Pakeezah was the Taj Mahal for Kamal Amrohi

Throughout his career, Kamal Amrohi directed only 4 films. Mahal in 1949, Dayera 1953, Pakeezah 1972 and Razia Sultan in 1983. Pakeeza was the dream project of his life. He was in deep love with his third wife Meena Kumari. He met Meena Kumari during the filming of Tamasha. Veteran actor Ashok Kumar introduced them. They fell in love and married on 14 February 1952, on Valentine's Day in a much private ceremony. He wanted to present Meena Kumari on the screen as no one had done before: beautiful, sad, sanguine, dejected, calculating, sexy, he ambitioned to capture as many dimensions of her as he knew of. ‘Shah Jahan made Taj Mahal for his wife, on that grand scale he wanted to present Meena Kumari on celluloid. 
The immortal singer K. L. Saigal discovered Kamal Amrohi and took him to Bombay to work for Sohrab Modi's Minerva Movietone film company, where he started his career working on films like Jailor (1938), Pukar (1939), Bharosa (1940), A. R. Kardar's film (Shahjehan 1946). He made his debut as a director in 1949, with Mahal, starring Madhubala and Ashok Kumar, which was a musical hit, with songs by Lata Mangeshkar and Rajkumari Dubey.
He wrote scripts for the movies made by Sohrab Modi, Abdul Rashid Kardar and K. Asif. He was one of the four dialogue writers for the latter's famous 1960 movie, Mughal-e-Azam, for which he won the Filmfare Award.
"Dayera" was produced and directed by Kamal Amrohi released in 1953 starring Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari. The film was a musical hit but not a commercial hit. After the failure of Daera, Pakeezah as an idea was roaming in Amrohi’s mind. The concept, he says, was irretrievably fixed with his love for his wife. He hoped to create a film which would be worthy of her as an actress, and worthy of the love he felt for her as a woman. Thus the creation had only one central character and around the fortunes of this character, the fate of the film revolved.

The mahurat of Pakeezah was done on 18 January 1958. Initially, it was launched as a Black & White venture. Later, with colour technology coming in, Kamal Amrohi started it all again in the new colour format. But soon after that, when Cinemascope also got introduced, Amrohi now wanted to shoot it in Cinemascope. So he brought the required lens from MGM on a royalty basis and started shooting. However, after a while, an error was detected in the shoot being done with the new lens. The matter was reported to MGM, who after studying the problem, didn’t collect their due royalties and also gifted that lens to Amrohi as an appreciation gesture. The film was still being made, when in 1964, Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari got separated due to their mutual differences. The project came to a halt for some time when it was more than halfway complete.
Even after separation, Kamal Amrohi persuaded Meena Kumari to complete the film but Meena Kumari told him that she will work only he give her the legal divorce.It took five years for the shooting to resume in 1969 after Sunil Dutt and Nargis persuaded Meena Kumari to complete the film. By this time Meena Kumari has diagnosed with liver cirrhosis and was in serious critical condition under observation.  

 Kamal Amrohi organized a great reception on 16 March 1969, he gave his wife a peda (sweet) as a peace offering and made a documentary film on her arrival at the studio. Meena Kumari was determined to complete the film and, was well aware of the limited time left for her to live, went out of her way to complete it at the earliest.Her condition became so bad that during the filming of the last song “Teer-e Nazar,” she collapsed. A body double, Padma Khanna, was used who was personally trained by her for the scene. Throughout the song, Padma Khanna's face remained veiled and the veil was lifted at instances to show Meena Kumari's face.

When the project got resumed in 1969, Amrohi was confronted with another difficulty; Ashok Kumar, who was the original hero getting no younger. He had to find a younger leading man for his film. Many names were thought at that time, it was Raj Kumar who fina;;y did the role.
After finalizing Raaj Kumar, the role was modified from being a businessman’s character to a forest officer according to the strong built & impressive persona of Raaj Kumar. During the making of the film, composer Ghulam Mohammed and cinematographer Josef Wirsching died, leaving director Kamal Amrohi at a loss. Eventually, though, composer Naushad was brought in to compose the background score; and after Wirsching's death, over a dozen of Bombay's top cinematographers stepped in as/when they had a break from their other assignments, and they maintained an even look.
When Pakeezah was resumed in 1969, many exhibitors suggested Kamal Amrohi to change the music according to the then famous trend and style. To this, Amrohi said that he would have readily done this if only Ghulam Mohammed was still breathing alive. But, now he cannot betray a man, who gave him such melodious songs, after his unexpected and untimely death. So he kept his music intact but used fewer songs as planned to keep up with the fast-changing times.
Kamal Amrohi saw in Pakeezah an epic, a larger-than-life film with hundreds of extras, with expensive and exotic sets, with the superhuman effort made to preserve period flavour; and all this he wished to do with the collected professional proficiency he had acquired in nearly two decades.

