Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – April, 2016

Welcome to April, 2016 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We will commence our present episode with My Favorites: Songs of Spring. The only restrictions placed in the selection of the songs were that the lyrics should actually mention the word ‘Spring’ in any of its synonyms – Bahaar. Basant. Vasant-  and that the picturisation should show some signs of the season, even if it only means that the song is picturised outside. This is why Aaya basant hai aaya from Subhadraharan (1964) or Dekho mausam kya bahaar hai from Opera House (1961) do not make it to the list. It’s also why Ketki gulaab juhi (Basant Bahar / 1956) is missing from this list, even though the lyrics describe the season so well. Here are some of the less heard songs from this list –

• Bahaar aayi khili kaliyan  – Alif Laila (1953) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shyam Sundar – Sahir Ludhianvi
• Aayi bahaar hai  – Hamari Shaan (1951) -Kishore Kumar, Shamshad Begum – Chitragupt – Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
• Din suhane mausam bahaar ka  – Poonam (1952) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shankar Jaikishan – Shailendra
• Shaam-e-bahaar aayi – Shama Parwana (1954) – Mohammed Rafi, Suraiya – Husnlal Bhagatram – Majrooh Sultanpuri
• Aayi jhoomti bahaar –  Insaniyat (1955)  – Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mehmood – C Ramchandra

I have also added one from my side –

• Bahar Ban K e Who Muskaraye, Kali Ghata Tu Na Chaaye To Kya, Baag-e-Shabad Tu Na Aaye To kya – Apne Huye Paraye (1964) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shanker Jaikishan

We now move over to our regular Anniversaries section.

Lalita Pawar: The Dominating Matriarch And Scheming Manthara – A tribute to the prolific Indian actress, with some interesting anecdotes on her life and times By Niilesh A Raje on her 100^th birthday .

Before she met with a freak accident in 1942, Lalita Pawar- born Amba Laxman Rao Sagun on 18 April 1916 – used to play the lead roles.

We have one song from a 1938 film. The clip does not have the original soundtrack with video, but the video uploader, Shalin Bhatt has filled in the gap with some rare images of Lalita Pawar

Sakhi Prem Sudhaa Bharne Aayi – Duniya Kya Hai (1938) – Music: Anna Saheb Mainkar .

Big FM had a Lalita Pawar Birthday Special

The Swar Kokila Kanan Devi – A tribute to Kanan Devi (22 April 1916 to 17 July 1992) on her birth centenary – Here is pip into her well-known and not-so-well-known songs –

• Tum Manmohan Tum Sakhiyan Sang – Haar Jeet (1940) – RC Boral
• Zara Nainon Se Naina Milaye Jao Re – Hospital (1943) -Kamal Dasgupta – Pt Bhushan
• Lachhmi Moorat Daras Dikhaye –Street Singer (1938) -RC Boral – Arzoo Lakhanavi
• Ye Duniya Toofan Mail – Jawab (1942) – Kamal Dasgupta and its Bangla version

On Mac Mohan’s Birthday, Remembering Sholay’s Forgotten Villain – Khalid Mohamed completes the whole picture of Mac Mohan’s persona.

Shamshad Begum’s songs by OP Nayyar is a tribute to Shamshad Begum (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) on her 97th birth anniversary. The back-to-back posts on Shamshad Begum’s songs by Naushad and C Ramchandra last year there was inevitably a reference to OP Nayyar as he is the third member of the trinity which made the greatest contribution to her. To this list we can expect Hansraj Behl in the future who has77 Hindi songs (solos and duets), and 50 songs from Punjabi films. Shamshad Begum’s songs by SD Burman had been presented under the title East meets West. Here are some of the less heard ones –

• Bach Ke Balam Kahan Jaaoge – Naya Andaaz (1956) – Jan Nisar Akhtar
• Mohabbat Se Tujhe Inkaar… Tu Laage Mora Baalma – Shrimati 420 (1956) -Majrooh Sultanpuri

‘Jo Bhi Ho Tum Khuda Ki Kasam, Lajawab Ho’: Remembering Shakeel Badayuni By Peeyush Sharma – One rare feat (for those times) that gets associated with Shakeel is his hat-trick of Filmfare Best Lyricist Awards in the years 1961, 1962 and 1963. Forty six years ago, on 20^th April, lyricist, poet, shayar, Shakeel Badayuni breathed his last owing to diabetes related complexes. He was just 53 years old

Two of his great ghazals, rendered by Begum Akhtar

• Mere Hum Nafas Mere Hum Nawa
• Aye Mohabbat Tere Anjaam Pe Rona Aaya

Silsila Khatm Na Hoga Mere Afsaane Ka: Shakeel Badayuni, a Tribute – Pavan Jha – He sang his own song in Paak Daman (1957)

We now take a look at posts on other subjects –

Simple melodies of Ravi would normally have dominance of santoor and flute in their orchestration. In most of the cases, the lyrics came first and the tune later. Please enjoy 24 of his lovely songs from LINK TO SIMPLE MELODIES OF RAVI.

Ten of my favourite funny songs is a list of ten songs that are actually funny, funny because of the lyrics, the rendition, the picturization—whatever (in some stellar instances, all of the above). These may not be songs that make one laugh out loud, but they are songs that always make you smile rather more widely than usual.

