Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – April 2013

Welcome to April 2013 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We begin our journey by visiting quite unique tributes /events this month –

SoY has so vividly and even more creatively, weaved in 94^th birthday of Shamshad Begum in through one of the most iconic song ever – Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon – in the article ‘Mere piya gaye Rangoon’ and some more Indo-Burmese links . This in turn isso vividly linked to the memory of the pitiable last days of confinement of The Last Moghul Emperor (!) Bahadur Shah Zafar, his poignant ghazals “he wrote in captivity – Lagta nahi hai jee mera ujade dayar mein and Na kisi ki aankh ka noor hun”.   and very pensive renderings of these ghazals by Habib Wali Mohammad , from among several versions. And then going in for, one more link down the chain to MANDALAY, its historical inks with our freedom movement, is nothing sort of a masterstroke of connecting it with the memories of the exile of the last Burmese Emperor to that place, till the present day cultural connections of Myanmar.

The irony of the fate is that Shamshad Begum passed away on 24^th April 2013. Long live Shamshad Begum, though the memories of her immortal songs, still alive the hearts of her fans..

Here are a few selected obituaries, from among a flurry of such articles that poured in:

Sangeet ke liye shukriya, Shamshad! By Likhavat

#RIP- Shamshad Begum: A song in her hear -  Written by: Gitanjali Roy @ kracktivist    
Shamshad Begum Passes Away at 94 –  Shamshad Begum: The Original Nightingale
Shamshad Begum: A tribute to a voice long gone By Ankush Arora @ India Insight

Jhumka gira re Bareli ke baazaar mein – Atul’s Bollywood Song A Day – with full lyrics . The site has presented several ‘gems’ a day earlier.

Farewell, Shamshad Begum, which refers to a post –  ten favorite Shamshad Begum songs – carried on 14^th April 2011,  to commemorate her birthday @ Dances On the Footpath

Dusted Off presents “Ten Shamshad Begum songs, which are actually, in the majority of the cases, not from Hindi cinema”.

Shri Shrikant Gautam, in his regular column (in Gujarati), “Raag Rang” in Janmabhoomi Pravasi pens ‘lighter’ dimension of the multi-faceted histrionic virtuosity of Pran, on his being belatedly feted with Phalke Award for 2013 in the article (in the translated ) titled “Hillarious Laughs of a Villain”:

Here are the ‘lighter’ songs that Shri Guatam has picked up when Pran was in the thick of a ‘villainous’ role in the film:

Aake Sidhi Lagi Dil Pe Jaise Katariya – Film: Half Ticket (1962), Music Director: Salil Chaudhary, Playback: Kishore Kumar, in male and female voices.

Subhan Allah Haseen Chehra – Film: Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) – Music Director: O P Nayyar,  Playback: Mohammad Rafi

Dil Ki Umange Hai Jawan – Film: Munimji (1955) – Music Director: S D Burman – One Mr. Thakur has caricatured the portion of the song filmed on Pran.

One more side of that virtuosity is Qawwali of Adikhhar (1971) – Jina Hai Usika Jisne  Yeh Raaz Jaana -  filmed on Pran on the screen – Composed by R D Burman, and sung by Mohammad Rafi. The song is a birth day song, and to that extent can be treated as new experiment of use of quawaali form for such events.

Our knowledgeable and prolific co-reader of the blogs normally covered by these Carnivals, Shri Arun Kumar Deshmukha scored a century of posts on ‘Atul’s Bollywood Song A Day – with full lyrics’. The article, “Aa ri sakhi main tohe preet sikha doon’  “which has Historical Importance in Hindi Film Industry of Bombay. MAHAGEET-1937 was THE film for which the FIRST Playback song was recorded and filmed at Bombay”.

