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
This immortal song of Pyaasa(1957) was written by Sahir Ludhianvi, sung by Hemant Kumar and composed by S D Burman. This song was inspired by the second stanza of our national anthem, according to a book on celebrated music composer S. D. Burman. "In a conversation with lyricist Pulak Bandyopadhyay, Burman had mentioned that the second line of the national anthem—Punjab Sindh(u) Gujarat Maratha Dravid Utkal Banga—had inspired the line, 'Humne to Jab Khushiyaan Maangi'. "The reference to the national anthem is so subtle that unless someone points it out, it is next to impossible to spot a similarity." Pyaasa had 10 songs, two solo songs were sung by Geeta Dutt, and one duet of Geeta Dutt and Mohammad Rafi, all the other were solo of Rafi except this song. In fact, Guru Dutt wanted this song to be sung by Rafi but Burman Dada insisted on Hemant Kumar. Dada knew that this song suits Hemant Kumar, one of the highlights of this song was the aching frailty of Hemant's rendition. A major argument took place between Guru Dutt, composer Burman Dada, writer Abrar Alvi, and Geeta Dutt. Finally, Dutt, who remained unconvinced, had to give in to the pressure.
This song was picturized on Guru Dutt. He is leaning against a bookshelf, wearing a white shawl, stretching his hands, a wry smile even though he was deserted. Singing in a small gathering organized by his employer Rehman, where he meets his ex-girlfriend Mala Sinha, whoabandonedhim for wealth by marrying none other than the man currently employing him. If you listen carefully you will find a piece of very light music is being played in the background. Burman Dada had arranged the song with delicate piano notes, surprisingly np piano is shown on the screen. Once Burman dada was asked why this song had such little music. He replied that the poetry was the hero of the song and had to be showcased. And it’s true, the soft tune in the background pushes Sahir Ludhianvi’s words to the forefront. Unfortunately, this was the last song of Sahir composed by Dada Burman. They never worked together after this song and film.
This super hit song from the Navketan's Baazi(1951) was written by Sahir Ludhianvi was a Ghazal to be picturized as per the situation but Dada Burman felt that in this situation Ghazal will not suit so he effortlessly turned it into a club song and changed the situation. This song was sung by Geeta Roy(Dutt) You would be surprised to note that Guru Dutt who was the director of the film fell in love with Geeta Roy during the recording of this song. The mahurat of Baazi took place in 1950, the mahurat shot was taken on the sequence of this song. Everybody present there appreciated the song and its picturization. When the film was released, it became a super-duper hit, this song became so popular that audiences came repeatedly to watch just this song. This was the first shot of the career as a director for Guru Dutt obviously wanted to use his skills as a choreographer, learned at no less an institution than Uday Shankar’ for the mahurat shot. It was a delicately balanced scene. A long shot on the gangster’s moll, who was to seduce the hero. Yet she was obviously half in love with the debonair, dashingly handsome young man, and even as she sang to him to lure him along, she wished to warn him of the dangers lurking around. An NRI musician Sadanand Warrier says that it was surprising that Dada who had no affection and knowledge of western music could use chromatic notes in the interlude of the song. Even the 'Hey Hey Hey Hey' is essentially chromatic movement. In an interview, Dada Burman said that he deliberately used the phrase 'Hey Hey Hey Hey' to capture the feelings of being truly liberated as portrayed by the young woman. This song became a rage, it is said the people liked this song so much that cine-goers used to see the movie only for this song, many would walk out after the song ends. S D Burman once said in Filmfare that.once he was fishing in Calcutta and was not able to catch a single fish, he set patiently for the whole day but couldn't catch any. Thoroughly disappointedly he was calling it a bad day, suddenly a boy of 10 years jumped into the pond and started singing his this Baazi song not knowing the composer of the song sitting there. That made his day It was the biggest catch of his life.
