Piya Tose Naina Lage Re- An Iconic Dance

"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. 

Song of Guide 1965

The Great Nurses of Bollywood

12 th May was the International Nurse Day, this inspired me to look into the role of Nurse played by various heroines of Bollywood. In the silent era heroines like Ruby Myers played the part of a Nurse. During. the Golden Era Meena Kumari played the role of a nurse in Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi in 1960. It was one of the noted acting performances of lead actress Meena Kumari's career.

Other notable Nurses of Bollywood were Sadhna in Prem Patra (1962), Nutan in Bandini (1963), Waheeda Rehman in Khamoshi (1970), Lalita Pawar in Anand !971, and Aishwarya Rai in Guzaarish 2010. 

 Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi  Writer-director Kishore Sahu’s 1960 superhit Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, is a doctor-nurse romance  Kauna (Meena Kumari) joins Malhotra Hospital that opens on a waterfront as a nurse, where Sushil (Raj Kumar) is the resident surgeon. Cupid strikes at the very first meeting in the operation theatre. After a song on the beach with other nurses, Karuna runs into an injured young girl and reaches her home, realizing she is the surgeon’s sister. On learning her story, the mother invites her to visit the household. Her proximity at home and at the hospital adds fuel to fire,  On the other front, her dedication to her duty and care towards patients in the ward, especially Girdhari (Om Prakash), and another wayward patient, Nathu, makes her win everyone’s heart. Meena Kumari was nominated for the Best Heroine Award for this role. 

Prem Patra  Produced and directed by Bimal Roy. It stars Shashi Kapoor and Sadhana.

While studying in medical college Arun Kumar Mathur (Shashi Kapoor) has a misunderstanding over a love letter with Kavita Kapoor (Sadhana). Arun's marriage is arranged with Saroj Chowdhary (Seema Deo), who also happens to be a distant relative of Kavita.

 Arun loses his vision in an accident, Saroj is unable to go to take care of him, and Kavita takes her place. Unwilling to reveal her identity, Kavita lets him think it is Saroj. Sadhana plays the role of a nurse quite efficiently

Bandini 1963  The film was directed and produced by Bimal Roy, Bandini stars Nutan giving one of the finest performances of her career, along with Ashok Kumar and Dharmendra as leads, and explores the human conflicts of love and hate intertwined in the mind of Kalyani (Nutan).

The film is set in Bengal in the 1930s, during the British Raj, where Kalyani (Nutan) is the daughter of the postmaster (Raja Paranjpe) of the village, who falls in love with a freedom fighter, Bikash (Ashok Kumar), who later leaves her in the village promising to come back but never does. Society treats them harshly. Broken by her father's misery and that of her own, Kalyani moves to the city, to the singing of the sad song "O Jaanewale Ho Sake To Laut Ke Aana". In the city, she works as a caretaker of an obnoxious and mentally unstable woman, who turns out to be the wife of Bikash. Kalyani learns that her father came to the city looking for her and died in an accident. That prompts her to poison her lover's wife, identifying her as the cause of her miseries in a moment of insane rage. Nutan recieved the Best Actress Award for her role.

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Khamoshi 1970 film directed by Asit Sen, starring Waheeda Rehman and Rajesh Khanna.The film is considered Waheeda Rehman's finest acting feat, as she carries the entire film through her powerful yet understated acting; she received a Filmfare nomination for it. 

Colonel Sahab (Nazir Hussain), a world war II veteran doctor, is head of psychiatry ward. Nurse Radha (Waheeda Rehman) in the same ward is a heart-broken after a civilian patient, Dev Kumar (Dharmendra), whom she cured by pouring out her love and affection, left the hospital. But she had been unable to keep her heart separate from her professional work and had fallen in love with that patient. Now Arun Choudury (Rajesh Khanna), a writer and poet enters as a patient, suffering acute mania after being rejected by his lover, Sulekha, a singer. After refusing to take his care, Radha relents and starts nursing him. In between while caring for Arun, she reminisces about her past and tells a story of how she took care of injured brave army soldiers when she was posted in Ladakh during the Sino-Indian war of 1962.

Guzaarish is a 2010 Indian romantic drama film written, composed and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in lead roles The film narrates the story of a paralyzed magician-turned-Radio jockey who files a petition in court seeking permission to end his life.

Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) is a former magician who is a quadriplegic. He becomes the Radio Jockey of an FM Station called Radio Zindagi. His show spreads magic, hope, and laughter through his irrepressible wit and humor to every listener and caller, making it difficult to imagine that this is a man who has been immobilized with a spinal injury for the last fourteen years. Sofia D'Souza (Aishwarya Rai) is his nurse who has been accompanying him for the past twelve years.

Aishwarya Rai was nominated as the Best Actress for this film.

The Story Behind the Song "Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam"

This iconic song from India's first Cinemascope film Kagaz Ke Phool is now 60 years old. This song was picturized on Waheeda Rehman and Guru Dutt. Geeta Dutt giving voice to Waheeda Rehman. We can feel The"Dard" (Pain) in the voice of Geeta Dutt. What a composition by great S D Burman and penned by another great Kaifi Azmi.
A song bringing forth the tragedy in romance, a song telling us about the inevitability of life in general!.The amazing camera frame by the legendry cinematographer V K Murthy, shadows and light are combined beautifully to create the situation and sad mood of the scene where Guru Dutt and Waheeda meet in an unexpected situation.
The situation of this song was not there in the original script. There were 5 songs for the script, those were already composed and recorded by Burman Da and everybody was relaxed. Suddenly Burman Da started humming a new tune which was light and with a glimpse of sorrow. Guru Dutt, who was sitting next to Burman Da liked this new tune and was deeply touched by this tune, he suggested Burman Da that let's have a song with this tune.
Kaifi Azmi, who was also sitting with them was asked to write for this tune. Kaifi Azmi who seldom write for the pre-composed tunes agreed. He immediately wrote the Mukhda of this song, initially, Guru Dutt was not happy with the Mukhda but Burman Da was very much impressed with the words, he insisted Gutu Dutt think once again, he felt that these lines were enough to bring tears in his eyes.
In the meantime, Burman Da asked Kaifi Azmi to write the two antra of this song. He then beautifully tuned these antra, he thought immediately that Geeta Dutt would give full emotions to this song.

Burman Da called Geeta Dutt and asked her to sing this song in front of Guru Dutt. Guru Dutt liked the song and insisted on Burman Da to get it to record it for this film. The situation for this song was created and then picturized on Waheeda and himself.
When this song was shot, the relation between Waheeda and Guru Dutt were a hot topic. Kaifi Azmi wrote the lyrics with this in mind which later denied that he ever kept in mind about their relationship. However, this song became the highlight of the film.

The booming bass guitar, the soft piano, the tinkling triangle, the flowing strings – the orchestration of that song was mesmerizing. On-screen, a stunningly beautiful Waheeda and a somber, graceful Guru Dutt appearing in an exquisite light and shadow play of haunting black and white images then completed that masterpiece.

In 2018, after 59 years, there is a reference to this song in '102 Not Out'. Amitabh Bachchan who plays a 102-year-old man in the film recorded the track in his characteristic deep and booming voice. The song was arranged by Rohan Utpat and Vinayak K Salvi. 

Song of Kagaz Ke Phool 1959

Song of 102 Not Out 2018

Lata Mangeshkar's Tribute To Geeta Dutt by singing Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam 

           

Waheeda Rehman - Beauty with Talent

In an interview, Waheeda Rehman said, "I never considered myself beautiful in my younger years. I only considered myself to be photogenic. I looked beautiful mainly because of the good lighting and makeup. I never considered myself beautiful."
The reality is that  Waheeda Rehman was known for her classic combination of Islamic beauty and extraordinary grace, talent and an appeal that ranked her among the top of Bollywood's elite actresses. 
Her sophistication remains unparalleled to date and who is considered to be one of the most beautiful women that Indian cinema.
She was born on 3rd Feb 1938 into a Muslim family in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
  Her father was a district commissioner who died in 1948 when Waheeda was only 10 years old. Her dream was to become a doctor but, due to circumstances of illness of her mother, she abandoned this goal. Instead helped by her supportive parents, she hit the silver screen with Telugu films Rojulu Marayi (1955), followed by Jayasimha (1955) and Tamil film K.aalam Maari Pochu (1956). 
In the success party of Rojulu Maaraayi, Guru Dutt noticed her and decided to groom her and have her act in Hindi films. Waheeda considered Guru Dutt as her mentor. Dutt brought her to Bombay and cast as a vamp in his production CID (1956), directed by Raj Khosla.. After the success of C.I.D., Dutt gave her a leading role in Pyaasa (1957). Their next venture together was Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), 
Waheeda's successful films are Pyaasa (1957), 12 O'Clock (1958), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1961). Her other notable works include Solva Saal (1958), Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962), Kohra (1964), Bees Sal Baad (1962), Guide (1965), Teesri Kasam, Mujhe Jeene Do (1966), Neel Kamal and Khamoshi (1969).

