Month: March 2018

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – March, 2018

Welcome to March, 2018 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We begin our March, 2018 episode with two obituaries. One is in memory of Sridevi and the other one is in memory of Shammi..

  • No One Could Have Expected This Loss – RIP, Sridevi
  • Sridevi’s superior southern style – Sridevi recast her gamut of talents professionally as an actor to comply with her limited northern brief
  • The Moonlight Has Dimmed – Sridevi was the quintessential director’s actress, molding herself like clay into what her directors demanded of her. Director Shekhar Kapoor once remarked that Sridevi made love to the camera. The quiet, reserved woman who sat quietly in one corner of the sets, makeup on, waiting for her co-stars to arrive or the shot to be ready, would transform once the director called ‘Action’.

Annu Kapoor on Shammi: In spite of setbacks, she always smiled – Born as Nargis Rabadi in 1931 in a Parsi family Shammi debuted against Sheikh Mukhtar in Ustad Pedro(1949), then as one of the lead actors of Malhar (1951). The film didn’t do well commercially even though she got noticed. Soon after, she was cast along with Dilip Kumar and Madhubala in Sangdil (1952).

We recall here one of her forgotten appearance in Musafirkhana (1955)

And, now, we take up the tributes in March, 2018:

Remembering Baby Naaz, Sridevi’s voice in her early Hindi films – Soumya Rao – Despite achieving acclaim early on as a child actress, Salma Baig spent her later years lending her voice to the cinematic dreams of others.

Chalo Ik Baar Phir Se: The Versatility of Ravi – The trademark of music director Ravi’s compositions? They are hummable, memorable and as alive in our memories as yesterday. Monica Kar looks at the phenomenon this giant, prolific, composer was and what he leaves behind.

Music Composer Ravi & The Golden Age Of Hindi Cine Music – A Suresh Sharma Film, showcasing his last composition

As a matter of mere coincidence, the choice of Romantic Songs by Sahir, in the course of celebrating Sahir Ludhyanavi’s 96th birthday (on 8th March, 2018),  happens to be duets. Here is one of the rare duets from the post: Chand Bhi Koi Deewana – Pyas (1968) – Asha Bhosle & Mahendra Kapoor – N Datta

Recalling a Fine Actor and Poet – Sajjan (Lal Purohit), born in 1921 was a rare combination of actor and a poet. He wrote several geets that Talat Mahmood crooned in his soft voice:

‘The New York Times’ obituary of Madhubala notes her tragic life, compares her to Marilyn Monroe – The Madhubala tribute, published by ‘The New York Times’, is part of ‘Overlooked’, a series of obituaries of 15 trailblazing women.

Riding in Masculine Style  celebrates launching of ROXOR by Anand Mahindra from their US plant. M&M’s Jeep was one popular vehicle which actors have even been singing songs while driving it too. The post lists some cases of actors behind the wheel in a Jeep during a song, whether they themselves were lip-syncing or another actor was, or even if the song was being filmed background

Nasir Hussain-The King Of Musical Hits (16 November 1926 – 13 March 2002) had a ear for good, popular music.. He started his career as story writer in 1948. The famous films he wrote for Filmistan include Anarkali (1953), Munimji (1955), and Paying Guest (1957)

March, 2018 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs is dedicated to: S N Tripathi: Unremembered music director of remembered songs:: 1951 – 1956 in continuation with March, 2017 episode of his songs from 1941 to 1950.

And, now the posts on other subjects:

Parody songs: Part 1 and Part 2 are single parody songs and medley of songs respectively.

Songs in the praise of Nature lists the songs that mainly describe the beauty of nature, and also some may describe its connection to the character singing the song. E.g.

Mausam Hai Jawan – Tower House (1962) – Asha Bhosle – Ravi – Asad Bhopali

The Trio of DEV ANAND,DILIP KUMAR and RAJ KAPOOR in 1960s combined to formed the trilogy of the Indian cinema in the 1950’s and 60’s. All the three started their career as Hero before Independence. In the 1950s all of them were in the peak of their career. Each had their own brand value and distinct persona and loyal following. ..

