Kachha Dhaaga Options

[rom]

Unni, Songbomber, is back!

[unni]

U/L: "Baat adhoori" (Mukesh/ Non-film / 1963 / Music: J. P Kaushik / Lyrics: Madhukar Rajasthani / win.rar of mp3 / 3.02 mb / 128 kbps / Duration 3:18 m)

[anilkumar]

Dear Unni,

This time you seem to be having a cassette of several Gairfilmi songs/ gazals. Please go ahead with following songs, as others have been uploaded by Mohd. and others in the forum earlier.

Khizan ke daur mein (1968)
Jahan bhi dekha unhen (1968)
Mujhse yun rooth ke (1968)
Khizan mein jab bhi (1968)
Tu mere saath chal ne payegi (1968)
Har ek husn tera ( 1972)
Do zulmi naina (1952)
Aaj bhi unki mohabbat (1961)
Tahi hai daad - Talab (1972)

Thanks in advance...

- Anilkumar

[anilkumar]

Dear Friends

Links to several Gazals by Mukesh already in Hamara Forum can be found by clicking the following links leading to the relevant WebPages first,

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1843
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http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1843&st=5

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http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=863&st=5

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http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1843&st=0
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- A

[Chitralekha]

[unni]

U/L: "Khizan ke daur mein" (Mukesh / Non-film ghazal / 1968 / Music: Murli Manohar Swarup / Lyrics: Raaz Allahabadi)

[unni]

U/L: "Jahan bhi dekha unhen" (Mukesh / Non-film ghazal / Music: Murli Manohar Swarup / Lyrics:Sahibzadi Ishrat Jahan Begum)

[unni]

U/L: "Mujhse yoon rooth kar " (1968) / Mukesh / Music: Kishore Desai / Lyrics: Shivkumar 'Saroj')

[unni]

U/L: "Khizan mein jab hai" (Mukesh/ Music: Murli Manohar Swarup / Lyrics: Jigar Moradabadi"

[unni]

U/L: "Tu mere saath chal na paayegi" (Mukesh / Non-film (1968) / Music: Vippin Mehra / Lyrics: Shamim Shahabadi)

[unni]

U/L: "Har ek husn tera" (Mukesh / Non-film - 1972 / Music: Khaiyyam / Lyrics Jan Nisar Akhtar)

[unni]

U/L: "Do zulmi naina" (Mukesh / Non-film (1952) / Lyrics: Kaif Irfani)

[unni]

September 10, 1976 S C R E E N

The Voice That Millions Loved

By : Firoze Rangoonwalla

People could not easily believe that Mukesh had died. He was still looking quite young, attractive and healthy. And, above all, his voice still had that haunting, magical quality, which had sustained him over a singing career of more than three decades.

What was it in Mukesh's voice that endeared him to millions and which lent that special something to the songs, at least some of which could never have been the same in any other voice? And When we say "some" it easily means a good many for a singer whose output was prolific and who could hold his own in a tightly competitive field.

The quality of Mukesh's voice does not come easily within the range of description. The most we can say is that it was mellow with a nasal intonation and had in it a lot of "dard" or "tees" ( there being no proper English equivalents for this, except pathos ) it was this which appealed to the heart, caught the ear from among all other voice and gave a unique status to Mukesh.

Not that he was a classically attuned and expertly modulated singer, like a few others among his contemporaries. In fact, a criticism at times leveled against him was that he tended to sing "besura" or somewhat out of tune. But his appeal lay in the matchless timbre and nature of his voice, which was a gift of God, the kind of which is bestowed once in a decades and becomes immortal, as in the case of Saigal.

DISCUSSION

And to think that Mukesh almost began in the shadow of Saigal. When Saigal was at his zenith in the mid forties. When Mukesh sang one of his first hits - "Dil jalta hai" of "Pehli Nazar" - the immediate reaction from people was to say " Saigal, Saigal." I remember many a heated discussion among music and film lovers about who the real singer was, especially since the disc gave the name as Mushtaq. This senseless practice , then prevailing , of giving the name of the film's character deprived budding singers of their due credits and led to confusion.

