Guest article by Hans Jakhar on Rajendra Krishna’s combination with Madan Mohan
(Hans Jakhar is among the regular readers of SOY who believe that the lyricists deserve greater recognition than what is generally given to them. It is true that even the serious followers of old film music give prominence to the singer and the music director of a song, almost to the point of lack of any recognition to the lyricist. I myself belong to this camp, resulting in a conspicuous gap in the coverage of lyricists on this blog. Hans Jakhar has offered to fill up this gap. He wrote a nice article on Shakeel Badayuni’s combo with Ravi about two years ago. Recently, he decided to write a series of articles on Rajendra Krishna’s combination with some of his principal music directors. The first article in the series was on his combination with C Ramchandra. This second article in the series is on Rajendra Krishna’s most popular and lasting combination with the music director Madan Mohan.
Readers familiar with Hans Jakhar’s style know that he is very meticulous in his data and presentation of facts. Besides, his love for the lyrics flows out of his articles. This is another treat for those looking for substantive articles on the lyricists. Thanks a lot Hans for your efforts. – AK)
This is the second post in the series on Rajendra Krishna. This was already scheduled to be the second in the series, being the most important and long lasting pair Rajendra Krishna made with a composer. This came second in the series because C Ramchandra (CR)-Rajendra Krishna combo had become enormously famous before this one. Avinash Kumar and Mahesh pointed this out and I immediately agreed. The fact that Rajendra Krishna wrote lyrics for 36 of Madan Mohan’s films and 268 songs out of his total output of 614 (name of the lyricist of two songs from film Beti (1957) is not known, so I am not counting them) is hardly the only recommending feature of their enduring relationship which went on for 25 years.
It is well known to SOY followers that Madan Mohan is one of the most elaborately covered composers on this blog. There are 11 posts on him – in different categories – including three by guest authors (two by DP Rangan and one by Madan Mohan’s daughter Sangeeta Gupta). After removing overlaps – which are quite a good number – a total of 98 songs were posted in the main articles. Out of these 98, sixty-four were written by Rajendra Krishna. This statistic shows that while in total number of songs Rajendra Krishna had less than 44 per cent share, his share is more than 65 per cent in selection of these three stalwarts.
Now let me have a look at various lyricists used by Madan Mohan. He used in all 33 lyricists, of which prominent ones besides Rajendra Krishna were, Kaifi Azmi (14 films 68 songs), Raja Mehdi Ali Khan (11 films 64 songs) and Majrooh Sultanpuri (8 films and 49 songs). He also used Sahir Ludhiyanavi in 3 films for 23 songs, Hasrat Jaipuri in 4 films for 18 songs, Kaif Irfani 4 for 17, Indeevar 6 for 15 and Qamar Jalalabadi 2 for 12. The remaining 24 accounted for only 80 of his songs, none of them managing double figures.
Similar to these figures for lyricists, his pattern of use is also very interesting. Raja Mehdi Ali Khan (RMAK) has been covered by DP Rangan and he produced some of Madan Mohan’s most remembered songs in a particular period in the 60s. Madan Mohan used him as the lyricist in his first three films up to 1951(14 songs), but he actually forgot that there was a person by that name for more than a decade and remembered him 11 years later in Anpadh, but then onwards the association was regular till RMAK’s death. Madan Mohan came together with Kaifi Azmi in 1964 with Haqeeqat and continued with him in the later half quite regularly, with a result he surpassed every other lyricist in number of songs except Rajendra Krishna. Majrooh Sultanpuri came to MM fold with Baaghi (1970) and continued irregularly till Dastak (1970). Sahir Ludhiyanavi was used just thrice in each decade, Railway Platform (1955), Ghazal (1964) and Laila Majnu (1976).
With so much volume with Rajendra Krishna, one would think their combo had some smooth pattern, but that is not so. In the first two years 1952 and 53 they had two films together out of seven. Then in the next 9 years from 1954 to 62 it was Rajendra Krishna all over the place getting 25 films out of 36. In the next six years from 1963 to 68, due to the dent made by RMAK and Kaifi Azmi, he did only 7 films out of 23. Next five years were worse in which Rajendra Krishna did not get a single film out of 14. Then again Rajendra Krishna returned with Chowkidar (1974) and Sahib Bahadur (1977).
