When writing about Khemchand Prakash, one question is hard to escape. Most people will name him as one of the pioneers, one of the giants of the golden era of the Hindi Film Music. Yet most lay listeners will have heard very little of what he actually composed, save आयेगा आनेवाला from Mahal and perhaps दिया जलाओ from Tansen. The question therefore is, ‘Why do people hold Khemchand Prakash in such a high regard as a composer?’
Mortal Men Immortal Women
In 1982 Noorjehan visited India, first time in 35 years after the Partition. Who’s who of the Hindi Film Industry had gathered to celebrate this great re-union and to roll out a red carpet to this beloved singer. The program was wonderfully conceived. It was a retrospect of the journey of the Hindi Film Music. The program had many high points, but for me, two of them stood out the most prominently. The first was of course, Noorjehan’s appearance on the stage and her rendition of 'आवाज दे कहा है'. It made a mockery of the artificial divisions and forced separations. It ceased to be a mere romantic duet that day and became a call from one estranged people to another, from one part of this great civilization to another. It became mythic.
Rajkumari’s frail, diminutive frame, large deep-set eyes that appeared lost in a vacant look, all became a statement of that mockery. It was as if her frail body had nothing to do with the music. The music was coming from some other-worldly source, where time had no dominion or impact. The program was called ‘Mortal Men Immortal Melodies’, aptly so, for what these two ‘women’ did was nothing short of immortal.
It is interesting to note that the song Rajkumari sang in that program was from Mahal. It was composed by Khemchand Prakash. The song that Noorjehan sang was composed by Naushad, who it is said, used to consider Khemchand Prakash his 'Guru'. Naushad, as I have written earlier in an article on him, was a master of balancing the dual identities of a 'music director' and a 'composer'. Of balancing the cinematic context and the musical context of the song. Let’s call this ability their ‘craft’. This is not to be confused with the command over the grammar of music. We are referring here to the command over the ‘grammar of mass-appeal’. It is a combination of the art and the craft that results in a 'film song'. Just as the Samkhya philosophy says that the three gunas (satva, rajas and tama) are present in every object, in varying degrees; we find in every person who composes for cinema, a mixture of these two identities in varying degrees.
In people like Sajjad, the composer takes over almost entirely and produces great songs that do not succeed commercially. In many others (you can populate your own list here), we see the ‘craftsman’ taking over to produce a song that sells temporarily and is forgotten quickly thereafter. But there also are people in the middle, in whom we find these two in somewhat of a balance.
Film music is the new folk music of urban India. It must be accessible to the masses. Ordinary people like me must be able to relate with it. Making something easy is lot harder than it seems. It could be argued that this ability to catch the imagination of the people, to make music accessible to people, is perhaps what Naushad learnt from Khemchand Prakash. Is it possible that if Khemchand Prakash had not died so prematurely, he would have produced a few more Tansens and Mahals?
We shall never know. But what we do know is that in a very short career of less than 40 films, he produced two landmark soundtracks, many other hits, and created a place in the minds of the masses comparable to the other masters who had much longer careers and a lot more films. It is not to say that the music of these films was ‘superior’ to that of other films of that era. It is only to say that these songs had a pretty good 'hit-ratio' and caught the imagination of the people.
A biographical note
Khemchand Prakash (12 December 1907 – 10 August 1950) was born in Sujangarh, Rajasthan. He was born into a family of musicians. His father Pt. Govardhan Prasad was the court singer of Jaipur. Young Khemchand got his initial training in music and dance (Kathak) from his father. He joined his father as a court singer in Jaipur at the young age of 19. He also served as a court singer of Nepal. Later he worked as a radio artist in Kolkata. This is where he met Timirbaran and eventually joined New Theaters. He is said to have assisted Timirbaran in Devdas (1935). It was at New Theatres that he met Prithviraj Kapoor who was instrumental in bringing Khemchand Prakash to Mumbai.
Music of Khemchand Prakash:
Key Attributes
As the student of Khemchand Prakash’s music, I struggle to find a single dominating pattern or style in his music, but we can indeed observe some key attributes:
- Ability to source the tunes from Hindustani classical and semi-classical music but make them simple and accessible to the masses.
- Special affinity towards and mastery over ‘female solo compositions’.
- Creative use of accent (आघात). Rhythm is basic. It keeps the time. It is the ‘ability to say’. Laya is more subtle. It is ‘the communication’ between the melody and the rhythm. Aaghat, like accent, is even more subtle. It adds the hue and texture to what is being said. We see this ability develop as his career progresses, peaking with Mahal.
