Tag: Nutan

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

Welcome to February 2021 edition of IXth 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 – Film 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

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – June, 2018

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

The month of June is the month of anniversary of one of our most frequently visited blogs – Songs of Yore. SoY has completed 8 years this June.  True to the spirit and now the tradition, the 8th Anniversary post has presented songs that are not only not heard of but have very interesting stories to go along with.

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

Suraiya: The Last Nightingale of Bollywood – While paying the tribute to her on 89th birthday (15th June, 1929), D P Rangan has traced her biography and presented 20 of her less-heard songs.

Shyama- Sun Sun Sun Zalima – An early song where Shyama first made an impact is the second version of the main love duet, ‘Tu Mera Chand Main Teri Chandni’, from A.R. Kardar’s Dillagi (1949) starring Suraiya and Shyam. The original version was filmed on the stars, but this version on Shyama voiced by Geeta Dutt is less known.

Remembering Legendary Composer Vasant Desai, born as Atmaram Desai on 9th June 1912, known popularly by his nickname, Vasant Desai. His compositions in Hindi and Marathi films had their share of popularity. He has composed background scores for very unique films, like Yaadein (1964) and Achanak (1974), over and above many others like Zalzala (1952), Ferry (1954), Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Uajala (1958).

Nutan- An Actress Par Excellence – 4 June 1936 / 21 February 1991 – Nutan’s mother, and a leading actress of her times, Shobhana Samarth launched her in Hamari Beti (1950), and the rest, as is said, is history. Nutan had a song in her own voice in the film too

Tujhe Kaisa Dulha Bhaye Re Banki Dulhaniya – Hamari Beti (1950) – Snehal Bhatkar – Pt. Phani

Snehal Bhatkar – A Tribute – was born as Vasudev Bhatkar on 17th July 1919, and passed away on 29th May, 2007 in Mumbai.

[Note: We had also published a ‘Fading Memory..Unforgotten Songs’episode,  Snehal Bhatkar – Hamaari Yaad Aayegi, last year.]

Rajendra Krishan-The Lyricist who gave us many Immortal Songs – born on June 6, 1919 to Parvati and Jagannath Duggal in Jalalpur Jattan of Gujarat district (now in Pakistan), Rajendra Krishna was an equal among the great contemporary stalwarts. He gave lyrics to a wide variety of songs, ranging from Ghazals to Bhajans, Geets to Nazms with great flair. His songs are simple, inventive and full of meaning.

May, 2018 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs is dedicated to Dattaram, wherein we had remembered his songs from Ab Dilli Door Nahi, Paravarish, Qaide No. 911 and Santan.

And, now the posts on other subjects:

What’s the Good Word? – On 31st May 2018, for the 11th year running, Indian kids dominated the annual championships of the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship. The winner was Karthik Nemmani.  Taking the cue from this event, the post goes on enlist songs to do with words and spellings –

For Dev Anand,flirtation was an innocent pastime – Author has picked up these narratives from Dev Anand’s autobiography Romancing with Life before presenting 10 Romantic Songs of Dev Ananad.

How SD Burman missed out on a Filmfare Award for his greatest soundtrack ‘Guide’ – Anirudha Bhattacharjee  &  Balaji Vittal – Edited excerpts from a new biography, S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician, of the celebrated music composer reveal the background maneuvering that denied ‘Guide’ its glory.

‘Every Song Has a Story’: In Conversation with Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal with Antara Nanda Mondal on the occasion of S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician. The writer duo talk about how their adoration for music maestros SD Burman and RD Burman, their love for music and their curiosity behind the making of those evergreen songs led them to write biographies of their idols – their challenges, discoveries, the journey and more.

The Greats: Nargis and The Many Moods of Nargis are the two key posts penned to document the author’s new found adoration of Nargis. Additionally, there are reviews of her films Lajwanti (1958), Raat aur Din (1967) and Barsaat (1949) till now in June, 2018.

Bombay in songs which are unheard and un-posted.

‘Bandits, Indian Style’ recalls the songs from movies that revolved around the Indian style dacoits. Each of the film mentioned herein also has documented the name of the actor who played the role of the dacoit too.

The Popularity Of Bollywood Songs is captured here in one song from each decade, starting with ‘30s.

Romantic, sad, a stage performance, a Mujra, and club Songs of ‘Dil Lagana’ in nearly all sorts of songs that have been presented in this post.

I Compose I Sing – ‘Aaj jaane ki zid na karo amazes not only for its unbeatably high number of people rendering it, but also in the fact that every single person who has sung it has stuck to the same original tune made in 1973.’ On that note of composition of the song, the article goes on to list a few instances of artists who sang for themselves.

Ten of my favourite dream sequence songs is a follow up post to the last month’s Ten of my favourite Khwaab/Sapna songs. And then we have Ten of my favourite ‘dreamt’ songs are the songs that are actually dreamt. People fall asleep and, in their dreams, a song plays out.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words – The idea of charming the snakes is Indian. The modus operandi of this process to charm involves swaying the snake repeatedly to hypnotize the creature. If that works, the phrase “actions speak louder than words” will find endorsement. The instrument used for the job is called been, which is a generic name, the specific one being pungi. Kalyanji (Anandji) Shah decided to play an early French synthesizer called clavioline to simulate the pungi’s sounds, initially in Naag Panchmi (1953, Music: Chitragupt, Lyrics: G S Nepali). The key song here was the Asha Bhosle-rendered “O Naag Kaheen Ja Basiyo Re”.

Hindi songs with Sapera (Been) Dhun – The first Sapera based Hindi films was ‘Sapera’ in 1939. We have not been able to get a song from it with the Been dhun.

The dancing girl, the king and the nation begins with a narrative review of Amrapali (1966) and Vyjayantimala’s enactment of eponymous heroine who is a performer, dancing for the pleasure of others as well as for self-expression. The post then goes on to introduce Ruth Vanita’s book Dancing with Nation.  The book examines the cultural importance of the Hindi-film courtesan (a word used to cover such designations as nartaki, devdasi and tawaif – all terms with subtle differences in meaning, which have experienced semantic shifts over time).