In his comment on CR-Rajendra Krishna combo, Mahesh commented that the songs of MM-Rajendra Krishna are better known. While agreeing with him I had given some facts. I would like to elaborate further on that. I think most of the experts agree that remembrance of songs continues decreasing with time. So we find songs of 30s are remembered less than those of 40s and so on. Besides this, there is another aspect relevant in the comparison between CR and MM, and that is availability of Radio. Availability of the Radio facility was becoming progressively better and better as 60s wore on. If we look at figures, MM composed about 300 songs 1961 onwards, while CR’s output was a little more than a hundred in that period. A practical example is Jahan Ara (1964), which is said to have run for only four days in cinema halls, but its songs are still fresh in the minds of music lovers thanks to the Radio Era. So while comparing between MDs, we should keep in mind such facts.
Now I look at another aspect which contributed a lot to the success of this combo and that was the use of singers. Details are available for 265 of the songs. Out of these, 190 were solos (128 female/62male) and 75 duets. On the female side 118 solos were shared between Lata Mangeshkar (70) and Asha Bhosle (48), while the remaining 10 were shared by 5 singers – Geeta Dutt (6) and one each by Shamshad Begum, Sudha Malhotra, Kamal Barot and Usha Khanna. On the male side, Rafi got the lion’s share with 32 and the remaining 30 were shared between Kishore Kumar (10), Talat Mahmood (9), Manna Dey (5), Mahendra Kapoor (3), Mukesh (2) and Hemant Kumar (1). On the duets side barring 8, other songs had either of the 3 main singers for MM: Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.
Now let us discuss what this combo produced. Aashiana (1952) was their first film with 9 songs. The impact the music of this film had can be gauged by the fact that 5 songs have already been part of various posts and I am going to include one. This will still leave out ‘Mere piya se koi ja ke kah de, jeevan ka sahara teri yaad re’. The three years of 1956 to 58, produced a flurry of prominent films Bhai Bhai, Fifty Fifty, Mem Sahab and Pocketmaar (1956), Dekh Kabira Roya, Gateway of India (1957) and Adaalat, Jailor and Khota Paisa (1958) and the combo was on a roll, producing song after song of a very high quality.
I would be discussing Rajendra Krishna’s poetic excellence during this series. Here I give one or two of his traits before I proceed with the songs selected. AK listed the song ‘Tum chand ke sath chale aao ye raat suhani ho jaye‘ at number three in his MM-Lata Mangeshkar post. This is such a beautiful song, set in ghazal format, which did not get its due (except at SOY). Look at the first antara.
खामोश किनारे सोये हैं, चुपचाप हैं नदिया की लहरें,
इठलाते हुए तुम आ जाओ, लहरों में रवानी आ जाये
Compare this with these lines from the second antara of the song ‘Jab din haseen, dil ho jawan, kyun na manayen picnic‘ – Adaalat.
पानी का शोर, लहरों का जोर, आ तोड़ दें
तूफ़ान में नाव, मिलजुल के आओ, सब छोड़ दें
In the first case the imagery of nadiya, kinare, lahrein shows also the state in which her emotions are and she wants him to change all that. Use of ‘ithlate huye‘ indicates the calm entry. Calm entry needed to end the calmness. And in the second case meet fire of the ‘lehron ka jor‘ with your own fire of combined action. Just unbelievable poetry. I have noticed so many nice turns and twists used by Rajendra Krishna in his songs. Those composers who used him were lucky, I would say.
Be it the three ghazals of Adaalat or the three back to back songs of Dekh Kabira Roya (1957) or the double dhamaka of ‘Na hanso humpe‘ and ‘Sapne men sajan se‘ of Gateway of India (1957) or ‘Kadar jaane na‘ from Bhai Bhai (1956) or ‘Hum pyar men jalne waalon ko’ from Jailor (1958), all contributed to the forming of the MM-Lata Mangeshkar legend we know. But, has the name of Rajendra Krishna been taken in the same breath for the great lyrics he contributed which formed the basis of the legend. For a ghazal to be great the first ingredient is great lyrics. But, I don’t know why only MM and Lata Mangeshkar were mentioned. I can give about a dozen examples from the songs I just mentioned, but, I would give here just one stunning couplet.
मुरझा चुका है फिर भी ये दिल फूल ही तो है
अब आपकी ख़ुशी इसे काँटों में तोलिये
The question is open to everyone.
Now I move on to selection of songs. I would leave alone all those which have already been posted though I would have liked to comment on the great lyrics of many of them. But, there are so many great songs that I have to work hard and look for non-existent reasons to eliminate songs from a long first list. As usual, I would go in chronological order.
