The Mind Creative March 2014
With the hurdle out of the way, Saraswati Devi established herself
into the industry as the first person to introduce playback singing
in the film “Jawani Ki Hawaa”. In this film, she was also the first
person to conceptualize and record a full title music score.
Saraswati Devi worked for Bombay Talkies from 1934 up to 1941.
This was the period when Bollywood music was going through a
metamorphosis from pure Indian raga based music to compositions
in a more lighter vein. Saraswati Devi was able to make this
transition with ease and although her songs were simple melodies,
they were often based on classical ragas. One of her biggest hits
during that period was the song “Mai Ban Ki Chidiya” recorded by
the legendary actors of the film “Achyut Kanya” – Asok Kumar and
Devika Rani. The song was recorded after the actors went through
rigorous coaching under Saraswati Devi. Her compositions gained
popularity even in London where BBC chose the melody line from
the film Janmabhoomi – “JAI JAI PYARI JANMBHOOMI MAATA”
rendered by her with a chorus, as a signature tune for its Indian
News Service.
After the death of Himanshu Rai, Saraswati Devi composed music
for over twenty films for Bombay Talkies. One of her students – S.N.
Tripathi assisted her in many films and later became a well known
composer himself. During those years she was associated with
many legendary artists including Mumtaz Ali for whom she scored
music for dance based songs. She later showed her mettle and her
complete grasp of classical ragas when she composed music for six
films produced by Minerva Movietone. With the changing styles in
music her popularity and demand diminished over the years. She
did however continue work as an independent composer for a while
and her last popular film was Usha Haran (1949) with twelve songs.
In the early fifties, Saraswati was invited as a judge in a music
competition organised by HMV. It was her that she she chanced
upon a young talent Habib Wali Mohammad for whom she
composed two traditional Ghazals which established Habib Wali as
a singer; hailed today as a one of the pioneers of the art of Ghazal
singing. The two compositions that established this star were
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