Hi Friends, I am posting an article on Mukeshji that I came across on SKS. As a Mukesh fan it does not
surprise me but stll find it facinating. I don't know who wrote it or the source of it.


Ramesh.




The 'One-Song' Celebrity Come Sunday, and we are into our 20th year
without Mukesh. For picking his memorable songs, let the ground rules
be clear. It should not have been a duet! It should ideally have been
a solo, at most chorus-backed. It should also have been the only song
rendered by Mukesh in that film. Even from such a tight circle, this
performer emerges a one-song celebrity, as evident while tuning with
80 such Mukesh songs here with Raju Bhartan.

A one-song celebrity is normally a performer who has had only a single
major hit in his lifetime. In the case of Mukesh Chand Mathur,
however, the remarkable thing is: given him only Chal ri sajni to sing
in the 'Bombai Ka babu' background and he turns it into a lifetime
hit! Leaving our best male singer ever, Mohammad Rafi, wondering what
it was his saathi na koi manjil, going on 'Bombai ka Babu' Dev Anand
himself, so lacked that Mukesh managed to get his thoroughbred head
past him in the popularity stakes!

Do not forget that Chal ri sajni was first given
to Kishor Kumar to render. But Kishor diplomatically turned it down,
since the song was not on Dev Anand. whose main voice in 'Bombai Ka
Babu' was friend-cum-rival Rafi!. It was 'Surile Sangeetkar' Brij
Bhushan (as Ameen Sayani styled him) who first drew my attention to
the Mukesh phenomenon.

"My best composition in Shatrughan Sinha's 'Milap'
was the one with the refrain, Mere saathi meri awwaj ke peechee chale
aao, so superbly rebdered by Rafi. yet it was not this song but Mukesh
only song in 'MIlap', Kayi sadiyon se, kayi janmon se, that caught the
public imagination!," noted Brij.

Brij Bhushan did have a point. Mukesh, even when
given just one ball to deliver, had this unfailing gift of coming up
with a 'hit-trick'. Take what happened to a Mukesh non-believer like
S.D.Burman. Burman had many misgivings about entrusting Chal ri sajni
to Mukesh in 'Bombai Ka Babu'. If the Mukesh recording turned out to
be unsatisfactory, Burman had Threatened to scrap the song.

Crap! such was the Chal ri sajni spell cast by Mukesh,
that Dada Burman was left with no alternative but to call for this "
not a good singer " for the atmospheric number in ' Bandini ' in
which Nutan waits for the Bengali babu's boat.

As a ' litmus Mukesh test,' following the impact made by Burman
himself as a singer with Sun mere bandhu re' in ' Sujata,' Burman than
decided to step in vocally in 'Bandini'. Burman, being the master
Bengali folksinger that he was, produced a song of rare Hoogly
vintage title O re maanjhi O re maanjhi. But there was Mukesh to
confound him all over again, by eclipsing him, at least in popularity,
with O jaane waale ho sake to lout ke aana in the same 'Bandini'.

It is on one such 'one time', yet at all the times Mukesh songs
(steering clear from duets) I focus here, as we await the 19th death
anniversary of this singer, who passed away on August 27. Bees saal
baad, we can but wonder whether Hemant Kumar with his romance, would
really have excelled Mukesh had he, as Salil Chowdhury wanted it, come
to render Suhana safar aur ye mausam hansi on Dilip Kumar in 'Madhumati'.

Would even Talat Mahmood have succeeded in producing 'the Mukesh
effect' on Dilip with Suhana safar? After all, Dilip Kumar initially
wanted Talat to render for him in 'Madhumati' both Suhana safar and
Toote hue khawabon ne. How surpassingly Rafi ultimately came to
soliloquies Toote hue khawabon ne is a ghosted history of 'Madhumati'.
Yet did Rafi's Toote hue displace Mukesh's Suhana safar? No comment,
both Rafi and Mukesh are no more...

No composer set up singers in vocal competition with the skill Roshan
did. In B.R.Chopra's 'Chandini Chowk', for instance, Roshan had Rafi,
in 1954, giving evocative _expression to the solo going with the film's
titles: Zamin bhi wahin hai wahin asmaan. Yet Roshan always did
reserve a special soulfulnes for Roshan, something you came to feel,
in 'Chandini chowk', via Majrooh's Humen ai dil kahin le chal bada
tera karam hoga.

