Anupama Deshpande

Usha Khanna is the only female music director in the Indian Film Industry till now.She made a history by surviving for three decades in an almost exclusively male dominated profession and industry. Usha Khanna was born in Gwalior to a family of good musical background . Her father was a lyricist and singer and had a Masters in music.she gradually developed interest in music . Usha was a talented as a kid started learning music when she was very young. Her father was quite a close associate of lyricist Indeevar. She met S. Mukherjee when Indeevar took introduced her to him . After hearing a few of her songs, he asked her from which film she'd picked them up. She told him they're her own songs! Hits like ‘Chodo kal ki baaten’ from Hum Hindustani slowly established Usha.Remember Usha's lilting 'Chodo kal ki baaten' tune that can be heard in advertisements. Because she had faced so much hardship and resistance when she was once a new comer herself she has always been kind to new comers. This is illustrated by the fact that she didn’t rely on famous singers alone. This sole woman in her field was one who discovered and gave a break to singers like Jaspal Singh, Pankaj Udhas, Anupama Deshpande, Hemlata, Vinod Rathod, Mohammed Aziz, Shabbir Kumar and Roopkumar Rathod. The composer was last known for her brilliant work in Saawan Kumar’s Souten. Songs like ‘Shaayad meri shaadi ka khayal’ and ‘Zindagi pyaar ka geet hai’ went on to become chartbusters. She also composed soulful music in Agar Tum Na Hote.’ After achieving success on her own terms perhaps the only thing in life that perhaps didn’t go according to plan was her marriage to producer-director Saawan Kumar. ‘It was my biggest mistake,’ she says with a touch of regret in her voice. It was good for the film world and music fans that even after the couple broke up they continued working together. Usha did the background score of Saawan Kumar’s ‘Sajan Bina Suhagan’. Usha Khanna's father, Manohar Khanna, was a lyricist and singer, but she had no formal training in music. Even though she did often take inspiration from Arabic music, which she liked. Usha claims that she has never lifted of any song directly, but that she has composed something along the lines. The popular music director O. P. Nayyar introduced Usha Khanna to meet Sashadhar Mukherjee, a powerful man in the Indian film industry at that time. She sang a song for Mukerji, and when he realised that she had composed the song on her own, he told her to compose two songs per day for one year. After a few months, Mukherjee signed her as the composer for his movie Dil Deke Dekho (1959) as a music composer. The film, which also introduced the actress Asha Parekh, became a big hit, and Mukherjee hired her again for another Asha Parekh starrer Hum Hindustani (1961). After she started composing music for Hindi movies, Usha Khanna had to struggle hard to establish herself as a music director, despite producing many hit songs. She often used the combination of Asha Bhosle, who referred to Usha Khanna as her daughter, and Mohammed Rafi. This trio produced many hit songs. Saawan Kumar was often the lyricist for Usha Khanna, and wrote most of his lyrics for songs composed by her. He directed and produced the lyrics for eleven movies she scored the music for. In 1979 K J Yesudas received Filmfare award for her song Dil ke tukde tukde in the film Dada. The effort she had put in to establish her in the industry, made her know how difficult it was to break through, and made her often give the chance to new singers. She gave the chance to the singers who were little known at that time – Anupama Deshpande, Pankaj Udhas, Hemlata, Mohammed Aziz, Roop Kumar Rathod, Shabbir Kumar, and Sonu Nigam. Many of these went on to become notbale singers. Usha Khanna herself also sing a few song as a playback singer. Many of Usha Khanna's songs are still very popular. One of India's most well-known music composers, A. R. Rahman, used her Har Nazar Ke Sau Afsane from Shabnam (1964), as inspiration for the song Latka Dikha Diya in the movie Hindustani (1996). Usha Khanna was quite active as a composer until the mid-ninetees. Until now the last movie she has given music to was in 2003. The movie was Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya, produced and directed by her ex-husband Saawan Kumar who she was briefly married to. Usha Khanna had given music to non-hindi movies too. The Malayalam movie 'Moodal Manju' (1969) is still remembered for some of the finest songs in Malayalam including 'Nee Madu Pakaroo' by K. J. Yesudas and 'Manasa Mani veenayil' by S.Janaki. Why she did not get many chances remains a mystery for many music lovers even now.

• published: 13 Dec 2014
• views: 13020