Hemant Kumar- Aap Ko Hamari Kasam Laut Aiye

 Every distinguished creative artiste is born with one gift, but, Hemantda was born with several gifts. As a singer, he reigned supreme in Calcutta and Bombay. From "Naagin", "Jaal" to "Bees Saal Baad" and the '50s and '60s were decades that 'belonged' prominently to the unique talents of Hemant Kumar.
He started in Bollywood as a singer, turned into a composer, and later a producer and director. His first Hindi film as a composer was the 1952 film "Anand Math".
The music of Anand Math (1952) was a moderate success. Perhaps, the most notable song from this movie is 'Vande Mataram' sung by Lata Mangeshkar, which Hemanta set to a marching tune. Hemanta Kumar gained popularity in Mumbai as a playback singer. His songs play backed for Dev Anand under music director S D Burman in movies like Jaal ("Yeh raat, yeh chandni phir kahan ... "), House No. 44 ("Chup hai dharti, chup hai chand sitare... "), Solva Saal ("Hai apna dil to awara ..... "), Funtoosh ("Teri duniya mein jeene se ... "), and Baat ek raat ki ("Na tum hame jaano ..... "), became very popular.
He became popular as a composer after the release of "Nagin" in 1954 which became a major success owing largely to its music. He received the prestigious Filmfare Best Music Director Award for this film in 1955.. his classic ‘been’ music in the song “Man Dole Mera Tan Dole" is now immortal.

In the late 1950s, Hemanta ventured into movie production under his own banner: Hemanta-Bela productions. The first movie under this banner was a Bengali film directed by Mrinal Sen, titled Neel Akasher Neechey (1959). Latter he made films in Hindi, his production company was renamed Geetanjali productions and it produced several Hindi movies such as Bees Saal Baad, Kohara, Biwi Aur Makaan, Faraar, Rahgir,  and Khamoshi — all of which had music by Hemanta Da. Only Bees Saal Baad and Khamoshi were major commercial successes.
1962 was a special year for him, The music of Bees Saal Baad and Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam became very popular. Hemanta Da pulled out all stops for a score that ranks as one of the ten best ever composed for the Hindi cinema. Between them, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle created a universe of pain and romance in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam. From Geeta Dutt's 'Na Jao Saiyyan..' to Asha'a 'Bhanwara Bada Naadan Hai..', each song stuns each note cuts deeply in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam.

Hemant Kumar was also remained connected with Bangla Films throughout his career, in fact, he was very busy there in the late 60s and 70s. He remained the foremost exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, film and non-film songs. His output continued to be popular for most of the decade. Some of them are Jodi jante chao tumi... (1972), Ek gochha rajanigandha , Aamay prasno kore nil dhrubatara..., Sedin tomay dekhechilam... (1974), Khirki theke singho duar... (Stree, 1971), Ke jane ko ghonta... ( Sonar Khancha, 1974), Jeona daraon bandhu... ( Phuleswari, 1975 ) and popularised Rabindra sangeet using them beautifully in films as per situations. A very popular and classic example is the song Chorono dhorite diyogo amare.. in Dadar Kirti(1980). 
In 1980, Hemanta had a heart attack that severely affected his vocal capabilities, especially his breath control. After that, he composed music for a handful of Bengali movies and one Bengali and one Hindi tele-series.In 1987, he was nominated for Padmabhushan which he refused politely.

In September 1989 he traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to receive the Michael Madhusudan Award, as well as to perform a concert. Immediately after returning from this trip he suffered another heart attack on 26 September and died at 11:15 pm in a nursing home in South Calcutta.

With him, an era ended, but Hemant Kumar can never be forgotten. His music will live on for another 100 years. “Beqaraar Karke Humein Yun Na Jaaiye, Aap Ko Hamari Kasam, Laut Aiye"

Song of Anandmath 1951

Song of Sazaa 1951

Song from Patita (1953)

Song from Shart (1954)

Song from Nagin (1954)

Song from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955)

Song from House No. 44 (1955)

Song from Pyaasa (1957)

Song from Solva Saal (1958)

Song from Kabuliwala (1961)

