This article is written by Prakashchandra, a regular lyrics contributor and a now a new article contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Today (23 april 2014) is the birth anniversary of S Janaki. I almost worship her voice, right from childhood.
She has the distinction of singing songs in 17 languages including Tamil,Telugu,Kannada,Malayalam,Oriya,Tulu, English, Sanskrit, Bengali, Sinhalese, Konkani, Punjabi, Japanese,Baduga,German etc.
I will not write about S.Janaki`s Tamil, Telugu, Kannada songs,because she is a legendary singer in South Indian movies and enough information is available on this topic online.
I want to write about her work in Hindi movie industry, where her voice was not used to the fullest extent. In Hindi movies she has not done significant /substantial work, as she used to get only songs in movies dubbed from South Indian movies. Moreover, she tended to get songs meant to be picturised on cabret or mujra dancers. Whaetevr HFM assignments came her way, she gave them her best.
In our blog there are only 2 songs of S Janaki- One from Satyameva Jayate and another from Saaheb. I am planning to introduce more HFM songs of S Janaki songs to the blog.
According to my thinking or you may call it “imagination”, Bombay music directors did not use her voice to the fullest extent possible because of her slightly Southern accent, which in our Hindi movie music industry is a very BIG NO NO. Vani Jayaram, P.Susheela, K.S.Chitra, etc also suffered the same fate. Kavita Krishnamurthy is one of the few South Indian playback singers to succeed in this field. She had the backing of Laxmikant Pyarelal. Kavita Krishnamurty also had the advantage of being brought up in North India.
Bombay (Hindi) movie music directors may have used her voice on a few occasions because of following reasons:
1)Main female singers(read it as Lata, Asha, Anuradha Paudwal, Alka Yagnik & company) of that era were busy and could not spare time for all the songs of one movie and that led to S Janaki used to get one of the less important songs in these movies..
2)Most of the songs offered to her were picturised either on cabret dancers like Silk Smita, Leena Daas, Anuradha, Disco Shanthi & Co.(southern dancers with skimpy dresses) and the more sought after singers tended to avoid singing these songs.
3)Most of the movies in which she sang are produced and directed by South Indian movie directors or producers. Producers found it profitable and easy to get S Janaki in South Indian recording studios for the recording of all songs of one movie at a stretch.
4)Songs that she got to sing often had lewd and suggestive words like “oooo”…..”aaaaaa hhaaaaa”, ”Haiyyaa aaiiyyo”(in between the song)and the more establisged singers were reluctant to lend their voices to such songs.
In summary, most of her Hindi movie songs were those that were picturised on heroine singing under rain, or songs were the heroines or the Cabret dancers would be singing to seduce the hero or villain in his den. Some of these sound would even have double meaning lyrics.
She had started her innings in Hindi movies with dubbed movies like “Do dil deewane”,”Aashiq C.I.D” etc(a Duet with Mannadey)
She was active in Hindi film industry only during the period from 1983 to 1990. And this was a period when the quality of Hindi movie songs had touched rock bottom.
I tried to list out the movies where she worked in Hindi movies:
With Salil Chowdhury
————————–
Dil ka saathi Dil(1982)(a Zarina Wahab,Kamal Hassan starrer)
With Laxmikant Pyarelal
—————————–
Akalmand(84)
John jhonny janardhan(84)
Sur Sangam(85)
Meri Jung(85)
Kalaa dhandha gorey log(86)
Naache mayuri(86)
Aakhri Raasta(86)
Swathi(86)
Dosti Dushmani(86)
Pratighat(87)
Mard Ki Zuban(87)
Jamai Raja(90)
With Anand Milind
———————-
Woh Phir aayegi(88)
Rakhwala (89)
With Ilaiya raja
————————
Do dil deewane(81)
Mahadeva(87)
Shiva(90)
With Bappi Lahiri
————————–
Jeet Hamaari(83)
Maqsad(84)
Tarkeeb(84)
Saamri(85)
Jhoothi(85)
Balidaan(85)
