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
Manna Dey( 1 May 1919 − 24 October 2013), started his career in playback singing with the movie Tamanna, in 1942. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna Dey sang a duet named "Jago Aayee Usha Ponchi Boley Jago" with Suraiya which was an instant hit. There 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. While working independently as a music director for various Hindi movies, In this blog, I have selected the first and rare duets of Manna Da with the great singers of that era. His duets with Amirbai Karnatki like "E Duniya Jara Sun Le" from Kamla (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" in 1945 for the film Vikramaditya, "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), later 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 "main buddho lambo lambo" of Buddha Mil Gaya (1971) were extremely popular.
He sang around 27 Hindi duets with Geeta Dutt from 1949 with the last being from Ziddi in 1964. The popular duets of Geeta Dutt-Manna Dey include both classical songs as well as those which have style of Twist dance, Rock & Roll, cha-cha-cha like "Aan aan milo" from Devdas, :O Mister Suno Ek Baat" from Agra Road (1957),His first duet with Geeta Dutt was "Dhonyo Dhonyo He Ayodh Puri" from the film Ram Vivah (1949) composed by Shankar Rao Vyas.
With Asha Bhosle, Manna recorded around 160 Hindi songs from 1953–1982 through their duets kept releasing till 1986 and their last song is sung together was in Teri Maang Sitaaron Se Bhar Doon(1982). Popular duets of Asha-Manna Dey include "Ye Hawa Yeh Nadi Ka" fromGhar Sansar(1958), "Tu chupi hai kahan" fromNavrang(1959), "Jodi Hamari Jamegi" fromAulad(1968), "Sanjh Dhali Dil Ki Lagi" fromKala Bazar(1960), "Aye Kash Chalte Milte" fromManzil(1960), "Na Tohh karvan Ki Talaash Hai" fromBarsaat Ki Raat(1960), "Jane Na Doonga" fromD In 1956, he sang with a new batch of singers. He recorded his first duets with Sudha Malhotra "Ghar Ghar Deep Jalao Re" from Ayodhyapati in 1956, with singer Meena Kapoor in the song "Rim Jhim Jhim Rim Jhim" from Pardesi (1957) composed by Anil Biswas. Manna Dey's duets with Suman Kalyanpur were very popular making them a celebrated team. Their first duet was "Prem Bada Balwan Jagat" from Maayaa Nagri (1957) composed by B.N.Bali and since then have sung around 45 songs together. Their popular duets include "Tum Jo Aao" from Sakhi Robin (1962) composed by Robin Bannerjee, "Dil Se Jo Baat" from Al Hilal (1958) composed by C.Ramachandra, "Na Jane Kahan" from Zindagi Aur Khwab (1963), "Ye Din Hai Khushi Ke" from Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai (1963) and "Bheegi Hawaon Mein" from Shriman Sataywadi (1960).
Among the male singers, he sang withMohd. Rafi He sang 101 Hindi songs along-with Rafi which include 58 duets with Rafi such as "Ishq Ishq" (Barsaat Ki Raat) "Tu hai mera prem Devta" (Kalpana), "Mama o mama" (Parvarish), Duniyaan ke 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).
