Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music : September, 2017

Welcome to September, 2017 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

Actress Shakila, who is known for the song Babuji Dheere Chalna, passed away in Mumbai on 20^th September, 2017.

Actress Shakila dies of heart attack: 5 songs that will remind you of ‘the fairy queen of Indian fantasies’  – Ankita Mehta – Shakila was one of the top actresses in the 50s and 60s. She acted with Guru Dutt in Aar Paar (1954), Dev Anand in C.I.D (1956), Raj Kapoor in Shriman Satyawadi (1960), Shammi Kapoor in China Town (1962) and Sunil Dutt in Post Box 999.

• Babuji Dheere Chalana – Aar Paar
• O Leke Pahela Pahela Pyar – CID –
• Need Na Mujhko Aaye – Post Box No. 999
• Ae Mere Dil-e-Naadan – Tower House
• Zulfo Ki Ghata Lekar Sawan Ki pari Aayee – Reshami Rumaal

Shakila, the star of ‘Aar Paar’ and ‘CID’ dies at the age of 82 – She made her debut as a child actor in 1950 and made her breakthrough in Guru Dutt’s ‘Aar Paar’. Born as Badshah Begum on January 1, 1935, Shakila was introduced to cinema by her aunt, who went on to manage the acting careers of Shakila and her sisters Noor, and Nasreen. Shakila’s early appearances include Dastaan (1950), Sindbad the Sailor (1952), Rajrani Damyanti (1952), Aagosh (1953), Shahenshah (1953), Raj Mahal (1953) and Armaan (1953).

Most of the newspapers, like Indian Express, Times Of India, National Herald, Hindustan Times , Free Press Journal, The Quint, News18.com, The Hindu Business Line , Mumbai Mirror etc. also have paid rich tributes.

We will also take a retrospective look and read Shakila (Shakeela) – Interview – by Nalini Uchil in 1984. the interviewer notes that she had great fun while she worked in films. ……Now, Shakila has no use for awards or trophies. …..And nothing will make her come back into films.).

We will now take up tribute posts:

M.S. Subbulakshmi: The woman who built bridges with her music : Madurai Shanmugavadivu Subbulakshmi, who was born on 16 September 1916 and died on 11 December 2004, remains an unsurpassed phenomenon in Carnatic music

Seven Contemporary Covers of Songs Once Famously Sung By Noor Jehan… on her birthday.

Forgotten Composers Unforgettable Melodies: S Mohinder is combined tribute post to S Mohinder on his 92 birthday and Asha Bhosle on her 84^th birthday on 8^th September:

Kaun kahe unse ja ke ae huzoor by Asha Bhosle from Paapi (1953), lyrics Sarshar Sailani

The September 2017 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs was dedicated to (Shankar-) Jaikishan and Hasrat Jaipuri’s Songs Fading From the Memory.

Here are posts on other subjects as well:

Ten of my favourite ‘imprisoned singer’ songs – Hindi cinema has its fair share of people who are in prison, at times in really dire straits but still being able to summon up the energy to sing.

National film archive adds 162 films to its stash – According to a press release, 125 of the newly acquired films are in their original negative format. These include Mani Kaul’s Uski Roti (1969), SU Sunny’s Kohinoor (1960) starring Dilip Kumar, and Jayant Desai’s Amber (1952) starring Nargis and Raj Kapoor.

OP Nayyar’s influence on other Music Directors – Ravindra Kelkar maps representative songs for the three scenarios of the songs composed by other MDs which sound like OP:

1) Those songs which were composed in OP style willingly
2) Those songs composed in OP style due to pressure from producer/distributor
3) Those songs composed in OP style with the intention of cutting OP out

We have reviews of three books at Conversations over Chai:

• To Her, With Love – that of ‘The Classic Biography of Meena Kumari’
• No Holds Barred – that of Rishi Kapoor’s autobiography; Khullam Khulla
• To the Movies Born – that of Asha Parekh’s autobiography. ‘The Hit Girl’, co-authored by Khalid Mohammed

