Urdu Shayari in Bollywood Songs

Urdu Shayari is primarily a spoken art form and therefore more suited to theatrical and cinematic adaptation. In fact, when this Shayari was decorated with music, it made Urdu poetry accessible and entertaining to the masses. 
Urdu, from the very beginning, was the most important language of the talkies. Starting from the first Sound Film "Alam Ara" till the 8os Urdu Shayari was predominantly used in Hindi songs.
As Urdu was the lingua franca of artistic expression, Urdu poetry became indispensable to songwriters. Two of the earliest lyricists in Hindi cinema – Kidar Sharma and Dina Nath Madhok – perfectly symbolized this synergy between poetry and cinema. 
.The credit of the first song and the singer in a movie goes to Wazir Mohammad Khan who acted and sang this song De De Khuda Ke Naam Se De, it was in Urdu.

De De Khuda Ke Naam Se De from Alam Ara

In the 40s till Golden Era, the Urdu Shayari was at its prime. The Urdu poets of the era belonged to different parts of the country. Stalwarts like Jan Nisar Akhtar (father of Javed Akhtar), Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi (father of Shabana Azmi), Mazrooh Sultanpuri and Shakeel Badayuni, were either related or were close friends with each other.
 Almost all lyricists of that time had formal training in Urdu poetry and were well-versed with its various forms like ghazal, nazm, qawwali etc. Their careers began in mushairas 

Song of Dulari 1949

Song of Chaudhavin Ka Chand 1960

From romantic sonnets like Chaudhavin Ka Chand to songs of desperate misery like Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari, and qawwalis like Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai, this was truly the high noon of Urdu poetry in Bollywood. The philosophical song " Mein Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya" by Sahir Ludhianvi from the movie Hum Dono, exemplifies what a naturally poetic time this was for the Hindi cinema. 

Song of Hum Dono 1961

The advent of parallel cinema, commonly called “art films”, further gave opportunities to traditional poets such as Shahryar, who wrote the lyrics for Umrao Jaan and Gaman. Independent artists like Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Salma Agha also wrote tunes for famous Urdu ghazals. Many of these were used in movie soundtracks and gave us classics like Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho and Chupke Chupke Raat Din.

Song of Taj Mahal 1963

Song of Sadhana 1958

Song of Kala Paani 1958

Song of Kaghaz Ke Phool 1959

Song of Gumrah 1963

Song of Sangam 1964

Song of Safar 1970

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)

Dara Singh Went to the Moon Before Neil Armstrong

On the successful launch of Chandrayan 2,reminded me of Dara Singh movie "Chand Par Chadhayee ( A Trip to Moon)" released in 1967.
You would be surprised to note that our own Dara Singh went to the moon two years before Neil Armstrong. There was one difference: Armstrong did this in real life, while Dara Singh on a 70-mm screen. In 1967,
Chand Par Chadayee (Trip to Moon) was a 1967  Hindi-language science fiction film produced and directed by T. P. Sundaram. The film stars Dara Singh, Anwar Hussain, Bhagwan, G. Ratna and Padma Khanna.This film is the first science fiction of Bollywood

. 
Trip to Moon begins on the moon, where India has set up a "camp". It's a mission to explore and learn, but the Moonlings are suspicious of these human scientists, who roam around the satellite puffing a pipe and brandishing a walking stick, unaffected by low gravity. So, as a warning, the Moonlings kidnap the scientist and send a crack team to sabotage the next Indian mission to the moon, which is Astronaut Anand's ticket off the planet.
Dara Singh, who played the role of Astronaut Anand, who with his sidekick Bhagu (Bhagwan), travels to different planets and beats up aliens, a galactic rhinoceros and becomes a heartthrob of the lovely ladies who live on the moon. Yes, there's life on the moon according to Trip to Moon, and not just that, two of them go so far as to fight for him in a contest that involves both dancing and sword fighting.

Another fantasy in the film was the aliens from other planets especially Mars. There's conspiracy shown in the film . A moonling aristocrat named Simi (Padma Khanna) is scheming with the king of Mars (Anwar Hussain), who wants the moon's princess Shimoga (G. Ratna) as his bride. Shimoga's heart, however, belongs to Anand and he loves her too. So the king of Mars doesn't really stand a chance, but he gives it his best shot by doing everything from unleashing missiles to giant robots and an alien rhinoceros at Anand.
This film is available in you tube, one can see this fantasy of the writer and director of the film.

