Mahendra Kapoor – Main yoon hi mast naghme lutata rahoon
Mahendra Kapoor is no more.. One of the most powerful voices in hindi, punjabi and marathi film music passed away today due to a heart attack. He was 74. He would be remembered for putting up amazing energy levels in his songs. Considered a Rafi clone by many, he could prove he was the best when it comes to singers of Rafi-genre… Here are a few interesting nuggets on his prolific career :
*Not many people know that he was a big big fan of Rafi saab and ran away from the home to meet him as he wanted to learn music from Rafi saab and Rafi saab accepted him as a formal shishya (infact his only formal student).
* Rafi saab did train him for sometime but then asked him to learn classical music.
One of his recent Pics
*He started his filmi career as a chorus singer. But the big break came to him through an all India Metro-Murphy competition in 1957 organized by Filmfare with judges of the likes of Anil Biswas, Naushad, Vasant Desai and C Ramchandra and the judges had an agreement to give the winners at least a song in their forthcoming films.. Mahendra Kapoor and Aarti Mukherjee won that competition and hence Mahendra Kapoor got his first big chance to sing for Naushad in the film Sohni Mahiwal. But it was the song that C Ramchandra gave him in Navrang (Aadha hai chandrama raat aadhi) that established him as a singer in the industry. Anil Biswas offered him a song in in Chaar Dil Chaar Raahein.
* His three major anchors were BR Chopra, Music director Ravi and Manoj Kumar.
* BR Chopra had a rift with Rafi saab during the making of Dhool Ka Phool over the recording of a qawwali where Chopra saab wanted Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor to compete in the qawaali. Rafi saab was not ready and told BR Chopra to get any other singer, but Mahendra Kapoor. BR Chopra persisted with Mahendra Kapoor and infact he made Mahendra Kapoor his leading singer in his forthcoming projects including Hamraaz, Gumraah.
* With BR Chopra, he got to sing some of the great hits of mid 60s including One of the finest written songs of Hindi films “Chalo ik baar phir se”. Mahendra Kapoor won his first filmfare for best singer for this song.
Mahendra Kapoor Live Version of Chalo Ik Baar Phir se
Film Version :
* Another filmfare followed in Hamraaz for Neele Gagan Ke Tale
*O P Naiyyar too had a conflict with Rafi saab for a long period of time so he too opted for Mahendra Kapoor in the films like Ye Raat Phir Na Aayegi, Sambandh, Kismat and Bahaarein Phir Bhi Aayengi .
*But eventually it was Manoj Kumar who gave Mahendra Kapoor his biggest opportunities.. One song that really redefined Mahendra Kapoor as a prominent singer and “Desh Ki Awaaz” in “Mere Desh Ki Dharti Sona Ugle” from Upkaar. He got the national award for best singer in 1968 for this song.
*Naushad had recorded a duet for the film Aadmi “Kaisi haseen raat… ik chaand aasmaan pe hai” in the voices of Talat (Manoj Kumar) and Rafi (Dilip Kumar) but Manoj Kumar really wanted Mahendra Kapoor as his voice, so Naushad saab had to rerecord that song in the voice of Mahendra Kapoor and Rafi for the film version..
* Apart from Patriotic songs, he has some great songs in all genres including romantic, sad, dance numbers and who can forget this fantastic comic song..
* He was The Voice of Dada Kondake in Marathi films.
* Mahendra Kapoor was still recording non filmi devotional albums till a few years back.
* Apart from above, some of his finest songs and my favourites include
1. Naa munh chhupa ke jiyo – Hamraaz
2. Tum agar saath dene ka – Hamraaz
3. Aap aaye to khayaale dil.e.nashad aaya – Gumrah
4. Andhere me jo baithe hain – Sambandh
5. Jo diya tha tumne ik din – Sambandh (Beautiful song with Hemant Da)
6. Dil lagaa kar hum ye samjhe – Zindagi aur Maut
7. Title – Bahaarein phir bhi aayengi
8. Kisi patthar ki moorat se – Hamraaz
9. Bhool sakta hai bhal kaun tumhari aankhein – Dharamputra
10. Dil karada o yara dildara – aadami aur Insaan
11. Tere pyar ka aasara chahta hoon – Dhool Ka Phool
12. Beetwe hue lamhon ki kasak – Nikaah
13. Raamchandra keh gaye siya se – Gopi
14. Dulhan Chali – Poorab aur Pashchim
15. Shyamal Shayamal Baran – Navrang
16. Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada – Poorab aur Pashchim
17. Aaja re mere pyar ke raahi – Oonche Log (One of my favs)
Desh Ki Aawaaz
A Voice like Mahendra Kapoor can never die.. He will live on in immortal songs like Mere Desh Ki Dharti..
