Badal jaaye agar maali...

...chaman hota nahin khaali...

Mahendra Kapoor is dead. The obits talk about his patriotic songs. For me that would mean as important as referring to Manoj Kumar as Mr. Bharat.

I did not like his Mere desh ki dharti numbers, in fact. They were loud, very Daler Mehdi-Sukhwinder-ish. I know these are ‘in’ voices, together with that other guy, Kailash Kher, and they all come under the blanket of Sufi sangeet.

Mahendra Kapoor could have been a good ghazal voice, but the Rafi hangover was far too much. And when he did veer away, as in Nikaah, he sounded breathless and not in a Talat Mehmood way. Listen to “Dil ki yeh arzoo thi” from that film and you will know what I mean. But then Salma Agha did not deserve better. I would stuff Himesh Reshamiyya up her nose.

I am afraid this is not sounding like a tribute. And there is no compulsion for me to do so. But everytime I encounter some association with old Hindi film songs, I do start thinking of the ones I have heard. They fact they have stayed does convey the power of everyone involvd in its creation.

While “Chalo eik baar phir se” from Gumraah would definitely rate very high, I found “Aadha hai Chandrama” from Navrang surprisingly peppy and controlled. Who would imagine Mahendra Kapoor singing for a dance number, that too with Gopi Krishna?

However, I am putting up something else here. For its simplicity, flawless enunciation…the silken plea of “meri zindagi mein apani, chaahat ka rang bhar do”…

meri jaan tum pe sadake, ehsaan itna kar do

Movie: Sawan Ki Ghata
Singer(s): Asha Bhonsle, Mahendra Kapoor
Music Director: O P Nayyar
Lyricist: S H Bihari