K L Sehgal-The Ultimate Zenith of the Singing Voices of Bollywood

K L Sehgal – the divine, the inimitable, the ultimate zenith of the singing voices. He came on right in the beginning of the age of talking cinema in India, and departed all too soon. This year, it is seventy years that he left this mortal existence. And to wit – no other singer since then, has ever been able to match his singing abilities, nor has been able to achieve the quality and the depth / breadth of renditions.  He was a class unto himself, with none other besides him.
Many singers tried to imitate Saigal’s style, tone and tenor. If Talat Mahmood’s first song ‘Sab din ek samaan nahin thha..’ reminds us of Saigal, so does Mukesh’s ‘Dil jalta hai to jalne de..’. C.H. Atma sounds like Saigal in ‘Preetam aan milo..’, Surrender in ‘Aawaaz de kahan hai..’ and Kishore Kumar in ‘Jagmag jagmag karta nikla chaand punam ka pyara..’ could not resist trying a Saigal style. The young Rafi virtually requested to Naushad to allow him to sing with Saigal the last lines of ‘Mere sapno ki Rani..’.

He appeared in 36 full length feature films (28 Hindi + 7 Bangla + 1 Tamil). The stature of his persona, and the standing of the production houses, has ensured that majority of the body of his work is available today in public domain. There are a few films in the period 1932 to 1935 – namely ‘Mohabbat Ke Aansoo’ (1932), ‘Subah Ka Sitaara’ (1932), ‘Zinda Laash’ (1932), ‘Daaku Mansoor’ (1934), ‘Rooplekha’ (1934), ‘Pooran Bhagat’ (1933), ‘Raajrani Meera’ (1933), ‘Yahudi Ki Ladki’ (1933), and ‘Kaarwaan e Hayaat’ (1935), which seem to have been lost forever. Of these nine films the first five have been erased, with even no music / songs / records traceable. A few songs of the remaining four films is the priceless legacy that has survived to attest a substantive existence of these films.
Sehgal was born in Jammu(11 April 1904), where his father Amarchand Saigal was a tehsildar at the court of the Raja of Jammu and Kashmir. Saigal dropped out of school and started earning money by working as a railway timekeeper. Later, he worked as a typewriter salesman for the Remington Typewriter Company, which allowed him to tour several parts of India.
Once on his travel to Lahore  he befriended Mehrchand Jain (who later went on to start the Assam Soap Factory in Shillong) at the Anarkali Bazaar. Mehrchand and Kundan remained friends when they both moved to Calcutta and had many a mehfil-e-mushaira. In those days Saigal was a budding singer and Mehrchand encouraged him to pursue his talent. His passion for singing continued and became more intense with the passage of time. 
In Calcutta he was introduced to R. C. Boral. who liked his talent of singing and acting. Those days all actors used to sing their own songs.Soon Sehgal was hired by B. N. Sircar's Calcutta-based film studio New Theatres on a contract of Rs. 200 per month. There he came into contact with contemporaries like Pankaj Mullick, K. C. Dey and Pahari Sanyal.
The first film in which Sehgal had a role was the film Mohabbat Ke Ansu, followed by Subah Ka Sitara and Zinda Lash, all released in 1932. However, these films did not do very well. Sehgal used the name Saigal Kashmiri for his first three films and used his own name Kundan Lal Sehgal (K. L. Sehgal) from Yahudi Ki Ladki (1933).In 1933, four bhajans sung by Saigal for the film Puran Bhagat created a sensation throughout India.
In 1935,he played the role that would come to define his acting career: that of the drunken title character in Devdas, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name and directed by P.C. Barua. His songs in the film Devdas (1935), "Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein" and "Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi", became popular throughout the country.
His association with New Theatres continued to bear fruit in the successful films Didi (Bengali), President (Hindi) in 1937, Desher Mati(Bengali), Dharti Mata (Hindi) in 1938, Saathi (Bengali), Street Singer (Hindi) in 1938, Dushman (1939), Jiban Maran (1939) and Zindagi in 1940, with Sehgal in the lead. In Street Singer, Sehgal rendered the song "Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Jaye" live in front of the camera, even though playback was becoming the preferred method of singing songs in films.
In December 1941, Saigal moved to Mumbai to work with Ranjit Movietone. Here he acted and sang in a number of successful films. Bhukt Surdas (1942) and Tansen (1943) were hits during this period. The latter film is still remembered for Saigal's performance of the song "Diya Jalao" in Raga Deepak; in the same movie, he also sang "Sapta Suran" and "Tin .. Gaa-o Saba Guni Jan". In 1944, he returned to New Theatres to complete My Sister. This film contained the songs "Do Naina Matware" and "Ae Qatib-e-Taqdeer Mujhe Itna Bata De".
In 1945 his film Tadbeer with Suraiya released which was a hit.Its song Mein Panchhi Azad was a huge hit.When Suraiyya got a chance to act with Saigal in Parwana, she was so overawed that she could not sing even one duet with him. In a career of fifteen years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films – 28 in Hindi, seven in Bengali, and one in Tamil. In addition, he acted in a short comedy Hindi film, Dulari Bibi (three reels), released in 1933.
 Sehgal died in his ancestral city of Jalandhar on 18 January 1947, at the age of 42. However, before his death, he was able to churn out three more hits under the baton of Naushad Ali for the film Shahjehan (1946). These are "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani", "Ae Dil-e-Beqaraar Jhoom" and "Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya". Parwana (1947) was his last film, released after his death, in which he sang under the baton of Khawaja Khurshid Anwar. The four songs which Saigal sang in Parwana are: "Toot gaye sab sapne mere", "Mohabbat mein kabhi aisi bhi haalat", "Jeene ka dhang sikhaae ja", and "Kahin ulajh na jaana"
.Sehgal's distinctive singing was revered and idolised by the first generation of post-independence Hindi Film playback singers, including Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, and Mukesh. Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar have even gone on record in an interview that they consider Kundan Lal Saigal to be their music Guru.  
However, the appeal of Saigal’s songs is eternal and enduring. The freshness of his songs is undiminished by time. Music lovers would cling to his memory for all time to come.

