December 27, 2020 – The world is too small? or Is it?

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

After a long time, we have the merciful opportunity to commence our posts with other tributes and memories:

Mera Naam Joker – 50 Years Ago – On the 50th Anniversary of the release of Raj Kapoor’s magnum opus, Mera Naam Joker, Sundeep Pahwa looks back with memories at the film that didn’t cut ice at the box-office then but is today much talked about.

The Masters: Shailendra remembers some of his songs on his death anniversary on 14^th December.

Jaddanbai of vision and resilience – Sharad Dutt – In the early talkies era, Jaddanbai played a pioneering role — started off as an actress, became one of the first women producers, directed films and even composed music. Jaddanbai’s (a.k.a. Jaddanbai Hussain (1892 – 8 April 1949) entry in the films happened when she joined Playart Photophone Company (Lahore) and acted in Raja Gopichand (1933).

Ae Ishq Te Sab Duniya wale Bekar Ki Baatein Karate Hai – Sheela Dalaya – Shishir Kumar Sharma -The line is from the song that was filmed on Sheela Dalaya in Mughal=e-Azam (1960), wherein she played the role of Anarkali’s younger sister, Suraiya.

N Datta-Rafi: When they meet it is GOLD – Hans Jakhar as a tribute to N Datta (12 December 1927 – 30 December 1987) on his 93rd birth anniversary with his songs for Mohammad Rafi

Salam e Hasrat Qabool Kar Lo – Sudha Malhotra – Akahri Paigam (1949) is technically her maiden film wherein her duet with Umadevi a indeed very pleasant song.

Hemant Kumar’s Non-film Songs is the concluding link of the Hemant Kumar Centenary celebrations,

Her own knight and her own saviour: Celebrating Sharmila Tagore’s quiet feminism – Shweta Bansal – The multidimensional actor has bucked the film industry’s expectations from heroines and defied society’s unwritten rules…Sharmila Tagore’s filmography is a modest reminder of her accomplishments and versatility and support for diversity. It is also a testimony to her complete ease at accepting her womanhood and relishing every aspect of it.

Millennials Review Classics: Of Genetics & Nepotism In ‘Aradhana’ and it coincidentally stars Sharmila Tagore. – Avinash Iyer 31, watched the 1969 classic Aradhana for the first time.

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

December 2020 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Mohammad Rafi’s First Solo Song With The Music Director: 1967-1969 as the concluding post of the series the solo song of Mohammad Rafi from the first film with the music director. Till now we have covered

1^st Five-Year Period: 1944 -1948 ,
2^nd Five-Year Period: 1949-1953,
3^rd Five-Year Period: 1954 – 1958.
4^th Five-Year Period: 1959-1963, and

The First Part of the years 1964 – 1966 for the present 5^th Six-Year Period

All six parts of the series Mohammad Rafi’s First Solo Song With The Music Director can be read / downloaded as one file by clicking on the hyperlink.

All episodes of Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs, from January 2020 to December 2020 can be read / downloaded by clicking on Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs 2020.

We will now take up the articles on other subjects:

Tawaifs and Baijis, Wenches and Whores… – Ratnottama Sengupta – In Mistress of Melodies, Nabendu Ghosh traverses the streets of the ever-changing city of Calcutta to tell the stories of women—courtesans and those who engaged in sex-work—across generations….Silhouette presents an extensive version of Ratnottama Sengupta’s Editor’s Note in the recently released book, which explores the world of the “fallen woman” and how these women have been looked at by writers and filmmakers, along with the author’s own perceptions about her father Nabendu Ghosh’s works.

Jai Kisan! Ten of my favourite ‘farmer’ songs is a list of songs that are picturized on characters who are farmers or farm workers, singing about farming or some aspect of agriculture, the land, of what life means to them, etc.

Shalom Bollywood (2017) and some of the great old songs and dances sampled there– Shalom Bollywood is the much-touted documentary on the Jewish stars (or a handful of them, anyway) who entered Hindi cinema between the 1920s and the early ’50s. Shalom Bollywood has glimpses of some of the best song sequences that most of these stars were in

Hero introduces himself! are the songs that the hero of the films sings on his first appearance on the screen, or sometimes during the early minutes of the film, explaining his philosophy of life. The songs used to establish his character in the movie and made it easier for the viewers to understand.

Songs of Defiance are those where there is defiance, where there is cocking a snook at the world and not caring about what it feels. These songs are about living in the same world but on one’s own terms. The message is that the world/society should mind its own business and not interfere in others’ personal choices or relationships. It may please be noted that the songs where the almighty is being beckoned to help while defying the world such as Bedard Zamaana Tera Dushman (Mehndi, 1958) have been excluded. In the songs listed here, there is no attempt to seek divine support or intervention while throwing down the gauntlet.

In the Micro View of Songs of 1945 we have carried forward the micro view of solo songs of Female singers – now in the form of Noor Jehan, Khursheed | Kanan Devi

In continuation to our 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. Sanjeev Rambhadran has conceived a series – Sanjeev Ramabhadran Remembers Mohd. Rafi – of 40 days, 40 songs, 40 music directors to commemorate 40 years of Mohammad Rafi’s passing away. We had covered five representative songs of the first 20 songs in our July, 2020 episode. Presently, we take up five songs from next 20 songs –

Chhod Ke Teri Duniya Ham Jaa RahaiN Hai – Mirza Sahiban (1957) – Sardul Kwatra

Mere Liye To Bas Wohi Pal Hai Haseen Bahar Ke – NFS – Shyam Sharma

Medley of songs – N Datta

Oi Dur Diganto Pare – Bengali NFS (1958) – Vinod Chatterjee

Uth Gaya Mere Sapno Ka Dera – Pyar Ki Daastan 1961 – Nashad

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.

With Best Wishes for a musically sweet 2021…..

The episodes of January 2020 to December 2020 have been compiled as one file @ Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music, 2020 and can be read / downloaded by clicking on the hyperlink.