Tale of Two Melody Queens

With the many ups and downs, the Mangeshkar sisters have been together in their professional and personal lives. There have been many stories about their rivalries. Lata is the eldest of the three sisters who entered the film industry first. She began singing at mere 14 years of age to support her family after her father died. Being the eldest one, she expected the same seriousness from her younger sister Asha.

Asha as she is, the rule breaker, had craved a different path for herself. 16-year-old Asha eloped with a man named Mr. Ganpatrao Bhosle, who was 31 years old then. In one of her interviews Asha accepted that Lata did not approve of her marriage, “At one time, the relationship was very adversarial and there have been periods of non-communication.”
The professional differences started trickling in when Asha started pursuing a career in playback.Asha Bhosle  made her Hindi film debut when she sang the song "Saawan Aaya" for Hansraj Behl's Chunariya (1948).Her first solo Hindi film song was for the movie Raat Ki Raani (1949).That time Lata esteblished herself with the other great female playback singers like  Geeta Dutt, and Shamshad Begum. Asha used to get the assignments these three singers  refused to sing. Her earliest songs were composed by A R Qureshi, Sajjad Hussain, and Ghulam Mohammed, and most of these songs failed to do well.In 1952 Singing in Sangdil (1952), composed by Sajjad Hussain, she got reasonable recognition. Raj Kapoor signed her to sing "Nanhe Munne Bachche" with Mohammed Rafi  in Boot Polish (1954), which gained popularity. O. P. Nayyar gave Asha a break in CID (1956).but she first achieved success in B. R. Chopra's Naya Daur (1957), composed by him. Her duets with Rafi like "Maang Ke Saath Tumhara", "Saathi Haath Badhana" and "Uden Jab Jab Zulfein Teri", penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, earned her recognition. It was the first time she sang all the songs for a film's leading actress.

From 1957 to 1962  Sachin Dev Burman and his favorite singer, Lata Mangeshkar, were not on good terms. During this period, S D Burman used Asha as his lead female voice. She and Burman gave many hit songs in movies such as Kaala Pani, Kaala Bazaar, Insaan Jaag Utha, Lajwanti, Sujata and Teen Deviyaan (1965). They recorded many songs together after 1962 as well. Most famous of these songs were Asha's duets with Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar. The song "Ab Ke Baras" in Bimal Roy's Bandini (1963) consolidated her position as a lead singer. The seductive song "Raat Akeli Hai" from Jewel Thief (1967), picturised on Tanuja, became very popular.

Lata and Asha Duets-Their first duet was for the film Daaman 1951.

Song from Daaman 1951

Song from Chori Chori 1956

Song from Miss Merry 1957

Song from Jis Desh Mei Ganga Behti Hai (1960)

Song from Professor (1962)

Song from Mere Mehboob (1963)

Song from Jahan Ara 1964

Song from Padosan (1968)

Song from Aaye Din Bahar ke' 1966

50 Years Of Jewel Thief

Some films are defined by their repeat value. Thrillers generally don't fall in this category. But “Jewel Thief” is an exception.Jewel Thief is a 1967 spy thriller Released on 27th October exactly 50 years ago. It was produced by Dev Anand's home production, Navketan Films,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, Helen, Faryal and Anju Mahendru.

 The film's basic ethics are drawn from a Hitchcockian model, but Vijay wanted to play by his brother's image as well. So he carved his character in a James Bond mould, somebody who doesn't mind flirting with more than one woman to reach his goal.
The film hangs on the  shoulders of Dev Anand, who played Vinay, mistaken for his supposed lookalike Amar/Prince, the jewel thief.The biggest surprise of the film was the casting of Ashok Kumar against his popular image. 

The film’s complex tale is meticulously plotted, as are the various twists and turns that appear credible despite obvious contrivances. Jewel Thief is also extremely well crafted and nicely paced, and keeps the suspense going for a good part of its running length of around three hours.