True to his name "Sahir" which means a magician, he proved to be a magician of words. He painted fascinating images in songs and ghazals, Spellbinding his listeners and readers for decades. For about thirty years, he remained associated with the Hindi film industry. He composed hundreds of songs for Hindi/Urdu films. Most of his songs became hugely popular and are even today sung and hummed by people of all generations. Sahir made his debut as a lyricist with the film "Azadi Ki Raah Par" in 1948. but got fame only associating with S D Burman. Two films, released in 1951, had songs that sky-rocketed in popularity and are hummed even today. First was "Thandi Hawaiian Lehraa Ke Aayen" from Naujawan. The second was a landmark film, marking the directorial debut of Guru Dutt - Baazi. Both films, coincidentally, had music by S. D. Burman. S.D. Burman and Sahir Ludhianvi went on to compose music for 18 movies, Some of the well-known films are characteristic of Burman-Ludhianvi team: Devdas, Jeevan Jyoti, Jaal, Society, Armaan and Taxi Driver. The last film Sahir made with Burman was Pyaasa. In Pyaasa, Guru Dutt played a poet named Vijay. After Pyaasa, Sahir and Burman went separate ways due to artistic and contractual differences. Sahir Ludhianvi has written about 700 songs for 30 music composers in his 32 years career as lyrics writer ( 1921 to 1980 ) Sahir won a Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for Taj Mahal (1963). He won a second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for his work on Kabhie Kabhie (1976) and he was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971. Sahir was considered a *romantic*: personal romance and the resultant disillusionment, followed by universal romance and the resultant frustration with *the way it is*. He never minced the words, did not sublimate emotions. He expressed thoughts clearly and directly. .During the last years of his life, Sahir suffered from alcoholism and underwent a radical personality alteration marked by moodiness and despair. Sahir Ludhianvi passed away at the age of 59 (25 October 1980) from a heart attack. A bungalow named Parchaiyaan in Andheri, Mumbai became Sahir’s abode from the 1970s till his last days. List of Films with S D Burman
Sahir(March 8th, 1921- 25th Oct 1980) made his debut as a lyricist with the film "Azadi Ki Raah Par" in 1948. The film had four songs written by him. His first song was "Badal Rahie Hai Zindagi". However, it was the year 1951 that would bring him fame and recognition. That year 3 of his films released having the music of S D Burman in all of these three films, Three of his songs that sky-rocketed in popularity and are hummed even today. First was "Thandi Hawaayen Lehraa Ke Aayi" from Naujawan. The second was from a landmark film Baazi."Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer Bana Le" and the third was"Tum Na Jane Kis Jahan Mein Kho Gaye" from Sazaa. This was followed by the chartbuster Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni Phir Kahan from Jaal(1952), Sahir took film lyrics to the heights of genuine poetry. Now his pairing with S D Burman was to create many immortal sings. Both of them worked together in 18 films. While 1957 saw the end of Sahir’s partnership with SD Burman., Sahir’s mastery over the Urdu language, immaculate diction, intensity of feelings and emotions and enchanting style of expression made him a lyricist of a different kind — a class apart. In Guru Dutt’s Pyasa, his songs Yeh duniya agar mil bhee jaye to kya hai, Jinhen naaz hai Hind par woh kahan hain, Jane woh kaise log thhey jinke pyar ko pyar mila won him acclaim. After S D Burman, his pairing with O P Nayyar and Ravi also created many immortal songs. It was the songs of Naya Daur and Tumsa Nahin Dekha established the pairing with O P Nayyar and with Ravi from the 1963 film Gumrah. Sahir did work with other composers including,Roshan, Khayyam, and N Dutta, their collaboration produced the score for Milaap (1955), Chandrakanta (1956), Saadhna (1958), Dhool Ka Phool (1959). In 1958, Sahir wrote the lyrics for Ramesh Saigal's film Phir Subah Hogi, its music was given by Khayyam. The song Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegi with its minimal background music remains popular. Khayyam collaborated with Sahir in many films including Kabhie Kabhie and Trishul. From about 1950 until his death( 25 October 1980), .Sahir Ludhianvi wrote songs for a total of 122 movies from 1948 up to his death including three unreleased movies, one Punjabi movie and two Pakistani movies. Six movies with his songs were released posthumously. The 50s and 60s were Sahir's most prolific years. He wrote songs for 84 films during these two decades.
Sahir(born on March 8th, 1921) made his debut as a lyricist with the film "Azadi Ki Raah Par" in 1948. The film had four songs written by him. His first song was "badal rahii hai zindagii". However, it was the year 1951 that would bring him fame and recognition. Two films, released in 1951, had songs that sky-rocketed in popularity and are hummed even today. First was "Thandi Hawaayen Lehraa Ke Aayi" from Naujawan. The second was a landmark film, marking the directorial debut of Guru Dutt - Baazi. Both films, coincidentally, had music by S. D. Burman. This was followed by the chartbuster Yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahan for Jaal. Sahir took film lyrics to the heights of genuine poetry. The songs of Dharamputra rewrote history as the genius of B.R. Chopra and the enthusiasm of Sahir coalesced to yield timeless numbers like Main jab bhee akeli hoti hoon, Bhool sakta hai bhala kaun yeh pyari aankhein, Mere dilbar mujhse khaffa na ho. The popularity of songs of Naujawan, Baazi, Jaal and Dharamputra fine-tuned Sahir’s working relationship with Dev Anand, S.D. Burman, Guru Dutt and B.R. Chopra to form formidable combinations that dominated the film scene for several decades. Sahir’s mastery over the Urdu language, immaculate diction, intensity of feelings and emotions and enchanting style of expression made him a lyricist of a different kind — a class apart. In Guru Dutt’s Pyasa, his songs Yeh duniya agar mil bhee jaye to kya hai, Jinhen naaz hai Hind par woh kahan hain, Jane woh kaise log thhey jinke pyar ko pyar mila won him acclaim.
But so long as Sahir and Burman were together, theirs was a matchless combination. For both of them we call out in their joint contribution from film ‘Saza’ : ‘Tum najaanekisjahanmeinkhogae’.While 1957 saw the end of Sahir’s partnership with SD, it saw the beginning of his partnership with OP Nayyar in Naya Daur and Tumsa Nahi Dekha.
Sahir did work with other composers including Ravi, Roshan, Khayyam and Datta Naik. Datta Naik also credited as N. Datta, a Goan, admired Sahir's poetry and their collaboration produced the score for Milaap (1955), Chandrakanta (1956), Saadhna (1958), Dhool Ka Phool (1959). In 1958, Sahir wrote the lyrics for Ramesh Saigal's film Phir Subah Hogi, its music was given by Khayyam. The song Woh Subah Kabhi Toh Aayegiwith its minimal background music remains popular. Khayyam collaborated with Sahir in many films including Kabhie Kabhie and Trishul. From about 1950 until his death( 25 October 1980), Sahir collaborated with Baldev Raj Chopra (1914 - 2008), a film producer and director. Sahir's last work for Chopra was for Insaaf Ka Tarazu. Yash Chopra, an independent director and producer, also engaged Sahir for his film Daag.
In Yash Chopra’s Daag, he came down heavily on the feudalistic and chauvinistic attitudes of society in the song Jab bhee jee chahe nayee duniya basa lete hain log/ Ek chehre pe kayee chehrey laga lete hain log. In Zara Hind ke rehbron ko bulao yeh koochey ye galiyaan yeh manzar dikhao, he highlighted the condition of the downtrodden. In Rehne ko ghar nahin hai sara jahan hamara, he expressioned his disillusionment with Nehru’s socialism. To those who fanned the fires of hatred and communalism during Partition, he counselled sanity, saying Malik ne to insaan ko insaan banaya/ Hum ne use Hindu ya musalmaan banaya. Even his light-hearted numbers like Insaan ka nahin kahin naam-o-nishan.. Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan, were satirical.
Be it a patriotic number like Yeh desh hai veer jawano ka... or a bhajan like Alla tero naam Eshwar tero naamor a captivating qawwali like Na to karvaan ki talash hai na to hamsafar ki talash hai or a lullaby like Tere bachpan ko jawani ki dua deti hoon aur dua de ke parishaan si ho jati hoon — his songs were always suffused with a rare passion.
For Kabhi Kabhie, Sahir wrote Kal aur aayengey naghmon ki khilti kaliyaan chunnewale/ Mujh se behtar kehnewale tum se behtar sunnewale.. Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon.. he did not foresee that his lyrics would win for him a place in the immortals of Indian cinema.
Sahir won a Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for Taj Mahal (1963). He won a second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for his work on Kabhie Kabhie (1976). He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971. On 8 March 2013, the ninety-second anniversary of Sahir's birth, a commemorative stamp was issued in his honour.
There are some films which are iconic, Navketan's Baazi released in 1951 is also such film which gave the Hindi Film Industry many legends.The film is notable for two reasons: first, being the directorial debut of Guru Dutt and second, it was the film which inspired many urban crime thrillers in the fifties.This was the second film of Dev Anand's production house Navketan Films, and as per a commitment was given by Dev Anand to Guru Dutt in their days of struggle, the movie was directed by Guru Dutt.
The movie begins with hands being shown gambling, just in case if we viewers missed the point. A look at the credits makes you feel that the ‘who is who’ of the remaining years of the 50s are represented there. First of all this film gave us the Star Dev Anand who in the years to come to become the Style Icon of Bollywood. The second person to become Legendary Director of Bollywood was Guru Dutt.the third legend in making was S D Burman the great composer of Golden Era of Bollywood. Next legendary personality was Kalpna Kartik who later married Dev Anand made her debut with this film.
Kalpana Kartik in Baazi
S D Burman
Balraj Sahni, who had just returned after a stint with the BBC was entrusted with the story, screenplay and dialogues. Zohra Sehgal was brought in to choreograph the dance sequences. A young poet named Sahir Ludhianvi was given a chance to pen lyrics for the songs who later became a Legendary Lyricist and poet.
Sahir
Raj Khosla served as an assistant director who became a legendary Director. A bus conductor who Sahni had seen entertaining passengers was called in for a cameo, to play a drunkard, and while the film credits him by his real name Badruddin, after Baazi, the world knew him as Johnny Walker.
