Runa Laila - A Legend Forever

 

She was born in East Pakistan, was educated in Pakistan, settled down in Bangladesh after the creation of the state in 1971, has worked in India and travels the world with her shows. Where does she really belong? 

The colourful journey of her career has taken her all over the world. From Madison Square Garden to Sydney Opera House, from Europe to Africa – the veteran has stepped on proudly carrying the legacy of Bangladesh and mesmerized her audience in India and Pakistan. She has lent her melodious voice to over 10,000 recordings, in 18 languages.

In her decorated career, Runa Laila has achieved such height of fame and recognition that most artists can only dream of. She has voiced the magical lyrics of some of the globally renowned lyricists and performed the duet with singers at the similar altitudes of success.

She was born (17 th Nov 1952) in Sylhet to Syed Mohammed Imdad Ali, a civil servant posted in Karachi, and Amina Laila. In 1966, she made her breakthrough with the song Unki Nazron Sey Mohabbat Ka Jo Paigham Mila for the Urdu film Hum Dono. She used to perform on PTV In a show called Bazm E Laila.

Her tryst with Indian films came about after a chance meeting with music director Jaidev in Delhi, at a party hosted by businessman and music connoisseur Ashok Khanna. He gave her a chance to sing at the inauguration of Doordarshan. For a few years, she used to sing in Doordarshan. She became famous among viewers by her song Damadam Mast Kalandar. Her first recording was with Kalyanji-Anandji for the title song of Ek Se Badhkar Ek. She gained popularity in India with the songs O Mera Babu Chail Chabila and Dama Dam Mast Qalandar . After that, she sang two songs for Gharonda"Tumhe ho na ho" and "Do deewane shaher mein " composed by Jaidev.
She shares a close association with Bappi Lahiri too. In fact, Bappida recorded a pop album in her voice called Superuna in London. The singer remembers it all fondly. “We recorded at the Abbey Road Studios, made famous by The Beatles and I think we were the first people from the subcontinent to have done so. It was a spectacular experience. The songs are still popular and I perform them at my shows even now.” The songs were indeed so popular that Bappida used the hit single, De De Pyar De in the film Sharaabi (1984). 
Her name has been written on the Guinness World Records for recording 30 songs within 3 days. In 1982, she won Golden Disk Award as her album Superuna composed by Bappi Lahiri was sold over 1 lakh copies on the first day of its release.

Runa has also sung versions of Mehdi Hassan’s ghazals, which became quite famous. In October 2009, she released Kala Sha Kala, a collection of Punjabi wedding songs, in India. In 2012, Laila served as a judge on the show Sur Kshetra, an Indian television contest show for amateur singers. She described her relationship with fellow judge Asha Bhosle as that of sisters. In 2014, she collaborated with Sabina Yasmin on a song for a television play "Dalchhut Projapoti", the first time they worked on a song together.

Runa has sung in seventeen languages including her native Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Pashto, Baluchi, Arabic, Persian, Malay, Nepalese, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, French and English.

Song of Ek Se Badkaar Ek 1976

Song of Gharonda 1977

Song of Yaadgaar (1984)

Mera Babu Chhail Chhabila Mai To Naachu re

Song of The Rain 1976  Bangaladesh

Ghazal  of Runa Laila

Superuna composed by Bappi Lahiri 

Lata Mangeshkar- Sang for Every Generation of Heroines

 

Lata Mangeshkar represented every generation of Hindi cinema from Nargis and Waheeda Rehman to Madhuri Dixit and Kajol. Her first song as a playback singer in Hindi films was in 1947 - Aapki Sewa Mein (paa laagu kar jori...)but this song did not give lata recognition as a singer, Her first major break was in 1948-Majboor (Dil Mera Toda) given by Music Composer Ghulam Haider. After she recorded the hit “Uthaye ja unke sitam” in Andaz (1949), her destiny was sealed, the year 1949 was the turning point of a great career. The year saw the rise of Lata Mangeshkar The song Aayega Aane Wala from Mahal and the songs of Barsat came the same year. After that, she never looked back. She became the voice of all the Major Heroines. In an interview when asked who according to you enacted your songs really well onscreen?. She said that Actresses like Sadhana, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Madhubala, and Kajol, took the effort to understand the song and act accordingly. Jaya Bachchan observed me well and got my mannerisms right - starting with how I stand, how I sing, and how I drape my sari. In Abhimaan (1973), she even chose to wear white saris like me. It was commendable.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, Mangeshkar sang duets with Asha Bhosle, Suraiya, Usha Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, and Mahendra Kapoor. In 1964, she sang "Chanda Re Hoga" with P.B. Sreenivas from Main Bhi Ladki Hoon. she continued to sing with Shabbir Kumar, Shailendra Singh, Nitin Mukesh (Mukesh's son), Manhar Udhas, Amit Kumar (Kishore Kumar's son), Mohammed Aziz, Vinod Rathod, and S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, and Sonu Nigam
In the 2000s, Mangeshkar's duets were mainly with Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. 2005-06 were the years of her last well-known songs: "Kaise Piya Se" from Bewafa and "Shayad Yehi To Pyaar Hai" from Lucky: No Time For Love, with Adnan Sami and " Lukka Chhupi" in Rang De Basanti (2006 film) with A.R.Rahman. She sang "Ek Tu Hi Bharosa" from Pukar. Other notable songs of this decade were from Veer-Zaara, sung with Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Jagjit Singh, Roop Kumar Rathod, and Gurdas Mann. One of her latest songs was "Jeena Hai Kya" from Dunno Y2 (2014).
Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honors, including Bharat Ratna (India's Highest Civilian Award), Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1989)
SONGS VIDEOS  FOR SADHANA

