April 26, 2020 – The world is too small? or Is it?

Welcome to April 2020 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

April was the month of COVID-19 induced nation-wide lockdown. So here are two posts on the subject:

Lockdown Lyrics: Songs for Covid-19 Times is a bunch of upbeat songs that, in some way or the other, relate to this lockdown. Enjoy!

Here a few representative ones :

Lipstick lagaanewaale – Shrimatiji, (1952) – Shamshad Begum – Jimmy – Raja Mahendi Ali Khan
Ek roz hamaari bhi daal galegi – Bandi, (1957) – Kishore Kumar – Hemant Kumar – Rajinder Krishna

My Favourites: Songs of Sickness looks at the songs that have the medical interpretations of the lyrics that would make for some interesting illnesses, e.g.

Chhuo Na Chhuo Na Alabele Mere Saiyan – Honeymoon (1960)- Sabita Banerjee, Mukesh – Salil Chowdhury – Shailendra

.“Guide, The Film: Perspectives” – Lata Jagtiani & Other Writers | Blue Pencil, New Delhi, 2019 | ISBN: 978-81-939555-2-9 – review is a good by-product of COVID-19 lockdown. A quote by RK Narayan, pointedly mentioned in the post, has all the more relevance in these times – loneliness is the only truth in life. The post also adds a very perceptive conclusion that “Marco discards Rosie, who, in turn, discards Raju, and, finally, Raju discards the physical world to self-actualise”, because there is room for only one at the peak of self-actualisation.

And then there is one for the children too, in the form of a list of some of the best children’s movies @ CHILDREN’S MOVIES TO SEE DURING LOCKDOWN

We pick up other tributes and memories:

The immortal voice: The echoing memories of KL Saigal on his birth anniversary – Sharad Dutt offers a tribute to KL Saigal on his 116th birth anniversary (4 April 1904 to 18 January 1947). A film career that merely lasted fifteen years (1932-1946), K L SAigal performed in just about 36 films and rendered about 185 songs in Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Punjabi, Bangla and Tamil, thus proving the dictum that it’s not the extensiveness but the intensity of those renderings that bequeaths the mantle of immortality.

[N.B. – For those who would like to know more about Sharad Dutt , here is Guftagoo with Sharad Dutt. Sharad Dutt has authored a national award winning book, Kundan: Saigal’s Life and Music, which has a treasure of archival records, rare photographs and posters of Saigal’s films.]

Versatile musical genius – Kamal Dasgupta – Sharad Dutt – With a career of about fourteen years, Dasgupta have approximately 8,000 songs under his belt including 80 Bengali movies – his unique contribution was the invention of a shorthand method for swaralipi

Anuradha, or the musical genius of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Lata Mangeshkar and Shailendra – Music is in every frame of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film, and the soundtrack is the kind that stays in one’s head for a long time. Anuradha won the National Award for the Best Feature Film and was nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. To mark the 100^th birth anniversary of Pt. Ravi Shankar, it would be fittingly appropriate to spend time with the music of Anuradha.

Veteran Actress Nimmi No More – Yesteryear actress Nimmi (a.k.a. Nawab Banoo) breathed her last on 26^th March, 2020 evening in Mumbai. She was 88 years old.

We have two posts in a homage to the career of Nimmi –

Ten of my favourite Nimmi songs is a tribute to this beautiful actress in the form of some peppy, some heart-wrenching, some of very deep love or some of sheer despair songs.
The Greats: Nimmi takes a look at her some notable roles.

The isolation of Bhuvan Shome is all too real in a time of social distancing – The thing about Bhuvan Shome is that actually, very little happens. In terms of its actual plot, the 96-minute Hindi movie, adapted from a Bengali story by Banaphool, could easily be a 20-minute short film. But then it wouldn’t be the classic it is, the movie that pioneered an entire cinematic movement. As a tribute to Utpal Dutt’s 91st birth anniversary, watch Bhuvan Shome not only for the pioneering example of cinema it is, but also for its strangely beautiful depiction of a different kind of loneliness.

Ranjit Chowdhry (1955-2020): ‘Khoobsurat’ and ‘The Office’ actor dies at 65 – Across three decades, Chowdhry worked with Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Mira Nair, and Deepa Mehta.He passed away in Mimbai 0n 15-4-2020

Ranjit Chowdhry in Last Holiday (2006). | Paramount Pictures

Johnny Walker: Comedy’s Humane Face – Johnny Walker (a.k.a. Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi) worked under a strict self-imposed regimen as to his demeanour. He was never loud. He never took recourse to slapstick and was never vulgar. He became another name for comedy in Hindi cinema. And if there were ever an idol to symbolize mirth and laughter, it would not be surprising if it resembles Johnny Walker in appearance.

