SANAM(1951)- The Last Film of Dev Anand and Suraiya

If you are a Dev Anand fan and love to see Black & White films, if you like Meena Kumari in a chirpy mood, this is one film you definitely must-see, She plays the role of Suraya's friend in this film. Suraiya in the main lead romancing with Dev Anand, who plays Yogen, an unemployed youth. who  had to rob some money for his mother's treatment,

In real life, Dev Annand and Suraiya were in an affair for two years which was its peak during the shooting of Afsar but coming to an end during the shooting of this film. This remains their last movie together, after this, they never worked together.

Yogin (Dev Anand), comes across Sadhana (Suraiya) in a chance encounter in a book shop.Sadhana's father is the advocate in the case against Dev Anand. Dev Anand has jailed for this case after knowing the news of his mother was serious, he runs away from the jail. He rescues Suraiya from a fire on a stage where she was performing a dance. Suraiya brings him to her home  She fell in love with him. Her father was against the relation of Sadhana with Jogin. The story takes many twists and turns with lots of songs and a dance number. 

The movie was directed by Nandalal Jaswantal who also gave us the blockbusters like Nagin and Anarkali in 1953 and 1954. I grade this movie as a seven out of ten.

The film's music was composed by the duo Husnlal Bhagatram and all songs were written by lyricist Qamar Jalalabad. 

Song of Sanam 1951

Song of Sanam 1951

Song of Sanam 1951

Song of Sanam 1951

Song of Sanam 1951

Song of Sanam 1951

Song of Sanam 1951

Rajkumari- The Great Singer of the 40s

Not many of us remember her today but once she was among the topmost singers of Bollywood. She sang for 100 films, till the early 1950s. She is best known for her songs, "Sun Bairi Baalam Sach Bol Re" in Bawre Nain (1950), "Ghabaraa Ke Jo Hum Sar Ko Takraayan" in Mahal (1949) and "Najariya Ki Maari" in Pakeezah (1972).
She was just 10 years old when she recorded her first song for HMV in 1934 and she started her career as a stage artist. Vijay Bhatt and Shankar Bhatt of Prakash Pictures spotted her during one of her shows.
Her first film with them was a Hindi-Gujarati bilingual called Sansar Leela Nayi Duniya. She got important roles in films like Aankh Ka Tara and Turki Sher (1933). She was the heroine in Bhakt Ke Bhagwan and Insaaf Ki Topi (1934).
 She also used to sing for popular music director Lallubhai. He gave music to films starring Rajkumari ji like Nai Duniya, alias Sacred Scandal (1934) (Sansaar Leela in Gujarati version), Laal Chitthi, alias Red Letter (1935), Bombay Mail (1935), Bambai Ki Sethaani (1935) and Shamsheer-e-Arab (1935). 
She sang many duets with G M Durrani. The 1942 film Nai Duniya had many duets of Rajkumari and G M Durrani.
Nai Duniya was a 1942 Bollywood film directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar and starring P. Jairaj, Shobhana Samarth, and Mazhar Khan. Suraiya sang her first song; "Boot Karun Mai Polish, Babu" with Naushad as M.D. in this film.
Rajkumari had a soft and very sweet voice with a small range. She sang quite a few songs with Mukesh. She did not get much opportunity to sing with Mohammed Rafi – mainly because Lata Mangeshkar was a fast upcoming singer at the time. She sang with Noor Jehan in Naukar (1943). She never sang with K. C. Dey, but she did sing songs composed by him, as well as his nephew, Manna Dey.
Rajkumari was married very late in life. Her husband was V.K. Dubey who was from Varanasi where he spent a lot of his time (because he owned a shop there), while she settled in Bombay. He later joined her in Bombay. Rajkumari Dubey died in 2000. Her last song was with R D Burman for the 1977 film Kitab.

Song of Nai Duniya 1942

Song of Nai Duniya 1942

Song of Mahal (1949)

Song of Mahal (1949)

Song of Bawre Nain (1950)

Song of Pakeeza 1972

Song of Kitab 1977

Baazi- The Film that was a trendsetter and gave Bollywood many Legends

There are some films which are iconic, Navketan's Baazi released in 1951 is also such film which gave the Hindi Film Industry many legends. The film is notable for two reasons: first, being the directorial debut of Guru Dutt and second, it was the film which inspired many urban crime thrillers in the fifties. This was the second film of Dev Anand's production house Navketan Films, and as per a commitment was given by Dev Anand to Guru Dutt in their days of struggle, the movie was directed by Guru Dutt.

The movie begins with hands being shown gambling, just in case if we viewers missed the point. A look at the credits makes you feel that the ‘who is who’ of the remaining years of the 50s are represented there. First of all this film gave us the Star Dev Anand who in the years to come to become the Style Icon of Bollywood. The second person to become Legendary Director of Bollywood was Guru Dutt.the third legend in making was S D Burman the great composer of Golden Era of Bollywood. Next legendary personality was Kalpna Kartik who later married Dev Anand made her debut with this film.

Kalpana Kartik in Baazi

S D Burman

 Balraj Sahni, who had just returned after a stint with the BBC was entrusted with the story, screenplay and dialogues. Zohra Sehgal was brought in to choreograph the dance sequences. A young poet named Sahir Ludhianvi was given a chance to pen lyrics for the songs who later became a Legendary Lyricist and poet. 

Sahir

Raj Khosla served as an assistant director who became a legendary Director. A bus conductor who Sahni had seen entertaining passengers was called in for a cameo, to play a drunkard, and while the film credits him by his real name Badruddin, after Baazi, the world knew him as Johnny Walker.

The other Legendary personalities were the Cinematographers V Ratra and his assistant V K Murthy who gave memorable cinematography of all Guru Dutt’s films, (including Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulamand Kagaz ke Phool) has earned Murthy a place in the history of Hindi cinema. He was awarded a ‘lifetime achievement award’ by the Indian International Film Academy in 2008. This came as belated recognition by the Bombay film industry for the contribution made to its evolution by technicians such as V.K. Murthy.  

V K Murthy

 In his autobiography Romancing with Life, Devsaab reminisces: “Baazi gave me an image that stayed in the minds of people, and made a genuine star out of me. For the first time, I felt and saw what stardom was in terms of adulation and fan following. I became a phenomenon after the release of Baazi.”
Songs of Baazi 1951