But enough of comparing Mukesh with a fellow-singer. If only because
Mukesh does not need to be compared, to drive home the 'one-song'
celeb point. Let us stick to Roshan. Let us take a note of such
wistful Mukesh numbers scored by this composer ( as just 'one song by
this singer in one film'). Just stir the cobwebs of your imagination
to hum Kidar Sharma's Dil ne to diya dokha mohabbat ne sazaa de
('Bedardi'); Tere pyar ko is tarah se bhulana ('Maine Jina Seekh
Liya'); Bahut diya dene waale ne tujhko ('Soorat Aur Seerat');
Neeraj's Dekhati hi raho aaj darpan na tum ('Nai Umar Ki Nayi Fasal').

I studiedly mention the song writers in the
alliance of Roshan and Mukesh. Why ? Because it is my belief that
Roshan was every bit of match to Madan Mohan, in the matter of
dressing poetry as music. What is more, Roshan so dressed such poetry
that he managed to transmit the soul in Mukesh's voice to the masses
as distinct from the classes on whom Madan Mohan's niche rests.

Let us now turn to the man whom
even Roshan feared for his caliber as a composer : Anil Biswas. How do
the Mukesh classics of Roshan I have noted compare with those of Anil
Biswas? Get a hear of what Anil created " for my own Dil jalta hai to
jalne de Mukesh": we have Rajendra Krishna's Ae jane jigar dil mein
samane aa jaa ('Aaram') and Safdar Aah's Dum bhar ka tha daur khushi
ka (' Maan'). Remember, Mukesh was here performing for an Anil Biswas
who once slapped the singer when he failed to turn up for a
recording. And Mukesh never in his life held that against the elder
statesman of our music, Anil Biswas. Such was this performer's dedication.

When we are on class composers, how can we overlook Salil Chowdhury,
who rates Mukesh as the best of our male playback singers. Salil's
one-song act on Mukesh begins with the never never Shailendra's
Zindagi khwab hai (' Jagte Raho ' ) ; a song whose Dil ne humse jo
kaha hum ne waise hi kiya has become a national hymn - with Mukesh as
our alibi for escaping responsibility!

Ww further recall Salil through Mukesh via Kayi baar yun bhi dekha hai
(' Rajni gandha ') and Nain hamare saanjh sakare ( an 'Anndaata'
composition of which Salil is quite proud. Also through two stand-out
Mukesh numbers treasured by connoisseurs: Kisi ne jaadoo kiya main
karun kya ( ' Chand Aur Suraj ' ) and Yeh din kya aaye lage phool
hasne (' Chhotisi Baat ').

In the face of such results given for Salil by Mukesh. is Dada
Burman's prejudice against this singer not shocking? Salil has given
credit to Burm for being the lone composer to spot the spark in
Kishore Kumar very early, when every other music director ( including
Salil ) dismissed him as a clown. Yet S.D.Burman did not change his
opinion about Mukesh to the end.

When Dada summoned Mukesh reluctantly for ' Dr. Vidya ' (1962), he had
little faith in this singer turning up trumps with Ai dil-e-awaara
chal. And S.D.Burman's approach to Mukesh sadly rubbed on to
R.D.Burman too; despite Mukesh's producing, for Pancham, the results
he did, In a Kishore show like ' Kati Patang ' through three solos,
Mukesh through just one Jis gali mein.

It was not as though Pancham alone, among the younger set, did not
care for Mukesh though we had R.D.Burman oddly, turning to this singer
for the title song of ' Karm ' : Karm kaho kismat kaho chahe kaho
taqdeer. As to how Pandit Bharat Vyas, strayed in to B.R.Chopara's
Urdu camp to write this one? Search me!

Let us them take those who had no faith in
Mukesh first. Jaidev as S.D.Burman chief assistant, just could not
bear to hear this singer. And that after Mukesh came for Jaidev in '
Kinare Kinare' with Jab gham-e-isq satata hai.

The only point in common between the music made by
Husnlal Bhagatram and JaIdev was that Mukesh was 'out' in the case of
both! That after Mukesh gave Husnlal Bhagatram one of their greatest
Radio Ceylone hits in Kismat bigdi duniya badli ('Afsana').

Husnlal Bhagatram once tussled for the no 2 spot in our
films in terms of fees with C.Ramchandra, Naushad always being
clearly first. And C.Ramchandra, as a good singer himself, shared
Husnlal Bhagatram's apathy for Mukesh. It was only after a polite
request from Raj Kapoor that C.Ramchandra let Mukesh sing; in 'Sharda'
Jap jap jap jap jap re. Only to conclude Mukesh did not fill the bill
even on Raj Kapoor and replace him, in the same 'Sharda', with Manna
Dey for Raj Kapoor in Duniya ne to mujh ko chood diya.

A decade later (1967), C.Ramchandra relented, saying,
"Now days I like Mukesh," and getting this singer to render for him,
in ' Wahan Ke Log' Hum tujh se mohabbat kar ke sanam duniya ka fasana
bhool gaye. The song proved a hit and I told C.Ramchandra his change
of opinion about Mukesh was valueless, since it came at a time when he
had lost his prime position in our music world.

C.Ramchandra, even given his fixed views on how a song composed by hom
should be rendered, could at least have stopped to reflect upon how
Mukesh scored an ace with even music directors for whom he sang but
the odd one song in the odd film. In this category, never to be
forgotten, are Ravi Shankar's Hiya zarat rahat din rain ('Godaan');
Kanu Ghosh's Do roz mein vo pyar ka aalam guzar gaya ('Pyar Ki
Rahen'); Iqbal Qureishi's Dar pe aaye hain Qasam le ('Love In Simla');
Sonik-Omi's Jinhe hum bhulana chahe ('Abroo'); Sapan Jagmohan's Main
to har mood par tujh ko doonga sadaa ('Chetana'); Sardar Malik's Sun
chand meri ye dastaa ('Naag Jyoti'); Babul's Are wah maalik tera jawab
nahin ('Naqli Nawab'); and Shyamji Ghanshyamji's Main dhondhata hoon
jinko ranton ke khayaloon mein ('Thokar').

All these were but one song by Mukesh in the
one film. The classic instance os such a Binaca toper is O.P.Nayyar's
Chal akela chal akela going with the titles of 'Sambandh' and a song
dismissively allotted to Mukesh. I have all ready quoted O.P.Nayyar's
reply to why he never willingly sent for Mukesh again even after a
super hit like Chal akela, a song that entered the Geetmala almost a
year before 'Sambandh' came and just refused to go away. Said Nayyar :
"What, for one Mukesh hit, am I to forget Rafi ?" Nobody ever asked
O.P.Nayyar, or any other composer, to forget Rafi or anyone else. Our
only point is they should not have had a closed ear on Mukesh.

How Kalyanji-Anandji, as S-J's followers, took
to Mukesh like ducks to water! I feel amazed when I glance at the way
they came up with hits for Mukesh even while fulfilling my condition
of: 'One film , one song. Just take a look at thier range in this
category for Mukesh.

Even before Anandji joined him to
complete the S-J style duo, Kalyanji Veerji Shah, putting aside his
claviolin, gave us the recurring Jain TV hit from 'Bedard Zamana Kya
Jane': Naina hain jadoo bhare hi gori terea naina hain jadoo bhare.
Once the younger brother joined in to make it a team,
Kalyanji-Anandji hits for Mukesh (in our stipulated norm) just flowed.
Look as you hear : Socha tha pyar hum na karenge ('Bluff Master'); Hum
chood chale hainmehfil ko (Ji Chahta Hai'); Thumak thumak mat chalo
hanji mat chalon (Kahin Pyar Na Ho jaye'); Chal mere dil lehra ke chal
('Ishara'); Tu laakhon mein hai ek sanam (birju Ustad'); plus that
evergreen which was among the earliest hitsto be written by Anand
Bakshi: Chand aahen bharenga ('Phool Bane Angare').

As Kalyanji-Anandji came to be accepted
as emulators, not mere imitators, of S-J by the trade and the public
alike, their Mukesh offerings, meeting our condition of 'One film, one
song', became legendary: Jis dil mein basa tha pyar tera ('Saheli');
Waqt karta jo wafa ('Dil Ne Pukara'); Diwanon se ye mat puchchon
('Upkar'); Kush raho har khusi hai tumhare liye ('Suhag Raat'); Taash
ke bawan patte panje chhakke satte ('Tamanna'); and Moti jaisa rang
ang mein ('Ansoo Auir Muskaan').

