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
Bollywood songs, along with dance, remained a characteristic motif of Hindi cinema In the 50s and 60s club songs were the flavor of Bollywood lovers. Almost every film had one or two club songs. This became a genre in itself. If we look into those songs, we will see a girl or boy singing in a restaurant or a gambling den along boys and girls wearing skirts.with an orchestra playing western instruments.
The first popular club song was 'Patli Kamar Hai Tirchhi Nazar Hai' from Barsaat (1949) was picturized on Premnath and Cuckoo composed by Shankar Jaikishan. The next 'club' song that started a trend of this genre was from 'Baazi'(1951), 'Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer Bana le' sung by Geeta Dutt and picturized on Geeta Bali.
In this blog, I have selected a few of such popular Club Songs
Shammi Kapoor in his Biography said"The sound of any music evoked in me a strong urge to dance. The rhythm didn't take time to seep into me and seek expression in dance. The urge to dance was always there in him. His brother Raj Kapoor was a good dancer but Shammi was different.
He never had a dance director or a choreographer for his dance songs in any film. He danced to his own style and created his own steps and movements. The first time he got the chance of expressing himself in dance songs was in Tumsa Nahin Dekha, this film redefined him and shot him to bigtime stardom.
In his Biography, he tells "From a very early stage, he wanted to learn dancing but there were no professional dancing schools in Bombay at that time. There used to be a hotel in Dadar, whose owner used to teach Tango dance He took a few lessons from him.
Shammi Kapoor said that it was lucky that he got good songs." I think I tried to give physical expressions to music. My choreography was always done here( pointing towards his heart) and I brought it out on the floor. Telling about the picturization of the song' Yahoo' he said "everybody was satisfied with the song Yahoo recorded after the hard work of Rafi saheb and music director Shankar Jaikishan, now it was my turn to make this song an immortal. This song was picturized in Kufri, not in Kashmir. The setting looked ideal with 12 feet deep snow and the breathtakingly beautiful sight around Everybody was in a fix what will I do?, how will I do?
Shammi further said that he was also not made in his mind about how to do it. Yes it was sure that he had to slide on the snow, The next day in the morning at 7 AM the whole unit collected at the spot from where he had to slide, But just when the camera was to roll, the sun disappeared, they couldn't shoot that day due to poor sunlight. This happened for six days, the song couldn't be picturized Finally on the Seventh-day the song was picturized. Shammi Kapoor said that there was no choreographer, no preparation by himself, whatever he did was spontaneous.
After Junglee every producer and director wanted Shammi to perform the song as per his wish. He said in the book" I used to tell my directors to keep the camera flexible, don't freeze the field, play the music, and let me do the act. That is what he did in most of his songs.
He said for the song Aasman Se Aya Farishta of An Evening in Paris, it was his idea to perform on a helicopter.
His biggest hit Teesri Manzil (1966) broke all kinds of records at the box office — thanks to its music. Composed by R.D. Burman, songs of this movie are considered some of his best works and Shammi’s best dance performances. O Mere Sona Re, O Haseena Zulfonwali Jaane Jahan, and Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyaar Tera are still regularly seen on playlists and heard on the radio.
Looking at just one decade of Shammi’s career, it is clear about the kind of stupendous impact that he has had on Bollywood and its audience. He left a mark like no other and even though many have managed to make a name as great dancers, nobody has come close to him — much like the original Elvis Presley.
Saroj Khan (22 November 1948 - July 3, 2020), started her career as a child artist at the age of three with the film Nazarana as child Shyama. She worked as a background group dancer in many dance songs in the late 50s. She got her break as an independent choreographer, with Geeta Mera Naam (1974).before that she was assistant to dance director B. Sohanlal.Her first breakthrough came with Subhash Ghai's Hero (1983), but it was Sridevi's Nagin dance in Nagina (1986) where she was noticed for her talent, followed up by Mr. India. Next, she worked with Madhuri Dixit in 'Ek Do Teen' number, Tezaab (1989), and later in Khalnayak, where she choreographed the Choli Ke Peeche' number. Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit were her favs. dancers in Bollywood. Sridevi danced to her steps in Mr. India's Hawa Hawai and Chandini's 'Mere Hathon Mein'.Madhuri Dixit starting with the hit Ek Do Teen in Tezaab (1988), Tamma Tamma Loge in Thanedaar (1990), and Dhak Dhak Karne Laga in Beta (1992). With a career span of over forty years, she choreographed more than 2000 songs Many of her choreographed songs have been iconic. Saroj Khan was the recipient of the most National Film Awards for Best Choreography with three wins. She was the first recipient of the filmfare Best Choreography Award. Filmfare instituted this award after watching the excellent choreography and audience response to Khan's song "Ek Do Teen" from Tezaab. Saroj Khan went on to have a hat-trick at the Filmfare awards winning consistently for 3 years from 1989 to 1991. She also holds the record for winning the most Filmfare Best Choreographer Awards, winning 8 times. She was admitted to Guru Nanak Hospital at Bandra, Mumbai on June 17, 2020. She was admitted with breathing complaints, and died of cardiac arrest at 1:52 am early on Friday, July 3, 2020. Some of her Iconic Choreography
"Piya Tose" the song from Guide was composed by Dada Burman using Roopak Taal (7 Beats) which was Dada's most favorite Taal. Waheeda Rehman looked extremely charming with her Gentle Dance Steps while singing "Piya Tose".If you notice carefully this song starts without any prelude which was Dada's typical style. Alaaps within this song were very carefully composed. This is one of the best dances of Waheeda Rehman in films. Waheeda Rehman in an interview once said that Since this was a very long dance sequence, there was a possibility in final editing, part of this song would have been cut. Realizing this, Waheeda Rehman took a promise from Dev Anand that in the final editing he will cut something else from the movie but will not touch this dance song. And guess what, Dev Kept up that promise and this dance sequence was kept intact and no cuts were made.
This dance song was very long nearly 8 minutes. There are 4 stanzas and each stanza of 5 or 6 lines. It took 21 days to picturize this song. The specialty of this song, it presented a new dance aesthetics that blended Kathak, Bharatnatyam, and different folk dances from across India as also a celebration of different festivals. This dance was choreographed by Master Sohan Lal and his younger brother Hira Lal B, under the guidance of Vijay Anand. The choreography of the song and the picturization by the Cameraman Fali Mistry is simply superb. Vijay Anand is known for the excellence of picturizing a song.
The striking stage sets that accompany the song and dance sequence mapped the different stages of Rosie's success as a professional dancer. Beginning from a simple theatrical setting in a rural environment to a further grand scale. The costumes in this song according to the stanzas. Each stanza unfolded a different setting, dance style, music, and background. The innovative cinematography showed the backup dancers in novel ways. First, the camera only caught their moving feet but then their bodies filled the stage in various visual designs. The camera angles also enhanced the dance sequence. The sheer grace and beauty of Waheeda Rehman's dancing, her restrictive movements, and energy made the scene memorable.
Watch carefully the last stanza "Raat Ko Jab Chaand Chamake Jal Uthe Tan Mera" is a turning point of this song, where our soul is lost in the beautiful scene of moonlight of Raag Khamaj and the same in the second stanza about morning sunrise "Bhor Kii Bela" just observe the sound of a flute, what a composition by Dada Burman. The interludes in "Piya Tose" are very rich and composed very intrinsically. Dada used a wide variety of musical instruments in this song such as Sarangi, Harmonium, Tabla, Ghungroos, and North Eastern Drums. There is also a piece of very interesting information to the readers that the world's best Santoor Player Pt. Shivkumar Sharma played Tabla for this song and flute by Hariprasad Chaurasia. There is a story that this song was sung and recorded by S.D.Burman himself before he recorded Lata's song. It was a usual practice of Dada to sing the song himself first then tell his singers to sing like him. There is one more story about this song that this song was already composed 10 years ago for the movie Devdas of Dilip Kumar. It was picturized on Dilip Kumar and Suchitra Sen as a background song.The wordings of the song were a little different. Even music was a little different. Whereas a tabla piece replaced original sitar piece.