We have commenced Micro View of Best songs of 1947: And the winners are? with male solo songs of Other Male Singers and concluded micro review of male solo songs with MY Top Male Solo Songs. We have then continued with micro view of female solo songs, wherein till now we have covered solo songs of Suraiya and Geeta Roy.

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.

Tune Teri Nazar Ne Kafir Bana Diya – Fariyad (1964) – With Mubarak Begum – Snehal Bhatkar – Kedar Sharma

Gori Kar Le Tu Aaj Singar – Inasaniyat (1955) – C Ramchandra – Rajinder Krishna

Dilbar Dilbar Hayya Habi O Dilbar – Aao Pyar Karein (1964)  – Usha Khanna – Rajender Krishna

I earnestly seek your suggestions / inputs / criticisms so as to make our Film Blog Festival more interesting and live.

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – June, 2017

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

It is a great pleasure to open the curtains of June 2017 post of blog carnival series with Songs of Yore completes seven years that presents what has by now been a well-established tradition of presenting some quite unusual songs and songs of some unique personality form the world of music on the occasion of celebration of the birth anniversary of this blog. Master Madan is the case in point this year.

We will now take up the posts on the anniversaries or eulogies:

‘Not very beautiful but vivacious’: How Nargis was cast in her breakthrough movie ‘Taqdeer’ – Kishwar Desai –  June 1 marks the birth anniversary of Nargis, one of Indian cinema’s greatest actresses. Nargis had appeared in a few films in small roles before Taqdeer, which was directed by Mehboob Khan. She was 14 at the time, and was paired with Motilal.

The Spontaneity of Nutan That Rose Above ‘Acting’ – Antara Nanda Mondal pays a tribute to the legendary actress Nutan with a brief journey through some of her immortal songs – in which she essayed an amazing variety of roles. Her spontaneity and versatility made her rise above the accepted norms of ‘acting’ in mainstream cinema.

Nutan speaks about Bimal Roy is recently added by the Youtube channel WildfilmsIndia which features many videos of a geographical, historical and cultural nature.

KA Abbas, ‘biggest bulk buyer of tickets’ of his own films and eternal dreamer – Juhi Saklani– The medium was always the message for Khwaja Ahmed Abbas (June 7, 1914-June 1, 1987), the celebrated writer, filmmaker and columnist.

Chaar Rahein – K A Abbas at the junction between tradition and progress – is one of the most structurally interesting Hindi films of its time, with separate stories coming together through the device of the crossroads and the personal journeys of the characters passing it. Two years earlier, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s debut film Musafir had used a house and its landlord to link three discrete narratives. If the “makaan” in that film represents a society made up of many types of people, Char Dil Char Rahein is about the tradition-modernity conflict facing a nation; it is, literally and otherwise, set at the intersection between old roads and a new one.

Sajjad Hussain, the composer whose music has endured ‘with a tenacity that defies reason’ – Rudradeep Bhattacharjee – June 15 marks the birth centenary of the multi-instrumentalist and legendary composer of the movies ‘Sangdil’ and ‘Rustam Sohrab’. …Hussain’s work in the film, a historical titled Daiwayogaya (1959) (a Sinhala film), has largely escaped our attention. This, among other things, means that most of us have been bereft of the pleasure of listening to the spellbinding Adarayai Karunawai.

Sudhir, in his tribute post on Atul’s Songs a Day remembers Sajjad Hussain  thru’  Chali Pawan Purvaai, Chali Pawan (Dharam, 1945; Singers – Naseem Banu, Ratanbai).

Gaddeswarup Blog adds Sajjad Hussain: A biography and his perhaps most popular song…

Ye Hawa Ye Chandani Teri Ek Nazar Ka Khumar Hai – Sangdil (1952) – Talat Mahmood

The June 2017 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs was dedicated to V Balsara, known probably more for his mastery in playing different musical instruments.

Here are posts on other subjects as well:

Documentary retraces the journey of the woman from Faizabad who became Begum Akhtar – Nandini Ramnath – Nirmal Chander’s visually sumptuous (documentary) ‘Zikr Us Parivash Ka’ is a cradle-to-grave account of one of India’s most celebrated classical music artist.

Two snake dances from S.D. Burmam and one from Naushad

O Pardesiya..Pyar Ki Bahar Leke, Dil Ka Qarar Leke… – Bahar (1951) – Shamshad Begum – S D Burman

Serpent Dance – Guide (1965) – S D Burman

Snake Dance – Dastan (1950) – Naushad

Film Songs Based on Classical Ragas (12) – A morning with Asavari/Jaunpuri in which the guest author Subodh Agrawal decodes the similar ragas Asavari, Jaunpuri and Dev Gandhar with his characteristic clarity.

‘Roop Tera Mastana’ simply refuses to grow old – Arun Fulara  – ‘Aradhana’ director Shakti Samanta filmed the song in a single audacious take.

My Favourites: Memorable Scenes From Hindi Films, depicting many moods; scenes that, if you tell the name of the film, are the ones one will immediately recollect.

Before ‘Tubelight’, ‘Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani’ dreamt of Hindi-Chini bhai bhai – Nandini Ramnath – V Shantaram’s 1946 movie retraces the journey of Indian doctor Dwarkanath Kotnis from Sholapur to the Chinese battlefield.

Homes and Houses: Ten songs – Hindi cinema has done ample justice to the concept of ‘home’ and ‘house’, from songs like Ek bangla bane nyaara to films like Dastak, Biwi aur Makaan, Hamaara Ghar, Gharaunda and Tere Ghar ke Saamne. The author has picked pre-1970 songs of Homes that are envisioned, homes that are hoped for, homes that light up with joy because of the coming of a festival or the arrival of a loved one, homes destroyed. Here are a couple picks form the list:

Cycle trails of Bollywood – After taking us through horses, tongas and steam engine, DP Rangan now logically takes us on a joy-ride of cycle songs. Along the way, he also writes a dissertation on its history.

