This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Badalte Huye Saathi (Episode 11…LAST SONG)(Lata sings with Chitalkar)
Finally, we have reached the end of this series having just 11 songs. For a theme like BADALTE HUYE SAATHI,11 songs is too less, I know. This subject is so vast that,at best,it can only be represented here, and it is not possible to do full justice to the topic, I agree. When I started this series,I had said that it is not possible to cover all the Major singers or cover the entire period of 1931 to 1960. However, the temptation to write on this topic was so intense that I decided to do it in 10 to 12 episodes, somehow. Utter ” Na- Insaafi “, I am aware of it !
I found, to my pleasure,that some of the readers wanted me to continue this series. This was an indication of the positive acceptance of the series, still, I am helpless and the series must end today.
This was the 13th series, which I have done on this Blogspot. Once I decide on doing a series, lots of spade work goes behind it. Right from finding /coining an appropriate Title, I have to first collect material like identifying the songs, find You Tube links, Lyrics, if available, check my notes for film synopsis, select the topics to be discussed in the individual articles etc. I have to also ensure that the selected songs are not already posted on the Blog earlier by someone (this had happened one or two times and hurriedly, plan ” B ” had to be operated. In some articles, the songs are discussed, in some the composer, in some the film story, or in some the Director is to be discussed. I first collect all the possible, needed material, make a list on paper and then end the proposal to Atul ji. After his approval and a ‘Go Ahead’ message, I start writing my articles. Since most material is ready with me, usually a 10 Episode series is completed on an average of 17 days’ period. With so much preparatory work, it is not possible to extend the series at the last moment. Now, you will realise how much thought goes into presenting a series.
personally, I prefer to finish a series in 10 parts, so that the tempo of the theme is maintained and we can look forward to next interesting series. At this juncture, however, I do not know if there will be another series or what will be the Topic, though, honestly I have some ideas in my mind rolling.
Today’s song is a Duet of Lata and Chitalkar. Most of us know about the relationship they had on personal level. A lot has been written on it ( even by me), so I leave that matter untouched here. Lata Mangeshkar sang a total of 298 songs under C Ramchandra’s baton. Out of this 196 were solo songs and 102 were Duets. Among the Duets, 47 were sung by Chitalkar and Lata and the rest 55 were by Lata and other singers.
C. Ramchandra is one of my most favourite composer and singer. His entire life and career is full of interesting anecdotes. He was one composer who was exactly opposite to Naushad Ali in making Tunes. Naushad is known to be a stickler for lot of rehearsals and for taking at least 10-15 days for working on One song. C Ramchandra,on the contrary was the fastest Tune maker in the Industry.
Two examples are very noteworthy. The first is when he got the lyrics of the great Lorie ” Dheere se aajaa ri”-Albela-51, at 4 pm , when the recording was at 4.30 pm. Those days, recording studios used to be booked well in advance and the timing was also fixed for each booking. At times it used to be difficult to get a Recording studio booking. As soon as he got the song, he started from his Dadar Residence for the studio. Driving with one hand he held the paper in his other hand. By the time he reached the recording studio,the tune was ready. After just one short practice session, the Iconic lorie was recorded. It has remained one of India’s best lories for a long time.(anyway, nowadays,there are no lori tori in Hindi films. Even in the dead of the night 100-200 extras sing a song with the hero heroines as if they are doing a march drill.).
The other incidence is when a South producer S M Naidu came from Madras and met Naushad. he wanted Naushad to score music for his film Azaad-55. Shooting of the film was already on in Pakshiraja studios at Coimbtore( on the same sets-made for the original Tamil Block buster MALAI KALLAN-with MGR and P Bhanumathy.This Tamil film was remade in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Sinhalese languages). Mr. Naidu asked Naushad saab, if he could compose all the songs in 14 days. You can imagine Naushad’s anger and irritation. He retorted that his art was not a grocery shop or a Factory. In 14 days, he can not guarantee even ONE song, he stated !
Someone suggested C.Ramchandra’s name and Naidu went to him with the offer. C Ramchandra agreed, but on one condition. He wanted 1 Lakh Rupees for this film. ( This was the amount Naushad commanded those days for one film). Naidu agreed. C Ramchandra gave the last song on his hands on the 14th day and went to the Bank laughing all the way with the cheque of Rs One Lakh !!!. The most astonishing thing was that no one can say that he compromised on the melody or quality of the songs. Just listen to ‘Radha na bole’ in Bageshri or ‘ Jaa ri jaa ri o kari badariya’ by Lata or the evergreen qawwali by Raghunath Jadhav- ‘marna bhi muhabbat meni kisi kaam na aaya’. They were all Gems.