We also have two very distinctive sets of songs of Mohammad Rafi –

The first one is, Rare Gems of Mohammad Rafi, by Vijay Bavdekar, has listed 20 songs, the songs that are seemingly gradually fading from the memory, but gems in their own right. I have picked up (with great difficulty) SIX of the songs here:

Us Paar Is Deewwarke Jo Baithe Hai Koi Unse Jake Kahde Hum Jo Kehte Hai – Film: Saiyan (1951)– Music Director: Sajjad

Mohabbat Mein Khudaya –Film: Shahnaz (1948)–Music Director: Ameerbai

Hum To hai Tum Par Dilse Fida Yaar Dedo Hame Kasm-e-Khuda–Film: Bewaqoof (1960)–Music Director: S D Burman

Dilne Pyaar Kiya Hai Ek Bewafase–Film: Shararat (1972)–Music Director: Ganesh

Shaam-e-bahara subah-e-chaman tu mere khwabonki pyaari dulhan –Film Aaja Sanam (1975)–M D Usha Khanna

Ye Kiski Aankhonka Noor Ho Tum Ye Kiska Dilka Quraar Ho Tum-Film: Pakeezah-Music Director:  Gulam Mohammad. This song was not included in the film.

Another very defining list of songs by Mohammad Rafi is Mohammad Rafi and Joy Mukherjee combination had only gave everlasting hits. I have selected FIVE songs from the ones presented in the article for this edition of carnival:

Ae Baby Idhar Aao – Film: Love in Simla (1960) – Music Director: Iqbal Quereshi –  a duet  with Asha Bhosle

Phir Tere Shahr Main  Mitne Ko Chala Aya Hun –Film: Ek Musafir Ek Haseena  (1962)- Music Director:  O P Nayyar  -

Pyar Ki Manzil  Mast Haseen – Film: Ziddi (1964) – Music Director: S D Burman –

Dil Ke Aine Men Tasveer Teri  - Film: Aao Pyar Karen  -Music Director:  Usha Khanna –

Kisne Mujhe Sada Di – Film: Saaz Aur Awaaz -  Music Director: Naushad – a duet with Suman Kalyanpur

The archive of Conversations over Chai also provides us a take on Joy Mukherjeee in Remembering Joy Mukherjee.

And the third one, a standalone song,  is from the ‘messages’ category, Songs movies , on Inde Bollywood and Cie has a range of around 271 songs, as of writing this piece.  We may give quite some them a miss, because they fall beyond the bounds of the scope of the time period that we take up in the carnival. A recent post – Song Sasural (1961) of course has the signature song – Teri Pyari Pyari Surat Ko Nazar Na Lage – from the film, but also has a shot of the Filmfare Title Page of the film. The song clip has the third stanza that is normally seen on the film track only.

We have more sets of articles with a very definite classification:

The songs linked with dancing –

Conversations Over Chai presents a refreshing perspective in My Favourites: Stage Performances . We also have another one from the archives – My Favourites: The Courtesan’s Song.

Harvey Pam’s Blog presents 10 of favourites featuring Waheeda Rehman in Dancing Grace, which, as can be expected, have some of the great dance songs.

And that leads us to more links to Whaeeda Rehaman songs -

10 of my Favorite Waheeda Rehman Songs @ Sunahariyaaden – This is a maiden visit to this blog from this carnival platform.

Ten of my favourite Waheeda Rehman songs @Dusted Off

In addition to these, we have some excellent articles on Waheeda Rehman in our February 2013 edition.

Shishir Kuamr Shrama takes up vintage moments, people from the Hindi Films on Beete Hue Din. As of now, it has two articles (in April 2013) – Mera Sunder Sapana Beet Gaya – Kamini Kaushal, which has listed the links to some of the songs that can be treated as high points of Kamini Kaushal’s histrionic career – and “A Crystalline Eyed Bad Man – Kamal Kapoor, that takes us through the actor’s career.

I did find an article on ‘sad songs’ on “Raat Akeli Hai”. However the site seems more focused on film reviews. I would be visiting them often and see if we can catch up something that can be discussed in detail here.

