Dear Friends
Today is the punya tithi of mahan sangeetkar Khemchand Prakashji. As a tribute to him I upload here a well known song from the movie MAHAL. Hope some old songs of this musician will be uploaded by my friends.
Kirat Pal

Aayega Aaayega Aayega Aanewala
Lata Mangeshkar
Movie-MAHAL
128KB/s,6.47Min,5.82MB.

Here is a portion of the program on Radio SLBC today.(7.30 t0 8.00AM)
Kirat Pal

The song details are

Hum Kya Bataayein

Singer-Shankar Das
Movie-Jan Pahchan
128Kb/s,4.05Min,3.73MB

Khemchand Prakash is my favourite music director. I will upload a few samples today from his short but distinguished career. Another great MD, Kamal Dasgupta claimed quite famously that Khemchand was the greatest film composer. He provided career breaks to many young singers and composers like Naushad, Lata, Asha, Kishore etc. Below is a small biography of Khemchand Prakash sourced from www.passionforcinema.com.

It was exactly 100 years ago, on December 12, 1907 when Khemchand Prakash was born in Jaipur. His father was a dhrupad singer and a kathak dancer in the royal court and boy Khemchand got his first training of music and dance from his father. In his teens, he joined Bikaner Royal court as a singer performer and later moved to the royal court of Nepal.. but the destiny landed him in Kolkata and he joined New Theaters in Kolkata as an assistant of Timir Baran. He was assistant of Timir Baran in Devdas (1935).

100th Birth Anniversary
An authentic source and a close associate of Shri Khemchand Prakash told me that two of classic compositions from Devdas “dukh ke din ab” and “baalam aaye baso” were composed by Guru ji yet his contributions went uncredited. It was Street Singer (1938), when he got chance to face camera in a song due to his kathak skills in a comedy dance song. It was 1939, when he got his first break as an independent music director with the Supreme Pictures “Meri Aankhein”.. The next film was “Gaazi salauddin” and yet another legendary music director Naushad worked as as assistant to Khemchand Prakash in that film.

Late Naushad saab mentioned in an interview

“Khemchand ji ne Gaaji Salaauddin me pehla mauka diya, ye unki badi meharbani, inayat thi ki unhone mujhe mauka diya, mujhe aisa mauka mila, aise guni aadmi ke saath kaam karne ka”

His initial years had a few more significant films like Pardesi, Holi, Fariyaad and Khursheed was his leading singer and both of them gave a lot of hits of early 40s.

But it was in 1943, came a film that pushed Khemchand Prakash much ahead of other music directors of that era and the film was KL Saigal starrer Tansen. Tansen is considerd as one of the finest musical films for its music. Diya jalaao jagmag jagmag, Rumjhum rumjhum chal tihari, More balpan ke saathi, sapt suran teen gram are musical gems who have not lost shine even after sixty years.

Late Anil Biswas remembered Tansen in one of the interviews

“Jab unhone Tansen film me Saigal ko Dhrupad ang ka gaana “Sapt suran teen gram” diya, to main iske baare me ye bata doon ki Tansen se jab bhi (kisi film/drame me) gaana gawaya gaya hai to khayaal gawaaya gaya hai, magar Tansen ke waqt me khayaal gaayan hota hi nahin tha aur unke samay me Dhrupad hi tha aur ye Khemchand Prakash ji hi the jinhone Dhrupad se introduction karawaaya Tansen ko (filmon me)”

Late Naushad saab on Tansen’s music

“Jo bhi geet Khemchand ji banate the bada sureelapan hota tha, aur jyadatar ek thumri ka ang hota tha.. layakari bahut achhi thi unke compositions me.. Khemchand ji ke saath jitne bhi din hum rahe bada lutf aaya.. unse bahut kuchh seekha, unke naqshe.qadam pe chalne ki koshish ki.. lekin unke mukaam par nahin pahunch sake.. Tansen me unke raagdaariyo ka jo istemaal tha waisa koi doosra music director nahin kar paaya.. maine bhi koshish ki Baiju Baawara me lekin un tak nahin pahunch paaya.. ”

1948 marked yet another significant film of his career, Bombay Talkies’s Ziddi..

