The story of a classic
It’s a known fact that legendary singer, Lata Mangeshkar took the nation by storm with her breakthrough chartbuster, ‘Aayega aanewala’ from Mahal (1949). But not many know that at that time, an “innovative technique” was employed to record the superhit song.
It all started when film’s director Kamal Amrohi said that he wanted a ‘distant voice’ effect. “At that time, there weren’t many recording halls. Most of the times, recordings would take place on the studio floors itself and the same was true for ‘Aayega aanewala’ too,” says Mangeshkar.
On the day of the recording, Amrohi “wanted the sher (couplet) — with which the song starts — to sound as if it’s being sung at a distance.” “But the question was: how to do that? It couldn’t have happened if I had sung standing next to the mic,” she says.
At that time, songs would be recorded live with all the musicians, singers, etc. “So, Khemchandji (music director Khemchand Prakash) kept thinking what to do. Then, he asked me to stand next to a wall in a far corner. He said, ‘Lata, from there, walk towards the mic – which was in the middle of the studio – while singing the opening couplet but reach the mic by the time the song’s main part, ‘Aayega aanewaala’ starts’,” says Mangeshkar.
The singer admits that it was a “bit difficult” for her but they rehearsed four-five times before Khemchand was satisfied and went for the real take. “That’s the story of the song’s recording,” she says.