The series ‘Multiple Versions of Songs’ also continues its journey through Multiple Versions Songs (7) – Both Versions By Female Playback Singers (2) – A Happy And A Sad Version.

As I was closing up this carnival, Conversations Over Chai posted an interesting (!) article – My Favourites: Songs of Cynicism, which ought to not ‘merely philosophical’, but ‘cynical’ lyrics as well.

Similarly SoY has presented  us a ‘chance-caused-relation-induced’ 71^st birthday greetings and a mine of information  In Conversation with Minoo Mumtaz

To sum up the present edition of the blog carnival, we have Songs for all times:  Celebrating 100 years of Hindi film music from Dusted Off. This is an article prepared for the April-June 2013 issue of ForbesLife India on ‘100 years of Indian cinema’, and documenting the YT channel – The Best of Hindi Movies and TV Shows.

Our pursuit of adding more variety to the articles and /or blogs continues on its pleasant journey…

I do look forward to suggestions, inputs…………….

Vintage Photos of Hindi Films and Film stars

This is to present a collection of vintage photographs form Covers of Filmfare.

I landed upon these through the Old Indian Photos, which featured the series from Inde, Bollywood & Cie

I have collected the photographs into a presentation file @  Film Stars on Vintage Covers 

So, photographs can be enjoyed either on that presentation or more details can be pursued at the sites referred to above.

Related articles

• 100 years of Indian cinema: A tribute to 50 iconic heroines (ibnlive.in.com)

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – February 2013

Welcome to February 2013 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We open our account with a very unique and befitting tribute to Mehrun nisha of Hussainabad in Bihar, popularly known as Kumkum, a trained Kathak dancer by Chitrapatasangeet. The post – Kumkum – Tribute to a great dancer – has presented several classical dance pieces, as well as a few non-classical pieces filmed on her, highlighting the nuances of Abhianaya in each song, of which I would like to present Rang Rangeela by Khayaam, from film Barood as very special treat. The author recommends Ham hain tumhaare tum ho hamaare – This song is sung by Rafi and Asha Bhonsle. The song is picturised on Subbiraj and Kumkum as a teasing song. The expressions of Kumkum are lovely to watch in this picturisation.  ‘Dusted Off’ and ‘Memsaab Story’ have rich tags on Kumkum @ http://dustedoff.wordpress.com/tag/kumkum/ and   http://memsaabstory.com/tag/kum-kum/ respectively.

Incidentally, we have more resources on heroines, this month.

Shri Shrikant Guatam penned two part article [રંગ રાગ અને સલામ બોમ્બે_20130203 and રંગ રાગ અને સલામ બોમ્બે_20130210] on Waheeda Rehman’s “other woman roles, in Janmabhoomi Pravasi (in Gujarati). I present one song that typically expresses that “other woman character” , as discussed in the article:

Pyaasaa – as Gulabo – Jaane Kya Tune Kahi – S D Burman – Geeta Dutt – http://youtu.be/mLGCAGHNTJU

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam – as Jeba –  Bhanwar Bada Naadan – Hemant Kumar – Asha Bhosle – http://youtu.be/DHyRikMZXqw

Kagaz Ke Phool – as Shanti – Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam – S D Burman – Lata Mangeshkar – http://youtu.be/MZ3S4-bm70s

Kohraa – a lawfully wedded wife, but is compelled to live under the shadow of the spirit of the husband’s first wife – O Beqaraar Dil – Hemant Kumar – Lata Mangeskar – http://youtu.be/M8vn6PNkoog

Guide –as Rozy – Aaj Phir Zeene Ki Tamanna Hai – S D Burman – Lata Mangeshkar – http://youtu.be/f8PZY9pMOvo

Khamoshi, as Radha – Hamne Dekhi Hai UnAankho Ki Mehakati Kushboo – Hemant Kumar- Lata Mangeshkar – http://youtu.be/LkPEtKO5ARM

Phagun – as Mother, whose married daughter ‘sees’ other woman in her – Sandhya Jo Aaye – S D Burman – Lata Mangeshkar – http://youtu.be/palL1ifDlBA

In a rendezvous tat-e-tat with Simi Garewal, we get to listen to Waheeda Rehman, also, taking about some of these films [Part 1 http://youtu.be/JdSBd4301U4  and Part 2 http://youtu.be/ADhp_f6npqI].

