Tag: Bhupinder

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – Volume X – July 2022 Edition

Welcome to July 2022 edition of Xth Volume of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We pay our homages to the film personalities we lost this month.

‘Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar’ dancer Sheila Vaz was ’50s icon but Bollywood forgot to give credit – Tina Das – From ‘Ramaiya Vastavaiya’ (Shree 420, 1955) upto Ghar Aaja Ghir Aaye Badra from Chhote Nawab (1961) Sheila Vaz, who passed away on 29th June, knew how to charm audiences with performance. Today, YouTubers agree with it.

Sheela Vaz from Shree 420 (1955) | YouTube

Beete Hue Din pays tribute in the form of “Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar Bhar Ke Ankhon Me Khumar – Sheela Vaz, which is supplemented by a YT video Sheela Vaz aka Rama Lakhanpal

Ten of my favourite Sheila Vaz songs is a tribute in which she’s lip-synced to the song, from Hindi films

Bhupinder Singh: A limited-edition, classy artist – Balaji Vittal  – Celebrated for his singing talent, he was an equally accomplished guitarist. (Ref: How Bhupinder Singh blends the ghazal with the guitar – Manish Gaekwad) – Bhupinder passed away on 18 July 2022 at the age of 82.

Courtesy Pavan Jha/Twitter

We now move on to our section on tributes and celebrations for the month –

Mehfil celebrates 5th Anniversary! By continuing the series, the year-wise review of Lata Mangeshkar’s career, on Lata Mangeshkar. Presently, covered are ‘Semi Classical songs by Lata Mangeshkar’

Dilip Kumar: How the ‘first Khan’ gracefully transitioned into his second innings, created a blueprint for star-actors – Sampada Sharma – On Dilip Kumar’s death anniversary(8 July), here’s looking back at how the ‘first Khan of Bollywood’ created a blueprint for success with his second innings.

Dilip Kumar and technology: ‘What exactly is this Internet?’ –  Faisal Farooqui – An excerpt from a memoir by Faisal Farooqui, the founder of the website Mouthshut.com.

Satyadev Dubey transformed Indian theatre – but many forget his maverick film projects – Nandini Ramnath – Apart from plays, he had two short films – Aparichay ke Vindhachal (1965) and Tongue In Cheek (1968), the full-length feature ‘Shantata! Court Chaue Aahe’ and an unfinished production to his credit.

Duets (+) of Mukesh: With Male Singers are as a tribute to Mukesh on his 99th Birth Anniversary (b. July 22, 1923 – d. August 27, 1976)

Guru Dutt believed he was making ‘insubstantial’ cinema before Pyaasa, the film released him from ‘solitary confinement’ – Sampada Sharma  – On Guru Dutt’s 97th birth anniversary, here’s revisiting the time when Dutt felt like he had been let out of prison while making Pyaasa.

Vasant Desai Part 2 (post-1950s): His male singers is a follow-up post to Vasant Desai Part 1 pertaining to the vintage years (1930s and 40s),

Jana Pehchana Sa Ajanabee – Remembering lyricist, Asad Bhopali on his 101st Birthday on 10th July

Manoj Kumar understood the ‘soft power’ of patriotism in movies, how Bharat Kumar came into being – Sampada Sharma  – On Manoj Kumar’s 85th birthday, here’s recalling how he became known as Bharat Kumar in Hindi cinema.

July 2022 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Mohammad Rafi’s First Duet Song With The Music Director for the Second Five-Year Period: 1949 -1953. We had covered 1st Five-Year Period of 1944 to 1948 in the year 2021.

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

Stardust Memories – On the marriage anniversary of the legendary actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, Silhouette presents this beautifully penned piece by Taroon Coomar Bhaduri, Jaya Bahduri’s father. The article was published in the Illustrated Weekly of India, March 5, 1989.

