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
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, He was a wide-eyed admirer of the silent cinema and worshipped Master Vithal who was the star of the day. He used to dream of emulating his stunt and fight scenes. He started his Film Career in the Silent Film Era,in 1930, he got a break. Producer Siraj Ali Hakim gave him a comedian’s role in the silent film "Bewafa Aashiq," based on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". The film was a hit, but he was without offers for eight months because it was believed that he was really a hunchback! 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 Hindi film industry’s all-time favourite 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 He had invested his own money, pawned his wife’s jewellery and withdrawn all his life’s savings.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.
Remembering WAHEEDA REHMAN on her 79th Birthday today as a versatile actress of Golden Era of Hindi Cinema.She was born on 3rd Feb 1938into 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 Kaalam Maari Pochu (1956).
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.
Remembering Suman Kalyanpur(Born on 28th Jan 1937) on her 80th Birthday today as a female Playback singer who was often mistaken by Lata's voice because of her uncanny similarity to Lata’s voice. Many of her songs are indistinguishable from Lata’s style Suman Kalyanpur started singing in the Golden Era of Bollywood.This was also the time when female playback singing was dominated by the Mangeshkar sisters, more Lata than Asha (Bhosle). Though she was diligent, sharp and had a lovely voice but never was the first choice of Music Directors or Producers.She used to get chance when Lata was unavailable, or if the producers could not afford her rate of Rs 100 per song, or if the song suffered because of her refusal to sing with Rafi over royalty issues.There were rumours also that Mangeshkar sisters specially Lata didnt wanted that she should be given songs in the films, Lata would sometimes refuse to sing with composers who chose Kalyanpur, and they couldn’t afford to upset Lata. Suman Kalyanpur sang two duets with Lata before her own songs became popular. Kabhi aaj kabhi kal in the Balraj Sahni-starrer Chand (1959) was a Hemant Kumar composition. Suman Kalyanpur's father Shankar Rao Hemadi hailed from an elite Saraswat Brahmin family belonging to Mangalore, Karnataka. Hemmady is a village in Kundapur Taluk of Udupi District , Karnataka.Apart from father and mother Seeta Hemmady, there were 5 daughters and one son in the family with Suman being the eldest among her siblings. In 1943, her family moved to Mumbai, where she received her musical training.After completing schooling from Mumbai’s famed Columbia High School, She got admission in the prestigious Sir J. J. School of Arts for further studies in Painting. Simultaneously, she started learning classical vocal from Pune's Prabhat Films' music director and a close family friend, ‘Pandit Keshav Rao Bhole’ In 1952 she was offered to sing a song in All India Radio,that was her first public performance.Latter on she got a chance to sing for the Marathi film 'Shukrachi Chandni' released in the year 1953. At that time, Sheikh Mukhtar was making the film 'Mangu' whose composer was ‘Mohammed Shafi’. Sheikh Mukhtar was so impressed with her ‘Shukrachi Chandni’ songs, that he got her to sing 3 songs for the film ‘Mangu’. However, due to some unknown reasons, later ‘O.P,Nayyar’ replaced ’Mohammed Shafi’ and only one of her 3 songs, a lullaby “Koi Pukaare Dheere Se Tujhe” was retained in the film. Thus, she entered Hindi cinema,Though Mangu was the first film she signed to sing but it was the film "Darwaja" which released earlier in 1954. In the same year (1954), Suman sang the film version of O.P.Nayyar’s hit ensemble song ‘Mohabbat Kar Lo Ji Bhar Lo Aji Kisne Roka Hai’ with Rafi and Geeta Dutt for the film ‘Aar Paar’. She was 16 and a student at JJ School of Art when singer Talat Mehmood heard her sing at a college function and “gave a lot of shabaashi”. He then put her in touch with recording company HMV. Though HMV producers found her voice “amateurish”, Kalyanpur got a song in Darwaaza (1954) and debuted with Talat (Ek dil, do hain talabgaar). The song made the film industry sit up and notice. This was followed by Chhodo chhodo mori baiyaan (Miya Bibi Raazi, 1960), Na tum humein jaano (Baat Ek Raat Ki, 1962), Mere sang ga (Janwar, 1965), Aajhuna aaye baalma (Saanjh aur Savera, 1963), Tumne pukaara aur hum chale aaye (Rajkumar, 1964) and several others. She recorded some popular duets with male singers Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, and Hemant Kumar. Some of her memorable duets with Rafi are "Aajkal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche", "Na Na Karte Pyaar", "Tumse O Hasina", "Rahen Na Rahen Hum", "Parbaton Ke Pedon Par Shaam Ka Basera He", "Ajahuna Aye Balama", "Tumane Pukara Aur Hum Chale Aye", "Bad Muddat Ke Yeh Ghadi Ayee", "Mujhhe Yeh Bhool Na", "Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya", "Tujhko Dilbari Ki Kasam" and "Chand Takata Hai Idhar". With Manna Dey, she sang the popular duet "Na Jane Kahan Ham The" under the music direction of Dattaram. With Mukesh she has sung many popular duets like `Yeh Kisne geet chheda', "Akhiyon ka noor hai tu", "Mera Pyar bhi tu hai", "Dil ne phir yaad Kiya", "Shama se koi Kehde" etc. Suman married a Mumbai based businessman Ramanand Kalyanpur in the year 1958 and thus, became Suman Kalyanpur from Suman Hemadi. He accompanied her for every recording session after her marriage.She lived in the joint family of her husband which was very conservative,her husband never allowed her to sing Cabret Songs,she never attended filmy parties,nor appeared in stage shows even not given interviews to the media,even Veteran radio artiste Ameen Sayani had to chase her for close to 45 years before he could record a one-hour show with her in 2005. Suman Kalyanpur's career started in 1954 and was very popular singer in the 1960s and 1970s. She recorded songs for movies in several languages besides Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Bengali, Oriya and Punjabi.She was a bit unfortunate as she never won the National Film Awards or Filmfare Award for singing but is still considered among the popular singers of her prime time. She has sung a total of 857 Hindi songs. Here are some of my favourite Solo as well as Duets of Suman Kalyanpur Here is one particular song in which I think she seems to have clearly overshadowed Lata.Its from the 1964 film FARIYAAD "Haal-e-dil unko sunana tha sunaya na gaya "
