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
Last night I was listening the song "Jalte Hain Jis ke Liye" sung by Talat Mahmood from the film Sujata. One interesting point I noted that this song has no sound of Tabla, Dholak or any other percussion instrument.This made me curious to research those songs which do not have any rhythmic instruments. However, you may be surprised to learn that some of the most popular songs of the Golden era (mostly 50s and 60s) do not have any percussion instrument. Yes, you read that right. There are no percussion instruments in some of the most popular songs. We all know that Melody and Rhythm are two essential elements of any Hindi film song. Melody is mostly identified with the vocals or the singable part and rhythm is identified with accompanying percussion instruments like Tabla or Bongo or Drums. You may say that the songs that do not have percussion must be sad or slow songs. But it was not like that.There are some bright, cheerful songs as well that have Nothing but melody. It is possible to create the rhythm for a song without using percussion instruments. Most composers created rhythm by using guitars, banjo or some other stringed instrument like a Double Bass or a Piano. In film songs, guitar can be played in three ways – as a lead guitar, bass guitar or rhythm guitar. In the above mentioned song the composer of the song SD Burman usesd Piano to provide rhythm.Similarly SD Burman’s another masterpiece song from Pyaasa – Jaane woh kaise log in which piano supplements guitars and double bass for rhythm. Hemant Kumar too seems to have a penchant for composing songs without percussion. His lively Bekarar karke from Bees Saal Baad, surprisingly does not have any percussion instruments, very unusual for the situation in the movie. Here are few songs where the rhythm is provided by a variety of stringed instruments like Double Bass, Guitars and so on. I hope you enjoy these extremely popular Nothing but melody songs.
Have you ever noticed that there are some Hindi songs which ask questions and the answer is given by the hero or heroine?. This theme came into my mind when I was watching the old movie Chori Chori. The song Jahan Main Jaati Hoon...Yeh To Batao Ki Tum Mere Kaun Ho from this film made me think of writing this blog on this theme. Songs based on ‘Riddles’ (Paheli in Hindi) used to be quite popular in the Golden Era of Hindi Film Music and a few of them are still played in children programs in schools. The oldest hit song in this theme came into my mind from the film Anmol Ghadi "Awaaz De Kahan Hai, Duniya Meri. Jawaan Hai sung by Noorjehan and Surendra. Another hit song "Ichak Dana Bichak Dana, Dane Upar Dana from Shri 420 also fit in this theme. Here are many such hit songs in this post.
Before the playback singing started in Bolywood ,all most all the hero and heroines used to sing their songs,in fact they were taken on the basis of their singing talent.K L SAIGAL,Noor Jeahan,Ashok Kumar,Devika Rani,Kanan Devi and Suraiya were singing sensation of their time.
The great singers of Golden Era of Hindi Cinema like Mohammad Rafi,Kishorn Kumar,Mukesh and TalatMahmood also acted in many films.There are many playback singers who turned to acting but could not succeed,similarly there were many actors who tried their talent in singing. In this blog I have taken some of these great actors who sang in the films.
The first song on my list is from the 1947 film Dil Ki Rani sung by Raj Kapoor
Song of Dil Ki Rani 1947
Here is a rare song sung by Dilip Kumar,a duet with Lata Mangeshkar in 1957 film Musafir
Song of Musafir 1957
We all know that Mena Kumari was a poet but beside this she was a good singer also,she sang many songs in her films like Duniya Ek Sarai
Piya Ghar Aaja, Bichhade Bala and Pinjre Ke Panchhi
Song Duniya Ek Sarai
Amitabh Bachchan is another actor who sang many songs in his films.The first time he sang in Mr Natwar Lal and later in many films like Lawaris ,Silsila and many more.