Song from Yahudi Ki Ladki’ (1933)

Song from Devdas (1935)

Song from Street Singer (1938

Song from Zindagi (1940)

Song from Zindagi (1940)

Song from Tansen (1943)

Song from My Sister (1944)

Song from Shahjehan (1946)

Song from Shahjehan (1946)

JAVED AKHTAR-The Most Versatile Bollywood Celebrity

Javed along with Salim were the Super Star Jodi of Bollywood in the 70s. Rajesh Khanna is credited with giving Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar their first chance to become screenplay writers by offering them work in Haathi Mere Saathi.Before that both were employed by G P Sippy in their story department.He along with Salim the father of Salman Khan gave the film industry The Angry Young Man Amitabh Bachchan. His association with Salim Khan lasted until 1980. After this Akhtar wrote some scripts on his own, but mostly moved into writing lyrics for films, in which he achieved success. 
He was born on 17th Jan 1945 as Jadoo Akhtar in Gwalior, (Madhya Pradesh) to Jan Nisar Akhtar, a Bollywood film songwriter and Urdu poet, and singer Safia Akhtar, a teacher and writer. Akhtar's early years were spent in Lucknow, Aligarh and Mumbai, mostly with relatives. He was a gifted debater in college, he won the Rotary Club Prize frequently.  
He  arrived in Mumbai on 4 October 1964. In his early years living in Mumbai, he managed to write the dialogue for a minor film for Rs. 100. Occasionally, he used to work as an assistant. He got a job as a scriptwriter on Yakeen which flopped. Akhtar then joined with his friend Salim Khan to develop the story for Adhikar.
Their first big success was the script for Andaz, followed by Adhikar (1971), Haathi Mere Saathi and Seeta Aur Geeta (1972). They also had hits with Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), Zanjeer (1973), Haath Ki Safai (1974), Deewaar (1975), Sholay (1975), Chacha Bhatija (1977), Don (1978), Trishul (1978), Dostana (1980), Kranti (1981), Zamana (1985) and Mr. India (1987). They have worked together in 24 films including two Kannada films – Premada Kanike and Raja Nanna Raja. Of the 24 films they wrote, 20 were hits.
Javed is a Urdu poet before writing songs for films he was writing poetry.It was Yash Chopra who insiisted him to write songs for his film Silsila(1981).After that he gave us many memorable songs He won 5 National Awards for his songs and also 5 Filmfare Awards for lyrics. In 2013, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu, India's second highest literary honour, for his poetry collection Lava.
He was also nominated a Rajya Sabha MP.from Nov 2009 to Nov 2015.
He married to Honey Irani, with whom he had two children, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar, both film directors and actors. The father-and-son duo have worked together in films such as Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya, Rock On!! and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara with Zoya.He divorced Irani and later married Shabana Azmi, the daughter of eminent Urdu poet, Kaifi Azmi.
Some of his Award Winning Songs

