Shakti Samanta- The Maker of a Classic 'Amar Prem'

 

Shakti Samanta (13 January 1926 – 9 April 2009) gave us the great films such as Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang, and Amar Prem. He directed 43 feature films, including 37 Hindi, and 6 Bengali films.

Amar Prem was his 3rd film with Rajesh Khanna. Initially, Rajkumar was the original choice to play the lead hero.  When  Rajesh Khanna heard it he went to Shakti Samantha's office and asked him how can he cast another actor in this film, this was because they had already given a classic hit like Aradhana 1969 and Kati Patang 1970 was almost ready for release and they both had bonded a good relationship between them.

Another interesting fact of this film is that the immortal song 'Chingari Koi Bhadke' was not shot on the Hooghly river with the Howrah Bridge on the background was shot in a studio in Mumbai. Shakti Samanta in an interview said that the entire film was shot in Bombay and its suburbs, in fact, he told that a great length of shooting happened in a village at Nala Supara, the suburb of Bombay. The song was an additional song, it was added in the film when the film was complete.

The film's story is based on a Bengali short story Nishi Padma by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. , A Bengali film with the same name got released in 1970 starring Uttam Kumar and Sabitri Chatterjee.  Bengali writer-director Arvinda Mukherjee wasn't familiar with Hindi so he wrote the script of Amar Prem 1972 in English, writer Ramesh Pant then translated the whole script in Hindi.

Rajesh Khanna reportedly saw Nishipadma 24 times. He suggested changing the character's name from Ananta to Anand to draw a connection to his character in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's critically acclaimed Anand (1971).

One of the highlights of this film was its music composed by R D Burman, the soundtrack was melody-based, which gave Lata Mangeshkar her finest classical solo of the decade, Raina Beti Jaaye, set in an unusual blend of two Ragas, he had heard his father, music composer S. D. Burman sing, Bela Boye Jaye, which he said was on his mind while composing the song. Bakshi's lyrics, created a Meera bhajan-like idiom for the song, employing the Krishna-Radha motif.

Another memorable song 'Yeh Kya Hua Kaise Hua' by Kishore Kumar was a true copy of the Bengali version of Kishore from the film 'Rajkumari' This song was too composed by R D Burman earlier. Another song  "Bada Natkhat hai Re Krishna Kanhaiyya" sung by Lata Mangeshkar is another masterpiece from Burmans.It happened when Sachin Da heard the tune of this song, he asked Pancham  to redo the tune as per the situation of the song.Thus R.D. Burman made a tune in Raga Khamaj, which Lata Mangeshkar too sang with marked emotional clarity.

Rajesh Khanna's dialogue "Pushpa, I hate tears", which appeared five times in the film has become the most popular dialogue of Rajesh Khanna. He was nominated as the Best Actor for this film but couldn't get.Anand Bakshi, the lyricist and Kishore Kumar were also nominated for their respective fields.

Songs of Amar Prem

#	Title	Singer(s)	Duration
1	"Doli Mein Bithai Ke"	S. D. Burman	5:43
2	"Raina Beeti Jaye"	Lata Mangeshkar	5:20
3	"Chingari Koi Bhadke"	Kishore Kumar	5:38
4	"Kuchh Toh Log Kahenge"	Kishore Kumar	4:56
5	"Yeh Kya Hua"	Kishore Kumar	4:33
6	"Bada Natkhat Hai Yeh"	Lata Mangeshkar	4:53

 Though 1972 was a year of the big films Pakeezah, Dushman and Beimaan, Amar Prem was eighth amongst Khanna's top releases in the year.The film became a classic and became the most memorable film of Shakti Samanta, R D Burman,Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna.

Song of Amar Prem 1972

Song of Amar Prem 1972

Song of Amar Prem 1972

Song of Amar Prem 1972

Song of Amar Prem 1972

Haqeeqat-

 

'Haqeeqat' is a 1964 war film set against the Indo-China conflict. It was the first Indian motion film to be shot in Ladakh. The film was not only a representation of war, but a dramatic retelling of the impact war has on the common soldier. Chetan Anand dedicated the film to Jawaharlal Nehru and the soldiers in Ladakh. 