Hindi Songs With Whistling – a list of hindi film songs, where whistling forms a significant part of the song or at times, identity of the song. Not included are the songs having whistling only for a few seconds, may be at the end or the beginning. (e.g. ‘Tum Pukar Lo’ from Khamoshi)

In photos: A Jitendra Arya exhibition captures a budding film industry and a changing nation – Damini Kulkarni – acclaimed photographer Jitendra Arya’s camera was as intrepid and bohemian as its owner, capturing Indian personalities like MF Hussain, Ravi Shankar, and Dilip Kumar, as well as powerful international figures like British Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, Clement Atlee, and Grace Kelly. Arya’s skill as a portraitist has been compared to the versatility of Yousuf Karsh, who has been widely regarded as one of the best photographers of the 20th Century.

Teesri Kasam – A Story of Love That Meandered to its Dead End – Teesri Kasam – the name given to Maare Gaye Gulfam for its cinematic version – was hailed a classic and collected reasonably well at the box-office though a little too late for its producer – the great poet Shailendra. Vijay Kumar explores the similarities and deviations between Teesri Kasam and Maare Gaye Gulfam, both written by the renowned Hindi literatteur Phanishwar Nath Renu. In this exhaustive critique, he peels the layers off five songs of Teesri Kasam, revealing the deep and profound message they express about the anguish of women in the rural hinterland.

Duet Songs with ‘Two Moods’ lists songs having two different moods, mainly Happy and Sad, in broad terms.

In our series Micro View of Best Songs 1948 @SoY of Best songs of 1948: And the winners are?, SoY has presented Best songs of 1948 songs: Wrap Up 1 wherein Mukesh is adjudged the Best Singer for the song Gaaye ja geet milan ke or Kabhi dil dil se takarata to hoga.  In continuation of the series on this blog, we continued with the  posts on Female Solo Songs with following up the first part with the second part  of the solo songs of Geeta Dutt with .

We will end the present post with two very well-known Mohammad Rafi songs featurin Shakeela on the screen.

Jitni Haseen Ho Tum Utani Hi Bewafa Ho – Mangu Dada (1970) – C Arjun – Akhtar Romani

Chheda Jo Dil Ka Fasana Hasa Jor Se Kyon Jamana Alla Jaane Walla Jaane –  Nakli Nawab (1962) – Babul – Raja Mehandi Ali Khan

We also have a Book Review: Sujata Dev’s ‘Mohammed Rafi: Golden Voice of the Silver Screen

I trust you will always feel free to proffer your suggestions for making this series of posts more lively and informative….

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

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

We will begin our present episode on a lighter note with You’ve never heard the demonetized version of this famous song from Guru Dutt’s ‘Pyaasa’. As a parody, ‘When it was our turn in the queue, the bank’s coffers were empty‘ is a part of sort of mini cottage industry – These Bollywood spoofs on demonetisation will tide you over the cashless blues.

December, 2016 also had another major event- passing away of Tamil Nadu CM, J Jayalalithaa.

• Dharmendra Remembers Co-Star Jayalalithaa In Her Only Hindi Film in  the tribal girl’s role in Izzat (1968)was that of a talkative, chirpy and aggressively attention-grabbing girl.,dancing with fluent grace to Lata Mangeshkar’s fabulously rendered song Jaagi re badan mein jawala saiyyan tuney kya kar dala and Ruk ja zara babu re babu re.
• When Jayalalithaa sang ‘Aaja Sanam madhur chandni’ on Simi Garewal’s show : Garewal also got the former chief minister to reveal about her crushes: cricketer Nari Contractor and Bollywood actor Shammi Kapoor, whom she never met. Watch the entire interview here.

Wadia and Nadia: How love kicked in pre-Bollywood filmdom – Nadia was a JBH discovery. But it was Homi (May 22, 1911 – December 10, 2004) who gave this memsahib with a thick Scottish accent, a voice. “Homi realised her language was her ‘body’,” says film theorist and curator Amrit Gangar. “He kept Nadia’s dialogue to a bare minimum because of her difficulty with Hindi.”