Song from 1942: A Love Story (1994)

Song from  Papa Kehte Hai 1996

Song from Border 1997

Song from Refugee 2000

Song from Lagaan 2001

O P NAYYAR-The music director who dared to go on without the Nightingale’s golden voice

O P Nayyar, whose evergreen numbers include “Mera Nam Chin Chin Choo”, “Aakhon Hi Akhon Main”, “Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Jee” and “Babuji Dhire Chalna”, worked with several singers such as Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor — but never with Lata Mangeshkar.The heady cocktail of OP-Asha captured the imagination of music lovers as never before and swept away even powerful competition from Madan Mohan-Lata combine.

With Asha Bhonsle ggave us some of the memorable songs of Hindi Cinema,songs like ‘Jaayiye aap kahan’ (Mere Sanam), ‘Raaton ko chori chori’ (Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi), ‘Zara haule haule’, ‘Meri jaan tumse sadke’ and ‘Aaj koi pyar se’ (all in Sawan Ki Ghata), ‘Aayiye meherbaan’ (Howrah Bridge) and ‘Aankhon se jo utri hai dil mein’ (Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon) to sense the profound wavelength the two worked on. 
Born on 16th Jan 1926,he came to Bombay for giving music for films.initially he was offered the background score for Kaneez (1949), and 1952's Aasmaan(produced by Dalsukh M. Pancholi), was his first film as music director. His real break came with Guru Dutt's Aar Paar in 1954.After that he gave music for  Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955) and C.I.D. (1956).The songs of all these three films established him among the top composers of that time.
In 1957 released Naya Daur,the music of that film became super hit,he was given Filmfare Award for that film.Same year another film Tumsa Nahin Dekha released.the grand success of these films made him among the top composers. Nayyar became one of the earliest music directors to command a lakh for a film.
During 1957 and 1958  a string of successful scores like Naya Daur (for which he won the Best Music Director Award), Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Sone Ki Chidiya, Phagun, Howrah Bridge and Ragini released.But for the next 2 years none of his films clicked at the box office resulting no work for 2 years for his arrogance and insistence on a high remuneration.
It was S Mukharjee .who gave him a new lease of life.It was S Mukherji's Joy Mukharjee-Sadhana musical hit, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena (1962) that brought Nayyar back into the reckoning.He gave one hit every year after that with  Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) and Mere Sanam (1965).
In the late 1960s, Nayyar fell out with his favourite Mohammad Rafi but managed to conjure memorable songs even with Mukesh (Chal akela), Mahendra Kapoor (Lakhon hai yahan dilwale) and Kishore Kumar (Tu auron ki kyon ho gayee).
A major blow was Nayyar's split with Asha Bhosle after the pair had reached a crescendo with the Filmfare Award winning Chein se humko kabhie in Pran Jaaye Par Vachan Na Jaaye (1974). Nayyar tried recreating the magic with new singers but musical trends had bypassed him by then He worked till 1990s but his music was not appealing to the young generation .
On the later stage of his life he was living with his friend.He left his family members even asked none of his family to be present on his funeral. He died on 28 January 2007
Some Of the Great Songs of O P Nayyar

Song from Aar Paar 1954

Song from C I D 1956

Song from Naya Daur 1957

Song from Tumsa Nahin Dekha 1957

Song from Howrah Bridge (1958)

Song from Phagun (1958)

Song from Sone ki Chidiya (1958)

Song from Kashmir Ki Kali (1964)

Song from Mere Sanam (1965)

Song from Kismat (1968)

Song from Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye (1973)