Kishore Kumar
He gave first major break to Kishore Kumar as a singer for the song “Marne ki duaaen kyun maangu”.

It is a very famous fact that Lata Mangeshkar’s voice was initially rejected by the Producer Chandu lal shah and Khemchand Prakash challanged his decision and told him that this voice will one day rule the nation and resigned. Ziddi featured a beautiful song of Lata Mangeshkar “Chanda re ja re ja re”..

But what followed Ziddi was an outstanding an immortal piece of Work in the form of music of Mahal (1949).

Mahal made Lata Mangeshkar a popular name in every corner of the country. Prior to Mahal, the records used to feature the character name as the name of the singer with the song on the record.. so the first lot of records had “Aayega aane wala” credited to Kamini.. but the public demanded for revealing the name of the singer and so from Mahal onwards singers started to get credited on the records.

Mahal’s music is a landmark in Hindi Cinema. The haunting melodies and brilliant orchestration set the foundation for the golden period of hindi film music of 50s..
and have you ever noticed “Ayega aane wala” forms the smallest mukhda of any hindi film song.. With just three words Khemchand ji made a magical composition and also all other songs of Mahal (Ghabara ke jo hum sar ko, mushkil hai bahut mushkil, dil ne phir yaad kiya) are immortal…

Unfortunately Khemchand Prakash could not survive for long to see the success of Mahal and also shaping up of the golden era of hindi film music (of 50s) and passed away on August 10, 1950 at a relatively young age of 42. Mahal, Tansen and Ziddi are just a few samples of what he could be, had he been there for a longer stint..

100 years later :

One of the research scholars Dr. Vidya Arya from Rajasthan visited a school in Orissa and during her visit to the school, she was asked to be the chief guest in one of the quiz function of the school. Out of her curosity she too asked a few questions and one of them was “who was the music director of Ayega aane wala – Mahal” and the more than a dozen of hands were up to tell her it was Khemchand Prakash…

Khemchand Prakash will live on.. His music will live on.. His music is forever..

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Faaraj ji

Many many thanks for the wonderful information about
one of the musical stalwarts of Hindi cinema.

kadri

Khemchand Prakash, during his productive period of the 40s was most active with Khurshid Bano and KL Saigal. His pairing with Khurshid is among the great teams of indian film music. Their association started in 1939 with Meri Aankhen. One of Khurshid's earliest hits with Khemchand, is for me still the best example of a ghazal or dadra in film music: Pehle Jo Mohabbat Se Inkaar Kiya Hota from Pardesi (1941). Khemchand makes a very simple tune catchy with slight changes in tempo.

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The Khemchand-Khurshid collaboration reached its apogee in 1944 with magnificent Khurshid solos in two Mughlia films Mumtaz Mahal and Shahenshah Babar. Here are two gems from their 1944 collaboration.

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Songs from the Raj Kapoor - Nargis starrer 1950 movie
JAAN PEHCHAAN
Music : Khemchand Prakash & Manna Dey
Lyrics : Shakeel

1. Aao ge na sajan - Geeta Roy
mp3 / 128 kbps / 3.36 mins

2. Armaan bhare dil ki lagan - Geeta Roy Talat
mp3 / 128 kbps / 3.47 mins

3. Dil mein ek hasrat - Geeta Roy
mp3 / 128 kbps / 4.00 mins

4. Dukh se bhara hua hai dil - Shankar Dasgupta
mp3 / 128 kbps / 4.01 mins

5. Duniya muhabbat karne na degi - Geeta Roy
mp3 / 128 kbps / 3.37 mins

6. Naina mila ke dil cheena - Geeta Roy
mp3 / 128 kbps / 3.27 mins

one more song to go

Khurshid Bano leaving for Pakistan, breaking up a great creative partnership and not singing again for several years was a great tragedy that is only overshadowed by partition itself! Before settling on his next preferred singer, Khemchand also worked with Amirbai Karnatki, a wonderful singer of the 40s. Their best song together, from Bhartari (1944), was the soulful Chanda Des Piya Ke Jaaye.

