As I said in my last week's piece, all great Hindi songs are basically from Hindi films. Even if a film failed to click, its songs lived everlastingly for their appeal to the listeners. But then again, many films did good business, despite poor story and acting, only for having some memorable songs sung by singers per excellence. Great lyricists, great composers and great singers of the day had gotten together to create some beautiful songs that make us play them again and again even today. I shall mention the names of some films of the '40s, '50s and '60s that had some soul-stirring songs in them.
 

'Anmol Ghadi' is one such film made in 1946 that didn't have much to offer as far as the story, script and acting were concerned. It had Surendra, Suraiya, Noor Jehan, Zahur Raja and Leela Mishra in the lead roles. It was Noor Jehan who stole the show in the film. No, not for acting, but for giving her soul into some of the songs, composed by none other than the maestro Naushad Ali (simply known as Naushad). Naushad, so early in his career as a music composer and director, proved his class to the world. The songs were written by Tanvir Naqvi.
 

 “Aawaaz de kahaan hai…” is one number from the film, a duet, sung by Noor Jehan and Surendra Nath. Noor Jehan, for her part, makes the song hauntingly overpowering as she pours pathos and romance in the song in perfect measure. The song goes like this, “Aawaaz de kahaan hai, Duniyaa meri jawaan hai, Aabaad mere dil mein, Ummeed kaa jahaan hai

Duniyaa meri jawaan hai, Aawaaz de kahaan hai…”. Interestingly, when Noor Jehan came to Bombay some years ago, she did sing this song in a show organized in her honour, with Naushad directing the musical hands. It was amazing to see the two legends performing on the stage in the twilight hours of their life.  

Another lyrical romantic song from the same film is, “Jawaan hai muhabbat, Haseen hai zamaanaa
Lutaayaa hai dil ne khushi Kaa khazanaa…” sung by Noor Jehan. But the two sad numbers that will perhaps last few more decades more than other songs from the same film are, “Aaja meri barbaad muhabbat ke sahaare, Hai kaun jo bigdi huyi taqdeer sanwaare…” and “Kyaa mil gayaa Bhagwaan tumhen dil ko dukhaake, Armanoki nagri mein meri aag lagaake…”.

Uran Khatola is a film made in 1955 with Dilip Kumar and Nimmi in the lead roles. Though the story is quite weak with a boring script, people went to watch the film many a times only for the haunting songs. This time again it was Naushad who created magic with Shakeel Badayuni, Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi. Anyone growing up in the '50s in a town would remember the chirpy song being played in every restaurant, “Mera salam leja, dil ka payaam le ja, ulfat ka jam le ja, uran khatole waale aare, urata hawaaon mein, baadal ki chhaaon mein,

kaun se gaaon men jaayega tu, neeche zameen hai, duniya haseen hai, dil ko yakeen hai aayega tu…”. Lata Mangeshkar sung this song with all the sweetness in her inimitable voice. The film had a few more memorable numbers like, “Haal e dil main kya kahoon, mushkil hai mere saamne…” by Lata and an all time classic by Mohammad Rafi, “O dur ke mushafeer, humko bhi saath lelere, hum rehgayen akele…”.   

All the songs of film Azaad (1955) were great hits of the time and continued to be in the chart for many more decades since then. C. Ramchandra was the music composer who also lent voice in a duet with Lataji. The lilting dance duet, “Aplam chaplam, chap laiteri duniyako chhor, teri gaali aire aire aire…” was sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeskar. The Lata-C. Ramchandra duet, “Kitna haseen hein mausam, kitna haseen safar hein, saathi hein khoobsurat, ye mausamko bhi khabar hein…” used to be on every lip those days. Then there was the mind-boggling number by Lata, “Radha na bole na bole na bole re, ghunghat ke phat na kholey re…”.

The writer is Special Supplements Editor,
The Daily Star