Wednesday 21 November 2007

Mukul Roy: Detective (1958/1991)

Detective

Whatever happened to Mukul Roy? In fact, who the hell was Mukul Roy? Apparently he was famed playback singer Geeta Dutt's brother; it seems he scored only three or four films, all in the mid to late fifties... and that's the sum of what I've been able to find out. Which annoys me a bit, as 'Detective' is one of my favourite Bollywood soundtracks of late, a delectable collection of old school nuggets.

Several have a kind of vintage Caribbean feel to them; 'Do Chamakti Aankhon Mein', reminiscent of 'Jamaican Farewell', and 'Chhodiye Gussa Huzoor' are both fab. 'Mujh Ko Tum Jo Mile' is a sweet old-fashioned waltz; 'Aji Karle Muqabila' sounds chirpy and fun; the wonderful 'Rahi Chal Sambhal Sambhal Ke' exudes ancient exoticism... there's even a great, dramatic 'Title Music'. Most of you will have figured out by now that my preferance is usually the rock 'n' roll and funk fused scores from the 60s and 70s, but dammit, for its marvelous, mellow, nostalgic charm, 'Detective' is hard to beat!

I'm curious though... while I'm obviously very pleased they did, what was it that induced HMV to release the score from this really obscure film by a virtually unknown music director in 1991, 33 years after it was recorded? Very strange.

Track listing:
1. Hemant Kumar & Geeta Dutt: Mujh Ko Tum Jo Mile
2. Geeta Dutt: Do Chamakti Aankhon Mein
3. Mohd. Rafi & Sudha Malhotra: Aankhon Pe Bharosa Mat Kar
4. Title Music
5. Mohd. Rafi: Chhodiye Gussa Huzoor
6. Mohd. Rafi & Geeta Dutt: Kal Talak Hum Theek Tha
7. Mohd. Rafi & Geeta Dutt: Aji Karle Muqabila
8. Asha Bhosle: Rahi Chal Sambhal Sambhal Ke

7 comments:

  1. Wow. Thanks, you know I love the old stuff. Thanks so much for posting this one.I like 'Aji Karle Muqabila' and the Title music is great.Thanks again.

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  2. Great stuff and this one is totally new to me. Can't thank you enough, loved Do Chamakti. Rahi Chal is reminding me of something else... can't place it at the moment. If I don't post again before the holidays, I just wanted to say thank you so much for making it like Xmas almost every month for so many of us with all your fabulous rips. :D

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  3. Thank you very much for sharing this record !

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  4. Do chamakti ankhon and Mujhko tum jo mile are two of my favs from this album (love the simplicity of Shailendra's lyrics). Looking forward to getting introduced to the as yet unheard "raahi chal sambhal ke", "chhodiye gussa" and "aji karle muqabla". Thank you once again for all the great rips PC, more particularly for this era :D

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  5. In case you haven't figured out 'Do Chamakti Aankhon' yet, it's strongly inspiredby Belafonte's "Jamaican Farewell" :)

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  6. Mukul Roy infact started work in 1950 with Bhed. Detective was probably his best work along with Sailaab(1956). I am looking for few of the songs of the latter and bhed for a long time. (Also for elusive Geeta solo version of Mujhko tum jo mile, apparently came in initial records only :( )

    Detective is a wonderful score and it had infact done well at the time. I love all its songs. Do Chamakti Aankhon Mein, Mujhko Tum Jo Mile and Aankhon Pe Bharosa Mat Kar are really special.

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