Madan Mohan - Unreleased and Unheard Songs

Madan Mohan is the only composer whose compositions were used after two decades of his death. It was in the 2004 film Veer Zara his compositions were used. Once an assistant to S D Burman, he made few tunes for him but those were not used.
S. D. Burman used a tune very late in 1956. This was the song 'Mera Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya' (Do Bhai)originally composed by Madan Mohan. It is also believed that the song 'Jeevan Ke Safar Mein Rahi' (Munimji) was a Madan Mohan composition as he was an assistant for Munimji.
He was so creative that he composed different tunes for antras in the same song very often. Recall the song 'Tum jo mil gaye ho' and 'Betaab dil ki tamanna' (Hanste Zakhm) or Ek haseem shaam ko'l' (Dulhan Ek Raat Ki) and almost all songs from Heer Ranjha... 'Do Dil Toote', 'Tere kolache Mein', 'Milo na tum to' and 'Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil'. 

In the film "Chandan", the song "Ye Khule Khule Se Gesoo, Ye Udee Udee Si Rangat... Log Kahe Mere Nain Baaware", has all the three stanzas composed in different tunes. There are three heroines in this film viz. Nutan, Shyama, and Mala Sinha. Possibly, each stanza is picturized on a different actress.

Madan Mohan & Lata Mangeshkar

Madan Mohan & Rafi

The first film of Madan Mohan

Madan Mohan had a habit of making many tunes well in advance, one of such tune of the hit song, Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil was composed by Madanji in the 50s, but found a place in a film only when it was recorded for Chetan Anand's HEER RANJHA (released in 1970). another tune of "Naina Barse" was made in 1952.It was used in Woh Kaun Thi
Madan Mohan was also a good singer. He had a fascination for K L Saigal. He gave playback for a few films in his films. Aankhen 1950 was his first film as an independent composer, he sang a duet with Shamshad Begum " Humse Na Dil Ko Lagana".

There is an official site of Madan Mohan Ji https://www.madanmohan.in/ in this site  2 categories of unreleased songs are mentioned. We can visit this site and listen to these rare songs.

In this blog, I am posting a few such songs.

                                                  Kaise Kategi Zindagi Tere Bagair

Har Sapna Ek Din Toote

Mere Dilse Aake Lipat Gayi

Mere Ashqon Ka Gham

Tum Juda Hokar

Kishore Kumar song from Unreleased film

Aaj mujhe Jal Jane Do

A Rare Song

Rare or Forgotten Songs of Nargis

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.

Song of Taqdeer (1943) 

Song of Taqdeer (1943) 

Song of Anban 1944   (Audio only)

Song of Humayun 1945

Song of Romeo Juliet 1947  Audio

Song of Anokha Pyar 1948

Song of Mela 1948

Song of Aag 1948

Song of Lahore 1949

Song of Daroga Ji 1949

Song of Birha Ki Raat 1950

Song of Halchal 1951

Song of Miss India 1957

Manna Dey Songs for Dev Anand

When we think of Dev Anand songs, what we get in mind is S D Burman as Music director and Rafi or Kishore Kumar as Playback singers. But, he has lip-synced with all the great singers of the Golden Era.
One of the great singers of Bollywood was Manna Dey. He started working as an assistant music director first under Krishna Chandra Dey, and then under Sachin Dev Burman. He composed music for a few films also, one of these movies was 1948 film Hum Bhi Hain Insaan starring Dev Anand. In this film, he sang for Dev Anand for the first time.
In this Blog, I have rare songs Of Manna Dey sung for Dev Anand.
Dev Anand became a star after the release of Ziddi in 1948. Kishore and Mohammad Rafi became his screen voice. Hemant Kumar and Talat Mahmood also sang for Dev Anand in the 50s. Manna Dey sang for him after 10 years in the 1958 film Amardeep.
SD Burman took Manna Dey for Dev Anand in Manzil 1960, in this film Burman Da experimented three different singers for the same hero. Manna Dey sang one solo and one duet with Asha Bhosle.Rafi and Hemant Kumar also sang in this film for Dev Anand.
The next film was Kala Bazar in 1960 having a duet with Asha Bhosle"SAANJH DHALI DIL KI LAGI ". In the same year, Bombai Ka Babu released, in this film also the song Tak Dhoom Tak Dhoom was sung by Manna Dey.
Dev Anand – Manna Dey were brought together, once again. for one of the all-time classics Chale Jaa Rahein Hai Kinare Kinare (Kinare Kinare, 1964; Lyrics: Nyay Sharma) by Jaidev.