- Ability to spot and support new talent. We shall see this at a number of places in the course of our journey.
- Lastly, and for the record, a lot has been said about his Rajasthani background and his mastery over the phenomenal folk music of that region, but I do not see that as a dominant theme in his work.
1939 to 1943 - The Early Years:
These were the early years for the film music itself. Film Music was in the process of finding its own ‘cinematic’ language of expression, trying to free itself from the idioms of Rabindra Sangeet, Marathi Natya Sangeet and Kothi Sangeet. The difference between music of these styles, with their limited instruments and chamber style performances, and that of cinema with its ever-expanding technological capabilities and vast resources was not yet clearly established. Khemchand Prakash's music from this era was representative of this state of the art. In fact we can say that film music was trying to find its own voice though the efforts of people like Khemchand Prakash to find their own voice.
His journey began in 1939 with Meri Ankhen and Ghazi Salauddin. ‘कभी नेकी भी’ sung by Kalyani had a tune that was similar to the one heard later in a more famous Noorjehan song ‘हमें तो शाम-ए-ग़म मे काटनी है’ from Jugnu (composed by Firoze Nizami). This was followed by ‘Aaj Ka Hindustan’ and ‘Diwali’ which inaugurated a long and successful collaboration between Khemchand Prakash and Ranjit Movietone. The tune of ‘काहे पंछी बांवरिया’ seems to have influenced, many years later, ‘कदर तूने ना जानी’ in Noorie.
In 1940 came ‘Holi’- the first commercial success of Khemchand Prakash. The decade was turning. The film music was on the verge of finding its own language and so was Khemchand Prakash. A delightful duet ‘फागुन की ऋत आयी रे’ sung by Sitara and Amritlal was the first instance of the magic beginning to appear for him. The simplicity of the tune and its folk nature are noteworthy. ‘धनवालों की दुनिया है ये’ by Sitara and Kantilal was also noteworthy. Both duets are remarkable for the interesting manner of combination of the male and female voices, viz the second voice appears much later in the song, a clear sign of an experimenting composer. Holi must be considered as the first film for Khemchand Prakash where the cinematic language of music unmistakably shows.
These were followed by ‘Pagal’ and ‘Bambai ki Sair’ and then another hit – ‘Pardesi’. It could be said that the Khemchand-Khurshid collaboration, which began with this film could rival the other great collaboration of this era, that between K Dutta and Noorjehan. ‘मोरी अटरिया है सूनी’ by Khurshid and Snehaprabha as well as ‘दो नैन तिहारे, दो नैन हमारे’ by Khurshid, Kantilal were remarkable. The high point of this soundtrack, however, was of course ‘पहले जो मुहब्बत से’ by Khurshid. This must surely rate as one her all-time great songs. It also established ‘female solos’ as a clear strong point of Khemchand Prakash’s compositions. 1941 also saw Khemchand Prakash compose for ‘Pyaas’, ‘Shaadi’ and ‘Ummeed’. ‘नदी किनारा हो’ by Snehaprabha, Ishwarlal from Pyas was noteworthy. In ‘Shaadi’ the collaboration with Khurshid continued. ‘भिगोई मोरी सारी रे’ by Khurshid, Ishwarlal, Chorus was a lovely tune and clearly showed a glimpse of modernity.
‘Chandni’ was released in 1942 and so was ‘Dukh Sukh’. This was one the earliest films of Mukesh when he was still trying to establish himself as an actor. Sitara – Mukesh duet ‘अब देर न कर साजन’ is interesting for historical purpose as one of the earliest songs of Mukesh and also as one of the few songs that he sung for himself i.e. not as a playback. It is a delightful tune. The tender manliness of early Mukesh is irresistible in this song too. ‘Fariyaad’ had Noorjehan as an actress but she had no song! This was followed by ‘Iqrar’ (alias ‘Tyag’) and ‘Khilona’. ‘मिले जुले सब रंग’ by Khan Mastana, Sumati Trilokekar and ‘नजरों कें खेल खेले’ by Khan Mastana, Snehaprabha are more memorable for the wonderful voice and singing of Khan Mastana, than for anything else. The year ended with ‘Mehman’. It saw Khemchand Prakash work with Rajkumari. Her song ‘क्या चैन से बैठे है बेचैन मुझे करके’ seems to anticipate, to a limited extent, SD Burman’s Bengali masterpiece 'भूलाये आमाय दु दिन' (‘दुनिया ने हमे दो दिन रहने ना दिया मिल के' sung by Ameerbai in Shikari (1946)). The latter however has its unique points and is aesthetically far superior. This phase ended in 1943 with ‘Chirag’, ‘Gauri’ and ‘Kurbani’. ‘मजबूर है इस दिल से’ by Shameem from Gauri again emphasized Khemchand Prakash’s mastery of female solos.
1943 to 1945: The Glory Years
By 1942 two great centers of moviemaking in India, Kolkata and Pune, were in decline. Mumbai was the place to be. It saw many stalwarts from both these places migrate to Mumbai. One of them was KL Saigal. With his arrival at Ranjit Movietone, Khemchand Prakash’s career was ready to see its biggest success till then.
Though Saigal’s songs in the film were phenomenal, the credit must also be given to Khurshid who had a number of solos in the film and sang them extremely well. It seemed that having Saigal in the film brought the best out of her singing, not unlike the effect Lata and Rafi were to have on each other in times to come. ‘अब राजा भये मोरे बालम’, ‘घटा घनघोर’, ‘बरसो रे’ stood their ground in front of mighty Saigal. The presence of these songs was a testament to the prowess of Khursheed as a singer, but it could be argued that it also was helped a great deal by Khemchand Prakash's mastery over female solos. One would be hard pressed to find another Saigal soundtrack where female solos are as dominant as they are in Tansen. This is particularly striking in light of the fact that he worked, in other films, against some of the top female singers of the time including Kanan, Rajkumari and Suraiyya. It will be unfair to attribute the success of female solos in Tansen to Khursheet alone. Saigal’s songs from Tansen – ‘काहे गुमान करे', ‘रुमझुम रुमझुम चाल तिहारी’, ‘बाग़ लगा दू सजनी’; ‘सप्त सुरन तीन ग्राम’, ‘बिना पंख का पंछी हूँ मै’ were all clearly worthy of the great singer's stature. ‘दिया जलाओ’ reached near-mythical proportions in popular appeal.
The only duet that Saigal sang in this film- ‘क्या हमने बिगाडा है’ was noteworthy for its tune, but also for being the first duet Saigal had sung with a professional playback singer - Ameerbai. Ameerbai’s solo – ‘तेरी पी पी की पुकारों ने’ was also delightful. This was followed by ‘Bhartruhari’ which was a big commercial success. Khemchand Prakash worked with Surendra and Ameerbai in this film.
‘मोरा धीरे से घुंघट हटाये पिया’ as well as ‘चंदा देस पिया के जाय’ are exceedingly beautiful songs and would surely rank among the all-time best songs of Ameerbai. After Khurshid this was the second singer with whom Khemchand Prakash had once again proved his mastery of female solos. ‘भिक्षा दे दे मैय्या पिङ्गला', a duet sung by Surendra and Ameerbai, was an alright song which perhaps was appreciated in its day more for its connection with the story line and for the good sense of visual element it demonstrated, than for its tune. The film also had two solos by Kajjan Bai – ‘घूंघट पट नही खोलू’ and ‘कूकत कोयलिया’. 
1946 and 1947: The Silent Years
No Khemchand Prakash film was released in 1946 and none of the three films from 1947 made an impact.
1948 to 1950 - The Second Coming
Great artists have an ability to reinvent themselves without compromising the integrity of their expression. It is not clear what prompted this change in the present case, but the maestro re-emerged from the couple of silent years as a modern composer, very much in tune with the changing times. The renaissance was stunning. This was the time of independence. Naïve optimism was in the air. Things were upbeat. This certainly reflected upon the film music as well. But that was not all. There were more changes. The film music had experienced some watershed moments of its own.
KL Saigal had made an untimely exit from this world. Noorjehan and Khurshid had decided to move to the newly created Pakistan, and there was one new singer knocking on the doors of success. Her name was Lata Mangeshkar.
But what was truly remarkable was a clear change in Khemchand Prakash’s approach towards the orchestration. The tempo increased. Fast rhythm in the background, playing throughout in many songs, made them appear even faster and more modern. The use of accent (आघात) in the rhythm became significantly more pronounced and deliberate. Rhythm was no longer merely a mechanism to keep time, it had a big role to play in the composer's dialogue with the listener. In fact, this was one of the key factors in the success of ‘Mahal’.
The overall approach gives an impression of ‘liberation’. More or less this was the sentiment felt by all great composers who were liberated from being forced to use actors as singers. With singers like Lata, Asha, Geeta, Shamshad, Rafi, Mukesh, Talat, Kishore, Manna Dey, Hemant et al they had singers with the ability to render virtually anything they could imagine. But this change was even more pronounced in case of Khemchand Prakash. It was not incremental, it was drastic. He really was a brand new composer. It was indeed the Second Coming. But this phase of Khemchand Prakash’s career began while still in a pre-Lata era, with Sindoor. After a series of failures, here was a commercial success. ‘किसी के मधुर प्यार में मन मेरा खो गया’ sung by Sushil Sahu, and Naseem Akhtar made it big. Re-deployment of the famous Tansen tune ‘मोरे बालापन के साथी’ as an Ameerbai solo ‘कोई रोके उसे और ये कह दे’ again showed his command over female-solo. ‘Asha’ was released in 1948. With ‘Asha’ began the collaboration that would take Khemchand Prakash to the highest heights of his career and make him immortal in people’s imagination.
This was the first time he worked with Lata Mangeshkar.
The soundtrack has five solos by Lata and two by Manna Dey.
Lata solos are all very pleasing but what is even more striking is the way in which Khemchand Prakash handles the timbre of Lata’s voice. Yes, this was 1948 and Lata in those days could have sung a newspaper editorial and we would have still listened with rapt attention. But this was more than that. Khemchand Prakash demonstrated, yet again, his mastery of composing female solos.
He had an ability to sense the subtle strengths of his singer’s voice and compose a tune that would bring out those strengths. ‘चेत चेत कर चले रे चतुर’, ‘इक मूरत मनोहर रे’, ‘कित जाये बसे हो मुरारी’ and ‘सजना रे तोरी कौन डगरिया’ are great examples of this. But what stands out is the haunting number ‘दूर जाए रे’. The orchestration, which perhaps for the first time saw a western rhythm like Waltz employed in his work, along with slow beginning and a deliberate focus on the accent in the rhythm, clearly anticipates Mahal, and is a wonderful song in its own right. The two Manna Dey solos, ‘भूल जा वह जमाना’ and ‘फिर वही मूरत मनोहर सामने आ कर हसेगी’ were noteworthy as clear steps towards the music of the fifties.
Ziddi began a short but most successful collaboration between Khemchand Prakash and the Bombay Talkies. This was the second coming of the famed studio too, this time under the stewardship of Ashok Kumar. The studio had a clear influence on the style of the music that appeared in its films.
The film is more famous as the debut film of Kishore Kumar and it is indeed an important milestone for Hindi Film Music history, but Lata solos from the film are undoubtedly far more memorable. ‘जादू कर गए किसी कै नैना’ and 'रूठ गए मोरे श्याम' again show Khemchand Prakash’s mastery of composing to the timbre of his singers voice, especially the female singers. The high pitch ending of ‘रूठ गए’ also shows the feeling of liberation that we have talked about earlier. It is hard to imagine any female singer prior to Lata who could have pulled this off. ‘अब कौन सहारा है' again anticipates the Mahal style. ‘तुझे ओ बेवफा हम ज़िंदगी का आसरा समझे’ can be situated more predictably with other 1948-1949 Lata solos.
One of the dominant themes that we see in Khemchand Prakash’s career is his ability to spot and support new talent. It must also be said that he had a remarkable ear to spot the future successes. In ‘मरने की दुवाए क्यू माँगू’ he launched one such future success called Kishore Kumar. The song was remarkable for documenting for the posterity, what a phenomenal influence KL Saigal had on the country. Even Kishore, whose natural tendency, as we later came to know, was almost an antithesis of Saigal, was so under Saigal's spell that he was literally trying to mimic Saigal in this song.
The film also had the first Lata – Kishore duet, ‘ये कौन आया' and a delightful Shamshad solo, 'चली पी के मिलन'. Though clearly sourced from the Hindustani classical treasure-trove, 'चंदा रे जा रे जा रे' was a fabulous song on all counts. The most remarkable aspect was how he composed a long line चंदा रे जा रे जा रे, पिया से संदेसा मोरा कहियो जाय’ while still making the rhythmic element of the song its dominant feature. Again the accent on ‘chanda’ was noteworthy. The slow beginning of the song was again a clear anticipation of Mahal and did not give any hint of the much faster tempo of the main song.
With Asha and Ziddi, it seemed that his re-invention of himself was complete. The maestro was ready!
When something really works in any school or style of art, in retrospect one can see the stages of development. A good corollary could be that of Mughal Architecture. For a student of architecture, there are clear examples of various experiments being done beginning with the Charbaug garden designs brought in by Babur, architectural breakthroughs of Humayun’s tomb, successful experiment of combining red sandstone with white marble from Rajashtan int the construction of a same building, design advances in Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb and of Jama Musjid. Each one had its successes and failures. Then there were external influences from Persia, Samarkand as well as a strong platform of earlier Hindu temple and Rajput secular architectural traditions. All these efforts finally came together in the Taj. In it everything worked. This is not to say that Taj was better than a similar, culminating example of some ‘other’ school, but only that ‘in its school’, it represents the culmination and fulfillment of what was strived for and attempted many times earlier.
Mahal was the culmination of various themes that Khemchand Prakash was trying to master throughout his career. The mastery of female solos, understanding of the timbre of singer’s voice, dramatic use of rhythm with accents, making it an integral part of the musical dialog, masterful adaptation and simplification of classical sources into accessible melodies, liberated, modernized orchestration, especially the use of strings and lastly an acute awareness of the situational, cinematic context of the song. He had tried and achieved success in one or more of these elements before. In Mahal they all came together. ‘Mahal’ was the ‘Taj Mahal’ of Khemchand Prakash’s style of composition.
Plenty has been written about 'आएगा आनेवाला' and it is all well-deserved. It is indeed a song for the ages. The orchestration is way ahead of its time. Forget C Ramchandra or SD Burman, it actually anticipates Salil Choudhary or RD Burman. It takes a full 3:30 minutes before the song-proper begins. This was truly courageous. The use of counter-melody in the interlude after the first stanza is mind boggling because of its unexpected appearance. The song evolves like a great symphony. Like Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ in his last, 9th symphony, this was an ‘Ode to Joy’ of self-re-invention by the maestro.
But great as आयेगा आनेवाला was, the other songs of this ‘female-only’ soundtrack were also exquisite. ‘घबरा के जो हम सर को’ must rank among the best solos of Rajkumari and even 'एक तीर चला' would rank very high on that list. The structure of this song is similar to Lata solos in this film, in their haunting nature (both musical and cinematic), slow tempo, symphonic progression, and emphasis on rhythmic accent, and therefore offers a study in comparison of respective strengths of Rajkumari and Lata, and by extension, the representative pre-Lata female singing and the changes brought in by Lata.
The other two Lata solos – ‘मुष्किल है बहुत मुष्किल’ and ‘दिल ने फिर याद किया’ continue the features mentioned above and almost function like continuation of आयेगा आनेवाला.
In this Mahal provided an early prototype of film soundtracks that had some musical theme that connected the various songs in that soundtrack, and where that common theme was instrumental in the extraordinary success of that soundtrack. The argument here is not that these songs shared the same tune, but that there was something that connected the ‘feel’ or ‘texture’ of those songs in the soundtrack in way that allowed those songs to build upon each other's impact. Many successful soundtracks used this pattern in future. The most obvious examples that come to mind are Hemant Kumar’s Nagin, SD Burman’s Pyasa and Ghulam Mohammad’s Pakeeza.
Mahal also served as the prototype for the genre of ghost/ reincarnation movies which in turn created the genre of haunting, ghost songs (Madhumati, Bees saal baad, Woh kaun thi, Mera Saya and counting). It is noteworthy that Bimal Roy, who produced and directed Madhumati was the editor of Mahal.
In Rimjhim Khemchand Prakash worked again with Kishore Kumar. We see Kishore still in the shadow of Saigal in ‘जगमग जगमग करता निकला’ but in the same film we also saw him emerge out of it in ‘मेरे घर आगे है दो दो गलियाँ’. Here was the Kishore that we knew from his later years. In ‘भिनी भिनी चाँद की रात’, sung by Mohna, we saw the first purely-Western tune in Khemchand Prakash’s work.
Mohammad Rafi, who was curiously missing so far, appeared for the first time in 'हवा तू उनसे जा कर' a duet with Ramola. Shamshad had two songs – ‘ना तुम आए ना नींद आयी' and ‘रह ना सकोगे हम बिन’ in which we again encounter the ‘ काहे पंछी बांवरिया’ tune from Diwali. ‘Sawan aaya re’ saw a wonderful use of Ameerbai’s voice in ‘पहने पीली रंग सारी’ and that of Shamshad’s in ‘बागों में होेल होले बोले मैना’ and ‘ठंडी ठंडी रात में’. The latter seems to be inspired by the hit Noorjehan number from Gaon ki Gori – ‘सजन परदेसी बालम परदेसी’. Rafi made his second appearance in ‘ऐ दिल ना मुझे याद दिला’, a duet with Shamshad.
Bijli was released in 1950. This was the first time Khemchand Prakash worked with Gita Roy in the song 'मोरा जिया घबराए' sung by Gita and Paro. It also saw him work with Asha Bhosale for the first time. Her solo 'तकदीर बता क्या मेरी खता' is an exquisite song. Her duet with Mukesh – ‘हमने सारी दुनिया छोडी....हम तो हो गये बदनाम’ is also delightful and demonstrated the importance of आघात - accent /emphasis in Khemchand Prakash's compositions.
‘Jaan Pahchan’ (with Manna Dey) which released in 1950 was one of the handful of non-Shankar-Jaikishan films of Raj-Nargis pair. For Khemchand Prakash it was sort of an anomaly in that this was the first and perhaps the only time for him that a duet 'अरमान भरे दिल की लगन' outshined the solos in his soundtrack. This exquisite song sung by Talat and Gita was doubtless the most popular song of the soundtrack, which is a pity as the solo songs in this film, by both Gita and Shankardas Gupta are wonderful. The delightful 'परदेसी से लग गयी प्रीत', and especially 'आओगे ना साजन' again demonstrate how the rhythmic accent plays a key role in his music. The accent here, on 'ना' in आओगे ना greatly accentuates the innocence and pathos of her state of mind. The two solos by Shankardas Gupta – 'हम क्या बताए तुमसे' and 'दुख से भरा हुआ है दिल' are also impactful. The latter must certainly rank amongst the best solos of the singer.
Muqaddar was the last time Khemchand Prakash worked for Bombay Talkies. He was one of the three composers for that film along with Bhola Shreshtha and James Singh, perhaps due to his failing health. Three solos by Nalini Jaywant – 'जब नैन मे कोई आन बसे', 'देख गगन में काली घटा' and 'आहे भर भर के तुझको याद किया' were among the best songs of Nalini Jaiwant. The film perhaps will be more remembered for its duet 'आती है याद मुझको जनवरी फरबरी', the first duet of Asha Bhosale and Kishore Kumar. Kishore is out of Saigal's shadow here and even yodels in this song. Asha still appears under some earlier influences, but is on her way to find her own voice. The tune is Westernized, though by now, Khemchand Prakash's ability to compose such songs would not have come as a surprise to anyone.
1950 to 1952 - The Late Releases
Khemchand Prakash was at the top of his abilities in 1950 and it is indeed a tragedy of mammoth proportions that he vanished so abruptly. The last phase of his career saw only four films, and the fourth was only notionally his. At least three of them, and possibly all four, were released after his death. In ‘Sati Narmada’ he was assisted by Manna Dey, in ‘Jai Shankar’ by his brother Basant Prakash and in ‘Shri Ganesh Janma’ again by Manna Dey. His last film ‘Tamasha’ was only nominally his. All but two songs in the film were composed by Manna Dey and the remaining two by SK Pal.
His untimely demise at the age of 42 ended a potential mega career before it could materialize. Khemchand Prakash had worked hard on honing a number of aspects of his compositions, had paid his dues both as a student of music and through the hardships of his early years, and just when he was primed to reap the benefits of that hard work, his life was cut down by cruel fate.
Khemchand Prakash died on 10th August 1950.
‘Mahal’ premiered at ‘Roxy Cinema’ in Mumbai on 13th October 1950.
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References:
- Neville, Pran: K.L.Saigal – The Definitive Biography: Penguin Books: New Delhi: 2011
- Dutt, Sharad: Kundan – Saigal ka jeevan aur sangeet: Penguin Books: New Delhi: 2007 (Translation mine)
- Har Mandir Sing ‘Hamraz’: Hindi Film Geet Kosh – Vol II 1941 to 1950: Sumer Singh Sachdev: Kanpur: 1984 4.
- Har Mandir Sing ‘Hamraz’: Hindi Film Geet Kosh – Vol III 1951 to 1960: Satinder Kaur: Kanpur: 1984 5.
- Pankaj Rag: Dhunon ki yatra
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khemchand_Prakash
- Potdar, Vasant : Anil Biswas te Rahul Dev Burman
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