A
notable omission in my modest collection of gramophone records of Hindi film
songs was the LP record of the 1960
film SARANGA with music by the great, but largely
unrecognised, music director Sardar Mallik. I have been searching for this
LP album for the last several years and it was only recently that I could get
it, from a regular source, to my utter surprise and pleasure. The record with
the jacket intact is in top condition
without any scratches. What made me and other music
lovers to search for this album of an
otherwise ordinary film starring Soodesh
Kumar and Jaishri Gadkar is the beautiful pathos filled song ‘Saaranga teri
yaad mein’ penned by Bharat Vyas and rendered by Mukesh in his inimitable voice
and singing style in which only he can sing. It is considered to be one of the
top songs of Mukesh when the composer, lyricist and the singer gelled together to create an immortal song. The song
was a big hit the moment it was heard on the radio and was hugely popular in the campuses.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXQgClapKYc
The
memories of this song lingered in the heart even when it slowly vanished from
the radio and the cassettes and MP3 discs containing the song became
increasingly difficult to find. In none of the several exclusive LPs of Mukesh this song
was included to the utter disappointment of the admirers of Mukesh and
the song. This and the fact that the song ‘ Saranga ter yaad mein’ evoked such
nostalgia that the thrill of collecting this LP album became all the more
‘thriller’!The album also contained another beautiful song of Mukesh, ‘Hain
diwana hun mein’ and the Lata Rafi duet,’Piya kaise milun tumse’. And a rare
feature of the album is that it contained a version (not a full version) of the song ‘Saranga teri’ by Rafi in a
slightly different tune or rather in the form of a recitation. As I had not
seen the film I do not know how this
version by Rafi was used in the film.
Why was this talented music director, who
started as a dancer and choreographer as well as a singer , not given due
recognition in spite of the wonderful music he composed for film Saranga and
several others? Even before SARANGA
there was the Shammi Kapur film THOKAR (1954) in which Sardar Mallik had given
beautiful songs especially the ghazal ,’Ae gham –e-dil kya karun’ soulfully
rendered by Talat Mahmood. This song is available in the LP Album of Talat titled
IN A BLUE MOOD. Probably the film SARANGA could not boast of a big star
cast and it was also not a box office hit. Again in film LAILA MAJNU(1953) Sardar Mallik has composed another ghazal for
Talat Mahmood, ‘Tere dar pe aaye hun
fariyad lekar’.Though both films had Shammi Kapur, it was a pre Yahoo/ pre Rebel star Shammi Kapur
who could not lift the films on his own.
There was again Hemant Kumar singing with his usual gusto Sardar Mallik’s
composition 'Main garibon ka dil hun watan ki zuban' in film AB-E-HAYAT and this very popular song,’Mujhe tumse muhabbat hai’
of Rafi in film BACHPAN. Two duets of Mukesh and Suman Kalyanpur also come to mind. One is ‘
Sun more rasiya sun more basiya’ from film MADAN MANJARI and ‘Baharon se
poochho mere pyar ko tum’ from film MERE
GHAR MERE BACHHE. In spite of these and several other outstanding songs Sardar Mallik could not
make it big in Hindi films.
Unfortunately his best compositions were for B grade films with B grade stars resulting in their inability to sustain interest among
filmgoers which is essential for making songs popular .Finally Sardar Mallik also had to slowly fade away
like several others like N.Dutta, Dattaram. Iqbal Qureshi, G.S.Kohli, Robin
Banerjee, Sonik Omi and so on proving once again that talent alone cannot guarantee success in film music industry.Tail piece:- Though Sardar Mallik could not make it big, his son Anu Malick continues to hold his own in Hindi film music world.