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 From "Daag" and "Kabhi Kabhie" to "Dil To Pagal Hai" and
"Veer-Zaara", the songs from Yash Raj Films' romantic sagas always
had a dreamy quality and the haunting melodies captivate listeners
even today.
Here are some of the best musicals from the Yash Raj banner:
1. "Waqt" (1965) - Before Yash Chopra branched out on his own to
form Yash Raj Films he regularly made films for his brother, the
illustrious B.R. Chopra. "Waqt" started the long association
between B.R. Films and composer Ravi who came up with some of his
choicest jingles for this one.
At the peak of the Lata Mangeshkar mania, Ravi audaciously got Asha
to do "Kaun aaya ki nigahon mein khanak" and of course, the
evergreen "Aage bhi jaane na tu". But the pick of the lot was "Ae
meri zohra zabeen", Manna Dey's evergreen number that was also
used by Aditya Chopra in "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" three
decades later.
2. "Daag" (1973) - Yash Chopra branched out as an independent
filmmaker with this melodious mйnage a trois, remarkable for
being the only time Laxmikant-Pyarelal teamed up with poet Sahir
Ludhianvi. The end-result was there for all to hear in Kishore
Kumar's "Mere dil main aaj kya hai" and Lata's "Jab bhi jee chahe
nayee duniya" - the latter was appropriated from a Noorjehan
ghazal.
But at the end of the endeavour, Ludhianvi vowed never to work with
the mighty Laxmikant-Pyarelal again. "They don't understand
poetry," Ludhianvi sneered. For his next project, Yashji had to
choose between the poet and the composing duo. He chose Ludhianvi.
3. "Kabhi Kabhie" (1975) - Yash Chopra's most poetic film and
arguably his best musical to date, fished out Khayyam from
semi-hibernation. Using Ludhianvi's poetry and Lata-Mukesh's
vocals as crutches, Khayyam created a wonder world of poetry,
passion and pain.
"Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein", "Main pal do pal ka shayar" and "Mere
ghar aayee ek nanhi pari", are perennials. There were also some
young tunes for Rishi and Neetu like "Jaan-e-man tum kamaal karte
ho", "Pyar kar liya to kya" and "Tera phoolon jaisa rang". Lata
went from being sweet 60 for Waheeda Rehman to sweet 16 for Neetu
Singh without skipping a beat.
4. "Trishul" (1978) - Yash Raj-Khayyam's follow-up to "Kabhi
Kabhie" suffered for being an action movie. But the magnificent
theme song "Tu mere saath rahega munne" lifted the whole score to
the stratosphere of the sublime.
One of Amitabh Bachchan's favourite songs, "Tu mere saath", is
arguably the best song that Lata has sung for a Yash Raj film.
Bachchan played the protagonist in the film. Also, up there among
the greats is the Lata-Yesudas duet "Aapki mehki hui zulf".
5. "Silsila" (1991) - Shiv-Hari and Javed Akhtar created quaint and
compelling numbers like "Yeh kahan aa gaye hum", "Neela aasman so
gaya" and "Dekha ek khwab". "Silsila" painted as many shades of
romance as possible.
The other scores that Shiv-Hari did for Yash Raj Films, namely
"Chandni", "Lamhe", "Parampara", "Vijay", "Faasle" and "Darr" were
no patch on that of "Silsila".
6. "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995) - Though they couldn't
create a title tune to match the song of the name that Ravindra
Jain composed in "Chor Machaye Shor", there was nonetheless an
everlasting swerve towards verve in "Tujhe dekha to yeh jana sanam"
and "Ho gaya hai tujhko to pyar sajna". Lata and Asha Bhosle belted
out a solo each - "Mere khwabon mein jo aaye" and "Zara sa jhoom
loom main" - for the effervescent Kajol.
7. "Dil To Pagal Hai" (1997) - Uttam Singh's feisty songs were led
by the foot-tapping "Dil to pagal hai" where the then 70-plus Lata
sounded no more than 20. Yash Chopra's utter devotion to the
Lata's vocals came to full fruition.
8. "Veer-Zaara" (2005) - Madan Mohan's dormant songs were
rejuvenated by his son Sanjeev Kohli. The numbers had an incredible
amount of melody quotient, especially in the number "Tere liye".
Udit Narayan's voice dipped to an incredible bass in "Main yahan
hoon yahan". Every singer from Lata to Roop Kumar Rathod put his or
her best foot forward to create a score that never bored.
9. "Bunty Aur Babli" (2005) - "Chote chotey shehron mein" the mood
of lingering fun reached a full crescendo in this soundtrack.
Gulzar put on his zany cap to write his sauciest song yet.
"Kajra re" ranks as one of the new millennium's most successful
item songs. But the love ballad "Chup chup ke" sung by Gaytari Iyer
and Shankar Mahadevan ranks much higher.
10. "Dhoom" (2007) - "Dhoom machale" need we say anything more?
And the also-rans: "Kala Patthar" - Rajesh Roshan's only tryst
with Yash Raj contained the hit duets "Ek rasta hai zindagi" and
"Bahon mein tere".
"Mashaal" - On Lata's recommendation, Hridaynath Mangeshkar got
the chance to do one score for Yash Raj. Remembered for the bhajan
"Om namah shivay".
"Chandni" - "Mere haathon mein nau-nau chudiya" pulsated with the
power of Lata's vocal chords.
"Lamhe" - It had elegant though somewhat listless ballads by
Shiv-Hari.
"Darr" - "Tu mere samne" and "Tu hai meri kiran" by Shiv-Hari were
quite popular at that time.
"Mujhse Dosti Karoge" - Shiv Kumar Sharma's son Rahul composed
some extremely pleasant melodies. Lata went from papa Shiv to son
Rahul with age-defying fluency.
"Salaam Namaste" - the zing sting by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
And last but not the least, "Fanna" - Jatin-Lalit got together for
the last time.
Indo-Asian News Service
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