Phir shaam se doobaa jaaye dil mera
Posted on: April 2, 2013
This article is written by Bharat Upadhyay, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a new contributor to this blog.
An exceptionally private person, Suman Kalyanpur hardly gives an interview to anyone. What you read about her is generally surmised from little known facts and rumors. She is also a very simple and unassuming person. She very well knew that her voice uncanningly sounded exactly like Lata’s and as such she was called in as a substitute when Lata was either abroad or unwell or had fallen out with a singer or a composer, as was often the case, from time to time. She was considered as poor man’s (producers’) Lata. Not being appreciated for her real talent, which was exceptionally brilliant, her grudge was apparent and she hardly went out to beg for singing assignments to any composers.
After her marriage in an orthodox family, she sacrificed her singing career for fulfilling her duties as a housewife. For her, music was first love and she did her ‘riyaaz’ at home religiously. Many a times, the general public has not been able to differentiate between hers and Lata’s voice, which in some way is unjust, as she does not get the due credit. Why talk about general public? Even O P Nayyar lost a bet of Rs. one thousand, in 1968, when he insisted that the voice in the duet “Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyar Ke Charche” from Film ‘Brahmachaari’ was a Rafi-Lata Duet and not Rafi-Suman duet !!!
I had an opportunity to meet her during a felicitation program two years back and was surprised that she does not even remember some of her songs, which we cherished as ‘gems’. We were awestruck as we heard her singing live, a few lines of some of her old songs and when the original recordings of the same songs were played by the organizers afterwards, we found the same sweetness in her voice, without much change in her voice quality.
Suman (nee Hemmady) was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on 28th January 1937. (Note- Most online sources mention her birthplace as Dhaka, but according to Suman Kalyanpur’s Marathi bilography, she was born at Bhavanipore in Calcutta). She was quite interested in singing from her earlier years. She got her first break when she was only 18 in a film called ‘Mangu’. That was the year 1954 and the composer was Mohammad Shafi, who was replaced by O P Nayyar midway through the film. Her debut song ‘Koi Pukare Dheere Se’ was however retained and the film had other voices like O P Nayyar’s then favorite, Geeta Roy and Shamshad. Thereafter, Suman Hemmady was heard in “Darwaza’ and the composer Naashad offered her a duet with Talat called ‘Ek Dil Do Hai Talabgar’. Incidentally, it was Talat who introduced Suman to MD Naashad. She gradually became more confident and many good songs were rendered by her in the years to come with composers like Hansraj Bahl, Ghulam Mohammad, Roshan, Khaiyyam, Snehal Bhatkar and many more. She sang many film and non-film songs in many languages, including Marathi and Gujarati.
The NFS song, in Raga Desh, presented here is a beautiful song full of pathos, with lyrics by Aish Kanwal and Music by Yunis Malik.
Song-Phir Shaam Se dooba Jaaye Dil Mera(Suman Kalyanpur NFS)(1981) Singer-Suman Kalyanpur, Lyrics-Aish Kanwal, MD-Yunis Malik
Lyrics
phir shaam se dooba jaaye dil mera
rasiya sanwariya
phir shaam se dooba jaaye dil mera
rasiya sanwariya
phir sham se dooba jaaye dil mera
man beena ke sur nahin saaje
man mandir mein dukh hi biraaje
naina more pyaase kahun main kaase,
ho rasiya
phir shaam se dooba jaaye dil mera
rasiya sanwariya
phir shaam se dooba jaaye dil mera
tu jo nahin to ho soona,
hai yeh angna
tu jo nahin to ho soona,
hai yeh angna
saanjh dhali to roye mora kangna
toone na yeh jaana dil hai deewaana,
ho rasiya
phir shaam se dooba jaaye dil mera
rasiya sanwariya
phir shaam se dooba jaaye dil mera
4 Responses to "Phir shaam se doobaa jaaye dil mera"
April 3, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Very good NFS.But frankly I fail to understand why should there be any confusion between Lata and SK’s voices. Both of them have two distinct, equally sweet and melodious but still different voices. I have been listening SK songs since her Hemadi days and don’t remember ever being confused in recognising her voice. So I believe it is just one of those stories that OP lost a bet, on such a song as AAJ KAL TERE MERE. Suman is miles away from Lata . Lata’s pronunciations are moRe clear than Suman’s. Anyway let it not be a subject of debate. I thank the uploadeder for sharing such a nice song.
LikeLike
April 3, 2013 at 6:55 pm
What I mean is, so far as that particular song is concerned , there can never be any doubt that it is Suman and not Lata. Otherwise I worship both of them.
LikeLike
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 2, 2013 at 9:47 pm
Welcome Bharat ji to this band wagon of music yatris.
-AD
LikeLike