DEVDAS-The Great Love Triangle of Bollywood

The 1935 classic DEVDAS by actor / director P.C.Barua , made in Bengali  later in 1936 Hindi  version played by K L Sehgal , gave Indian cinema its most recurrent theme : the love triangle.The story of Devdas touched millions of Indians in the 1930s who felt that his anguish would become their own if they dared marry against parental authority. This theme returns regularly every decade with the same name or different name.
When Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Devdas in 1917, he made an impression not only on Bengalis, but on the entire nation. Since then, the novel has lent itself to 12 official screen adaptations (10 completed and two abandoned), from the 1928 Naresh Mitra silent version produced by Eastern Film Syndicate to  Sanjay Leela Bhansali. and modern day Devdas by Anurag kashyap's Dev D in 2009.
K L Sehgal played the first Devdas in 1936  in Hindi version and P C Barua in Bengali version.Both the films were hit.Since then  Devdas became the most sought-after role for the idols of the Indian screen. Dilip Kumar, who had specialised in tragic roles earlier (Mela, 1948; Andaz, 1949; Deedar, 1951; Daag, 1952 and Amar, 1954) was considered the ideal choice when Bimal Roy planned a remake in the mid-1950s.

Devdas 1936

In 1936 the Tamil version directed by P V Rao,in 1953 a Telegu version was made later in 1974 another Devdas was released.Another remake in Bengali was made in 1979. In 1937 an Asamese version by P C Barua was made.

Devdas 1979 bengali

The year 1953 witnessed the filming of the novel in Tamil and Telugu by the Kuchipudi dancer-choreographer-turned-filmmaker, Vedantham Raghavaiah (1919-1971) with the superstar, Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Devadas (Devadasu in Telugu) in both versions. That brilliant actress and multi-lingual star, K. Savithri was Paro while the dancer-actress, Lalitha played Chandramukhi. Both versions were major hits thanks to three factors. The excellent portrayal of Nageswara Rao who reached the heights of histrionics, the empathy-rich acting of Savithri and the memorably melodious music.Devadasu was released on 26 June 1953, and the Tamil version was released three months later, on 11 September 1953. Both versions were critically and commercially successful. 

Devdasu 1953

 The multi-lingual star and filmmaker, Vijayanirmala made a Telugu version in 1974 with her star husband Krishna as Devadas. She was Paro and the buxom multi-lingual star, Jayanthi played Chandramukhi. The film had excellent music (Ramesh Naidu) but it did not do as well as expected. Interestingly when this film was released, the 1953 version (``Devadasu") was also released in competition and it attracted large crowds! The prominent filmmaker, Dasari Narayana Rao made ``Devadasu Malli Puttadu!" (Telugu, 1978) in which Devadas is born again while Paro is old and alive!

In Tamil came another re-hash of the tale, ``Vaazhvey Maayam" (1982) with Kamal Hassan as the hero.The film was a blockbuster and completed 200-day run at the box office. This film was dubbed into Malayalam in the same title as that of its original.

In 2002 Sanjay Leela Bhansali made Devdas ,Shahrukh Khan played the role.Bhansali has taken further liberties. Perhaps, in keeping with his hero Shah Rukh's overseas appeal, he sends Devdas to Oxford, instead of Calcutta, for his education. And for his Oxford-returned look he has made him wear vintage suits from London. 

Dev D released on 6 February 2009. Written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, it was a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas,The film is set in contemporary Punjab and Delhi, where familial ties are negotiated by the traditions of patriarchy and marriages are reduced to a game of power and "honour".
Now a 3D version of Devdas is in making.It will be an added perk to watch Devdas-Paro-Chandramukhi saga again, but only this time we will literally be in the world of Devdas with its 3D release.
Songs From All the Hindi Devdas

Song from Devdas 1936

Song from Devdas 1955

Song from Devdas 2002

Song from Dev D 2009

DURGA KHOTE- Pioneer for liberated women in Indian cinema.

On her 112th Birth Anniversary today (14 January 1905), we look at how one of Indian cinema's strongest heroines shaped her career.In the begining of indian Cinema men used to play women in our cinema. When we got real women playing heroines in our films, they were not Indians. Anglo-Indian, Jew or Parsi women were cast. Acting was not a respectable career for women of the soil.She was a woman who came from an elite Maharashtrian family. Educated at Cathedral High School,V Shantaram decided to cast her in Ayodhyecha Raja, a bilingual remake of Phalke’s film in 1932. Incidentally, Khote was chosen to play Rani Taramati, the same role that Salunke(Male) played in India’s first film. The film was a big hit, and launched her career as a heroine.

