Mukesh- The Man With Golden Voice

 

‘Dil jalta hai to jalne de’. was the first major song from Mukesh from ” Pehli Nazar”(1945). It was Anil Biswas who composed this song and wanted him to sing in Saigal style The song became so popular that he was branded for the sad songs. He was next to Saigal for such types of songs. Initially, all the composers used Mukesh mainly for such songs.

After this film, however, Anil Biswas helped Mukesh to develop his own distinct style, away from the Saigal effect. Mukesh's songs of Anokha Pyaar-1948, Lajawab-1950, and Aaram-1951 are a testimony to this effort becoming a success. Just listen to the ‘ Aye Jaan e Jigar’ song and you will agree.  The anguish of a failed lover, despondency of a purposeless life, the Heartache-all this is expressed by Mukesh like no other singer.

Naushad also recognized Mukesh's voice, he took him for the first time in the 1948 film 'Anokhi Ada'.Mukesh coming out a winner with his ‘ kabhi dil dil se takrata to hoga’. Mela-1948 put a stamp of approval on Mukesh from none other than Dilip Kumar. He sang many songs for him, in fact he was the voice of Dilip Kumar in Andaz(1949) and Rafi was the voice of Raj Kapoor in that film.

Along with Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey, and Kishore Kumar, he was one of the most popular and legendary singers of his era. Amongst the numerous nominations and awards he won, his song "Kai Baar Yuhi Dekha Hai" from filmRajnigandha (1973) won him the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. Mukesh was also popular as being the voice of the actor Raj Kapoor.

Mukesh won 4 Filmfare Awards,Sab Kuch Seekha Humne from Anaari 1959,Sabse Bada Naadan from Pehchan 1970,"Jai Bolo Beimaan Ki" from Beiman 1972 and "Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein" from Kabhi Kabhi 1976

Mukesh died of a heart attack on 27 August 1976 in Detroit, Michigan, US, where he had gone to perform in a concert. His body was flown to India by Lata Mangeshkar, where a grand funeral ceremony was held in the presence of several actors, with personalities of the Indian film industry and fans paying tribute.

In this blog, we have chosen a few of his Jolly & Happy Songs. Watch the video below from my Youtube channel

https://youtu.be/nwsts_0XeUQ

MUKESH - The Best Articulator of Melancholy.

 

 ‘Dil jalta hai to jalne de’. was the first major song from Mukesh from ” Pehli Nazar”(1945). It was Anil Biswas who composed this song and wanted him to sing in Saigal style The song became so popular that he was branded for the sad songs. He was next to Saigal for such types of songs.Initially, all the composers used Mukesh mainly for such songs.

After this film, however, Anil Biswas helped Mukesh to develop his own distinct style, away from the Saigal effect. Mukesh songs of Anokha Pyaar-48, Lajawab-50 and Aaram-51 are a testimony to this effort becoming a success. Just listen to ‘ Aye Jaan e Jigar’ song and you will agree.  The anguish of a failed lover, despondency of a purposeless life, the Heartache-all this is expressed by Mukesh like no other singer.

Naushad also recognized Mukesh's voice, he took him for the first time in the 1948 film 'Anokhi Ada'.Mukesh coming out a winner with his ‘ kabhi dil dil se takrata to hoga’. Mela-48 put a stamp of approval on Mukesh from none other than Dilip Kumar. He sang many songs for him, in fact he was the voice of Dilip Kumar in Andaz(1949) and Rafi was the voice of Raj Kapoor in that film.

Mukesh became the voice of Raj Kapoor after the success of Barsat (1949), he sang almost all the songs for him except a few exceptions. on his death raj Kapoor said that he has lost his voice. In fact, after the demise of Mukesh, Talat, Hemant, and Kishore to a certain extent sang sad songs, but the sentiments of Gloom, sorrow, and despair disappeared from Hindi film songs. 

The last song that he recorded was Chanchal Sheetal Nirmal Komal from “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” in June 1976. Soon after recording this song he left for a musical tour of the US. Mukesh had sung 930 songs in 533 films. he gave music to 2 films and acted in 7 films in his early years. Some of his films were, “Aadab Arz” (1943), “Aah” (1953), “Mashuqa” (1953), “Anurag” (1956).

