Kalyanji Anandji- From the Folk Music to Funky Music

Anandji the younger brother of Kalyanji grew up in an atmosphere rich in culture, stalwarts like V Shantaram and Durga Khote being their neighbours. His introduction to the world of music happened when an 11-year-old Anandji and his classmates were taken to be part of the chorus in Devika Rani’s Meghdoot (1944). 
He along with his elder brother Kalyanji started an orchestral group called Kalyanji Virji and Party and held musical shows. They participated in the Sarvajanik Utsav, Navratri and Ganpati celebrations. he’d play the tabla. Kalyanji, who introduced a new electronic instrument called the clavioline. With this instrument, they played the been (the music to entice snakes) for a snake sequence in Nag Panchami (1953), the music of which was scored by Chitragupt. People came to watch the film just to listen to this music,” they earmark their debut in film music.
Hemant Kumar heard their tune and decided to use this in the most popular song "Man Dole Mera Tan Dole" Soon their Nagin tune was being played in Mandirs, Navratri and even Shaadis.
 Samrat Chandragupta (1959) was their first film as Kalyanji Virji Shah. Songs like "Chahe Paas Ho" (Lata–Rafi) that are remembered to this day were what made the movie a commercial success. This was followed by his composing music scores for more films like Post Box 999 before Anandji who was assisting him, joined him officially to form the Kalyanji Anandji duo in Satta Bazar and Madari (1959). Chalia (1961) was their earliest major hit. In 1965, two decisive scores, Himalaya Ki God Mein and Jab Jab Phool Khile, established them as composers to reckon with.
Anandji is a multitalented personality. He not only mastered in many musical instruments but also be known for introducing Jaz in Hindi films. He used to do mimicry of many artists of his time. He also knows astrology and face reading.
It was the music of Saraswatichandra (1968) that endorsed the genius of the brothers, more so because the classical tunes came soon after their modern Rhapsody in Haseena Man Jayegi.The songs "Chandan sa badan, Phool tumhe bheja hai, Chod de sari duniya, Hamne apna sab kuch khoya... were instant hits.
Kalyanji-Anandji were dubbed ‘lucky’ for first-timers. They worked with debutant directors including Manmohan Desai (Chalia), Prakash Mehra (Hasina Maan Jayegi), Manoj Kumar (Upkar), Sultan Ahmed (Heera,), Feroz Khan (Apradh), Subhash Ghai (Kalicharan) and Chandra Barot (Don, 1978). They also played mentors to singers like Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik, Sadhna Sargam, Sapna Mukherjee and Sunidhi Chauhan. “They gave the name Kumar Sanu to Kedranath Bhattachraya and Sadhana Sargam to Sadhna Ganekar. 
Both Kalyanji and Anandji worked as music composers for over 250 films, 17 of which were golden jubilees and 39 silver. They organised many charitable concerts for NGOs and several charitable institutions in India and abroad with some of the biggest names in Bollywood, like Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Rekha and Sridevi.
From composing desi beats for Manoj Kumar the duo hit a contrasting octave when they composed for the ‘Texas cowboy’ Feroz Khan in films right from Apradh, Dharmatma, Qurbani and Jaanbaz till the ’80s. “Ferozji liked a Western and Arabian touch in his songs. 
The composers composed some popular songs rendered by Kishore Kumar such as "Jeevan se bhari teri aankhe", "Zindagi ka safar hai ye kaisa Safar", "Pal Pal dilke paas", "Neele Neele Ambar Par" "Zindagi ka safar" from Safar (1970), "O Saathi Re" from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), "mera jeevan kora kagaz" from Kora Kagaz (1974), Jeevan se bhari teri aankhe " from Safar (1970), "pal pal dil ke paas" from Blackmail (1974), "neele neele ambar par " from Kalakaar(1985), "samzauta gamon se kar lo" from Samjhauta (1973), "apne jeevan ki ulzan ko" from Ulzan (1975).. Their composition called "Pal bharke liye" was used in an episode of The Simpsons. Remixed version of the song "Apni Toh Jaise Taise," originally from the 1981 film Laawaris was used in 2010 Bollywood film Housefull. 
They got the following Awards 

• Cine Music Directors Award – 1965 – Himalay Ki God Mein
• First National Award – 1968 – Saraswatichandra
• Filmfare Award – 1974 – Kora Kagaz
• First Platinum Disc by HMV – Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)
• 1st Platinum Disc by Polydor – Qurbani (1980)
• IMPPA Award – 1992 – For Contribution to Films
• Padmashree by the Government of India – For Outstanding Contribution
• IIFA Award (South Africa) – 2003 – Lifetime Achievement Award.

