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
In the 1960 Annual Binaca Geetmala, there was a tough competition for the No 1 song, it was between the song "Chaudhavin Ka Chand Ho" and "Zindagi Bhar Na Bhulegi Barsaat Ki Woh Raat". Both the songs were solo and both the songs were sung by Mohammad Rafi. Both were Title songs. There was a trend in those days that every film must have a title song. This trend was started by Shailendra from the film Barsaat in 1949. In this case, the Mukhada was the title of the film. The composer of this song was Ravi who was also a lyricist but for this film, Shakeel Badayuni was the lyricist. Composer Ravi made the tune of this song with the title as Mukhada but was not finding the exact words to complete the Mukhada, he then talked to Shakeel Badayuni and asked to complete the Mukhada and the song. This song remains one of the most romantic songs of the Hindi Film Industry. What sets ‘Chaudhvin ka Chand’ apart? The classical romanticism that the song demanded found expression in the ‘period’ scene-setting and cast. But most importantly, the central character of the sequence is Waheeda. This is where it leaves other ‘very good’ or ‘great’ classical romance song-sequences behind. Chaudhavin Ka Chand was a comeback film of Guru Dutt after the disastrous box office performance of Kaagaz Ke Phool. He was not the director of this film, he produced the film and gave direction to Mohammed Sadiq. The film was a super hit and became a classic. Another interesting fact that though the film was in Black & White but this song was picturized in colour. Waheeda Rehman in an interview told thatthe Censor Board objected to chaudavii.n kaa chaa.nd ho when Guru Dutt re-released a version of the song shot in color? As the color version was being filmed, Waheeda Rehman’s eyes became irritated from the heat of the high-powered lights used during the shoot. Upon seeing the red color of the heroine’s eyes, the Censor Board claimed that the colored picturization of the song contained suggestive and lustful implications inappropriate for audiences. This song got two Filmfare awards, one for the Lyrics to Shakeel Badayuni and the other to Mohammad Rafi as a playback singer. This was the first Filmfare Award to Mohammad Rafi after debuting 15 years ago. It is the warmth, passion, and soul in his voice that renders this song a timeless masterpiece.
If the name Mohammed Rafi could be translated into many choice words it would look like this: Genius, Godly, Angel, Perfection, Humanity, decency, a way of life! Rafi is great, Rafi is so wonderful, Rafi is the best there is, there is no one like him, Everyone must bow to Rafi & call him the greatest and say they are nothing without him etc etc" Rafi was born on 24 December 1924 to a working-class family in rural Punjab near Amritsar. He began with singing for radio stations. During the formative years of his career in the 1940s, he lent his voices to All India Radio as well as to Hindi film industry in Bombay. His journey to becoming an evergreen voice of Bollywood was not that smooth, rather rocky due to a fair amount of competition among the talents in the film industry. Shyam Sunder provided the opportunity to Rafi to sing a duet with G. M. Durrani, "Aji dil ho kaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi...," for Gaon Ki Gori, which became Rafi's first recorded song in a Hindi film. He sang a number of songs for Naushad as part of the chorus, including "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Roohi Roohi" with K. L. Saigal, from the film Shahjahan (1946). In 1948, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the team of Husanlal Bhagatram-Rajendra Krishan-Rafi had overnight created the song "Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalon, Bapuji Ki Amar Kahani". He was invited by the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to sing at his house. His association with Naushad helped to establish himself as one of the most prominent playback singers in Hindi cinema. Songs from Baiju Bawra (1952) like "O duniya ke rakhwale" and "Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj" furthered Rafi's credentials.Rafi ended up singing a total of 149 songs (81 of them solo) for Naushad. Before Rafi, Naushad's favourite singer was Talat Mahmood. . Naushad, the doyen of Hindi classical music, who had the knack of drawing the purity of a raga with an aesthete's Midas' touch, used only Rafi's voice for his composition throughout his distinguished career. He combined classical and popular music and produced a new genre for which Rafi gave the soul through his mellifluous voice. He became the voice of Dilip Kumar,the combination of Naushad ,Shakeel Badayuni, Dilip Kumar and Rafi gave us many immortal songs. His silken voice made Rajendra Kumar a jubilee star and imparted to Shammi Kapoor, his sui generis style. He sang for Johnny Walker in his unique thin voice. S.D. Burman used Rafi as a singing voice of Dev Anand and Guru Dutt.Rafi worked with Burman in 37 films, including Pyaasa (1957), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Kala Bazar, Nau Do Gyaran, Kala Pani , Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963), Guide (1965), Aradhana (1969), and Abhimaan(1973). His aability to depict every mood through his songs speaks volumes about the diversity of talent. Tasveer banata hoon teri khoon-e-jigar se from Diwana spelt class, while Phir wo bhuli si yaad aayi hai showcased Rafi’s vocal virtuosity. Over five decade have passed since these songs were recorded and yet none of his songs have lost their appeal. In his songs like Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya, Rafi tried to inspire the dejected and give hope to those who had lost faith in life and God. On July 31, 1980, a massive heart attack silenced this peerless singer forever. But his songs keep him alive.
