Bulo C Rani
A music director, however popular, is often
forgotten with the passage of time when
the trend of music changes. Bulo
C Rani was one such composer whose best
is buried under the debris of time. When
the slow paced melodious music was replaced
by the fast paced rhythmic melodies Bulo
suddenly lost his relevance as a composer.
He lived in a state of hybernation for
so long that his death - a suicide - on
24th May 1993 at 73 was reported as if
it was a matter of no big consequence.
The eventful career of Bulo C Rani in
the 40’s and the early 50’s
was forgotten.
Mukesh,
after his initial failure as a singer,
drew attention only when he sang for Bulo
in ‘Moorty’ ( ‘Badariya
baras gai us paar’/with Hamida and
khursheed/1945 )
The
film ‘Jogan’ (1950) was a
land -mark in Bulo’s career. His
composing skill enabled him to enhance
the inherent charm of Meerabai’s
traditional bhajans such as ‘ghoonghat
Ke Pat Khol re’, ‘Main to
giridhar Ke ghar jaaoon’, ‘Damag
damag dole naiya’ and ‘ Jogi
mat ja, mat ja’. Even the Holi song
(‘Rang daaro ri’) and the
sentimental one in the voice of Talat
(‘Sundarta Ke Sabhi Shikari’)
were no less appealing. More than Dilip
Kumar and Nargis in the film it was Bulo’s
music which turned out to be the real
star.
Before
‘Jogan’ came his way Bulo
had already earned recognition through
the films such as ‘Rajputani’
(‘Ja parwane ja kahin shama jal
rahi hai/Mukesh, hamida and ‘Anjuman
(‘Kaise bataoon tum se is dil ko
pyar kyun hai’/Shamshed, Mukesh)
and the immense popularity of the song
‘Armaan bhara dil toot gaya’
(‘Wafa/Lata, Mukesh)
Bulo
C Rani had a special fascination for heavy
voices which were capable of more expressive
power. For the same reason he was able
to create a great impact on listeners
with the voices of Amirbai (‘Sooni
padi hai payar ki duniya tere baghair’/
‘Carvan’).
Zohra (‘Ankhon mein intezaar Ki
duniya liye huve’/’Carvan’)
and geeta Roy (Dutt) in the songs of ‘Jogan’.
Bulo did not hesitate to create an enchanting
melody in the song ‘Badi bhool hui
tujhe pyar kiya’ in ‘Maghroor’.
Bilwamangal’
(1954) was the last significant film of
Bulo c Rani. Suraiya sang one of her most
memorable song ‘Parwanon se preet
seekhli, shama se seekha jal jaana’
and so did C.H. Atma in ‘Panghat
pe more shyam bajaaye muraliya’.
Despite
the popularity of a stray song such as
‘Hamen to loot liya milke husn Walon
ne’ (Ismail Azad/’Al Hilal’/1958).
Bulo C Rani just continued to drift because
his music had not remained a viable commercial
proposition.
After
‘Sunhare Qadam’ (1966). Bulo’s
career came to an end. Having once enjoyed
the position of prominence the lack of
assignment made him restless.
It
was an irony of fate that the song he
composed in the voice of Lata in his last
film ‘Sunhare Qadam’ was ‘Maangne
se jo maut mil jaati, Kaun jeeta zamane
men’.
Irony
was that in life he asked for death and
he got it.
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