Also to read: Jaya Bachchan: A Slot-less Act

We now move on to posts on other subjects –

Deepti Naval on her memoir: ‘It’s like watching a movie, where you’re with me’ – Nandini Ramnath – The acclaimed actor returns to her first love, writing, with ‘A Country Called Childhood’. In her memoir, A Country Called Childhood – A Memoir, Deepti Naval, Aleph Book Company, the acclaimed actor retraces her earliest film-watching experiences.

‘I’ll become a nun’— Balraj Sahni’s autograph made Deepti Naval want to be an actor –

In ‘A Country Called Childhood’, Deepti Naval talks about her interest in cinema, and experiences that pushed her to be an actress.

Balraj Sahni Autograph| A Country Called Childhood

Vintage era music relived in films to chronicle those movies/songs in which the songs of the vintage era are remembered sometimes as a tribute and sometimes are very craftily woven into the situation of the film as a parody.

‘The best student of our school’: KA Abbas on casting Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Saat Hindustani’ – K A Abbas – An excerpt from ‘Sone Chandi Ke Buth: Writings on Cinema’, by KA Abbas. Translated from the Urdu and edited by Syeda Hameed and Sukhpreet Kahlon.

In praise of a woman’s beauty is a sort of mirror image of Songs of Narcissists

Recent Musical Excursions Into Pakistan: Coke Studio; Sindhi and Punjabi Divas; Fascinating Fusion – Here is a stunning Zeb and Haniya video for the song “Dadra,”

The Mindful Songs are the songs where मन figures more in the sense of the mind.

From Bollywood Rewind – Sampada Sharma – Indian Express’s weekly column:

We have inched forward to Male Solo Songs [2] in Micro View of  1943 to conclude with MY TOP Male Songs..

In continuation to our tradition of ending the post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi that are relevant to the topics covered in the present episode, we will institute a series wherein we continue to listen to Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar’s duet with a music director for the first time in a Hindi film, every month for the rest of the 2022 –

O Gori Aankhon Mein Kajra,. Kahan Chali Kahan Chali – Kichak Vadha (1959) – Bharat Vyas – Master Krishna Rao

Teri AankhoN Ka Rang Nirala Hai – Barood (1960) –  Hasrat Jaipuri – Khayyam

Khwab Mein Kahan Miloge …. Kis Liye Ji – Bindiya (1960_ Rajinder Krishna – Iqbal Quereshi

Mera To Dil Dil Ghabraaye – Kala Aadmi (196) – Hasrat Jaipuri- Dattaram

Jhun Jhun Paayal Jhanke O Raja More Man Ke – Maya Machhindra (1960) – Keshab – Ramlal Heera Panna

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.

S D Burman and “Other” Male Playback Singers :: [3]

We are now in the last leg of our series of S D Burman composed songs in the voices of ‘Other’ Male Singers. In the first part, we had covered S D Buman’s Other Male Songs for the initial years – 1946-1949 – of his career. In the second part, we had covered the years 1950 to 1960, when S D Burman had begun to rise to the peak of his career.

Presently, we will cover the years from 1960 till the end of S D Burman’s active career in Hindi Film Music world. From ‘Pyasa’ (1957) S D Burman had predominantly shifted to Mohammad Rafi as the lead singer till he started tiling towards Kishore Kumar, beginning with ‘Teen Deviyan’ (1965), barring a few exceptions. Therefore, one can easily expect that S D Burman would have used ‘Other’ Male Singers for the non-lead protagonists in the songs that we will get to listen in this third part. And, yet, the choice of a particular ‘Other’ Male Singer still presents an interesting insight into S D Burman’s process of selecting a singer for his tunes.

S D Burman – Mahendra Kapoor

Mahendra Kapoor had to remain under the shadow of Mohammad Rafi’s dazzling success. He had had quite close association with Mohammad Rafi and did execute Rafi’s advice of creating his own style of singing, which helped him to carve out his own respectable space within the Rafi-dominated era.

Piya…Piya Bin Nahin…Aavat Chain…Mil Gaye Milnewale ..Ab Ghar Mein Baithe Kazi, Keh Do Ji Keh Do, Hai Miya Bibi Razi….. – Miya Bibi Raazi (1960) – with Asha Bhosle – Lyrics: Shailendra

The song is filmed on three pairs of actors on the screen – Mehmood and Seema Saraf (a.k.a Seema Deo);  Shrikant Guarav – who, according to Shri Arunkumar Deshmukh, is Shailesh Mukherjee, the music director of films like Suhag Sindoor (1953), Parichay (1954), Saavera(1958) and a singer (Dekha Chand Ki Aur –Aag [1949] – and Kamini Kadam and third not-known-names pair, who initiate the performance of the song in what is known as street performance style. S D Burman had used Rafi for Mehmood as well as Shailesh Mukherjee in this film, and yet, he has chosen Mahendra Kapoor for this song !

Mera Kya Sanam Meri Khushi Hai Tumhari,Are Haste Ho Jab Muskarati Hu Main – Talaash (1969) – with Asha Bhosle – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

We have jumped from 1960 to 1969 for a second of S D Burman – Mahendra Kapoor song. By this time Mahendra Kapoor had already established himself a successful lead male singer and had had sewed up strong tie-ups with B R Chopra- Ravi or with Manoj Kumar, and in fact was to replace Rafi when O P Nayyar had a tiff with Rafi. It is said that he was chosen here because of insistence of the producer, O P Ralhan, on whom this song is filmed on the screen.  Mahendra Kapoor has even been given enough space in the delivery of the song to freely practice his by-now—well-known playful style for such jazzy song.

S D Burman – S D Batish

S D (Shiv Dayal) Batish was a trained classical singer. He commenced his career in early Hindi Films as a music director, who would sing too.  He migrated to UK in 1964 where he regular recorded songs with BBC. S D Burman has used S D Batish, in two songs, in the role of the music teacher.

Poochho Na Kaise Maine Rain Bitaayee – Meri Soorat Teri Ankhen (1963) – with Manna Dey and an unknown female singer – Lyrics: Shailendra

Perhaps more known version of this song is the solo version by Manna Dey, but in this version S D Batish has played his role of a teacher quite comfortably and effortlessly.

Man Mohan Man Mein Ho Tumhi….More Ang Mein Tumhi Samaye, Jaano Na Jaano Ho Yumhi – Kaise Kahoon  (1964) – with Mohammad Rafi and SumanKalyanpur – Lyrics:  Shakeel Badayuni

This triad also remains a very well-known classical raag- based song.

S D Burman and Bhupinder

As is well-known, Bhupinder Singh debuted with playback singing in Haqeequat (1964), but it may not be equally known that he was also an accomplished guitarist. As a guitarist, he was an integral part of R D Burman’s orchestra team. That connection seems to have made the opening up a space for Bhupinder to sing for a couple of S D Burman’s songs.

Hothon Pe Aisi Baat – Jewel Thief (1967) – (mainly) Lata Mangeshakr, and chorus – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Bhupinder’s maiden association with SD Burman is simply as a piece of orchestra, a la RDB style. Film director Vijay Anand has very deftly used Bhupinder’s piece filmed on Dev Anand and lent a very different meaning to the song picturizatiion.

Yaaron Nilam Karo Susti, Hamse Udhar Le Lo Masti – Prem Pujari (1970) – with Kishore Kumar – Lyrics : Neeraj

This is what can be classified as a Jeep-genre song. Bhupinder playback sings for Anup Kumar.

S D Burman and Danny Denzongpa

Again it may be well-known that Danny Denzongpa (born Tshering Phintso Denzongpa) was a highly talented actor. But that he was a good singer is not so known. He has even directed a film, and was a good painter, writer and sculptor too.

Mera Naam Yaao, Mere Paas Aao – Yeh Gulistan Hamara (1972) – with Lata Mangeshkar – Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

S D Burman has made a very surprising choice of Danny to playback for Jonny Walker. The song had shot to good popularity in those days, and had reached 14th position in Binaca Geetmala in that year.

S D Burman and Manhar

Manhar Udhas, though qualified in mechanical engineering, was keen to make a career in music. He did succeed in the pursuit of his life goal.

