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On Facebook recently,one came across a fascinating link to the only song Mahendra Kapoor sang for Dev Anand,something about which most film buffs are completely unaware. Screen digs out some more rare star-singer combos of significance.

On Facebook recently,one came across a fascinating link to the only song Mahendra Kapoor sang for Dev Anand,something about which most film buffs are completely unaware. Screen digs out some more rare star-singer combos of significance.

It was a pleasant surprise to know that Mahendra Kapoor,the juniormost of our singing greats,had actually lip-synched a song,that too under Shankar-Jaikishan with whom he did not do much work,for Dev Anand in the early 1960s film Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. The duet with Lata Mangeshkar,Kahaan jaate hain,was filmed as a dance in the jungle,complete with extras as tribal dancers,on Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman,an already popular team.

One very interesting point emerged from the YouTube video. Director H.S. Rawail had not used a single close-up shot of the actor,known for his mobile and eloquent facial expressions,throughout the five-minute song! Was it because the voice really did not match? Who knows?

In a field where major stars always get the topmost playback voices and only occasionally miss out on one singer Mahendra Kapoor and Kishore Kumar never sang for Raj Kapoor and Manoj Kumar respectively it is even more interesting indeed to know about the rare cases,especially those that worked or had intrinsic merits. Dev Anand,for example,was never known for rural dance numbers,but in the Roop Ki8230; song,the uber-cool urbanite of his times actually enacted a full-on tribal number complete with a chorus in a strange jungle lingo!

In those days,musical associations in terms of stars and on-screen voices were based on how well a voice suited an actor. Mukesh,for example,was not really the perfect voice for Dev Anand. And yet,Mukesh did sing for Dev,in two songs from the 1948 film Vidya,Bahe na kabhi nain se neer and Laayi khushi ki duniya,as well as in the 1949 film Shayar,which had Yeh duniya hai. S.D.Burman,who was a Dev favourite and loved Kishore Kumars voice,used Kishore on Raj Kapoor in 1950 in the film Pyar. One song,Ek hum aur doosre tum,filmed on Raj and Nargis,was quite popular and was a duet with Geeta Dutt.

S.D.Burmans affinity for Kishore Kumar saw him utilise him for Rajs and Devs immediate contemporary,Dilip Kumar,as late as in the 1974 Sagina,thanks to a Bengali setup,story and Kishores peak phase as a singer. One song,Saala main to saahab ban gaya,had its moments of fame,and though nowhere as suited as Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor for the actor,Kishore interestingly never jarred on Dilip Kumars lips.

Kishore Kumar also had one rare tryst with Rafi-aficionado Rajendra Kumar. In the hit song Tumko bhi to aisa hi kuchh with Lata Mangesh- kar in Aap Aaye Bahaar Ayee,Lax-mikant-Pyarelal took a break from Mohammed Rafis presence in the remaining songs to give the Kishore his only track for the Jubilee Star.

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So omnipresent was Mohammed Rafi in those days that his rare associations usually pertained to actors who had arrived just before his sudden demise in 1980,among whom the only major star was Mithun Chakraborty for whom he sang insignificant songs in a couple of films. But Rafi-addicted Shammi Kapoor soon made forays with Kishore Kumar Kalyanji-Anandjis super-hit Haathon ki chand lakeeron ka from Vidhaata in 1982 and Bappi Lahiris unsung gem,Saare jahaan ki amaan-at hai yeh from the 1981 Armaan. He also has one song with Mahendra Kapoor Bade dinon se khushi ka din aaya Zameer / Sapan Chakravorty.

Mahendra Kapoor also had one-off associations with Prithviraj Kapoor Kalyanji-Anandjis hit Aamdani atthani kharchaa rupaiya / Teen Bahuraniyan,Ashok Kumar Qawwali gayenge / Aakraman / Lax-mikant-Pyarelal,Rishi Kapoor the title-track of K-As Kaatilon Ke Kaatil and Amitabh Bachchan L-Ps popular Ae gham-e-yaar bataa.

Manna Dey,as he ruefully,admitted,got restricted songs for lead artistes,but he did sing under Shankar-Jaikishan for several heroes,among them Rajendra Kumar Muskura laadle / Zindagi,Raaj Kumar Chham chham baaje re payaliya from Mere Huzoor,after which other composers followed,like Madan Mohan in Hindustan Ki Kasam,Sunil Dutt Aaja re aaja / Jwala and Feroz Khan the lovely waltz,Dil ki girah khol do from Nargis home production Raat Aur Din. Music composer Ravi had no option but to use Manna Deys voice for leading man Joy Mukerji in the chartbusting Hum bhi agar bacche hote with Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi because Johnny Walker,who enacted the earlier portions of the song,had a stronger identification wiith Rafi than Joy did! Another unique one-off example was Sunle pyar ki dushman duniya,in which Manna Dey sang his only song for Shashi Kapoor. The film was Pyar Kiye Jaa and the music was by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

On the heroines side,the sweep of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle was so comprehensive that there were no prominent exceptions. And Talat Mahmood his last major star being Sanjay Khan in the hit Lata duet Mohabbat ki kahaniyan from L-Ps Woh Din Yaad Karo,Hemant Kumar for Manoj Kumar in his cameo in Fashion and Geeta Dutt for Tanuja in Kanu Roys Anubhav were singers who faded out by the early 70s.

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