 Vyjayanthimala is fine enough as the damsel-in-distress who has her own baggage to deal with. Helen, Faryal and Anju Mahendru effectively do their bits as molls, adding significantly to the eye candy value.

Another highlight of the film was its music SD Burman’s score is hip, lively and contemporary for its time. The songs are extremely well composed, be it the haunting Rula Ke Gaya Sapna Mera, the two romantic duets Aasman Ke Neeche and Dil Pukare or the deftly choreographed club song Baithe Hain Kya Uske Paas.How can we forget the classic song and dance Hothon Pe Aisi Baat Daba ke Chali Ayi and Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara.

The film was a super hit and among the Top 5 films of that year other being Upkar, Ram Aur Shyam and Farz

Songs From JEWEL THIEF 1967

Bollywood Actors who were arrested or sent to Jail

Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan may have become the poster boys for Bollywood celebs who have broken the law, but they aren't the only celebs who have had to spend time behind bars. Some of those who have got on the wrong side of the law have served jail time for serious allegations. Unlike today’s film stars Balraj Sahni went to jail for his activism and some times he was released from jail to enable him to attend his film shootings. Madhubala was also a star who was arrested in a case filed by B R chopra.
Sanjay Dut

The actor was arrested and jailed for 16 months between 1994-96 under the TADA (Prevention Act) for illegal possession of firearms. He was sentenced for 5 years for this crime.He was sent to Pune's Yerwada Jail.

Salman Khan

He had many criminal cases linked with his name. From the killing of two black bucks to the hit and run case, Salman Khan visited the police station and courts many times. Recently he got a big relief from the court, but his experiences with criminal cases are not that good.

Shiney Ahuja

He was arrested in 2009, He was accused of raping his 20-year-old maid. He was also accused of molesting his maid a day before this incident. Shiney Ahuja initially denied every accusation, but after the strict actions by police, he confessed his brutal crime. This case put a full stop on his acting career.

John Abraham

He was once booked and imprisoned in a case of rash driving. This incident took place in 2006, where session court sentenced him for 15 days and he was taken into police custody, but later he was granted bail from Bombay high court.

Saif Ali Khan

He was one of the co-accused in black bucks killing case near Jodhpur. He was working with Salman Khan in hum sath sath hein and was booked for killing protected animal.

INDER KUMAR

 IN May 2014, actor Inder Kumar, 41, was arrested for allegedly raping his girlfriend in his Andheri apartment.  The 24-year-old girlfriend, who is a model, told police that Inder Kumar called her to his apartment on the pretext of getting her roles in films, and then raped her for the next two nights.

 FARDEEN KHAN:

He went to jail because he was caught while buying drugs illegally. After spending 5 days in jail, he was bailed

 Monica Bedi

She had a direct connect with underworld don Abu Salem and went to jail for forgery. Both of them were arrested in Portugal ans sent back to India.

Madhubala

The gorgeous actress from 90s was taken into custody when BR Chopra filed a case against her which stated that Madhubala had taken fore signing amount for a movie but she later refused to do the film without returning the money.

Sonali Bendre

She was a victim of religious issues. She got arrested by police as some of the religious people filed a case against her because of posing inappropriately in a magazine cover. Though she had got bail.

AKSHAY KUMAR:

He was booked for Unbuttoning of his trousers by his wife Twinkle publicly at the Lakme Fashion Week landed Akshay in jail for a brief while.

SUNIEL SHETTY

Suniel Shetty too was hauled up in a cheque dishonour case when he was a director of Hyundai Telecom Limited.

Rajpal Yadav

Rajpal Yadav was convicted for concealing facts about a 5 crore in a recovery suit against him and his wife by a businessman. The actor was in custody for 10 days. We never expected this comic legend to indulge in criminal act.

Madhur Bhandarkar

In a rather scandalous case,  Director Madhur Bhandarkar was arrested after a struggling actress Preeti Jain accused the director of rape in 2006. Madhur was later granted bail and was relieved by the court on the grounds of unavailable evidence.