Loote Koi Man Ka Nagar Ban Ke Mera Saathi – Abhimaan (1973) – with Lata Mangeshkar – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Probably, the choice of Manhar to playback for Amitabh Bachchan was to clearly demonstrate the quality of singing of the two protagonists in the film. Nonetheless, the song did stand its ground against all other songs of Abhimaan.

S D Burman – Sunil Kumar, R S Bedi

Of these two singers, I could not get any information about Sunil Kumar. R S Bedi should obviously be Rajinder Singh Bedi, a well-known writer and film director as well.

Laali Mere Laal Ki Jit Dekhoo Tit Laal, Phir Raat Hui Ek Baat Hui – Phagun (1973) – with Kishore Kumar, Pankaj Mitra – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

The song is predominantly a typical Kishore Kumar tantrum-style songs.

S D Burman – Pankaj Mitra

Pankaj Mitra has had earlier recorded an triad song  and a duet for ‘Sautela Bhai”(1962, Music: Anil Biswas) . He later on, also, has few more films like ‘Grih Pravesh (1979) or ‘Ab Ayega Maza’(1984) to his credit. He obviously has a far better and respectable track-record in Bengali films.

Saala Main To Sahab Ban Gaya – Sagina (1974) – with Kishore Kumar – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Pankaj Mitra plays back for Om Prakash in the song. This is too loud a song, at least under S D Burman’s baton. Of course, Dilip Kumar had acted in a similar loud manner earlier in ‘Gopi’ (1970) too, for a song in a similar situation.

S D Burman – Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar had recorded only one song in his own voice till now – Laagi Nahi Chhoote Ram – Musafir, 1957, with Lata Mangeshkar; Music – Salil Chaudhary).

Uparwala Dukhiyon Ki Nahin Sunata Re – Sagina (1974) – With Kishore Kumar – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultnapuri.

S D Burman has used Dilip Kumar’s voice to recite a few lines in the song.

The records do show that S D Burman has used voice of Johnny Walker and R D Burman too for a song each. But these would not be more than either speaking a line or two or as orchestration filler, respectively.

That brings the end of S D Burman’s tryst with ‘Other’ Male Singers. One may conclude that he has mostly used these voices quite creatively, in a somewhat descending order in each of the three phases that we have reviewed in this series. With that it also needs to acknowledge that except in the first phase, most of these songs were at the fringe of the main body of his work in the respective film.

N.B.

All three episodes of S D Burman and “Other” Male Playback Singers can be read in one place by clicking on the hyperlinked title.

All said and done, we are not here to pass any judgement on the songs. Our sole aim was to bring these songs on the same page for the effective documentation.

P.S. For easy access and documentation, all the three episodes are available in one file on  S D Burman and “Other” Male Playback Singers

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – April, 2016

Welcome to April, 2016 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We will commence our present episode with My Favorites: Songs of Spring. The only restrictions placed in the selection of the songs were that the lyrics should actually mention the word ‘Spring’ in any of its synonyms – Bahaar. Basant. Vasant-  and that the picturisation should show some signs of the season, even if it only means that the song is picturised outside. This is why Aaya basant hai aaya from Subhadraharan (1964) or Dekho mausam kya bahaar hai from Opera House (1961) do not make it to the list. It’s also why Ketki gulaab juhi (Basant Bahar / 1956) is missing from this list, even though the lyrics describe the season so well. Here are some of the less heard songs from this list –

  • Bahaar aayi khili kaliyan  – Alif Laila (1953) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shyam Sundar – Sahir Ludhianvi
  • Aayi bahaar hai  – Hamari Shaan (1951) -Kishore Kumar, Shamshad Begum – Chitragupt – Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
  • Din suhane mausam bahaar ka  – Poonam (1952) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shankar Jaikishan – Shailendra
  • Shaam-e-bahaar aayi – Shama Parwana (1954) – Mohammed Rafi, Suraiya – Husnlal Bhagatram – Majrooh Sultanpuri
  • Aayi jhoomti bahaar –  Insaniyat (1955)  – Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mehmood – C Ramchandra

I have also added one from my side –

We now move over to our regular Anniversaries section.

