5 Evergreen melodies you didn’t know were filmed on Shashikala 5 : Bollywood News

1. ‘Tum Jiyo Hazaaron Saal’ (Sujata): One of Hindi cinema’s most popular birthday songs sung by Asha Bhosle for Bimal Roy’s Sujata was sung on screen by Shashikala. It became the most popular song of the film beating those other Sachin Dev Burman classics ‘Jalte Hain Jisske Liye’ and ‘Kali Ghata Chhaye’.

5 Evergreen melodies you didn’t know were filmed on Shashikala

2. ‘Bachpan Ke Din Bhi Kya Din The’ (Sujata): Another perennial favourite from S D Burman sung by Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle. While Asha sang for Nutan, Geeta’s voice suited Shashikala’s mischievous personality to the hilt.

3. ‘Bheegi Bheegi Fiza’ (Anupama): Shashikala actually had a role parallel to Sharmila Tagore in this Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic where Sharmila played the wordless beauty; Shashikala offset the silence with her volubility. Interestingly Sharmilaji had only one song to herself in Anupama (the Lata Mangeshkar classic ‘Kuch Dil Ne Kaha’) while Shashikala had two solos in Asha Bhosle’s voice the breezy ‘Bheegi Bheegi Fiza’ and the pensive ‘Kyon Mujhe Itni Khushi’. Both are gems composed by Hemant Kumar keeping Shashikala’s chul-bully personality in mind.

4. ‘Nain Tumhare Mazedaar Oh Janaab-E-Ali’ (Junglee): While Lataji’s voice was reserved for the leading lady, Asha Bhosle chirped in with her seductive tones for this chartbuster filmed on Shashikala and her co-star Anoop Kumar (Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar’s youngest). The result was a quaint Mukesh-Asha love ballad offsetting the rumbustious Qawalli styled Lata-Rafi love duet ‘Mere Yaar Shabba Khair’ filmed on the lead pair Shammi Kapoor and Saira Banu. No one expected a song filmed on the second lead to be a chartbuster. But it was!

5. ‘Na Baaz Aaya Muqaddar Mujhe Rulane Se’ (Sunehre Kadam): It wasn’t as if Shashikala never got a chance to play the lead and sing in Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. She did! In this 1966 tearjerker Shashikala wept through two Lata gems ‘Maangne Se Jo Maut Mil Jati’ and ‘Na Baaz Aaya Muqaddar’ composed by Bulo C Rani.

Also Read: “She played negative roles but was an angel,” Dharmendra remembers Shashikala