Showing posts with label story behind song. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story behind song. Show all posts

Tuesday 9 April 2019

The Story Behind the Song "Dum Maro Dum"


This super hit song was once an anthem of the Indian young generation. To hear ‘Dum Maro Dum’ blaring over loudspeakers was a part of growing up in the 1970s. The job of composing music for ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ was first offered to Sachin Dev Burman but he hated hippie culture and turned down the offer. But his son R. D. Burman was of a different opinion and decide to grab this opportunity. After this song, R. D. Burman became the new mega-composer of Bollywood.
Actually ‘Dum Maro Dum’ was supposed to be a duet between Usha Uthup (singing for the bad girl) and Lata Mangeshkar (singing for the good girl). But at the end, they were both checked off the list and Asha Bhosle ended up singing the song solo.
The song topped the Binaca Geetmala annual list 1972. In Binaca Geetmala, a song could appear for a maximum of 18 weeks, after which it was called a Sartaj Geet. On 15 March 1972, Dum Maro Dum becameSartaj Geet while it was at #1 payddan (position). It had remained at #1 position for 12 weeks.
Dev Anand wanted some peppy music before his song "Ram Ka Naam Badnam Na Karo" R D Burman sat with Anand Bakshi and asked him to give him few words before starting the song Ram Ka Naam Badnam No Karo. It was Anand Bakshi who used the old phrase Dum Maro Dum Mit Jaye Gum as Mukhda for this song, R D Burman immediately made a tune which was liked by all his musicians. So he asked Anand Bakshi to complete the full song on this tune.

The song came out to be marvellous, everybody was convinced that it will become a craze. In fact, Dev Anand was scared of this song, he was worried that this song will overshadow his song Ram Ka Naam Badnam Na Karo. RDB suggested to him that they will keep this song only on the disc. After a few days, Dev Saab decided to picturise this song on Zeenat Aman but kept a small version of this separately in the film.
The song presented the lyricist Anand Bakshi as a versatile lyricist and shaped his career. It also boosted the composer Rahul Dev Burman's career. Bhupinder played the guitar for the song. Charanjit Singh played the distinctive drone of the transichord that opens the song.
This song has been remixed and sampled by a number of artists. It has also been included in many compilations.British DJ, San-j Sanj has used the infectious guitar hook and created a dance track featuring Natty A called "So Real So Right". DJ Ritu and Bally Sagoo compiled the song for their collection The Rough Guide to Bollywood in 2002. In 2004, the hip-hop artist Method Man sampled the song in his third album Tical 0: The Prequel, for the track "What's Happenin'" featuring Busta Rhymes.
Here is the original song along with many cover  versions of this song
Song of Hare Rama Hare Krishna 1971




Method Man and Busta Rhymes, "What's Happenin'"


The Beatles of Bollywood




Robin and The New Revolution




Monday 8 April 2019

Story Behind the Song "Yeh Aankhen Uff You Maa"


This Iconic song is sung by Rafi and Lata and it is picturised on the lead pair of Dev Saab and Asha Parekh. The film was directed by Nasir Hussain and the song was written by Hasrat Jaipuri and composed by Shankar Jaikishan. The film was a super hit, all the songs were hit.
When this song released everybody was curious to know the meaning of Uff Youmaa.These words became craze after the release of the film.
The story behind these words was that once Music Director Jaikishan along with lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri were attending a party in Bombay where an Arabic lady who was very beautiful said Uff Yumma and Jaikishan immediately took a liking for this very unusual word and there and then asked Hasrat Jaipuri to sit down and write a romantic song using this word for their upcoming film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai.
The Mukhra of this song was ready in a few minutes. Jaikishan immediately left the party and went to Nasir Hussain's house Initially Nasir Hussain was reluctant to take these words but when the full song was ready he invited Dev Saab to listen to the song. Dev Anand instantly liked these words and approved this song.
This romantic song was picturised on the beautiful hills of Darjeeling. The situation was created for this song by the director for using these words. 
Song of Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai 1961

Please Click the Link Below to know more about Hasrat Jaipuri




Thursday 4 April 2019

Story Behind the song Hotho Mein Aisi Baat


"Hotho Mein Aisi Baat, Mein Dabaa Ke Chali Ayee" is one of the best dance sequences in Indian Cinema. This is from Dev Anand's classic Jewel Thief(1967). That was the time when actresses were actually trained (long term!) in dance. Vyjantimala, of course, was the best of the best. But others like Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini and others have also given some great dance sequences.
Vijay Anand was the director of this film, we all know that he was the master of picturising a song. This movie started a trend where directors began putting a song before the climax. Before that, he tried a song before the climax in Nau Do Gyaraha(1957) but this song remains one of the best Dance Songs of Bollywood.

