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
Bollywood musicis ever-evolving and cannot be restricted to one or two genres. Directors are constantly experimenting in incorporating popular genres in their films, as songs are perhaps the most important selling point of Bollywood movies. Disco’s prominence in the 1970s in west started gaining ground in Bollywood in 80s.It wasIndian music director Biddu Appaiah, known mononymously as Biddu, saw success in the West composing and producing Carl Douglas’ mega hit "Kung Fu Fighting".Biddu found a muse in Pakistani songstress Nazia Hassan, for whom he wrote and produced. Perhaps their most standout hit was the rather light and bouncy "Disco Deewane".Actor,Director Feroz Khan was so impressed with Biddu and asked him one song for his forthcoming filmQurbani ,the song was "Aap Jaisa Koi"picturised on Zeenat Aman opened the way for Desi Disco. With trend changing from Melody to Beats emerged Bhappi Lahri who became Desi Disco King who remained on Top for 3-4 years giving Hit after hit disco songs.As Lahiri’s reign of the disco period crept in, we saw Burmans and Laxmikant Pyarelal acclimatize to this phenomenon.Burman tried to find a middle ground between Indianized psychedelia and disco,Laxmikant Pyarelal played with traditional Hindu and Sufi religious motifs for the film Karz and infused them with disco in an effort to keep up. This period of Bollywood music saw an interesting variation in styles as many music directors tried to process and incorporate disco without losing what made them famous in the first place. Disco became important genre for contemporary, current and future Bollywood.Being a hardcore Bollywood movies and music fan. I take this rare opportunity to list down the Top 20 Bollywood Songs of the 80s and 90s
Fathers are our first superheroes, our biggest motivator without whose guidance there would be no meaning to life.Bollywood which draws inspiration from real life emotions have given us songs that emote the unsaid feelings seamlessly. Let us Celebrate this day with these songs. Babul Mora Naihar Chhuto Hi Jaye
Song from Street Singer 1938
BABUL KI DUAEIN LETI JA
Song from Neel Kamal 1968
Muskura Ladle Muskara...
Song from Purnima 1965 Tu ho ke badaa ban jaana apni maata ka rakhwaala
Every distinguished creative artiste is born with one gift, but, Hemantda was born with several gifts. As a singer he reigned supreme in Calcutta and Bombay.From Naagin and Jaal to Bees Saal Baad and Kohraa the 50's and 60's were decades that 'belonged' prominently to the unique talents of Hemant Kumar. Remembering him on his 97 th Birth Anniversary,I present some of his Immortal songs. Hemant Kumar Mukherjee was born on 16 June 1920 in Varanasi. Music seemed to be an inherent part of his life from the outsetAfter passing the intermediate examinations (12th grade), Hemanta joined Bengal Technical Institute at Jadavpur to pursue Engineering. However, he quit academics to pursue a career in music. At the age of 15 Hemanta recorded his first song for All India Radio in 1935.In his early life Hemanta Da used to follow the famous Bengali singer Pankaj Mullick ,he even was called as Chhota Pankaj during those days.In 1937, Hemanta cut his first gramophone disc under the Columbia label. The songs (non-film) on this disc were "Janite Jadi Go Tumi" and "Balo Go Balo More" whose lyrics were by Naresh Bhattacharya and music was composed by Sailesh Duttagupta. Hemanta's first film song was in the Bengali filmNimai Sanyas released in 1941.His first Hindi film songs were in Irada in 1944 under Pt. Amarnath's music direction.His first movie as a music director was the Bengali film Abhiyatri in 1947. Hemanta Kumar migrated to Mumbai in 1951 and joined Filmistan Studios,Hemen Gupta. the Director from Bengal with whom he gave music earlier in Bengali films approached Hemanta Kumar to compose music for his first directorial venture in Hindi titled Anandmath under the Filmistan banner. The music of Anand Math (1952) was a moderate success. Perhaps, the most notable songs from this movie is 'Vande mataram' sung by Lata Mangeshkar,After that Hemanta Kumar scored music for a few Filmistan movies like Shart in subsequent years, the songs of which received moderate popularity. Simultaneously, Hemanta gained popularity in Mumbai as a playback singer. His songs playbacked for actor Dev Anand under music director Sachin Dev Burman in movies like Jaal (" Yeh raat, yeh chandni phir kahan ... "), House No. 44 (" Chup hai dharti, chup hai chand sitare... "), Solva Saal (" Hai apna dil to awara ..... "), Funtoosh (" Teri duniya mein jeene se ... "), and Baat ek raat ki (" Na tum hame jaano ..... "), became very popular and continues to be so. By the mid-1950s, Hemanta had consolidated his position as a prominent singer and composer.He composed music for a Hindi film called Nagin (1954) which became a major success owing largely to its music. Songs of Nagin remained chart-toppers continuously for two years and culminated in Hemant receiving the prestigious Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1955. In the late 1950s, Hemanta ventured into movie production under his own banner: Hemanta-Bela productions. The first movie under this banner was a Bengali film directed by Mrinal Sen, titled Neel Akasher Neechey (1959).Latter he made films in hindi,his production company was renamed Geetanjali