Latadidi with (her) Madhan Bhayya

Lataji in music of Madan Mohan sahab

"kabhee Muz Ko Yaad Kar Ke Jo Bahenge Tere Aansoo

tho Wahee Pe Rok Lenge Unhe Aa Ke Mere Aansoo

too Jidhar Kaa Rukh Karegaa, Meraa Saayaa Saath Hogaa"

I purchased a Cassette called "Ghazal Kind madan Mohan Golden Collection" when I was 14 . I still remember my initial reaction to song "Woh bhooli daastha" which remains my favourite till date, It is most painful song I ever heard till date .Interesingly the albulm was compiled by Sanjeev Kohli , Son of Madanji.

I didn't know much about magical combination at that time , I was overjoyed to see around 15 songs out of 18 in the albulm by Lataji .That collection is one of the reason of my unending love on her .It had gems like "Aapki Najron ne samjah" ,"Naina Barse","Yun Hasraton ka daag","hum Pyaar main jalne walon ko" ,"Hain there aath mere wafa" ,"Thu jahan jahan chalega" and the likes.Later on I got around 5 collections and a recent HMV MP3 of "Lata - madan Mohan" combination.

This combination is nothing but melody . The way madan mohan sahab brought the best out of Lataji , can never be expressed in words.

What not was there in their combination...They made

1)Ghazals (Jo Hum ne daasthan apni sunaye remains my fav most)

2)Songs with fun (Nainon wali ne haye mera dil loota ( I still remeber how crazy I was to collect this song .I searched 3 years for this song)

3)Songs with pain (Woh Chup rahe tho mere dil ke daag jalthe hain ( I read in Lataji's interview that Madan Mohan sahab came to her with tears rolling down after the recording of this song)

4)Classical (Bhaiyan na dharon , This remains my fav most classical song of Lataji followed by jhan jhan payal bhaaje from Buzdil (Music by Burmanda)

5)Devil songs( How Can I end up without mentioning Naina barse rimzhim rimzhim).

I am trying to mention few gems of this combination .

Fav Romantic numbers:

When I ever I think of this combination , first song that comes to my mind is from haqeekat , what a romatic number it is and the way Lataji sings the lines "Chupke seene se " is outstanding , Jarasi aahata hohi hain tho dil sochtha hain ...Love this one

Then Immediately another romantic number , "Mere aankhon se koyi neend liye jaatha hain" Can any one ever write/compose/sing romantic lines better than "raat bhar jagenge hum thumse chup chupke sanam ".Every word of this song is close to my heart.

Aapki Najrom ne samjha : I always imagine Meera when ever I listen this song , the feel of "Samarpan" in this song is out of world.

Sapne main sajan se do baatein : Till date I did not see the pictrisation of this song , I am very curious as I imagine the best for it .The Tender and innocent voice of Lataji sounds perfect than perfection in this song.

Maine rang lee aaj chunariya sajnaa thore rang main....This song is very very very close to me .The way Madanji composed staza is awesome and out of world .The same movie has another gem "Sapnon main agar meri thum aao" , I personally feel Lataji sounds the best in this song.Words "Tho sojaaon " haunt me where ever I go .

Lag jaa gale , According to many this is best song of Lataji . I always wonder how she imagines the situation of that heroine and sings such with a golden expression ,She wins whole crowd with the beginning of song itself and makes sure no one escapes from her spell for next 3 minutes by beautifully singing every particular word in it.

I can never end this list as it has so many gems like Nainon main pyar dole, Nainon main badra chaye (this is inspired from a telugu song, Neeli meghalalo and one more song Miyyam Miyyam meri Sakhi from pooja phool is inspired from "Oho Oho Pavurama" song in telugu) , Theri aankhon ke seiva duniya main rakha khya hain,Milo na thum tho hum ghabraaye and many more .

Fav most song/situtaion/lyrics.

My fav most song is "Betaab dil ki thamanna yahi hain" from Hasthe Zhakm .I don't know how many times I listenned to this song.

I have to thank the director Chethan Anand for that wonderful situtaion. A prostitute who is frustrated with life finds a person who loves her and proposes her and she has to express her feelings at that moment .

"sune sune khwaabo mein, jab tak tum naa aaye the

khushiyaan thee sab aauron kee, gam bhee saare paraaye the

apane se bhee chhupaayee thee, dhadakan apane seene kee

hum ko jeenaa padataa thaa, khwaayeesh kab thee jeene kee

ab jo aa ke tum ne, humei jeenaa seekhaa diyaa hain

chalo duniyaan nayee basaayenge" . The Way Latajee articulates every particular word of this composition is outstanding and the tune donot remain the same from beginning to end , it has too many variations .Madan mohan/Lata at the peak .Kudos to the team.

