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
Before Bollywood came the term "Tollywood".The name that was used to refer to the cinema of West Bengal. Dating back to 1932, "Tollywood" was the earliest Hollywood-inspired name, referring to the Bengali film industry based in Tollygunge, Calcutta. The term "Bollywood" itself has origins in the 1970s, when India overtook America as the world's largest film producer. Credit for the term has been claimed by several different people, including the lyricist, filmmaker and scholar Amit Khanna, and the journalist Bevinda Collaco.
Here's a shocking fact--Bollywood was born 11 years before Hollywood! Bollywood’s first production was an 1899 short film, whereas Hollywood’s first film came out in 1910. Initially the cinema industry was still considered a low profession in the 40s, music director Naushad was introduced by his parents to his bride as a tailor. And ironically, the music that played in his ‘baraat’ was from ‘Rattan’ (1944) – that had been composed by him.
We all Know that Colour era in Indian Cinema (Hindi and Tamil) started in the mid 1950s but Kisan Kanya (year 1937) was known as India's first colour film,before that attempts to shoot the first Indian colour film(1933) failed when the negative for Sairhandri, directed by Rajaram Vankudre Shantaram, was ruined during processing in Germany. The colour era started with Aan(1953), a Dilip Kumar- Nimmi starrer by Mehboob Khan, was the first Indian film, the prints of which were in Technicolor, the most expensive colour format of that era, or ever. It was shot in 16 mm and later blown up to 35 mm. It was a landmark success.
The masala film was pioneered in the early 1970s by filmmaker Nasir Hussain, along with screenwriter duo Salim-Javed, consisting of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar.Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973), directed by Hussain and written by Salim-Javed, has been identified as the first masala film and the "first" quintessentially "Bollywood" film.Masala films launched Amitabh Bachchan into the biggest Bollywood movie star of the 1970s and 1980s. The "Curry Western" trend that began with Sholay (1975), written by Salim-Javed, also falls under the masala film genre.
Bollywood films are mostly musicals and are expected to contain catchy music in the form of song-and-dance numbers woven into the script. Indrasabha released in 1932 has world record for maximum no of songs. It has over 70 songs.
Raja Harishchandra (1913), by Dadasaheb Phalke, is known as the first silent feature film made in India.
The first kissing scene in Bollywood was shot 84 years back and it was in the film Karma. Today, actor Emraan Hashmi is considered as the kiss symbol of Bollywood.Karma was released in 1933 and Bollywood actors Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani had shot the first kissing scene in front of the camera. The 4-minute long kissing scene was not part of any romantic scene or lovemaking scene but the heroine was trying to recover hero from unconsciousness by kissing him.
Today Sequel in Bollywood are very common butHunter Walifilm series was the movie series to have a sequel. First movie was released in 1935 and its sequel in 1943.This was an action movie with Fearless Nadia as lead role. This movie is one of the earliest female-lead movies.
Leela Chitnis, who passed away recently, had her first role as a leading lady was in Master Vinayak's Hindi melodrama Chhaya in 1936. She became the first Indian actress to model for Lux, which till then used only foreign models. Chitnis did her first Lux campaign in 1934. Since then Lux has continued the tradition of using film stars to promote the soap.
Mughal-e-Azam' was a multilingual movie - with all scenes shot thrice in Hindi, Tamil & English. When the Tamil one flopped miserably, the English language one was aborted almost immediately!
Ashok Kumar was a lab assistant in Bombay Talkies before he became an actor in 1936.His film Kismet released in 1943 The film is one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema. The movie was the first native blockbuster movie in India.It ran for 187 continuous weeks at Roxy Cinema in Calcutta, a record that stood for 32 years.
Indians buy 2.7 billion movie tickets annually, the highest in the world. But our average ticket price is among the lowest in the world, so revenues are a fraction compared to Hollywood!
Raj Kapoor’s ‘Mera Naam Joker’ was the first Hindi movie to have not one but two intervals!It is the lengthiest film.