Song from Anupama 1966

Song from Khamoshi 1969

Song from Bees Saal Baad 1963

Raj Kapoor had a great ear for music

Have you ever thought, why the music of all his films remains immensely popular? The reason being he himself had a great knowledge of music. He learned music in his childhood. In his early days, he wanted to be a music director. He even sang in his earlier films like Dil Ki Rani, Chitchor, Chittor Vijay, Jail Yatra, and Gopinath.
His music journey started with Papaji (Prithviraj Kapoor) in theatre in Calcutta. When he came to Bombay he learned classical music playing Harmonium, Tabla, and Sitar at Narayan Rao Vijay Academy. He was also with Anil Biswas for some time.
He was very fond of composing tunes, he composed tunes with Ram Ganguli with whom Shankar, Jailishan used to play Harmonium and Tabla. It was there the birth of the Team of Shankar Jaikishan and Raj Kapoor took place, that entertained the music lovers.
Lata Mangeshkar in an interview said that a filmmaker has to be a musician himself to understand the quality of music needed in his films. She said that Raj Kapoor had a sharp music sence. Raj saab was a complete musician. He played the tabla, the harmonium, and the piano. He composed songs and sang them in his own voice before handing them over to professional playback singers.
Raj Kapoor's song sittings were very famous, all the stake holders of the song used to be invited on the sittings, time was no limit, every one present cold give his suggestion. He loved to listen to tunes, to prune and trim the compositions, to correct the singers. He also sit with the Lyricist to change a particular line or word which is not matching the tune, he perfected the compositions to suit his taste.
Lata Mangeshkar at a function said that the music of RK Films may have been attributed to Shankar-Jaikishan or Laxmikant Pyarelal in Bobby or Satyam Shivam Sundaram but it had the final finish of Raj Kapoor which used to be icing on the cake.
Raj Kapoor was of the opinion that songs are the important ingredient of Hindi cinema.He beeived that these should carry the story ahead. Like his peers Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt, he gave as much importance to the execution of a song as to a scene.
For him, the songs were truly not only audio but audio-visual. He saw music as it were; and only when he could how the song could be filmed, did he okay its recording. His use of elaborate sets, of light and shade to convey sombreness and technicolour to project joy, were all part of his visual perception.
Songs in RK films were never just 'there'; they were seamlessly woven into the fabric of the film, used intelligently and sensibly to complement the narrative.

Song of Barsaat 1949

Song of Awaara 1951

Song of Shree 420 1955

Song of Chori Chori 1956

Song of Anari 1959

Song of Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai 1960

Song of Sangam 1964

Song of Teesri Kasam 1966

Song of Mera Naam Joker 1970

Subodh Mukharjee - A Filmmaker of Golden Era of Bollywood

The younger brother of the doyen of Hindi films Shashdhar Mukherjee of Filmistan Studio. The studio that gave us Shaheed (1948), Shabnam (1949), Anarkali (1953), and Nagin(1954). Jagriti(1954),  
Munimji 1955, Paying Guest 1957, Tumsa Nahin Dekha 1957 
He directed Dev Anand in Munimji and Paying Guest and later started his own production house with Love Marriage. He introduced Saira Bano and made Shammi Kapoor a superstar with the 1961 film Junglee.
Subodh Mukharjee ( April 14, 1921- 21 May 2005) was a freedom fighter, he was in jail for 3 months. His elder brother Shashdhar pulled him away from the nationalist movement and engaged him film making.He was given the first film as an independent director Munimji The script was written by Nasir Hussain and the music was composed by S D Burman. The film was a hit. The song "Jeevan Ke Safar Mein Rahi," sung by Kishore Kumar, became a super hit. This team of Subodh Mukherjee, Nasir Hussain, Dev Anand, and music director S.D. Burman later got together to make another movie, Paying Guest, in 1957. In the same year,. Looking to this the Filmalaya decided to make another film Tumsa Nahin Dekho was released which was directed by Nasir Hussain, it was also successful so Filmalya gave Nasir Hussain another film to direct, this upset Subodh, e decided to start his own production house, the SMP Subodh Mukharjee Productions
The first film of this house was Love Marriage starring Dev Anand and Mala Sinha. This was the third film in a row under his direction All the three films were hit.
The next film under his direction and production house was Junglee with Shammi Kapoor. The film was a super hit. after Junglee he made April Fool in 1964 and Saaj Aur Awaz in 1966, both the films were average in Box Office.
In 1967 he produced Shagird, the direction was given to Samir Ganguly. The film stars Joy Mukherjee and Saira Banu in lead roles The film was a super hit. He then made two films simultaneously,
Abhinetri released in 1970 was directed by him and Sharmilee directed by Samir Ganguli was a hit. his was the last hit from SMP. 
In the first two decades of his career, he had a high success percentage, but like so many movie-makers of his generation, he floundered from the seventies and quit in 1985. The last 2 films were Teesri Aankh 1982 and Ulta Seedha in 1985.

