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. 

Song from Sazaa (1951)

Song from Jaal(1952)

Song from Patita(1953)

Song from House No 44 (1954)

Song from Ferry (1954)

Song from Munimji (1955)

Song from Solva Saal(1958)

Song from Manzil (1960)

Song from Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962)

Hemant Kumar-a fabulous singer and irrepressible composer.

 Every distinguished creative artiste is born with one gift, but, Hemantda was born with several gifts. As a singer he reigned supreme in Calcutta and Bombay.From Naagin and Jaal to Bees Saal Baad and Kohraa the 50's and 60's were decades that 'belonged' prominently to the unique talents of Hemant Kumar. Remembering him on his 97 th Birth Anniversary,I present some of his Immortal songs.
Hemant Kumar Mukherjee was born on 16 June 1920 in Varanasi. Music seemed to be an inherent part of his life from the outsetAfter passing the intermediate examinations (12th grade), Hemanta joined Bengal Technical Institute at Jadavpur to pursue Engineering. However, he quit academics to pursue a career in music. At the age of 15 Hemanta recorded his first song for All India Radio in 1935.In his early life Hemanta Da used to follow the famous Bengali singer Pankaj Mullick ,he even was called as Chhota Pankaj during those days.In 1937, Hemanta cut his first gramophone disc under the Columbia label. The songs (non-film) on this disc were "Janite Jadi Go Tumi" and "Balo Go Balo More" whose lyrics were by Naresh Bhattacharya and music was composed by Sailesh Duttagupta.
Hemanta's first film song was in the Bengali film Nimai Sanyas released in 1941.His first Hindi film songs were in Irada  in 1944 under Pt. Amarnath's music direction.His first movie as a music director was the Bengali film Abhiyatri in 1947.
 Hemanta Kumar migrated to Mumbai in 1951 and joined Filmistan Studios,Hemen Gupta. the Director from Bengal with whom he gave music earlier in Bengali films approached  Hemanta  Kumar to compose music for his first directorial venture in Hindi titled Anandmath under the Filmistan banner.
The music of Anand Math (1952) was a moderate success. Perhaps, the most notable songs from this movie is 'Vande mataram' sung by Lata Mangeshkar,After that Hemanta Kumar scored music for a few Filmistan movies like Shart in subsequent years, the songs of which received moderate popularity. Simultaneously, Hemanta gained popularity in Mumbai as a playback singer.
His songs playbacked for actor Dev Anand under music director Sachin Dev Burman in movies like Jaal (" Yeh raat, yeh chandni phir kahan ... "), House No. 44 (" Chup hai dharti, chup hai chand sitare... "), Solva Saal (" Hai apna dil to awara ..... "), Funtoosh (" Teri duniya mein jeene se ... "), and Baat ek raat ki (" Na tum hame jaano ..... "), became very popular and continues to be so.
By the mid-1950s, Hemanta had consolidated his position as a prominent singer and composer.He composed music for a Hindi film called Nagin (1954) which became a major success owing largely to its music. Songs of Nagin remained chart-toppers continuously for two years and culminated in Hemant receiving the prestigious Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1955. 
In the late 1950s, Hemanta ventured into movie production under his own banner: Hemanta-Bela productions. The first movie under this banner was a Bengali film directed by Mrinal Sen, titled Neel Akasher Neechey (1959).Latter he made films in hindi,his production company was renamed Geetanjali productions and it produced several Hindi movies such as Bees Saal Baad, Kohraa, Biwi Aur Makaan, Faraar, Rahgir and Khamoshi — all of which had music by Hemanta. Only Bees Saal Baad and Khamoshi were major commercial successes.
The 1962 was special year for him,The music of Bees Saal Baad and Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam became very popular.Hemantda pulled out all stops for a score that ranks as one of the ten best ever composed for the Hindi cinema. Between them Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle created a universe of pain and romance in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam. From Geeta Dutt's 'Na Jao Saiyyan..' to Asha'a 'Bhanwara Bada Naadan Hai..', each song stuns each note cuts deeply in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam.
Hemant Kumar  sang finest Hindi songs for Sachin Dev and probably his Sazaa and Jaal songs were his first real popular numbers He once became voice of Dev Anand in the mid 50s,he sang 11 songs for him surprisingly all were great hits.
Hemant Kumar was also remained connected with Bangla Films through out his career,in fact he was very busy there in the late 60s and 70s. He remained the foremost exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, film and non-film songs. His output continued to be popular for most of the decade. Some of them are Jodi jante chao tumi... (1972), Ek gochha rajanigandha , Aamay prasno kore nil dhrubatara..., Sedin tomay dekhechilam... (1974), Khirki theke singho duar... (Stree, 1971), Ke jane ko ghonta... ( Sonar Khancha, 1974), Jeona daraon bandhu... ( Phuleswari, 1975 ) and popularised Rabindra sangeet using them beautifully in films as per situations. A very popular and classic example is the song Chorono dhorite diyogo amare.. in Dadar Kirti(1980). 
In 1980, Hemanta had a heart attack that severely affected his vocal capabilities, especially his breath control. After that he composed music for a handful of Bengali movies and one Bengali and one Hindi tele-series.In 1987, he was nominated for Padmabhushan which he refused politely.

In September 1989 he travelled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to receive the Michael Madhusudan Award, as well as to perform a concert. Immediately after returning from this trip he suffered another heart attack on 26 September and died at 11:15 pm in a nursing home in South Calcuuta

Song from Sazaa (1951)

Song from Jaal 1952

Song from Patita (1953)

Song from Anarkali (1953)

Song from Shart (1954)

Song from Nagin (1954)

Song from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955)

Song from House No. 44 (1955)

Song from Anupama 1966

Song from Pyaasa (1957)

Song from Solva Saal (1958)

Song from Post Box No. 999 (1958)

Song from Detective (1958)

Song from Satta Bazaar (1959)

Song from Kabuliwala (1961)

Song from Baat Ek Raat Ki 1962

Song from Bees Saal Baad 1963

Song from Bahu Rani (1963)

Song from Bin Badal Barsaat(1963)

Song from Kohraa (1964)

Song from Khamoshi 1969