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
Nashad (11 July 1923 – 14 January 1981)composed music for Hindi films in the 1940s and 1950s, He composed under several names. He made his music debut under the name Shaukat Dehalvi in the 1947 action film Dildaar. He composed as Shaukat Ali for the 1948 film Jeene Do. andToote Taare (1948) as Shaukat Dehalvi.IFrom1949 onwardshe composed music for actor-director Yakub's film, Aiye. as Shaukat Ali HaideriIn 1953, film director, Nakshab Jarachavi, changed Shaukat Ali's name to Nashad, which he retained for the rest of his life.He migrated to Pakistan and debuted as a composer in the 1964 film Maikhana,
As Nashad his first song ' Badee Mushkil Se Dil Kee Bekaraaree Ko from Naghma 1953 sung by Shamshad Begum became a hit 'Baradari(1955) remains one of his memorable films. This film had some hit songs "Bhula Nahin Dena Ji Bhula Nahin Dena, Zamana Kharab Hai" by Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi, and "Tasveer Banata Hoon Tasveer Nahin Banti" by Talat Mehmood. Nashad himself sang a song in this film.
He introduced singer Suman Kalyanpur for the first time in the film. 'Sabse Bada Rupaiya', director: P. L. Santoshi, cast: Shashi Kala and Sundar, music: Nashad and O. P. Nayyar. 'Shehzada' (1955), director: Mohan Sinha, cast: Shela Ramani and Ajeet, music: Nashad and S. Mohinder. 'Jawab'.
Maikhana (1964) was his first film in Pakistan, he was awarded Nigar Award for Best Music Composer for this film. Nashad had worked with Master Ghulam Haider, Nisar Bazmi, Naushad early in his film career as their assistant to learn from them. He is given credit for first introducing Runa Laila to the Pakistani film industry from Karachi
Nashad died on 14 January 1981 at 57 years of age after composing film music for over thirty films in Bollywood and over 60 films in Pakistan
Today's generation may be unaware of Motilal but he was a superstar of the late 30s and 40s. He along with K L Saigal was the two big stars of that era. Saigal was a better singer while he was a better actor. He started as a 24-year-old hero with 'Shaher Ka Jadoo' (1934). In the following years, he reeled off a clutch of box-office winners, though, few remember anything about this phase of his career. Be it a swashbuckling sword-fighter (Silver King) or a millionaire (300 Days And After) – the actor romped through roles with an easy cool'.
Amitabh Bachchan wrote in the foreword of 'The Hundred Luminaries of Hindi Cinema', “Not much has been written in praise of a great and a very natural actor. He (Motilal) was greatly ahead of his times.
You would be surprised to know that he was picked up as a hero from a crowd of spectators collected to see a shooting of a film in a studio. It happened in 1933 when in Bombay, he went to see the shooting of a film being directed by K P Ghosh. He caught Ghosh's eye, he asked him to join films as an actor.Playing a drunken rich boy, the 24-year-old quickly racked on more film roles, becoming a star.
In 1935, two of his films Silver King and Dr Madhurika were successful. Those days actors used to sing their songs, he also sang for his films. He worked with Mehboob Khan in Jagirdar (1937) and Hum Tum Aur Woh (1938) under the Sagar Movietone banner in Taqdeer (1943) for Mehboob Productions, and Kidar Sharma's Armaan (1942) and Kaliyan (1944).
One of his film Achhut was the third highest-grossing Indian film of 1940. It was appreciated by Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Another film 'Holi' released same year, he played a villain-turned-hero. He was the first to put in place the flamboyant, happy-go-lucky, unpretentious and glamourized image of the Hindi film hero cast in the Hollywood mould of that era.
Ek Thi Larki (1949) was another hit film Motilal gave a superb comic performance. Similar comic performance became immortal in his 1952 film Mr Sampat. According to Motilal, he played the character "not as an extraordinary person, but precisely as an ordinary person" and that's what resonated through.
Another iconic performance was given by him as Chunni Babu in 1955 film Devdas. Motilal won the Best Supporting Actor for his seamless performance in Bimal Roy’s film Parakh (1960).
Khemchand Prakash (12 December 1907 – 10 August 1949) is immortal to the music lovers who like old Bollywood songs.Very few of us know that greats like Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Naushad, Manna Dey, and Bulo C Rani were mentored by him. But the creator of these musical gems and the mentor of this league of stalwarts is now largely forgotten. On his Death Anniversary, I pay my tribute to this great composer who composed the song Aayega Aane Wala Aayega sung by Lata Mangeshkar.
He got his training of music from his father Pt. Goverdhan Prasad was a renowned Dhrupad singer who received royal patronage and sang in the Jaipur Durbar. Khemchand was not only a trained classical singer but also mastered the Rajasthani folk music and trained as a Kathak dancer. Once the king of Nepal was in Jaipur, he saw him performing there, invited him to come to his Kingdom. He went there and spent 5 years in Nepal.
The destiny landed him in Kolkata and he joined the legendary New Theaters. While working in New Theatres, he had a chance encounter with Prithviraj Kapoor, and they became lifelong friends. At his suggestion, Khemchand Prakash moved to Bombay along with Kidar Sharma, KN Singh, and last but not the least, the much-celebrated KL Saigal.
