Dev Anand - The Karma Yogi of Indian Cinema

Dev Anand played the lead role in 110 movies – more than any other Hindi film star.  Not only that, of the total of 114 Hindi films he appeared in, 82 were box office hits – a success rate of 72%. It is hard to imagine any other actor, then or now, with such a high success rate.
His rapid-fire dialogue delivery, his legendary style, the hats, scarves, his very long career in the Hindi film industry, his discovery of new stars, the wonderful music in his films, and above all, a singular dedication to films and film-making.  
He never bothered about the commercial success of the film,  he continued to make films which no one really watched.  He did not make them for others, but for his own sheer joy of making those films.  This is a love for his art that is way out of the ordinary and truly epitomizes the “karma yogi” of the Bhagavad Gita.

Dev Anand entered into direction with Prem Pujari in 1970, it was not a successful film but he never got disturbed by its failure, he immediately went on to make Hare Rama Hare Krishna with an unusual subject of Hippies. The film released in 1972 and it was a hit.

The next film he produced and directed was Heera Panna released in 1973. The film starred Zeenat Aman and Rakhi opposite Dev. It was a moderately successful film. Immediately after this released Ishq Ishq Ishq in 1974 which was a flop. It is said that Dev Anand was very upset with the outcome of this film but he decided to make another film. This time he took a new heroine Tina Munim in Des Pardes, released in 1978. Dev Anand chose comparatively new music director Rajesh Roshan for this film, who did full justice to his selection as most of the songs became quite popular. The film was successful. 
After the success of Dev Anand started Lootmar with the same team. It was released in 1980, it was an average at the Box Office.

 In 1984, he introduced his son Suneil Anand as Hero with Anand Aur Anand. The film flopped but he continued to make films.
After that, he made nine films but none of his film clicked at Box Office. the last film he made was Chargesheet released in 2011. Starring himself, Jackie Shroff, Naseeruddin Shah and Divya Dutta in lead roles, while Riya Sen appears in an item number.
After Lashkar, Dev Anand has not had a single hit. His films have come and gone unnoticed, but he continued to make films. On his flops, he said  “My films may have flopped. But that does not indicate I flopped too!Otherwise, how can I carry on making films?

Talat Mahmood - A Great Fan of K L Saigal

Like most of the singers of the 40s and 50s Talat Mahmood was also influenced by singing superstar Kundanlal Saigal. He would sing Saigal songs for hours on his harmonium, he never tried to emulate his style. Later, at a function when he sang a ghazal of Mirza Ghalib, Nuktacheen Hai Gham-e-Dil, that had also been sung by Saigal, he got an offer to sing on AIR Lucknow. After listening to his voice, PK Sen of HMV offered him a one-year contract for 30 rupees. Talat left for Calcutta and recorded his first song in 1941, Sab din ek saman nahi tha, penned by Fayyaz Hashmi and composed by Kamal Dasgupta.
Pankaj Mullick who was also present there liked his voice, and he invited Talat to join New Theatres. Talat couldn't have accepted the offer since he was bound by the HMV contract, and also recorded private geet and ghazals for HMV.

His first encounter with Saigal happened when Saigal was recording a song for the film, My Sister, Do naina matware tihare hum per zulam karein, composed by Pankaj Mullick. Talat was spellbound seeing his idol singing.  In his own words, "Lag raha tha jaise noor ki barrish ho rahi hai (It felt as if there was a shower of bright light)."

Talat made his debut in PC Barua's film Rajlaxmi in 1945 and sang two songs in the movie. And, one song, Jago musafir jago, was picturised on him. Thereafter, Talat also performed in two films, Samapti and Swayamsiddha, as an actor-singer. During his stay in Calcutta, he recorded several popular songs in Bangla with the pseudo name Tapan Kumar and his debut rendition in Bangla, Duti pakhi duti teere majhe naadi bohe dhire dhire, broke all the records.

In 1949, Talat moved to Bombay to try his luck in Hindi films. Initially, many composers told him that he had a tremolo in his voice but composers wanted to change his singing style. It was Anil da who told Talat that this tremble in his voice was his strength, his USP. He composed a ghazal for Talat in film, Aarzoo (1950), Aye dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal, penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri. This was the beginning of the Talat Mahmood era.

Naushad took Talat for Dilip Kumar in Babul and he sang hits like Khushi ke saath duniya mein, Husnwalon ko na dil do, and duets with Shamshad Begum, Duniya badal gayee meri duniya badal gayee and Milte hi nazar dil hua deewana kisi ka.

In 1951, Anil da recorded Talat's classic number, Shukriya hai pyaar tera. Talat made his debut with SD Burman with the song, Aye zindagi ke rahi in Bahar, followed by Burman Da's Buzhdil, Ek Nazar, Sazaa.and the best was to come in Taxi Driver 1954, Jayen To Jayen Kahan. In Devdas 1955, he sang heart-rendring numbers, Kis ko khabar thi kisko yakeein tha and Mitwa lagi re ye kaisi anbujh aag. Even in Sujata, he was reluctant to take Talat to sing his evergreen number, Jalate hain jiske liye in Sujata.

By the mid-1950s, Talat became the most sought after playback singer. He was every composer's first choice, giving playback for Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor and Bharat Bhushan, as also for Guru Dutt in his debut film Baaz as an actor: Mujhe Dekho Hasrat ki Tasveer hoon main composed by OP Nayyar. Later, he also sang his immortal number, Pyaar par bas to nahin hai for Nayyar in Sone Ki Chidiya. 

Talat sang for Khayyam Saab his masterpiece ghazal in film Footpath, Shaam-e-Gham ki Kasam, and a beautiful romantic number in the film, Lala Rukh is worth mentioning.

Talat Mehmood passed away after a cardiac arrest on 9th May 1998.

Song of Arzoo 1950

Song of Tarana 1951

Song of Daag 1952

Song of Patita 1953

Song of Footpath 1953

Song of Taxi Driver 1954

Song of  Dekh Kabira Roya 1957

Song of Sone Ki Chidiya.1958

Song of  Sujata 1959

The Golden Combination of Naushad and Rafi

Naushad (26 December 1919 – 5 May 2006 ) began his career in 1940 with Prem Nagar, but took off in 1944 with Ratan, where he created his own style. His greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium. Many of his compositions were inspired by ragas. His association with Mohammad Rafi had marked the most golden combination which galvanized the outstanding music composed during the golden age in Indian music, the 50s and 60s.
 His composition in the film Dulari, 1947, for Mohammad Rafi titled “Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki” makes a music lover addicted and it has an appeal even after 60 years of its composition. This combination was at its peak in 1952 with the release of Baiju Bawra.
 Naushad’s composition in Son of India, “dil torneewale”, a duet for Rafi and Lata, shows the effective use of instruments in that age when the recording was not developed to that extent. In Dilip Kumar’s Kohinoor, 1960, Rafi’s songs “Madhuban Mei Radhika Nachere”, “Do Sitaron Ka Zameen par hai Milan Aaj Ki Raat” marks Naushad’s control over bhajans and songs with chorus effects. In Rajender Kumar’s Mere Mehboob, 1963, Naushad had explained the transformation of nasams into ghazals. His songs “Mere Mehboob Tujhe meri Mohabbat ki Kasam”, “tumse izhaar-e-haal kar baithe”, “ai husn zara jag tujhe isq dikhaye” enchanted the listeners. Naushad’s compositions were as outstanding as Shakeel Badayani’s lyrics and Rafi’s golden voice.
 Naushad had used folk songs to a great extent where the subjects in the films required them. For example, in the film, Ganga Jumna, 1961, his composition for Rafi including “nain lar jaihe” was created with Bhojpuri effect, and Rafi had succeeded in pronouncing it in the manner expected from him. Rafi’s songs in Rajender Kumar’s Palki, Ganwar, composed by Naushad were also outstanding.
It is tragic that the film industry, could not utilise Naushad’s talent in the 1970s and 80s, 
He gave  35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilees and 3 diamond jubilee mega-successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1982 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Bollywood film industry.
Some of the Immortal songs of Naushad and Rafi 

                                                              Song from Dulari, 1947

Song from Deedar 1951

Song from Baiju Bawra 1952

Song from  Uran Khatola 1955

Song of Kohinoor 1960

Song from  Mughal-e-Azam 1960

Song from Gunga Jumna 1961

Song of Son of India 1962

Song from Mere Mehboob 1963

The First Indian Fim was Released on 3rd May 1913

Raja Harishchandra was the First Indian Film produced and directed by Dada Saheb Phalke. It was released on 3rd May 1913 at Coronation Cinema, Girgaon. Bombay though the film premiered at the Olympia Theatre, Bombay on 21 April 1913. It was a Silent Film, it had English, Marathi, and Hindi-language intertitles. The running time of the film was 40 minutes.
An advertisement for the film published in The Bombay Chronicle had a note added at the end that the ticket rates would be double the usual rates. The film had an overfull run for a week, and it was extended for twelve more days. A special show was scheduled for 17 May for women and children only at half rates. Initially, 18 May was advertised as the last show, but the film continued its run due to popular demand. It ran continuously for twenty-three days until 25 May and was re-run at the Alexandra Theatre on 28 June. The Bombay Chronicle in its issue of 5 May 1913 mentioned that "this wonderful drama is splendidly represented by the company of actors" and praised the "beauty and ingenuity" with which Phalke succeeded in presenting the film scenes.