Naushad (26 December 1919 – 5 May 2006 ) began his career in 1940 with Prem Nagar, but took off in 1944 with Ratan, where he created his own style. His greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium. Many of his compositions were inspired by ragas. His association with Mohammad Rafi had marked the most golden combination which galvanized the outstanding music composed during the golden age in Indian music, the 50s and 60s. His composition in the film Dulari, 1947, for Mohammad Rafi titled “Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki” makes a music lover addicted and it has an appeal even after 60 years of its composition. This combination was at its peak in 1952 with the release of Baiju Bawra. Naushad’s composition in Son of India, “dil torneewale”, a duet for Rafi and Lata, shows the effective use of instruments in that age when the recording was not developed to that extent. In Dilip Kumar’s Kohinoor, 1960, Rafi’s songs “Madhuban Mei Radhika Nachere”, “Do Sitaron Ka Zameen par hai Milan Aaj Ki Raat” marks Naushad’s control over bhajans and songs with chorus effects. In Rajender Kumar’s Mere Mehboob, 1963, Naushad had explained the transformation of nasams into ghazals. His songs “Mere Mehboob Tujhe meri Mohabbat ki Kasam”, “tumse izhaar-e-haal kar baithe”, “ai husn zara jag tujhe isq dikhaye” enchanted the listeners. Naushad’s compositions were as outstanding as Shakeel Badayani’s lyrics and Rafi’s golden voice. Naushad had used folk songs to a great extent where the subjects in the films required them. For example, in the film, Ganga Jumna, 1961, his composition for Rafi including “nain lar jaihe” was created with Bhojpuri effect, and Rafi had succeeded in pronouncing it in the manner expected from him. Rafi’s songs in Rajender Kumar’s Palki, Ganwar, composed by Naushad were also outstanding. It is tragic that the film industry, could not utilise Naushad’s talent in the 1970s and 80s, He gave 35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilees and 3 diamond jubilee mega-successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1982 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Bollywood film industry. Some of the Immortal songs of Naushad and Rafi
Dev possibly was the most handsome of leading actors ever seen on the screen. He possibly had the distinction of being the actor on whom some of the most tuneful, lilting songs were composed. Think of Dev Anand's movies, especially the earlier Navketan ones from the black and white era and you immediately think of the songs. Devsaab had an ear for music, and SD Burman was almost an in-house music director; most Navketan's movies' music was scored by Burman da. Mohammad Rafi has sung many a hit song for Dev Anand's films but a little known fact is that he lent his voice to one number from the 1966 movie 'Pyar Mohabbat' (1966) rendered by the legendary playback singer. Dev Anand once informed about this song."I never attempted to sing but Rafi sang 'Pyar Mohabbat Ke Siwa ye Zindagi Kya Zindagi', in this song 'Hurray Hurray' is recorded in my voice," he said. Rafi sang for Dev Anand in many films. The trio of S D Burman, Rafi and Dev Anand gave many unforgettable songs. If you carefully watch the videos of these songs, you will find that the lips movement and expressions are given on