Chaand taley jhoom jhoom
Posted on: December 29, 2021
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Today, December 29, 2021 is the 6th Remembrance Day of Subir Sen, singer, actor and the music director in Hindi and Bangla films. The resemblance of his voice with that of Hemant Kumar seems to have influenced the music director, Shankar-Jaikishan to try him as a playback singer in Hindi films. Subir Sen sang just 28 songs in Hindi films in the span of around 12 years. Most of the songs he rendered became popular.
Subir Sen (24/07/1934 – 29/12/2015) was born in Assam and grew up in Guwahati where his father had a pharmacy business. He completed his matriculation from Guwahati. From the childhood, he was drawn towards music and this was the reason that made his father to shift to Kolkata after selling his pharmacy business. During his growing up days, he was highly influenced by the singing of Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Hemant Kumar and Talat Mehmood. When he started singing their songs in some programmes, the audience started appreciating his renditions. He felt that he can also sing like his favourite singers which made him to pursue the singing as a career.
Subir Sen enrolled himself in Marris College of Music (later renamed as Bhatkhande Music Institute), Lucknow. During the third year of his college, he received the first prize for singing a vilambit Khayal in raag Purvi. Later, he learnt Hindustani classical music from Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri, a vocalist in Hindustani classical music. On the advice of Acharya Chinmoy, Subir Sen learnt the Thumri singing from Usha Ranjan Mukherjee for over 2 years.
On an invitation from Guru Dutt, Subir Sen along with the music director, Sudhin Dasgupta shifted to Mumbai and became the part of the Guru Dutt’s Films for his film under production (probably for ‘Pyaasa’1957). However, though they were on the payroll of Guru Dutt Films, they never got opportunity to sing in his film. It is said that Guru Dutt sent Subir Sen to S D Burman for audition. He introduced himself as a singer who sang in the style of Hemant Kumar. S D Burman rejected him without taking his audition by asking him as to why he should use him when he can have the original voice of Hemant Kumar. (Source: Interview of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on S D Burman).
While Sudhin Dasgupta returned to Kolkata, Subir Sen got an opportunity to sing for the first time in Hindi films under the baton of Shankar-Jaikishan who were impressed with the resemblance of his voice with that of Hemant Kumar. The first song he sang in Hindi film was manzil wohi hai pyaar ki raahi badal gaye in ‘Kathputli’ (1957) picturised on Balraj Sahni. The song became very popular and was one of the three songs from ‘Kathputli’ (1957) to figure in the top 32 songs of Binaca Geetmala for the year 1958. In 1959-60, Subir Sen sang six songs in six films with six music directors (including one under the baton of Hemant Kumar), all of which became popular.
Subir Sen again came into the attention when his song, dil mera ek aas ka panchhi picturised on Rajendra Kumar (who was nick named as ‘Jubilee Kumar’), became even more popular than his first song, ranking 5th among the top 32 Hindi film songs of Binaca Geetmala for the year 1961.
With the kind of the early successes, Subir Sen must have dreamt of a bright future for him as a playback singer in Hindi films. But his discography in the table given below reveals that his playback singing career in Hindi films did not reach to a level to make a living out of it. In most of the films, he got the opportunity to sing only one song.