Mary Ann Evans aka Fearless Nadia in a still from Carnival Queen, 1955

Happy Birthday Dharmendra: As he turns 81, we bring you his various filmi moods – He was probably the first Indian male star who appeared bare-chested in a song in Phool Aur Patthar. From Anupama (1966) to Satyakam (1969), Dharmendra tried to create a space for himself as an actor. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Chupke Chupke is another film which proved that the actor could balance subtle comedy just as well as slapstick elsewhere.

MS Subbulakshmi: A journey from Kunjamma to Meera – is N Venkataraman’s tribute on her birth centenary (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004).

December is also a month of birth dates of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, two fulsome actors of the Great Triad.

Dilip Kumar – Leaves from My Diary in an interview conducted in 1957.

Prithivi Raj Kapoor with sons and a grand son

15 Songs of Shailendra: The Art of Simply Expressing Deepest Thoughts – On Shailendra’s death anniversary,Antara Nanda Mondal and Peeyush Sharma have compiled a brief list of 15 songs that give a glimpse of his massive range – encompassing songs of love and romance, songs of introspection and philosophies, songs of spiritual awakening and harsh social realities, songs of that celebrate liberation and songs that express the anguish of entrapment.

We have an excellent career-sketch of Sitara Devi: The Twinkling Star profiled by Karan Bali on her second death anniversary on 25^th November.  Some of her memorable films are Judgement of Allah (1935), Achhut (1940), Pagal (1940) and India Today (1940)., Roti (1942), Najman (1943) or her snake dance in Anjali (1957) or the Holi dance in Mother India (1957).

We will also take note of A Short Film Tribute to Sitara Devi   

Karan Bali has also profiled PC Barua, who is most easily remembered for K L Saigal’s songs of Devdas (1935) or Saigal’s So Ja Raajkumari So Ja (Zindagi).

The December, 2016 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs was dedicated to Mohammad Rafi’s solo song from the first film with the music director. This part of the article covered the first three years of the first-five-year-period of 1944-1948. The second part of the article, has covered songs from 1947 and 1948 @ Mohammad Rafi’s Solo Song From The FIRST Film With The Music Director ||2||.

Here are posts on other subjects as well:

Shyam Benegal’s ‘Ankur’ and the beginning of a film movement – A Book Review by Sangeeta Datta – A script written during the filmmaker’s college years became the foundation of his sparkling career as one of cinema’s greatest realists.

Smita Patil as a child: Mischievous, adventurous, emotional and an excellent mimic – In her review Maithili Rao notes that  Smita Patil biography reveals that the acclaimed actor, whose death anniversary is on December 13, was ‘prem mayee’: a being suffused with love.

More Delicious Chutney Covers of Hindi Film Songs – After the introductory piece, we can now expect this to be a regular fare.

Southern Spice in Hindi Music highlights key aspects of South Indian music that have been absorbed in Hindi film songs, that have added what one would call as a dash of Southern spice in Hindi film music. This is not about the vocal styles from South India, but instruments from South India. LINK TO PLAYLIST FOR SOUTHERN SPICE IN HINDI FILM MUSIC takes us to 12 such songs from 1940s to’60s, with one exception.

I have been able to land upon this quite an imaginative subject – “Samne waali khidki” songs rather belatedly.

Shankar-Jaikishan’s multi-faceted genius with ‘other’ singers – have covered so far their best songs for his leading singers, Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh, Rafi and Manna Dey. also presented his best dance songs for Lata Mangeshkar and female dance duets. presenting my final tribute to SJ with their songs for ‘other’ singers which give a glimpse of their multi-faceted talent.

My Favourites: Heroes – 1 (40s-70s)  is the pairing list of earlier  My Favourites: Heroines – 1 (40s-70s) , based on an idea of Stars and Songs, that the author, Ava Suri, particularly like featuring the actress. In the continuum, Zeenat Aman – My favorite Songs is a collection of Baker’s dozen songs that have matching visuals to the catchy lyrics with Zeenat Aman in the focus and Ashok Kumar – 10 favorite songs that the actor sang as well as performed on the screen.

