This BLOG is about the Past of Hindi Films Specially Black and White Cinema We will refresh your memories by bringing out forgotten or unseen songs and clippings of film scenes We will try to give you as much information as we gather from our research.
This Blog was started as a one-man’s passion for film history but has now become an addiction for many music lovers who are equally passionate about Hindi films
Holi is a festival of colours. It is an inseparable part of Indian culture, Bollywood never misses a chance to infuse the ‘Holi factor’ in the form of dance numbers with stars going footloose and crazy.The first song of Holi was from the 1931 film ‘Ghar Ki Laxmi’. The Mukhdaa of the song goes like – “Mo Pe Daar Gayo Saari Rang Rang Ki Gaagar, Kaisa Dhokha Diya. . .”. This and many other songs of that era are now lost.
In this blog, I have selected the great Holi Songs of Bollywood starting from the 1940s to the 2020s. This year we might be stuck indoors due to Covid 19, we can enjoy this year's Holi with the song of every decade.
.I present a song from this very first decade of Hindi films – a song from the film ‘Aurat’ from 1940. ‘Aurat’ is a magnum opus by producer-director Mehboob, a much-celebrated film of its era.
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 byD N Madhok and composed by Khemchand Prakashwas 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 songswere 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 bySitara 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 filmDurgesh NandiniA 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.
The Parody songs are liked in every generation starting from the 30s till now. The way these songs have been sung with spunk, the hilarious lyrics and the comic timing of the characters who have sung these on the screen combined with the liveliness of the supporting cast makes these classics in their own right. There’s always some truth to parodies. These Bollywood songs are honest and funny at the same time. The earliest parody song is found in film ‘Deccan Queen’ (1936), sung by Surendra in his debut film. In this Blog I have selected those songs in which name of the Bollywood Actors or the name of earlier films is embedded in the lyrics. The first song in my list is from the film Gharib Ke Laal (1939), lyrics Rafi Kashmiri and Kaabil, music Sageer Asif, the song is sung by Mirza Musharraf and Kamla The song starts to the name of heroines of that era,"Tujhe Bibbo kahun ya Sulochana. The lyrics of this song almost entirely consists of film stars’ names. There are over two dozen of them giving us a Who’s Who of the era: Bibbo, Sulochana, Uma Shashi, Jamuna, Motilal, Bilimoria, KL Saigal, Jahanara Kajjan, Shanta Kumari, Ratan Bai, Mehtab, Kanan Devi, Jaddan Bai, Gauhar, Sabita, Devika Rani, Durga Khote, Zubeida, Ghouri, Dixit, Charlie, Surendra, Wasti, Kumar and Rafiq Ghazanavi.
Song of Gharib Ke Laal (1939)
Ek dil tera ek dil mera by Rajkumari, Zohrabai & GM Durrani from Hip Hip Hurray (1948), lyrics Moti BA, music Hanuman Prasad. In this song, you will find embedded parodies of at least twenty everlasting songs of earlier films. Some of these lines or tunes of "Afsana likh rahi hun –(Dard),Angdai teri hai bahana – (Ratan), Aawaz de kahan hain – (Anmol Ghadi), Door hato ae dunayawalo – (Kismet),Dheere dheere aa re baadal –(Kismet) and many more.
Song of Hip Hip Hurray (1948)
In this song, Raj Kapoor is selling Bangles who charms the girls that his choodis will make them look like Nargis, Meena Kumari and Geeta Bali The song is sung by Mohammad Rafi for the film Paapi released in 1953
Song of PAAPI 1953
This iconic song, played on Vividh Bharati on the first day of every month without fail, refers to the names of Agha, Bhagwan, Kishore Kumar, Nimmi, Geeta Bali, Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. Khush Hai Zamana Aaj Pehli Tareekh Hai by Kishore Kumar
Song of Pahli Taarikh (1954)
In this song from the film, Aji Bus Shukriya 1958, the actors ask God for a nice bungalow which would make Meena Kumari, Geeta Bali and Dev Anand die of envy.
Song of Aji Bus Shukriya 1958
In this song Dev Anand sings a rare didactic song, he slams the cacophony which goes for music and eulogises Tansen, Baiju Bawra and Saigal.
Song of Love Marriage (1959)
In this song Johnny Walker who has come back after travelling to Russia, China and England, to give joy to Indians. Raj Kapoor had played dhol in his band; Rafi and Asha Bhosle loved his band; and he mentored (SD) Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, OP Nayyar and Naushad.
Song of Basant (1960)
In this song of Bewqoof 1960 the names of Jamuna,Suchitra Sen,Kanan Devi,Uttam Kumar,Padmini,Ragini,Shivaji Ganesan,Gemini,Vasan,Chettiar.are embedded in the lyrics.
Song of Bewqoof 1960
In this song, the blue eyes of Raj Kapoor and the walk of Dev Anand are talked. Jeetendra and Mumtaz are sitting with their gaggle of friends and exchanging what they desire in their life partner.The girl wants in her man Raj Kapoor’s blue eyes, Dev Anand’s gait, Dharmendra’s macho and Dilip Kumar’s hair. She also wants the man to be dandy like Sanjay and shy like Shashi Kapoor.