1. Mera qaraar le ja mujhe beqaraar kar ja – Aashiana – 1952 – Lata Mangeshkar
This film has 9 songs and this is the 6th being posted at SOY. This is a twin song and while agreeing with AK that in most of such songs male version comes out better, I would like to say that I like the Lata Mangeshkar version better. Lyrics in this version fit better to the theme of the song. Here is the first antara. I have listened to many songs asking for miseries, but the words here are just exceptional.
मेरी ज़िन्दगी की रातें आ दर्द से बसा दे
दिल सोग से है खाली इक आग सी लगा दे
मेरी ख़ुशी का दामन आ तार तार कर जा
2. ABC ABC mere sapnon men chori chori aaya karo ji – Ilzaam – 1954 – Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar
In this fun song Rajendra Krishna takes us through the whole of English alphabet with fitting words for giving a light effect. He was a wordsmith of such songs, a number of which filled the CR booty. In the same year in the film Mastana with MM, he wrote ‘Tikki choki panji chhakki satti athi nahla, nache more angana men munna pehla pehla‘ with Rafi, Shamshad and Kishore being the singers.
3. Bhagwan jo tu hai mera insaf karega – Bhai Bhai – 1956 – Lata Mangesjkar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc-36w2Dlng
This was his first big hit film which could not complete the silver jubilee because of the differences between the producer and distributor. The biggest hit of the film was ‘Ae dil mujhe bata de‘ by Geeta Dutt, which has been included by all the three AK, DP Rangan and Sangeeta Guta in their posts. But, Lata had a number of good songs including the eternal ‘qadar jane na’. But, this one perfectly depicts the main theme of the story where Ashok Kumar deserts his wife Nirupa Roy in favour of the fraud Shyama.
4. Kab tak tu bhagwan se apna aap chhupayega – Fifty Fifty – 1956 – Rafi
The lyrics of this song are based on very common Hindu religious philosophy which were turned into a superb song by this combo. Though the whole song is great but here I am giving only the first antara.
जो सागर के अंदर सीपी बीच छुपाये मोती
देख रही है सब कुछ लोगो उस मालिक की ज्योति
जग का भेदी क्या बन्दे से धोखा खायेगा
MM used Rafi in a number of such songs and on minor characters for a long time. Mumbaikar8 has often commented that Rafi was not being used on lead actors by most of the MDs in the 50s. MM is known to be a pro-Rafi MD, but he also was in that category and I could never understand why.
5. Ishq ik zahar sahi phir bhi piye jata hoon – Mem Sahib – 1956 – Asha Bhosle
This film has some good and popular songs like ‘Dil dil se mila kar dekho’, ‘Kahta hai dil tum ho mere liye’. This film has another song ‘Chunni munni chuniya, O tunni munni tuniya‘ which is addressed to a puppy on birthday celebrations of a dog. I thought of including this also but the list was getting long, so I kept just this one. This song I discovered in internet era and immediately fell in love with. I give here the best sher of this ghazal.
जो किसी रोज़ मेरी मौत का बाइस होंगे
उन हसीनों की तमन्ना में जिए जाता हूँ
6. Ladi aankh se aankh muhabbat ho gayi – Pocketmaar – 1956 – Lata Mangeshkar, Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8REXpW3a4g8
This is another fun song resulting from a situation after Nadira slaps both Gope and Dev Anand. The street singers start the song and Gope and Dev Anand join the fun. The lyrics are great as always.
7. Humse aaya na gaya tumse bulaya na gaya – Dekh Kabira Roya – 1957 – Talat Mehmood
This film is a treasure trove of great songs. Our three stalwarts who wrote on MM, have already preyed on 5 of the 10. I was lucky this one was left for me because this is my favourite. Rajendra Krishna has cobbled up words in each antara of 4 lines like a master. Enjoy the song which is filmed on Anoop Kumar.
8. Ye raah badi mushkil hai anjaan abhi tera dil hai – Gateway of India – 1957 – Geeta Dutt
‘Sahra ki chamakti reti, paani ka hai dhokha deti,
Masoom nazar kya jane, ye sholon ki hai kheti,
Mat pyas bujha, dhokhe mein na aa, ye badi tedhi manzil hai’.
How craftily Rajendra Krishna used the desert mirage in his words of caution being given by the night club dancer. Anita Guha gave perfect emotions of a cabaret dancer in her guest role.