That I need another personal paragraph to complete
the Mukesh picture here is a pointer to Kalyanji-Anandji's very
special Mukesh charm. Thus you still have left to savour: Koi jab
tumhara hriday tod de ('Purab Aur Paschim'); Jo tumklo ho pasand wohi
baat kahenge ('Safar'); Zuban pe dard bhari dastaan chali aayee
('Maryada') and Darpan ko dekha tune jab jabkiya singaar ('Upasana').

Do I then owe a sop to Kalyanji-Anandji fir
the digs I once had at them, like I did at Ravi? Talking of Ravi, is
there a single category in film music in which you can honestly evade
mention of this honey-sweet composer? Ravi is right there on Mukesh
here, the way we want it, through Tu hai harjai to apna bhi yahi tour
sahi ('Tu Nahin Aur Sahi'). Even if it is through a solitary Mukesh
song, Ravi qualities as a long-distance runner of our cinema!

But the composer who has me floored with the
'One-song' variety explored by her on Mukesh is Usha Khanna. What a
string of Mukesh hits this resourceful lady has, yet how come she
never hit the big time? If it is a Saawan Kumar-written hit on Mukesh
by Usha Khanna you want, you have it Barkha raani jara jam ke barso
('Sabak'). But that is the last Usha Khanna's 'One-song' hits for
Mukesh. Before that she takes your humming breath away with: Gaa
dewane jhoom ke ('Flat No 9'); Meri jaan, meri jaan na zulfen kholo
('Awara Badal'); Teri nigahon pe mar mar gayr hum ('Shabnam') Gori
tere chale pe mera dil qurbaan ('Faisala'); Chaand ko kya maalum
chahta hai use koi chakor ('Lal Bangla'); Aaj tumse door ho kar aise
roya mera pyar ('Ek Raat'); Tere hoton ko teri lali ko tere youvan ki
hariyali ko ('Deedar'); and Dhadkanon ke saaz per kya gaa rahi hai
zindagi ('Kaun Ho Tum').

Take a bow, Usha Khanna, you are worthy lady competition to the two
gentlemen who came to films just a years before you: Kalyanji-Anandji.
In this one-song strait jacket, which she wears in a style, Usha
Khanna has many more Mukesh hits to credit than ever.
Laxmikant-Pyarelal, her one time assistants! L-P's hits for Mukesh (
in our set orbit of 'one song in one film' ): Do rang duniya ke aur
('Do Raste'); tan man dhan sab hai tera ('Manchali'); Mukesh revealing
his boat-song expertise all over again with Maanjhi naiya dhoondhen
kinaraa ('Uphaar'); and Jane chale jate hain kahan ('Pushpanjali').

If we come to Shankar-Jaikishan so late, it is probably because
that film was rare in which this 'duo of duos' had but a single song
for Mukesh. This process in the case of S-J, was first seen in
operation when Jaikishan was to make a personal screen appearance,
singing on the piano in I.S.Johar's 'Begunah' (1957). Naturally,
Jaikishan himself first tuned the song. But Shankar decreed, " It is
good, but not still good enough for my Jai, when the whole song is to
be picturised on him". Saying which, Shankar amended the tune. Call
it Shankar's tune, call it Jaikishan's, but there is no denying that
Mukesh weaves a vocal web of his own in this ' Begunah' beguiler, Ae
pyass-e-dil bezubaan tujh ko le jaaoon kahaan, written to go on Jai
not by Hasrat, but by Shailendra.

If Ae payaas-e-dil was the outcome of the S-J duo's joint
collaboration, it was Shankar alone who tuned Yeh mera deewana pan hai
('Yahudi'), Jaikishan alone who tuned Raat aur din diya jale ('Raat
Aur Din'). Not too many Mukesh 'one-songers' from 'S-J' are there?