The success of the film in Bombay created a demand from other parts of the country.  As there were no film distributors in those days, Phalke had to move the film, the projector, an operator, and some assistants from place to place.
Due to the film’s massive success, Phalke had to make more prints for rural areas as well. He was established as a producer and later came to be known as ‘The father of Indian cinema.’
 The film opens with a scene of tableaux patterned on the painting by Raja Ravi Varma, of Raja Harishchandra and his wife with their son. The film revolves around the noble and righteous king, Harishchandra, who first sacrifices his kingdom, followed by his wife and eventually his children to honour his promise to the sage Vishwamitra. Though, in the end, pleased by his high morals, the Gods restore his former glory and further bestow him with divine blessings
Phalke watched several foreign films to learn about screenplay writing and then completed the script for Raja Harishchandra. The film had an all-male cast as no women were available to play female leads. After coming to the studio, male actors playing female roles were asked to wear saris and do women's chores like sifting rice, and making flour to help Saraswatibai.
Filming was completed in six months and twenty-seven days to produce a film of 3,700 feet (1,100 m), about four reels. Phalke used trick photography to shoot one of the scenes where the god appears and disappears from behind the smoke of sage Vishvamitra's Yajna-kund.

Scene from Raja Harishchandra 1913

Manna Dey-The Great Versatile Singer of Bollywood

Manna Dey was a very versatile singer and there was no playback singer who could imitate Manna Dey's versatility. The great Mohammed Rafi once commented that though people listen to his songs, he himself hears only Manna Dey's songs. He established his versatility between 1948 to 1954 by singing not only the classical-based film songs but also singing such film songs which were the fusion of Indian classical music and pop music.
 His experimentation with western music too produced many unforgettable melodies resulting in an increase in singing offers in films from 1955. It was an irony that he was typed for classical songs, background songs and sons for comedians specially Mehmood. His deep classical training could have been the reason for this anomaly.
Born on 1st May 1929 was highly inspired and influenced by his Uncle K C Dey the legendary Singer of the late 30s and 40s. He began taking music lessons from Krishna Chandra Dey and Ustad Dabir Khan. During this period, he stood first for three consecutive years in three different categories of inter-collegiate singing competitions.
At the age of 22 years, he started working as an assistant music director first under Krishna Chandra Dey, and then under Sachin Dev Burman. Later, he assisted other music composers and then started to work independently. Dey started his career in playback singing with the movie Tamanna, in 1942. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna De sang a duet named "Jago Aayee Usha Ponchi Boley Jago" with Suraiya which was an instant hit.
It was only in 1943 that he got his first solo break with Ram Rajya. Incidentally, the producer of the film Vijay Bhatt and its composer Shankar Rao Vyas had approached K C Dey with an offer for playback in the film. When K C Dey refused the offer on the grounds that he would not lend his voice to other actors, they spotted Manna Dey sitting in the corner of the room and offered him the opportunity..
After that Manna Dey gave many hit songs.His songs like "O Prem Diwani Sambhal Ke Chalna" from 1944 film Kadambari composed by Anil Biswas, "Dil Churaney Ki Liye from Dur Chaley" (1946) composed by Jafar Khurshid, his duets with Amira Bahee like "E Diniya Jara Suney" from Kamala (1946) and duet song "Aaj Bor Aayee" with Meena Kapoor from 1947 film Chaltey Chaltey became chartbusters in respective years. Between 1945-47 many Manna Dey-Rajkumari duets like "Hay Gagan Me Badal Tharey" in 1945 for the film Vikaramaditya, "Aowji Morey" from Insaaf (1946), all 4 duets from the film Geet Govind composed by Pandit Indra - "Kit Ho Nando Kumar", "Chorr Sakhi Aaj Laj", "Apney Hi Rang", "Lalit Labang Lata" from Geet Govind became popular.
His first duet with the then-upcoming singer Lata Mangeshkar was "Lapat Ke Pot Pahaney Bikral" composed by Vasant Desai for Narsingh Avtar (1949), With Lata Mangeshkar, Manna recorded around 103 Hindi duets of which songs like "Tere Bina Aag Yeh Chandni" from Awara, "Yeh Raat Bhigi Bhigi" and "Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein" from Chori Chori, "Pyar hua iqrar hua" from Shree 420, "Woh Chand Muskaye" from Akhri Dao (1958), "Ritu aye", "Dil Ki Girah Khol Do" from Raat Aur Din (1966), "Aya Abdulla Aya" from Juaari (1968), "Soch Ke Ye Gagan Jhume" from the flop film Jyoti (1969) and "Mein Buddho Lambo Lambo" of Buddha Mil Gaya (1971) are still extremely popular. 
Manna Dey recorded popular duets with Mohd. Rafi, Dey sang 101 Hindi songs along-with Rafi which include "Ishq Ishq" (Barsaat Ki Raat) "Tu Hai Mera Prem Devta" (Kalpana), "Mama o mama" (Parvarish), Duniyaan key Liye from Maan Gaye Ustaad (1981), "Main Hoon Tera Prem Aur Tu Ho Meri Pran" from Rahu Ketu (1979), the song "Hindustan Ki Kasam" from Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), "Hum To Tere Hai Deewane" from Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong, "Badey Miya Diwane" from Shagird, "Ye Do Diwane Dil Ke" from Johar Mehmood in Goa, "Agar Dil Dil Se" from Shola Aur Shabnam(1961).
With Kishore Kumar, it was "Subah Ki Paheli Kiran" from 1951 film Anadolan composed by Pannalal Ghosh. They sang together 6 songs till 1968 but the demand increased after 1972. Their popular songs were "Mere Pyale Mein" from Aamir Garib (1974), "Is Ishq Mein Har" from Mr. Romeo (1974), "Yeh Dosti" from Sholay (1975), "Duniya Me Jeeney" from Naukri, "Kamal Hain" from Karz, "Phool Chaahiye Na" from Pyas (1982) and their last duet was in 1986 film Maqqar .
The trio of Rafi-Kishore-Manna Dey sang together hits like "Tujhme Ishwar, Allah Tujhme" from Nanha Farishta (1969) and "Band Muthee" from Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi (1981).
Some of his greatest songs are non-filmi. He recorded selections from Harivanshrai Bachchan’s Madhushala and his songs such as Nathni se toota moti re and Yeh awaara se din has loyal fans. He sang in many languages like in Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia, Konkani, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, and Nepali.
He died of a cardiac arrest at 3:45 pm on 24 October at Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital in Bengaluru, aged 94.

