Composers sing for themselves: Ten songs

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No, I don’t mean all those many renditions of Mae ri or Naina barse that one comes across, sung by Madan Mohan himself. I mean instances where a composer actually recorded—and it was included in the film in question—a song in his/her own voice.

This idea popped into my head one day when I was watching Baradari and came across a song that Nashad (the composer of the film’s score) sang in his own voice. It made me wonder: were there other composers, too, who had sung songs for their own films (I cannot, offhand, think of any composers—not also major playback singers—who have sung for other composers. SD Burman singing for RD Burman’s music is perhaps one of the exceptions). Of course, some names immediately came to mind: SD Burman, naturally, since I love his voice so much. RD Burman, who was also a good singer. Nashad, since his song had been the one that had sparked off this idea in the first place.

And, quickly, one after the other, more songs, more singers/composers, followed. So here it is, my list of ten songs that were both composed by and sung by the same person. As always, these are all from pre-1970s films that I’ve seen.

1. Chali woh naseeb ki aandhiyaan (Baradari, 1955): Nashad. Sadly, far too many people confuse this composer with the far more famous Naushad. But Nashad—Shaukat Dehlvi Nashad, to give him his full name—was a composer in his own right. His may not have been anywhere near the stature of Naushad, but Nashad did compose songs for several films, including Saalgirah, Zindagi ya Toofaan, and Baradari. Baradari, which included hits like Bhula nahin dena and Tasveer banaata hoon, was undoubtedly Nashad’s biggest success. Among its many songs was this plaintive one of parting, sung by Nashad himself. A background song picturized on a young woman being sent off to marry a stranger while the man she loves looks on, Chali woh naseeb ki aandhiyaan is poignant, and made more so by the desperation and loneliness in Nashad’s voice.

Chali naseeb ki aandhiyaan, by Nashad

2. Mere saajan hain us paar (Bandini, 1963): Sachin Deb Burman. SD Burman, as I’ve mentioned, was the first name that came to my mind when I thought of composers singing. Burman Da’s voice had a raw, rustic feel to it that suited perfectly the plaintive, poignant songs that featured in several of the films for which he composed music. Suited them so much, really, that when I listen to a song like Wahaan kaun hai tera musaafir or Doli mein bithaaike kahaar or Allah megh de, I am convinced that nobody else could have done justice to the song the way SD Burman does. Of all the songs he’s sung, the one I like the best (though it’s a close fight) is this one from Bandini. A touching and sad song of parting, of saying goodbye to a life and a love one cannot ever forget. The words are haunting, SD Burman’s music is flawless, and his voice makes Mere saajan hain us paar unforgettable.

3. O meri jaan maine kaha (The Train, 1970): RD Burman. Like father, like son. But also not like father, like son. Just as SD Burman had a brilliantly distinctive voice that lent itself very well to a certain kind of song, so did RD Burman—and yet their styles and their voices are very different (at least to an untrained ear like mine). Not for Pancham the raw, haunting notes of his father’s voice: his is the full-throated, powerful and carefree voice that makes Mehbooba mehbooba such a smash hit (and which also makes the very different Dhanno ki aankhon mein raat ka surma come alive).

It was really in the 70s that RD Burman came into his own as a singer, singing large sections of songs by himself; in contrast, the few songs that he sang in the 60s and in 1970 are mostly sung by another (invariably Asha Bhonsle) with Pancham lending a contrast in vocals here and there. As in O meri jaan maine kaha, where—though he begins the song, with that panting, almost lusty voice, it’s soon taken over by Asha. He still comes in at the refrain, and it’s an interesting touch—a vivid, throaty contrast to Asha’s sultry sweetness. An inspired bit of singing (not to mention music).