Waheeda Rehman established a great working relationship with Dev Anand, and together as a pair had number of successful films to their credit. The box office hits of the pair include CID (1956), Solva Saal (1958), Kala Bazar (1960), Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962) and Guide (1965); box office duds were Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1961) and Prem Pujari (1970). 
Besides Dev Anand she delivered hits opposite Dilip Kumar in three successive years; Dil Diyaa Dard Liyaa in 1966, Ram Aur Shyam in 1967 and Aadmi in 1968.

 She reached her peak with Guide (1965) and was much in demand. Her career continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her roles in Guide (1965), and Neel Kamal (1968), but despite excellent offbeat roles in subsequent films, including a National Award-winning performance in Reshma Aur Shera (1971), some of the films failed at the box office. Seeing her films being successful, Waheeda decided to experiment with roles at this stage of career. She accepted Reshma Aur Shera, opposite her old co-star Sunil Dutt, with whom she had previously in the sixties had hits like Ek Phool Char Kaante, Mujhe Jeene Do, Meri Bhabhi and Darpan.
She played pivotal roles  Kabhi Kabhie (1976),Trishul (1978), Jwalamukhi (1980), Namkeen and Namak Halaal (1982),Mashaal (1984), Chandni(1989), Rang De Basanti(2006). She played the central character in the Mahesh Bhatt directed film Swayam that starred Akash Khurana and Anupam Kher. 
After her marriage to Shashi Rekhi (screen name Kamaljeet whom she paired in 1964 film Shagoon )on 27 April 1974, she shifted to a farmhouse in Bangalore. She has two children named Sohail and Kashvi, who are writers. On 21 November 2000, her husband died following a prolonged illness. She moved back to her ocean view bungalow in Bandra, Mumbai where she currently lives.
In recent years she made a comeback playing elderly mother and grandmother roles in Om Jai Jagadish (2002), Water (2005) and Rang De Basanti (2006), 15, Park Avenue, Delhi 6 (2009), Love in Bombay (2013) and Vishwarupam (2015) which were all critically acclaimed.
She has received a Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality, a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, a National Film Award for Best Actress and two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress.

Song from CID 1956

Song from Pyasaa 1957

Song from Kaagaz Ke Phool 1959

Song from Kala Bazar 1960

Song from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam 1962

Song from Bees Saal Baad 1962

Song from Guide 1965

Song from Teesri Kasam 1966

50 Years of Prem Pujari

50 Years ago Dev Anand’s directorial debut was the most awaited film of the 1970.
The music of the film was the highlight of the film . Composed by S.D. Burman and written by Gopaldas Neeraj, the songs were (and still are) a bigger hit than the film, which actually flopped at the box office.
This film cleverly talks about patriotism and the Army — two of today's favorite subjects.
The film progressively takes you from being anti-war to pro-war by not only making you sympathize with the protagonist, but also villainising the other side.
 Songs like Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaye, Rangeela Re Tere Rang Mein and Phoolon Ke Rang Se, sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar are Immortal. 

