EPISODE 3 (27/11/2005)

When asked about his favourite number of Navrang, Mahendra Kapoor
replied, "Sabhi gaane achchhe lagte hain, aadha hai chandrama,
shyaamal shyaamal baran, Manna da ka gaaya Tu chhupi hai kahaan, mera
aur Ashaji ka ek Holi geet bhi tha.

Song: Shyaamal shyaamal baran (Navrang)

Mahendra Kapoor has sung for producer-director V Shantaram in Navrang
and Stree. Shantaram used to sit in the downstairs of the recording
studio to listen to the rehearsal with orchestra. And upstairs in
Rajkamal Kalamandir, he used to come during rehearsal of the singers.
Sandhya-ji, Bharat Vyas, C Ramchandra used to be present there. If
the music director was statisfied with a song, Shantaram had nothing
to say. Mahendra Kapoor believes that lyricists like Pandit-ji
(Bharat Vyas), Kavi Pradeep & Shailendra would never be born again.
For Pradeep, MK said, "Unke lafzon ka throw bahut achchha tha". MK
recalls an incident related to Bharat Vyas: While rehearsing for the
song 'Aadha hai chandrama', C Ramchandra became angry on MK as he was
not singing properly. MK, being a newcomer, became very nervous and
revealed his nervousness to Bharat Vyas whom he used to address
by 'Pandit-ji'. Bharat Vyas used to call him 'paTThe', "oye paTThe,
Anna kee to aadat hai aise bolne kee, tum fikr naa karo".

Song: Premukhda words of 'Jaa re hat natkhat' by Bharat Vyas (Navrang)

Speaking more about Anna Saheb (C Ramchandra), MK said he learnt how
to learn singing a film song from a music director. C Ramchandra used
to make him understand the 'notations' properly, like 'yeh pancham pe
ruka hai, yeh falaana pe ruka hai'. As an example, he cites a
reference to the song "Dil lagaakar hum yeh samjhe zindagi kya cheez
hai".

Song: Dil lagaakar hum yeh samjhe zindegi kya cheez hai (

Mahendra Kapoor has sung for the Chopras in a large number of films.
He tells about his entry into B.R. Films: Yash Chopra had just got
his first film 'Dhool Ka Phool'. So, to book the recording studio, he
went to meet recordist Kaushik. The very day MK had recorded the
Sohni Mahiwal number for Naushad there. So, Kaushik made him listen
to the 'just-recorded' number and asked him to guess the name of the
singer. Yash Chopra strongly believed that it was Rafi sahab's voice.
But when Kaushik told him the name of the singer, he was highly
moved. After going back home, he told about MK to B.R. Chopra and
also said that he wanted this singer to sing with Lata Mangeshkar in
the duet 'Tere pyar ka aasra chaahta hoon'. Then they contacted MK
through their cinematographer whose wife was MK's mother's friend. On
getting call, MK went to B.R.Films which was near the Kardar Studios
that time. Yash Chopra took him to N. Dutta, who was the music
director of that film, who was doing rehearsals with his musicians,
and in this way MK sang with Lata for the first time.

Song: Tere pyar ka aasra chaahta hoon (Dhool Ka Phool)

MK speaks: Dhool Ka Phool ke sab gaane chal gaye, aur is film line ka
yeh dastoor hai ki agar koi film kaamyaab hoti hai to agle film mein
wohi crew repeat kee jaati hai. Is tarah se mujhe aage bhi B.R.Films
mein gaane ke mauke milte gaye.

During the recording of the song "Na munh chhupaake jeeyo" in Humraz,
B.R. Chopra told Ravi, "Ravi, yeh gaana fauji gaa raha hai yaaaar".
The MK suggested that he would increase the length and peak in
portions of 'andheri raat ke dil mein diye jalaate chalo', 'har ek
pal ki khushi ko gale lagaake jeeyo', etc. Everyone liked his idea
and it was accepted. But while singing the last stanza MK became so
excited that the length of steep was too high when he sang 'har ek
makaam se aage kadam badhaake jeeyo'. After listening to this song,
Sunil Dutt, on whom this song was going to be picturised, had told
him jokingly, "arre yeh aapne kya kar diya, 'se' pe apna munh kaise
rakkhoonga itni der?..... Naheen naheen aapne waaqai bahut achchha
gaaya hai"

Song: Na munh chhupaake jeeyo (Humraz)

END OF EPISODE 3