Non Film Songs Of Great Singers

Preference in music is so subjective. What I like, might not be liked by you. I like some songs due to their lyrics, some due to the singer, some due to the music, One could dislike these very songs because they don't like the lyrics, or the beats, or the singer. Similarly many of us like Film songs but many of us who like Non-film songs.
Regarding the Non Film songs, we must know that much before Films started Talking and singing, the Non-Film Songs were famous in many forms. Bhajans and Classical songs were the most popular Non-Film Songs during silent films. The first recorded song was in 1902 which was manufactured in Germany and shipped to India in April 1903. It was sung by Gauhar Jaan 
In 1930, All India Radio started and in 1931 the films started talking. However, records of film songs were in general not made those days, though the first film song record came in 1932. Till about 1939-40, records of film songs were not made from every film. So, people continued to enjoy the NON FILM SONGS by famous singers. This trend of making records of NFS was so popular that most Film singers started their careers by recording NFS. Examples are Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar, S D Burman, Lata, Asha, Mukesh, Rafi etc.
 In this Blog I have taken many of those Non-film songs of great singers of their time.

A Rare Non Film Song recorded in 1914,Song-Kaho guinyya kaise kate saari raat (Baby Amirjan NFS)(1914) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki

D V Paluskar was a Hindustani classical vocalist. He was considered a child prodigy. He cut his first disc in 1944.. He was a master at presenting an attractive and comprehensive picture of a raga in a very short duration. Besides pure classical music, he was also a great Bhajan singer. 

K L Saigal The immortal Singer K L Saigal rendered 185 songs which include 142 film songs and 43 non-film songs. His non-film songs comprise bhajans, ghazals and hori. 

                               Mein Jo Dinan Ki Thhori Hori Geet by KL Saigal

Pankaj Mullick, worked as music director to artists like K.L. Saigal, S.D. Burman, Hemanta Mukherjee, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle. He acted with famous film actors like K L Saigal, P.C. Barua and Kanan Devi. Along with Nitin Bose His voice best suited for philosophical and sentimental songs. He sang many such genresmaster madan of songs both filmy and non-filmy.

                                           Na Kar Itna Pyar... Pankhaj Mallick

Master Madan was a child prodigy, unfortunately, he died at the age of 15. The child prodigy started singing at the tender age of three and quickly became a craze all over India. His astonishingly mature voice left a deep impression on the listeners. Anyone with even a passing interest in music is familiar with these two Sagar Nizami's ghazals,

Yun naa reh reh kar hamein tarsaaiye

Hairat se tak rahaa hei jahane wafa mujhe

Noorjehan was the female singing superstar in the 40s. She shifted to Pakistan during the partition. She may have sung many NFS in Pakistan but in India, she sang only a few one of those is given here.

Jogan ki jholi bhar de o shah madeene waale

C.H. Atma  His evergreen song is 'Preetam Aan Milo', which he sang in 1945 for a private album. In 1955, the same song was sung by Geeta Dutt for the film, Mr. & Mrs. '55 for composer O. P. Nayyar, who was a great fan of his singing.^[2] His voice was quite similar to K. L. Saigal. But he had his own unique style which he implied to become one of the fewest singers to become extensively popular both in film and non-film music. 

Begum Akhtar  a well known Indian singer of Ghazal, Dadra, and Thumrigenres of Hindustani classical music. She was given the title of Mallika-e-Ghazal .She was among the early female singers to give a public concert. Her first public performance was at the age of fifteen.She has nearly four hundred songs to her credit. She was a regular performer on All India Radio. She usually composed her own ghazals and most of her compositions were raag based.Her ghazal ‘ae mohabbat tere anjaam pe ronaa aayaa’ and Begum Akhtar are inseparable. 

Geeta Dutt -It was in the year 1946 that Geeta Roy sang for Pandit Hanuman Prasad in a mythological movie, Bhakt Prahlad. In 1947 S D Burman took her for Do Bhai. The success of the music of Do Bhai (especially the song "Mera sundar sapna beet gaya") catapulted Geeta to the top bracket of female playback singers. 