Vijay Anand worked with Vyjantimala for the first time. She was a Super Star at that time. There were some date problems and many distractions but Vyjayantimala being the professional that she was, still came up with a polished performance. Goldie's only grievance was that she could have done better with Hoton Pe Aisi Baat. He wanted her to rehearse the number before we went for a final take. But she told me airily that she didn't need any rehearsals. he insisted she did, but she still didn't report for rehearsals and came straight to the set. he called for "pack-up" and told her firmly that she had to stay back in the studio and practise with the assistants. She did practise, for 15 minutes. Then she got into her car and drove off saying that Saroj Khan would be coming to her place later and they'd go over the steps together. The rehearsal never happened but Vyjayantimala being a good actress and an excellent dancer didn't find it too difficult to pick up the steps and the shots were okayed quickly. So if you see a single camera capture of Vyjantimala’s magic, it was ACTUALLY done in a single shot

The song is from those days where technology was so much poorer compared to today, the editing of that song was marvellous. Which means that they didn’t have sharp edits that could get stitched together, and look like one single camera sequence, Think of the choreography with the support dance troupe, and other stars like Dev Anand, floating in between the long sequence otherwise focused on Vyjantimala.
Honthon Mein Aisi Baat” (brilliantly choreographed by Master Sohanlal), as the camera follows Vyjayanthimala, he uses the circular tracks, dynamic angles and cuts to build up the tension to a crescendo. Here is an example of how Western technique could merge with Indian art. Even as you enjoy the aesthetics of dance.
As we all know that the music was given by S D Burman and he was assisted by his son R D Burman who by that time had become an independent Music Director and was giving the music of Teesri Manzil side by side. The song was sung by Lata Mangeshkar but you will be surprised to know that Bhupinder also participated in that song. Bhupinder sings the opening
refrain Hooooo for Dev and in the middle of the song he says " O Shalu". That was his total contribution to the song.
Song of Jewel Thief 1967



 

Thursday 1 November 2018

The Song "Gata Rahe Mera Dil" was the Last Addition in Guide


You would be surprised to know that this super hit song was originally not in the film. Vijay Anand in an interview said that the song Gata Rahe Mera Dil was inserted later, like a patchwork. We shot that song after the film was completed and then it was added. He said he along with Dev Anand thought that there was no song of Kishore Kumar, in fact, Kishore had not sung for Dev since Paying Guest in 1957.
It happened just like that. Firstly, Kishore Kumar was preoccupied with Madhubala’s health. He was not being able to devote time to rehearsals and recordings. And then with Rafi Sahab, their association was working perfectly. But Dev Bhai was missing Kishore for a long time and so he went to meet him. And then caught hold of him and sort of dragged him to Burman Dada’s home.
 The moment he saw Kishore he said in Bengali, ‘why didn’t you come all these days’ and hugged him. They loved each other a lot. Burman Dada then said let us start the rehearsal, we are going to record a song.
That time S D Burman was composing a song for Teen Deviyan and the song was Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat. This song was the first song Kishore recorded for Dev Bhai after a long hiatus under Burman Dada’s music direction. Kishore sang it so wonderfully, he won everyone’s heart. This is exactly what all of us, including Dev Bhai, was missing. Burman Dada kissed his (Kishore’s) head. He was delighted.
Guide was completed and about to release earlier than Teen Deviyan because there was some work still left with the latter. Besides, Teen Deviyan was being made in black and white and on a much smaller canvas. Guide had been mounted on a large scale and it was in colour and thus it was a much-awaited film. So why not include a song by Kishore in Guide.
So immediately Shailendra was called to write a romantic song thus this song was recorded in a record time. The song was a very big hit. It was the only song of Kishore Kumar in the film.
Song of Guide 1965

