#12 Chori Chori: Top 100 Bollywood Albums

With music by Shankar-Jaikishan and lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra, the 1956 film had memorable songs like Jahan Main Jaati Hoon, Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein Hum and Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi. Directed by Anant Thakur, Chori Chori starred Raj Kapoor and Nargis

Movie Details of Chori Chori

Music: Shankar-Jaikishan, Traditional

Lyrics: Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri

Label: Saregama

Director: Anant Thakur

Raj Kapoor's fifth movie with his dream musical team of Shankar-Jaikishan and Shailendra-Hasrat Jaipuri won the composer duo their first Filmfare Award. The composers' work here featured a scintillating variety of genres – the musical influences ranging from world music to earthy folk to classical; there was even the rarity of a traditional Carnatic thillana (equivalent of the Hindustani tarana) sung by veteran singer M L Vasanthakumari. Instead of Mukesh (presumably because the singer was pursuing his acting dreams around this period), Raj Kapoor's singing voice here was Manna Dey; and Dey & Lata Mangeshkar got to deliver the album's most memorable tracks.

Best Song of Chori Chori: My top pick from the album is the Manna Dey-Lata Mangeshkar duet Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi. Shankar Jaikishan's haunting tune gained immensely from their arranger Sebastian D'Souza's spectacular employment of violins, guitars and Latino percussion that lent the song a very Western feel. Shailendra's romantic lines were delivered to a tee by the singers.

On a related note: The opening verse of the other Dey-Lata duet Aaja Sanam derives its tune from the Italian folk song Tarantella Napoletana.

The Chori Chori Playlist:

  1. Uss Paar Saajan (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri)
  2. Sava Lakh Ki Lottery (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi| Lyrics: Shailendra)
  3. Panchhi Banoon Udti Phiroon (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri)
  4. Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi (Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey | Lyrics: Shailendra)
  5. Jahan Main Jaati Hoon (Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey | Lyrics: Shailendra)
  6. All Line Clear (Singer: Mohammed Rafi | Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri)
  7. Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein Hum (Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey | Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri)
  8. Rasik Balma (Singer: Lata Mangeshkar | Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri)
  9. Manbhaavan Ke Ghar (Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle | Lyrics: Shailendra)
  10. Thillana (Singer: ML Vasanthakumari | Music: Traditional)

Listen to the entire album of Chori Chori here:

(With contributions by Praveen VR, co-founder of musicaloud.com; information partly sourced from myswar.in and shankarjaikishan.wordpress.com)

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