Love gets spooky in ‘Lag Ja Gale’ from the suspense thriller ‘Woh Kaun Thi?’ – Nandini Ramnath – The song from Raj Khosla’s classic features Sadhana at peak etherealness. A remake of Raj Khosla’s Gothic-style suspense thriller Woh Kaun Thi? (1964) is on the cards. To be produced by KriArj Films, the movie will retain two of the biggest reasons behind its success: the songs Naina Barse Rimjhim Rimjhim and Lag Ja Gale.

Bollywood’s Connection with Goa – Goans played a major role in Bollywood music until the 1980s,Initially only Goans, having trained in Western music, knew how to compose music for orchestras, with a multitude of instruments playing in harmony.The biggest connection with Goa is Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle who are from Goa.

‘Devdas’ to ‘Daas Dev’: What torch songs say about Indian cinema’s favourite tragic hero – Archana Nathan – There’s a song to fit every mood in every adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic novel.

In our tradition of ending our post with article on Mohammad Rafi or a topical song of his, I have picked up songs that basically have link with the topics discussed in the present post, i.e. two songs filmed on Shammi but wherein Mohamamd Rafi playbacks and one of the many Ravi- Sahir compositions for the year 1963. The second of the Rafi song on Shammi also is penned by Sahir Ludhyanvi ::

Thoda Sa Dil Lagaa Ke Dekh – Musafirkhana (1955) – with Shamshad Begum – O P Nayyar –  Majrooh Sultanpuri

This is an Asymmetric Duet where Rafi is in the support role.

Jahan Jahan Khayal Jata Hai, Wahan Wahan Tumhi Ko Paata Hai – Bade Sarkar (1957) – with Geeta Dutt – O P Nayyar

Itni Haseen, Itni Jawaan Raat Kya Karein – Aaj Aur Kal (1963) – Ravi – Sahir Ludhyanvi

I earnestly seek your suggestions / inputs / criticisms so as to make our Film Blog Festival more interesting and live.

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – March, 2018

Welcome to March, 2018 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We have chosen – Behavior-Based Quality – as our base topic for discussion this month. We have picked up the topic from Arron Angle’s article A Different Kind of BBQ from March, 2018 issue of Quality Progress.

We begin with ‘An Introduction to Behavior Based Quality (BBQ)’.   Liam Turley believes that having a strong positive Quality Culture is good for business and generally good for the human condition. He also believes that deep-down people truly want to do what is right. It is just “other stuff” that gets in their way. He has lucidly explained the concept over Part I, Part II and Part III. The statement, Change the behavior then you change the attitude, can be a one-line take away from the article.

Arron Angle writes in his article: When people think of quality, the words “control” and “assurance” usually comes to mind. These are not behaviors. Control refers to a reaction to post-event issues, and assurance attempts to address events before they happen by ensuring quality practices, policies and procedures are in place and followed…Quality doesn’t just happen. You must take the initiative (in priority order) to comply with requirements, prevent errors and improve processes. These are behaviors that drive a culture of BBQ….BBQ is not a quality management system. It’s bigger than that…You will know BBQ is happening if:

  • Every department has a set of monetized metrics against each of the Compliance –Prevention-Improvement (CPI) elements.
  • Process owners accept accountability for CPI performance.
  • Metrics are used as positive reinforcement for change.
  • Anyone can stop a product, process or service delivery because of a quality issue with no recrimination.
  • Your customers recognize and support the efforts that you are putting into cultural change for quality.
  • Continued learning of improvement tools and methods is taking place.
  • Suppliers are asking for help with their quality programs.
  • Executives take time to recognize CPI behaviors and team contribution.

Listen to a webcast featuring Arron Angle and the concept of behavior-based quality and how to use the approach to drive a culture of quality. Visit https://tinyurl.com/asq-webcast-bbq.

Let us, then, first look at what is Quality Culture vs, Traditional Culture –

In the webinar, Changing GMP Behaviors and the Quality Culture, Martin Lush, Global Vice President of NSF Pharma Biotech and Medical Devices, gives his insights on how companies can go about changing GMP behaviors and in doing so change quality culture.