face by Dev Anand, perfectly matches the Rafi’s throw of words. It is an established truth that Rafi had a peerless skill to twist his voice according to the Hero, so he did perfectly for Dev Anand also emerging Dev’s image more romantic. Burmanda once agreed that he tried Talat, Manna Dey and Hemant Kumar for Dev Anand, but Rafi was a perfect match for Dev Anand. Some of these songs are “Thummak thummak chali kahan“(Ek ke Baad Ek), and more songs form this film,”Hum bekhudime Pukare Chale Gaye” & “Achhaji mai haari chalo maan jaao na“-with Asha-(Kala Pani) “Khoya Khoya chaand“,”Apni to har aah ek toofan hai” & “Rimzim ke Tarane leke aayi Barsaat“-with Asha (All from Kala Bazaar), “Diwana mastana hua dil“-with Asha, & “Saathi na koi manzil” (Both from Bambai ka babu),”O aaja panchhi akela hai“, “Kalike roopme chali ho dhoopme” – (Both from Nau do gyarah),”Dilka bhanwar kare pukar“,”tu kahan ye bata“,”sunle tu dilki sada” & “Dekho rootha na karo” (All from Tere gharke saamne),”Aise to na dekho” & “kahin bekhayaal ho kar” (both from Teen Deviyan),”Kyaa se kyaa ho gaya“,”tere mere sapne ab ek rang hai” & “Din dhal jaye haye“All from Guide), “Chupkese mile pyaase pyaase “-with Geeta Dutt and “mera man tera pyaasa” from gambler(last song of Rafi for Dev and SD).
Mohammad Rafi was born on 24th Dec 1924in Kotla Sultansingh village in Punjab, near Amritsar. Although music was not a part of his family background, there is no doubt that he was born with a gift for music in his heart. Rafi Sahab had picked up the rudiments of music from a fakir while already possessing a God-gifted voice. At a tender age of about fifteen decided to become a singer, his elder brother encouraged him to become a singer. When he was barely seventeen years old and sang his first playback song for a Punjabi film, 'Gul Baloch' under the music direction of the late Shyam Sunder in 1941. The song became popular, he was invited by the same composer to sing in a Hindi film he was composing. Rafi Sahab took the final big step in his life and ventured off to Bombay to realise his dreams of making singing his career. In 1942 he arrived in Bombay to sing, again under the music direction of Shyam Sunder for the movie 'Gaon ki Gauri'. Following the success of his song, Rafi Sahab approached the renowned music director Naushad, confiding in him his admiration for the great Kundan Lal. Saigal, and how his ambition was to sing with Saigal Sahab. Naushad did not disappoint him, giving him two lines (Ruhi Ruhi Mere Sapnon ki Rani) with K.L Saigal for a song in the movie 'Shahjehan'. Rafi saheb had a tough competition with singers like Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood, Hemant Kumar and Mukesh. He moved ahead of all of them after the success of Baiju Bawra under the music direction of Naushad Sahab. "O Duniya Ke Rakhwale" together with 'Man Tarpat Hari Darshan' left Rafi Sahab in a league all of his own.
With Naushad, he gave many immortal songs.Their collaboration produced some of the best and most memorable music of the Golden Era. His talent could not remain confined to just the classicism of Naushad. Many talented composers such as OP Nayyar, SD Burman, Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Ravi and numerous others gave their the best with Rafi and presented him in myriad colours.
