Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – December, 2017

Welcome to December, 2017 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

December, 2017 in any case has several anniversary / birth dates of people connected with HFM.

This month, Shashi Kapoor bade farewell to this mundane world. That would have led to Muhammad Rafi’s birthday, in the presence of Shashi Kapoor in the heaven. The first time it happened in Yeh Dil Kisko Doon (music : Iqbal Qureshi, Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi) in 1963,  a black and white film by K Mishra, that had over half a dozen songs from Mohammad Rafi. Here are the duets:

• Phir Aane Laga Wo Pyar Ka Alaam – with Usha Khanna
• Kitni Haseen Ho Tum – with Asha Bhosle
  Jab Tak Duniya Rahi, Tera Naam Mera Naam – with Asha Bhosle
• Kya Hua Agar Maine Ishq Ka Izahaar Kiya – with Asha Bhosle

I have recalled the solos at the end of the present post.

Here are some other tributes to Shashi Kapoor:

• Meet the Shashi Kapoor no one knows!
• Traversing the Two Worlds of Mainstream and Art: Shashi Kapoor’s Unexampled Journey – Antara Nanda Mondal – Shashi Kapoor carved out a one-of-a-kind path in Indian cinema, traversing the worlds of mainstream cinema as well as parallel films and international ventures with determination and dexterity.
• 7 Films That Prove Shashi Kapoor Was Way Ahead of His Time –Khalid Mohammed looks back at a collection of the actor’s and producer’s way-ahead-of-the-times films, when it was still possible to fly over the cuckoo’s nest: Dharmnputra (1961) | Sidhdharta (1972) | Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1977) |  Kalyug (1980) | New Delhi Times (1984) | Utsav (1984) | Sammie and Rsie Get Laid (1994)
• Not just a matinee idol: Shashi Kapoor diversified his career so much that no one type could take hold –  Beth Watkins –
• Handsome he was, but there was much more to Shashi Kapoor – Nimish Dubey – Shashi Kapoor was a romantic hero (and occasionally an action-oriented one), but he also did not shy away from playing other roles
• How Shashi Kapoor helped Sagar Sarhadi make his acclaimed movie ‘Bazaar’ – Sagar Sarhadi
• Shashi Kapoor on Hindi movie songs and their films versus our films – Nasreen Munni Kabir – Excerpts from an archival interview with Shashi Kapoor for the British television series ‘Movie Mahal’.
• Shashi Kapoor loses and finds himself in ‘Tum Bin’ from ‘Pyar Ka Mausam’  – Archana Nathan – The RD Burman composition was the theme song of Nasir Hussain’s 1969 family drama, used at every crucial juncture.
• The Final Curtain – The author writes: “Five years ago, I wrote an article on Shashi Kapoor saying I didn’t want to ‘remember’ him after he died; I would much rather commemorate his life. And I did. But now, another era has ended with the demise of yet another much-loved actor of the golden age. Perhaps I will review one of his films later, but for now, a quick but sincerely meant tribute.”
• Shashi Kapoor: The Cinematic Journey of a Phalke Award Winner by Karan Bali – Shashi Kapoor also was one of the early Indian actor who broke through internationally through his association with several Merchant-Ivory Productions (The Householder (1963), Shakespeare Wallah (1965), Bombay Talkie (1970) and Heat and Dust (1983) among others), besides other films like Siddhartha (1972), Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987), Jinnah (1998) and Side Streets (1998).
• A Matter of Innocence (1967) and Mohabbat Isko Kehte Hain (1965) are the reviews by Madhulika Liddle in memory of Shashi Kapoor.

Some other December tributes:

Diip Kumar:

The Many Moods of Dilip Kumar – He was a fantastic actor, a man who was equally good at comedy and romance (if you don’t believe me, just watch Beimaan tore nainwa from Tarana) as he excelled at the intense, angst-ridden characters he so often played.

Naushad:

• Always Aashiqana With Naushad Ali’s Music presents some of the gems on the maestro’s birth anniversary (25 December)
• Aawaz De Kahaan Hai: The Golden Music of Naushad – Naushad’s destiny was written in music, by music to be dedicated to music. Peeyush Sharma, in ‘Silhouette’ pays tribute with a glimpse of his musical journey.
• NAUSHAD-Once All of India was crazy about his Melodies. – This master composer first made both Mukesh (Andaz) and Talat Mahmood (Babul) sound surpassingly individualistic on Dilip Kumar He was, near clandestinely, getting Mohammed Rafi ready for the big leap. From his first Anmol Ghadi solo, Tera khilauna toota baalak (1946), to O door ke musafir on Dilip Kumar in Uran Khatola (1955), Rafi came a long, long way, once the Baiju Bawra (above) miracle happened in 1952..

Noor Jehan:

• Noor Jehan, the Original ‘Chandni Raatein’ Singer On her 17th death anniversary (23 December), here’s celebrating the incomparable Noor Jehan’s music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIz5cMIXw1Q
• The journey of singing great Noor Jehan in Bollywood – Noor Jehan’s last film in India was Mirza Sahiban (1947) which starred Prithviraj Kapoor’s brother Trilok Kapoor.

My Favourites by Shailendra (30 Aug 1927 – 14 Dec 1966), who worked with nearly all music directors ( exceptions being Naushad & O P Nayyar).

