Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Husnlal Bhagatram....and The Rise Of Lata Mangeshkar
Hamara Forums > Legends > Legendary Music Directors > Husnlal - Bhagatram
Reeth
There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No
matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world.
Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work
and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life.

Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas,
Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes
for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the
master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different
art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements.

Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the
Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music
directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and
some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which
I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could
offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia,
he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit
Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had
a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has
a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities.

Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his
Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in
the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons
on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive
training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but
the relevant sound recording studio.

In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice
of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the
actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like
Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat.

Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal
training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever
Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit
Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and
1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music
for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice.

When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat”
became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram,
but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs
even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram.

SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in
fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back
singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at
singing.

While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played
by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal
had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was
given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody
in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between
the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema.

As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally
acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became
a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night,
primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late
arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension.

As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance
from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round
about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had
grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend
her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third
choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during
the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small.

The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They
started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of
Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to
pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and
kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors.
Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India
Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films.
The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming.

The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older
brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were
together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music.

On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?.

We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of
Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not
done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They
deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should
be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs.


by Harjap Singh Aujla

[The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A.



venkat
Excellent article, a fund of information! A great tribute to MD, Husnlal Bhagatram.
Harjinder
Hi
Mr. Aujla has some articles on Punjabi music directors and singers like Sardul Kwatra, S. Mohinder, and others on APNA website.His observatons and insights based on personal interactions with those musicians offer information that is otherwise unavailable. I can think of one Punjabi singer Shaminder Singh Chahal who sang a few songs in Punjabi movies in the 1950's. I have not found any information on Shaminder in Wikipedia or anywhere else. What I know about him is from one of the the articles that Mr. Aujla wrote. It is indeed nice to seet this article by him on Hamara Forums. Harjinder
suhana_safar
QUOTE(Reeth @ Jul 28 2007, 05:34 PM) *

There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No
matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world.
Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work
and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life.

Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas,
Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes
for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the
master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different
art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements.

Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the
Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music
directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and
some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which
I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could
offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia,
he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit
Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had
a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has
a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities.

Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his
Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in
the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons
on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive
training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but
the relevant sound recording studio.


In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice
of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the
actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like
Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat.

Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal
training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever
Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit
Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and
1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music
for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice.

When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat”
became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram,
but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs
even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram.

SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in
fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back
singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at
singing.

While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played
by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal
had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was
given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody
in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between
the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema.

As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally
acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became
a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night,
primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late
arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension.

As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance
from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round
about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had
grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend
her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third
choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during
the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small.

The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They
started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of
Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to
pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and
kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors.
Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India
Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films.
The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming.

The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older
brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were
together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music.

On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?.

We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of
Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not
done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They
deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should
be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs.


by Harjap Singh Aujla

[The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A.



Excellent article about the most original MD's of HFM. Their music has so many dimensions that it is impossible to restrict them to a certain style. One cant find a single bad note produced by these magicians of melody....true inspiration to produce original music.

The legend of legends Rafisaab, has sung more songs for HB than any singer and these songs are the very best songs of HFM, songs that no one could sing with that excellence and effect and HB knew well that only the Badshah could do justice to their songs. It is through sincere effort and un matched class that Rafisaab;s songs made the glory of HFM and no wonder these songs continue to live. Mind you Suriya too was brilliant in the sons sang for HB.

Lata's best songs IMO are the ones that she sung under the baton of HB, listen carefully and the quality is apprarent. Those were the days, pure singing, music and lyrics, wow!!!.

Some music directors sworn with mediocrity and adulterated music are neddlessley given recognition by naive bunch of listeners when in reality md's like HB are the true legends.

Today one can see any 'lalu panju' is termed a legend....what a farce!!! I have always belived the the declining standards of music that began from 70's is because of the decline in the quality of listeners and the corrupt mixes are a glaringly example. One cant see today's songs with family, they are nothing less than soft porn.

One can see HMV promoting crap and the disgusting music mixes just to make quick bucks to cater to the need of the new brand of listeners who have an iota of sense of music. What a disgrace!!!!!


Thanks for the article Reeth!!!
surhall
QUOTE(Reeth @ Jul 28 2007, 05:34 PM) *

There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No
matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world.
Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work
and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life.

Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas,
Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes
for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the
master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different
art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements.

Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the
Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music
directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and
some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which
I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could
offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia,
he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit
Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had
a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has
a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities.

Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his
Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in
the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons
on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive
training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but
the relevant sound recording studio.

In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice
of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the
actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like
Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat.

Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal
training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever
Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit
Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and
1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music
for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice.

When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat”
became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram,
but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs
even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram.

SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in
fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back
singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at
singing.

While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played
by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal
had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was
given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody
in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between
the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema.

As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally
acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became
a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night,
primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late
arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension.

As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance
from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round
about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had
grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend
her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third
choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during
the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small.

The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They
started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of
Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to
pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and
kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors.
Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India
Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films.
The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming.

The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older
brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were
together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music.

On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?.

We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of
Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not
done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They
deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should
be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs.


by Harjap Singh Aujla

[The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A.



this very good view,
my view for LATA JI have very good song with HB.

