May 26, 2019 – The world is too small? or Is it?

Welcome to May 2019 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We have two distinctive themes as the lead article – birth centenary of Manna Dey and 50 years of ‘parallel Cinema.

Manna Dey – Birth Centenary

- - Unknown facets of singer extraordinaire Manna Dey – Debolina Sen – On the legendary singer’s birth centenary today, top musicians talk about the soul connect they shared with the man with a big heart and a golden voice.
  - On Manna Dey’s 100th Birth Anniversary, Here are 5 Iconic Tracks by the Singer – From Aye Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo to Ek Chatur Naar, Manna Dey showed off his versatility as a singer in about 4000 songs in multiple languages.
  - On Manna Dey’s 100th Birth Anniversary, a Look Back at His Journey – ANIRUDHA BHATTACHARJEE and BALAJI VITTAL – Satyajit Ray, in an article discussing the limitations of Hindi film music, had mentioned that listeners would be “more shocked than surprised if they were made to hear a voice outside a coveted set of six singers”. Maybe six was just an empirical number he had in mind, but throughout his career, Manna certainly was not one of the six when the requirement was singing for the lead actor. He was always the seventh, in the role of a specialist.
  - Manna Dey Diary – On Manna Dey’s birth centenary, a diary about the legendary singer by Ranjan Das Gupta
  - Ten of my favourite Manna Dey duets presents a bouquet of Manna Dey’s duets with different singers.
  - Manna Dey – Balraj Sahni – Giants In Their Field – have weaved an eternal story which makes us the on-way street of Kaun Kahe Is Aur Tu Aye Na Aye.

Fifty years of Hindi Parallel Cinema

- - - Fifty years of Hindi alternative cinema – Uday Bhatia, Jai Arjun Singh – In 1969, three films signaled the start of Hindi-language Parallel Cinema. To mark the half-century, the article has collated a selection of 50 films, one for each of the last 50 years, which are notably influential, obscure or under-appreciated., from the arthouse, experimental, indie, Parallel and Middle Cinema movements
    - The sounds of Parallel Cinema – Salil Tripathi – Music and sound design played a huge part in the alternative Hindi cinema of the 1970s – Directors turned to composers like Vijay Raghav Rao, Vanraj Bhatia and Rajat Dholakia for innovative soundscapes…Songs allowed for playful innovations. In filming the delightful song Paanch Lakh Ki Gadi, Saeed Mirza used an extended long shot in Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai (1980), as Naseeruddin Shah and other motor mechanics tinkered with an expensive jalopy. The song is filmed in a single shot, as if paying homage to Hitchcock, whose Rope (1948) was filmed to seem as if it was a single shot.

- - - The varied aesthetics of the Indian New Wave – Omar Ahmed – Parallel Cinema directors didn’t adhere to any one particular style….Instead, they used everything from neorealism to agitprop to avant-garde to tell their stories
    - The sari’s alternative screen test

In 2017, Azmi tweeted a photograph from a Cannes visit in 1976—of her and Smita Patil in saris, draped two different ways.

Continuing with the homage to Shamshad Begum, Shamshad sings with Mangeshkar sisters remembers duets and triads, e.g. Khushiyan Na Manaae Kyon Hum.. Kismat Hamare Saath Hai….– Khidaki (1948) – with Lata Mangeshkar and Mohantara Talpade – C Ramchandra – PL Santoshi

Ten of my favourite Kaifi Azmi songs is a chosen list of some of Kaifi Azmi’s timeless songs.

The Unrivaled Poet Kaifi Azmi- Part I lists his songs composed by Khayyam, Hemant Kumar and Madan Mohan and Part II lists his songs with all other composers. I have taken one illustrative song from each one –

Sara Mora Kajra Chhudaya- Do Dil (1965) – Mohammad Rafi & Aarti Mukherji / Music – Hemant Kumar

Baithe Hai Rehguzar Par – 40 Days (1959) – Asha Bhosle / Music – Babul

Nazir Hoosein ensured that at Mumbai’s Liberty Cinema, the show never stopped – A tribute to the doughty owner of Liberty Cinema, Mumbai’s Art Deco gem.

The premiere of Andaz in 1949. Photo courtesy Nazir Hoosein and Karl Bhote

Romancing the Reel: Vijay Bhatt – Legendary director-producer Vijay Bhatt, the founder of Prakash Pictures, a film production company and Prakash Studios in Mumbai, had launched some of the most illustrious names in Hindi film industry. SMM Ausaja pays tribute to this illustrious filmmaker with a journey through his life and works on his birth anniversary, embellished with a collection of rare pictures courtesy Osianama.

Shailendra Sharma @ Golden Era of Bollywood has posted following memorial tribute posts:

Remembering Kedar Sharma is a tribute to Kedar Sharma, on his 20th Death Anniversary.

“Shamma Pe Aake O Parwane Jal Jal” – Heera Sawant – Heera Sawant was not only an excellent dancer but also an adept actress. She made her debut in Hindi films in 1940s, made her emphatic presence felt in around 120 films over two decades, produced a few films and with the changing times bid adieu to the arc lights of the film world.

May, 2019 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up. Manna Dey – Chale Jaa Rahein Hai…. : 1947 – 1950. This in continuation to the previous article in 2018 wherein we had covered Manna Dey’s songs for the year 1943 to 1946.

And, now commence the posts on other subjects.

Chorus Songs in the Hindi Films of Yore – In the first part of her three-part dissertation on chorus songs in the films of yore, the guest author, Shalan Lal covered the first decade of the 1930s. The second part, dealing with the second decade of the 1940s, and chorus songs from this era, gives a good insight into the main trends during this period and style of music.

Romancing The Letters – Khat, Chitthi and Sandesh Songs is a collection of Hindi songs which narrate a story through the wonderful, romantic mode of communication.

Doris Day sang ‘Que Sera Sera’ – and so did Telugu star Bhanumathi – Sriram V – How Indian filmmakers reused the famous tune from Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense thriller ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ (1956).

Doris Day sings Que Sera Sera in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).

Chinna Pennana Pothile, Aaravalli (1957)

Que Sera Sera in the Telugu film Thodu Needa (1965).

On ‘Main Shayar toh Nahin: The Book of Hindi Film Lyricists’ by Ravishankar presents Hindi-film lyrics and lyricists from the 1930s to the present day. Main Shayar Toh Nahin isn’t a book you will read for the quality of the writing, or for a cleanly structured approach: it makes random leaps, there are patches of repetition. But by the time you reach the last page, you feel better-educated about a subject that had been something of a mystery to most of

Following the overview article, Best songs of 1946: And the winners are?. , we have also rolled out The Micro View of Best Songs of 1946, beginning with Male Solo songs. We have covered Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey, G M Durrani and Ashok Kumar till now.

Now we post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi, each one of which basically has a link with the topics discussed in the present post.

Tera Husn Rahe Mera Ishq Rahe – Do Dil (1965) – Hemant Kumar – Kaifi Azmi

Arre Hasanewale, Kabhi Ye Bhi Socho – Parwana (1971) – Madan Mohan – Kaifi Azmi

Chalate Hi Jaana Chalate Hi Jaana Jahan Tak Aaj Ye Raah Chale – Usne Kaha Tha (1961) – With Manna Dey – Salil Chaudhary – Shailendra

I earnestly solicit your inputs for further broad-basing our cache for the content for our carnival of blogs on the Golden Era of Hindi film music.

Disclaimer: This monthly series of posts is my best-effort-based compilation of posts on Hindi film songs that I normally visit regularly. As I record my sincere thanks to all the original creators of these posts, any other posts that I have nor covered herein shows my lack of awareness of existence of such posts and is by no means any disrespect to their work. The copyrights to the posts, images and video clips remain the properties of the original creators.