Lata Mangeshkar is considered as the doyenne of Hindi film music.

But she has not sung a

single song for one particular music director, do you know his name?
O P Nayyar. Lata Mangeshkar is regarded as one of the greatest singers of India and has
reportedly sung more than 50,000 songs in various languages. She has worked with
almost all the top music directors. The only exception was O P Nayyar, for whom Lata
has not sung a single song. Nayyar initially preferred to work with Geeta Dutt and then
later on extensively worked with Lata’s sister Asha Bhosle. Lata has worked with all the
other directors including Jaidev, RD Burman and Khemchand. Incidentally, Khemchand
Prakash was the music director who gave both Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar
their first break.

One of the films that revolutionized Hindi film music was ‘Teesri Manzil’. This film marked
the debut of a great music director, can you name him?
R D Burman. Rahul Dev Burman or Pancham as he was popularly known, was the son of
legendary music director, S D Burman. R D Burman made his debut with the classic
Shammi Kapoor-Asha Parekh 1963 hit movie ‘Teesri Manzil’. The film and its music were
a big hit, catapulting Pancham into the hall of fame. Some of the memorable songs from
this film include - ‘Aaja aaja main hoon pyar tera’, ‘O meri Sona re Sona’, ‘Ae Hasina
Zulfowali’ ,etc.

The films of Raj Kapoor were known for their super hit songs. One of the classic Raj
Kapoor films was ‘Bobby’. Who was the music director of this film?
Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Raj Kapoor (RK) films have been known for their great music. From
‘Aag’ till ‘Mera Naam Joker’, his preferred music director was Shankar-Jaikishan. The
combination of Raj Kapoor-Shankar-Jaikishan-Lata-Mukesh have produced many a hit
song. But following Jaikishan's death, Raj Kapoor turned to Laxmikant-Pyarelal for
‘Bobby’ (released in 1973). The RK-Laxmi-Pyare team brought out two hits ‘Bobby’ and
‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’. Ravindra Jain was used by RK in ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’
and ‘Henna’. RK never worked with Madan Mohan.

One of the superstars of Bollywood was Rajesh Khanna. Who was the famous singer who
was known as the voice of Rajesh Khanna?
Kishore Kumar. Many singers have been known as the voice of a particular actor. Mohd
Rafi for Dev Anand, Mukesh for Raj Kapoor, Mahendra Kapoor for Manoj Kumar gave
successful musical hits. When Rajesh Khanna entered the scene in the 1970’s, the
singer who sang most of his songs for him was Kishore Kumar. The Kishore Kumar-
Rajesh Khanna combination gave hit after hit including songs like ‘Roop Tera Mastana’,
‘Chala Jaata hoon kisi ki dhun mein’, ‘Pyar Diwana Hota Hai’, ‘Yeh Shaam Mastani’, 'Oh
Mere Dil Ke Chain', etc.

Duet songs are a popular feature in Hindi film music. One of the greatest duet songs,
featuring Raj Kapoor and Nargis was ‘Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua’. Who were the singers of this
great song?
Lata Mangeshkar-Manna Dey. One of the evergreen songs of Hindi film music is the duet
from ‘Shree 420’, ‘Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua’. This song featured Raj Kapoor and Nargis on
screen. The singers of this hit duet sing were Lata Mangeshkar and Manna Dey. The
music directors were of course Shankar-Jaikishan.

‘Mughal-E-Azam’ was one of the greatest films made in Bollywood, featuring many hit
songs. Who was the music director of this film?
Naushad. ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ was one of the greatest hit films in Bollywood. The popularity
of this 1960 black-and-white film was such that it was digitally colourized and re-released
 in 2004. One of the evergreen hit songs of this film was ‘Jab Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya’.
The music director of this film was the legendary Naushad.

Which of these music directors was NOT a singer?

Roshan. Music director Roshan (better known for the new generation as Hrithik Roshan’s
grandpa!) was not a singer. SD Burman sung in his films (‘Guide’, ‘Aradhana’). R D
Burman had a unique voice and is known for the hit song sung by him in ‘Sholay’
(‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’). The famous music director of the 1950’s and 60’s C
Ramachandra used to sing under the pseudonym of Chitalkar. (‘Shola Jo Badke’, ‘Aana
Meri Jaan Sunday Ke Sunday’, ‘Shin Shinaki Boobla Boo’).

The megastar of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan has also sung a number of hit songs.
Which of these films featured a song sung by Bachchan?
Silsila. Amitabh Bachchan is known as one of the greatest stars of Bollywood. He has
sung a duet song with Lata Mangeshkar in the 1981 film Silsila (‘Ye Kaha Aa gaye hum’).
The hit song of Don ‘Khaike Pan Banaras wala’ was sung by Kishore Kumar. The song
from the film ‘Hum’ (‘Jhumma Chumma De De’) sounded as though it was sung by
Amitabh, but it was actually sung by Sudesh Bhonsle. The songs in Sholay were sung by
Kishore Kumar, Mohd. Rafi and R D Burman.