O meri jaan maine kaha, by RD Burman

4. Shaam dhale khidki tale (Albela, 1951): Chitalkar Ramachandra. When it comes to composers who often sang songs for their films, C Ramachandra’s name should be right up there at the top of the list, alongside SD Burman. And in one respect, I think Chitalkar Ramachandra outdoes SD Burman when it comes to singing: he’s very, very versatile. On the one hand, he sings a patriotic song like Kadam-kadam badhaaye jaa so stirringly; on the other, he pretty much passes off as a very romantic-voiced Talat in Kitna haseen hai mausam. And in Albela, singing playback for Bhagwan all through the film, Chitalkar is romantic, funny, or poignant, as the situation demands. I was inclined to choose my favourite song from the film—Shola jo bhadke dil mera dhadke—but decided that would be predictable. Therefore, another Albela song I love, because it’s so much fun, teasing and playful and romantic, all at the same time. And how well the voices of Chitalkar and Lata vibe!

Shaam dhale khidki tale, by C Ramachandra

5. Tum pukaar lo (Khamoshi, 1970): Hemant Kumar Mukherjee. This one was possibly the most difficult song to pick in all this list—because Hemant didn’t just have a wonderful voice but was also a superb composer. In films like Bees Saal Baad, Anupama, Kohraa, Khamoshi, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam, Jagriti and Anandmath, he composed songs that would far outlive him—and he sang hundreds of songs, both in his own films as well as for other composers: songs that I sometimes feel couldn’t have been sung by anyone other than Hemant himself. Where does one begin to select a song from all those many which I love that have been both composed as well as sung by Hemant?

So, this song. Composed by Hemant, Tum pukaar lo is one of those songs that, to me, are sublime. The ache in Hemant’s voice, the barely-contained passion and longing, the impatience… and that velvety, gorgeous voice. Stunning.

6. Koi humdum na raha (Jhumroo, 1961): Kishore Kumar. Like fellow Bengali Hemant, Kishore too was both a singer as well as a composer (and, like Hemant, also a film producer and director). Unlike Hemant, though, Kishore was also an actor, and one who focused on his acting rather than his singing in the early part of his career. In 1961, however, he was roped in to compose the music for the S Mukherjee-directed Jhumroo, in which Kishore was also the leading man. Jhumroo had several great songs, including the lovely (albeit heavily ‘inspired’) song Thandi hawa yeh chaandni suhaani. Another favourite of mine is this beautiful song of despair and loneliness, its music subdued and melodious, Kishore’s voice controlled, soft and poignant.

(Interestingly, this song wasn’t originally composed by Kishore; he ‘lifted’ its tune, words, and all, from a song sung by elder brother Ashok sung in the 1936 film Jeevan Naiyya—if you want to hear it, check out this version, which also includes a delightful introductory anecdote by Dada Moni himself. The creator of this tune was one of the few women composers of Hindi cinema, Saraswati Devi).

Koi humdum na raha, by Kishore Kumar

7. Kismat ke khel niraale mere bhaiyya (Ek Phool Do Maali, 1969): Ravi. I will admit that when I watched this film several years back, I didn’t really pay much attention to the credits song. Yes, it registered, but not as much as the other, much more popular, songs of the film. It was only much more recently that blog reader swarint brought it to my notice that the singer was the composer himself, Ravi. Listening to the song all over again, it struck me how several composers—barring people who were equally famous as singers, like Kishore Kumar or Hemant—seem to have sung mostly philosophical songs. SD Burman, Nashad, and here, Ravi. I wonder why? Perhaps because the average composer’s voice may not always fit a hero, but would be perfect for a background song or for one sung by a wandering fakir?

At any rate, Kismat ke khel niraale mere bhaiyya is a nice enough song—and Ravi sounds, at least in the lower notes, somewhat like Rafi (that, given that Rafi could sound like many different people in many different songs).

Kismat ke khel niraale, by Ravi

8. Ae jaan-e-wafa maine dil rakh diya (Nishaan, 1965): Usha Khanna. In a world dominated by male composers, Usha Khanna was a woman who held her own. It wasn’t as if she was the only female composer Hindi cinema has known—there were others before her, and there have been others after her—but from the 60s onwards, Usha Khanna certainly made a name for herself by composing some great songs, including the title song of Hum Hindustani.

She also sang in several films, both for other composers as well as for herself. As blog reader Bhagwan Thavrani rightly pointed out, most of the songs Usha Khanna sang were duets or trios: solos were rare. The 1965 Sanjeev Kumar-starrer Nishaan, for which Usha Khanna composed the popular and romantic Haaye tabassum tera, also featured this song, sung solo by the composer herself. Picturized on a pretty Helen, it’s a fairly standard staged performance: a court dancer, with a bunch of extras, sings and dances for the crown prince, unaware that he is not her lover but his identical twin.