Nain se nain from generation to generation

Ustad Fateh Ali Khan of Patiala – Raag Darbari

Raag Darbari fusion with rock music – composed by his nephews Wali hamid ali khan & Kamran Akhtar

Shah Rukh Khan’s Doodle Among Stunning Rare Film Collectibles, Stills, Artwork in Osian’s Auction –  Antara Nanda Mondal– Among the rare collectibles in the auction are a bunch of original artworks by renowned filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Mani Kaul. Besides there are original publicity-material art for Andaz (1949), Anari (1959), Guide (1965), Deewaar (1975) and others. A huge collection of rare posters, showcards, lobby cards, photographic stills from the golden 1950’s period to the era of Amitabh Bachchan to the current trinity of Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan go under the hammer at the prestigious auction on 22 June, 2017.

SIKENDER. 1941 starring Prithviraj Kapoor in title role
Sepia toned Photographic Stills Mounted on Lobby Cards, probably used for early re-release publicity ({Pic: Osians)

In our series Micro View of Best Songs 1948 @SoY, we have commenced the detailed posts on Male Solo songs with those of Mohammad Rafi and Mukesh.

To end the today’s post with an article on Mohammed Rafi, I have zeroed upon an old post – Seven of My Favorite Rafi Songs– from Dances on Footpath. The author also has noted that these seven songs are not appreciated as Rafi songs go. Well, of the seven songs mentioned therein YT link 4 links have become dysfunctional. At least two songs do certainly would not be qualified as “unappreciated” So here are just two songs that stand out:

Nazron Ke Teera Maare Kas Kas – Do Ustaad (1959) – with Asha Bhosle – O P Nayyar – Qamar Jalalabadi

My Dearo Dearo Mummy Nahin – Nagina (1951) – with Shmashad Begum – Shanker Jaikishan

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 – August,2016

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

One of our regularly visited blogs Dances on the Footpath celebrated its ninth anniversary on 30th July, 2016. We join all the readers to congratulate the blog author Richard on this great milestone.

As we delve into the posts on Anniversaries,

We take a belated note of the 80th birth anniversary of Nutan @ The origin of my admiration for Nutan and join in sharing the author’s views : «Nutan shares with classic Indian cinema this quality that I find so important and that we in the West have lost, in a way: a fundamental honesty. She adds to this quality something personal and special which I choose to call vibrant grace”.

Happy birthday Kishore Kumar: Top 5 things to know about the legendary singer – Kishore Kumar started his career in the field of acting, with “Shikari” in 1946. – 1946 is when S D Buramn also made his debut with Hindi films – In 1948, music director Khemchand Prakash gave Kishore Kumar a chance to sing “Marne ki duayen kyon mangu” for the film “Ziddi”…During the making of ‘Mashaal’ way back in 1950, Burman visited Ashok Kumar’s house, where he heard latter’s younger brother, Kumar imitating KL Saigal. Kishore Kumar, along with R D Burman, also formed a formidable team which ensured a volley of  chartbusters whenever they came together.

The Unforgotten and Unremembered Genius Jaidev – A tribute on his 98th birth anniversary (3 August 1918 – 6 January 1987) – Jaidev was neither a remembered composer nor a forgotten one. He is also possibly the only music director to have won the National Awards thrice for Reshma Aur Shera (1971), Gaman (1979) and Ankahee (1985). We have picked up a few songs here:

We also have a couple of more articles on Jaidev:

And so far as I am concerned, no discussion on Jaidev could ever without remembering

Raat Bhi Hai Khuchh Bhigi Bhigi– Mujhe Jine Do (1963) – Lata Mangeshkar – Sahir Ludhyanvi

We now take a look at posts on other subjects –

The ‘Biopic’ Teaser – Debamitra Mitra – “Biopic films have more often than not run into controversies and debates about the authenticity in depicting the life of a celebrated person. From the Hollywood myth-making trends to the Bollywood surge in making biopics on sports-persons, film-makers worldwide are perennially plagued with legal hurdles, insufficient data and at times difficulty in finding the proper actor for the role. However there is no doubt that biopics have an important significance in the contemporary film culture.”

Rimjhim ke Taraane… The Breezy Rain Songs – Antara Nanda Mondal and Peeyush Sharma relive at some evergreen rain songs of Hindi films that never cease to evoke a smile, a memory or simply uplift the heart, especially when you hear the raindrops starting to fall. Readers have also chipped in with songs on rain.

Ten of my favourite songs of waiting – “Waiting, of course, can be of different types, and for different things. It can be a patient wait, for something one knows is coming one’s way. It can be restless, dominated by an urge to do something to alleviate one’s own suffering. Or the restlessness can be one of hopelessness, of knowing that one waits for something that can never come to be…One may wait for a much-longed for event to happen. One can wait for news. For friends, relatives. And, much more frequently in Hindi cinema, where romance is such an important element of most plots, for the beloved.”

“Kuchh to log kahenge” has presented songs wherein emphasis has to be on the issue of ‘saying’, e.g.

Patriotism and cinema are old companions – Sanjukta Sharma – Directors and producers of 1950s’ Hindi cinema best exploited the patriotic sentiment …. In Hollywood and other big film-making nations like India, patriotism is a commonly used, commercially lucrative storytelling trope. Even a romance has a few patriotic scenes.

Santoshi Maa: The celluloid goddess – Ruchika Sharma – How an unexpected hit in the 1970s catapulted a minor local goddess to national fame.. The mythological, being unique to Indian cinema, is also its founding genre. Starting with Dadasaheb Phalke’s 50-minute silent movie Raja Harishchandra (1913), mythologicals dominated the silver screen before Independence. Their numbers began to dwindle post-1947, and by the 1970s, they had been relegated to the B-circuit….This was until Jai Santoshi Maa, a low-budget movie featuring unknown actors, became one of the highest grossing films of 1975, alongside Sholay and Deewar.