We have picked up a couple of less heard songs

• Lipstick lagaanewaale  – Shrimatiji, 1952 – Shamshad Begum – Jimmy
• Aa thha jab janam liya thha – Biwi aur Makaan, 1966 – Mukesh, Hemant Kumar . Manna Dey – Hemant Kumar

How Bhupinder Singh blends the ghazal with the guitar – Bhupinder had a tough call to take: should he be behind the microphone or strum a guitar? Having both wasn’t going to be easy. Some of Rahul Dev Burman’s greatest songs, including “Dum Maro Dum” (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), “Chura Liya Hai Tumne” (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973) and “Mehbooba Mehbooba” (Sholay, 1975) were backed by Singh’s musical fingers. Singh has a formidable body of work in film music, having sung for over 50 films. “Dil Dhoondta Hai” (Mausam, 1975), “Naam Gum Jayega” (Kinara, 1977), “Karoge Yaad Toh” (Bazaar, 1982), “Kisi Nazar Ko Tera Intizaar”(Aitbaar, 1986), “Baadalon Se Kaat Kaat Ke” (Satya, 1998) are just a few of his most popular songs, but the ones that need to rediscovered, like the man himself.

‘In Aradhana, Sachin Karta Gave Me My Life’s Biggest Hit’: In Conversation with Shakti Samanta By Peeyush Sharma -In this never-published-before interview, Shakti Samanta recalls the superlative and everlasting music that became the hallmark of his films.. Shakti Samanta made four films each with O P Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishen and S D Burman. With R D Burman, he did the maximum number of films – 11 in Hindi plus four more in Bengali. Three of his films were with the famous Bengali singer-composer Shyamal Mitra and two each with Ravi and Ravindra Jain.

The post has several very-well songs. I have located one which is not much heard.

Dekho Dekho Jee Balam  – Bahu (1955) – Geeta Dutt, Talat Mahmood – Hemant Kumar – S H Bihari

Kite (Patang) Songs  is a result of several factors that happened in the background. To us what matters is the outcome –

• Meri Pyari Patang – Dillagi (1949) – Shamshad Begum, Uma Devi – Naushad
• Main Ban Patang Ud Jaoon Re – Dupatta (1952) – Noorjehan – Firoze Nizami
• Piya Main Hoon Patang Tu Dor –  Raagni (1958) – Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi – O P Nayyar – Jaan Nissar Akhtar
• Lak Patala Patang Uton Gora Gora Rang – Yakke Wali (1957) – Zubaida Khanum, Zareef, Azra Sultana – G A Chisti

Hindi film songs in Swahili – Manish Gaekwad – Taarab, a fusion of Indian, Arabic, and African sounds popular on the Swahili coast of Southeast Africa, has a special place for Hindi film music. Traditionally sung in the Swahili language at weddings and social gatherings, Taarab songs weave several themes into the lyrics, including romance and politics…… There are over two dozen of these songs on YouTube – yet another instance of the phenomenal popularity impact of Hindi film music beyond its traditional markets.

Nutan on the sets of Laila Majnu (November, 1953)

Costumed as Laila, the youthful Nutan signs autographs for fans who visited the “Laila Majnu” set

Madhubala Goes Chinese (January, 1957) – Members of the Chinese Women’s Delegation dropped in on the sets of Om Prakash’s – whom most of us know as a veteran comedian and character actor –  “Gate­way of India” the day they arrived in Bombay. Madhubala welcomed them cordially and is seen chatting with two of the members.

Om Prakash entertained the Delegation to the screening of a special Chinese song-and-dance number filmed for “Gateway of India”. – Chal Mere Dil Ke Udan Khatole Udata Ja Tu Hole Hole  – Mohammad Rafi – Madan Mohan-  Here Madhubala, Bhagwan and a party of Chinese children dance together.

Madhubala – The Biggest Star in the World – by David Cort for Theatre Arts – August, 1952 – The actress, born Mumtaz Ataullah in Delhi in 1933, with the greatest following, in numbers and devotion, is not to be found in Hollywood, but on the opposite side of the planet — in Bombay, India.

Poster of 1951 film ‘Badal’, based on Robin Hood theme

‘Badal’ was quite successful. Most of the songs of the film also had done well. We will take up one of those for the records

Do Din Ke Liye Maheman Yahan – Badal (1951) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shanker Jaikishan

Two Timir Baran songs –

• Mat Bhool Musafir Tujhe Jana Hi Padega – Devdas (1935) – K C Dey
• Kaise Koi Jiye…Zehar Hai Zindagi – Baadbaan (1954) – Geeta Dutt, followed by Hemant Kumar in a twin version

We end our present episode with a posts/ articles that cover Mohammed Rafi, from a wide-ranging point of views –

When Dev Anand lent his voice to a Mohammad Rafi song –This is an article that was published on 4-12-2011 – ‘Hurray Hurray’ @0.08  in the song Pyar Mohabbat Ke Siwa Ye Zindagi Kya Zindagi,(Pyar Mohabbat –1966 – Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle – Shanker Jaikishan)is recorded in Dev Anand’s voice. According to some reports, Dev Anand had also lent his voice to another Rafi song from Kala Bazar (1960) – Sooraj Ki Jaise Golayi– S D Burman – by adding ‘Om dhan hai namah’ and ‘Hari dhan hari dhan’ @4.52.

Philatelic Tribute to Great Legend – Mohd Rafi

An Open Letter to Rafi Demeanors – J.K. Bhagchandani – The post is a point-to-point rejoinder to the contention that Mohammed Rafi did not have natural pain in his voice for sad songs and he has to bring in sobbing effect to infuse the right impact. The author of the post strongly states that it is not only sad songs that he has provided us with different shades/ sub-genres but almost all genres of songs sung by him have that diversity factor

I look forward to receive your inputs for further enriching the contents of the posts…..

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