The Great Raga Based Songs of R D Burman

R D Burman has been credited with revolutionizing Bollywood music. He incorporated a wide range of influences from several genres in his scores. The sheer breadth of his music, allied with a unique ability to not only make folk and classical music accessible to the modern listener, but present them in an original, yet contemporary manner for young listeners.
 While we mostly associate a more western sound with RD, I think of him as a composer who simplified the most complex Hindustani classical music and made it accessible to the masses. Here are some great Raga based songs created by him.
The first film R D Burman gave the music was Chhote Nawab released in 1961. The first song he composed in this film was  Ghar Aaja Ghir Aayi Badra in Raga Malgunji sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

Song of Chhote Nawab 1961

Song of Chandan Ka Palna 1967

Song of Amar Prem (1972)

Song of  Parichay (1973)

Song of Kinara 1975

Song of Mehbooba (1976)

Song of Khoobsurat 1980

Song of Kudrat (1981)

Song of Agar Tum Na Hote (1984)

Suraiya -The Top Singing Star of Independent India

There was a time when traffic jams at Marine Drive (Mumbai) were caused not due to a long line of cars, but because of a young charismatic actress - Suraiya..
During the mid-forties the two faces which dominated the film world with their music were Suraiya and Noor Jehan. 
Noorjehan left India after Partition so she became the Top Leading Singing Star of Bollywood.Both of them appeared together in that celebrated Mehboob’s musical Anmol Ghadi. Though overshadowed by Noor Jehan, it goes to her credit that Suraiya, even in a supporting role, was able to hold her own and make her presence felt with her evergreen melodies like “Socha tha kya, kya ho gaya” and “Man leta hai angrahi”.
Suraiya with her distinct individual style, her sweet seasoned voice and direct simple diction succeeded in captivating the listeners and her popularity knew no bounds.She had 3 box-office hits in quick succession were “Pyar ki Jeet” (1948), “Badi Behan” (1949) and “Dillagi” (1949).In her heyday she was known as 'Malika-e-Husn' (queen of beauty), 'Malika-e-Tarannum' (queen of melody) and 'Malika-e-Adakaari' (queen of acting), all rolled into one.
She was born on 15 June 1929.She was the only child of her parents.She received basic training in music when her mother used to take her to a Hindustani music teacher or 'Master ji' for training. She first sang for a children's program for All India Radio in 1937. Later on Naushad gave her on the job 'training', while recording. She went on to become one of the most successful singing film stars of Bollywood.  

She made her debut as a child artist in Madam Fashion in 1936 as Miss Suraiya, along with Nargis as Baby Rani. The film was directed by Jaddan Bai, mother of Nargis, with Jaddan Bai herself as heroine,
As a child artist, she acted and also sang in Tamanna (1942), Station Master (1942), and Hamari Baat (1943). As an adult, Suraiya initially played as a heroine in K. Asif's Phool as Shama, with Prithviraj Kapoor as hero,and as a co-star in Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946), (which was written by Aghajani Kashmeri, also known as Kashmiri) and Dard (1947).
She acted as a heroine in the film Tadbir (1945) on the recommendation of K. L. Saigal, who liked her voice during a rehearsal of a song for Jayant Desai's film Samrat Chandragupt (1945) in which she was acting. He recommended her to Desai, opposite himself in Tadbir (1945). She went on to co-star with K. L. Saigal in Omar Khayyam (1946) and Parwana (1947 film).Suraiya appeared in scores of films, including at least 25 between 1946 and 1950, and at her peak was one of Bollywood’s highest-paid stars. She worked only a few films after 1952 and retired in 1963 at the age of 34.
She played the leading role with almost every famous star of her time and also sang with the leading playback singers like Mohammad Rafi, Talat Mehmood and Mukesh

. 
The most striking and much-publicised episode of Suraiya’s life was her romance with the upcoming young actor Dev Anand in the early 1950s. It was then the ‘talk of the town’, the very stuff legends are made of. She was Dev Anand’s heroine in seven films which had moderate success . During the shooting of a film, a boat capsized and Dev Anand saved Suraiya from drowning. This incident was the beginning of their romance. Suraiya fell in love with him and both of them planned to get married but Suraiya’s grandmother opposed the relationship and persuaded her to turn down Dev’s marriage proposal. She chose to remain unmarried throughout her life and died a lonely woman on 31st January 2004.
Suraiya's Great Songs

The first recorded song of Manna De and Child Suraiya

Song from Tamanna (1942)

Song from Tadbir (1945)

Song from Anmol Ghadi 1946

Song from Dard 1947

Song from Parwana 1947

Song from Pyar Ki Jeet 1948

Song from Vidya 1948

Song from Dillagi 1949

Song from DASTAN 1950

Song from Rajput 1951

Song from Mirza Ghalib (1954)

Song from Waris 1954

Song from Shama (1961)

NAUSHAD-Once All of India was crazy about his Melodies.

Naushad(26 December 1919 – 5 May 2006 )began his career in 1940 with Prem Nagar, but took off in 1944 with Ratan, where he created his own style. All of India was crazy about him. His music had that simplicity. Songs like Jab dil hi toot gaya and Gham diye mustaqil from Shahjehan touch you.
He was one of the first to introduce sound mixing and the separate recording of voice and music tracks in playback singing. He was the first to combine the flute and the clarinet, the sitar and mandolin. He also introduced the accordion to Hindi film music and was among the first to concentrate on background music to extend characters' moods and dialogue through music. 
He was the first composer to have developed the system of western notation in India. The notation for the music of the film 'Aan' was published in book form in London.He was the first to use a 100-piece orchestra.for Aan in 1952.