Aadhi Raat (1950) starring Nargis, Neelam, Cuckoo, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur, Jeewan & Tiwari
Lyrics: Sarshar Sailani
Music Director: Husnlal Bhagatram

ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan

lyrics for ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan phuut gayi taqdir meri. phuuti hui taqdir ke aage chal na saki tadbir meri.

dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se

lyrics for dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se bhar na aaye kyon. royenge ham hazaar baar koi hamein sataaye kyon.

Aaj Ki Raat (1948)
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

wo chali gham ki hawaa mausam badal

Afsana (1950) starring Veena, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur & Jeewan
Lyrics: Asad Bhopali, Ghafi Hariyanvi, Chander & Saraswati Kuamr Deepak
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

aaj kuchh aisi chot lagi toot gayaa

kahaan hai tu mere sapnon ke rajaa

wo aaye bahaaren laaye baji shehnai

abhi to mai jawaan hoon

Lyrics to abhi to mai jawaan hoon



Badi Bahan (1949) starring Geeta Bali, Gulab, Niranjan Sharma, Pran, Rehman, Shanti Madhok, Suraiya & Ulhas
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

chale jaanaa nahin nain milaa ke

lyrics for chale jaana nahin, chale jaana nahin nain milaake haay sainya bedardi, sainya bedardi.

Jaltarang (1949)
Lyrics: Lekhraj Bhakri, Mulkraj Bhakri, Kedar Sharma, Kaifi Irfani, Sarshar Sailani & Pandit Sudarshan
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

haay taqdeer meri banke bigadti kyo

luut gayee ummeedon ki duniyaa

Pyar Ki Manzil (1950)
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan, Shewan Rizvi & Tariq Lucknavi
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

aankhon mei aansu hothon pe fariyad

bheega hua daaman hai to aankho mei

Sawan Bhadon (1949)
Lyrics: Mulkraj Bhakri
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

teri ankhiyaan saajan chor chor


woh din laut ke nahi aatey yaad reh jati hai.

dhall
Reeth
QUOTE(venkat @ Jul 28 2007, 06:18 PM) *

Excellent article, a fund of information! A great tribute to MD, Husnlal Bhagatram.



QUOTE(Harjinder @ Jul 28 2007, 10:53 PM) *

Hi
Mr. Aujla has some articles on Punjabi music directors and singers like Sardul Kwatra, S. Mohinder, and others on APNA website.His observatons and insights based on personal interactions with those musicians offer information that is otherwise unavailable. I can think of one Punjabi singer Shaminder Singh Chahal who sang a few songs in Punjabi movies in the 1950's. I have not found any information on Shaminder in Wikipedia or anywhere else. What I know about him is from one of the the articles that Mr. Aujla wrote. It is indeed nice to seet this article by him on Hamara Forums. Harjinder



Thanks venkat, Harjinder...
Reeth
QUOTE(suhana_safar @ Jul 29 2007, 03:45 AM) *



Excellent article about the most original MD's of HFM. Their music has so many dimensions that it is impossible to restrict them to a certain style. One cant find a single bad note produced by these magicians of melody....true inspiration to produce original music.

The legend of legends Rafisaab, has sung more songs for HB than any singer and these songs are the very best songs of HFM, songs that no one could sing with that excellence and effect and HB knew well that only the Badshah could do justice to their songs. It is through sincere effort and un matched class that Rafisaab;s songs made the glory of HFM and no wonder these songs continue to live. Mind you Suriya too was brilliant in the sons sang for HB.

Lata's best songs IMO are the ones that she sung under the baton of HB, listen carefully and the quality is apprarent. Those were the days, pure singing, music and lyrics, wow!!!.

Some music directors sworn with mediocrity and adulterated music are neddlessley given recognition by naive bunch of listeners when in reality md's like HB are the true legends.

Today one can see any 'lalu panju' is termed a legend....what a farce!!! I have always belived the the declining standards of music that began from 70's is because of the decline in the quality of listeners and the corrupt mixes are a glaringly example. One cant see today's songs with family, they are nothing less than soft porn.

One can see HMV promoting crap and the disgusting music mixes just to make quick bucks to cater to the need of the new brand of listeners who have an iota of sense of music. What a disgrace!!!!!


Thanks for the article Reeth!!!



I agree with you wholeheartedly........quality is out now....those legendary music directors and singers had
such a lot of dedication, that it showed in the kind of music they composed and sang...
At the same time it is a pity that they had such petty feuds even in those times and great musicians
could just be wiped out because of that.........
Reeth
QUOTE(surhall @ Jul 29 2007, 08:32 AM) *

QUOTE(Reeth @ Jul 28 2007, 05:34 PM) *

There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No
matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world.
Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work
and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life.

Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas,
Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes
for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the
master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different
art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements.

Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the
Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music
directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and
some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which
I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could
offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia,
he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit
Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had
a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has
a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities.

Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his
Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in
the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons
on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive
training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but
the relevant sound recording studio.

In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice
of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the
actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like
Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat.

Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal
training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever
Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit
Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and
1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music
for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice.