A couple of videos on Quality Culture may be in order to broaden our thinking related to our present subject of BBQ:

Creating a Culture of Quality by Antonius Pompi Bramono

Martin Lush explains How to Fix Quality Culture

If you have been trying to connect our present subject with a similar subject – Behavior Based Safety (BBS), probably that is right path to know about the present concept and draw parallels with many well-known implementations of BBS.

We will take up the subject of Behavior Based Safety next month to coincide with the publication of ISO 45001.

We will now turn to our regular sections:

For the present episode we have picked up article Results, Perception, Learning: What Makes a Truly Effective Executive @ Effective Management column of Management Matters Network…. In essence, Drucker said, management’s effectiveness derives from two major tasks: “Deciding what is to be done and deciding how to do the job, organizing and controlling its execution, and measuring its results.”

We now watch one of the latest ASQ TV  episodes:

  • Applying Agile Principles in a Non-IT Industry – Fabrice Bouchereau, Senior Systems Improvement Facilitator, ProcessZen Consulting, discusses how Agile, a common project management method used for IT and software projects, can be used in other industries.

Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems postings for January, 2018 are:

  • Focus on Strengths : Abraham Lincoln once said, that if you “look for what’s wrong, you will surely find it.”….This is as true today as it was in Lincoln’s time. The perceived imperfections, commonly thought of as discrepancies, in ourselves mean we can always find areas in which we fall short of perfection….In order to reverse your thinking, you must transform your negative habits that say it is better to carry rocks than diamonds. Instead, begin focusing on your strengths. Try this and see how much different it can make.
  • Reframing: Have you ever heard of a technique called reframing? It’s nothing more involved than altering perspectives…Our past experiences influence our ability to see what’s happening in the world and to interpret it. However, there are many ways to experience a situation. One of the keys to living a successful life is to consistently interpret your experience in ways that support you in getting the results you want…With both content and context reframing, the techniques that can be used will help us look at things from a different perspective—from negative to positive….Content reframing is to give another meaning to a statement by recovering more content.,, Context reframing is the second technique. It involves taking an experience that seems to be negative and imagining how the same experience can be an advantage if you see it in another context.

I look forward to your inputs / criticisms/ observations to enhance the utility of our Quality Management Blog Carnival.

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs: March, 2018

S N Tripathi: Unremembered music director of remembered songs:: 1951 – 1956

Many of the 50s-60s generation fans of Hindi Film Music would agree with me that S N Tripathi (14 March, 1913 – 28 March, 1988) is not all that unremembered music director as the title suggests. The fact that, in his fairly eventful career, he composed songs for over 250 films, acted in around 200 films, wrote screenplays for 37 films and directed 39 films as well. His being remembered as music director of B/C grade mythological / historical films may also be statistically correct. What is perhaps not being remembered is that the quality of the music that he always presented never was governed by the (so-called) classification of the film. He did extract the best from the singers, whatever may the budget or the story of the film.  In fact many of his most remembered songs were from these class of films only.

It is also true that there are more songs that have slipped back into the memory of his fans then the ones that re universally remembered now. So, we try to bring up those unremembered songs on one page.

We had covered some songs from 1941 to1950 in our March, 2017 issue. Presently, we will cover his films from 1951 to 1956. We have aimed to cast our net as wide as possible in so far as the range of playback singers in selecting the songs from the films of this period.

Kyun Rooth Gaye Mujhse – Hanuman Paataal Vijay (1951) – Geeta Dutt, – Lyrics-Anjum Jaipuri (to the best available records)

The song easily establishes S N Tripathi’s handling of nuances of various playback singers so well.

BTW, this is the films which would take credit for S N Tripathi playing Hanuman for the first time.

Aaj Achanak Jaag Uthe Kyu In Hotho Par Geet,
Shayad Man Me Jaag Uthi Hai Chanachal Pankh Aur Preet,
Kaise Jaan Gayi Ye Akhiyan Sharmane Ki Reet,
Dheere Dheere Gori Tera Bachpan Raha Hai Beet – Laxmi Narayan  (1951) – Geeta Dutt, Sulochana Kadam, Chorus – Lyrics: B D Mishra

Observe the subtle difference between the singing styles of Geeta Dutt for Meena Kuamri and Sulochana Kadam for her friends. That is the S Ntrpathi’s knack of enlivening the spirit of lyrics of the song. The song has Meena Kumari truly on the threshold of adolescent-youth gateway..