Ae jaan-e-wafa maine dil rakh, by Usha Khanna

9. Jamuna tat Shyam khele Holi (Aurat, 1940): Anil Biswas. Anil Biswas holds a very special place in the annals of Hindi film music, because he did not just compose great music, he was also a pioneer of playback singing. It was thanks to Anil Biswas that several of Hindi cinema’s most renowned playback singers, including Mukesh, Zohrabai Ambalewali, and Begum Akhtar. Besides this, he also mentored Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mahmood and Meena Kapoor. Anil Biswas’s deep understanding of what it took to render a tune, the vocals involved, not just the instrumentals, is also reflected in the songs he sang.

From the songs Biswas sang in several films across the 40s, 50s and 60s, here is one from Mehboob Khan’s original Mother India: Aurat.

In a story that was pretty much unrelentingly joyless and tragic, this was one bright spot, a few moments of celebration as the farmers and their families play Holi. With gulaal and colours flying here and there, the people sing and dance. Much of the song is sung by a choral group, but Anil Biswas (and Sardar Akhtar herself? I’m not sure) sing the stanzas. A lovely folksy song.

Jamuna tat Shyam khele Holi, by Anil Biswas

10. Aayi  bahaar aaj aayi bahaar (Doctor, 1941): And, to end this list, a song by someone who, though he is today remembered primarily as a composer and a singer, was also an actor. Mullick was an important exponent of Rabindrasangeet, and is also credited with being one of the pioneers of playback singing in Hindi and Bengali cinema.  The 1941 film Doctor, which was made in both Bengali as well as Hindi, was a Calcutta production (even its censor certificate was from the Bengal Board of Censors). Pankaj Mullick composed the music for this film, sang several of the songs, and acted the part of the eponymous doctor, the upstanding and just Dr Amarnath Roy. The doctor gets to sing several songs in the course of the film, and for me, the toss-up was between the lovely Chale pawan ki chaal, and this one, a train song that begins the story. I have loved Aayi bahaar from the first time I heard it: the way Mullick blends the rhythmic rumbling of the train’s wheels with the tune is truly inspired. Wonderful.

Aayi bahaar aaj aayi bahaar, by Pankaj Mullick

Which are your favourite songs of this type? Please share!

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83 thoughts on “Composers sing for themselves: Ten songs”

  1. SD Batish in the 50s sang and composed quite a few songs One of them was ‘sambnal sambhal ke chalna pagle’ from Insaan 1952 Later he migrared to US and died recently

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    • Thank you for that! SD Batish was one of the composers I knew of as having sung a good deal too (including one of my favourite songs, Na toh kaarvaan ki talaash hai), and he was on my shortlist for this post.

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  2. Immensely multi talented Jaddan Bai more popular known as Nargis mother was a Producer/Director/Lyrics Writer,Story screenplay writer Music Composer and a Singer herself During the 30s she sang many songs of her own compositions Sadly I do not recall any,request if any friend can mention them

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  3. We all know Sharda the Singer of Titlee udee fame She was also a Composer later and gave music for a few films One of them was Tu Meri Mein Tera where she sang with Rafi/Kishore and a few others.One of the Solos she sang was Kahe pe nazar hein written by Hasrat Jaipuri

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  4. I learnt so many things today, thanks to this! Never knew Usha Khanna sang also! She’s so melodious! Wonder why she didn’t sing much more. And the whole lifting of Koi Humdum Na Raha…wow! I had no idea! Thanks for the video link. Some stunning images of a young Ashok Kumar there.
    Thank you for an insightful post, as always!

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      • Have been reading your posts since recently only and I love them.
        Just wanted to add re: Usha Khanna as a singer – in the film “Johnny Mera Naam”, the song “Palbhar Ke Liye Koi Hamein Pyaar Kar Le” – the humming and the “la la la la la” part is sung by Usha Khanna.

