Another birth centenary, and another list of favourite songs from the 1950s and 60s.

Today, March 3, 2026, marks the 100^th birth anniversary of the composer mononymously known in Hindi cinema as Ravi, and in Malayalam cinema as Bombay Ravi. In the course of a long and illustrious career, Ravi composed music for a very wide range of films, first in the Hindi film industry and later mostly for Malayalam cinema. I will leave those who know his work in the latter to compile lists of his Malayalam songs; what I would like to focus on here are the songs he composed for Hindi films. For films like Gharana and Khandaan, yes (both of which won him Filmfare Best Music Direction Awards); but also for many other films—both hits like Waqt and Chaudhvin ka Chaand, and films that were otherwise duds but the songs of which have far outlived the films themselves.

It’s not as if I’ve never done a Ravi songs list before; when he passed away in 2012, I compiled a post of my favourite songs of his. That post consisted mostly of solos, although I had not really meant to restrict myself to solos.  Many blog readers, reading the post, suggested their favourite Ravi songs—a lot of them duets. I had told myself back then that someday I should do a post of Ravi duets.

So here it is. In celebration of Ravi’s birth centenary, a list of ten of my favourite Ravi duets. As always, these are all from pre-1970s Hindi films that I’ve seen, and no two songs are from the same film (also, none of these songs appeared in my previous Ravi list). These songs are in no particular order.

1. Yeh hawa yeh nadi ka kinaara (Ghar Sansar, 1958): Asha Bhonsle and Manna Dey; Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri. What can I say about this song? That I admire the way Ravi marries a Western-influenced tune with distinctly Indian elements? That I think Manna Dey is an inspired choice of male voice for the song, even if he didn’t sing as often for Rajendra Kumar as did (say) Rafi? That Ravi must have had the most accomplished arrangers in the industry, because songs like this are absolutely stunning in the way they are woven together? Or simply that Ravi was sheer genius?

Whatever. This is a superb song, so wonderful a fit of music, lyrics, rendition, and picturization.

2. Hum jab simatke aapki baahon mein aa gaye (Waqt, 1965): Asha Bhonsle and Mahendra Kapoor; Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi. I have always regarded Waqt as one of the most stylish and satisfying paisa-vasool films that Hindi cinema produced during the 1960s. It has everything: an entertaining story (if chockfull of the sort of coincidences that can happen only in Hindi cinema); a superb cast—and a score that had not a single song that wasn’t good. Several of the songs from Waqt (Kaun aaya ke nigaahon mein; Aage bhi jaane na tu; Waqt se din aur raat, O mere zohrajabeen) were solos, but this soothing, dreamily romantic duet is also a lovely one. Also, I must applaud Ravi for having given some very good songs to Mahendra Kapoor. Kapoor is not one of my favourites, but his songs for Ravi, like this one, are among his very best.  

3. Sadiyon puraani apni kahaani (Shehnai, 1964): Asha Bhonsle and Mohammad Rafi; Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan. Even when the film was nothing to write home about, Ravi’s music was something one could watch it for. Shehnai, a rather painful, melodramatic and outright boring film, is a case in point, with some lovely songs (Na jhatko zulf se paani, Sharmaake na jaa tadpaake na jaa, among others). This duet is one I especially like: light and lilting, and just generally very pleasant.

4. Main khushnaseeb hoon mujhko kisi ka pyaar mila (Tower House, 1962): Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh; Lyrics: Asad Bhopali. Tower House was one of those forgettable B-grade films of the type NA Ansari churned out with such startling regularity, with over-the-top ‘suspense’; a very convoluted and confusing story which didn’t always make sense; a romance; and Nilofer as the vamp. One thing NA Ansari was able to achieve, and that was to have A-grade actors and music directors work in his films. For Tower House, Ravi composed some lovely music: Ae mere dil-e-naadaan is one of my favourite solos; and there’s this, a romantic duet that plays out at a party, with the couple in love expressing their sentiments in front of everybody. Sweet and melodious.

I just wish Ajit hadn’t mauled the playing of the piano so terribly.

5. Yeh raatein yeh mausam nadi ka kinaara (Dilli ka Thug, 1958): Asha Bhonsle and Kishore Kumar; Lyrics: Shailendra. Dilli ka Thug, while not an NA Ansari film (it was directed by SD Narang) had similar tropes as Ansari’s brand of cinema: the same convoluted plot, the same mix of suspense and romance and rather slapstick humour. It could also boast of a stellar score by Ravi, including what ranks as one of my favourite ‘club songs’, the mind-blowingly good O babu o lala. And the nutty C-A-T cat maane billi, as well as the equally peppy and mad Hum toh mohabbat karega. And this, an exquisitely dreamy love song that I somehow never associate with Kishore Kumar (as far as picturization is concerned; in his singing he can be very versatile, of course). Such a soothing song, I could listen to this on a loop.

