Hey bloggers, how has it been all the while I did a Mr. India and disappeared from this space. I guess, blogging is passe now, with every one worth his keypad chirping away on twitter. Frankly, I never really took to this social medium. The space is too short to incorporate my verbose thoughts. Yes, I fell for the initial euphoria of cine-stars’ daily updates, but I soon figured out they are not really there to interact and make friends with us aam-janta, unless of course, there is a forthcoming release, when the charm is more than conspicuously visible. So twitter fell from my grace pretty soon.

Life has been so boringly routine that I really struggle to find something decent to put up here. Plus, my office shifted to far away South Bombay (though it beats me why they still call it ‘town’, and Bandra upwards ‘suburbs’), so I am these days spending quality time with my SX4.

Kerala

I paid two quick visits to Kerala, with the second one turning out to be mildly exciting. I reached Kochi airport past the counter closing time. A dour looking airline official rudely refused to take me and another late-comer in. It’s not a big airport, and it’s not too crowded either, and I still feel had he wished he could have bended a bit. The flight hadn’t even been fully boarded.

More than his refusal, I found his demeanor and way of speaking very arrogant, rude and definitely not customer friendly. You can’t summarily tell a customer to take the next day’s flight, especially when I cried out that I was on a day trip & wasn’t even carrying a change of clothes. Marie Antoinette and her infamous remarks on ‘if not bread let them have cakes’ from French history flashed across my mind.

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Eighty years back Goddess Saraswati chose to bless mankind, She incarnated & gave it the most beautiful Voice ever heard. Lata Mangeshkar, born this day in 1929, turns 80 today. On this auspicious day, coinciding with Vijay Dashmi (Dashera) this year, I bow before her and once more pay my gratitude for the innumerable pleasurable moments she has imparted with her mellifluous voice and melodious songs.

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Yesterday, poet, director & writer Gulzar celebrated is 73rd birthday. Thanks to his recent successes, he is one name who is still pretty reknowned amongst the young generation. These days, his Kaminey‘s Dhan Te Nan is quite popular. And earlier this year, he co-won the prestigious Oscar for Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire)

Due to this, every radio channel worth its airwaves played his songs on their daily ‘oldie goldie’ programmes. By ten pm, I was furiously switching between four channels, simultaneously sms’ing to two friends the favorite songs (multi-tasking, eh!).

Well, as the frenzy endied, I thought I had to list out a few of his songs that the Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar has graced with her mellifluous voice; after all, both have immense mutual respect for each other. She has sung in most of his films. And he has directed her home production (Lekin). The association started right from Bandini, when a young Gulzar wrote a lovely lyric about a love-lorn woman, based on refrains from Radha-Krishna lovetale. Mora gora ang lai le continues to enthrall listeners, old and new; S D Burman’s frugal but fruitful music enchants.

(As always, this is a random list – not in any particular order, and since Mora gora ang lai le has been mentioned above, and deserves to be before any list, it is not mentioned below).

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For those readers who loved and adored Dil To Pagal Hai‘s music (and I am one staunch fan), here is a superb treat in store for you:

Yashraj Music recently released a collection of love duets which includes one hitherto unreleased song. Though, on the jacket sleeve, they do not mention the film for which it was recorded, but one hear, and you know it for sure. The DTPH theme is there in the second interlude, and the tune of ‘Arre re arre’ in the second one.

The mukhda goes:

Kitni hai beqaraar yeh, chanda ki chandni
Kahti hai kar lo pyaar yeh, chanda ki chandni

(Singers – Lata Mangeshkar, Kumar Sanu; Music – Uttam Singh)

A close hear reveals the song to be the original for ‘Chaand ne kuchh kaha…pyaar kar’ (the track that comes on Valentine’s night, amidst bright red balloons). In fact, structurally both songs are similar, down to the interlude movements. Though, honestly, I was a bit surprised to find Kumar Sanu since all other songs of the film were rendered by Udit Narayan.