Remembering Meena Kapoor, who passed away on 23rd of November 2017. Meena’s last playback singing was for the movie ‘Chhoti Chhoti Baatein’ that was released in 1965 and was also Anil da’s last film as a music director.

Chalte Chalte Mere Yeh Geet Yaad Rakhna: Bappi Lahiri’s Melodious Hits – On 27th November this year Bappi da turns 65. Also, with his first film, Nanha Shikari, released in 1973, he has completed 45 years in this industry as a music director. Peeyush Sharma takes us on a trip down his memorable songs.

Google remembered Mirza Ghalib on 27^th December.

Who is Mirza Ghalib, featured on today’s Google Doodle?

Mirza Ghalib’s 220th birth anniversary: Google Doodle pays tribute to legendary poet

Here are some more posts on this occasion:

• Remembering Mirza Ghalib as he turns 220: ‘The world is the body, Delhi its soul’
• Famous Mirza Ghalib Lines That Leave Deep Imprints On Heart And Mind
• 5 heart-warming couplets by the real king of romance, Mirza Ghalib
• The debt owed by Gulzar’s lyrics to Mirza Ghalib – Manish Gaekwad – The song ‘Dil Dhoondta Hai’ from the film ‘Mausam’ was inspired from Ghalib’s couplet. In this audio clip, Gulzar and singer Asha Bhonsle decode the song.

Mohammad Rafi has a special place in December on this blog:

We have two parts episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs for December, 2017 in the memory of Mohammad Rafi. In the series of articles featuring Mohammad Rafi’s Solo Song from FIRST film with the Music Director, we have covered years 1952-1953, after having covered years 1950-1951 earlier this month and year 1949 earlier this year of the 2^nd five-year-slot of 1949 to 1953.

And then, we have –

• Mohammad Rafi Jukebox: Striking the Right Chord Since 1944
• ‘Main Zindagi Ka Saath’ from ‘Hum Dono’ is a tune from 1961 about 2017 – Nandini Ramnath – An ode to optimism or a recommendation to embrace apathy and compromise?
• Ten Songs of Mohd. Rafi We Could Not Include in ‘Gaata Rahe Mera Dil’– Balaji Vittal lists 10 songs of Rafi Sahib that they would have loved to include in their book Gaata Rahe Mera Dil. as his tribute to the iconic singer, exclusively for Silhouette Magazine. Gaata Rahe Mera Dil – 50 Classic Hindi films Songs co-authored by Balaji Vittal and Anirudha Bhattacharjee (published by Harper Collins) had been at the top slot of the Bestseller List and received very positive reviews by the media and readers alike.
• Mohammad Rafi-The Voice That Swayed Millions – Rafi was truly a singer for the masses and not for any particular class. His voice appealed to all, the old, young, rich, poor, men and women.

And, now the posts on other subjects:

My Favourite Lullaby Songs – one of the first popular lullby songs from a Hindi movie is ‘So Ja Rajkumari So Ja‘ sung by K L Saigal from Zindagi-1940 (Music by Pankaj Malik). The song is still considered to be an ultimate lori

Ravindra Kelkar has presented three more posts on O P Nayyar @ SoY:

• Duets of OP Nayyar: Part 1
• Duets of OP Nayyar: Part 2
• OP Nayyar unlike OP Nayyar

Raj Kapoor: ‘I dream cinema, I breathe cinema and I live cinema’ – Ritu Nanda – An excerpt from a compilation of writings by and about the legendary actor and filmmaker.

Beauties bond over baubles in ‘Mann Kyun Behka’ from ‘Utsav’ – Nandini Ramnath – Rekha and Anuradha Patel are visions to behold in the Laxmikant-Pyarelal song from Girish Karnad’s movie.

Ten of my favourite ‘Unusual Singer’ songs, which means:

(a) That it’s the person who’s lip-syncing to the song (and not the playback singer) who’s unusual…

(b) and unusual because the actor in question is a well-known face, but doesn’t usually lip-sync to songs.

“Nazar Lagi Tore Bangle Par” and Zarina Begum, who was a protégé of Begum Akhtar.  Both famously sung a version of “Nazar Lagi Tore Bangle Par” that predated the one in Kala Pani.

In our series Micro View of Best Songs 1948 @SoY of Best songs of 1948: And the winners are? , we completed the third part of Lata Mangeshkar solo songs, and then summed the Female Solo Songs for 1948 with  My Top Female Solo Songs and then went on to take up Male- female Duets in the Duets section. We covered the male female duets of Mukesh as well as those of  Mohammad Rafi. SoY has concluded the series with Best songs of 1948: Wrap Up 3 and Best songs of 1948: Final Wrap Up 4.

We have placed the articles paying tributes to Mohammad Rafi in the space for the tributes here before in the present article. So we will take up two songs of Mohammad Rafi, form the first film he played back solo for Shashi Kapoor to begin the end of the article:

Ye Dil Kiso Dun – Ye Dil Kisko Dun (1963) – Iqbal Quereshi – Qamar Jalalabadi

Mera Dil Tum Pe Aa Gaya., Mere Pahlu Se Dil Gaya – Ye Dil Kisko Dun (1963) – Iqbal Quereshi – Qamar Jalalabadi

‘The Christmas Celebration in Hindi Films’ picks up the rare, ddelightful Christian characters, which always brought a smile on our lips.

On that note of festive smile, I wish you all a very HAPPY & PRPOSPEROUS 2018 that keeps providing rich music to your Life.

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