A Song That Was Almost "Killed"

Raj Khosla who was an assistant of Guru Dutt and who had made a few films with Dev Anand, who was the Guru of both Guru Dutt and Raj Khosla. Raj was making a mystery thriller called "Woh Kaun Thi" with Manoj Kumar and Sadhana who had just about started their careers. The film was to be made in black and white to add to its impact and music which was Khosla's first love was to be the highlight.

Madan Mohan was the music director and Raja Mehdi Ali Khan was to be the lyricists. Khosla wanted a haunting song sung by a female who is supposed to be a ghost who is and was always in love with the handsome Manoj Kumar.

Madan Mohan and the lyricist worked very hard to get the right kind of song and the result was "Lag ja gale". Khosla came to know about their creation only the next day when he was quite high and through the paper on which the song was written on into his dustbin.

The duo were highly disturbed and also very angry because no other filmmaker had treated them and their work in such a humiliating way.

They did not know what to do till they decided to tell the hero of the film, Manoj Kumar about how Khosla had rundown the song. Manoj who had already made a name for himself as an actor who was also an all-rounder and knew how good films were made and he was specially an expert in knowing the importance of music.

He loved the song and arranged a meeting with Khosla and explained the nuances of the song to him. Khosla was shocked at his own behaviour and told them that it was a beautiful song which would be remembered for all time. He was still high and took off both his shoe and asked Madan Mohan and Raja Mehdi Ali Khan to beat him up with his shoes for making such a disasters mistake. The song was  finally recorded in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar and today almost 50 years later, that song, "Lag ja gale"  is still know as one of the 10 most popular songs and appeals to all generations. All the other men associated with "Woh Kaun Thi " are dead and gone, but Manoj Kumar is the only part of the film who remembers everything that went into the making of "Woh Kaun Thi", which started a new trend of making  mystery films.

For more Bollywood updates, follow Bollyy!

Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News,  Bollywood Song, Dev Anand, Raj Khosla, Manoj Kumar