Madan Mohan: The king of melodies who gave Indian cinema some of its most loved songs

In the stillness of the night, play on your speaker, Lag jaa gale. Nothing will soothe your senses more and make you feel serene.

Lag jaa gale is one of India’s most popular songs. Look at the astounding number of views it has had on YouTube. One video of the song has around 30 crore views. There are several other versions, including the cover versions, some enjoyable and some not quite.

Lag jaa gale is one of those perfect works of art. It has superb lyrics (by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan), immaculate singing (by Lata Mangeshkar), and it is well shot too (by director Raj Khosla), featuring the good-looking couple Sadhana and Manoj Kumar for the film Woh Kaun Thi.

The music composer with singer Mohammed Rafi. | Photo Credit: @FilmHistoryPic/X

But, the biggest credit goes to the man who composed it – Madan Mohan. Today, June 25, marks his birth centenary. He is one of India’s greatest composers of all time. But sadly, he isn’t among the most successful ones as he didn’t get his due in his lifetime.

He, however, was respected by his contemporaries. Naushad, who achieved more success as a composer in popular films, once went to Madan Mohan’s home, moved by the Lata song Hai isi mein pyar ki aabroo. He told him he could give away all his songs for that one composition by Madan Mohan. That song, however, wasn’t the most popular one from the film Anpadh. It was Aap ki nazron ne samjha.

Madan Mohan's magical tunes are unforgettable

Only a few composers have been loved and admired by fans and musicians as much as Madan Mohan. He wasn’t the most versatile of composers like S.D. Burman, his son R.D. Burman, and Shankar-Jaikishan, but he stood his own.

He created an incredible number of sweet melodies – mostly in the voice of Lata – in the ghazal or semi-classical mold. In that space, he had no peer.

Lag jaa gale may be the biggest hit of that collaboration, but it was just one of their many immortal melodies. I remember trying to pick the best from Anuradha Paudwal’s cover version of Madan-Lata songs on cassette released by T-Series. After considering each song – including Lag ja gale – I thought maybe it was Woh chup rahe to.

But the film that featured that song, Jahan Ara, had a few other brilliant compositions, like Jab jab tumhe bhulaya, for which Lata joined hands with her sister Asha Bhosle, and Baad muddat ke yeh ghadi aayi, which didn’t feature Lata but Suman Kalyanpur and Mohammed Rafi, and Phirwohi shaam rendered by Talat Mahmood. That says a lot about the genius of Madan Mohan.

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He was fortunate that he had an all-time singing great like Lata was his muse in her prime. It was the good fortune of Hindi film music that two immensely gifted individuals came together to bring out a large volume of stunning melodies, such as Nagme o sher ki, Naino mein badra, Teri aankhon ke siva, Woh bhooli dastan, Naina barse, Zara si aahat, Tu jahan jahan chalega, Jo hum ne dastaan and Agar mujh se mohabbat hai.

Madan and melody

If I were to pick the best Madan Mohan song not rendered by Lata, I would not think twice. It will be Dil dhoondta hai, sung by Bhupinder Singh and written by Gulzar for Aandhi.

It is one of those songs that will never tire you. The lines are sheer poetry, and Bhupinder’s voice and expressions do full justice to them.

A few years ago, in my interview with the singer, I had asked him about the song. Bhupinder told me that Madan Mohan had considered eight tunes before deciding on the mesmerizing one he finally settled on.

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I remember him vividly singing the Dil dhoondta hai to the tune of Tere liye from Veer Zaara. Bhupinder also told me how excited Madan Mohan was when they heard the song Aap ki nazaron ne samjha on the radiowhile they travelled to Ladakh. Madan Mohan said, “Look, they are playing my song!”

Madan saab, we continue to play your songs.