Poonam Dhillon credits Lata Mangeshkar’s voice for helping her achieve her iconic beauty
Lata Mangeshkar
Poonam Dhillon, like countless other Bollywood leading ladies before her, owes much of her stunning on-screen persona to the incomparable Lata Mangeshkar. During Noorie, Lataji gave birth to a star when she sung the songs “Aaja re aaja re oh mere dilbar aaja” and “Chori chori koi aaye” for Poonam.
In retrospect, Lataji reflected on Yash Chopra’s briefing on Dhillon. One of the most dramatic love stories ever told. There’s a new female, and she’s quite nice if you choose to make her a star. You’ll make a star out of her if you perform for her.
Poonam lip-synced much better songs composed by RD Burman in Saveray Wali Gaadi and Romance, but the two Khayyam compositions in Noorie went a long way towards the making of a star. Two of Lataji’s songs from the 1980s, “Din pyar ke aayenge sajaniya” from Saveray Wali Gaadi and “Dil ke aasman pe gham ki ghatta chayee” from “Romance,” are considered to be her all-time best.
It’s true that RD did a better job scoring Kumar Gaurav and Poonam Dhillon in Romance than he did for Gaurav and Vijayta Pandit in Love Story, but that’s not saying much. That’s how RD felt, too. Regrettably, Love Story was a commercial success. Passion did not exist.
Like Lataji’s mournful Dur nahin jaa sakti, a rare Nadeem-Shravan ballad sung by the Nightingale of India in the film Hisaab Khoon Ka, several of Poonam’s most famous songs were included in films that were box office flops. What about Lataji and cinematographer Manmohan Singh’s Saath jiyenge saath marenge from the film Laila? It’s a lovely tapestry of ageless compassion.
Poonam’s first film with Sunny Deol, Sohni Mahiwal, also had Asha Bhosle singing all of the songs. However, that also proved futile.
Composer Khayyam had originally envisioned a younger performer for the tune Gapuchi gapuchi gam gam, which serves as the introduction to Trishul.
Yet Yash Chopra was adamant that Lataji be used. He had mentioned that in Bobby, Lataji sung for Dimple Kapadia, who was only 15, when she was 40 years old. See what it did to Dimple when she sang those songs! Poonam can only be introduced to the world as the next big thing if she hears Lataji’s voice.
