Dear Friends,

Here's an excellent piece that Subhash K. Jha (Filmfare, Indya.com) wrote for Indya.com. Too bad that he had to select only ten otherwise the gems of Alag Alag, Mehbooba, Avtaar, Sauten, Apna Desh could also be mentioned.

Regards,

Ed



Yodel-love: Kishore Kumar’s best songs for Rajesh Khanna

Subhash K. Jha

1. O mere dil ke chain (Mere Jeevan Saathi)
At the height of the Rajesh Khanna wave, there was the triumphant trio of leading man Rajesh Khanna, composer Rahul Dev Burman and lyricist Anand Bakshi. Between 1971 and 1974, they composed some of the best melodies ever created for mankind’s ears. O mere dil ke chain figured in a flop film of the then superstar. But the impact of the super-romantic song as Rajesh Khanna whispered those magical words to Tanuja was lethal. Today, Rajesh Khanna’s son-in-law Akshay Kumar is singing Nadeem-Shravan’s romantic tunes to Karisma Kapoor in another film called Mere Jeevan Saathi.


2. Yeh shaam mastaani (Kati Patang)
Picture this. There is a picnic where hero Rajesh Khanna wants to proclaim his love to widowed heroine Asha Parekh, without the picnickers being any the wiser. Burman and Bakshi created a balance between a picnic song and an intimate romantic confession, and director Shakti Samanta filmed the lead pair in an intimately passionate mood, without the two even touching each others’ hands.

3. Mere deewaanepan ki bhi dawa nahin (Mehboob Ki Mehndi)
Gosh, how the melodies spilled out! It was almost as though there was no tomorrow. Taking a break from pal Pancham, (R D Burman), Khanna romanced the tunes of the other giants of the jukebox, Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Though Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi secured the best tunes in Mehboob Ki Mehndi (Jaane kyon log mohabbat, Yeh jo chilman hai, Itna to yaad hai mujhe) Kishore’s ghost-voicemanship with Khanna attained a pinnacle of expressiveness in this gorgeous ghazal.

4. Jeevan se bhari teri aankhen (Safar)
Indivar’s words are so intensely lyrical, you want to cling to every corner of the croon-canvas, hoping and praying that no word escapes your attention. This was Kalyanji-Anandji’s one major effort to break into RD’s near-monopoly in Rajesh Khanna’s territory. The Rabindra Sangeet-styled melody is a gem of a creation. Sharmila Tagore never looked more bewitching. Khanna never seemed more bewitched.

5. Woh shaam kuchh ajeeb thi (Khamoshi)
Ek ajeeb baat yeh hai ki Hemant Kumar only composed songs for one Rajesh Khanna starrer. And what a whammer of a score! This is one of the rare songs where Kishoreda got to sing for Hemantda. The two “Das” together created a Das Kapital of romantic balladry. Gulzar’s words were steeped in nostalgia . While Khanna synced these words, Waheeda Rehman didn’t smile even once. The song had gone beyond the two people involved in it.

6. Chingari koi bhadke (Amar Prem)
Like the Khamoshi melody, Khanna sang this all-time favourite to his lady love Sharmila Tagore on a rocking boat. The acute romanticism of R D Burman’s melody was matched, note for note, by Anand Bakshi’s extraordinary words. Bakshi considers this to be one of his best efforts ever.

7. Mere sapnon ki rani (Aradhana)
Some love songs go beyond the immediate experience. In this track, it is the whole experience of the debonair Khanna on a jeep wooing the coy Sharmila Tagore (with her head buried in an Alistair MacLean novel!) that made the difference. And to think that Ms Tagore couldn’t give the dates to shoot the song in Simla! Her scenes on a train were shot separately in a Mumbai studio. At 60-plus, papa Sachin Dev Burman proved that his music was as young as could be. By the way, that’s son Pancham on the harmonica.

8. Karvatein badalte rahe (Aap Ki Kasam)
Strictly speaking, duets have no place in Kishore Kumar’s Top 10 listing. He sang so many stunning solos for Khanna, that we could write a whole encyclopedia about their collaboration. But Karvatein badale rahe is one of the most perfect love songs ever composed. There isn’t a single jagged edge in this romantic ballad. The Nightingale and Kishoreda shared a rare rapport. It never showed up in better colours.

9. Mere naina saawan bhaadon (Mehbooba)
Pain oozes out of the soundtrack in waves of emotions. Kishore Kumar takes us back to a time in the past when love was a tempest that tormented and tore lovers apart. Kishore Kumar gave his all to this ballad for the superstar. Kishoreda insisted on first hearing Lataji’s version of the tandem before singing it himself.

10. Hazaar raahein (Thodi Si Bewafaai)
Another duet with Lataji, this one whips up a poem of pain by Gulzar where the estranged couple asks each other why their love passed out of their hands. Gulzar writes, Kahin kisi roz yun bhi hota hamari haalat tumhari hoti/ Jo raat hum ne guzaari marke woh raat tum ne guzaari hoti. The unusual composition, where both the singers share lines within the stanza gives the ballad a goosebumpy intimacy.

Subhash K Jha