“Ye Zindagi Kisi Manzil Pe Ruk Nahin Sakti…
Harek makaam pe aage kadam badhaa ke jiyo…”
PFC pays tribute to him on his demise.. He will live on…
Tags: BR Chopra, Mahendra Kaoppr Singer Tribute, Manoj Kumar, Ravi, sahir
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Thank you for this Pavan. A worthy tribute to the legend!
Thank you, Pavan! May his soul rest in peace.
I still remember his voice from Mahabharat reciting all the shlokas in the beginning and end of the episodes…in his amazing voice… Thanks Pavan sir for this worthy tribute.
May his soul rest in peace.
Great tribute Pavan.
Mahendra Kapoor also benefited to an extent during the time of Lata-Rafi rift. He got to sing some very good duets with Lata during that time. one such song was in Woh Kaun Thi
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=oEMUpRpERw8
may his soul rest in peace …
listening to chalo ek baar phir se
and then kaisi haseen raat
RIP.
listening to tere pyaar ka aasra chahta hun.
Kartik, you have ‘chalo ek baar phir se..’ in MP3? Can you send it to me?
May his soul rest in peace.
Some trivias from my side :
When he was sent to St xaviers’Preparatory School, he was asked about his extra-curricular hobbies. When the teachers came to know about his interest in singing, he was made to stand on the platform and sing. In school, there used to be a weekly class of visuals in which topics related to varous subjects like history, geography etc were shown on the projector. Joseph was the technician operating the rojector.
Once the projector developed some technical problem and the class was cancelled. The teacher then asked Mahendra to sing songs to fill up the time of the class. The students were so fond of his singing that after that day they used to collect money among themselves and bribed Joseph so that he informs the teacher that the projector is not working and thus they could listen to his songs!
When the film Jugnu was released, along with Noorjehan, Mahendra came across a male voice and soon became a worshipper of this divine voice. It was none other than Rafi sahab. One day when one of Mahendra’s friends gave him the address of Mohd Rafi, he decided to go to his place. It was in Bhindi Bazaar and the house was in front of the mosque there. Mahendra asked his driver to take him there, but the sriver was not willing to go as it was the period of riots and feared that Mahendra’s father will be angry if he come sto know about this. But on Mahendra’s repeated requests, he took him there. Mahendra had instructed his driver to tell Rafi sahab that his brother was interested in singing and so wants to meet him. Rafi sahab opened the door, he was wearing a baniyan. Mahendra’s driver said as was instructed. Rafi sahab then aksed him to bring his brother to him along with his father. Rafi sahab became very happy to know that he belonged to Amritsar. At home everyone became excited on hearing that Mahendra had met Rafi sahab and that Rafi sahab has invited them to his house. The next day when they went to his place, and when Mahendra Kapoor helped him to bring the harmonium to that
room, Rafi sahab understood that it was he who is interested in his
songs and not his brother as how he could let his Guru to carry the harmonium. Since that day, Rafi sahab and his brother Hameed bhai became family friends of Mahendra Kapoor and used to go to his place and have good food preapared by Mahendra’s mother. Before coming, they used to call up and request Mahendra’s mother to prepare lassi, poori and chholey!!!
After few days, Rafi sahab advised Mahendra to learn classical music. In Rafi sahab’s words, as told by Mahendra, “Tu kab tak mere gaane gaayega, tere ko claasical seekhna chaahiye, apni ek individuality
banaa”.
