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
Recall this song from the 1966 film Guide, sung by S D Burman. This was a credit title song in the background as Dev Anand the hero of the film comes out from jail, the song starts right there. The 'Mukhda' starts on a wide shot of the main gate of the jail from inside...'Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jaayega kahan'
Vijay Anand, the ace director, and screenplay writer wanted to start the film with a situation and song that would make the audience curious and uneasy, eager to know the story.....He did this with the help of the great Lyricist Shailendra.
If we look into the song minutely we would find the genius of three great people, S D Burman, the composer, Shailendra, the Lyricist, and Vijay Anand, the director.S D Burman composed a tune (actually his old Bangla song, slightly altered) The song starts with a 'Sitaar' notes used in the introduction music..
The sense of freedom is depicted by a strange-looking shot of a tree seen upside down and a group of birds flying away.... The camera moves back to reveal that it was the reflection of the tree in a pool of water....
In the first stanza "Beet gaye din, pyar ke palchhin, sapna bani woh ratein".... "Bhool gaye woh, tu bhi bhulaa de, pyar ki woh mulaaqaatein..." We see Dev Anand walking with a bundle of his belongings slung over his shoulder...The bundle slips and opens.... A close shot of the things that have spilled out... a few photographs of Waheeda Rehman...
The genius of Vijay Anand can be seen in the last shot of the song, we see a sleeping Dev Anand and the shadow of the unknown man as if he is looking at Dev. When the song starts we see Dev Anand smartly dressed with puff hair and as the song ends, he is now lying among the ruins....covered in saffron
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Shailendra's (30 August 1921 – 14 December 1966),forte was his ability to write songs that were easy to sing but had a hook that led you to a deeper meaning. The finesse with which he could switch from the philosophical to the trivial is extraordinary. Initially, he was inclined towards Left, some of his film songs had a socialist theme
Take 'Dil Ka Haal Sunay Dil Wala' for instance. It talks about class struggle, exploitation, and nepotism. In another song, Suraj Zara Aa Paas Aa, Aaj Sapno Ki Roti Pakayenge Hum, he talks about hunger—not bitterly but in a jovial manner. His soulful song, Musafir Jaaye Ga Kahan, is one such philosophical gem from Guide (1965).
He created the famousslogan — “Har zor-zulm kee takkar mein, hartal hamara nara ha", this is still used by protesters even today. He used io recite poems in Mushaira and Kavi Sammelan. One of his poems 'Jalta Hai Punjab' attracted the filmmaker Raj Kapoor to have this in his debut directorial film Aag.
He was one of the pillars of the great songs of the Golden Era of Bollywood. Although other contemporaries like Majrooh, Sahir, Kaifi, Shakeel, Jan Nisar Akhtar were regarded as poets who drifted from literature to film songs, Shailendra was generally thought primarily as a lyricist. His sheer diversity of thought is quite unique.
His songs reflect his keen observation of life, culture, relations, and emotions and his hope for a fair and just world Let's look into some of his songs.
There was an anecdote told by his son in an interview that Raj Kapoor took Shailendra to introduce him to K A Abbas who was his main scriptwriter for the narration of the script. , Abbas ignored him. After two-and-a-half hours of narration, Raj Kapoor asked, “Kuchh samajh mein aaya Kaviraaj?” Shailendra replied, “Gardish main tha, par aasman ka taara tha. Awaara tha.” A shocked Abbas finally noticed the stranger in his room for he had summarised his two hours of effort in one line. The three together with Shankar Jaikishen made a formidable team in the years to come. these three lines later created history. Watch the video below to know its popularity all over the globe
The first song he wrote for Barsat(1949) was- 'Patalii kamar hai, tirachhii najar hai patalii kamar hai, tirachhii najar haikhile phuul-sii terii javaaniiko_ii bataa_e kahaa.N kasar hai' the other song was 'taak-dhinaa-dhin dhinaa-dhin taak-dhinaa-dhin barasaat me.n taak-dhinaa-dhin barasaat me.n hamase mile tum sajan, tumase mile ham barasaat mein'. This song was super hit and created a trend of Title sons in Hindi songs.