He was assistant to composer Timir Baran in Devdas (1935 film), and he sang a comedy song 'lo kha lo madam khaanaa' in Street Singer (1938). He made his debut as music director in 1939 with Supreme Pictures' films Meri Aankhein and Gazi Salauddin and was soon signed up by Ranjit Movietone Film Studio.
In this film, the great music director Naushad was his assistant. Khemchand Prakash used the Arabic style of orchestration to synchronise the ambience of the subject. He also composed Mirza Ghalib's famed ghazal, 'Kabhi neki bhi uske jee mein gar,' in Kalyani's voice. He got another offer for Dwarka Khosla's Meri Aankhein, wherein singer-actor Khursheed got her maiden break and sang 'Aisa geet suna jao' and 'Sach ke khel khilaye aasha,' 'Doodh piyo sab doodh'. These two films established Khemchand and in times to come, he gave classical gems to music lovers.Khursheed was his leading singer and both of them gave many hits of the early 40s.
Khemchand tasted real success when he joined Ranjit Movietone and accomplished nineteen films during his five-year stint. His films, Pardesi and Shaadi became hits. Pardesi had a ghazal, 'Pahle jo Mohabbat se inkar kiya hota' (Khursheed), which became an instant rage. It is said that Khursheed rehearsed this ghazal for fifteen days before recording it.
His biggest hit with Ranjit Studio was the film Tansen in 1943. Songs like "Diya jalaao jagmag jagmag", "Rumjhum rumjhum chal tihari", "More balpan ke saathi", "Sapt suran teen gram", "Hath sine pe jo rakh do to karara aa jaaye" were big hits. It is said that he played a key role in classic songs of Devdas( 1935) sung by KL Saigal: 'Balam aayo baso morey man mein' and 'Dukh ke din ab beetat nahin'. He also did cameo roles in New Theatres' films, and this song, 'Madam lo kha lo khana,' in Street Singer, was picturized on him and Kanan Devi. He was also seen in Debki Bose's Sapera.
After Tansen, the next film he did was Bhanwra (1944), starring K L Saigal. Khemchand Prakash offered a totally different type of music in Bhanwara, as evident in its compositions: 'Thukra rahi hai duniya,' 'Muskratey huey aankh churaya na karo,' 'Hum apna unhey bana na sakey,' 'Diya jisney dil' (Saigal), and a duet with Ameerbai Karnataki, 'Kya humne bigara hai,' became super hits.
Another classic of Khemchand Prakash was' Bhartihari' released in 1944, starring Surendra and Mumtaz Shanti. His compositions were once again in classical mode: 'Chanda des piya ke jaa' (Ameerbai Karnataki), and a duet in a dialogue form, 'Bhiksha de de maa pingla' (Surendra-Ameerbai Karnataki), became a listeners delight.
Prabhu Ka Ghar (1945) was the last film he composed music for Ranjeet Movietone, the same year his movie Dhanna Bhagat directed by Kidar Sharma had 'Panchhi pinjara hua purana' (Khan Mastana), that also became quite popular. He had differences with the owner Chandu Lal Shah of Ranjeet Movietone on the issue of using a new voice in a film. Chandu Lal Shah didn't agree and outright rejected the new voice. The new voice was that of Lata Mangeshkar. Thereafter, Khemchand Prakash started freelancing.
As a freelancerhis significant film was Kishore Sahu's silver jubilee 'Sindoor'(1947) with such unforgettable numbers: 'Kissi Ke Madhur Pyaar Mein' (Nasim Akthar-Sushil Sahu), and Ameerbai's solo, 'O Roothey Huey Bhagwan'
1948 marked yet another significant film of his career, Bombay Talkies’s Ziddi. He gave first major break to Kishore Kumar as a singer for the song "Marne ki duaaen kyun maangu".Ziddi featured a beautiful song of Lata Mangeshkar "Chanda re ja re ja re".Lata sang for him for the first time in Asha released in 1948.
Kishore Sahu had Khemchand in his own home production 'Rimjhim'. He composed a rare gem for Kishore, 'Jagmag jagmag karta nikla chaand poonam ka pyaara' This film also had a super hit number in Shamshad's voice, 'Na tum aaye na neend aayi'. Kishore Sahu and Khemchand again came together in Sawan Aya Re, which had all-time greats of Rafi-Shamshad, 'Aye dil na mujhe yaad dila baatein purani.'In the same year released the film Mahal, its song 'Aayega Aane Wala' became a hit and made Lata a household name. The film and its music became a super hit, unfortunately, Khemchan Prakash died before the release of this film. He died at an early age of 41 on 10 August 1949 due to Cirrhosis.
