A Few Minor Slip-Ups by Some of the Very Greatest Music Directors of the Hindi Film Industry?

 

A Few Minor Slip-Ups by Some of the Very Greatest Music Directors of the Hindi Film Industry?

Shrikant G. Talageri

 

A question on Google, “What is the Golden Age of Hindi Film music” elicited the reply: “The Golden Age of Hindi Film Music is widely considered to be the period from the late 1940s through the 1960s, often extending into the early 1970s, marked by rich, melody-driven songs deeply rooted in Indian classical music (raags) and poetic lyrics, featuring legendary composers like Shankar-Jaikishan, Naushad, and S.D. Burman, creating timeless music that defined Indian cinema”. Quite true: this was the great age, whose exquisite musical creations are still heard and enjoyed by millions even today not only in India but all over the world, and hopefully will continue to be heard and enjoyed for decades and decades to come. It was the age of great geetkaars (song-writers), sangeetkars (music directors) and gayak-gayikas (singers).

Yes, without any doubt these great song-writers, music directors and singers represented an epic age of Hindi film music which can never be replicated again, and right from my early school days I used to be a passionate fan of Hindi film songs (but also Marathi music, including film, folk, “bhavgeet” and natya-sangeet, apart from Hindustani classical and semi-classical music, of which my father had a huge collection of gramophone records, as well as many forms of folk and classical music from the South and other parts of India). I used to, as was my habit, prepare singer-wise and music-director-wise (though not song-writer-wise) lists of songs in diaries, it being my dream wish to have (when I grew up) a massive collection of gramophone records of all these songs. The age of gramophone records, then of taped reel-spools, then of cassettes, and then of CDs, all passed, and finally now at present we have the age of internet and digital music, with youtube making available to us music from all possible early periods as well.

This Golden Age of Hindi Film Music was a gift-horse from the Gods, and we should not look gift-horses in the mouth. But sadly, that is what (to a very small extent) I will be doing in this article. In my recently uploaded article “Ragawise Songs in Hindi and Marathi Revised and Updated” two days ago (9 January 2026) I could not stop myself from putting up a critical comment to one of the songs sung by Sudha Malhotra for the film “Dekh Kabira Roya” whose music director was the very great Madanmohan:

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2026/01/blog-post.html 

That comment was: “I think this is the most perfect example of a great music director destroying a beautiful song in the name of “comedy””. The song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=annIy3_jCYU&list=RDannIy3_jCYU&start_radio=1

This made me think today of writing about such minor slip-ups in beautiful songs which could have been avoided if the music-directors had immediately made corrected versions of those songs for the sake of posterity.

 

About this particular song, I distinctly remember having heard the unpolluted version of this song in the sole voice of Sudha Malhotra on the radio countless times. Clearly there must have been an audio version of it available as a gramophone record. However it is not available anywhere on the internet. Instead, on youtube, we find a completely different version of the same song in audio form which (however beautiful in itself) is, to me at least, infuriating:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6w9YYSj1is&list=RDm6w9YYSj1is&start_radio=1

I had attended a program in Ravindra Natya Mandir (Prabhadevi, Mumbai) around 14-15 years ago where Sudha Malhotra herself was present and I actually approached her after the program and asked her if that unpolluted version was available with her (along with another beautiful non-film song of hers which is likewise totally missing everywhere: “Meera Baad Nahin Ab Maane”). Sadly she said she had no idea at all where they could be available!

Perhaps it is not right of me to point a finger at Madanmohan for this: it may have been the director or producer of the film, or perhaps the recording company or the AIR archives, who/which are responsible for the total non-availability of the unpolluted song, as I call it. But the net result is that this song seems lost forever.

Incidentally, the same is the case with another beautiful song, sung by Suman Kalyanpur with music by SD Burman from the film “Miyan Biwi Raazi” where the only available version seems to be the similarly “comedy”-version from the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5nipRPFNFk&list=PL0N5Xw9ii8-_fs8T7w8ZvrmkwnDbWOITn&index=6

 

In the two above cases (and possibly many other similar cases), as I said, it may be wrong to point a finger at the music director.