Lalita Pawar: The Dominating Matriarch And Scheming Manthara – A tribute to the prolific Indian actress, with some interesting anecdotes on her life and times By Niilesh A Raje on her 100th birthday .

Lalita Pawar - in 1940s

Before she met with a freak accident in 1942, Lalita Pawar- born Amba Laxman Rao Sagun on 18 April 1916 – used to play the lead roles.

We have one song from a 1938 film. The clip does not have the original soundtrack with video, but the video uploader, Shalin Bhatt has filled in the gap with some rare images of Lalita Pawar

Sakhi Prem Sudhaa Bharne Aayi – Duniya Kya Hai (1938) – Music: Anna Saheb Mainkar .

Big FM had a Lalita Pawar Birthday Special

The Swar Kokila Kanan Devi – A tribute to Kanan Devi (22 April 1916 to 17 July 1992) on her birth centenary – Here is pip into her well-known and not-so-well-known songs –

On Mac Mohan’s Birthday, Remembering Sholay’s Forgotten Villain – Khalid Mohamed completes the whole picture of Mac Mohan’s persona.

Shamshad Begum’s songs by OP Nayyar is a tribute to Shamshad Begum (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) on her 97th birth anniversary. The back-to-back posts on Shamshad Begum’s songs by Naushad and C Ramchandra last year there was inevitably a reference to OP Nayyar as he is the third member of the trinity which made the greatest contribution to her. To this list we can expect Hansraj Behl in the future who has77 Hindi songs (solos and duets), and 50 songs from Punjabi films. Shamshad Begum’s songs by SD Burman had been presented under the title East meets West. Here are some of the less heard ones –

‘Jo Bhi Ho Tum Khuda Ki Kasam, Lajawab Ho’: Remembering Shakeel Badayuni By Peeyush Sharma – One rare feat (for those times) that gets associated with Shakeel is his hat-trick of Filmfare Best Lyricist Awards in the years 1961, 1962 and 1963. Forty six years ago, on 20th April, lyricist, poet, shayar, Shakeel Badayuni breathed his last owing to diabetes related complexes. He was just 53 years old

Two of his great ghazals, rendered by Begum Akhtar

Silsila Khatm Na Hoga Mere Afsaane Ka: Shakeel Badayuni, a Tribute – Pavan Jha – He sang his own song in Paak Daman (1957)

We now take a look at posts on other subjects –

Simple melodies of Ravi would normally have dominance of santoor and flute in their orchestration. In most of the cases, the lyrics came first and the tune later. Please enjoy 24 of his lovely songs from LINK TO SIMPLE MELODIES OF RAVI.

Ten of my favourite funny songs is a list of ten songs that are actually funny, funny because of the lyrics, the rendition, the picturization—whatever (in some stellar instances, all of the above). These may not be songs that make one laugh out loud, but they are songs that always make you smile rather more widely than usual.

We have picked up a couple of less heard songs

How Bhupinder Singh blends the ghazal with the guitar – Bhupinder had a tough call to take: should he be behind the microphone or strum a guitar? Having both wasn’t going to be easy. Some of Rahul Dev Burman’s greatest songs, including “Dum Maro Dum” (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), “Chura Liya Hai Tumne” (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973) and “Mehbooba Mehbooba” (Sholay, 1975) were backed by Singh’s musical fingers. Singh has a formidable body of work in film music, having sung for over 50 films. “Dil Dhoondta Hai” (Mausam, 1975), “Naam Gum Jayega” (Kinara, 1977), “Karoge Yaad Toh” (Bazaar, 1982), “Kisi Nazar Ko Tera Intizaar”(Aitbaar, 1986), “Baadalon Se Kaat Kaat Ke” (Satya, 1998) are just a few of his most popular songs, but the ones that need to rediscovered, like the man himself.

