S D Burman and Majrooh Sultanpuri- The Creator of Many Immortal Songs

What a day is October 1, the birth anniversary of two of the Golden Era of Bollywood music’s most creative and consistent artists. While music director SD Burman, born in 1906, continued to create melodic magic till his death in 1975, the 1919-born lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri remained active for over five decades, till he passed away in 2000. And the best thing about both these geniuses who shared birthdays was that they combined to create many outstanding songs together.
 Over the years, of course, a large chunk of their films featured Dev Anand, examples being ‘Paying Guest’, ‘Nau Do Gyarah’, ‘Kala Pani’, Manzil’, ‘Solva Saal’, ‘Bombai Ka Baboo’, ‘Baat Ek Raat Ki’, ‘Jewel Thief’ and ‘Teen Deviyan’. On the birth anniversary of the two legends, I look at 15 compositions born of their partnership.
Incidentally, the coming together of the two owed much to the break in the partnership of SD Burman and Sahir Ludhianvi. After the success of Pyaasa (1957), Burman and Ludhianvi fought bitterly to gain credit for the success of the music of Guru Dutt's iconic film. Faced with what he believed to be the obstinacy of the lyricist, Burman decided he would never work with Ludhianvi again. Thus began a partnership with Sultanpuri that lasted till Burman's final years.
Besides the Dev Anand films, SD and Majrooh combined on such classics as ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ (which had Kishore’s ‘Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi’, the Kishore-Manna Dey song ‘Babu samjho ishaare’ and the Kishore-Asha superhit ‘Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka’) and ‘Sujata’ (which had Talat Mahmood’s unforgettable ‘Jalte Hain Jiske Liye’, Geeta Dutt’s ‘Nanhi kali sone chali’, Asha and Geeta’s ‘Bachpan ke din’ and SD’s own rendition of ‘Sun mere bandhu’). The Lata song ‘Pawan Deewani’ from ‘Dr Vidya’ was a major hit too.
Here I would like to share this information that the first song written by Majrooh and composed by Sd Burman was " Woh Sapne wali Raat sung by Geeta Roy in the film Pyar (1950). After a gap of 7 years, they worked together in Paying Guest (1957).They worked together for more than 15 years, creating some memorable compositions. While there was a difference of 13 years between the two (Burman was born in 1906, Sultanpuri in 1919), they were inextricably linked by a common birthday. 
The two of them also worked in films like ‘Lajwanti’, ‘Sitaron Se Aage’, ‘Talaash’, ‘Phagun’ and ‘Sagina’ (remember ‘Saala mein to saahab ban gaya’?) But their biggest hit arguably was in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1973 film ‘Abhimaan’, which had ‘Tere mere milan yeh raina’ (Lata-Kishore), ‘Teri bindiya’ (Lata-Rafi), ‘Lutey koi man’ (Lata-Manhar Udhas), Kishore’s ‘Meet Na Mila’ and three Lata solos ‘Nadiya Kinarey’, ‘Ab Toh Hai Tumse’ and ‘Piya bina’.
Maana Janaab Ne Pukaara Nahin' — Paying Guest (1957)

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Aankhon Mein Kya Ji' — Nau Do Gyarah (1957)

Song of Nau Do Gyarha 1957

Chhod Do Aanchal - Paying Guest (1957)

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Hai Apna Dil To Awara' — Solva Saal (1958)

Song of Solva Saal 1958

Hum Bekhudi Mein — Kala Pani (1958)

Song of Kala Paani 1958

Koi Aaya Dhadkan Kehti Hai' — Lajwanti (1958)

Song of Lajwanti 1958

Accha Ji Main Haari' — Kala Pani (1958)

Song of Kala Paani 1958

Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si' — Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

Song of Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

Jalte Hain Jiske Liye' — Sujata (1960)

Song of Sujata(1960)

Chal Ri Sajni Ab Kya Soche - Bombai Ka Babu

Song of Bombai Ka Baboo (1960)

