60 Years of Madhumati

Madhumati was released on 12 September 1958. It earned ₹40 million in India and became the highest-grossing Indian film of the year and one of the most commercially successful and influential Indian films of all time. It was one of the earliest films to deal with reincarnation. Directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles, with Pran and Johnny Walker in supporting roles.  
 It won nine Filmfare Awards; including Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director, Best Female Playback Singer, Best Dialogue, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematographer—the most awards for a single film at that time. It also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Bimal Roy who made Devdas in 1955 with the same star lead was looking for a hit. His 1955 film Devdas was commercially unsuccessful, jeopardising his company Bimal Roy Productions; he needed a commercial success to survive. The film opened at the Roxy theatre near Opera House  Bombay.“It was a fabulous evening, glamorous and glittering, just like the film premieres on screen.” Like all great movies, this one too inspired a genre of its own, the re-incarnation genre. 

The soundtrack of Madhumati became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of 1958. Salil Chowdhury won his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen is one of the most popular songs by recording artist Mukesh and is regularly played at dandiya functions. The Madhumati soundtrack features eleven songs composed by Salil Chowdhury. Shailendra wrote the lyrics and Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Mubarak Begum, Asha Bhosle, Sabita Chowdhury, Ghulam Mohammed and Dwijen Mukhopadhyay provided the vocals.
It is one of the greatest Hindi movies ever made. It’s top notch in terms of cinematography, directing, music, acting and dancing. I rank it among Top 10 Hindi films.Bimal Roy's classics like Sujata, Bandini, Do Bigha Zameen or Devdas, still bears the mark of a master craftsman. And it’s good entertainment value.
The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.
The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.
The film begins on a dark and stormy night (a recurring motif in the film: all the most dramatic events occur on stormy nights). Two friends – an engineer, Devendra (Dilip Kumar) and a doctor (Tarun Bose) are travelling by car along a mountain road when a fallen tree forces a halt. The driver advises the two men to take shelter in the nearby mansion while he goes off to find help. Devendra and his friend go off to the mansion, which turns out to be a spooky place, dusty and seemingly deserted.

The film was shot at a hill station. It had a six-week schedule at a location in Ranikhet, Nainital. Some scenes were filmed in Ghorakhal near Nainital. When the negatives were developed, most of the footage was found to be fogged. Since a reshoot in far-away Uttarakhand was not possible, sets were created near Vaitarna Dam, Igatpuri. The art direction team, led by Sudhendu Roy, created fake pine trees, which were planted to match the location in Nainital.A large part of the film was filmed in Aarey Milk Colony, a small forested area in Mumbai. A scene in which Dilip Kumar looks for Vyjayanthimala in the woods was filmed in Igatpuri. The foggy effect was recreated using gas bombs.
Commercially it was the biggest hit of Bimal Roys's career. It wiped out his losses of Devdas released in 1955. The fact that it scored over movies like Kala Pani, Sadhana, Phir Subah Hogi, all released the same year, speaks for its power to captivate the audience and hold its attention for long. More than anything, Madhumati, forever, will be remembered for its music.

Think of gems like ‘Suhana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Hasin’, ‘Dil Tadap Tadap Ke Keh Raha Hai’, ‘Aaja Re Mai To Kabse Khadi Is Paar’, ‘Chadh Gayo Paapi Bichua’, ‘Zulmi Sang Aankh Ladi’, ‘Toote Hue Khwabon Ne’ and ‘Ghadi Ghadi Mera Dil Dhadke’, and you know instantly what melody stood for.

Madhumati' is primarily an entertainer but one doesn't think of it as a masala film, and there's a lot to like about it. Wonderful visuals and songs, very good performances, a nicely developed romance, and it's strong on atmospherics as well. It fully delivers on its promise and is quite a charming film.

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Most Memorable Films of Vyjayantimala

Born on August 13, 1933, she was a natural performer who danced for the pope at the age of four. She started in films under MV Raman’s direction at AVM with Vazhkai/Jeevitham (1949), a bilingual film in Tamil and Telugu. The immensely popular film was later adapted as Bahar (1951)
She was the first South Indian actress who made it as a national star and was one of the biggest ever Hindi Film female stars in a career lasting almost two decades. She was the first heroine refusing to take Filmfare Award as Best Supporting Actress for Devdas 1955
Nagin 1954 It stars Vyjayanthimala and Pradeep Kumar, and has a hit musical score by Hemant Kumar. The film got favourable responses from the audience and became the highest-grossing movie of 1954 where it was labelled as a blockbuster.In the title role, she puts over a commendable performance besides looking ravishingly beautiful as the belle of the hills. Her dancing, too, is very graceful, especially in those eye-filling colour sequences and delightful ballets towards the finish.Hemant Kumar's music and her dance on the song, "Man Dole, Mera tan dole", rendered by Lata Mangeshkar was one of the highlights of the film.