Hai Mera Naam Ramzani – Alibaba Aur Jadui Chirag (1952) – Chitragupta, Shamshad Begum – Lyrics: Shyam Hindi

S N Tripathi seems to have done a large number of ‘Alibaba’ genre films, as did his the then assistant in ‘Sindbad’ series of films.

Chhaai Birhaa Ki Raat Moraa Tadpe Jiyaa, Mose Ruthe Piyaa Koi Man Kaa Sahara Nahi – Nav Durga (1953) – Geeta Dutt – Lyrics: Anjum Jaipuri (To the best available records).

This one can be easily classified as well-remembered song, once you hear the song,

Dekhoji Chand Nikla Picche Khajoor Ke, Basare Ki Hoor Naache Aage Huzoor Ke – Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor (1954) – Asha Bhosle – Lyrics: Raja Mahmedi Ali khan

The songs is all set to recreate the atmosphere of the mid-West Asia era.

Zara Thaharo Mai Haal-e-dil Suna Lun Phir Chale Jana – Inaam (1955) – Suraiya – Lyrics:  Raja Mahendi Ali Khan

The film has one song composed by Sarasvati Devi, with whom S N Tripathi commenced his career in Hindi Film Music world, in 1935.

1956 has as many as 5 films for which S N Tripathi composed music.

Mehfil Me Kaisi Chham Chham, Kiska Hain Ye Tarana, O Bekhabar Tere Siwa Sare Jahan Ne Jana – Dilli Darabar (1956) – Lata Mangeshkar – Lyrics: Shailendra

The songs of the film have been shared between Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri. It would be interesting to find out how many times this would have happened if the music direction was other than that of Shanker- Jaikishan!

Nakhre Karti Darti Nakhre Karti Darti Gayi Thi Main Bazaar – Hatimtai (1956) – Mister Sheikh – Lyrics:  Raja Mahendi Ali Khan

The title of the film – “Hatimtai”- may not come to memory of many, but the songs Pavardiagr-e – Alam Tera Hi Hai Sahara and Jhoomati Hai Nazar Jhuumata Hai Pyar would be a matter of instant recall for most of us.

It is said that Nizam of Hyderabad was so taken in by the prayer Parwardigar-e-Alam that he got that reel re-run 14 times when the film was screened for the first time in Hyderabad.

The song that we have selected presents the locale of film’s story in lighter vein.

Dar Kya Hai Toofaan Ka, Leke Naam Bhagwaan Ka, Daanv Lagaa De Jaan Ka – Panna (1956 ) – Suman Kalyanpur, Mohammad Rafi – Lyrics: B D Mishra

The composition and the orchestration leave no doubt that this is a motivational marching song.

Tere Sang Preet Kiye Bada Dukh Hoye – Rajrani Meera (1956) – Lata Mangeshkar – B D Mishra

Set to same Raag Bhairavi, there is another Meera Bhajan: Jo Tum Choodo Piya which is set to different metre, scale and rhythm in Janak Janak Payal Baaje, Meera and Silsila

Vo Dekho Udhar Chand Nikla Gagan Me, Idhar Aa Gayi Chandni Muskurati, Baharo Ki Rangeen Ye Muskurahat, Dilo Mein Umango Ki Duniya Basati – Roop Kumari (1956) – Manna Dey, Geeta Dutt  –  Lyrics: B D Mishra

S N Tripathi seems to have adopted an altogether different approach for this romantic duet. Listen to the subtle use of waltz rhythm as a base to which the song is set.

To end our episode with a Muhammad Rafi song would not have been difficult because S N Tripathi has used Mohammad Rafi in varying situation in his films. Interestingly, we have a song that is quite unique:

Jab Rup Hi Pyasa Hokar Yu, Cchhup Chhup Ke Pani Peeyega, To Rup Ka Pyasa Jo Hoga Wo Phir Kya Peekar Phir Jeeyega – Ratnamanjari (1955) – Mohammad Rafi – Lyrics: B D MishraAn eve-teasing song that is presented in a serene style!

