Mr Melody The Music Of Rajesh Khanna

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart… The Rajesh Khanna era, was the era of sterling melody. The RK song was not just about great music, lyrics and vocals but also about the inimitable way the superstar enacted songs on screen. Above all, his songs were about his uncanny music sense and deep involvement in their making.

After his death, we have been given this completely erroneous impression that the music of Rajesh Khanna was overwhelmingly about Kishore Kumar and R.D.Burman, and virtually restricted to Aradhana (in which RD was only an assistant to dad S.D.Burman), Kati Patang and Amar Prem and maybe Mere Jeevan Saathi and Aap Ki Kasam. In a pretence to fair play, sops were doled out to hits by other composers / singers / teams by condescending mentions of cult songs like 'Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana' (Shankar-Jaikishan's Andaz) and 'Accha To Hum Chalte Hain' (Laxmikant-Pyarelal's Aan Milo Sajana) and scores like Do Raaste (L-P again), Anand (Salil Chowdhury) and Safar (Kalyanji-Anandji).

We would love to think that only ignorance has caused this lacuna in an overview of Khanna's music. But sadly, it is more of a selective and convenient amnesia besides twisting of facts. Most such writers were probably tots (if born) in the actor's peak musical phase (which outlasted his starry crescendo) and believe what is doled out as true, but for a musical overview on one of cinema's most musical stars, nothing substitutes for hard facts.

So here's checking some myth-shattering facts and other interesting details about the musical canon of a star who, like Shammi Kapoor, revolutionized trends in music – including his general insistence on Kishore Kumar after he hit big-time with his fifth and sixth releases – Aradhana and Do Raaste.

Much has been said about the chartbusting score of Aradhana and the way the music helped Khanna's meteoric rise to superstardom, especially 'Mere Sapnon Ki Rani' and 'Roop Tera Mastana'. True enough. This writer has personally witnessed the hysteria the songs created even before the film released. But to put the record straight, Khanna's first chartbuster was Kalyanji-Anandji's Mohammed Rafi-rendered 'Akele Hain Chale Aao' from his first release Raaz! Mukesh was his other voice in the film, in the popular duet with Lata, 'Dil Sambhaale Sambhalta Nahin Aaj To'.

R.D.Burman's first film Baharon Ke Sapne with RK, which started their friendship, had only Manna Dey as his voice (in another chartbuster, 'Chunari Sambhaal Gori' with Lata). The Train was a film turned down by Laxmikant-Pyarelal (as actress Nanda can testify) before it went to Pancham, and R.D. himself broke through with this film, in which his own voice and Rafi's went on Khanna in 'Meri Jaan Maine Kahaa' (RD) and 'Gulabi Aankhen' and 'Mujhse Bhala Yeh' (both Rafi). Besides producer Rajendra Kumar's and Raveekant Nagaich's preference for Rafi, the mild RD never dared to take Kishore as his main singer till the tide turned with Aradhana, by which time the music of The Train was ready!

A recent YouTube interview revealed arranger, musician and composer Kersi Lord who worked with S.D.Burman demolishing the carefully-cultivated myth that R.D.Burman had composed 'Roop Tera Mastana', the hottest of the five songs in Aradhana. In an interview a decade ago to this writer, singer Bhupinder Singh, who assisted both father and son as musician and owed his limited but illustrious playback career to R.D., had confirmed that R.D. was absent when the song was created and recorded. Another historian who met S.D. also clearly stated that the senior composer wanted only Rafi for Khanna, but the singer chose to go on a long trip abroad and recommended Kishore Kumar as he could only record two songs, 'Baagon Mein Bahaar Aayi' and 'Gunguna Rahen Hain Bhanware' before he left!

So even Kishore came in by default, or perhaps more accurately, Destiny had ordained that the singing star would reach his highest glories as a playback singer, starting with his three songs in Aradhana, 'Khizan Ke Phool' in Do Raaste and 'Woh Shaam Bhi Kuch Ajeeb Hai' in Hemant Kumar's Khamoshi. And long before Kati Patang came, Kishore had unleashed several cult songs for Khanna in Kalyanji-Anandji's Saccha Jhutha and Safar and Laxmikant-Pyarelal's Aan Milo Sajana!

Khanna of course always preferred Kishore, as Pyarelal has testified. But his ear for music (he would listen to a song and approve it either instantly or, when he did not understand it, if he remembered it four days later after one hearing!) was uncanny. He suggested a tune heard years before from Pancham when a song for Kati Patang was not working out – the result was 'Pyar Deewana Hota Hai'. When the need arose he never insisted on Kishore – he knew that 'Zubaan Pe Dard Bhari' from K-A's Maryada was Mukesh's song, as was 'Phool Aahista Phenko' from L-P's Prem Kahaani. He knew that K-A needed Mahendra Kapoor for the devotional numbers of Malik and both Kapoor and Mukesh for the rustic Bandhan. Rafi it was when R.D.Burman created 'Kaahe Ko Bulaaya' (RD's Humshakal) and Manna Dey in 'Gori Tori Painjaniya' (Mehbooba) . In fact the redoubtable Manna Dey sat easy on him in classics like 'Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli' (Salil Chowdhury's Anand) and 'Tum Bin Jeevan' (Madan Mohan's Bawarchi) as did Mahendra Kapoor in K-A's Bandhan and Malik, L-P's Avtaar (the famous 'Mata Bhajan', 'Chalo Bulaawaa Aaya Hai') and Amrit (the qawwali 'Sharafat Ali Ko') besides Ravi's Awam.

