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| Edited By: Param Arunachalam |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: May 07, 2016, 08:00 AM IST
Pankaj Mullick was one of the pioneers of Hindi film music. Along with RC Boral, he helped build its foundation. Some of his innovations had a lasting impact and the sounds he created could be heard in film music for decades. These innovations included his use of Rabindra Sangeet (with Rabindranath Tagore’s permission), Western arrangements and the ubiquitous tonga rhythm.
He was a man of many talents. Other than composing music, he played the lead role in a few films and was an excellent singer. Undeniably, though, the highlights of his career were the songs he composed for KL Saigal.
Here is my pick of five Pankaj Mullick songs that bring out the essence of his talent.
Along with RC Boral, Pankaj Mullick helped New Theatres dominate the film industry in the 1930s. They worked together on a few films and one of the best examples of their combined brilliance was President. With two songs from the film already appearing in previous posts, my third pick from the film is the rousing ‘Prem Ka Hai Is Jag Mein Panth Nirala’.
Not only was ‘Piya Milan Ko Jana’ extremely popular when it came out (indeed, more popular than the film Kapal Kundala itself), it remained in people’s hearts and minds for years to come. They say that plagiarism is the greatest form of flattery and Pankaj Mullick received more than his share of flattery over the years. After being reproduced in films like Ashok Kumar (1941), Vedavathi a.k.a. Seetha Jananam (1941) and Sanyasi (1942), ‘Piya Milan Ko Jana’ made its appearance again five decades later in a Malayalam song— ‘Ente Manassil Oru Naanam’ (Thenmaavin Kombathu, 1994). The Malayalam reproduction is a favourite because other than reproducing Pankaj Mullick’s composition it also used another Pankaj Mullick creation— the tonga rhythm.
The two legendary songs in Zindagi were the musical opposites of each other. In ‘Main Kya Janoon Kya Jadoo Hai’ (a song featured in an earlier post on KL Saigal), Mullick packed strident strings and a frenetic tabla with Saigal’s irrepressible singing to create a song that burst with energy. ‘So Ja Rajkumari’, on the other hand, was slow and sonorous. If ‘Main Kya Janoon’ was rousing and ambitious, ‘So Ja Rajkumar’ was about letting go. ‘Main Kya Janoon’ was progressive and while it went on to gather many admirers over the years, it was overshadowed in 1940 by the massively popular ‘So Ja Rajkumari’. In this song, Pankaj Mullick encapsulated a slower, gentler time.
Pankaj Mullick innovated not only the tonga rhythm, but was also the first to breathe the locomotive breath into a Hindi film song. Amazingly, he did both in the same film, Doctor. As if this was not enough, he also played the lead role in this hugely successful film. The tonga rhythm in ‘Chale Pawan Ki Chaal Jag Mein’ was prominent but the train chugging effect in ‘Aayi Bahaar’ was subtle. Pankaj Mullick’s breezy singing and the visuals of a train complemented the song’s rhythm to create the original train song. Kamal Dasgupta’s ‘Toofan Mail’ with its more prominent train rhythm is perhaps more recognisable in this genre but it came about a year after Pankaj Mullick’s ‘Aayi Bahaar’.
‘Aye Qatib-E-Taqdeer’ is a source of endless discussions because before this Saigal favourite came along, Pankaj Mullick had recorded it in his own voice. Comparisons between the two versions are never-ending but futile. By and large, except for one minor point , if Saigal had to be compared with any singer of that era, there was perhaps none more worthy than Pankaj Mullick.
Saigal's version
Pankaj Mullick's version
Pankaj Mullick also had a substantial body of work outside films. Of the few that I have heard, two of his non-film songs rise above some of his most popular film songs— ‘Yeh Raatein Yeh Mausam Yeh Hansna Hansaana’ and ‘Tere Mandir Ka Hoon Deepak Jal Raha’.