Song of Lawaris
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Nutan was also a good singer, she sang in the 1960 film Chhabili
Thumri is a common style of light classical music. The text is romantic and devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The language is a dialect of Hindi called Brij bhasha. It arose in popularity during the 19th century. It was made popular among the common people by Hindi films. Thumris have been used in films right from the very early days of talkies. Rajkumari had sung a number of Thumris in the 30s. K L Saigal had sung a popular thumri, piya bina nahi aawat, way back in 1935, in Devdas. And who can forget, Saigal’s Baabul Mora Naihar, in 1938 movie Street Singer. Thumri is basically sung in a slow tempo, later a fast version of Thumri emerged called Lucknowi Thumri and another form Punjabi Thumri also emerged in Hindi films. There were many songs and singers in the 40s and 50s where Thumri became popular. One name that truly epitomizes the Hindustani classical music of the 20thcentury is that of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Often touted as Tansen of the 20thcentury, this musical genius blended the best of classical music and created a unique style of his own. Some of the famous Thumri are ‘Yaad Piya Ki Aaye’, ‘Aaye Na Balam’ and ‘Prem Ke Phande Men’. Begum Akhtar was another great singer who was known as the Queen of Ghazal but was also a great Thumri performer. Here I am giving a few of the Thumris from the Hindi films:
Holi is a festival of colours. It is an inseparable part of Indian culture and, Bollywood never misses a chance to infuse the ‘Holi factor’ in the form of dance numbers with stars going footloose and crazy.The first song of Holi was from the 1931 film ‘Ghar Ki Laxmi’. The Mukhdaa of the song goes like – “Mo Pe Daar Gayo Saari Rang Rang Ki Gaagar, Kaisa Dhokha Diya. . .”. This and many other songs of that era are now lost. When we talk about the songs of the 30s and 40s how can we forget the great K L Sehgal. He was an institution, with no parallel in the entire heritage of Hindi film music.Here I have taken a Non-film song of Sehgal on Holi. It was recorded in 1933.
k.l.saigal..hori ho vraj dulare..geet.1933-34
.I present a song from this very first decade of Hindi films – a song from film ‘Aurat’ from 1940. ‘Aurat’ is a magnum opus by producer-director Mehboob, a much-celebrated film of its era.
Song of Aurat 1940
In the 50s many Holi songs were picturised. Almost all the Top stars of that time wanted one Holi song in his or her film. Nargis sang a Holi song in the 1950 film Jogan, sung by young Geeta Dutt. In this Holi song, Geeta Dutt’s honey and sugar voice ooze masti in full measure. With music by Bulo C Rani, Jogan’s bhajans became the benchmark for decades to come.
Song of Jogan 1950
India’s first technicolour film Aan exploited the colourful festival of Holi to fully utilize its highly expensive use of 16mm Gevacolour. Jai Tilak (Dilip Kumar) plays Holi with Mangala (Nimmi), a simple village girl. As he throws away her scarf in the melee, it mistakenly lands on the tempestuous and arrogant princess Rajshree (Nadira) who is touring the city on her royal elephant, making her assume something else!
Song of Aan (1953)
Another popular song was picturised on Dilip Kumar with Meena Kumari in the 1960 film Kohinoor
Song of Kohinoor 1960
There is no Holi song picturised on Dev Anand but there is one Holi song where Dev Anand was not playing but out looking a Holi dance, The song is from the 1953 film Rahi
Song of Rahi (1953)
This song is from “Maashooka” (1953). This song is sung by Suraiyya, Mukesh and chorus. Shailendra is the lyricist. Music is composed by Roshan.
Only the audio of this song is available. Seeing that Suraiyya and Mukesh had acted in this movie, it is easy to guess that the song was picturised on themselves.
Song of Maashooka” (1953)
Another memorable Holi song of the 50s is this song from 1957 film Mother India. Sung by Shamshad Begum, one of the top most singers of the 50s. The song captures Radha (Nargis) and Shamu (Raaj Kumar) in their happier times
Song of Mother India 1957
A romantic Holi song composed by Hemant Kumar and picturised on the elegant Bina Rai and the princely Pradeep Kumar. Talk about Holi compositions with a touch of the classical and this song from Durgesh Nandini which had some great music will be remembered for sure.
Song of Durgesh Nandini (1956)
Legendary filmmaker V Shantaram cast his wife Sandhya in this unusual role where she plays both the real and the fantasy characters. In the backdrop of Holi, this song has one of the most remarkable solo dance sequences performed by Sandhya, where she role plays both Radha and Shyam.
The Parody songs are liked in every generation starting from the 30s till now. The way these songs have been sung with spunk, the hilarious lyrics and the comic timing of the characters who have sung these on the screen combined with the liveliness of the supporting cast makes these classics in their own right. There’s always some truth to parodies. These Bollywood songs are honest and funny at the same time. The earliest parody song is found in film ‘Deccan Queen’ (1936), sung by Surendra in his debut film. In this Blog I have selected those songs in which name of the Bollywood Actors or the name of earlier films is embedded in the lyrics. The first song in my list is from the film Gharib Ke Laal (1939), lyrics Rafi Kashmiri and Kaabil, music Sageer Asif, the song is sung by Mirza Musharraf and Kamla The song starts to the name of heroines of that era,"Tujhe Bibbo kahun ya Sulochana. The lyrics of this song almost entirely consists of film stars’ names. There are over two dozen of them giving us a Who’s Who of the era: Bibbo, Sulochana, Uma Shashi, Jamuna, Motilal, Bilimoria, KL Saigal, Jahanara Kajjan, Shanta Kumari, Ratan Bai, Mehtab, Kanan Devi, Jaddan Bai, Gauhar, Sabita, Devika Rani, Durga Khote, Zubeida, Ghouri, Dixit, Charlie, Surendra, Wasti, Kumar and Rafiq Ghazanavi.
