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
Navaratri is celebrated in different ways throughout India. In North India, all three Navaratris are celebrated with much fervor by fasting on all nine days and worshiping the Mother Goddess in her different forms.In East India this is the time for Durga Puja,it is the biggest festival of that region,The last four days of Sharad Navaratri take on a particularly dramatic form in the state of West Bengal in East India where they are celebrated as Durga Puja.
In Western India, particularly in the state of Gujarat and Mumbai, Navratri is celebrated with the famous Garba and Dandiya-Raas dance.
In South India, people set up steps and place idols on them. This is known as golu.In Karnataka, Ayudha Puja, the ninth day of Mysore Dasara, is celebrated with the worship of implements used in daily life such as computers, books, vehicles, or kitchen tools.In Kerala and in some parts of Karnataka three days: Ashtami, Navami, and Vijaya Dashami of Sharad Navarathri are celebrated as Sarasvati Puja in which books are worshiped.
Festivals have always fascinated Bollywood, adding colour, charm, vibrancy and drama to plots and stories.The first song comes in my mind is Ambe Tu Hai Jagdambe Kaali from 1955 movie Navratri.Here I have selected 9 Navratri Songs.
Ambe Tu Hai Jagdambe Kaali
Song from Navratri 1955
Song from Saraswati Chandra 1968
Song from Suhag 1979
Dholi Taaro Dhol Baaje from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
Ayo Re Maaro Dholna by Subha Mugdal
Aarti from Jai Santoshi ma 1975
Aa Maa Aa Tujhe Dil Ne Pukara from Mamta Ka Mandir
Poularly Known as Hrishi Da,born on 30 September 1922 at Calcutta.He was a Bollywood well known Director known for a number of films,
He started his film career as a cameraman, and then film editor, in B. N. Sircar's New Theatres Calcutta in the late 1940s, where he learned his skills from Subodh Mitter ('Kenchida'), a well known editor of his times.He then worked with Bimal Roy in Mumbai as film editor and assistant director from 1951, participating in the landmark Roy films Do Bigha Zamin and Devdas.
His debut directorial venture, Musafir (1957), was not a success, but he persisted and received acclaim for his second film Anari in 1959. Some of his most notable films include: Anuradha (1960), Asli-Naqli (1962), Anand (1971), Anupama (1966), Aashirwad(1968), Satyakam (1969), Guddi (1971), Bawarchi (1972), Abhimaan (1973), Namak Haraam (1973), Mili (1975), Chupke Chupke (1975), Gol Maal (1979), Khubsoorat(1980) and Bemisal (1982).His last film was Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate released in 1998. Beside Directing he was also an Editor of many films.Some of the fims in which he was only the Editor were Parineeta,1953,Devdas1955, Garam Coat 1955,Madhumati 1958,Dastak 1970 and Coolie 1983. Ill-health has increasingly curtailed his activities. He was admitted to Leelavati Hospital in Mumbai early on Tuesday, 6 June 2006 after he complained of uneasiness. Mukherjee died ten weeks later on 27 August 2006.He has been awarded the Padma Vibhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award,
Hrishikesh Mukherjee was a brilliant director. The films he directed could make you cry, they could make you laugh, and they could make you laugh even while you cried.Here I have selected Ten masterpieces from the treasure trove that Mukherjee left behind for his fans. Anari 1959
The film got 5 major Filmfare Awards.Best Hero to Raj Kapoor,Best Music to Shankar Jaikishan ,Best Lyrics to Shailendra,Best Male Playback Singer to Mukesh and Best Supporting Actress to Lalita Pawar.This film got the President's Silver Medal for Best Film. Asli Naqli
Asli-Naqli was a 1962 Hindi movie produced by L.B Lachman and L.B Thakur. The film is directed byHrishikesh Mukherjee and stars Dev Anand, Sadhana Shivdasani, Leela Chitnis, Anwar Hussain, Sandhya Roy and Keshto Mukherjee. The film's music is by Shankar Jaikishan and lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri. The film became a box office hit.The film is refreshing with brilliant acting by all the cast and is very competently directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.All the songs were well picturised and were very popular.