‘Diya Na Bujhe Ri Aaj Hamara’ – Kumkum The first song I got as a dancer was the song “Angana Baaje Shehnai Re, Aaj Mori Jagmag Atariya” in the film Sheesha which was sung by Shamshad Begum. ‘Raat Ke Raahi’s song ‘Daayein Baayein Chhup Chhupa Ke Kahaan Chale’ was picturized on Kumkum’s younger sister Radhika and Shammi Kapoor.Radhika also stays with her family in Mumbai.

Trios, Quartets, and More: Ten of my favourite songs has presented songs such as:

Bas mujhko mohabbat ho gayi hai (Biwi aur Makaan), 1966); Mukesh, Manna Dey, Hemant, Talat Mahmood. There is one more such experiment in the same film – Nahi Hota… Aa Tha Jab Janam Liya – Mukesh, Manna Dey & Hemant Kumar

The Legends: Asha Bhosle sets the tone with the help of solos and The Legends: Asha Bhosle – Part 2 has her duets.

We end today’s episode with a short film on songs and life of Mohammad Rafi: Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3. 

I take this opportunity to wish a great 2017 to all of you and look forward to your valued suggestions to keep our content more engrossing…

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – October 2015

Welcome to October, 2015 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We have a fairly long list of anniversaries of the playback singers this month. But before we take them up, there is one a very unique tribute that must take the precedence over all those. So, we open our account of anniversaries for the current episode of blog carnival with –

First male dancer of Hindi films: Mumtaz Ali, which is the tribute to this great artiste from the vintage era with some dance-songs picturized on him.

On the other end, we open our account of posts on birthdays / anniversaries of the playback singers with –

We begin with Lata Mangeshkar’s birthday:

The Great Mughal and The Empress of playback singing – an exclusive post on Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by Naushad, on her 86th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929). The previous ones, wherein other music directors have been chosen are : Chitragupta, C Ramchandra, Roshan, SD Burman and Anil Biswas.

Ten of my Favorite Lata Mangeshkar Songs from the Films of V. Shantaram is a fairly representative list.

Celebrating a legend: A century of MS Subbulakshmi through 10 songs – Veejay Sai – tracks her journey from a child prodigy to a singing movie star to the Carnatic icon she became in her lifetime…. MSS specially recorded Hari Tum Haro for Gandhiji’s birthday on 1947.

Interestingly, we have several posts that were in fact sent in by our friends, primarily to remember a song of the particular singer or the music director, but each of the post inherently is also a commemoration of the anniversary. We will take up the underlying song separately along with other songs forwarded by our friends.

Tera Mera Pyaar Koi Aaj Kal Ki To Baat Nahin – by Mahesh Mamadapur on Usha Khanna’s 74^th birthday – For some reason, Usha Khanna never received the recognition and fame that she so rightfully deserves. She is not the first, but definitely is the most successful and talented of a handful of female composers in the Hindi film industry, having composed something like about 973 songs in total.

[We have separately documented Mukesh’s songs composed by Usha Khanna for easy access.]

Lo Mil Gayi Degree Pyaar Ki by skapur01 while tastefully narrating the circumstances how Mukesh got associated with this song, the post goes onto list 36 songs that Roshan composed for Mukesh.

[We have also separately documented Roshan’s songs of Mukesh.]

N.B. – Both these compilations have been provided none other than Shri Harish Raghuvanshi, from his one of the several painstakingly researched books Mukesh Geet Kosh. Here is a video clip wherein Shri Raghuvanshi talks about this epochal work.]