9. Na hanso humpe zamaane ke hain thukraye hue – Gateway of India – Lata Mangeshkar
These songs are so well known that it is futile to praise them. One of the great ghazals from the pen of Rajendra Krishna, which was instrumental in making the MM-Lata Mangeshkar legend. Each sher of the ghazal is like gold, but look at this one which is just out of this world.
‘Baat kal ki hai ke phoolon ko masal dete the,
Aaj kanton ko bhi seene se hain liptaaye hue.’
10. Hum pyar men jalne walon ko chain kahan – Jailor – 1958 – Lata Mangeshkar
This song falls in the category of the previous song. In radio days I have listened to this song countless number of times, this was so frequently played on radio. Just mesmerising.
11. Haseeno sambhalo apni ye duniya – Khota Paisa – 1958 – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKEeJXGk3b4
This is the song for eternity. Rajendra Krishna wrote so many songs for situations on Johny Walker and this is one of the best. Johny Walker (JW) is going on his short lived ‘sanyas’ and Rajendra Krishna has found the words ‘Chun chun ke‘ for the situation. This song is a viewers’ as well as listeners’ delight, because of the antics of JW.
12. Ho sakta hai kaanton se bhi phool ki khushboo aaye, duniya na mane – Dunya Na Maane – 1959 – Manna Dey
If one has not listened to this lesser known song and assumes that I included this song just for giving Manna Dey a representation here, she would change her opinion after listening to the song. Rajendra Krishna has summed up the general ‘tedhi chaal‘ of duniya or zamana in this song in perfect words, to say again ‘Chun chun ke’. ‘Chamke to tara maane or toote to angara‘ followed by ‘Ho sakta hai angara ik din shabnam ban jaye, duniya na maane’. This song has two versions. (I have retained the pure Manna Dey version above. Another version occurs at the credit titles. Interestingly, in this version, Mukesh sings the opening line in a recital style, before Manna Dey starts the song. – AK)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT3zmJ3PFO0
13. Aeji biwi ko ghar men bithla kar baahar tum kyun jaate ho – Minister – 1959 – Rafi, Asha Bhosle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTi-OUPNEDw
Again masterly treatment to the eternal husband wife nok jhonk by Rajendra Krishna. And beautifully played on screen by Bhagwan and Tuntun.
जनम से ही झगड़ालू है इस दुनिया की हर श्रीमती
क्यों न रहे कँवारे जी तुम काहे को फिर बने पति
पति बने तो श्रीमती से अब क्यों आँख चुराते हो
14. Adosan padosan kahe so kahe main to saiyan se naina milaye aayi re – Bahana – 1960– Shamshad Begum
This is the only solo from this combo for Shamshad Begum and what a song. Rajendra Krishna keeps close to the situation in every antara as always. This song reminds of the Rafi song ‘Koi bura kahe ya kahe bhala, main shadi karne chala’. (This reminds me of Amir Khusro’s ‘Main to piya se naina laga aayi re’, sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and sung by so many Qawwali singers. – AK)
15. Guzre hain is tarah se duniya mein din hamare – Bahana – Lata Mangeshkar
गुजरे हैं इस तरह से दुनिया में दिन हमारे
भीगे रहे हमेशा आँखों के दो किनारे
One of the most powerful mukhda for a sad song, followed by comparable lyrics, the great tune by MM and super rendition by Lata Mangeshkar make it a gem of a song. But, it still never got its due and remained lesser known. I think it was the problem of the plenty for MM-Lata Mangeshkar that even AK, who is a die-hard fan of her did not include in his list given in the MM-Lata Mangeshkar post.
16. Wo bhooli daastan lo phir yaad aa gayi – Sanjog – 1961 – Lata Mangeshkar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eck2SLGe2sc
Just the link and I will only say that whenever you listen to this gem again, consider the fact that these lines – full of poetry – were written by Rajendra Krishna. In addition to this song filmed on Anita Guha, there is another well-known song lip-synced by Pradeep Kumar, ‘Bhooli hui yaado’ already covered by both AK and DP Rangan. Although both songs are about memories, you can see how differently Rajendra Krishna treats them in lyrics.
17. Chanda ja re jaare ja, kahe aaya hai akela – Manmauji – 1962 – Lata Mangeshkar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aszK8lxG6o
There are at least 5 songs of this combo which contain the words ‘ja re ja re’ in various forms. I wonder if this was the favourite phrase of any one or both of them. This film had some very good and popular songs. My first choice would have been ‘Main to tum sang nain mila ke haar gayi sajna‘, but that has been covered by AK. This one is lip-synced by a ‘chandramukhi‘ and talks about her piya who is like ‘chaand‘. I dont know whose face Rajendra Krishna visualised when writing the following lines, because Kishore Kumar hardly falls in that category.