Song of Pehli Nazar 1948

Song of Anokhi Ada 1948

Song of Mela 1948

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Bawre Nain 1949

Song of Awara 1951

Song of Aah 1953

Song of Parvarish 1958

Song of Kanhaiya 1959

Song of Bombai Ka Babu 1960

Song of Chhalia 1960

Song of Baraat 1960

Song of Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi 1960

Song of Sanjog 1961

Song of Sasural 1961

Jane Kahan Gaye Woh Din- The Tune of this Song taken from the Background music of Aah(1953)

 

This song was recorded 4 years before the film released in 1970. In fact, Mukesh sang a few stanzas of this song in front of a crowd of 2500 at the Shanmukhananda Hall Mumbai during the Filmfare Award function in June 1967.

The tune of this song was taken from background music in a scene of Aah released in 1953. This piece of music has also been used as a prelude to the song and appears in bits and pieces throughout the movie. Shankar Jaikishan had many times used a tune played in the earlier film and recreate it a new song. 

The writer of this song was Hasrat Jaipuri who wrote 7 stanzas of this song. Shankar Ji. was the original composer of this tune. Jaikishan later composed the full song in Raga Shivaranjani and Bhairavi, Some modifications were incorporated for Mukesh to make it simple.

The background music of Aah(1953)

Song of Mera Naam Jokeer 1970

Mukesh- It was Naushad who asked him to sing in his style

 

In the 40s KL Saigal was the voice of the nation, every male singer used to sing in his style. Our great singers, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, or Mukesh were his fans and used to sing in his style. If you listen to their earlier songs, you will not recognize their voice.  In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song "Dil Jalta Hai..." sung by Mukesh, he remarked, "That's strange, I don't recall singing that song.

In the 40s, there was a trend of singing actors, there was no playback singing prevailing in those days. The hero or heroine was taken on the basis of their singing ability. Mukesh was offered the role of a hero opposite Nalini Jaywant in the 1941 film Nirdosh.In this film, he had a duet with Nalini Jaywant and also a solo.

Mukesh and Suraiya.

Naushad though worked very less with him but asked him to sing on his own voice. In Mela, the song " Gaye Ja Geet Milan Ke" became a smash hit after that most of the composers asked him to sing on his own style.

Naushad composed approximately 23 songs for Mukesh, out of which 15 were solos and 8 were duets.  Naushad created some of the best gems for Mukesh including Kabhi dil dil sai takrata to hoga, Main bhanwara tou hai phool and Tu kahe agar. 

Naushad in an interview disclosed an interesting fact that Mukesh could never sing without a harmonium. This was because he thought that he would go out of tune. In fact, many times I had to pad up the harmonium, and whenever we did that the result was much better.

Song of Nirdosh 1941

Song of Nirdosh 1941

Song of Sukh Dukh

Song of Mukesh from Moniika Unreleased Film

Song of Pehli Nazar 1945

Song of Chaand Sitaare (1948) 

Song of Anokhi Ada 1948

Song of Anokhi Ada 1948

Song of Mela 1948

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Saathi 1968

Mukesh- His songs on the Cricket Match inspired Chandrashekhar

Mukesh(22 July 1923- 27 August 1976)  is considered to be one of the most popular and acclaimed playback singers of the Hindi film industry. Among billions of his fans was the great spin & Googly bowler Bhagwat Chandrashekhar.
Mukesh was a favorite of renowned Indian spin-bowler Bhagwat Chandrasekhar. When the sound of a Mukesh song drifted to the pitch, Chandrasekhar's acknowledgment of the tribute would bring a roar from the crowd. Sunil Gavaskar wrote that sometimes he hummed a Mukesh tune on the field to inspire Chandra.
Chandra has had a special fondness for Mukesh's songs since his childhood. He
used to tune into them on Radio Ceylon every night, and often dreamt of actually
hearing him sing live someday. His opportunity came only after he joined the
Indian eleven in the early sixties, and started going to Bombay often for
matches.
He had the ambition to meet his idol once, which he told to his friend in Bombay, a jockey friend M J Raju, who happened to know Mukesh personally. He took a nervous and tongue-tied Chandra to a recording studio to listen to his idol live for the first time.
Mukesh was recording songs for a film called Jyot Jale.