Remembering Satyajit Ray: The Rare Master of All Trades – Though the world chiefly knows him as the creator of some of the most elegant films ever made, he was also a multi-talented mind.

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

Jawani Diwani was candyfloss Bollywood, but it turned many stereotypes on their head – To mark Balraj Sahni’s death anniversary (13-04-1973), here’s a throwback to Jawani Diwani, a movie that he is not known for, but that would be poorer without him. it is his character upon whom the wheel of Jawani Diwani turns. His is not the lead role, but it is the one that makes the gossamer-thin plot move forward, and he plays it with the restraint and dignity we all know him for.

In our Manna Dey birth centenary series, after Manna Dey and his contemporary lead actors, we have taken up the last of Manna Dey’s Comedy Songs. For Mehmood

March 2020 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Hasrat Jaipuri – Beyond Shankar Jaikishan: 1958. Till now, we have covered :

The songs from 1950 to 1953 in 2017,

The songs from 1953 to 1955. In 2018, and

The songs from1956 -1957 in 2019

We will now take up the articles on other subjects:

Amar Prem tells the story of relationships that have no name but the power to break hearts – Not Shakti Samanta, Rajesh Khanna or Sharmila Tagore — it was Anand Bakshi’s lyrics that gave this movie its soul.

Baaja that was Harmonium that was Music – Indian music has a history of a strange love-hate relationship with the harmonium. The present post presents songs which has visually appealing presence of Harmonium. I have picked up one song from this post here:

Main to chanda si gori naar – Sawan Aya Re (1949) – Shamshad Begum – Khemchand Prakash – ‘Gulshan’ Jalalabadi

‘Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya’ – Filmistan Studio – It as a banner which with its wonderful music based high quality movies mesmerized its viewers leaving an indelible imprint on their minds. It was this banner which gave us ace composers like S D Burman(Shikari, 1946) and Hemant Kumar (Anand Math, 1952) and well-known producer-director like Subodh Mukherjee. The beautiful and bubbly actress of the 1950s, Shyama had also made her debut as a heroine under this banner. Hindi Cinema’s first totally western music inspired song – Aana Meri Jaan Meri Jaan Sunday Ke Sunday – was also made under this banner.

Revisiting ‘Yehi Sach Hai’, the short story that inspired ‘Rajnigandha’ – books to film – Nirupama Kotru – Manu Bhandari’s Yehi Sach Hai was published in 1966. Basu Chatterjee’s Rajnigandha, the 1974 movie based on Yehi Sachi Hai, waters down some of Bhandari’s more radical ideas, while retaining its core themes – a woman’s romantic dilemma, and her quest for a well-paying job.

A Rivière of Asha Bhosle – S D Burman Gems- Her transformation from Geeta-esque Asha to a complete playback singer with her own adaptable style is clearly seen under the baton of S D Burman. E.g.. Dil Ki Manzil Kuchh Aisi Hai Manzil – Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963) – S D Burman – Hasrat Jaipuri

How film composers have used raag Maand to express love and longing – In Hindi cinema, both SD Burman (Piya Tose Naina Laage Re, Guide, 1965) and Naushad (Bachpan Ki Mohabbat – Baiju Bawra, 1952) picked Maand for situations that expressed passion.

We end the post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi, each one of which basically has a link with the topics discussed in the present post, we have picked up:

Jaane Kahan Gayee Dil Mera Le Gayi Woh – Dil Apna Aur Pree Paaryi (1960) – Mohammad Rafi – Shankar Jiakishan – Shailendra

Phir Teri Yaad Naye Geet Sunane Aayee – Bekhabar (1964) – S Mohinder – Raja Mahendi Ali Khan

O Lakshmi O Sarsu O Sheela O Rajni… Dekho Kya Kay Laya Ye Mausam Is Bar – Kahin Aur Chal (1965) [Unreleased] – Shankar Jaikishan – Hasrat Jaipuri

Hame Pyar Karne Na Dega Zamana, Agar Ho Sake To Mujhe Bhul Jana – Pyar Ki Baazi (1967) – with Geeta Dutt – Jimmy – Indeevar

I look forward to your inputs to enrich the contents of Carnival of Blogs on 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.