He was notable for his voice, versatility and range; his songs were varied from fast peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona and style of an actor, lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in various regional Indian languages as well as foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi-Urdu and Punjabi over which he had a strong command. He has recorded as many as 7405 songs in many languages. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. Mohammed Rafi died at 10:25 pm on 31 July 1980, following a massive heart attack, aged 55. The last song sung by Rafi was for the movie Aas Paas. One source says it was "Shaam Phir Kyun Udaas Hai Dost / Tu Kahin Aas Paas Hai Dost", recorded just hours before his death. Some of my Fav Songs of Rafi
Preference in music is so subjective. What I like, might not be liked by you. I like some songs due to their lyrics, some due to the singer, some due to the music, One could dislike these very songs because they don't like the lyrics, or the beats, or the singer. Similarly many of us like Film songs but many of us who like Non-film songs. Regarding the Non Film songs, we must know that much before Films started Talking and singing, the Non-Film Songs were famous in many forms. Bhajans and Classical songs were the most popular Non-Film Songs during silent films. The first recorded song was in 1902 which was manufactured in Germany and shipped to India in April 1903. It was sung by Gauhar Jaan In 1930, All India Radio started and in 1931 the films started talking. However, records of film songs were in general not made those days, though the first film song record came in 1932. Till about 1939-40, records of film songs were not made from every film. So, people continued to enjoy the NON FILM SONGS by famous singers. This trend of making records of NFS was so popular that most Film singers started their careers by recording NFS. Examples are Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar, S D Burman, Lata, Asha, Mukesh, Rafi etc. In this Blog I have taken many of those Non-film songs of great singers of their time. A Rare Non Film Song recorded in 1914,Song-Kaho guinyya kaise kate saari raat (Baby Amirjan NFS)(1914) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki
D V Paluskarwas a Hindustani classicalvocalist. He was considered a child prodigy.He cut his first disc in 1944.. He was a master at presenting an attractive and comprehensive picture of a raga in a very short duration. Besides pure classical music, he was also a great Bhajan singer.
K L Saigal The immortal Singer K L Saigal rendered 185 songs which include 142 film songs and 43 non-film songs. His non-film songs comprise bhajans, ghazals and hori.
Mein Jo Dinan Ki Thhori Hori Geet by KL Saigal
Pankaj Mullick,worked as music director to artists like K.L. Saigal, S.D. Burman, Hemanta Mukherjee, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle. He acted with famous film actors like K L Saigal, P.C. Barua and Kanan Devi. Along with Nitin Bose His voice best suited for philosophical and sentimental songs. He sang many such genresmaster madan of songs both filmy and non-filmy.
Na Kar Itna Pyar... Pankhaj Mallick
Master Madan was a child prodigy, unfortunately, he died at the age of 15. The child prodigy started singing at the tender age of three and quickly became a craze all over India. His astonishingly mature voice left a deep impression on the listeners. Anyone with even a passing interest in music is familiar with these two Sagar Nizami's ghazals,
Yun naa reh reh kar hamein tarsaaiye
Hairat se tak rahaa hei jahane wafa mujhe
Noorjehan was the female singing superstar in the 40s. She shifted to Pakistan during the partition. Shemay have sung many NFSin Pakistan but in India, she sang only a few one of those is given here.
Jogan ki jholi bhar de o shah madeene waale
C.H. Atma His evergreen song is 'Preetam Aan Milo', which he sang in 1945 for a private album. In 1955, the same song was sung by Geeta Dutt for the film, Mr. & Mrs. '55 for composer O. P. Nayyar, who was a great fan of his singing.[2] His voice was quite similar to K. L. Saigal. But he had his own unique style which he implied to become one of the fewest singers to become extensively popular both in film and non-film music.
Begum Akhtar a well known Indian singer of Ghazal, Dadra, and Thumrigenres of Hindustani classical music. She was given the title of Mallika-e-Ghazal .She was among the early female singers to give a public concert. Her first public performance was at the age of fifteen.She has nearly four hundred songs to her credit. She was a regular performer on All India Radio. She usually composed her own ghazals and most of her compositions were raag based.Her ghazal ‘ae mohabbat tere anjaam pe ronaa aayaa’ and Begum Akhtar are inseparable.
Geeta Dutt -It was in the year 1946 that Geeta Roy sang for Pandit Hanuman Prasad in a mythological movie, Bhakt Prahlad. In 1947 S D Burman took her for Do Bhai. The success of the music of Do Bhai (especially the song "Mera sundar sapna beet gaya") catapulted Geeta to the top bracket of female playback singers.