Some of his songs were romantic (‘Yeh raat bheegi bheegi’, ‘Tere mere sapne’), some metaphysical (‘Wahan kaun hai tera’, ‘Zindagi khwab hai’, ‘Sajan re jhoot mat bolo’, ‘Jao re Jogi’) others of longing (‘Aja re Padesi’, ‘Oh jaanewalae ho sake’, ‘O basanti pawan pagal’) anguish (‘Kya se kya ho gaya’, ‘Dost dost na raha’, ‘Sajanwa bairi ho gaye’), abandon (‘Mud mud ke na dekh’, ‘Suhana Safar’, ‘Aaj phir jeene ki’), or even nonsensical (‘Tin kanastar’, ‘Chuhe mama’).
.He was a complete lyricist in all genres of lyricism: serious, funny, spiritual, romantic, sad, happy, and angry.Gulzar called him the greatest lyricist in Hindi films.He shaped his songs to suit the characters and through his lyrics added other dimensions to the story."
Har zo zulm ki takkar mein hartal hamara nara hai Tumne mangen thukrai hain, tumne toda hai har wada Chhini hamse sasti roti, tum chhatni par aamada ho Toh apni bhi tayyari hai, toh humne bhi lalkara hai Har zo zulm ki takkar mein hartal hamara nara hai
Shailendra was a rare lyricist for whom there was no other life beyond lyrics.He was a complete lyricist in all genre’s of lyricism: serious, funny, spiritual, romantic, sad, happy and angry.. Gulzar called him the greatest lyricist in Hindi films. He was associated with not only with Shankar-Jaikishen but also with a number of music directors such as Salil Chowdhury and SD Burman. His father hailed from Bihar. This U.P. – Bihar cultural influence was to show later in his folk-style film songs. The origins of Chadh gayo paapibichhua, Sajanwa bairi ho gaye hamarand Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul thus can be traced to this family back-ground. He was born in Rawalpindi, and brought up in Mathura.He came in contact with Indra Bahadur Khare at the Kishori Raman School. Both started composing poems, sitting on the rock located on the bank of a pond near to Mathura Railway Station In 1947 he moved to Bombay and started his career as an apprentice with Indian Railways in Matunga workshop.His writing continued during that period also. He used to recite his poem in Kavi Sammelans,in one such Sammelan Raj Kapoor heard his poem Jalta hai Punjab, he was so influenced by this poem,he thought of taking this poem in his upcoming movie AAH(1948).He approached Shailendra to buy this poem which Shailendra refused because that time selling their poems was not good morally.However Raj Kpoor gave him an open offer to write for him. As you know the life of a writer is always tough,Shailendra was also living that life.During those days Shailendra's wife got pregnant he needed money that time Shailendra himself approached Raj Kapoor in need of money. At this time, Raj Kapoor was filming Barsaat (1949), and two of the film songs had not yet been written. For ₹ 500, Shailendra wrote these two songs: Patli kamar hai and Barsaat mein. Thus the filmy career of Shailendra started.The song "Barsaat mei hum se mile"started a new trend of title songs.This was started by Shailendra,after that he wrote the title song Awara Hoon for Awara which became a huge hit, Normally, in Raj Kapoor movies in which Shankar Jaikishan have directed music and composed songs on the lyrics of Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri, there is always a title song. For example, I In fact the trend was started by him with Barsaat song. The Awara’s title song Awara Hoon was penned by Shailendra, which was the biggest international hit ever. Although other contemporaries like Majrooh, Sahir, Kaifi, Shakeel, Jan Nisar Akhtar were regarded as poets who drifted from literature to film songs, Shailendra was generally thought primarily as a lyricist. His sheer diversity of thought is quite unique. Some of his songs are romantic (‘Yeh raat bheegi bheegi’, ‘Tere mere sapne’), some metaphysical (‘Wahan kaun hai tera’, ‘Zindagi khwab hai’, ‘Sajan re jhoot mat bolo’, ‘Jao re Jogi’) others of longing (‘Aja re Padesi’, ‘Oh jaanewalae ho sake’, ‘O basanti pawan pagal’) anguish (‘Kya se kya ho gaya’, ‘Dost dost na raha’, ‘Sajanwa bairi ho gaye’), abandon (‘Mud mud ke na dekh’, ‘Suhana Safar’, ‘Aaj phir jeene ki’), or even nonsensical (‘Tin kanastar’, ‘Chuhe mama’). Shailendra became popular because he used to write in simple words.He wrote in the common man’s language. He was economical in his use of words, yet his writing was very meaningful. Take for instance, Teesri Kasam’s Sajan re jhooth mat bolo. he penned lullabies, bhajans, love songs and even item numbers with equal ease and panache,he was gifted with supernatural quality of writing any stuff of any genre. In 1961 Shailendra invested heavily in the production of the movie Teesri Kasam (1966), directed by Basu Bhattacharya and starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. However, the film was a commercial failure.The falling health resulting from tensions associated with film production and anxiety due to financial loss, coupled with alcohol abuse, ultimately led to his death,he died on 14th December 1966. The Milestone Songs of Shailendra
