyar, who though he didn't have problems with Suman preferred Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt for his kind of music. And though he did retain her for one song, he gave the rest away to them. She did lend her voice to Koi pukaare dheere se tujhe…

The song got her work in subsequent films like Darwaza (1957) and a chance to work with the legend Naushad. He allowed her many songs in the film including a duet with Talat Mehmood - Ek dil do hain talabgaar, but the film's music did not register with the audiences. Suman Kalyanpur nee Hemadi waited until her big break came through later the same year, with Miss Bombay (1957). It was the first of her memorable duets with Mohammad Rafi - Din ho ya raat, hum rahen tere saath, yeh hamari marzi, that made the listeners finally tune in.

Despite being short-changed because her voice resembled Lata Mangeskar's too closely, Suman did manage to pick up a lot of work from various composers, including renowned ones like Ghulam Mohammad, Pt. Shivram, SD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishen (who simply loved Lata but made the exception nonetheless), Roshan, Dattaram, Madan Mohan (again, whose love and 'affair' with Lata is rather well documented), Khayyam, Kalyanji-Anandji, C Ramachandra and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

Films like Pyaase Panchhi (Tumhi mere meet ho - a duet with Hemant Kumar), Shama (Ek jurm karke and Dil gham se jal raha…), Barsaat Ki Raat (Garjat barsaat sawan aayo..), Zindagi aur Khwaab (Na jaane kahan tum the… ), Baat Ek Raat Ki (Na tum hame jaano, na hum tumhe jaane), Dil Ek Mandir (Juhi ki kali meri laadli and the title song Dil ek mandir hai…), Jehan Ara (Baad muddat ke yeh ghadi…), Shagun (Parbaton ke pedhon par and Bujha diya hai khud apne haathon…), Jab Jab Phool Khile (Na, na karte pyar tumhi se), Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya (the title song Dil ne phir yaad kiya…), Modern Girl (Yeh mausam rangeen sama…) and several others became huge sensations.

[Talaikya]

I love her Mere Mehboob Na Ja from Noor Mahal amongst others.

[AzgarKhan]

I love her Mere Mehboob Na Ja from Noor Mahal amongst others.

Thats a beautiful number Talaikya ji, if you have it plz upload it.

[Talaikya]

This one gives me goose bumps as many times as I hear it... the million dollar question is.... what did he do??? Mr. Mehboob... did he stay or was it all a waste of her emotions??

Mere Mehboob Na Ja, Noor Mahal (1965), Music: Jani Babu Qawwal & Lyrics: Saba Afghani.( Do I have this right?? - Music/ lyrics)

5:45 mins @ 128kbps.

Happy listening!

[YaarMere]

Madan Mohan (again, whose love and 'affair' with Lata is rather well documented),

R u sayin that they were an item? In a Dilip n Madhubala way? Did not know that.

[oye_sonu]

Pradeep ji thanx for the article

Beutifull voice...........some times hard to distinguish between her and lata.

i feel sad for her not getting due attention!!

Though the article names some songs of suman ji
but to me the best work of suman kalyanpur has been with SJ.

if we go by the popuarity and mass appeal then only SJ has given her most no of songs

i shall be posting the list of hits of SJ - suman soon.................



SJ fan

Sonu

[gkshyam]

Madan Mohan (again, whose love and 'affair' with Lata is rather well documented),

R u sayin that they were an item? In a Dilip n Madhubala way? Did not know that.

Well.....I have been hearing a more popular version of the story.....that Madan-Mohan was Lataji's Rakhi-Bhai (She used to tie Rakhi every year to him) !!!!

[asad]

Madan Mohan (again, whose love and 'affair' with Lata is rather well documented),

R u sayin that they were an item? In a Dilip n Madhubala way? Did not know that.

Well.....I have been hearing a more popular version of the story.....that Madan-Mohan was Lataji's Rakhi-Bhai (She used to tie Rakhi every year to him) !!!!

Madan Mohan and Lata were indeed very close, but they considered each other as brother and sister. Lata has been linked with C Ramchandra and Raj Singh Dungarpur, and was very freindly with Jaikishen.

Here is what Madan Mohan's son Sanjeev Kohli has to say on Lata M.

She is very close to us. She is like a mother, and is a wonderful person. This is a relationship I cherish so much that I don't want to talk about it. I wonder why people are mentioning it.

Lataji was my father's rakhi sister. When we were young, we never realised what a great personality she was. She was just an aunt.

But we grew up and became more familiar with music and its intricacies. In fact, that was a problem when we were small children. We didn't realise the worth of our father as a composer. We were young and listened to young music. And my father was known for his old songs.

My father and Lataji were very close. In fact, when he came into films, she didn't sing for him in his first film. There was a communication problem then.

She had met him earlier when his father, that is my grandfather, was the owner of Filmistan Studios. They were making a film called Shaheed and she sung a song in it. There was a small part in the song, which had a brother and sister singing. He had sung the brother’s version, though the song wasn't kept in the film finally.

She remembers and reminds us about it and tells us that the brother and sister relationship stuck through the years.

When my father got married, he went and showed Lataji the picture of his bride-to-be. She said the bride was very nice and he got married. She was very much present at the wedding too.

And their career grew together though she was much senior to him in the industry. She started out in ’42 and her first film as a singer was in ’46 whereas my father became a composer in ’49.

Over the years, their relationship grew. People acknowledged that the kind of work they did together was the finest in the popular Hindi film music genre. There are people who say she sang best for him, though that might be a matter of personal opinion.

Even she gets surprised that she might have done so sometimes. Maybe he composed songs which suited her best -- that brought out something in her. I think she sang more soulfully for him.

She was close to my mother as well. She called her bhabhi and they were confidantes. I lost my father in '75, when I was 16.

Lataji became closer to my mother after my father died and when I lost my mother in ’80, she became closer to us -- the children. This normally doesn't happen. Especially in this industry. You generally tend to lose contact with people in such situations. Unless it is a work-based relationship.