Song of Gharib Ke Laal (1939)
Ek dil tera ek dil mera by Rajkumari, Zohrabai & GM Durrani from Hip Hip Hurray (1948), lyrics Moti BA, music Hanuman Prasad. In this song, you will find embedded parodies of at least twenty everlasting songs of earlier films. Some of these lines or tunes of "Afsana likh rahi hun –(Dard),Angdai teri hai bahana – (Ratan), Aawaz de kahan hain – (Anmol Ghadi), Door hato ae dunayawalo – (Kismet),Dheere dheere aa re baadal –(Kismet) and many more.
Song of Hip Hip Hurray (1948)
In this song, Raj Kapoor is selling Bangles who charms the girls that his choodis will make them look like Nargis, Meena Kumari and Geeta Bali The song is sung by Mohammad Rafi for the film Paapi released in 1953
Song of PAAPI 1953
This iconic song, played on Vividh Bharati on the first day of every month without fail, refers to the names of Agha, Bhagwan, Kishore Kumar, Nimmi, Geeta Bali, Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. Khush Hai Zamana Aaj Pehli Tareekh Hai by Kishore Kumar
Song of Pahli Taarikh (1954)
In this song from the film, Aji Bus Shukriya 1958, the actors ask God for a nice bungalow which would make Meena Kumari, Geeta Bali and Dev Anand die of envy.
Song of Aji Bus Shukriya 1958
In this song Dev Anand sings a rare didactic song, he slams the cacophony which goes for music and eulogises Tansen, Baiju Bawra and Saigal.
Song of Love Marriage (1959)
In this song Johnny Walker who has come back after travelling to Russia, China and England, to give joy to Indians. Raj Kapoor had played dhol in his band; Rafi and Asha Bhosle loved his band; and he mentored (SD) Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, OP Nayyar and Naushad.
Song of Basant (1960)
In this song of Bewqoof 1960 the names of Jamuna,Suchitra Sen,Kanan Devi,Uttam Kumar,Padmini,Ragini,Shivaji Ganesan,Gemini,Vasan,Chettiar.are embedded in the lyrics.
Song of Bewqoof 1960
In this song, the blue eyes of Raj Kapoor and the walk of Dev Anand are talked. Jeetendra and Mumtaz are sitting with their gaggle of friends and exchanging what they desire in their life partner.The girl wants in her man Raj Kapoor’s blue eyes, Dev Anand’s gait, Dharmendra’s macho and Dilip Kumar’s hair. She also wants the man to be dandy like Sanjay and shy like Shashi Kapoor.
Song of Ma Aur Mamta (1970)
This was a very hit song of 1970, in this song Kishore Kumar sings a funny song taking the names of many film stars and films. At the end of the song he also mentions several stars’ names (including his own in cutely narcissistic manner) and says Income Tax is after all of them. Nice way to have gentle fun on them.
Song of Aansoo Aur Muskan (1970)
Here is one such “Movie Names” song from “Gopi”(1970). This song is picturised on Dilip Kumar and Saira Bano, and the song mentions the names of old movies of both these actors. This song is sung by Mahendra Kapoor and Lata. Rajinder Krishan has written this funny song. Kalyanji Anandji composed the music.
Song of Gopi”(1970)
Here’s a song from ‘Golmaal’, with references to Amitabh, Hema Malini, Rekha and Zeenat Aman and Lata, all of whom, except the last-mentioned, make appearances in the song.
Song of Golmal 1979
This song is from the film Ek Duje Ke Liye, in this song names of many films are filled in the lyrics.
Song of Ek Duje Ke Liye 1981
This song is picturised on Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon, in this song names of many films are taken.
Song of Patthar Ke Phool 1991
This is a song where Akshay Kumar says that he is not a star son but he is a self-made hero.
Song of Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi 1996
A song of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi where Shahrukh Khan takes the names of the films of Raj Kapoor,Dev Anand,Shammi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna
Song of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi 2008
And finally the song of Tevar which says Salman ka fan