On 3 February 1972 the film released with a grand premiere at Maratha Mandir theatre in central Mumbai and the prints being carried on a decked-up palanquin.  Meena Kumari arrived to attend the last premiere of her life. Kumari let Raaj Kumar, for the benefit of the press, kiss her hand and went in to see the film.^[Meena Kumari was seated next to Kamal Amrohi during the premiere. When Mohammed Zahur Khayyam complimented Meena Kumari with "shahkar ban gaya" (it's priceless), she was in tears. After watching the film, Meena Kumari told a friend that she was convinced that her husband Kamal Amrohi was the finest film-maker in India. Kumari regarded the film as Kamal Amrohi's tribute to her.
The film finally released for the general masses the following day on 4th Feb 1972. The film received a warm reception from the audience, it was Meena Kumari's untimely death on 31 March 1972 which acted as an ultimate push and made it one of the top grossers of that year. Pakeezah was house-full for 33 weeks and even celebrated its silver jubilee. Meena Kumari's performance as a golden-hearted Lucknow nautch girl drew major praise and the film is since then considered a classic cult film and has a status much similar to K. Asif's 1960 magnum opus, Mughal-E-Azam.

Song of Pakeezah 1972

Song of Pakeezah 1972

Song of Pakeezah 1972

Song of Pakeezah 1972

Song of Pakeezah 1972

Bhagwan Dada- The Original Dancing Star of Bollywood

When we talk of male dancing stars the name of Hrithik Roshan, Govinda and Shammi Kapoor comes to our mind but the original dancing star was Bhagwan Dada.
He was perhaps the first to introduce Ramba, Samba, Disco, rock-n-roll and other dance forms to Hindi cinema, the first male star to do so in the industry ruled by female dancers. Bhagwan Dada as he was popularly called, created a new grammar of comedy, through the unique style of acting and dancing, which inspired a whole generation of comedians in Hindi cinema.
Bhagwan Abhaji Palav popularly known as Bhagwan Dada was born on 1st Aug 1913 and died on 4th February 2002 was a popular comedian of Bollywood of the Golden Era. He is best known for his social film Albela (1951) and the song "Shola Jo Bhadke".A veteran actor of about 600 films in the course of more than five decades, 
 He was a wide-eyed admirer of the silent cinema and worshipped Master Vithal who was the star of the day. He used to dream of emulating his stunt and fight scenes.
He started his Film Career in the Silent Film Era, in 1930, he got a break. Producer Siraj Ali Hakim gave him a comedian’s role in the silent film "Bewafa Aashiq," based on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". The film was a hit, but he was without offers for eight months because it was believed that he was really a hunchback!
In 1934 he made his first talkie "Himmat-e-Mardan". After that, he joined another company and directed a film called "Bahadur Kisan", with Hansa Wadkar as the heroine. The movie again was a big hit. During the shooting of the film, he had taken a lanky young man, Chitilkar Ramachandra, as his assistant. He gave him a break as a music director in the three. Tamil films he directed in Madras. He used to call him Anna and there began their long association during which C. Ramachandra, out of gratitude, gave him Hindi film industry’s all-time favourite songs for "Albela," including one of the loveliest loris Dhire se aaja ri, ankhiyan mein.
He produced many films after ALBELA but most of his films flopped, His film "Sahme Hue Sapney" didn’t survive beyond the first show. Then he suffered a heavy loss while making "Hanste Rehna" with Kishore Kumar. He had invested his own money, pawned his wife’s jewellery and withdrawn all his life’s savings. But halfway through, Kishore started dilly-dallying and "behaving crazily" and the project had to be shelved.

