Chupke Se Mile - Rafi - Geeta- (1960) - SD Burman
My next posting is a SD Burman number. I have been a
very big fan of Burman senior as his music has shown a lot of versatility and
style. He has a very strong classical base and moved to do some great western
numbers too. Also his classical or folk numbers had some western interludes
which were his trademark. Ilayaraaja considers Burman dada as his topmost favorite.
Those were the ages in 1950, 1960’s when there were music composers like – My
personal favorites are highlighted
- . Khemchand Prakash – Mahal
- Naushad, - Dilip Kumar’s favorite
- C Ramachandra, - All historical classic numbers
- SD Burman,- Dev Anand and Guru Dutt’s favorite
- Salil Chowdary – Madhumati, Bimal Roy movies
- Hemant Kumar,- Nagin and All thrillers like Bees Saal Baad etc
- SN Tripathi,- Rani Roopmathi and others
- N Datta, -Classic numbers like “Tere pyar ka aasara”
- Anil Biswas, - Age old movies
- Shankar Jaikishen, - Raj Kapoor , Shammi Kapoor’s favorite
- Madan Mohan,- Mera saaya, Woh kaun thi, Do Bhai, Dastak etc
- OP Nayaar, - Shammi, Joy Mukerjee’s favorite
- Roshan, - Tajmahal, Barsaat ki raat
- Chitragupt, - Main chup rahoongi
- Ravi, - Bluff master, Chaudivin ka chand
- Vasant Desai. – Almost all Shantaram movies.
- Jaidev – Hum Dono
- RD Burman - Of course!!
Which means my next postings will have the songs from
these geniuses who lilted the Hindi film industry during the 1950, 1960 and
1970’s. The list does not have Laxmikanth Pyarelal, Kalyanji
Anandji and Khyaam.
This posting is from the movie Manzil (1960). This was
a Dev-Nutan starrer and had a song called “Chupke se mile pyase pyase”. This song was sung by Geeta Dutt and Md Rafi.
The creation of this song was with limited instruments. The first time I ever
listened to this number was in 1992 in Allahabad. My neighbor called me once
for a dinner and played this song. I was mesmerized the first time I listened
to this. Especially the simplicity in the orchestration from such a creative
composer who has done numbers like “Hoton Pe Aisi Baath” bewildered me. The
instruments in this song is as follows
1.
Harmonica – Played by RD Burman
2.
Bongos
3.
Violins
4.
Mild guitar piece
5.
Piano piece in the prelude
Composing such a tune which is a classic number with
limited instruments can be done by SD Dada Burman.
Prelude starts with Geeta Dutt’s solo and soothing
voice without any instruments. Then you can hear a piano keys or harmonica play
a fast bit and the Guitar strum. This is a classic beginning as with such a
light prelude you expect some crazy orchestration BUT dada Burman takes this
even lesser orchestration in the Antra and Mukra portion. Rafi starts singing
and we can hear solo violin follow Rafi’s voice with rhythm support mainly with
Bongos. Also in the mix we can hear a mild guitar strumming. Hear him sing “kuch”
and the sentence is completed by the Harmonica. This is a beauty.
The
interlude1 has a great piece of orchestration of western style. Harmonica and
Violin Counterpoint with Bongos rhythm support is just amazing. What is meant
by Counterpoint? Harmonica and violin play different routines in absolute
harmony with each other. Listen to the Harmonica piece first when Violin starts
at the same time when the Harmonica takes a breather the Violin sustains longer
and completes the routine for the Harmonica to take over this again. I
call this as a class arrangement of instruments with superb rhythm set.
Geeta starts the 1st stanza with “Jhukthi
hui” and the whole support is more like plucking of an acoustic Bass guitar.
The Bass plays its own routine to Geeta’s voice. Then Rafi sings “Jhukthi hui”
when the orchestration starts again with Violin and Bongos support.
Please hear the postlude where we can listen to the
Harmonica with guitar strumming – Just a great piece to end the song!