Song of Munimji 1955

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Song of Love Marriage 1959

Song of Junglee1961

Song of Shagird 1967

Song of Sharmilee 1971

Feroz Khan - The Original Khan of Bollywood.

Feroz Khan (25 September 1939 – 27 April 2009), his father belonged to Tanoli tribe from Ghazni of Afghanistan, He was born and brought up in Bangalore. He moved to Bombay to work in films.
He is one of the few actors, who flaunted his surname, those days changing names or no surname was very common and mandatory to stardom.
Right from the first film, he kept his real name, he is the original Khan. Though Dilip Kumar is also a Khan he too changed his name to get stardom in the Bollywood.
 He made his debut as a second lead in Didi in 1960. Through the 1960s, he appeared in mediocre films opposite starlets in fantastical dramas, including Reporter Raju (Chitra), Samson (Ameeta), Ek Sapera Ek Lutera (Kum Kum) and Char Darvesh (Saeeda Khan). In the Guru Dutt-Mala Sinha starrer Bahurani, he played the baddie. 
In his role as the wayward younger brother of Raj Kumar, he was noticed in the black and white  film Oonche Log (1965), He then played the second lead to Rajendra Kumar in Ramanand Sagar’s Arzoo, to Sunil Dutt in the thriller Pyasi Shaam, It was BR Chopra’s Aadmi Aur Insaan towards the end of the decade, in 1969, where he came into his own. It won him the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award.
In 1970 released Safar, in this film the Hero was Rajesh Khanna but Feroz Khan played an important role in this film. In 1971 he appeared in 2 films as the 2nd lead to his younger brother Sanjay Khan( Mela and Upasana).
To improve his career opportunities as a leading man he started his own Production Company. He became a successful producer and director with the 1972 film Apradh, Mumtaaz was his co-star in this film. Apradh was the first Indian movie showing auto racing in Germany, it was a moderate success at the box office. After that, he produced, directed, and starred in the 1975 film Dharmatma, which was the first Indian film to be shot in Afghanistan and was also his first blockbuster hit as a producer, director, and star and marked the appearance of actress Hema Malini in a glamorous avatar. This movie was inspired by the Hollywood film The Godfather. 
Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, he was a leading Bollywood star, directing and starring in many of his films. The 1980 film Qurbani, with Zeenat Aman, was the biggest hit of his career and launched the singing career of iconic Pakistani pop singer Nazia Hassan, with her memorable track "Aap Jaisa Koi". In 1986, he directed and starred in Janbaaz, a box office hit, In 1988, he directed and starred in Dayavan, which was a remake of an Indian Tamil film titled Nayakan. After directing and starring in Yalgaar (1992),He launched his son Fardeen Khan's career with the 1998 film Prem Aggan, which, however, was a box office bomb.  he took a long break from acting for 11 years.
He appeared in over 51 films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and became one of Bollywood's popular style icons His last film as an actor was "Welcome" was a roaring hit in 2007. He died from lung cancer on 27 April 2009 at the age of 69. 
In this blog, I am posting some of his forgotten & rare songs

Song of Mein Shaadi Karne Chala 1962

Song of Reporter Raju  1962

Song of Reporter Raju  1962

Song of Char Dervesh 1964

Song of Teesra Kaun  1965

Song of Oonche Log 1965

Song of Ek Sapera Ek Lootera 1965

Song of Tasveer 1966

Song of Woh Koi Aur Hoga 1966

Song of CID 909 1966

Song of Raat Andheri Thi 1967

 Song of Aurat 1967 

 Song of Aaja Sanam 1968

Song of Anjaan Hai Koi 1969

Nasir Hussain - The Maker of Rom- Com- Musicals

Started his film career as a story writer when he joined Filmistan in 1948. The famous films he wrote for Filmistan include Anarkali (1953), Munimji (1955), and Paying Guest (1957).  The first film he directed was Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1957 for Filmalaya. Another film he directed in 1958 was Dil Deke Dekho. The highlight of both of these films was its music. His films were full of adventure, romance, fun, music, outdoor and entertainment
He started his own film company, Nasir Hussain Films and turned producer-director. He made musical hits like Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Teesri Manzil (1966), Baharon Ke Sapne (1967), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), Caravan (1971), Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977).
Nasir Hussain was an admirer of Dev Anand, when he was making his first film as a director Tumsa Nahin Dekha he wanted Dev Anand as his hero but Dev Anand refused the film because of the heroine being a newcomer so Shammi Kapoor was approached. Similarly when Teesri Manzil was planned Dev Anand was signed for the film but due to differences with Hussain he opted out and Kapoor was cast.