Wednesday 19 September 2018

The story behind the song"Chahoonga Main Tujhe Saanj Savere"



The Filmfare Award in 1965 went to Dosti(1964) for five categories including three categories namely – music director, singer and lyricist gone to Dosti for the song Chahoonga main Tujhe Sanj Savere –The song was brilliantly rendered by Melody King Mohd. Rafi Saab and was composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and written by Majrooh Sultanpuri.
Laxmikant Pyarelal were the upcoming Music director Many of their earlier films were not successful at the Box Office only Parasmani was successful. Dosti was their first Super Hit film and the music was also super hit. The song Chahoonga main tujhe sanj savere tune was composed much earlier than any Parasmani song by the duo with Lata Mangeshkar in mind. They could not find a situation in their early films to use the song properly.
Originally the lines of the song written by Mazrooh were Chauhingi Mein Tujhe Saanjh Savere, Phir Bhi Kabhi Ab Naam Ko Tere, Awaz Mein Na Dungi.
Dosti was a small budget movie of Rajshri Films and getting Mohammad Rafi and Lata the Established singer was out of the budget for the composer but they thought of approaching Rafi to sing songs for Dosti.
They were very apprehensive when they drove to Rafi’s mansion early that day not knowing if the great singer would agree to sing for a low-budget movie and for such young, struggling music directors such as LP. 
 During the musical sitting of Dosti, Laxmikant sang this song out for Rafi at the very tail end of their session before departing Rafi’s house as a song they kept in their pocket as a reserve. Rafi was completely bowled over by the tune of Chahoonga  main tujhe , he agreed to sing songs for Dosti for the sake of singing this song. LP replied that there was no situation in the movie for this song. They did not want to use it. Rafi insisted persistently and said that he would sing all the songs for free if Chahoonga main tujhe was included in the film.  LP returned back and had to make the writer, producer, director re-write the story to include Chahoonga  main tujhe as a primary song in the film.
The movie was released and took India by storm in 1964. Rafi sang 5 solo songs in this film, all the songs were hit Rafi Saab had given his golden voice to many unknown actors, even in Dosti two boys played the part of friends were Sudhir Kumar and Sushil Kumar. All of the songs lip-synced by Sudhir Kumar (Mohan), the blind boy.  Even as a unique coincidence Dosti is the only movie in Hindi Cinema which made a record for the biggest hit without heroine. 
Rafi Saab was honoured by the Government of India with the coveted Padmashri Award as well as National Film Award for the Best Male Playback Singer for this song “Chahooga main Tujhe“
Song of Dosti 1964





Wednesday 8 August 2018

Baazi 1951 Songs Were Banned by All India Radio



You would be surprised to note that the popular songs like Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer Bana Le and many more songs were not allowed to air from All India Radio. It was in 1952 that the minister of information and broadcasting (I&B) of newly independent India, B.V. Keskar, decided that All India Radio (AIR)—the information and entertainment lifeline of the nation—would not air film songs as they were degenerate and far too “Westernized”. He believed they would hinder the cultural growth of a young nation on the cusp of a bright future. 
Mr Keskar who was a staunch supporter of Indian Classical music. To his mind, Indian film songs were straying from their responsibility of instilling national pride in people.
The influence of western music and instruments would keep the Indians away from their culture. 
In an article in The Hindu (19 July 1953), Keskar argued that the country’s appreciation for classical music had “fallen” and was “on the point of extinction” particularly in north India.
To begin with, he mandated that all songs aired on AIR would be screened, he imposed “a quota of 10 percent of all program time”. In addition, Keskar ensured that if a film song was played, the film’s title would not be announced, since he considered that advertising. Only the singer’s name would be mentioned.
As a result, Radio Ceylon got popularity. It created the legendary musical countdown Binaca Geetmala—a show entirely dedicated to Indian film songs. Every Wednesday, Indian listeners would tune into Radio Ceylon and listen to their favourite songs with their favourite show host—the iconic and charming Ameen Sayani, who would engage them with complimentary film trivia.
Song of Baazi 1951



Tuesday 7 August 2018

"Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hain" An Immortal Art in Celluloid.


