Welcome to June, 2018 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.
The month of June is the month of anniversary of one of our most frequently visited blogs – Songs of Yore. SoY has completed 8 years this June. True to the spirit and now the tradition, the 8th Anniversary post has presented songs that are not only not heard of but have very interesting stories to go along with.
And, now, we take up the tributes in June, 2018:
Suraiya: The Last Nightingale of Bollywood – While paying the tribute to her on 89th birthday (15th June, 1929), D P Rangan has traced her biography and presented 20 of her less-heard songs.
Shyama- Sun Sun Sun Zalima – An early song where Shyama first made an impact is the second version of the main love duet, ‘Tu Mera Chand Main Teri Chandni’, from A.R. Kardar’s Dillagi (1949) starring Suraiya and Shyam. The original version was filmed on the stars, but this version on Shyama voiced by Geeta Dutt is less known.
Remembering Legendary Composer Vasant Desai, born as Atmaram Desai on 9th June 1912, known popularly by his nickname, Vasant Desai. His compositions in Hindi and Marathi films had their share of popularity. He has composed background scores for very unique films, like Yaadein (1964) and Achanak (1974), over and above many others like Zalzala (1952), Ferry (1954), Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Uajala (1958).
Nutan- An Actress Par Excellence – 4 June 1936 / 21 February 1991 – Nutan’s mother, and a leading actress of her times, Shobhana Samarth launched her in Hamari Beti (1950), and the rest, as is said, is history. Nutan had a song in her own voice in the film too
Tujhe Kaisa Dulha Bhaye Re Banki Dulhaniya – Hamari Beti (1950) – Snehal Bhatkar – Pt. Phani
Snehal Bhatkar – A Tribute – was born as Vasudev Bhatkar on 17th July 1919, and passed away on 29th May, 2007 in Mumbai.
[Note: We had also published a ‘Fading Memory..Unforgotten Songs’episode, Snehal Bhatkar – Hamaari Yaad Aayegi, last year.]
Rajendra Krishan-The Lyricist who gave us many Immortal Songs – born on June 6, 1919 to Parvati and Jagannath Duggal in Jalalpur Jattan of Gujarat district (now in Pakistan), Rajendra Krishna was an equal among the great contemporary stalwarts. He gave lyrics to a wide variety of songs, ranging from Ghazals to Bhajans, Geets to Nazms with great flair. His songs are simple, inventive and full of meaning.
May, 2018 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs is dedicated to Dattaram, wherein we had remembered his songs from Ab Dilli Door Nahi, Paravarish, Qaide No. 911 and Santan.
And, now the posts on other subjects:
What’s the Good Word? – On 31st May 2018, for the 11th year running, Indian kids dominated the annual championships of the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship. The winner was Karthik Nemmani. Taking the cue from this event, the post goes on enlist songs to do with words and spellings –
For Dev Anand,flirtation was an innocent pastime – Author has picked up these narratives from Dev Anand’s autobiography Romancing with Life before presenting 10 Romantic Songs of Dev Ananad.
How SD Burman missed out on a Filmfare Award for his greatest soundtrack ‘Guide’ – Anirudha Bhattacharjee & Balaji Vittal – Edited excerpts from a new
biography, S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician, of the celebrated music composer reveal the background maneuvering that denied ‘Guide’ its glory.
‘Every Song Has a Story’: In Conversation with Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal with Antara Nanda Mondal on the occasion of S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician. The writer duo talk about how their adoration for music maestros SD Burman and RD Burman, their love for music and their curiosity behind the making of those evergreen songs led them to write biographies of their idols – their challenges, discoveries, the journey and more.
The Greats: Nargis and The Many Moods of Nargis are the two key posts penned to document the author’s new found adoration of Nargis. Additionally, there are reviews of her films Lajwanti (1958), Raat aur Din (1967) and Barsaat (1949) till now in June, 2018.
Bombay in songs which are unheard and un-posted.
‘Bandits, Indian Style’ recalls the songs from movies that revolved around the Indian style dacoits. Each of the film mentioned herein also has documented the name of the actor who played the role of the dacoit too.
The Popularity Of Bollywood Songs is captured here in one song from each decade, starting with ‘30s.
Romantic, sad, a stage performance, a Mujra, and club Songs of ‘Dil Lagana’ in nearly all sorts of songs that have been presented in this post.
I Compose I Sing – ‘Aaj jaane ki zid na karo amazes not only for its unbeatably high number of people rendering it, but also in the fact that every single person who has sung it has stuck to the same original tune made in 1973.’ On that note of composition of the song, the article goes on to list a few instances of artists who sang for themselves.
Ten of my favourite dream sequence songs is a follow up post to the last month’s Ten of my favourite Khwaab/Sapna songs. And then we have Ten of my favourite ‘dreamt’ songs are the songs that are actually dreamt. People fall asleep and, in their dreams, a song plays out.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words – The idea of charming the snakes is Indian. The modus operandi of this process to charm involves swaying the snake repeatedly to hypnotize the creature. If that works, the phrase “actions speak louder than words” will find endorsement. The instrument used for the job is called been, which is a generic name, the specific one being pungi. Kalyanji (Anandji) Shah decided to play an early French synthesizer called clavioline to simulate the pungi’s sounds, initially in Naag Panchmi (1953, Music: Chitragupt, Lyrics: G S Nepali). The key song here was the Asha Bhosle-rendered “O Naag Kaheen Ja Basiyo Re”.
Hindi songs with Sapera (Been) Dhun – The first Sapera based Hindi films was ‘Sapera’ in 1939. We have not been able to get a song from it with the Been dhun.
The dancing girl, the king and the nation begins with a narrative review of 
Amrapali (1966) and Vyjayantimala’s enactment of eponymous heroine who is a performer, dancing for the pleasure of others as well as for self-expression. The post then goes on to introduce Ruth Vanita’s book Dancing with Nation. The book examines the cultural importance of the Hindi-film courtesan (a word used to cover such designations as nartaki, devdasi and tawaif – all terms with subtle differences in meaning, which have experienced semantic shifts over time).
We have commenced Micro View of Best songs of 1947: And the winners are? with male solo songs of Other Male Singers and concluded micro review of male solo songs with MY Top Male Solo Songs. We have then continued with micro view of female solo songs, wherein till now we have covered solo songs of Suraiya and Geeta Roy.
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.
Tune Teri Nazar Ne Kafir Bana Diya – Fariyad (1964) – With Mubarak Begum – Snehal Bhatkar – Kedar Sharma
Gori Kar Le Tu Aaj Singar – Inasaniyat (1955) – C Ramchandra – Rajinder Krishna
Dilbar Dilbar Hayya Habi O Dilbar – Aao Pyar Karein (1964) – Usha Khanna – Rajender Krishna
I earnestly seek your suggestions / inputs / criticisms so as to make our Film Blog Festival more interesting and live.
The world is too small? or Is it? 