Here, Have Some Chutney! – Chutney is a fusion of Indian and Caribbean music that was born in the mid-20th century. Wikipedia specifically mentions that the people who created chutney music had ancestors in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh…. [the post has presented several video clips that gives enough idea about the subject….]

Faiz & Nayyara Noor – “Jab Teri Samandar AankhoN maiN” – Unlike Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s very popular, overtly political poetry, Yeh dhoop kinaray is an example of Faiz at his finest.

Harmonium has remembered two of my favorites records [Talat Mahmood] In a Blue Mood and In 1976 The Finest Ghazals from Mohd. Rafi @ Mixed up Blue: Talat Mahmood  and New and Old Ghazals: Mohammad Rafi respectively.

The Power of Holding Hands is so aptly presented via Hum Panchhi Mastane (Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar – Dekh Kabira Roya (1957) – Madan Mohan – Rajendra Krishna).

Usha Kiron – Dr. Kher Wedding Picture (May, 1954)

Usha Kiron – Dr. Kher Wedding Picture (May, 1954) - Shammi (right) “says” it with flowers

Shammi (right) “says” it with flowers

As we could not cover articles form Scroll.in last month, we have a deluge of articles that have to be accommodated in our episodes. This month also our episode seems to be bordering on being too verbose. So, we will need to take them up  in smaller groups in our forthcoming issues.

In Micro View of the Best Songs of 1949 @SoY, having covered G M Durrani, Talat Mahmood, Surendra and ‘Other’ Male Playback Singers , Mukesh and Mohammad Rafi’s ever green solo songs, first and second part of  Other Noteworthy Solo songs in the Male Solo Songs category till now, I followed it up with MY Top Male Solo Songs, choosing Mohammad Rafi as the Best Male Singer for 1949 and his Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki (Dulari, Naushad) as the Best Song. SoY also has released Best songs of 1949: Wrap Up 1, choosing Mukesh as the Best Male Singer and Tu kahe agar as the Best Male Solo.

Then,  I have finished up the Micro View of  Solo Songs of ‘Other Than Lata Mangeshkar’ Female Singers, in which we covered Suraiya, Geeta Roy , Shamshad Begum, Raajkumari, Asha Bhosle, Surindar Kaur,Uma Devi and Meena Kapoor to end up with solo songs of Lalita Deulkar, Amirbai Karnataki, Hamida Bano, Zeenat Begum and Pushpa Hans. I also went on to wrap up the subject My Choice of the TOP Solo Songs of the Other Female Singers for 1949. My final choice was a toss-up among Suraiya ( Woh Pas Rahe Ya Door Rahein, Nazron Mein Samaye Rahate Hain); Shamshad Begum – Na Bol More Angana Pi Pi Panchhi Ja Re Ja and Raajkumari – Ghabra Ke Jo Ham Sar Ko Takaraye To Achcha Ho. SoY also has released its analysis and choice@ Best songs of 1949: Wrap Up 2, which happens to be Shamshad Begum, followed by Suraiya.

Our journey now continues with Solo songs of Lata Mangeshkar, part 1 and 2 of three part review.

We have some more of articles on Mohammad Rafi’ on his 36th death anniversary 31st July, 2016:

In his tribute, Not just Hindi: When Mohammed Rafi sang in English, Creole, Dutch and Persian , Manish Gaekwad  recounts how the legendary singer extended his vocal range to foreign languages whenever he got the opportunity.

On Mohammed Rafi’s 36th death anniversary, the question lingers: How did he sing so effortlessly? – While lamenting as to we are still waiting for the definitive study of the timeless songs he sang, Akshay Manwani  takes us through Mohammad Rafi’s versatility over a widest possible range – of subjects, situations, notes and all that ““Rafi sa’ab jo kar saktey hain”.

Month of August also has one more very strong connection with Mohammad Rafi – his patriotic songs:

Are you patriotic tonight? Here is a songlist that will make your heart swell with pride– India’s greatness has been frequently celebrated through nationalist songs, as proven by Manish Gaekwad’s  potted list.

List of 120 Patriotic songs by Rafi Sahab – Swaminathan Rajan has painstakingly collected film and non-film songs here

In order to maintain continuity with the subject of patriotism, we will end our present episode with

Vande Mataram on recycled instruments and other versions of the modernised national song, which happen to be one more take-off on AR Rahman’s ‘Vande Mataram’, not the original one.

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

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…..

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

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

As always we begin with posts dedicated to tributes.

How the groovy saxophonist Manohari Singh helped redefine Hindi film music – Rudradeep Bhattacharjee – Known for his solo in the super-hit ‘Satta Bazaar’, he was an important figure during the golden era of Hindi film music. It’s his fifth death anniversary on 13th July 2015. SD Burman asked him to play for the background score of ‘Sitaron Se Aage’ (1958) and then in his subsequent films. Some of vary famous pieces:

Even before ‘Pyaasa’, the shadows had started gathering in Guru Dutt’s ‘Mrs & Mrs 55’ – Nasreen Munni Kabir – To mark the filmmaker’s 90th birthday, we revisit the movie that signaled a maturing of style but also anticipated the turn towards darker material in his subsequent works.

Unfinished business: The movies that Guru Dutt announced and abandoned – Karan Bali – The celebrated director, actor and producer was responsible for several classics. But he also left many aborted projects.

An Afternoon Tryst with Madan Mohan and Lata Mangeshkar – an always welcome combination.

Anatomy of a Debate: Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965) sums up extreme reactions of both affection and disgust from modern viewers.

Sanjeev Kumar was one of those few actor-stars to whom the role meant more than anything in the world…..he chose to tread the path set down by other actor-stars such as Motilal and Balraj Sahni and rewrote many of the conventions of Bollywood rather than follow the conventional star system.

Naushad’s exceptional Mukesh – a tribute on Mukesh’s 92nd birth anniversary (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976) – presents 10 gems from 26 songs that Naushad composed in all with Mukesh.