Simi Garewal’s own site has a full page on her own songs.

Conversations Over Chai also had done a beautiful article on Waheeda Rehman in the series The Greats

Continuing the visit of the present carnival with songs on, essentially, feminist themes, ‘Dusted Off’ has presented “ten of my favorite ‘woman pianist’ songs”, songs where a woman is the one actually playing the piano. Apart from the ten of author’s favorites, there are 40+ songs presented by the readers in the “comments”!

“Dances On Footpath” continues feminist flair, by celebrating Happy Birthday, Suman Kalyanpur! and A slightly belated happy birthday to Cuckoo, topping up listings for the month by  Songs from the Pakistani Choo Mantar, Starring Noor Jehan.

“Conversations Over Chai” presents a Word Play: Piya, containing songs listing a ‘favourite’ word. “Piya’” is used as having only ONE meaning – the beloved one, not the as ‘drinking’ also! This post also has deluge of 40+ additional songs in the ever lively “comments”. Such a fabulous with a filter of ‘Piya’ being the first or second word of the mukhda!

And we have a stunning photograph of Rehana Sultan for Dastak @ Tum se kahoon ek baat paron se halki. In a comment which puts the song as   “probably the most sensuous picturisation of a Hindi song ever” the host of the blog “At The Edge”, Vianayak Razdan brings to the records “some great editing by Hrishikesh Mukherjee”.

Switching over to the general mood, “Hareypam’s Blog” also has an innovatively crafted post on This Singing Business, a guest article by ‘pacifist, a melodious tribute the enterprising spirit of Indian SMEs. [Also, posted on this playlist.], which has additionally wide-ranging 30+ songs, by no means a ‘small’ preference for depicting the true colors of India in the films, in the “comments”.

On the other side of the table, our attention is drawn by the song Log Kehte Hai Tu Sachch Hi Kehete Honge, from 1963 film Yeh Dil Kisko Dun (Music director – Iqbal Qureshi) – http://youtu.be/Y-hCvbTjcvQ @ Rafi harmonic for charming Shashi Kapoor for a quite an uncanny similarity, in my personal view, with a ‘Jab Jab Phool  Khile’ song  Hum Ko Tum Se Pyaar Aaya – http://youtu.be/lwKgAdAmSfo.

Songs Of Yore (SoY) carries forward the series of Multiple Version Songs through – Multiple Version Songs (3): Both versions by male playback singers – Different Moods, which is an extension of last month’s  ‘Both Versions by Male Singers 0 A Happy and A Sad Song’;  Multiple Version songs (4): Hindi and Marathi, a brilliant treatise by Shri Arunkumar Deshmukh, and  Multiple Version Songs (5): Hindi and Tamil film songs (1) – ‘Inspired and adopted’ songs, a meticulously crafted piece by Shri N Venkataraman.

This month’s new find, Dr.Mandar V. Bichu presents 5 Songs that define Hindi Film Music , songs that have encapsulated “the entire evolution of Hindi film music, right from the time it began way back in the 1930s to its current status in the post-Millennium era”:

1. Jab dil hi toot gaya – Film: Shahjehan, Year: 1946, Singer: Kundan Lal Saigal, Composer: Naushad – http://youtu.be/nQQPV-DtY3s
2. Barsaat mein humse mile tum – Film: Barsaat, Year: 1949, Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Composers: Shankar-Jaikishan – http://youtu.be/y_J2ApEIrbs
3. Aaja aaja main hoon pyar tera – Film: Teesri Manzil, Year: 1966, Singers: Mohd. Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Composer: Rahul Dev Burman – http://youtu.be/x8ZrN_pizyQ
4. Roop tera mastana- Film: Aradhana, Year: 1969, Singer: Kishore Kumar, Composer: S.D. Burman – http://youtu.be/ppFmipV6KZc
5. Jai ho – Film: Slumdog Millionaire, Year: 2009, Singer-Composer: A.R. Rahman -  http://youtu.be/UxLSZoFK8EM

So, did you find the journey through this edition of the carnival a bit too long? Well, it does contain large number of songs to listen to. But, is each one not a gem?

