Bhagwan Dada- His Signature Dance Steps became a Sensation.

 

Bhagwan Dada was the first dancing superstar of Indian cinema. He had rhythm and music embedded deep within him. He originated a particular style of dancing. That tender sway of the hip, the naughty look of an infant, and the candor of a star – he possessed it all. He had swag before swag got swag! His signature dance moves soon became a sensation. He was among the few male stars to break into an inner elite circle of actors/dancers, which was dominated by women. Many actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, Mithun Chakraborty, and Rishi Kapoor are known to have drawn inspiration from him.

 He entered the world of cinema through silent films. His first film of notable significance was called Criminal. He steadily infused himself into the art of directing and made his directorial debut with the film Bahadur Kisan. He co-directed it with Chandrarao in 1938.

One of Bhagwan Dada’s greatest works was a social film called Albela. The film featured Bhagwan Dada and Geeta Bali and the music was composed by C. Ramchandra. It is said that C. Ramachandra and Bhagwan Dada were discussing the film at a Churchgate restaurant in Mumbai and C. Ramachandra promised Bhagwan Dada to compose the music for the film, “for the love of it.”

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 the 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 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 He had invested his own money, pawned his wife’s jewellery and withdrawn all his life’s savings.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.

. He later took up small roles in multiple films, some of which were lost in obscurity. Unfortunately, his quest for success in films took a toll on his life and he lost all his wealth and ended up living in a chawl in Dadar, Mumbai.

He died of a heart attack on 4th Feb 2002. He was 89 years old. 

Song from Albela 1951

Song of  Bhagam Bhag  1956.

Once Indian Cinema was ruled by the Jews

These days for the past 2 months I am in Australia and watching a lot of T V programmes. A few days ago I heard about Danny Ben Moshe,  a documentary filmmaker and an Associate Professor at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. He has an interest in studying the Jew community in various trades and settling in various part of Globe. He also came to India to make a documentary on Jews contribution to Indian Cinema. 
On this subject, I wrote a blog in July 2017 on the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Modi's visit to Israel. In continuation of this subject, I am writing another blog on this subject.
We all know that Jewish people are a very innovative and enterprising community. They were the first to make a studio and made cinema in Hollywood. In India also they entered into the Cinema industry. Initially, they financed Silent Cinema but later they entered into the other fields of cinema.
The ‘30s were a key decade for Indian cinema. Sound — and the dancing format that has characterized Bollywood ever since — was introduced in 1931 with “Alam Ara,” written by Indian Jewish playwright David Joseph Penkar. In 1932, another Indian Jew, Ezra Mir (born Edwin Myers), created a sensation with “Zarina,” which included a record 86 kiss scenes.
 The Jewish were active in Bollywood during the period – the ’30s and the ’40s – when anti-Semitism was at its peak in other parts of the world.

Arati-Devi-AKA-Rachel-Sofare-in-Life-Devine

 In the early days of Bollywood,  it was a taboo for Hindu and Muslim women to act in movies. so initially female roles were played by men, the Jewish community in India was more liberal and progressive and they were prepared to take these role[s]. The fact that they had lighter skin made them all the more suited for celluloid. Initially, the cinema was silent so it was easy for the Jewish ladies to play the female lead as the language was not a barrier to them. They couldn't speak Hindi or Urdu.
During the silent era, most of India’s film stars were Jewish. But barring a few, they could not continue with their successful careers once the talkies were introduced as they were incapable of delivering dialogues in Hindi because of their Anglicised upbringing.
While in the early days of Hollywood the Jewish influence was behind the camera, in India it was front-and-centre onscreen.

The first female superstar was the Jewish actress Sulochana (aka Ruby Myers), and she and other Jewish stars had a formative impact on the development of Indian cinema. In her heyday, she was the highest paid actresses of her times, when she was pairing with, 'DinshawBillimoria' in 'Imperial Studios' films. In 1930, Sulochana made headlines when filmgoers saw her do a protracted kissing scene in the film “Hamara Hindustan." In mid-1930 she opened 'RubiPics', a film production House.

Among her popular films were Typist Girl (1926), Balidaan (1927) and Wildcat of Bombay (1927) where she essayed eight roles including a gardener, a policeman, a Hyderabadi gentleman, a street urchin, a banana seller and a European blonde! In 1953, she acted in her third Anarkali, but this time in a supporting role as Salim's mother. She received the Dada Sahab Phalke Award in 1973 for her lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. She died in 1983.
Sulochana was joined by other Indian Jewish actresses. Miss Rose, nee Rose Ezra, had endured a divorce and financial difficulties before finding silent-screen success in the 1920s. Rose’s cousin Pramila, who was born Esther Victoria Abraham, began her long career in the 1930s. Sulochana and Pramila would go on to become producers as well.

In the 40s another heroine made the name, Ramala Devi was born as Rachel Cohen. She is known for her work on Hit film Khazanchi (1941) where she appeared in the famous cycling song Saawan Ke Nazaare Hain. , one of her famous movies was Hum Bhi Insaan Hain (1948) with Dev Anand and. Jhooti Kasmen (1948). And as was the fashion with famous film stars of the time, she endorsed Lux soap in the 1940s. 

Post-independence Jewish Indian star Nadira was born Florence (or Farhat) Ezekiel Nadira, and debuted as Princess Rajshree in the 1952 film “Aan.”
In 1955, she played a rich socialite named Maya in Shree 420. She played pivotal roles in a number of films such as "Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai", Hanste Zakhm, Amar Akbar Anthony and Pakeezah. She was often cast as a temptress or vamp and played opposite the chaste heroines then favoured by the Bollywood film industry. She was well paid for her efforts and was one of the first Indian actresses to own a Rolls-Royce. She won a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, her role as Julie's mother Margaret, 'Maggie', in the 1975 film Julie. During the 1980s and 1990s, she entered a new phase of her career, playing elderly women as a supporting actress. Her last role was in the film Josh (2000). She died at the age of 73 at the Bhatia Hospital at Tardeo, Mumbai,

David Abraham Cheulkar (1908 - 1981), popularly known as David was a Jewish-Indian Hindi-language film actor, who started his film career with 1941 film Naya Sansar and went on to act in over 110 films. He was a member of Mumbai's Bene Israel community. With the help of his close friend Mr Nayampalli, a veteran character actor, he managed to land himself his first role in a movie. The movie was Zambo (1937) it was being produced and directed by Mohan Bhavnani. Beside Character actor   David is best known for his portrayal of "John Chacha" in the 1954 hit and Filmfare Award for Best Film winner and Palme d'Or nominee, Boot Polish, directed by Prakash Arora, for which he won the 1955 Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. The song "Nanhe Munne Bachche" from the film, picturized with him became a memorable song of that era. David was one of the best and the well-known anchor, compare and the host of the prominent award shows and other functions, He hosted many Filmfare Awards in the early years of Filmfare Awards. Some of his memorable films were  Anupama (1966),Ek Phool Do Maali (1969), Abhimaan (1973), Chupke Chupke (1975), Gol Maal (1979) and Khubsoorat (1980).He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 1969 by Government of India, He died on 28 December 1981 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada of a heart attack at the age of 73.

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