A beautiful song by Sabita Chowdhury (Salil-da's wife) from Sapne Suhane.

In my opinion, no other music director (before & since) has been able to amalgamate western classical music so effortlessly into our film songs. A true genius whose songs will stand the test of time for ever.

(Can't help but wistfully think how beautiful this song would have sounded in Lata or Asha's voice.)

Another rollicking number by Manna Dey from the same movie. What wonderful orchestration!

Regards-Archie.

A radio programme on the great composer. (Vividh Bharti - Ek Fankaar). Painstakingly recorded by Mr. Pavan Jha.

Regards-Archie.

The Filmfare award for the genius for Madhumati. (One can catch a fleeting glimpse of Bimal Roy & Vyjainthimala as well)

Regards-Archie.

Forgot to mention-this clip is courtesy Mr. Kaustubh C Pingle.

A stunning song by K J Yesudas. Movie - Dil Ka Saathi Dil (1982). When one thinks about the general standard of music in the early '80-s and realises in this context that Salil-babu was virtually having no assignments in Bollywood, the heart weeps!

Regards-Archie.

P.S. Unni-saab, you may be able to help me! The Malayalam version of this song 'neemayum nilavinde' (hope I've spelt correctly!) from the movie 'Madalolsavam' (1977) with lyrics by ONV Kurup sounds even better than the hindi version (or Lata-bai's bengali version in 1988 - 'e jibono...'). Would you be having it by any chance?

Archie:

Here it is:

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Dear Unni-saab,

Grateful thanks! What a lovely number!

Regards-Archie.

An astonishingly beautiful duet of Manna & Lata from the unreleased movie 'Sangat' (1975). Lyrics by Jan Nisar Akhtar.

I'm yet to hear a better non-conventional bhajan (or should one call it 'an ode to the Almighty'?) than this, both in tune & wordings.

Though the basic fabric of the song is in raag bhairavi, Salil-babu, the genius that he is, has woven in beautiful harmonisation of chords, both in the interlude pieces as well as during the two singers' humming pieces.

The unconventional lyrics by Jan Nisar Akhtar throws light on how Javed Akhtar can also pen great lyrics like 'o palan-haare' (in Lagaan).

And as for Lata & Manna, they are gifts of the Almighty to us, hindi film song lovers.

Request you to share this song with your friends and propagate the super-talents of a composer, who perhaps did not get his due in Bollywood. Surely ahead of his times. Even now, his orchestration & composition seem ahead of today's successful composers.

No wonder, composers like Illayaraja, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, A R Rehman never fail to mention Salil-babu's name when talking about their inspirations.

Regards-Archie.

"Astonishingly beautiful" is the perfect description for this duet of Manna & Lata.

I was familiar with the melody, since Salil-da has used it for a tandem tune in Malayalam, sung by Yesudas and S. Janaki.

What a great pity that fans of HFM did not get to hear this gorgeous song since the film was not released. We at HF are indeed privileged to have access to it.

Thanks Archie, for this superb number.

NOTE TO MEMBERS:
Don't miss out on downloading and listening to this absolute gem!

I wonder if anyone having a hindi song by yesudas in a shelved bangla film ASHWMEDHER GHORA composed by Salilda?

This song is among my favorites in Salil Chowdhury's songs from the late 70s.
Most of his other compositions in this time period were pretty pedestrian lacking
that charm and grace that his earlier music had. But this changes all that.
And both Lata and Manna Dey sound wonderful. Thanx for this upload.

Unni, if it is handy, could you upload or PM the Malayalam version by Yesudas
and Janaki? I would love to hear it.

sangeebhakt:

Here you go, with the tune used as a lullaby in the film "VISHUKKANI".

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Thank you for both songs. The songs sound better in Malayalam. It
just sounds better (maybe has to do with the flow of the language,
though I cannot understand it).
What year was this film?

"VISHUKKANI" was in 1977.

Salil Chowdhury' entry into Malayalam Films started with the film 'CHEMMEEN' directed by Ramu Kariat. Based on the touching novel of the same name by the renowned Malayalam writer Thakazhy Shivshankar Pillai, the film became a landmark in Malayalam Cinema. It received the Presidents Gold Medal in 1965. The widely popular songs of 'CHEMMEEN' launched Salil Chowdhury in the Malayalam film industry. Between 1965 and the mid-90's, he composed music for over 25 Malayalam films. Salil Chowdhury formed a formidable team with the lyricist Vayalar and the poet O.N.V Kurup. He also composed the background music for three Malayalam films.

Beautiful songs in this movie. The magic of Salilda in full bloom.

Just for the record.....some mind blowing acting by the late Malayalam actor Satyan in those movies.

Dear Unni-saab, Mr. Hits,

I'm elated by the fact that the love for Salil-babu is not restricted to the boundaries of Bengal (my home-state) and Bombay (where Salil-babu strived to get durable name & fame).

I have grown up listening to his bengali gems of Lata, Hemanta, Sandhya (Mukherjee) and other singers. Then one day, my cousin & I watched Chemmeen (during a private screening in Kolkata) and without understanding a syllable, was floored by the beauty of that region, the acting & of course, the music (it helped that I knew the story courtesy Uncle Pai's 'Amar Chitra Katha'). It made me realize that Bengal & Kerala have a lot in common (besides the sickle, hammer & star!) and Salil-babu's genius did not find it very difficult to compose tunes for Malayalam films.

Please keep up the discussion on these malayalam movies (& Salil-babu's music in them). I'm enjoying every syllable of what you are discussing.

In this context, I must mention that HMV had released a 4-cassette set called 'Suvarna Malarukal' which had songs composed by Salil-babu. I had bought it eagerly from Matunga (Mumbai) but was disappointed with the recording quality. Alas, now the cassettes are almost spoilt and greet me with a screeching sound.

If any kind hearted soul can upload the songs of Salil-babu in Malayalam, I'll be eternally grateful. I know there are many of these but surely this thread can go on.

Also, if our Malayalee friends l(ike Unni-saab) can also post some reviews/comments about various South Indian musical personilities' opinion on Salil-babu, it will give us a new insight on this great composer, who lent a new dimension of dazzling prelude & interlude music in films.

Regards-Archie.

Archie:

There is another album devoted entirely to Salil Chowdhury's Malayalam compositions, and it contains 16 songs.

I shall start uploading them, starting with this first one:

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Incidentally, the son-daughter duo of Salil Chowdury, Sanjay-Antra had composed in the year 2000 what was reportedly "some very good music" for a Malayalam movie "INGANE ORU NILAPAKSHI".

I usually refrain from using adjectives like "favorite" and "best" when describing musical creations and creators. But I must admit that it is for Salilda that I make the most exceptions. It indeed is a true tribute to his genius that his music transcends barriers of language and time.

I also find myself not lamenting on the fewer number of songs that Salilda produced with Kishore and/or Asha. The beauty of his genius lies in an unerring ability to create great music, without resorting to prolificacy.

Unni, let me thank you for your initiative here. His Malayalam creations are superb.

Check out this Janaki rendition from the movie "Madhanolsavam" (Unni has uploaded another song from this movie). The mukhda loosely translates to - "He Sandhya Samay...Yeh Ashru Kyon?"

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This is the Malayalam version of "Raaton Ke Saaye".

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Unni-saab, you are batting like Rahul Dravid. High quality & consistency going hand in hand! Thanks a lot.

Any possibility of 'pennale pennale' & 'saagara' from Chemmeen?

Regards-Archie.

They are both among the songs pending upload. I thought they would be "common" and had, in the meantime, lined up some lesser-known gems, such as this:

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For members who are interested in learning more about the genius of Salil Chowdhury, here is an excellent site:

http://www.salilda.com/site.asp

It even provides a cross-reference to songs in other languages based on the same tune.

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Dear Unni-saab,

Thanks a lot for the Chemmeen songs.

Let me attempt to do some 'ganga pooja with ganga-jal', i.e share some South Indian songs with you! I'm reasonably sure that you'll be pocessing them but then this forum is for everybody to hear & appreciate.

Two songs from 'thumboli kadappuram' (1994). Both Yesudas & Chitra are brilliant.

Another song from 'anthiveylile ponnu' (1982). Yesudas is just dazzling. This has a bengali version by Lata-bai: 'keno je kaandaao baare baare....', but this (KJY) one is the tops!

Regards-Archie.

Oh yes! Salil-babu's music, be it indianised or with a western touch, is just out of this world.

For our Tamil friends:

Salil-babu composed music for an unreleased movie 'karumbu' (1973). A tandem song by Yesudas & P Susheela and another song by Sabita Chowdhury.

In the site (as mentioned by Unni-saab) www.salilda.com, there is a very illustrative article about this movie. Check this link:

http://www.salilda.com/articles/chilappathikaaram.asp

Hope you all like it.

Regards-Archie.

A song by Yesudas from an un-released hindi movie 'kuhaasa' (1978). This song has a malayalam version which I think has wordings like 'maad praave....' (apologies if I've goofed it up).

Can someone please upload this song?

And S janaki's 'manaseswari' from the malayalam movie 'devdaasi'? It's a super song.

Regards-Archie.

Back to the hindi terrain. Salil-babu composed two gems for Talat-saab in the Talat-saab starring 'ek gaon ki kahani' (1957). Both the songs are sung on a horse cart and while one has a happy touch (jhoome re....), the other has deep philosophical undertones in it's lyrics (raat ne kya kya....). Superb lyrics by Shailendra

'Jhoome re' is perhaps the first ever hindi song where the traditional style of sthaayi & antara in a song was abolished. Also, unconventionally, the song starts on a high pitch (as if it is the antara o the song).

And as for 'raat ne kya kya....', only a genius could have used the 'clip-clop' horse-cart beat to add melancholy & profoundness to a serious song.

Roshan-saab's 'oh re taal mile nadi ke jal me' by Mukesh-saab was in a similar vein but a good 10 years later.

Regards-Archie.

Manna da in a funny song from 'aparadhi kaun' (1957). Amazing lyrics by Shailendra. Salil-babu was great in these type of songs as well. Remember 'zindagi khwab hain' and 'jungul mein mor nacha'?

Regards-Archie.

Archie:

Here's the Yesudas song "Maadapraavey" (ignore my spelling/I spell as per pronounciation ).

I'll look for the S. Janaki song.

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Another wonderful song by Manna-da. Based on raag miyan ki malhar from the film 'jhula'.

What a great composer and an equally great & versatile singer.

Regards-Archie.

The song info shows the year as 2000 and Music Director as "Amaldev".

Hits, we need your help on this one!

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Salilda.com has it right (unless there's been a recycling). I know most of these Malayalam song details by heart (translates to a soundly rested Mule for the other subforums!) -

http://www.salilda.com/filmsongs/malayalam/devdasi.asp

ONV ude varikal!

A racy Asha-tai number from 'Chand Aur Suraj'. Salil-babu seems to imbibe the folk tunes of different regions of our country effortlessly (in this case-Maharashtra).

Remember his bhangra in Jaagte Raho or his bhatiyali in Kabuliwallah (ganga aaye kahaan se)?

Regards-Archie.

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Archimoz/Unni/Hits

On Salilda's site there was a reference of Hemant Kumar singing the Kishore Kumar song of Naukri-Chotta Sa Ghar Hoga.
There is a link to that song but it does not work.

would u have?

pls u/l it

thanks

cinemaniac2

As I understand it, the site gives cross-references to songs with the same tune recorded in other languages. I don't think the site offers downloads of the songs. According to the site, Hemant-da has sung a Bengali song having the same tune as the Hindi song "Chhota Sa Ghar Hoga" sung by Kishore-da.

Let's hope someone can come up with the Bengali version of the song.

I had the good fortune of meeting Mr. Gautam Chowdhury a couple of months back and he had told me that this song was an adaptation of a Nepali folk song.

The film Naukri (I saw a vcd version) has the sad version of just one stanza sung by Hemant Kumar. This song plays in the background as the jobless hero (Kishore Kumar) contemplates suicide.

A bengali version of the song was released much later (in the lare 70's). It was sung by Salil-babu's daughter, Antara Chowdhury. It's a children's song: 'hobuchandra raja gobuchandra mantri'.

A malayalam version sung by KJY is also available.

Uploading the Hemant Kumar version.

Regards-Archie.

P.S. The faster version of this song, sung by Kishore Kumar is very very close to my heart and showcases Kishore' Kumars glorious talent. Salil-babu, besides this Nepalese folk tune, also used Kishore Kumar for a Goan tune in a movie 'Musafir' a few years after Naukri. That song, too, is very close to my heart: 'munna bada pyara'.

archie:

Thanks a ton for that glorious upload. It is worth a ton of gold! Hemant-da was just so, so soulful!

After that song, this would seem pathetic, but to continue Salil-da's compositions for Malayalam movies, here's:

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can someone upload this song pls

film: maya
song: aye dil kahan teri manzil
singer: hemant kumar
music: salil chowdhary

Shahrukh:

The singer is Dwijen Mukherjee (and not Hemant Kumar).

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i thought it was hemant kumar. dwijen mukherjee sounds like hemant kumar
is he a family of hemant kumar. because hemant kumar's lastname is actually mukherjee (yes or no???)

At least to me, several of the Bengali singers sound similar to Hemant Kumar. By the same token, several of the Malayalam singers sound similar to Yesudas. I guess it speaks for the popularity of the "original"!

"Mukherjee" is a very common surname in Bengal. As far as I know, Dwijen and Hemant were not related.