Talat Mahmood   was a very gifted singer in every sense. He was particularly famous for singing soft and sombre semi-classical and non-classical ghazals, He started his career purely as a ghazal singer in 1939. Talat Mahmood began his singing career at the age of 16 in 1939 when he began singing the Ghazals of Daag, Mir, Jigar etc. on All India Radio, Lucknow. In 1944 came the hit Tasveer teri dil mera behela nah sake gi. Its popularity was so phenomenal and unrivalled that even today it remains one of the top-selling non-film discs

Manna Dey, He debuted in the film Tamanna in 1942. After the song "Upar Gagan Bishal" composed by S D Burman he saw success and went on to record more than 4,000 songs. The first song which was broadcasted on the inaugural day of Vividh Bharati was ‘naach re mayuraa’ (1957)which was sung by Manna Dey. The song was penned by Pandit Narendra Sharma especially for the occasion and set to music by Anil Biswas

Hemant Kumar - an Indian playback singer, music directorand film producer, who sang in Bengali, Hindi and other Indian languages. He is also the greatest artist of Rabindra Sangeet. In 1947, Hemanta recorded a non-film song called "Ganyer badhu"  that had music and lyrics by Salil Chowdhury..This song generated an unforeseen popularity for Hemanta 

Hemant Kumar sang nearly 60 NFS of which three-fourth were released in the 40s and 50s. Most of his NFSs of 40s and 50s were composed by music directors like Kamal Dasgupta, Durga Sen, Ravi 

The two most popular NFSs of Hemant Kumar in terms of frequency of them being played on the radio in the 60s were (i) ‘aanchal se kyon baandh liyaa mujhe pardesi kaa pyaar’ and (ii) ‘bhala thhaa kitnaa apnaa bachpan’. 

aanchal se kyon baandh liyaa mujhe pardesi kaa pyaar

Paa kar bhi tumhen ham paa na sakey

Meena Kumari -We all know about her acting but we are not aware of her singing and poetic side.she wrote shayari in the pseudo name of Naaz.Meena Kumari was also a playback singer. She sung as a child artist for films like Bahen till 1945.She sang 3 songs for the film  Duniya Ek Sarai (1946),five songs for Piya Ghar Aaja (1947),6 songs for Bichchade Balam (1948) even ONE song for Pakeezah (1972). However, this song was not used in the film and was later released in the album Pakeezah-Rang Barang (1977).

Poetry was in her blood. Her father Ali Baksh was an Urdu poet and attached with Parsi theatre. Her mother, Iqbal Bano was actually a stage artist,In 1970, an LP was released,The title of the LP – ‘I Write, I Recite’. This LP has nine ghazals written and sung by herself. 

Chaand tanha hai aasmaan tanha 

Malika Pukhraj -  a highly popular Ghazal and folk singer.Sometime in the late 30s, the glamour of films brought her to Bombay (Mumbai) to act in films. However, after doing a couple of day’s shooting for a film, she could not adjust to the atmosphere of film shooting. So she left the film half-way and fled to Lahore feigning illness. 

Like Begum Akhtar, in the later years, Malika Pukhraj mainly concentrated on singing ghazals based on semi-classical music. She also sang and recorded folk songs in Dogri, her native language.She was among the greatest singers of India in the 1940s, and after Partition of India in 1947, she migrated to Lahore, Pakistan, where she received much more fame, through her radio performances

Abhi to main jawaan hoon

Mukesh - is considered to be one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the Hindi film industry.The first song that he sang for a Hindi film was "Dil Jalta Hai To Jalne De".He also sang many non film songs.It is more than 100.

Baharon Se Keh Do ... Mere Ghar Na Aayein

                            Jiyenge Magar Muskura Na Sakenge Ki Ab Zindagi Main...

Mohammed Rafi -one of the greatest singers of the Indian sub continent..Rafi was notable for his voice and versatility; his songs ranged from fast peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He has sung in many regional Indian languages including Konkani, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang songs in many foreign languages including English, Farsi, Arabic, Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch.He recorded many private albums in various genres and languages, many of which are noted as all-time classics today.

