Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – February, 2021

Welcome to February 2021 edition of IX^th Volume of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We pay tributes to:

Alvida, In Memory: Bollyviewer, with a very heavy heart, to Bollyviewer, who blogged at Old is Gold, and then at Masala Punch, since 2008.

Rajiv Kapoor, actor in ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ and director of ‘Prem Granth’, who passed way at the age of 58. He gave up acting in 1990, to focus on directing the home production Prem Granth in 1996 and producing Aa Ab Laut Chalenin 1999.

We now move on to other tributes and memories:

Kamal Swaroop on Mani Kaul: ‘A visionary and ahead of his time’ – As ‘Ashad Ka Ek Din’ turns 50, it’s time to revisit Mani Kaul’s transcendental cinema and painterly minimalism.

Mani Kaul during the shoot of Ahmaq (Idiot) in the early 1990s. Photo by Lalita Krishna.

The Greats: Pran – More often than not, he was the suave villain, clad in the gentleman’s clothing, the one who schemes to get his hands on the hero’s wealth or the hero’s girlfriend, or both. The post reminisces some of his best performances.

Nutan the poet is not known to many. The soft, sensitive poet called Nutan was far more beautiful. This poet would constantly observe the world with a keen eye. She used to make an effort to capture the life experience in words. In these efforts subconsciously she used to dwell in the spiritual world.

Remembering Madhubala, Bollywood’s Very Own Marilyn Monroe – Khalid Mohamed pays tribute to Madhubala’s incandescent performances and tragic life.

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

February 2021 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Talat Mahmood: Duets with Geeta Dutt: A Rare Blend of Velvety Voice with Mellifluous Tone. To commemorate the memory of Talat Mahmood in the month of his birth runs the theme of his rare duets. Till now, this has been covered-

In 2017, an overview of Talat Mahmood’s duets receding from the memory.

In 2018, Talat Mahmood’s duets with rare co-singers,

In 2019, Talat Mahmood’s duets with Mubarak Begum and with Madhubala Jhaveri, and

In 2020, Talat Mahmood’s duets with Geeta Dutt, essentially from 1950 to 1952.

We will now take up the articles on other subjects:

How 22-year-old Vijay Anand dug in his heels to make his first film ‘Nau Do Gyarah’ – Anitaa Padhye – The film paved the way for Dev’s light comedies in the future, with songs taking the story forward. Goldie had become famous with his very first movie.The article is excerpted with permission from Goldie – The Man and His Movies, Anitaa Padhye, translated by Vikrant Pande, Amaryllis.

My Favourites: Songs About Gender Wars – Songs there are aplenty that extol the virtues of a ‘good’ woman. But here are some that fall in the category of nok-jhonk songs that run the gamut of emotions – the flirtatious, the teasing, even fighting to sell their wares – the battle is being waged for better or for verse. For example – Aji biwi ko ghar pe bithlaa ke – Minister (1959) – Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi – C Ramchandra – Rajinder Krishan.

Songs of Stairs is a corollary to post on Terrace songs in two parts. An example of the typical song on the subject is Kahin Pe Nigahen Kahin Pe Nishana – C.I.D (1956) – Shamshad Begum – O.P.Nayyar- Majrooh Sultanpur. This is a song where the stairs have a completely different role to play. The post also refers to two other interesting articles – F ilm flashback: How the staircase played a starring role in Indian cinema (chronicling the thoughts of the legendary archivist P.K. Nair) and Stairway to Accessibility: the History and Symbolism of Stairs (by The Industrial Historian).

Songs of Raja-Rani are delightful because they are history-neutral and status-neutral.

A Little About Tabla Master Zakir Hussain and His Kathak-Dancing Wife, Antonia Minnecola (who studied with Sitara Devi for three decades) – The post has two rare YT clips: Kathak Dance By Antonia Minnecola Ustad Zakir Hussain Peter Van Gelder (sitar) @ Basant Bahar Concert 1987 Berkeley California and Zakir Hussain – Kathak

Romancing the Stranger – Hindi films have Romancing the ‘Pardesi’ songs. However, one can be ‘ajnabi’ to someone with whom one has lived under the same roof for years. Nay, one can even be ajnabi to oneself

दो सहेलियाँ is a different subset of female duets that were picturised on two actresses, generally friends, one a lead actress and the other her friend, but those were not dance numbers. The list follows the rules – Stage performances, Street performances won’t be part of it. The lyrics should be directly addressed and not suggestive. For example, Dil Le Gaya Ji Koi Dil Le Gaya – Sanam (1950) – Suraiya & Shamshad Begum / Husnalal Bhagatram – Qamar Jalalabadi and Sharmake Zara Ae Mast Ada – Aladdin Aur Jadui Chirag (1952) Shamshad Begum & Asha Bhosle – S N Tripathi – Anjum Jaipuri

The lesser heard romantic duets of Manna Dey is the second and final part of the post, featuring lesser known light hearted romantic duets sung by Manna Dey with Suman Kalyanpur, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Sudha Malhotra. The first part dwelt on Manna Dey’s romantic duets with the Mangeshkar sisters – Lata, Asha and Usha

In the Micro View of Songs of 1945 we have carried forward the micro view of duet songs in the form of Duets of Vintage Era (Male+) Singers, Part 1 and Part 2 and Female-Female Duets (+) to sum up with MY TOP duet songs.

All the episodes of Micro View of Duet Songs for 1945 @SoY can be read / downloaded from one file, by clicking on the hyper-link…

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.

Unse Rippi Tippi Ho Gayi.. Yaane Baat Pakki Ho Gayi – Agra Road (1957) – with Geeta Dutt – Roshan – Prem Dhawan

Duniya Ki Nazar Hai Buri Zulfien Na Sawara Karo – Agra Road (1957) – with Geeta Dutt – Roshan – Prem Dhawan

Masti Mein Chhed Ke Taran Koi Pyar Ka – Haqueequat (1964) – Madan Mohan – Kaifi Azmi

O Lakshmi, O Sarsu, O Sheela – Kahin Le Chal (1968) (UR) – Shankar Jaikishan – Shailendra

Doobte Huye Dil Ko Tinke Ka Sahara Bhi Nahi – Kahin Le Chal (1968) (UR) – Shankar Jaikishan – Hasrat Jaipuri

Shokh Ankhe … Dekh Kar Surat Pe Pyar Aa Hi Gaya – Kahin Le Chal (1968) (UR) – with Asha Bhosle – Shankar Jaikishan – Hasrat Jaipuri

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

Author: ASHOK M VAISHNAV

In July 2011, I opted to retire from my active career as a practicing management professional. In the 38 years that I pursued this career, I had opportunity to work in diverse capacities, in small-to-medium-to-large engineering companies. Whether I was setting up Greenfield projects or Brownfield projects, nurturing the new start-ups or accelerating the stabilized unit to a next phase growth, I had many more occasions to take the paths uncharted. The life then was so challenging! One of the biggest casualty in that phase was my disregards towards my hobbies - Be with The Family, Enjoy Music form Films of 1940s to mid-1970s period, write on whatever I liked to read, pursue amateur photography and indulge in solving the chess problems. So I commenced my Second Innings to focus on this area of my life as the primary occupation. At the end of four years, I am now quite a regular blogger. I have been able to build a few very strong pen-relationships. I maintain contact with 38-years of my First Innings as freelance trainer and process facilitator. And yet, The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. View all posts by ASHOK M VAISHNAV