The film was made with the government and army assistance. Even the main star Balraj Sahni worked for this film free of charge. The film was released in 1964 after the death of Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru. The film received the National Award for Best Film and Art Direction. The film was the first realistic portrayal of war in Hindi cinema. 

The film offered the Indian perspective of feeling stabbed in the back by a seeming friend, China. He used documentary footage and demonstrated the way in which China's Premier Chou En-lai was welcomed with open arms during his visit to India. In a rousing speech to the troops, Brigadier Singh emphasizes that despite the respect bestowed upon China, Chinese troops have sneakily attacked a peace-loving nation like India. 

The film stars Dharmendra, Balraj Sahni, Priya Rajvansh, Sudhir, Sanjay Khan and Vijay Anand in significant roles. The acting of all major actors was outstanding. Another highlight of the film was its music. The music was composed by Madan Mohan and all of the songs are written by Kaifi Azmi. The music begins with lively romantic tunes and moves to more epic war, sad and celebratory tunes. The song "Ab Tumhare Hawaale Watan Saathiyon" sung by Mohammed Rafi has become synonymous with patriotism in India. Another song "Ho Ke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bhulaya Hoga" is a gem of a song.

There were classic war films made earlier like Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani or Hum Dono in 1961, many more war films made after this but this remains the best.

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

The untold Story Behind Rajesh Khanna Film 'Anand'

 

The character Anand made Rajesh Khanna an immortal. He got his second Filmfare Best Actor Award for this character. This role was his favourite character from 180 films he did. He made full use of his strong director-backed role. For this role, he accepted a meagre sum of Rs 7 Lakh. 

Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the director got the idea of making the film when his friend and Indian producer Raj Kapoor was suffering from an illness and everyone thought he would die. Mukherjee’s fear of losing his friend inspired him to pen Anand. 

Kishore Kumar was the original choice for the role of Anand, he was ready to do this role too but when on the day he went to sign him, Kishore Kumar’s watchman didn’t allow Hrishikesh Mukharjee in.  Kishore Kumar had apparently asked his watchman to not allow a Bengali man inside and he mistook Mukherjee to be that man. This made Hrishikesh Da angry and decided to drop the idea of taking Kishore for this role.

 Then he thought of taking Uttam Kumar for this role but he refused the film because the shooting dates clashed with his commitments to Bengali cinema., then he approached Shashi Kapoor for this role, he too was reluctant to accept this role because during those he wanted to consolidate himself as a romantic hero after the success of Jab Jab Phool Khile. 

The film and its script was ready but its cast could not be finalized, in the meantime, Hrishikesh Mukharjee was busy with the films like Aashirwad and Satyakam. In 1969 Rajesh Khanna's Aradhana got released, with this film he became a superstar and was the most sought after hero. Every film of his was making Jubilee, producers were after him to sign their film but it was Rajesh Khanna, who wanted to do the role of Anand. He came to know about this role from Gulzar who was the co-writer of this film.

Rajesh Khanna one day went to Hrishikesh Da, asked him to give this role and complete the film but Hrishi Da was hesitant to work with him because the film was a low budget film, Rajesh Khanna was a Super Star, the film can not afford his price for which Rajesh Khanna said that he is ready to accept whatever they pay. Hrishi Da was aware that Rajesh Khanna had a habit of coming late on sets, so he asked him to report on time and give him his dates as per his requirement. Rajesh Khanna accepted all the terms and conditions to do this film. 

Song of Anand 1971

Song of Anand 1971

Song of Anand 1971

Song of Anand 1971

Dilip Kumar- Uden Jab Jab Zulfen Teri

 

Recall this song of Naya Daur(1957), became a rage those days. This song was specially written by Sahir Ludhianvi for Dilip Kumar. Sahir used the word 'Zulfay' with reference to Dilip Kumar's mop of hair which was attracting attention right from his earlier films.