Till we meet next month, I look forward to your inputs and comments on this edition.

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – January 2013

[Listening to Hindi Film Music, of the period 1950s till almost mid-1975, was one hobby that I did pursue quite avidly even during my First Innings of [so- called, busy (!)] life. It was during 2009-2010 that I could begin to spare time to download a huge number of songs from the internet – both in MP3 and in video formats. I certainly could reach a far greater number of songs, both, popular as well as hidden gems, from internet than I had ever reached through the sources of ‘old world technologies’ of radio, records, audio cassettes or CDs.

But, even till this phase, this was just a hobby, which was my great pastime and stress buster. It was only with the advent of my second innings in 2011 that I got to visit the blogs/ sites that specialized in collecting and presenting the songs-lists in creatively structured manner. That is when my journey to follow my hobby of listening to Hindi Film Music started to transform into seriously following (primarily) the Hindi Film Music of the Golden Era of 1950 till 1970s.

By the end of 2012, I was regular visitor / subscriber to at least half a dozen blogs / sites that have had their own individual style and preferences in the selection and presentation of the songs-lists. I had also grown from a pure passive follower to a moderately active participant, below the “Comments” line on those blogs/sites

So, hosting a collation of posts/ article, in the format of a Carnival, is my next step in the blogosphere journey of Hindi Film Music of the Golden Era.

All the blogs /sites that I visit regularly, have always a very rich fare of tastefully selected songs-lists in each of the post /article. Each of the blog/site has a core group of active participants in the lively discussions on what is presented in the article. So, I would be very brief here while presenting the post/article. I would earnestly request the visitor to this carnival to choose a very definite time slot, wherein his /her passions for the Hindi Film Music of Golden Era are invariably at very high tide, while paying a very very detailed visit to the posts/ articles /comments presented here. The time spent in each of this visit shall be far more worth its while. And that’s a promise.]

Since my introduction to the catchment blogs /sites commenced with Songs of Yore (SoY), I would open the Carnival with the first post of 2013 at SoY – An evening with Mubarak Begum .  SoY has indeed brought back Mubarak Begum with this article – for the GenX, by reviving the memorable songs and, for the GenNext, an introduction to a forgotten chapter of the Golden Period of Hindi Cinema. SoY has done similar immense service to the cause of Hindi Film Music (HFM), by articles on other (almost) forgotten singers:

-          Kamal Barot – http://www.songsofyore.com/category/singers/kamal-barot/

-          Jagjit Kaur – http://www.songsofyore.com/category/singers/jagjit-kaur/

-          Suman Kalyanpur – http://www.songsofyore.com/category/singers/suman-kalyanpur/

-          Subir Sen – http://www.songsofyore.com/category/singers/subir-sen/

-          Asit Baran – http://www.songsofyore.com/category/singers/asit-baran/

among playback singers who did not get the due they seemed to deserve.

SoY also has presented Multiple Version Songs (2): Both versions by male playback singers – Happy and A Sad Song, penned by yours truly, for the fare this month. This is second article in the series of hybrid versions songs, as an important genre of HFM.

Interestingly, the articles form other Blogs also open up quite interesting dimensions of the Golden Era of HFM.

Dusted Off opened the year with a birthday greetings to Shakila, with a guest post – Happy birthday, Shakila! – by none other than her niece Tasneen Khan, (daughter of Shakila’s sister Noor and the legendary Johnny Walker) on Shakila’s 78^th birthday.  The icing on the cake was a follow-through article – Ten of my favourite Shakila songs., wherein Hoon abhi main jawaan literally reflects the Eternally Youthful Longevity of the songs of the Golden Era.