Every song has a story behind it. On this subject, I have written a blog earlier. In this blog, I take this immortal song from Kala Bazar. The song was written by Shailendra and composed by S.D. Burman. This was the first time that Dev Anand, Vijay Anand, Waheeda Rehman, S D Burman and Shailendra came together. Vijay Anand who was the director of the film, who narrated the situation of the song to Shailendra and asked him to write a romantic song for this situation. Shailendra, probably too busy with his other assignments, was not delivering a song, urgently needed for the film.Shailendra was making all kinds of excuses for not delivering.S D Burman, known for his bad temper, was under tremendous pressure. So one fine day Shailendra was at his residence and asked him to give him the words for his tune for this song. Burman da called his young son, Pancham ( R D Burman ) and told him – ” You will go with Shailendra and DO NOT come home unless he gives you the lyrics ” !!! This incident was narrated by R D Burman in a radio interview in AIR. As Burman da was very angry on Shailendra he asked RD Burman to come along with him and drove to his home. On the way, they stopped at Shankar Jaikishan's place to finish some pending work. It was evening…. Shailendra finished his work with Shanker Jaikishen and with Pancham, got into his car. He instructed the driver to go to National Park. There, Shailendra kept smoking cigarette after cigarette. BUT NO WORDS !!! Shailendra then thought of a change of place, he asked his driver to proceed to Juhu Beach R D Burman was cursing his luck as they got back into the car, it was almost night, what will he tell his father about the song.He was 20 years old that time and was an assistant so he couldn't pressurise Shailendra to give him the song immediately. The time was 11 in the night and nothing is written.The beach was deserted. Those days people used to return home by 7 orr 8 in the evening. Shailendra was leisurely strolling along with the eager Pancham trying to keep step. Suddenly Shailendra asked Pancham for a matchbox. He sheepishly handed over his matchbox to Shailendra. Shailendra was lost in thought, he lit his cigarette, returned the matchbox and asked Pancham to give him the tune Burman da had composed. Pancham, tapping the matchbox in rhythm, hummed the tune. It was a full moon night and Shailendra was looking at the sky puffing away on his cigarette and suddenly started writing on a piece of cigarette pack foil. after a while, he told Pancham –“You can go home, tell Dada, I will be at your place in the morning with the full song..”
He hummed the mukhda
Khoya khoya chand, khula aasmaan, Aankhon mein saari raat jaayegi, Tum ko bhi kaise neend aayegi
Pancham smiled, he knew that this song was a winner! He ran, hailed a cab and went home. Pancham in the next morning handed Dada a crumpled piece of cigarette pack foil with the words of the mukhda scribbled on it!!! Burman Da instantly liked the mukhda and asked Pancham to call Shailendra to complete the song.
As we all know that Burman Da was very particular about the words of his songs and similarly Shailendra too chooses his words very carefully as per the situation. Thus the full song was completed in that sitting. Same day Burman Da called Mohammad Rafi to come for the rehearsal of this song The song was recorded after two days.
We must appreciate Vijay Anand who picturised the song so well that it became the highlight of the film. It topped Annual Binaca Geetmala that year. What Vijay Anand achieves is a feat which is very rare. Most directors shy away from shooting and showing us more than two verses of a song. Here, his shooting, along with Burmanda’s music and Shailendra’s words, is so perfect that we go through FOUR verses of this song just glued to our seats !!!! That is why Vijay Anand is adored by film-goers and film-makers all over India.