Pawan Diwane - Dr. Vidya (1962)

Song of Dr. Vidya (1962)

Na Tum Humein Jano

Song of Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962)

Aise To Na Dekho - Teen Deviyan

Song of Teen Deviyan (1965) 

Hothon Pe Aisi Baat - Jewel Thief (1967)

Song of Jewel Thief (1967)

Meet Na Mila Re Mun Ka - Abhimaan

Song of Abhimaan (1973) 

Lata Mangeshkar and S D Burman gave Bollywood many Immortal Songs

Lata Mangeshkar was born on September 28, 1929 in Indore MP. She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in the world. She has the credit of having sung in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages.Lataji started her career in 1942, Her first Hindi song happened the next year in 1943, with ‘Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu’ in the movie Gajaabhaau.
 She did playback singing for celebrated music directors like Sachin Dev Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Sankar Jaikishan, Naushad, Madan Mohan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Khayyam and Pandit Amarnath HusanLal Bhagat Ram. Her collaboration with music director duo Laxmikant Pyarelal produced some of the most super hit songs of the time that are still hummed with equal enthusiasms by Indians. The duo considered Lataji instrumental in their success. ‘Dil Vil Pyar Vyar’ from Shagird (1968), Sheesha Ho YaDil Ho from Asha (1980), Mere Naseeb Mein from Naseeb (1981) and Ye Galiyan Ye Chaubara from Prem Rog (1982) are some of their most popular collaborations. 
1990s onwards, Lataji worked with music directors like Anu Malik, Jatin Lalit and A.R. Rahman. Films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Dil Se, Rang De Basanti featured acclaimed songs sung by Lataji.
Lataji has received numerous awards and honours for her illustrious career as a playback singer. Some of the Awards she won are Padma Bhushan (1969), Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1989), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997), NTR National Award (1999), and ANR National Award (2009). She was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's Highest Civilian Award in 2001. She won 3 National Film Awards (1972, 1974, 1990), and 12 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards (1964, 1967-1973, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1991). She has also won the Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer four times (1958, 1962, 1965, 1969, 1993, 1994). She was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.
Lata Mangeshkar was the ultimate choice of S D Burman. He often said, “Give me a harmonium, give me Lata and I will make music”. We all know what a magic they created together. In this Blog I am taking her songs sung for the great music director S D Burman. 
Lata’s first song for him was in Mashal (1950). SD Burman created for Lata Mangeshkar a kind of music which was unique and established him as one of the greatest composers of the Golden Era regardless of whether he matched the commercial success of his peers or not.Her first super hit and an immortal song with S D Burman was  Thandi hawayein lahraa ke aayein  for Naujawan (1951).
Another  iconic song  of Lata with him was in the same year Jhan jhan jhan jhan payal baaje from Buzdil (1951).Next came the same year another timeless song of not only SD Burman, but also among the all time great songs of Lata Mangeshakar. Tum na jane kis jahan mein kho gaye from Sazaa (1951).
For 7 years this Jodi gave us one hit after another but a time came when the music lovers were deprived of the magic of this great Jodi. Due to some controversy, there was a  break up for about five years, 1958-62, rather than their music. Fortunately they made a patch up and this time they gave us the best songs of their career. Thus their second innings led to another set of great melodies in Bandini, Guide, Tere Mere Sapne, Prem Pujari, Talash, Anurag, Abhiman etc which continued till the very end of his career. Their first song after patch up was ‘Pawan Diwani’ from Dr Vidya.