When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat”
became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram,
but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs
even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram.

SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in
fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back
singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at
singing.

While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played
by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal
had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was
given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody
in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between
the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema.

As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally
acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became
a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night,
primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late
arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension.

As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance
from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round
about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had
grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend
her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third
choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during
the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small.

The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They
started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of
Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to
pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and
kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors.
Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India
Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films.
The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming.

The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older
brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were
together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music.

On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?.

We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of
Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not
done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They
deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should
be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs.


by Harjap Singh Aujla

[The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A.



this very good view,
my view for LATA JI have very good song with HB.

Aadhi Raat (1950) starring Nargis, Neelam, Cuckoo, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur, Jeewan & Tiwari
Lyrics: Sarshar Sailani
Music Director: Husnlal Bhagatram

ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan

lyrics for ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan phuut gayi taqdir meri. phuuti hui taqdir ke aage chal na saki tadbir meri.

dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se

lyrics for dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se bhar na aaye kyon. royenge ham hazaar baar koi hamein sataaye kyon.

Aaj Ki Raat (1948)
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

wo chali gham ki hawaa mausam badal

Afsana (1950) starring Veena, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur & Jeewan
Lyrics: Asad Bhopali, Ghafi Hariyanvi, Chander & Saraswati Kuamr Deepak
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

aaj kuchh aisi chot lagi toot gayaa

kahaan hai tu mere sapnon ke rajaa

wo aaye bahaaren laaye baji shehnai

abhi to mai jawaan hoon

Lyrics to abhi to mai jawaan hoon



Badi Bahan (1949) starring Geeta Bali, Gulab, Niranjan Sharma, Pran, Rehman, Shanti Madhok, Suraiya & Ulhas
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

chale jaanaa nahin nain milaa ke

lyrics for chale jaana nahin, chale jaana nahin nain milaake haay sainya bedardi, sainya bedardi.

Jaltarang (1949)
Lyrics: Lekhraj Bhakri, Mulkraj Bhakri, Kedar Sharma, Kaifi Irfani, Sarshar Sailani & Pandit Sudarshan
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

haay taqdeer meri banke bigadti kyo

luut gayee ummeedon ki duniyaa

Pyar Ki Manzil (1950)
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan, Shewan Rizvi & Tariq Lucknavi
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

aankhon mei aansu hothon pe fariyad

bheega hua daaman hai to aankho mei

Sawan Bhadon (1949)
Lyrics: Mulkraj Bhakri
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

teri ankhiyaan saajan chor chor


woh din laut ke nahi aatey yaad reh jati hai.


dhall


Very very true....
Thanks a lot for all the valuable inputs dhall.........
simplefable
That is one fine post. it is so informative and heart breakingly true to the nature of the world we live in..." yeh mehlon yeh takhton yeh tajonki duniya..yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai? " ..May thier souls rest in peace.
Reeth
QUOTE(simplefable @ Aug 22 2007, 10:51 AM) *

That is one fine post. it is so informative and heart breakingly true to the nature of the world we live in..." yeh mehlon yeh takhton yeh tajonki duniya..yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai? " ..May thier souls rest in peace.



Thanx buddy...
myawan
Nice informative article....Thanks.
parag_sankla
Such a nice article. Thanks Reeth for this one. H-B are the original musical duo from which S-J, K-A and L-P took inspirations.

Its undoubtedly true that H-B gave the best songs to Lata ji, there is one movie where they gave all the songs to Geeta ji and they are simply superb. The movie I am talking about is Hamari Manzil (1949) and all the songs have been posted on SKS and Geeta Dutt forum several times.

Here is the link on Geeta ji's forum for this album

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...5&hl=manzil

Thanks for the article again !

Cheers
Parag
musiclover77
Thank you for posting this. Primary sources are always priceless!

I have some questions...

(1) Mohammed Rafi's training at the residence of Pandit Husnlal was acceptable by the MD's wife. Is this because (a) MD's wife got along well with the the saintly Rafi and didn't mind him around or (sunglasses2.gif she liked Pandit Husnlal staying at home - even if he was working?

(2) Why didn't Pandit Husnlal have Lata practice at his home like the way he did with Rafi? That way the wife wouldn't be upset about him being away. Looks like a simple solution to me (obviously there had to be some reason)?

(3) Why did Pandit Husnlal have such odd hours? I know musicians are very dedicated...but I'm reading Rafi could be called 4 in the morning and then Husnlal could come home really late at night. So when does he sleep? Why not 4AM to 6PM (that's 14 hours!)?

Thanks!
parag_sankla
Unfortunately today's generation doesn't know the genius and work of this one of the most talented musical duo.

To be very honest, earlier, the songs of HB I was aware of were mainly from Suraiyya ji's films. Then I started listening to their songs in many other films and realized their vast variety and melody.

It is very unfortunate that for whatever reasons, HB could not re-create the magic after the incidences mentioned above.

Till date, music lovers are thrilled to enjoy their timeless melodies.

May their souls rest in peace.


Parag
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Invision Power Board © 2001-2024 Invision Power Services, Inc.