Another guest article today, from Swaraj Mishra. I had no idea Sudha Malhotra
 was into composing too - any more from her ?

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 #427

              Song:   Tum mujhe bhul bhi jaao, to ye haq hai tumko
                      Meri baat aur hai, maine to mohabbat ki hai.

              Film:   Didi (1959)
              Singer: Mukesh and Sudha Malhotra
              Music:  Sudha Malhotra
              Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
              *ing:   Sunil Dutt, Shubha Khote
 

  It was nearly seven years ago when I first heard this
  song, that too from the Horse's Mouth! It was a chat
  show called Aamne Saamne and the guest was Sudha
  Malhotra. Though at that time I was not even aware of a
  personality like Sudha Malhotra existing, I instantly
  fell in love with this particular numbe when she sang
  it on screen. What a beauty this number is!

  Both Mukesh and Sudha have done a beautiful job in this
  song to bring out the feelings of love in distress. The
  lyrics of Sahir are too fitting to the situation. (Was
  he getting his own emotions out, as his lady love was
  singing this number?)

  As I could get it from one of RMIM Article Archives,
  there is an interesting story behind the making of this
  song. It goes like this, "....now comes the making of
  Didi ...remember that Sahir was never of course,  he'd
  never thought vengefully so, when there was a situation
  where he could do something 'for' the love of  his
  life, he jumped...N.Dutta fell sick, and Sahir
  suggested that Sudha could do the music herself...she
  was  already the selected female singer (again, the
  fact that Sahir was always 'singing'praises of her
  talents was helpful)...so,  there  you have it...the
  perfect 'filmi' situation where celluloid/vinyl is
  mimicking real life...a  la
  Gurudutt/Vaheeda or Raj Kapoor/Nargis or...."

  This is one of those songs, whose on screen impact is
  even better. Lines like "Jindegi sirf mohabbat nahin
  kuchh aur bhi hai..... bhukh aur pyas ki mari ui ish
  duniya mein, ishq hi ek haqiqat nahin kuchh aur bhi
  hai" give a feeling, which makes one see if love is all
  in ones life or there is something else too? As Sahir
  concludes it, "Maine tumse hi nahin, sabse mohabbat ki
  hai."

  What I like most about the song is its lyrics. It can
  be accessed at
  http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~navin/india/songs/isongs/12/1299.html.

  No doubt, one of the greatest sad-love songs ever. This
  song is easily available in te market. The cassette
  that I possess is Mukesh: Greatest Duets-2 from HMV. A
  number that I cherish!

 Swaraj Mishra
 Bhubaneshwar, India
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