RMIM Archive Article "174".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
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# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Composers' Wives and Singing
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# Posted by: vishk@cup.hp.com (Vish Krishnan)
# Author: Vish Krishnan
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[Context: follow-up to "Lata and her female co-singers article"]
Particularly interesting were the stats for Lata's songs with
composers' wives, the ones present as well as the ones not shown.
Among the rare occurrences that showed up on your list were Ira
Nagrath (Roshan's wife), and Lalita Dewoolkar (nee Phadke, Sudhir
Vinayak Phadke's wife whose most popular song was probably the
Rafi duet "More Raaja Ho, Le Chal Nadiyaa Ke Paar").
The other rare ones that should show somewhere are Bela Mukherji
(Hemanta Mukherji's wife) and Pallavi (Mariwalla) Panchal
(Jaikishan's wife). About the latter, I have only heard from some
"insiders" that she sang a low profile part in some duet with
Lata while keeping a weather eye cocked on the goings on around
her husband. I beg the reader's forgiveness for even bringing
this up.
Also, I don't recall a Lata-Bela Mukherji song, but am quite sure
there is one.
And here are some curiosities.
What is the Lata-Suman song? I have 2 "bad" tapes of rare songs,
and they both (mistakenly) show a couple of duets to be sung by
the two. One is a Gaud Saarang tribute from the movie CHANDRAMU-
KHI. The song "Chaandni Jhilmil Kare, Taaron Bhari Ye Raat Hai"
is in reality by Lata and Sudha Malhotra. Likewise, there is an
obscure song from Hemanta Mukherji's CHAAND ("Kabhi Aaj Kabhi Kal
Kabhi...") that is also labelled as sung by Lata and Suman.
Sounds more like Lata and Usha. So my question remains.
I realize that Lata and Sabita Banerji (later Chowdhury) never
sang together. Interestingly enough, every Lata song that had
the grand Calcutta choir in the background managed to do without
Sabita's voice. Either there was no such solo voice in the back-
ground (e.g. PARAKH, MAAYA), or Lata herself generated that ef-
fect (e.g. HONEYMOON, HALF TICKET etc). The MAAYA song "Ai Dil
Kahaan Teri Manzil" is interesting. For Dwijen Mukherji, Sabita
C. provided the high contralto support (just an approximation).
When Lata sang the same, Salil Da decided not to include Sabita's
voice, but maintained the choir in the background.
By contrast, Asha would not have that problem. She has sung more
than one song with Sabita Chowdhury. The one I remember is a
rare Assamese piece from MADHUMATI ("Kaancha Ri....").
But the same does not hold for Jagjit Kaur. Again, Asha has a
couple of songs with her. And I do believe that Lata's wedding
solo from KABHI KABHI ("Surkh Jode Ki Ye Jagmagaahat...") is
couched in a folksy Punjabi shell provided by 2 voices. I will
guess one of them to be Jagjit Kaur, and the other? Pamela
Chopra, maybe (??) (isn't she Yash Chopra's wife?). Perhaps
these 2 names should be on the list.
One could make the argument that certain duets have that hetero-
geneous quality about them whereby the various voices featured
sing their own distinct pieces that are are also disjoint, and
for that reason, such songs are not really "duets". If that
measure were to be used, perhaps the above KABHI KABHI song would
not qualify. But if it were to qualify, then all of a sudden, we
have to make room for at least 2 more songs that can both in-
cidentally be described as borderline Carnatic presentations.
First, there is PYAAR KI PYAAS, where Vasant Desai wraps up 10
different languages in one song ("Kiskaa Desh"). Each piece is
distinct. The Marathi, Marwari, Gujarati, Punjabi and Kashmiri
verses are sung by Lata, the Hindi introduction is by Manna Dey
and Raanoo Mukherji, the sweet Bengali "Sonar Bangla" component
is done by Geeta Dutt,the Tamil incantation is by ML
Vasanthakumari, and I don't recall the rest. Next, there is NEW
DELHI, where some unidentified, uncredited South Indian Carnatic
singer provides uncompromising vocal support for Vyjayanthimala's
Thillana prior to the song "Murli Bairan Bhayee". For that
matter, Madhubala's BAHUT DIN HUYE has quite a few classical
songs by Lata (mostly composed by Veer Vidwaan Eemani Sankara
Sastry) that have some other solo voices as yet uncredited.
Enough hairsplitting.
Finally, I can hardly let go without saying something about Meena
Kapoor (she is the daughter of Bikram Kapoor, a character actor
from the '40s, whose friendship with Ninoo Majumdar (assistant to
Anil Biswas) is what led to the first meeting between this future
husband-wife team, and the rest is remembered through some
wonderful Anil Biswas compositions!).
The 3 Lata-Meena Kapoor songs I remember are all forgotten clas-
sics. Foremost is the SAUTELA BHAI mujraa "Laagi Naahi Chhoote
Raama, Chaahe Jiyaa Jaaye" - the song represents the last time
the 2 sang together. Meena Kapoor's performance here is exem-
plary. It also makes me sad that she did not get to sing more.
The other 2 Lata-Meena songs are both from ANGULIMAAL, a collec-
tion of truly great compositions by Anil Da. Rabindra Sangeet
oriented people will recognize the playful Bahaar song:
Aayee Aayee Basanti Belaa,
Lagaa Re Lagaa Phoolon Kaa Ban Ban Melaa
Magan Man Jhoom Rahaa
Jhoom Rahaa, Jhoom Rahaa, Jhoom Rahaa
Aayee Aayee....
This one also features Manna Dey's voice.
Finally, the same movie has a Piloo favourite of mine that goes
"Jaa Ri Naa Bataaoon Main To Naam Chitchor Kaa".
The glory of the '50s and '60s remains, but only in memory.
cheers
vish
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian