Golden Era of Bollywood: KHEMCHAND PRAKASH-The Composer who gave us Lata and Kishore Kumar

Very few of us know that greats like Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Naushad, Manna Dey and Bulo C Rani were mentored by him. But the creator of these musical gems, and the mentor of this league of stalwarts is now largely forgotten.On his Death Anniversary I pay my tribute to this great composer who composed the song Aayega Aane Wala Aayega sung by Lata Mangeshkar.
Khemchand Prakash was born in Jaipur in 1907 where his father Goverdhan Das was a Dhrupad singer & Kathak dancer in the royal court of Madho Singh II, and the boy, Khemchand got his first training in music & dance from his father. Soon he became a popular for his Kathak dancing talent and for his unmatched skills in drawing animal sketches with gulaalon the floor using his feet while dancing!
Legendry Music Director was his assistant in many films,in an interview Naushad said it was Khemchan Prakash who made him assistant from the film Gaazi Salauddin, after that he was assistant to him for many films.
Initial few years were not good for Khemchand Prakash , it was in 1943 that came a film which pushed Khemchand Prakash much ahead of the other music directors of the era and the film was KL Saigal starrer Tansen, considered one of the finest musicals. Diya jalaao jagmag jagmag, Rumjhum rumjhum chal tihari, More balpan ke saathi, Sapt suran teen gram... are musical gems.

1948 marked yet another significant film in Khemchand’s career - Bombay Talkies’s Ziddi, in which he gave Kishore Kumar his first major break as a singer with the song ‘Marne ki duaaen kyun maangu...’in the same film he intoduced Lata Mangeshkar.Next year 1949 was the year Mahal was released,The haunting melodies and brilliant orchestration of Mahal, set the foundation for the golden period of Hindi film music of the 50s. All the songs of Mahal (Ghabara ke jo hum sar ko..., Mushkil hai bahut mushkil..., Dil ne phir yaad kiya...) are just as timeless.But it was Aayega Aane Wala that made Lata Mangeshkar a popular name in every corner of the country.

Unfortunately, Khemchand Prakash did not survive long enough to see the success of Mahal or the shaping of the golden era of the Hindi film music of the 50s. He passed away on August 10, 1950 at the relatively young age of 42.