RMIM Archive Article "385".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Lata's Best - Quiz
# Questions 6-8
# Posted by: Satish Subramanian
# Source: Illustrated Weekly of India
# Author: Raju Bharatan
#
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Question 6:
Lata's Best?
Raju Bharatan, for Illustrated Weekly of India
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Naushad feels that, overall, he has never got his full due
from Lata. This may be the feeling of certain other top
composers too, but Naushad's point is that no other music
director's repertoire has given Lata so many hits singing so
few songs. By which Naushad means that there has hardly
been a Lata number by him that is not a hit!
Therefore, the task of picking out two Naushad favourites
for this album must have been no easy job for Lata.
Her selections finally are:
1. Hamaare dil se na jaana (Uran Khatola) in raag Bihag.
2. Jo main jaanti bisrat (Shabab) in raag Maand.
Both are numbers widely heard to this day, so what is new in
Lata's selections?
Well, in the case of Naushad vis-a-vis Lata, something new-
sounding could have been created only by tapping the
unusual. And the unusual, as it turns out, could have been
tapped by Lata in the very two films, "Uran Khatola" and
"Shabab", from which she has taken her choice.
All she had to do was to get HMV to procure, from the
soundtracks of these two movies, her unissued solo version
of Rafi hit in "Uran Khatola" and her unissued solo varia-
tion of a hit of her own in "Shabab" (set in raag Brindabani
Saarang).
Given these guidelines, can you pinpoint the two songs Lata
could have chosen as 'differently' representative of
Naushad, one from "Uran Khatola" and the other from "Sha-
bab"?
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Question 7:
Lata's Best?
Raju Bharatan, for Illustrated Weekly of India
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There was a consternation in the ranks of our music
directors as Lata announced, in the mid-1950s, that she
would herself be making a Hindi film called "Bhairavi."
From Naushad to Shankar-Jaikishan, each composer expected to
win her vote as the music director of "Bhairavi." But
Lata's final choice fell upon Roshan.
From that point, it has been accepted that Roshan represents
something extra special in her repertoire. Now Lata had the
opportunity to pick something truly memorable composed by
Roshan. But her selections, as represented by
1. Duniya kare sawaal (Bahu Begum)
2. Raat ki mehfil sooni sooni (Noor Jehan)
3. Paaon chhoo lene do (Taj Mahal)
come as almost a let-down.
Not that these numbers are not good - only they could have
been so much better. When she chose on her silver jubilee
Roshan's
- Ae ri main to prem diwani (Nau Bahaar)
her selection could not be faulted. Also Roshan's "duniya
kare sawaal" stands already named by Lata as among her '25
Favourites' in Filmfare.
Somehow, when Lata is taking her pick from the treasure-
trove of one of our original composers, we expect her to
choose something that will hark back to the times of golden
melodies.
Like, for instance, the GE28005 78 rpm record of "Raag Rang"
which carries, on its two sides, two out of this world solos
by Lata for Roshan,
1. Yehi bahaar hai duniya ko bhool jaane ki (Raag Rang)
2. Kis ki nazar ka mast ishara hai zindagi (Raag Rang)
Even Lata, you will agree, would be hesitant to choose
between the two.
By the same token, in Nargis-Raj Kapoor's "Anhonee" (1952),
the N50236 78 rpm record carried on one side "Main dil hoon
ek armaan bhara" (Talat Mahmood). On the flip side of the
same "Anhonee" was one of Roshan's more 'selectable' numbers
for Lata.
Remember that Lata solo?
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Question 8:
Lata's Best?
Raju Bharatan, for Illustrated Weekly of India
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On one side of the N53389 78 rpm record is the "Parakh"
number chosen by Lata to represent Salil Choudhry in this
album, "Mila hai kisi ka jhumka", with its thrilling blend
of the oboe and the mandolin.
Also when you note that on the other side of the same record
is "O Sajna barkha bahaar aayee", you know it as Hobson's
choice for Lata.
What a pity today's generation of music lovers cannot
experience the bonus of two such Lata lovelies on two sides
of one record! As a collector remarked, "how can you really
get the 'feel' of a vintage song unless you handle its
record?"
"Mila hai kisi ka jhumkaa" (Parakh) was on a 78 rpm record,
while Lata's second Salil choice, "Na jiya laage na" (Anand)
was on an EP. Salil may have composed superbly in his later
years too, but Lata, one feels, sounded best under his baton
in the 78 rpm days.
1. Aa jaa ri nindiya tu aa (Do Bigha Zamin)
2. Dhitang dhitang bole (Awaaz)
3. Rim jhim jhim jhim (Tangawali)
4. Jaa re jaa re ud jaa re (Maya)
5. Aaha re magan mera chanchal main (Honeymoon)
6. Raaton ko jab neend ud jaaye (Mem Didi)
are some of Salil's early airs for Lata that reflect his
refreshing spontaneity before he became conscious of the
fact that he was a composing genius and began to try living
up to that tag.
However, this tendency to be more complex that he need be
was, according to Pt. Ravi Shankar, there in Salil even
early on, otherwise Lata would not have rated him as next
only to Sajjad Hussain in the matter of demands sought to be
made on the singer.
In Bimal Roy's "Naukri" (1954), for instance, there is a
solo in which Salil subjects Lata's voice to a thorough
scrutiny.
Can you identify that "Naukri" solo?
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bye
satish
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian