This BLOG is about the Past of Hindi Films Specially Black and White Cinema We will refresh your memories by bringing out forgotten or unseen songs and clippings of film scenes We will try to give you as much information as we gather from our research.
This Blog was started as a one-man’s passion for film history but has now become an addiction for many music lovers who are equally passionate about Hindi films
Showing posts with label Black & White Era. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black & White Era. Show all posts
Amirbai Karnatki (19 Feb 1906 – 3 March 1965), was a famous actress/singer and playback singer of the early Hindi cinema She was a singing star of the late 30s and 40s.In 1943, with the release of Bombay Talkies' Kismet (1943 film), she achieved popularity: the songs of Kismet became a rage and Amirbai became famous. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song Vaishnav Jan To. She was fluent in Kannada (mother tongue) and Gujarati languages. "Mahre te gamray ek baar aawjo" is one of her famous Gujarati songs from the film Ranrakdevi. She was not a trained singer but during the 1940s, Amirbai became one of the most sought after singers. She reached her career peak by 1947. There was a time. when other singers used to get Rs. 500 for singing a song, Amirbai used to get Rs. 1000 per recording. Those days she avoided taking acting roles and concentrated more on her singing.
After 1947, Lata Mangeshkar became a rising star, so once again Amirbai switched over to acting. In her later years, she mostly played character roles. Amirbai also composed music for Wahab Pictures' film Shehnaaz (1948). In the same year, she almost left Hindi Cinema for Gujarati and Marwari films.
She had a paralytic attack in 1965, died just four days later and was buried in her hometown. A cinema hall is still run in the name of "Amir Talkies" in the city of Bijapur, by her family.
Madhubala (14th Feb1933 – 23 February 1969 ) started acting at the age of seven and made her first film for Bombay Talkies, where she had to sing a song – ‘Mere chhote se man me, chhoti si duniya re’. She was called Baby Mumtaz. She worked as Baby Mumtaz in many films such as Pujari, Phoolwari, and Rajputani. She was spotted by Kidar Sharma and paired her as heroine opposite Raj Kapoor in Neel Kamal(1947). She was barely 14 years old and he named her Madhubala. A couple of years later, Kamal Amrohi cast her opposite Ashok Kumar in Mahal and a star was born. She became everyone’s darling and the industry crowned her ‘Venus of the Indian Screen’, She was now the preferred heroine of Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand.
Madhubala as Baby Mumtaz
Her first film with Dilip Kumar was Tarana. They went on to do three more – Sangdil, Amar and Mughal-e-Azam. The latter was also her last film before she was bedridden. With Dev Anand, she worked in 6 films. The first film they did together was" Nirala "released in 1950, the other films were Aaram (1951), Naadan (1951), Kala Pani (1958),Jaali Note (1960), and Sharabi (1964) During the career span of 22 years, she appeared in around 73 Hindi films. She worked with all the leading heroes of their time. Madhubala's co-starsAshok Kumar,Raj Kapoor,Rehman,Pradeep Kumar,Shammi Kapoor,Dilip Kumar,Sunil Dutt,andDev Anandwere the most popular actors of that period. She also appeared with notable leading ladies such asKamini Kaushal,Suraiya,Geeta Bali,Nalini Jaywant,ShyamaandNimmi. The directors she worked with,Mehboob Khan(Amar),Guru Dutt(Mr. & Mrs. '55),Kamal Amrohi(Mahal) andK. Asif(Mughal-e-Azam), were amongst the most prolific and respected. Madhubala also became a producer and produced films likeNaata(1955) andMahlon Ke Khwab(1960) and acted in both the films. Madhubala gave a flamboyant performance in Guru Dutt's satire Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955). The film revolves around Anita, a wealthy heiress, and a struggling cartoonist, Pritam (Guru Dutt). Mr. & Mrs. '55 has hit songs, "Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Jee" (a duet sung by Geeta Dutt and Mohammed Rafi) and "Thandi Hawa Kali Ghata" (sung by Geeta Dutt). Mr. & Mrs. 55 was the fifth highest-grossing film of that year. She also acted in costume dramas such as Shirin-Farhad (1956), Raj-Hath (1956) (both with Pradeep Kumar).]Dhake Ki Malmal was a romantic musical comedy directed by J.K. Nanda and produced under the Nanda Film banners. The film starred Madhubala and Kishore Kumar together for the first time. Both of them later acted in several popular "musical comedies" such as Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Jhumroo (1961) and Half Ticket (1962). The love with Dilip Kumar is well known but they couldn't marry. Madhubala met Kishore Kumar during the shooting of Dhake Ki Malmal (1956). In 1960, Madhubala married him when she was 27 years old. When Madhubala was ill in the late 1950s with the congenital heart disease, Kishore Kumar proposed to her and she decided to marry him after realizing that Dilip Kumar was not going to marry her. Madhubala had a ventricular septal defect (a hole in her heart) In 1969, she was set to make her directorial debut with the film Farz aur Ishq. However, the film was never made, as during pre-production, she died on 23 February 1969, shortly after her 36th birthday. The cause of death was determined to be the prolonged lung and heart illness
Mere chhote se man me -sung by Madhubala as a child in Basant 1942
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) is considered as one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent.He was known for his ability to mold his voice to the persona and style of an actor, lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in various regional Indian languages as well as foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi-Urdu and Punjabi over which he had a strong command. In this blog, I plan to divide Rafi’s very long career into 10-year slots, look for a film that has his first association with the music director, and then pick up one solo song that seems to slip from our memories. 1944 to 1953 Rafi moved to Bombay, Maharashtra in 1944. His first recorded song in a Hindi film was a duet with G M Durrani "Aji dil ho kaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi...," for Gaon Ki Gori, As can be expected the first five-year period of Rafi had a very large number of music directors who deployed Mohammad Rafi first time.
Song of Gaon Ki Gori. 1944
Pandit Govindram, one of the then leading music director, teamed up with lyricist Ramesh Gupta for Hamara Sansar with what may be termed as a full-fledged 1st solo song. The experts may see that youthful rawness in Rafi’s voice but not in his singing prowess.
Muhammad Rafi 1st solo Song from Film Hamara Sansar 1945
Song of Hamara Sanar 1945
In 1946 S Quereshi another popular composer of that era composed a slightly fast-paced tune which is essentially in the nature of a traditional prayer. Shevan Rizvi has made required changes in the lyrics to suit the song to probably a 78-RPM
record singing length duration. In the years to come, Mohammad Rafi developed a special
forte for this genre.
Song of Arab Ka Sitara 1946
Song of Shahjahan (1946)
Composer Naushad took Rafi for the first time in a chorus with Shyam Kumar, Alauddin and others from the film" Pehle Aap." in 1944. In 1945, he appeared on the screen for the song "Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha" in the film Laila Majnu. He sang a number of songs for Naushad as part of the chorus, including "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Roohi Roohi" with K. L. Saigal, from the film Shahjahan (1946). Rafi sang "Tera Khilona Toota Balak" from Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946) and a duet with Noor Jehan in the 1947 film Jugnu, "Yahan Badla Wafa Ka".
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Song of Anmol Ghadi (1946)
Song of Jugnu 1947
C Ramachandra has scored a double solo in Safar. Kehke Bhi Na Aaye Tum can be treated as one of the popular among Mohammad Rafi’s early songs.C.Ramchandra went onto
compose 22 more songs of Mohammad Rafi by 1949
Song of Safar 1946
Song of Safar 1946
S D Burman also opens an account with Mohammad Rafi solo in Do Bhai. Raja Mahendi Ali Khan’s lyrics have been done a very fair justice by Mohammad Rafi in the way the song has been rendered. S.D. Burman used Rafi as a singing voice of Dev Anand and Guru Dutt in the years to come.
Song of Do Bhai 1947
In 1948 composer Ram Ganguly had used Mohammad Rafi in the maiden Raj Kapoor film Aag, but that is a duet with Shamshad Begum – Solah Baras Ki Bhayee Umariya.
Song of Aag 1948
Hans Raj Behl has used Mohmmad Rafi for one solo and one duet (with Geeta Dutt) for Chunariya. This can be taken as first of the signature HRB-Rafi song, which seems to pave for fairly qualitative combined work in the years to come.
Song of CHUNARIYA 1948
Rafi's partnership with Shankar Jaikishan was among the most famous and successful in the Hindi film industry. Rafi sang his first song under Shankar Jaikishan in their Debute film Barsaat in 1949. This was the only song he sang in his movie
By the end of the year 1949, Mohammad Rafi became very popular among music directors and the public. The overall tally of Mohammad Rafi’s songs for the year 1949 is 121 songs, with 21 music directors, spread over 49 films.