Fav songs filled with pain.

To be true all sad songs by this team are my favs.I feel that this is the combination which delivered maximum shades of pain/agony/sorrow in Hinid film Music.

To start with , Main tho thum sang nain mileake haar gayi sajna picturised on beautiful Sadhana , This is again a great lyrics .As a matter of fact the lyrics in madan mohanji's songs are always of a standard.This is because he always insisted for it.

Rajendra Krishan ji ,Majrooh sahab has delivered some of their bests .

Oh I remeber the wonderful ghazal by majrooh sahab now "hum hain mathaye koonch a oh baajar ki tharah" , What a ghazal and again the dard in lataji's voice makes it immortal mainly when she sings "hum bhi khade hue hain gunehgaar ki tharah".Same movie has more painful "mayiri main kaase" song .

Can an one forget "Na thum bewafa ho or Bairan neend na aaye or Do dil toote do dil haaare or most painful Ruke ruke se qadam (from Gulzarji's pen)" "There bin saaan kaise beetha thu kyaa jaane saajna" , meri veena thum bin roye and many more.

Kadar janena ,wonderful composition and Most beautiful "aaaj socha tho aanson bhar aaye"

Mushkil hain jeena in bedardon ki duniya main ( Her range is ultimate in this song)

Ghazal favs:

Hai isi main pyaar ki aabroon woh jafa karen hum wafa karen ...Can any one end up this song without telling a Wah Wah .

I read that this is one of favs of Naushadji .

Hal e dil yun unhe sunaya gaya ( from Jahan ara) This is a big request , if any one has this song please send me .This remains my most fav ghazal of Lataji , but I miss it in my collection.

Then comes meena Kumariji's Nagma oh sheir ki sughaat kise pesh karon.

I love the song "Woh jo milthe the kabh humse diwanon ki tharah aaj yun miltha hain jaise kabhi pehchaan na khi" . It is not an exaggeration that I cannot control tears when she sings "Woh parashe the meri julf pareshan na thi "

Chain nahin aaye kahan dil jaaye

Magical melodies

I want to start with rare "Aapki bathen kare " or "Masth paan dole re" .Both songs are very magical in terms of melody .only melody speaks in both songs .

Humare baad mehfil main ....God , I really fall short of words for the joy I feel when I listen this classical beauty.

Mere naina bahaaye neer ( Although it is a very sad song , I feel very happy when I listen to it for wonderful articulation of voice )

Mere piya se koyi yeh jaake kehde jeevan ka sahara theri yaad hain .every word in this song is magic particularly "Rathon ko ginun thaare din thadap thadap haare" This is best way of expressing loneliness ( in my opinion)

And masthi in Lataji's voice comes out in "Main tho pee ki nagariya jaane lagi "

Oh God , How Can i ever forget my most most most fav song "Chanda Ja Chnada Jaa re jaa , kahe aaya hain aakela "

"How can one imagine / compose/ write/ sing like this ?"

"Dekh thujhe pehchaan bathado woh lagtha hain kaise , nadiya main mukh dekhle apna oo bhi hoga aisa" Woooooow what a song .

I personally feel "Sawari Surat man bhayi(from Ada)" is beginning and "Koyi pathar se na maro(From Laila Majnu)"( I am not sure if Jaidevji composed this song) is end of this magicla duo a Special mention to beautiful songs in Veerzara and the "Main ek balak besahara" in tere bagair albulm ,released recently.

Of course , there are wondrful duets of Lataji in music of madan sahab , but I always go with her solos particulaly in Madan mohan's music.

But I mention two of my fav duets "Chod Kar there pyaar ka daman" (with Mahendra kapoor) ,"Ek panchi rahe do" (with Mukesh ji) and melodious "Do Ghadi wo jo paas aa baithe( with Rafi sahab)".

I know this list is very very small/incomplete . But I tried to provide some of my favs here.

"main Agar Bichhad Bhee Jaaoo, Kabhee Meraa Gam Naa Karanaa

meraa Pyaar Yaad Kar Ke, Kabhee Aankh Nam Naa Karanaa

too Jo Mood Ke Dekh Legaa, Meraa Saayaa Saath Hogaa "

Why Do I Like Lataji

This Question I asked to myself many times.....Why do you like Lataji ...
Answer from my heart is "Love is Illogical , I used to think may be it is because of her voice which is nothing but melody then I thought may be no , It is because of the way she pronounces the words in a manner as if this word cannot have a better meaning than what she sings ,then I thought may be it is because of the expression ,the dard and the unconditional love with which she sings , then I thought may be it is because of the way she involves herself in the character of heroine ,then I thought all above is wrong , it is because of the divine presence in her voice "

This Question I had been asking for more than 12 years and still I did not get the answer .
Most Diplomatic answer that I hear from myself is
"It is not the number of songs or the number of awards she won makes her unique , but it is the innocence in the voice, perfection in expression and dedication towards work and the divine and motherly presence makes her THE LATA MANGESHKAR"

Lataji may be Bharat Ratna to whole world but she is like a mother to me, when she sings the song "Aye Dile e nadan" I feel this is the answer for all my tensions "Is Khudayi main ek thu kya hain " ..? The way she sings this line ...I Don't have words to express it .