We now turn to our other regular posts:

Memorable Guitar songs where a guitar is heard in the song. The post contains a medley of guitar pieces from 15 songs, the catchy prelude in the chart buster song – Dum maro dum (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) and the 15 handpicked songs on the player

[More] Dances from Indian Dance Group Mayuri, from Petrozavodsk, Russia from the films came out at different times between the early’60s and the present decade. (The first dance is from a film made in the present decade, and it is not even Hindi; it’s Marathi.)

My favourite ‘car’ songs are with caveats that All the songs would have to take place for at least 80% in a moving car and No actor would feature in more than one song. (There is one exception – Guru Dutt. But well, he isn’t singing in either, so should not count!)

My favourite songs with the word ‘Badal/ Badra’ is a list of 10 songs that have the words badal or badra or badarva in the first line of the song and not a ‘My favourite Cloud Songs‘ post because I have left out songs with megha and ghata. We have picked two songs here:

Wedding Songs – And Beyond incorporates various elements that lead up to a wedding and its aftermath.

Some songs from Gopinath 1948 has remembered Ayee Gori Radhika – Neenu Majumdar and Meena Kapoor [The song seems to have provided the base inspiration for Satyam Shivam Sundaram’s Yashomati Maiya Se Bole Nandlala]. To which we add up other songs to update the records:

MUSINGS has critically carved out the career path of Nutan – 1950 – 1951[Cradle, Cheshire Cat?], 1952- 1954 [The delicate Bud], 1955-1956 [The Pink Tip], 1957-1958 [The Rosebud], 1959-1960 [Parijata], 1962 – 1963 [Eternal Spring], and 1963-1970 [Bed of Thorns] – banking upon a good deal of well- reasoned research and well-presented chain of personal observations and opinions. There several more posts, which I would suggest that you take up directly at the blog.

Five psychedelic sitar classics by Ananda Shankar – Nate Rabe – The most low-key member of the fabulous Shankar family, Ananda Shankar created funky sitar versions of ‘Light My Fire’ and ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’. Listen to these tracks as a single playlist here on YouTube channel.

Five Pakistani-Christian singers who were the mainstay of Lollywood’s golden years – Nate Rabe – An introduction to Salim Raza (aka Noel Dias), Irene Parveen and more . We have picked up this one as an interesting illustration: Yaaro Mujhe Maaf Karo Mein Nashe Main Hun – Salim Raza – Saat Lakh. There are several illustrious versions of this nazm. We will take one by Ghulam Ali on records here and may take up other versions in a separate post at a more opportune platform.

Book Review: Sidharth Bhatia’s ‘The Patels of Filmindia: Pioneers of Indian Film Journalism’ – If nothing else, then the book ought to be read for the art, the ads, the feel of the 30s, the 40s, the 50s. Even the 60s. -The golden age of Hindi cinema.

Posts culling out excerpts from Jai Arjun Singh, a.k.a Jabberwock’s book on Hrishikesh Mukherjee: a photo from the Satyakam set; Biswajit and a five-year-old movie star and Hrishi-da in a house full of bitches – does kindle the appetite to read the book, while furnishing a fairly satisfying preview on each of the topic picked up.

 This photograph almost gives the impression that David is directing Dharmendra, while the real director passively looks onThis photograph almost gives the impression that David is directing Dharmendra, while the real director passively looks on

SoY continues with the series on multiple versions of songs. We have Multiple Versions Songs (22): Female Solo and A Duet or A Chorus and Multiple Versions Songs (23): A Male / Female solo / duet or a Chorus – More than two versions of a song. Each post has a very rich supplement from the readers.

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

Samir Dholakia

Arun Kumar Deshmukh’s Ik din tumne kahaa thha ji has a very high-octane prologue that so excellently pays tribute to according to one estimate, at least 1000 Music Directors, who gave music to just one film and disappeared. The song is Ik din tumne kaha thha ji (Ek Thha Ladka)(1951) Shamshad Begam, G M Durrani, Lyrics-Rajesh Kumar, MD-Rajhans Kataria.

Bhagvan Thavrani

In the last episode of our carnival, we had talked about the very 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. We continue with the posts published during the present month:

In the meanwhile SoY has now released Best songs of 1950: Wrap Up 1.

We will continue with the series in the next couple of months as well……

In the end, we have (our customary) very special songs of Mohammad Rafi taken out from the songs Bhagwan Thavrani has sent us –

We also have some more songs from Zimbo Comes…. Series of films:

Samir Dholakia has remembered Dekh Liya Maine Kismat Ka Tamasha Dekh Liya – Deedar (1951) – Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar – Naushad.

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

The Micro View of The Best Songs of 1950 @ Songs of Yore – Female Solo Songs– Other Singers – Rajkumari, Geeta Roy and Others

We continue our take with songs by Other Leading Female Playback Singers during our micro-revisit of the  ‘Best songs of 1950: And the winners are?. In the previous posts, we listened to memorable songs of 1950 from two of the prominent singers – Suraiya and Shamshad Begum. In this post, we will take up some of the memorable songs of other front ranking female playback singer of that era – Raj Kumari and Geeta Dutt. We will also take up three songs that remain isolated cases, but merit no less attention and accolades, in the List of Memorable Songs.

Raj Kumari

Qualitatively, only Baware Nain would have sufficed for Raj Kumari to hold her ground in the competitive era of Hindi Film Music. Her overall share in the year was, in any case, not insignificant.

1. Sun bairi balam kuchh bol – Bawre Nain – Kedar Sharma – Roshan . This clip also has Raj Kumari singing the song live many many years after, as comfortably and as much in élan as she did originally !

2. Ghir ghir ke aasman par chhane lagi gataayen – Bawre Nain – Kedar Sharma – Roshan

3. Kyun mere dil mein dard jagaya jawaab do – Bawre Nain – Kedar Sharma – Roshan

4. Mere roothe huye balmaa –– Bawre Nain – Kedar Sharma – Roshan

5. Chale jaiho bedarda main roye marungi – Bequasoor –  Anil Biswas – a classic mujra ! Raaj Kumari is simply as much comfortable in this type of song as well !

