Best songs of 1940: Wrap Up 4

And the Award for the Best Music Director of 1940 goes to?

We are now entering the early years of the Vintage Era. The first talkie Alam Ara was made in 1931. And song and dance beame an integral our films from the beginning. However, most of our heritage of the earliest years is lost due to damages in storage or fire or plain apathy. We have seen this in 1940, too. The Overview Post indicates that of the number of songs of which song titles are known, nothing is known about the singes of more than 55% of the songs. Thereafter, I have already done a detailed review of the Best Male Solos, Best Female Solos and Best duets in Wrap Up 1, Wrap Up 2, Wrap Up 3 respectively. Now we are in a position to do the (Final) Wrap Up 4 about the Best Music Director.

Who were the dominant music directors of the year? Pankaj Mullick with Nartaki and Zindagi gave many immortal songs. Those were the heydays of the New Theatres. Bombay Talkies continued its good run with Bandhan with then-superstar-singers Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis in the lead. Anil Biswas chose to make Bombay his karmbhoomi, where he was soon acclaimed as the Bhishm Pitamah of music for his innovations. He became a regular with Sagar Movietone, and its successor National Studios where his friend, Mehboob Khan was the regular director. He had two big projects there – Aurat, which Mehboob Khan remade under his Productions, many years later as Mother India (1957), but his choice for the music had shifted to Naushad; and a fantasy film Alibaba. These two films had many memorable songs. RC Boral gave some good music in the year in the film Haar Jeet. Here is a table of the best best songs in the year at a glance. This is nothing but a compilation of the three Wrap Ups 1, 2 and 3.

Consolidated list of the Best Male Solos, Female Solos and Duets of 1940

We can now present the same table music director-wise as follows:

Music directors of 1940 having most number of the Best Songs

The above tables do not exactly follow the reputation. Ramchandra Pal gave some great songs in collaboration with Saraswati Devi in the Bobay Talkies film Bandhan. But some songs were individually credited to him in the Hindi Film Geet Kosh (HFGK). It so happens that some of the songs at the top of recall were composed by him. Another blockbuster film, Punarmilan, had blockbuster music too, and one song Nacho nacho pyare man ke mor had all the three versions – male solos, female solos, and duet. This cannot be held against him. Thus, we have 7 songs in total by RC Pal in the list of the best songs, that gives him the top position. He has been followed by Anil Biswas (with 4 songs, all duets) and Pankaj Mullick (3 songs).  There are a good number of music directors with 2 songs each, and eight music directors with one song each. The tables also include NFS; in the overview post I had briefly explained the dominance of NFS in the year.

Some regulars have also commented. Arunkumar Deshmukh as usual has been first off the block. His choice for the best music director is Pankaj Mullick for Nartaki. Hans highlighted another song from Punarmilan – Sooni sejariya sainya tu ek beri ja, by Rajkumari. I had not heard of this before. I immediately fell for it and included it in the main list of the Best Female Solos. The other song he introduced was Lat uljhi suljha ja re baalam sung by Jyoti from the film Pooja, composed by Anil Biswas. Though it follows the traditional Raag Biihag bandish, this is another feather in the cap of the Bhishm Pitamah.

A vintage-era veteran Raunaq Joy gave detailed comments which were in the nature of dissertation. This enhances our understanding a great deal of the music of that era. “In 1940, we find ourselves in a transitional phase – a period when Anil Biswas, Gyan Dutt, and Khemchand Prakash had blossomed but had yet to reach the artistic peaks they would attain in the following years. Unsurprisingly, the musical and box office crowns were still firmly worn by New Theatres and Bombay Talkies, as evidenced by the success of films like Zindagi, Bandhan, Nartaki, and Punarmilan. Indeed, many of the year’s finest songs emerged from these productions – some of them enduring as all time-greats in the annals of our industry.

I find some contradiction in his arguments. If great music still came from the New Theatres and Bombay Talkies films, this is what would be expected. They were still tops in the game. It is creditable that in this high-quality competition, Anil Biswas made a mark and gave two outstanding scores. We are better off for that. Finally, Raunaq summaries his choice for various bests, limiting not to one, but giving ten with his analysis. His choice for best Album in order is Pankaj Mullick (Nartaki), RC Pal (Punarmilan), Shankar Rao Vyas (Narsi Bhagat), Anil Biswas (Aurat) and Pankaj Mullick (Zindagi). Finally, his choice for the Composer of the Year is Pankaj Mullick.

My table is topped by RC Pal, Anil Biswas and Pankaj Mullick. I have been myself a supporter of the maxim that the numbers do not necessarily denote quality. Considering the readers’ comments and our general perception, I think no one would mind some moderation by being politically correct.

In conclusion, the SOY Award for the Best Music Director of 1940 goes jointly to:

1. Pankaj Mullick
2. Anil Biswas, and
3. RC Pal

Acknowledgements
Arunkumar Deshmukh for sharing his notes generously.
Hindi Film Geet Kosh
Atul Song A Day
YouTube
SOY readers for their participation
Cinemazzi.com for the picture of RC Pal and internet in general for other pics in the thumbnail