Danny Denzongpa - The name Danny was given by Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan

 

His original name is Tshering Phintso Denzongpa became famous as Danny from Bollywood. He was born on 25th Feb 1948 in Sikkim. He got admission to Armed Force Medical College Pune and went there to study Medicine but his interest was in Art. When he came to know about Pune Film & Television Institute, he shifted to an acting course.

Jaya Bhaduri was his classmate, who suggested him to change his name to 'Danny'.He also became a good friend of Amitabh Bachchan, they used to play tennis together in the early 70s. He got his first role in Zaroorat(1972) but got his major break in Gulzar's Mere Apne (1971), where he had a positive role. He had his first played an antagonist in B.R.Chopra's Dhundh (1973), where he played the role of a crippled and frustrated husband.

He is also a good singer, he was first given a chance to sing, 'Mera Naam Aao' by S.D. Burman in the film Yeh Gulistan Hamara in 1972. later he sang in a few films. He has sung with Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle. 

With Asha Bhosle, he sang a duet "Suno Suno Kasam Se" in the Hindi film Kala Sona in 1975 picturized on him, became a hit, He also sang with Mohammad Rafi "Mujhe Doston Tum Gale Lagaa Lo" from Naya Daur 1978, in the same film he sang a duet with Kishore Kumar "Botal Khaali Hone To Do"

He has sung a Nepali duet with Asha Bhosle, "Aage aage topai ko gola pachhi pachhi machinegun barara" in 1976. This song was shown by Danny to Rajesh Khanna who liked the song tremendously. Then Rajesh Khanna requested R.D. Burman to compose the song – "Sang Mere Nikle The Sajan" from the 1981 film Phir Wohi Raat, which was directed by Danny himself 

His most applauded negative characters are in Bandish (1980) as Kapil Kumar, Phir Wahi Raat as "Ashok", Dharm Aur Qanoon (1984), as SP "Kader", Kanoon Kya Karega (1984), as "Raghuvir Singh", Andar Baahar (1984), as "Shera", Oonche Log (1985), as "Thakur Maan Singh", Aandhi Toofan (1986), as "Balbir" Bhagwaan Dada (1986), as "Gangwaa", Agneepath (1990), as "Kancha Cheena", Hum (1991), as "Bakhtawar", Ghatak: Lethal, as "Kaatya", Krantiveer (1994), as "Chatur Singh", Pukar, (2000) as "Abhrush" and Indian, as "Shankar Singhania". He was pitted against Pran in the film Sanam Bewafa, Paap Ki Duniya, Gurudev and 1942: A Love Story. His command over the Urdu language came in handy in films such as Sawan Kumar's Sanam Bewafa and Mukul Anand's Khuda Gawah.

In recent years he appeared in Jai Ho (2014), co-starring Salman Khan and Bang Bang (2014), co-starring Hrithik Roshan.

He was nominated 5 times as the Best Villain and 5 times as Best Supporting actor and won it twice in Sanam Bewafa(1992) and Khuda Gawah(1993). He was also given Padamshri by Govt of India.

Song of Yeh Gulistan Hamara 1972

Song of  Kala Sona 1975

Song of Naya Daur 1978

Song of Naya Daur 1978

Noorjahan- Inspiration for generations of singers

Noorjehan was the first female singing superstar of Indian cinema and helped laid the foundation for playback singing as we know it. She also inspired a generation of singers including Lata Mangeshkar before single-handedly kick-starting music in Pakistan. Her ability to enunciate with crystalline clarity and her skill in evoking the right emotion, especially in her sad songs, is what made her singing so popular.
She was India's most famous singer and actor before Independence. She had become a household name with such movies as Khandaan (1942), Naukar(1943), Dost (1944), Zeenat (1945), Village Girl (1945), Badi Ma(1945), Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Jugnu (1947).