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        • I hadn’t known that! Thank you so much for that very interesting bit of trivia.

          Also, thank you for the appreciation, and for taking the time and effort to leave a comment.

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  5. A really interesting topic to choose.
    Chitalkar and Bhagwan Dada were friends.
    C Ramachandra also sang ‘kitna haseen hey mausam’ for Dilip in Azaad. Promising to sing it like Talat and succeeding.

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  6. Very interesting list, insightful too. Enjoyed the journey.
    Offhand I can think of,
    Bhagwan tujhe main khat likhta by chitragupta

    Snehal bhatkar also sang for his own films.
    For Raj Kapoor in neelkamal.
    Jaiyo na bides

    And,
    At present I’m working on Bulo C Rani’s post, who also has sung songs for his own films.

    Pagle udas kyun rehta hai, a duet. He sang under the pseudonym Bhola.
    From Pagli Duniya.

    Then among the newer composers, Anu Malik has sung for his own films.
    Gori Gori gori gori from MHN, very catchy tune.


    And,
    On a rare occasion,
    Anand ftom the duo, Anand Milind has sung for Salman, in the movie, Chandramukhi.
    Mere hothon pe ek aisi


    And,
    Jatin from the duo, Jatin Lalit has sung a few songs.
    Ruth ke humse kahin from JJWS


    And,
    Of course, A R Rahman in Dil se, the title track was sung by him.

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    • What a fine collection of composer-singers! I had known about Chitragupta singing, but not the others – I especially liked Bulo C Rani’s singing of Pagle udaas kyon rehta hai. Among the new ones, Gori gori gori gori is a favourite of mine; I hadn’t realized it had been sung by Anu Malik himself.

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  7. S N Tripathi also sang during the early years for his own songs. I don’t know if the songs are available on YouTube or not. He sang for the movies, Chandan in 1939 and in chudiya in 1942.

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    • This one was on my shortlist! I hadn’t seen Fifty-Fifty however, and I already had ten songs I liked, so I decided to stop at that. Glad to see this one here. Thank you.

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  11. Then of course Mukesh singing for his own song.
    Anurag,
    Kise yaad rakhun kise bhool jaaun

    And,
    Manna Dey singing for his own.
    Meri naiya ko paar lagane wala
    From shiv Kanya

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  13. Superb post.. Hemant Kumar and Pankaj Mullick are of course in a class of their own – they are probably the only two unique instances of someone finding mega success as both a playback singer and a top composer.
    From today’s time, Vishal Dadlani and Shankar Mahadevan can be said to have achieved similar heights, though I would still put them much behind Hemant and Pankaj.

    Some other instances – though from 30s and 70s ( periods that your blog doesn’t really cover ) , of singers who also sang would include Bappi Lahiri and KC Dey. Bappi often did sound annoying and girlish , but he did sung memorably too on certain occasions. I am particularly fond of his Raat Baki and Yaar Bina Chain Kaha re renditions. But my all time favourite song sung by him is the not so popular ‘ Ankhon Mein Tum ‘ from Tere Pyar Mein. A drab of a film, but such a brilliant song!!

    KC Dey songs from movies like Seeta ( India’s first internationally awarded film directed by Debaki Bose ) and Aandhi are pretty good too.

    Also, there is Shyamal Mitra – a gem of a singer – composer, who primarily worked in Bengal. But he did sung in Hindi films too, most notably in Shakti Samanta’s Amanush, where he sang the lovely Bangla folk influenced title credit song ‘ Nadiyan Mein Lehre Nache ‘. Beautiful song and equally beautiful composition.

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    • I recall having seen a song by KC Dey, in which he’s acting too – or is my memory playing tricks with me? From what I recall, he plays a mendicant walking through the streets and singing.

      Bhappi Lahiri, while often laughed about, does have some great songs in his corpus. I especially love both the songs you’ve mentioned!

      I had forgotten Shyamal Mitra’s Nadiya mein lehrein naachein. Beautiful.

      The motif of the river reminded me of Bhupen Hazarika, who sang (among other songs) the male version of Dil hoom-hoom kare in Rudaali, for which he composed the songs too.

