Madan Mohan's best : His first decade

Madan Mohan is a very curious composer in many ways. Distinguished from the beginning as a composer of high quality, today he is toasted as the numero-uno composer for Lata. That of course is not true. But certainly, Madan has weathered time much better than most of his seniors and peers of superior quality. C.Ramchandra and Anil Biswas hardly ring a bell in today's music listeners' ears, but chances are high that Madan Mohan's name will bring a spark of recognition.

While you feel happy for the man who in his lifetime never got his due, it is a little sad to note that the music for which he is receiving accolades today is hardly his best. His post-"Adalat" output is inconsistent, often showing signs of a man trying to live up to an image - the image of a ghazal king. No question that some of his melodies in "Anpadh", "Woh kaun thi", "Mera Saya" et al. But Madan's freshest compositions and his superior ones (IMO), came during the 1951-57 phase with Lata and Talat. Consider the cascade of such brilliant soundtracks as

.. Adaa : Lata's "priitam merii duniyaa me" and Talat's "jis dil me basaanaa chaahaa thaa" make this a track to own and listen to repeatedly.

.. Madhosh : Talat's "merii yaad me" was the first true success of Madan's career and remained one his personal favourites. Talat was hitting the zenith of his career and he sounds simply thrilling here. Lata's melodies like "chhoD mujhe naa jaanaa" and "mujhe ho gayaa tumas epyaar" are overshadowed.

.. Aashiyaanaa : One of Madan's great tracks. Lata had a whole host of unforgettable melodies - "tum chaa.Nd ke saath chale aao", "mere piyaa se koii jaake kahade", "mukh moD naa lenaa saajanaa", "samaa hai bahaar kaa" and the tandem with Talat, "meraa qaraar lejaa" . Then there is Talat's "mai.n paagal meraa manavaa paagal" - one of my very favourite Talat melodies. This is Madan at his very melodious best.

.. Khoobsoorat : Just the two Talat masterpieces "merii raato.n ke" and "mohobbat me qashish hogii" make this a track worth trasuring.

.. Chacha Chodhury : Has Asha ever sounded sweeter than in "mere piyaa chheDe jiyaa" ? A superb melody, sadly ignored even by the legions of Asha devotees.

.. Baghi : "dard ki ae raat guzar jaa", "hamaare baad ab mehafil me", "kahii.n bin aag jale naa paravaanaa" among others make this a veritable Lata-Madan track of desert-island value !

.. Railway Platform : To me, "chaa.Nd madham hai" is a Lata song to die for. It belongs to that category of songs which leave you awestruck, haunted.. you just are lost !! Madan did not make such songs very often.. this is tops !

1957 saw Madan scaling new peaks with "Dekh Kabira Roya" which takes my vote for Madan's greatest ever soundtrack. Madan tries his hand at a variety of musical moods. His classical leanings and his expertise at blending them to a film song come out strongly in "kaun aayaa mere man ke dvaare" and "merii viinaa tum bin roye", typical ghazal tones in "ham se aayaa na gayaa", "ashqo.n se terii hamane" and "tuu pyaar kare yaa Tukaraaye" and the breezy melodies, "ham pa.nchhii mastaane" and "ham bulaate hii rahe". We dont get such overall outstanding soundtracks too often. And look at the singers - Lata, Asha, Geeta, Talat, Manna Dey and Rafi. Almost every top singer of the day.. a treasure indeed !!

To round off the decade, the first and truly golden phase of Madan's career, is "Mohar" - another track with a number of singers together. Lata holds centre spot again with the unforgettable "tum ho saath raat bhii hasiin hai" and the pleasing duet with Rqfi "ae hamasafar bataa de". Hemantda was used very very rarely by Madan - "kho gayaa jaane kahaa.N" was perhaps his only solo for him which is one of Hemantda's well remembered songs. Talat makes it a track to treasure with the glittering "yaad jab aaye terii", a composition cast in the Sajjad style. When I first heard this melody, I assumed the composer to be Sajjad !

Madan had much greater successes perhaps in the next decade but in my opinion, the brilliance of these tracks and others in his first decade were far superior in terms of quality, diversity and fresheness.