In 1947, she decided to move to Pakistan along her husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. She left Bombay and settled in Karachi Pakistan. Three years after settling in Pakistan, she starred in her first Pakistani film Chan Wey (1951), opposite Santosh Kumar, which was also her first Pakistani film as a heroine and playback singer. Shaukat Hussain Rizvi and Noor Jehan directed this film together, making Jehan Pakistan's first female director. Jehan's second film in Pakistan was Dopatta (1952) which was Produced by Aslam Lodhi, Directed by Sibtain Fazli and assisted by A. H. Rana as Production Manager. Dopatta turned out to be an even bigger success than Chan Wey (1951).

She had problems in her marriage and got divorced due to personal differences. She kept custody of the three children from their marriage. In 1959, she married another film actor, Ejaz Durrani, nine years her junior.
After her second marriage, she didn't work in many films. Her husband pressured her to give up acting, and her last film as a lead role was Mirza Ghalib (1961). She last acted in Baaji in 1963, though not in a leading role. She continued singing after that. She sang a large number of duets with Ahmed Rushdi, Mehdi Hassan, Masood Rana, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mujeeb Aalam.
She visited India in 1982 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Indian talkie movies, where she met Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi and was received by Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar in Bombay. She met all her erstwhile heroes and costars, including Surendra, Pran, Suraiya, composer Naushad and others. 
After 1986 she was not keeping well so she stopped singing assignments. In 2000, Jehan was hospitalised in Karachi and suffered a heart attack. On 23 December 2000. Jehan died as a result of heart failure. Her funeral took place at Jamia Masjid Sultan, Karachi and was attended by over 400,000 people. She was buried at the Gizri Graveyard in Karachi.
She received more than 15 Nigar Awards for Best Female Playback Singer, eight for best Urdu Singer Female and the rest for Punjabi playback. She has also been given the award for the Singer Of Millennium.

Song of Khandan 1942

Song of Anmol Ghadi (1946) 

Song of Anmol Ghadi (1946) 

Song of Anmol Ghadi (1946) 

Song of Jugnu (1947)

Mukesh- It was Naushad who asked him to sing in his style

 

In the 40s KL Saigal was the voice of the nation, every male singer used to sing in his style. Our great singers, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, or Mukesh were his fans and used to sing in his style. If you listen to their earlier songs, you will not recognize their voice.  In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song "Dil Jalta Hai..." sung by Mukesh, he remarked, "That's strange, I don't recall singing that song.

In the 40s, there was a trend of singing actors, there was no playback singing prevailing in those days. The hero or heroine was taken on the basis of their singing ability. Mukesh was offered the role of a hero opposite Nalini Jaywant in the 1941 film Nirdosh.In this film, he had a duet with Nalini Jaywant and also a solo.

Mukesh and Suraiya.

Naushad though worked very less with him but asked him to sing on his own voice. In Mela, the song " Gaye Ja Geet Milan Ke" became a smash hit after that most of the composers asked him to sing on his own style.

Naushad composed approximately 23 songs for Mukesh, out of which 15 were solos and 8 were duets.  Naushad created some of the best gems for Mukesh including Kabhi dil dil sai takrata to hoga, Main bhanwara tou hai phool and Tu kahe agar. 

Naushad in an interview disclosed an interesting fact that Mukesh could never sing without a harmonium. This was because he thought that he would go out of tune. In fact, many times I had to pad up the harmonium, and whenever we did that the result was much better.

Song of Nirdosh 1941

Song of Nirdosh 1941

Song of Sukh Dukh

Song of Mukesh from Moniika Unreleased Film

Song of Pehli Nazar 1945

Song of Chaand Sitaare (1948) 

Song of Anokhi Ada 1948

Song of Anokhi Ada 1948

Song of Mela 1948

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Andaz 1949

Song of Saathi 1968

Manmohan Krishna- The Character Actor of the Golden Era of Bollywood

 

Manmohan Krishna (11 August 1921 – 3 November 1990), a familiar actor of the 50s and 60s.He worked in nearly 250 films, notably Naya Daur (1957), Khandan ( 1965), Sadhana (1958), Waqt (1965) and Hamraaz (1967)^] He won acclaim for his work in Bees Saal Baad (1962) and won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Abdul Rasheed in Dhool Ka Phool (1960), where the song, Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalman Banega, Insaan ki Aulaad Hai, Insaan Banega was picturized on him. He was a favorite for B R Chopra and Yash Chopra. Later in his career, he directed the hit film for Yash Raj Films, Noorie (1980),

He started his career as a professor in Physics and held a master's degree in physics. He anchored radio the show Cadbury's Phulwari, a singing contest. 

