#84 Chitchor: Top 100 Bollywood Albums

Music: Ravindra Jain

Lyrics: Ravindra Jain

Label: Saregama HMV

Director: Basu Chatterjee

It was Jaaneman Jaaneman from the 1975 movie Chhoti Si Baat that introduced a large chunk of Hindi music followers to Malayalam singing legend K J Yesudas. I do not know how director Basu Chatterjee happened to work with Yesudas; it might have been through the movie's composer Salil Chowdhury who had already recorded a bunch of iconic songs with the man in Malayalam. The partnership clearly worked, leading Chatterjee to employ Yesudas in multiple of his movies through the 70s. 

The high point of that association was Chitchor in 1976, carrying four songs written and composed by the very gifted Ravindra Jain, all of which featured Yesudas' voice. Following the accolades that the soundtrack received (KJY won the third National Award of his career for Gori Tera Gaaon), Jain would go on to become instrumental in a large part of the success the singer had in the industry over the next decade and a half.

Best Song of Chitchor: I have found the Raag Yaman based Jab Deep Jale Aana to be a more beautiful composition than the award-winning Gori Tera. The singing by both Yesudas & Hemlata is exquisite here. 

1. Aaj Se Pehle Aaj Se Zyada (Singer: KJ Yesudas)
2. Jab Deep Jale Aana (Singers: KJ Yesudas, Hemlata)
3. Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara (Singer: KJ Yesudas)
4. Tu Jo Mere Sur Mein Sur Milale (Singers: KJ Yesudas, Hemlata)

Listen to the entire album of Chitchor here:

(With contributions by Praveen VR, co-founder of musicaloud.com; information partly sourced from myswar.com) 

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