#33 Pakeezah: Top 100 Bollywood Albums

Music: Ghulam Mohammed, Naushad

Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kamal Amrohi, Kaif Bhopali

Label: Saregama HMV

Director: Kamal Amrohi

Work on Pakeezah apparently started in 1956, but it came out only in 1972, delayed for multiple reasons. The man who was originally commissioned to compose for the movie, Ghulam Mohammed, passed away before the movie came out, but not before he created a bunch of timeless melodies – a lot of them belonging to the mujra genre which the movie was centered on. While Mohammed's songs all had Lata Mangeshkar as the female voice, Naushad, who was brought in to complete the soundtrack post the composer's demise, employed other singers – veteran singer-actress Rajkumari, Assamese classical singer Parveen Sultana and the incredibly talented South Indian singer Vani Jayaram who had debuted in the industry just a few months prior to this movie, with Vasant Desai's Guddi.

Best Song of Pakeezah: While Naushad too produced some remarkable tunes for the soundtrack, it is Ghulam Mohammed's compositions that gained more traction over time. And my favourite too is from the latter set, the amazing Chalte Chalte Yun Hi Koi Mil Gaya Tha, the only song from the movie that was penned by Kaifi Azmi.

On a related note: Director Priyadarshan's movies have been known time and again to feature external influences in the songs – in Malayalam a lot of those influences came from Bollywood. One such instance was the song Mazhavil Kothumbileri Vanna from 1992 Mohanlal-Revathi starrer Adwaitham, composed by MG Radhakrishnan. While the song's melody is the composer's own, arrangement borrows heavily from the Ghulam Mohammed track Mausam Hai Aashiqana.

1. Inhi Logon Ne (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri | Music: Ghulam Muhammad)
2. Chalte Chalte Yun Hi (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi | Music: Ghulam Mohammed)
3. Nazariya Ki Mari (Singer: Rajkumari | Lyrics: Traditional | Music: Naushad)
4. Chalo Dildar Chalo (Singers: Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Kaif Bhopali | Music: Ghulam Mohammed)
5. Mausam Hai Aashiqana (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Kamal Amrohi | Music: Ghulam Mohammed)
6. Thaade Rahiyo (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri | Music: Ghulam Mohammed)
7. Mora Sajan (Singer: Vani Jayaram | Lyrics: Traditional | Music: Naushad Ali)
8. Aaj Kaun Gali Gayo Shyam (Singer: Parveen Sultana | Lyrics: Traditional | Music: Naushad)
9. Teer-E-Nazar Dekhenge (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Kaif Bhopali | Music: Ghulam Mohammed)
10. Title Music (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Music: Ghulam Mohammed)

Listen to the entire album of Pakeezah here:

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

#34 AAR PAAR: TOP 100 BOLLYWOOD ALBUMS