The First Song Lata sang for S D Burman

Song of Mashal (1950)

Song of Naujawan (1951)

Song of Buzdil (1951)

Song of Sazaa (1951)

Song of Jaal (1952)

Song of Taxi Driver (1954)

Song of Devdas(1955)

Song of House No 44 (1955)

Song of Paying Guest (1957)

The first song after Patch Up

Song of Dr.Vidya (1962)

Song of Bandini (1963)

Song of Guide (1965)

Song of Talash (1969)

Song of Prem Pujari 1970

Song of Sharmilee (1971)

Song of Abhimaan (1973)

Song of Chupke Chupke (1975)

The Musical Journey Of Asha Bhosle

Asha Bhosle(Born on 8th Sep 1933) is world's most recorded artist. She had sung over 12,000 songs, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history. She sang her first film song '"Chala Chala Nav Bala" for the Marathi filmMajha Bal (1943).
Her Hindi film debut when she sang the song "Saawan Aaya" for Hansraj Behl's Chunariya (1948).

Asha and Lata

Initially, she sang songs in low budget B- or C-grade films. She used to get the assignments only when reputed female singers of that time like Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, and Lata Mangeshkar refuse singing for the bad girls and vamps, or songs.  Her earliest songs were composed by A R Qureshi, Sajjad Hussain, and Ghulam Mohammed, and most of these songs failed to do well. The first time she sang in a big banner film was in Bimal Roy's Parinnta 1953 The song of that film  "Gore gore haathon me mehandi racha ke"..but none of the songs was picturised on the heroine of the film Meena Kumari.
Another big banner film was RK Films Boot Polish in 1954,  Raj Kapoor signed her to sing "Nanhe Munne Bachche" with Mohammed Rafi.

It was O. P. Nayyar gave Asha a break in CID (1956). For the first time, she sang for a heroine in Big banner.The song O Leke Pehla  Pehla Pyar is basically sung by Mohammad Rafi and Shamshad Begum but in the second version, Asha sang for Shakeela the heroine of the film. After that O P Nayyar took her in  B. R. Chopra's Naya Daur (1957),  Her duets with Rafi like "Maang Ke Saath Tumhara", "Saathi Haath Badhana" and "Uden Jab Jab Zulfein Teri", penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, earned her recognition. It was the first time she sang all the songs for a film's leading actress. In 1957 another hit film released  Tumsa Nahin Dekha and the song Dekho Kasam Se Kahate Hain Tum Se became another hit that year.
In 1958 came Howrah Bridge the song "Aaiye Meherbaan" picturised on Madhubala was super hit. With this film, she established her status and received the patronage of such composers as Sachin Dev Burman and Ravi whom She sang for his first movie Vachan (1955). The melodious lullaby from the movie Chandamama Door Ke! became an overnight hit among young mothers in India.  
Sachin Dev Burman and his favourite singer, Lata Mangeshkar, were not on good terms from 1957 to 1962.During this period, S D Burman used Asha as his lead female voice. She and Burman gave many hit songs in movies such as Kaala Pani, Kaala Bazaar, Insaan Jaag Utha, Lajwanti, Sujata and Teen Deviyaan (1965).In 1958 Kaala Pani she gave voice to Madhubala once again recall the duet song "Achcha Ji Main Haari Chalo Maan Jaao" 
In the 1960s she was among the top singers, In fact, when Geeta Dutt was in her bad phase due to family problems she took place of her and became No 2 after Lata. The song "Ab Ke Baras" in Bimal Roy's Bandini (1963) consolidated her position as a lead singer.  With O P Nayyar she gave hit songs in  Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962) and Kashmir Ki Kali (1964). Recall the songs "Main Pyaar Ka Rahi Hoon" (Ek Musafir Ek Haseena), "Deewana Hua Baadal" and "Ishaaron Ishaaron Mein" (Kashmir Ki Kali). Mere Sanam, another great hit of 1965, has several beautiful songs sung by Asha and composed by Nayyar. Jaayiye aap and Yeh hai reshmi zulfon ka andhera. Both solos present two distinct emotions. Asha does full justice to both. The former is a haunting love number while the latter is a seductive one.
With Ravi she gave hits from  Gumrah (1963), Waqt (1965), Hamraaz (1965), Aadmi Aur Insaan (1966) 
In 1966, Bhosle's performances in the duets from one of music director R.D. Burman's first soundtracks, for the movie Teesri Manzil, won popular acclaim. Reportedly, when she first heard the dance number "Aaja Aaja", she felt she would not be able to sing this westernised tune. While Burman offered to change the music, she refused, taking it as a challenge. She completed the song after ten days of rehearsals, and "Aaja Aaja", along with such other songs as "O Haseena Zulfonwali" and "O Mere Sona Re" (all three duets with Rafi), became successful. She went on to record a variety of songs with him – cabarets, rock, disco, ghazals and classical.
Madan Mohan, another composer bewitched by Lata, keeps aside a challenging song for Asha from time to time. How can one forget the enchanting and seductive Jhumka gira re in Mera Saaya (1966)? Though Lata sang the hit title song, Asha's formidable rendering of Jhumka gira re made it a chart-topper too.
. Asha has another highly popular seductive number, Parde mein rehne do, in Shikar. The 1968 film, with Shankar-Jaikishen's music, runs more than 50 weeks in Mumbai, and is one of the biggest hits of the 1960s