Nasir Hussain introduced Asha Parekh with the film Dil Deke Dekho opposite Shammi Kapoor since then she was in all of Hussain's films until Caravan (1971). Hussain, Majrooh Sultanpuri, and R.D. Burman collaborated on Teesri Manzil, Baharon Ke Sapne, Pyar Ka Mausam, Caravan, Yaadon Ki Baraat, and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.

He made Yaadon Ki Baraat in 1973 which was written by Salim-Javed, who had written Zanjeer the same year. Both the films dealt with the hero wanting to avenge his father's death, and both featured Ajit as the villain. Yaadon Ki Baraat has been identified as the first masala film.

The 1980s were not good for him, all his films Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981), Manzil Manzil (1984) and Zabardast (1985) all flopped, Hussain's son Mansoor Khan took over the reins of Nasir Hussain Films, although Hussain continued to write scripts and dialogues for films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992). In Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he introduced his nephew Aamir Khan as a hero. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was a milestone in the history of Hindi cinema, setting the template for Bollywood musical romance films that defined Hindi cinema in the 1990s 

Song of  Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1957

Song of Dil Deke Dekho 1958

Song of Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai 1961

Song of Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963),

Song of Teesri Manzil (1966)

Song of Baharon Ke Sapne (1967)

Song of  Pyar Ka Mausam (1969)

Song of Caravan (1971)

Song of Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973)

Song of Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977)

Song of Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981)

Song of Manzil Manzil (1984)

Shakti Samanta - A Filmmaker who gave us many Great Films

Shakti Samanta (13 January 1926 – 9 April 2009) a filmmaker of the Golden Era of Bollywood gave us films such as Howrah Bridge, China Town, Sawan Ki Ghata, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Amar Prem.and many more.
He wanted to become an actor but became a director. He joined the film industry in 1948 as an assistant director starting with Satish Nigam in Raj Kapoor starrer "Sunhere Din.".  He got his break as an independent director fro the 1954 film "Bahu".
He started his own production company, Shakti Films, in 1957, and the first release of his independent banner was the murder-mystery Howrah Bridge, with Ashok Kumar and Madhubala as the lead, With the huge success of this film, his banner became one of the great banners of the 60s and 70s.
Shakti Samanta was among the directors who worked with Shammi Kapoor in the late 1950s and up to the mid-'60s, then with Sharmila Tagore, Rajesh Khanna, creating a number of classics such as Aradhana, Kati Patang, Anurodh, and Amar Prem.
He directed 37 Hindi films and 6 Bengali films. He worked with many actors of his time  Most popular among the lot was Ashok Kumar, with whom he did as many as nine films which include Inspector, Shero, Isi Ka Naam Duniya Hai, Howrah Bridge, Aradhana, Amar Prem, Anuraag, Anurodh, and Anand Ashram. 

Shammi Kapoor was also his favorite actor with whom he did 6 films, the first film he did with him was "Singapore" released in 1960. 

China Town was the next film released in 1962  It was a black-and-white movie, starring Shammi Kapoor in a double role, as a gangster and his look-alike. Shakila was the leading lady, alongside Helen in a supporting role.

Kashmir Ki Kali was the next film released in 1964. The film stars Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore in her debut role, Pran, Dhumal, Nazir Hussain, and Anoop Kumar. It was a great hit and its music became super hit.

An Evening In Paris was the next film released in 1967, it was again a hit. After that Pagla kahi ka and Jane Anjane in 1971

Rajesh Khanna became his favorite hero after the success of Aradhana in 1969. Rajesh Khanna also worked with him in 6 films. Kati Patang was the second film with him and then came Amar Prem in 1971.

He received Filmfare Awards for Best Film for Aradhana (1969), Anuraag (1973) and Amanush, which was also made in Bengali

He died of cardiac arrest at his suburban Santa Cruz residence at approximately 5pm on 9 th April 2009,

Song of Howrah Bridge 1958

Song of Jaali Note (1960)

Song of China Town (1962)

Song of Kashmir Ki Kali (1964)

Song of An Evening in Paris (1967)

Song of Aradhana (1969)

Song of Kati Patang (1970)

Song of Amar Prem (1971)

Song of Mehbooba (1976)