रौनक़

A 1944 Bombay social melodrama directed by Dwarka Khosla, headlined by the celebrated Motilal alongside Chandra Mohan, with Swaran Lata and the comedian Noor Mohammed Charlie. As with much of the early-1940s output, the picture's storytelling was conventional studio fare, but its lasting interest lies in the music: this was one of the early scores composed by Chitalkar — the young C. Ramchandra — before he became one of the dominant musical voices of the post-war Hindi screen.

The score, credited to Chitalkar Ramchandra, comprises ten songs all written by I.C. Kapoor. The documented singers include Hamida Banu ('Duniya Kisi Ko Haye Majbur Na Kare', 'Hum Dil Ko Lutaate Hai'), Srimati Ghosh ('Wah Sapne Jo Mann Bhaye', 'Zara Bansi Baja') and Noor Mohammed Charlie ('Ek Kahar Barpa Karta Hai'); the remaining tracks survive in the record catalogues without a named voice.

Raunaq belongs to the formative phase of C. Ramchandra's career, when he was still signing his work as 'Chitalkar' and building the rhythmic, melodically supple style that would soon make him a household name. The film pairs his music with the verse of lyricist I.C. Kapoor (Ishwar Chandra Kapoor) and gives early playback assignments to voices such as Hamida Banu, Srimati Ghosh and Charlie — a snapshot of the pre-Lata, pre-Independence Bombay studio sound.