Geeta Roy

Jogan simply overshadowed Geeta Dutt’s other songs in the year, which are also fairly respectable , both in numbers and on quality.

1. Ghunghat ke pat khol re – Jogan – Meerabai – Bulo C Rani

2. Main to Giridhar ke ghar jaaun – Jogan – Meerabai – Bulo C Rani

3. Main to prem diwani mera prem na jaane koi – Part 1 & 2 – Jogan – Meerabai – Bulo C Rani

4. Jogi mat ja – Jogan – Meerabai – Bulo C Rani

5. Pyaare darshan deejo aaj – Jogan – Meerabai – Bulo C Rani

6. Daaro re rang daaro re phaagun ke din aaye re – Jogan – Pt Indra – Bulo C Rani

7. Kaisi murali bajayi Shyam ne – Nishana – Naqshab – Khursheed Anwar

8. Ab Bhool Ja Unko Yaad Na Kar – Nishana – Naqshab – Khursheed Anwar

9. Humein apne dil se juda kar rahe ho – Jalte Deep – Naazim Panipati – TK Das

Some other Memorable Female Songs

Lakhon mein ek hamaare sainya – Nirmala Devi – Anmol Ratan – D N Madhok – Vinod

Mori Attariya Pe Kaga Bole – Meena Kapoor – Aankhen – Madan Mohan

Mila gaye nain – Sudha Malhotra – Aarzoo – Majrooh Sultanpuri – Anil Biswas

Biraha Ki Rat Mose Kaati Nahi Jat – Asha Bhosle – Beewee – Nazim Panipati – Aziz Hindi

And of course , a bonus in the form of Nutan’s Tujhe Kaisa Dulha Bhaaye Ri Baanki Dulhaniya – Hamari Beti – Snehal Bhatkar, which in no way gives a clue to her solos and duet with Hemant Kumar which blazed a comet like trail in Chhabeeli ten years later.

Continued……………….

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

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

It is a matter of great pleasure to commemorate Songs of Yore completing quite a trail-blazing journey of 5 years. The article contains an excellent write up, including some very light to some quite erudite pieces on the subjects ranging from “Hemantkumar’ Ravi, Discovering after three decades, Auto-inspiration or Laziness, Joyous Jaunpuri, Darbari Delights, Darbari and Mukhtar Begum. Chitrapatsangeet has added two excellent illustration of Raag Jaunpuri – one of them is Meri Yaad Mein Na Tum Aansoo Bahana – Madhosh (1954) – Talat Mahmood – Madan Mohan. We will look at the other one at the end of present episode of the blog carnival in our regular section on Mohammad Rafi.

Naushad’s “The Singing Girl Next Door”: Suraiya pays tribute to Suraiya with some of her most melodious songs by Naushad on her 86th birth anniversary (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004).

Sajjad Hussain’s birthday also coincides with that of Suraiya, So, Happy Birthday, Suraiya and Sajjad! has presented Suariya’s songs for film 1857, for which Sajjad has scored the music. Suraiya and Sajjad Hussain worked together in Suraiya’s swan song film : Rustm Sohrab.

My favourite Hemant Kumar Songs is a tribute to Hemant Kumar on his 95th birthday. He had many other, quite notable, songs under several other music directors as well. Here are a few solo songs that come to my mind:

C Ramchandra:

Aye baad-e-shaba jara ahista chal, tahan so hui hai Anarkali – Anarkali (1953)

Jindagi Pyar Ki Do Char Ghadi Hoti Hai – Anarkali (1953)

Zameen Chal Rahi, Aasman Chal Raha Hai – Pheli Jhalak (1954)

Ital Ke Ghar Tital – Bahurani (1963)

Madan Mohan:

Kho Gaya Jaane Kahan Arzoon Ka Jahan – Mohar (1959)

Shankar Jaikishan :

Ham Kathputle Hai Kath Ke – Shikast (1953)

Rula Kar Chal Diye Ek Din Hasin Ban Kar Jo Aaye The – Badshah (1954)

Chitragupt :

Aasman Aasman Tu Kya Jaane – Daakaa (1959)

N Dutta :

Ye Baharon Ka Shama, Kho Na Jaayen Aa Bhi Jaa – Milaap – 1955 ( A solo and duet with Lata Mangeshakar)

R D Burman

Aaja Mere Pyar Aaja – Heeralal Pannalal (1978)

On Hemanta Mukherjee’s birthday, Upperstall on hemanta kumar has recalled one of the immortal composition of Hemant Kumar – Saqiya Aaj Mujhe Neend Nahin Aayegi – Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) – Asha Bhosle and an equally memorable duet, composed by C Ramchandra – Jaag Dard-e-Ishq Jaag, Dil Ko Bequarar Kar – Anarkali (1953)

Two songs by Hemanta kumar presents O Nadi Re Ekti Kothai and Ganga Aaye Kahan Se.

On her 79th birthday on 4th June 2015, My favourite Nutan songs has consciously left out songs which show her weeping. This wonderful list brings Man Mohana Bade Jhoothe (Seema (1954) – Lata Mangeshkar – Shanker Jaikishan – to the memory.

For the records Let’s talk About Bollywood has an exclusive page dedicated to articles on Nutan. Nutan’s intelligence is a brief treatise on Nutan’s all-round virtuosity, that sets her apart as an artist. Nutan-bollymusings.com/ informs of the official launch of MUSINGS, a new blog by S. Basu which he has announced will deal chiefly with Nutan.

Musings has posted reviews of two of Nutan;s movies– Aagosh (1953) and Heer (1956) till date.

We now move over to other posts:

The video leads to other Geeta Dutt songs : Jaaongi maike jaaongi : Geeta Dutt, G M Durrani – Paatal Bhairavi (1952) Ghantasala This video is made by superimposing Hindi audio on the original Telugu clip.