Dusted Off normally presents vivid, lyrically described, reviews of films – Hindi as well as English. This month the reviews include – we shall include only Hindi Films, and that too if the review has a specific mention of a song from that film – Kohraa (1964). Not surprisingly at all, four songs – of the two as the first choice – Yeh nayan dare-dare is the chosen one; a close second being the hauntingly beautiful Jhoom-jhoom dhalti raat, of which the slow, slurring version is more stirring than the slightly faster version., and the other two songs being , O beqaraar dil ho chuka hai and Raah bani khud manzil., are the highlights of the review.

Harveypam’s Blog celebrated another birthday- Nanda’s – quite differently, by presenting songs in Nanda’s Eight Voices. This article is preceded by fondly presenting “ten favorite songs of Nalaini Jaywant” in In Remembrance, Nalini Jaywant [N.B. The songs can be enjoyed at this playlist as well.] As we dip into the comments to this article, we get onto Subodh Agrawal’s value-addition, by way of  “this video on YouTube containing stills( of Nalaini Jayawant) taken by James Burke, Life magazine’s photographer in the early fifties as part of the ‘movie queens’ series.”, and that of Madhubala in bonus – And, if this was not enough, Haveypam richly supplements these with “pics dating from the 1850s”.
We now move on to the typical, theme-based, songs-list on Converstaion Over Chai – My Favourites: Village Songs, which goes on to mention another post on the same theme – Pacifist’s Ek Gaon Ki Kahani (A village story) on Harveypam’s Blog. [The playlist is here] Each of the post succeeds “in depicting village life in its various moods with “fields, fairs, harvest, celebrations, village children, the gaon ka rasiya, and the village belle, hay stacks, sickle, and what have you”.
A site dedicated to the memory of “Shankar- Jaikishan” presents those few songs Geeta Dutt has rendered under their baton, which have held onto their place among more prodigal songs of Geeta Dutt with other music directors or with SJ’s more prodigal ones with the other playback singers @ GEETA DUTT SINGS FOR SHANKAR JAIKISHAN.

Two other sites – Dances on the Footpath and atul’s bollywood song a day- with full lyrics need a very special mention, in that they are neither pure songs-list nor a songs-list and film review sites, similar to the ones we have discussed earlier in this carnival.

Dances on the Footpath  has two, quite interesting, posts this month-

-                     My Favorite Broken-Heart Song of All (from a favorite film from 1948) – a song that does not have “dil todana” as the lyrics, and

-          Sights and sounds of a glamorous Lalita Pawar from the 1930s – presenting Lalita Pawar in her prime youth.

atul’s bollywood song a day- with full lyrics, as the very title of the site  suggests, basically presents full lyrics of the song that is brings up on that day. Of course, it does have an accompanying video clip and good deal of other supportive information as well, a highly quantitative work, with absolutely no compromise on the quality.  January 2013 category archive already has 113 songs, and is still counting.

We would end each edition of the carnival with a first-time visited blog/site, too.

This month I visited, first time,  Bollystalgia’ to find  Bizarre stage shows in Bollywood to watch the “’performance item’(s) … where the hero or heroine happens to be a singer/dancer extraordinaire and does an elaborate stage show incorporating a host of sideys, props and dramatic set designs.”

[I take this opportunity to thank, on my personal behalf and on behalf all fans of Hindi Film Music, all those self-less individuals who have uploaded priceless video clips and songs on to various internet platforms to provide a sea of primary database to the blogs/ sites discussed herein. It is their most invaluable contribution that is more than helping the Golden Era of Hindi Film Music, not only to rekindle the memories of our generation, but also to help leave a rich treasure to the generations of the future.]

‘Best Songs Of 1955 …..’ — One more gem @ songsofyore.com – Part 2 of 2

We discussed Best Male Playback Singer and Best Female Playback Singer for the year 1955 in the First part of this article.

