Madan Mohan was ‘pharaoh’ of melodies-gave Indian cinema memorable songs
Madan Mohan was ‘pharaoh’
of melodies-gave Indian cinema memorable songs
Remembering the ‘pharaoh’ of melodies Madan Mohan on the occasion of his birth centenary
25 June. He was one of India’s most exceptional music composer.
He was one music composer who collaborated with great talents like Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi to create incredible melodies in Hindi cinema
Who can forget his most memorable song “Lag jaa gale” is one of India’s most popular songs. One video of the song has around 30 crore views. There are several other versions, including the cover versions, some enjoyable and some not quite.
Lag jaa gale is one of those supreme works of art. It has incredible lyrics (by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan), rendered by the mindblowing singing sensation Lata Mangeshkar and it is well shot too by director Raj Khosla on Sadhana and Manoj Kumar for the film Woh Kaun Thi.
He is one of India’s greatest composers of all time, sadly, he isn’t among the most successful ones as he didn’t get his due in his lifetime.
However, he was respected by his contemporaries. Naushad, who achieved more success as a composer in popular films, once went to Madan Mohan’s home, moved by the Lata song Hai isi mein pyar ki aabroo. He told him he could give away all his songs for that one composition by Madan Mohan. That song, however, wasn’t the most popular one from the film Anpadh. It was Aap ki nazron ne samjha.
Madan Mohan’s magical tunes are unforgettable
Only a few composers have admired by fans and musicians as much as Madan Mohan. He wasn’t the most versatile of composers like S.D. Burman, his son R.D. Burman, and Shankar-Jaikishan, but he stood his own in his inimitable style of tuning.
He created an incredible number of sweet melodies – mostly in the voice of Lata – in the ghazal or semi-classical mold. In that space, he had no peer.
The film that featured the song, Jahan Ara, had a few other brilliant compositions, like Jab jab tumhe bhulaya, for which Lata joined hands with her sister Asha Bhosle, and Baad muddat ke yeh ghadi aayi, which didn’t feature Lata but Suman Kalyanpur and Mohammed Rafi, and Phirwohi shaam rendered by Talat Mahmood. That says a lot about the genius of Madan Mohan.
Madan Mohan was fortunate that he had an all-time singing great like Lata was his muse in her prime. It was the good fortune of Hindi film music that two immensely gifted individuals came together to bring out a large volume of stunning melodies, such as Nagme o sher ki, Naino mein badra, Teri aankhon ke siva, Woh bhooli dastan, Naina barse, Zara si aahat, Tu jahan jahan chalega, Jo hum ne dastaan and Agar mujh se mohabbat hai.
All said best of Madan Mohan song “Dil dhoondta hai” it wasn’t rendered by Lata Mangeshkar
but, by Bhupinder Singh and penned by Gulzar for Aandhi.
The lines are poetry, and Bhupinder’s voice and expressions do full justice to them.
News Edit K.V.Raman
