‘Not Quite Usual’ Songs

Before you get confused with the title, let me explain what I mean by a ‘usual song’. In a song picturised on two characters, both receive a separate singer’s playback and if a character sings alone, only one singer sings it. For the majority of the songs, this rule is followed. But for a few songs, the situation isn’t the same. I have tried to collect such ‘unusual’ songs in today’s post.

I would mainly highlight two broad categories.
1 (Single song-one singer-two characters)
2 (Single song-two singers-one character)

This theme sparkled in my mind when I was researching for G S Kohli’s post in July 2018, more than three years ago. While I was watching his songs, I came across a dance song by Asha Bhosle. Though it was recorded as a solo, it was picturised on a couple of dancers, both lip syncing to Asha’s voice. Though I thought of it as an odd thing, I remembered the song just for that. Two different characters lip syncing to one voice in a single song!
Usually one playback singer sings for a single character in a film, but it’s not unusual for a playback singer to sing for two different characters in two different songs in a single movie. But to sing for two characters in a single song is a bit uncommon.
During these three years, I came across a number of songs as a part of research for various posts. And slowly but surely the number of songs fitting the theme went on increasing. That was a difficult period for me, because I was getting impatient. When would I get enough songs to make it a post? I not only managed to get ten songs, but also got a few variations of the theme.

I was enchanted with the idea right from the beginning. A chain of thoughts followed soon. Why would the director of a film opt for such a thing? It’s usually customary to employ two different voices for two characters singing together. Then why so?

I could think of a few possibilities.
– Firstly the idea of picturisation of the song is not finalized when the song is recorded, and at the last moment the plan changes. It could be on the insistence of the main lead to incorporate him/her in a song, which was originally thought to be a solo performance by a supporting character. Or the producer or director thought of adding the main lead to a song.
– Secondly a few songs on the list are picturised as dance numbers on supporting characters and even if there are two actors or actresses, no one would care for two singers for them. At times such duet dance numbers are offered to second rung singers and of course two singers are chosen. But I found a few exceptions.
– Thirdly there could be a connection to the budget of a film, though this factor doesn’t seem important.

Let’s start the list.

Firstly, I’m here with songs where two characters lip sync to the voice of a single playback singer in a single song. Both the characters could be together or far away, but on my list, in most of the songs the characters are together during the song. Here it’s obvious to remember, Hum Ko Tumse Ho Gaya Hai Pyar from Amar Akbar Anthony, where Lata Mangeshkar sings for all the three heroines, who are at three different places.

So here we go,

(Single song-one singer-two characters)

1. Nigahon Mein Mohabbat Ka – Jung Aur Aman (1968) Asha Bhosle / G S Kohli – Hasrat Jaipuri
Though it’s not a well known song, I put it at the first position because it was the first song that attracted my attention and I thought of the theme. It’s a dance performance picturised on two dancers, both lip syncing to Asha’s voice. The song is picturised in a unique way, very clever of the director! The dancers dance in a single frame only during the interludes, otherwise they appear separately on screen. I couldn’t recognize the dancers, though one of them appears familiar.

2. Jab Naam E Mohabbat – Kala Pani (1958) Asha Bhosle / S D Burman – Majrooh
The song is picturised on Nalini Jaywant and Heera Sawant. It seems both of them are not at the same place. But both of them lip sync to Asha’s voice. In addition, the mood and tempo of the two parts are different. Nalini Jaywant sings to the Indian orchestration and at a slow pace in a melancholy mood. Whereas Heera Sawant sings cheerfully to a western orchestration at a fast pace. The difference is quite clearly appreciated.

3. Ja Main Tose Nahi Bolun – Sautela Bhai (1963) Lata Mangeshkar / Anil Biswas – Shailendra
Picturised as a Mujra on Rani and Jeevankala. It’s one of my favourites by the Lata Mangeshkar and Anil Biswas duo. Excellent rendition. I think the composer couldn’t avoid the temptation of offering it to Lata Mangeshkar even though it was to be picturised on two dancers. That’s just my guess! I doubt if any other singer would have rendered it so perfectly!

