Showing posts with label dev anand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dev anand. Show all posts

Monday 3 January 2022

Neeraj- Karwan Guzar Gaya Ghubaar Dekhte Rahe.

 


Gopal Das Neeraj was a poet first then a lyricist. He started writing poetry and sharing stage, at times with stalwarts who were mesmerized with the poems of this young man. There are incidents where he used to write poems with another pseudonym, ‘Bhavuk Etahvi’. But once he reached the stage of Kavi Sammelan, there was no looking back for this greatest Hindi poet of all genres.

This Ghazal was aired. on the radio in 1955,  it was included in the film Nayi Umar ki Nayi Fasal in 1966 in fact this film was inspired by this Ghazal. He wrote a few songs for two films Cha Cha Cha and Chanda Aur Bijli before Dev Anand introduced him to S D Burman to write songs for his film Prem Pujari.

He was born in the village of Puravali, near Mahewa in Etawah district in Uttar Pradesh, India on 4 January 1925. He wrote under the pen name "Neeraj"

When Neeraj entered the scene of poetry, Harivansh Rai Bachchan was already an established name on the stage. However, Neeraj carved his way and touched people’s hearts. “His poems gave new life to romanticism which was coupled with spiritualism.  He had an influence of Sri Aurbindo and it flows in his poetry. 

Besides writing, he earned his living teaching in a college and was a Professor of Hindi Literature in Dharma Samaj College, Aligarh. He knew Urdu well and cultivated his own style. He used words even from Sanskrit and touched the softness of the Hindi Khadi Boli. The poems were rendered with such eloquence that they were immediately on everyone’s lips. Neeraj’s simplicity was evident in his lifestyle. “He lived a simple life, he understood common people, their sufferings and he lived as if he was one of them, playing cards with them, smoking beedi and wearing simple clothes. Anybody was welcome in his home.

Despite the tremendous recognition he got from film songs, Neeraj considered himself unlucky. This was the reason why he stopped writing songs for films. He started writing only poems and literature. Disclosing this in an interview, he had said that two-three famous Bollywood musicians for whom he had written film songs had passed away. He had said that Jaikishan and SD Burman of the Shankar-Jaikishan duo should also die and he wrote very famous songs for both of them. 

Neeraj had penned several immortal songs for Bollywood movies. There were incidents where Neeraj himself recited his songs so that musicians may easily develop the tune. Just sample this — Phoolo ke rang se/dil ki qalam se/tujhko likh roz paati/kaise bataun/kis kis tarah se/pal pal mujhe tu satati — for the film Prem Pujari, anyone can easily identify and attribute it to Neeraj due to its rhythm class.

He mentioned the death of Jaikishan of the Music Duo Shankar-Jaikishan as well as of Sachin Dev Burman, for both of whom he had penned highly popular film songs. The deaths of these Music Directors when they, along with Gopaldas Neeraj were at the peak of their fame left him very dejected and he made a decision to quit the film industry.
His friendship with Dev Anand continued he wrote songs for the last film of Dev Anand "Charge sheet"

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2007. He died on July 19, 2018

Neeraj used to say" People talk of my five years in film industry. They tend to forget my 65 years of contribution to literature".

The first released song of Neeraj



      Song from Cha Cha Cha (1964)



Song from Nayi Umar Ki Nayi Fasal 1965


Song from Prem Pujari (1970)





Song from Pehchan (1970)


Song from Sharmilee (1971)


Song from Tere Mere Sapne (1971)

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Monday 6 December 2021

Wahan Kaun Hai Tera- A Complete Story in Few Lines

 


Recall this song from the 1966 film Guide, sung by S D Burman. This was a credit title song in the background as Dev Anand the hero of the film comes out from jail, the song starts right there. The 'Mukhda' starts on a wide shot of the main gate of the jail from inside...'Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jaayega kahan'

Vijay Anand, the ace director, and screenplay writer wanted to start the film with a situation and song that would make the audience curious and uneasy, eager to know the story.....He did this with the help of the great Lyricist Shailendra.

If we look into the song minutely we would find the genius of three great people, S D Burman, the composer, Shailendra, the Lyricist, and Vijay Anand, the director. S D Burman composed a tune (actually his old Bangla song, slightly altered) The song starts with a 'Sitaar' notes used in the introduction music..

The sense of freedom is depicted by a strange-looking shot of a tree seen upside down and a group of birds flying away.... The camera moves back to reveal that it was the reflection of the tree in a pool of water....

