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
Gopaldas Parmanand Sippy started off as a carpet merchant, turned a construction magnate and then plunged into filmmaking in 1951 with the Dev Anand film Sazaa. In a career spanning over five decades, Sippy had produced 17 films and directed six. In his heydays, he was known as Mr Blockbuster. But Sholay remains his landmark best.
He made Shahenshah in 1953, which was India's first full-length Gevacolor film and India's third full-length colour film. The film was made at a budget of Rs. 3 million and was made in 14 months.. After that, he made 12 O Clock with Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman in 1958. He got the real big success with Mere Sanam (1965). starring Asha Parekh, Biswajeet, Pran, Rajendra Nath and Mumtaz. The film was a hit at the box office, especially because of the musical score by Majrooh Sultanpuri, O.P. Nayyar and the Asha Bhonsle-Mohammed Rafi combination. In 1968 released his super hit film The film stars Shammi Kapoor, Rajshree, Pran, Mumtaz, Jagdeep, Sachin and Asit Sen. The music was by Shankar Jaikishan. The film became a box office hit and won several awards, including Filmfare Best Movie Award The next year in 1969 his another hit film Bandhan starring Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz.released. It received five out of five stars in the Bollywood guide Collections and grossed 2,80,00,000 at the box office in 1969.
The next milestone film was Andaz 1971, it was directed by his son Ramesh Sippy and with this film emerged Salim Javed. Followed this super hit film another super duper hit came to Seeta Aur Geeta in 1972, once again directed by his son Ramesh Sippy and screenplay by Salim Javed.
In 1975 released the magnum opus Sholay all-time hit film. Once again directed by Ramesh Sippy and screenplay by Salim Javed. It was a big budget film Ramesh Sippy said in an interview that he did not have enough money to finance the film at that time and had to depend on his father late GP Sippy for it. He added it was pure luck that he asked for Rs 1 crore and got Rs 3 crore as his dad had just had a hit with Seeta Aur Geeta.
He continued to produced films till Hamesha 1997, in between he gave us films like Shaan (1980), Saagar (1985), Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman 1992.
He remained the President of the Film Federation of India (FFI) for many years, first 1972 - 73, 1985 – 86 and then 1988 - 1992. He was the Chairman of the Film and TV Producers Guild of India for several years and won the Filmfare Award in 1968 and 1982.
He died on December 25, 2007 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Bimal Roy who made Devdas in 1955 with the same star lead was looking for a hit. His 1955 film Devdas was commercially unsuccessful, jeopardising his company Bimal Roy Productions; he needed a commercial success to survive. The film opened at the Roxy theatre near Opera House Bombay.“It was a fabulous evening, glamorous and glittering, just like the film premieres on screen.” Like all great movies, this one too inspired a genre of its own, the re-incarnation genre.
The soundtrack of Madhumati became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of 1958. Salil Chowdhury won his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen is one of the most popular songs by recording artist Mukesh and is regularly played at dandiya functions. The Madhumati soundtrack features eleven songs composed by Salil Chowdhury. Shailendra wrote the lyrics and Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Mubarak Begum, Asha Bhosle, Sabita Chowdhury, Ghulam Mohammed and Dwijen Mukhopadhyay provided the vocals. It is one of the greatest Hindi movies ever made. It’s top notch in terms of cinematography, directing, music, acting and dancing. I rank it among Top 10 Hindi films.Bimal Roy's classics like Sujata, Bandini, Do Bigha Zameen or Devdas, still bears the mark of a master craftsman. And it’s good entertainment value. The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated. The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated. The film begins on a dark and stormy night (a recurring motif in the film: all the most dramatic events occur on stormy nights). Two friends – an engineer, Devendra (Dilip Kumar) and a doctor (Tarun Bose) are travelling by car along a mountain road when a fallen tree forces a halt. The driver advises the two men to take shelter in the nearby mansion while he goes off to find help. Devendra and his friend go off to the mansion, which turns out to be a spooky place, dusty and seemingly deserted.