We would continue our discusssions with Best Duet and Best Music Director categories.

But, before we take this up, let me reiterate my feeling of gratitude for Shri AKji of songsofyore.com for so gracefully accomodating my personal views on this great post.

Best Duet of 1955 for SongsOfYore Awards:

The number of duets and quality of each one, from amongst the duets available in 1955, which I have selected in this list of Top 5 Duets has a couple of pre-meditated filters applied. The first one is that I have eliminated tonga songs. One reason is that there are as many as 3; all rendered by a different duo and by different music director. Second reason is that in this manner I can create somewhat of a comfort of possibly making the selection somewhat easier. The second filter that I have chosen to apply is to pick up only one duet from a film, if it has more than one.
That would enable me to pick up following 5 as my Top Favorites:

1. Kitna haseen hai mausam – Chitalkar and Lata Mangeshkar
2. Muskurati hui chandni – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
3. Bhula nahi dena ji bhula nahi dena – Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar
4. Nain se nain nahi milao – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
5. Idhar tum haseen ho udhar dil jawan hai – Rafi and Geeta Dutt
6. Pyar hua iqrar hua – Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshakr

Oh no, even then I have landed up with SIX. So let me apply a third filter of choosing only one song per pair. Well, I am indeed pained to drop off Muskurati hui chandni in favor of Nain se nain nahi milao, both rendered by Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. I think Nain se nain nahi milao was relatively more popular then and has more following even now.
By the same standard, Pyar hua iqrar hua by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshakar seems to be more eligible to take on the crown of Best Duet of 1955 for SongsOfYore Awards. I do visualize as huge disagreements and as strong agreements, but isn’t it better that we have choicest of choices then and even now.

And here are those three tonga songs – to enjoy the spirited rides so romantically:

Piya piya piya mera jiya pukare – Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle

Halke halke chalo sanwre – Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar

Jab Liya Haath Mein Haath – Rafi & Asha -Vachan

Incidentally, we do remember two equally melodious Hemant- Lata duets: one is again a song while riding, this time, a bicycle – Sanware salone aaye din bahar ke from Ek Hi Rasta, compsed by Hemant Kumar  whereas the other one – Jhir jhir jhir jhir badariya barse from Parivar –Salil Chaudhary, a class in itself among not only all times duets but also among all time rain songs, also so tellingly presented by Shri AKji in his bonus add-on.

Here is the link to the original Bengali song of Jhimjhim jhimjhim jhim badarwa barse to sweeten the joy of this marvelous post.

Jhir jhir baroshey by Dhananjay Bhattacharya from Pasher Bari, music Salil Chaudhary:

And finally, the Best Music Director:

All the movies which appear in this list would certainly have missed a few marks in their overall value, if the music score of each one would not have been what it was. Each one must have certainly tested the guts, nerve and creative genius of the music directors concerned, because the scores have done full justice to the spirit of the film first, and then put on the customary stamp of music director’s tell-tale identification. Each of the score is a masterpiece of the musical rainbow [where one sees some ultraviolet and some infra red as well!!]