His sea-facing Juhu bungalow with 25 rooms along with his fleet of seven cars (one for each day of the week) had to be sold. The family moved to a two-room set in a chawl at Dadar. In his last days, he was being looked after by his unmarried daughter and the family of his youngest son, who is a sound recordist. Bhagwan died of a massive heart attack at his residence in Dadar on 4 February 2002

Song from Albela 1951

Song from Albela 1951

Song of  Bhagam Bhag  1956.

Comedy Clip from Mein Bhi Ek Ladki Hoon 1964

Song from Badlaa 1974

Sohrab Modi - His films always carried Social or National Message

Sohrab Modi (born 2 November 1897) a great filmmaker of the 1930s 1940s.and 1950s. He launched Minerva Movietone in 1936. His early films at Minerva dealt with contemporary social issues such as alcoholism in Meetha Zaher (1938) and the right of Hindu women to divorce in Talaq(1938). His greatest film was Sikander(1941), which immortalized Prithviraj Kapoor playing the title role.

He started his career as a Parsi theatre actor with some experience in silent films. He earned quite a reputation as a Shakespearean actor, travelling throughout India with his brother's theatrical company and enjoying the tremendous sense of fulfilment every time the curtain came down and the audience applauded.

Sohrab Modi was also known for making Historical films. He made  Pukar (1939),it was based on Mughal Emperor Jehangir. The charisma of its stars, Chandra Mohan and Naseem Bano, and Kamaal Amrohi's oration, with its literary flourish and innate grace, ensured the film's popularity. Following Pukar came Sikander in 1941. The film, due to its underlying theme of nationalism at a time when India was still some years away from freedom, proved a hit among the masses, wherein it was later banned from some theatres.
Prithvi Vallabh was his next film released in 1943, it was based on K.M. Munshi's novel of the same name. The film's major highlights were the confrontations between Modi and Durga Khote, the haughty queen Mrinalvati, who tries to humiliate him publicly but then falls in love with him.
In 1945 he made Ek Din Ka Sultan. The film was a "minor historical" using a small incident from the time of Emperor Humayun's reign. Gangar cites that Ek Din Ka Sultan was hailed as a "well-directed" film with "some beautiful production values.
In 1950, when Sohrab Modi's Sheesh Mahal was being screened at Minerva Theatre in Bombay, the actor was present at the hall. Mr. Modi noticed a man sitting in the front row with closed eyes. Upset with such a reaction, he asked an attendant to let the viewer out and to return his money. The employee came back to say that the person was blind but had come just to hear Sohrab Modi's lines.

He made Jhansi Ki Rani in 1953. It was  India's first technicolour film, Modi had technicians flown in from Hollywood. Mehtab starred as the young queen of Jhansi who took up arms against the British during the Mutiny of 1857 with Modi playing the role of the Rajguru, her chief advisor. The film was notable for its authenticity in creating the right period and delineating historical events, its spectacular battle scenes and Mehtab's stirring performance though she was far too old for the role. 

Next year released his another film Mirza Ghalib. The film, based on the life of the great Indian poet who lived during the reign of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last of the Mughal Emperors, won the President's Gold Medal for Best Feature Film of 1954. 

Modi's later films did not reach the heights of his earlier work though Kundan (1955), Nausherwan-e-Adil and Jailor (1958) had their moments. The last he made was Mera Ghar Mere Bachhe released in 1969 but he was acting here and there in very selected films till 1983. he last appeared in Kamal Amrohi's Razia Sultan.

Sohrab Modi received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1980. He was the tenth recipient of the award. He suffered from cancer of the bone marrow and succumbed to the disease on 28 January 1984.

Song of Sikandar 1941

Song of Jhansi Ki Rani (1953)

Song of Mirza Ghalib (1954)

Song of Mirza Ghalib (1954)

G P Sippy- A carpet merchant to the maker of Sholay

Gopaldas Parmanand Sippy started off as a carpet merchant, turned a construction magnate and then plunged into filmmaking in 1951 with the Dev Anand film Sazaa. In a career spanning over five decades, Sippy had produced 17 films and directed six. In his heydays, he was known as Mr Blockbuster. But Sholay remains his landmark best.