Durga Khote debuted in a minor role in the obscure 1931 silent film Farebi Jaal, by the Prabhat Film Company, followed by Maya Machindra(1932).She broke away from the "studio system" and became one of the first "freelance" artistes of that era by working occasionally with the New Theatres, East India Film Co. (both at Calcutta), and Prakash Pictures.She gave a memorable performance in 1936 film Amar Jyoti.
In 1937, she produced and directed a film titled Saathi, making her one of the first women to step into this role in Indian cinema.The 40s opened for her in a big way, with award-winning performances in Aachary Atre's Payachi Dasi (Marathi) and Charnon Ki Dasi (Hindi) (1941) and Vijay Bhatt's classic Bharat Milap (1942), both of which got her the BFJA Best Actress Award for two consecutive years.

Durga Khote played a wide variety of roles over a career,during later years, she played several important character roles, such as the mother of the protagonist. Her portrayal of Jodhabai, the queen of Akbar torn between duty towards her husband and love towards her son in Mughal-e-Azam (1960) was well received. her other memorable roles as mother were in Charnon Ki Dasi (1941); Mirza Ghalib; Bobby (1973) and Bidaai (1974).  She also ranks among the top ten actresses in mother roles in Hindi cinema,One time she was popularly known as Dev Anand's mother.Her final memorable role was in Subhash Ghai's Karz (1980), where she played the role of the mother of Raj Kiran and later, mother to Rishi Kapoor, who played the role of Raj Kiran's reincarnation after the screen death of Raj Kiran in the movie.
She was an active participant of the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA), the left leaning group of writers and intellectuals, and acted in several plays.In 1983 when she was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in Indian cinema.
Durga Khote died on 22-09-1991 at age of 86 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. India.

Song from Amar Jyoti 1936

Song from Prithvi Vallabh 1943

C Ramachandra’s musical genius

Born on 12 January 1918 in Puntamba, a small town in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.C Ramchandra studied music under Vinayakbua Patwardhan at "Gandharva Mahavidyalaya" and also under Shankarrao Sapre of Nagpur where he studied music alongside Vasantrao Deshpande.He was one of the pillars of the music of Golden Era of Hindi cinema.He along with Lata and Talat gave us some of the Immortal Songs.The highly popular patriotic song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo", which was sung by Lata Mangeshkar and penned by poet Pradeep, was a composition of Ramachandra. He himself was a great singer. For his career as an occasional playback singer he used only his surname Chitalkar. He sang some renowned and unforgettable duets with Lata such as Kitna haseen hai mausam in film Azad or Shola Jo bhadke in Albela.
He wanted to become Hero, while trying to do bit movie roles to support him found himself in Mumbai, and was introduced to another Maharashtrian bit actor called Bhagvan Palav. As the luck would have it, struggling Bhagvan had secured some finance from an investor to produce a movie in, hold your breath, TAMIL language (An Indian language mostly spoken in the state of Tamilnad in South India) and asked Ramchandra to direct the music for it. He debuted as a music director in two TAMIL films "Jayakkodi" and later in "Vanamohini".
Later same Bhagvan, who by now had become Ram’s close buddy, was instrumental in providing him first HINDI film, to direct its music, Sukhi Jiwan, in 1942. In between Ram did bit work here and there including the fact that he became a Harmonium accompanist for Minerva composers Bindu Khan and Habib Khan. He often got opportunities to sing and act in Marathi films of those days.
He received public notice as a good composer in Bhagwan Dada's "Sukhi Jeevan", and established a long association that culminated with the musical box office hit "Albela".In Sukhi Jeevan  the famous song written by Iqbal Mohammed and translated in Hindi by the famous poet Pradeep , “Sare Jahan Se Acha Hindustan Hamara” in Sukhi Jeevan had its tune composed by none other than C Ramchandra.
C. Ramachandra's biggest success as a music composer was the 1953 movie Anarkali starring Beena Roy in the title role and Pradeep Kumar. The songs that he composed for this movie are today legendary. Songs of this movie like "Yeh Zindagi Usiki Hai", "Mujhse Mat Poochh Mere Ishq Main Kya Rakha Hai", "Mohabbat Aisi Dhadkan Hai", "Jaag Dard-e-Ishq Jaag" etc. went on to become huge hits and were also highly acclaimed as masterpieces.
Some of His Immortal Songs

Song from Shehnai 1947

Song from Albela 1951

Song from Anarkali (1953)

Song from Jhaanjhar 1953

Song from Yasmin 1955

Song from Yasmin 1955

Song from Azaad 1955

Song from Asha (1957)

Song from Navrang 1959