Song of Prem Pujari 1970

Song of Prem Pujari 1970

Song of Prem Pujari 1970

Song of Prem Pujari 1970

Song of Prem Pujari 1970

60 Years of Kala Bazar

Today in the period of Multiplexes and Online ticket booking of films, this generation would not believe that there was a time when there used to be black on cinema tickets. On this subject, a film could be made?
. For many of you, the idea of a Kala Bazaar might be alien. but this happened 60 years ago by Dev Anand and Navketan Films.
In Kala Bazar, Dev Anand plays Raghuvir, a common man who becomes a successful black marketer by selling cinema tickets to earn money for his family. Raghuvir's dark trade flourishes and he is able to move into a more comfortable home with his brother, sister (Nanda) and mother (Leela Chitnis).
 Raghuvir meets his match in Alka (Waheeda Rehman), the beautiful girl who stuns him with her idealismThough aware that Alka is in love with someone else, he prodigiously pursues her. The script has plenty of twists, Just when we think that Alka's rejection of Raghuvir will spell the end of their romance, Vijay Anand's character resurfaces and fixes everything. It's awesome how the film shows that a girl is very much capable of falling in love twice. Alka falls in love with Raghuvir.
“Kala Bazar” is indeed a timeless classic. With a director like Vijay Anand to make use of their genius, every actor played his part in a composed manner. Some close to reality sequences in this movie only underlined the importance of his direction. No wonder, Dev Anand regarded his brother “a great asset. The rare part of the film was the presence of the three brothers( Dev, Chetan, and Vijay Anand) playing important characters.

But the most entertaining part is the first scene where there is a real-life premiere show of Mother India, Mehboob Khan's 1957 blockbuster. The camera captures the excitement breeding heavy amongst the audience who are waiting for a rare glimpse of their favorite movie stars. We, sitting on the other side of the screen, also get to catch the likes of Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Naseem Banu, Kishore Kumar, Nadira, Kumkum, Mohd Rafi, Guru Dutt, Geeta Dutt, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Sohrab Modi, and Nimmi. It was the genius of Vijay Anand who thought of creating a unique scene that was followed by many filmmakers.

Vijay Anand's direction and attention to small details contribute to make the movie memorable. There is so much to admire in Kala Bazar, starting with the incredible music by S.D Burman with lyrics by Shailendra. Each innovatively picturized song is a stand-alone classic – Khoya Khoya Chand, Rim Jhim Ke Tarane Leke Aayi Barsaat, Apni Toh Har Aah Ek Toofan Hai and of course Na Mai Dhan Chahoon. 

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

The Story Behind the Song "Chaudhavin Ka Chand Ho"

In the 1960 Annual Binaca Geetmala, there was a tough competition for the No 1 song, it was between the song "Chaudhavin Ka Chand Ho" and "Zindagi Bhar Na Bhulegi Barsaat Ki Woh Raat". Both the songs were solo and both the songs were sung by Mohammad Rafi. Both were Title songs.
There was a trend in those days that every film must have a title song. This trend was started by Shailendra from the film Barsaat in 1949. In this case, the Mukhada was the title of the film. The composer of this song was Ravi who was also a lyricist but for this film, Shakeel Badayuni was the lyricist. Composer Ravi made the tune of this song with the title as Mukhada but was not finding the exact words to complete the Mukhada, he then talked to Shakeel Badayuni and asked to complete the Mukhada and the song. This song remains one of the most romantic songs of the Hindi Film Industry.
What sets ‘Chaudhvin ka Chand’ apart? The classical romanticism that the song demanded found expression in the ‘period’ scene-setting and cast. But most importantly, the central character of the sequence is Waheeda. This is where it leaves other ‘very good’ or ‘great’ classical romance song-sequences behind.
Chaudhavin Ka Chand was a comeback film of Guru Dutt after the disastrous box office performance of Kaagaz Ke Phool.  He was not the director of this film, he produced the film and gave direction to Mohammed Sadiq. The film was a super hit and became a classic.
Another interesting fact that though the film was in Black & White but this song was picturized in colour. Waheeda Rehman in an interview told that the Censor Board objected to chaudavii.n kaa chaa.nd ho when Guru Dutt re-released a version of the song shot in color? As the color version was being filmed, Waheeda Rehman’s eyes became irritated from the heat of the high-powered lights used during the shoot. Upon seeing the red color of the heroine’s eyes, the Censor Board claimed that the colored picturization of the song contained suggestive and lustful implications inappropriate for audiences.
This song got two Filmfare awards, one for the Lyrics to Shakeel Badayuni and the other to Mohammad Rafi as a playback singer. This was the first Filmfare Award to Mohammad Rafi after debuting 15 years ago. It is the warmth, passion, and soul in his voice that renders this song a timeless masterpiece.

Song of Chaudhvin Ka Chand 1960