Talat Mahmood was a very gifted singer in every sense. He was particularly famous for singing soft and sombre semi-classical and non-classical ghazals, He started his career purely as a ghazal singer in 1939. Talat Mahmood began his singing career at the age of 16 in 1939 when he began singing the Ghazals of Daag, Mir, Jigar etc. on All India Radio, Lucknow. In 1944 came the hit Tasveer teri dil mera behela nah sake gi. Its popularity was so phenomenal and unrivalled that even today it remains one of the top-selling non-film discs
Manna Dey, He debuted in the film Tamanna in 1942. After the song "Upar Gagan Bishal" composed by S D Burman he saw success and went on to record more than 4,000 songs. The first song which was broadcasted on the inaugural day of Vividh Bharati was ‘naach re mayuraa’ (1957)which was sung by Manna Dey. The song was penned by Pandit Narendra Sharma especially for the occasion and set to music by Anil Biswas
Hemant Kumar - an Indian playback singer, music directorand film producer, who sang in Bengali, Hindi and other Indian languages. He is also the greatest artist of Rabindra Sangeet. In 1947, Hemanta recorded a non-film song called "Ganyer badhu" that had music and lyrics by Salil Chowdhury..This song generated an unforeseen popularity for Hemanta
Hemant Kumar sang nearly 60 NFS of which three-fourth were released in the 40s and 50s. Most of his NFSs of 40s and 50s were composed by music directors like Kamal Dasgupta, Durga Sen, Ravi
The two most popular NFSs of Hemant Kumar in terms of frequency of them being played on the radio in the 60s were (i) ‘aanchal se kyon baandh liyaa mujhe pardesi kaa pyaar’ and (ii) ‘bhala thhaa kitnaa apnaa bachpan’.
aanchal se kyon baandh liyaa mujhe pardesi kaa pyaar
Paa kar bhi tumhen ham paa na sakey
Meena Kumari -We all know about her acting but we are not aware of her singing and poetic side.she wrote shayari in the pseudo name of Naaz.Meena Kumari was also a playback singer. She sung as a child artist for films like Bahen till 1945.She sang 3 songs for the film Duniya Ek Sarai (1946),five songs for Piya Ghar Aaja (1947),6 songs for Bichchade Balam (1948) even ONE song for Pakeezah (1972). However, this song was not used in the film and was later released in the album Pakeezah-Rang Barang (1977).
Poetry was in her blood. Her father Ali Baksh was an Urdu poet and attached with Parsi theatre. Her mother, Iqbal Bano was actually a stage artist,In 1970, an LP was released,The title of the LP – ‘I Write, I Recite’. This LP has nine ghazals written and sung by herself.
Chaand tanha hai aasmaan tanha
Malika Pukhraj - a highly popular Ghazal and folk singer.Sometime in the late 30s, the glamour of films brought her to Bombay (Mumbai) to act in films. However, after doing a couple of day’s shooting for a film, she could not adjust to the atmosphere of film shooting. So she left the film half-way and fled to Lahore feigning illness.
Like Begum Akhtar, in the later years, Malika Pukhraj mainly concentrated on singing ghazals based on semi-classical music. She also sang and recorded folk songs in Dogri, her native language.She was among the greatest singers of India in the 1940s, and after Partition of India in 1947, she migrated to Lahore, Pakistan, where she received much more fame, through her radio performances
Abhi to main jawaan hoon
Mukesh - is considered to be one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the Hindi film industry.The first song that he sang for a Hindi film was "Dil Jalta Hai To Jalne De".He also sang many non film songs.It is more than 100.
Baharon Se Keh Do ... Mere Ghar Na Aayein
Jiyenge Magar Muskura Na Sakenge Ki Ab Zindagi Main...
Mohammed Rafi -one of the greatest singers of the Indian sub continent..Rafi was notable for his voice and versatility; his songs ranged from fast peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He has sung in many regional Indian languages including Konkani, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang songs in many foreign languages including English, Farsi, Arabic, Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch.He recorded many private albums in various genres and languages, many of which are noted as all-time classics today.
Tum Aao Rumjhum Karti
Ek Hi Baat Zamane Ki- Mohd Rafi Ghazal
Lata Mangeshkar - Lata Mangeshkar had sung many ghazals in Hindi films especially under the baton of Madan Mohan.During 1960-70, Lata Mangeshkar had sung some beautiful non-filmy ghazals.In 1969, a LP of her non-filmy ghazals of Mirza Ghalib composed by her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar was released.Similarly LP of Lata was released in 70s of Meera Bhajan The album's name is actually known as "Chala Wahi Des".Another immortal NFS is "Ae mere watan ke logon”
