Tributes

Madanji sings "Mai Ri" from Dastak (1970) – Full song with 3 antras
24 March 2011


The National Award for DASTAK (1970), was one of the few official recognitions that Madanji ever received in his 25 year career. Thus, this film would be a special landmark in his repertoire.

The songs TUMSE KAHOON EK BAAT HALKI (RAFI SAAB), and BAIYAN NA DHARO, HUM HAIN MATAAYE KOOCHA-O-BAZAAR, and MAI RI MAIN KASE KAHOON (all by LATAJI), are remembered even today.

The song MAI RI, could not be sung by Lataji on the day of the recording as she was unwell. Madanji decided to do a dummy recording in his voice just for reference. This had happened earlier in the case of Naina Barse, and possibly some more songs, but the dummy recordings were never retained, except on random spool transfers, which were reused / erased. Thus various such recordings have been lost.

When Madanji passed away in 1975, HMV was keen to feature something in his own voice on a Tribute LP that they wished to release. On going through his few leftover spools, the family accidentally found the song MAI RI in his voice (as well as only a small part of Naina Barse). This was given to HMV, but they were forced to edit the song by dropping an antra, for reasons of LP duration. Thus, the Madanji version with 2 antras only has been in circulation on random compilations, including LEGENDS / MADAN MOHAN, and the same version on websites / YouTube etc. has been enjoyed by his ardent admirers

Only recently, after a lot of requests from fans, the full / unedited version of the song in Madanji's voice was traced, and was fortunately found in good condition. This version was featured on the website a few months ago, and can now be enjoyed by Madanji's fans.

We have also made a video presentation of the song 'Mai Ri' for his fans, using some of the images of Madanji.

  • View the special video of “Mai Ri Main Kaase Kahoon Peer” (DASTAK - 1970), full song in Madanji's voice.
  •         

  • Listen to “Mai Ri Main Kaase Kahoon Peer” (DASTAK - 1970), full song in Madanji's voice.