In the early years, many critics used to make fun of his unruly hairstyle falling on his forehead. But the same hairstyle became a fashion later. His fans used to adore it, they love to blow the hair in the wind. There as an incident in 1954 when one day Dilip Kumar led a procession of many filmstars on the street of Mumbai to raise fund for the flood victims, he discovered by the end of the day, they received hundreds of combs along with money.

In the 70s Alim Hakim was a celebrity hairstylist. He used to cut Dilip Kumar's hair. He was at Hotel TAJ, Mumbai as a hairstylist and later started his salon by the name of HAKIM’S.  His clientele included who’s who of the film industry and icons from different walks of the world.  From Dilip Kumar to Sunil Dutt to Anil Kapoor to Bachchans all were his clients.

In the 50s and 60s, Dilip Kumar was a fashion role model of India and Pakistan. Many of the youth in Pakistan used to have a Dilip Kumar hairstyle. There was an exciting story of a young boy of Lahore who walked to a very famous studio and asked the famous photographer to click his photograph similar to the photograph of Dilip Kumar which he was carrying with him.

The famous photographer gently patted on his cheek and said ' I can click the similar photo only if you have the same features.

Song of Naya Daur 1957

'Thandi Hawayein Lehra Ke Aayein'- The Tune Clicked in a Restaurant

 

This immortal song from 'Naujawan' film created waves in 1951 continued to mesmerize music lovers and creators for decades. Music Director Roshan used the same tune in the song Rahein Na Rahe Hum from Mamta (1966). R D Burman used the same tune in the song 'Saagar Kinare Dil Yeh Pukare' from Ramesh Sippy's Saagar (1985).

The birth of this song is quite interesting. Sachin Dev Burman, the composer of this film made one tune which was not liked by Director Mahesh Kaul, Sachin Da made one tune after another but none of the tunes clicked to the director. Dada got irritated and moved out of that place and went for a walk at Juhu Beach. He kept humming one tune after another but was not getting satisfaction.

After walking for a bit, he decided to have a break, he went to a restaurant for a cup of tea. When he was sipping the tea, he suddenly heard a tune on a Piano,' Sa-Re-Sa-Sa-Pa'. it clicked to him, he immediately went to the Piano to see who is playing. He saw a waiter at that Restaurant was playing the Piano and keeping on repeating the same keys. 

He immediately went to his home and improvised the tune. Next day he called the director of the film to his workplace and presented the new tune. Mahesh Kaul liked and approved the song. This is how an immortal tune was created. 

The song became a great hit and remains one of Lata’s and S D Burman's career bests. This song is picturized on Nalini Jaywant.

Song of Naujawan' 1951

Over the years, many composers used the first few notes and made minor changes to them to compose many more mellifluous songs each of which was popular in its own right.

 Roshan (father of Rajesh & Rakesh Roshan) who was so inspired by the music of the song that he formally requested S D Burman’s permission to recreate the tune and use it for the initial part of his composition Tera Dil Kahaan Hai which was sung by Asha Bhosle for the movie “Chandni Chowk” in 1954 with lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Song of Chandni Chowk 1954

 Roshan used it again in 1966 for the movie “Mamta”. Picturised on the beautiful Suchitra Sen and penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri, Rahe Na Rahe Hum had two versions. The more popular version was sung by Lata Mangeshkar

Song of Mamta 1966

Ten years later in 1964, legendary Madan Mohan used the same few notes for the initial lines of the composition Yehi Hai Tamanna Tere Dar Ke Saamne sung by Mohammed Rafi and penned by Raja Mehndi Ali Khan for the Dharmendra-starrer “Aap Ki Parchchaiyan”.

Song of Aap Ki Parchchaiyan 1964

 In 1983 R D Burman used this tune for Hame Aur Jeene Ki Chaahat with lyrics by Gulshan Bawra in the Rajesh Khanna, Raj Babbar and Rekha-starrer “Agar Tum Na Hote”. 

Song of Agar Tum Na Hote 1983

Two years later Pancham used the same tune for Saagar(1985) song

Song of Saagar  1985

50 Years of Johny Mera Naam

 

Released on 11th Nov 1970, Johny Mera Naam was the Biggest Hit of Dev Anand's career. The movie, a thriller all the way, had the stamp of quality from director Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand. He and Dev Anand had begun their association with “Nau Do Gyarah” in 1957 and went a long way to give Indian cinema classics like “Guide”, “Kala Bazaar” and “Tere Ghar Ke Samne”. 