4. Chham Chham Ghungroo Bole – Phagun (1958) Asha Bhosle / O P Nayyar – Qamar Jalalabadi
It’s one of my favourite songs from Phagun. I had never seen the video before. Last month, when I was watching the videos for Asha Bhosle post, I found the song accidentally. Madhubala and Nishi both dance, lip syncing to Asha’s voice. By this time, Nayyar was so obsessed with Asha’s voice that he might have ignored the picturisation.

5. Ye Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka – Naya Daur (1957) Rafi & Balbir / O P Nayyar – Sahir
A dance performance by Dilip Kumar, Ajit and company. Though it’s a duet, the singer Balbir is reduced to just a few lines when both the singers sing the last stanza. Otherwise the remaining stanzas picturised on Ajit and Dilip Kumar individually, are sung by Rafi alone. I don’t know why the singers were not offered equal opportunity while singing the duet.

6. Jai Jai Hey Jagdambe Mata – Ganga Ki Lehren (1964) Lata Mangeshkar & Chorus / Chitragupt – Majrooh
I had this song on one of my earlier lists as well. I also thought of it for my Kumkum post last year. But I avoided it. Savitri and Kumkum both worship the goddess, lip syncing to Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. Again I am at loss understanding employing only one singer for the song.

7. Meri Zindagi Tere Pyar Mein – Jee Chahta Hai (1964) Rafi & Suman Kalyanpur / Kalyanji Anandji – Hasrat Jaipuri
The song is primarily picturised on Shyama and Rajendra Nath. Joy Mukherjee enters very late in the song and sings a few lines. Rafi sings for both of them. I came across the song when I was going through Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur duets this January.

8. Aaju Re Baaju Naju – Sharda (1957) Asha Bhosle, Kamla Shrivastava and Joe Alvares / C Ramchandra – Rajendra Krishan
This one’s a lesser known song from Sharda. The song is with अनोखे बोल. Though it’s a trio, Asha Bhosle sings for the main dancers Sai and Subbulakshmi both. Kamla Shrivastava sings for an unknown actress. The singers Joe Alvares and Kamla Shrivastava were not regulars for Hindi films. I read in a post on Atul’s blog by Arunkumar Deshmukh that the former could be Chitalkar’s assistant Johnny, while the latter could be a singer from Lucknow who sang on AIR, and later retired as a teacher from Bhatkhande Music school, Lucknow.

9. Shehar Ki Pariyon Ke Peechhe – Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992) Udit Narayan, Sadhna Sargam & Chorus / Jatin Lalit – Majrooh
After the songs from the golden era, I’ve a song from the 90s. In the song, two couples sing the song. Udit Narayan sings for Amir Khan and Mamik both, while Sadhna Sargam sings for Ayesha Jhulka and Kiran Jhaveri both. I was very surprised with the song, I wasn’t expecting it from a song from the 90s. The song however wasn’t very popular, though I like it. I guess the song is more or less forgotten now.

10. Haan Tumhe Tumhe Tumhe – Ajnabee (2002) Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan with dialogues by Akshay Kumar, Kareena, Bobby Deol and Bipasha Basu / Anu Malik – Sameer
And while I wasn’t expecting such a song from the 90s, I remembered this one from the 2000s later. Alka Yagnik sings for Kareena and Bipasha, while Udit Narayan sings for Akshay Kumar and Bobby Deol. The song also has dialogues by all the actors involved in the song. The song is not great, though it’s still popular.

Now it’s time to enlist a few variations of the original theme.

11. Holi Aayi Re Kanhai – Mother India (1957) Shamshad Begum & Chorus / Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni
Till now, both the characters were from the same time period, whether they are together or not. In this song, both Nargis and Kumkum lip sync to Shamshad’s voice. But Nargis remembers her younger days as a flashback, while Kumkum sings in the present times. Also one more expressionless actress also sings it, or so it seems. She hardly cares to lip sync to the lyrics. Her lip movements are so irritatingly subtle that it’s difficult to confirm if she lip syncs to Shamshad’s voice or not. If she does, Shamshad Begum has sung for three actresses in a single song.