It is a delight to hear Lata Mangeshkar’s breezy rendition. She is splendid in the breezy track, that has some riveting beats and orchestration. In fact, it is an unparalleled happiness to obtain a fresh song from the diva. My excitement was so supreme that my hands trembled as I put on the CD.

This compilation is titled – ‘ Tum Paas Aa Rahe Ho ‘ (picked up from the ‘bonus’ song of Veer Zaara, which opens this CD) & contains 14 love songs. For more details on the album click here.

For the song’s television promo click here.

Now, if only other producers/music companies would loosen up all those unreleased Lata Mangeshkar numbers…starting, of course, with JP Dutta and his two recorded songs of the now-shelved Sarhad.

It is the second consecutive year when, on this auspicious day, I am in a new town, without a consistent source of internet to type out a full-fledged message. But the solace is that I am breathing the same air, in the same city, as where the Queen of Melody resides.

It’s amazing how another year has gone by. And yet, in this added year, my love for that perfect voice hasn’t diminished one bit. Only, as I am away from music, the love has grown fonder, and deeper. I miss listening to Lata (Mangeshkar)Didi’s songs, and hope to be re-united with them soon, once my luggage arrives from Delhi. Still, whenever and wherever I can snatch those precious moments, I do try to listen to her. One such instance was when I travelled to Nashik, I put on my own CD in my colleague’s car, and listened to a bunch of marvellous Lata Mangeshkar-Madan Mohan combine songs.

Here’s wishing Lata Didi a very happy, peaceful, wonderful and melodious birthday, and praying to Almighty for her long life and health.

Happy Birthday, Lataji!

Latadi has sung for a wide spectrum of heroines over several decades now – for some she sang in the first film itself. Others were not as lucky. In fact, many names that later became synonymous with Lataji’s voice didnt have her singing for them – for example, Rekha (Saawan Bhadon) and Jaya Bhaduri (though she got Lata’s voice in a back-door way, since she lipsync-ed Madhumati’s song Aaja re pardesi in Guddi). Even from the older lot – like Asha Parekh and Sharmila Tagore – didnt have Latadi singing for their adult/Hindi debuts!

Here is a brief list on some debuts which I recall (in no specific order) – these are mostly post-seventies as my film knowledge is a bit stronger from that era onwards.

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Today morning, I heard Yaara seeli seeli*** for the umpteenth time – a very satisfying and fulfilling number. As the song ended with its impossibly high and collosally breathtaking crescendo, I switched off the player – seeping in the reverberations of the voice that had once again shaken, stirred and stimulated the core of my soul; a thought struck my mind that I hadn’t done any post on Lata Mangeshkarji for a long long time now.

So here is one, a mosaic of memories from my lifetime. I am afraid the post has gone longer than intended, but I didnt have the heart to cut it out, or post it in parts.

For me, discovering songs sung by Latadidi (Lata Mangeshkar) is a passionate quest for a lifetime; and often, the results have been more often than not extremely satisfying.

As I wrote earlier, my love for Lata Mangeshkar’s voice began when I was too young to understand the feeling of love or being enthralled. I was too little to comprehend as to why I was selectively recording her songs when my dad got me a mini-diktaphone. I was too kiddish to grasp as to why my heart beat stopped when I heard her voice soar in the impossibly high-pitched Jahan pe sawera ho**! (Today, I heard the song again and I am convinced they must have invented laser beam hearing her unwavering-hitting-the-soul voice!)

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Aah, it’s that auspicious day again – the day Goddess Saraswati blessed the eldest daughter of Master Dinanath Mangeshkar with a voice so sweet that it defies the shackles of vocabulary and language.

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Aajao ke sab milke rab se dua maange
Jeevan mein sukoon chaahen
Chaahat mein wafaa maangein
Haalaat badalne mein ab der na ho maalik
Jo dekh chuke phir andher na ho maalik

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Today is Madan Mohan’s Birth Anniversary. Any superlative falls short of capturing even an iota of the genius music maker that he was. His tunes have survived the onslaught of time, in more ways than one. While his recorded songs continue to regale music lovers, even his unused tunes held a life of their own. Perhaps he is the only music composer whose even leftover tunes were re-constructed in a film made thirty years after his demise.