 Many people don't know that Manmohan Krishna started as Hero cum singer from the 1947 film Matwala Shair Ramjoshi (1947), he sang all the songs in that film. The next film he appeared was1949 film Apna Desh where he sang a song. his next song, 'Jhat khol de' in Afsar (1950), a Dev Anand film with music by S.D. Burman. He also sang in 1951 film Aaram where he played a comedian. sang the song 'Yeh Zindagi Hai Yo-Yo'. In the 1955 film 'Railway Platform' he sang a few songs.In this blog, i am posting these rare songs either in audio or video.

Song of  Matwala Shair Ramjoshi (1947)

Song of Afsar 1950

Song of Aaram 1951

Song of Railway Platform 1955

Song of Railway Platform 1955

Song of Dhool Ka Phool (1960),

Talat Mahmood- The Singer, who gave us many Immortal Songs.

Talat Mahmood, the legendry singer of the Golden Era died on 8th May 1998 has given many Immortal songs to us. Although his peak barely spanned a decade, he has produced some of Bollywood's most treasured songs.  This accomplishment has earned him a place in our hearts and souls for all time to come.
Talat’s impeccable command over Urdu was the flavor of the films. Top music directors of that time were giving him songs. The first song he sang for Dilip Kumar was "Milte Hi Ankhe Dil Hua Deewana Kisi Ka" a duet from Babul 1950. He gave playback to all the big stars of that era such as Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, and Sunil Dutt 
 His big break came with the song Ae dil mujhe aisi jagha le chal jahan koi na ho composed by music director Anil Biswas for the soundtrack of the movie Arzoo. The song proved to be extremely popular.
After Babul, he sang for Dilip Kumar in the 1951 film Tarana, the song "Seene Mei Sulagte Hai Arman" became super hit. The same year another song from Madhosh " Meri Yaad Mein Na Tum Aanso Bahana" also became hit.His voice was now being appreciated by all, most of the music directors were now giving him a chance. In 1952 he sang in 26 films, the songs of Daag and Anhonee became super hit. He sang for the first time for Raj Kapoor, this song" Mein Dil Hoon Ek Arman Bhara" is an immortal song.
Though he sang for Dev Anand in 1951 film Nadaan,"Aa Teri Tasvir Bana Loon"but the 1953 song "Andhe Jahan Ke Hum Hain" became hit. The same year "Sham-E-Gham ki qassam" for Footpath and "Zindagi dene wale sun" for Dil E Nadaan were a massive hit.
In 1954 he again sang for Dev Anand in Taxi Driver, the song  "Jayen to jayen kahan" became immortal and one of his greatest hits.
Talat sang approximately 800 songs spread over 4 decades spanning between the 40s and 80s Here I am posting a few of his immortal songs

