Rajesh Khanna films have always been synonymous with good music. While a lot has been written about the magical combo of Pancham with Rajesh Khanna, not enough is written about the fact that this superstar had nearly equal number of hits with Laxmikant Pyarelal. Starting with Do Raaste in 1969, this team continued giving melodious songs up to Nazrana in 1987. Rajesh Khanna and Laxmikant Pyarelal had 26 films together.
Interesting Trivia: The combination of Rajesh Khanna
and Laxmikant Pyarelal had 21 songs featured in Binaca Geetmala.
Mere naseeb mein ae dost Do Raaste 1969
The first film in LP- Rajesh Khanna combination was
Raj Khosla’s Do Raaste which became a super hit in 1969. Based on the raag Yaman
Kalyan, Mere naseeb mein ae dost was the only song sung by Kishore Kumar for
Rajesh Khanna in this film. Mohammed Rafi gave playback for the other two songs
(Yeh reshmi zulfein and Chhup gaye saare nazare). A moving melody that gave
the classic poor boy -rich girl scenario a deft emotional touch with lyrics written by Anand Bakshi .
Gareeb kaise
mohabbat kare ameeron se
Bichhad gae hain kaee raanjhe apanee heeron se
Kisee ko apane muqaddar pe ikhtiyaar nahin…
Mere naseeb mein e dost tera pyaar nahin
Dilbar jaani chali hawa mastaani Haathi Mere Saathi 1971
Apart from being one of the most melodious songs, Dilbar jaani is definitely among the most unusual duets on the Hindi film screen because of two reasons. Firstly, it is a romantic duet which is also a lullaby. Secondly, it is sung not only in the presence of elephants and other animals, but the second stanza of it is sung to the animals! Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar light up this song with the mesmerising lyrics by Anand Bakshi. The start of the song with the whistle and the softening of Kishore’s voice for Saare soye tu kyon jaage saathi kya hai baat are just some of the magic moments in this song.
Interesting trivia: This was the first film written by Salim Javed.
Waada tera waada Dushman 1972
This song would definitely get top rating by almost every Rajesh Khanna fan. It is said that the audience threw coins at the screen when this song appeared. Rajesh Khanna defied his hero image by taking on this role of Surjeet Singh, a truck driver who is almost an anti-hero in the beginning of the film and is accused of drunk driving and homicide. He went on to win the Filmfare award for best actor for this role.
Sachchaai chup nahin sakti banaawaT ke asulon se
ki kushboo aa nahin sakti kabhi kaagaz ke phoolon se!
Main intezaar karoon
yeh dil nisaar karoon
main tujhse pyaar karoon
O magar kaise aitbaar karoon?
jhootha hai tera waada…
Mere dil mein aaj kya hai Daag 1973
Sung by Kishore Kumar and lyrics by Sahir, this song is sheer magic. Rajesh Khanna played the complex character of Sunil in the film Daag with a lot of finesse. The implausible script seems believable because of the earnestness that Rajesh Khanna gave to the role. Daag was filmed when Rajesh Khanna was at the peak of his popularity. The chartbuster score by Laxmikant Pyarelal contributed in equal measure to the thundering success of this film. Strangely, expecting a lukewarm response, Daag was released in a low-profile manner. Within six days of the release, the number of prints had to be tripled.
Interesting trivia: Daag was Yash Chopra’s first film as an independent producer.
Yeh jo public hai yeh sab jaanti hai Roti 1974
Roti was a home production of Rajesh Khanna. It was actually the first film of Manmohan Desai which had music composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. LP and Manmohan Desai went on to have a very long and fruitful association after this film. The songs of this film gained a lot of popularity and the phrase Yeh jo public hai remains relevant for every phase we live in. Sung by Kishore Kumar and worded by Anand Bakshi, the first line of this song has become a catch phrase for expressing the angst of the common man over the years. The song is filmed around the gorgeous locales of Kashmir. Rajesh Khanna discovers the hoarded grains in Jeevan’s store and the song pinpoints the effect that corruption has on the common man. Roti remains one of Manmohan Desai’s underrated films.
Interesting trivia: Jeetendra does a cameo appearance in this song!
Heere-moti tumne chhupaaye kuchh hum log na bole
Ab aataa-chaawal bhi chhupaa to bhookhon ne munh khole
Are bheekh na maange, are karz na maange,
Bheekh na maange karz na maange
Ye apnaa haq maangti hai
Public hai ye sab jaanti hai
Phool ahista phenko Prem Kahani 1975
Every time Mukesh sang for Rajesh Khanna, it made
people sit up as they were used to hearing Kishore or Rafi as his playback.
This Mukesh- Lata duet worded by Anand Bakshi ranks among the best of Rajesh
Khanna-Mumtaz songs. There is so much crackling chemistry and palpable anguish between
the two in this song. Our heart goes out to Shashi Kapoor who, for some reason,
seems totally unaware of it despite the clear underlining by the lyrics! The
song is filmed with all the three actors seated and camera is focused on their
faces for the entire song. With understated expressions which speak volumes,
the three actors have nailed this complicated story situation in the film. This
song begins with a back-and-forth poetry recital by Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz
which finally culminates into this song. These were the days when songs were
not used to just fill up space, they had a lot to say and add to the story.
Kaha
aapka ye dagaa hi sahi
Ke hum beqadar bewafa hi sahi
Bade shaukh se jaaiye chhod kar
Magar sehane gulshan se yun tod kar
Phool aahistaa phenko
Phool bade naazuk hote hain
Waise bhi to ye badd-kismat
Nok pe kaanton ki sote hain….
Aate jaate
khubsoorat Anurodh 1977
This song is among
the few that have been filmed in a radio station, where the main character is a
singer. Sung by Kishore Kumar and worded by Anand Bakshi, the singer reminisces
about meeting a girl in the middle of the night in a car garage. The situation
that the song describes is uncannily similar to Kishore Kumar and Madhubala in
Chalti ka naam gaadi (Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si). Anurodh was a very melodious
album in 1977 as the 70s hurriedly added precious gems to our collection before
the desolate 80s swept in. This film has many Kishore solos for Rajesh Khanna (Aap
ke anurodh pe, Mere dil ne tadap ke, Jab dard nahin tha seene mein) each of
which deserves a place in this list, ideally.
An interesting aspect of Laxmikant Pyarelal- Rajesh Khanna combination is that LP used Rafi as well as Kishore Kumar nearly on equal basis for his playback.
Limiting the list to
seven, as always, has made me miss out on some beautiful songs from this team.
It was tough to omit Mehboob ki mehndi, Aan milo sajana, Palkon ki chhaon mein…
to name just a few! Do write in with your favourites in the comments below!