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Khemchand also composed some beautiful songs for the leading male singer of the era: Kundan Lal Saigal. The highpoint of that collaboration was obviously Tansen (1943) whose had Saigal's Tansen singing and lamps lighting automatically. Hear Diya Jalao Jagmag Jagmag which is a wonderfully orchestrated and worthy predecessor to Aayega Aanewale. This song is a reminder that Saigal was probably the greatest film singer period. The timber in his voice and wonderful way he navigates the twists and turns of the tune is remarkable artistry.

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I wish a time-machine could transport me to the music studio where Khemchand had KL Saigal and Khurshid Bano sing the following catchy duet, also from Tansen: More Balapan Ke Saathi Chaila. To be able to see three giants of music working closely together would have been a magical experience.

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leaving out the song already uploade by kita pal ji

7. Pardesi se lag gayi preet re - Geeta Roy
mp3 / 128 kbps / 2.55 mins

With Saigal's untimely death, Khemchand didn't completely succeed in finding a solid male collaborator. Even when he did, they sounded like, were asked to sing like or simply chose to copy Saigal. One such example is a very nice song sung Saigal style by Bulo C Rani - better known for his abilities as an MD. Hear Kal Chalte Chalte Unse Mulaqat Ho Gayi from Mulaqat (1947). Note: the recording quality is so-so.

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Another example of a Saigal-type song that I was planning to upload is Dukh Se Bhara Hua Hai Dil from Jaan Pehchan (1950). Member kadri420 has already uploaded the album 3 posts earlier. Hear this song and you can easily imagine Saigal singing such a song. Shankar Dasgupta was another discovery by Khemchand. Its a mystery why his career languished and he is a forgotten figure.

In 1948, Khemchand gave a break to young Kishore Kumar who sang his first song, the beautiful Marne Ki Duaen Kyun Maangoon from Ziddi (1948) followed by Kishore's first very successful song the very next year: Jagmag Jagmag Karta Nikla from Rimjhim (1949). Here are both these songs which established Kishore as a professional singer thanks to Khemchand.

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Thanks a Lot for the Mulakat Song Faraaj

With Khurshid's departure, Khemchand (alongside Vinod and Ghulam Haider) discovered Lata Mangeshkar. Her best early songs infact are Khemchand compositions. The year before Mahal (1949) and Aayega Aanewala, he had already worked with her on Ziddi and Aasha (an album introduced to me recently courtesy Aditya). Here are two early Lata solos from 1948:

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Just five years earlier, Khemchand had been in a studio with Saigal and Khurshid recording a duet. Here is another lovely duet but Saigal was dead and Khurshid was gone. Their replacements would go on to become legends over time. Hear Ye Kaun Aaya Re from Ziddi (1948).

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Khemchand passed away in 1952 at the young age of 42. He was not the only great musical talent to pass away well before his time - think Shyam Sunder, Ghulam Haider, Jaikishen, Madan Mohan, Roshan Lal. I don't know the reason for his premature death but he was ill for some time before passing away.

He collaborated with Rafi - the leading male playback singer of his era (and a source of much angst on HF boards in recent days ) and the equally talented Shamshad Begum on a beautiful duet from Saawan Aaye Re (1949) Aaye Dil Naa Mujhe Yaad Dilaa Baaten Purani. One wonders what more wonderful compositions he could have written for Rafi and Shamshad had he lived.

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Khemchand and Manna Dey are jointly credited for Tamasha (1952). It is likely that Khemchand composed the tune and passed away, leaving Manna Dey to actually orchestrate it. This is one of Asha's best songs. A truly haunting melody.

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Thanks Kirat Jee for starting this topic.

Dear Faraaj
Thanks for precious uploads.But still I am hungry for the song from the movie Mulaqat by Naseem bano
Dil Kisliye Rota He
Pyaar Ki Duniya Mein Aisa Hi Hota He
Kirat Pal

Kadri420 ji
Thanks for nice uploads from the movie Jan Pahchan.
Kirat Pal

kirat pal ji

If you can leave your mail id, I will send the song ( Dil Kisliye Rota He)
as I can't upload it in HF since the bit rate is low. The quality also not that great.

kadri
is low

Kadri Saab

Can you also email it to faraajqureshi2401@gmail.com. I can forward it on to Kirat Jee whose email I have....thnx!