"Ek Do Teen" featured in 1988 film Tezaab which proved to be Madhuri’s first claim to fame. The song was choreographed by Saroj Khan, sung by Alka Yagnik and composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal. Before the release of the film, the song became a super hit, Looking to its popularity a male version of this song was included in the film after the release of the film. The song was driving people crazy. Ek Do. Teen...they hum from the shower to the office. From the office to the bedroom. And everywhere else in between. The film was released on 11th Nov 1988 and all the cinema halls all over India witnessed a huge crowd. It ran in theatres for more than 50 weeks, becoming a golden jubilee, and it was the highest blockbuster at the box office for the year 1988The film's soundtrack album sold more than 8million units, becoming the second best-selling Bollywood music album of 1988. The iconic hook step by Madhuri Dixit in this song was the creation of the choreography genius Saroj Khan. She was the first recipient of the Filmfare Best Choreography Award. Filmfare instituted this award after watching the excellent choreography and audience response to Khan's song "Ek Do Teen" from Tezaab. This song and dance were unique in itself, till that time in Indian cinema it had never happened that dance is being performed on stage, but the audience isn’t sitting, they are standing the way the crowd stands on Pop concerts in the west. The director of the film N Chandra wanted Saroj to have such an atmosphere that the crowd going wild and tearing their clothes with excitement. For this song, Madhuri Dixit had to rehearse for15 days This song was finally shot in front of a real crowd of 1000 people, everybody connected with this song was very proud that an iconic dance is in making. In a recent tweet, Madhuri Dixit remembered the dance number and said, “The hook step became so popular at that time. I was shocked to know that people used to demand the song to be replayed in the theatres before the movie could continue & fling money on the screens. Everyone had started calling me Mohini. This song was inspired by the opening bars of an old popular song "Chanda mama door ke" composed by the famous yesteryears music composer Ravi for the film Vachan. It is almost 32 years completed of this song and its popularity is still there among the young generation. This song was recreated in the 2018 film Baghi 2.Now Jacqueline, dressed similarly in a pink and yellow skirt danced to the new version of the song. Very recently Tiktok Users started a #EkDoTeenChallenge. Madhuri Dixit also joined TikTok to celebrate the momentous occasion with her fans, taking up the challenge herself to groove on her popular track with the community of over 200 million users. The #EkDoTeenChallenge clocked a phenomenal over 140 million views in just two days!
Kumkum was discovered by Guru Dutt. Guru Dutt was to picturise the song "Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar Laaga Teere Nazar" for his movie Aar Paar (1954). The famous song "Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan" from C.I.D was picturized on her. She showed her dancing talents in the film Kohinoor (1960) with Dilip Kumar. "Madhuban Mein Radhika Nache Re" and "Haye Jaadugar Qaatil, Haazir Hai Mera Dil", sung by Asha Bhosle (1956), sung by Geeta Dutt was picturized on her. She was paired opposite Kishore Kumar in many films. The songs like "Khoobsurat Haseena" from Mr. X in Bombay, "Sultana Sultana" from Shreeman Funtoosh and "Machalti Hui" from Ganga Ki Lahren, which were picturized on the pair Kishore-Kumkum. Kumkum(born on 22nd April 1934)born Zaibunnissa, is from Bihar. Her father was Nabab of Hussainabad and belonged to a highly reputed family.She paired with many film heroes of her era and was popular in roles alongside Kishore Kumar. She was the heroine of Dharmendra's debut film"Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere" She was also paired alongside Shammi Kapoor in a side role in Mem Saheb (1956) and also in lead opposite Shammi Kapoor in Char Dil Char Raahein (1959). She has been a favorite choice for writer-director Ramanand Sagar. Ramanand Sagar decided to cast Kumkum as Dharmendra's sister in Ankhen, a super hit film of 1968. In 1970, for Geet, Kumkum was Ramanand Sagar's choice for a small role. But in Lalkar (1972), she was paired with Dharmendra, while Rajendra Kumar was paired with Mala Sinha. Kumkum was paired with Kiran Kumar in Jalte Badan (1973), produced, directed and written by Ramanand Sagar. She was paired opposite Vinod Khanna in Dhamkee in 1973 and the duet song "Chand Kya Hai Roop Ka Darpan" became hugely popular. She was paired opposite Pran in the comedy film Ek Kuwara Ek Kuwari, directed by Prakash Mehra, which was a blockbuster. She acted in nearly 115 films in her career.Some of her best known for her roles in Mother India (1957), Naya Daur (1957), Ujala (1959), Kali Topi Lal Rumal (1959), Kohinoor (1960), Son Of India (1962), Ganga Ki Lahren (1964), Shreeman Funtoosh (1965), Ek Sapera Ek Lutera (1965), Raja Aur Runk (1968), Ankhen (1968), Geet (1970) and Lalkar (1972). Kumkum also acted in Bhojpuri films. Her first film in Bhojpuri cinema was Ganga Maiyya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo (1963). She left films after her marriage and shifted to Saudi Arab.