Some of the Most Popular Songs of Manna Dey

Song of  Mashal (1950)

Song of  Shree 420 (1954)

Song of   Chori Chori, (1956)

Song of Dekh Kabira Roya (1957)

Song of Navrang 1959

Song of  Dil Hi To Hai 1963

Song of Meri Surat Teri Aankhen 1963

Song of Bhoot Bangla 1965

Song of Upkar 1967

Song of Padosan 1968

Song of  Mere Huzoor (1968)

Song of  Mera Naam Joker (1970)

Song of Zanjeer (1973)

Song of Sholay 1975

The Immortal Songs of C Arjun

C. Arjun( Born on September 1, 1933, Died on 30th April 1992) is among one of the most talented film music composers in the Hindi film industry. He gave music to 17 Hindi films, besides films in Gujarati, Sindhi and Haryanvi languages. Some of his films were, Main Aur Mera Bhai, Punarmilan, Ek Saal Pehle, Jai Santoshi Maa, Ustad Pedro and Mangu Dada. 
His film Susheela-1966, which was incomplete, was completed and released as Subah Zaroor Aayegi in 1977 in which ‘Bemurawwat Bewafa’ song sung by Mubarak Begum and ‘Gham Ki Andheri Raat Mein sang by Talat and Rafi became very popular. One song of his – Paas baitho tabiyat bahal jayegi sung by Rafi is enough to give him immortality. He will always be remembered for the  songs of Jai Santoshi Maa 
He inherited his musical talent from his father who was a singer. He became assistant to another Sindhi music director Bulo C Rani. He started his career with composing for a Sindhi film Abana. His first Hindi film was Road no 303 (1960). Off and on he got films under nondescript banners with B/C grade cast. That he created memorable music nevertheless did not do much to change his fortunes. His teaming with the lyricist Jaan Nisar Akhtar would rank at par with the best of Sahir Ludhiyanvi’s composed by SD Burman or Roshan. He also composed a number of non-film songs. He died at a relatively young age of 59 of a heart attack he suffered at a recording studio. 

