7 Bhupinder Singh songs that you don’t know, but should

Think Bhupinder Singh. And you are immediately reminded of a gallery of great songs like Dil dhunta hai from Mausam, Ek akela iss shaher mein from Gharonda, Naam gum jayega from Kinara, Beeti na beetayee raina from Parichay, Karoge yaad toh from Bazaar. What if I tell you there is a slew of Bhupinder melodies waiting to be discovered? Try these for starters.

1. Dil ne tadap tadap ke (Faasla): Written by the great Kaifi Azmi, this is a Jaidev-composed love ballad that even Shabana Azmi, on whom it is filmed, has forgotten. Bhupinder’s sun-kissed voice caresses the melody with tender care. Bhupinder sang a handful of memorable songs for Jaidev, the more popular one being Do diwane shaher mein in Gharonda. Look deeper.

2. Darr-o-deewar pe hasrat-e-nazar karte hain (Andolan): An off-beat flop featuring Rakesh Pandey and Neetu Singh (her only neo-realistic film) featured this stunning poetry of the revolutionary poet Ram Prasad Bismil. We know him by his other poetry of awakening Sarfaroshi ki tammanna abb hamare dil mein hain. Darr-o-deewar pe hasrat-e-nazar is just as ediying inspiring and motivating. Set to an appropriately free-flowing music by the redoubtable Jaidev, Bhupinder sings, “Hum bhi araam utha sakte the ghar par rahkar /Humko bhi paala ttha maa-baap ne dukh sahkar…..Naujawanon,yehi mauka hai utho khul khelo /Khidmat-e-kaum mein /Jo aaye balaa sab jhelo/Desh azaad ho kya gham hai jawani de do…” This is not a song. It is an uprising.

3. Koi nahin hai kahin (Kinara): The great Gulzar has a very special place in his heart for Bhupinder who sang many very special songs in Gulzar’s cinema, none more special than this haunting evocative solo composed by Rahul Dev Burman with the precious care it deserves. It’s a pity that this song in Kinara got overshadowed by other great songs on the soundtrack. In Kinara, Gulzar allowed Bhupinder to do all the male vocal honours. He had a ball. The other remarkable solo by Bhupinder in this album is Ek hi khwab kayi baar dekha hai, a free-flowing conversational love letter written by Gulzar and so naturally put on screen by Dharmendra, that it feels like the singer is improvising.

4. Zindagi phoolon ki nahin (Griha Pravesh): Filmmaker Basu Bhattacharya had a great sense of music. But he had no clue how to use the beautiful music in his films. Who would shove this timeless Bhupinder-rendered melody written by Gulzar and composed by Kanu Roy into the credit titles of this Sanjeev Kumar-Sharmila Tagore marital drama?

5. Jaane yeh mujhko kya ho raha hai (Ek Baar Phir): Sehmi sehmi aahen hai dehshat si mann mein jaane yeh mujhko kya ho raha hai…. Composer Raghunath Seth’s unsung masterpiece from Vinod Pande’s beautiful film on overstepping the line of restraint in a marriage. With minimal music and only the guitar for company, Bhupinder creates an aura of unconditional romance. This song is one of Hindi cinema’s best-written composed and rendered love songs. Ever.

6. Piya bin jiya nahin lage (Daasi): Ravindra Jain and Bhupinder didn't get together often enough. Jain preferred Yesudas. When they did come together for Raj Khosla's Daasi it was magic. In this unsuccessful film featuring great music Bhupinder sang two sublime solos for Jain: Thodi sharaab pee loon and Piya bin jiya nahin lage. My pick is the latter. Every pain-lashed word is like a stab wound, every expression of hurt a whiplash. This is Bhupinder at his best.

7. Kaise kahun kuch keh na saku (Nandu): A Hindi song composed by the great Ilaiyaraja is rare. A Hindi song composed by Ilaiyaraaja in a Tamil film??!!! Part of an obscure 1981 Tamil film Bhupinder gave a life of its own to this rarest of rare songs.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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