Vijay Anand was an Ace Director. His directorial excellence was as much about his deft camera work as it was about his nuanced characters. He was a master of picturising songs. His songs outlived his times. This great song from Guide is an immortal art in celluloid. Both he and his elder brother Dev had a  belief that the songs have repetitive value. Besides the composition of the song, they were very particular about the picturization of the song. Vijay Anand used to say “My camera listens to the song and moves with it,” Long shots, lush backdrops and sharp intercutting brought out the poetry in the prose.
Guide (1965) was Navketan’s first film in colour. Based on RK Narayan’s novel. It became a classic because it excelled in acting (Dev Anand-Waheeda Rehman), music (SD Burman), photography (Fali Mistry), editing (Vijay Anand and Babu Shiekh)... 
There was a situation in the film where the heroine was dejected and to bring hope the hero sings a song. For this situation, three legends, Dada Burman created a tune for which  Shailendra wrote the beautiful lines and Mohammad Rafi gave the voice.  Incidentally, the saxophone that plays in this song was played by Manohari Singh, a music assistant to S D Burman (and later R D Burman).

The song Tere Mere Sapne was shot in the early light(Sun Rise) in Udaipur. This sequence lasts more than four minutes, but it is made up of only three shots, which increase progressively in length – in other words, there are only two cuts in the whole scene. And this isn’t an arbitrary stylistic decision, it is central to what is happening in the film at this point. 
The two cuts in this scene (the first around the 39-second mark, the second around 1.44 minutes) both occur after a movement of the song has been completed, and both have Rosie drawing away from Raju after initially reaching for him. In the first scene, she strokes his shoulder; in the second she hugs him briefly, but then bunches up her fist and moves away. She is still conflicted at the end of both these movements, and in each case the cut serves as punctuation, indicating that the process of reassuring her must begin anew. And this is done at a dual level, by the lyrics of the song as well as by the sympathetic, probing movement of the camera.

 In his book Cinema Modern, Sidharth Bhatia quotes the cinematographer Fali Mistry’s son as saying of this sequence, “It was shot over two evenings and a morning, at dusk and dawn, which means they must have had a very small window of about 10 minutes each time, so they had to ensure nothing went wrong in the acting, camera placement, lighting etc … It required great coordination.” 
Song of Guide 1965

Friday 27 July 2018

The song Khoya Khoya Chaand was written on a piece of cigarette pack foil


Every song has a story behind it. On this subject, I have written a blog earlier. In this blog, I take this immortal song from Kala Bazar. The song was written by Shailendra and composed by S.D. Burman.
 This was the first time that Dev Anand, Vijay Anand, Waheeda Rehman, S D Burman and Shailendra came together.
Vijay Anand who was the director of the film, who narrated the situation of the song to Shailendra and asked him to write a romantic song for this situation. Shailendra, probably too busy with his other assignments, was not delivering a song, urgently needed for the film. Shailendra was making all kinds of excuses for not delivering.S D Burman, known for his bad temper, was under tremendous pressure. So one fine day Shailendra was at his residence and asked him to give him the words for his tune for this song. Burman da called his young son, Pancham ( R D Burman ) and told him – ” You will go with Shailendra and DO NOT come home unless he gives you the lyrics ” !!!
This incident was narrated by R D Burman in a radio interview in AIR. As Burman da was very angry on Shailendra he asked RD Burman to come along with him and drove to his home. On the way, they stopped at Shankar  Jaikishan's place to finish some pending work.
It was evening…. Shailendra finished his work with Shanker Jaikishen and with Pancham, got into his car. He instructed the driver to go to National Park. There, Shailendra kept smoking cigarette after cigarette. BUT NO WORDS !!! 
Shailendra then thought of a change of place, he asked his driver to proceed to Juhu Beach
R D Burman was cursing his luck as they got back into the car, it was almost night, what will he tell his father about the song.He was 20 years old that time and was an assistant so he couldn't pressurise Shailendra to give him the song immediately.
The time was 11 in the night and nothing is written. The beach was deserted. Those days people used to return home by 7 orr 8 in the evening. Shailendra was leisurely strolling along with the eager Pancham trying to keep step. Suddenly Shailendra asked Pancham for a matchbox. He sheepishly handed over his matchbox to Shailendra. Shailendra was lost in thought, he lit his cigarette, returned the matchbox and asked Pancham to give him the tune Burman da had composed. Pancham, tapping the matchbox in rhythm, hummed the tune.
It was a full moon night and Shailendra was looking at the sky puffing away on his cigarette
and suddenly started writing on a piece of cigarette pack foil. after a while, he told Pancham – “You can go home, tell Dada, I will be at your place in the morning with the full song..”
He hummed the mukhda
Khoya khoya chand, khula aasmaan,
Aankhon mein saari raat jaayegi,
Tum ko bhi kaise neend aayegi
Pancham smiled, he knew that this song was a winner! He ran, hailed a cab and went home. Pancham  in the next morning handed Dada a crumpled piece of cigarette pack foil with the words of the mukhda scribbled on it!!! Burman Da instantly liked the mukhda and asked Pancham to call Shailendra to complete the song.