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        • Okay. :-) So I went and heard Bolo to ki kore and found his voice very irritating there. But then I listened to Raat baaki baat baaki and liked him perfectly well! Odd.

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          • Yeah, his voice is extra irritating in that song. LOL

            But I like the composition. Come to think of it, I actually like a lot of the Bappi Lahiri composed Bengali soundtracks. Which I guess makes sense as they include some very popular Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle numbers that I grew up listening to.

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            • I guess stuff which you’ve grown up listening (like Raat baaki baat baaki, for me) does tend to have that edge – perhaps you become immune to its flaws!

              In this case, though, I do like the composition; it’s just his voice that irritates me.

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  14. Oh!
    And so fool of me yo forget Sudhir phadke.
    He also has sang and composed.
    Kismat ka nahi dosh banwarefrom Sajni 1956. A duet by Sudhir phadke himself and Lata Mangeshkar.

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    • I was wondering when you would remember Sudhir Phadke! Because your post on him (or were there posts?) alerted me to the fact that he both composed as well as sang. Sudhir Phadke was on my shortlist for this post. So happy to see this song here.Thank you.

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  15. I mean, discounting Bhappi Lahri (who did all my favourites I can think of off the top of my head), sooo many songs in which Burman did his own singing and I hate them all with the fire of a thousand burning suns. Scatting, singing, speaking, someone please ban him from being on his own music. The title number (I think) of Mere Jeevan Saathi being the absolute worst. I’d rather listen to 12 hours of It’s My Challenge.

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    • Thank you! I always like it when people post songs from other languages as well. :-)

      This is a Hindi song, but sung and composed by a stalwart who is famous even beyond the south. Ghantasala sings the title song of Jhanda Ooncha Rahe Hamaara, 1964/5:

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  19. Such a wonderful post it is ! You’re always coming up with novel themes. Kismat Ke Khel Nirale Mere Bhaiya is perhaps one of the most underrated philosophical songs from Bollywood. Not only the song is very good but Ravi’s rendition is also superb.

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  20. What an unusual theme, Madhu. While I had certainly heard the songs you have listed and the others mentioned in the comments, I’d never seriously thought about composers singing their own songs. Interesting that so many of them did.
    Madan Mohan sang in his debut film as music director as well – a duet with Shamshad Begum Hum se na dil ko lagana. Interestingly, the film had a song by another unusual singer – director Raj Khosla: Rail mein jiya mora”.

    I notice no one mentioned AR Rehman – he sings quite often and it could either be a hit or a miss. :) But I love Mangta hai kya from Rangeela.

    And among the ‘new’ lot is Shankar Mahadevan of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy who has a plethora of hit songs to his credit, of which I have a soft spot for Albela sajan aayo re from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

    And I love Vishal Bhardwaj’s voice – especially O saathi re from Omkara.
    And Amit Trivedi’s Naina da kya kasoor from Andha Dhun.

    :)

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    • “And I love Vishal Bhardwaj’s voice – especially O saathi re from Omkara.”

      I agree. I don’t know why Vishal Bhardwaj has not sung more songs. On the other hand, some composers, in my opinion, should absolutely NOT sing, ever, but have sung several songs in their career. 😅

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    • Thank you, Anu! I’m glad you enjoyed this post. :-) And I echo the love for Albela sajan aayo re – lovely song. Shankar Mahadevan does sing well. The same for Vishal Bhardwaj. I had forgotten Naina da kya kasoor even though I’ve seen the film; but yes, it is good. (And I remembered, as soon as I began listening to it).

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  21. Wonderful post, as usual. I didn’t even know that some composers such as Ravi and Usha Khanna sang a song/some songs.

    I really like C Ramachandra’s voice! As you pointed out, his voice was very versatile.

    As a kid, I was more familiar with Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, the singer. But I later found he was also a superb composer. For me, his rendition of ‘Ei raat tomar amar’ in the Bengali version of “Khamoshi” (1970), “Deep Jwele Jaai” (1959), remains hands down the most romantic Bengali song I have ever listened to. It gives me goosebumps every time!

