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 – September, 2015

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

We begin our recall of the anniversaries with Fearless Nadia (?)singing a romantic song 1943, apparently sung by Rajkumari and Mansoor), from Hunterwale Ki Beti , composed by Chhannalal Naik – Chanchal Dhara Nadi Kinara AND An Evening With Nadia – Karan Bali – Fearless Nadia films, produced by Wadia Movietone, were a genre unto themselves, a certain draw to many more visits to Movies at the Museum…

Another important memory is rekindled in “Guzra Hua Zamana Aata Nahin Dobara” – S. Mohinder. The interview presented herein no doubt is worth reading. But I have not been able to resist temptation of reproducing here the songs presented in the article. The songs pan S. Mohinder’s career.

• Aye dil uda ke le chal – Sehra (1948)
• Hum dil ki kahani kya kehte – Shaadi ki raat (1950)
• Chori chori aana ho raja more dil ke – Neeli (1950)
• Do naina tumhare pyare pyare  – Shrimati ji (1952)
• Aye jazba-e-mohabbat itna asar dikha de – Paapi (1953)
• Kagwa re ja balma ke deswa – Bahadur (1953)
• Zakhmi hain paon mere – Alladin ka beta (1955)
• Jawaani jhoolti hai – Naata (1955)
• Qurbaan gaye tujhpe gori – Sau ka note (1955)
• Aati hai mere saamne aanchal ko thaam kar – Shahzada (1955)
• Aye raat ke musafir – Kaarwaan (1956)
• Guzra hua zamana aata nahin dobara – Shirin Farhaad (1956)
• Tere ghunghroo jo chham chham baaje – Naya Paisa (1958)
• Jawaan aankh me kitna suroor hota hai – Sun to le aye haseena (1958)
• Chupke se kuchh dil ne kaha – Khoobsoorat dhokha (1959)
• Gar tum buran a maano – Mehlon ke khwaab (1960)
• mere pyaaron – Zameen ke taare (1960)
• Shama se koi keh de – Jai Bhawani (1961)
• Chale ho kahan kaho – Reporter Raju (1962)
• Raat ki dulhan saji saji – Captain Sheroo (1963)
• Shaam ki tanhaaiyan hain – Zarak khan (1963)
• Mausam lehra gaya – Picnic (1966)
• Ye jawani badi badnaam hai – Sunehre Kadam (1966)
• mittar piyare nu – Nanak naam jahaaz hai (1969)
• Tum sultan kahan ho miyan – Mughlani Beghum (1979)

Some more songs are also available @ S.MOHINDER SONGS.

Quite interestingly, Samir Dholakia also has remembered Sudhir Kapoor’s article – Kyun Chamke Bijuriya Saawan Ki posted on the birthday of S Mohinder and Asha Bhosle. This gem of a song is from film Bekhabar (1965). The article also leads us to Phool Muskuraye Kyon, Chand Jagmagaye Kyon. . . which is a duet by Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle from ‘Sarfarosh’ (1964).

Asha Bhosle with reluctant Naushad and C Ramchandra: Part 1 (solos) : The two dominant composers of the era, Naushad and C Ramchandra, gave a look-up to Asha Bhosle very sparingly in the early years. From the array of songs presented in the article, we have picked up some of the songs that may be fading up from the memory –

• Ik baat kahun mere piya sun le agar tu – Amar (1954) – Naushad
• Lahraye jiya bal khaye jiya – Sharda (1957) – C Ramchandra
• Main teri dil tera re mitwa – Tasweer (1966) – C Ramchandra : Happy Version and Sad Version

Asha Bhosle with reluctant Naushad and C Ramchandra: Part 2 (duets) : Asha Bhosle’s duets, too, composed by them are no less memorable. Therefore, to have a complete picture of the songs that Naushad and CR composed for Asha Bhosle, we have been presented with her duets made by the two reluctant Masters.

Happy 89th Birthday, Madam Noor Jehan! 21^st September was Noor Jehan’s 89^th birthday. Here is the list of previous posts: 83rd Birthday (2009) || 84th Birthday (2010) || 85th Birthday (2011) || September 2012 – Noor Jehan and Lata, with a clip of one fine song from each. || 87th Birthday (2013) || 88th Birthday (2014) .

India’s loss, Pakistan’s gain: The journey of singing great Noor Jehan after 1947 – Karan Bali – It took Noor Jehan until 1951 to appear in a movie in Pakistan. We have picked those songs from the article that represent her (second) acting career.