12. Dhadkte Dil Ki Tamanna Ho – Shama (1961) Suraiya / Ghulam Mohammad – Kaifi Azmi
There’s an interesting situation in the song, Nimmi sings the song for the hero, while the latter imagines Suraiya singing it. So one of the actresses is imaginary. And of course the song has a rare instance where Suraiya offers a playback to Nimmi. After debuting as a singing actress, I think Suraiya never sang for anyone, except this song. The song is beautifully written and sung with intense emotions. The song is still very popular among old Hindi film song lovers.

13. Aake Seedhi Lagi Dil Pe – Half Ticket (1962) Kishore Kumar / Salil Chowdhury – Shailendra
I was about to forget this song, when I suddenly remembered it. Here it’s a deliberate attempt to sing for both the characters involved in the song. And funnily enough, Kishore Kumar sings as a male for Pran, singing in a woman’s voice for himself. But I never liked his disguise as a woman. But the song is very popular, many times sung by singers in a talent hunt show.

14. Hum To Kharab Hue Sanam – Samson (1964) Lata Mangeshkar & Usha Mangeshkar / Chitragupt – Majrooh
The situation is different from the other songs. Lata Mangeshkar sings for Amita. And when Lata Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeshkar sing together, the focus shifts to the dancers (Jeevankala and Madhumati), who lip sync to their voices. So Lata Mangeshkar sings for two characters. And the song is somewhat equally divided into a solo part by Lata Mangeshkar and a duet part by both the singers.

After listening to some of the interesting songs, let’s move on.

(Single song-two singers-one character)

I’m presenting a couple of songs which are much more interesting than the previous ones.
In both the songs, one actor or actress lip syncs to two playback singers in a single song. One of the songs has already appeared on my blog.

15. Janeman Ek Nazar Dekh Le – Mere Mehboob (1963) Asha Bhosle & Lata Mangeshkar / Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni
A few years back, while going through comments on one of the posts (I couldn’t remember the post) on Dustedoff, someone (I forget the name) commented about this song being special. My apologies for forgetting the details of the post. When I watched carefully, I realised the song was perhaps meant to be picturised on two characters, but finally was picturised on Amita. The latter lip syncs to the voices of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle both. It’s one of the rare occurrences where one actor lip syncs to two voices in a single song.

16. Dukh Bhare Din Beete Re Bhaiya – Mother India (1957) Asha Bhosle, Shamshad Begum, Rafi, Manna Dey & Chorus / Naushad – Shakeel Badayuni
I found out about this song when I was exploring the Mother India songs. I was surprised to find that Nargis and Kumkum lip sync to the voices of Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum, when they sing the opening lines of the stanzas. Their voices come in succession. The lines, देख रे घटा घिर के आयी by Shamshad Begum and रस भरभर लायी by Asha Bhosle are sung by Nargis alone. Similarly Raj Kumar lip syncs to the lines, छेड ले गोरी मन की बीना by Rafi and रिमझिम रूत छायी by Manna Dey. The story repeats when the second stanza is sung by Kumkum and Rajendra Kumar. You can see yourself to believe it.

The last song on the list is actually a quiz for you. Listen to the song carefully and tell me what’s special about it? Of course it has something to do with today’s theme. Please comment.

17. Tu Mi Piaci Cara – Bewakoof (1960) Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle / S D Burman – Majrooh

Have you thought of adding a song to the list?

Disclaimer –
Mehfil Mein Meri, claims no credit for any image, screenshots or songs posted on this site. Images on this blog are posted to make the text interesting. The images and screenshots are the copyright of their original owners. The song links are shared from YouTube, only for the listening convenience of music lovers. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.