We will continue remembering Unforgettable Songs that seem to Fading away from our Memories every second Sunday of the month……..

Disclaimer: All images are sourced from net. All copyrights of the respective image remain with the original owner of the image.

Business Sutra |5.3| Vikram and Vetal :: The Ancient India’s Case Study Method

Business Sutra |5| Education

We have covered four episodes of Devdutt Pattanaik’ TV serial on CNBC 18:  Business Sutra.

The first presented to us the most visible form of the business – the corporation: its meaning, its purpose and its action perspective. In the second episode Devdutt Pattanaik discusses Leadership: Role of the leader, Context of the leader and Leadership in different business cycles. The third episode relates to the Business Ethics and Morals:  business ethics and dilemmas, relationship between owner and the organization  and The Right (Dharma) – the Ramayana way and the Mahabharata way. The 4th episode deals with Conflicts, of the Board and the CEO and that of the means vs. ends.

The present episode takes unto the realm of Education, wherein Part 1 covered the basics of education to the (potential) leaders in Ram’s Education and Part 2 addressed the Knowledge Transfer to Next Gen.

The third part deals with the issue of student motivation.

Business Sutra |5.3| Vikram and Vetal

Here is a very simple scenario:

Most of the management trainers as well as trainees come across such situations almost every day.

We will take a short peep into the theory of motivation related issues and then an equally look at the Learning Organization.

Learning Motivation And Performance – Effective training practices are developed from theories and theoretical constructs that describe how learning occurs and what motivates people. An understanding of motivational theory allows a manager to improve employee performance levels by applying the principles of motivation to his firm’s unique circumstances. The same is true with training. Whether one company’s training program will work in another’s, will depend on the needs of the latter company, its employees, and the training system used. Copying without understanding is like taking someone else’s prescription drugs. Even though they may have made someone else better, they could kill you. The article very lucidly presents WHY ARE THEY RESISTING AND WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?

Any search of the management literature will yield fairly huge amount of coded body of knowledge on “How To’ aspect to the motivation for the training.. So, we will not attempt to list such resources once again here.

One would wish that theirs is a Learning Organization that keeps recharging itself for bracing up the present and the future challenges.

So, How do you define a learning organization?

Peter Senge, Author of The Fifth Discipline, answers the question by first suggesting that “we jettison the jargon” and work on organizations where everyone works together successfully. He discusses how there are only two dominant factors within an organization: control or learning and the question is which one is dominant. He lays out the major factors that need to be present in order for an organization to be centered in learning.

So, how do we find out: Is Yours a Learning Organization? . In an HBR article, David A. Garvin , Amy C. Edmondson ,Francesca Gino have provided the conceptual framework.  For an easy reference, we may listen to this video clip of “An interview with David Garvin and Amy Edmondson, Professors, Harvard Business School.

A Learning Organization –

Salesmen and author Zig Ziglar once wrote: “the only thing worse than training people and having them leave, is not training them and having them stay.” At a learning organization education happens as a side-product of working together, as everybody learns from each other to adapt to whatever the future might bring.

Here again, one can explore a huge data-mine of high-quality content in the present western management literature. So, we will leave it to the readers to whet their appetite, in their own context.

In the Segment 3 of the episode 5 Devdutt Pattanaik takes up the subject of Student Motivation through the metaphor of a well-known folktale of Vikram and Vetal.

Whenever the school bell rings have you seen the students?

The first thing that you hear when the school bell rings is a great amount of  cheer-joy and children running out.

The children run out because it is almost like the cry of the domesticated beast, that has been tied and fettered in the classroom and suddenly he is being liberated. So he wants to run away from school. This is the education system, or for that matter even a training program in a corporate world we have created. You are dying for the lunch break and the coffee break because you just cannot keep your eyes open, You are being pushed into this space where they are going to domesticate you using various methods like 9:30 to 10:30 sessions where you learn something intensely, as if your brain is going to sort of get bombarded with lots of information. What does not get attention is the simple fact that whether the student is motivated willingly to enter the school. No. So he has to be pushed in, broken inside. It is almost violent to the process of education and training.