Song of Nagin 1954

Devdas 1955- Bimal Roy cast her as Chandramukhi opposite Dilip Kumar in the critically acclaimed Devdas, which was the adaptation of the novel with the same title by Sharat Chandra Chatterji. The industry initially was not in favour of this choice when they heard about Vyjayanthimala being cast in Bimal Roy's film, For Vyjayantimala, the character marked a turning point from glamour to pure histrionics, offering her scope to explore her potential as a dramatic actress 

Song of Devdas 1955

Naya Daur 1957 had a theme of "Man vs. machine", and Vyjanthi's portrayal of a village belle.For this film, Dilip Kumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the third time in a row, being his fourth overall. The film was a big hit

Song of Naya Daur 1957

Madhumati 1958  film directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles, with Pran and Johnny Walker in supporting roles. The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.The soundtrack of Madhumati became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of 1958.^[21] Salil Chowdhury won his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen is one of the most popular songs

Song of Madhumati 1958

Sadhna 1958 -the film produced and directed by B. R. Chopra. The film stars Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt in the lead with Leela Chitnis, Radhakrishan, Manmohan Krishna, Uma Dutt and Ravikant, forming an ensemble cast. The story, screenplay and dialogue were penned by Mukhram Sharma. The film revolves around Rajini (Vyjayanthimala), a prostitute, and her love affair with a professor She got the Filmfare Award for best Heroine.

Song of Sadhna 1958

Ganga Jamuna 1961 Indian dacoit crime drama film, produced in Technicolor. It was written and produced by Dilip Kumar, and directed by Nitin Bose, with dialogues written by Wajahat Mirza. The film stars Dilip Kumar, Nasir Khan and Vyjayanthimalain leading roles, and Azra, Kanhaiyalal, Anwar Hussain, Nazir Hussain and Leela Chitnis in supporting roles.She got the Best Heroine Filmfare Award.

Song of Ganga Jamuna 1961

Sangam 1964 directed by Raj Kapoor, written by Inder Raj Anand, and produced by Kapoor with Mehboob Studio and Filmistan. The film stars Vyjayanthimala, Raj Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar in the lead roles.It became a hit in India and is considered a classic today. One of the features of the film that became widely used later on in Bollywood is the use of foreign locales for on-location shooting, such as Venice, Paris, and Switzerland. She got the Best Heroine Filmfare Award.

Song of Sangam 1964

Amrapali 1966  directed by Lekh Tandon, starring Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt as leads. Music of the film was by Shankar-Jaikishan. It was based on the life of Amrapali (Ambapali), the nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of Vaishali in present-day Bihar, fully Indian classical music-based score in the four songs, 

Song of Amrapali 1966

Jewel Thief 1967  spy thriller heist film directed by Vijay Anand.The film stars Dev Anand, Vyjayantimala and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles. It also features four bond girl-like actresses portrayed by Tanuja,the highlight of the film was the Iconic dance 

