Music speakers in the hall, who’s the dearest of them all? Let’s specifically talk of male playback singers who thrived in the 1950-1975 Golden Era. Some will say Mohammed Rafi, some Kishore Kumar, some Mukesh, some will say all. Others will mention Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar or Mahendra Kapoor.
Each listener will have his or her own theories and beliefs on who’s the best. And these arguments happen more in the case of male singers than female, where the choice is often restricted to Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt, and maybe Shamshad Begum.
Debates can go on, and most listeners may think everyone else is wrong. But the fact is everybody is right in their own way.
Let’s look at the seven male singers mentioned above. They were like the seven notes in the saptak, the seven colours of the rainbow, or the Magnificent Seven of western cinema. The majority would mention Rafi and Kishore as the best, and argue about it. The others would have their own cult following.
Right or wrong? Doesn’t matter. Each one had their class. One may say Rafi and Kishore had more hits. Others would claim Mukesh and Talat were best at expressing pathos, and Hemant had a completely different timbre and depth. Mahendra Kapoor, often called a Rafi clone, had a huge number of hits, and Manna Dey was unparalleled in classical songs.
So how does one decide their favourite? Let’s look at seven essential qualities. One: the listener’s upbringing; two: the song’s catchiness and hummability; three: the singer’s style and timbre; four: his versatility; five: his ability to express the actor on screen: six: his adaptability with the music director, lyricist and co-singers; and seven: his overall hit and memorability factor.
Now, every listener may have different theories. Let me illustrate this with my own thoughts, I won’t get into much detail, as that requires a larger thesis on the subject.
The first point is my upbringing. I grew up on Kishore’s Rajesh Khanna hits and Mukesh’s Raj Kapoor songs, besides Manna Dey’s ‘Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo’ from Mera Naam Joker and Shailendra Singh’s Bobby gems. I discovered Rafi’s combination with Dev Anand, Guru Dutt and Shammi Kapoor much later. Yet, over the years, I became equally fascinated with the voice of Rafi, Talat and Hemant.
Point two is the song’s catchiness and hummability. There are numerous examples. But ‘Ae Mere Zohra Zabeen’ (Waqt ) made me a Manna Dey fan, ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ (Kala Bazaar) tilted me towards Rafi and ‘Meri Bheegi Bheegi Si’ (Anamika) got me into Kishore.
Next comes style and timbre. It’s very difficult to differentiate, but I would give Talat, Hemant and Mukesh an advantage as they were unique.
For versatility, I would pick Manna Dey first, jointly followed by Rafi and Kishore. Many may not accept this, but Manna Dey’s classical and comic songs were special. Mahendra had some amount of variety, but Hemant, Talat and Mukesh were largely suited to a specific style.
Next point is depicting actors on screen. Now, Rafi with Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor. Kishore Kumar with Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan. Mukesh with Raj Kapoor. Mahendra Kapoor with Manoj Kumar. Examples abound.
The sixth point is duets and adaptability. Everybody with Lata, Kishore with Asha, Kishore-R.D. Burman, Rafi-Naushad, Mukesh-Shankar-Jaikishen, Kishore-Gulzar, Mukesh-Hasrat Jaipuri, so on and so forth.
Finally, the hit and memorabilty factor. Now this paragraph could go into 3,000 pages, so let’s not even begin. The fact is that if one looks at the seven points, all these singers had their own specialties. And yet, listeners insist their own favourites are better then others.
My favourite male playback singer? It may take me another seven years to decide.
Narendra Kusnur is a freelance music writer
