Lata’s timeless melodies
AS I was lazing around at my place on my day off, my son informed me that Lata Mangeshkar had passed away. To someone like me who has grown up listening to Hindi film songs, I didn’t know how to react. Lata has been an integral part of my journey of 51 years. It has given me immense joy to just listen to her songs.
One after the other, so many songs of hers came to mind. Just listening to ‘Phaili hui hai sapno ki rahen’ from Dev Anand-starrer House No 44 transports me to another world. ‘Gujra hua zamana aata nahin dubara’ from Shirin Farhad, a favourite of my mother who didn’t have much to do with film music, leaves a lump in my throat to this day.
Which music lover hasn’t heard and appreciated ‘Lag ja gale se phir yeh haseen raat ho na ho’ composed by Madan Mohan, that prince of ghazals she was close to?
‘Yeh dil aur unki nighahon ke saye’ from the lesser-known Prem Parbat, a film whose prints are no more available, attests to composer Jaidev’s genius. Jaan Nisar Akhtar’s lyrics and Lata’s voice take the song to another level.
And then there is ‘Kuchh dil ne kaha kuch bhi nahin’, that ethereal Anupama number set to tune by singer-composer Hemant Kumar. Every time I hit YouTube to listen to the song picturised on Sharmila Tagore and Dharmendra I am amply rewarded.
Whenever I listen to ‘Na jaane kyon hota hai yun zindagi ke saath’ from Basu Chatterjee’s Chhoti Si Baat on the radio, I just forget everything and am spellbound by Yogesh’s lyrics rendered so beautifully by the melody queen under Salil Chowdhury’s baton.
One song that never fails to give me goosebumps is ‘Baharo mera jeevan bhi sanwaron’ from Chetan Anand’s Aakhri Khat, one of the earliest films of Rajesh Khanna.
As a matter of principle, Lata never sang risqué or lustful songs, but on producer-director Kamaal Amrohi’s insistence made an exception with ‘Jalta hai badan’ for period drama Razia Sultan. And what a composition it turned out to be by that master composer Khayyam!
‘Chithiye ni’, a Henna number set to tune by Ravindra Jain that film-maker Raj Kapoor had recorded before his death, always moves me to tears.
And today, as Lata Mangeshkar is no more with us, Roshan’s haunting melody from Mamata becomes all the more poignant. ‘Rahen na rahen hum, mehka karenge ban ke kali, ban ke saba, bag-e-wafa mein.’