                                                 Tum Aao Rumjhum Karti

                                            Ek Hi Baat Zamane Ki- Mohd Rafi Ghazal

Lata Mangeshkar - Lata Mangeshkar had sung many ghazals in Hindi films especially under the baton of Madan Mohan. During 1960-70, Lata Mangeshkar had sung some beautiful non-filmy ghazals. In 1969, a LP of her non-filmy ghazals of Mirza Ghalib composed by her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar was released.Similarly LP of Lata was released in 70s of Meera Bhajan The album's name is actually known as "Chala Wahi Des".Another immortal NFS is "Ae mere watan ke logon” 

                                                    Lata ji Sings Mirza Ghalib...

Ghiri ghataayen aasmaan par( Lata NFS)(1969)

Asha Parekh-The Hit Girl

Asha Parekh-The Hit Girl is the Title of Asha Parekh's autobiography released in 2017 in which she revealed many aspects of her life. Today on her birthday we look forward to her journey in Bollywood. In this book, she  is candid about herself and her life right from her love for Nasir [Husain] sahab, the emptiness of her existence following the death of her parents, her depression that nearly drove her to end her own life 
Nasir Hussain was the only man she ever loved. Asha Parekh reveals that she never got married as she never wanted to take Hussain away from his family.“I was never a home breaker. There was never any ill will between me and Nasir Saab’s family. 
Asha, who began her career as a child artiste, was seen in Madhubala’s film Jwala. Later, director Bimal Roy impressed by 10- year-old Asha’s dance on stage cast her in Maa (1952) and then in Baap Beti (1954). At 16, Asha was rejected by Vijay Bhatt for his film Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959) as he believed she was ‘not star material’in her place Ameeta was chosen. In an uncanny twist, eight days later, producer Subodh Mukherjee and director Nasir Hussain cast her in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) opposite Shammi Kapoor and her fortunes changed overnight. She went on to forge a fruitful association with Nasir Hussain in six films including Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Teesri Manzil (1966), Baharon Ke Sapne (1967), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969) and Caravan (1971).

The ‘hit girl’ says that she was never hit upon by her heroes. “I’d sit in a corner and be immersed in my book. My mother always accompanied me,” she says. Asha shared a close bond with both, the late Geeta Bali and Shammi Kapoor and addressed them as ‘Chachi’ and ‘Chacha’ respectively. “I called Shammiji ‘Chacha’. There was no way I could have any romantic leanings for him,” 
After Dil Deke Dekho her next release was Hum Hindustani opposite, Sunil Dutt, The film did "above average" business at the box office. The next film was Ghunghat in 1960, The film became a hit at the box office. Musically also, it was liked by the audience. "Lage Na Mora Jiya" and "Mori Chham Chham Baje Payaliya" sung by Lata Mangeshkar were hit songs from the film.

Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai in 1961 was her next film that became another box office hit. It was written, produced, and directed by Nasir Hussain. The first film Hussain ever produced, it featured Dev Anand. By this time she became a leading heroine of Bollywood. She was giving one hit after another. some of these films were Gharana (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Bharosa (1963) , Ziddi (1964), Mere Sanam (1965), Teesri Manzil (1966), Love in Tokyo (1966), Do Badan (1966) , Aaye Din Bahar Ke (1966), Upkar (1967) , Shikar (1968), Kanyadaan (1968), Mahal (1969), Aan Milo Sajna (1970), Kati Patang (1971), Caravan (1971)  and Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971)

After her days as a leading lady ended, Parekh took on supporting roles as bhabhi (sister-in-law) and mother, but she called this the "awkward phase" of her career. So she stopped acting in films, She  stopped acting in 1995 to pursue directing and producing television serials. She formed a production company, Akruti, and produced serials like Palash ke Phool, Baaje Payal, Kora Kagaz and a comedy, Dal Mein Kaala.
 She was the president of the Cine Artistes' Association from 1994 to 2000. Parekh was the first female chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board) of India. She held the post from 1998 to 2001 for which she received no salary,

Song of Dil Deke Dekho 1959

Song of Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai 1961

Song of  Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963)

Song of  Ziddi (1964), 

Song of  Teesri Manzil (1966)

Song of Love in Tokyo (1966)

Song of Do Badan (1966)

Song of Aaye Din Bahar Ke (1966)

Song of Shikar (1968)

Song of  Mahal (1969)

Song of   Aan Milo Sajna (1970)

Song of  Kati Patang (1971)

Song of  Caravan (1971) 

Song of Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971)