C Ramchandra is best remembered for ‘Anarkali’-53. Producer S Mukherjee wanted Geeta to sing all songs, but C Ramchandra would not compromise with Lata on his side. She too sang her heart out in all the songs. C Ramchandra is also remembered for all those ‘POP’ & ‘PEPPY’ songs like ‘ Sunday ke sunday ‘, Gore gore o banke chhorey’ and ‘ eena Meena Deeka ‘. His ‘Mere piya gaye Rangoon’ and Albela songs became Trendsetters in legitimising fun and frolic in film songs. This proved to be a pre-cursor to YAHOO by Shankar Jaikishan and later all the Rocky tunes by R D Barman in the 70 and 80s.
Once Lata stopped singing for him after their break up and when his Diary (containing 500 tunes for Lata) was stolen at the same time, C Ramchandra almost lost his Talents.( That reminds one of the condition of MD K.Datta, after Noorjehan left India in 1947). C Ramchandra never could come out of this dip. It is not true that Lata was not affected by this break up. A scrutiny of her songs from say, 1958-59 to 63-64 clearly indicates that she was not in her elements, barring few songs during this period. This was also the period when S D Burman had a spat with Lata and she did not get any song from him till 1963 or so. This also gave scope to Asha and Suman Kalyanpur to further their careers.
Lata and C Ramchandra were too bitter about each other, blaming each other for the break up. I would say that the Indian Film songs suffered more than the two of them.. Both realised the strengths of each other after their estrangement. In one Interview to Filmfare, C Ramchandra said,”Lata may not sing for me anymore, but she is the Best. She has no peers. It is true that I did my best music when she was with me. She is still No.1 in India “.
This is what Lata said about him- ” C. Ramchandra is almost an antithesis of Naushadji. After the first rehearsal itself he would say: “It is fine. That is enough.” If the singer or the player asks for another rehearsal, he would reply : “No! if we improve it, it won’t become popular”. But this should not lead you to the belief that he left things to chance. In fact, he is a very hard worker.
C. Ramchandra is a very good singer too. There are two aspects of his approach to music: One, it should be melodious; two, the taal and laya should make the listeners forget themselves. These two are the central points of his compositions.
From the point of view of swar-shilpa his music appears to be simple. Sometimes his tunes have a touch of Gujarati or Marathi folk music. His compositions done with Western style are also quite impressive, but I personally prefer his compositions based on Indian classical music. For instance, ‘na maaro najariya ke baan'(PEHLI JHALAK), ‘kaise jaaon jamuna ke teer’ (DEVTA), ‘dheere se aa ja ri ankhiyan mein'(ALBELA), ‘raadha na bole na bole re'(AZAD), and ‘chandaniya araj kare'(AASHA), are some of his compositions which are evidence of his classical background. “
Lata and C Ramchandra being my favourites, I can go on and on and on, but we must stop here for now. Today we end this series here, but who knows, in future,we MIGHT come back with yet another interesting series….. may be…
Till then enjoy this Lata-C Ramchandra duet from the film- Ustad Pedro-1951. Lyrics of this fun song are written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan.
Song- Dil ka ye engine seetiyan maare (Ustaad Pedro)(1951) Singers-Lata, Chitalkar, Lyrics-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, MD-C Ramchandra
Lata + C Ramchandra + Chorus
Lyrics
Dil ka ye engine seetiyaan maare
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
dil ka ye engine seetiyaan maare
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
aankhon ka signal
karta hai ishaare
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
jawaani ki toofaan mail
chhuk chhuk kare hai
usmein ek gori baithhee
aahen bhare hai
jawaani ki toofaan mail
chhuk chhuk kare hai
usmein ek gori baithhee
aahen bhare hai
keh raha hai dil
armaan bhara re
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
keh raha hai dil
armaan bhara re
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
dil ka ye engine seetiyaan maare
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
guard ka dil gori
tumpe hai aa gaya
mujhko wo daga deke
gate mein chhipa gaya
guard ka dil gori
tumpe hai aa gaya
mujhko wo daga deke
gate mein chhipa gaya
guard ko hamne diya hai bhaga re
aaja sajan aaja
line clear hai
guard ko hamne diya hai bhaga re
aaja sajan aaja
line clear hai
dil ka ye engine seetiyaan maare
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
budgebudge mein kaise kheloon
mathura ka khel
budgebudge mein kaise kheloon
mathura ka khel
gyaarah baje ho jaayega
tere mera mel
gyaarah baje ho jaayega
tere mera mel
dil ki ghadi se tu gyaarah baja re
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
dil se mere dil
tu aankhen mila le
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
dil ka ye engine seetiyaan maare
aa ja sajan aaja
line clear hai