Song of Samrat Chandragupta, 1959

Song of Chhalia, 1960

Song of Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere, 1960

Song of Bluff Master, 1963

Song of Jab Jab Phool Khile, 1965

Song of Johar Mahmood in Goa, 1965

Song of Himalay Ki God Mein, 1965

Song of Upkar, 1967

Song of Saraswatichandra, 1968

Song of Mahal, 1969

Song of Viswas, 1969

Song of Safar 1970

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Kora Kagaz, 1973

Song of Black Mail, 1973

Song of  Haath Ki Safai, 1974

Song of  Muqaddar Ka Sikander 1978

Song of Don, 1978 

Song of Qurbani, 1980

Song of Tridev, 1989

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Manmohan Desai - The Film Maker that Ruled the Box Office

Manmohan Desai, the Ace Director could achieve the impossible with confidence. The man who firmly believed in the “Lost and Found” formula left behind an indelible mark in Bollywood film history, with films that spun magic with great music, top order performances and thoroughly enjoyable storylines that worked even with a touch of incredulity.
He started his career with a love story Chhalia but he is known for the action-packed multi-starrers such as Amar Akbar Anthony, Naseeb, Suhaag, Parvarish, Coolie, Mard, Desh Premee and Dharam Veer. 
His association with Amitabh Bachchan became legendary. the duo delivered a string of hits – Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish, Suhaag, Naseeb, Desh Premee, Coolie and Mard, with only their last film together Ganga Jamuna Saraswati failing at the box-office.
 Out of the 20 films that Desai directed in his career span of 29 years (1960–1989), as many as 13 films were stupendous hits, a remarkable success ratio for an industry where box-office disasters abound despite huge budgets and star casts.
Apart from Bachchan, Manmohan Desai worked with other leading male stars such as Raj Kapoor in the 1960 film Chhalia, Shammi Kapoor in "Bluffmaster" (1963), Rajesh Khanna in Sachaa Jhutha (1970) and Roti (1974), Randhir Kapoor in Raampur Ka Lakshman (1972), Shashi Kapoor in Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Dharmendra in Dharam Veer (1977). 1977 was an exceptional year for him. All four of his films released that year were huge hits: Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony, Chacha Bhatija and Dharam Veer. 
As an acknowledgement of Desai's goodwill and his box-office supremacy, stars from Raj Kapoor to Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra made a special appearance in the Desai-directed Naseeb.
Manmohan Desai met his tragic end on March 1st 1994. The man behind megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s career in Bollywood fell to his death from the balcony of his flat when it collapsed. It remains unclear if this was an accident or suicide. Many say he took his life as he could not cope up with failing health and declining career( His last 2 films with Amitabh Bachchan flopped badly).
Beside Hit films he also gave great songs in his films.

Song of Chhalia 1960

Song of Bluff Master 1963

Song of Kismat 1968

Song of Sachaa Jhutha 1970

Song of Raampur Ka Lakshman 1972

Song of Roti 1974

Song of Parvarish 1977

Song of Dharam Veer 1977

Song of  Amar Akbar Anthony 1977

Song of  Naseeb 1981

Talat Mahmood- The Singer who sang for all the Major Stars of Bollywood

Talat Mahmood (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998) is considered one of the greatest singers of Bollywood. He was particularly famous for singing soft and sombre semi-classical and non-classical ghazals, but the film songs sung by him are also considered critically flawless and outstanding. He can be described as the real founder of modern semi-classical and non-classical ghazal. 
Talat Mehmood was the real founder of modern semi-classical and non-classical ghazal. So, his influence upon other contemporary and succeeding ghazal singers has been broad and profound. It was he who paved the way for such legendary ghazal singers like Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh. 
Besides being a gifted singer, Talar was quite handsome as well. He acted in over a dozen films with top actresses of the time like Nutan, Mala Sinha, Suraiya and others. He could be considered the Top Singing Star of Black & White Era. Later he decided to give up acting to concentrate on singing.
In this Blog I have selected the songs he sang for the Major Heroes of Bollywood

Song of Aarzoo (1949)

Song of Baabul (1950)

Song of Madhosh (1951)

Song of Anhonee (1952)

Song of Patita 1953

Song of Thokar(1953)

Song of  Taxi Driver (1954)

Song of Mirza Ghalib (1954)

Song of Baradari (1955)

