Gauhar Jaan – The world is too small? or Is it?

Welcome to July, 2018 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

The month of July will now onwards go in records as the month of passing away of (Gopaldas Saxena) ‘Neeraj’.

In Neeraj (1925-2018): ‘I grew so infamous in my time, it will take centuries for me to be forgotten’, Annie Zaidi recalls different aspects of his poetry.

Neeraj-The great Poet and Lyricist called himself an unfortunate poet which led to his stopping himself from writing film songs and restricting himself to just writing and getting his poems published. The reason that he gave for this was that at least two or three prominent music directors of the Hindi Film Industry for whom he wrote very successful and popular songs, had expired.

Remembering Gopaldas ‘Neeraj’ through songs like ‘Tum Nacho Ras Barase‘ from Sati Nari (1965, Mahendra Kapoor; ), – In 1970 -71, around 14 films were released with Neeraj as a Lyricist and it can be considered as a peak of his career.

RS TV had done an excellent feature on his life, in 2012 – Gopaldas “Neeraj” in Unki Nazar Unka Shahar

And, now, we take up the tributes in July, 2018:

On Gauhar Jaan’s 145th birth anniversary, Google’s endearing doodle

V Balsara, the music director who did not want to remain confined to a studio – On Balsara’s 96th birth anniversary (he was born on 22 June 1922), renowned tabla player Dipankar Acharya and noted music arranger Durbadal Chatterjee speak about working with the multi-faceted musician in Bengali cinema.

Sajjad Hussain, Bollywood’s Loss – D P Rangan pays tribute to Sajjad Hussain on his 23^rd death anniversary (15 June 1917 – 21 July 1995)

Mukesh-who wanted to be like K L Saigal – Many critics derided him as an imperfect singer who had a nasal twang and who would often miss a note or a beat and many a time they had a valid point. His limited vocal range also made high-pitched songs difficult for him. Mukesh proved them wrong.

75 Years(19th July 1943) ago Dev Anand landed Bombay to become Hero in Bollywood – It was in 1945 he got the role in the film Hum Ek Hain which was made in 1946 but released in 1947 after independence.

Chetan Anand: Exploring the Unconventional to Make Landmark Films – Twenty one years ago, on July 7, 1997, Chetan Anand bid farewell. For Silhouette, Peeyush Sharma pays tribute to the great film maker, the director, writer, producer, actor who dared to explore unconventional subjects that turned into landmark cinema.

Roshan & Madan Mohan: Twin Towers of Rhapsody – In a joint tribute to Roshan on his 101^st birth anniversary (14 July 1917 – 16 November 1967) and to Madan Mohan on his 43^rd death anniversary (25 June 1924 – 14 July 1975). D P Rangan. With annotations by Subodh Agrawal, explores the similarities in the essentially different musical styles.

G S Kohli – A Tribute – His first film was Lambe Haath (1960) – O Deewane Chhokare Raah Meri Na Rok Re’ (Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi); followedby.Mr. India (1961) – ‘Dekha Na Jaye’ (Geeta Dutt). He had great hits – Faulad and Shikari – 1963, form big banners. However he could not sustain that magic in his later films.

Some thoughts upon the death of Zarina Begum (and a few other notes updating past posts) – Zarina Begum, the last disciple of ‘Mallika-e-ghazal’ Begum Akhtar, and the only torch-bearer of Baithak Gana, died of a chronic kidney disease at a private city hospital at around 8 am on 12-5-2018….She ived at Hatha Khuda Baksh area in Old Fatehganj in Lucknow. An old harmonium, a tabla and some old pages and diaries with lyrics in Urdu were her companions in her final days.

Rajesh Khanna-The heartthrob of the young generation of 1970s, During his career, Khanna played the lead in 74 films that were shown in cinemas for more than 50 continuous weeks (Golden Jubilee Hits) which includes 48 films which ran for 75 weeks (Platinum Jubilee hits) and 22 films that were shown for more than 25(Silver Jubilee hits), but less than 50 weeks.

Musically Yours, 1963 (Part I) – Monica Karpays a personal tribute to 12 music directors who created note-worthy compositions in 1963, the year she was born, and have definitely had a hand in keeping her music-crazy for the past 55 years. As many as 22 music directors gave quality music in that year and many of those creations went on to become immortal in the hearts of music lovers – including this writer.

The earlier Years of Mehmood peeps back into the early struggles of Mehmmod and rise to stardom.

Anand Bakshi – The Juggler of Words got his break writing songs in a Brij Mohan film titled Bhalaa Aadmi (1958). His first song in this film was “Dharti Ke Laal Na Kar Itna Malaal.

Mehfil celebrates ‘First Anniversary’ by selecting songs of some rare combinations of singers and composers. For this purpose, the criteria applied are: Both of them should be contemporary; the number of songs for the pair should not exceed five OR The singer has sung only for a single film with that particular composer. Of the resultant output, we take one example: Dear O Dear – Nagina (1951) – Shamshad Begum – Shanker Jaikishna

July, 2018 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs is dedicated to Mohammad Rafi’s Solo Song From The FIRST Film With The Music Director: 1954 -1955

And, now the posts on other subjects:

The song Khoya Khoya Chaand was written on a piece of cigarette pack foil – What Vijay Anand achieves is a feat which is very rare. Most directors shy away from shooting and showing us more than two verses of a song. Here, his shooting, along with Burmanda’s music and Shailendra’s words, is so perfect that we go through FOUR verses of this song just glued to our seats !!!! That is why Vijay Anand is adored by film-goers and film-makers all over India.

In the Wink of an Eye – A particular film has often achieved an iconic status in which the lead of the film has used her/his eyes, for instance Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, or our every Om Puri in Ardh Satya. Eyes, indeed, convey a gamut of emotions that move beyond the coyness of just doe eyed stars. This essay explores the different ways in which films have used an actor’s eyes. The history of fascinating display on the screen is long and the authors, Amitava Nag and Shiladitya Sarkar, try to articulate what it means to say it all through the eyes.

Songs of ‘Tanhai’ – The loneliness was a very popular theme for Hindi Films up to 60s. The moods of the song ranged from sad to romantic to seductive.

Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein Ek Aisi – Meenar (1954) Talat / C Ramchandra – Rajendra Krishna
Sham Ki Tanhaiyan Hai – Zarak Khan (1963) Asha Bhosle / S Mohinder – Anand Bakshi
Tanha-tanha yahaan pe jeena– Rangeela (1965) – Asha Bhosle –A R Rehman

Ornamented for Style – Wearing jewelry is universal and predates recorded history. Even our gods wear ornaments, as is evident from their images. Within India, with its diverse culture, we have so many regional variations and styles of wearing jewelry. Not all ornaments have found a mention in our songs, but many have. The post goes on list the songs,

My Favourite Piano Songs, selected on the basis of 1: The character, who sings the song, should not play the piano. 2: The one who’s playing the piano should be a character from the movie, just a musician won’t fit the bill and 3: It should be a solo

Pets and Beyond – Hindi cinema has had so much fun with such creatures too, even some wild ones like elephants and lions. A special mention must be made of an animal that is a rarity in terms of ownership for protection. That honour goes to a mongoose in the film Kohinoor (1960), the animal’s protective nature highlighted at the end of the song Madhuban mein Radhika naache re, when the mongoose lashes out to destroy a snake let loose to kill his owner, Dilip Kumar. The post goes on list some songs that featured a diverse range of creatures. Pets or otherwise, on our screen

In Mythological Frames – Interestingly, it turns out that when it comes to mythological films, songs found in them tend to be so much fun to hear on a repeat basis. Without in any way meaning disrespect to any faith, and looking at the genre just academically, the post lists a few songs from mythologicals, even if not all of them are religious.

Post-drenchings: Ten Songs where getting wet (almost always in pouring, roaring thunderstorms that come out of a clear blue sky) is invariably a precursor to bursting into song. For various reasons.

The reviews of Nargis films continue with Jogan (1950), filmed by Kidar Sharma in just 29 days, with only a one-line idea, inspired by an English film in which a man falls in love with a nun.

Mat ro maata, by Monica Kar – Why is this song in this movie? To act as a filler? To sway public opinion and emotion? Possibly to tie in the importance of the era in which the movie is shot. Every emotion that is embedded in the song is done with minimal fuss and maximum simplicity. And yet, its effect persists even now.. and will every time we listen to the song.

“The world is being run in brutish ways” – Saeed Mirza on memory in the age of amnesia : “We are so obsessed with our short-term interests that larger contexts get lost. And this is true for both individuals and nations.”

Cineplot has several posts this month. We have picked up two relating to Madhubala. We will, appropriately, cover other posts in our future editions.

Madhubala on the sets of Do Ustad (1959)

The Alarm That Failed (1957)

We continue Micro View of Best songs of 1947: And the winners are? with female solo songs, wherein after having covered solo songs of Suraiya and Geeta Roy, we have covered Shamshad Begum. Rajkumari, Amirbai Karnataki (Part I and Part II) Zohrabai Ambalewali (Part I). SoY has released Best songs of 1947: Wrap Up 2 that sums of the analyses of all other readers relating to female solo songs. Suraiya is adjudged the best female singer for 1947.

In our tradition of ending our post with article on Mohammad Rafi or a topical song of his, I have picked up songs that basically have link with the topics discussed in the present post.

Mat Puchh Mera Hai Kaun Watan – Mr India (1961) – G S Kohli – Anjaan