Manna Dey on Bhimsen Joshi

[V S Rawat वी एस रावत]

Manna Dey said:

Everyone was thinking that Rafi will sing the songs but
Shankar said, "No, I want Manna to sing these songs".

Two songs got recorded by me.

When it came to the third song SJ told me that you have to
sing this song with Bhimsen Joshi and defeat him.

I was shocked. I said, "kyaa tum paagal ho gaye ho? ye
kaisii baate.n kar rahe ho? Bhimsen Joshi ko haraanaa? mai.n
ye nahii.n kar paa_uu.Ngaa."

SJ said, "kaise nahii.n kar paa_oge. You are singing for
Hero. He has to win. We have composed the song so that hero
wins. You have to sing."

I said, "No. I will not be able to do this. Call Rafi Saheb.
Let him sing this song."

I went to home, and said to my wife, "pack all the things.
We have to go to some far away place. Such and such thing
has happened. We will come after 10 15 days after the song
will get recorded."

My wife said to me, "You are not doing a right thing. It is
the demand of the situation. It is nothing personal.
Whatever situation demands you should do."

So I sang the song with Bhimsen Joshi. After its recording,
he said "Manna! you sing very beautifully".

The song was "Ketakii gulaab juuhii" of Basant Bahar.

[Ninad Pradhan]

Post by V S Rawat वी एस रावत
Everyone was thinking that Rafi will sing the songs but
Shankar said, "No, I want Manna to sing these songs".

----- message snipped -----

That's interesting. I remember Mehmood mentioning in one interview how
upset Manna Dey was that Kishore Kumar was to defeat him in Padosan's
Ek Chatur Anar (excuse the spelling). And really needed to be coaxed
to sing the song.

Did he forget that this was a situational demand as well ?

Ninad.

[V S Rawat वी एस रावत]

Post by Ninad Pradhan

Post by V S Rawat वी एस रावत
Everyone was thinking that Rafi will sing the songs but
Shankar said, "No, I want Manna to sing these songs".

----- message snipped -----
That's interesting. I remember Mehmood mentioning in one
interview how upset Manna Dey was that Kishore Kumar was
to defeat him in Padosan's Ek Chatur Anar (excuse the
spelling). And really needed to be coaxed to sing the
song.
Did he forget that this was a situational demand as well
?
Ninad.

Hi Ninad,

Thinking about it, I find Manna wa consistent in both the
scenarios.

It seems that he believes that a better singer should not
get defeated (undermined) by a lesser singer, even if
situation says so.

In the above case, he thinks Bhimsen Joshi is better than
himself, thus he is not very enthusiastic about defeating Joshi.

In the case of Kishore K, Manna considers himself a better
singer than Kishore, thus he is not comfortable at the
thought of getting defeated by Kishore.

[Ninad Pradhan]

Post by V S Rawat वी एस रावत
It seems that he believes that a better singer should not
get defeated (undermined) by a lesser singer, even if
situation says so.
In the above case, he thinks Bhimsen Joshi is better than
himself, thus he is not very enthusiastic about defeating Joshi.
In the case of Kishore K, Manna considers himself a better
singer than Kishore, thus he is not comfortable at the
thought of getting defeated by Kishore.

My only point is that he then accepted the situation (possibly after a
bit of coaxing) whilst found it difficult to accept the situation in
Padosan (yielded to the demand in the end). As an accomplished singer
he should have carried out his part.

When a fight scene is going on, a weak hero bashes up more than a
handful. Should the same logic then be applied as well ? Won't work.

Ninad.

[Uttam]

Just curious - what about the appropriateness of the voice of the
playback singer to the voice of the actor on screen?

Have we not had lengthy debates in this very forum as to how Kishore
Kumar's voice suited Dev Anand / Rajesh Khanna / Amitabh Bachchan in
various compositions?

IMHO, the victory / defeat of a singer by another in a Competition like
song is dictated more by the story and setting of the song than by the
relative competence of the singers.

Case in point would be the "Dil ki umangein hain jawaan" from Munimji
where Thakur - was it Pran himself - sings so offkey that no one in in
his sane mind would think he could sing! Would that make Thakur a
worse singer than Hemanta Kumar in real life too?

Cheers!

Uttam