number  Hothon Pr Aisi Baat Mein Daba Ke Chali Ayi

Song of Jewel Thief 1967

Mukesh-who wanted to be like K L Saigal

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 Similar to the story of Eklavya, Mukesh initiated in music.He started learning music indirectly  from his sister’s Guruji . He would listen from the next room and keep practicing until the day.Those days K L Saigal was the star singer actor.Like every body
KL Saigal was Mukesh’s idol.He wanted to be like him. Mukesh had good looks and his nature was very industrious, thus trying his luck at acting was natural for him.It was the actor Motilal who was his relative attended the marriage of Mukesh's sister at Delhi where he heard Mukesh singing a song.He liked his singing and advised him to come to Bombay and try his luck in films.
After few months Mukesh saw an advertisement in a News Paper from Ranjit Movitone for requirement of Actor cum Singer.He applied for this and was called to Bombay for an interview.It was Chandulal Shah of Ranjit Movietone who selected him and gave him the job.
He got his first project as an actor-singer in a film named Nirdosh in 1941 which has his first song ‘Dil hi ho bujha hua to’.His second film was Adab Arz in 1943.He acted as a hero in the film Mashooka in 1953, opposite Suraiya. During these period he sang and acted in few films but his career was not rising.It was in 1945 when Moti Lal asked Anil Biswas to take Mukesh as his playback singer for the film Pehli Nazar.The song he sang for the film was "Dil Jalta Hai To Jalne De".This song became so popular which opened the door of success for Mukesh.
Mukesh was such a fan of singer K. L. Saigal that in his early years of playback singing he used to imitate his idol. In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song "Dil Jalta Hai...", he remarked, "That's strange, I don't recall singing that song"
It was  music director Naushad Ali, who helped Mukesh to come out of his Saigal style and create his own style. Naushad gave him songs for the film Andaz. Initially Mukesh was the ghost voice of Dilip Kumar in this movie and Mohammed Rafi sang for Raj Kapoor. He delivered many Hits for Naushad in films like: Anokhi Ada (1948), Mela (1948), Andaz (1949). Other composers who used Mukesh voice for great Dilip Kumar in hit songs like "Jeevan Sapna toot gaya" were Anil Biswas in Anokha Pyar, Ye Mera Diwanapan hai, Shankar-Jaikishan in Yahudi and Suhana Safar and Dil Tadap Tadap ke, Salil Choudhary in Madhumati. However, later Dilip Kumar choose Rafi as his ghost voice and Mukesh became the ghost voice of Raj Kapoor. Mukesh recorded highest number of songs for Shankar Jaikishan ie 133 songs followed by kalyanji Anandji ie 99 songs. Out of 4 Filmfare awards, Mukesh won 3 awards for Shankar Jaikishan songs.

The duo of Raj Kapoor and Mukesh had hell lots of songs among which the most remembered and played is ‘Awara Hoon’. This song has lived almost 65 years yet kids know this song and the song is so stuck in everyone’s mind. Other famous songs were Mera Joota hai Japani, Jeena yahan marna yahan, Dost dost na raha, Jaane kaha gaye vo din, Kisiki muskurahaton pe, Ichak Daana beechak Daana, Sajan re jhoot mat bolo, Ramaiya vastavaiya, Dum Dum Diga Diga, Vo subah kabhi to aayegi, Kehta hai Joker saara jamana, Begaani shaadi me Abdullah deewana.The first song Mukesh sang for Raj kapoor was ‘Zinda hoon is tarah’ in 1948 film Aag, the lifelong partnership started from this song.
Like Talat, Mukesh also had an inherent sadness in his voice. So songs like ‘Woh tere pyar ka gham’, ‘Saranga teri yaad mein’ or ‘Baharon ne mera chaman lootkar’ sounded even more soulful in his voice. But unlike Talat, he could even belt out light numbers with gay abandon. Songs like ‘Ruk jaa o jaanewali ruk jaa’, ‘Aasman pe hai khuda aur zameen pe hum’ or ‘Bina badra ke bijuriya kaise chamke’ confirmed this time and again.
Many critics derided him as an imperfect singer who had a nasal twang and who would often miss a note or a beat and many a time they had a valid point. His limited vocal range also made high-pitched songs difficult for him. Mukesh proved them wrong 
After Shankar Jaikishan Mukesh sang lot of songs for Kalyanji Anandji  "Naina hai jadoo bhare..." Bedard Zamana Kya Jane (1958) composed by Kalyanji alone as Kalyanji Virji Shah, and "Main hoon mast madari..." Madari (1959) as the first Kalyanji-Anandji-Mukesh combo, to "Chahe aaj mujhe napasand karo" Darinda/ 1977, the K-A, Mukesh combination gave numerous popular songs like "Chhalia mera naam...", "Mere toote hue dil se...", "Dum dum diga diga" Chalia(1959), "Mujhko iss raat ki tanhai mein..." Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere(1960), "Hum chhod chale hain mehfil ko..." (Ji Chahta Hai), "Humne tumko pyar kiya hai jitna..." (Dulha Dulhan), "Chal mere dil lehraake chal..." Ishara and "Dheere se chalo..." Johar Mehmood in Goa,"Main to ek khwab hoon..." and "Chand si mehbooba ho..." Himalay Ki Godmein(1965), "Waqt kartaa jo wafaa..." Dil Ne Pukara,"Deewanon se yeh mat poocho..." Upkar, "Khush raho har khushi hai..." Suhaag Raat and "Humsafar ab yeh safar kat jaayega..." Juari, "Chandi ki deewaar..." and "Le chal le chal mere jeevan saathi..." Vishwas (1969), "Koi jab tumhara hriday tod de..." Purab Aur Paschim, "Darpan ko dekha..." Upaasna, "Jo tumko ho pasand..." Safar and "Mujhe nahin poochni tumse beeti baatein..." Anjaan Raahein (1970).
Mukesh died of a heart attack on 27 August 1976 in Detroit, Michigan, US, where he had gone to perform in a concert. That morning, he got up early and went to take a shower. He came out panting and complaining of chest pains. He was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead. The rest of the concert was completed by Lata Mangeshkar and surprisingly his son Nitin Mukesh . His body was flown to India by Lata Mangeshkar, where a grand funeral ceremony was held in the presence of several actors, with personalities of the Indian film industry and fans paying tribute. 
Mukesh had the voice that could paint a thousand shades of melancholy. The way he sang, with the perfect tone and diction, he was considered as second to none. The pain that he had in his voice could not be imitated by anyone else.