Awards may have eluded him but he is still a Living Legend of Bollywood. He came at the time when Rajesh Khanna was not a Star and continued to win the hearts of his fans. He continued to have his own audience irrespective of whether it was Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh Bachchan who was the ruling superstars of the 70s and 80s. The press made fun of his tight white trousers and white shoes and labeled him “Jumping Jack Jeetu” for his boisterous dance moves. Rishi Kapoor in an interview once said that his fellow actors Jeetendra and Rakesh Roshan never got their due, even when they contributed so much to the Indian cinema. Jeetendra (born Ravi Kapoor on 7 April 1942) got his break-in 1964 with V Shantaram's Geet Gaya Patharon Ne as a hero but got star status with the release of Farz in 1967. The film was a super-duper hit He became a star overnight. He had 3 hits before Rajesh Khanna became Superstar with Aradhana in 1969. Even when Rajesh Khanna was giving one hit after another his films were also clicking on the Box Office. In those three years from 1970 to 1973, he appeared in more than 25 films and gave super hits like Jeene Ki Raah, Jigri Dost, Waris, Khilona, Humjoli, Caravan, Anokhi Ada etc. During the Sunami of Amitabh Bachchan he was among a few heroes who survived and gave many hits.during that period up to 1980, more than 40 films were release4d.In fact, in the 80s he was in demand. In the 1980s, Jitendra was frequently paired up with Sridevi or Jayapradha for remakes of South Indian potboilers courtesy of Rama Rao Tatineni, K. Bapayya and K. Raghavendra Rao; some of these films were produced by Padmalaya Productions. Featuring elaborate sequences with colorful clay pots, dozens of extras, electronic music by Bappi Lahiri, and lyrics by Indeewar, movies like Justice Chaudhry (1982), Mawaali (1983), Himmatwala (1983), Jaani Dost, and Tohfa (1984) were huge hits despite low critical acclaim. In the 1990s Jeetendra found it difficult to cope up in the rat race. His films ‘Santaan’ (1993) and ‘Udhaar Ka Zindagi’ (1995) failed at the box-office. Recognizing the change in tide, he turned into a character actor and was seen in films like ‘Dil Aashna Hai’, 'Zamana Deewana' and 'Dushman Duniya Ka'. Last, he was seen in ‘Kucch To Hai’ (2003) and did a special appearance for ‘Om Shanti Om’ (2007). He has acted in nearly 200 films as the main lead, a feat matched by just a handful of his peers since the inception of Hindi cinema.Out of these 200 films 125 films were hit.
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 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,
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 the Hindi film industry’s all-time favorite 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 jewelry 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.
Though Shammi Kapoor invented rock and roll in Bollywood, it was Jeetendra whoreally gave a new dimension to dancing In Bollywood. With filmmaker Ravikant Nagaich’s bond thriller FARZ, Jeetendra set the ball rolling and became the First Bollywoodhero who left his heroines behind in the dance movements. One can recollect the super hit song Mast Baharon Ka Main Aashiq from the film FARZ,Jeetendra’s fast-paced dance movement in the song is truly breathtaking. That was unique in Hindi films that the hero is dancing in such a way. After the success of this movie and particularly the mega success of this song, the media coined the term Jumping Jack for Jeetendra. His mass appeal and naughty on-screen persona were what won the heart of the audience. They expected him to dance and songs in every film. There were many films like,Jeene Ki Raah, Jigri Dost, Waris‘Caravan’ and ‘Humjoli’, in which Jeetendra had more dance numbers.
In the 80s he was most frequently cast opposite heroines like Sridevi and Jaya Prada, and his career mostly consisted of South Indian film remakes of makers like Rama Rao Tatineni, K Bapayya and K. Raghavendra Rao. Among them, the most noteworthy were: Sanjog, Aulad, Majaal, Justice Chaudhry, Mawaali, Himmatwala, Jaani Dushman and Tohfa. Jeetendra was visible flaunting white trousers and a crisp white shirt dancing with his lead heroines. He jollily tossed around heroines in film after film, from ’60sto the ’90s but a willing audience never got tired of his dancing steps. Remember the songs like Kanwarlal Naam Hai Mera from Meri Awaz Suno Here are some of his Dancing songs.