He made Shahenshah in 1953, which was India's first full-length Gevacolor film and India's third full-length colour film. The film was made at a budget of Rs. 3 million and was made in 14 months.. After that, he made 12 O Clock with Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman in 1958.
He got the real big success with Mere Sanam (1965). starring Asha Parekh, Biswajeet, Pran, Rajendra Nath and Mumtaz. The film was a hit at the box office, especially because of the musical score by Majrooh Sultanpuri, O.P. Nayyar and the Asha Bhonsle-Mohammed Rafi combination. 
In 1968 released his super hit film The film stars Shammi Kapoor, Rajshree, Pran, Mumtaz, Jagdeep, Sachin and Asit Sen. The music was by Shankar Jaikishan. The film became a box office hit and won several awards, including Filmfare Best Movie Award 
The next year in 1969 his another hit film Bandhan starring Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz.released. 
It received five out of five stars in the Bollywood guide Collections and grossed 2,80,00,000 at the box office in 1969.

The next milestone film was Andaz 1971, it was directed by his son Ramesh Sippy and with this film emerged Salim Javed. Followed this super hit film another super duper hit came to Seeta Aur Geeta in 1972, once again directed by his son Ramesh Sippy and screenplay by Salim Javed.

In 1975 released the magnum opus Sholay all-time hit film. Once again directed by Ramesh Sippy and screenplay by Salim Javed. It was a big budget film Ramesh Sippy said in an interview that he did not have enough money to finance the film at that time and had to depend on his father late GP Sippy for it. He added it was pure luck that he asked for Rs 1 crore and got Rs 3 crore as his dad had just had a hit with Seeta Aur Geeta.

He continued to produced films till Hamesha 1997, in between he gave us films like  Shaan (1980), Saagar (1985), Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman 1992.

He remained the President of the Film Federation of India (FFI) for many years, first 1972 - 73, 1985 – 86 and then 1988 - 1992. He was the Chairman of the Film and TV Producers Guild of India for several years and won the Filmfare Award in 1968 and 1982.

 He died on December 25, 2007 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Song of Sazaa 1951

Song of Marine Drive (1955)

Song of 12 O'Clock (1958)

Song of Bhai-Bahen (1959)

Song of Mere Sanam (1965)

Song of Brahmachari (1968)

Song of Andaz (1971)

Song of Seeta Aur Geeta (1972)

Song of  Sholay (1975)

Song of  Saagar (1985)

Mehboob Khan - Spot Boy to Great Producer Director and Owner of a Studio

It is to Mehboob’s credit that from his humble beginnings as a spot boy, he went on to acting, writing, directing and producing films and owner of Mehboob Studio.
Mehboob Khan got several roles as an extra and even went on to being cast as a junior artist and then in a supporting role. In fact, Ardeshir Irani almost took him as the hero of Alam Ara, India’s first talkie.He realised that destiny is not in favor of making him a hero,there was something else he could do.So he decided to write a script and pitch it to a few studios.His script was rejected by various studios,he decided to produce and direct his own script.He went on to direct milestones such as the bold saga Aurat (1940), the romantic drama Andaz (1949), the swashbuckling musical Aan (1951) and the grand social epic Mother India (1957).
He was born Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan in Bilimora in Gandevi Taluka of Baroda State (now Gujarat) on 9 September 1907. He started as an assistant in the Silent Film era and as an extra in the studios of the Imperial Film Company of Ardeshir Irani, before directing his first film Al Hilal a.k.a. Judgement of Allah (1935), when he started directing films for the Sagar Film Company.Notable films he directed include Deccan Queen (1936), Ek Hi Raasta (1939) and Alibaba (1940). Directorial features such as Aurat (1940) followed, with the studios Sagar Movietone and National Studios. In 1945, Khan set up his own production house – Mehboob Productions. In 1946 he directed the musical hit Anmol Ghadi, which featured singing stars Surendra, Noorjehan and Suraiya in leading roles.
He  introduced and helped establish the careers of many actors and actresses who went on to become big stars in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s such as Surendra, Arun Kumar Ahuja, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Nargis, Nimmi and Nadira.
 He died in 1964 at the age of 57 and was buried at Badakabarastan in Marine Lines, Mumbai. His death occurred the day after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India. His last film as a director was 1962's Son of India.