Two Geeta Dutt Duets : Ta Thaiya Kar Ke Aana O Jagugar More Saiyan – Panchayat (1958) – Iqbal Qureshi – with Lata Mangeshkar and Jaanu Jaanu Re Kahe Khanake Hai Tora Kangana – Insan Jaag Utha (1959) – S D Burman – with Asha Bhosle

Anil Biswas and Meena Kapoor (via Arun Kumar Deshmukh) – Some of their songs together

I have picked up following two songs from My Favourite Cycle songs

Ten Ganga songs from classic Hindi cinema is a good collection of songs from pre-70s (mostly, with one minor exception from 1971) Hindi films which mention the Ganga, in different contexts, to different extents. I have picked up Ganga Ki Reti Pe Bangla Chhwaii De (Sudha Malhotra – Mirza Ghalib (1954) – Ghulam Mohammad ) and Ganga Ki Bhari God Mein (Manna Dey – Mere Apne (1971) – Salil Chaudhary) from the comments of the readers.

“Cricket Se Cinema Tak”- Mac Mohan captures the accidental journey of Mac Mohan (a.k.a. Mohan Makhijani). Here is the songs wherein Mac Mohan plays a lead joint-lead role:

Ye jhuki jhuki jhuki nigahein teri – Mohammad Rafi – Aao Pyaar Karein (1964) – Usha Khanna

(Very Very Interesting Trivia: Sanjeev Kumar can be seen as a very insignificant artist in some of the long shots !!!!)

Johnnie Walker in Bollywood – is a continually updated collection of some of Johnny Walker bottles …. found over the years from various Hindi (and maybe some Tamil and Telugu) filums.

Talat Mahmood: singer, actor, gentleman – Talat Mahmood was in demand not only in the recording studio but also on the screen – Manek Premchand – The article is a brief peep into the book.

Listen to virtuosos of an instrument once banned on All India Radio – Since it was introduced to the subcontinent by missionaries, the baajaa ki peti has become a part of the Indian soundscape. – Aneesh Pradhan – Meend (or a glide between notes) and gamak (or rapid oscillation of a note) are two important embellishments that cannot be produced on this instrument.  It was for this reason that the instrument was banned for broadcast on the All India Radio in 1941. Here are a few early recordings of harmonium solo recitals.

Three pioneering musicians who helped turn the harmonium into a solo instrument – Bashir Khan, Shankarrao Kalpeshwari and P Madhukar demonstrated that the ‘baaja ki peti’ wasn’t just meant for accompaniment. – Aneesh Pradhan

I remember a short, sharp, sweet, opening harmonium notes of Raat Bhi hai kuchch bheegi bheegi, which is repeated over several times.

A tribute to Guide in its 50th year – Vijay Anand’s Guide is now 50 years old and yet timeless, this is one of our cinematic landmarks, and a testament to the possibilities of artistic collaboration within a commercial system. [A longer post about “Tere Mere Sapne” is here. And more about RK Narayan’s “Misguided Guide” here]

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

Bhagvan Thavrani

  • Kiseeko Yoon Tamannaon Mein Uljhaaya Nahin Karte – Meena Kapoor -Return of Superman (1960) – Anil Biswas: ‘This forgotten Meena Kapur solo is a stunt film nobody knows or remembers..it is picturised on Jayraj and Shila Ramani ( taxi driver and railway platform fame.. ) ….Surprise of surprises, the music is by Anil Biswas…perhaps the last flicker before he vanished..! The film has a duet sung by Anil da and Mubarak Beghum ! This song is written by films producer Manmohan…this film came and went in 1961….
  • Aap Ki Inayatein Aap Ke Karam – Lata Mangeshkar -Vandana (1975) – Ravi: ‘A simple, soothing song from a forgotten film…!’
  • Kaho Aa Ke Bahar Kare Mera Singar Mujhe Pyar Mila – Mukesh & Asha Bhonsle – FORTY DAYS (1959) – Babul Bose – ‘Film चालीस दिन was famous for that sweet Asha – Manna Dey duet ” Naseeb hoga mera meharbaan kabhi na kabhi ” and great Asha solo ” baithe hain rehguzar pe dil ka diya jalaaye “. This sweet duet of Asha – Mukesh is lesser known but so sweet…Asha is at her playful mischievous best…music director Babul Bose gave a very few but memorable films..in a few films, he teamed with Bipin and gave music under the name ” Bipin Babul ‘.
  • Na Phoolon Ki Duniya – Lata Mangeshkar – Saaz Aur Awaaz (1966) – Naushad Ali : PALKI, LEADER and SAAZ AUR AAWAZ were supposed to be Naushad’s twilight years movies and hence the Music of these films was said to be weak as compared to old Naushadian standards….A Lata chorus..it has a mystic aura about it and the chorus female voices add to the atmosphere.. Based on raag SOHINI (perhaps )..’

[Side Note: I landed up on a Suman Kalyanpur number – Poonam Ki Raat Aayi – which I am not able to recollect very easily now. Hence brought it up here.]

  • Aye Saba Unse Kah Jara – ‘A rare Rafi- Asha duet from “Alibaba 40 chor ” . The music credit is given to S N Tripathi and Chitragupta but none of the film songs seem to have Chitragupta touch. Maybe , he gave background music only…..Strangely, in the same year 1954, a film named 40 BABA EK CHOR was also released with music by S D Burman with good, average, songs……Enjoy the lilting Arabian tune…!’

In the last episode of our carnival, we had talked about the very widely discussed and participated exercise of annual review of songs of a particular year – Best songs of 1950: And the winners are?. We have taken up documentation of the further micro-review of the songs therein. Here are the posts published during the present month:

We will continue with the series in the next couple of months as well……

In the end, we have picked up (our customary) very special songs of Mohammad Rafi from the lead we get from the articles / films discussed here before in the present episode of our blog carnival –

That incidentally takes us to two more songs from the same film – a solo by Mohammad Rafi, Zindagi Ke Mod Par, Akele The Ham, Mil Gaye Tum To Dil Ka Sahara Mila, and a duet of Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle, Aankhon Mein Na Jaane

  • Recall of Mohammad Rafi songs from Saaz Aur Awaz

Pyaar Ki Raah Bahaar Ki Manzil – Mohd.Rafi & Asha Bhonsle – – A tonga song – after a long time.

