Dev Anand's Association with Shankar Jaikishan

Shankar Jaikishan were associated with Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor but they also composed for Dev Anand in 8 films with 63 scores. The first film they worked together was the 1953 film Patita. But when producers and directors approached Shankar Jaikishan for composing music in Dev Anand’s film, he took Hemant Kumar for Dev Anand. The song Yaad Kiya Dil Ne Kahan Ho Tum was super hit. Another song for Dev Anand was Talat Mahmood.
The combination of SJ and Dev Anand stormed Bollywood from the time he used Rafi for almost all the songs in the film Love Marriage in 1959.Rafi’s songs included “kahan ja rahe the“, “dheere dheere chal“, This combination created storms in the film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai.
Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai was a musical film with Asha Parekh and all the songs became super hit in the early 60s. Some of them included “jiya ho, jiya ho jiya kuch bol do“, “sau saal pehele hume tumse pyar tha“, “yeh aankhe uff yummma“, “teri zulfonki“, to name a few. The success of the film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai was followed up in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Asli Nakli. All the songs of this film were hit especially “tera mera pyara amar“, “tujhe jeevan ki dor se bandh liya hai“, “ek buth banayunga“, “asli nakli chehera“ 
After this released Dev Anand Saira Bano starrer Pyar Mohabbat in 1966. The songs in the film Pyar Mohabbat, like “dil ki awaaz khuda khair Karen“, “pyar muhobbat” and duet songs with Sharda like “sun sun, sun re balam, dil tujhko pukare” were hits.
After this film SJ did 2 films with Dev Saab both released in 1968,Duniya and Kahin Aur Chal The songs of Duniya were popular in this film SJ used Kishore Kumar for Dev Anand.

Song of Patita 1953

Song of Love Marriage 1959

Song of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1961) 

Song of Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961)

Song of Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961)

Song of Asli Naqli (1962) 

Song of Asli Naqli (1962) 

Song of Pyar Mohabbat 1966

Song of Duniya 1968

Song of Duniya 1968

Murad- An Important Character Actor of Golden Era of Bollywood

Today's generation may not know him but the lovers of the Golden Era can't forget him. His usual roles were that of a father, judge, emperor, zamindar or police commissioner. Some of his well known films include Andaz (1949), Deedar (1951), Aan(1952), Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Mirza Ghalib(1954) , Amar(1954) , Devdas(1955) and K Asif’s magnum opus Mughal-E-Azam where he played the role of Raja Mann Singh. His unique voice and dialogue delivery were his assets.
He started his career with Najma (1943) and worked in over 100 films over the next five decades. In his first film, he played the role of Ashok Kumar's father. He was then offered the roles of Heroe's or Heroine's father. He played the role of Deputy saheb – the girl's father in Mehboob Khan’s Anmol Ghadi (1946) which was a musical hit starring Surendra, Noor Jahan and Suraiya.

He was a favourite character artist of the filmmaker Mehboob Khan. In fact, Mehboob Khan took him in his film Najma in 1943 which happened to be his debut film. After that, he appeared in his Anmol Ghadi (1946), Andaj (1949), Aan (1952), Amar(1954) and Son of India(1962).

Murad in Baraat

From the 1960s through to the end of the 1980s he appeared mostly as a judge or police commissioner. He was last seen in Amitabh Bachchan's Shehanshah released in 1988. He died in his birthplace in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh in 1997. His son Raza Murad is also a character actor of Bollywood.

Ameeta - A Forgotten Actress

She was the heroine of 1957 hit film Tumsa Nahin Dekha which made Shammi Kapoor a Star but the luck did not favour Ameeta.In 1959 Goonj Uthi Shahnai, her another big hit film as heroine released. Rajendra Kumar was the hero.  Here despite a mature and sensitive performance, Ameeta was overlooked and Kumar was given credit for the film's emphatic success.
Although she fired up the careers of Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar with these hits, Ameeta could never capitalise on them and stardom never materialised. She later switched to character roles.