SONGS THAT WON HIM FILMFARE

• Sab Kuch Seekha Humne(Anari)
• Sabse Bada Naadan(Pehchan)
• Jai Bolo Beimaan Ki(Be-imaan)
• Kabhie kabhie mere dil me(Kabhie Kabhie)
• .SONG THAT WON HIM NATIONAL FILM AWARD
• Kai Baar Yuhi Dekha Hai(Rajnigandha)

Song from Pehli Nazar 1945

Song from Anokha Pyar, 1948

Song from Aag 1948

Song from Mela 1948

Song from Andaz 1949

Song from Awaara 1951

Song from Parvarish 1958

Song from Anari 1959

Song from Kala Aadmi, 1960

Song from Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere(1960)

Song from Bandini, 1963

Song from Sangam (1964)

Song from Himalay Ki Godmein(1965)

Song from Teesri Kasam 1965

Song from Milan 1967

ong from Mera Naam Joker 1970

Song from Safar, 1970

Song from Kabhie Kabhie 1976

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Bimal Roy was a complete school of film making unto himself

Bimal Roy who gave Bollywood some of the iconic films like Do Bigha Zameen, Devdas, Madhumati, Bandini Sujata and more.He also gave Indian Cinema many great filmmakers and writers such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar, Nabendu Ghosh, Salil Chowdhury and Basu Bhattacharya 
He  was born on 12 July 1909, to a Bengali Baidya zamindar family in Suapur, Dhaka, which was then part of the Eastern Bengal and Assam province of British India and is now part of Bangladesh.He moved to Calcutta and entered the field of cinema as a camera assistant with New Theatres Pvt. Ltd.. During this time, he assisted director P.C. Barua as Publicity Photographer, on the hit 1935 film Devdas, starring K.L. Saigal. 
 Bimal Roy’s debut feature film Udayer Pathe was made in Bengali in 1944.which was made in hindi as Hamrahi in 1945 by New Theatres Calcutta.Our National Anthem Jana Gana Mann before it was made the National Anthem was introduced in this film.  Maa in 1952 was his first Bollywood film for Bombay Talkies. A year later, his own production company came into being with ``Do Bigha Zamin'' about a farmer struggling to survive the industrial revolution. His another film Parineeta was also released in the same year.
The immortal ``Devdas'' in 1955 based on Sarat Chandra's classic, has been fodder for several films over the years.Unlike film-makers of today, directors of that era made sure to not get stuck in a groove. So after the heartbreaking ``Devdas,'' Bimal Roy made a frothy musical, ``Madhumati'', probably the first film on re-incarnation.
He believed that there was no medium like cinema to promote the idea of human struggle. Noted for his realistic and socialistic films - Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta and Biraj Bahu - legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy is a celebrated institution in Hindi Cinema and has inspired many a movie maverick from Shyam Benegal to Hansal Mehta.
He was a very silent person,he spoke through his films.His works stand out for their photography. He took great care to reveal the light source and introduced a sense of time. More importantly, it connected one to reality. You could tell what time of the day a situation was taking place.
He is the only director who got Filmfare Best Director Award continuously for 3 years twice.

• 1953: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Do Bigha Zamin
• 1954: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Parineeta
• 1955: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Biraj Bahu

• 1958: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Madhumati
• 1959: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Sujata
• 1960: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Parakh

He died of cancer on 8 January 1966 at the age of 56. He was survived by four children,Just before his death Roy was working on one of his most ambitious project, a bi-lingual film titled Amrit Kumbh Ki Khoj Mein based on Samaresh Basu’s novel. He had shot one schedule with his unit during an actual kumbh mela in Allahabad in the early 60s.

Song from Maa (1952)

Song from Parineeta (1953)

Song from Do Bigha Zamin (1953)

Song from Devdas (1955)

Song from Madhumati (1958)

Song from Sujata (1959)

Song from Parakh (1960)

Song from Bandini (1963)