Movie : Mazaaq 

Voices : Asha Bhonsle, Vinod Mehra 

Composer : R. D. Burman 

Lyricist : Yogesh 

And you are the luckiest if that person is the Kishore Kumar!! 

That 12 years old child was indeed very lucky to get the chance to play younger version of Kishore Kumar in film 'Ragini' in 1958. Destiny has planned a far greater reward for him in form of some of the most memorable melodies he was going to get from same Kishore Kumar in future. At the age of 20, he lost an opportunity to win All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare from more than ten thousand contestants in 1965, otherwise, perhaps, he would have gotten Nasir Hussain as his first director and R D Burman as his first composer for film 'Baharon ke sapne.' He was the first runner-up and the winner was Rajesh Khanna with whom he shared the screen later in 'Amar Prem' - the epic made by Shakti Samanta. Playing a little role, Nandu babu's elder version in 'Amar Prem' paid him off in 1973, when the same Shakti Samanta gave him his first hit as hero - 'Anuraag'. Its music came from same Burman Gharana, bade Burman dada this time. And then success followed him - Vinod Mehra - with all musical hits. 

Today would have been his 78th birthday! Let's celebrate Vinod Mehra with one of his lesser discussed lilt composed by R D Burman. There is a special reason to choose this song instead of taking some hugely popular melodies picturised on him. This song from film 'Mazaaq' was the only song wherein Vinod Mehra joined Ashaji in recording studios too!! 

'Mazaaq' was not fortunate enough to leave its mark as a great movie but it was profusely fortunate to get one more best rain song composed by Rahul Dev Burman and penned by Yogesh ji. Vinod Mehra was one more lucky guy besides Randheer Kapur who has received some speldid eternal classic songs from R D Burman which boosted up his movies. Here also, in this movie, he was given an utterly beautiful song to become a part of! And he tried his level best to justify the job he was asked to do. Now We shouldn't compare him with Big B and Gulzar for their dialogues​ in Silsila and Raincoat songs considering their height and depth respectively. Their ohh-so-mesmerising base too. Still, VM sounds pretty good in this song. 

Prelude starts with charming guitar notes, enchanting flute, mellow sound of glockenspiel and entriguing violins notes and ends at a moment when a sudden strum depicts an endearing 'takkar' on screen which makes this entire saga flow......

Ashaji breezes in with such a sweet and sensuous voice which is undoubtedly best while expressing an allure outblooming. Mausami Chatterjee one more time gets an extremely beautiful drizzling lilt by Pancham besides Manzil.  

टकरा गये दो बादल अम्बर पे

तो बरसने लगी बून्दें बिखर के..

A thrilling encounter breaks all the barriers and makes the emotions glide.

'Baadal' comes three times in mukhda and each of times it sounds naughtier and more playful than the previous one.

"To barsne lagi boonden bikhar ke.." 

This outpouring too gets bolder with each of repetation. Ashaji's singing lifts the romance up to its peak bit by bit. 

First interlude starts with gushing violins. Delighting sound of glockenspiel makes everything fresh and vibrant just like lovely little raindrops. Soothing flute comes as if to soften the fervour she is feeling. Guitar is at its grandeour throughout pairing itself with glockenspiel. Violins again sway in to give break to Vinod Mehra. He goes in quite a smooth and natural way and just as he stops, that "aahh" by Ashaji works as a sudden, naughty yet so likable pinch on your senses. 

छोड़ो जाओ, बड़े वो हो तुम

नाम मेरा जोड़ दिया, मौसम से सनम..

मौसम फिर भी, मौसम है सनम

नाम मेरा जोड़ा ना बता ख़ुद से क्योंं बलम..

मुझसे मिलाओ ये नैन तो

ऐसे न जलाओ मेरे मन को..

This "woh" was quite a fascinating thing in vintage movie songs containing an X factor which was accessible only to the heroine and which sounded so cute and lovable. Here again Ashaji's exquisite rendition finely beats the beauty of lovely lush of beautiful rainwashed flowers, trees and also the pretty face lypsanching on screen. Specially that variation at the end of "mausam phir bhi mausam hai sanam.." amazing..

So tweely she complains about "naam mera joda na bataa khood se kyon balam..." Her immense desire of merging her identity into her man's name sounds so innocent and adorable.  

When she repeates the mukhda, the scene is shot damn beautifully. A heart overflowen with love and affection gets its way out through the eyes. What an ecstasy!

Reso reso gives quite an unconventional start to second interlude. Soft swirl on vibraphone and again crisp sound of reso followed by violins and guitar strums. How brilliantly all the sounds direct onscreen activities!

Whenever Vinod Mehra speaks, guitar and glockenspiel played in the background depict the mindset of his amused listener. So delicate, feathery yet vibrated.

And again Ashaji breaks in to blow you away..

जाने आई कैसी ये उमर..

बन के कली खिलने लगी सूनी राह पर..

तन में मन में, उठी ये लहर 

तुझसे सजन टकराए मन, जाऊँ मैं बिखर..

आग लगे रे सावन को, छू गया मेरे दामन को.

Visuals perfectly portrays the essence of each word of lyrics. 

"Jaane aai kaisi ye umar" and there shown those fragrant Rose buds. 

"Ban ke kali khilne lagi sooni raah par..." makes bud-like Mausami walk barefooted on wet soil in between the green grass on both her sides. 

"Tan mein man mein uthi yeh leher.." plucks her from there and puts at her dremscape and 

"tujhse sajan takaraye man jaun main bikhar" fetches her back to present!

"Aag lage re saawan ko chhu gaya mere daaman ko" sings her stimulated ardour so subtly. 

This movie - Mazaaq never saw any considerable success. It came and went in no time. But this song undoubtedly​ is being acclaimed for its ultimate charm. It doesn't resemble just a heavenly drizzle, it holds entire monsoon in itself.