With Johny Mera Naam began a Decade of Action cinema. Though Dev Anand was known for Romance his versatility lay in his desire to experiment. It was the first film of Hema Malini with Dev Anand It was also the first Superhit film of her career. Hema Malini is at her best when romancing with the hero especially in ‘Pal Bhar Ke Liye Koi Hame Pyaar Karle’, a song where the Dev Anand keeps popping up from countless windows in a rest house.

 Dev Anand and Pran play the roles of brothers separated in childhood. Years later, Sohan (Dev Anand) goes on to become a CID officer called Sohan Kumar who solves his cases taking up different guises. He takes the identity of Johny, a petty thief and gets himself in jail, befriends Heera (Jeevan), solves a case wooing Rekha (Hema Malini) and finds the criminal.

Despite being fifty years old, the film does not look outdated, thanks to Vijay Anand. This is also testimony to his skills that despite a run time of around 2 hours 45 minutes, unusually long for a thriller but a norm for Indian movies, you never feel the length

Johny Mera Naam marked some of the best music composed by the duo Kalyanji Anandji.

#	Song	Singer(s)	Picturized On	Duration
1	Title Music (Johny Mera Naam)	Instrumental	Credit Title Sequence	01:59
2	"Vaada Toh Nibhaaya"	Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	05:05
3	"Pal Bhar Ke Liye"	Kishore Kumar, Usha Khanna	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	05:05
4	"Mose Mora Shyam Rootha"	Lata Mangeshkar	Hema Malini	05:38
5	"Babul Pyare"	Lata Mangeshkar	Hema Malini	06:19
6	"Nafrat Karne Walon Ke"	Kishore Kumar	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	03:55
7	"Husn Ke Lakhon Rang"	Asha Bhosle	Premnath and Padma Khanna	05:19
8	Music Instrumental	Instrumental		02:00

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

"D" Alphabet in Shahrukh Khan's Life

 

The English alphabet 'D' seems to be lucky for Shahrukh Khan in his film career. If we look into his journey from TV to Big Screen, we find how the letter D proved to be lucky for him. The first TV serial he signed was 'Dil Dariya' starting from the English alphabet D.But "Fauji" became the first serial telecasted before this in 1989.

"Dil Aashna Hai"(1992) was the first film he signed as a hero but the first film released film was 'Deewana'in 1992. In it, he starred alongside Divya Bharti as the second male lead behind Rishi Kapoor. Deewana became a box office hit and launched Khan's Bollywood career; he earned the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for his performance. He garnered the most appreciation for portraying villainous roles in 'Darr'(1993) He became a superstar with 'Dil Wale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. (1995)

If we look into Shah Rukh Khan's filmography we will find most of his films starting from the English alphabet 'D' proved lucky for him. In 1997 his super hit film 'Dil To Pagal Hai' followed by another film 'Duplicate' and in 1998 another film 'Dil Se' consolidated his No1 position in Bollywood.

'Devdas' released in 2002 was a hit and brought him the Best Actor Award. Another superhit films were Don and Don 2, The last hit film was Dilwale (2015) and Dear Zindgi (2016)

Song of Deewana 1992

Song of Dilwale Dukhania Le Jayenge 1995

Song of Dil To Pagal Hai 1997

Song of Dil Se 1998

Song of Devdas 2002

Song of Don 2006

Song of Dilwale 2015

Dil Dhoondta Hai- A Song Composed While Cooking

 

This song from Mausam(1976) was written by Gulzar, composed by Madan Mohan, and sung by Bhupinder. The song has two versions, one a solo by Bhupinder and a duet of Lata Mangeshkar with Bhupinder. The solo was used during the titles of the film and the duet was picturized on the young Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore.

The solo version happens to be Gulzar's favorite, is by far the soberer and serene. The duet has a faster tempo. Both versions have three stanzas with different interludes. The Mukhada was taken from a Ghalib ghazal with a slight change. In the ghazal, it is 'Jee Dhoondta Hai', Madan Mohan changed it to Dil Dhoondta Hai., since it worked better for the metre.