Song of Hum Bhi Insaan Hain 1948

Song of Amardeep 1958

Song of Bombai Ka Babu 1960

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Manzil 1960

Song of Manzil 1960

Song of Kinare Kinare 1964

The Changing Trend of Holi Songs in Bollywood

Since the release of Amitabh Bachchan's "Silsila" in the early eighties, no Holi celebration in India reached a crescendo without "Rang Barse" being sung and danced to.
If we look into the history of Holi songs in Bollywood, we have seen a gradual but marked change in the style of music and picturization. 
The first Holi song was seen in the 1940 film" Holi" written by D N Madhok and composed by Khemchand Prakash was sung by Sitara Devi. Another film "Aurat".released in the same year had two Holi songs in that film composed by Anil Biswas. This film was made by Mehboob Khan. It was remade after 20 years into the iconic Mother India. Both films had Holi songs 
In the 50s many films had Holi songs. Those days the trend was derived from lord Krishna’s days in the Brij region of northern India where he is said to have indulged in sensuous frolicking with his consort Radha and other belles (Gopikas) of his village. 
These songs were essentially folk music. And that too mostly Gujarati and Rajasthani folk music. Since then the music, the mood, the style kept on changing every decade.
The Holi Songs of the 1940s
Sung by Sitara Devi, Amritlal ,Composed by Khemchand Prakash

Song of Holi 1940

Aaj Holi Khelenge Saajan Ke 

Song of Aurat 1940

Jamuna Tat Shyam Kheln Holi

Song of Aurat 1940

Here is a rare Holi song of the lesser-known film Tilasmi Duniya released in 1946. The singing voices are not identified. There is one male voice and a female voice. It starts off as a song of fun and revelry, which also includes reference to the pastimes of Lord Krishna and Radha Rani. The music was given by Sajjad Hussain, this song here is one more of the rarest of rare treats. 

Song of ‘Tilasmi Duniya’ (1946)

Another rare gem is being presented from the 1947 film  ‘Renuka’. the voices belong to Zohrabai, Sardar Malik himself

 

Song of Renuka (1947) 

Holi Songs of the 1950s

Song of Jogan (1950)

Song of Rahi (1953)

Song of Aan (1953)

By the mid-50s romance was visible on Holi Songs

In the 1956 film Durgesh Nandini A romantic Holi song composed by Hemant Kumar and picturized on the elegant Bina Rai and the princely Pradeep Kumar. 

Song of Durgesh Nandini 1956

Song of Mother India (1958)

Song of Navrang (1959)

Song of Kohinoor (1960)

This song from the critically acclaimed Godaan is an unconventional Holi song rooted in the folk music of rural India, composed by the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. 

Song of Godaan (1963)

Song of Do Dil (1965)

From the 50s,60s trend of Nandlal and Krishan now in 70s we see the fun-filled song and teasing each other

Song of Kati Patang (1970)

Song of Paraya Dhan (1971)

Song of Sholay (1975)

This fun Holi song from the Basu Chatterji directed romantic comedy Dillagi is unusual as compared to the typical lively and exuberant Holi songs of Bollywood, which have scores of people dancing in tandem with the lead actors. 

Song of Dillagi (1978)

In the80s 90 we see  flirtatious songs like Rang Barse or  fun and fear song Ang Se Ang Lagana from Darr

Song of Silsila 1981

Song of Darr 1993

In the new millennium, the Holi songs became power-packed, rigorous dance sequences Peppy music became the new flavor.