Her  roles in multi-star films like Raakhi (1962) and the blockbuster Mere Mehboob (1963) did not help her career graph, even though she was nominated for a Filmfare award for the latter as Best Supporting Actress, and she now dropped to playing lead grade-B movies which though successful at the box office did not do much for her star status. However, her romance opposite Kishore Kumar in Hum Sab Ustad Hai in 1965 was appreciated by the audience. By 1965 she was playing negative and villainous characters in films like Rishte Naate (1965), and Aasra (1966). Worse still, she was seen in supporting roles to starlets Rajshree and Babita, in films like Around the World (1967) and Haseena Maan Jayegi (1968). After filming Haseena Maan Jayegi (1968), a disillusioned Ameeta left the film industry as she was not getting leading roles and settled into matrimony.

A fan of Madhubala, Ameeta was enacting her idol's sword fight from the movie Baadal when she caught the eye of Lekhraj Bhakhri, who signed her for his movie Thokar. This was her debut film in a side role where she was credited as Jayjaywanti. Qamar's debut movie as the heroine was a 1953 release, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1954), directed by Vijay Bhatt. The screen name Ameeta made its appearance in this movie. The film failed, but Ameeta kept on working in films like Amar Kirtan, Badal Aur Bijli, Baaghi Sardar and Indrasabha. But her career took a positive turn when she worked with her idol Madhubala in Shirin Farhad (1956). She was then chosen for lead roles in Abhimaan and Zamana.
She was born on  11 April 1940. Her real name was Qamar Sultana, She started her career with producer-director Lekhraj Bhakhri,s Thokar in 1953. The main lead hero was Shammi Kapoor, that time he was a flop actor. Her next film was Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu starring with Bharat Bhushan. Her screen name was given by Vijay Bhatt the director of this film. This film flopped and her career was in jeopardy She had to accept heroines roles in B grade films until she got Tumsa Nahi Dekha.
Ameeta was nominated for a Filmfare Award as Best Supporting Actress for Mere Mehboob (1962) but lost out to Shashikala for Gumrah(1963)

Song of Tumsa Nahin Dekha 1957

Song of Tumsa Nahin Dekha 1957

Song of Goonj Uthi Shehnai 1959

Song of Goonj Uthi Shehnai 1959

Song of Chhote Nawab 1961

Song of Mere Mehboob 1963

Song of Hum Sab Ustad Hain 1965

The Story Behind the Song "Dum Maro Dum"

This super hit song was once an anthem of the Indian young generation. To hear ‘Dum Maro Dum’ blaring over loudspeakers was a part of growing up in the 1970s. The job of composing music for ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ was first offered to Sachin Dev Burman but he hated hippie culture and turned down the offer. But his son R. D. Burman was of a different opinion and decide to grab this opportunity. After this song, R. D. Burman became the new mega-composer of Bollywood.
Actually ‘Dum Maro Dum’ was supposed to be a duet between Usha Uthup (singing for the bad girl) and Lata Mangeshkar (singing for the good girl). But at the end, they were both checked off the list and Asha Bhosle ended up singing the song solo.
The song topped the Binaca Geetmala annual list 1972. In Binaca Geetmala, a song could appear for a maximum of 18 weeks, after which it was called a Sartaj Geet. On 15 March 1972, Dum Maro Dum became a Sartaj Geet while it was at #1 payddan (position). It had remained at #1 position for 12 weeks.
Dev Anand wanted some peppy music before his song "Ram Ka Naam Badnam Na Karo" R D Burman sat with Anand Bakshi and asked him to give him few words before starting the song Ram Ka Naam Badnam No Karo. It was Anand Bakshi who used the old phrase Dum Maro Dum Mit Jaye Gum as Mukhda for this song, R D Burman immediately made a tune which was liked by all his musicians. So he asked Anand Bakshi to complete the full song on this tune.