 His greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium. Many of his compositions were inspired by ragas and he even used distinguished classical artistes like Amir Khan and D.V. Paluskar in Baiju Bawra (1952) and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in Mughal-e-Azam (1960). Baiju Bawra (1952) demonstrated Naushad's grasp of classical music and his ability to bring it to the masses, for which he won the first Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1954.

He was very innovative,in Uran Khatola (1955), he recorded an entire song without the use of orchestra, having replaced the sound of musical instruments with choral sound of humming..For Mughal-e-Azam (1960) song Ae Mohabbat Zindabad, he used a chorus of 100 persons. He asked Lata Mangeshkar to render a part of the song "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya" in a bathroom that had glazed tiles and then recorded the music to get the echo effect.
Naushad made Suraiya stand on a stool for the 12-year-old schoolgirl's voice to be able to reach the microphone on her debut, Boot karoon main paalish baaboo (from A R Kardar's Nai Duniya in 1942). It was under him, likewise, in another A R Kardar songathon, Dastan (1950), that Suraiya vocally peaked with Mohabbat badhakar jooda ho gaye.
 This master composer first made both Mukesh (Andaz) and Talat Mahmood (Babul) sound surpassingly individualistic on Dilip Kumar He was, near clandestinely, getting Mohammed Rafi ready for the big leap. From his first Anmol Ghadi solo, Tera khilauna toota baalak (1946), to O door ke musafir on Dilip Kumar in Uran Khatola (1955), Rafi came a long, long way, once the Baiju Bawra (above) miracle happened in 1952..

His association with Mohammad Rafi had marked the most golden combination which galvanized the outstanding music composed during the golden age in Indian music, the 50s and 60s. His composition in the film Dulari, 1947, for Mohammad Rafi titled “suhani raat dhal chuki” makes a music lover addicted and it has an appeal even after 60 years of its composition.
 Naushad’s composition in Son of India, “dil torneewale”, duet for Rafi and Lata, shows the effective use of instruments in that age when recording was not developed to that extent. In Dilip Kumar’s Kohinoor, 1960, Rafi’s songs “madhuban me radhika nachere”, “do sitaron ka zamee par hai Milan aaj ki raat” marks Naushad’s control over bhajans and songs with chorus effects. In Rajender Kumar’s Mere Mehboob, 1963, Naushad had explained the transformation of nasams into ghazals. His songs “mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam”, “tumse izhaar-e-haal kar baithe”, “ai husn zara jag tujhe isq dikhaye” enchanted the listeners. Naushad’s compositions were as outstanding as Shakeel Badayani’s lyrics and Rafi’s golden voice.
 Naushad had used folk songs to a great extent where the subjects in the films required them. For example in the film Ganga Jumna, 1961, his composition for Rafi including “nain lar jaihe” was created with bhojpuri effect, and Rafi had succeeded in pronouncing it in the manner expected from him. Rafi’s songs in Rajender Kumar’s Palki, Ganwar, composed by Naushad were also outstanding.
It is tragic that the film industry, could not utilise Naushad’s talent in 1970s and 80s, 
He gave  35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilee and 3 diamond jubilee mega successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1982 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Bollywood film industry.
Some of the Immortal songs of Naushad

Song from Rattan 1944

Song from Anmol Ghadi 1946

Song from Shahjehan 1946

Song from Shahjehan 1946

Song from Dard 1947

Song from Mela 1948

Song from Andaz 1949

Song from Babul 1950

Song from Deedar 1951

Song from Baiju Bawra 1952

Song from  Uran Khatola 1955

Song from  Mughal-e-Azam 1960

Song from Gunga Jumna 1961

Song from Mere Mehboob 1963

The Great Classical Vocalists in Hindi Films

Among all genres, Hindustani classical music has had arguably the greatest impact on Hindi film music. Thousand of songs have been composed based on Hindustani ragas.There are some such songs those were sung by the Great Classical vocalists in Hindi films other than our great playback singers.
 Great Hindustani vocalists, right from Pandit D V Paluskar to Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Amir Khan,Pt Bhimsen Joshi,Kishori Amonkar,Pt Jasraj, Nirmala Devi have lent their voice to the Hindi films occasionally. 
Some of these songs  are  Aaj gawat man mero in Baiju Bawra by Pt D V Paluskar and Ustad Amir Khan;  jhanak jhanak payal baje by Ustad Amir Khan from the movie Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, the title song in Geet Gaya Pathoron Ne, sung by Kishori Amonkar; and Humein Tumse pyaar kitna in Kudrat sung by Begum Parveen Sultana are known to one and all. A few others–such as prem jogan banke by Ustad bade Ghulam Ali Khan from Mughal-E-Azam and Ketaki Ghulab Juhi by Pt Bhimsen Joshi in Basant Bahar–are well-known .
Though these songs were not hit or popular among masses but they are precious gems.The trend of Classical Songs has diminished in our films but still there are some Music Directors who take the services of Hindustani Classical Vocalists. Vishal Bhardwaj in Maachis  composed a song with  Sanjeev Abhyankar. In this blog I have taken the songs sung by these great Classical singers.

Song from Baiju Bawra 1952

Song from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje,1955

Song from Geet Gaya Pathoron Ne 1964

Song from Basant Bahar 1956

Song from Mughal-E-Azam 1960

Pt Sanjeev Abhyankar from Godmother 1999

Song From Kudarat 1981