The other Legendary personalities were the Cinematographers V Ratra and his assistant V K Murthy who gave memorable cinematography of all Guru Dutt’s films, (including Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulamand Kagaz ke Phool) has earned Murthy a place in the history of Hindi cinema. He was awarded a ‘lifetime achievement award’ by the Indian International Film Academy in 2008. This came as belated recognition by the Bombay film industry for the contribution made to its evolution by technicians such as V.K. Murthy.
V K Murthy
In his autobiography Romancing with Life, Devsaab reminisces: “Baazi gave me an image that stayed in the minds of people, and made a genuine star out of me. For the first time, I felt and saw what stardom was in terms of adulation and fan following. I became a phenomenon after the release of Baazi.” Songs of Baazi 1951
S D Burman started his musical journey of Bollywood in 1946,got fame from 1947 film Do Bhai.Sahir Ludhinavi made his debut with four songs performed in the film Azadi Ki Raah Par (1949). The very first film in which they were teamed became a musical hit. The film was Baazi. If you recall those memorable numbers of Geeta Dutt picturized on Geeta Bali, you will just wonder how Sahir could accomplish that much in his very first film.The combination of Sahir and S D Burman after that gave one immortal song after another.In this Blog I talk about their combined creations and thus pay tribute to both.
After Baazi(1951) released Naujawaan (1951), with music by S.D. Burman, The song from that film ‘Thandi hawaein lehra kea yen’ has become an all-time great breezy number. Just see the depth in each word: ‘Thandi hawaen lehra ke ayen rut hai jawan, tum ko yahan, kaise bulayen… In the same year another song from Sazaa Tum Na Jane Kis Jahan Mein Kho Gaye was a super duper hit.The pair never looked back after 1951 Some of the Burman-Sahir creations have become masterpieces of all time – unbeaten, unmatchable. You cannot forget those classics from Jaal (Sunja dil ki dastan), ‘Taxi Driver’ (Jayen to jayen kahan),’Munimjee(Jeevan je safar mein rahi,), Funtoosh (Dukhi man mere sun mera kehna) House Number 44 (Teri duniya mein jeene se to behtar hai ke mar jayen). In 1955 released Bimal Roy's Devdas.The most popular song was of course Sahir’s Lata-rendered hit, ‘Jise tu qabool kar le vo ada kahan se laaoon, tere dil ko jo lubhae vo sada kahan se laaoon’ Lines such as, ‘Jo murad ban kar aye vo dua kahan se laaoon’. There was another dancing number, ‘Ab aagey teri marzi ho more saiyan bedardi aage teri marzi’. The public swung in ecstasy when these songs came to which Vyjantimala added the magic of her dancing talents. Both of them worked together in 18 films and gave many musical gems but their climax reached with Guru Dutt's Pyaasa Just consider the romantic duet, ‘Hum aap ki ankhon mein is dil ko chhipalen to..’ The variation in the tune and the pause on ‘to’ was fantastic. Without that music the lyrics might have sounded flat. Of course Geeta and Rafi also played a magnificent role in making the songs a success.Then there was that solo from Geeta, ‘Jaane kya tu ne kahi, jaane kya mai ne kahi, baat kuch ban hi gai’. How can one remain unaffected by these melodies ? And then just recall that romantic pang:, ‘Aj sajan mohe ang laga lo janam safal ho jaae, Hriday ki peerra deh ki agni sab sheetal ho jae’ How meaningful are the lines. Fantastically true. And when Geeta sings, ‘Prem sudha..more sanwariya.ya.y.a.ya sanwariya’ya’ya prem sudha itni barsa do jag jal-thal ho jae’. From where could Sahir get that fluency in Hindi to churn out such a beautiful romantic cry coming from the heart of a beloved ? The real gems from the same film are Jaane vo kaise log thhe jin ke pyaar ko pyaar mila,Hum ne to jab kaliyan maangi katon ka haar mila…’and Ye mehlon ye takhton yeh tajon ki duniya, ye insaan ke dushman rivajon ki duniya, ye duniya agar mil bhi jaae to kya hai..’And in the end he raises his voice to say,Jala do ise phoonk daalo yeh duniya, mere saamne se hata lo ye duniya, Tumhari hai tum hi sambalo ye duniya,Ye duniya agar mil bhi jae to kya hai…’
Pyaasa was the last film both worked together.Bothentered into a controversy with the poet saying the songs became hits because of the lyrics while the musical wizard claimed that his tunes had achieved wonders. It was on this issue that they parted company—never to work with each other again.It was a loss to music lovers that no more Gems would be available by this combination.
