RMIM Archive Article "383".


From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian

#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Lata's Best - Quiz
# Introduction, Questions 1-2
# Posted by: Satish Subramanian
# Source: Illustrated Weekly of India
# Author: Raju Bharatan
#

------------------------------------------------------------ Lata's Best Quiz by Raju Bharatan Illustrated Weekly of India ------------------------------------------------------------ In a series of articles I intend to post a quiz on Lata which was published in 1987 in Illustrated Weekly of India. Each article will have one question about a Lata song, sung for a particular music director. You can post your answers, discuss about the song, and anything else about songs of Lata for that music director on RMIM. The intent is not to select winners but to reminisce and discuss songs of Lata. The original article was by Raju Bharatan. The introduction to the article read as: ----- Lata Mangeshkar is to song what Ravi Shankar is to the sitar. And Ravi Shankar is but one of the 20 composers whose movie songs feature in the recently released four-cassette album of Lata's favorite songs. Raju Bharatan has followed Lata's career closely through her 40 years. But for the magic of her voice he says, he may not have chosen to divide his interest between cricket and music. Now he draws on his knowledge and background to create an unique quiz in which Lata's best is questioned in a historical per- spective. - Ill. Weekly of India, May 1987 ----- The reference is to the "My Favourites" album of Lata. In each question in the quiz Raju Bharatan ponders over Lata's choices in this album. People who have read his biography on Lata (released in 1995) will see in this quiz snatches of material that have been elaborated in the book. Before going to the actual questions, here is a small quiz: In the above introduction there is a mention of Lata's "40 years" of singing. The year of the article is 1987. But in another 1967 article, Lata's interview appeared marking the completion of "25 years" of her career. In 1992, HMV released a series of albums commemorating her "50 years" of playback singing (concurring with the 1967 article), but it was the same HMV that released the 1987 album too. So, why is there a difference/mistake in counting? -- bye satish ------------------------------------------------------------------ Question 1: Lata's Best? Raju Bharatan, for Illustrated Weekly of India ------------------------------------------------------------------ Master Ghulam Haider was, musically speaking, to Lata what Onkar Prasad Nayyar was to Asha. These two composers from the Punjab were the ones to spot the vocal spark in the two sisters. Therefore, it is no cause for surprise that Lata's legendary four-cassette album, "My Favourites", should come to be launched with a Ghulam Haider composition, "Bedard tere dard ko seene se laga ke", from "Padmini". What is surprising, however, is that Lata should have picked this Noorjahan-style solo from "Padmini" (1948) rather than her first ever solo for Master Ghulam Haider from "Majboor" (1948) "dil mera toda mujhe kahin ka na chooda tere pyaar ne". It also happens to be the impromptu solo that Ghulam Haider composed exclusively for her when the two were returning by a local train after S.Mukerji at Filmistan had rudely rejected Lata's voice as "too shrill" for "Shaheed". Thus the three solos earmarked for Lata in Filmistan's "Shaheed" (1948) 1. badnaam na ho jaaye 2. hum kahaan aur tum kahaan 3. aana hai to aa jaao came to be reluctantly recorded by Ghulam Haider in the mar- dana voice of Surinder Kaur. It was this action of S.Mukerji's that prompted Ghulam Haider to predict: "Reject her this time if you think it wise, but there will come a time when producers and directors will come crawling to this girl's feet." Bombay Talkies' "Majboor" and her "dil mera toda" solo in it thus became landmarks in Lata's career. Yet it was not this solo, but a Lata-Mukesh duet from "Majboor" that caught the public imagination. This duet thus became Lata's first hit under the baton of Ghulam Haider. Recall that Lata-Mukesh duet from "Majboor" which also became a symbol, in the late 1940s, of the British's depar- ture from India? ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2: Lata's Best? Raju Bharatan, for Illustrated Weekly of India ------------------------------------------------------------------- Another Punjabi composer to create a special vocal niche in Lata's heart was Shyam Sunder. When the time came for Lata to pick her Ten Best on the occasion of her silver jubilee in 1967, her listing came to acquire a prestige of its own for the inclusion of that all-time great "Lahore" solo composed for her by Shyam Sunder: "bahaaren phir bhi aayengi, magar hum tum juda honge". When 'Malka-e-Taranum' Noorjehan paid her first visit to India after Partition, it was once again a Shyam Sunder creation for Lata, "saajan ki galiyan chhod chale" from "Bazaar", that Miss Mangeshkar opted to render on stage. Now in her "My Favourites" album, Lata has selected from "Lahore" her "sun lo sajan meri baat" solo (unforgivably listed as "sun lo sajan dil ki baat" on the dust-jacket by HMV), along with her "Alif Laila" duet with Rafi, "kya raat suhani hai", as two compositions by which to remember Shyam Sunder. "Alif Laila" becomes a important film since it was following her recordings for this Nimmi starrer that Lata developed serious differences with Shyam Sunder and was not on talking terms with him for months on end. In the end, only the fact that Shyam Sunder fell seriously ill and was on his deathbed made Lata relent. This is not to say that the fault lay with Lata. Shyam Sunder was known to be fond of his drink and this could have led to this prolonged hiatus between the two. In fact, it was when he was 'high' that Shyam Sunder was supposed to be at his composing best. Lata was reportedly keen to pick not a Shyam Sunder duet, but a Shyam Sunder solo, from "Alif Laila" for this album. No, her choice was not to be, as you might expect, "bahaar aayee khili kaliyaan" (from the N50450 78 rpm record), but her "Alif Laila" solo on the reverse of the same record - a record which, lucklessly, HMV could not find for her. Know that "Alif Laila" solo carrying the Lata-Shyam Sunder stamp all over? -------------------------------------------------------------------
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian