And the Award for the Best Male Playback Singer goes to?

My Overview post of the best songs of the year 1945 had a Master List of 59/60 Memorable Songs (one song had a female solo and a female-female duet version), the least in the year-wise reviews so far. This was expected not only because of the relative antiquity as we go further back chronologically, but also because the year saw the lowest number of films produced during the period 1941-49. This has resulted in significantly less songs than the other years reviewed earlier.

In the total number of the credited songs in the year 1945, female solos outnumber the male solos by a factor of over 3. This is in line with the long-term trend. The duets are almost equal to the male solos. If the memorable songs also followed the same pattern, the male solos would have been about a dozen in the list of memorable songs. However, the presence of KL Saigal checks the imbalance somewhat. Saigal being the spectacular singer-actor of his times, he got to sing a good number of songs in his films, all of which achieved acclaim. This happened in the year 1945 too, his 7 songs from two films – Kurukshetra and Tadbeer – making it to the list of memorable songs. The music directors of these two films, Ganpat Rao and Lal Mohammad respectively, were not among the famous composers of the era; that just illustrates Saigal’s special place as a singer.

This year has become synonymous with Mukesh’s Dil jalta hai to jalne de. The song made Mukesh, Mukesh, and has spawned interesting stories how Anil Biswas was persuaded to try Mukesh for this song for the film Pahli Nazar.

There are a number of other singers whose songs are in the list of memorable songs, but unless you are deeply into vintage era songs you may not be able to recall them instantly.

As I go down the list of memorable songs in my overview post I find 16 songs divided among 8 singers:

KL Saigal             7
Mukesh                3
Hemant Kumar  1
GM Durrani        1
Rafi                       1
Jagmohan           1
Talat Mahmood 1
Asit Baran          1
Total                16 (8 singers)

Since 16 is not a large number let me list them. These are not in the order of preference, but in the alphabetical order of films in which these songs figured.

1. Laga us se lau tu madadgar hai wo – Hemant Kumar, film Banphool, lyrics Narendra Nath Tuli, music Dhiren Mitra
2. Falak ke chaand ka humne jawab dekh liya – GM Durrani, film Ek Din Ka Sultan, lyrics Wali Saheb, music Shanti Kumar
3. Ae dil-e-naakam ab jeene ki tamanna chhod de – Rafi, film Hamara Sansaar, lyrics Ramesh Gupta, music Govind Ram
4. Kidhar hai tu ae meri tamanna – KL Saigal, film Kurukshetra, lyrics Jameel, Mazahari, music Ganapat Rao
5. Ayi hai tu to kaise apna dil dikhaaun main– KL Saigal, film Kurukshetra
6. Mohabbat ke gul haye tar goonthata hun – KL Saigal, film Kurukshetra
7. O Varsha ke pahle baadal mera sandesha le jana – Jagmohan, film Meghdoot, lyrics Faiyaz Hashmi, music Kamal Dasgupta
8. Mana ki tum haseen ho ahal-e-shabab ho – Mukesh, film Moorti, lyrics Pt. Indra, music Bulo C Rani
9. Tay kar ke badi door purpench nagariya – Mukesh, film Pahli Nazar, lyrics Dr Safdar ‘Aah’, music Anil Biswas
10. Dil jalta hai jalne de – Mukesh, film Pahli Nazar
11. Jaago musafir, jaago, kholo kholo man ke dwar – Talat Mahmood, film Raj Laxmi, lyrics Suresh Chaudhary, music Robin Chatterjee and Dhiren Mitra
12. Janam janam ka dukhiya prani – KL Saigal, film Tadbeer, lyrics Swami Ramanand, music Lal Mohammad
13. Main panchhi aazad mera kahin door thikana re – KL Saigal, film Tadbeer
14. Hasratein khamosh hain – KL Saigal, film Tadbeer
15. Main kismat ka mara bhagwan – KL Saigal, film Tadbeer
16. Kaahe man bechain sajni – Asit Baran, film Waseeyatnama

Special Songs

1. Hare Muraare Madhu Kaitabh haare by KC Dey from Devdasi (1945), lyrics Jaidev/ Narottan Vyas (?), music KC Dey

I had not included any song from the film Devdasi in the master list; I must have skipped it because the songs did not ring a bell, lazily thinking that it was unlikely that I would be unaware of any good KC Dey song. I decided to check it out while writing this post and what a goldmine I discovered! Its duet version sung by Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt seven years later in Anand Math (1952), mentioned by N Venkataraman in his centenary tribute to Hemant Kumar, was fresh in mind. KC Dey is as good as ever. The song in Anand Math takes a few stanzas of Jaiydev’s Dashavatar Stotram which, as is evident from its name, is a salutation to Lord Vishnu’s ten avatars. A nice explanation and translation of Dashavatar Stotram is here. KC Dey’s starts with identical lines, but does not follow the Dashavatar Stotram, it essentially becomes chanting of various names of Keshav.

2. Hari ke naam bina re, Radha naam bina re by KC Dey from Devdasi (1945), lyrics Narottam Vyas, music KC Dey

The film had another devotional song, describing the futility of a man’s life without the name of the Lord. KC Dey’s loss of vision gave a unique poignancy to his singing. In such songs he seemed to be reaching out to the divine.

3. Ayi hai tu to kaise dil apna dikhaaun main by KL Saigal from Kurukshetra (1945), lyrics Jameel Mazahari, music Pt. Ganapat Rao

Some KL Saigal songs are being discovered in the Internet era, and they are invariably outstanding gems. This is one such song which I had not heard in the radio era. The tune bears uncanny similarity to Jeene ka dhang sikhaye ja, which being the later song must have been inspired from Ayi hai tu,

4. Jaago musafir jaago kholo man ka dwar by Talat Mahmood from Raj Laxmi, lyrics Suresh Chaudhary, music Robin Chatterjee and Dhiren Mitra

What is so special about this song? There is often misconception about Talat Mahmood’s first Hindi film song. I have seen many programmes on him mention Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal from Arzoo (1950) by Anil Biswas as his first Hindi film song. As we know by now, this is not even his first song in Bombay, he had sung some songs in 1949 too. He had started his singing career in Calcutta, and his first Hindi film song was Jaago musafir jaago in Raj Laxmi, produced by MP Productions, Calcutta.

5. Haseenon se haseenon ko mohabbat ho hi jati hai by Mukesh from Moorti, lyrics Pt. Indra, music Bulo C Rani

Mukesh had debuted as an actor-singer with the song Dil hi bujha hua hai to from Nirdosh (1941), but his next few years were years of struggle for recognition. He switched to playback singing with the film Us Paar (1944) with a duet with Kusum, Zara bolo kya logi is dil ka kiraya, but that too went unnoticed. He created a big bang with songs in the film Pahli Nazar and Moorti in 1945. He had a song in the film Prabhu Ka Ghar (a duet with Mohantara Talpade), too, in the year. I had included memorable songs from all the three films in my Overview post. But Mahesh mentioned this great song from Moorti I missed to include, sung again in KL Saigal style.

Best Songs

With just 16 songs to choose from, with some songs shining bright till today, the choice of the best ten does not present any major difficulty. The only interesting point was how much the strong presence of KL Saigal would weigh with the music lovers. Arunkumar Deshmukh has always been upfront and unambiguous in his choices. His choice for the best song is Dil jalta hai to jalne de. Anup bats for the same song, but he also mentions that O Varsha ke pahle badal is a great song, but he can’t select Jagmohan as the best singer of the year. Canasya is for O Varsha ke pahle baadal. Neeruahaf chose some very unconventional songs for the year 1946, but her choice this time is Dil jalta hai jalne de. This is a narrow base, but no one can doubt the iconic place of Dil jalta hai to jalne de in the history of film music.

Jagmohan’s O varsha ke pahle baadal is a great song. He was a towering personality in the field of non-film songs, his film songs are comparatively few. But this song ranks with the best of his NFS.

KL Saigal’s at least four songs out of seven are played on the radio and hummed by music lovers till today.

Hemant Kumar’s singing career in Hindi films started in 1942 with Meenakshi. His early songs did not achieve much popularity, but Laga us se lau from 1945 has all the charm of his voice. I heard it for the first time in the Internet era, but it deserves to be in the best ten list.

That makes seven, the remaining three we can pick by their melody and recall value. Thus here is the final list of the best ten male solos of the year 1945.

1. Dil jalta hai to jalne de aansoo na baha fariyad na kar by Mukesh from Pahli Nazar (1945), lyrics Dr Safdar ‘Aah’, music Anil Biswas.

Not many songs have stories behind them. With this song Mukesh burst on the scene as a major playback singer. I leave it to the readers to fill up all the trivia about how the song happened. Here is an eternal song at the well-deserved no. 1 spot.

2. Kidhar hai tu ae meri tamanna by KL Saigal from Kurukshetra (1945), lyrics Jameel Mazhari, music Pt Ganpat Rao

This is vintage Saigal with nothing missing. Saigal’s voice had god-gifted poignancy which was so suitable for melancholic songs.

3. O varsha ke pahle baadal mera sandesa leta ja by Jagmohan from Meghdoot (1945), lyrics Faiyaz Hasjmi, music Kamal Dasgupta

We can reel off many non-film songs of Jagmohan, but among his infrequent film songs O Varsha ke pahle baadal is the tallest. This is an adaptation from Kalidas’s Cloud-messanger.

4. Mohabbat ke gul haye tar goonthata hun by KL Saigal from Kurukshetra (1945), lyrics Jameel Mazhari, music Pt Ganpat Rao

Saigal was the original Ghazal King. His ghazal singing created a style which became a template for every singer of the era. This is a song by a disenchanted soul, who laughs involuntarily at his condition. I remember Saigal has interspersed such sad giggle in some other sonsg.

5. Laga us se lau tu madadgaar hai wo by Hemant Kumar from Banphool (1945), lyrics Narendra Nath Tuli, music Dhiren Mitra

Hemant Kumar got major recognition for the first time with the duet in Saza (1951), Aa gupchup gupchup pyar karein, composed by SD Burman. Ye raat ye chandni phir kahan from Jaal (1952), also composed by SD Burman, established him as one of the most melodious singers. His early songs after his debut in Meenakshi (1942) didn’t get much notice. But Laga us se lau tu madadgaar hai wo is a supremely melodious song. This song figures in N Venkataraman’s guest article paying a tribute to Hemant Kumar on his centenary. This song is in the style of non-film songs that were quite popular in the mid-40s onwards. Hemant Kumar himself has sung a number of outstanding NFS.

6. Main kismet ka mara bhagwan by KL Saigal from Tadbeer (1945), lyrics Swami Ramanand, music Lal Mohammad

Vintage KL Saigal again. There is no fan of Saigal who Is not aware of this song.

7. Ae dil-e-naakam ab jeene ki tamanna chhod de by Rafi from Hamara Sansar (1945), lyrics Ramesh Gupta, music Pt. Govind Ram

Rafi debuted in Hindi films three years later than Mukesh, and he took about that many years to catch up to get his first superhit song, to finally emerge as the undisputed numero uno among male playback singers, relegating others to the position of being ‘niche’ singers. The year 1945 belonged to Mukesh, but this solo by Rafi is very good and has all the qualities of voice modulation which set him finally to the top.

8. Janam janam ka dukhiya prani by KL Saigal from Tadbeer (1945), lyrics Pt Indra, music Lal Mohammad

I don’t need to say anything for this song. Deserves to be in the best ten. Another devotional song by KL Saigal. He is as good as in his ghazals.

9. Falak ke chaand ka humne jawab dekh liya by GM Durrani from Ek Din Ka Sultan (1945), lyrics Wali Saheb, music Shanti Kumar

GM Durrani shone bright in pre-Rafi era. He was idolised by Rafi, but how tables turn! A time came when he had to lip-synch Rafi’s Unke khayal aye to aate chale gaye, as one of the saazinds, in the film Lal Patthar (1971). Falak ke chaand ka is one of the nice songs from Durrani’s heydays.

10. Mana ki tum haseen ho ahal-e-shabab ho by Mukesh from Moorti (1945), lyrics Pt Indra, music Bulo C Rani

This ghazal in recital style is very good. You can feel the uniqueness of Mukesh’s voice, but at different stages in the song, he seemed to be making sub-conscious efforts to mimic KL Saigal style.

In conclusion,

The Award for the Best Male Playback Singer goes to Mukesh for the song Dil jalta hai to jalne de.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
The song videos have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over these songs which vests in the respective owners, such as Saregama India Limited and others.