‘In Aradhana, Sachin Karta Gave Me My Life’s Biggest Hit’: In Conversation with Shakti Samanta By Peeyush Sharma -In this never-published-before interview, Shakti Samanta recalls the superlative and everlasting music that became the hallmark of his films.. Shakti Samanta made four films each with O P Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishen and S D Burman. With R D Burman, he did the maximum number of films – 11 in Hindi plus four more in Bengali. Three of his films were with the famous Bengali singer-composer Shyamal Mitra and two each with Ravi and Ravindra Jain.

The post has several very-well songs. I have located one which is not much heard.

Dekho Dekho Jee Balam  – Bahu (1955) – Geeta Dutt, Talat Mahmood – Hemant Kumar – S H Bihari

Kite (Patang) Songs  is a result of several factors that happened in the background. To us what matters is the outcome –

Hindi film songs in Swahili – Manish Gaekwad – Taarab, a fusion of Indian, Arabic, and African sounds popular on the Swahili coast of Southeast Africa, has a special place for Hindi film music. Traditionally sung in the Swahili language at weddings and social gatherings, Taarab songs weave several themes into the lyrics, including romance and politics…… There are over two dozen of these songs on YouTube – yet another instance of the phenomenal popularity impact of Hindi film music beyond its traditional markets.

Nutan on the sets of Laila Majnu (November, 1953)

Costumed as Laila, the youthful Nutan signs autographs for fans who visited the “Laila Majnu” set
Costumed as Laila, the youthful Nutan signs autographs for fans who visited the “Laila Majnu” set

Madhubala Goes Chinese (January, 1957) – Members of the Chinese Women’s Delegation dropped in on madhu bala-chinesethe sets of Om Prakash’s – whom most of us know as a veteran comedian and character actor –  “Gate­way of India” the day they arrived in Bombay. Madhubala welcomed them cordially and is seen chatting with two of the members.

Om Prakash entertained the Delegation to the screening of a special Chinese song-and-dance number filmed for “Gateway of India”. – Chal Mere Dil Ke Udan Khatole Udata Ja Tu Hole Hole  – Mohammad Rafi – Madan Mohan-  Here Madhubala, Bhagwan and a party of Chinese children dance together.

Madhubala – The Biggest Star in the World – by David Cort for Theatre Arts – August, 1952 – The actress, born Mumtaz Ataullah in Delhi in 1933, with the greatest following, in numbers and devotion, is not to be found in Hollywood, but on the opposite side of the planet — in Bombay, India.

Poster of 1951 film 'Badal', based on Robin Hood theme
Poster of 1951 film ‘Badal’, based on Robin Hood theme

‘Badal’ was quite successful. Most of the songs of the film also had done well. We will take up one of those for the records

Do Din Ke Liye Maheman Yahan – Badal (1951) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shanker Jaikishan

Two Timir Baran songs –

We end our present episode with a posts/ articles that cover Mohammed Rafi, from a wide-ranging point of views –

When Dev Anand lent his voice to a Mohammad Rafi song –This is an article that was published on 4-12-2011 – ‘Hurray Hurray’ @0.08  in the song Pyar Mohabbat Ke Siwa Ye Zindagi Kya Zindagi,(Pyar Mohabbat –1966 – Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle – Shanker Jaikishan)is recorded in Dev Anand’s voice. According to some reports, Dev Anand had also lent his voice to another Rafi song from Kala Bazar (1960) – Sooraj Ki Jaise Golayi– S D Burman – by adding ‘Om dhan hai namah’ and ‘Hari dhan hari dhan’ @4.52.

Philatelic Tribute to Great Legend – Mohd Rafi

Rafi 30001

An Open Letter to Rafi Demeanors – J.K. Bhagchandani – The post is a point-to-point rejoinder to the contention that Mohammed Rafi did not have natural pain in his voice for sad songs and he has to bring in sobbing effect to infuse the right impact. The author of the post strongly states that it is not only sad songs that he has provided us with different shades/ sub-genres but almost all genres of songs sung by him have that diversity factor

I look forward to receive your inputs for further enriching the contents of the posts…..