Now let us look at a different method. Let us look at the Indian method of training. This is a folktale- that of Vikram and Vetal, The Ghost. The folktale explains it in a very powerful way. Vikramaditya was a great king and one day a sorcerer came to him and said go to a cremation ground and find for him a Vetal, a ghost. Vikramaditya said. ‘Of course, whatever you want I shall give it to you.’ Being a great king he was willing to give anything to anybody who came to him. So he goes to the crematorium.in search of the Ghost. The instruction is that here is a banyan tree and the Ghost hangs upside down. You have to pull it down and carry it on your shoulders, but never speak to it. If you open your mouth and speak to the ghost, the ghost will fly away and then you will have to go back, and collect him.

So he goes to the cemetery, finds the ghost hanging upside down, pulls him down puts it on his shoulder and walks back. The ghost does not want to be caught, so the ghost tries everything in his power to make Vikramaditya speak. He keeps on asking questions, but Vikramaditya refuses to speak. Finally, the Vetal comes up with an idea. He says, ‘let me tell you a story and at the end of the story, I will ask you a question. If you know the answer to the question, and still do not speak up, your head will burst into thousand pieces. But if you don’t know the answer, keeping quiet it’s perfectly fine. This is what we call the case study method

Yes, the Harvard business school has put it to use for many years now very successfully.

I guess it is validated once it happens in Havard ! J

So the Vetal keeps asking questions and Vikramaditya being a very wise king is able to answer all the questions. So for 24 times the stories are told, 24 times the questions are asked and 24 times the answer is given, and all 24 times the Vetal flies back; much to the exasperation of Vikramaditya. Vikramaditya has to go back and recollect the Vetal and then go through the whole process of storytelling again.

It is a cyclic, boring thing. It is like that sales cycle. Every month at the business plan meeting you hear the some story, questions are asked and you reply them and cycle repeats next month. It is horrible. You want the liberation from that.

Finally the 25th time Vikramaditya is unable to answer the question.

He genuinely does not know, because if he would have known the answer, his head would have split into 1,000 pieces.

Vikramaditya heaves a sigh of relief. Now I have got the ghost and I take him back to the sorcerer. The ghost laughs, a typically Hindi film laugh. He says what a foolish man you are? Do you realize every time you answer the question you were saving your own life? The fact that you cannot answer the question means now you are in trouble. The moment you will take me to the sorcerer, he is going to bottle me and turn me into a genie. I will be very powerful genie and the first thing I will be asked to do is to kill you.

So, all the time when you were problem solving and you were getting irritated by that you didn’t realize that that is the only reason you are king. You exist to answer questions. You only matter when you solve problems. So you should welcome problems, rather than saying, ‘Oh I don’t want problems in life. If there are no problems, then what is the use of a king?

It is a beautiful metaphor, because the day the problems go away your utility as a king reduces to nothing.

The Smashshan Bhoomi, the cremation ground, where the ghosts exists,  is the training room. No business happens there. It is a cremation ground and the trainer or the facilitator or the Guru, whatever be his role, the Vetal has nothing to gain by the training. He is paid for it anyway. If it is a good training or a bad reading, whoever gains or loses from the training session is the participant. Therefore, it is the Vikramaditya who has to come to this Smashan Bhoomi. The Vetal would not come to Vikramaditya.

So, in ancient India the teachers never went to the students. They did not have the advertisements for colleges and schoolJ. If you want to study you come. If you do not want to study, then do not come. It is the student who stands to gain or lose.

You keep hearing all the time that you do not give a man a fish teach him how to catch the fish. The Indian method would be very different. They would say, no do not give a man a fish,  do not teach him how to fish either,r but inspire him to discover his own method of fishing because then

it stays. That is the teacher’s job. As he inspires the student he himself grows too. This is Saraswati Dan- the endowment of knowledge.

The essence of the discussion is that any training has to happen between an inspired trainee and an inspired trainer, so as the training result into intellectual growth of both the parties. It is not done as mandatory mundane task. It has to be performed in the spirit of making an endowment.

In our continuing journey of Devdutt Pattanaik’s TV serial Business Sutra, we will move on to the 6th episode – Measurements.

Note: The images used in this post are the irrevocable property of their respective creator. They have been taken up courtesy the internet, so as to illustrate the point under discussion.