But S-J's assistant Dattaram, has a
revealing composing array in this direction. Get a feel of Dattaram's
Aansoo bhari hain yeh Jeevan ki rahen ('Parvarish'); Dilne use maan
liya jiska andaj naya ('Santan'); Dil dhoondhata hai sahare sahare
('Kala Admi'); kabhi kisi ki khushiyaan koi loote na (Zindagi Aur
Khwab'); and Ae meri jaan-e-wafaa maine dekha hai ye kya ('Neeli
Aankhen'). Shankar brought Dattaram into the S-J fold, but it was with
Jaikishan, like with hasrat, that this assistant later tuned. Any
wonder the first three of the abovr five Dattaram offerings are
written by Hasrat?

Let us take another assistant, Chitragupta, of
the classical titan, S.N. Tripathi. this titan created for Mukesh such
'one-song' numbers to remember as Aa lout ke aaja mere meet ('Rani
Roopmati') and Jhoomati chali hawa ('Sangeet Samrat Tansen'). But
Chitragupta, once he branched out on his own, had his own Mukesh
contribution to make via Muft hue badnaam ('Baarat'); and Babam babam
bam bam lahri (Ramu Dada'). study the above two sets of two songs to
discern how antithetic pupil Chitragupta's style was to his master's.

Remains only to cite certain other Mukesh 'one
-timers' I goted down, but could not fit into this framework. Among
them are two by Sapan-Jagmohan; Na jaane kahaan kho gaya woh Zamana
('Begana') and Zindagi ke mood per hum tum mile aur kho gaye ('Man
Tera Tan Mera'). Then there is Bipin-Babul's duniya mujhko paagal
samjhe ya samjhe aawara ('chaubis Ghante'). And if we must add
Naushad's kar bhala hoga bhala ant bhale ka bhala (taangewala').

Majrooh, reunited with Naushad, is
the unlikely-sounding author of such a train of 'Taangewala' thought.
To think Majrooh returned to Naushad (with 'Saathi' in 1968) only
when Mukesh, too, did so, two decades after Majrooh's 'Andaz'. Mukesh
in 1949 was dominant in Naushad's 'Andaz' repertoire for Dilip Kumar,
where Rafi had to settle for the one duet in the film, on Nargis-Raj
Kapoor (Yun to aapas mein bigadte hain). But Mukesh, like Talat at
this stage took it into his head to turn a hero-and Rafi broke through.

That is hoe Mukesh came to be reduced to agreeing to sing the odd song
in the odd film. Like even S-J could accommodate him, in 'Chhoti
Bahen', in only one song. But how singularly noteworthy that one
composition turned out to be in the Hasrat-Jaikishan format of Jaaoon
kahaan bataa ai dil, duniya badi hai sangdil, chaandni aayee ghar
jalane, sujhe na koi manzil.

Even that odd song was an even-toned hit in
Mukesh's voice. And that is what makes Mukesh, Shakespeare "season'd
with a gracious voice", that 'one-and-only' : Ek din bik jayega maati
ke moljag mein rah jayenge pyaree tere bol[color=#000000][/color][color=#00CCCC]

Great article Ramesh Thanks for uploading it

Thought all Mukesh fan would be interested in reading this experience
of as yet unkown Mukesh fan. Yet another proof of how gentle, kind
and always willing and ready to oblige Mukeshji was. I firmly believe
that one has to have a pure heart like Mukeshji to be able to sing so
soulfully like he did. Thats waht makes his songs unforgetable.

Comments welcomed. Enjoy.

Thanks Pankaj ji for posting this article on Mukesh web site.


""I have had the privilege of meeting Mukeshji on quite a few
occasions. I will try and recount a few of those meetings - some
details may not be totally accurate, given the amount of time elapsed
since it all occurred and the fact that I was barely 12 to 15 years
old when i met him off and on.

As a person, he was like a loving father figure. In all the times
(maybe 7/8) that I have met him, I have not seen so much as a frown
on his face. He was courteous to young and elderly alike, and I could
perhaps sense his affinity to children. We youngsters simply adored
his smile.

I surely knew well what meeting Mukesh meant - as if I was in the
presence of God Himself. His voice was ingrained into my ears and
mind like no other voice. When I was sad at not being allowed to go
out with friends, my childlike mind would quietly hum 'ansu bhari
hain yeh jeevan ki raahen' and I would pity myself. While on a trip
with family and friends, in the lush forests of Panchmari, I
sang 'suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen', much to the amusement of
elders. Our antaksharis were replete with his songs, of course among
other singers' songs too, since we were all quite fond of music. So
many times, while lonely, I have enacted 'kahin door jab din dhal
jaaye', pretending to be Rajesh Khanna. Maybe it was coincidence, but
the first song I recorded in my modest home studio in the late 70s
was 'chand si mehbooba ho meri kab'.