Song of Barsaat 1949
In 1950, Mohammad Rafi had had 29 solos out of 108 songs He became a favorite of Naushad. This year another great music director Madan Mohan gave Rafi his first solo with him in the 1950 film Aankhen
Song of Aankhen 1950
The year 1951 has 26 solos from a total of 72 Mohammad Rafi songs. The year had Naushad switching over to Mohammad Rafi for background voice of Dilip Kumar and we have some of the top Mohammad Rafi songs in Deedar. Husnlala Bhagatram also has a twin solo for Mohammad Rafi in Afasana – Duniya Ek Kahani Re Bhaiya – which also was quite popular. Shankar Jaikishan has used Mohammad Rafi for special songs in RK’s Aawara, which is also going to be a very notable trend in itself.
Song of Deedar 1951
Another song by Mohammad Rafi for the film Janam Janam Ke Phere 1951 became very popular. The year, on the whole, seems to be the game turner in the career path of Mohammad Rafi.
Song of Janam Janam Ke Phere 1951
The year 1952 was the year of Baiju Bawra, Naushad gave a slew of Rafi hits in Aan and Baiju Bawra. For Deewana, Naushad had one of Rafi’s immortal "Tasweer Banata Hun Teri Khoon-e-Jigar Se."
The year 1952 had 80 songs to Mohammad Rafi’s account, of which 32 songs were solos.
Song of Deewana 1952
Song of Baiju Bawra 1952
The year 1953 had 31 solos songs of Mohammad Rafi out of a total of 71 songs. This year Salil Chaudhary made his debut with Do Bigha Zameen, Rafi was given one song in this film. Rafi also sang for O P Nayyar for the first time in Baaz.
Here is the song that can be said to be one more defining step in Mohammad Rafi’s career.
Jal Jal Ke Shama Ki Tarah Fariyad from the film Fariyadi 1953 composed by Baldev Nath Baali
The song is cast in what we know as Mohammad Rafi’s signature style for the songs of sad mood.
Bhagwan Dada was the first dancing superstar of Indian cinema. He had rhythm and music embedded deep within him. He originated a particular style of dancing. That tender sway of the hip, the naughty look of an infant, and the candor of a star – he possessed it all. He had swag before swag got swag! His signature dance moves soon became a sensation. He was among the few male stars to break into an inner elite circle of actors/dancers, which was dominated by women. Many actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, Mithun Chakraborty, and Rishi Kapoor are known to have drawn inspiration from him.
He was perhaps the first to introduce Ramba, Samba, Disco, rock-n-roll and other dance forms to Hindi cinema, the first male star to do so in the industry ruled by female dancers. Bhagwan Dada as he was popularly called, created a new grammar of comedy, through the unique style of acting and dancing, which inspired a whole generation of comedians in the Hindi cinema. Bhagwan Abhaji Palav popularly known as Bhagwan Dada was born on 1st Aug 1913 and died on 4th February 2002 was a popular comedian of Bollywood of the Golden Era. He is best known for his social film Albela (1951) and the song "Shola Jo Bhadke".A veteran actor of about 600 films in the course of more than five decades,
In 1934 he made his first talkie "Himmat-e-Mardan". After that, he joined another company and directed a film called "Bahadur Kisan", with Hansa Wadkar as the heroine. The movie again was a big hit. During the shooting of the film, he had taken a lanky young man, Chitilkar Ramachandra, as his assistant. He gave him a break as a music director in the three. Tamil films he directed in Madras. He used to call him Anna and there began their long association during which C. Ramachandra, out of gratitude, gave him the Hindi film industry’s all-time favorite songs for "Albela," including one of the loveliest loris Dhire se aaja ri, ankhiyan mein. He produced many films after ALBELA but most of his films flopped, His film "Sahme Hue Sapney" didn’t survive beyond the first show. Then he suffered a heavy loss while making "Hanste Rehna" with Kishore Kumar. He had invested his own money, pawned his wife’s jewelry and withdrawn all his life’s savings. But halfway through, Kishore started dilly-dallying and "behaving crazily" and the project had to be shelved.
His sea-facing Juhu bungalow with 25 rooms along with his fleet of seven cars (one for each day of the week) had to be sold. The family moved to a two-room set in a Chawl at Dadar. In his last days, he was being looked after by his unmarried daughter and the family of his youngest son, who is a sound recordist. Bhagwan died of a massive heart attack at his residence in Dadar on 4 February 2002.
Released in 1970, Dastak is a celluloid adaptation of the Urdu play by Rajendra Singh Bedi, Naql-e-Makani he penned during his All India Radio stint in pre-Independence Lahore and chronicles a blameless married couple’s humiliation and horror over ugly prejudices. The film is known for its performances by its leading cast, Sanjeev Kumar, and the newcomer, Rehana Sultan, and for its memorable songs by Madan Mohan. A MUST WATCH film.