• Tere Mukhde Da Kaala Kaala Til Wey – Chan Wey reunited Noor Jehan with her music director from Jugnu, Feroz Nizami.
• Chandni Raaten – Dupatta (1952) – Firoz Nizami
• Kalli Kalli Jaan Dukh Lakh Te – Patey Khan (1955)
• Jis Din Se Piya Dil Le Gaye – Intezar (1956) – Khwaja Khursheed Anwar – Among its outstanding tunes were Chand Hanse Duniya Base. Other great songs include Aa Bhi Ja and O Janewale Re Thahero Jara Ruk Jao. The film got her the President’s Award for Best Singer.
• Dil Ka Diya Jalaya – Koel (1959) – Khursheed Anwar – the duo goes well beyond the earlier film with one great song after another: Rhim Jhim Rhim Jhim Pade Puhar, Sagar Roye Laharein Shor, Mehki Hawaen Gati Fizayen, Tere Bina Sooni Sooni Laage Re Chandani Raat.

Shailendra was the proverbial moth who got burned too quickly – The lyricist died 49 years ago, leaving behind a legacy of exquisite songs that make you cry and think.- Akshay Manwani [Akshay Manwani is the author of Sahir Ludhianvi: The People’s Poet (HarperCollins India 2013)]– Shailendra would have been 92 on August 30. In Ganesh Anantharaman’s National Award-winning book Bollywood Melodies: A History of the Hindi Film Song, eminent lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar said about Shailendra: “In my view he was the lyricist, who understood films as a medium distinct from poetry and theatre perfectly, and adapted to it beautifully. For his ability to know the medium, understand the situation, get into the characters, and writing in a language suiting the character, he was without peer… I’d go as far as to say that among all the lyricists of Hindi cinema, only Shailendra became a part of the film medium, expertly and successfully. All others remained poets who wrote for films.”

Dolls and puppets, child-like(?) dances, sprightly singing by Lata, Shankar Jaikishan… A series of songs that come to mind because of a number of associations, all described in the title here… The last is quite different from the first, but it’s interesting how the songs actually progress from the first to the last – while being in chronological order, too!

• Dil Mein Tu Mere Dil Mein Tu – Kali Ghata (1951)
• Main Hoon Tere Sapnon Ki Raani – Aas (1953)
• Jahan Main Jaati Hoon, Wahan Chale Aate Ho – Chori Chori (1956)
• Bol Ri Kathputli Boli (Happy Version) – Kathputli (1957)

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

Ten of My Favorite Background Songs is an interesting compilation of a very popular genre of background songs. Excluded here are the songs that appear in the credit titles of the film. The readers have further enriched the collection.

R.D. Burman – The Man, The Music is a follow up of the review of reading Gaata Rahe Mera Dil .

Basant (1960) : While not one of OPN’s best and popular score, it has some very fine tunes. And we would certainly enjoy – Chori Chori ik ishaara ho gaya hai, Naino mein suraj ki kiranein, Raaste mein ik haseen.

Bells and Whistles – “Bells and Whistles” is a popular English idiom. It means extra or fancy add-ons. However, when you hear bells or whistles in some Hindi film songs, they seem very much an integral part of the song and not something fancy or extra.  There are literally hundreds of songs that feature bells and whistles. We have here a playlist of 15 lively and popular songs with bells and whistles. These songs have been picked from movies from the mid 1960s to the mid 2000s.

From back-up to the front row: Reintroducing Bollywood dancer Edwina Lyons – Nandini Ramnath – Surjit Singh’s book ‘Edwina An Unsung Dancer of the Bollywood Era‘ focuses attention on a minor Anglo-Indian dancer who shimmied across the screen between the 1950s and the ’70s.

Before we pay visit to MUSINGS, we have Nigahen Milane Ko Ji Chahta Hai – The combination of Roshan’s admirable music, Sahir Ludhianvi’s beautiful words, Asha’s flawless rendition, Nutan’s lovely expressive face and the Qawwali style makes this quite irresistible. Here is the song:

rAz kI bAt hai mehfil mE.n kahE.n yA na kahE.n
bas gayA hai kOI is dil mE.n kahE.n yA na kahE.n

nigAhE.n milAnE kO jI chAhtA hai
dil-O-jA.n luTAnE kO jI chAhtA hai

While we went visiting other sections of the blog, MUSINGS has added the film reviews – Laat Saheb (1967), Grahan (1972), Anjaam (1978) and Kasturi (1978).