Song from Fariyaad 1964
Song from Baat Ek Raat Ki 1962
This Song has 2 versions,one a solo by Lata and a Duet with Suman Kalyanpur
Sardar Malik,father of Anu Malik the famous Music Director of 90s was also a Music Director of Golden Era .His career as Music composer ran for many years but he was not considered as a hit Music Director by the Industry.Later he started teaching music.In an interview he said that whatever he possesed like House all came from the earnings from teaching. Sardar Malik was married to Kausar jehan who was a sister of famous lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri,he had three sons-Anu Malik,Abu Malik and Dabbu Malik.He passed away on 27th Jan 2006. Sardar Malik who was a trained dancerunder the famed Uday Shankar at his residential school at Almora. He was a gifted singer and started getting both singing and composing assignments. Seeing the rise of independent playback singers such as Rafi and Mukesh, he realised he could not match them, and confined himself to music direction, and came over to Bombay.He and Mohan Sehgal started their careers as dancers. They were appointed as dance directors by Nanabhai Bhatt for a film titled 40 Crore This assignment didn't help him further to get more work.He continued performing with Uday Shankar’s troupe and it was here that his singing was noticed by Ramesh Sehgal, a director who gave him a Break as Music Director in "Renuka" released in 1947 in this movie he also sang 4 songs.,the song Sunti nahin hai duniya fariyaad kisiki. was liked but even after that his career was not moving.He tried his hand in composing music for few more films like Ren Basera,Raaz but his luck was not favoring him,the movies for which he was composing were either not running or getting shelved. His first hit song was"Ae ghame dil kya karoon" sung by Talat Mahmood in the film'Thokar" starring Shammi Kapoor.Next year1954 his film Aulad came,the movie had some great songs"Duniya Tasveer Hai"by Talat Mahmood and"Tum Salamat Raho Hazar baras'by Asha were very popular.same year another film"Chor Bazar"came out with beautiful songs by Lata,'Chalta Rahe Yeh Carvan"and'Dar Dar Ki Thokren Hain"were hit Saranga's songs were very popular and it remains Sardar Malik's best composition.Specially the song"Saranga Teri Yaad Mein" sung by Mukesh is his immortal composition. Here are some of my favourite Sardar Malik's unforgettable compositions as a Tribute to this great Music Director of Golden Era.
Remembering today on her 59th Birthdayas one of the most versatile and technically gifted female singers in the music-reliant Indian film industry.She was born on 25th Jan 1958 as Sharda Krishnamurthy in the South Indian family of Delhi, she came from an artistic background: Her father worked for the Education and Cultural Affairs Ministry, and her mother loved classical Indian music and dance, making sure that Kavita began taking lessons at a young age. Her Bengali aunt and uncle -- with whom young Kavita spent a great deal of time, to the point where she looked upon them as second parents -- influenced her to learn the Bengali style Rabindra Sangeet as well. At the age of nine, she got an opportunity to record a Tagore song in Bengali with Lata Mangeshkar under the auspices of the music composer and singer Hemant Kumar. Later on she moved to Bombay when she was 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry. She studied from St. Xavier's College, Bombay from where she did her BA Honors Economics. She was very active in the St. Xavier's Music Group during her college days. During the annual college festival (Malhar), she met Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of Hemant Kumar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing Kavita to her father.He was impressed by her grounding in music, so he began using her as a singer during his live performances. In one such performance, playback singer Manna Dey spotted her and employed her to sing advertisement jingles. Through her aunt's strong contacts, she met Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini, who later took the initiative of introducing Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one of the composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal) in late 1976. It was Laxmikant Pyarelal,who gave her first break in hindi films from the film Maang Bharo Sajana, (1980) unfortunately the song was dropped from the final cut of the film.Next year in 1981 she was given a chance to sing a duet with Rafi in a film Ladies Tailor,that got unnoticed.She was getting songs every year in hindi films but her real Break came with Mr India's song "Hawa Hawai" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se" in 1987. Late 80s and 90s was the era of Kavita Krishnamurthy,she gave many hit songs during this period.Her performance as a singer in the film 1942: A Love Story, composed by R.D. Burman won her much popular acclaim.After that she was a leading Female Singer of Bollywood,Yaraana, Agni Sakshi, Bhairavi, and Khamoshi are notable films in which she gave hit songs.During this period she had tough competition with other female singers such asAlka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal and Sadhana Sargam. She got married to the famous Violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bangalore on 11 November 1999, after that she got extremely selective and cut down on her film singing. She started expanding her artistic range to areas which were never explored. She was the main featured soloist in the Global Fusion album released by Warner Bros., featuring musicians from five continents. Although primarily a playback singer, Kavita has sung with orchestras as a soloist; she collaborated with Western artists from jazz, pop and classical fields. She won four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards, including three consecutive awards in the period 1994–1996, and the Padmashri which she received in 2005. Let's Celebrate her Birthday with enjoying some of her memorable songs.