Waheeda Rahman has played both mother and lover to Amitabh Bachchan. She played his love interest in ‘Adalat’ (1976) and mother in ‘Trishul’ (1978).
Sunil Dutt initially used to be an RJ for Radio Ceylon and wanted to interview his favorite actress Nargis. But he could not say a single word in front of her & the interview had to be cancelled. Years later, when he finally got a chance to work with her in ‘Mother India’ (1957), they fell in love and got married.
‘Kaho Naa.. Pyar Hai’ was added to the Guinness Book of World Records 2002 edition for winning the most number of awards for a movie. The movie won a total of 92 awards!
The song ‘Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon’ in the film by the same name is the longest Hindi film song. The length of this iconic song is 20 minutes and the song is featured in 3 installments in the film.
Our Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan comes from the pedigree of a very famous revolutionary& eminent writer, none other than, Maulana Abul Kalam Azaad.
Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin's great-grandfather Maurice Koechlin, was the Chief engineer for the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and also the iconic Statue of Liberty.
In the film ‘Heroine,’ Kareena Kapoor wore over 130 different dresses by top fashion designers from all over the world. It has been reported that Kareena’s wardrobe for the film was one of the most expensive out of all the Bollywood movies ever created!
Dimple was only sixteen years old when Raj Kapoor introduced her in ‘Bobby’ (1973). She also got married to Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna at the age of 16. Despite the enormous success of ‘Bobby’, she then took a sabbatical from acting to raise her children.
Amitabh Bachchan is so punctual that many a times he used to open the gates of Filmistan Studios himself for he used to reach the place before the watchman or gatekeeper.
Rare Songs
Gauhar Jaan, the very first Indian recording (1904)
Lata Mangeshkar's first song sung in the year 1942 for the movie Pahili Mangalagaur
Lata's First Hit Song 1949
Prem Nagar Me (K.L.Saigal)
. ek baat batton..from Jhula.1942
Pankaj mullick..prem ka nata tuta. from nartaki.1939
Heer Ranjha 1948 : Kahe Ko Biyahi Bides : Lata Mangeshkar : Md Aziz Khan
Ghulam Haider the Great Composer is remembered the Music Director who gave this world the Bharat Ratna LATA MANGESHKAR. He also introduced Sudha Malhotra to the Hindi films. Ghulam Haider also introduced the Punjabi folk music and instruments like Dholak in the film music. Today he is no more, but his music inspired the later Punjabi music directors to take music career confidently. His work inspired many Punjabi music directors like Hansraj Behl, Husnlal Bhagatram, Shyam Sunder and Feroz Nizami. His first big hit song came with Khazanchi in 1941, which caused a revolution in the music industry.The music of the film Khazanchi (1941), in particular, the song Sawan Ke Nazare Hain sung by Shamshad Begum and himself caused a revolution in music composing.Khandan (1942), the first film of Noor Jehan as lead actress, was also a big hit and established him as a top film composer. Ghulam Haider was born in 1908 in Narowalnow in Pakistan.Being curious about music he started learning music from Babu Ganesh Lal.His love for music made him leave his career as a dentist.he got a job with Alfred Theatrical Company and Alexander Theatrical Company as a piano player in Calcutta,He got his first break with D.M. Pancholi's Punjabi film, Gul-E-Bakavali (1939) starring Noor Jehan.[1][2] This was followed by film Yamla Jat (1940). Haider moved to Bombayand composed music for many films including Humayun (1945) and Majboor (1948 film), the first major break for Lata Mangeshkar in Hindi films.Shaheed (1948) and Kaneez (1949 film) are his other big hits. Shamshad Begum had sung many of the popular compositions of Haider. Along with music composing After independence, he returned to Lahore and his first Pakistani film was Shahida (film) (1949). He composed music for many other Pakistani films like Beqarar (1950), Akeli (1951) and Bheegi Palken (1952) but the films flopped. He died just a few days after the release of film Gulnar (1953)
Every bit of Bollywood fascinates us. Be it the films, or the songs or the presentation, we just love Bollywood.Many movies of the golden era have been long forgotten, yet the songs of these old movies still linger on to entertain us over and over again. There are lots of inside stories associated with these songs.The purpose of my article is to bring forward some of these interested inside stories to the readers. Pyar Huwa, Ikraar Huwa'I start with the song Pyar Huwa, Ikraar Huwa' (Film: Shri 420),The Mukhda of this song was composed by Shankar and the Antra was composed by Jaikishan. Later, Shankar wanted to change the antara composed by Jaikishen, which Jaikishen vehemently opposed. Finally, this confrontation led to fist fight between the two greats. Only the timely intervention by other musicians calmed down both of them and finally Shankar agreed to retain Jaikishen's composition of antara `as it is what a great hit was that song.