As we all know that Burman Da was very particular about the words of his songs and similarly Shailendra too chooses his words very carefully as per the situation. Thus the full song was completed in that sitting. Same day Burman Da called Mohammad Rafi to come for the rehearsal of this song The song was recorded after two days.

We must appreciate Vijay Anand who picturised the song so well that it became the highlight of the film. It topped Annual Binaca Geetmala that year. What Vijay Anand achieves is a feat which is very rare. Most directors shy away from shooting and showing us more than two verses of a song. Here, his shooting, along with Burmanda’s music and Shailendra’s words, is so perfect that we go through FOUR verses of this song just glued to our seats !!!! That is why Vijay Anand is adored by film-goers and film-makers all over India.
Song from Kala Bazar 1960





Wednesday 8 November 2017

There is Always a Story Behind a Great Song


 Every bit of Bollywood fascinates us. Be it the films, or the songs or the presentation, we just love Bollywood.Many movies of the golden era have been long forgotten, yet the songs of these old movies still linger on to entertain us over and over again. There are lots of inside stories associated with these songs.The purpose of my article is to bring forward some of these interested inside stories to the readers.
Pyar Huwa, Ikraar Huwa'I start with the song Pyar Huwa, Ikraar Huwa' (Film: Shri 420),The Mukhda of this song was composed by Shankar and the Antra was composed by Jaikishan. Later, Shankar wanted to change the antara composed by Jaikishen, which Jaikishen vehemently opposed. Finally, this confrontation led to fist fight between the two greats. Only the timely intervention by other musicians calmed down both of them and finally Shankar agreed to retain Jaikishen's composition of antara `as it is what a great hit was that song.
Song from Shri 420 (1955)

Jalte hai jiske liye' (Film: Sujata)Initially, S D Burman wanted to give the famous song to Rafi. It was SDBurman's assistant Jaidev who strongly recommended taking Talat Mehmood instead of Rafi. By looking at the composition, he insisted that only Talat could do justice to this song and not Rafi. However, S D Burman would not listen to Jaidev. Finally, SDB bowed down and took Talat to sing the song. We all know that Talat did full justice to this song with his mellow voice.
Song from Sujata 1959

`Main baharon ki natkhat rani' (Film: Boot Polish),Lata had refused to sing the song because initially the lyrics were `Bazaron ki' instead of Baharon Ki, which was objectionable to Lata. So it was changed to `baharon ki' for Lata's sake. Even then Lata would not budge and continued her refusal to sing the song, and finally SJ had to record this song using Asha's voice.
Song from Boot Polish 1953
. 
. Jab pyar kiya toh darna kya.-Music Director Naushad and lyricist Shakeel Badaiyuni, sat on a terrace ( and not an air-
conditioned Hotel room ) for a whole night, composing, writing, rewriting a song. No 
wonder it is evergreen - 'Jab pyar kiya toh darna kya.'

