C.Ramchandra - A tribute

Jan 5th was C.Ramchandra's 26th death anniversary. I had wanted to start a run through the musical legend's compositions a little earlier so that at least a start is made by that time. But unfortunately, I got a little busy in other things and I am able to provide a first instalment of my series almost a week after the aniversary. However, that in no way diminishes the intent of the series which is to focus on Annasaab's career through his zenith years of the early 1950s.

What is unique about Annasaab is that while the other leading composers of the day like Naushad only worked with big banners, C.Ramchandra lent his musical talents to all kinds of films - be it for bigger directors like V.Shantaram or for B-grade stunt films of Sheikh Mukhtar. The quality of his music is consistently great regardless of the directors or the stars. His music was the prime reason for the success of films like Albelaa and Khazaanaa.

Lets start looking at the music that C.Ramchandra delivered during his peak years between 1951 and 1955. Each article takes one year at a time and looks at each film he composed during that year and the melodies therein. I hope it is of interest to you :)

1951
Naushad, C.Ramchandra and Husnlal Bhagatram ruled the box office with Anil Biswas the undisputed Emperor who had relinquished the race. C.Ramchandra staked his claims as the Numero Uno in no uncertain as he delivered three stellar soundtracks during the year, one of them becoming a definitive soundtrack of the period. His tuning with Lata Mangeshkar scaled higher peaks. Talat Mahmood entered his musical realm for the first time while he himself had a hugely successful year as a singer. So all in all, 1951 was a very happy year indeed for C.Ramchandra.

Albelaa- There is very little introduction required to this soundtrack. 57 years later, the songs of the film still resound across the country. The marriage bandwallahs still use these songs extensively, feet start dancing of their own accord as the charming Lata & Chitalkar duets play out. The soundtrack also acts as a showcase of all C.Ramchandra's music. There are the fun songs, the sweet, romantic Lata melodies, and the pleasing romantic duets.

Its well known that C.Ramchandra was inspired immensely by Benny Goldman's music and used that form in many of his songs and most successfully in Albelaa. His duets with Lata, diivaanaa ye paravaanaa and sholaa jo bhaDake are both such inspirations. . mere dil ki ghaDii kare Tik Tik Tik and shaam Dhale khiDakii tale are amongst the most popular duets ever, while the now-mandatory Lata solos took the forms of such beauties as dil dhaDake nazar sharamaaye to samajho pyaar ho gayaa and balamaa baDaa naadaan re and that lullaby-of-lullabies dhiire se aajaa rii akhiyan me. Add to those the pure Chitalkar fun in o beTaajii qismar kii havaa kabhii naram and bholii suurat dil ke khoTe. All in all, truly one of all-time great soundtracks.

List of songs :
Gazab kii nii.nd..mahafil me merii kaun ye (Mohd Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar)
dhiire se aajaa rii akhiyan me (1) (Lata Mangeshkar)
diivaanaa paravaanaa shamaa pe aake (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar)
hasiino.n se muhobbat kaa (Chitalkar)
kabhii kaalii ratiyaa.N...o beTaajii qismat kii (Chitalkar)
mere dil kii ghaDii kare Tik Tik Tik (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar)
dil dhaDakae nazar sharamaaye (Lata Mangeshkar)
shaam Dhale khiDakii tale (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar)
balamaa baDaa naadaan re (Lata Mangeshkar)
bholii suurat dil ke khoTe (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar)
dhiire se aajaa rii akhiyan me (2) (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar)
sholaa jo bhaDake dil meraa dhaDake (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar)


Khazaanaa : This Madhubala-Nisar Khan starrer was an amazing cascade of melodies. CR didnt need big banners to inspire him. Always open to experimentation, he used a lot of African folk music sound in the film.

muhabbat pe itanii javaanii na hotii (Lata Mangeshkar) : A typical Lata-CR melody. Focus on just the sweetness of Lata's voice bringing out the coyness of the character.
bam biyaanaa..do diivaano.n ka afsaanaa (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar) : Starts with the sounds of African tribal drums then eases to a typical Lata duet. A very pleasing one at that.
soii soii chaa.Ndanii hai(Lata Mangeshkar) : One of the contenders for the top-10 Lata-CR melodies. A charming, melodious, romantic number. Lata doesnt sound this sweet with any other composer :)
baabaDii buubaDii bam bam bam (Chitalkar & Lata Mangeshkar) : A rock-and-roll style song well before the advent of rock and roll. This is one of my very favorite CR songs because of the sheer energy it exudes but its not noisy at all. Its all about the beats and not the volume. A sheer joy.
dhiire dhiire Gam kaa zamaanaa gayaa (Lata Mangeshkar) : Pleasing chorus backed Lata melody
mujhe tumase bahut hai pyaar (Mohd Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar) : CR always does the Rafi-Lata duets very well. I always get the feeling that he has ordered Rafi not to vent "too much emotions" in his songs which is why perhaps Rafi sounds so restrained and hence unjarring in CR's songs :) While the "Sagaai" duet remains my Rafi favorite melody with CR, this is not too far behind.
ae chaa.Nd pyaar meraa tujhase ye (Lata Mangeshkar) : An absolute stunner. CR was a master at orchestrating his songs and the thrilling violin pieces in the song are worth travelling miles to hear. The way the violin moves after Lata sings "tum bevafaa na honaa" is so wonderful. An easy walk-in to my top 10 CR-Lata list.
zambo chii kolaa..kar de zaraa ishaaraa (Lata Mangeshkar) : One would hardly expect a sad melody when hearing the prelude music to the song. But it turns out to another charming piece.

More to come...