The song came out to be marvellous, everybody was convinced that it will become a craze. In fact, Dev Anand was scared of this song, he was worried that this song will overshadow his song Ram Ka Naam Badnam Na Karo. RDB suggested to him that they will keep this song only on the disc. After a few days, Dev Saab decided to picturise this song on Zeenat Aman but kept a small version of this separately in the film.
The song presented the lyricist Anand Bakshi as a versatile lyricist and shaped his career. It also boosted the composer Rahul Dev Burman's career. Bhupinder played the guitar for the song. Charanjit Singh played the distinctive drone of the transichord that opens the song.
This song has been remixed and sampled by a number of artists. It has also been included in many compilations.British DJ, San-j Sanj has used the infectious guitar hook and created a dance track featuring Natty A called "So Real So Right". DJ Ritu and Bally Sagoo compiled the song for their collection The Rough Guide to Bollywood in 2002. In 2004, the hip-hop artist Method Man sampled the song in his third album Tical 0: The Prequel, for the track "What's Happenin'" featuring Busta Rhymes.
Here is the original song along with many cover  versions of this song

Song of Hare Rama Hare Krishna 1971

Dum Maro Dum by Rowdy Brass Band "What Cheer

Method Man and Busta Rhymes, "What's Happenin'"

The Beatles of Bollywood

Naarghita - Dum maro dum

Robin and The New Revolution

Story Behind the Song "Yeh Aankhen Uff You Maa"

This Iconic song is sung by Rafi and Lata and it is picturised on the lead pair of Dev Saab and Asha Parekh. The film was directed by Nasir Hussain and the song was written by Hasrat Jaipuri and composed by Shankar Jaikishan. The film was a super hit, all the songs were hit.
When this song released everybody was curious to know the meaning of Uff Youmaa.These words became craze after the release of the film.
The story behind these words was that once Music Director Jaikishan along with lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri were attending a party in Bombay where an Arabic lady who was very beautiful said Uff Yumma and Jaikishan immediately took a liking for this very unusual word and there and then asked Hasrat Jaipuri to sit down and write a romantic song using this word for their upcoming film Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai.
The Mukhra of this song was ready in a few minutes. Jaikishan immediately left the party and went to Nasir Hussain's house Initially Nasir Hussain was reluctant to take these words but when the full song was ready he invited Dev Saab to listen to the song. Dev Anand instantly liked these words and approved this song.
This romantic song was picturised on the beautiful hills of Darjeeling. The situation was created for this song by the director for using these words. 

Song of Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai 1961

Please Click the Link Below to know more about Hasrat Jaipuri

https://youtu.be/58O0VJZZ0UU 

Jeetendra - The First Dancing Star of Bollywood

Though Shammi Kapoor invented rock and roll in Bollywood, it was Jeetendra who really gave a new dimension to dancing In Bollywood. With filmmaker Ravikant Nagaich’s bond thriller FARZ, Jeetendra set the ball rolling and became the First Bollywood hero who left his heroines behind in the dance movements.
One can recollect the super hit song Mast Baharon Ka Main Aashiq from the film FARZ, Jeetendra’s fast-paced dance movement in the song is truly breathtaking. That was unique in Hindi films that the hero is dancing in such a way. After the success of this movie and particularly the mega success of this song, the media coined the term Jumping Jack for Jeetendra.
His mass appeal and naughty on-screen persona were what won the heart of the audience. They expected him to dance and songs in every film. There were many films like,Jeene Ki Raah, Jigri Dost, Waris  ‘Caravan’ and ‘Humjoli’, in which Jeetendra had more dance numbers.