His first duet with Kishore Kumar was "Subaho Ki Paheli Kiran" from 1951 film Anadolan composed by Pannalal Ghosh. They recorded only 6 songs together until 1968 and all proved to be hits, some of them being "Ye Duniya hai usaki nyari hai" from Sauraksha composed by Bappi Lahiri, "Ye Dosti humnai todenge" from Sholay, "Tubhi Piya Chikara Hoon" and "Tu Jaam Liye Jaa" from Bewakoof (1960), "Babu Samjho Ishaare" from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) all three composed by S.D. Burman and "Baheta Pani Baheta Jaye" from Dhaake Ke Malmal composed by C. Ramachandra, "Joyo Joyo Mere Lal" composed by S.K. Pal in 1952 and the immortal song In 1968, R.D. Burman brought them together for "Ek Chatur Naar" in Padosan. The demand for Kishore-Manna Dey combination only grew 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 – "Tu Hi Mera Sapna". Salil Chowdhry compositions rendered by Dey from films like Ananad and Anadatta became popular as well. Also the trio of Rafi-Kishore-Manna Dey sang together hits like "Tujhme Ishwar, Allah Tujhme" from Nanha Farishta (1969) and "Band Mutthee" from Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi (1981). Kishore-Manna Dey together also sang with Asha in many films and famous among them are "Khan Chacha" from Dil Deewana (1974), "Aa Kitni Sundar Jagah" from Chandi Sona, both composed by R.D. Burman and with Lata in "Goyakechu Nanche" from Manoranjan (1974), "Logo Ke Juban Me Apna" from Nehla Pe Dehla, both composed by Pancham. Duet with Suraiya ( This is also the first recording of Manna De)
This Dev Anand film was released in 1969 on the first day of that year. It is a fast-paced thriller with very good music. Almost all the songs were very popular 50 years ago and still liked by Dev's fans. The music by Kalyanji Anandji had some brilliant and soulful compositions like – “Ankhon Ankhon Mein Hum Tum”, “Yeh Duniyawala Poochenge” and “ Aiyee, Aap Ka Tha Hamein Intezaar”(This was one of the earliest films of Farida Jalal and she has performed a sexy dance number along with Dev Anand. )
Dev Anand who plays a simple and poor driver cum assistant to a rich boss (Abhi Bhattacharya) in Kolkata. He needed money for his sister's wedding, when out of the blue a stranger offers him money in return for playing an imposter of a brother in law for a dying old man in Darjeeling who owns a palace and of course millions worth of property.
He falls in love with a rich girl (Asha Parekh) In the middle of the film he falls intoa vicious trap where he is caught red-handed in front of a dead man, who is actually the owner of the palace but not the one Dev had been meeting there till now. Farida Jalal as the seductive nurse complicates the matters.
Dev Anand now on the run from the law to prove his innocence. The identity of the real villain remains a mystery and the climax comes as a surprise. The first half of this film is solid entertainment, pretty songs, beautiful Darjeeling, and plenty of sparks between Dev Anand and Asha Parekh. Mahal is a lot of fun and I’d recommend to watch it again. Songs of Mahal
Shammi Kapoor (21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) became a star with the release of Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1957. After Junglee was released in 1961, he was giving one hit after another, he became the most sought-after hero along with Dev Anand. There was a tough competition with Dev Anand's films. Dev Anand once said that the Sixties was the decade when I faced the true competition from Shammi Kapoor. My Jab Pyar Kissi Se Hota Hai had a silver jubilee run, while his Junglee completed its golden jubilee. Similarly, my Hum Dono and his Professor ran to silver jubilees within a span of a few months. The releases of our films were eagerly awaited and seen many times by our fans throughout the nation. There was a time when Shammi Kapoor was not accepted as a hero. He had about 18 failures against his illustrious surname before writer-director Nasir Husain’s Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) catapulted him into fame and stardom. Shammi Kapoor. Shammi Kapoor in a program on TV once said that he owes his stardom to Dev Anand, had he accepted the do the film Tumsa Nahin Dekha which, Nasir Hussain wanted to make him the hero, he would not be here where he is today. Same way Junglee was offered to Dev Anand which again Dev Saab refused to do so the film came to him. Subodh Mukerji’s tentatively titled film Mr. Hitler, the name later changed to Junglee. Similarly, in the case of Teesri Manzil, Dev Anand was the first choice of Nasir Hussain but there cropped up some controversy between Dev Saab and Nasir Hussain, the film went to Shammi Kapoor again. Dev Anand once admitted to Rauf Ahmed in an interview, 'I created my biggest rival. With every film I let go, he [Shammi Kapoor] shot to fame but Dev Anand never had any animosity with Shammi Kapoor. In fact after the demise of Shammi Kapoor in an interview, Dev Saab said that we shared a warm rapport, and I must confess that he was the right choice for Teesri Manzil, far better than me. Both had some similarities, both played the urban hero. both banked upon their songs, both had a flair for music and had a unique style. On working together Dev Anand said that both of us were to have starred in Shakti Samanta's One Night To Murder which never went on the floors. Shammi was kind enough to appear in a cameo as a judge in my film Censor.