His first recorded song has a a WONDERFUL history. He recorded one song for Anil Biswas ( a Heer ). Khayyam saab had recommended MK to Anilda. Anilda had a problem in recording that heer but could not pinpoint what that problem was. So he asked Khayyam to come and find out. Khayyam said to Anilda “agar aap is gaane se couter harmony nikaal denge to zyaada behtar lagega”. Everybody was happy and Anilda said to Khayyaam “tum hi is gaane ko record
karwao”. Thus the song was unofficially composed by Khaiyyaam. But the story does not end here. MK was having
high fever that day. But he did not let Khayyam know about it. As Anil Biswas was busy in recording some
other piece, Mahendra had to sit till late night in the studio in that ill health. Finally his lines were recorded and he came back home. After that he fell ill with small pox. After several months, once Khayyam saw him in the college campus and enquired whether he had taken his remunerartion for that recording. Khayyam was unaware
of his illness. Khayyam insisted that he should go and ask for his remuneration. So, a shy Mahendra went to the accountant of that studio, who was known for his rude nature and abusive tongue. As expected, he shouted at Mahendra and refused to pay any money as the film flopped at the box office. Mahendra’s eyes filled with tears and
was coming out of that place when Anil Biswas saw him. Hearing everything from him, he took him to the accountant again and enquired whether Mahendra’s name was there in the list of persons getting remuneration. The accountant said that his name was not included in the list and hence he cannot be paid. Mahendra was very shy and said “its OK”. The very next year, the Metro Murphy Competition was
held ( Pavan gave the details above ) whose criteria was that a participant should not have taken any remuneration before from a film or music company, ie the particiapnt
should not be a professional singer. Had Mahendra taken the
remuneration from Anil Biswas, he could not have participated in this competition and emerge as the winner!
After this competition, his first recorded song was from the film Madmast – music by V Balsara. Then Sohni Mahiwal and Navrang happened.
His entry into Chopra camp :
Yash Chopra had just got his first film ‘Dhool Ka Phool’. So, to book the recording studio, he went to meet recordist Kaushik. The very day MK had recorded the Sohni Mahiwal number for Naushad there. So, Kaushik made him listen
to the ‘just-recorded’ number and asked him to guess the name of the singer. Yash Chopra strongly believed that it was Rafi sahab’s voice. But when Kaushik told him the name of the singer, he was highly moved. After going back home, he told about MK to B.R. Chopra and also said that he wanted this singer to sing with Lata Mangeshkar in
the duet ‘Tere pyar ka aasra chaahta hoon’.
Long live the great soul….no independence celebration can be complete without MAHENDER KAPOOR JI’s enegetic voice.His voice will keep him alive in our heart forever and we will never become AJANABI with him..
Thanks Pavan, a well compiled tribute.
Thanks Pavan and Kcp for sharing the stories!
Thanks Pavan! Loved this tribute.
Aap aaye to khayaale dil.e.nashad aaya – Gumrah (so many still mistake this for Rafi’s voice)
Beetwe hue lamhon ki kasak – Nikaah (unforgettable)
RIP Kapoor saab..
..sansaar ki har shay ka itana hi fasaana hai
ek dhundh se aana hai ek dhundh mein jaana hai…
…Late Mahendra Kapoor(Dhundh)
Thanx Pavan Saab, Thanx Kcp..
Thanks Pavan and KCP for the anecdotes.
“ye saath guzare hue lamhaat ki daulat
jazbaat ki daulat ye khyalaat ki daulat
kuchh paas na ho paas ye saugaat to hogi
beete hue lamhon ki kasak saath to hogi”
Thanks for this tribute Pavan. We really have lost a great singer in Mahendra Kapoor. May his soul rest in peace.
Aap aaye
toh khayal-e-dil-e-naashad aya
Kitne bhule huye zakhmon ka pata
yaad aaya
One of my favourites. Mere Desh Ki Dharati will also remain an eternal chartbuster.
He was a good singer, and more importantly, a good soul. May he rest in peace.
A worthy tribute by Pavan.
he is in my heart for his sweet tone
Vick(@3),
Mahabharat is one… but do you remember another inter state talent competition show called “Lehar Lehar Sangeet” where he sang the title song and appeared in the episodes.. Later he himself produced another talent show on DD titled “Awaaz Ki Duniya” presented by his son Rohan..
A very well written and in-depth tribute, Pavan. RIP Mahendra Kapoor.
With his passing Manna Dey remains the sole flag-bearer of the golden era male singers. An era fast disappearing before our eyes. Someone should make a documentary on Mannada fast!
KCP,
thanks a lot for the add ons..
