Trivia Tunes: When Shaan sang like Kishore Kumar in Om Shanti Om and all 4 Mangeshkar sisters collaborated for Mother India

By Rajiv Vijayakar -

February 27, 2024 - 1:30 PM IST

Old notes, new melodies

Trivia Tunes: When Shaan sang like Kishore Kumar in Om Shanti Om and all 4 Mangeshkar sisters collaborated for Mother India

Hindustani classical music and various genres in it have always been harnessed in Hindi movies fruitfully. When an IP (intellectual property) is over 60 years old, there are no hurdles like rights. The traditional classical thumri ‘Aaye na baalam kya karoon sajni’ (possibly first recorded by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan) was beautifully used by Rajesh Roshan with lyrics by Amit Khanna, in the film, Swami and remains one of South giant singer Yesudas’ most popular Hindi film songs. The mukhda’s tune has now been used by composer Shashwat Sachdev with lyricist Kumaar in Article 370 with the words, ‘Aandhi udi hai seene mein mere’.

The Multi-Mangeshkar Movie!

The Mehboob Khan blockbuster, Mother India, is also widely known as Hindi cinema’s first multi-star film. But a lesser-known yet remarkable aspect is that is also a multi-Mangeshkar film! Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar all sang various songs in the film, with Lata, Usha and Meena collaborating on ‘Duniya mein hum aaye hain to jeena hi padega.’ Meena has barely sung in a few Hindi films in the 1950s and this Naushad score was one of them. Interestingly, the three also had sung the song, ‘Arey koi jaao’ in Shankar-Jaikishan’s Patrani a year earlier.

The Khayyam-Naushad connection

Khayyam’s major breakthrough was Footpath in 1953. The song ‘Sham-e-gham ki kasam’ sung by Talat Mahmood for Dilip Kumar was a chartbuster. However, for the other song, which is barely known today, ‘Thandi pawan chale sanjh dhale’, with Premlata and Ashima Banerjee, Khayyam was a shade confused whether to employ Talat or Mohammed Rafi, as the latter was by then consolidated as the voice of Dilip Kumar. As both Rafi and Naushad were close to Dilip Kumar, Khayyam went to the senior composer for advice. Naushad heard the composition and suggested Talat’s voice.

Little-known secret

Speaking of Naushad, Ghulam Mohammed was his treasured assistant in the composer’s peak phase. Sadly, the latter’s own huge hit soundtrack, Pakeezah, only released after Ghulam Mohammed’s death. But what people do not know, though confirmed by no less than Lata Mangeshkar and filmmaker Kamal Amrohi to a reliable source, is the fact that Naushad was present as a general guide during each and every song recording!

Quirks of destiny

Some time back, I had mentioned how friends Anand Bakshi and (actor-filmmaker) Manoj Kumar barely worked together. But now, in an extreme example, here is the fascinating contrasting story of composer Shantanu Moitra and his near-constant lyricist, Swanand Kirkire (Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Parineeta, 3 Idiots, 12^th Fail and others). Shantanu had revealed to me, “Director Sudhir Mishra was wondering who could score for Hazaaron…, and Swanand was his assistant director and suggested he hear my non-film album Ab Ke Sawan and gave him a CD. At that time, I never knew Swanand at all, though we had both been working in Delhi. Coincidentally, filmmaker Aditya Bhattacharya told Sudhir exactly the same thing and gave him the same CD!” And a musical team and pair of great friends were born!

The topper!

In the era when Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Rajendra Krishan and Sahir Ludhianvi were also toppers like Shakeel Badayuni, the last-mentioned writer effortlessly stole a march over them with a hat-trick of three topmost hit films of three consecutive years—Mughal-E-Azam, Gunga Jumna and Bees Saal Baad, each as different from the other as caviar, cheese and chalk! The first film was a historical musical, now immortalized also on stage, thanks to its timeless songs. The second was responsible for the birth of Bhojpuri cinema, and the third was the first-ever adult as well as ‘horror’ movie to become any year’s biggest hit. Quite naturally, the lyrics (and music) of all the films were extraordinary. In that era, this phenomenon was never matched by anyone else.

Shaan se!...

Here’s an amusing story! While interviewing Shaan over a decade ago, I had asked him why he had ‘two voices’ over the years, a thin one and a full-throated alternative. He laughed and replied, “The thin kind suits the Hip-Hop or urban numbers, while the full voice goes better on ‘Behti hawa sa tha woh’ (3 Idiots) and other in-depth songs. I have a natural advantage of a voice that is neither too thin nor too heavy, so I can tweak it a bit both ways, also, as I said, according to the actor. I am lucky that there is no typical Shaan voice like there is for a Sukhwinder Singh or a Kailash Kher.”

I further asked how he went almost into Kishore Kumar-like tenor in the climax song, ‘Dastaan-e-om shanti om’ in Om Shanti Om and he quipped, “That was a deliberate imitation! Vishal was game for it, Shekhar did not really like it, but Farah Khan decided that I sing that way!”

Also Read: Trivia Tunes: When a song meant for Ajay Devgn’s Zakhm was used for John Abraham’s Saaya