In the first stanza "Beet gaye din, pyar ke palchhin, sapna bani woh ratein".... "Bhool gaye woh, tu bhi bhulaa de, pyar ki woh mulaaqaatein..." We see Dev Anand walking with a bundle of his belongings slung over his shoulder...The bundle slips and opens.... A close shot of the things that have spilled out... a few photographs of Waheeda Rehman...

The genius of Vijay Anand can be seen in the last shot of the song, we see a sleeping Dev Anand and the shadow of the unknown man as if he is looking at Dev. When the song starts we see Dev Anand smartly dressed with puff hair and as the song ends, he is now lying among the ruins....covered in saffron
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Sunday 26 September 2021

The Dancing Dev Anand



In the 40s and 50s, the Hindi film hero seldom danced. On the rare occasion that he did, like Raj Kapoor in ‘Mud mud ke na dekh’ or in ‘Dil ka haal suney dilwaala’ in Shree 420, Dilip Kumar in Naya Daur. 

Dev Anand though not a good dancer tried dancing in many songs. He relied solely on his facial expressions and the inimitable way in which he moved his head to enact most of these songs. The first time we can see him dancing a few steps in the song ‘Mere Labon Pe Dekho Aaj Bhi Taraaney Hain’ (Baazi), ‘Chaahey koi Khush Ho Chaahey Gaaliyaan Hazaar De’ (Taxi Driver) or ‘Oonche Sur Mein Gaaye Ja’ (House No.44), Ladhi Aankh Se Aankh - Pocket Maar(1956), Ae Meri Topi Palat Ke Aa from Funtoosh(1956) in most of the films he danced in his own style.


In the early 60s, Dev Anand was seen in many films, singing, and dancing such as Sarhad. Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, Love Marriage were a few of these. He had some surprisingly awkward moments when called upon to dance. Tasveer Teri Dil Mein from the 1961 Maya is a lovely song, but watch the scene: Anand is passable when he is just bobbing his head and clasping his hands while Mala Sinha does most of the work.
I have selected such songs in which we can see Dev Anand dancing maybe not as a perfect dancer but he had his own steps, own style.
Click to the link below 



Song of Baazi 1951

Song of Taxi Driver 1954

Song of House No.44  1955

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Song of  Baarish 1957





Song of Dushman 1957

Song of Kala Pani 1958

Song of Bombai Ka Babu 1960

Song of Sarhad 1960

Song of Sarhad 1960

Song of Manzil 1960



Song of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja 1961




Song of Bullet 1976































Thursday 12 August 2021

Tasvir Teri Dil Mein- The song that sowed the seed of differences between Lata and Rafi

 


It is well-known fact that Rafi and Lata stopped singing together for three or four years. The reason for their tiff was for charging the royalty fee by the singers. Lata wanted Rafi to back her in demanding a half-share from the five percent song royalty that the film’s producer conceded to select composers. Rafi was not in favor of that.Lata stopped talking to Rafi and stopped singing duets with Rafi. 

The actual seeds of differences between them started while recording this romantic song from Maya(1961). The song was a hit and still a favorite of many. Lata rejected the original start of the song, She wanted to start with 5th scale while Rafi was not in agreement but Lata insisted, the composer Salil Chowdhary agreed. When the recording started Rafi made the last improvisation to his lines. Lata noticed it and got upset.  While rendering her lines Lata’s voice tended to sound shrill especially while rendering “…NAINON KA KAJRA…,” while Rafi Sahaab’s rendition of the ‘Antara’ was controlled. 

To make the matter worse, the music director, Salil Chowdhry sided with Lata. Rafi Sahab who had been gaining greater ascendency in the early Sixties felt aggrieved. What happened thereafter is the differences went down to the bottom of the hearts of the two great singers.After this recording they sang duets together in many films  but tried to avoid singing together.

Salida had already made the tune in Bengali, even got it recorded  prior to this Hindi version as a solo song in the voice of Lata It was released in 1960.Mukhada of the Benali song is ‘ Ogo aar kichhu to naai ‘ This Bengali song was written by Salil Da and composed by him.The Hindi version was written by Majrooh Sultanpuri. If you listen both the songs simultaniously you will see the difference Mohmmad Rafi's voice made this song to a different level. The song was picturized on the King of Romance Dev Anand and the elegant looking Mala Sinha. made this as one of the immortal romantic duets of Hindi films.

Lata Mangeshkar had a tiff with S D Burman also both stopped working together (1957-62), she had a tiff with  Shankar (of Shankar-Jaikishen duo),and Raj Kapoor too (for whom she did not sing for his Mera Naam Joker.