Song of Chand Par Chadhayee 1967

Song of Chand Par Chadhayee 1967

Song of Chand Par Chadhayee 1967

Action scene of Chand Par Chadhayee 1967

Comedy scene of Chand Par Chadhayee 1967

Khayyam-A Composer who gave many immortal Songs

God has made Khayyam Saheb Special. He has given this Industry many Immortal Songs. He was born on 18th Feb 1927 as Sa'aadat Hussain in undivided Punjab. He made his debut as Sharmaji of the Sharmaji-Varmaji composer duo with the movie Heer Ranjha in 1948. He went solo after his co-composer Rahman Varma went to the newly created Pakistan post-partition. One of his earliest breaks was in the film Biwi in which the song "Akele mein wo ghabrate to Honge" sung by Mohammed Rafi was a huge hit. But he gained greater recognition from the film Phir Subha Hogi starring Raj Kapoor and Mala Sinha, in which songs written by Sahir Ludhyanvi and sung by Mukesh and Asha Bhonsle were set to tune by Khayyam, notable amongst them "Wo Subha Kabhi to Aayegi", "Aasman Pe hai Khauda aur Zameen pe Hum" and "Chin-o-Arab Humara".

The song "Jaane kya dhhonti rehti hein ye aanken mujhmen" sung by Rafi from the film Shola Aur Shabnam established Khayyam's reputation as a great composer. Latter on Songs from the film Shagun which had Khayyam's wife Jagjit Kaur sing "Tum apna ranj-o-gham" and "Tum chali Jaogi". From the film Lala Rukh "Hai Kali Kali ke lab par" sung by Rafi and from Footpath "Shyam-e-Gham ki Kasam" sung by Talat Mehmood. From Mohhabat Isko Kehte Hein "Theheriye hosh mein aa lun to chaley jaiyega" by Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur made him a popular composer.
Khayyam teamed up with Sahir Ludhyanvi once again to work in the Yash Chopra-directed "Kabhi Kabhi". The songs were super hits and showed Khayyam's versatility with huge hits like "Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein Khayal ata hai" (Sung by Mukesh), "Tere chehre se nazar Nahin hatti" (Kishore & Lata) and "Mein Pal do pal ka Shayar Hun" (Mukesh). 
 Again pairing with Sahir in Trishul he produced great songs like "Mohabbat bare kaam ki cheez hai" and "Janeman tum kamal karti ho" and the light "Gapuchi Gapuchi gam gam". "Hazar rahen" from Thodi si Bewafai and "Aaja re o mere dilbar Aaja" from Noorie and "Dikahyi Diye" from Bazaar are some noticeable songs. Khayyam also created music for the Kamal Amrohi directed "Razia Sultan" and his "Aye dil-e-nadan" sung by Lata capturing the mood beautifully. One of popular song is Cho lene do.

How can we forget him in Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan in 1981. He made Asha Bhonsle sing songs which are indisputably her best. "In Aankhon ki masti ke", "Ye Kya Jagah hai doston" and "Dil Cheez kya hai" are evergreen.

Khayyam also made several non-film albums in various styles – ghazals, bhajans, geet, Shabd – that amounted to over 200 titles. “Some of them were so popular that I was pleasantly surprised to notice that a few music directors had copied parts of their tunes and musical phrases and used them in their film songs,” he said. “They may not give me the credit, but they know that God has made Khayyam special.”

Song of Footpath 1953

Song of Phir Subha Hogi (1958)

Song of Shola Aur Shabnam (1961)

Song of  Shagoon (1964

Song of Aakhri Khat (1966)

Song of Kabhi Kabhie (1976)

Song of Thodi Si Bewafaai (1980)

Song of Umrao Jaan 1981

Song of Umrao Jaan 1981

Song of Bazaar (1982)

Song of Razia Sultan (1983)

