Thursday, January 8, 2009

Remembering Mahendra Kapoor


Remembering Mahendra Kapoor.

The audience of bollywood films remember Mahendra Kapoor, the dignified playback singer of the golden age on 9th January, 2009. He learned music from the giant singer Mohammad Rafi and had a very strong background to sing complex tunes made during the 50s and 60s.

He mainly contributed in BR Chopra’s films and attracted the attention of the audience who were used to hear the voices of legendary singers like Rafi, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Kishore, Talat Mehmood, etc. In Sunil Dutt’s film Gumrah, Mahendra Kapoor’s song “chalo ekbaar phir se” composed by Ravi became super hit. From that time the team of BR Chopra, Mahendra Kapoor and Ravi had provided many memorable hits.

In the film Waqt, Mahendra Kapoor’s duet song with Asha titled “dil je sahare aja pyar Karen” became super hit. His songs were picturised on both Sunil Dutt and Shashi Kapoor in the film. He even received the filmfare award for the best singer in the late 60s for his song “nile gagan ke tale” composed by Ravi and picturised on Raj Kumar in the film Humraaz.

Manoj Kumar gave a different dimension to the singing career of Mahendra Kapoor by asking him to sing patriotic songs in his films. His song “rang de basanti chola” in the film Shahid became extremely popular along with Rafi’s song “aye watan aye watan”. The most popular song in the career of Mahendra Kapoor was “mere desh ki dharti” from the film Upkar.

Manoj Kumar made the film with Lal Bahadur Shastri’s vision for the country with the slogan “jai jawan jai kisan”. Mahendra Kapoor addressed the farmers of the country, the military personnel and the freedom fighters with the song “mere desh ki dharti” composed by Kalyanji Anandji. The film became super hit and Mahendra Kapoor became a legendary singer of the contemporary generation.

The partnership of Manoj Kumar with Mahendra Kapoor continued in following films like Purab Aur Paschim, Roti Kapra Aur Makaan, Kranti, etc. With increase of age more maturity was witnessed in the voice of Mahendra Kapoor.

Mahendra Kapoor sang many romantic songs in his illustrious career including “har dil jo pyar karega” composed by Shankar Jaikishan in the film Sangam. His song was picturized on Rajender Kumar when Lata Mangeshkar sang the same song for Vaijayantimala and Mukesh sang it for Raj Kapoor. Mahendra Kapoor kept his mark amongst the other established singers.

His contribution cannot be expressed in a small article taking account of his presence over 40 years in bollywood industry. The viewers want to pay respect to the noble soul on his birthday on 9th January, 2009.

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