Golden Era of Bollywood: The Magic Of Hemant Da with Dev Anand

Saturday 28 April 2018

The Magic Of Hemant Da with Dev Anand

Dev Anand and Hemant Kumar together created some of the most memorable songs of Hindi film music. Prior to Dev’s partnering with Kishore Kumar or Rafi as his playback voices,the super hit combination of Dev with Hemant Kumar gave many Immortal Romantic Songs.
Hemant Kumar sang only 11 songs as playback for Dada Burman and 10 of those were on Dev Anand and all of them were hits! What a stupendous record!
Who can forget the start the duo had in Sazaa (1951) with Aa Gup chhup gup chhup pyar karen and then the massive hit next year in Jaal, Yeh raat yeh chandani phir kahan, sun jaa dil ki dastan.
Hemant Da in an interview said that it was S D Burman who understood the potential of his voice.romantic pairing of my voice with his (Dev Anand’s) screen image was created by Sachin Babu (SD Burman). People simply loved it.
S D Burman was Dev Anand's musical soul.He was giving music for most of his films and using the voices of Kishore, Talat, Rafi and Manna Dey why did Hemant Da's voice was used in Sazaa(1951) surprisingly Manna De was assisting S D Burman in this film.He used to coordinate the practice rehearsals for all singers.
The next song he sang for Dev Anand was ‘Yeh raat yeh chandini phir kahan’ from 1952 film Jaal. At one time in the history of Hindi films, ‘Yeh raat yeh chandini phir kahan’ was hailed as ’the most romantic song of impulse ever’. Whether you talk of the scene on screen or just the audio – the impact was tremendous, of equal strength.

The next memorable song was Yaad Kiya Dil Ne Kahaan Ho Tum from 1953 film Patita but this was not composed by S D Burman but it was by Shankar Jaikishan
The next memorable hit songs came in with House No. 44(1955) – Chup hai dharti chup hain chand sitare and Teri duniya mein jeene se to behtar hai ke mar jayen. Hemant kumar in a interview says
while singing or rehearsing, I would wonder why he (Sachin Dev Burman) chose me to sing this one or that one, in House Number 44, Chup hai dharti chup hain chand sitare, I thought was a Talat song. Similarly, Yaad aa gai wo nashili nigahen in Manzil, could have been a Kishore song. But, only he knew the best.
In Munimji (1955), Shiv ji bihane chale paalki sajaye ke babhuti lagaye ke, naa.Hemant Da was not the first choice of singer he tried other singers but ultimately it he who sang the song.In this film the hit song Jeewan Ke Safar Mein Rahi was to be finalized he also gave a trial but Kishore Kumar version was taken.

The biggest hit song of both was yet to come.It was Hai apna dil to awara from Solva Saal 1958.It was the Top song of Binaca Geetmala that year.The director Raj Khosla wanted S D Burman to sing it himself, SD Burman got Hemant Kumar to croon for the swashbuckling Dev Anand. What a great song it proved.
In Manzil(1960), SD Burman had three singers (Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar and Mohd Rafi) giving playback for one hero. And the singers were picked on the basis of the mood and situation that would sync perfectly with that particular voice. For Yaad aa gayi woh nasheeli nigaahein, Dada Burman picked only Hemant Kumar and no one else.
In 1962 One of the biggest hits of Dev Anand-Hemant Kumar, the mesmerizing Na tum humein jaano,from Baat Ek Raat Ki 1962 was the last of their songs together. Haunting and romantic, this duet with Suman Kalyanpur had the audiences falling in love with the number over and over again.
The only film that Hemant Kumar as a music director scored that had Dev as a hero was Ferry (1954) with Geeta Bali, and Dev lip-synced Rangeeli rangeeli rani nindiya aa more raja ki ankhiyon mein aa.