Song of Dekh Kabira Roya (1957)

Song of  Sujata (1959)

Song of Chhaya 1961

Gems of Kishore Kumar under Laxmikant Pyarelal

Kishore Kumar,s Second Inning started with Aradhana in 1969 but before that, he gave great songs under Laxmikant Pyarelal. They had a great rapport with Kishore Kumar. Kishore Kumar sang the most songs (402) for L-P among all male singers, followed by Rafi (about 365 songs). First time Kishore sang for them was in Mr X in Bombay(1964), all the songs were hit. The next film Kishore did for L P was
HUM SAB USTAD HAI(1965).In this Blog I am taking some of the great songs by Kishore Kumar under the composition of L P
Laxmikant Pyarelal worked as assistants of S.D Burman and Kalyananji Anandji. Many say, Pyarelal, the son of trumpet player"Ramprasad Sharma" is best arranger and violinist of Zubin Mehta's calibre. They played in the orchestra of Husnalal Bhagatram first commercially successful duo of Bollywood.  However, I must mention that the duo has given some really extraordinary compositions for Kishore which even excel "Dada Burman" and Shankar Jaikishan scores.

Pyarelal Ji speaking about Kishore Kumar

                                                Mere Mehboob kayamat hogi

Song from Mr X in Bombay 1964

Ajanabee tum jane pahchane

Song from Hum Sab Ustad Hain 1965

                       Sultana Sultana Tu Na Ghabrana

Song from Shriman Fantoosh 1965

Khijan ke phhol pe aati kabhi bahar nahi

Song from Do Raste 1969

Accha To Hum Chalate Hai

Song from Aan Milo Sajna 1970

Waada Tera Waada

Song from Dushman 1971

Yah jeevan Hai

Song from Piya Ka Ghar 1972

Mere Dilme Aaj Kya Hai

Song from Daag 1973

Ruk Jana Nahi

Song from Imtihaan 1974

Gadi Bula Rahi Hai

Song from Dost 1974

Aate Jate Khoobsurat Awara

Song from Anurodh 1977

Om Shanti Om

Song from Karz 1980

zindagi ki yahi reet hai

Song from Mr India 1987

Nutan.- An Actress Who Could Change Gear to Play any Character.

After Meena Kumari, it is Nutan who could be called Emotional Queen. She was the five-time winner of Filmfare Award of Best Actress. She played the Gauri of Seema, Sujata of Sujata, Kalyani of Bandhini or Romantic role in Tere Ghar Ke Samne, she performed all at ease and perfectly.
She was an actress who could change gears with well-oiled efficiency: She was the very essence of featherweight froth in films like Paying Guest and Anadi and made a splash by posing in a swimsuit for Delhi Ka Thug. Nutan also gave cry-from-the-soul performances in Sone Ki Chidiya (as an exploited actress) She acted in Shammi Kapoor extavaganzas like Laat Sahab clad in skirts and pants, sari-clad, self-sacrificing Saraswatichandra mould, secretly wiping away a tear and singing Main toh bhool chali babul ka desh. This hit garba song was one of Nutan's few, full-fledged dance numbers.
 Nutan continued to get interesting roles even after she crossed 40. She could portray strength of character --- as seen in her award-winning role in Raj Khosla's Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki and others like Saajan Bina Suhagan, Saajan Ki Saheli, Teri Maang Sitaron Se Bhar Doon, Rishta Kagaz Ka.

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai cast her in a pivotal role in his Meri Jung and then fulfilled the wishes of several filmgoers (even if it was a little late in the day) by finally casting Dilip Kumar and Nutan together in his Karma (1986).

Nutan was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 1990.^] In February 1991, she was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after she fell ill. At the time, she was filming Garajna and Insaniyat. She died at 12:07 p.m. (IST) on 21 February.

Nutan's Landmark Films
Year	Film	Hero	Director
1950	Hamari Beti	Shekhar	Shobhana Samarth
1951	Nagina	Nasir Khan	Ravindra Dave
1951	Hum Log	Sajjan	Zia Sarhady
1955	Seema	Balraj Sahni	Amiya Chakravorthy
1957	Paying Guest	Dev Anand	Subodh Mukherji
1958	Delhi Ka Thug	Kishore Kumar	S D Narang
1959	Anadi	Raj Kapoor	Hrishikesh Mukherji
1959	Sujata	Sunil Dutt	Bimal Roy
1960	Chhaliya	Raj Kapoor	Manmohan Desai
1963	Bandini	Ashok Kumar, Dharmendra	Bimal Roy
1963	Tere Ghar Ke Saamne	Dev Anand	Vijay Anand
1965	Khandaan	Sunil Dutt	A Bhim Singh
1967	Milan	Sunil Dutt	Subba Rao
1968	Saraswatichandra	Manish	Govind Saraiya
1972	Anuraag	--	Shakti Samanta
1973	Saudagar	Amitabh Bachchan	Sudhendu Roy
1978	Main Tulsi Tere Angan Ki	Vijay Anand	Raj Khosla
1978	Saajan Bina Suhagan	--	Sawan Kumar Tak
1985	Meri Jung	--	Subhash Ghai
1986	Karma	Dilip Kumar	Subhash Ghai