1. 1.       S D Burman – Devdas [Over and above one of the greats ever of Talat solos, and an epochal Mubarak Begum ‘kotha’ number, SD has excelled in Lata in Ab aage teri marzi  and Jise tu qabool kar le. Do observe the difference in the two pure ‘dance songs’ -Wo na ayenge palat ke and Ab aage teri marzi in terms of the mood each one has   quintessentially created.]
2. Shankar Jaikishan – Seema [SJ probably could have easily entered this list only on the strength of any one of Tu pyar ka sagar hai  -  Manna Dey orKahan jar aha hai tu ai janewale  -  Rafi or Manmohna bade jhoothe  -  Lata Mangeshkar. But it would certainly belittle their effort if we do not take independent cognisance of use of [The] Ustad Ali Akbar Kan Saheb for playing Sarod [ in fact of the fact they chose to use Sarod is in itself a big plus] for Suno chhoti si gudiya ki lambi kahani  -  Lata Mangeshkar  and such pathos –genic hamen bhi de do sahara  – Rafi and Chorus [as well as for retaining the typical instruments usually deployed by such singing teams in reality].
3. Shankar Jaikishan  – Shree 420 -The musical score has not only lifted this Chaplenese parody on the life of a common man to the height of RK’s Top Five and  placed it on the Hindi Film Immortals, it has given Hindi Film Music some of the eternal Bests – Pyar hua iqrar hua  -  Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshakr, Mera joota hai Japani  -  Mukesh, Dil ka haal sune dilwala  -  Manna Dey & others and Ramaiya vastavaiya  -  Rafi, Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar & others. SJ have used Manna Dey so masterfully, that but for Mera Juta Hai Japani, Mukesh’s monopoly as Raj Kapoor’s voice may have met child death! They were to repeat Manna Dey in Chori Chori too, this time in totality for Raj Kapoor’s playback voice. It is said that Mukesh was busy with his own productions in those days.
4. Vasant Desai – Janak Janak Payal Baaje – If Shantaram started his trend of depending solely on his sets, dances, music, etc. for his mega-experiments,  Vasant Desai matched in blending  melody, classical raags, and mood for the high bench-mark for pure Musicals in Hindi Cinema. If we look at trio of Shantaram movies, where Vasant Desai is the music director,Toofan Aur Diya and Do ankhe Barah Haath had quite strong primary elements – story or acting – which had rendered Vsant Desai’s masterly scores , as a great positive, but by no means the life-line of these movies.In the case of JJPB, the music is The LifeLine of the film. And, what a lifeline!
5. Yasmin – C Ramchandra -C Ramachandra is at his one of the melodious best here. Also, we find  songs – Bechain nazar betab zigar  -  Talat Mahmood ,Mujhpe ilzam-e-bewafai hai  -  Lata Mangeshkar, Tum apni yaad bhi dil se bhula dete to achcha tha  -  Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar – that have found an irrevocable space in the Ever Best in the respective category.

I would gravitate to choosing Vasant Desai for his Janak Janak Payal Baje score to be coroneted as Best Music Director. The reason being that all things being equal, the music lent that edge to the movie!

I deeply regret that one of my otherwise favorite N Datta could not be accommodated here. But we can more than make up this loss by remembering one of the most noteworthy version experiments:

 

Ye baharon ka sama by Hemant Kumar  and twin sung by Lata from Milap, lyrics Sahir Ludhiyanvi:

And the final sweetener:

Geeta Dutt – Jaate Ho To Jaao Par Jaaoge Kahan – Milap [1955]

My 21-gun salute to SongsOfYore.com and the knowledgeable visitors to the blog, for keeping the fire of Golden Period of Hindi Cinema so pleasantly, romantically and tastefully live………..

VaishnavAshok’s Channel on You Tube

I have finally commenced organizing my ‘likes’ of YouTube’s contents on You Tube itself @ http://www.youtube.com/user/VaishnavAshok

I would use this platform to park my ‘like’s –  related to my hobbies of listening to pre-1970 hindi film music and /or ghazalas and /or Indian Classical Muisc and /or Old Hindi Films and /or Hollywood films and /or Gujarati Nataks.

Best film songs based on classical ragas | Songs Of Yore

Best film songs based on classical ragas | Songs Of Yore.

One of the very well researched works.

More intersting is very orginal selction of subjects.

On personal note, good many of songs selected for any particular post has my personal favorites too.

I have located the Audio CD ‘Alaap – Classical Legends in Hindi Films [CDF 124064], in which Sa Re Ga Ma have released hindi film songs rendered by the classical singers. The two songs by Shobha Gurtu – ‘बंधन बांधो ‘ from पाकीझा and ‘सैयां रूठ गये’ from मैं तुलसी तेरे आंगन की – are indeed the real collectors’ gems, as these are not available elasehwere.