The film was known for its unusual storyline set in a red light area. A newlywed couple, Hamid (Sanjeev Kumar) and Salma (Rehana Sultan), unwittingly rent a flat, and thus begins their daily turmoil at the knocks (dastak) on their door. The previous occupant was Shamshad Begum (Shakeela), a famous Mujrewali (nautch girl).
The music of Dastak stood out for its allegiance to the classical traditions of raga-based melodies by its music director Madan Mohan, who managed to get from Lata Mangeshkar, ostensibly her best performance as a playback singer.
Madan Mohan won his first National Film Award for it and the lyrics of Majrooh Sultanpuri. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the famous film director-turned-editor of this black-and-white film and won a Filmfare Award, his second after Madhumati in 1958.
Could you imagine a film in which Dev Anand not singing a song? He once rejected the film Zanzeer (which later Amitabh Bachchan did) because there was no song for him in the script. Hard to comprehend how Raj Khosla could pass a script where the hero does not sing a song. In fact, there is a very beautiful solo song by Hemant Kumar which was also sung by lata Mangeshkar as solo but Hemant Kumar version was not included in the film.
The film was released in 1955, the year that saw Dev Anand in great form. “Insaniyat” featured him with Dilip Kumar and he enjoyed hits like “House No 44”, “Munimji” and “CID”. A year earlier, “Taxi Driver” had showcased his acting talents. Dev Anand had hits like “Ziddi”, “Baazi” and “Jaal” before “Milap” graced the screen and this was his sixth movie with the hugely talented Geeta Bali.
Dev Anand playing a dreamy-eyed villager, dressed in shirt-pajama, unthinkable and unacceptable, we miss his mannerism. Lovely and talented Geeta Bali is the heart and soul of this movie.KN Singh makes for a great, slimy, sophisticated villain as always but the Johnny Walker comedy act is a big, big weakness in the film. In particular, the tacky endless sequence with Johnny behind the wheel of the car just seems to go on and on and gets on one’s nerves after a while. This film was the first film by Raj Khosla as a director, before that he was an assistant to Guru Dutt. The music was composed by Datta Naik, while Sahir Ludhianvi wrote the lyrics for the songs
Today in the period of Multiplexes and Online ticket booking of films, this generation would not believe that there was a time when there used to be black on cinema tickets. On this subject, a film could be made? . For many of you, the idea of a Kala Bazaar might be alien. but this happened 60 years ago by Dev Anand and Navketan Films. In Kala Bazar, Dev Anand plays Raghuvir, a common man who becomes a successful black marketer by selling cinema tickets to earn money for his family. Raghuvir's dark trade flourishes and he is able to move into a more comfortable home with his brother, sister (Nanda) and mother (Leela Chitnis). Raghuvir meets his match in Alka (Waheeda Rehman), the beautiful girl who stuns him with her idealismThough aware that Alka is in love with someone else, he prodigiously pursues her. The script has plenty of twists, Just when we think that Alka's rejection of Raghuvir will spell the end of their romance, Vijay Anand's character resurfaces and fixes everything. It's awesome how the film shows that a girl is very much capable of falling in love twice. Alka falls in love with Raghuvir. “Kala Bazar” is indeed a timeless classic. With a director like Vijay Anand to make use of their genius, every actor played his part in a composed manner. Some close to reality sequences in this movie only underlined the importance of his direction. No wonder, Dev Anand regarded his brother “a great asset. The rare part of the film was the presence of the three brothers( Dev, Chetan, and Vijay Anand) playing important characters.
But the most entertaining part is the first scene where there is a real-life premiere show of Mother India, Mehboob Khan's 1957 blockbuster. The camera captures the excitement breeding heavy amongst the audience who are waiting for a rare glimpse of their favorite movie stars. We, sitting on the other side of the screen, also get to catch the likes of Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Naseem Banu, Kishore Kumar, Nadira, Kumkum, Mohd Rafi, Guru Dutt, Geeta Dutt, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Sohrab Modi, and Nimmi. It was the genius of Vijay Anand who thought of creating a unique scene that was followed by many filmmakers.
Vijay Anand's direction and attention to small details contribute to make the movie memorable. There is so much to admire in Kala Bazar, starting with the incredible music by S.D Burman with lyrics by Shailendra. Each innovatively picturized song is a stand-alone classic – Khoya Khoya Chand, Rim Jhim Ke Tarane Leke Aayi Barsaat, Apni Toh Har Aah Ek Toofan Hai and of course Na Mai Dhan Chahoon.
