Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Lata and Meena Kumari.


Lata and Meena Kumari.

By: CR Chatterji.

Lata Mangeshkar had a huge contribution in the success of Meena Kumari during the golden age of bollywood films. Lata kept in mind the aristocrat personality of Meena Kumari while providing playback to her.

Her songs in the film Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi and Dil Ek Mandir brought a different dimension to the films. Shankar Jaikishan composed songs for both the films. Lata’s major songs picturised on Meena Kumari in these films include “ajeeb dastan hai yeh”, “hum tere pyar me sara alam”, “ruk jaa raat, thahar ja re chanda”, etc. Lata portrayed the pathos in the character of Meena Kumari in these films.

In Bheegi Raat and Bahu Begum, lata’s songs composed by Roshan, became hits, including songs like “dil jo na keh saka”, “duniya kare sawal to humkya jawab de”, etc. The duet songs of Rafi and Lata picturised on Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari in the film Aarti, composed by Roshan, titled “aapne yaad dilaya”, became very very successful. The song “baharon ki manzil rahi” was also successful.

Lata was sublime in her performance in the film Pakiza, where the songs were composed by Ghulam Mohammad. Songs like “chalte chalte”, “thare rahiyo”, “mausam hai ashikana” and “chalo dildar chalo” (duet song of Lata and Rafi) had become musical masterpiece over a period of time. Meena Kumari portrayed the life of a tawaif in the film and the music depicted the cultural trend in the part of the country where it was picturised. Raj Kumar balanced the aristocrat performance of Meena Kumari in the film.

Lata’s duet song with Rafi titled “do sitaron ka zamee par hai Milan aaj ki raat” in the film Kohinoor, composed by Naushad, was also extremely successful. Meena Kumari and Dilip Kumar gave elegant lips in the film.

Besides, Meena Kumari gave elegant lips in Lata’s songs in the film Ghazal, where Madanmohan composed outstanding songs for both Lata and Rafi. All these films and the songs should be restored for their class.

5 comments:

  1. Lata's songs in the film Baharon Ki Manzil picturised on Meena Kumari including "chale ayo", was big hit. Dharmender performed well opposite Meena Kumari in the film.
    Rumi Chatterji.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diya Mirza had done exceedingly well in the film Tumko Na Bhool Payenge. She was very loyal to her father in the film Lage Raho Munnabhai.
    Supriya Chatterji.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lata was brilliant in her performance in all the songs in the film Chitralekha picturised on Meena Kumari. All the songs were composed by Roshan, and Lata's performance matched Meena Kumari's gorgeous look in the film.
    Supriya Chatterji.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The songs of Pakiza, can be considered as some of the best songs Lata had ever sung in her career. The dholak used by Ghulam Mohammad in songs like "chalte, chalte", "thare rahiyo", "inhi logo ne", was of classic standard. Meena Kumari's royal performance was matched by Lata's powerful singing.
    CR Chatterji.

    ReplyDelete

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