Song from Aurat (1940)

Song from Anmol Ghadi (1946)

Song from Anokhi Ada (1948)

Song from Andaz (1949)

Song from Aan (1952)

Song from Amar (1954)

Song from Mother India (1957)

Song from Son of India (1962)

Prakash Mehra- The Man who Created the Recipe of Masala Films

In the 70s Prakash Mehra and Manmohan Desai gave birth to the 'formula' film. His films  revolving around a predictable plot, but touching on the social and political situation of the time. Being a smart Bollywood director, Mehra knew that a successful mainstream movie should be like a tasty Thaali, blending a host of ingredients.
Between 1973 and 1990, Prakash Mehra worked with Amitabh Bachchan on 8 films. These movies were not just blockbusters. They remain bookmarks of our cinematic memory. Anyone who grew up watching Hindi movies in the 1970s and 80s, movies like Zanjeer, Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Khoon Pasina, Hera Pheri (1976 film),Laawaris, Namak Halaal and Sharabi would surely agree to that.
Prakash Mehra (13 July 1939 – 17 May 2009) started in the late 1950s as a production controller. In 1968, he directed Shashi Kapoor who played a double role in Haseena Maan Jayegi. . In 1973, he produced and directed Zanjeer,from here began the journey of the  super Hit Producer and Director Prakash Mehra..

Mehra made his finest movies with Bachchan. But he also made some interesting films with other actors too. Such as dacoit dramas: Mela (Sanjay, Feroz Khan and Mumtaz) and Samadhi (Dharmendra, Jaya Bhaduri and Asha Parekh). The latter had the track, Bangle ke peeche teri beri ke neeche, which GenNow can identify with for its remixed version.

And who can forget Haath Ki Safai (Randhir Kapoor, Vinod Khanna and Hema Malini, 1974) with the superhit song, Peene walon ko peene ka bahana chahiye.  All these films fared reasonably well at the cash counters.

By the late 1980s, just like his main actor, Mehra seemed to have lost his touch. But while Bachchan reinvented himself and emerged in a new avatar, the producer-director never bounced back.

Mehra will be remembered. Not merely as the man who gave Big B his first big box-office hit. His better films always had something extra, something special. 

Songs from Prakash Mehra films

Song from Haseena Maan Jayegi (1968)

Song from Zanjeer (1973)

Song from Haath Ki Safai (1974)

Song from Hera Pheri (1976)

Song from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)

Song from Laawaris (1981)

Song from Namak Halaal (1982)

Song from Sharaabi (1984)

B R CHOPRA - One Of The Architect of Golden Era Of bollywood

B R Chopra was one of the legendary figures of Bollywood, Bombay's film industry. Whether making musicals or dramatic, socially conscious films he combined quality film-making with an ability to cater to popular taste.The first film he produced flopped, he turned to direction. He persuaded one of the most natural actors of the day, Ashok Kumar, to star in his film Afsana (1951), which was a hit.
In 1955 he founded his own production house, BR Films. His first film under his own banner, Ek hi Raasta, took on the issue of widow remarriage. His later films dealt with subjects such as the after-effects of partition and the rights of Muslim women.He became a champion of making Social Movies. B R Chopra was later became a master of the art of storytelling.Some of his best known films are  Naya Daur (1957), Sadhna (1958), Kanoon (1961), Gumrah (1963), Humraaz (1967), Awam (1987) 
Baldev Raj Chopra (22 April 1914 – 5 November 2008) made the great TV Serial Mahabharat which was one of the most successful TV serials in Indian television history.
He directed successful film across genres after 1972, with films like suspense thriller Dhund, comedy film Pati Patni Aur Woh, crime film in Insaaf Ka Tarazu, Muslim social in Nikaah and the political thriller Awam,he also made Dastan in 1972 with Dilip Kumar which was not successful.
He died in Mumbai at the age of 94 on 5 November 2008.He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1998.
His younger brother Yash Chopra, son Ravi Chopra and nephew Aditya Chopra are also directors in the Bollywood industry.

Song from Afsana 1951

Song from Ek Hi Raasta (1956)

Song from Naya Daur (1957)

Song from Sadhna (1958)

Song from Dhool Ka Phool (1959)

Song from Gumrah (1963)

Song from Waqt (1965)

Song from Humraz (1967)

Song from Pati Patni Aur Woh (1978)

Song from Nikaah (1982)

Song from Baghban (2003)