Song from Shri 420 (1955)
Jalte hai jiske liye' (Film: Sujata)Initially, S D Burman wanted to give the famous song to Rafi.It was SDBurman's assistant Jaidev who strongly recommended taking Talat Mehmood instead of Rafi. By looking at the composition, he insisted that only Talat could do justice to this song and not Rafi. However, S D Burman would not listen to Jaidev. Finally, SDB bowed down and took Talat to sing the song. We all know that Talat did full justice to this song with his mellow voice.
Song from Sujata 1959
`Main baharon ki natkhat rani' (Film: Boot Polish),Lata had refused to sing the songbecause initially the lyrics were `Bazaron ki' instead of Baharon Ki, which was objectionable to Lata. So it was changed to `baharon ki' for Lata's sake. Even then Lata would not budge and continued her refusal to sing the song, and finally SJ had to record this song using Asha's voice.
Song from Boot Polish 1953
. .Jab pyar kiya toh darna kya.-Music Director Naushad and lyricist Shakeel Badaiyuni, sat on a terrace ( and not an air- conditioned Hotel room ) for a whole night, composing, writing, rewriting a song. No wonder it is evergreen - 'Jab pyar kiya toh darna kya.'
Song from Mughal e Azam 1960
O re maazhi' from the film Bandini the tune of this song was heard by S D Burman when he was just a child,He used to listen Majhi song by a local man,this inspired him to become a music composer,and when he got a situation of a song in that film he decided to sing himself.
Song from Bandini 1963
Piya tose naian lage re' (Film: Guide),Once in a while, SDB asked his assistant music directors to compose antara of the song. SDB composed sthaayi of the song `Piya tose naian lage re' (Film: Guide) on raga Khamaj, and then went out to eat paan (betel leaves). In the meantime, he told his assistant music directors to compose the antara. When he returned to the recording room and listened to the antara composed by his assistants, he immediately realized that it was a very poor composition. He scolded his assistants and discarded this antara and then sat down to compose it himself, and came out with brilliant composition within a short time. His assistant music directors were dazzled to see the brilliance of SDB. We all know how melodious this classical song is.
Song from Guide 1965
Man Tadpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj from Baiju Bawra- When Rafi was doing the rehearsals before recording the bhajan `Man Tadpat', Naushad discovered that Rafi had a problem in pronouncing certain Sanskrit words in the lyrics. Naushad immediately brought Sanskrit pundits from Varanasi and asked them to work on Rafi's diction. These Sanskrit pundits worked day and night to improve Rafi's diction and after several rehearsals, Naushad gave the green signal for the final recording. And this bhajanwent onto become an all time hit and is sung in almost every Hindu temple all over the world.
Song from Baiju Bawra 1952
Mohobbat me aise kadam dagmagaaye' We all know how hit were the songs of Anarkali The producer of this film kept replacing music directors. It was like a revolving door. Finally, C Ramchandra stepped in and fine tuned all the songs and gave one of the best music of his career. During the composition of the intoxicating song `Mohobbat me aise kadam dagmagaaye' for this film, CR had a problem in fitting a proper word after `…peeke aaye' as there was a small gap. He decided to go home to think more about it. On his way back home, he bought lots of grocery and then while climbing the stairs of his home with heavy grocery bags, he started getting hiccups. Suddenly, he realized that he could use hiccups after `…peeke aaye'. After entering his home, he immediately played the tune on his harmonium with a hiccup added at the end. The gap after the lyrics `…peeke aaye' was filled up and the song was completed. Next day, he recorded this song with Lata's voice and when Beena Rai as Anarkali sang this song on the screen with a hiccup, the effect was tremendous.