In the 1970s, Asha and Pancham's youthful Western songs took Bollywood music by storm – the raunchy cabaret "Piya Tu Ab To Aaja" (Caravan, picturized on Helen), the rebellious "Dum Maro Dum" (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), the sexy "Duniya Mein" (Apna Desh, 1972) and the romantic "Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne" (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973). Pancham also recorded many hit duets with Asha and Kishore Kumar such as "Jaane Jaan" (Jawani Diwani) and "Bhali Bhali Si Ek Soorat" (Buddha Mil Gaya).
The 1975 hit Khel Khel Mein is yet another R D Burman favourite. It had fun-filled duets like Khullam khulla pyar karenge, but its most outstanding number was the mournful solo Sapna mera.

 In the 1980s, she travels across the US, Canada and Britain to give concerts that draw thousands of South Asians. Unlike other singers, including Lata Mangeshkar who remains stiff, she moves around. Her concerts are always lively.In 1981 she scales epoch-creating heights with the Rekha-starrer Umrao Jaan (1981). Khayyam's soft, lingering songs like In aankhon ki masti mein and Dil cheez are among the best film songs ever composed.
By the mid-80s Asha was not singing enough.With the rise of singers like Anuradha Paudwal and Alka Yagnik, her career starts sliding but she simply cannot be written out. RD burman was also not getting films.RD reinvents his and Asha's career with an astounding score in the 1987 Gulzar film Ijaazat. The hauntingly sad song Mera kuch samaan sounds sadder by Asha's passionate rendering. 
  The 1990 film Lekin is produced by Lata and her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The film, whose score is composed by Hridaynath, sees Lata singing more numbers. But Asha also gets an opportunity to transform the intricate song Jhoote naina into a masterpiece.
 Composer A R Rahman ropes her in to sing in Ram Gopal Varma's Rangeela (1995). The songs  "Rangeela Re" and Tanha Tanha were especially famous. After that in Daud (1997), the O Bhanware number with Yesudas reminds listeners that Asha is still in command over her voice. In 1999 film Takshak composed by Rehman, One of the best songs in the film, Rang de, goes to Asha Bhosle.
In 2001 a new composer Sandeep Chowta got her to sing the song  Kambakth Ishq number in Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya (2001), She was at her seductive best.In the same year, her duet with Udit Narayan, Radha kaise na jale, in the Aamir Khan-starrer Lagaan (2001) wins her more fame.She got  Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001.
Asha Bhosle has won seven Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards of 18 nominations.After receiving the award in 1979, Bhosle emulated her elder sister and requested that her name not be considered for the nominations hereafter.She was later given a Special Award for Rangeela in 1996, and the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001

Asha has won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer twice:

• 1981: Dil Cheez Kya Hai (Umrao Jaan)
• 1986: Mera Kuch Samaan (Ijaazat)
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Nowadays Asha is busy with her Restaurant business. She is a skilled cook. Her family, friends and colleagues in the industry swear by her delicious meals, especially her prawn Patties and Paya curry.