It is a tribute to Mukesh that he overcome all these initial hurdles, developed his own individual style and made his name. Another singer C.H.Atma, who sang almost in the voice of Saigal ( his song in "Nagina" created the illusion perfectly), continued to remain in the same shadow and lost his moorings. The two earliest of Mukesh song in " Moorti " and " Pehli Nazar " which became popular were both picturised on Motilal, who was the matinee idol of his time. But Mukesh himself an aspiring actor and started his career that way.

To take the facts in their proper authentic and chronological order Mukesh made his debut both as actor and singer in 1941 with "National Studios" "Nirdosh" opposite "Nalini Jaywant" who had just made her entry with "Radhika." Mukesh played the hero, a Millionaire's son and a Prince Charming, who comes to the help of a Cinderella tyrannised by his step mother and two step sisters. He also sang his first solo song " Dil hi bujha hua ho" and two duets with Nalini, one of which was a repeat of a famous "Manmohan" song, "Tumhi ne mujhko prem sikhaya ." The Music director of Nirdosh was Ashok Ghosh.

ANOTHER SET-BACK

The picture neither fared well nor helped Mukesh in his ambitions. Still, he acted in other roles, in a few films like Ranjit's "Dukh Sukh", where he played the villainous lover of of the married heroine (Sitara). In "Adab Arz," where Nalini Jaywant and Karan Dewan were the leading pare, he did another supporting role, of a rich heir who marries the gardener's daughter.

Nearly a decade later being a establish as a play-back singer, he again pursued his acting ambitions. First he produced "Malhar" in which he did not act but gave an opportunity to other rising talent, like composer Roshan and Shammi, Arjun, Motisagar in the cast. The film was a fair success but had superb songs by Mukesh. Around that time, he again took to the screen, with "Bhariavi" "Mashuqa" and "Anuraag."

He was considered for Kardar's "Dil-e-Nadan" (but the role went to Talat Mahmood ). For a time, Mukesh must have felt so sure about his acting career that he even made a Press announcement, around 1951, that he would never sing again as a play-back singer and his fan would be able to both see and hear him. But "Bhariavi" never got made. "Mashuqa" with Suraiya s heroine and Roshan as composer flopped. "Anuraag" under his own banner Mukesh Films was a love triangle with Usha Kiran and Mridula as his heroines. It faced a long difficult period of production.

In this film, Mukesh also tried his talent as a music director and compose eight songs, three of which stood out, "Pal bhar ki hi peheechan mein pardesi sanam se" "Kise yaad rakhoon kise bhool jaoon" both sung by him and a female solo " Nazar mila ke nazar churana." The film proved a bad experience for him. He did announce "Joothe Bandhan" as his new production with music by him. But it never got made. He only made a small appearance in Raj Kapoor's "Aah," as the cart driver taking the hero on his last journey and singing "Chooti-si yeh zindagani re char din ki jawani teri..." Like other play-backs, Talat and C.H.Atma, he could not make further headway on the screen.

Mukesh's real big career as a play-back singer took off in 1945. One was a song in Ranjit's "Moorti" composed by Bulo C. Rani and written by Pandit Indra. It was a haunting triple song," Badariya baras gayee us paar" sung by him with Khurshid and Hamida Banu. The other was, off course more famous "Dil jalta hai to jalne de" written by Safdar "Ah" and tuned by Anil Biswas for Mazhar khan's "Pehli Nazar" another triangular romance with a Muslim Background.

The song grew to become a great favorite and Mukesh's voice began to be talked about, after the Saigal aura on him paled out. He than sang some ear-catching duets like "Ja parwane ja" in "Rajputani" tuned by Bulo C. Rani and "Moti chugne gayi re hansini maansorovar teer" tuned by Hansaraj Behl, for "Chheein Le Azadi" both being Rajit pictures. In "Chehra" he sang some notable pieces like "Prani kya soche kya hoy" and "Kya jadoo hai tere paas...".

