Golden Era of Bollywood: Khemchand Prakash-The Composer who gave us Immortal Songs

A Tribute To Khemchand Prakash on his 110th Birth Anniversary

Born on 12 Dec 1907 was one of the giants of the Hindi film industry. He shaped and defined Hindi film music when it was still in its nascent stages. In a short career spanning just about a decade, he left behind a legacy that exceeded his output as a music director.
Aayega Ane Wala (Mahal, 1949) from Lata and Sapt Suran Teen Graam (Tansen, 1943) by K L Saigal are few of them.
Khemcand Prakash's father, Pandit Govardhan Prasad, was a musician in the royal court of Jaipur and also taught him music. He worked as a court singer and then tried his hand at acting in films before found his true calling in film music. After assisting composer Timir Baran in a few films, Khemchand Prakash debuted as a music director for the film Meri Aankhen (1939).
Early on in his career Khemchand Prakash showed glimpses of his ability to set trends and his penchant to handle the female voice. 'Pehle Jo Mohabbat…' catapulted singer-actress Khursheed from relative obscurity to becoming one of the leading female artists of the time.
His genius was visible in Tansen a 1943 film.Tansen was possibly the first film to embrace classical music with gusto. Backed by excellent subject matter and KL Saigal’s glorious voice, Khemchand Prakash composed songs that became immortal while retaining their authentic Hindustani classical base. The music of Tansen set the stage for a phase in Hindi films that borrowed heavily from classical music.
Khemchand Prakash was among the few composers who heard the tremendous potential in Lata’s voice, when most of Bollywood was unsure if the thin voice of young Lata would appeal to the masses. Earlier he gave Lata a song "Chanda re Ja Re" in 1948 film Ziddi which became hit.He gave Lata Mangeshkar the song Aayega Aanewala despite Raaj kumari and Zorabai Ambalewali who were big names.
This was the song that made Lata Mangeshkar a household name, a name that would be at the forefront of Hindi film music for the next 60 years or so.
Very few know that K L Saigal's Devdas(1935) songs were also composed by him but the credit was not given to him.One of his assistant Daan Singh in an interview said that the two main songs of the film weren’t Baran’s compositions but Khemchand’s ‘Balam Aan Baso Mere Mann Mein’ and ‘Dukh Ke Din Ab Bitat Nahin.’ But as he was an assistant composer, the credit went to Baran.”
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.