Nostalgia . Review on Twenty Best Songs of Mukesh Kumar

Mukesh was never my favourite singer. But now when I look back, suddenly his old songs come back to me in my dreams.

Childhood was spent sailing paperboats in a non descript Delhi suburb. The rains in those days were heavy and the clouds thick and dark. They would hang low and we chased them, as we chased our dreams.

Some distant voices still echo in my ears and transport me back to those enchanted years. Mukesh was one of them .

While others have done excellent work in choosing Mukesh's twenty songs, and they have done full justice to this great singer, I just mention these that come back to me every time I think of Mukesh and my childhood.

*Dil ne jise maang liya, uska andaaz naya

Shokh aanchal ke tale, aashiyan ban hi gaya

Don't know what was the movie, music director or writer. There was no need to know them either. I havent heard this song often . But when I hum it, I feel like a kid again, dressed in school shorts, making paperbaots. Sometimes when the rain would pour down in torrents, the roads were converted into streams, and the paperboats would disappear along with the shorts!

*Aa laut ke aa ja mere meet,

tujhe mere geet bulate hain

Mera soona para re sangeet,

tujhe mere geet bulate hain *

Again, I never saw the movie, perhaps Rani Roopmati. A typical black and white tearjerker of those fanciful days. Seemingly an ordinary song. But add thundering, roaring, rain falling like cataracts, the smell of pakoras being cooked by your Mom, your friends waiting in the wings for you to come out so that you can pluck guavas from your neighbour's backyard, you have an explosive mix.

Chal ree sajnee ab kya soche

The expression on Dev Anand's face says it all. He does not open his lips. The song does the talking. Very few such scenes in Indian cinema. Bambai Ka Baboo.(Not Mumbai ka babu). What a mysterious relationship between Dev Anand and Suchitra Sen? How many times in life you have been through such situations?

Tu Kahe agar jeewan bhar, main geet sunata jaun

Who will sing such songs now? Its not about music, its about love. Who has the time to romance his lady love like this?

Dil Jalta hai to jalne de, Aansoo na baha fariyad na kar

Old world Mystique. A leftover from Saigal era. Divine music.

Dil Tujhe diya tha rakhne ko, tune dil tarpa ke rakh diya

Broken heart. Finally lets off steam. How long can one remain with mouth shut, anyway?

*Bhoolne wale yaad na aa

and

Kabhi dil dil se takrata to hoga, Unhehn mera khayal aata to hoga

Anokhi ada

*Teri Duniya main dil lagat nahin Wapas bula le,

Main sajde main gira hoon, mujhko ae malik utha le.*

Baawre Nain. Roshan is the music director

Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen

Madhumati. Dilip Kumar.

*Aansoo bharee hain yeh jeewan kee rahen,

Koi unse keh do hamen bhool jayen*

Parwarish. Who has seen the movie. Everyone has heard the song

*Baharon se keh do mere ghar na ayen

Jiyenge magar muskura na sakenege, ke ab zindagi main mohabbat nahin hai

Two of his non film songs. If you havent seen them, you must. You will love this Mukesh.