Songs of Nutan

Song of Sujata

Song of Paying Guest

Song of Anari

Song of Tere Ghar Ke Samne

Song of Bandhini

Song of Saraswatichandra

Song of Milan

Song of Saudagar

Khayyam-A Composer who gave many immortal Songs

God has made Khayyam Saheb Special. He has given this Industry many Immortal Songs. He was born on 18th Feb 1927 as Sa'aadat Hussain in undivided Punjab. He made his debut as Sharmaji of the Sharmaji-Varmaji composer duo with the movie Heer Ranjha in 1948. He went solo after his co-composer Rahman Varma went to the newly created Pakistan post-partition. One of his earliest breaks was in the film Biwi in which the song "Akele mein wo ghabrate to Honge" sung by Mohammed Rafi was a huge hit. But he gained greater recognition from the film Phir Subha Hogi starring Raj Kapoor and Mala Sinha, in which songs written by Sahir Ludhyanvi and sung by Mukesh and Asha Bhonsle were set to tune by Khayyam, notable amongst them "Wo Subha Kabhi to Aayegi", "Aasman Pe hai Khauda aur Zameen pe Hum" and "Chin-o-Arab Humara".

The song "Jaane kya dhhonti rehti hein ye aanken mujhmen" sung by Rafi from the film Shola Aur Shabnam established Khayyam's reputation as a great composer. Latter on Songs from the film Shagun which had Khayyam's wife Jagjit Kaur sing "Tum apna ranj-o-gham" and "Tum chali Jaogi". From the film Lala Rukh "Hai Kali Kali ke lab par" sung by Rafi and from Footpath "Shyam-e-Gham ki Kasam" sung by Talat Mehmood. From Mohhabat Isko Kehte Hein "Theheriye hosh mein aa lun to chaley jaiyega" by Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur made him a popular composer.
Khayyam teamed up with Sahir Ludhyanvi once again to work in the Yash Chopra-directed "Kabhi Kabhi". The songs were super hits and showed Khayyam's versatility with huge hits like "Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein Khayal ata hai" (Sung by Mukesh), "Tere chehre se nazar Nahin hatti" (Kishore & Lata) and "Mein Pal do pal ka Shayar Hun" (Mukesh). 
 Again pairing with Sahir in Trishul he produced great songs like "Mohabbat bare kaam ki cheez hai" and "Janeman tum kamal karti ho" and the light "Gapuchi Gapuchi gam gam". "Hazar rahen" from Thodi si Bewafai and "Aaja re o mere dilbar Aaja" from Noorie and "Dikahyi Diye" from Bazaar are some noticeable songs. Khayyam also created music for the Kamal Amrohi directed "Razia Sultan" and his "Aye dil-e-nadan" sung by Lata capturing the mood beautifully. One of popular song is Cho lene do.

How can we forget him in Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan in 1981. He made Asha Bhonsle sing songs which are indisputably her best. "In Aankhon ki masti ke", "Ye Kya Jagah hai doston" and "Dil Cheez kya hai" are evergreen.

Khayyam also made several non-film albums in various styles – ghazals, bhajans, geet, Shabd – that amounted to over 200 titles. “Some of them were so popular that I was pleasantly surprised to notice that a few music directors had copied parts of their tunes and musical phrases and used them in their film songs,” he said. “They may not give me the credit, but they know that God has made Khayyam special.”

Song of Footpath 1953

Song of Phir Subha Hogi (1958)

Song of Shola Aur Shabnam (1961)

Song of  Shagoon (1964

Song of Aakhri Khat (1966)

Song of Kabhi Kabhie (1976)

Song of Thodi Si Bewafaai (1980)

Song of Umrao Jaan 1981

Song of Umrao Jaan 1981

Song of Bazaar (1982)

Song of Razia Sultan (1983)