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Hindi cinema has had many great music composers in its roll of honours, who have made us proud with their efforts in the field of music. Their compositions have touched the hearts of music lovers and are sung to date. Among these composers there was just one female composer who made her mark with quite a few hit songs. The successful lady being referred to is Usha Khanna, who is in the news again with her compositions in Saawan Kumar Tak’s Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya.
Khanna’s career started off in 1960 impressively and continued successfully through the 70s and beyond the 80s, a feat remarkable by any standards. During the 60s and 70s, a period which was ruled by many a big composers, the entry of a female composer was a surprise and a blessing to Hindi cinema. Khanna’s music had variety and was different. She began with two films under the Filmalaya banner viz. Hum Hindustani and Dil Deke Dekho. Right at the outset, her music became a hit. ‘Chhodo kal ki baatein kal ki baat purani...’ from Hum Hindustani sung by Mukesh, remains one of the most favourite patriotic songs. Another number from this film ‘Raat nikhri hui zulf bikhri hui, har ada teri phoolon ki daali...’ is a melodiously charming with pleasing lyrics by K. Manohar. Mukesh’s rendition of this song is simply soothing, especially in the line which follows, ‘Ye samaa tham gaya ye haseen adayen dekh ke...’ and full marks for this goes to Khanna. A Lata Mangeshkar classic from the same film ‘Maajhi meri kismat ki ji chahe jahan le chal...’ is equally soothing.
Khanna’s other film Dil Deke Dekho can easily be termed a musical treasure. The composer and the all-rounder lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri came up with some splendid songs. Sample this: the Mohd. Rafi-sung lollipop-like number ‘Rahi mil gaye rahon mein...’, ‘Hum aur tum aur ye sama...’, the title song, the fast-paced and stylish duets by Rafi and Asha Bhosle ‘Bade hain dil ke kale...’, ‘Yaar chulbula hai haseen dilruba hai...’ and ‘Pyar ki kasam hai...’. It was this film which launched Asha Parekh to stardom.
Among the composer’s other hits are the Rafi-sung dulcet tunes like ‘Maine rakha hai mohabbat apne afsane ka naam...’
and ‘Ye teri saadgi ye tera baankepan...’, both from Shabnam, the meloncholic ‘Hum tumse judaa hoke mar jaayenge ro roke...’ from Ek Sapera Ek Lootera, ‘Haye tabassum tera...’ from Nishan, Manna Dey-sung ‘Apne liye jiye to kya jiye...’ from Baadal, Suman Kalyanpur gems like ‘Ae zindagi ke saathi jaana na zindagi se...’ from Fareb, ‘Paani mein jale paani mein jale...’ from Munimji and ‘Woh jidhar dekh rahe hain sab udhar dekh rahe hain...’ from Sabak. Khanna worked for a Rajshri film titled Honeymoon and the outcome was a feast of songs like the soft ‘Din hai ye bahar ke...o saathi o saathi...’
by Mohd. Rafi, the lively ‘Jeevan hai ek sapna madhur suhana sapna...’ and ‘Mere pyaase man ki bahar...’ by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle. ‘Teri galiyon mein na rakhenge kadam...’ from Hawas proved to be a very big hit, thereby justifying Khanna’s quality of work. The Khanna-Mukesh combination too clicked in a big way and their songs were something of a rare treat for the ears. Some of their hits, besides the two songs from Hum Hindustani mentioned earlier are ‘Chaand ko kya maaloom chahta hai ise koi chakor...’
from the film Lal Bangla. The very mention of this film’s name brings this song to our lips. Then there is ‘Teri nigahon pe mar mar gaye hum...’ from Shabnam, ‘Meri jaan na zulfein kholo kahin raat thehar na jaaye...’ from Aara Baadal, ‘Naaz tha jispe mere seene mein woh dil hi nahin...’ from Fareb, ‘Aaj tumse door hokar aise roya mera pyar...’ from Ek Raat and ‘Barkha raani zara jamke barso mera dilbar jaa na paaye jhoomke barso...’ from Sabak. Towards the later part of the 70s came Saawan Kumar’s Saajan Bina Suhagan, the comeback vehicle of ‘Jubilee Kumar’ alias Rajendra Kumar in a character role where Khanna gave him that Yesudas melody ‘Madhuban khushboo deta hai...’ Yesudas known more for his soft and classical style of singing, proved that he could also deliver a song of the light variety through ‘Dil ke tukde, tukde karke muskurake chal diye...’ from the film Dada, which fetched him an award.
During the 80s, when one could not get to hear much of melodious music, came a film Aap To Aise Na The which had that ghazal‘ised’ melody ‘Tu is tarah se meri zindagi mein shaamil hai...’ The lyrics by Nida Fazli were tuned well by Khanna and the vocals of the great Mohd Rafi. added the punch. This song which was one of Rafi Saab’s emphasised further that there could never be anyone like him. Another unique thing about this song was that it has three solo versions. Apart from the Rafi version, there are two others sung by Hemlata and Manhar respectively.
Around the same time, there was another film Bin Phere Hum Tere which had Khanna excelling through the Kishore Kumar song ‘Saji nahin baraat to kya, Aayi na milan ki raat to kya... Bin phere hum tere...’ Followed Sweekar Kiya Maine, the film with that famous song ‘Ajnabee kaun ho tum jabse tumhe dekha hai...’ proving that Lata Mangeshkar’s magic still worked. The same film had that charming Lata-Kishore duet ‘Chaand ke paas jo sitara hai woh sitara haseen lagta hai...’
Another Saawan Kumar blockbuster Soutan had Khanna’s music creating waves, with all the songs proving to be chartbusters. ‘Shaayad meri shaadi ka khayal dil mein aaya hai...’ became a craze, and another song from the film encapsulates Khanna’s career and her motto, and that is ‘Zindagi pyaar ka geet hai, Ise har dil ko gaana padega...’
Thanks for this write up....