This wasn’t the only time Gulzar was inspired by Ghalib. He went a step further in the song Satrangi Re, (Dil Se, 1998), in which he wove Ghalib’s couplet into his lyrics, crediting the source by its name.

This song is the pivot around which the film revolves. It connects the characters in time. the first time when the Doctor(Sanjeev Kumar) is traveling from Calcutta to Darjiling by road where he met Chanda decades ago.

Gulzar in a book told that while composing the interludes of the song Madan Mohan was strolling between his music room and his kitchen. He(Gulzar) had gone to his house for dinner. Madan Mohan was a good cook, he was cooking mutton at that time. During that duration, he composed the tune of this song.

Gulzar was one of the contenders for the National Award for that year. Unfortunately, no award was given to any lyricist that yeat. Similarly, he was nominated for Filmfare's Best lyricist award but lost out to lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi for Kabhie Kabhie.

Madan Mohan had a habit of making 5-6 tunes of one song, he then selects the best out of them. For this song too he made 6 tunes one of which was later used in Veer Zara (2004). Here a clipping is given below, you could see his versatility

Dil Dhoondhta Hai - Madan Mohan sings many tunes for one song

Song of Mausam 1975 Solo Version

Song of Mausam 1975  Duet Version

Hasrat Jaipuri- A Bus Conductor to a Great Lyricist

 

He was born as Iqbal Husain on April 15, 1922.in Jaipur Rajasthan. He got the education of Urdu and Persian from his grandfather Fida Husain. He started writing poems at a young age His mother was not in favor of his Shayari.  He came to Bombay at the age of 18 to earn Bread & Butter, he started working as a bus conductor, earning a monthly salary of eleven rupees. He worked as a conductor for 8 years In an interview, he told that he never asked for a ticket from beautiful girls. Beautiful girls were his inspiration for writing romantic words. His love for writing Urdu poetry remained intact, he used to participate in Mushairas, 

in one of such Mushairas, the late Prithviraj Kapoor heard his poetry and recommended him to his son Raj Kapoor who was planning a musical love story with two new composers, Shanker - Jaikishan. Raj Kapoor heard his poems he invited him to write songs for his film Barsaat, his first recorded song was, 'Jiya Beqaraar Hai' for the film. His second song (and first duet) was 'Chhod Gaye Baalam' for the same film. Both songs became popular. In this film, he wrote 7 songs,

Awara (1951) was his second film.he wrote 4 songs in this film, one of the immortal song is 'Hum Tujhse Mohabbat Karke Sanam'. In the same year, his 3rd film Badal got released in the same year. Shankar Jaikishan was the music director of this film also. He wrote 3 songs for this film. In 1951 his 9 films were released, he was now writing songs for other music directors also.

Hasrat Jaipuri wrote lyrics for all Raj Kapoor films till 1971. After the death of Jaikishan and failure of Mera Naam Joker and Kal Aaj Aur Kal, Raj Kapoor turned to other lyricists and music directors.
He wrote 1100 + songs in more than 300 films, the last song he wrote was for Saazish with Jatin-Lalit and at the time of his death, he was working on a few small films and a book of Shayari. To his credit, there are more than 2000 recorded songs. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie Hulchul (1951). His last film as a lyricist was Hatya: The Murder (2004
He won many awards and mementos for his Songs and Urdu Poetry. He was also awarded a Doctorate from the World University Round Table and Josh Malihabadi Award, from Urdu Conference. He wrote several books of poetry, in Hindi and Urdu. He once said, "Hindi and Urdu are like two great and inseparable sisters. He died on 17th September 1999.

Hasrat Jaipuri Earlier Songs

Song of Barsat 1949

Song of Awara 1951

Song of Badal 1951

Song of Kaali Ghata 1951

Song of Nagina  1951

Song of Daag  1952

Song of Parbat 1952

Song of  Poonam 1952

Song of Mayurpankh 1953 

Song of Naya Sansar 1953