| No. | Songs | Name of the Film | Co-singer | Music Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | manzil wohi hai pyaar ki | Kathputli (1957) | Solo | Shankar-Jaikishan |
| 2 | pyaar mein milna sanam | Ardhaangini (1959) | Lata | Vasant Desai |
| 3 | main rangeela pyaar ka raahi | Chhoti Bahen (1959) | Lata | Shankar-Jaikishan |
| 4 | gori tere natkhat nainaa | Ham Bhi Insaan Hain (1959) | Geeta Dutt | Hemant Kumar |
| 5 | dil leke jaate ho kahaan | O Tera Kya Kehna (1959) | Kamal Barot | Kalyanji Virji Shah |
| 6 | hamen in raahon pe chalna hai | Maasoom (1960) | Aarti Mukherjee | Robin Banerjee |
| 7 | gar tum bura na maano | Mehlon Ke Khwaab (1960) | Asha Bhosle | S Mohinder |
| 8 | dheere chalaao zaraa | Aas Ka Panchhi (1961) | Asha Bhosle | Shankar-Jaikishan |
| 9 | dil mera ek aas ka panchhi | Aas Ka Panchhi (1961) | Solo | Shankar-Jaikishan |
| 10 | bahaare luta ke nazaare dikha ke | Anarbala (1961) | Suman Kalyanpur | Bulo C Rani |
| 11 | dekho na jaao ae jaaneman | Boy Friend (1961) | Solo | Shankar-Jaikishan |
| 12 | sun le daastaan yoon na sata | Passport (1961) | Solo | Kalyanji-Anandji |
| 13 | aa jaa re nain dwaare | Roop Ki Rani Choron ka Raja (1961) | Chorus | Shankar-Jaikishan |
| 14 | chanda salone itna bata de | Sati Renuka (1961) | Suman Kalyanpur | S L Merchant |
| 15 | kya kaha zara phir kaho | Gangu (1962) | Geeta Dutt | Kalyanji-Anandji |
| 16 | kasam na lijiye kasam na dijiye | Jaadoo Mahal (1962) | Purnima Seth | Bulo C Rani |
| 17 | Jeewan ki lambi raahon par | Pick Pocket (1962) | Mahendra Kapoor | Sardar Malik |
| 18 | thaam mujhe gir na jaaun | Raaz Ki Baat (1962 UR) | Solo | Robin Banerjee |
| 19 | chaand tale jhoom jhoom | Jab Se Tumhen Dekha Hai (1963) | Suman Kalyanpur | Dattaram |
| 20 | gagan ke chanda na poochh hamse | Apne Huye Paraaye (1964) | Lata | Shankar-Jaikishan |
| 21 | haath chod de mera bedardi | Hukum Ka Ekka (1964) | Aarti Mukherjee | Robin Banerjee |
| 22 | bujh gaya dil ka diya | Jaadui Anghooti (1964) | Solo | Suresh Kumar |
| 23 | ab to aisa lagta hai | Roop Sundari (1964) | Solo | Sardar Malik |
| 24 | jaago anjaani raajdulaari | Ek Soorat Do Dil (1968) | Aarti Mukherjee | Bijan Pal |
| 25 | aah dil mein hai | Rani Chandravati (1968, UR) | Solo | S N Tripathi |
| 26 | Ye pukaar kiske liye | Rani Chandravati (1968, UR) | Suman Kalyanpur | S N Tripathi |
| 27 | sedin dujone dulechhinu bone (Bangla) | Anubhav (1971) | Solo | Rabindranath Tagore |
| 28 | koi mera ho gaya | Midnight (1972) | Solo | Subir Sen |
The initial euphoria Subir Sen created in Hindi film music due to the resemblance of his voice with that of Hemant Kumar may have becoming a stumbling block in his playback singing career. It would be a natural response from the music directors that they would rather work with Hemant Kumar who had already established himself as a playback singer than Subir Sen. Also, producers, directors, actors and the film financiers/distributors have their own preferences for playback singers among the established ones.
Ashutosh Banerjee, music director who had composed many Bangla films and non-film songs for Subir Sen was of the view that while in Mumbai, Subir Sen started listening to a lot of western music during which Jim Reeves and Nat King Cole became his favourite singers. From Jim Reeves, he picked up the tonal quality and from Nat King Cole the drama in singing. In his subsequent renditions, Subir Sen was influenced by the styles of these two American singers.
Some changes in Subir Sen’s rendition style are evident in his later songs. For instance, in ‘dheere chalo zara’ from ‘Aas Ka Panchhi’ (1961), one can feel some shades of Mukesh in the song. In ‘dekho na jaaneman’ which he sang for Shammi Kapoor in ‘Boy Friend’ (1961), his voice sounds somewhat different giving a feel of Manna Dey. I have listened to some of his Bangla non-film songs and I feel that he had adapted to a style of rendition to sound somewhat different from Hemant Kumar’s voice. For examples, ‘oy ujjwal din’ and ‘pagol hawa’ (a rehash of non-film Bangla song originally sung by Jatileshwar Mukherjee and ‘na jaane tum’ from ‘Chhoti Si Baat’, 1976).
With his playback singing career in Hindi films getting stangnated, Subir Sen returned to Kolkata sometime in early 1970s. He recorded hundreds of Bengali modern and Rabindra Sangeet numbers over three decades. He also acted along with Uttam Kumar in Bangla film, ‘Momer Alo’ (1964) and in Hindi film “Anubhav’ (1971).
Subir Sen and also Dwijen Mukherjee could not create a place for themselves in Hindi films mainly because they were born with their voice boxes almost similar to Hemant Kumar. And both of them were the contemporary of Hemant Kumar and in competition with him. Also, they came at a time when the troika of the main male playback singers – Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood and later Kishore Kumar had already well-established in Hindi film industry.