Song from Mughal e Azam 1960

O re maazhi' from the film Bandini the tune of this song was heard by S D Burman when he was just a child,He used to listen Majhi song by a local man,this inspired him to become a music composer,and when he got a situation of a song in that film he decided to sing himself.
Song from Bandini 1963

Piya tose naian lage re' (Film: Guide),Once in a while, SDB asked his assistant music directors to compose antara of the song. SDB composed sthaayi of the song `Piya tose naian lage re' (Film: Guide) on raga Khamaj, and then went out to eat paan (betel leaves). In the meantime, he told his assistant music directors to compose the antara. When he returned to the recording room and listened to the antara composed by his assistants, he immediately realized that it was a very poor composition. He scolded his assistants and discarded this antara and then sat down to compose it himself, and came out with brilliant composition within a short time. His assistant music directors were dazzled to see the brilliance of SDB. We all know how melodious this classical song is.
Song from Guide 1965

Man Tadpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj from Baiju Bawra- When Rafi was doing the rehearsals before recording the bhajan `Man Tadpat', Naushad discovered that Rafi had a problem in pronouncing certain Sanskrit words in the lyrics. Naushad immediately brought Sanskrit pundits from Varanasi and asked them to work on Rafi's diction. These Sanskrit pundits worked day and night to improve Rafi's diction and after several rehearsals, Naushad gave the green signal for the final recording. And this bhajanwent onto become an all time hit and is sung in almost every Hindu temple all over the world.
Song from Baiju Bawra 1952

Mohobbat me aise kadam dagmagaaye' We all know how hit were the songs of Anarkali  The producer of this film kept replacing music directors. It was like a revolving door. Finally, C Ramchandra stepped in and fine tuned all the songs and gave one of the best music of his career. During the composition of the intoxicating song `Mohobbat me aise kadam dagmagaaye' for this film, CR had a problem in fitting a proper word after `…peeke aaye' as there was a small gap. He decided to go home to think more about it. On his way back home, he bought lots of grocery and then while climbing the stairs of his home with heavy grocery bags, he started getting hiccups. Suddenly, he realized that he could use hiccups after `…peeke aaye'. After entering his home, he immediately played the tune on his harmonium with a hiccup added at the end. The gap after the lyrics `…peeke aaye' was filled up and the song was completed. Next day, he recorded this song with Lata's voice and when Beena Rai as Anarkali sang this song on the screen with a hiccup, the effect was tremendous.
Song from Anarkali 1953

Prem Jogan Ban Ke Sundari (Mughal e Azam ) K Asif, the producer-director was keen that Bade Ghulam Ali Khan lends his voice to Surendra in the role of Tansen. Both K Asif and Naushad, the music director of the film approached Ustad for recording two songs for his film which he flatly refused. K Asif was not a person to accept a ‘no’ to his proposal.The fact of the matter was that all the classical singers of that time were under the mistaken notion that recording their singing through the microphone would weaken their lungs and thus shorten their singing careers. K Asif relentlessly pursued and cajoled Ustad to agree to sing for his film. Tired of his constant persuasions, Ustad finally agreed to sing two songs provided he was paid Rs.25000/- per song. He quoted this excessive fees solely to discourage K Asif from engaging him for singing in his film since the top playback singers of that time like Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi were being paid Rs.500/- per song those days. However, K Asif not only agreed at once to his terms, he also said that his singing was more precious than any amount of money. The two songs – ‘shub din aayo raj dulara’ and ‘prem jogan ban ke sundari’ were recorded in his voice and were retained in the film.
Song from Mughal e Azam 1960

Main kya karoon ram mujhe buddha mil gaya from Sangam 1964,When this superhit song  was being composed at the behest of Raj Kapoor,SJ were worried that Lata would refuse to sing this song because of the lyrics. Lata always used to be very particular about the lyrics of the songs before recording. And Raj Kapoor wanted SJ to record this song as quickly as possible with Lata as the singer. SJ decided to trick Lata. So, SJ telephoned Lata and told her that a quick picturization of a song for Sangam had to be done at RK studios, and that she should come immediately and record the song without much rehearsal. So Lata came hurriedly and the song was quickly recorded before giving any time to Lata to grasp the meaning of the lyrics.
Song from Sangam 1964

