Vyjaynthimala- The Dancing Queen of Bollywood

 

Vyjayanthimala Bali celebrates her birthday on the 13th of August. She shares this birthday with another Bollywood legend Sridevi who was also a multilingual actress with superior dancing prowess. Both the actresses married Punjabi men who left their first wives.

 Vyjayanthimala performed some superhit song and dance numbers in Hindi films, whether it is Man dole mera tan dole (Nagin) or Chadh gayo paapi bichhua (Madhumati) or Buddha mil gaya (Sangam) or Hothon pe aisi baat (Jewel Thief) and not to forget Indian classical dances of Amrapali(1966)

At the age of seven, Vyjayanthimala was chosen to perform a classical Indian dance for Pope Pius XII while her mother was an audience in 1940 at Vatican City. She learned Bharata Natyam from Guru Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai and Carnatic music from Manakkal Sivaraja Iyer. She had her arangetram at the age of 13 and started performing in Tamil Nadu later.

She made her debut in the Tamil language film Vaazhkai in 1949 on the basis of her dance performance of Bharata Natyam in Chennai's Gokhale Hall. The success of her Tamil film Vazhkai in South India inspired AVM Productions to remake it in Hindi as Bahar in 1951. In their first Hindi venture, they decided to cast Vyjayanthimala again in the lead role with Karan Dewan, The film became a hit and also its music and dances. The next film 'Ladki' released in 1953 was opposite Kishore Kumar and Bharat Bhushan.

In 1954, Vyjayanthimala acted in the magnum opus film Nagin with Pradeep Kumar. The film got favorable responses from the audience and became the highest-grossing movie of 1954 where it was labeled as a blockbuster. Her performance as the Nagi tribe's chief got Mala favorable reviews from the critics, as in 1955,

Nagin was a precursor to her rise in Hindi cinema as an iconic actor, who combined her talents, performing and dancing, to rule the screen on her terms... biggest recall values of Nagin are Vyjayanthimala". Post Nagin Vyjayanthimala had established herself as one of the leading actresses in Bollywood because of the film's nationwide success.

Vyjayanthimala's influence on films has been far-reaching. With her, semiclassical dance became an integral part of almost every Hindi film heroine's resume.At her peak, Vyjayanthimala took off to do a series of much-appreciated dance shows in Paris in 1959 besides working for top actors like Dilip Kumar in Paigham (1959) and Raj Kapoor in Nazrana (1961).

Vyjayanthimala has won four awards from five nominations, including a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Bollywood. She was the first person to decline the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Devdas, as she stated that the roles of Chandramukhi and Paro, played by Vyjayanthimala and Suchitra Sen respectively, were parallel and of equal  importance

In this blog, I am posting a few of her best dance songs.

Song of Bahar 1951

Song of Nagin 1954

Song of Devdas 1955

Song of Naya Daur 1957

Song of Kathputli 1957

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Ganga Jamuna 1961

Song of Sangam 1964

Classical Dance of Amrapali 1966

Song of Amrapali 1966

Song of Jewel Thief 1967

Song of Sangharsh 1968

Story Behind the song Hotho Mein Aisi Baat

"Hotho Mein Aisi Baat, Mein Dabaa Ke Chali Ayee" is one of the best dance sequences in Indian Cinema. This is from Dev Anand's classic Jewel Thief(1967). That was the time when actresses were actually trained (long term!) in dance. Vyjantimala, of course, was the best of the best. But others like Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini and others have also given some great dance sequences.
Vijay Anand was the director of this film, we all know that he was the master of picturising a song. This movie started a trend where directors began putting a song before the climax. Before that, he tried a song before the climax in Nau Do Gyaraha(1957) but this song remains one of the best Dance Songs of Bollywood.

Vijay Anand worked with Vyjantimala for the first time. She was a Super Star at that time. There were some date problems and many distractions but Vyjayantimala being the professional that she was, still came up with a polished performance. Goldie's only grievance was that she could have done better with Hoton Pe Aisi Baat. He wanted her to rehearse the number before we went for a final take. But she told me airily that she didn't need any rehearsals. he insisted she did, but she still didn't report for rehearsals and came straight to the set. he called for "pack-up" and told her firmly that she had to stay back in the studio and practise with the assistants. She did practise, for 15 minutes. Then she got into her car and drove off saying that Saroj Khan would be coming to her place later and they'd go over the steps together. The rehearsal never happened but Vyjayantimala being a good actress and an excellent dancer didn't find it too difficult to pick up the steps and the shots were okayed quickly. So if you see a single camera capture of Vyjantimala’s magic, it was ACTUALLY done in a single shot