Mahatma Gandhi and Hindi Cinema

Mahatma Gandhi is considered a symbol of peace as he chose to start a non-violent movement comprising of various Satyagrahas all over the country during India’s freedom struggle. Today on his birth anniversary I look forward to Gandhi's connection with cinema.
In an interview in Harijan in 1942, he reiterated that he had never been to the cinema, he feels that “cinema films are often bad”.  Gandhi had seen only 2 films in his life both while he was convalescing from malaria in Juhu, Mumbai, in 1944. The first was Michael Curtiz’s Mission To Moscow(1943), which he apparently disliked. The other was Vijay Bhatt’s Ram Rajya (1943), a Hindi mythological, more suited to his tastes. A newspaper report described this private screening as a “historical event in Indian cinema”, and said that, in the end, “Mahatmaji seemed quite cheerful”.
You would be surprised to note that the first attempt to make a film on gandhi was when D. W. Griffith was approached by the British government to make an anti-Gandhi film in 1923 (Chapman and Cull 2009: 189 – 90), but this film was never made.There are many footages of Gandhi Ji during the Freedom movement but the first documentary was made by A. K. Chettiar’s 1940 film Mahatma Gandhi, which has footage of Gandhi from 1912 that was shot by many cinematographers.

The first film that comes to our mind on Mahatma Gandhi is the 1982 British-Indian film, Gandhi. Directed by Richard Attenborough, the film features Ben Kingsley in the title role. You would again surprise to note that Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru was interested in a film on Mahatma Gandhi to be made by same Richard Attenborough in 1960s but it couldn't be materialised. later Indira Gandhi agreed for a joint venture with Govt of India.
The film focuses on his early life in South Africa and follows through the era when he took part in the freedom struggle of India until his assassination in 1948. It’s undoubtedly one of the best films on Gandhi.

Before this, a documentary film "Mahatma: Life of Gandhi" was released in 1968. This documentary was released in different versions including a 5-hour long English version as well as a Hindi version of 2 hours and 20 minutes. This black-and-white documentary details the life of Mahatma Gandhi using animation, live photography, and some old stills.

Sardar is a 1993 biopic on the one man titled the “Iron Man of India”. The film is directed by Ketan Mehta and features Paresh Rawal as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. While the film is not entirely based on Mahatma Gandhi and features the life of Sardar Patel. Anu Kapoor played the role of Gandhi.

In 1996 another film on Gandhi "The Making of Mahatma" is another joint collaboration, this time between India and South Africa, which features the life of Mahatma Gandhi.

Directed by Shyam Benegal, the film focuses on the life of Mahatma Gandhi (played by Rajit Kapoor) during his 21 years stay in South Africa where he actually adapted his non-violent movement against racial discrimination. The film is adapted from the book titled The Apprenticeship of a Mahatma authored by Fatima Meer.

In 2000 Kamal Hasan made a film on Gandhi " Hey Ram". The film focuses on the famous Partition of India and the resultant murder of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse. 

In 2005 a film called "Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara" was released. Actually, the film focuses on the life of a retired Hindi Professor who believes that he killed Mahatma Gandhi following an incident that happened in his childhood. The role of the professor was played by Anupam Kher.

In 2006 a film Lage Raho Munna Bhai released. In this film, Munna Bhai’s character starts seeing Mahatma Gandhi’s spirit that guides him to the path of non-violence and peace. The film became popular because of Gandhigiri.

Gandhi, My Father is a 2007 Indian biographical drama film by Feroz Abbas Khan (not to be confused with actor Feroz Khan). It was produced by Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor,The film explores the troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal Gandhi. Darshan Jariwala played the role of Gandhi.

In 2011 a multilingual film called Gandhi To Hitler released.The film features Raghubir Yadav as Adolf Hitler, whereas Avijit Dutt plays a minor role in the film as Mohandas Gandhi. The film is based on “The Downfall” letters penned by Mahatma Gandhi addressed to Hitler. 

