HAVE WE FORGOTTEN SINGER MINU PURSHOTTAM ?

                                                                

                               ( MINU PURSHOTTAM )

                               ( WITH MOHD RAFI )

                          ( WITH MANNA DEY )

MINU   PURSHOTTAM. (born 1944)

“Ni mein yaar manaana ni chaahe log boliyaabn bolein…" 

Some  of us still remember the above  foot tapping duet that Minu Purshottam  sang with Lata Ji  for Rajesh Khanna ‘s  super hit movie Daag (1973) . 

The above song is based on a poem  of Sufi poet  Baba Bule Shah  of Punjab . Sahir has admitted having used Baba Bulle Shah’s thought for the song . I quote the specific lines in Punjabi:

“Aey Ishq nahiyo  dar- daa maut Kolon

Paanwey  sooli chadnaa peyii  jaave

Nach nach ke yaar manaa layiye

Paanwey  kanjri bananaa peyii jaave “

“   Even if gallows are the end result ,

This love  has never been afraid of  death .

Like a  carefree spoiled wanderer ,

 in trance,

 it dances   to appease its  Beloved “

Prior to Daag ,    Minu Ji  had already caught attention of many music directors with her duets “Na na na re- haath na lagaana” from Taj Mahal (1963) with  Suman Kalyanpur, and “Huzur-e-wala jo ho ijaazat” from' Yeh raat phir na aayegi (1966). Her duet “Peetal ki meri gaagri “ for  Film “Do boond paani” was again a super hit song  .  She also sang duets and solos for so  many  films like Kranti, Baat ek raat ki,  Arman,  Prem parbat, Andolan, Heer ranjha and  Ghazal.

In films ,  Madan Mohan and Jaidev were her  teachers .Sahir Ludhianavi was all praise for her . He recommended her to many music directors . This simple  girl from Patiala ,  worked with almost all leading  film music directors .She sang duets  with almost every top singer during 60s and 70s of the last century . She was  loved  by her fans for her stage performances in India and abroad .  And she shared the stage with stalwarts like  Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor, Talat Mehmood and  Mukesh. She also  sang Gazals and Bhajans  and had many popular  LPs  and  cassettes in the market  recorded by HMV and Music India .

From being the  daughter of a farming family , Minu Purshottam  went on to become a singing sensation who worked   with composers like S.D. Burman, O.P. Nayyar, and Madan Mohan. 

She sang for many Punjabi films . She also sang many  songs  in Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Sindhi and many other  languages . 

Fort sometime, she lived in Houston,USA  forand later moved permanently to Illinois. 

( Avtar Mota )

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