MERI BAAT AUR HAI MAINE TO MOHABBAT KI HAI...SUDHA MALHOTRA( Born 1936)
You may have forgotten this face but not so easy to forget her voice. She sang many romantic songs , Gazals Bhajans and Qawalis that Sahir penned . She also sang Marathi , Bhojpuri and Punjabi songs. She succeeded in creating her space when Mangeshkar sisters were controlling the playback singing arena in Mumbai film industry. She remained an active playback singer for just 10 years but the songs she sang are fresh even to this day.
She sang 264 songs for 155 films, some notable ones being Dilli Door Ast, Girl Friend, Dekh Kabira Roya, Barsaat ki Raat, Dhool ka Phool, Gauhar, Dil-e-Naadan, Babar, Didi and Kala Pani. She also acted in some films.
Her family moved to Bhopal from Lahore post partition. At Bhopal, Sudha continued taking music lessons apart from attending her school / college . Her father was principal of a School in Bhopal. She completed her graduation in music from Agra University.
In Lahore she had sung as a child artist at a Red Cross charity event organised by master Ghulam Haider. She sang at AIR Lahore as child artist when the legendary Jeewan Lal Mattoo was incharge of the music section. Both Mattoo and Ghulam Haider had advised her to continue singing.
There is an interesting story to her film singing. She was on a summer holiday in Mumbai staying with her maternal uncle's family. Anil Biswas was a friend of her maternal uncle. At a young age of 13 , she sang at an event organised by Anil Biswas .Impressed by her dulcet voice, Biswas offered her a song 'Mila Gaye Nain' in Aarzoo, a movie for which he had been engaged as music director.. The song was well received . Aarzoo was a debut movie for singer Talat Mehmood. After that, P.N. Arora, A.R. Kardar and others gave her singing assignments .Some music directors also approached her and consequently , she kept coming to Mumbai and going back to Bhopal after finishing her work. It was hectic. . Finally at the age 19 ,she shifted to Mumbai to live with the family of her maternal uncle (Mama) . In Mumbai , she started learning classical music from Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan( Patiala Gharana) and Pandit Laxman Prasad Jaipurwale.
Sudha Malhotra was in her early twenties when rumours of an alleged affair between her and Sahir Ludhianvi began doing the rounds in film circles in the late 1950s. Sudha had entered the world of playback singing and had managed to carve a niche for herself in a short time with a few songs, most of them penned by Sahir, which became enormously popular.
She was pretty, reserved and understood poetic nuances. Sahir recommended her name to Roshan for Barsaat ki Raat. She proved her versatility as playback singer in this movie singing Qawalis to perfection with Manna Dey,Rafi ,Asha and others . The magic of 'Na to Karwan ki Talaash hai' is still capable to cast it's enchanting spell upon music lovers .Her duet with Geeta Rai 'Na mein Dhan chaahun ' touched heights of popularity .Chetan Anand recorded Sahir's poem,' Kabhi Kabhi meray Dil mein Khayaal aata hai 'as a duet sung by Sudha and Geeta Rai for a film project with Naushad as music composer. The project was abandoned halfway. Many people say that Sahir wrote this poem for Sudha after he felt enamoured by her voice and looks. After many years, Sahir used the poem as song for Yash Chopra's movie Kabhi Kabhi .Sahir recommended her to N Dutta as a playback singer for Didi. When the recording day for the song 'Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haw hai tum ko ' was fixed, N Datta suffered heart complications and remained in hospital for many days. Sahir prevailed upon the producers to give a chance to Sudha to create a tune for the song. And a confident Sudha did the wonder.
After 1960, the year she got married, Sudha stopped singing in Hindi films. She did not sing for Sahir or anyone else. Neither did she meet him again.Sudha informs this :
"Sahir Sahib was the greatest artist I ever met. He could write on any situation with intense feelings. He had great confidence in my singing. He recommended me to the producers of Babar , Dhool Ka Phool and many other films. Roshan Ji respected Sahir Sahib's words.The recording of 'Na to Karwan' was done non stop for 24 hours. Sahir Sahib, Roshan Sahib,all singers and musicians were doing a non stop job. This type of Qawali has neither been written nor composed till date.If I have inspired Sahir Sahib to write Kabhi Kabhi poem , then I am happy. I got married to Girdhar Motwani in 1960 and stopped singing. However , Raj Kapoor Sahib insisted upon me to sing for his Prem Rog after I had stopped singing. He recorded a Gazal. I asked my husband who was in the US as I had agreed to stop all film singing after my marriage. My husband however agreed to Raj Ji's request. Our family is in the business of manufacturing and marketing 'Chicago Radio' mikes . We have worldwide business .We are in this business since 1909. Our public address systems were used by all national leaders including Gandhi Ji , Nehru Ji and Sardar Patel.. I got Padam-Shri in 2013."
Akshay Manwani interviewed Sudha Malhotra in 2010.This is what she told him:
" Sahir Sahib must have liked my voice. I don’t know what it was, but he was definitely very enamoured. He kept giving me good songs to sing, which was my achievement. Every morning I used to get a call from him, but it was always related to work. My uncle would tease me, ‘Teray morning alarm ka phone aa gaya hai’. All I know was that attention was being showered on me and I was lapping it up. As a young girl, if somebody, such an important person, is giving you so much attention, you enjoy it. I don't think I ever entertained the idea of romancing Sahir: It didn’t even cross my mind once…"
Personally, I don't subscribe to the story that Sahir wrote the song 'Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi bun jaayein hum donon ' when he learnt about the marriage of Sudha Malhotra. Prima facie ,it looks sheer gossip. 'Unfortunately , some writers have also carried this gossip in their books, columns , magazines and write ups without proper verification. This poem titled Khoobsoorat Morr ( beautiful turn) is included in Sahir's poetic collection 'Talkhiyaan'. ' Talkhiyaan ' was published by Sahir from Lahore in 1945 .The poem was used as a song in Gumrah, a 1963 film. Sudha was married in 1960. And in the same year, she said goodbye to film industry .
Sudha has worked with well known composers like Ghulam Mohammed,Anil Biswas, Ravi, Roshan, N Dutta, C Ramchandra and S D Burman.Some songs sung by Sudha Malhotra that come to my mind at the moment are:
(1) Kashti Ka khamosh Safar hai
(2) Darshan do ganshyaam
(3) Ka se kahuun mun ki baat
(4) Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao
(4) Na me Dhan chaahun
(5) Na to karwaan ki talash hai
(6) Ji chaahta hai choom loon
(7) Malik teray jahaan mein
(8) Maiya Mori mein nahin maakhan khaayo
(9) Ye ishq ishq hai
(10) Salaam e Hasrat qabool Kar lo
(11) Ganga ki Ret pe(Mirza Ghalib)
(12) Bhaj mun Ram charan sukhdaayi
(13) Kauni rang mungwa kawani rang motiya
(14) Yeh pyaar tha ya kuchh aur tha
She sang a mesmerising Bhojpuri song for the 1959 movie 'Heera Moti' in a duet with Suman Kalyanpur. The song 'Kaune Rang mungwa kawan rang motiya' was written by Prem Dhawan and set to music by Roshan and picturised on Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy. I simply love this great composition .
Sudha retains her poise and elegance even in her old age. She lives with her family at Khar (west ) in Mumbai. She loves reading and listening to good music .She loves to wear Saris.
(Avtar Mota)
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