The music of Dadasaheb Phalke laureate and Padma Vibhushan Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films was like the man himself - placid, gentle, rarely dull and usually packing a punch. As with his films, the few aberrations only served to heighten the impact of his better outputs.

Like man, like music. Hrishikesh Mukherjee never really liked to interrupt the flow of his stories with songs, unless music was intrinsically needed for the film's subject. And therefore it is increasingly amazing to note the quantum of the Mukherjee melodies that have become enduring delights for film and music lovers.

Presumably because of his very deep friendship with Raj Kapoor, Hrishida struck a fabulous rapport with Shankar Jaikishan and Mukesh, and the Bimal Roy connection doubly ensured a link with Shailendra. Of the seven highest musical ‘notes' (see Box) in the Hrishida repertoire, Shankar-Jaikishan scaled no less than three - Anari, Asli Naqli and Aashiq, with an ‘honourable mention' in the only other films they did together - Sanjh Aur Savera and Gaban. In contrast, the music director who worked the most with him - 12 of his 45 films as director were scored by R.D.Burman - figures only in Buddha Mil Gaya. The other top scores, inarguably, were Abhimaan (S.D.Burman), Anand (Salil Choudhury) and Anupama (Hemant Kumar).

Among the lyricists, Anand Bakshi (including the filmmaker's swan song Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate) and Shailendra worked with him in 8 films each. Gulzar, Kaifi Azmi, Yogesh, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Hasrat Jaipuri worked in several films too. But Hrishikesh's films also saw unusual lyricists that included Dr Rahi Masoom Reza (Alaap), who was also one of his favourite scriptwriters, Dr Harvanshrai Bachchan in the same film, noted comic poet Kaka Hathrasi in Rang Birangi and writer-actor Harindranath Chattopadhyaya in Aashirwad.

Probably Hrishida vented his ire away at the commercial need for songs with a form of irreverence towards it too: note how often he used his actors as singers - check Dilip Kumar with Lata Mangeshkar in ‘Laagi nahin chhoote Ram...' right from his debut film Musafir, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya in Bawarchi, the foreign actress Nerghita in his only sex-comedy Sabse Bada Sukh, Ashok Kumar and Rekha in Khubsoorat with the former also in Aashirwad, Shatrughna Sinha in Naram Garam and even Asrani in Alaap. For good measure, Shiamak Davar sang the title-track for Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate.

But even the irreverence had a flipside - whether it was Ashok Kumar's ‘Rail gaadi....' in Aashirwad and ‘Piya bawari...' with Asha in Khubsoorat, Shatrughna's duet with Sushma Shrestha `Ek baat...' (Naram Garam) or Rekha's ‘Kaayda kaayda...' and ‘Saare niyam tod do...' from Khubsoorat and of course Davar's song in Jhoot Bole..., they all became popular!

Despite the versatility of Mohammed Rafi and Manna Dey, Hrishida's greatest equation came with Kishore Kumar (also one of his heroes in Musafir) and Mukesh, and the Mukesh connection in particular seemed pre-destined.

And the Hrishikesh-Mukesh saga extended even beyond this. Among Mukesh's work for Hrishida's films are films with music directors who did not exactly resonate with Mukesh, like R.D.Burman (Phir Kab Milogi, Naukri), Hemant Kumar (Biwi Aur Makaan) and S.D.Burman (Chupke Chupke) besides Mukesh lovers like Shankar-Jaikishan (Anari, Aashiq), Salil Choudhury (Mem Didi, Chhaya, Anand) and that film with Laxmikant Pyarelal and the film that Hrishida openly rated as his best, Satyakam, in which we had that remarkable Mukesh-Kishore-Mahendra Kapoor song written by Kaifi Azmi, ‘Zindagi hai kya...' .

Apart from being the mainstay of three of his musically-best films, Anari, Aashiq and Anand, Mukesh also delivered memorabilia like ‘Kahin karti hongi...'(with Lata/Phir Kab Milogi/RD-Majrooh), ‘Baaghon mein kaise...'(with Lata/Chupke Chupke/ S.D.Burman-Anand Bakshi).

Besides Nitin Mukesh, Vani Jairam too was introduced in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film, Guddi, with those unforgettable traditional melodies, `Bole re papiharaa...' and ‘Humko man ki shakti dena...'.

It was only from the 1980s that Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films ceased to have good songs, while in the late ‘70s we still had films that had just one or more memorable songs, among them Kishore's ‘Aanewala pal jaanewala hai...'(Gol Maal/Gulzar) and the title-song by R.D.Burman and Sapan Chakravorty, Lata's ‘Sargam ke phoolon se...' (Chaitali/LP-Bakshi) and ‘Sawan ke jhoole pade...'(Jurmana/RD-Bakshi) and Yesudas' ‘Zindagi ko sawaarna hoga...' (Alaap/Jaidev-Dr Rahi Masoom Reza).

Lata always remained Hrishida's favourite voice in solos and the other nuggets that we remember from her include a virtual cavalcade of assorted emotions - ‘Do din ki zindagi...' and ‘Abhi kya sunoge suna to hasoge...'(Satyakam/LP-Kaifi Azmi), ‘Jhir jhir barse saawan ankhiyaan...'and ‘Ek tha bachpan...'(Aashirwad/Vasant Desai-Gulzar), ‘Ab ke sajan saawan mein...' (Chupke Chupke/ S.D.Burman-Anand Bakshi), ‘Maine kahaa phoolon se...' (Mili/S.D.Burman-Yogesh), ‘Ehsaan mere dil pe...' (Gaban/S-J-Hasrat), ‘Jaane kaise sapnon mein...', ‘O sajana mere ghar...' and ‘Manmohan Krishna Murari...' (Sanjh Aur Savera/Shankar-Jaikishan-Shailendra) and ‘Haaye re woh din kyoon na aaye...' (Anuradha/ Pt.Ravi Shankar-Shailendra).

In keeping with a richer cultural age and also by virtue of their classier content, the music of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films tended to have a strong element of the classical, whether it was ‘Bhor aa hi gaya andhiyaara...'(Manna Dey, Nirmaladevi - now known better as Govinda's mother, Harindranath Chhatopadhyaya and Lakshmi Shankar/Bawarchi/Madan Mohan-Kaifi Azmi), ‘Tum bin jeevan kaisa jeevan...'(Manna Dey/same film), ‘Badi sooni sooni hai...' and ‘Aaye tum yaad mujhe...' (Kishore Kumar /Mili/S.D.Burman-Yogesh).

But the Mukherjee Melody was also suffused with fun songs, even if there was a sobriety even there, as seen in Kishore's ‘Munna bada pyaara...' (Kishore/ Musafir/Salil-Shailendra), ‘Woh jhootha hai vote na ussko dena...'(Kishore/Namak Haram/RD-Bakshi) and ‘Sun sun sun didi tere liye ek rishta aaya hai...' (Asha/Khubsoorat/RD-Gulzar). And classical raag and comedy coalesced into heady fusion in ‘Ajhun na aaye baalama...'(Rafi-Suman/Sanjh Aur Savera/SJ-Hasrat).

At the Western end of the spectrum we have Salilda's classic reworking of Mozart's Symphony with Talat's ‘Itna na mujhse tu pyar jataa...'/Chhaya/Salil Choudhury-Rajendra Krishna), in a score that also boasted of Talat's ‘Aankhon mein masti...' and ‘Aansoo samajhke kyoon mujhe aankh se gira diya...', and the almost waltz-like placid beats of ‘Ae mere humnasheen...'(Lata-Rafi/ Pyar Ka Sapna/ Chitragupta-Rajendra Krishna).

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