Subrat,
could not move ahead of the opening lines…
“Abhi alvida mat kaho dosto
na jaane kahaan phir mulaakaat ho…
na jaane kahaan phir mulaakaat ho..”
Aaditya,
am a big time Chitragupt fan and loved Lata-Mahindra in Oonche Log.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=CmbZrKbVA2I
Another favorite makhmali sa song..
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=YWYMcBUYtDo
Pavan: Oonche Log is one of Chitragupta’s best. Jaag Dil-e-deewana (Rafi) and Haye Re Tere Chanchal Nainva (Lata) are great songs as well.
Great Pavan,
I just love many of the songs of Mahendra Kapur mentioned by you in this writeup. These will be always close to my heart. Those who love 60s decade will never forget Mahendra Kapur. Truly a great Singer.
BTW story of Dhool ka phool is news to me.
@ pavan jha
a very warm tribute to kapoor saab…thnx
@KCP..
thanx for those anecdotes..
a very interesting story about the competition indeed…
May his soul rest in peace… to me, this is the passing away of the last truly great male playback singer from Hindi Cinema’s golden age… I place Mahendra Kapoor right up there with Kishore Kumar, Mohd. Rafi & Mukesh… maybe not as many as these three, but Kapoor has his share of evergreen classics, and because of them he’ll live on in our hearts…
Thanks pavan for this wonderful tribute to the legend.I am never tired of listening to “Neele Gagan ke tale” and “Chalo ek bar phir se”.Everytime they appear to be so fresh!!!
@19, No Pavan Sir, I’m not able to recall that talent show competition you are talking about.
@Pavan,
So nice tribute to Mahendra Kapoor Saab. Listened all the songs you have kept here.
Completely benefit of Heaven as one more good singer is available there to make the place musical.
May his soul rests in peace and his unseen existence remains musical.
He was a great singer..
His songs like (”aap aaye to khayaale dil-e-nashaad aaya”, “mere desh ki dharti” “laakhon hain yahan dilwale..” and many more) are Immortal songs…
May his soul rest in peace.
Another great singer who leaves a legacy of beautiful songs to remember him by.
One of my many favourites was the song mentioned in the title of this post and his Neele gagan ke tale. In todays day and age the talent shows search for voices that are different and stand out and here was one such singer who trully did have a distinguished voice. More bold and deep in my opinion but one that suited the actors he was performing for.
I was just listening to the originally recorded Rafi-Talat duet from Aadmi. Mahendra Kapoor’s voice definitely suits Manoj Kumar more than Talat’s.
Mahender Kpoor saab was underestimate by media and people also. but people who knows him very well and also knows the deapth of his immortal songs, can never forget him. He is alive in his great songs. we love him. he has a God gifted sole voice and purity of his voice attaract everybody. we solute Mahender Kapoor.
my tributes to the legend…main yun hi mast nagme has been among my favs since I hadne even started listening to oldies with much of interest…Mahendra kapoor was such a consistent singer…a great percentage of his songs were brilliant and so even with limited opportunities he had this impact…he will live among us forever
nice point there abt “chalo ek baar fir se” being one of the best lyrics in bollywood…completely agreed…actually its a famous ghazal by saahir saaab which has been slightly modified
Yes Sajal,
Thats Khoobsurat Mod from Sahir… used to a great extent in the film..
Incidently met Ravi ji today in the morning and had a great meeting with him.. He was really sad for Mahendra Kapoor (who was 10 years younger than Ravi ji).. at 83, Ravi ji is still going strong..
Had a great session with him three years back in 2005, you can view the details here, while I will post details of today’s meeting in a few days
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.indian.misc/browse_thread/thread/1d60a332594e58c8/7e14665dddffeb74?#7e14665dddffeb74
wow that sounds great…am a huge admirer of Ravi ji…being fan of soft kind songs I love the music of Khaiyyam and Ravi…will be waiting for the account
very well written tribute pavanji,thanx.i rang up his home at 6.08pm on 26-9-2008,some sanjay told me that he has gone to andheri to some recording studio.next day i got the shock.
God bless his soul. His songs in Gujarathi are also very popular.
Very well written Pawan…an ideal tribute to Mahendra Kapoor saab…my tributes to the legend. may his soul rest in peace.
How I download these songs