Song of Punarmilan 1964

Song of Punarmilan 1964

Song of Susheela (1966)

Song of Susheela (1966)

Song of Chale Hain Sasural (1966)

Song of Jai Santoshi Maa  1975

Interesting Hindi Film Songs With Question and Answer

Have you ever noticed that there are some Hindi songs which ask questions and the answer is given by the hero or heroine?. This theme came into my mind when I was watching the old movie Chori Chori. The song Jahan Main Jaati Hoon...Yeh To Batao Ki Tum Mere Kaun Ho from this film made me think of writing this blog on this theme.
Songs based on ‘Riddles’ (Paheli in Hindi) used to be quite popular in the Golden Era of Hindi Film Music and a few of them are still played in children programs in schools.
The oldest hit song in this theme came into my mind from the film Anmol Ghadi "Awaaz De Kahan Hai, Duniya Meri. Jawaan Hai sung by Noorjehan and Surendra. Another hit song "Ichak Dana Bichak Dana, Dane Upar Dana from Shri 420 also fit in this theme.
Here are many such hit songs in this post.

Song of Anmol Ghadi 1946

Song of Shri 420 (1955)

Song of Chori Chori 1956

Song of NAU DO GYARAH 1957

Song of Pyaasa 1957

Song of Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

Song of Sasural - 1961

Song of Sangam 1964

Song of Milan 1967

Song of Aradhana 1969

Song of Aan Milo Sajna 1970

Song of Sachaa Jhutha 1970

Song of Kal Aaj Aur Kal 1971

Song of Kathputli 1971

Song of Mera Naam Joker - 1972

Song of Apradh 1972

Feroz Khan- A Successful Journey from Third Grade films to Top Banners

Feroz Khan made his debut in Homi Wadia’s low-budget flop, Reporter Raju (1962), With no godfathers to back him, Feroz worked in a bunch of low-brow flicks through the mid-1960s to survive. That included playing second fiddle to Dara Singh in Samson.
In side roles he always managed to hold his own against more famous co-stars: Raj Kumar (Oonche Log, a moderate success), Rajendra Kumar (Arzoo), Rajesh Khanna (Safar), Dharmendra (Aadmi Aur Insaan, for which he got Filmfare’s Best Supporting Actor award) and Sunil Dutt (Pyaasi Shaam).
In his role as the wayward younger brother of Raj Kumar, he was noticed in the black and white  film Oonche Log (1965), Feroz Khan comes across as a young, vulnerable and charming youth in Mohammed Rafi numbers “Haye re tere chanchal nainwa , kuchh baat karein ruk jaayein” and “Jaag Dil-e-Deewana, Rut jaagi wasl-e-yaar ki”.

After this film came Arzoo, in which he had a chunky role, one could see Feroz Khan at his romantic and emotional best. He had some beautiful scenes in Kashmir opposite the exceptionally pretty heroine, Sadhana.  With this, Khan started to receive A-list second leads. With the film Aadmi Aur Insaan (1969), Khan won his first Filmfare award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
In 1970 released Safar, in this film the Hero was Rajesh Khanna but Feroz Khan played an important role in this film. In 1971 he appeared in 2 films as the 2nd lead to his younger brother Sanjay Khan( Mela and Upasana).

To improve his career opportunities as a leading man he started his own Production Company.He became a successful producer and director with the 1972 film Apradh, Mumtaaz was his co-star in this film. Apradh was the first Indian movie showing auto racing in Germany,it was a moderate success at the box office. After that, he produced, directed and starred in the 1975 film Dharmatma, which was the first Indian film to be shot in Afghanistan and was also his first blockbuster hit as a producer, director and star and marked the appearance of actress Hema Malini in a glamorous avatar. This movie was inspired by the Hollywood film The Godfather. 

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, he was a leading Bollywood star, directing and starring in many of his films. He also starred in the Punjabi film Bhagat Dhanna Jat (1974). The 1980 film Qurbani, with Zeenat Aman, was the biggest hit of his career and launched the singing career of iconic Pakistani pop singer Nazia Hassan, with her memorable track "Aap Jaisa Koi". In 1986, he directed and starred in Janbaaz, a box office hit, In 1988, he directed and starred in Dayavan, which was a remake of an Indian Tamil film titled Nayakan. After directing and starring in Yalgaar (1992),
He launched his son Fardeen Khan's career with the 1998 film Prem Aggan, which, however, was a box office bomb.  he took a long break from acting for 11 years.
His last film as an actor was "Welcome" was a roaring hit in 2007. He died from lung cancer on 27 April 2009 at the age of 69. He was buried in Bangalore near to his mother's grave at Hosur Road Shia Kabristan.
He appeared in over 51 films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and became one of Bollywood's popular style icons 

Song of Unche Log

Song from CID 909 1967

Song from Safar1970

Song from Apradh 1972

Song from Khote Sikkey 1973

Song from Dharmatma 1974

Song from Qurbani 1980

Song from Jaanbaz 1986