On 27th Aug, we had the death anniversary of this great singer. He died on this day in 1976 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, where he had gone to perform. He didn’t get to perform since he died in the morning, immediately after a shower, due to heart attack.
He got a break in the movies as a playback singer courtesy his distant uncle Motilal. Indeed, among all the songs that he sang for his uncle are two popular ones: Dil jalta hai to jalne de and Zindagi khwab hai.
Mukesh had a limited range of singing. However, after imitating KL Saigal, for example in Dil jalta hai to jalne de (Reportedly, KL Saigal seemed to have reacted to this song sung by Mukesh and composed by Anil Biswas by saying, “I don’t remember having sung this song and yet here it is.”), Naushad encouraged him to have a unique singing style of his own. And he did. He perfected sad songs and songs of melancholy (eg, Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye) and also became adept at non-filmy ghazals. And then Shankar Jaikishan and later Kalyanji Anandji found him (he sang equal number of songs for both the duos). With Shankar Jaikishan he became the singing voice of Raj Kapoor though in the first movie Barsaat he sang for Prem Nath and Mohammad Rafi sang for Raj Kapoor.
Here, I give you a compilation of seven of his songs that I sang. The first two are with Naushad since in his development as a singer Naushad played the most significant role.
Mukesh – Naushad Association
Song #1
Tu kahe agar
Mukesh – Naushad association was limited to just three movies (26 songs) in 1948 – 1949: Mela, Anokhi Ada and Andaz. Each one is a classic.
Many feel that Naushad dropped Mukesh because of limited range of his singing. However, the fact is that once Naushad found Rafi, all other male singers were relegated.
Andaz has some of the great songs of Mukesh composed by Naushad. My favourite is this. It was penned by Majrooh. The movie and this song were shot in my home place Shimla Hills.
Andaz was a 1949 movie (the same year when Raj Kapoor made his Barsaat) directed by Mehboob Khan. Mukesh sang for Dilip Kumar whilst the love of his life (in the movie, that is) Nargis loved Raj Kapoor who didn’t sing any songs.
I have always felt that the song has the exact lyrics I want to sing to my wife Lyn. The main reason that I learnt singing is to sing to her suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Please enjoy: Tu kahe agar jeevan bhar main geet sunata jayun…
Song #2
Husn-e-jaana idhar aa
As mentioned, this is the second song (though from a different movie) that I am giving you of this association.
This song is also representative of ‘All you need is love’. It was shot in Kharghar when Lyn and I were totally without any external help to manage life. Her Alzheimer’s had suddenly taken a turn for the worse and I thought of this song whilst tending to her.
So here we are. Once again, the lyrics are Majrooh’s (wounded or injured). He was the rare lyricist who was awarded the highest award: the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. And then we have Naushad who too was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
The song is from the 1968 CV Sridhar movie Saathi starring Rajendra Kumar and Vyjayanthimala.
Please enjoy: Husn e jaana idhar aa, aayina hoon main tera.
Mukesh – Laxmikant Pyarelal Association
Song #3
Gore gore chand se mukh par
Mukesh sang as many as 80 songs for Laxmikant Pyarelal. When his career had started waning, Laxmikant Pyarelal revived it in Milan songs, and songs of the movies Farz, Anita, and Patthar Ke Sanam.
I like this song from Anita because Mukesh has used excellent modulation in it (something, that was somewhat lacking in Zikr hota hai jab qayamat ka). Also, the movie was partly shot in my home station: Shimla hills, which is where I am now. This was penned by Arzoo Lacknavi. Another super song from the movie was shot here and that was penned by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan: Tum bin jeevan kaise beeta.
The 1968 movie Anita was the last of the suspense trilogies of Raj Khosla starring Sadhana as the lead actress; the other ones being Woh Kaun Thi and Mera Saya.
If you tolerate my singing, you may like to subscribe to my channel on YouTube.
Please enjoy: Gore gore chand ke mukh par…
Mukesh – Dattaram Association
Song #4
Aansu bhari hain yeh jeevan ki raahen
Dattaram Shirodkar preferred to be called Darttaram Wadkar. He was an arranger with Shankar Jaikishan. They encouraged him to break out as an independent music director and he did very well.
This 1958 movie Parvarish song was penned by Hasrat Jaipuri and soon assumed iconic proportions.
I selected this song on 27 Aug 2021 to pay tribute to Mukesh.
It is composed in Raag Kalyan or Yaman, the basic raag that all aficionados of classical music begin with. The Tal is rarer: Jhaptal.
Please enjoy my rendition of: Aansu bhari hain yeh jeevan ki raahen…
Mukesh – Kalyanji Anandji Association
Song#5
Chand si mehbooba ho meri
Mukesh sang as many songs for KA as he did for SJ, even though he was extensively used by SJ as the singing voice of Raj Kapoor.
I sang this on Lyn’s birthday on 11th Jul, last year, when I started taking baby steps to learn better singing.
Please enjoy: Chand si mehbooba ho meri…
Mukesh – Madan Mohan Association
Song #6
Bhooli hui yaadon mujhe itna na satao
As I wrote earlier, despite the limitation in range, Mukesh actually excelled in two genre’s of songs: One, songs of melancholy, eg, Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye; and two, ghazals, especially non-filmy ones.
Both genre’s being the mastery of Madan Mohan, it is surprising that Mukesh sang only nine songs for MM. Once again, the reason can be traced to MM’s fondness for Rafi and later Talat (eg, Jahan Ara songs like Phir wohi shaam wohi gham wohi tanhayi hai) to sing both genre’s of songs.
Nevertheless, all nine songs that Mukesh sang for Madan Mohan are classics. And my all time favourite is this:
You don’t see Lyn sitting with me for this as I don’t like singing melancholic and songs of regret to her.
Please enjoy: Bhooli hui yaadon mujhe itna na satao…
Mukesh – SN Tripathi Association
Song #7
Aa laut ke aaja mere meet
I published this song on YouTube on the morning of Mukesh’s Death Anniversary, 27th Aug 22.
The song has been my favourite for over 60 years. When I used to visit my maternal grandparents place in Urapur (District Jalandhar, Punjab) for school holidays (I was born there), this was a favourite on Binaca Geetmala until SN Tripathi’s another song Zara saamne to aa O chhaliye pipped it to the post.
Whilst doing my higher command course in Mhow, I wanted to and eventually visited Rani Roopmati Palace in Maandu.
I wrote about it:
The song was penned by Bharat Vyas and SN Tripathi composed it in Raag Madhumadhavi Sarang.
Please enjoy: Aa laut ke aaja mere meet….
I hope you liked my singing of Mukesh songs. Wait for some more to appear in Part II.
