RMIM Archive Article "217".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Tagore's tunes in Hindi Films
#
# Posted by:
# 1. Surajit Bose
# 2. Vish Krishnan
# 3. Satish Subramanian
#
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Hindi film songs and Rabindra Sangeet
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Part 1
Author: Surajit Bose
I was listening to Talat (and Suraiya--but barely) singing "raahi
matwaale, tu chheD ik baar man kaa sitaar" and began wondering about
film songs based on Ravindra Sangeet. Off the top of my head I can
think of these:
song: raahi matvaale, tuu chheD ik baar
based on: o re grihabaashi
film: Waris
singers: Talat, Suraiya (lopsided duet)
MD: Anil Biswas
song: tere mere milan ki yeh raina
based on: jadi taare naai chini go
film: Abhimaan
singers: Kishore, Lata
MD: Sachin Dev Burman
song: chhoTisi ik kalii Kili thii ek din baag me.n
based on: basante phuul gaa.nthlo aamaar joyer maalaa
film: Jurmana
singer: Lata
MD: Rahul Dev Burman
song: nain diiwaane, ek nahi.n maane
based on: she diin dujane
singer: Suraiya
film: Afsar
MD: Sachin Dev Burman
There surely must be lots more. After all, so many MD's were from
the Bengal belt--Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Salil Choudhury, Timir
Baran, etc. Is there a list of such songs extant somewhere in the
RMIM archives? Or could other RMIMers help compile such a list?
(BTW, transcribing Bengali is hard.....)
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Hindi film songs and Rabindra Sangeet
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Part 2
Author: Vish Krishnan
Thanks for starting this series. There was a mention of doing
something similar for Kazi Nazrul Islam's influence on Hindi movie
music. That may be tougher probably only because his "originals" were
not available that much. Until recently that is. Now, there is a
Nazrul Geet 4-pack that is totally worthwhile. The star attraction
for me there is Sachin Deb Burman's "meghla nishi bhore", made later
into "roj akeli aaye". I thought it would have provided a kickoff for
such a research effort, but... I have run through the series, and
haven't found a match other than "meghla nishi...". So, one goes back
to the 3 or 4 known ones (not included in the 4-pack, sadly) like
"ghaayal hiraniyaa", "jaane kyaa tune kahi", "main albeli, runjhun
runjhun baaje ghoonghar moraa" (BUZDIL), and that is about it. I have
always been curious about specific aspects of Anil Biswas's music that
may have been Nazrul Geet in origin. No discoveries as yet.
In addition to the songs above, let me suggest the following as
Rabindra Sangeet transplants into the Hindi medium:
. man moraa uDtaa jaaye
baadal ke sang door gagan mein,
aaj nashe mein, gaata geet milan ke re,
rimjhim, rimhim, rimjhim
MAA BETA (1964?), Lata, Composer: Hemanta Mukherji
from
mana mero meghero s(h)ange, uDe chale deeg deeg..... (Hemanta Mukherjee)
. moray chanchal naina, madhu ras ke bhare
ANGULIMAAL (1960) - Meena Kapoor and chorus, Composer: Anil Biswas
from "madhu gandhe bharaa" (I have only heard a Lata-Hemanta version)
The Hindi song was never released by EMI as far as I know. It has
even been dropped from the movie. Most curiously, Meena Kapoor sounds
just like Asha Bhonsle in the 2nd verse. Or IS IT Asha in the 2nd
stanza?
. meghaa chhaye aadhi raat (not sure about this one)
SHARMEELEE (1972?), Lata, Composer: Sachin Deb Burman
from don't know the original.
. chhoo kar mere man ko, kiyaa toone kyaa ishaara (only the beginning is RS)
YAARAANA (1981?) - Kishore, Composer: Rajesh Roshan
from "tomaar holo shuru, amaar holo shaara" (I have only heard a
Lata-Hemanta version)
. kaise koi jiye, zeher hai zindagi (specially the 2nd stanza "taare
na jaanein..")
BAADBAAN (195x?), Geeta and Hemanta (2 versions), Composer: Timirbaran
Bhattacharya
from "???"
I would also suggest that we not restrict ourselves to the Hindi
domain. What about Bengali movies? The numbers are probably
significantly higher, but again, I don't believe they are teeming with
Rabindra Sangeet adaptions. A good and familiar place to look would
of course be Hemanta Mukherjee's movies like MON NIYE (isn't there a
lovely Asha-Hemanta duet in it?), SURYATORAN, BAGHINI, MONIHAAR (??)
etc. We have talked about Bengali movies and music on RMIM, but only
through fleeting references. Perhaps it is time to get organized, and
detailed. Music from the New Theatres age should provide a sound
beginning.
Also, to go after Rabindra Sangeet "originals" (used here as a
substitute for the real, real originals), one needs to look at the
progatonist giants from the '50s (Hemanta, Suchitra Mitra, Kanika
Banerjee, Dwijen Mukherjee, and from recent times, people like
Haimanti Shukla. Others?)
cheers
vish
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Hindi film songs and Rabindra Sangeet
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Part 3
Author: subraman@cs.umn.edu (Satish Subramanian)
Good place to start would be old movies of Pankaj Mullick. He was
the pioneer in popularizing Rabindra Sangeet in Hindi films. Note
the word used is 'popularize' and not 'plagiarize'. Rabindranath
Tagore had himself composed a few songs and shared the credits in
some of Pankaj Mullick's movies in late 30s.
Most of the others who followed the foot steps of Pankaj Mullick like
Hemant Kumar, Anil Biswas, S.D.Burman were greatly influenced by
Tagore's compositions and used some of them in their films.
Anil Biswas in "raahi matwaale" (Waris) and S.D.Burman in "jaayen
to jaayen kahaan" (Taxi Driver) used Talat to sing the borrowed
tunes from Rabindra Sangeet. S.D.Burman's earliest hit with Geeta
Dutt "mera sundar sapna beet gaya" (Do Bhai) was also a Tagore
composition.
Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey were also accomplished singers of Rabindra
Sangeet. Kishore Kumar, although untrained, was considered an expert
in Rabindra Sangeet. Why else would Satyajit Ray make him sing the
Tagore songs in "Charulata" (in early sixties)?
Rajesh Roshan also made Kishore sing the Tagore tune "chookar mere man
ko" from "Yaarana". S.D.Burman's "tere mere milan ki yeh raina" from
"Abhimaan" was also by Kishore (and Lata). When Bappi Lahiri made his
"chandaa dekhe chandaa" in "Jhoothi" based on the same tune it was
Kishore again singing it beautifully with Asha. Another common link
between Abhimaan and Jhoothi was the director Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Maybe he had a hand in the choice of the tunes.
Kavita Krishnamurthy had trained under the likes of Manna Dey to learn
singing including Rabindra Sangeet. So probably R.D.Burman found it
appropriate to call her when he used a Rabindra Sangeet tune. The song
was the "1942 - A Love Story" hit "pyar hua chupke se ye kya hua
chupke se". It also explains the similarity between the lines "kyon
naye lag rahe hai ye dharti gagan" and "heera toh pehle hi kisi aur
ki ho chuke" (from "panna ki tammana hai ki" in "Heera Panna").
I have no idea about the words of the originals, but I have heard them
once. In early 1994, the release of "1942-A Love Story" prompted some
Rabindra Sangeet fans to organize a choir to sing all Tagore tunes
which were used in films. They were bothered by the fact that the
credit for the tunes were going to the wrong people. The choir sang
the original and the film song back to back.
--
bye
satish
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian