Golden Era Bollywood Review: Manna Dey & Lata Mangeshkar - Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua (Love Happened in Agreement)

As I said earlier, Shankar-Jaikishan is my favorite music producer team of all time. Thus, the fact that Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua is one of their best songs says a lot about its quality.

Back then, the movie producer, director, and actor Raj Kapoor would always work with the same team for music. Mukesh, Manna Dey, and Lata Mangeshkar would sing (Mukesh more often than Manna Dey), Shankar-Jaikishan would produce, and Shailendra would write the lyrics. This consistency led to arguably the greatest streak of soundtrack albums ever, or albums as a whole.

Pyar Hua Ikrar Hua is so filled with ideas, it is amazing it works. Lyrically, the song is about love, except that though the hearts love, worries over fate hold them back. An old classic theme, it works especially well here.

Let me quickly praise Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar. Both singers were trained by Ustad Aman Ali Khan, and thus there vocal styles complement each other greatly. Each has excellent individual segments, but that section where both singers ad-lib in cohesion might be one of the most perfect musical moments ever. We don't get female and male vocals working together anymore like this, unfortunately.

Of course, their vocal prowess is fully utilized by a peak-era Shankar-Jaikishan. The instrumentation here is extremely experimental, changing in tempo and tune at every second it can. Tabla, drums, and violins lead most of the song, while other instruments, such as the sitar, harmonica, accordian, and sarod, make occasional in-roads.

The verses are driven by a slow, 50's ballad tempo, but at the same time, a fade tabla lies in wait, ready to attack, leading to great vocal moments. There even is a piccolo break or two, an excellent move if there was one!

In the end, what can I say? One of the greatest songs of all time, ever.

Rating: 10/10