Song from Parakh 1960

Song from Asli Naqli 1962

Song from Mere Mehboob 1963

Song from Woh Kaun Thi 1964

Song from Rajkumar  1964

Song from Mera Saaya 1966

Song from Inteqam 1969

Song from Ishq Par Zor Nahin 1970

Asha Bhonsle- Awarded for a song that never picturized

 

You would be surprised to know that Asha Bhosle won her 6th Filmfare Best Singer award of 1974 for a playback song that did not figure in the movie at all? The song was in the Long Playing Record but was not in the film.

The song was 'Chein se hum ko kabhi aap ne jeene na diyaa' from the film 'Pran Jaye Per Vachan Na Jaye'  released in 1974.The song was composed by O P Nayyar.It was the last song of Asha Bhonsle for O P Nayyar.After this song they parted away. Asha  Bhosle did not turn up to pick up the award, which was, ironically, received by OP Nayyar. 

The story behind the song was that this song was recorded after the completion of the shooting of the film. The song was to be added in the last moment but the producer had already sent the film to the censor board and before the song to be picturized, the film got the censor certificate.

The song was written by S H Bihari.lyrics are full of emotions and Ashadidiji sang this song from the depth of her heart and she made the song superb.

Asha Bhosle(born 8 September 1933) has won seven Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards of 18 nominations. After receiving the award in 1979, Bhosle emulated her elder sister and requested that her name not be considered for the nominations hereafter. Despite this, Bhosle is the most frequent winner of this award to date, tying with Alka Yagnik. She was later given a Special Award for Rangeela in 1996, and the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. 

Mukesh- It was Naushad who asked him to sing in his style

 

In the 40s KL Saigal was the voice of the nation, every male singer used to sing in his style. Our great singers, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, or Mukesh were his fans and used to sing in his style. If you listen to their earlier songs, you will not recognize their voice.  In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song "Dil Jalta Hai..." sung by Mukesh, he remarked, "That's strange, I don't recall singing that song.

In the 40s, there was a trend of singing actors, there was no playback singing prevailing in those days. The hero or heroine was taken on the basis of their singing ability. Mukesh was offered the role of a hero opposite Nalini Jaywant in the 1941 film Nirdosh.In this film, he had a duet with Nalini Jaywant and also a solo.

Mukesh and Suraiya.

Naushad though worked very less with him but asked him to sing on his own voice. In Mela, the song " Gaye Ja Geet Milan Ke" became a smash hit after that most of the composers asked him to sing on his own style.

Naushad composed approximately 23 songs for Mukesh, out of which 15 were solos and 8 were duets.  Naushad created some of the best gems for Mukesh including Kabhi dil dil sai takrata to hoga, Main bhanwara tou hai phool and Tu kahe agar. 

Naushad in an interview disclosed an interesting fact that Mukesh could never sing without a harmonium. This was because he thought that he would go out of tune. In fact, many times I had to pad up the harmonium, and whenever we did that the result was much better.

Song of Nirdosh 1941

Song of Nirdosh 1941

Song of Sukh Dukh

Song of Mukesh from Moniika Unreleased Film

Song of Pehli Nazar 1945

Song of Chaand Sitaare (1948) 