Navketan's Guide- From Pages to Celluloid

After the Berlin Film Festival in 1962, Dev Anand and his wife travelled to London and later, at the invitation of the Nobel laureate, Pearl S Buck and the Polish-American TV film director, Tad Danielewski of Stratton Productions, to New York. It was while eating a dish called ‘Scorpion’ at a restaurant in ‘The Village’ (as Greenwich Village is commonly referred to), that Dev Anand presented Pearl S Buck with a copy of R K Narayan’s The Guide. He told them that he intends to make a film on this book.
Pearl and Tad were impressed by the possibilities of a cinematic adaptation of the novel, they had doubts about whether Narayan would be willing to part with the film rights of his novel.
R K Narayan was an Indian writer known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao. Narayan’s The Financial Expert was hailed as one of the most original works of 1951 and Sahitya Akademi Award winner The Guide was adapted for film. His first book "Swami and Friends" was published in 1935. Narayan's next novel The Bachelor of Arts (1937), was inspired in part by his experiences at college, and dealt with the theme of a rebellious adolescent transitioning to a rather well-adjusted adult; He wrote nearly three dozen novels and several short-story collections, The Guide was his thirteenth book and eighth novel. It was published in 1958.
Dev Anand in his Biography says “I read it at one go…I thought it had a good story, and the character of Raju, the guide, was extraordinary,”He first wrote a letter to R K Narayan, As per Narayan he got a letter from Anand, modestly describing himself as “a producer and actor from Bombay” and wondering, “I don’t know if my name is familiar to you.” In this letter, he wrote about his interest in making a great film on The Guide. 

After his approval, Dev immediately sought an appointment with R. K. Narayan and signed a contract with him. There was also a broad consensus that the film is made in both English and Hindi. While Tad was de facto director of the English version, for the Hindi, it was a toss-up between Chetan Anand and Raj Khosla. Neither worked out. Finally, Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand was chosen to direct the Hindi version.

Guide(Eng)-Pic-1.

Guide(Eng)-Pic-2

Dev Anand wanted to start English version and Hindi version simultaneously. The idea was to film the scenes common to both versions simultaneously, a Hindi shot to be immediately followed by the same shot in English, to save time and money but it could not be materialised because Vijay Anand was not happy with the script, he wanted to change the script and write a new script. The other reason for the delay of the Hindi version was the music composer S.D. Burman had suffered a heart attack and was not available for the music. Burman Dada advised Dev to sign on a new composer for Guide, but Dev put his foot down and insisted that Burman should first get well and then take over.
As we all know that in the novel the city taken by the author was an imaginary town Malgudi but in the film, Udaipur of Rajasthan was prefered by the director Tad. But it wasn’t only the locations, the scale and the general tenor that shifted from page to screen. It was the characters themselves.  This annoyed R K Narayan but he was later convinced that Tad could not create the town similar to Malgudi. The next change was the name of the hero as Raju Guide whereas in the novel it was Railway Raju. Raju’s childhood and youth don’t appear in the film. Part of the reason lay in popular cinema’s need to be larger than life. All the small town specificity of Malgudi was erased. The film also has many sequences specifically inserted to impress the foreign audience as some kind of Bharat-Darshan.

Similarly, the Rosie who made it to the Hindi film screen was nowhere near as radical as the original Rosie – the Rosie created by RK Narayan, in his novel The Guide.
Narayan’s character had chutzpah, but he had his awkward moments. But the film was a star vehicle for Dev Anand, and its hero had to be more Dev Anand than Raju. So Anand’s Raju Guide has no self-doubt. He is never worried about the hairiness of his chest. He never wonders if he could be bold enough to woo Rosie. It is in relation to Rosie that he is most transformed – because Rosie herself has changed. Narayan’s Rosie is no sophisticated, but her ambition is never in doubt. Nor is the carnality of Raju’s interest in her, or her reciprocation of it. The novel has none of the high-mindedness that Hindi cinema forced upon its heroes and heroines so Raju can tell us the truth: he is attracted to Rosie; his support of her dance begins because it is the clue to her affections.

The novel’s Rosie is full of plans; Raju need only support them. But Vijay Anand’s film, keenly aware of his conservative audience, turns his Rosie into a bundle of nerves who tries three times to commit suicide, only to be saved each time by Raju, and berated: “Tumhari haalat aaj yeh isliye hai ki tumne apni haalat se baghaavat karna nahi seekha.”
The other sociological element that makes both book and film fascinating is that Rosie is a devadasi by birth, and her reclaiming of dance in a new secular public form formed a fictional counterpart to the actual national reclaiming of Bharatnatyam. Here, too, the film has Marco insult dance, while Raju delivers a lecture on how artists are no longer bhaands.
By June 1963, the shooting of the English version of The Guide was completed and Pearl S. Buck who viewed the rushes found it up to the mark. When Narayan saw the English version in January 1964, he wrote to Dev, labelling the film profound, artistic, and exquisite. In 1964, Dev began promoting The Guide in the US and the premiere elicited encouraging responses from a cross-section of viewers.
The English version premiered at the Lincoln Art theatre in New York in February 1965. The mainstream press in America including The New York Times and the Time magazine didn’t take a liking to The Guide.
The English Guide was a flop but Dev Anand was not bothered, he took the failure in his stride. “The film did not fare well, but it gave me a semblance of recognition in a new arena… The new experience was rewarding enough,” he writes in Romancing with Life. 
Dev Anand had plans to release the Hindi version of The Guide by end 1965. But suddenly, he was faced with a barrage of protests from some quarters who strongly recommended that the film would be banned on grounds that it promoted infidelity, that too of a woman.
Finally, Guide released on 8 April 1966. It had a shaky start, for here was a film which didn’t present Dev Anand as the quintessential lover boy. Initially, the response was lukewarm but the film picked up after a few days when all the critics gave good reviews and also the music of the film became hit.