Song from Anarkali 1953
Prem Jogan Ban Ke Sundari (Mughal e Azam )K Asif, the producer-director was keen that Bade Ghulam Ali Khan lends his voice to Surendra in the role of Tansen. Both K Asif and Naushad, the music director of the film approached Ustad for recording two songs for his film which he flatly refused. K Asif was not a person to accept a ‘no’ to his proposal.The fact of the matter was that all the classical singers of that time were under the mistaken notion that recording their singing through the microphone would weaken their lungs and thus shorten their singing careers. K Asif relentlessly pursued and cajoled Ustad to agree to sing for his film. Tired of his constant persuasions, Ustad finally agreed to sing two songs provided he was paid Rs.25000/- per song. He quoted this excessive fees solely to discourage K Asif from engaging him for singing in his film since the top playback singers of that time like Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi were being paid Rs.500/- per song those days. However, K Asif not only agreed at once to his terms, he also said that his singing was more precious than any amount of money. The two songs – ‘shub din aayo raj dulara’ and ‘prem jogan ban ke sundari’ were recorded in his voice and were retained in the film.
Song from Mughal e Azam 1960
Main kya karoon ram mujhe buddha mil gaya from Sangam 1964,When this superhit song was being composed at the behest of Raj Kapoor,SJ were worried that Lata would refuse to sing this song because of the lyrics. Lata always used to be very particular about the lyrics of the songs before recording. And Raj Kapoor wanted SJ to record this song as quickly as possible with Lata as the singer. SJ decided to trick Lata. So, SJ telephoned Lata and told her that a quick picturization of a song for Sangam had to be done at RK studios, and that she should come immediately and record the song without much rehearsal. So Lata came hurriedly and the song was quickly recorded before giving any time to Lata to grasp the meaning of the lyrics.
Song from Sangam 1964
Rahe na rahe hum' (Film: Mamta).Music Director Roshan was a family friend of SDB. Once Roshan came to SDB's house and asked his permission to use his tune `Thandi Hawaayen' (Film: Naujawaan) for his forthcoming composition for the song `Rahe na rahe hum' (Film: Mamta). SDB gladly gave him permission and Roshan made some cosmetic changes and composed this song very well
Song from Mamta 1966
Aaj socha to aanso bhar aaye' (Film: Hanste Zakhm),While recording this song Lata got so emotional that she started crying before the song recording could be completed. MM immediately requested Lata to go home and relax and come back again for recording the next day. Next day, after regaining the composure, Lata rendered the song very effectively.
Song from Hanste Zakhm 1973
Na ye chand hoga, na taarey rahenge'-Hemant Kumar was the music director of the film Shart .He made few Dhun for this song but the producer was not satisfied with the Dhun so he asked Hemant Da to try more,eventually he made 22 Dhuns of this song the producer finally selected one tune after carefully listening to all 22 tunes. The final tune selected is a very romantic tune indeed and is popular even after so many decades. Surprisingly this was not the dhun Hemant Da was interested.
Song from Shart 1954
Itna na na mujh se tu pyar badha' (Film: Chhaaya), Music director Salil Chowdhary was always fascinated with western classical music, especially European musicians such as Mozart,he wanted the symphony of Mozart to be used in this song but the producer didn't like it he insisted that that this will go on this song will be liked by the public ultimately the song was recordedin that symphony This song became immortal
Song from Chhaaya 1961
Mud mud ke naa dekh mud mud ke'.Once Raj Kapoor,Shailendra and Shankar Jaikishan were driving to Lonavla while in car,Jaikishan saw a beauty on road. He turned behind, a number of times, to see her. Lyricist Shailendra, sitting besides, immediately created ' Mud mud ke naa dekh mud mud ke'.