Song of Waqt (2005)

Song of Action Replay(2010)

Song of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)

The First Duet of Manna De with Legendry Singers.

Manna Dey( 1 May 1919 − 24 October 2013), started his career in playback singing with the movie Tamanna, in 1942. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna Dey sang a duet named "Jago Aayee Usha Ponchi Boley Jago" with Suraiya which was an instant hit.
There he started working as an assistant music director first under Krishna Chandra Dey, and then under Sachin Dev Burman. Later, he assisted other music composers and then started to work independently. While working independently as a music director for various Hindi movies, 
In this blog, I have selected the first and rare duets of Manna Da with the great singers of that era.
His duets with Amirbai Karnatki like "E Duniya Jara Sun Le" from Kamla (1946) and duet song "Aaj Bor Aayee" with Meena Kapoor from 1947 film Chaltey Chaltey became chartbusters in respective years. Between 1945–47 many Manna Dey-Rajkumari duets like "Hay Gagan Me Badal" in 1945 for the film Vikramaditya, "Aowji Morey" from Insaaf (1946), all 4 duets from the film Geet Govind composed by Pandit Indra – "Kit Ho Nando Kumar", "Chorr Sakhi Aaj Laj", "Apney Hi Rang", "Lalit Labang Lata" from Geet Govind became popular. 

His first duet with the then-upcoming singer Lata Mangeshkar was "Lapat Ke Pot Pahaney Bikral" composed by Vasant Desai for Narsingh Avtar (1949), later with Lata Mangeshkar, Manna recorded around 103 Hindi duets of which songs like "Tere Bina Aag Yeh Chandni" from Awara, "Yeh raat bhigi bhigi" and "Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein" from Chori Chori, "Pyar hua iqrar hua" from Shree 420, "Woh Chand Muskaye" from Akhri Dao (1958), "Ritu aye", "Dil Ki Girah Khol Do" from Raat Aur Din (1966), "Aya Abdulla Aya" from Juaari (1968), "Soch Ke Ye Gagan Jhume" from the flop film Jyoti (1969) and "main buddho lambo lambo" of Buddha Mil Gaya (1971) were  extremely popular.

He sang around 27 Hindi duets with Geeta Dutt from 1949 with the last being from Ziddi in 1964. The popular duets of Geeta Dutt-Manna Dey include both classical songs as well as those which have style of Twist dance, Rock & Roll, cha-cha-cha like "Aan aan milo" from Devdas, :O Mister Suno Ek Baat" from Agra Road (1957),His first duet with Geeta Dutt was "Dhonyo Dhonyo He Ayodh Puri" from the film Ram Vivah (1949) composed by Shankar Rao Vyas.

With Asha Bhosle, Manna recorded around 160 Hindi songs from 1953–1982 through their duets kept releasing till 1986 and their last song is sung together was in Teri Maang Sitaaron Se Bhar Doon (1982). Popular duets of Asha-Manna Dey include "Ye Hawa Yeh Nadi Ka" from Ghar Sansar (1958), "Tu chupi hai kahan" from Navrang (1959), "Jodi Hamari Jamegi" from Aulad(1968), "Sanjh Dhali Dil Ki Lagi" from Kala Bazar (1960), "Aye Kash Chalte Milte" from Manzil (1960), "Na Tohh karvan Ki Talaash Hai" from Barsaat Ki Raat (1960), "Jane Na Doonga" from D
In 1956, he sang with a new batch of singers. He recorded his first duets with Sudha Malhotra "Ghar Ghar Deep Jalao Re" from Ayodhyapati in 1956, with singer Meena Kapoor in the song "Rim Jhim Jhim Rim Jhim" from Pardesi (1957) composed by Anil Biswas.
Manna Dey's duets with Suman Kalyanpur were very popular making them a celebrated team. Their first duet was "Prem Bada Balwan Jagat" from Maayaa Nagri (1957) composed by B.N.Bali and since then have sung around 45 songs together. Their popular duets include "Tum Jo Aao" from Sakhi Robin (1962) composed by Robin Bannerjee, "Dil Se Jo Baat" from Al Hilal (1958) composed by C.Ramachandra, "Na Jane Kahan" from Zindagi Aur Khwab (1963), "Ye Din Hai Khushi Ke" from Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai (1963) and "Bheegi Hawaon Mein" from Shriman Sataywadi (1960).