 Narayan didn’t care for either of the movies, especially the depiction of Rosie as an all-around dancer rather than a Bharatanatyam exponent. Probably referring to the Hindi version, Narayan writes, it “converted my heroine’s performances into an extravaganza with delicious fruity colours and costumes”.

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Scene from Guide 1965

Songs were the Integral Part of Dev Anand Personality

Can you imagine a film with Dev Anand without singing a song in that film? Songs were always an integral part of his personality. Could you believe that he got to sing very few songs in his early films? Maybe it was a trend in those days but the heroines got all the songs. Between 1946 to 1952 he had 28 films but there were hardly a few noteworthy songs for him. Even in his debut production’Afsar’ he had no song. A film like ‘Aaram’ which had such good songs, one song -Shukriya ai pyar tera shukriya’ was filmed on Talat Mehmood himself and another great song ‘Ai jaane jigar’ sung by Mukesh was lip synced by Prem Nath. In another film, Manmohan Krishna playing a sidekick of Dev Anand had two good songs while Dev had none. Even in ‘Milap’ directed by his close friend Raj Khosla the Hemant Kumar song Yeh baharon ka samaan filmed on Dev Anand is edited out in the film while the female version is there. It was only, later on, say after 1955 that he got to sing many songs and he developed his signature style in song picturisations.

It is also seen that the majority of the songs from his movies are lip-synced by him. A solo or a duet – but Dev Anand got to lip sync even if it was a word or 2.He even appear in the frame whether he has no line to lip sync.

In this Blog I have selected those songs where Dev Anand is in the same frame with his co-actor but not lip syncing.

The first song in my list is from CID (1956), the song is Boojh Mera Kya Naam Re

It is a complete village belle song but wouldn’t be complete without Dev Anand. He just smiles throughout the song and that makes the song so much more charming!!

Song of  CID (1956)

In this song from House No 44 released in 1955,Dev Anand  is a part of the song even if he is just humming. Like in Peechhe peechhe aakar all he does is just hmm hmm hmm hmm.

Song of House No 44 (1955)

The next song is Hum Jaan Gaye Sarkar Tum Lakh Karo Inkaar from the film Love Marriage (1959), here Mala Sinha is all delighted to tease Dev Anand. Insisting that he’s in love and Dev Anand like an innocent boy keeps denying.

Song of Love Marriage (1959)

Another song in my list is from Bombai Ka Babu 1960, in this song Suchitra Sen is singing and dancing with her friends but Dev Anand appears on full frame.

Song of Bombai Ka Babu 1960,

Sach Hue Sapne Tere-Kala Bazaar 1960

In this song, Waheeda Rehman teasing Dev Anand while he is sulking. But we’re treated with a charming Dev smile by the end of the song.

Song of Kala Bazar 1960,

In the song, Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai from Guide Waheeda Rehman sings a solo but it will be incomplete without the caring and charming yet a silent guide beside her.

Song of Guide 1965

Honthon pe aisi baat is an all Vyjayantimala song, but here too Dev Anand gets to sing that inimitable call O Shalooooo. 

Song of Jewel Thief 1967

JAISE RADHA NE MALA JAPI SHYAM from Tere Mere Sapne 1971 is one such song ia a heroine song but Dev Annand in full frame

Song of  Tere Mere Sapne 1971

Koi Koi Raat Aisi Hoti Hai from the film is one such song where heroine Rakhi is singing a solo song but Dev Anand is shown in full frame even his photograph is shown in full frame.

                                                             Song of Banarsi Babu 1973

Lootmar, the 1980 film where a cabaret was picturised on Simple Kapadia, the song 

Jab Chaye Mera Jadoo-Koi Bach Na Paye here also Dev Anand appears on full frame

Song of Lootmar 1980