Song of Ma Aur Mamta (1970)
This was a very hit song of 1970, in this song Kishore Kumar sings a funny song taking the names of many film stars and films. At the end of the song he also mentions several stars’ names (including his own in cutely narcissistic manner) and says Income Tax is after all of them. Nice way to have gentle fun on them.
Song of Aansoo Aur Muskan (1970)
Here is one such “Movie Names” song from “Gopi”(1970). This song is picturised on Dilip Kumar and Saira Bano, and the song mentions the names of old movies of both these actors. This song is sung by Mahendra Kapoor and Lata. Rajinder Krishan has written this funny song. Kalyanji Anandji composed the music.
Song of Gopi”(1970)
Here’s a song from ‘Golmaal’, with references to Amitabh, Hema Malini, Rekha and Zeenat Aman and Lata, all of whom, except the last-mentioned, make appearances in the song.
Song of Golmal 1979
This song is from the film Ek Duje Ke Liye, in this song names of many films are filled in the lyrics.
Song of Ek Duje Ke Liye 1981
This song is picturised on Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon, in this song names of many films are taken.
Song of Patthar Ke Phool 1991
This is a song where Akshay Kumar says that he is not a star son but he is a self-made hero.
Song of Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi 1996
A song of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi where Shahrukh Khan takes the names of the films of Raj Kapoor,Dev Anand,Shammi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna
Song of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi 2008
And finally the song of Tevar which says Salman ka fan
When you think of Shammi Kapoor, immediately an image of jumping and dancing Shammi Kapoor emerge in our mind. He created his own space in an era dominated by Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar.The hands-out, flamboyant, westernised Shammi Kapoor was created by Naseer Hussain from the film Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1957 On screen, he would hang from a helicopter with one hand, romp in the snow and yodel a 'yahoo', make a Shikara look like a love boat, sing a song about a "Lal Chhadi", and serenade his leading ladies — all very convincingly, such was his inherent style.He danced his way into the hearts of millions and broke several stereotypes along the way. There used to be many more songs in the early films and hardly any dancing. Songs had a bit of dancing: the heroine moved her hands around a little, but the actresses as such were not required to be dancers. A hero dancing was very rare. Shammi Kapoor changed the image of the Hindi film hero from sad and brooding into one who revelled in singing and dancing Though there were Choreographers in the 50s, the arrival of the choreographers Hiralal and Sohanlal brought about a very big change, and by the 1960s they had become firmly established. They were extremely good dancers themselves because they were trained in classical dancing. Most directors depended on them to picturise the songs and dances. Shammi Kapoor was not a trained dancer. In his teens, he had enrolled for Tango classes, but in a week's time, he realised that dance was not something anyone could teach him. Dancing was natural to him. He was a great fan of Elvis Presley he was inspired by him and made his own steps and style. Vijay Anand who directed him in Teesri Manzil once told that Shammi did not regard himself as a dancer, nor had he ever learnt dancing. But you played a song to him and tell him: “Go wild!” He would because he had such a tremendous sense of rhythm. He just got into the music and every fibre of his body would dance. The only thing you had to make sure was that he did not overdo it. Music fired his personal life, too. It helped him woo his wife Geeta Bali, who was a bigger star than him. Geeta Bali and Kapoor were shooting for Rangeen Ratein (1956) in Ranikhet, a hill station in North India, when they fell in love. Composers who worked with him have said that Kapoor took his music very seriously. His songs were – and still are – a rage. Stories abound of how he would attend all his song recordings. Mohammed Rafi adjusted his voice to match the Shammi Kapoor persona – a more youthful, delinquent and livelier voice that would complement the energetic dance style of the Junglee star. In later years, the legend declared, “My whole career has been (about) singing. I have no pretensions of being a great actor. I have sung my songs from my heart. I do not know how to dance but I have given expressions to my songs.” Shammi Kapoor who was born on 21st Oct 19 1931, passed away on August 14, 2011, his work remained as entertaining as ever.
We all remember Dev Anand for the Romantic Songs he sang in films but he also sang many Funny songs in many of his films. In this Blog, I have selected some of his funniest and hilarious songs.
Like majority of the population, I have always believed that music and lyrics complete each other. No matter how soulful music is if lyrics are not good, a song can never make a lasting impression and vice versa. Shaadi and Biwi are such words on which lot of funny songs were written and still being written.In this Blog I have selected few of these songs showing how life changes after marriage, or how they are fed up with their wife, etc - The first song comes in my mind is from Ladki (1953) acted and sung by Kishore Kumar
Song from Ladki (1953)
3 Years later In this song Kishore Kumar tells not to marry
Baisaakhi is one of the most colorful, and full of fun and music and dancing festival of Punjab.This day is reserved for ‘Bhangra’ and ‘Gidda’, the traditional dances of Punjab.Bollywood would never leave any opportunity to use this situation with a dance number.In my memory Kedar Sharma used this situation for the first time in 1946 film Duniya Ek Sarai. Later in many films this situation is used with dance and songs.Here are few such songs picturised for Baisaakhi Celebration.
