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.
Holi is a festival of colours. It is an inseparable part of Indian culture and, 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. When we talk about the songs of the 30s and 40s how can we forget the great K L Sehgal. He was an institution, with no parallel in the entire heritage of Hindi film music.Here I have taken a Non-film song of Sehgal on Holi. It was recorded in 1933.
k.l.saigal..hori ho vraj dulare..geet.1933-34
.I present a song from this very first decade of Hindi films – a song from film ‘Aurat’ from 1940. ‘Aurat’ is a magnum opus by producer-director Mehboob, a much-celebrated film of its era.
Song of Aurat 1940
In the 50s many Holi songs were picturised. Almost all the Top stars of that time wanted one Holi song in his or her film. Nargis sang a Holi song in the 1950 film Jogan, sung by young Geeta Dutt. In this Holi song, Geeta Dutt’s honey and sugar voice ooze masti in full measure. With music by Bulo C Rani, Jogan’s bhajans became the benchmark for decades to come.
Song of Jogan 1950
India’s first technicolour film Aan exploited the colourful festival of Holi to fully utilize its highly expensive use of 16mm Gevacolour. Jai Tilak (Dilip Kumar) plays Holi with Mangala (Nimmi), a simple village girl. As he throws away her scarf in the melee, it mistakenly lands on the tempestuous and arrogant princess Rajshree (Nadira) who is touring the city on her royal elephant, making her assume something else!
Song of Aan (1953)
Another popular song was picturised on Dilip Kumar with Meena Kumari in the 1960 film Kohinoor
Song of Kohinoor 1960
There is no Holi song picturised on Dev Anand but there is one Holi song where Dev Anand was not playing but out looking a Holi dance, The song is from the 1953 film Rahi
Song of Rahi (1953)
This song is from “Maashooka” (1953). This song is sung by Suraiyya, Mukesh and chorus. Shailendra is the lyricist. Music is composed by Roshan.
Only the audio of this song is available. Seeing that Suraiyya and Mukesh had acted in this movie, it is easy to guess that the song was picturised on themselves.
Song of Maashooka” (1953)
Another memorable Holi song of the 50s is this song from 1957 film Mother India. Sung by Shamshad Begum, one of the top most singers of the 50s. The song captures Radha (Nargis) and Shamu (Raaj Kumar) in their happier times
Song of Mother India 1957
A romantic Holi song composed by Hemant Kumar and picturised on the elegant Bina Rai and the princely Pradeep Kumar. Talk about Holi compositions with a touch of the classical and this song from Durgesh Nandini which had some great music will be remembered for sure.
Song of Durgesh Nandini (1956)
Legendary filmmaker V Shantaram cast his wife Sandhya in this unusual role where she plays both the real and the fantasy characters. In the backdrop of Holi, this song has one of the most remarkable solo dance sequences performed by Sandhya, where she role plays both Radha and Shyam.
Bollywood has constantly portrayed Holi as a fun-filled atmosphere with vivid colors, bhang, naach-gaana with a whole lot of romance.From 1954 to 2018, every year Bollywood gives us at least one famous holi song.In this Blog I have selected some evergreen Holi Songs. 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.I present a song from this very first decade of Hindi films – a song from film ‘Aurat’ from 1940. ‘Aurat’ is a magnum opus by producer director Mehboob, a much celebrated film of its era
When we talk about the songs of 30s and 40s how can we forget the great K L Sehgal. He was an institution, with no parallel in the entire heritage of Hindi film music.Here I have taken a Non film song of Sehgal on Holi.It was recorded in 1933
The first memorable Holi song of the 50s is this song from 1957 film Mother India
Song from Mother India 1957
This song from “Navrang” is nearly 60 years old by now.One can notice elements of classical music as well as Gujrati folk music in this song.
Happy Holi to all my friends.May this festival of colours fill your lives with joyful celebrations and pouring streams of happiness. Let the colours flow, and brighten up the canvases of life. Songs and music are immersed in every thread and every breath of the life of our culture. And when it is HOLI, the excitement and the verve that it creates within, never fails to express itself in delightful songs.Bollywood movies have contributed some memorable Holi songs that have become must play songs during Holi years after years. The songs of Holi in Bollywood go as far back as 1931, when the sounds and the music and consequently the film songs, made their first appearance in films. The earliest Holi song that I could find in the Geet Kosh is from the 1931 film ‘Ghar Ki Laxmi’. The song goes like – “Mo Pe Daar Gayo Saari Rang Rang Ki Gaagar, Kaisa Dhokha Diya. . .”. The first Holi Song under this Theme comes in my list is thissong from film ‘Aurat’ from 1940. ‘Aurat’ is a magnum opus by producer director Mehboob,
Song from Aurat 1940 (only Audio)
When we talk about 40s Music,how can we miss K L Sehgal Ji He sang 3 Holi songs "Mein Jo Dinan Ki Thhoree",“Hori Ho Brijraaj Dulaare” and “Jin Jaao Ree Gori. . .”, In this blog posting the first one which is Rare and NFS
Here is a Rare song from the movie Insaaniyat which was sung by Lata. It was a dance song as well as a Holi song which was written by Rajinder Krishan and music was composed by C Ramchandra.It is one and only film in which Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar worked together. One can see all the lead actors of this movie in the picturisation.
Song from Insaaniyat 1955
The most memorable Holi Songs were created in the 50s.The first of these memorable Holi songs was from Mother India.Listening to this song, one can realise how important lyrics used to be in those days. The words penned by Shakeel Badayuni are so wonderful.
Song from Mother India 1957
This is the second Iconic of all well known Bollywood Holi songs. This song from “Navrang” is nearly 60 years old by now.
Like 50s we saw many Iconic Holi Songs in 70s,If the iconic movie of 1957 (Mother India) had a memorable Holi song, then the same was the case with the iconic movie of 1975 (Sholay).
Song from Sholay 1975
Another Iconic Holi Song "Aali Re Aali Holi"from Zakhmee released in the same year 1975 sung by Kishore Kumar picturised on Sunil Dutt is a must in this post
Song from Zakhmee 1975
This is also an Iconic Holi Song from Kati Patang released in 1971 sung by Kishore Kumar and Picturised on Rajesh Khanna
Song from Kati Patang 1971
This Holi song of the movie SILSILA in fact became amazingly popular, and there are many who would call it the best Holi song.This song was written by Hariwansrai Bachchan and sung by Amitabh Bachchan.
Song from Silsila 1981
Another Iconic Holi Song from Amitabh Bachchan is from the film Bagbaan released in 2003.I think this song will ensure that Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini will be remembered by future generations too, especially during Holi festival
Song from Baghbaan 2003
From the iconic Rang Barse in Amitabh Bachchan's baritone - which is almost synonymous with Holi songs - let's move to the more recent Balam Pichkari, Bollywood has done its bit to capture the essence and spread the flavour of Holi through films.
