Madan Mohan: Remembering a musical maestro

As we approach his 99th birth anniversary, Showtime recalls his musical finesse

‘Har taraf ab yehi afasaane hain’ from ‘Hindustan ki Kasam’

Madan Mohan

The landscape of Hindi film music has always been vast, varied and vivacious, and where songs are integral. In fact, if you remove songs, Hindi films will become lifeless. Innumerable lyricists, singers and composers enriched the corpus of film music and when it comes to composing music, a few names like SD, Roshan, Madan Mohan, Chitragupt, Naushad, Ravi among others proved their distinctiveness.

In this august constellation of glittering stars, one name always stands out: Madan Mohan Kohli. Skills of an individual are often recognised posthumously — often a genius is extolled and truly understood only after his/her departure. A cult of the artiste, who was born on June 25, 1924, and died at 51 on July 14, 1975 emerged, and now connoisseurs and experts re-analyse his compositions and marvel at his genius.

Though a song’s success depends upon the quality of lyrics, the singer’s voice and the class of the composition, it’s the lilting attribute (or absence of it) of a number guarantees its immortality. For example, lend an ear to Madan Mohan’s composition for the song ‘Hum ishq mein barbaad hain barbaad rahenge’ from the film ‘Aankhein’ (1950), with lyrics by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and sung by Mohammed Rafi. The musicality of the song will gladden your soul — it must be noted that the first song of Madan Mohan and Rafi’s association leaves an impact for its seriousness.

Can we forget his creations for Talat Mahmood, ‘Meri yaad mein tum na aansoo bahana’ from the film ‘Madhosh’ (1951), or ‘Beraham aasmaan meri manzil bata hai kahan’ from ‘Bahana’ (1960). The cadences will stay with you, caressing the strings of your heart. Madan Mohan had an uncanny quality of discernment. He could judge the texture, timbre and tonality of a singer’s voice and, therefore, would create a composition retaining these facets while creating a tune.

This deep understanding of voice quality of a singer is best manifested when Madan Mohan gave Kaifi Azmi’s gem of a number ‘Har taraf ab yahi afsane hain, hum teri aankhon ke deewane hain’ (‘Hindustan ki Qasam’, 1973) to a 54-yr-old Manna Dey. Today, this song has a cult status. Or just hum with Kishore Kumar ‘Har koi chahta hai ik mutthi aasmaan’ (Ik mutthi aasmaan, 1973), lyrics by Indeevar.

The exclusivity of Madan Mohan’s music will captivate you. Every great composer has his stamp on his music. That’s his trademark, but not monotony. In fact, that uniqueness is his hallmark. When you listen to Madan Mohan’s ‘Kaise kategi zindagi tere baghair’ in Rafi’s immortal voice — from the film, ‘Kaise kategi zindagi’ (1963); unreleased, lyrics by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan — you’re on a different plane. This sad song has a majestically melancholic mystique. It has arguably the longest prelude (1 min 16 sec) in the history of Hindi film songs. Second longest being ‘Baharo, mera jeevan bhi sanwaro’ (1 min 13 sec), composed by Khayyam.

The use of a violin by Madan Mohan makes ‘Kaise kategi zindagi’ a number that’s ineradicable from the hearts and minds of the discerning listeners. When it comes to using violin, Madan Mohan used it so well in ‘Har taraf ab yahi afsane’. He was a minimalist who preferred the voice over instruments. That’s why, he could create magnificent filmi ghazals. It must be noted that ghazals have a distinct aura and using this genre in films needs utmost creativity and genius.

Madan Mohan composed the finest ghazals for films. Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Rasme-ulfat ko nibhayein toh nibhayein kaise’ (‘Dil ki raahein’, 1973), lyrics by Naqsh Laylapuri, is a quintessential filmi ghazal that has all the attributes of a classy ghazal. Lata’s voice, though a tad too thin, was best used by Madan Mohan who created the gems like, ‘Lag jaa gale...’ (a popular song among Indian women!), ‘Naina barse rim-jhim rim-jhim,’ ‘Jo humne daastaan apni sunayee’ or that evergreen ‘Hum hain mata-e-koocha-o-baazaar ki tarah’.

One will never forget Madan Mohan’s compositions, ‘Zara-si aahat hoti hai’ and that unscreened ‘Khelo na mere dil se’ in Lata’s voice. The lovers of old film music still love to sing with Rafi those fabulous numbers composed by Madan Mohan: ‘Ik haseen shaam ko dil mera kho gaya’ (‘Dulhan ek raat ki’, 1967), ‘Aakhri geet muhabbat ka suna doon toh chaloon’ (‘Neela Aakash’, 1965), ‘Main nigahein tere chehre se hataoon kaise’ (Aap ki parchhaiyaan, 1964), ‘Basti-basti parbat parbat gaata jaye banjara’ (‘Railway Platform’, 1955), ‘Kar chale hum fida jaano-tan... (‘Haqeeqat’) or ‘Tum jo mil gaye ho...’ (‘Hanste Zakhm’, 1973).

Madan Mohan was an institution in himself. His musical finesse distinguishes him from his peers. One seldom comes across such a marvelous composer, whose compositions still enthrall us and will continue to. Madan Mohan’s every song is balm for the frayed nerves and a midsummer night’s dream of music. Take a bow, maestro.