The song is from those days where technology was so much poorer compared to today, the editing of that song was marvellous. Which means that they didn’t have sharp edits that could get stitched together, and look like one single camera sequence, Think of the choreography with the support dance troupe, and other stars like Dev Anand, floating in between the long sequence otherwise focused on Vyjantimala.
Honthon Mein Aisi Baat” (brilliantly choreographed by Master Sohanlal), as the camera follows Vyjayanthimala, he uses the circular tracks, dynamic angles and cuts to build up the tension to a crescendo. Here is an example of how Western technique could merge with Indian art. Even as you enjoy the aesthetics of dance.
As we all know that the music was given by S D Burman and he was assisted by his son R D Burman who by that time had become an independent Music Director and was giving the music of Teesri Manzil side by side. The song was sung by Lata Mangeshkar but you will be surprised to know that Bhupinder also participated in that song. Bhupinder sings the opening
refrain Hooooo for Dev and in the middle of the song he says " O Shalu". That was his total contribution to the song.

Song of Jewel Thief 1967

 

50 Years of the film PRINCE

On the 1st Jan 1969 released Shammi Kapoor's hit film, Prince. It was produced by F. C. Mehra and directed by Lekh Tandon. The film stars Shammi Kapoor with Vyjayanthimala in the lead with Rajendranath, Ajit, Helen, etc. The film grossed around ₹4,00,00,000 with a net of ₹2,00,00,000, thus becoming the fourth highest grossing film of 1969 with a verdict of a hit at Box Office India.
The team of producer F. C. Mehra, director Lekh Tandon, actor Shammi Kapoor and musicians Shankar-Jaikishan had earlier worked together on the hit film Professor (1962). The songs of that film are some of the immortal songs of Mohammad Rafi.
This is a really fun film, and though Shammi is admittedly towards the end of his career as a hero, he is still the Shammi who made hearts go pitter-patter. The songs are classic Shanker-Jaikishan-Rafi-Shammi, with the dance-off between Helen and Vijayanthimala probably its most well-known feature. 

The film is about how wealth and privilege do not guarantee happiness, Shammi Kapoor plays Prince Shamsher Singh, the jaded, bored, arrogant son of the Maharajah of Ramnagar (Ulhas). He is an irresponsible, alcoholic, and womanizing adult, who wants everyone to bow down before him and his princely rank. One priest refuses to do so, and Shamsher pummels him mercilessly, though in vain. Frustrated, he asks the priest what he should do with his mundane life, and the priest tells him that he should repent, sacrifice all his palatial pleasures, and live the life of a simple and ordinary man, and hence learn the true meaning of life, for at least six months. Shamsher agrees to do so and arranges an accident with his car, which plummets down a mountain, explodes and is blown to smithereens. Everyone in the palace believes that Shamsher is dead. He goes to a nearby village, and a blind woman there mistakes him for her long-lost son and starts calling him Sajjan Singh. Shamsher decides to play along as Sajjan.
Once two corrupt officials meet him, they find him to be similar to Shamsher so they conspire with him to pose as Shamsher for a hefty sum of money, to which Sajjan agrees. When he accompanies the officials back to the palace, he is shocked to find that his father has remarried a much younger woman, Ratna, and shortly after marrying her, has died, leaving the palace and its management to her and her greedy brother. Shamsher decides to reveal his true identity, but the officials threaten to expose him to his new-found blind mother, and Shamsher knows that he is trapped in the body of Sajjan Singh, forced to pose as none other than himself.

It is a typically a masala film, Shammi Kapoor's fans will enjoy this film. When the movie was released Vyjayantimala was 39 and Shammi Kapoor just 5 years her senior and so and PRINCE doesn’t belong to their prime. The most famous aspect of Prince, for many Indians, is the song “Badan pe Sitaare”. Even today, it is considered one of Shammi’s most popular songs. The story behind it is that Hasrat Jaipuri and Jaikishen went out to a nightclub on a trip to Paris. In the club, with all the glittering costumes around him, Jaikishen began writing the first few lines of this song (Badan pe Sitaare hue, o Jaane Tamanna Kidhar Ja Rahii ho, zara paas aao, to chain aa jaaye = Decked up so in glittering stars, where are you headed, my beloved…here, come to me, that I may get some solace). Hasrat Jaipuri then took it from there and they recorded the song when they got back to Bombay.

Song of Prince 1969

Song of Prince 1969

Song of Prince 1969

Song of Prince 1969

Song of Prince 1969

Song of Prince 1969

50 years of the release of SUNGHARSH

Five decades ago, another superstar took on the part of a thug in director Harnam Singh Rawail’s rather successful venture, Sunghursh (1968). That was Dilip Kumar, he gives a stirring performance, the real delight is when he breaks into a folk dance “Mere Pairon Mein Ghungroo Bandh De Aur Phir Meri Chaal Dekh Le”.   