Sooraj Pancholi

Sooraj Pancholi, son of actor Aditya Pancholi was arrested in the Jiah Khan suicide case. He was dating model-turned-actress Jiah Khan and was charged with abettment to suicide in her suicide case. Later granted bail,

Vindhu Dara Singh

Vindhu Dara Singh, son of the famous Bollywood actor Dara Singh was caught in a IPL-spot fixing scandal. Vindhu was booked for cheating and forgery. The actor had shot to fame after his stint in Bigg Boss 3. The actor was found to have been betting himself and also aiding the bookies.

Mamta Kulkarni

Mamta along with Vicky Goswami, her husband, was allegedly involved in an international drug racket.

Ankit Tiwari

Ankit Tiwari and his brother Ankur Tiwari were arrested  in a rape case registered against them by a 28-year-old woman in 2014.According to the police, the victim had invited the singer to a party where he allegedly coerced her into consuming alcohol, and sexually assaulted her.

Puru Raaj kumar 

Puru Raajkumar ,son of the late movie icon, Raajkumar. Jaani! was arrested in running  his car over 8 people in Bandra west in 1993, killing 3 of them.  Puru made his debut opposite Karishma Kapoor in the forgettable Bal Brahmachari . He then went on to act in movies like Mission Kashmir, Veer and more recently Action Jackson.

50 years of FARZ

This film FARZ released on 6th Oct 1967 gave bolllywood the new star Jeetendra,This movie also gave him that Jumping Jack image, something that he put to good use in loads of movies at least till Gulzar gave him an image makeover with Parichay (1972). The birthday song in Farz has become one of the most popular birthday songs (from Hindi films) ever.The film along with its music became super hit.
This was the first hindi film that introduced James Bond type genre in the years to come. Jeetendra plays Agent 116—Gopal—with enthusiastic aplomb and an Elvis-style pompadour.
Gopal is assigned to the case by the head of CID (David) after his previous Agent (303) is killed on the job, On the way to his new assignment he is seated next to the lovely Sunita (Babita), and he wastes no time in showering her with insincere compliments too. 

Sunita's father Damodar (Sajjan) killed Agent 303.Gopal discovers when he tracks down 303’s pictures, which include a shot of Damodar’s license plate. Gopal follows the car one evening and is shocked when Sunita gets out of it. Gopal continues to romance Sunita and attends her birthday party where he sings the aforementioned Birthday Song “Baar Baar Din Ye Aaye” 
Gopal tells Sunita the truth about her beloved father. Gopal’s job of course is to find out who the big guys behind Damodar actually are.On following Agent 303 sister Kamla who was looking for her brother's murderer who thinks that Gopal was the murderer.

 Kamla seductively dances and mix some intoxicant pill in his drink which overlooked by 116, and acted as drank and eventually senseless. Goons take him to their secret den in city outskirts,In the den, 116 captures one of the goon leaders and forced him to reveal some information.Here he comes to know the Chinese conspiracy to destabilize the nation and accommodated by traitors inside, led by a person wearing Mao uniform named Supremo who only speaks a few broken English sentences. Rest of the movie follows the 116's efforts to thwart a foreign conspiracy against India.

Farz was a Super Hit film of 1967,its music was also super hit,the film gave two stars to Bollywood Jeetendra and Babita

Song from Farz 1967

The hard work and determination what made Amitabh Bachchan the Shehansha of Bollywood

 A tall and thin young man who known for his voice entered the city of dreams had to face rejections because of these two qualities of his. Film makers rejected him for being 6 feet 3 inches and had no confidence in him. He auditioned for a voice test at All India Radio but was rejected.But he did not give it up.He got his first break with the movie Saat Hindustani.

After that he gave 11 flops in a row,even then he continued to work till he got Anand and Zanjeer which changed his life.

Amitabh Bachchan is a perfect role model for us all, not only to the ones who want to become movie stars, but also for the rest of us to extrapolate the learnings and wear the same attitude to fight adversities in our own lives.

