Continuing the Piano Songs series from Hindi films, I’m presenting today the 70s (1971 to 1980)
As compared to the 60s, the 70s had a lesser number of songs and I heard some of those for the first time. And the list is dominated by Rafi and Mukesh with a combined total of 7 songs out of 12. And this time as well, I mainly included the songs that had the singer playing the piano for the entire or almost full length of the song. As the number of songs that I could find was less, this time there’s a single list for male and female pianists. I must add that I skipped a few well known songs as well for they didn’t fit the criteria.
The scenario of a sophisticated living room, a grand piano and a party formed the commonest scenario in the 60s. However, on today’s list, just a couple of the songs share this situation. And, in one of the songs on the list, where there’s no audience till the end. In others as well, there’s just a handful of members in the audience. This time piano songs with happy mood are comparatively less in number, while soulful, sombre or songs conveying pain or sorrow have predominated.
Without a further ado, let’s begin the journey for today,
1. Baqaraar Dil Tu Gaaye Ja – Door Ka Rahi (1971) Kishore Kumar & Sulakshana Pandit / Kishore Kumar – Irshad
A beautiful Piano song, that has a long prelude with piano. Sulakshana Pandit has offered playback for quite a few songs and here she sings for Tanuja. I must confess that for me Kishore Kumar’s voice sounded too young for Ashok Kumar. It didn’t suit him. The song has still maintained its popularity over all these years and is a memorable song composed by Kishore Kumar.
2. Maine Tere Liye Hi – Anand (1971) Mukesh / Salil Chowdhury – Gulzar
Well! Strictly speaking the song doesn’t fulfil my criterion of inclusion, but it’s an iconic song and my favourite too. The list would have been incomplete without it. And it was an honour to add this lovely Mukesh solo to my list. I instantly bent the rules and added it. Rajesh Khanna sings it with his usual mannerisms, Amitabh Bachchan, the Deo couple add to the overall effect of the song. It actually has very few piano sounds in it.
3. Jhoom Ke Gaa Yun Aaj Mere Dil – Patanga (1971) Rafi / Shankar Jaikishan – Neeraj
After Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, how could we forget Rafi? Of course he’s right here with a beautiful piano song picturised on Shashi Kapoor. It has a typical SJ touch of the 60s. Again there’s no party going on, just a handful of people in the audience and I could recognise Ajit and Vimi.
4. Tere Is Pyar Ka Shukriya – Aag Aur Daag (1971) Rafi / N Datta – S H Bihari
Finally a party song! Good number of listeners here. I wasn’t aware of the film and this beautiful song. It was a hidden gem for me! I instantly loved it. Rafi’s fresh voice and a catchy tune were enough. What a beautiful melody! Perfect fits my criteria for the post. It’s picturised in Joy Mukherjee and Komal (she married Shatrughna Sinha later and became Poonam Sinha). Among the audience I could spot Jayant.
5. Geet Gaata Hoon Main – Lal Patthar (1971) Kishore Kumar / Shankar Jaikishan – Dev Kohli
A perfect fit for the list. And in addition, it also has the typical scenario of a palatial house, big living room, attractive decor and of course the grand piano! It’s picturised on Vinod Mehra with Raj Kumar and Hema Malini as the only listeners. Rakhi, perhaps secretly in love with him, listens to it hiding behind a door, finally back to her room. I haven’t watched the movie, so I was curious about the weird expressions on Hema Malini’s face that almost looked vampish! What do you think?
6. Dil Ka Soona Saaz – Ek Naari Do Roop (1972) Rafi / Ganesh – Asad Bhopali
Rafi was truly the greatest playback singer. What voice quality! Truly heart touching rendition and should be among his best Hindi film solos. Picturised on Shatrughna Sinha with a Piano. Unfortunately the lyricist of this meaningful song, Asad Bhopali and the composer, Ganesh were underrated. Didn’t get their due even after their sincere contribution to Hindi cinema. Their careers were restricted to B grade movies. Ganesh was the younger brother of Pyarelal Sharma from the duo, Laxmikant Pyarelal and had contributed to the initial success of their songs working as an assistant to them.
7. Bade Bewafa Hain Yeh Husna Wale – Roop Tera Mastana (1972) Rafi / Laxmikant Pyarelal – Asad Bhopali
Jeetendra on the piano with Mumtaz as the main listener, joined later by Pran and Aruna Irani. Again a handful of members in the audience. For me it was a song that was taken to another level by Rafi. The lyrics are good, but the tune is regular, not extraordinary. I came across this one last year, when I was researching for the post on Rafi’s association with Laxmikant Pyarelal.
8. Uljhan Suljhe Na – Dhund (1973) Asha Bhosle / Ravi – Sahir
A popular song! It’s a good song in my opinion too. The piano notes throughout the song, a beautiful Zeenat Aman, handsome Sanjay Khan and Danny looking villianish as usual all do their job perfectly fine. Again a song with just two people to listen to. It seems the 70s piano songs had very few occasions of a party.
9. Tum Mehakti Jawan Chandni Ho – Pyase Dil (1974) Mukesh / Khayyam – Jaan Nisar Akhtar
I couldn’t get a video with good audio-visual quality. The song has beautiful lyrics in praise of a lady’s beauty and Khayyam has composed it with a good tune. Mukesh’s rendition is icing on the cake. It’s picturised on Alka with Aziz Mirza (yes! The popular film director) on the piano and Shyama in the audience.
10. Zindagi Teri Yaadon Mein Khoyi – Darinda (1977) Rafi / Kalyanji Anandji – Indeevar
I wasn’t aware of this song and the film. Irrespective of the grading of the film, I liked the song. I heard it for the first time while researching for this post. Sunil Dutt at the piano pours out his heart, full of sorrow and pain. He’s singing for himself letting out his pain, so there’s no listener. Again for me, the song gets noticed just because of Rafi.
11. O Sathi Re Tere Bina Bhi Kya Jeena – Muqaddar Ka Sikander (1978) Asha Bhosle / Kalyanji Anandji – Anjaan
I think the male version by Kishore Kumar is more popular than the female version. I couldn’t get the name of the girl who played Rakhi’s childhood and played piano in the song. Even though the audio version is longer, in the film only one stanza is incorporated. Master Mayur played the young Amitabh and can be seen holding a doll outside the house near a window. Despite being a popular child actor, he didn’t get popular as an adult actor. I remember him playing Abhimanyu in B R Chopra’s Mahabharat.
12. Madhuban Khushboo Deta Hai – Saajan Bina Suhagan (1978) Yesudas & Anuradha Paudwal / Usha Khanna – Amit Khanna
I’m not a fan of this song, but it is very popular. Picturised on Rajendra Kumar and young Padmini Kolhapure, the song seems to be a teaching session in the beginning part, where he teaches her the song. The second verse is a stage performance by Padmini Kolhapure with her family members in the audience.
Would you like to add songs in the timeline?
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