The movie was released on 01 July 1968. The movie is directed by Harnam Singh Rawail and featured Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala and Balraj Sahni as lead characters. A most surprising find of the movie was Sanjeev Kumar. His performance of negative role shot to fame. He was commended for his role while a newcomer as compared with established actors like Dilip Kumar and Balraj Sahni 

Set in Varanasi, this fast-paced film talks of thugs, the expert killers who were a terror in Northern India in the 19th Century. They used to rob the pilgrims by hook or crook. Adapted from a Mahasweta Devi work, director H.S. Rawail addresses the loot that goes on at pilgrim centres in the name of faith. How the practice of sacrifice is misused for personal gains and how men compromise love for spiritual virtues – issues that are a relevant event today…issues that our films generally talk of only in hushed tones.
It is said H S Rawail the director of the film wanted Sadhna to be the heroine in this film but she was not available because of her illness. Eventually, Rawail signed Vyjayanthimala for the role. Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala who had worked together for Naya Daur (1957) and Ganga Jamuna were then said to have a romantic affair. The actors parted after Vyjayanthimala worked with Raj Kapoor in the 1964 Hindi film Sangam. Thus, most of the scenes between the two actors for Sungharsh were shot separately.Sungharsh was the last film where Kumar and Vyjayanthimala worked together.

The music for all the songs is composed by Naushad and the lyrics are written by Shakeel Badayuni. The film's soundtrack has seven songs sung by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar with one song sung by Asha Bhosle. All are solo songs where Naushad used the music from the regions of Awadh and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Song of Sungharsh 1968

Song of Sungharsh 1968

Song of Sungharsh 1968

Song of Sungharsh 1968

60 Years of Madhumati

Madhumati was released on 12 September 1958. It earned ₹40 million in India and became the highest-grossing Indian film of the year and one of the most commercially successful and influential Indian films of all time. It was one of the earliest films to deal with reincarnation. Directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles, with Pran and Johnny Walker in supporting roles.  
 It won nine Filmfare Awards; including Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director, Best Female Playback Singer, Best Dialogue, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematographer—the most awards for a single film at that time. It also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Bimal Roy who made Devdas in 1955 with the same star lead was looking for a hit. His 1955 film Devdas was commercially unsuccessful, jeopardising his company Bimal Roy Productions; he needed a commercial success to survive. The film opened at the Roxy theatre near Opera House  Bombay.“It was a fabulous evening, glamorous and glittering, just like the film premieres on screen.” Like all great movies, this one too inspired a genre of its own, the re-incarnation genre. 

The soundtrack of Madhumati became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of 1958. Salil Chowdhury won his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen is one of the most popular songs by recording artist Mukesh and is regularly played at dandiya functions. The Madhumati soundtrack features eleven songs composed by Salil Chowdhury. Shailendra wrote the lyrics and Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Mubarak Begum, Asha Bhosle, Sabita Chowdhury, Ghulam Mohammed and Dwijen Mukhopadhyay provided the vocals.
It is one of the greatest Hindi movies ever made. It’s top notch in terms of cinematography, directing, music, acting and dancing. I rank it among Top 10 Hindi films.Bimal Roy's classics like Sujata, Bandini, Do Bigha Zameen or Devdas, still bears the mark of a master craftsman. And it’s good entertainment value.
The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.
The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.
The film begins on a dark and stormy night (a recurring motif in the film: all the most dramatic events occur on stormy nights). Two friends – an engineer, Devendra (Dilip Kumar) and a doctor (Tarun Bose) are travelling by car along a mountain road when a fallen tree forces a halt. The driver advises the two men to take shelter in the nearby mansion while he goes off to find help. Devendra and his friend go off to the mansion, which turns out to be a spooky place, dusty and seemingly deserted.

The film was shot at a hill station. It had a six-week schedule at a location in Ranikhet, Nainital. Some scenes were filmed in Ghorakhal near Nainital. When the negatives were developed, most of the footage was found to be fogged. Since a reshoot in far-away Uttarakhand was not possible, sets were created near Vaitarna Dam, Igatpuri. The art direction team, led by Sudhendu Roy, created fake pine trees, which were planted to match the location in Nainital.A large part of the film was filmed in Aarey Milk Colony, a small forested area in Mumbai. A scene in which Dilip Kumar looks for Vyjayanthimala in the woods was filmed in Igatpuri. The foggy effect was recreated using gas bombs.
Commercially it was the biggest hit of Bimal Roys's career. It wiped out his losses of Devdas released in 1955. The fact that it scored over movies like Kala Pani, Sadhana, Phir Subah Hogi, all released the same year, speaks for its power to captivate the audience and hold its attention for long. More than anything, Madhumati, forever, will be remembered for its music.