The film was critically acclaimed and was nominated for several Filmfare Awards and did 'Above Average' business at the Indian Box Office.The music for the movie was composed by Hemant Kumar and the lyrics were written by Kaifi Azmi. The movie includes most popular song such as Dheere Dheere Machalpicturised on Surekha & Tarun Bose, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and composed by Hemant Kumar.
This film was made in 1969. By this time, disillusionment with post-independence expectations had begun to take root across India. Unemployment, continual poverty and rampant corruption were severely undermining institutions all around. In a way, the film underlines a gradual disappearance of the followers of absolutism.
It won 1971Filmfare Best Dialogue Award for Rajinder Singh Bedi. The movie also won National Film Award For Best Feature Film in Hindi.
Anand 1971
Anandwas a 1971 Indian drama film co-written and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It stars Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan in lead roles, with Khanna playing the title role. The dialogues were written by Gulzar. The film won several awards including the Filmfare award for best film in 1972.Rajesh Khanna got Best Hero Award for this film.
Anand was originally supposed to star actors Kishore Kumar and Mehmood in lead roles.The character Babu Moshai was to be played by Mehmood. Mukherjee was asked to meet Kishore Kumar to discuss the project. However, when he went to Kishore Kumar's residence, he was driven away by the gatekeeper due to a misunderstanding.The incident hurt Mukherjee and he decided not to work with Kumar.
The story is centered around the squabbling Sharma family, headed by their eccentric Daduji (Harindranath Chattopadhyay), which has a dubious reputation of the inability to retain a cook for more than a few months due to their ill treatment of their servants. The family's disrepute spreads to such an extent that no person wants to be employed as a cook in their home, ironically named Shanti Niwas.
Then one day a young man named Raghu (Rajesh Khanna) offers to work as a cook, and is hired. Raghu, however, lives up to this challenge & becomes the apple in the eye of every inmate of Shanti Niwas.
The film was also a turning point for Bindu, who, for the first time, played a sympathetic character. Previously, she was known for playing vamps/cabaret dancers, such as in Amitabh's star-making hit Zanjeer (1973).This film was very popular in Sri Lanka more than in India and was screened continuously for 590 days in the same cinema, Empire, Colombo. Chupke Chupke 1975
“Chupke Chupke” is a classic example of a film where you smile almost all the way through. Nobody drops his pyjamas. Nobody slips over a banana peel. Nobody indulges in innuendos. It is that kind which has humour as its lifeline. Its Hindi-English contests are the stuff of a masterpiece, its one-liners have a timelessness written over them.
Gol Maal 1979
Gol Maal was a 1979 Bollywoodcomedy movie directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It was produced by Mukherjee andN.C.Sippy with music by Rahul Dev Burman.Along with getting high accolades and praise from several critics, the film became a "Blockbuster" at the box office and gained huge popularity among the masses. Gol Maal, becoming a "Mega Hit" reached the top spot in 1979 in box office collections. It remains popular and is regarded a cult favorite among audiences and also regarded as one of the finest comedies of Indian cinema.
The film highlights the directorial excellence of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. He was a complete filmmaker, who gave tear-jerkers like “Anand” and “Mili” and also sterling comedies like “Chupke Chupke”, “Guddi”, “Khubsoorat” and “Bawarchi”. The background score by Rahul Dev Burman, and of course the four songs, stand out in ‘Gol Maal”, the best being “Aane Wala Pal Jaane Wala Hai”, a glowing tribute to Gulzar, who won the best lyricist award for this lingering Kishore Kumar number. It is an Amol Palekar movie all the way with Utpal Dutt brilliant as ever. It remains a film worth watching many a time!
Hrishikesh Mukherjee had first selected Rekha to enact the heroine's part but felt that he would be wasting a talented actress in film where the hero was the mainstay. He replaced her with Bindya Goswami. The very next year he made Khubsoorat, with Rekha in a pivotal role.
Khubsoorat 1980
Khubsoorat was a 1980 Hindi film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, whose direction together with dialogues by Gulzar.