Among the male singers, he sang with Mohd. Rafi  He sang 101 Hindi songs along-with Rafi which include 58 duets with Rafi such as "Ishq Ishq" (Barsaat Ki Raat) "Tu hai mera prem Devta" (Kalpana), "Mama o mama" (Parvarish), Duniyaan ke liye from Maan Gaye Ustaad (1981), "Main Hoon Tera Prem Aur Tu Ho Meri Pran" from Rahu Ketu (1979), the song "Hindustan Ki Kasam" from Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), "Hum To Tere Hai Deewane" from Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong, "Badey Miya Diwane" from Shagird, "Ye Do Diwane Dil Ke" from Johar Mehmood in Goa, "Agar Dil Dil Se" from Shola Aur Shabnam (1961).

His first duet with Kishore Kumar was "Subaho Ki Paheli Kiran" from 1951 film Anadolan composed by Pannalal Ghosh. They recorded only 6 songs together until 1968 and all proved to be hits, some of them being "Ye Duniya hai usaki nyari hai" from Sauraksha composed by Bappi Lahiri, "Ye Dosti humnai todenge" from Sholay, "Tubhi Piya Chikara Hoon" and "Tu Jaam Liye Jaa" from Bewakoof (1960), "Babu Samjho Ishaare" from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) all three composed by S.D. Burman and "Baheta Pani Baheta Jaye" from Dhaake Ke Malmal composed by C. Ramachandra, "Joyo Joyo Mere Lal" composed by S.K. Pal in 1952 and the immortal song  In 1968, R.D. Burman brought them together for "Ek Chatur Naar" in Padosan.
The demand for Kishore-Manna Dey combination only grew after 1972. Their popular songs were "Mere Pyale Mein" from Aamir Garib (1974), "Is Ishq Mein Har" from Mr. Romeo (1974), "Yeh Dosti" from Sholay (1975), "Duniya Me Jeeney" from Naukri, "Kamal Hain" from Karz, "Phool Chaahiye Na" from Pyas (1982) and their last duet was in 1986 film Maqqar – "Tu Hi Mera Sapna". Salil Chowdhry compositions rendered by Dey from films like Ananad and Anadatta became popular as well. Also the trio of Rafi-Kishore-Manna Dey sang together hits like "Tujhme Ishwar, Allah Tujhme" from Nanha Farishta (1969) and "Band Mutthee" from Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi (1981). Kishore-Manna Dey together also sang with Asha in many films and famous among them are "Khan Chacha" from Dil Deewana (1974), "Aa Kitni Sundar Jagah" from Chandi Sona, both composed by R.D. Burman and with Lata in "Goyakechu Nanche" from Manoranjan (1974), "Logo Ke Juban Me Apna" from Nehla Pe Dehla, both composed by Pancham.


Duet with Suraiya ( This is also the first recording of Manna De)

Song of Tamanna 1942

Duet with -Rajkumari 

Song of Vikramaditya 1945

Song with Amirbai Karnatki

Song of Kamla (1946)

Duet with Shamshad Begum,

Song of MUSAFIR 1957

Manna De with Geeta Dutt

Song of Ram Vivah (1949)

Manna De with Lata Mangeshkar

Song of Basant Bahar (1951)

Manna De with Ktshore Kumar

Song of Aandolan (1951)

Manna De with Mohammad Rafi

Song of Do Bigha Zameen 1953

Manna De with Asha

Song of Bootpolish 1953

Manna De with Bhimsen Joshi

Song of Basant Bahaar (1956)