                    Bapu Ki Yeh Amar Kahaani

Song of Jagriti 1954

Song of Lage Raho Munnabhai

                                  Gandhi Film Theme music - "Discovery of India"

S D Burman and Majrooh Sultanpuri- The Creator of Many Immortal Songs

What a day is October 1, the birth anniversary of two of the Golden Era of Bollywood music’s most creative and consistent artists. While music director SD Burman, born in 1906, continued to create melodic magic till his death in 1975, the 1919-born lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri remained active for over five decades, till he passed away in 2000. And the best thing about both these geniuses who shared birthdays was that they combined to create many outstanding songs together.
 Over the years, of course, a large chunk of their films featured Dev Anand, examples being ‘Paying Guest’, ‘Nau Do Gyarah’, ‘Kala Pani’, Manzil’, ‘Solva Saal’, ‘Bombai Ka Baboo’, ‘Baat Ek Raat Ki’, ‘Jewel Thief’ and ‘Teen Deviyan’. On the birth anniversary of the two legends, I look at 15 compositions born of their partnership.
Incidentally, the coming together of the two owed much to the break in the partnership of SD Burman and Sahir Ludhianvi. After the success of Pyaasa (1957), Burman and Ludhianvi fought bitterly to gain credit for the success of the music of Guru Dutt's iconic film. Faced with what he believed to be the obstinacy of the lyricist, Burman decided he would never work with Ludhianvi again. Thus began a partnership with Sultanpuri that lasted till Burman's final years.
Besides the Dev Anand films, SD and Majrooh combined on such classics as ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ (which had Kishore’s ‘Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi’, the Kishore-Manna Dey song ‘Babu samjho ishaare’ and the Kishore-Asha superhit ‘Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka’) and ‘Sujata’ (which had Talat Mahmood’s unforgettable ‘Jalte Hain Jiske Liye’, Geeta Dutt’s ‘Nanhi kali sone chali’, Asha and Geeta’s ‘Bachpan ke din’ and SD’s own rendition of ‘Sun mere bandhu’). The Lata song ‘Pawan Deewani’ from ‘Dr Vidya’ was a major hit too.
Here I would like to share this information that the first song written by Majrooh and composed by Sd Burman was " Woh Sapne wali Raat sung by Geeta Roy in the film Pyar (1950). After a gap of 7 years, they worked together in Paying Guest (1957).They worked together for more than 15 years, creating some memorable compositions. While there was a difference of 13 years between the two (Burman was born in 1906, Sultanpuri in 1919), they were inextricably linked by a common birthday. 
The two of them also worked in films like ‘Lajwanti’, ‘Sitaron Se Aage’, ‘Talaash’, ‘Phagun’ and ‘Sagina’ (remember ‘Saala mein to saahab ban gaya’?) But their biggest hit arguably was in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1973 film ‘Abhimaan’, which had ‘Tere mere milan yeh raina’ (Lata-Kishore), ‘Teri bindiya’ (Lata-Rafi), ‘Lutey koi man’ (Lata-Manhar Udhas), Kishore’s ‘Meet Na Mila’ and three Lata solos ‘Nadiya Kinarey’, ‘Ab Toh Hai Tumse’ and ‘Piya bina’.
Maana Janaab Ne Pukaara Nahin' — Paying Guest (1957)

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Aankhon Mein Kya Ji' — Nau Do Gyarah (1957)

Song of Nau Do Gyarha 1957

Chhod Do Aanchal - Paying Guest (1957)

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Hai Apna Dil To Awara' — Solva Saal (1958)

Song of Solva Saal 1958

Hum Bekhudi Mein — Kala Pani (1958)

Song of Kala Paani 1958

Koi Aaya Dhadkan Kehti Hai' — Lajwanti (1958)

Song of Lajwanti 1958

Accha Ji Main Haari' — Kala Pani (1958)

Song of Kala Paani 1958

Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si' — Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

Song of Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

Jalte Hain Jiske Liye' — Sujata (1960)

Song of Sujata(1960)

Chal Ri Sajni Ab Kya Soche - Bombai Ka Babu

Song of Bombai Ka Baboo (1960)

Pawan Diwane - Dr. Vidya (1962)

Song of Dr. Vidya (1962)

Na Tum Humein Jano

Song of Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962)

Aise To Na Dekho - Teen Deviyan

Song of Teen Deviyan (1965) 

Hothon Pe Aisi Baat - Jewel Thief (1967)

Song of Jewel Thief (1967)

Meet Na Mila Re Mun Ka - Abhimaan

Song of Abhimaan (1973)