Shankardas Kesarilal (30 August 1921 – 14 December 1966), popularly known by his pen name Shailendra,He was born in Rawalpindi, and brought up in Mathura.He came in contact with Indra Bahadur Khare at the Kishori Raman School. Both started composing poems, sitting on the rock located on the bank of a pond near to Mathura Railway Station In 1947 he moved to Bombay and started his career as an apprentice with Indian Railways in Matunga workshop.His writing continued during that period also.
Shailendra with his wife and children
His father hailed from Bihar. This U.P. – Bihar cultural influence was to show later in his folk-style film songs. The origins of Chadh gayo paapibichhua, Sajanwa bairi ho gaye hamarand Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul thus can be traced to this family back-ground. He used to recite his poem in Kavi Sammelans,in one such Sammelan Raj Kapoor heard his poem Jalta hai Punjab, he was so influenced by this poem,he thought of taking this poem in his upcoming movie AAH(1948).He approached Shailendra to buy this poem which Shailendra refused because that time selling their poems was not good morally.However Raj Kpoor gave him an open offer to write for him.
As you know the life of a writer is always tough,Shailendra was also living that life.During those days Shailendra's wife got pregnant he needed money that time Shailendra himself approached Raj Kapoor in need of money. At this time, Raj Kapoor was filming Barsaat (1949), and two of the film songs had not yet been written. For ₹ 500, Shailendra wrote these two songs: Patli kamar hai and Barsaat mein. Thus the filmy career of Shailendra started.The song "Barsaat mei hum se mile"started a new trend of title songs.This was started by Shailendra,after that he wrote the title song Awara Hoon for Awara which became a huge hit,
Shailendra,Mukesh Jaikishan and Raj Kapoor
One fine incident was told by Shailendra himself that those days the Music Directors used to recommend the Lyricst to the Producers,Shankar Jaikishan with whom he worked in Barsat and Awara had promised him that they will recommend his name to producers.which they did nit do or forgot,Shailendra was not getting work so one day he sent a note with these lines to Shankar Jaikishan Chhoti Si Yeh Duniya, Pehchaane Raaste Hain. Kahin To Miloge, toh Poochhenge Haal ("The world is small, the roads are known. We'll meet sometime, and ask 'How do you do?'"). Shankar-Jaikishan realised what the message meant and having said sorry, turned the lines into a popular song. The song was featured in the film Rangoli (1962), for which the producer Rajendra Singh Bedi wanted to sign up Majrooh Sultanpuri as the lyricist. However, Shankar-Jaikishen insisted on Shailendra and the producer had to oblige.After that Shankar-Jaikishen took Shailendra in all non-RK films too like Hariyali aur Rasta, Patita (Hai sab se madhur vo geet jise hum dard ke sur mein gas ate hain), Daag (Ai mere dil kahin aur chal), Badshah, Kathputli, Ashiq, Love Marriage. College Girl, Jab Pyar Kisi se Hota hai, Begunah, New Delhi and of course ‘Yahudi’ in which the Mukesh number, ‘Ye mera diwanapan hai’ got for him the Filmfare award for the first time.
Raj Kapoor was always full of praise for his friend and lyricist Shailendra — whom the legendary filmmaker fondly called ‘Pushkin’ and ‘Kabiraj’ — and often barged into the latter’s home at night.
Shailendra became popular because he used to write in simple words.He wrote in the common man’s language. He was economical in his use of words, yet his writing was very meaningful. Take for instance, Teesri Kasam’s Sajan re jhooth mat bolo. he penned lullabies, bhajans, love songs and even item numbers with equal ease and panache,he was gifted with supernatural quality of writing any stuff of any genre.
He was one of the founding member of IPTA and also active member of Progressive Writer's Association.He won many Awards,he got 3 Fimfare Awards , the first in 1958 for "Yeh Mera Diwanapan"from Yahudi,second in 1959 for "Sab Kuchh Seekha Hamne" from Anari,the third was for "Mein Gaaon Tum So Jao" in 1968 for Brahmchaari.
Yeh Mera Diwanapan
Mein Gaaon Tum So Jao
In 1961 Shailendra invested heavily in the production of the movie Teesri Kasam (1966), directed by Basu Bhattacharya and starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. However, the film was a commercial failure.The falling health resulting from tensions associated with film production and anxiety due to financial loss, coupled with alcohol abuse, ultimately led to his death,he died on 14th December 1966. My TRIBUTE To SHAILENDRA My TOP 10 Lyrically Favourite Songs
