Lata Mangeshkar’s deep connection with monsoonal melodies

India’s Goddess Of All Melodious Things Lata Mangeshkar shared a unique bonding with melodies about the rain. She sang numerous monsoonal melodies, none more popular durable and magnificient than O sajna barkhaa bhaar ayee in Bimal Roy’s Parakh.Lataji agreed this was her most popular rain song of all time. “I love everything about O sajna barhaa bahaar ayee. The way Salilda (Choudhary) composed it. Halanke Parakh ke sabhi gaane bahot achche hain (in fact all the songs of Parakh are lovely). I also loved Mere mann ke diye and Mila hai kissika jhumka in Parakh. But it was O sajna barkha bahaar which people continue to hum.”Lataji found the experience of recording O sajna barkha bahaar unique. “There was the Sitar played by the great Jairam Acharya. A lot of people are under the mistaken notion that it was Pandit Ravi Shankar on the Sitar in Sajna barkha bahaar. The Sitar sounds like the rain falling.”There are many other Mangeshkerian monsoonal melodies which are hummed to this day, like Abke sawan mein jee dare in the film Jaise Ko Taisa and Rimjhim gire saawan in Manzil both composed by Rahul Dev Burman, both perennially popular.However, Lataji was more enamoured of her sister Asha Bhosle’s Sawan aaye ya na aaye jeeya jhoome sawan hai in Dil Diya Dard Liya and Suman Kalyanpur’s Ajhun na aaye balma saawan beeta jaye in Sanjh Aur Savera. Both rain-drenched love duets featuring Mohammed Rafi were co-sung by other female singers at a time when Lataji had temporarily stopped singing with Mohd Rafi.This did not stop Lataji from admiring these monsoonal melodies.Speaking on the enduring popularity of the monsoonal melodies Lataji opined, “The impact of a song depends on a large part on the way it is put on the screen. My rain songs Ho ghata sawri in the film Abhinetri and Abke na sawan barse abke baras toh barsengi ankhiyan in Kinara were so effectively put across on screen by Hema Malini."Another rain song that Lataji loved was Chayee barkha bahaar pade angna phuhar. “Madan Mohan Bhaiyya and I were known mainly four our Ghazals. But here was a rare rain song and that too set to a dance beat. That’s what made this rain song unique.”Lataji also singled out two other monsoonal melodies she sang with her sister Asha Bhosle. “One is Pad gaye jhoole saawan rut ayee re in the film Bahu Begum and the other is an unreleased song called Phir ghata chayee situm dhaane ka mausam aa gaya. Not too many know about the second song as it never got released. Both were written by the great Sahir Ludhianvi and both were composed by the great Roshan Nagrath,” reminisced Lataji.Lataji added, “They were special rain songs as I got to sing with my sister Asha. It was always a special challenge for us to sing together, She was so quick on the uptake and so spot-on in conveying the core of a composition. I thoroughly enjoyed singing with Asha.”Finally, before she bid us all adieu, Lataji spoke of a little-known rain song of hers. "Geela geela paani in the film Satya is a very special rain song. Vishal Bhardwaj had composed this unique song and Gulzar Saab had written the words. I loved singing Vishal's compositions. They were challenging because they began and ended in unexpected places. Geela geela paani had a unique cadence and an extrordinary thehrao (stillness). I remember while we were recording the song the film's director Ram Gopal Varma was also there. He seemed to love the song. Later I heard he edited the song out of the film. This has happened to some of my best songs in the past. It is not fair to all those who contribute their hard work to a song."Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.