In Khoobsurat, Rekha played Manju, who shows up at her elder sister Anju's home in Pune soon after Anju is married. Anju's mother-in-law is Nirmala Gupta (Pathak), a stern and no-nonsense lady who makes sure the house runs with clockwork precision. The Gupta household is made up of Nirmala, her husband Dwarka Prasad (Ashok Kumar) and their four sons, of whom two are married and two are unmarried. One of the bachelors is Inder (Rakesh Roshan) and the other is the rock music-loving Jagan (Ranjit Chowdhry).
Mehmood (29 September 1932-July 23 2004 ) was an Indian actor, director as well as a producer in the Indian film industry i.e. Bollywood and has worked in more than 300 films in a career spanning over three decades. However, his fans remember him as one of the most hilarious comedian of all time. He started his career as a child artist. He worked in Bombay films like Kismet. He also did small roles in many films which went unnoticed.Few of such films were Do Bigha Zameen andPyaasa.
The film CID released in 1956,in that film he had slightly noticable role that brought him to limelight. Sasural (1961), a three-hankie melodramatic mega-success, was Mehmood's big breakthrough film as a comedian. What's more, Sasural created one of the most successful comedy teams of the sixties -- Mehmood and Shubha Khote. The plump and genial Shubha went on to partner Mehmood in most of his mad capers till the mid-sixties -- including Grihasti, Bharosa, Ziddi and Love In Tokyo
Scene from Ziddi
At the turn of the 1960s, Mehmood even played the hero in small films opposite starlets like Chitra, Naaz and Ameeta. Mehmood cast Ameeta as the heroine in his first production Chhote Nawab (1961), where he gave a break to his friend-cum-composer, R D Burman.After that he produced and Directed Bhoot Bangla(1965)
Scene from Bhoot Bangla
By the late sixties, he was heralded as the monarch of madness, with successes like Patthar Ke Sanam, Do Kaliyan, Neel Kamal, Aankhen and Aulaad releasing one after the other. Mehmood was a master at playing the hero's friend, who would help him out of sticky situations with his street-smart ways.
Mehmood dominated commercial Hindi cinema during his peak years, to the extent that it was said that some lead actors were unwilling to act with him as he tended to overshadow them.His name in the star cast and face on the film poster ensured that scores turned up at the theatres. One song for him in the film was mandatory in that era.At the insistence of distributors, a song picturised on Mehmood became a must in most films of the sixties. Manna Dey, a recognised classical singer, was singled out for singing many of Mehmood's naughty numbers.He was among the rare few who even went to have films named after him - Johar Mehmood in Goa and Johar Mehmood in Hongkong.
Mehmood with fellow Comedians
Some famous Bollywood songs for which people still remember Mehmood are 'Ek chatur naar' from film Padosan, 'Aao Twist Karen' from Bhoot Bangla, 'Yeh do deewane dil ke' from Johar Mehmood in Goa, 'Hum kaale hai to kyaa huaa dilwaale hain' from Gumnaam and so on. He received the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Dil Tera Diwana(1963) and Filmfare Best Comedian Award 4 times for films Pyar Kiye Jaa(1967),Waris(1970),Paras(1972) and for Vardaan(1975).
Mehmood in Pyaar Kiye Ja
By the time the 90s set in, Mehmood had played his entire hand -- as actor, director, storywriter and producer. But, he was now keeping indifferent health. He made one last attempt at a comeback, with a film called Dushman Duniya Ka (1996). By now, there was a new generation of filmgoers in the theatres -- and new stars in Bollywood’s firmaments. Mehmood managed to get the brightest new star into his movie. Shah Rukh Khan – a self-confessed Mehmood admirer – played the role of the “young” Mehmood in the film,
actor mehmood's funeral
On 23rd July 2004, Mehmood died in his sleep in Pennsylvania, US, where he had gone for treatment of heart disease after suffering poor health for several years Mehmood will forever be remembered as he appeared in his heydays – as the King of Comedy. He taught a nation how to laugh! Thank you for the laughter! Best of Mehmood's Songs
