October 25, 2020 – The world is too small? or Is it?

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

We first pay our tributes to Kaumudi Mushi and Bhanu Athaiya

At 93, ‘Nightingale of Gujarat’ passes away – Kaumudi Munshi passed away in the early hours of 13-10-2020.

Here is her Hind fim song in her memory

Kaajal Kaari Raat Hai – Teen Tasveerein (1954) – Music: Neenu Mazumdar – Lyrics: Prem Dhawan

India’s First Oscar Winner, Costume Designer Bhanu Athaiya Passes Away on 15-10-2020 – In a career spanning five decades and over 100 films, she won two National Awards, for Gulzar’s mystery drama Lekin (1990) and the period film Lagaan directed by Ashutosh Gowariker (2001).

We pick up other tributes and memories:

Ashok Kumar – The First Superstar of the Indian Talkie is tribute to Ashok Kumar by SMM Ausaja

More to read : Ashok Kumar: A Colossus of Indian Cinema

Smita Patil in Aakhir Kyon? is an example of how art and mainstream films aren’t so far apart – Directed by J. Om Prakash, the film, also starring Rajesh Khanna, Rakesh Roshan and Tina Munim, was one of Smita Patil’s early forays into mainstream Hindi cinema.

The Master of Simplicity is the review of the book Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman (Blue Pencil, 2018; ISBN: 9788193955505; 437 pages; Rs 599)

Dev Anand’s Musical Journey – tracking the music directors who embellished the evergreen hero Dev Anand’s films with timeless songs down the years, Peeyush Sharma looks at a mix of superhits and some lesser known films in a tribute to the icon on his birth anniversary.

Vinod Khanna’s Achanak is a philosophical look at the duty of medical and legal professionals – Written and directed by Gulzar, Achanak takes off from the sensational Nanavati case that was India’s first brush with a media trial and a high-profile crime of passion.

In continuation of the Hemant Kumar Centenary celebrations, Mehfil Mein Meri has remembered My favourite ‘Lata – Hemant Kumar duets’ and The Songspedia has Aditi Thakur’s In The Composers’ Voice – 8: Hemant Kumar..

Daag, Yash Chopra’s debut as producer, broke the mould with its shades of bigamy – Starring Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee, the film was a daring choice for Yash Raj Films to debut with, but its massive success made it a risk worth taking.

On her 66^th birthday, The Divas: Rekha recapitulates metamorphosis of Rekha from a dark gawky teenager with puppy fat – she was barely 15 when she debuted in Sawan Bhadon (1970) – to the svelte, polished, sophisticated ‘Rekha’ who straddled crass commercial cinema and artistic parallel cinema.

Rekha – The Essence of a Woman is not about perfection; it is about carrying your imperfections with grace and being unapologetic about it to herself. It is also about defying the definitions given to her by society. Living out of the shell and growing in abundance. Rekha certainly lived out of the shell all her life. Facing challenges right from her birth, the svelte diva went on to become the queen.

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

Feroz Khan’s Qurbani is stylish and sexy and doesn’t take itself too seriously – A high-octane action flick starring Feroz Khan, Zeenat Aman and Vinod Khanna, Qurbani was a smash hit in 1980 and is great fun even today.

Asha Bhosle interview: ‘Machines can fix a voice, but can they give emotion?’ – Devarsi Ghosh – Asha Bhosle talks about her YouTube adventures, seven-decade career, and SP Balasubrahmanyam.

October 2020 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Shankar- (Jaikishan) and Shailendra’s Songs Fading From the Memory: 1954 . Till now, we have covered the years

1949 – 1953 in 2018
1953 (Continued) in 2019.

We will now take up the articles on other subjects:

Salt, pepper and foods presents the menu of some songs based on food items to celebrate the World Food Day (to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agricultura Organisation under UNO on 16 October 1945, and to wish the FAO all the best on its 75th Anniversary).

Returning to the Wonderful Vajifdar Sisters– The song Ye Barkah Bahar (Mayur Pankh, 1954 – Lata Mangehskar, Asha Bhosle- Shankar Jaikishan – Shailendra) has Roshan and Khurshid Vajifdar as performers on the screen and was choreographed by Shirin Vajifdar. Thus, bringing in all three sisters in one song.

Female Dance Duets – Part 1 and Part 2 are now followed by Part III, which has dance performed on the stage.

Song Sketch has remembered Teri Aankhon Ke Siva Duniya Mein – When The Eyes Mean The World – Chirag, and Naache Man Mora – Joie De Vivre of a Dancing Heart – Meri Surat Teri Aankhein

Seeing is believing? An essay about encounters with religious cinema is a reminder that even the most hyper-dramatic Hindi films can simply be mirrors to the hyper-drama of everyday Indian lives

In the Micro View of Songs of 1945 we have taken up solo song of Female singers – Suraiya and Shamshad Begum, after we concluded Male Solo Songs with My Top Solo Songgs. Parellely, SoY has concluded Best songs of 1945: Wrap Up 2 to adjudge Noorjehan – for her Baithi hun teri yaad ka leker ke sahara (Village Girl – Shyam Sundar – Wali Shab) – as the best singer. Amirbai Karnataki is honoured as a Distinguished Female singer of 1945.

In continuation to out tradition of ending 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. Presently, we remember a few Mohammad Rafi – Asha Bhosle duets

Ho Sake To Dil Ke Badle Dil – Alladin Aur Jadui Chiraag (1952) – wth Shamshad Begum and Chitragupta – S N Tripathi – Pandit Chand

Hello Hello Hello… – Minister (1959) – Madan Mohan – Rajinder Krishna

Mujhe Dekh Na Kudiya Mud Ke – Reporter Raju (1962) – S Mohinder – Anjaan

Pyar Ke Daman Se Lipte Ham Kahan Gaye Aaye – Char Darwesh (1964) – G S Kohli –

Dil To Pahele Hi Madhosh Hai, Matwala Hai – Baharein Phir Bhi Aayegi (1966) – O P Nayyara

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.