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    • I admit I haven’t heard too many Bengali songs, but I completely echo the love for Ei raat tomar amar. Just thinking of it gives me goosebumps! So here goes (since I’m listening to it again):

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  22. In Tamil the major composers all at some time or the other sung songs . In a few cases they have sung for other composers too!
    1. Ilayaraja has sung quite a few numbers. Though I am not particularly fond of him . I may be murdered for saying so but there is not a song of his that could not have been better off with other singers doing the job for him. Having said that this one is his near best
    Film: Thai Mookambikai

    2. MS Visvanathan on the other hand had an unique voice which came in handy .
    Here is a wonderful duet with SP Balasubramanian

    There was a number which Composer V Kumar thought that only MS V could do justice. It was left to the director K Balachander to ask him to do it. MSV obliged and how! Film: Velli Vizha

    3. MSV heard a singer in a marriage reception and liked the voice so much that he offered him a chance to sing in a film being composed by him. The guy was overjoyed and quietly went and sang the song. It was only after that he told he himself was composer and had at that point of time had composed songs for a couple of films and others were on the way. The guy was Chandrabose. He explained the reason for keeping quiet was he was afraid that he may lose the chance to work with the master had he known that he was a composer.

    4. When AR Rehman was composing a film based on the life of a folk singer and a dancer, he felt that only he could do justice to a song to be picturized on the hero’s father. The ever sporting MSV obliged.
    Film : Sangamam

    5. The composer Deva used to regularly sing ” Gaana ” numbers. Gaana is a genre of music peculiar to the working class of Chennai. Deva popularized it and broad-based it by using it in his films. There are so many that I just picked out one at random

    6.Of the newer lot Anirudh ( of why this kolaveri fame) sings quite a few. This is one of his better efforts
    Film: Vanakkam Chennai

    7 Santosh narayanan is another who sings in most of the films he composes
    This is a great number from a great film. Do catch it. I think subs should be available.

    Sorry for a long post. When I start , it always ends up this way.

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  24. How mean of me to jump into my ramblings before commenting on your post. I wanted to start of by saying I will come back after listening to the songs and then record my thoughts. But sorry.
    I have now listened to some songs that I didn’t know or forgot about listened to one song that confirmed what I thought of ( absolute drivel) and I was not able to listen to the songs by Nashad and Ravi( the links did not work for me) I can now post my thoughts.

    For me the best of the lot was C Ramachandra. I love love the song .. in fact most of Albela. The heroine , music, the bhagwan dada steps what is not to like in it. Top notch
    Kishore Kumar one is also a good solid choice.
    As for SD Burman and his unique voice here was one person who knew what suited him best. Like you I love listening to his heart wrenching renditions. My personal preference would have been “Wahan khon hai tera”. but “Mera sajan” would also be there in the top 3. So good pick here too.
    From One Bengali to another ( early Hindi films were dominated by them it would seem) don’t hit me for that I some how don’t get Hemant Kumar’s singing so while I have listened to Tum pukar lo and do like the movie very much but the fact is Khamoshi leaves me depressed after every watch. So let us leave it there.
    Usha Khanna’s number was middling at the best . Nothing that would captivate me or make me want to listen again and again. Anil Biswas’ song was too short it clocke din at 1:19 or something the orchestration was old school but couldn’t hear anything distinctly.
    What does that leave me to say a big thank you. Why you may ask.
    Here is the reason. When you read Hindi in Roman alphabets sometimes you just don’t get it. Doctor was not a film I knew and 1941 was too far out But Pankaj mullick seemed familiar. I listened to the song and immediately there were goose bumps. My father had liked the song and used to sing it or at least the first few lines quite a bit. When I was growing up amidst the Hindi agitation in Pondicherry Hindi music was limited to listening to Binaca / cibaca geet mala In Radio Ceylon and one weekly half hour programme of Hindi music in Pondicherry AIR. The director’s favorite was Baiju bawra it would seem .. every week we heard it alongwith other songs the only song I liked during the time was eh jeevan hai (Piya ka ghar) but one day this song was played and was my dad happy( That was the only time I heard it I suppose other than my father’s rendition ) So thank you Madhu for taking a trip down memory lane. I would go back to listen this again definitely.

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    • TBH, Khamoshi leaves me depressed too. Just too much unrelenting sadness. But I love the songs.

