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 74th 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 – 27th 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 – 26th September – by delving way back to ‘Iraada’ (1944) – the first Hindi film for which Hemant Kumar sang playback.
October 17 would have been 60th 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 –
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.
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
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]:
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 …….
The world is too small? or Is it? 