Bollywood Retrospect: Top 5 songs of 70s music director duo Sapan–Jagmohan

Sapan–Jagmohan, consisting of Sapan Sengupta and Jagmohan Bakshi, were a music director duo who were active in the Hindi film industry in the 1970s. Both of them started their careers as singers in Salil Chowdhury’s Bombay Youth Choir and as chorus singers in Hindi films. In the 1950s, Jagmohan got to sing a few songs in Hindi films, the best known of which was a song filmed on Dev Anand, ‘Dekho Maane Nahi Roothi Haseena’ (Taxi Driver, 1954).  They made their debut as composers at around the same time that RD Burman did but unlike Burman, they never really got a big break. Their career remained confined to B-grade movies and their career petered out by the mid 1980s. Sapan–Jagmohan may not have made it to the big league but they did compose a few memorable songs. I list 5 of my favourites of their songs in this post.

‘Phir Woh Bhooli Si Yaad Aayi Hai’ (Begana, 1963)

Sapan–Jagmohan’s debut film Begana was a fairly conventional but respectable film score. Three solos stood out in the album— Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Bulaati Hai Bahaar’, Mukesh’s ‘Na Jane Kahan Kho Gaya Who Zamana’ and my pick from the film sung by Mohammed Rafi, the extremely melodious ‘Phir Woh Bhooli Si Yaad Aayi Hai’ written by Shailendra.

‘Kho Diye Hain Sanam Teri Talash Mein’ (Teri Talaash Mein, 1968)

My next Sapan–Jagmohan pick, the title song of Teri Talaash Mein (1968), started a phase of their career during which they adopted a style that resembled that of the up and coming musical star, RD Burman. In an interview with Ameen Sayani, Sapan said that Asha Bhosle was sick during this recording and had been summoned from her home because this was a muhurat recording. The film’s original title wasn’t Teri Talaash Mein. The film’s producer was so thrilled with the recording that he changed the film’s title to match the song’s title.

‘Main To Har Mod Par Tujhko Doonga Sadaa’ (Chetna, 1970)

‘Main To Har Mod Par..” was one of Sapan–Jagmohan’s most popular songs but very few identify it as theirs (many mistake it for Kalyanji–Anandji’s who had a fantastic repertoire of Mukesh songs in this period). Of note in the song were the santoor opening, the perky flute in the interludes and its lyrics by Naqsh Lyallpuri. Naqsh played an important role in Sapan–Jagmohan’s career, writing lyrics for about half of the 42 films they composed for.

‘Ulfat Mein Zamane Ki’ (Call Girl, 1974)

Sapan–Jagmohan’s most heard song was the Kishore classic ‘Ulfat Mein Zamane Ki Har Rasm Ko Thukrao’. The fantastic tune was complemented by soulful singing by Kishore Kumar, top-notch arrangement and great lyrics by Naqsh Lyallpuri.

‘Nathaniya Ne Haay Ram Bada Dukh Dina’ (Sajjo Rani, 1976)

My final pick in this list, the light classical ‘Nathaniya Ne Haay Ram’, is the most uncharacteristic of Sapan–Jagmohan songs. Sung by thumri queen Shobha Gurtu, the song had soulful strains of sarangi. Although slotted as a ‘mujra’ song, this really is a solid, semi-classical song that was moderately successful in the year of its release but disappeared from public consciousness because of the obscurity of the film it featured in.

Sapan – Jagmohan’s discography can be further explored here.