6. In hawaaon mein in fizaaon (Gumraah, 1963): Asha Bhonsle and Mahendra Kapoor; Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi. If Sahir Ludhianvi is often associated with SD Burman (with whom he collaborated in several blockbuster films, including Baazi, Jaal, Munimji, Taxi Driver and Pyaasa), his association with Ravi is nothing to be sneezed at. Together, these two produced magic in scores like Humraaz, Bahu-Beti, Waqt, and Gumraah. Gumraah, for one, has not just great music, but also excellent lyrics. Look at the classic Chalo ek baar phir se, for instance; or this song, which appears in two versions. Both versions, happy (when the two lovers, in happier days, are celebrating their togetherness) and sad (when they have been forced to part ways, and he sings an embittered song in which the echoes of her song are included) are equally lovely. As I said before, Ravi manages to bring out the best in Mahendra Kapoor.

7. Sharmaake yeh kyon sab pardanasheen (Chaudhvin ka Chaand, 1960): Shamshad Begum and Asha Bhonsle; Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni. For a change, a song that isn’t a romantic duet. If Ravi used somewhat Westernized tunes for certain songs in films like Waqt, Dilli ka Thug, and Humraaz, the score for this Guru Dutt Muslim social proved his versatility. He could compose for ghazals and qawwalis as well as any of the other composers (Roshan, for one, Naushad, for another) generally associated with the genre. Sharmaake yeh kyon sab pardanasheen is a classic qawwali, the clapping in the correct tempo, the repeated words at the correct places, the changes in the tune and the sentences (or phrases) that are spoken and not sung—all just right. And Shamshad Begum’s inclusion in this song is a very good choice: she brings that raw nasality to this song that is the perfect foil to Asha’s more conventionally ‘sweet’ voice.

8. Yeh mausam rangeen sama (Modern Girl, 1961): Suman Kalyanpur and Mukesh; Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan. Modern Girl was a prime example of a film that was—as Greta (or was it Beth?) dubbed it—plagued by the ‘curse of the second half’. Till a point, it was fairly entertaining and interesting. Then, it went downhill in a way that would have seemed impossible after such a promising start. Even with such a disappointing film, however, Ravi worked magic: he composed for it some good tunes, of which the most famous one, and one I especially love, is this. The peppiness, the frothy romance here, shines through, and I love that Ravi has thought out of the box and chosen Mukesh—so often stereotyped as a singer of sad songs—to sing something so light. Mukesh and Suman Kalyanpur sing it perfectly, too.

9. Dadi amma dadi Amma maan jaao (Gharana, 1961): Kamal Barot and Asha Bhonsle; Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni. This, I will admit, was not one of the songs that came immediately to mind when I thought of my favourite Ravi duets. In fact, I dithered for a long time over whether I should include this or not, but here it is. A good song, and (if you go by SD Burman’s famous standard for what comprises a good song: something that appeals to the public, something that anyone can sing), Dadi amma Dadi amma maan jaao has to be one of the all-time great kiddie songs. So great, that if you search for it on YouTube, you’ll find umpteen search results that go to remixes or rejigs of the song, most of them not even bothering to mention the source. Makes me wonder if the makers of all those clips and animations even realize that this is a Hindi film song, not a ‘classic old nursery rhyme’.

By including this song, I also wanted to underline the much-underrated versatility of Ravi. Where he composed stylish songs like Aage bhi jaane na tu and Zindagi ittefaq hai, he also has to his credit some of the most popular and enduring kiddie songs from Bollywood. This one; Chanda mama door ke; Chal mere ghode tik-tik-tik, Hum bhi agar bachche hote, Bachche mann ke sachche… that’s quite a track record.

10. Bikhraake zulfein chaman mein na jaana (Nazrana, 1961): Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh; Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan. Well before he became famous in Malayalam cinema as Bombay Ravi, Ravi had already started to make inroads in South-based production houses. Through the 50s and 60s, he composed songs for Hindi films from several major production houses in Madras, especially Gemini Studios (Ghoonghat, Gharana, Grahasti, Aurat, etc). For Venus Films, he composed music for the Raj Kapoor-Vyjyanthimala starrer Nazrana, a fairly standard melodrama involving self-sacrificing women, family discord, and much weeping. For me, the one thing that really stood out in this film was Ravi’s score, and within that, the highlight was this song. How ebullient and romantic Mukesh could sound! A lovely tune, and beautifully sung by both the singers.

Which are your favourite Ravi duets? Share away!