Wafaadar(85)
Salma(85)
Maa kasam(85)
Baadal(85)
Paatal Bhairavi(85)
Aandhi Toofan(85)
Saaheb(85)
Haqeekat(85)
Ilzaam(86)
Dilwala(86)
Shart(86)
Dharma Adhikari(86)
Mera dharam(86)
Suhagan(86)
Insaaf ki awaaz(86)
Pyar ke kabil(87)
Satyameva jayte(87)
Sadak Chhaap(87)
Paap ki duniya(88)
Tamacha(88)
Main tere liye(88)
Guru(89)
Kahaan hai kanoon(89)
Sachche ka bolbaala(89)
Mohabbat ka paighaam(89)
Kasam vardee ki(89)
Na-insaafi(89)
Garibon ka daatha(89)
Aag Ka gola(89)
Awwal Number(90)
Patthar ke insaan(90)
Kaali Ganga(90)
Sheraa shamshera(90)
Ghaayal(90)
With R.D.Burman
————————
Hifaazat(1987)
With Anu Malik
————————-
Mard(85)
Jaan ki baazi(85)
For A.R.Rehman
————————–
Humse hai Muqabla(94)
For Nikhil Vinay
————————–
Deewana Sanam (94)
For Ajay Swami
————————–
Izzat Aabroo(90)
With O.P.Nayyar
—————————
Mangni(1992)
Dubbed movies, in Which S.Janaki sung songs
———————————————
Anokha Shiv Bhakt, Izaat Aabroo,Bahadur Bachche,Aashiq.C.I.D.,Aakhri nishaan,Meri Bahen, Mera Suhag,Do Haath 1000 bandookein,Jai Balaaji,Johnny mera Yaar,Sati Anasooya, Veer Arjun, Teen Dost,Chakravarthy Vikramaditya,Hamein bhi jeene do,Jhanda ooncha rahe hamaara, Raamayan, Durgamathaa, Dashavataar, Khel Khiladi ka
Some sites mention that she had sung for Ravindra Jain, Jaidev too, but I am not able to trace out the name of movies, where S.Janaki sung songs for these two music directors.
Whatever may be the standard of her Hindi movie songs, I love her voice unconditionally.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY Janaki Amma”
Here is a song from “Jhoothhi” (1985) on this occasion. This movie was produced by Debesh Ghosh and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherji for Sri Lokenath Chitramandir. The movie had Rekha,Raj Babbar, Amol Palekar,Supriya Pathak,Deven Varma, Prema Narayan, Shammi,Madan Puri,Gopi Desai,Goga Kapoor,Rasik Dave,Dina Pathak,Suresh Chatwal, Manmauji,Rajnath,Chandrakant Takkar,Ravindra Arora,Romeo, Archana,Master Maulin, Chandramohan,Ajit Vachani etc in it.
This song is sung by S Janaki and it is lip synced by Rekha. The song is picturised as a picnic song on Rekha, Raj Babbar,Rasik Dave,Prema Narayan and Deven Varma. Rasik Dave plays the role of a drug addict, who is Raj Babbar`s Younger brother, Rekha (who loves Raj Babbar,)tries to reform him in this song.
Audio (Full song)
Video (Partial)
Song-Aaya jabse tu dil mein (Jhoothhi)(1985) Singer-S Janaki, Lyrics-Maya Govind, MD-Bappi Lahiri
Lyrics(Audio version)
aayaa
jab se tu dil mein aayaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
baat karen ankhiyon se ankhiyaan
teri meri teri meri
teri meri teri meri
aayaa
jab se tu dil mein aayaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
baat karen ankhiyon se ankhiyaan
teri meri teri meri
teri meri teri meri
aayaa
jab se tu dil mein aayaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
meethhe meethhe geet yeh
jharne sunaate hain
parvat baanhon mein
apni bulaate hain
meethhe meethhe geet yeh
jharne sunaate hain
parvat baanhon mein
apni bulaate hain
mil ke chalein hum wahaan
chal ke wahaan baadal ko chhoo lein
choraa chori choraa chori
choraa chori choraa chori
aayaa
jab se tu dil mein aayaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
pyaar ki kahaani mein
jitnaa suroor hai
nashewaali cheez mein
milnaa huzoor hai
pyaar ki kahaani mein
jitnaa suroor hai
nashewaali cheez mein
milnaa huzoor hai
jeevan nashaa hi nashaa
masti bhare jeevan se khelo
lukkachhippi lukkachhippi
lukkachhippi lukkachhippi
aayaa
jab se tu dil mein aayaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
kaliyon ka melaa hai
phoolon ki baaraat hai
aasmaan ke haath mein
dharti kaa haath hai
kaliyon ka melaa hai
phoolon ki baaraat hai
aasmaan ke haath mein
dharti kaa haath hai
bajti hain shehnaaiyaan
kab mere angnaa laayegaa sajnaa
dolaa doli dolaa doli
dolaa doli dolaa doli
aayaa
jab se tu dil mein aayaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
sajnaa
baat karen ankhiyon se ankhiyaan
teri meri teri meri
teri meri teri meri
