Silsila ...

One of the blockbusters and multi starers of 1981. Made by Yash Chopra...the story is about love, social obligations, sacrifice and temptation. Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan gave a unique touch to this song.

Music: Shiv-Hari
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Thanks Azam for agreeing to do this song.


Download "Ye Kahan Aa Gaye Hum"

Jis desh mein Ganga behti hai....

I am presenting some of my friends here ... some others could not join us because of time constraints.

We came to know one another through music and it has been a pleasant journey. They are Azam Khan, Dinesh Pithia, Vishal Khaparde, Shantha Senadheera, Vaibhav Ekbote, Navneet Sharma, Sreeharshan Muruthiyodan, Dilshad Shaikh, Rajeeb De and Ajay Acharya.

Music : Shankar Jaikishan
Lyrics: Shailendra


Download "Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai"

Mirza Ghalib مرزا غالب

Mirza Asadullah Baig ( مرزا اسد اللہ خان ), pen-name..Ghalib ( غالب, ġhālib) and Asad (former pen-name) (27 December 1797— 15 February 1869), was a great Urdu and Persian poet of the Indian subcontinent..

Mirza Asadullah Baig was born in Agra, of parents with Turkish aristocratic ancestry. When he was five years old, his father, Abdullah Beg Khan died in a battle while working under Rao Raja Bakhtwar Singh of Alwar and his uncle then looked after him. He lost his uncle at the age of eight. He moved to Delhi. There are no known records of his formal education.

At the age of thirteen (around 1810), he was married into a family of nobles. He had seven children, none survived. His wife was considered to be religious and conservative while Ghalib was carefree and not very religious.

Ghalib never worked for a living. He lived on state pension, credit or the generosity of his friends.In the last years of his life he suffered from arthritis. He died in Delhi on February 15th, 1869.

Ghalib (1797-1869) was the contemporary of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II...1775-1862, who was a great poet himself.

"Dil-e-nadaan" was composed by Naushad. I am very grateful to Azam for singing this ghazal with me.


Download "Dil-e-Nadaan"

Sangam ...

Sangam (1964) was produced and directed by Raj Kapoor. The music was composed by Shankar Jaikishan and lyrics are by Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra. Sangam was RK's first color film. The film is in technicolor and 238 minutes long.

The movie stars Vyjayantimala, Raj Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar in a love triangle.
Sunder (Raj Kapoor), Gopal (Rajendra Kumar) and Radha (Vyjayantimala) are childhood friends. Sunder loves Radha, but she loves Gopal, who is also in love with her. Sunder often confessess his feelings for Radha to Gopal. Gopal decides to sacrifice his love, for his friend. A lot of footage was filmed in Europe. Vyjayantimala is mostly dressed in beautiful white sarees (RK's favorite).
Raj Kapoor received Filmfare award for the Best director and Vyjayantimala for Best actress.

Pradip has once again impressed me with the right kind of feelings ... and the voice and clarity that remind one of Mukesh. Azam's voice comes across so well as "the true love who knows the meaning of sacrifice". I consider myself very lucky to be in the company of these gentlemen.



Download "Har Dil Jo"

Chali Chali Re Patang

Approximately 2800 years ago the kite was first invented and popularized in China. After its appearance in China, the kite migrated to Japan, Korea, Thailand, India, Arabia and North Africa.

In India, January 14 is celebrated as "Uttarayana" or "Makar Sankranti", around this time people have a "kite fever" so to speak.

On this occasion, Azam Khan and I would like to present this fun duet ... Chali Chali Re Patang.

Movie : Bhabhi (1957)
Music Director: Chitragupta
Lyrics: Rajinder Kishan


Download "Chali Chali Re Patang"

Bhar Bhar Aye Aakhiyan - Remembering Rafi Sahab (Dec. 24, 1924- July 31, 1980)

This song is from the film "Samrat Chandragupta".

It was composed by Kalyanji Virji Shah and the lyrics are by Bharat Vyas.

Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi Sahab have made this duet hard to forget. The other duet from this film , "Chahe paas ho" is immensely popular.

Azam Khan has joined me in paying tribute to Rafi Sahab and the Golden Era of Hindi film music.




Download "Bhar Bhar Aye Ankhiyan"

I had written a fan mail to Rafi Sahab on his birthday ... long time ago and received this photo and letter from him.