The film was shot at a hill station. It had a six-week schedule at a location in Ranikhet, Nainital. Some scenes were filmed in Ghorakhal near Nainital.When the negatives were developed, most of the footage was found to be fogged. Since a reshoot in far-away Uttarakhand was not possible, sets were created near Vaitarna Dam, Igatpuri. The art direction team, led by Sudhendu Roy, created fake pine trees, which were planted to match the location in Nainital.A large part of the film was filmed in Aarey Milk Colony, a small forested area in Mumbai. A scene in which Dilip Kumar looks for Vyjayanthimala in the woods was filmed in Igatpuri. The foggy effect was recreated using gas bombs. Commercially it was the biggest hit of Bimal Roys's career. It wiped out his losses of Devdas released in 1955.The fact that it scored over movies like Kala Pani, Sadhana, Phir Subah Hogi, all released the same year, speaks for its power to captivate the audience and hold its attention for long. More than anything, Madhumati, forever, will be remembered for its music.
Think of gems like ‘Suhana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Hasin’, ‘Dil Tadap Tadap Ke Keh Raha Hai’, ‘Aaja Re Mai To Kabse Khadi Is Paar’, ‘Chadh Gayo Paapi Bichua’, ‘Zulmi Sang Aankh Ladi’, ‘Toote Hue Khwabon Ne’ and ‘Ghadi Ghadi Mera Dil Dhadke’, and you know instantly what melody stood for.
Madhumati' is primarily an entertainer but one doesn't think of it as a masala film, and there's a lot to like about it. Wonderful visuals and songs, very good performances, a nicely developed romance, and it's strong on atmospherics as well. It fully delivers on its promise and is quite a charming film.
The association of Raj Kapoor, Shankar Jaikishen, Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri which started with Barsaat continued till the end. The Shankar Jaikishan were among the top music directors of Golden Era of Bollywood. They created the musicappealing both to the common man (rickshaw puller) as well as purists.The eight-minute Awaara song “ Ghar Aaya Mera Pardesi” is a milestone in Hindi Film music. A lovely duet by Lata Rafi and chorus. Shankar was elder to Jaikishan but he always respected Jaikishan. Shankar was master of instruments. He would play at ease Harmonium, Sitar or Tabla and normally conducted orchestra irrespective of who composed the song. Shankar used to decide on the theme Raag for each movie well in advance. Most of the dance based and classical based tunes were by Shankar. Jaikishan's forte was romantic and western tunes.SJ composed their best not only for Raj Kapoor home productions but also in all the movies in which Raj Kapoor had starred Jaikishan was one of the most stylishly dressed, handsome personalities. His wardrobe was the best in the world. His personal letter to his wife Pallavi Jaikishen became the lyrics of another romantic evergreen song sung by Rafi Saab in Sangam. This song also was responsible for the breakup of the duo, as Jaikishen told the media for the first time, that the song was his own creation. Jaikishan introduced the music of all countries in their compositions. From the Jazz to Arabian music, from Rock to Indian classical and romantic as well as Ghazals. They were good in every type of song. Till then Bollywood music was classical for the purists 70% of Shailendra songs were composed by Shankar. Similarly, most of the songs of Hasrat Jaipuri was composed by Jaikishen. Until the split, it is difficult to find out who composed what as they worked together as a team. Jaikishan was also the best in giving Background Music. It was Jaikishan who used to work on background music of SJ movies as per their mutually agreed division of work, it may be an over-simplification to presume that therefore, whatever went in background scores was solely Jaikishan's creation. Since SJ had a common pool of tunes in their stock, made by either of them during their numerous music sessions/sittings (Riyaz), it was perfectly legitimate and natural for Jaikishan to have used tunes created by Shankar also wherever needed. This is also one of the reasons why he was able to finish this job in a few days' time. It is understood that in RK films, Shankar and Jaikishan both used to work on the background scores. On the other hand, both Shankar and Jaikishan were equally proficient in scoring western music based songs. During their career, S-J won Filmfare Best Music Director Awards nine times. The last three awards were won in three successive years, thereby making S-J the first composers to score a hat-trick of these awards. Jaikishan died in 1971 due to cirrhosis of liver, a disease caused by excessive consumption of alcohol. At the time of his death, the duo enjoyed an unparalleled popularity which was underlined by a massive turnout at his funeral procession. Here are some of the great Romantic Songs of Shankar Jaikishan
Asha Bhosle(Born on 8th Sep 1933) is world's most recorded artist. She had sung over 12,000 songs, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history. She sang her first film song '"Chala Chala Nav Bala" for the Marathi filmMajha Bal (1943). Her Hindi film debut when she sang the song "Saawan Aaya" for Hansraj Behl's Chunariya (1948).