Song of Arzoo 1950

Song of Baabul 1950

Song of Taraana 1951

Song of Madhosh 1951

Song of Daag 1952

Song of Anhonee 1952

Song of Foothpath 1953

Song of Dil-e-Nadaan  1953

Song of Taxi Driver  1954

Song of Baradari  1955

Song of Yasmeen  1955

Song of Dekh Kabira Roya 1957

Song of Sujata  1959

Song of Chhaya 1961

Song of Jahan Aara 1964

K L Saigal - A Journey from Salesman to the First Singing Star

K. L. Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, A drop out of school and started earning money by working as a railway timekeeper. Later he worked as a typewriter salesman; this later occupation gave him the opportunity to travel widely in India.
He used to sing in gatherings with friends and met many people.  On one occasion he met Meharchand Jain; he would become one of Saigal's early friends and supporters.  In his travels, he also met B.N. Sircar the founder of New Theatres.  It is said that it was Sircar, who persuaded Saigal to go to Calcutta.
In Calcutta, he briefly worked in a hotel as a manager but his interest was in music grew day by day.  Though he didn't receive formal training, he learned it listening to other classical singers of that era. He was a frequent participant in mehfils.  He also recorded a number of discs of songs written and arranged by Harishchandra Bali.  These were released through the Indian Gramophone Company.  His reputation as a singer was growing.
 While in Calcutta, Saigal was introduced to R.C. Boral.  It was Boral who signed Saigal to a contract with New Theatres. Those were the days when actors and actresses sang their own songs, and musical ability was considered an important prerequisite for a successful film career.
His first film was an Urdu film "Mohabbat Ke Ansoo" (1932).  Thereafter he had roles in "Subah Ke Sitare", and "Zinda Laash".  These were released in 1932 but were not successful.
During this period Saigal continued to work in films and continued to sing private songs. Out of many private disks, of which Jhulana jhulao attracted much attention from the public. In 1934 one of his films "Chandidas" made him famous as an actor.

The next year in 1935 Devdas was released. After the phenomenal success of "Devdas", there was no doubt that Saigal was a formidable entity in the film industry. His songs in the film Devdas (1935), "Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein" and "Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi", became popular throughout the country
While in Calcutta, Saigal became proficient in Bengali.  This allowed him to sing and act in a number of Bengali films.  He even had the distinction of being the first non-Bengali that Rabindranath Tagore would allow recording his work.
His association with New Theatres continued to bear fruit in the successful films Didi (Bengali), President (Hindi) in 1937, Desher Mati (Bengali), Dharti Mata (Hindi) in 1938, Saathi (Bengali), Street Singer (Hindi) in 1938, Dushman (1939), Jiban Maran (1939) and Zindagi in 1940, with Saigal in the lead. There are a number of songs of this era which form the rich heritage of film music in India. Also, in Street Singer, Saigal rendered the song "Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Jaye"

 He moved to Bombay in December of 1941, and there began to work with the Ranjit Movietone Company. There he did films such as "Bhakta Surdas", "Tansen", "Kurukshetra", "Omar Khayyam", "Tadbeer", "Shahjahan" and "Parwana".
In a career of fifteen years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films – 28 in Hindi, seven in Bengali, and one in Tamil. In addition, he acted in a short comedy Hindi film, Dulari Bibi (three reels), released in 1933., Saigal rendered 185 songs throughout his career which includes 142 film songs and 43 non-film songs. Of the film songs, there are 110 in Hindi, 30 in Bengali and two in Tamil. There are 37 non-film songs in Hindi, and two each in Bengali, Pashto, Punjabi and Persian. His non-film songs comprise bhajans, ghazals, and Lori. He has rendered the creations of poets such as Ghalib, Zauq, and Seemab.
Saigal lived a short life. He died at the age of 42 years. It is said that in the years before his death, he was unable to sing or perform without first having a drink.  This was affecting both his health as well as his work.  He developed cirrhosis of the liver. He passed away on January 18th, 1947 in Jalandhar. Before his death, he was able to churn out three more hits under the baton of Naushad Ali for the film Shahjehan (1946). These are "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani", "Ae Dil-e-Beqaraar Jhoom" and "Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya". Parwana (1947) was his last film, released after his death,   
Immortal Songs of K L Saigal

Ghazal of K L Saigal

The first private song of K L Saigal

Song of Chandidas (1934)

Song of Devdas (1935)

Song of Pujarin (1936)

Song of President" (1937), 

Song of Street Singer (1938)

Song of  Dushman (1939),

Song of  Zindagi (1940)

Song of  Zindagi (1940)

Song of  Bhakta Surdas (1942)

Song of  Tansen (1943)

Song of  ShahJahan (1946),

Song of  ShahJahan (1946),

Song of Parwana (1947)