Dekha Hai Jab Se Aapka Chehra Ye Chaand Sa – skapur01 – Remembering Mahendra Kapoor on the anniversary of his passing away – 27^th September……He got his debut break under the music direction of V Balsara in the 1953 film ‘Madmast’, with a duet with Dhan Indorewala – “Kisi Ke Zulm Ki Tasveer Hai Mazdoor Ki Basti” and a qawwaali with SD Batish – “Unhen Dekhen To Weh Munh Pher Lete Hain”. …..Next came his first solo song by Snehal Bhatkar in ‘Diwaali Ki Raat’(1956) – “Tere Dar Ki Bhikmangi Hai Daata Duniya Saari”.  In 1956 again, he recorded a duet with Sabita Bannerji for the film ‘Lalkaar’ – music director Sanmukh Babu Upadhyay – “O Bedardi Jaane Ke Na Kar Bahaane”.  The music competition and the associated assignments with major league music directors came later.

In Phir Mohabbat Ke Pyaam Aane Lagey, skapur01 remembers Hemant Kumar on the anniversary of his passing away – 26^th September – by delving way back to ‘Iraada’ (1944) – the first Hindi film for which Hemant Kumar sang playback.

October 17 would have been 60^th birthday of Smita Patil, who would certainly be ranked in the history as one of the most talented artist of the (what we know as) new, post-1970s cinema. We take note of some of the posts on this occasion to pay our tribute:

Smita Patil loved the camera and it loved her right back – Scroll Staff – Rare images from the key films of the late celebrated actress.

Songsstoriesbooksandmore has reviewed Sangtye Aika (You ask, I tell: An autobiography) by Hansa Wadkar transl. by Jasbir Jain and Shobha Shinde.

YT also has Smita Patil – Biography.

UpperStall had posted a decade back a very vivid profile of Smita Patil by Karan Bali.

If there has to be one song that can sum up the essence of Smita Patil’s acting talents, Tumhare Bine Jee Na Lage Ghar Men (Bhumika – 1977, Preeti Sagar- Vanraj Bhatia) can easily be the one.

Shammi Kapoor – In Perpetual Motion – It is not just that Shammi Kapoor didn’t know how to stand still; it is that he seemed to have an inordinate number of songs that were picturised in/on some mode of transport or the other. Last year, on this same date, the author had done a post on Shammi Kapoor and various musical instruments. Now it is time to chronicle his trysts with travel, whether in vehicles or on animals. In any case, whether they moved or not, Shammi definitely did.

We now move over to other posts from our regular blogs –

Arre kahaan chali – Arun Kumar Deshmukh – Film Jaalsaaz-59 was the first of three films with the same title. The second movie by this title came in 1969 and the third in 2000. Similarly even film Jaal was made 3 times- in 52, 67 and 86.

Unvoiced Emotions, Expressed Feelings has ten songs that fitted this category. Each song listed here has the lead characters’ ‘feel’ what they feel, and those emotions are ‘spelled’ out by others’ voices, even if the underlying mood is not similar (and in fact, is quite the opposite) in some cases. No, these are not ‘background songs’, but songs that are actually sung on screen by other characters.

Ten of my favourite ‘credits songs’ – are not necessarily ‘background songs’ as well: some of them are ‘sung’ by people onscreen. They run the gamut from songs that introduce the film’s ethos or primary theme, to—well, just another song to add to a list of romantic to philosophical to patriotic songs the film already boasts of..

All USTADJIs, who made us happy and will continue to make happy in all our coming generations.

Three Tandav dances feature Anada Bhairavi 1983 || Damini 1993 || Sivaanai Seemai 1959

‘Pyaasa’ is the Guru Dutt gift that keeps giving – Nasreen Munni Kabir – A new restoration of the 1950s classic provides an opportunity to appreciate all over again its many achievements.

The Namesakes: Musicians and the raags named after them – Aneesh Pradhan – Renditions of Mia ki Todi. by Faiyaz Khan, Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar.

‘Vaishnav Jan to Tene Kahiye’: One of Gandhi’s favourite bhajans played by classical maestros – Aneesh Pradhan – Featuring duets by Bismillah Khan and VG Jog, and Rashid Khan and Shahid Parvez

Making Indian classical music relevant to the contemporary | Manasi Prasad | TEDxHyderabad – Manasi Prasad connects us to our roots by infusing the beauty of music from different times to present day creating relevance for us to understand it nuances better.