On the occasion of the 6th Remembrance Day of Subir Sen, I am presenting ‘chaand tale jhoom jhoom tirak rahi hai’ rendered by him with Suman Kalyanpur for the film ‘Jab Se Tumhen Dekha Hai’ (1963). The song is written by Shailendra which is set to music by Dattaram.
With this song, all the six songs of ‘Jab Se Tumhen Dekha Hai’ have been covered in the Blog.
Acknowledgements:
1. Videos of interview of Subir Sen by Kolkata Gaan available on YouTube. Since the interview was conducted in Bengali, I requested Partha Chanda ji for the English translation which he promptly sent me with the links of a couple of Subir Sen’s Bangla songs. Thanks Partha Chanda ji.
2. Interview of Ashutosh Banerjee which appeared on The Times of India E-Paper, updated on 29/12/2015.
Audio Clip:
Song-Chaand taley jhoom jhoom (Jab Se Tumhen Dekha Hai)(1963) Singers-Suman Kalyanpur, Subir Sen, Lyrics-Shailendra, MD-Dattaram
Suman Kalyanpur + Subir Sen
Male chorus
Female chorus
All chorus
Lyrics
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha
ho o o o
ho o o
o o o o
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha
ho o o o
ho o o
o o o o
chaand tale jhoom jhoom
thirak rahi hai ghoongharwaaliyaan
mastiyon ki aaj dhoom
khushi baja rahi hai taaliyaan
haand tale jhoom jhoom
thirak rahi hai ghungharwaaliyaan
mastiyon ki aaj dhoom
khushi baja rahi hai taaliyaan
ho o o o
aa aa aa
o o o o
ho o o o
aa aa aa
ho o o o
aa aa aa aa
ho o o o
ho o o o
aa aa aa
o o o o
chori chori dil ko mere kaun gaya chhoo
aaj meri har nazar pe kis ki justujoo
aa aa aa
o o o o
aa aa aa
o o o o
bekaraar mera pyaar meri aarzoo
mere dil ko bhaa gayi hai aaj tu hi tu
haay main bhi aaj main nahi tu bhi nahin tu
hoy
chaand tale jhoom jhoom
thirak rahi hai ghungharwaaliyaan
mastiyon ki aaj dhoom
khushi baja rahi hai taaliyaan
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha
ho o o o
o o o
o o o o
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa
ha
ho o o o
o o o
o o o
aaj itne paas hain jo kal thhe paraaye
saamne hai jo kabhi thhe khwaab mein aaye
la ra ra ra
la ra la ra li ra
la la la la
la ra la ra li ra
dekhti hai par nigaah sochti nahin
kya bharam kya hai sach ye jaanati nahi
o mere dil ki manzile hain bas yahin kahin
hoy
chaand tale jhoom jhoom
thirak rahi hai ghungharwaaliyaan
mastiyon ki aaj dhoom
khushi baja rahi hai taaliyaan
ho o o o
ha aa aa
o o o
ho o o o
ha aa aa
o o o
be-dhadak ye dil mein mere aa raha hai kaun
apni raah mujhko bhi bhula raha hai kaun
ha aa aa aa
ho o o o
ha aa aa aa
ho o o o
dheere dheere dil se dil mein la raha hai kaun
dekhiye to pyaar se bula raha hai kaun
o kya khabar ye mujhko aajma raha hai kaun
chaand tale jhoom jhoom
thirak rahi hain ghungharwaaliyaan
mastiyon ki aaj dhoom
khushi baja rahi hain taaliyaan
chaand tale jhoom jhoom
thirak rahi hai ghungharwaaliyaan
mastiyon ki aaj dhoom
khushi baja rahi hai taaliyaan
6 Responses to "Chaand taley jhoom jhoom"
December 29, 2021 at 6:06 pm
Sadanand ji,
Thanks for post on Subir Sen – called a Clone of Hemant Kumar, but he was much more than that and had individual style too.
One must learn from you how to do a perfect job of any assignment.
Thanks again.
-AD
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December 29, 2021 at 6:46 pm
Subject movie is 1963 release……… May be corrected please.
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December 29, 2021 at 8:19 pm
Thanks for pointing out.
I request Atul ji to correct the year of the film to 1963 both in tags and in the description below the video clip of the song.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 29, 2021 at 5:01 pm
Sadanand ji,
Many Thanks for this nice compilation of Subir Sen’s Hindi songs/films career. This post can surely be a reference point for readers to take up his remaining uncovered songs.
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December 29, 2021 at 8:15 pm
Mahesh ji,
Yes. That was the intention for compliation of the list of Hindi film songs sung by Subir Sen.
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