Even when Rafi was no longer around, Khanna knew that Rajesh Roshan had got Mohammed Aziz right for 'Ek Andhera Lakh Sitarein' in Aakhir Kyon? and when L-P chose Aziz and Manhar Udhas respectively to croon the poignant 'Duniya Mein Kitna Gham Hai' and 'Jeevan Saathi Saath Mein Rehna' (Amrit). Magnanimously, he let Rajesh Roshan give Anwar a major break in the hit songs from Janta Hawaldar, 'Humse Kaa Bhool Hui' and 'Teri Aankhon Ki Chaahat Mein'. Kishore's son Amit Kumar (Fiffty Fiffty, Dhanwan, Aakhir Kyon? et al) remained an occasional choice too.

After outgrowing K-A by 1972, he smartly pitted R.D. and L-P against each other, as friends but fierce competitors, to get the best out of both! He recommended L-P for Haathi Mere Saathi, a film he needed to make the final payment of his landmark bungalow Aashirwad, and got Laxmikant to compose the rousing 'Chal Chal Chal Mere Saathi' to complement Salim-Javed's narration of the Hindi script to producer Devar!

Shrewdly aware of when he needed R.D. and when the duo, he got L-P to do Daag, his home productions Roti, Aashiq Hoon Baharon Ka and Chakravyuha (a film with minimum musical scope) and for Anurodh during a short fallout with Pancham. The first film in which he had a financial stake was L-P's H.S.Rawail-directed Mehboob Ki Mehndi – which has evergreen chartbusters like Kishore's 'Mere Diwanepan Ki Bhi' and Rafi-Lata's 'Itna To Yaad Hai Mujhe'. It was only when both RD and he were struggling to stay afloat in the market in the '80s that they – unsuccessfully – tried to revive their old magic in Khanna's productions Alag Alag and Jai Shiv Shankar!

Such was Khanna's acumen that the first three Hindi films to reach album sales qualifying for a Silver Disc were all his – Haathi Mere Saathi, Andaz and Kati Patang. And his songs 'Zindagi Ek Safar' (Andaz), 'Accha To Hum Chalte Hain' (Aan Milo Sajana) and 'Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai' (Kati Patang) topped the Binaca Geet Mala in the same year – 1971.

Besides sidelining all other scores in the media-hype (like S.D.Burman's Premnagar and Tyaag, Khayyam's Thodisi Bewafaii and Dard, Usha Khanna's Souten, Ravi's Doli, K-A's Joroo Ka Gulam and a slew of L-P scores like Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein, Prem Bandhan, Bandish and more), a great disservice has been done even to Pancham masterpieces in these myopic dissertations on Khanna's melodies.

Who, for example, discusses 'Rasta Dekhe Tera' (Humshakal) , 'Parbat Ke Peeche' (Mehbooba), 'Kiski Sadayein' (Red Rose) – all Kishore stunners – or 'Sawan Nahin Bhadon Nahin' (Kudrat) sung by Suresh Wadkar? How many know that R.D. also used Amit Kumar, Bhupinder and even lyricist Anand Bakshi's voice as his playback in 'Sun Banto Baat Meri' (Maha Chor) ?

Moving outside the Kishore-RD orbit, we hear Udit Narayan ('Bhula Sako To') and Kumar Sanu ('Tere Baghair') for him in Wafaa, his last film as hero, with music by Ravi Pawar and Sayed Ahmed. We also discover that Bappi Lahiri used, apart from Kishore, Rafi (in a qawwali in Suraag), Suresh Wadkar (the hit 'Goron Ki Na Kaalon Ki' in Disco Dancer) S.P.Balasubramaniam (Naya Kadam) and even Shabbir Kumar and Bappi himself (Insaaf Main Karoonga) as Khanna's voices!

And speaking of associations, what most do not realize is that Khanna’s biggest association in music was not with any composer or singer but with a lyricist – Anand Bakshi – in more than 45 films. Irrespective of composer or song genre, from Roop tera mastana through Nafrat ki duniya ko chhod kar, Sacchai chhup nahin sakti, Chingari koi bhadke, Zindagi ke safar mein and Mere naina sawan bhadon, Bakshi self-admittedly put in that very special effort for the Khanna khazana.

Clearly, there is (lots) more to Khanna's musical legacy than what is being showcased.

Article written by staff at Bollywood Hungama. Read more