Continuing from my earlier posts on Lata Mangeshkar songs with relatively less-famous composers (Part 1, Part 2), I would like to talk about some music directors with whom Lata Mangeshkar has done very little work, but their collaboration has resulted in some great melodious songs.
Pt. Amarnath – Not to be confused with Pt. Amarnath, the elder brother of the composer duo Husnalal Bhagatram, Pt. Amarnath Chawla was essentially a classical musician. He composed music for only one film – Garam Coat – where each song was a real gem. All songs in the film were sung by Lata Mangeshkar. My favourite from this film is Kahiyo Roye Dukhiyare
Kahiyo Roye Dukhiyare (Garam Coat, 1955, Majrooh Sultanpuri)
Some other songs from the film are also available on youtube: Ghar Aaja More Raja, Zulfon Wale Ko Kya Pata, Nanha Mora Dole and Jogia Se Preet
Jagmohan Sursagar – Jaganmoy Mitra a.k.a Jagmohan Sursagar was a noted Bengali musician. He composed for just one Hindi film. The 1955 film, Sardar, had two Lata Mangeshkar solos, among which I rate Pyar Ki Ye Talkhiyan among Lata’s best for any composer.
Pyar Ki Ye Talkhiyan (Sardar, 1955, Kaif Irfani)
Sailesh Mukherji - To the best of my knowledge, Sailesh Mukherji composed music for only two films – Parichay and Savera. Parichay had an intricate tune in the form of Jal Ke Dil Khaak Hua, that is another one of my favourite Lata Mangeshkar song of all time.
Jal Ke Dil Khaak Hua (Parichay, 1954, Keshav)
Chic Chocolate – A.X Vaz, an assistant to C. Ramchandra, took on a unique sounding name, Chic Chocolate, when he composed independently. So strong had been his association with C. Ramachandra that many people thought that it was C. Ramachandra himself who was composing under a pseudonym. Listen to this light and frothy number composed by Chic Cholocolate in Rangeeli, and you can hear a lot of similarity with some of C. Ramachandra’s scores.
Chanda Ko Sitara Mile (Rangeeli, 1952, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan)
Nisar Bazmi – Talking of Chic Chocolate, reminds me of Nisar Bazmi, who had joined hands with Chic Chocolate to compose music for the 1956 film, Kar Bhala. Nisar Bazmi never got much success in India. He migrated to Pakistan in 1962, where he was more successful. Interestingly, he reused one of the tunes from Kar Bhala for a Pakistani film. It is probably the only instance where Lata Mangeshkar and Noor Jehan have sung the same tune separated by 14 years.
Balam Ji Bade Nadan (Kar Bhala, 1956, Majrooh Sultanpuri)
Nainwa Chalaye Baan (Anjuman – Pakistani Film, 1970)
V. Balsara - A noted pianist, V. Balsara, worked as an assistant to the likes of Khemchand Prakash, Ghulam Haider, Madan Mohan and Shankar Jaikishan, before he moved to Kolkata and settled there . As an independent composer he composed a lovely melody for Lata Mangeshkar in Madmast (1953)– Sunaayen Haal-eDil
Sunaayen Haal-e-dil (Madmast, 1953, Madhuraj)