The voice, the songs I heard at least 1000 times like Ayega anewala, mere ankhon se koyi , Tu jahan jahan chalega, Rahen na rahen hum ,Tere bina jindagise , ek tu na mila, chandan sa badan sounds fresh to me 1001'th time .....

Her voice has the perfect melody, listen to Anilda's Beimaan thore nainwaan , and try to control your emotions  and listen to Hemant da's Kuch dil ne kaha ...Interestingly, I feel a silence when she sings :-) . Lata is Lata in happy ,sad ,bhajan or ghazals . May be she didn't do more work on cabaret numbers, But I don't feel a vacuum as I am not very interested in them . I love her the most when she sings Hindi followed by Bengali ,Marathi ,gujarathi . I love her song "Nidurapora Thammuda" in Telugu (my mother Tongue) .

When she sings Bhajans ,I feel God .

Now , I am listening my fav most Meera Bhajan " Radha pyaari ". My Room is full of Unconditional Love/Devotion of Meera

Lataji ...My Love

Lataji means music to me

I am not trying to praise her because I don't feel a need for it .

I am just expressing my views and love for her .

When she sings Thumhari bulaane ko jii chahtha hain , I observe a constant silence in her voice .Sometimes I switch of the music and start telling her "Please leave me,I want to spend a life with out you :-)" then she sings "Thu jahan jahn chalega , mera saaya saath hoga" .It is true ,her songs always haunt me like a saaya and it is the biggest gift of god to me .

I feel that lataji is mine sometimes and I feel that the voice is coming from my heart .When she sings "rasme ulfath ko nibhaye tho nibhaye kaise " , I cannot control my emotions , and if any one asks me what is your favorite song of Lataji ,I really don't have an answer .Every song from her is a gem to me , but I still have some songs which I cannot enjoy , they may be around 20 songs on a whole thats it , but more fun is all of them are among her most popular songs list .

It took 3 years for me to start listening her duets , it was because I was not able to wait for her voice in duets but later on I realised her intelligence in duets like "Gum hain kisike pyar main " and mainly "woh hain zara khafa khafa" she sounds like an angel there .

I love lataji when she sings for Jaidev ji ,Madhan mohan sahab ,whose music ,I think no one can ever try to attempt and then Salilda , Burman sahab ,Naushad ji and Pancham sahab .When she sings for younger brother Hridaynath ji ,she sounds exactly like Goddess Saraswathi to me .All her works with him are pure and I feel "THIS IS INDIAN MUSIC" when I listen them .

Among her co-singers , I love all her works with kishore da,Rafishab, Mukesh ji,Hemant da, Asha ji,Geeta ji,Mannada and Talat sahab .

I will narrate a small story how my love towards her started.

I was all alone in my home as my mom and father were working and my brother went out for playing .I was preparing for some exams and all of a sudden I felt so lonely and it as almost as if I lost all interst in life .Then I found a cassette called "Diamonds Forever " in my house some where and first song I heard was "Yeh Sama Sama hain yeh Pyaar ka" then I listened "Na koyi umang hain" in same cassette .

Na koyi umang hain , made me emotional and Yeh sama made me feel joy .At that time ,I was not able to understand the songs as I am from Andhra and Telugu was my mother tounge .Na koyi umang hain made me cry just because of dard in the voice .

Then my love/devotion for lataji started and I was in 8th class at that time.

I listened same cassette till end of my 9th class.In 10th I bought another cassette and from 10th ,My only interets was Lataji and I collected 3 suitcase full of Lataji' cassettes and that too in aplace where hindi music is not of much craze.

Her every note directly sits in my head and it will never be erased .

When she sings Allah thero naam , Ibecome a statue and I always love her devotional and bhajans .

As a matter o fact ,I love her private albulms more than film music , It is because when she sings a film song ,she has to show all her emotions in just 3 mins .But , when she makes an albulm completely on Meera or Ghalib ,she wonderfully brings out different emotions in a package of 12 songs and which is like a complete meal for me .

I am in US now and my love is accelerating because of the same loneliness again and the calm atmosphere here ,may be.

Now, I am listening her Bengali gems ..Song that is playing :- Mangal Dweep Jale .... My room is filled with silence and peace .