Kisne Mujhe Sada Di (part i) – Mohd.Rafi & Suman Kalyanpur – Another haunting song, which typically has more than one version (part ii) in the film.

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

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music – June 2014

Welcome to June, 2014 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We begin our carnival with visits to our regular blogs:

Suraiya’s songs by SD Burman

“Since SD Burman made his debut late, his songs for Suraiya are much less compared to, say, Naushad’s, but as was his wont, he had a talent to create something for every singer, which would easily rank among his/her landmark songs, even if we just count Man more hua matwala and Nain deewane, Suraiya’s songs by SD Burman have a place among her greatest songs.”

Songs of Yore completes four years – With a tribute to Juthika Roy

Juthika Roy“Born in 1920, she sang her first song on the radio at the age of 7, which was a Rabindra Sangeet, Aar dekhona, andhaare aamaay dekhate daao. Her first HMV record was of two Bengali songs, which was followed by two Meera bhajans in Hindi in 1935-36. She became synonymous with Meera bhajans and achieved enormous popularity during the 40s through 50s. Kamal Dasgupta composed most of her songs, with whom she also sang a number of duets, including some naats and qawwalis.”

Shri Arunkumar Deshamukh has also guest-written an article on Juthika Roy – Mandir ho har kadam pe pooja ho subah shaam@ atul’s bollywood song a day- with full lyrics. The song presented here is a duet of Juthika Roy with Kamal Dasgupta.

Whilst on the subject of Juthika Roy, let us also enjoy Juthika Roy’s interview on Vividh Bharati, on 25th February 2009 @ Anmol Fankar.

The incredible brother-sister in music: Anil Biswas’s songs for Parul Ghosh

“Her swan song in films was in Aandolan (1951) – Vande Mataram – with Manna Dey and Sudha Malhotra, composed by Pannalal Ghosh. She sang about 100 songs in all in 25 films. She died on August 13, 1977 after prolonged illness in Bombay. The song list (not exhaustive) at Cineplot shows that she sang for most of the top composers of the time, but her most famous songs are by his brother.”

Ten of my favourite Sunil Dutt songs is the collection of solo songs Sunil Dutt sings on the screen. The list does not contains only song from a given film.

Twin Songsare true back-to-back songs, songs that segue into each other with no dialogues or scenes in between. The compilation presents 14 sets of such songs in one go, which one can be listen here too.

Forgotten Melodies (Part 1) – My Favourite Dance Sequences From My Father’s Filmscaptures some of more favoured dance sequences from films in which Tarun Bose has played a role.

Lively songs from Naushad“is devoted to the multitude of lively songs that Naushad composed through the 1940s, 50s and 60s.Lively here does not “mean only songs that celebrate joy or abandon”. It also includes “songs that have a (relatively) lively and attractive pace when compared to slow, brooding songs. Some of his lively songs may actually be sad situations. But the songs may be lively with a relatively fast tempo or with lyrics, expressions or situations that appear cheerful!.” For an uninterrupted listening, do use this playlist.

We now turn to the archives of the other blogs and articles:

4 June was the birthday of Nutan. We recall Nutan’s Biography, and supplement it with Lady Nutan, wherein very interesting aspects of her life have been presented. The article has sourced a good deal of material from Cineplot.

Jaikishan – The Eternal Prince of Hindi Film Music is an exclusive interview with Bhairavi Jaikishan, daughter of famed Jaikishan of Shanker Jaikishan duo. – “Listen to the soulful Rafi number ‘Yaad Na Jaaye Beete Dinonki” from Dil Ek Mandir. And listen to the Spanish ‘original’ Besame Mucho and one is left awestruck! The feel is similar but to the Indian ear – it is the pathos of the SJ-Rafi rendition which touches the heart! This was a typical Jaikishan characteristic.”

Evolution of the Hindi film song (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6) traces the way Hindi Film Sings evolved. Presented here are some excerpts:

“We saw the late 30s and early 40s responsible for the entry of singers such as GM Durrani, Arun Kumar, Parul Ghosh, Zohra Ambala, Amirbai Karnataki, Rajkumari, Shamshad Begum and Suraiya. Now a newer generation of singers followed them. Among the male singers, Shankar Rao Vyas introduced Manna Dey with Ram Rajya in 1943, Naushad introduced Mohd. Rafi to Hindi films with Pehle Aap in 1944 and Anil Biswas introduced Mukesh in Pehli Nazar in 1945. Of these perhaps the most important talent was undoubtedly Mohd. Rafi.

“While Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar went on to rule the Hindi Film Industries from the 1950s, there were other male playback singers whose contribution could not be denied – Manna Dey, Talat Mehmood and Hemant Kumar….. Meanwhile the 1940s had also thrown up some of the best female talent in playback singing – Meena Kapoor, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt and of course the one and only Lata Mangeshkar…”

And now, we move over to our regular Mohammad Rafi-related video clips and articles:

Mohammed Rafi – VOA Tribute – Rare interview and his own selection of songs –

The special program is a joint production of the staffers of VOA Urdu Service and the VOA English division. This is based on a rare interview of the legendary Bollywood singer, Mohammad Rafi, recorded during one of his visits to London in 1977 by Subhash Vohra of VOA English, who was then working for the BBC Hindi Service. This program, devoted to the memories of Rafi, also includes his own selection of songs.
You can also listen to very intimate observations of the famed Bollywood personality, Ameen Sayani, who is still adored in South Asia for his masterly music presentation over several decades.

My Abba - A MemoirYasmin Khalid Rafi, daughter-in-law of Mohammed Rafi published her book- Mohammed Rafi – My Abba, A Memoire. In a review of the book on “Outlook”, With A Song on His Lips, Sathya Saran has this to state – “Few sang as Rafi sang, few touched so many as he did. A mellow, melancholy memoir recalls a master we don’t know.”

We have chosen to remain brief and focused in this episode. How would you to react to this style?