It was in 1948, after he became the voice for Raj Kapoor and also simultaneously for Dilip Kumar that Mukesh zoomed high as a singer. In Raj's own "Aag" it was wistful "Zinda hoon is tarah ki ghame." in J.B.H. Wadia's "Mela", there were "Gaye ja geet milan ke", "Dharti ko aakash pukare" and "Mera dil todne wale for Dilip. And Dev Anand, too, in "Vidhya" he sang the duet "Layi khushi ki duniya" with Suraiya.

GRAPH RISES

But some of his best sad songs were for actor Prem Adib in Mehboob's "Anokhi Ada". While Surendra sang his heros song's Mukesh resurrected the other hero with such lovely numbers as "Kabhi dil dil se takrata to hoga" and "Bhulnewale yaad na aa." These heart - rending songs of Naushad, touching the deepest chords of pathos and sung with great feelings, put Mukesh on a pedestal as the Lover's singer. Any one dejected in love would naturally turn to Mukesh's "Dard" for solace.

Followed "Andaaz" with Dilip mouthing such favorites as "Hum aaj kahin dil kho baithe," "Tu kahe agar jeevan bhar " "Toote na dil toote na" "Gao khushi ke geet." It almost seemed for a time that Mukesh was Dilip's voice and , in fact, one song for Raj Kapoor in "Andaaz" was sung by Mohd.Rafi. "Shabnam", another Dilip film, had also Mukesh's voice. This speaks a lot for the typical magic of the play-back system as found in the Hindi cinema.

It was finally as Raj's voice ( or rather "soul" as Raj described it ) that Mukesh reached his zenith. It grew with "Chood gaye balam..." of "Barsaat." It moved through the songs of "Bawre Nain" like "Mujhe sach sach bata do.." "Khayalon mein kisi ke" and "Teri duniya mein dil lagta nahi," the last one being an all-time sad number. And it reached the climax with "Aawara hoon," which crossed Indian shores in its fame and become a historic landmark, as tuned by Shankar-Jaikishan and filmed by Raj, on himself. In the next film, "Shree 420," it was "Mera juta hai japani."

ZENITH

At the same time Mukesh was also singing for many others popular songs, like "Preet lagake maine" for "Ankhen," "Main rahi bhatakne wala hoon" in "Badal," "Ae jane jigar dil mein samane aaja" in "Aaram," Zamane ka dastur hai ye purana" for "Lajawab" and "O dil na lagana " for his own starrer "Mashuqa."

Thereafter, over the years, Mukesh sang countless song of all types, for various composer, stars and films. But his best usually came out for Raj, right up to "Jane kahan gaye woh din" in "Mera Nam Joker." for different films he sang happy, romantic, hopeful, comic, teasing, villainous, patriotic and other sorts of songs, some examples being " Dilne use maan liya" from the old "Santan," the title song of "Main nashe mein hoon." "Zindagi khwab hai" from "Jagte Raho", "Patli kamar hai" in "Barsaat" "Suhana safar aur ye mousam hansi" in "Madhumati" and "Phir na kije meri gustakh..." in "Phir Subah Hogi," "Ruk ja o jane wali ruk ja" in "Kannhaiya" "Tum agar mujhko na " from "Dil hi to hai," "Dum dum diga diga" in "Chhaliya" and the famous "Sawan ka mahina" from "Milan."

He also sang classically-based songs at times like " Jhoomti chali hawa" ("Sangeet Samrat tansen" ) and "Matwali naar" (Ek Phool Char Kante). But, in the final reckoning, Mukesh's forte lay in sad songs and posterity will remember him by that. Like Madan Mohan in composing, Mukesh was at his finest in singing sweet songs which told of the saddest thoughts, which had the feel of weeping eyes and bleeding hearts behind them.