A Tribute to Sajjad Hussain

Sajjad Hussain was born on June 15, 1917 in Sitamau, Madhya Pradesh. Some of this information was provided by his eldest son, Mustafa Sahab.
This talented composer gave music for only 14 movies as he never compromised on his high standards and "could not tolerate imperfections" ... as Lata Mangeshkar once said.
His father taught him Sitar. In his teens he mastered himself in Veena, Violin, Flute and Piano. He was also one of the best Mandolin players in the world. In 1940 Sajjad Hussain came to Bombay and a friend introduced him to Mir Allabaksh (Mina Kumari's father) who was a composer and was associated with Minerva Movietone. Mir was impressed by Sajjad Sahab's Mandolin and he employed him as his assistant.
He breathed his last at the age of 79.
Mustafa Sahab is a well known music director in Mumbai and is an accomplished mandolin player.


The song, "Aye Dilruba" is from the movie "Rustam Sohrab" ... his last!


Download "Aye Dilruba"

Aah: Aaja Re

This is the beautiful chemistry that was RK, Nargis, Mukesh, Lata, Shankar-Jaikishen and Hasrat Jaipuri.

Pradip has done a very admirable job with "feelings"...."Soz".


Download "Aaja Re"

Shree 420: Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya

I would like to thank Azam Khan and Pradip Somasundaran for lending their voices to this evergreen RK song.

In contrast to Azam's "Nasheelee" Awaaz , Pradip has a voice that impresses one as "Pure and unadulterated".

I approached Pradip after listening to his rendition of "Mitwa" from "KANK" where he has done a fine job. He responded to my request for a couple of RK songs like an old friend would. Besides singing, he also obliged by mixing the songs.

Most my friends are well aware of my fondness for duets and are just finding out my weakness for songs with 3-4 people.


Download "Ramaiya Vastvaiya"

O. P. Nayyar - A Fine Composer

This duet is very dear to me. I am an ardent fan of O.P. Nayyar's music. One of my friends, Dr. Sedani asked me to visit taranaa.com. I was most impressed by a singer named "Khan Sahab". I was puzzled about his age and background but decided to ask Harshal Mulherkar to put me in touch with this person in February 2007. To my surprise, a very pleasant, soft spoken gentleman called back promptly and agreed to sing duets with me for the upcoming "Tribute to O. P. Nayyar". He had no idea if I could even sing or not. I was very impressed by his very unassuming attitude. I will forever remain indebted to him.

He is known as the "voice of Rafi" and rightly so...but I have chosen a Kishore-Asha duet here as I am amazed how easily he has carried this song and that yodeling is very pleasing. I feel his voice has "intoxicating" quality.


Download "Piya Piya Piya"

Devdas: Maar Daala

Devdas is one of the most expensive movies that Indian Film Industry has produced. There is so much interesting stuff that can be written about this and previous versions of this movie. However, I would be repeating much of that information. And hence, I would like you to refer to the Official website of movie "Devdas" for more details.

This has been one of my favorite songs from "Devdas".


Download "Maar Daala"

Aar Paar: Babu Ji Dheere Chalna

I will be presenting a few of my songs for your leisure listening. I would appreciate your valuable comments. Here is the first one from the list:

One of my earlier recordings, recorded directly with music and therefore no effects are added to this number.


Download "Babuji Dheere"

Introduction ...

After being persuaded by a few close friends, I have decided to enter the blog world apprehensively. I am not a computer expert and hence updating this blog promptly could become a challenge at times.

I am from Rajkot, Gujarat. My father was a Police Officer. He played several musical instuments, Sitar being his favorite. Mother was a playback singer for regional films and a recording artist for HMV and AIR. I sang on All India Radio from a very young age. I had the good fortune of knowing Ustad Sultan Khan (Sarangi maestro, Umrao Jaan fame) as he accompanied me for most of my recordings and always encouraged me. I received training in classical music while I was in Rajkot. During my childhood, I had the opportunity to observe and listen to Begum Akhtar, Pandit Ravi Shankar and other famous people. I participated in vocal competition for "Police week" in Simla at age 6. The featured guest stars during the week were Rafi Sahab and Pandit Ravi Shankar.

During and after the Medical school, singing on the stage continued as a hobby.
My favorite singers are Rafi Sahab, Lata Mangeshkar, Sehgal Sahab, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. My hobbies besides music are tennis and learning Urdu and Farsi. I love history and study of religions with passion.