With Lata Mangeshkar he held a special bond, which resulted in those innumerable solos without which the singer’s ouvre would have been woefully empty. And Latadi reciprocated to her ‘Madan Bhaiyaa’ in providing that superior quality of sweetness which is entirely impossible to describe. Each song is complete in itself, away from the films they were embedded in (which were largely box office duds) and not dependant on the artiste’s charisma (which were wooden heroines like Priya Rajvansh in many cases). Madan Mohan’s music truly embodies what Hindi film music should sound like – fit into the story, yet retain its individuality to stand out of it. Perhaps that is why, in his case no one bothers to find out about the film or the heroine!

While Madan Mohan was known more for his ghazals, earning him the sobriquet of ‘King of Ghazals’, yet he has a vast array of other genre numbers as well, some which I highlighted in an earlier post.

Time and again I tried to list out MM-Lata Mangeshkar combine songs, but every time I failed and the post remained incomplete – that’s because it is very tough for me to select just a handful, and remove the others.

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Today is World Music Day – and I cannot let this day pass without saying a prayer and thanks to the musical legend who has been one solid constant in my life; one who epitomises music; one who has inspired generations – LATA MANGESHKARji, aap ko shat shat pranaam. You are the beginning and end of music!

On this day I also remember and bow before other legends who have colored my life with their golden voices: Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey. My thanks to Asha Bhonsle for her songs, and also praise to some contemporary voices like Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Shreya and Sonu Nigam.

A day dedicated to music cannot be completed without a mention of three of my most favorite composers – Madan Mohan and Shankar-Jaikishan.

However, there are many others whose contributions have had significant impact on me viz. Naushad, Anil Biswas, Husnlal Bhagatram, SD Burman, C. Ramachandra, Chitragupt, Sardar Mallik, Kalyanji-Anandji, RD Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Bappi Lahiri. My sincere thanks to many contemporary music composers as well , listing them out will not be possible here.

Words add beauty to music. Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Rajendra Kishan, Raja Mehndi Ali Khan, Shakeel Badayuni, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Anand Bakshi, Javed Akhtar and Gulzar and to many others I have missed out to mention – thanks for your invaluable words which have touched my heart and soul.

Listing out every artiste of each music field is impossible. But everyone’s contribution is always important, and somewhere it does make an impact.

Lastly, my reverance to Goddess Saraswati, who gave this priceless gift to mankind called music!

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Where do I begin? Where do I end? She is part of my continuum; a companion of my life; a portion of my soul. She is like the gushing blood in my veins; the air that breathes through my lungs; the beats that thunder in my heart. She sat with me in that school bus on a frosty Greek winter morning, even though I did not recognize her. She walked with me on this potted pavement on a hot Delhi summer afternoon. There, on that rusty bench at the park corner, where I sulked, she soothed my frayed nerves. Here, I was lonely and feeling bored, she came and entertained me. That day, when I joked with friends, she naughtily teased me. This hour, when I saw my first crush, she whispered hauntingly.

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Here I pick up another beautiful number (sung by Lata Mangeshkar) that could not survive the tides of time, but nevertheless, is a delight to listen to.

First the lyrics:

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I must have been around 12 or so when the writing bug got permanently installed within the grey matters of my brain ( more on that some other time). And ever since the day I started to write, my ambition has been to write on Lata Mangeshkar. But whenever I have started to do so, words have terribly failed me ( how do you describe this great voice- its like saying describe the heat of the sun, can anyone do that?) , and I have been compelled to stop, and pick up some other topic.
I did write a few “Letters to the Editor” in Filmfare defending Lata Mangeshkar (if there was any adverse comment on her, and criticising a female called Anuradha Paudwal who thought she could oust Lataji) but never a full fledged article or essay on her. But today, having started this Blog, and having forced open a new avenue of writing, I return to my favorite, and respected, topic. I am still not convinced if I can write even half as comprehensively as what my mind wants me to write, but I will definitely give it a try.

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