Think of gems like ‘Suhana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Hasin’, ‘Dil Tadap Tadap Ke Keh Raha Hai’, ‘Aaja Re Mai To Kabse Khadi Is Paar’, ‘Chadh Gayo Paapi Bichua’, ‘Zulmi Sang Aankh Ladi’, ‘Toote Hue Khwabon Ne’ and ‘Ghadi Ghadi Mera Dil Dhadke’, and you know instantly what melody stood for.

Madhumati' is primarily an entertainer but one doesn't think of it as a masala film, and there's a lot to like about it. Wonderful visuals and songs, very good performances, a nicely developed romance, and it's strong on atmospherics as well. It fully delivers on its promise and is quite a charming film.

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Song of Madhumati 1958

Most Memorable Films of Vyjayantimala

Born on August 13, 1933, she was a natural performer who danced for the pope at the age of four. She started in films under MV Raman’s direction at AVM with Vazhkai/Jeevitham (1949), a bilingual film in Tamil and Telugu. The immensely popular film was later adapted as Bahar (1951)
She was the first South Indian actress who made it as a national star and was one of the biggest ever Hindi Film female stars in a career lasting almost two decades. She was the first heroine refusing to take Filmfare Award as Best Supporting Actress for Devdas 1955
Nagin 1954 It stars Vyjayanthimala and Pradeep Kumar, and has a hit musical score by Hemant Kumar. The film got favourable responses from the audience and became the highest-grossing movie of 1954 where it was labelled as a blockbuster.In the title role, she puts over a commendable performance besides looking ravishingly beautiful as the belle of the hills. Her dancing, too, is very graceful, especially in those eye-filling colour sequences and delightful ballets towards the finish.Hemant Kumar's music and her dance on the song, "Man Dole, Mera tan dole", rendered by Lata Mangeshkar was one of the highlights of the film.

Song of Nagin 1954

Devdas 1955- Bimal Roy cast her as Chandramukhi opposite Dilip Kumar in the critically acclaimed Devdas, which was the adaptation of the novel with the same title by Sharat Chandra Chatterji. The industry initially was not in favour of this choice when they heard about Vyjayanthimala being cast in Bimal Roy's film, For Vyjayantimala, the character marked a turning point from glamour to pure histrionics, offering her scope to explore her potential as a dramatic actress 

Song of Devdas 1955

Naya Daur 1957 had a theme of "Man vs. machine", and Vyjanthi's portrayal of a village belle.For this film, Dilip Kumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the third time in a row, being his fourth overall. The film was a big hit

Song of Naya Daur 1957

Madhumati 1958  film directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles, with Pran and Johnny Walker in supporting roles. The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.The soundtrack of Madhumati became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of 1958.^[21] Salil Chowdhury won his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen is one of the most popular songs

Song of Madhumati 1958

Sadhna 1958 -the film produced and directed by B. R. Chopra. The film stars Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt in the lead with Leela Chitnis, Radhakrishan, Manmohan Krishna, Uma Dutt and Ravikant, forming an ensemble cast. The story, screenplay and dialogue were penned by Mukhram Sharma. The film revolves around Rajini (Vyjayanthimala), a prostitute, and her love affair with a professor She got the Filmfare Award for best Heroine.

Song of Sadhna 1958

Ganga Jamuna 1961 Indian dacoit crime drama film, produced in Technicolor. It was written and produced by Dilip Kumar, and directed by Nitin Bose, with dialogues written by Wajahat Mirza. The film stars Dilip Kumar, Nasir Khan and Vyjayanthimalain leading roles, and Azra, Kanhaiyalal, Anwar Hussain, Nazir Hussain and Leela Chitnis in supporting roles.She got the Best Heroine Filmfare Award.

Song of Ganga Jamuna 1961

Sangam 1964 directed by Raj Kapoor, written by Inder Raj Anand, and produced by Kapoor with Mehboob Studio and Filmistan. The film stars Vyjayanthimala, Raj Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar in the lead roles.It became a hit in India and is considered a classic today. One of the features of the film that became widely used later on in Bollywood is the use of foreign locales for on-location shooting, such as Venice, Paris, and Switzerland. She got the Best Heroine Filmfare Award.

Song of Sangam 1964

Amrapali 1966  directed by Lekh Tandon, starring Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt as leads. Music of the film was by Shankar-Jaikishan. It was based on the life of Amrapali (Ambapali), the nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of Vaishali in present-day Bihar, fully Indian classical music-based score in the four songs, 

Song of Amrapali 1966

Jewel Thief 1967  spy thriller heist film directed by Vijay Anand.The film stars Dev Anand, Vyjayantimala and Ashok Kumar in the lead roles. It also features four bond girl-like actresses portrayed by Tanuja,the highlight of the film was the Iconic dance 

number  Hothon Pr Aisi Baat Mein Daba Ke Chali Ayi

Song of Jewel Thief 1967