Song of Anokhi Ada 1948

Song of Anokhi Ada 1948

Song of Mela 1948

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Saathi 1968

Main hoon jhum jhum jhum jhum Jhumroo- One Man Show

This song from the 1961 film'Jhumroo' was written, composed, and sung by Kishore Kumar. He was the producer, editor, story writer, and hero of this film. This song is a title song played with the opening credit titles of the film. The film starts with this song, Kishore Kumar is nowhere in the scene. The picturization shows a toy train finding its way on the picturesque terrain of Darjeeling hills while this song gets played in the background. Madhubala is one of the passengers traveling on this train.
Jhumroo was Kishore Kumar's first released film as a composer, before that two of his films as a composer was shelved. Both were to be directed by Phani Mazumdar. Both films couldn't see the light of the day.
 Kishore Kumar is at his absolute best as a singer in this song. This song has Kishore Kumar at his yodeling best  There were 11 songs in the film  Most of the songs were recorded well before the shooting of the film stated. There was no situation for this song, everybody was appreciating this song and wanting to retain this song, so it was kept in the beginning as a background song with the credit titles.
Since Kishore Kumar had no musicians, orchestra, and music arranger so the help of S D Burman's team was taken. Basu Chakravarti who was Burman Dada's arranger helped Kishore Kumar to complete songs.
The song starts with the rhythm of a guitar matching the sound of a steam engine followed by the yodeling of Kishore Kumar Before yodeling starts Kishore creates the sound of the whistle of the engine. There is no differentiation between Mukhda and Antra in this song, in fact, each Antra has the Mukhda in it. Between the Antra Kishore Kumar's high pitched laughter and yodeling is kept as an interlude. The words are simple and minimum use of musical instruments mainly guitar and accordion are the main instruments.

Song of Jhumroo 1961

Mukesh- His songs on the Cricket Match inspired Chandrashekhar

Mukesh(22 July 1923- 27 August 1976)  is considered to be one of the most popular and acclaimed playback singers of the Hindi film industry. Among billions of his fans was the great spin & Googly bowler Bhagwat Chandrashekhar.
Mukesh was a favorite of renowned Indian spin-bowler Bhagwat Chandrasekhar. When the sound of a Mukesh song drifted to the pitch, Chandrasekhar's acknowledgment of the tribute would bring a roar from the crowd. Sunil Gavaskar wrote that sometimes he hummed a Mukesh tune on the field to inspire Chandra.
Chandra has had a special fondness for Mukesh's songs since his childhood. He
used to tune into them on Radio Ceylon every night, and often dreamt of actually
hearing him sing live someday. His opportunity came only after he joined the
Indian eleven in the early sixties, and started going to Bombay often for
matches.
He had the ambition to meet his idol once, which he told to his friend in Bombay, a jockey friend M J Raju, who happened to know Mukesh personally. He took a nervous and tongue-tied Chandra to a recording studio to listen to his idol live for the first time.
Mukesh was recording songs for a film called Jyot Jale.

After his first meeting, they became good friends, though Mukesh was quite older to him he respected Chandrashekhar. Mukesh was also not a Cricket crazy unlike Raj Kapoor or Dilip Kumar but he never showed his dislike for the game.

Chandra spent many quiet evenings dining with Mukesh's family, of whom only
Mukesh's son ever showed any interest in cricket. Sometimes, they would hit some
popular nightspot and dine out together, just the two of them. Then, Mukesh
would insist on driving Chandra back to the hotel. Occasionally, a cricketer
friend would accompany Chandra to meet Mukesh, but Chandra tried to keep his
treasured encounters with his friend as uncrowded as possible.

Chandrashekhar during an interview told "We only talked about his music, very little else,. We did not gossip about people in films or people in cricket. I lacked the knowledge to discuss the technicalities of his music with him, so we would just talk about the mood of a particular song, or what emotions we experienced on hearing it."

He had a great collection of Mukesh songs, almost 800 songs,'Yeh Mera Diwanapan' from Yahudi and the songs of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai are a few of his favorite songs of Mukesh.

Sunil Gavaskar in an interview to Sony TV once said he was playing in a Ranji Match, Chandrashekhar was bowling him and beating him with his Googly a leg break, and following on through to the batsman. Not to sledge him but to ask, "Suna kya?" (Did you hear that?), as a Mukesh song wafted to the pitch from a spectator's transistor. Indians of an earlier generation took transistor radios to first-class matches - and listened to the running commentary. Often they tuned in to popular stations playing Bollywood songs. The volume was turned up when a Mukesh song came on during a match involving Chandra, or a song involving Sharmila Tagore when her husband, Tiger Pataudi, was in action. When players acknowledged the tribute, the crowd roared. It was a way of connecting with the stars in the pre-television and pre-selfie days.

Chandrashekhar was a Kannada speaking and didn't understand Hindi, he couldn't understand the lyrics of Mukesh songs but he liked his voice and tunes. Players of his era tell that Chandra was a quiet person and whenever you go to his room, one can always see him listening only to Mukesh songs.

Mukesh named his son Nitin, like him, he also named his son Nitin. Here are a few of Chandra's favorite Mukesh songs

Song of Yahudi 1958

Song of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai 1961

Song of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai 1961

Song of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai 1961

Song of Mela 1948

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Saranga 1961

Song of Barsaat 1949

Song of Teesri Kasam 1966