In fact, prompted by her love of food, Asha has started her restaurants in Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi,Qatar, Kuwait, and Birmingham and Manchester in UK.  Called Asha’s, the restaurants serve signature dishes inspired by Asha’s childhood and RD Burman’s favourite meals, with the singer’s all-time hits playing in the background.

Songs of Asha Bhosle

Song of Pareenita (1953).

Song of Naya Daur 1957

Song of Howrah Bridge 1958

Song of Kaala Pani 1958

Song of  Sujata 1959

Song of  Bandini (1963)

Song of  Kashmir Ki Kali (1964).

Song of  Mere Sanam 1965

Song of Teesri Manzil,1966

Song of Mera Saaya (1966)

Song of Shikaar 1968

Song of Hare Rama Hare Krishna 1971

Song of Caravan 1971

Song of Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973

Song of  Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye, 1974

Song of Don, 1978

Song of Umrao Jaan 1981

The Songs of Gulzar

Gulzar, originally Sampoorna Singh Kalra started to work as a garage mechanic in Worli while writing poetry in his spare time. Gulzar, as any other dreamer who comes to Bombay for the first time, was bitten by the film bug. It is said that Gulzar's first song was Mora Gora Rang Le Le from 1963 film Bandini. that's not a true the first song written by him was from Kabuliwala 1961, "Ganga Aye Kahan Se" the Hindi translation of a Bengali song.sung by Hemant Kumar. After that Bimal Roy asked him to write songs for Prem Patra 1962 film.
He then began writing for films for directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Asit Sen. Some of the films that Gulzar has written include Anand (1970), Guddi (1971), Bawarchi (1972) and Namak Haram (1973) for Hrishida and Do Dooni Char (1968), Khamoshi (1969) and Safar (1970) for Asit Sen.
With Mere Apne in 1971, he donned the role of a filmmaker. Gulzar went on to make Parichay (1972) and Koshish (1972). With Sanjeev Kumar, he made Aandhi (1975), Mausam (1975), Angoor (1981) and Namkeen (1982) He also made film with Jeetendra (Parichay, Khushboo (1975), Kinara (1977), with Vinod Khanna: Achanak (1973), Meera (1979) and Lekin (1990) and Hema Malini: Khushboo (1975), Kinara (1977), Meera (1979)
As a lyricist, Gulzar had a close association with the music director Rahul Dev Burman. Both of them gave some gems of the songs. Later he is associated with Vishal Bhardwaj  in Maachis (1996), Omkara (2006) and Kaminey (2009); A. R. Rahman in Dil Se.. (1998), Guru (2007), Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Raavan (2010) 
 Rahman and Gulzar won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Jai Ho" at the 81st Academy Awards. The song received international acclaim and won him a Grammy Award (shared with Rahman) in the category of Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Gulzar has written lyrics and dialogues for several Doordarshan TV series including Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Hello Zindagi, Guchche and Potli Baba Ki with Vishal Bhardwaj. 
Gulzar is married to actress Raakhee. The couple has a daughter, Meghna Gulzar (Bosky). Meghna Gulzar grew up with her mother and father and, after completing her graduation in filmmaking from New York University, went on to become a director of films such as Filhaal, Just Married, Dus Kahaniyaan and Raazi
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2004 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002. He has won a number of National Film Awards and 20 Filmfare Awards. He was also given Baba Saheb Phalke Award.

Song of Kabuliwala 1961

Song of Prem Patra 1962

Song of Bandhini 1963

Song of Khamoshi (1970)

Song of Do Dooni Chaar (1970)

Song of  Mere Apne (1971)

Song of Guddi (1971)

Song of Anand (1971)

Song of Parichay (1972)

Song of Anubhav (1972)

Song of Aandhi (1975)

Song of Mausam (1976)

Song of Kinara (1977)

Song of  Gharaonda (1977)

Song of Masoom (1983) 

Song of Maachis (1996)

Song of Slumdog Millionaire (2009)