Rahe na rahe hum' (Film: Mamta).Music Director Roshan was a family friend of SDB. Once Roshan came to SDB's house and asked his permission to use his tune `Thandi Hawaayen' (Film: Naujawaan) for his forthcoming composition for the song `Rahe na rahe hum' (Film: Mamta). SDB gladly gave him permission and Roshan made some cosmetic changes and composed this song very well
Song from Mamta 1966

Aaj socha to aanso bhar aaye' (Film: Hanste Zakhm),While recording this song Lata got so emotional that she started crying before the song recording could be completed. MM immediately requested Lata to go home and relax and come back again for recording the next day. Next day, after regaining the composure, Lata rendered the song very effectively.
Song from Hanste Zakhm 1973

Na ye chand hoga, na taarey rahenge'-Hemant Kumar was the music director of the film Shart .He made few Dhun for this song but the producer was not satisfied with the Dhun so he asked Hemant Da to try more,eventually he made 22 Dhuns of this song the producer finally selected one tune after carefully listening to all 22 tunes. The final tune selected is a very romantic tune indeed and is popular even after so many decades. Surprisingly this was not the dhun Hemant Da was interested.
Song from Shart 1954



Itna na na mujh se tu pyar badha(Film: Chhaaya),
Music director Salil Chowdhary was always fascinated with western classical music, especially European musicians such as Mozart,he wanted the symphony of Mozart to be used in this song but the producer didn't like it he insisted that that this will go on this song will be liked by the public ultimately the song was recordedin that symphony This song became immortal

 Song from Chhaaya 1961


 Mud mud ke naa dekh mud mud ke'.Once Raj Kapoor,Shailendra and Shankar Jaikishan were driving to Lonavla while in car,Jaikishan saw a beauty on road. He 
turned behind, a number of times, to see her. Lyricist Shailendra, sitting besides, immediately 
created ' Mud mud ke naa dekh mud mud ke'.

Song from Shri 420 (1955)

 Chingaari Koi bhadke, toh saawan use bujaye'


Shakti Samant wanted for "Amar Prem' a song with lines full of extreme contrasts and 
lyricist Anand Baxi, otherwise known as 'Factory of songs' could not write one. Suddenly 
one night, at a filmy party, with a glass of wine in one hand, cigar in another, he was 
standing at the window when rain-water extinguished his cigar. Immediately it struck to 
him - ' Chingaari Koi bhadke, toh saawan use bujaye'

Song from Amar Prem 1972


Aa Aa Aaja-the song from Teesri Manzil was the song that caught the attention of Shammi Kapoor.When Nasir Hussein was producing the film Teesri Manzil (1965), hero Shammi Kapoor asked him to take Shankar-Jaikishen as its music director. Nasir Hussein decided to give chance to the young budding music director R.D. Burman. Shammi Kapoor did not like the idea.It was the Director Vijay Anand insisted him to listen the Dhun of the songs RD prepared.When Shammi Kapoor listened to the tunes he immediately started dancing to the beat of the tunes..When Jaikishen came to know that R.D. Burman got the contract, he immediately telephoned him to congratulate and wished him all the best.

Song from Teesri Manzil 1965

Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara- It is said that S D Burman had composed “Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara” for Guru Dutt's last film “Baharein Phir Bhi Ayengi” but when he opted out of the film, he offered the tune to Dev Anand and he lapped it up.

Song from Jewel Thief 1967

Teri Pyari Pyari Soorat Ko this song was created by Shankar Jaikishan,Shammi Kapoor who was a friend of SJ liked this song wanted them to keep for his next film but there was a situation in the film Sasural where SJ thought that this song suits so it was picturised on Rajendra Kumar,this made Shammi Kapoor annoyed with SJ

Song from Sasural 1961


Khai Ke paanwas originally composed for Dev Anand - film Banaarasi Babu. But he 
did not like the idea of wearing a "Dhoti' . So later Kalyanji Anandji used it for Don, but 
here too, writers Salim -Jaaved would not let their hero to wear a "Dhoti', and 
Amitabh created history with his steps in trousers as well