He became the Top Star after Sholay. He was giving one hit after another but suddenly  in 1982 Amitabh had a near death experience, the doctors and his family had lost hopes after he met with an accident on the sets of the movie ‘Coolie’.

He survived and recovered to become the a superstar for the coming years. He stopped working in films for few years but when he returned back in early 1990s his films did not perform well in Box Office.He was diagnosed Myasthenia Gravis, an ailment which struck him after the fatal accident, the disease makes one feel weak and the person keeps dropping his head but he was able to recover as it was in remission state
Then came another huge downfall in his life at the of 57, in the year 2000 when his movies flopped and he faced another major financial crisis in his life where he lost almost everything he had.

It was Amitabh Bachchan who came back once again by signing the TV serial Kaun Banega Crorepati.In such circumstances and after so many downfalls, anyone can lose strength to move on but he came back and made a fresh start.He even went to Yash Chopra's house to get him a role in his next film.He was given a role in Mohabbatein.On his decision for KBC his wife Jaya Bachchan doubted the transition of a silver screen mega star heading to make a TV show. To which he exclaimed “beggars can’t be choosers”.
He accepted his failures and dealt with his health issues and which helped him to keep going,At 75 he is still in demand,he is one of the top earning heroes of Bollywood

Karva Chauth In Hindi Cinema

Karva Chauth is an Indian festival observed by the women in our country to pray for their husband’s long life.The festival has been celebrated in most family-oriented Bollywood dramas with the participation of the entire clan,There is a joke that Yash Chopra and Karan Johar can not make a film without a situation of Karwa Chauth in their film.Researching on this I found that the first time this festival was picturised in 1965 film Bahu Beti. Remember the song Aaj Hai Karwa Chauth Sakhi ReThis was the first song that was picturised in Hindi Cinema.Another old song I remember Aaj Hai Karwa Chauth Ka Vrat from the film Karwa Chauth released in 1978.
The trend started in 1990s with the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam,1992, Hum Apke Hain Kaun 1994, later it was Punjabitised by Yash Chopra from DDLJ. From elaborate dresses to fancy make-up and royal sets, Hindi movies have romanticised the festival so much that no se Bollywood fan wants to miss a chance to ape the stars. The fast is traditionally celebrated in the states of Rajasthan, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab.Every state has his own style of celebrating this fast but in films only Punjabi style is shown.In 1994 film Chand Ka Tukda a song was picturised in Gujarati style.
Here are some of the best Karwa Chauth songs from some of our favourite Hindi movies.

Song from Bahu Beti 1965

Song from Karwa Chauth 1978

Song from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, 1992

Song from Aashiq Awara 1993

Song from Dil Wale Dulhania Le Jayenge  1995

Song from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gum 2002

A Clipping from Baghban

Begum Akhtar-The Queen Of Ghazal

Begum Akhtar was born Akhtari Bai Faizabadi in Faizabad on 7th Oct 1914.She took the music world by storm with her maiden performance at the tender age of fifteen.She acted in some Hindi movies in the Thirties. She rendered her songs herself in all her films.She disappeared from the Music world for five long years after her marriage.In 1949, she returned to the recording studios, the Lucknow Radio Station and soon after, to stage performances.She was amongst the early female singers to give public concert, and break away from singing in mehfils or private gatherings, and in time came to be known as Mallika-e-Ghazal (Queen of Ghazal)
She was a regular performer on All India Radio. She usually composed her own ghazals and most of her compositions were raag based.She  was the one who brought Thumri and Dadra to the common man through public concerts. Her voice matured with time, adding richness and depth.  She has nearly four hundred songs to her credit.She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for vocal music, and was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan (posthumously) by Govt. of India.She died on 30 October 1974 in the arms of Nilam Gamadia, her friend, who invited her to Ahmedabad, which has become her final performance.
Some Of Begum Akhtar's Most Popular Ghazal

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