In the 80s he was most frequently cast opposite heroines like Sridevi and Jaya Prada, and his career mostly consisted of South Indian film remakes of makers like Rama Rao Tatineni, K Bapayya and K. Raghavendra Rao. Among them, the most noteworthy were: Sanjog, Aulad, Majaal, Justice Chaudhry, Mawaali, Himmatwala, Jaani Dushman and Tohfa.
 Jeetendra was visible flaunting white trousers and a crisp white shirt dancing with his lead heroines. He jollily tossed around heroines in film after film, from ’60sto the ’90s but a willing audience never got tired of his dancing steps. Remember the songs like Kanwarlal Naam Hai Mera from Meri Awaz Suno

Here are some of his Dancing songs.

Song of Farz 1967

Song of Farz 1967

Song of Jeene Ki Raah 1969

Song of Jigri Dost 1969

Song of Waris 1969

Song of Humjoli 1970

Song of Caravan 1971

Song of Anokhi Ada  1973

Song of Aap Ke Diwane 1980

Song of Meri Aawaz Suno 1981

Song of Himmatwala 1983

Song of Mawaali 1983

Song of Tohfa 1984

Story Behind the song Hotho Mein Aisi Baat

"Hotho Mein Aisi Baat, Mein Dabaa Ke Chali Ayee" is one of the best dance sequences in Indian Cinema. This is from Dev Anand's classic Jewel Thief(1967). That was the time when actresses were actually trained (long term!) in dance. Vyjantimala, of course, was the best of the best. But others like Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini and others have also given some great dance sequences.
Vijay Anand was the director of this film, we all know that he was the master of picturising a song. This movie started a trend where directors began putting a song before the climax. Before that, he tried a song before the climax in Nau Do Gyaraha(1957) but this song remains one of the best Dance Songs of Bollywood.

Vijay Anand worked with Vyjantimala for the first time. She was a Super Star at that time. There were some date problems and many distractions but Vyjayantimala being the professional that she was, still came up with a polished performance. Goldie's only grievance was that she could have done better with Hoton Pe Aisi Baat. He wanted her to rehearse the number before we went for a final take. But she told me airily that she didn't need any rehearsals. he insisted she did, but she still didn't report for rehearsals and came straight to the set. he called for "pack-up" and told her firmly that she had to stay back in the studio and practise with the assistants. She did practise, for 15 minutes. Then she got into her car and drove off saying that Saroj Khan would be coming to her place later and they'd go over the steps together. The rehearsal never happened but Vyjayantimala being a good actress and an excellent dancer didn't find it too difficult to pick up the steps and the shots were okayed quickly. So if you see a single camera capture of Vyjantimala’s magic, it was ACTUALLY done in a single shot

The song is from those days where technology was so much poorer compared to today, the editing of that song was marvellous. Which means that they didn’t have sharp edits that could get stitched together, and look like one single camera sequence, Think of the choreography with the support dance troupe, and other stars like Dev Anand, floating in between the long sequence otherwise focused on Vyjantimala.
Honthon Mein Aisi Baat” (brilliantly choreographed by Master Sohanlal), as the camera follows Vyjayanthimala, he uses the circular tracks, dynamic angles and cuts to build up the tension to a crescendo. Here is an example of how Western technique could merge with Indian art. Even as you enjoy the aesthetics of dance.
As we all know that the music was given by S D Burman and he was assisted by his son R D Burman who by that time had become an independent Music Director and was giving the music of Teesri Manzil side by side. The song was sung by Lata Mangeshkar but you will be surprised to know that Bhupinder also participated in that song. Bhupinder sings the opening
refrain Hooooo for Dev and in the middle of the song he says " O Shalu". That was his total contribution to the song.

Song of Jewel Thief 1967

 

The Iconic Cinema Halls of India

Gone are the days of Talkies and Bioscope. Amidst the bubbling Multiplexes and multi-screen movie viewing experience, we might have forgotten about the old and rustic cinema halls that used to be most visited places.
 Today's generation living in metro cities may have even not seen a single screen cinema hall. In many cities the old cinema theatres are demolished, on that land commercial complexes are built. In this blog I look into the journey of cinema halls in India.

