Lata Surveykshan

Vinay Jain has kept on his efforts in setting up polls towards identifying the most popular soundtracks and songs of legendary musical personalities. It was all-composers so far. Now, it is the turn of Lata. The series began with a selection from her solos till 1953. These years being the peak years of maestros like Anil Biswas, C.Ramchandra, Naushad, Husnlal Bhagatram etc., the selection was going to be one helluva job. The selection of thirty songs was almost impossibly tough and I had to tearfully exclude some great favorites from the list.

Vinay announced the results today - and the winning songs were not surprises. "ye zi.ndagii usii kii hai" and "aayegaa aane vaalaa" are at the top. Its pleasing to see three C.Ramchandra songs in the top 10 but very disappointing to see no Anilda there.

My selection of 30 songs are below:

ye zi.ndagii usii kii hai jo kisii kaa ho gayaa
ye shaam kii tanhaaiyaa.N aise me.n teraa Gam
tum kyaa jaano tumhaarii yaad me.n
wo to chale gaye ai dil yaad se unakii pyaar kar
bahaare.n phir bhii aaye.ngii
man me.n kisii kii priit basaale
kaTate hai.n dukh me.n ye din
cha.ndaa re jaa re jaa re
tumhaare bulaane ko jii chaahataa hai
baa.Ndh priiti phuul Dor
miTTii se khelate ho baar\-baar kis liye
sapanaa ban saajan aaye
priit ye kaisii bol rii duniyaa
kaalii kaalii raat re dil ba.Daa sataaye
vo din kahaa.N gaye bataa
mere piyaa se ko_ii jaake kah de
haay cha.ndaa ga_e parades
dil dha.Dake nazar sharamaaye to samajho
hai kahii.n par shaadamaanii
bahaar aa_ii khilii kaliyaa.N
mujh se mat puuchh mere ishq me.n kyaa rakhaa hai 
mere liye vo Gam-e-i.ntazaar chho.D gaye
kaagaa re jaa re jaa re
mil mil ke bichha.D gaye nain 
vo paas nahii.n majabuur hai dil 
kis nazar kaa mast ishaaraa hai zi.ndagii
zindagii bebas hu_ii hai ... o aasamaan waale
duur jaaye re raah merii aaj terii raah se
ai chaa.Nd pyaar meraa tujhase ye kah rahaa hai
naa_ummiid ho ke bhii duniyaa me.n jiye jaate hai.n

But the exercise was good fun. It made me to re-listen to a whole lot of songs that I had not heard in a long while. So, thank you Vinay !