I always remember having seen him wearing a suit, except during song
recordings, when he was dressed in immaculate shirt (never tucked in)
and loose trousers.

Mukesh was a favourite performer at Calcutta's Kala Mandir and his
shows would rein in unprecedented audiences every time. Extra chairs
were arranged, people sat on the steps, and even on stage. Still many
more had to return home disappointed. Those were disciplined times,
and the public was not unruly when turned away for lack of seating
space. Added to that was the aura of Mukesh being on stage - no-one
dared misbehave out of sheer respect for the man.

There was my first glimpse of the man whose singing voice i admired
the most. Then, sometime in 1972, Nitin too performed at Kala Mandir
alongwith his father, and took the audience by storm.

Mukesh used to often stay with mutual friends, and knowing of my
fondness for music, his hosts offered to introduce me to him. The
introduction was very casual. After sitting around with him chit-
chatting with everyone for some time, he turned to me and asked me
what kind of music I liked. I named Hemant Kumar, Talat Saab and of
course, Mukeshji. "Serious gaane pasand hain, lagta hai." (Looks like
you are fond of serious songs) What I did thereafter was mostly gawk
at him.

A day later, my mother invited him home. I remember I skipped school
because Mukesh was coming home. I asked him to sing something, and
the elders chided me for imposing on him. But, Mukesh was only too
willing to accede to a kid's request. He sang "ruk ja o
jaanewali", "saranga teri yaad mein" and then, to our surprise, two
lines of "mere sapno ki rani kab aayegi tu." Noting everyone's
consternation, he roared aloud in laughter - at which, the music
session came to a close.

I wasn't clear about some of the words to "dharti ko akash pukare",
so he wrote them down for me in a book. That book and his handwriting
still remains one of my most treasured possessions.

Over the next few months, I had the good fortune of meeting Mukeshji
off and on in a variety of settings, mostly socially. Every time he
remembered me by name. But the crowning highlight of my association
with him was when he invited me to one of his recordings while I was
at Bombay. The movie was the little known "Beti", and the song, "Ye
kya kiya re duniyawale".

I was with him from about 10 in the morning till about 4 pm, when the
recording was okayed. To my young mind and ears, it was a totally
novel and eye-opening experience. In between 'takes', he would try
and explain why certain things are done the way they are. Especially
when he saw that I was fascinated by the way the contra-bass ( I did
not know the name of the instrument till Mukeshji told me)
supplemented and heightened the rhythm tracks. Then again, why so
many violins are required. And yet again, why when I record at home
(the portable cassette deck had just been seen in the Indian market)
it is full of noise, and the mike pops and crackles at the most
inconvenient moments. How and why he makes his intonation of the same
word in different paragraphs so different.

Incidentally, this recording session is what fired my interest in
sound technology and recording techniques. So much so, that I must
have had, arguably, one of the first proper home studios in India, as
then internationally available.

Little memories linger on, however inconsequential they may seem.
Like, when he liked a shirt I was wearing, and asked me whether it
was Gwaliors' ( a textile company). Or, that drumming of his fingers
on the top of the car (many cars weren't airconditioned then) to
maybe a mystery tune in his head while we were driving to someplace.
Or, his surreptitious manouvre around a buffet table to a dish he had
particularly fancied, but was in short supply. "Jaldi le lo. Khatam
ho jaayega," with a grin and a twinkle in his eye. ""


************
I have no idea who write it and trying to find out this Mukeshji's
fan.
Regards,
Pankaj

The best people in the world are always unknown.
Please don't try to trace the author, maybe he / she doesn't want to be found.

But Noori Ji "Dil Ko Kaise Samjhayen".
We must find the author.

Ajay

Thank you Ramesh..

I came across this old article today while searching for information on a Punjabi singer for a friend. On that page, there is a picture of Mukeshji with Mr. Chaggar in Africa I thought you folks might like to see if you hadn't already. http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/heritage/si...Africapart5.htm

edited to add forgotten link

Thanks

Ajay