Elphinstone Picture Palace, and later called Chaplin Cinema, this is the first ever Cinema Hall in India. Founded by Jamshedji Framji Madan in 1907, Elphinstone was one of the most sought after place. Later when it became a full-fledged movie theatre as Chaplin, the popularity rose to ten-fold. The site is now demolished and used by Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Royal Talkies, Grant Road Bombay started in 1911, Royal theatre was known to show small documentaries shot and stage plays during Old Mumbai days. With a seating capacity of 600 people, hardly any heads are seen now. Located at Royal Cinematography, M Shaukat Ali Road, Mumbai Central, this is one of those beautiful memories of old talkies still in shape to be watched when along the way. 

Gaiety Cinema Madras Raghupathy Venkiah Naidu, a successful photographer of the south, took over the equipment after the exhibition and set up a tent cinema near the Madras High Court. R. Venkiah, flush with funds, built in 1912 a permanent cinema in the Mount Road area named Gaiety Theatre. It was the first in Madras to screen films on a full-time basis. The theatre later closed for commercial developments
Mr Raghupathy Venkatesh set up a chain of theatres across South India. After Gaiety, he constructed Crown Theatre on Mint Street followed by Globe on Purasawalkam High Road and then the Imperial Theatre in Madurai
.

Caapitol Cinema, CST : Exactly opposite our Monument CST station is this old small white looking theatre called ‘Capitol’ since 1879, Once the Gothic movie playhouse of residents around fort area which played some British dramas is now the B Grade Hindi movie show theatre. The very first show at Capitol cinema was attended by Governor and his wife, which features a premiere of ‘The Flag Lieutenant’ which was a British film.

Alfred Cinema Hall, Grant Road  Alfred is one of those oldest talkies started in 1880 with name ‘Rippon’ then renamed to ‘Alfred’ in 1932

Minerva Cinema Calcutta The Minerva Theatre was a theatre in Calcutta, built in 1893. It was erected at the site on Beadon Street where the Great National Theatre stood before. The maiden play held on this stage was 'Macbeth'.  It was initially owned by Nagendra Bhusan Mukhopaddhaya. In course of time, it witnessed several transfers of ownership."Minerva" was burnt down in a fire in 1922. However, it was renovated and in 1925, it regained its old status and play acting was resumed. The Minerva, along with the Star and The Classic Theatre, was also one of the places where the first motion pictures in Bengal, made by Hiralal Sen, were screened.

.Regal Cinema, Delhi: It was the first cinema hall to be constructed in Connaught Place. It was constructed in 1932 and has a seating capacity of 694. Now this cinema theatre is closed and converted into Madam Tussaud Museum

Plaza Cinema Delhi The Plaza Cinema opened in 1933 and was designed by architect Robert Tor Russell as part of the Connaught Place development. The facade had a classical style with columns that matched adjoining buildings.
The facade was covered over in 1967 by a plain stone slab, while the inside the auditorium has been modernised by a covering of pegboard sound insulation tiles which give a bland appearance. Seating is provided in stalls and balcony levels. The cinema was equipped to screen 70mm film and underwent a renovation, re-opening in May 2004 by the popular multiplex chain PVR Cinemas. T

.Everest Talkies, Bangalore This is one of the standalone single screen theatres which plays potboilers to documentaries. The theatre was constructed by Maistry Chowriappa in the 1930s and has been in operation since then. For a while, for revamping purposes the place remained closed for a year but has opened up with a bang.
By the year 1921, there were 150 cinema halls in India. Bombay and Calcutta had the maximum.

Rajmandir Cinema Jaipur  Raj Mandir Cinema holds a unique position in the heart of all visitors and locals of Jaipur. Though it's not that old it is iconic because it is the best cinema hall in Asia.
In 1966, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Mohanlal Sukhadia, laid the foundation stone for this amazing theatre. RajMandir was more of a dream Project. It was his dream to build a grand beautiful entertainment spot which can be the best example of Modern and Stylish Jaipur. It took around ten years to construct this grand piece of entertainment.