Many feel that the 1980’s saw a gradual decline of melody in Hindi film music. During this
time a Rajshree Productions film ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ was a musical hit and saw the revival of
melody in Hindi film music. Who was the music director of this film?
Ram Laxman. ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ released in 1989, was a musical superhit that only
revived melody in Hindi film music, but also resulted in the revival of the career of Lata
Mangeshkar. The music director for this Salman Khan-Bhagyashree starred was Ram
Laxman, who also scored the music for the other Rajshree hit ‘Hum Aapke Hain
Kaun’(1994).

The superstar of the late 90’s and 2000's was Shah Rukh Khan. ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le
Jayenge (DDLJ)’ was a musical hit starring Shahrukh and Kajol. Which of these songs is
from the film DDLJ?
Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna. ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ or DDLJ, as it was popularly
known, was a Yash Chopra Production, released in 1995. The music of this film was
composed by Jatin-Lalit and it included many a hit songs. ‘Mehndi Laga Re Rakhna’,
sung by Udit Narayan and Lata Mangeshkar topped the charts. ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhen’
was from ‘Baazigar’, ‘Chak De India’ from a film by the same name and ‘Dard E Disco’
was from ‘Om Shanti Om’.

Starting independent music composing in 1961 with Chhote Nawaab, he did 331 Films and 4 Non-
Film Albums. Before coming onto his own, he assisted his father S.D. Burman for long.

Out of his 331 released movies 292 were in Hindi, 31 in Bangla, 3 in Telugu, 2 each in Tamil & Oriya
and 1 in Marathi. RD also composed for 5 TV Serials in Hindi and Marathi. He also scored a large
number of non-film songs in Bangla ((also known as Pooja songs or modern songs), which are
available in different albums. He did a song for a small documentary film called Maa Ki Pukaar too,
in 1975.

A good amount of his work, however, is still to be released. There are songs from unreleased or
shelved films. And then there are compositions from the period when he had little work in hand (the
last 5-6 years of his life), but when he kept composing tunes and stored them.

Lyrics of some of RD's songs can be found at "giitaayan" which interfaces to a great collection of
Hindi Songs (ISB). The songs can be read in both Devnagari & Roman.
Here's a complete list of RD's scores.

Pancham's Trivia

R.D. Burman made his acting debut in Mehmood's 'Bhoot Bangla'. Later in 'Pyar Ka Mausam' too he
gave a hilarious performance as Mr. Popat Lal.

Pancham introduced the twin track effect in 'Baharon Ke Sapne' which he later used to create the
mesmerizing 'qatra qatra miltee hai' (Ijaazat) and a few more songs.

He also pioneered the use of electronic organ in Indian Films with the song 'O mere Sona re' (Teesri
Manzil).

RD was, as Gulzar says, as good a craftsman as he was a musician. He picked the sounds for his
songs from very indigenous sources.

In 'Chura liya' he used the sound of a spoon hitting a glass.

For the Kitaab song 'Master jee kee aa gayee chiTThee' he brought some desks from a classroom in
the studio while recording and used them as percussion.

In Abdullah he used the sound of a bamboo whistle with a balloon tied to it for a song.

Once to get the sound of raindrops, he spent a whole rainy night in his house's balcony recording
the sound he wanted.

In the song 'O Manjhi Re' from the movie 'Khushboo', R.D. Burman used bottles with water filled at
different levels and created a hollow sound by blowing into them and this sound effect was used
with the orchestra.

During the recording of 'Hum donoN do premee' (Ajnabee) the musicians were on strike. So he
improvised the song with emptied-out musical interludes and just listen the song!

The mouth organ played in the song 'Hai Apna Dil To Awara' sung by Hemant Kumar in the film
'Solva Saal' is played by R.D. Burman himself.

R.D. Burman played the mouth organ for his friends Laxmikant-Pyarelal in a song in 'Dosti' and also
in a movie for Kalyanji-Anandji.

Dada Burman used Pancham's tune 'ai meree topee palat ke aa' in 'Fantoosh'. Pancham was only 9
when he composed the tune.

Again next year, for Pyaasa, SD used his son's 'Sar Jo Tera Chakraaye', which became a big hit.

Both Lata and Bhupinder won a National award for the song 'Beeti Na Bitaayee Raina' from
'Parichay', and this song was composed in a hotel room in no time.

Aarti Mukherjee won a National award for the song 'Do Naina Ek Kahaani' from 'Masoom'.

Gulzar (best lyricist), Asha Bhosle (best female singer) won National awards for the song 'Mera
Kuchh Samaan' from Ijaazat.

RDB was the first to introduce the Brazilian bossa nova rhythm in Hindi film music - the song was
"Maar dalega dard-e-jigar", sung by Asha, in "Pati Patni". That rhythm has since been endlessly
used for film music.

R.D. Burman won the Filmfare Award only 3 times (Sanam Teri Kasam, Masoom, 1942-A Love
Story) while being nominated 16 times for the award.

Amit Kumar, Abhijeet & Shabbir Kumar were given their first breaks by Pancham.

Jatin of Jatin-Lalit used to be in Pancham's children's choir.