Lata and SD Burman.

SD Burman had experimented with different singers during his tenure in bollywood films including Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle. Among them he had special respect towards Lata due to her melodious voice. Lata had sung the songs “piya to se naina lage re” and “aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai” composed by SD Burman, extraordinarily which gave a new dimension to the film Guide in 1965, picturised on Wahida Rehman. Her song “rulake gaya sapna mera” brought tears in the eyes of listeners in the film Jewel Thief, in 1967, picturised on Vaijayantimala.

Lata was sublime in her performance in Tere Ghar Ke Saamne in the song “yeh tanhai haie re hai”, and the duet song “dekho rutha na karo” with Rafi, composed by SD Burman wchih was picturised on Nutan. The film Abhimaan in 1973, was based on music and Lata’s performance in each of the songs were unique, including the songs “tere mere milan ki”, “teri bindiya re” which were sung by Kishore and Rafi also. Jaya Bacchan gave immortal lips in the legendary songs in the film.

SD Burman had given landmark songs to Lata also in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Chupke Chupke in 1975. the film was based on the story portrayed in Uttamkumar’s Choddobeshi, and the bengali actresses Jaya Bacchan and Sharmila Tagore tried to maintain the Bengali flavour in the film. Lata’s song “chupke chupke” was very big hit.In Bimal Roy’s Sujata and Bandini, SD gave folk tunes to Lata and in both these films the songs played a significant role for their success. Songs like “mora gora anng laile”, sung by Lata had not lost its appeal even today. SD Burman had lot of love and respect for Geeta Dutt as he gave songs like “jane kya tune kiya”, “waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam”, picturised on Wahida Rehman which became very famous during the 50s. Similarly SD had given landmark songs to Asha including “raat nashili hai”, in Jewel Thief, picturised on Tanuja, “acchaji mai hari” the duet song of Asha and Rafi in Kala Pani, 1958.

But whenever he thought about the song which would mark his identity Lata’s name automatically came in his mind. His songs in Milli, like “maine kaha phoolon se”, or the song “dil pukare are are are” from Jewel Thief, shows that SD Burman also believed that Lata was indispensable in the golden age of Indian film music. The songs composed by SD Burman and sung by Lata should be restored and preserved.