आ तुझको पहचान बता दूँ वो लगता है कैसा
नदिया में मुख देख ले अपना वो भी होगा वैसा
18. Kisi ki yaad men duniya ko hain bhulaye hue – Jahan Ara – 1964 – Rafi
About this film, there are various stories of the struggle MM had to go through to convince the producer to let him use Talat Mahmood. Die-hard Rafi fans too criticise him for neglecting Rafi. I will give here defence for MM, though I am also a die-hard Rafi fan. I have talked about MM not using Rafi on lead actors, but by 1964 he had started using Rafi on lead actors too. In 1964 eight MM films were released which had 22 male solos. Rafi sang 19 of them, the only exception being the three songs given to Talat Mahmood in this film. Using Talat, who was a ghazal specialist, in this film which was studded with such stuff was in my view a good decision. Variety was another reason for using him, seeing that in all other films of the year he was using Rafi. Still MM gave the great romantic ghazal to Rafi – on the same character – fully believing that Rafi would give an extraordinary treatment to a romantic ghazal.
19. Wo chup rahen to mere dil ke daag jalte hain – Jahan Ara – Lata Mangeshkar
This song is filmed on Minoo Mumtaz, who is trying to divert Bharat Bhushan from his love for Mala Sinha as Jahan Ara which was sure to fail. There was no equal to Rajendra Krishna in understanding the depth of the situation and translating that into the most apt words. I will give here only the second antara. For those who believe that all film songs were written on pre-set tunes, I would like to say that it is next to impossible to write such lyrics on a pre-set tune.
‘Ye khoi khoi nazar, kabhi to hogi idhar ya sada rahegi udhar,
Udhar to ek sulagta hua hai veerana,
Magar idhar to bahaaron men baag jalte hain.’
20. Banda parwar raat ke andhere men yun chori chori – Pooja Ke Phool – 1964 – Asha Bhosle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FquQ4BRuw7g
I like this naughty sole solo given to Asha Bhosle in the otherwise feast of Lata Mangeshkar solos, though she accompanied Rafi in duets due to the so called Lata Mangeshkar boycott of Rafi. Look at the naughty words of the first antara.
तार आया देखिये आपके ससुराल से
सास कुंवारी आपकी बैठी है सत्तर साल से
मिले अगर, कोई अच्छा वर, बेचारी का आबाद हो घर.
21. Mujhe le chalo aaj us gali men – Sharabi – 1964 – Rafi
This almost recital song is one of those great renditions by Rafi which made so many fans go absolutely crazy after him. But he could not have done it without the exceptionally woven words from the pen of Rajendra Krishna. And even for a master like MM, it was not an easy task to turn such long lyrics into a spell-binding tune, but he did it admirably.
22. Kismat jo pilaye humko wo zahar to peena hoga – Ladka Ladki – 1966 – Asha Bhosle
This film is available, but the video of the song is not available. Kishore Kumar has gone mad and his child widow sister Laxmi Chhaya and lover Mumtaz lip-sync the song turn by turn. Rajendra Krishna lyrics, accusing kismat for all things, fit perfectly.
23. Lo ek kali muskai – Ek Kali Muskai – 1968 – Rafi
This film had all things, good cast (except a new heroine), good songs and story not very different from so many successful films of the period, but this still flopped. This song is a romantic song, like the other hit ‘Zulf bikhrati chali aayi ho’, sung by Rafi and is a listening pleasure.
24. Na tum bewafa ho na hum bewafa hain – Ek Kali Muskai – 1968 – Lata Mangeshkar
This film had seven songs, all solos and all distributed among Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. As the mukhda suggests this is a sad song, as there is some snag in the love story of the hero and heroine. This is one the gems of those times and ruled the radio farmaishes.
25. Ye duniya nahin jageer kisi ki – Chowkidaar – 1974 – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NonA66HexU
Rajendra Krishna returned to the MM fold after 5 years and the result was this. One of the greatest philosophical songs ever. Every word chosen for fitting the situation as was Rajendra Krishna’s wont.
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
This post first appeared on Songs Of Yore - Old Hindi Film Songs, please read the originial post: here