Asha and Lata
Initially, she sang songs in low budget B- or C-grade films. She used to get the assignments only when reputed female singers of that time like Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, and Lata Mangeshkar refuse singing for the bad girls and vamps, or songs. Her earliest songs were composed by A R Qureshi, Sajjad Hussain, and Ghulam Mohammed, and most of these songs failed to do well. The first time she sang in a big banner film was in Bimal Roy's Parinnta 1953 The song of that film "Gore gore haathon me mehandi racha ke"..but none of the songs was picturised on the heroine of the film Meena Kumari. Another big banner film was RK Films Boot Polish in 1954, Raj Kapoor signed her to sing "Nanhe Munne Bachche" with Mohammed Rafi.
It was O. P. Nayyar gave Asha a break in CID (1956). For the first time, she sang for a heroine in Big banner.The song O Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar is basically sung by Mohammad Rafi and Shamshad Begum but in the second version, Asha sang for Shakeela the heroine of the film. After that O P Nayyar took her in B. R. Chopra's Naya Daur (1957), 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. In 1957 another hit film released Tumsa Nahin Dekha and the song Dekho Kasam Se Kahate Hain Tum Se became another hit that year. In 1958 came Howrah Bridge the song "Aaiye Meherbaan" picturised on Madhubala was super hit. With this film, she established her status and received the patronage of such composers as Sachin Dev Burman and Ravi whom She sang for his first movie Vachan (1955). The melodious lullaby from the movie Chandamama Door Ke! became an overnight hit among young mothers in India. Sachin Dev Burman and his favourite singer, Lata Mangeshkar, were not on good terms from 1957 to 1962.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).In 1958 Kaala Pani she gave voice to Madhubala once again recall the duet song "Achcha Ji Main Haari Chalo Maan Jaao" In the 1960s she was among the top singers, In fact, when Geeta Dutt was in her bad phase due to family problems she took place of her and became No 2 after Lata. The song "Ab Ke Baras" in Bimal Roy's Bandini (1963) consolidated her position as a lead singer. With O P Nayyar she gave hit songs in Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962) and Kashmir Ki Kali (1964). Recall the songs "Main Pyaar Ka Rahi Hoon" (Ek Musafir Ek Haseena), "Deewana Hua Baadal" and "Ishaaron Ishaaron Mein" (Kashmir Ki Kali).Mere Sanam, another great hit of 1965, has several beautiful songs sung by Asha and composed by Nayyar. Jaayiye aap and Yeh hai reshmi zulfon ka andhera. Both solos present two distinct emotions. Asha does full justice to both. The former is a haunting love number while the latter is a seductive one. With Ravi she gave hits from Gumrah (1963), Waqt (1965), Hamraaz (1965), Aadmi Aur Insaan (1966) In 1966, Bhosle's performances in the duets from one of music director R.D. Burman's first soundtracks, for the movie Teesri Manzil, won popular acclaim. Reportedly, when she first heard the dance number "Aaja Aaja", she felt she would not be able to sing this westernised tune. While Burman offered to change the music, she refused, taking it as a challenge. She completed the song after ten days of rehearsals, and "Aaja Aaja", along with such other songs as "O Haseena Zulfonwali" and "O Mere Sona Re" (all three duets with Rafi), became successful. She went on to record a variety of songs with him – cabarets, rock, disco, ghazals and classical. Madan Mohan, another composer bewitched by Lata, keeps aside a challenging song for Asha from time to time. How can one forget the enchanting and seductive Jhumka gira re in Mera Saaya (1966)? Though Lata sang the hit title song, Asha's formidable rendering of Jhumka gira re made it a chart-topper too. . Asha has another highly popular seductive number, Parde mein rehne do, in Shikar. The 1968 film, with Shankar-Jaikishen's music, runs more than 50 weeks in Mumbai, and is one of the biggest hits of the 1960s
In the 1970s, Asha and Pancham's youthful Western songs took Bollywood music by storm – the raunchy cabaret "Piya Tu Ab To Aaja" (Caravan, picturized on Helen), the rebellious "Dum Maro Dum" (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), the sexy "Duniya Mein" (Apna Desh, 1972) and the romantic "Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne" (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973). Pancham also recorded many hit duets with Asha and Kishore Kumar such as "Jaane Jaan" (Jawani Diwani) and "Bhali Bhali Si Ek Soorat" (Buddha Mil Gaya). The 1975 hit Khel Khel Mein is yet another R D Burman favourite. It had fun-filled duets like Khullam khulla pyar karenge, but its most outstanding number was the mournful solo Sapna mera.
In the 1980s, she travels across the US, Canada and Britain to give concerts that draw thousands of South Asians. Unlike other singers, including Lata Mangeshkar who remains stiff, she moves around. Her concerts are always lively.In 1981 she scales epoch-creating heights with the Rekha-starrer Umrao Jaan (1981). Khayyam's soft, lingering songs like In aankhon ki masti mein and Dil cheez are among the best film songs ever composed. By the mid-80s Asha was not singing enough.With the rise of singers like Anuradha Paudwal and Alka Yagnik, her career starts sliding but she simply cannot be written out. RD burman was also not getting films.RD reinvents his and Asha's career with an astounding score in the 1987 Gulzar film Ijaazat. The hauntingly sad song Mera kuch samaan sounds sadder by Asha's passionate rendering. The 1990 film Lekin is produced by Lata and her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The film, whose score is composed by Hridaynath, sees Lata singing more numbers. But Asha also gets an opportunity to transform the intricate song Jhoote naina into a masterpiece. Composer A R Rahman ropes her in to sing in Ram Gopal Varma's Rangeela (1995). The songs "Rangeela Re" and Tanha Tanha were especially famous. After that in Daud (1997), the O Bhanware number with Yesudas reminds listeners that Asha is still in command over her voice. In 1999 film Takshak composed by Rehman, One of the best songs in the film, Rang de, goes to Asha Bhosle. In 2001 a new composer Sandeep Chowta got her to sing the song Kambakth Ishq number in Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya (2001), She was at her seductive best.In the same year, her duet with Udit Narayan, Radha kaise na jale, in the Aamir Khan-starrer Lagaan (2001) wins her more fame.She got Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001. Asha Bhosle has won seven Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards of 18 nominations.After receiving the award in 1979, Bhosle emulated her elder sister and requested that her name not be considered for the nominations hereafter.She was later given a Special Award for Rangeela in 1996, and the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001
Nowadays Asha is busy with her Restaurant business. Sheis a skilled cook. Her family, friends and colleagues in the industry swear by her delicious meals, especially her prawn Patties and Paya curry.
In fact, prompted by her love of food, Asha has started her restaurants in Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi,Qatar, Kuwait, and Birmingham and Manchester in UK. Called Asha’s, the restaurants serve signature dishes inspired by Asha’s childhood and RD Burman’s favourite meals, with the singer’s all-time hits playing in the background.
It was 70 years ago in 1948 a star emerged in Hindi Cinema with the release of Ziddi directed by Shaheed Latif. It was based on a story written by Ismat Chughtai, which launched the career of Dev Anand as the lead hero. The film helped establish its actors Dev Anand, Kamini Kaushal and Pran in Hindi films. The playback singers - Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar recorded their first duet - "Ye Kaun Aya Re" together in this 1948 film, Ziddi.Kishore Kumar also got a break in acting for a small role in this film. . It was Dev Anand’s fourth film and first foray into hits. The heroine was played by Kamini Kaushal and Pran played an important character. The film was based on Ismat Chughtai’s book Ziddi.
The music of the film was composed by Khemchand Prakash. The soundtrack featured the first film song sung by playback singer Kishore Kumar, "Marne ki duayen kyon mangu", a solo picturised on Dev Anand. The film also included Lata Mangeshkar's solo, "Chanda re ja re ja re, piya se sandesa mora kahiyo jaa" picturised on Kamini Kaushal. It was a Bombay Talkies film which was a great banner that time Ashok Kumar was one of the owners of this studio. Dev Anand who had 3 films before this was looking for work and fortunately met Shahid Latif the Director of this film at Churchgate railway station. He asked Dev to come next day at the studio. He introduced Dev Saheb to his boss Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar liked the young man's confidence and on the spur of the moment, offered him 'Ziddi', asking him how much he wanted as his remuneration to which Dev Anand replied, 'My fee will be people saying that you have given the industry a star.' That answer sealed the deal for him. Dev Anand started Navketan in 1949 in 1950 released Baazi he became a superstar.