After his first meeting, they became good friends, though Mukesh was quite older to him he respected Chandrashekhar. Mukesh was also not a Cricket crazy unlike Raj Kapoor or Dilip Kumar but he never showed his dislike for the game.

Chandra spent many quiet evenings dining with Mukesh's family, of whom only
Mukesh's son ever showed any interest in cricket. Sometimes, they would hit some
popular nightspot and dine out together, just the two of them. Then, Mukesh
would insist on driving Chandra back to the hotel. Occasionally, a cricketer
friend would accompany Chandra to meet Mukesh, but Chandra tried to keep his
treasured encounters with his friend as uncrowded as possible.

Chandrashekhar during an interview told "We only talked about his music, very little else,. We did not gossip about people in films or people in cricket. I lacked the knowledge to discuss the technicalities of his music with him, so we would just talk about the mood of a particular song, or what emotions we experienced on hearing it."

He had a great collection of Mukesh songs, almost 800 songs,'Yeh Mera Diwanapan' from Yahudi and the songs of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai are a few of his favorite songs of Mukesh.

Sunil Gavaskar in an interview to Sony TV once said he was playing in a Ranji Match, Chandrashekhar was bowling him and beating him with his Googly a leg break, and following on through to the batsman. Not to sledge him but to ask, "Suna kya?" (Did you hear that?), as a Mukesh song wafted to the pitch from a spectator's transistor. Indians of an earlier generation took transistor radios to first-class matches - and listened to the running commentary. Often they tuned in to popular stations playing Bollywood songs. The volume was turned up when a Mukesh song came on during a match involving Chandra, or a song involving Sharmila Tagore when her husband, Tiger Pataudi, was in action. When players acknowledged the tribute, the crowd roared. It was a way of connecting with the stars in the pre-television and pre-selfie days.

Chandrashekhar was a Kannada speaking and didn't understand Hindi, he couldn't understand the lyrics of Mukesh songs but he liked his voice and tunes. Players of his era tell that Chandra was a quiet person and whenever you go to his room, one can always see him listening only to Mukesh songs.

Mukesh named his son Nitin, like him, he also named his son Nitin. Here are a few of Chandra's favorite Mukesh songs

Song of Yahudi 1958

Song of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai 1961

Song of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai 1961

Song of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai 1961

Song of Mela 1948

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Saranga 1961

Song of Barsaat 1949

Song of Teesri Kasam 1966

Suhana Safar Aur Yeh Mausam Haseen - The song that was kept on Hold

This song remains one of the most popular songs of Madhumati, released in 1958. The Madhumati soundtrack features eleven songs composed by Salil Chowdhry. Shailendra wrote the lyrics The soundtrack of Madhumati became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of 1958. This remains one of the personal favorite songs of Mukesh.
Suhana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Haseen is one of Hindi cinema’s greatest musical scores. An anthem in praise of natural beauty. Mukesh’s inimitable voice emanates the joy with a fantastic echo effect. Salil Chowdhury utilized this quality so adeptly in this composition that listening to it one feels like none but Mukesh could have rendered this song. Charming its way into people’s hearts and rightly securing his position in the league of legends.
It is said that Dilip Kumar, the hero of the film wanted this song to be sung by Talat Mahmood but Talat himself declined to sing saying Mukesh needed that break much more than him, Mukesh was not getting songs during those years and that he was hard up for money.
There is another story behind this song, that Shailendra who was the lyricist for this song couldn’t find a suitable line to follow this particular one “Ye Gori Nadiyon Ka Chalna Uchhal Kar”. So the song was kept on hold for quite some time till one day, he happened to chance upon a little girl who was crossing a lane and singing to herself. This inspired him to write the next line “Ki Jaise Alhad Chale Pee Se Mil Kar”. He immediately went to Salil Da's home and completed the full song. Shailendra has used words like ‘Alhar’, which is seldom used in film songs and it is north Indian rooted word, generally used by village and small-town folks.
Along with the composition of the song and its picturization; the lyrics were unique. Describing the movement of rivers, 
Unlike other films, shot indoors, Roy decided to shoot Madhumati outdoors and at a hill station. It had a six-week schedule in Ranikhet, Nainital. Some scenes were shot in Ghorakhal, near Nainital. In those days there were no monitors, so when the negatives were developed, it was found that most of the footage was foggy. Since a reshoot in far-away Uttarakhand wasn't possible, sets were created near Vaitarna Dam, Igatpuri, near Nashik. Art direction team, led by Sudhendu Roy, created fake pine trees, which were planted to matched the location in Nainital.