Bengali Version, Solo by Lata


 

Song of Maya 1961

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Wednesday 16 June 2021

The Super Hit Combination of Hemant Kumar, Dada Burman and Dev Anand

 


 In the early 50s, Dev Saab didn’t believe in making one singer his ‘voice’ and juggled between  Mohd. Rafi, Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar, and Kishore Kumar. The super hit combination of Dev with Hemant Kumar under the music direction of Dada Burman gave many Immortal Romantic Songs. He became the romantic voice of Dev Anand. He sang only 16 songs as playback for Dada Burman and 10 of those were on Dev Anand and all of them were hits. What a stupendous record.

Hemant Da in an interview said that it was S D Burman who understood the potential of his voice.The romantic pairing of my voice with his (Dev Anand’s) screen image was created by Sachin Babu (SD Burman). People simply loved it. The first song of this combination was 'from Sazaa (1951) with 'Aa Gup Chhup Gup Chhup Pyar Karen' and then the massive hit next year in Jaal,(1952) 'Yeh Raat Yeh Chandani Phir Kahan, Sun Jaa Dil ki Dastan'.

Though he sang for Dev Anand under the composition of other Music Directors also but here we are talking about the songs of this great trio.

Song of Sazaa 1951

Song of Jaal 1952

Song of Jaal 1952

Song of House No 44 1955

Song of Munim Ji 1955

Song from Solva Saal(1958)


Song from Manzil (1960)

Song from Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962)


















Thursday 13 May 2021

50 Years of Navketan's 'Tere Mere Sapne'

 


Recall the song “Hey, Maine Kasam Li” where the hero Dev Anand on a Bicycle and the heroine Mumtaz sitting on the crossbar riding across green fields singing the song with very little action and lots of cuddling. What a picturization.

Tere Mere Sapne is one of my favorite movies. It has substance. Commercially, it did not do very well at the box office but I believe it is one of the most sensitive Bollywood movies by Goldie Vijay Anand. He also acted in this film, he plays a doctor and gave a memorable performance.

 The film is based on the novel “The Citadel” by A.J.Cronin, published in 1937 in UK.  based on his own experiences as a doctor. Dedicated to the medical community, the film starts off with a young, idealistic MBBS doctor Anand Kumar (Dev Anand) moving to a village near a coal mine. He attains his degree in medicine and re-locates to a small village to assist the local doctors there. Upon arrival, he is met by the ailing Dr. Prasad and his wife, and hired on a salary of Rs.250/- per month. He meets with the other doctors namely Dr. Kothari (Vijay Anand), an alcoholic, and Dr. Bhutani, a dentist. Anand finds that he is saddled with all of Kothari's work as well his own due to the reason that Kothari is drunk every night. He nevertheless carries on, aided by the local school-teacher, Nisha Patel(Mumtaz), who he eventually marries. Then one day a proud father, Phoolchand, gives a baksheesh to Anand for the safe delivery of his first-born. This does not auger well with Mrs. Prasad and she fires Anand. Anand and Nisha re-locate to Bombay, and after sometime Anand establishes himself as a leading doctor, is honored for his thesis, and gets to be the personal doctor of a leading Bollywood actress Maltimala. When Dr. Kothari and Dr. Bhutani go to visit them, they find while Nisha is still the same good-natured woman, who is expecting a child, Dr. Anand is a changed individual, who has no time for friends, personal life, or even his wife, and is not even aware that she is pregnant. The two return home disappointed, followed by Nisha, who has decided to separate from Anand.

 There are many beautiful songs and several great dances featuring Hema Malini.  Vijay Anand’s direction keeps things moving along at a good pace. There are so many wonderful characters in this film too. Mumtaz gave a stunning performance. Music by S D Burman and lyrics by Neeraj is superb.

SongSingersPicturised on
"Phurr Ud Chala"Asha BhosleHema Malini
"Mera Saajan Phool Kanwal Ka"Asha BhosleJayshree T.
"Jaisa Radha Ne Mala Japi"Lata MangeshkarMumtazDev Anand
"Ae Maine Kasam Li"Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore KumarMumtaz, Dev Anand
"Jeevan Ki Bagiya Mehkengi"Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore KumarMumtaz, Dev Anand
"Tha Thai Thatha Thai"Asha Bhosle, ChorusHema Malini
"Mera Antar Ek Mandir Hai Tera"Lata MangeshkarMumtaz
"Zamaane Dhat Tere Ki"Manna DeyAgha


 






Song of Tere Mere Sapne 1971