There Was Much More  To Kamal Amrohi’s Music Than Pakeezah

Before Kamal Amrohi made Pakeezah with its immortal songs,there  was  Mahal in 1949 which featured the  eternally  popular Aayega aanewala composed by  Khemchand Prakash, said to be  a turningpoint in both Lataji’s  and Madhubala’s fledgling careers.

Mahal  also had Lataji’s  two other memorabilia Mushqil hai bahot  mushqil  and Dil ne phir yaad  kiya. But they were eclipsed  by Aaayega aanewala.

Pakeezah in  1972 is  of course the  piece de resistance of Kamal

Amrohi’s career. Besides the  eternal classics by Lataji,  Thare rahiyo, Chalte chalte, Inhi logon ne, Mausam hai aashiqana and Teer-e-nazar  dekhenge, there is a whole album of songs  that were not used in Pakeezah, containing lilting melodies by Lataji: Tanhai sunaya karti  hai, Pi ke  chalen yeh chalen and Pyare Babul and  of course Mohd Rafi Is velvety Yeh kisiki aankhon ka  noor.

Kamal Amrohi’s next directorial Shankar Hussain has kamaal ki  music by Khayyam. Latajis’ Aapne aap raaton mein and   Aap yun faaslon se guzarte rahe and Mohd Rafi’s Kahin ek masoom nazuk si ladki .Each more magnificent that the other.

And finally Razia  Sultan….What can we say about its epic music score. Lataji herself regarded the  number  Ae dil-e-nadaan as one of her career’s best, although Jalta hai badan and Khwab bann kar koi aayega  were  also exquisite. For  the  male  vocals, Khayyam and Amrohi used the gravelly voice of Kabban Mirza  in the songs  Ayee  zanjeer ki jhankar  and Tera hijr mera  naseeb hai.

Finally, Kamal Amrohi  was about to start his next historical epic Majnoon starring Rajesh Khanna and Raakhee. But it never took off. But Khayyam  recorded  Yeh  haseen raat,a  titanic   track  of almost ten minutes  in the  voices of  the  Goddess Lataji and Yesudas, the stunning melody composed by the great Khayyam and written by Jan Nissar Akhtar(Javed Akhtar’s father ) is sung to eternal glory .