      And yes, if you notice, I didn’t title this one ‘ten of my favourite…’ because there are some songs here I personally don’t like much. The Usha Khanna one is average, the Nashad one too is just so-so, and the same goes for the Ravi one (honestly, when it comes to pretty much anything connected to Ek Phool Do Maali, I tend to regard it with a jaundiced eye – that is one film I simply detest). But yes, some songs, some composers, I do like a lot. Hemant, Kishore, SDB – and Pankaj Mullick.

      I’m so glad Aayi bahaar recalled such pleasant memories for you – and thank you for sharing that. It was lovely. :-)

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        • So sorry, they’d been working when I published this post, but in the brief while before you read it, the accounts got disabled. Have changed the links now, so please see if you can view the songs now.

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          • They are working now. I heard them. While Nashad as you aptly put ” so so” Ravi fared better as he did what many music directors liked to do .. chose a philosophical song not picturized on a major character preferably while the titles were playing. Ilayaraja too started off like that!

            Seeing the later brings back unwanted memories of a friend tricked me into seeing this movie–when I was not too familiar with the language . My friend knew that I had a liking for Balraj Sahni ( so difficult not to like him isn’t it) that he told me that Balraj Sahni was the hero for all practical purposes and Sanjay Khan was just a prop. He was technically right of course but what a hideous movie. I really hated the child artist as well. In fact most child artistes are a pain in the you know wherever!

            Talking of pain may be you can do something to alleviate it. Why don’t you do a Part II of “how to shanti a goat pooja ” . I went back to it recently to lighten my mood and boy did it work. Surely you should be having a few updates which can have me in stitches.
            Most of the readers would I am certain agree with me on this.

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            • “Why don’t you do a Part II of “how to shanti a goat pooja ”

              That’s a great idea! The odd thing is, back then – shortly after I did that post – I’d actually dug up a lot of other similar stuff and written a post for it too. Will publish that on Sunday. I could do with some laughs too!

              And yes. Oh, yes. How horrible Ek Phool Do Maali was. I too watched it for Balraj Sahni (and I like Sadhana a lot too, really. And Ravi. And I don’t mind Sanjay Khan). But each of them flopped here for me, and the sum of all the parts was not enough to compensate for the sheer painfulness of the film.

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  25. An interesting theme with nice selection of songs!
    There is a big list of composers covered in the post and the comments!!

    Some names from my side, though from the post-70s: :

    1. Jagjit Singh, who not only sang but also composed music for a few films.
    My favourite one is from Prem Geet 1981 – Honthon se chhulo tum

    2. Laxmikant ( of L-P fame) – Gore nahi hum kaale sahi – Deshpremee 1982

    3. Rajesh Roshan – The second version of Tune abhi dekha nahin – Do Aur Do Paanch 1980 ( the picturization is fun!!)

    4. Omi (of Sonik-Omi duo) also song some songs. Nearly all in B-grade hardly known movies.
    Here’s one for the record. -Title song of Ek Khiladi 52 Patte 1972

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    • Oh, very nice contributions to the post, Dr Deshpande! I hadn’t known any of these (though I should have remembered that Rajesh Roshan also sang besides being a composer). Thank you so much.

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  26. Great post with another unique theme…
    Music director Rajkamal also sung few of his compositions one of those my favourite is from ‘Chashme Baddur ” Kaise ho pagal jaisa ye badal” he sung it with Hemanti Shukla

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  27. In the last 20 years or so i.e. 2000 onwards, composers singing their own songs has become a routine. Himesh Reshamiya, Shankar Mahadevan, Vishal & Shekhar, Anand Raj Anand, Aadesh Srivastava, Salim Merchant, Sajid – Wajid etc…

    I would like to add one extremely popular Marathi music composer duo who have now composed for Hindi films too – Ajay-Atul. Of the two, Ajay Gogavale has been a prolific singer, having sung many Marathi songs.
    Their biggest blockbuster score has been Sairat (2016), remade in hindi as Dhadak (2018), whose music was also composed by them..
    The popular song Zingaat has been sung by both the brothers Ajay and Atul in both the versions.

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