But now, with due apologies to the great music directors concerned (since it may seem a case of “chhota munh badi baat”), I must point out a few very minor instances where the music directors seem to have slipped up while fitting the words of the song-writer smoothly into the melody, leaving a faint sense of unfulfillment or dissatisfaction (at least to my ears). Even a musical novice like me can think of ways in which the disharmony or lack-of-smooth-harmony between the words and tune could have been ironed out in the recording of the songs concerned: it is sad that the great music directors do not seem to have done it.

Two examples of such songs:

First, the extremely beautiful Rafi-Lata duet “Tere Bin Soone Naina Hamare” from “Meri Surat Teri Ankhen” with music by the great SD Burman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJnDIEKSPkk&list=RDCJnDIEKSPkk&start_radio=1

See how the words “saya bhi mera mere paas na aya” from 3.24 to 3.30 seem crammed unwieldily into the tune (and likewise the immediately following “hasne ke din bhi” from 3.32 to 3.36), in comparison with the smooth flow of the whole rest of the song.

Second, the equally extremely beautiful Rafi song “Maine Shaayad Tumhe pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai” from the film “Barsaat Ki Raat” with music by the great Roshan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omJzKQUNcp4&list=RDomJzKQUNcp4&start_radio=1

In this case, see how the words “ho ke nahin” from 2.40 to 2.44 seem crammed unwieldily into the tune in comparison with the smooth flow of the whole rest of the song. [In my pedestrian opinion, it would have sounded smooth if the “nahin” had been shortened in length].

It is possible that other listeners may not agree, and think I am being too finicky. But both these songs are such heavenly songs that I find my over-sensitive ears getting irritated by what I feel are glitches in the harmony between the words and the tune at those particular points, and I felt I just had to mention them.

 

I will stop at this point trying to show “slip-ups” by music directors. But I will note here an instance (from probably many such instances) where a split-second late-timing at one point by a great singer could have been avoided remaining on record if the music director had seen fit to take note of it and re-record that part of the song (again, this is my personal opinion and I may be asking too much here). It is in another great favorite song of mine, the Manna-Lata duet “Umad Ghumad Kar Ayi Re Ghata” from “Do Ankhen Baarah Haath”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4mrghFb1To&list=RDT4mrghFb1To&start_radio=1

Note the phrase “Oho Ho Ho” (or “Aha Ha Ha”) by Manna Dey occurring in every verse in perfect timing, but with split-second late-timing in one verse, from 3.46 to 3.48.

I will also give an example of a Rafi-Suraiya song “Beqarar Hai Koi” from the film “Shama Parwana”, where I got the feeling that Suraiya was able to hold her breath over the alaap part (from 0.8 to 0.19, and from 1.48 to 1.58) more consistently than Rafi (from 1.02 to 1.13, and from 2.33 to 2.43). Both are of course great singers, and I am a great fan of both. I thought this must just be an impression on my part. But once someone showed me a Marathi book on Hindi film songs (sadly I did not note the name of the book or the writer) and while glancing through it, I found that he had also noted this point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3U1sAo-YBc&list=RDG3U1sAo-YBc&start_radio=1

 

 Ultimately, everyone’s taste differs, and what is sauce for the goose may not be sauce for the gander. Take the two following two songs where (probably to fit in with the time restrictions of gramophone recording) the film versions have certain repetitions of words or lines, which are not repeated but occur only once each in the audio records: the songs are “Hamse Aya Na Gaya” by Talat Mahmood from the film “Dekh Kabira Roya”, and “Uthaye Ja Unke Sitam” by Lata Mangeshkar from the film “Andaz”:

Hamse Aya Na Gaya:

Film Version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vysy4l-gr8&list=RD0Vysy4l-gr8&start_radio=1

Record Version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMsC4isCGYE&list=RDzMsC4isCGYE&start_radio=1

Uthaye Ja Unke Sitam:

Film Version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn52dhPotW4&list=RDtn52dhPotW4&start_radio=1

Record Version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOi1bGmSrvw&list=RDhOi1bGmSrvw&start_radio=1

Which of the versions are more beautiful? In my opinion, the filmi version (with repetitions) of the Talat Mahmood song is more beautiful than the record version, but the record version (without repetitions) of the Lata Mangeshkar song is more beautiful than the filmi version. It is possible that many listeners may have exactly the opposite opinion in both the cases or in either of them. So ultimately music is a very personal thing.