Song from Don 1978

 Kaun aaya mere mann ke dwaare, from Dekh Kabira Roya.Manna De was bribed for this song to sing.The story is that Madan Mohan wanted Manna De to sing this song for him,but Manna De was not interested.One day, Madan Mohan phoned Manna Dey and invited him over for lunch. When Manna Dey jokingly asked, “But what are you cooking?” Madan Mohan replied, “Bhindi meat.”So Manna Dey went to the composer’s house and enjoyed a hearty meal of bhindi meat curry and rice. When he was sated and happy, Madan Mohan said, “Now, you must listen to a tune I have composed – but on one condition: you will be the one to sing it in the film.” And, having thus ‘bribed’ Manna Dey into agreeing,

Mujhe tumse kuch bhi na chaahiye-When this song from kanhaiya was being composed, one of Jaikishen's beloved uncles had just died. Jaikishen was in a very sad mood. He instructed lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri to write the lyrics that will express Jaikishen's sad feelings at the time. Hasrat Jaipuri did justice by penning down appropriate sad words. Jaikishen set the tune in raga Darbari. And all of us know how sad we get when we listen to this song.


Aankh Seedhi Lagi from 1960 film Half Ticket, this was a duet to be recorded in the voice of Kishore and Lata.At the time of recording Lata could'nt come on time,since the recording studio had another recording after few hours,on the sugestion of Kishore Kumar that he would sing Lata's lines also, so the song was recorded,rest is history.



 Sar Jo Tera Chakraye from Pyasaa 1957 This song was to be picturised on Johny Walker. S D Burman wanted to give slightly different tune to this song,he took the tune of his son Pancham which he created when he was 10 years old.






 Aap Ke Haseen the song from Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966) was originally picturised on Guru Dutt who was the producer and Hero of the film,he died during the making of the film,his brother took Dharmendra as hero and re shoot the song.





 Lag Jaa Gale-this super hit song from Woh Kaun Thi (1964) was initially rejected by Raj Khosla but Madan Mohan the composer asked the hero of the film Manoj Kumar to talk to Raj Khosla to keep this song in the film.


 ' Dil ke Jharukhe me tujko.Rafi was rehearsing the song ' Dil ke Jharukhe me tujko..' from Brahmachari. Shammi Kapoor, present, requested : please sing all the 4 lines of the first stanza,IN ONE BREATH. Rafi laughed : do you want to kill me ? But he sang- breathless. 


 Aa Jane Jaan from Inteqam 1969,this is the first Cabaret song of Lata Mangeshkar,Lata ji never wanted to sing Cabaret songs this time Laxmikant Pyarelal requested Lata to sing this song for them but Lata told that there should be no bad word in the lyrics and the song should not be picturised on a bad character in the film.




Dil ke armaan aansovo me behe gaye -This great song from B R Chopra's Nikaah was sung by Salma Agha In fact Salma Agha agreed to sing only if she is made the heroine of the film.The music director of the film Ravi wanted to take Asha Bhonsle for this song but B R Chopra insisted to take Salma Agha.According to Ravi, when he was recording the song `Dil ke armaan aansovo me behe gaye ', he had to rehearse this song 25 times with Salma Agha and yet she could not render it properly. 

Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli from Anand was originally proposed as background song for the title. After listening the song, Rajesh Khanna thought that it would be a waste to use such a nice song as background song for title. He suggested Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Director, to create a situation for this song. In those days songs played in background for title, was less played on radio.

Dekha hai pehli baar, saajan ki aankhon mein pyaar.This song from was added in the film after the film was complete.The story of this song is that the Lyricist Sameer and Music DirectorNadeem Sharvan  thought that in the movie there is no title song,Sameer immediately recited a verse, Dekha hai pehli baar, saajan ki aankhon mein pyaar. Nadeem liked it and composed the music to it.Then they phoned the producer, Sudhakar Bokadia. He said it was impossible to shoot the song as Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit would not give dates. We insisted that we wanted to record it, and we did! Then he came to listen to it. Salman was also there. When he heard it, he was very happy.He phoned Madhuri, and she too agreed to shoot it. The next day they shot non-stop for seven hours, and the song was completed and added to the movie. Every song has a story behind it.