Song from Shri 420 (1955)
Chingaari Koi bhadke, toh saawan use bujaye' Shakti Samant wanted for "Amar Prem' a song with lines full of extreme contrasts and lyricist Anand Baxi, otherwise known as 'Factory of songs' could not write one. Suddenly one night, at a filmy party, with a glass of wine in one hand, cigar in another, he was standing at the window when rain-water extinguished his cigar. Immediately it struck to him - ' Chingaari Koi bhadke, toh saawan use bujaye'
Song from Amar Prem 1972
Aa Aa Aaja-the song from Teesri Manzil was the song that caught the attention of Shammi Kapoor.When Nasir Hussein was producing the film Teesri Manzil (1965), hero Shammi Kapoor asked him to take Shankar-Jaikishen as its music director. Nasir Hussein decided to give chance to the young budding music director R.D. Burman. Shammi Kapoor did not like the idea.It was the Director Vijay Anand insisted him to listen the Dhun of the songs RD prepared.When Shammi Kapoor listened to the tunes he immediately started dancing to the beat of the tunes..When Jaikishen came to know that R.D. Burman got the contract, he immediately telephoned him to congratulate and wished him all the best.
Song from Teesri Manzil 1965
Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara-It is said that S D Burman had composed “Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara” for Guru Dutt's last film “Baharein Phir Bhi Ayengi” but when he opted out of the film, he offered the tune to Dev Anand and he lapped it up.
Song from Jewel Thief 1967
Teri Pyari Pyari Soorat Kothis song was created by Shankar Jaikishan,Shammi Kapoor who was a friend of SJ liked this song wanted them to keep for his next film but there was a situation in the film Sasural where SJ thought that this song suits so it was picturised on Rajendra Kumar,this made Shammi Kapoor annoyed with SJ
Song from Sasural 1961
. Khai Ke paanwas originally composed for Dev Anand - film Banaarasi Babu. But he did not like the idea of wearing a "Dhoti' . So later Kalyanji Anandji used it for Don, but here too, writers Salim -Jaaved would not let their hero to wear a "Dhoti', and Amitabh created history with his steps in trousers as well
Song from Don 1978
Kaun aaya mere mann ke dwaare, from Dekh Kabira Roya.Manna De was bribed for this song to sing.The story is that Madan Mohan wanted Manna De to sing this song for him,but Manna De was not interested.One day, Madan Mohan phoned Manna Dey and invited him over for lunch. When Manna Dey jokingly asked, “But what are you cooking?” Madan Mohan replied, “Bhindi meat.”So Manna Dey went to the composer’s house and enjoyed a hearty meal of bhindi meat curry and rice. When he was sated and happy, Madan Mohan said, “Now, you must listen to a tune I have composed – but on one condition: you will be the one to sing it in the film.” And, having thus ‘bribed’ Manna Dey into agreeing, Mujhe tumse kuch bhi na chaahiye-When this song from kanhaiya was being composed, one of Jaikishen's beloved uncles had just died. Jaikishen was in a very sad mood. He instructed lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri to write the lyrics that will express Jaikishen's sad feelings at the time. Hasrat Jaipuri did justice by penning down appropriate sad words. Jaikishen set the tune in raga Darbari. And all of us know how sad we get when we listen to this song.
Aankh Seedhi Lagi from 1960 film Half Ticket, this was a duet to be recorded in the voice of Kishore and Lata.At the time of recording Lata could'nt come on time,since the recording studio had another recording after few hours,on the sugestion of Kishore Kumar that he would sing Lata's lines also, so the song was recorded,rest is history.
Sar Jo Tera Chakrayefrom Pyasaa 1957 This song was to be picturised on Johny Walker. S D Burman wanted to give slightly different tune to this song,he took the tune of his son Pancham which he created when he was 10 years old.
Aap Ke Haseen the song from Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966) was originally picturised on Guru Dutt who was the producer and Hero of the film,he died during the making of the film,his brother took Dharmendra as hero and re shoot the song.
Lag Jaa Gale-this super hit song from Woh Kaun Thi (1964) was initially rejected by Raj Khosla but Madan Mohan the composer asked the hero of the film Manoj Kumar to talk to Raj Khosla to keep this song in the film.
' Dil ke Jharukhe me tujko.Rafi was rehearsing the song ' Dil ke Jharukhe me tujko..' from Brahmachari. Shammi Kapoor, present, requested : please sing all the 4 lines of the first stanza,IN ONE BREATH. Rafi laughed : do you want to kill me ? But he sang- breathless.
Aa Jane Jaan from Inteqam 1969,this is the first Cabaret song of Lata Mangeshkar,Lata ji never wanted to sing Cabaret songs this time Laxmikant Pyarelal requested Lata to sing this song for them but Lata told that there should be no bad word in the lyrics and the song should not be picturised on a bad character in the film.
Dil ke armaan aansovo me behe gaye -This great song from B R Chopra's Nikaah was sung by Salma Agha In fact Salma Agha agreed to sing only if she is made the heroine of the film.The music director of the film Ravi wanted to take Asha Bhonsle for this song but B R Chopra insisted to take Salma Agha.According to Ravi, when he was recording the song `Dil ke armaan aansovo me behe gaye ', he had to rehearse this song 25 times with Salma Agha and yet she could not render it properly. Zindagi Kaisi Hai Pahelifrom Anand was originally proposed as background song for the title. After listening the song, Rajesh Khanna thought that it would be a waste to use such a nice song as background song for title. He suggested Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Director, to create a situation for this song. In those days songs played in background for title, was less played on radio. Dekha hai pehli baar, saajan ki aankhon mein pyaar.This song from was added in the film after the film was complete.The story of this song is that the Lyricist Sameer and Music DirectorNadeem Sharvan thought that in the movie there is no title song,Sameer immediately recited a verse, Dekha hai pehli baar, saajan ki aankhon mein pyaar. Nadeem liked it and composed the music to it.Then they phoned the producer, Sudhakar Bokadia. He said it was impossible to shoot the song as Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit would not give dates. We insisted that we wanted to record it, and we did! Then he came to listen to it. Salman was also there. When he heard it, he was very happy.He phoned Madhuri, and she too agreed to shoot it. The next day they shot non-stop for seven hours, and the song was completed and added to the movie. Every song has a story behind it.
On the 32nd Death Anniversary, we bring to you some interesting facts about Sanjeev Kumar the man who was known for his older roles, died at a young age. Sanjeev Kumar died on November 6, 1985 at the age of 47 due to a heart attack.He started his acting career as a theatre actor got his first break in hindi film as hero in Nishan which was directed by Aspi Irani.released in 1965 He never minded playing small roles or playing older roles. He played older roles and always cared about the scope of the roles.Sanjeev Kumar was known for his iconic roles in the films like Sholay, Trishul, Shikar, Pati Patni Aur Woh etc
Sanjeev Kumar in Nishaan
He was born on 9 July 1938 in a Gujarati family at Surat as Harihar Jethalal Jariwala. Hemade his film debut with a small role in Hum Hindustaniin 1960.In 1970, the movie Khilona brought Kumar recognition. In 1972, he played in an Indo-Iranian film, Subah aur Shaam. This was when director Gulzar first spotted him; later he cast Kumar in the roles of older men in Koshish (1973), Aandhi (1975) and Mausam (1975) Sanjeev Kumar was nominated for 14 Filmfare Awards, thrice as Best Supporting Actor and the remaining as Best Actor. He won the awards twice as Best Actor and once as Best Supporting Actor.He got 2 National Awards from the Govt.of India.
His role as Mirza Sajjad Ali, a chess-obsessed Lucknowi (citizen of Lucknow), in Satyajit Ray's classic Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977) exemplified that aspect. Perhaps his best remembered roles were in the blockbuster films Sholay (1975) and Trishul (1978). His portrayal of the character Thakur, from Sholay, released in August 1975 was one of his stellar performances. In Naya Din Nayi Raat (1974) he played Nine Roles ,Beside hindi films he has done many regional films in different languages including Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Sindhi and his mother tongue Gujarati. Songs of Sanjeev Kumar