Manna De with S D Batish

Song of Meri Surat Teri Aankhen (1963)

Manna De with Mahendra Kapoor

Song of Daadi Maa (1966)

Amitabh Bachchan - How an Actor Rejected by Producers and Directors became the most saught after actor

If we read this story of Amitabh Bachchan, this would be the inspiration to the younger generation not to be dejected by the failures but try & try to achieve your goal, one day success will come in your way. We elders also take a lesson from him, how he battled various injuries and illnesses in the past, including tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, myasthenia gravis, and 25 percent of the liver, he still works and keeps himself fit.
Amitabh Bachchan was rejected in 1967 when he came to Bombay for Filmfare and Madhuri Film Talent Contest. His voice was earlier rejected by AIR for an announcer in Radio. His photographs were rejected by many producers saying that no heroine would like to work with this tall and lanky person. Before Zanzeer all (9) of his films flopped.
In this Blog, I look into the story of the Mahanayak of Hindi film industry. How he was recommended by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
After receiving the rejection letter from the Film Talent Contest, Amitabh Bachchan was deeply depressed. Her mother who saw her Munna (Amitabh) in that stage contacted Indira Gandhi who was her friend to recommend her son to the Bollywood. 
Mrs. Gandhi knew Nargis Dutt very well, she rang Nargis Dutt and asked her to help Amitabh Bachchan to get into Films. Nargis Dutt then contacted Mr. Raj Grover who was very close to the editor of Madhuri, the Hindi film magazine which took the Talent Contest. He collected the photograph of Amitabh from them.
Nargis Ji showed this photograph first to B R Chopra who was a big name in Bollywood. Mr. Chopra took a glimpse of the photo for a second and put the photograph on the table. He didn't say anything but it looked like that he rejected him. Mr. Raj Grover who accompanied Nargis Dutt in that meeting read the situation, he told B R Chopra that this boy has been recommended by then PM Indira Gandhi. He then immediately picked up the photo and looked for few more seconds and said "Haan Kuchh Baat Toh Hai Iske Chehre mein".He took a phone and called Mohan Sehgal informing him that he would like to take audition of a young boy during his next shooting schedule.
After few days the shooting was to begin so B R Chopra informed Nargis Dutt about the dates and asked Amitabh to be there for the audition.
Amitabh Bachchan in those days was working in Bird & Co at Calcutta. He took four days leave from that company and landed at Bombay. He stayed with his friend at Colaba
This detail information I have gathered from the book The Legends Of Bollywood written by Mr. Raj  Grover who is being referred here. In this book, these 4 days are written very beautifully.
Nargis ji fixed the meeting of Amitabh with the Rajshri head Tarachand Barjatya who was planning a film at that time. She also informed him about the background of Amitabh.
When Mr. Barjatya saw Amitabh Bachchan, he looked at him and said " No heroine would like to work with you. You are very tall. You should take your famous father's footstep and write poetry like him"
On the third day, Amitabh went to Mohan Studio with Mr. Raj Grover for the audition. Mr Mohan Saigal asked Mr. Raj Grover to give him a few lines to prepare for the audition whatever he feels suitable. He was given a few romantic lines, Amitabh also added few lines from Madhushala. This audition was not approved. So Amitabh Bachchan was once again was dejected.
Before Amitabh Bachchan was to leave for Calcutta, Sunil Dutt promised him that he will give him a role in Reshma Aur Shera as soon as he will start the film. Sunil Dutt kept his photograph with him. KA Abbas the famous director was starting a film Saat Hindustani and he was looking for seven new faces for that film. Sunil Dutt recommended him for one of the seven characters 
The shooting of Reshma Aur Shera started first, though he played a dumb character in that film his voice was being appreciated by one and all unit members. It was Sunil Dutt and Manoj Kumar who were appreciative of Amitabh before any of his films released. It was Saat Hindustani completed first and released first. His performance was appreciated by many. Similarly in Reshma Aur Shera though his role was short but he was highly appreciated.