productions and it produced several Hindi movies such as Bees Saal Baad, Kohraa, Biwi Aur Makaan, Faraar, Rahgir and Khamoshi — all of which had music by Hemanta. Only Bees Saal Baad and Khamoshi were major commercial successes. The 1962 was special year for him,The music of Bees Saal Baad and Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam became very popular.Hemantda pulled out all stops for a score that ranks as one of the ten best ever composed for the Hindi cinema. Between them Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle created a universe of pain and romance in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam. From Geeta Dutt's 'Na Jao Saiyyan..' to Asha'a 'Bhanwara Bada Naadan Hai..', each song stuns each note cuts deeply in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam. Hemant Kumar sang finest Hindi songs for Sachin Dev and probably his Sazaa and Jaal songs were his first real popular numbers He once became voice of Dev Anand in the mid 50s,he sang 11 songs for him surprisingly all were great hits. Hemant Kumar was also remained connected with Bangla Films through out his career,in fact he was very busy there in the late 60s and 70s. He remained the foremost exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, film and non-film songs. His output continued to be popular for most of the decade. Some of them are Jodi jante chao tumi... (1972), Ek gochha rajanigandha , Aamay prasno kore nil dhrubatara..., Sedin tomay dekhechilam... (1974), Khirki theke singho duar... (Stree, 1971), Ke jane ko ghonta... ( Sonar Khancha, 1974), Jeona daraon bandhu... ( Phuleswari, 1975 ) and popularised Rabindra sangeet using them beautifully in films as per situations. A very popular and classic example is the song Chorono dhorite diyogo amare.. in Dadar Kirti(1980). In 1980, Hemanta had a heart attack that severely affected his vocal capabilities, especially his breath control. After that he composed music for a handful of Bengali movies and one Bengali and one Hindi tele-series.In 1987, he was nominated for Padmabhushan which he refused politely.
In September 1989 he travelled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to receive the Michael Madhusudan Award, as well as to perform a concert. Immediately after returning from this trip he suffered another heart attack on 26 September and died at 11:15 pm in a nursing home in South Calcuuta
Along with Kanan Devi and Noor Jehan, Suraiya was one of the most prominent female singing stars of the Golden Era of Hindi films.She had great looks, natural expressions and a sweet soothing voice. She was the heart-throb of the nation in the 40s and early 50s. In a career spanning over 20 years, Suraiya acted in about 65 films and sang close to 350 songs. Shelived like a star all her life. She did not turn to playback singing past her prime agenor she switched to character roles. Her beauty coupled with melodious voice captivated the hearts of generations of movie and music lovers. Today I pay tribute to her on her 88th Birth Anniversary. Suraiya was born Suraiya Jamaal Shaikh on 15th of June 1929 in Gujranwala in the Punjab province of the undivided India (now in Pakistan). Later her parents shifted to Bombay well before partition.She had a natural talent for singing, acting and dancing from childhood. She received basic training in music, when her mother used to take her to Hindustani music teacher or 'masterji' for training.At the age of 9 she first sang for a children's program for All India Radio,in fact it was Madan Mohan who was her childhood friend insisted her to come with him to All India Radio Bombay for this children programme.Naushad sa’ab, who heard her voice on the radio, got in touch with her to sing for Kardar sa’ab’s film, ‘Sharda’. And she sang ‘Panchi ja peeche raha hain bachpan mera’, which was picturised on Mehtab. Her first song as a child-singer was "Boot karun main polish babu" (as a playback singer) in the film Nai Duniya (1942), composed by Naushad. Suraiya sang as a child playback singer for actress Mehtab in Sharda (1942), Kanoon (1943) and Sanjog (1943), with Naushad as the music director. Mehtab was a big name those days,Initially she was hesitant to have her as her playback singer, but on hearing her, she wanted Suraiya to sing all her songs in her films. Manna Dey, recorded his first song under the baton of his uncle K C Dey a duet“Jaago jaago aayi usha, panchhi bole jaago” with Suraiya in Tamanna 1942. By the year 1945, she was establishing herself as singer and also as an actor (though in smaller roles as she was not grown enough to be the lead actress). For “Main kya karoon” (1945) she sang two duets with Hamida Bano. “Suno more raja, nazariya milaaike” for composer Neenu Majmudar from this film. In the year 1945, Suraiya acted in K Asif’s multi-starrer magnum opus film Phool (1945). It had a stellar star cast of Wasti, Veena, Prithviraj Kapoor, Yakub, Sitara, Durga Khote and Suraiya. She sang as many as four songs for legendary composer Master Ghulam Haider for this film. K L Sehgal who was on top liked her singing and agreed to sing with her,Suraiya seemed to be holding herself pretty well in this song.The song “Rani khol de apne dwar, milne ka din aa gayaa” was a sweet melodious romantic number. The film Anmol Ghadi was a major milestone in Suraiya’s career as she got to work with another mega singing star Noor