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

Bhagvan Thavrani

• Masoom Chehra Ye Qatil Adayen – Dil Tera Deewana (1962) – Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd Rafi – Shanker Jaikishan – Raag Bhimpalasi

[Asides: Here is one of a very rich list of songs on Raag Bhimpalasi].

• Kanha Bole Na – Sangat(1976) – Manna Dey, Lata – Salil Choudhary – Janisar Akhtar

Samir Dholakia has referred songs wherein the actor has also rendered the song or the singer has acted in the film. This should pertain the period after vintage era, when playback singing by specialist singers had become the rule. This can be a very long list, which we will take up separately in due course:

• Laagi Nahi Chhoote Rama – Musafir (1957) – Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar – Salil Choudhary
• Raat Ne Kya Kya Kwab Dikhaye – Ek Gaon Ki Kahani (1957) – Talat Mahmood – Salil Choudhary

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

• Yeh jalwe yeh adaa : Passing Show (1956) – Geeta Dutt, S Balbir – Manohar
• Ye Hawaein Sanam – Passing Show (1956) – Geeta Dutt – Manohar
• Bachna zara Teer       Chale – Passing Show 1956 – Geeta Dutt- Manohar
• No…No Don’t Say Goodnight – Miss Goodnight (1960) – Geeta Dutt and Chorus – Hansraj Behl
• Saath Ho Tum Aur Raat Jawan Neend Kise Ab Chain Kahan – Kanch Ki Gudiya (1961) – Mukesh & Asha – Suhrad Kar
• Kit Gayi Man Ki Naav—Kamal Roy (Habib Wali Mohammed) – O P Nayyar – This is a non-filmy song rendered by Kamal Roy also known as Habib Wali Mohammed during the Lahore HFM, in the late 40’s…

We have been posting a series of posts on the widely discussed and participated exercise of annual review of songs of a particular year – Best songs of 1950: And the winners are?. We have covered up documentation of the further micro-review of the songs C Ramchandra, Husnlal Bhagatram and Ghulam Mohammad, Anil Biswas and other Music directors’ Lata Mangeshakar’s songs, as well as those of Suraiya and Shamshad Begum in June 2015 and Rajkumari, Geeta Roy and Other female Singers in July 2015.. We had then continued to explore Male Solo Songs of Mukesh, Talat Mahamood, Mohammad Rafi, G M Durrani and Chitalkar, Manna Dey, Arun Kumar, Manmohan Krishna and Others as well as Songs by several other playback singers for Raj Kapoor in July 2015. For August-, 2015, we covered Male Female Duets of Mukesh, Mohammad Rafi, Talat Mahmood, G M Durrani, and those of Chitalkar and other Male Singers.

Our onwards journey had:

• The Micro View of The Best Songs of 1950 @ Songs of Yore – Male – Male And Female – Female Duets
• The Micro View of The Best Songs of 1950 @ Songs of Yore – Triads and Triads +

We have concluded the series with.…

• The Micro View of The Best Songs of 1950 @ Songs of Yore – Summing Up – I : Female and Male Solo Songs
• The Micro View of The Best Songs of 1950 @ Songs of Yore – Summing Up – II: Duet Songs and The Best Music Director

I have also prepared an edited compilation of all the posts @ The Songs of 1950 @ SoY

SoY has also published Best songs of 1950: Wrap Up 2, covering ‘Other’ Female Singers

In the end, we have (our customary) very special songs of Mohammad Rafi taken out from the songs.

• A Rafi-Khursheed duet from 1947 – Composed by Sudhir Phadke, Sawan Ki Ghatao Dheere Dheere Aana is rendered by (very young) Dev Anand and Khursheed in Aage Badho.
• We also pay a visit to Nasir-eclectic.blogspot.com to have a look at Rafi’s Peppy Songs: main albela jawaaN hooN rangeela… || dhokaa khaayegee naa yaaroN kee nazar…
• To end, we will take Sumant (Dadu) Vashi’s recall of Sawan Ke Mahine Mein (Sharabai -1963- Madan Mohan), one of the invaluable gems form Madan Mohan – Mohammad Rafi collaboration. Even as the clip here has both versions, our refrence is to the pensive pathos mood version.

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