Rehana got her major break as a heroine in 1946 film Hum Ek Hain which was also Dev Anand's first film. She became the overnight star in 1947 with the release of her next film Sajan opposite Ashok Kumar. She was regarded as Hindi cinema's first "jhatka queen". Whether it was her infamous "lesbian act" with Nigar Sultana in Sunehre Din (1949), or the famous bath scene in Dilruba (1950),
She appeared on the silver screen sometime in the late '30s acting in minor roles but soon took the cine world by storm in 1947, her two films Sajan and Shehnai became hit. 1948 to 1951 was the best phase of her career as she did a variety of films paired opposite most of the top heroes of that time, like Prem AdibinActress(1948), withRaj KapoorinSunehre Din(1949) andSargam(1950), with Dev Anand inDilruba(1950), withShyaminNirdosh(1950) andSurajmukhi(1950), with Shekhar inAda(1951) and withPremnathSagai(1951). Two of her biggest hits from these wereSargam(1950) andSagai(1951). Mushtar Jehan was her real name,her date of birth is not known but her place of birth was Bombay.
After 1952, her career sharply went on the decline as films like Rangeeli (1952), Chham Chhama Chham, Hazar Raatein (1953) and Samrat (1954) all sank at the box office. With her career on the decline in India, Mushtar migrated to Pakistan with the hope of continuing her career there
Bulo C Rani was a music director of high caliber as well as a singer in the 1940s. He worked as an assistant to Khemchand Prakash in films such as Tansen, Chandni, Dukh Sukh, Baadshah Babar. Khemchand Prakash also gave him an opportunity to explore his singing ability by making him sing ‘Ruth Na Pyar Mein’ for the film “Mehmaan” (1942). My generation remembers him with the song "Humen To Loot Liya Milke Husn Walo Ne" and " Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol" from Jogan 1950. In the year 1943, Bulo. C. Rani worked as an assistant to Gyan Dutt in “Paighaam” and “Shankar Parvati”. He got the opportunity to sing for 6 films in the same year. In the film ‘Shankar Parvathi’ the song ‘O Jogan O Bairaagi’ had become popular among listeners. He was born in Hyderabad, Sindh province, British India (now in Pakistan) on 6 May 1920, there is a confusion about his date of birth, someone known to him has corrected it to 6th March. His father was also a music director, he too decided to join the same profession after graduating from college. He joined Ranjit Movietone in 1939 where he met some very big personalities who were very prominent names in music such as Ghulam Haider, D. N. Madhok, etc. In the early 1940s, Khemchand Prakash was a very big name in the music industry. He joined him as an assistant. He assisted Khemchand in movies like Tansen, Chandni, Sukh Dukh (1942), and Shahenshah Babar (1944). He sang his first playback song "Ruth Na Pyaar Mein" under Khemchand in the film Mehmaan (1942). In 1943, h In e worked as an assistant to Gyan Dutt in two films- Paigham and Shankar Parvati. In the film Shankar Parvati, the song "O Jogan O Bairaagi" became a hit. Despite him composing the song, it was credited as a Gyan Dutt composition. However, he managed to sing in six films that year. He got the first film as an independent composer in the 1944 film Caravan. It is said that the tunes in the Khursheed song ‘ Ho Dukhiya Jiyara’ for the 1943 film Tansen were supposedly set by Bulo. C. Rani but the credit went to Khemchand Prakash. The film featuring K. L. Saigal and Khursheed Bano in the lead roles. His next film as an independent composer was Pagli Duniya(1944) but he got recognition with his next film Moorti 1945, all the songs were hit. Mukesh sang one of his first hit songs in the film, "Badariya Baras Gai Us Paar". He made his mark with tracks like 'Ja Parwane Ja Kahin Shama Jal Rahi Hai' from Rajputani 1(946), 'Kaise Bataoon Tum Se Is Dil Ko Pyar Kyun Hai' from Anjuman and the hugely popular track 'Armaan Bhara Dil Toot Gaya' from Wafa. His best work till date came in the early 1950s - Jogan (1950), Wafa (1951) and Bilwamangal (1954). Bilwamangal was one of his last soundtracks which contained classic songs of Suraiya and C. H. Atma. The songs of that film became popular with one number in particular, "Hum Ishq Ke Maron Ko", which was sung by Suraiya with lyrics by D. N. Madhok. With the emergence of S D Burman,C Ramchandra,Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad and O P Nayyar,his demand as a composer reduced.However, he continued to compose for films till the mid-sixties. Some of his songs in this period were hits such as "Humein Toh Loot Liya" (Al Hilaal, 1958), "Mangne Se Jo Maut Mil Jati" (Sunehre Qadam, 1966) He gave music in 71 films, the last released film was Bijli in 1972. As a singer, he sang in 19 films and composed 574 songs. He died on 23 May 1993 at the age of 73 years in Mumbai, Some of the Popular songs of Bulo C Rani The first song as a Singer
NARGIS(1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981), one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hindi cinema. She starred in many popular Hindi films of the late 1940s and 1950s. Many of the iconic and immortal songs were picturized on her including Pyat Hua Ikrar Hua or Aaja Re Ab Mera Dil Pukara and many more. She appeared as a heroine opposite Motilal in the 1943 film Taqdeer. She was only 14 years of age at that time. The song ".O Jaanewale Aaja" sung by Shamshad Begum was her first song as a heroine, Many such unheard songs are collected by me in this blog.