Jehan in this film.The film was musical hit and still remembered for its music by Naushad.She played the second lead and had three solos to her credit.All the three songs became popular,the two songs Main dil mein and Mann leta hain angdaai are happy songs and the third song"Sochaa thaa kya, kyaa ho gayaa" was a sad song. The year 1947 was also very important for not only India but also to Suraiya. Many Muslim artists migrated to Pakistan but Suraiya continued to stay in India.This year came Dard which had the music of Naushad the film was a musical hit,All of Suraiya’s five songs from this film became very popular.Her duet “Betaab hain dil” with Uma Devi/Tuntun also became a big hit.Another song Dil dhadke aankh mori phadke became immense popular. The year 1947 saw release of as many as five of her films, a couple of them major musical hits.This year she sang six songs for a newcomer composer Naresh Bhattacharya for the film Daak Bangla. She sang four solos and two duets for this film. Her duet with Mukesh “Jab badal ghir ghir aayenge, kaho jee kit jaayenge”was liked by the music lovers.This year her film with K L Sehgal "Parwana"released,she starred with Saigal but did not have any duet with him. The film was again a musical hit.Her three solo songs “Paapi papihaa re, pee pee na bol”, “Mere mundere na bol, kaaga jaa, jaa kaaga” and “Jab tum hi nahin apne, duniya hi begaani hain” became major hits. She looked innocent and pretty with Saigal in his song “Us mast nazar pe padi.. kahin ulajh na jaana”. The year 1948 proved to be her best with Vidya (her first film with Dev Anand), Gajre (MD Anil Biswas), Kaajal (MD Ghulam Mohd), Rang Mahal (MD K Dutta), Shakti (MD Ram Prasad) releasing the same year.For the film Vidya, Suraiya sang for the first time for Sachin Dev Burman.All the five songs from this film showcase the talent and versatility of S D Burman and Suraiya.Her breezy romantic duet with Mukesh (Laai khushi ki duniyaa) and solos “Kinaare kinaare chale jaayenge” and “Jhoom rahi jhoom rahi khushiyonki naav” have become favorites of music lovers. This film brought two young hearts closer and then they went on to become romantically involved in real life. This year she also associated with another great Music director duo Husnlal-Bhagatram. She sang for the film Aaj Ki Raat and Pyaar Ki Jeet released that year for them. Pyaar Ki Jee was a musical blockbuster with superhit songs like “Tere nainon ne chori kiya” and “O door jaane waale, waada na bhool na jaana”. Their rhythmic music, Qamar Jalalabadi’s imaginative lyrics and her soulful singing captured hearts of the nation. Till date, whenever one thinks of Suraiya one remembers these songs. This team repeated their success the very next year with the film Badi Behen. Major hit of 1949 was Dillagi with handsome Shyam, once again becoming a musical blockbuster. Naushad had a junior artist (nick named Shyam) give male voice to actor Shyam with Suraiya in the superhit song “Tu mera chand mein teri chandni”. Her solo “Murli wale murli baja” also became very popular. In 1950 she starred with Raj Kapoor in Dastan (MD Naushad) and with Dev Anand in Afsar (MD S D Burman) and Nili (MD S. Mohinder).By this time Nargis , Madhubala and Meena Kumari were also successful as heroines,she had to face a tough competition with them.Though they were not singing actresses but by this time Playback singing was also on rise,Some of her films like Laal Kanwar, Moti Mahal, Goonj, Mashooka (with Mukesh), Bilwa Mangal were not accepted in box office.Her popularity was in wane.Her reign at the top was from 1947 to 1952.Her contract with A. R. Kardar ended with Deewana, after which she reduced her assignments in films. She made national news with Sohrab Modi's film Mirza Ghalib (1954), which won a national award, the President's Gold medal for the Best Feature Film. In the film, she made vivid, the role of the married Ghalib's lover. She also acted with famous singer and aspiring actor Talat Mehmood in Waaris (Raahi matwaale) and Shammi Kapoor in Shamma Parwana (Meri dildar na milaya) but none of these films received the success like her late forties films. In the subsequent years she starred in smaller budget films like Mr Lambu, Trolly Driver, etc. Her swan song is supposed to be “Yeh kaisi ajab dastaan ho gayi hai” composed by Sajjad Husain for the film Rustom Sohrab (1963). Rustom Sohrab (1963) was her last film. The song, 'Yeh kaisi ajab daastan ho gayi hai'[33] from the film, which was one of her finest songs, was also her last, as with this song Suraiya also said 'adieu' to her singing career, along with her film career. Naushad experimented withher in a few western tunes for the film Dastan. Her songs like “Aaya mere dil mein tu” and “Ta ra ri ta ra ri” (with Mohd Rafi) became very popular. She had become the highest paid actress and continued with the success in the films like Shokhiyaan (Raaton ke neend chheen lee), Sanam (Ke sska kiya matlab hai), Rajput (Raste pe hum khade hain), Do Sitare (Mujhe tumsai mohabbat hai). After her mother's death in 1987, Suraiya started feeling lonely in her rented apartment (owned by Aswin Shah) in Krishna Mahal, Marine Drive in Mumbai, where she lived from the early 1940s until her death in 2004 at the age of 74. She possessed several apartments in Worli and a house and orchard in Lonavala.
Song from Tamanna 1942. Duet with Manna Dey ,his first song