After the overview post on the Best songs of 1950, Wrap Up 1 on the best male solos, and Wrap Up 2 on the best female solos by ‘other’ singers have been the stage wise review of the readers’ views as well as SoY’s own analysis. .  Continuing the series, here is the third Wrap Up on the best songs of Lata Mangeshkar – Best songs of 1950: Wrap Up 3

We take of note of the review of Mem Didi (1961) for Salil Chaudhary’s songs –

• Bhoola Do Zindagi Ke Gham – Lata Mangeshkar – typical illustration of Salil Chaudhary’s choral orchestration
• Beta Wah Wah – Lata Mangeshkar – A dog joining in a virtual duet
• Bachpan O Bachpan – Lata Mangeshkar – a viva youth song
• Main Jaanti Hoon – Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar – shades of old Salil Chaudhary touch

Now we move over songs remembered by our friends in this month –

Bhagvan Thavrani

Ajab hai yeh duniya – Naya Aadmi (1956) – Lata Mangeshkar – Madan Mohan. Naya Aadmi, Hindi version of Santosham (1955), had 10 songs. 6 of them were composed by Madan Mohan and the rest by South Indian duo of Vishwanathan / Ramamurthy . Hemant Kumar – Lata Mangeshkar duet – laut gaya gham ka zamana – was the creation of the duo. They also created Lata solo – dile betaab thahar – while Madan Mohan created Rafi solo – gharibo ka paseena bah raha hai . The film had NT Rama Rao (NTR) had in the lead.

Samir Dholakia

Arre kahaan chali -Jaalsaaz (1959) – Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhonsle – N Datta – Majrooh Sultanpuri – The tune is based on “Lavani” songs of Maharashtra.

Sumant (Dadu) Vashi form Chicago (U S A) had sent in –

Dil Jalega To Zamane Mein Ujala Hoga – Yeh Basti Yeh Log (1965) -Lata Mangeshkar – Bhola Shreshtha

Harish Raghuvanshi

Tera Mera Pyaar Koi Aaj Kal Ki To Baat Nahin  – (Dada) (1966) – Mukesh, Usha Khanna – Usha Khanna – Asad Bhopali

Koi Kushnaseeb Na Hoga – Malkin (1953), Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Ram Kamlani – Roshan – Rajendra Krishna

Yeh khaamoshi kyun ye madhoshi kyun – Hamaare Gham Se Mat Khelo (1967) – Jaidev – Nyay Sharma – Geeta Dutt’s only solo in Hindi films by Jaidev is the subject of Bharat Updhyay’s post.

[This film had a very well-known Talat Mahmood solo – Ansoo Chupaye Aankh Mein Khoon-e-Jigar Piya Karoon.]

Dekha Hai Jab Se Aapka Chehra Ye Chaand Sa – Husn Ka Ghulam (1966) – Mahendra Kapoor – Robin Banerjee – Anjaan

Phir Mohabbat Ke Payaam Aane Lagey – Iraada (1944) – Hemant Kumar – Pt Amarnath – Aziz Kashmiri.

[There is another wonderful solo song “Aaraam Se Jo Raaten Kaaten” from this film.]

Jab tum hi chali England -Meri Asha (1950) –Agha – K Narayan Rao – a parody song posted by Atul Kumar Deshmukh

In the end, we have (our customary) very special songs of Mohammad Rafi, remembered Naresh Mankad, from Naqli Nawab (1964) [Music Director: Babul]:

• Chheda Jo Dil Ka Fasana Hansa Jor Se Kyun Jamana Allah Jaane Maula Jaane

• Tum Puchchate Ho Ishq Bhala Hai Ke Nahin –

There are a couple of very enjoyable Rafi – Asha Duets:

• Mast Aakhon Hai Ke Payamane Hai –
• Hum Diwane Tere Dar Pe Nahin Talanewale – A mandatory quawalli style song

We continue our pursuit of the golden period of Hindi Film Music …….