Beyond disco: A look at melodies starring Mithun

The actor has featured in songs by all the celebrated singers of Indian cinema, writes Rajiv Vijayakar.

The ‘Disco King’ label has long been attached to Mithun Chakraborty, but the Dadasaheb Phalke laureate for 2022 has also starred in melodious and folk-based numbers. ‘Disco dancer’, and its follow-ups like ‘Wardat’, ‘Kasam Paida Karne Wali Ki’ and ‘Dance Dance’ were merely trendsetters. 

But most of these songs by Bappi Lahiri had a strong undercurrent of Indian melody alongside the frenetic beats and on-screen pelvic thrusts. Songwriters like Anjaan, Faruk Kaiser and Ramesh Pant lent numbers such as ‘Yaad aa raha hai tera pyar’ (‘Disco Dancer’) and ‘Jeena bhi kya hai jeena’ (‘Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki’) great words that made them timeless.

The classic score of ‘Dalaal’ (1993) was a landmark for the Mithun-Bappi combo, even if the populace went wild over the ribald ‘Chad gaya upar re’. The melodies included ‘Thahre huye paani mein’, and ‘Chori chori tere sang’.

And how can one forget the Mohammed Rafi gem, ‘Bheegi bheegi rut hai’ from ‘Taqdeer Ka Badshah’, the Mohammed Aziz-rendered ‘Pyar hamara amar rahega’ (‘Muddat’) and those twin hits from ‘Prem Pratigyaa’ (‘Pyar kabhi kam nahi karna’ and ‘Baahon mein botal’)?

For archivists, it is also worth noting that ‘Waqt Ki Awaz’ (1988) had ‘Guru guru aa jao’, last song (with Asha Bhosle) ever recorded by Kishore Kumar, and it happens to be a Mithun foot-tapper!

After Bappi, Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s name looms large in the Mithun repertoire. The list is led by the chart-topping music of ‘Pyar Jhukta Nahin’, the film that established T-Series as a frontline label. The duo also gave the ensemble songs ‘Aati hai palki sarkar ki’ and ‘Hum paanch Paandav ye Shakuni mama’ for Mithun in ‘Hum Paanch’.

Anu Malik had an interesting tale to narrate about their cult hit ‘Julie Julie’ from ‘Jeete Hain Shaan Se’. “Kishore-da was unwell, so I dubbed for the song as it had to be filmed. Dada (Mithun) heard the song and enquired whose voice this was. He insisted that my voice be retained! I owe my fame to Dada!” said Malik.

Rajesh Roshan gave Mithun solid melodic milestones in his two ‘Jaag Utha Insan’ duets — ‘Teri zindagi ke ragini par’ and ‘Aayi parbaton se jhumti ghata’. A standout album was Ravindra Jain’s ‘Khwab’, in which Yesudas belted out ‘Hum khwab ko badal denge’ and ‘Banjara main nahin magar’ for the actor. The cherry on this cake was Rafi’s sonorous ‘Tu hi woh haseen hai’. Mithun got all the legends who were active in his time to sing for him. 

Mithun’s own singing forays, for Nadeem-Shravan, deserve a mention too. In 1985, he recorded an item number titled ‘Angoori paani chad gaya’ for the still-struggling duo.

In 1989, they also made him sing ‘Kal se chhod dunga main sharab’ for the film ‘Ilaaka’.