5 EVERGREEN Shashikala Songs

The late Shashikala may have chilled you with her portrayals on screen, but she had some unforgettable songs picturised on her.
Subhash K Jha pays a musical tribute to the veteran actress, who passed into the ages on April 4.

Tum jiyo hazaaron saal, Sujata

One of Hindi cinema's most popular birthday songs, sung by Asha Bhosle for Bimal Roy's Sujata, was voiced on screen by Shashikala.

It became the most popular song of the film, beating those other Sachin Dev Burman classics -- Jalte hain jiske liye and Kali ghata chhaye.

Bachpan ke din bhi kya din the, Sujata

Another perennial favourite from S D Burman, sung by Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle.

While Asha sang for Nutan, Geeta's voice suited Shashikala's mischievous personality to the hilt.

Bheegi bheegi fiza, Anupama

Shashikala actually had a role parallel to Sharmila Tagore in this Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic. While Sharmila played the wordless beauty, Shashikala offset the silence with her volubility.

Interestingly, Sharmilaji had only one song in Anupama (the Lata Mangeshkar classic Kuch dil ne kaha), while Shashikala had two solos in Asha Bhosle's voice -- the breezy Bheegi bheegi fiza and the pensive Kyon mujhe itni khushi.

Both gems were composed by Hemant Kumar keeping Shashikala's chul-bully personality in mind.

Nain tumhare mazedaar oh janaab-e-ali, Junglee

While Lataji's voice was reserved for the leading lady, Asha Bhosle chirped in with her seductive tones for this chartbuster filmed on Shashikala and her co-star Anoop Kumar (Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar's youngest brother).

The result was a quaint Mukesh-Asha love ballad offsetting the rumbustious qawali-styled Lata-Rafi love duet, Mere yaar shabba khair, filmed on the lead pair Shammi Kapoor and Saira Banu.

No one expected a song filmed on the second lead to be a chartbuster. But it was!

Na baaz aaya muqaddar mujhe rulane se, Sunehre Kadam

It wasn't as if Shashikala never got a chance to play the lead and sing in Lata Mangeshkar's voice. She did!

In this 1966 tearjerker, Shashikala wept through two Lata gems -- Maangne se jo maut mil jati and Na baaz aaya muqaddar composed by Bulo C Rani.