Song of Madhumati 1958

Mukesh Sang Maximum for Shankar-Jaikishan

Mukesh (22 July 1923- 27 Aug 1976 ) sang around 1300 songs in films out of these he sang around 134 songs for Shankar-Jaikishan followed by kalyanji Anandji ie 99 songs. Out of 4 Filmfare awards, Mukesh won 3 awards for Shankar Jaikishan songs.
 He got his break as a playback singer for actor Motilal in 1945 with the film Pehli Nazar with music composed by Anil Biswas and lyrics written by Aah Sitapuri. The first song that he sang for a Hindi film was "Dil Jalta Hai To Jalne De".
In this Blog I have taken only those songs which he sang under the Music Direction of Shankar-Jaikishan. 
Mukesh created his own singing style with the help of music director Naushad Ali, who helped Mukesh to come out of his Saigal style and create his own style. Naushad gave him songs for the film Andaz. Initially Mukesh was the ghost voice of Dilip Kumar in this movie and Mohammed Rafi sang for Raj Kapoor. He delivered many Hits for Naushad in films like: Anokhi Ada (1948), Mela (1948), Andaz (1949).
Barsaat (1949) was the first film of Shankar-Jaikishan, Barsaat’s music was dominated by Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh getting two duets with her. But their next venture, Awara (1951), had the title track which became a global sensation making Raj Kapoor-Nargis one of the most recognizable faces abroad, and India’s cultural ambassador.
In the same year, in a non-RK film Baadal, too, SJ created an outstanding solo, Main raahi mbhatakane wala hun, and an equally good duet with Lata Mangeshkar, Ae dil na mujhse chhupa.
SJ’s next film Aah (1953) didn’t fire up the box-office, but what great songs Mukesh sang! The two solos, Raat andheri door kinara, Chhoti si ye zindagani, and the two duets with Lata Mangeshkar, Jaane na jigar pahchaane nazar, Aa ja re ab mera dil pukara are among the most loved songs for Mukesh fans.
With Mukesh becoming identified as Raj Kapoor’s voice, in almost all the films of Raj Kapoor whether under RK banner or outside, if SJ were the music director Mukesh was almost invariably the voice for him. And every film had great songs remembered till today: Kanhaiya, Main Nashe Mein Hun (1959), Jis Desh Mein Ganga Bahti Hai (1960), Aashiq, Ek Dil Aur Sau Afsaane (1962), Sangam (1964), Teesri Kasam (1966), Around The World, Deewana (1967), Sapnon Ka Saudagar (1968) and Mera Naam Joker (1970).
SJ also used Mukesh as the voice for many heroes, such as Manoj Kumar (Hariyali Aur Rasta, 1962), Sunil Dutt (Ek Phool Aur Chaar Kaante, 1960) and Rajendra Kumar (Aas Ka Panchhi, Sasural, 1961).
Mukesh received his first Filmfare Award for the song Sab Kuch Seekha Humne" in the movie Anari (1959), Shankar-Jaikishan also received Award for Best Music direction. After this Mukesh received Award for Sabse Bada Naadan Wahi Hai" in Pehchaan (1970), "Jai Bolo Beimaan Ki" in Beimaan (1972) under the Music Direction of Shankar-Jaikishan. 

Song of Barsaat 1949

Song of Barsaat 1949

Song of Awara 1951

Song of Shri 420  1955

Song of Anari  1959

Song of Jis  Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960)

Song of Sangam (1964)

Song of Teesri Kasam(1966)

Song of Mera  Naam Joker (1970)

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