AMAZING

It is impossible here to name all the hundreds of songs or their lyricists and composers who off course really created the memorable pieces for Mukesh to sing. But it is enough to say that some of the best sad songs achieved an amazing degree of lyrical, musical and vocal integration, even if they did not come off well on the screen. That is why they are remembered and sung more from the radio and the discs or tapes. And they remain like emotionally treasured memories. It will be, indeed, difficult to find a voice other than Mukesh's to sing such songs now.

Any selection thus is bound to look arbitrary for music lover's, since each has his or her own choice. Still, a random one from personal selection is made here to provoke readers for further recollection. One can never forget his sad songs like " Yeh mera diwananpan hai" in "Yahudi," "Ansoo bhari hai ye jeean ki rahen" in "Parvarish," "Mujhe tum se kuchh bhi na chahiye" in "Kanhaiya," "Hum chal rahe the" in Duniya Na Mane," "Aaja re ab mera dil pukara" in "Aah," "Tum bin jeevan" in "Anita," "Aa lout ke aaja mere meet" in "Rani Roopmati," "Mere toote hue dil se" in "Chhalia," "Bhuli hui yadon" in "Sanjog," "Saranga teri yyad mein" in "Saranga," "Trei yaad dil se bhulane chala hoon" in "Hariyali Aur Rasta," "Main to ek khawab hoon" in "Himalaya Ki God Mein," "Woh subah kabhi to aayegi" in "Phir subah Hogi," " Dil dhoodata hai sahare sahare" in "Kala Aadami," "Humne apana sab kuch khoya" in "Saraswatichandra," "Sajanwa bari ho gaye hamar" and other folk-based songs in "Teesri Kasam."

Another peculiarity about Mukesh's singing lay in the great draw and haunting appeal of back-ground songs in films or those picturised on incidental characters but occurring like a voice from beyond for the unhappy in their tragic plight. there are songs like " Oh re, tall mile nadi ke jal mein" in "Anokhi Raat," "O jane wale ho sake to lout ke aana" in "Bandini," "Chal re sajni ab kya soche" in "Bambai Ka Babu," "Bahut diya dene wale ne tujhko" in "Soorat Aur Seerat" among others.

Mukesh also sang songs in Gujarati, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Konkani and so on as well as were called. Some of the Gujarati numbers we recollect are "O neel gagan na pankheru," "Nazar na jaam chhalkavi ne," " Mara bholan dil no, hay re sweekar kar le." The basic songs for the Gramophone of India (H.M.V.) include "Roothe hui taqdeer" "Do julmi naina" the bhajan, "Sur ki gati main kya janoon, ek bhajan karna janoon," "Jinke hirdaya Shri Ram" Zafar's ghazal, "Deeya apni khudi ko..." and so on.

PARADOX

In real life, Mukesh was found to be a sunny, happy personality and it is a creative wonder how he could transcend the barriers to delve into the depths of sorrow in his song. He was also a cordial and genial person to know, as this writer experienced during a few meetings. It was once in Mysore during the Dassehara celebration a few years ago. He had come to participate in some cultural programmes and visited an exhibition on Indian film history oraganised by me, which also contained a photo from his first film "Nirdosh." He went round taking keen interest, talked at length and felt even more happy when given a couple of books one the same subject.

Then again we met at a get-together to honour Raj Kapoor and his unit for the high sale records of the "Bobby" discs. Though Mukesh had not sung any song in the film, he was there to cheer the winners and also gave a speech. And, recently, at the silver jubilee trophy-giving function for "Chhoti Si Baat" at Apsara, I saw him going up to take his memento. The next I heard was that he was no more.

Mukesh has, indeed, left behind a never-to-be-forgotten treasure of songs, in a voice that is resonant and alive with all the feelings and moods of life, love and human relationships. So long as these songs are played and hummed, Mukesh will continue to live.

[unni]

U/L:

[unni]

And now we come to the last song of this series of uploads of Mukesh-ji's non-film ghazals. Hopefully I'll come across more to share with you. In the meantime, it has been my pleasure and I am truly delighted to see the number of downloads.

U/L: "Rahi hai daad" / Mukesh - 1972 / Music: Khaiyyam / Lyrics: Jan Nisar Akhtar