P.Susheela with Bollywood Singers

Write-up : Sri Vidya, United States 

 

 ( Bhale thammudu Recording - P.Susheela With Rafi and T.V.Raju )

                       

                      It is a known fact that Bollywood singers enjoy more popularity, attention and have been a source of attraction for the regional film industry especially the south.When a Bollywood singer is made to sing a regional number for ex: Telugu or Tamil etc, much hype is given to that particular song and person while attracting  lot of media attention too, but one cannot say that with regard to a regional singer because his/her scope is limited in that  particular language only . Their songs cannot reach wider audience unlike the Bollywood singers who are heard throughout the nation. Even an experienced regional singer might not be known well when compared to a budding Bollywood singer. In this article we are going to look at some songs sung by melody queen P.Susheela with other Bollywood singers in regional/Hindi films. Even though the numbers are limited, it offers an interesting insight into PS’s versatility in dealing with these singers because when a singer sings in an unknown language, to give proper expressions to a song becomes difficult for him/her  and the burden lies with his/her  counterpart to balance it. This is vice versa too (when a regional singer sings in hindi)

                                                           

                                     Let’s start with PS –Rafi combination in telugu films. Rafi was made to sing a few numbers in movies where NTR was involved either as an actor or director. In the movie “Bhale thammudu”, Rafi and PS sang all the numbers for NTR,K.R.Vijaya for MD T.V.Raju. “Nede Ee naade” by PS-Rafi is a classic with a beautiful tune. “Gopala baala”,”Eddari manasulu okataye”, Gumma gumma are other duets in this movie.  PS  compensated adequately to cover up for Rafi’s lack of knowledge in telugu, his diction, expression etc thereby turning them into superhits.

 ( Nede ee Nade )

( Qawwali Song )

                                                 ( Iddari Manasulu Okataye )

                                                     ( Gopala baala ninne )
                                     

                                        Another movie in their combination under NTR’s direction is “Akbar saleem Anarkali”. C.Ramachandra the well known Bollywood MD scored the music . “Sipayi sipayi” is one more great number by these two legends. In this song PS and Rafi  through their voice gave life to the characters of Anarkali(Deepa) and Salim(Balakrishna) who convey their longing for each other. Some more beautiful numbers include “Kalasukunna gubulaye”,”Reyi aagiponi” , “Thane melimusugu” by this pair.

                                                        ( sipayee Sipayee ) 

                                                     ( Kalasukkunnava )

                                                     ( Regi Aagipponee )

                                                   ( Thane meli mugusu )

                                                       PS also rendered 3 songs (“marachi porademo”,”Gathi leni vanni”,”chinnari chitti”  with singer Talat Mehmood under MD Ramesh Naidu for the movie “Manorama”. She had stated in an interview that it was a privilege to sing with an outstanding singer like Talat Mehmood and conveyed her thanks to MD Ramesh Naidu. 

                                           ( Marachi poye demo - Manorama - With Talat )

                                         ( Gatilenivani - Manorama - with Talat )

                                        Sometimes if a Bollywood movie was made in South or dubbed, PS was used by the producers of these movies. She sang a duet (ah yo gang amayya) with Mannadey in the hindi movie “Ganga ki godh mein” under MD Prem Dhawan. 
                                             

                          Another instance is a duet with Asha bhosle (andhiyan door) for the movie “Koyi Ghulam nahi” for MD Tripati. ( We haven't got the song yet )
                              

                                                 She has rendered 2 duets ( Chalta hai do dil, tere liyemaine )with Kishore kumar under MD Bappi Lahiri for the movie “singhasan” produced by Padmalaya studios(Actor Krishna). However she  had sung all the numbers in the telugu version.

                                                     ( Takatu Taka Tai )

                                                        ( Tere Liye Manam )

                                                             
                        Bappi lahiri made PS sing a Hindustani dance number "nache more man " along with Anup Jalota for the movie “Mohabbat ka paigam” starring  Meenakshi seshadri.

                                          ( Nache more man- Mohabat paigham )

                                        “Bhramarishi Viswamitra” produced and directed by NTR had Ravindra Jain as MD. In his direction PS sang a few numbers in the film and one song “Ee chinnadhi muddula” with Kavita Krishnamurthy is a variety dance number involving Marathi wordings etc.
                                    

                                         To conclude one can say that PS has always excelled in her renditions regardless of regions and boundaries and all her songs convey her dedication and passion.