Before Reshma Aur Shera his second film Parwana was released. In this film, Amitabh plays his first negative role as an infatuated lover-turned-murderer. The film had Navin Nischal as a hero but Amitabh's performance was appreciated.
Another film released before Reshma Aur Shera was Anand of Hrishikesh Mukharji. It stars Rajesh Khanna in the lead role, with a supporting cast including Amitabh Bachchan, The role of Babu Moshay became immortal. From this film the making of a big star began.
During the shooting of Saat Hindustani Amitabh and Anwar Ali, the younger brother of Mahmood became friends. Mahmood liked Amitabh Bachchan and treated him as his younger brother, he even asked him to live in his house. He gave him a separate room to live in. He offered him the role of hero in Bombay to Goa released in 1972.
At the time of the making of Guddi, he became a friend of Jaya Bhaduri. Both of them worked together as Hero and Heroine in two films Bansi Birju and Ek Nazar released in 1972, both the films flopped but their love story was hit. In the meantime Prakash Mehra was starting Zanzeer,  he wanted to take Dharmendra as his hero but Dharmendra couldn't give him dates, then Dev Anand was approached who denied the film as there were no song situations for the hero in the film. Raj Kumar was also approached but he refused the film. It was Pran who suggested Amitabh's name and also supported by Salim Javed, the role went to Amitabh. Zanjeer proved to be the biggest turning point in Big B's life professionally as well as personally. The film not only made him a star overnight, and also tied the knot with Jaya Bhaduri.
In his Blog Amitabh Bachchan wrote that  he wanted to celebrate the success of Zanjeer with Jaya in London (they were yet to be married) when he received a diktat from his father late poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan: "Who all are going came the query from Babuji... names disclosed.. 'Jaya is also going with you... you both are alone... yes... if you have to go, marry and go',"
The year 1973 was also when he married Jaya, and around this time they appeared in several films together: not only Zanjeer but also subsequent films such as Abhimaan, which was released only a month after their marriage and was also successful at the box office. Later, Bachchan played the role of Vikram, once again along with Rajesh Khanna, in the film Namak Haraam, a social drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and scripted by Biresh Chatterjee addressing themes of friendship. His supporting role won him his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award.
In 1974, Bachchan made several guest appearances in films such as Kunwara Baap and Dost, before playing a supporting role in Roti Kapda Aur Makaan. Just after that his film Majboor was released. The film was a success at the box office 
In 1975, he starred in a variety of film genres, from the comedy Chupke Chupke and the crime drama Faraar to the romantic drama Mili. This was also the year in which Bachchan starred in two films regarded as important in Hindi cinema history, both written by Salim-Javed. The first released on 15 August 1975, was Sholay, which became the highest-grossing film ever in India at the time, The other was Deewaar, directed by Yash Chopra, where he worked with Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, Parveen Babi, and Neetu Singh, and earned another Filmfare nomination for Best Actor. The film became a major hit at the box office in 1975,   Now he became the most sought after Hero of Bollywood. Every producer wanted to make a film with him. 
With his brilliant acting skills and his ability to deliver blockbusters after blockbuster, Bachchan was set for the long haul. The importance of being Amitabh Bachchan is not limited to his career, although he reinvented himself and experimented with his roles and acted in many successful films.

If you liked this blog, you would also appreciate my Youtube Channel, link is given below

https://youtu.be/yK_fD38jwas

Here are Rare Songs from Amitabh Bachchan Films Pre Zanjeer

Songs of Saat Hindustani 1970

Songs of Pyar Ki Kahani 1971

Songs of Sanjog 1972

Songs of Ek Nazar 1972

Songs of Ek Nazar 1972

Songs of  Bansi Birju 1972

 Song of Raaste Ka Pathar 1972

Songs of  Raaste Ka Pathar 1972

 Bandhe Haath 1972

Songs of Bombay To Goa 1972

Songs of Bombay To Goa 1972