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We all remember K L Saigal, Noorjehan, Suraiya, Geeta Dutt,Lata Mangeshkar, Md Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Asha, Mukesh, Manna De, and their songs but there are some names who were competent enough to claim for fame but unfortunately couldn’t or with limited success. Theyshot to popularity at their time and gave many immortal songs but now are forgotten. These very people were greatly sought for their talent and have won awards too. I guess that in the case of these singers the lady luck wasn't smiling. Mostly they are 1-2 songs wonder but in those 1-2 songs, they have etched an impression which can not be forgotten. I just wish to remember them and let others too know about them. There are many of the forgotten singers but I am writing here only about a few. Binapani Mukherjee
She is known for her work on Jamuna Puliney (1933), Swami (1931) and Jaidev (1926). She sang with Mukesh, Rafi, and Chitalkar in many films. Here is a song from Durbaan 1946 film a duet with Mukesh
Song of Durbaan 1946
Uma Devi-
She is also known as Tun Tun , the comedienne par excellence. Her excellent timing made her one of the best in the field. She has sung many songs and before she became an actress she was a singer. She has sung many memorable songs. She is sadly no longer alive but one can still remember her with a certain fondness.
This is from the movie Dard
Afasana likh rahi hoon ,dil-e-beqarar ka
Song of Dard 1947
Subir Sen -
He was originally a Bengali Singer recorded few songs in Hindi also but couldn’t soar that high and ended up as a minor singer. His strong resemblance to the mightiest like Talat Mehmood & Hemant Da itself became a losing factor ultimately. Though he played minor inning, all with cracking shots & deliveries ! He shone with few striking scores like “Main Rangeela Pyar Ka Raahi”, “Pyaar Mein Milna Sanam Hota Hai Taqdeer Se”, “Gar Tum Bura Na Maano”, “Dil Mera Ek Aas Ka Panchi”, “Humein Un Rahon Par Chalna Hai” & “Dil Leke Jaate Ho Kahan”. It was perhaps his limitation to sing a wide range of numbers with quintessential tonal modulation that stood against his musical odyssey with Bollywood. Subir Sen was scouted by Shankar-Jaikishan, the famous music composer-duo and was inducted to the Mumbai film industry. In Om Prakash's first production "Aas Ki Panchhi" (1956) starred by Rajendra Kumar, the title song was sung by Subir Sen in the lip of the hero riding on a bicycle leading a team of NCC cadets: "Dil mera ek aas ka panchhi, udta hai oonche gagan par". Subir Sen also lent his voice in various Hindi movies such as Chhoti Bahen (1959), Boy Friend (1961) and Passport (1961
Song of Kathputli 1957
Kamal Barot -
She debuted in Bollywood in 1957 with the film Sharda. She later went on to sing 140 songs in 117 films. She usually sang duets with Asha Bhosle or Lata Mangeshkar. But she made a memorable collaboration with great Mukesh. They together have sung songs like "Chand Kaisa Hoga" from Rocket Girl (1961), "Hum Bhi Kaho Gaye" from Madam Zorro (1964). Other songs from her vocal include "Dhadka To Hoga Dil Huzoor" from C.I.D. 909 with legends Asha Bhosle and Mahendra Kapoor, composed by maestro O. P. Nayyar. She sang some very successful female-female duets with top singers. The most popular of them is "Hansta Hua Noorani Chehra", a dance song from Parasmani (1963).
Song of Parasmani (1963)
Sudha Malhotra -
She also acted in some Bollywood films and as a playback singer, worked in popular Bollywood movies in the 1950s and 1960s, like Arzoo, Dhool Ka Phool, Ab Dilli Door Nahin, Girl Friend, Barsat Ki Raat, Didi, Kala Pani, Prem Rog, and Dekh Kabira Roya. She was last heard in Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog (1982) in the song "Yeh Pyar tha ya kuch aur tha"The most memorable song is Salam e Mohabbat Kabool Kar Lo from 1960 film "Babar"
Song of Babar 1960
Mubarak Begum -
The singer who rendered unforgettable songs such as Kabhi tanhaiyon mein, Mujhko apne gale lagalo"Hum haal-e-dil sunayenghe, sunyay ke na sunyay" and Kuch ajnabi se aap hein, had not sung since 1968, after being sidelined.
Song of Hamari Yaad Aayegi, 1961
Jagjit Kaur -
She sang fewer songs for films than her contemporaries like Lata and Asha, yet all of her songs have been described as memorable masterpieces. She married Music Director Khayyam under his composition she gave an immortal song "Tum apna ranj–o-gham apni pareshani mujhe de do" from Shagun 1964. Another immortal song "Dekh lo aaaj humko jee bhar ke" from Bazaar 1982 film
Song of Shagun 1964
Song of Bazaar 1982
Minoo Purshottam
Minoo Purushottam's career started in 1963 when she was 16. The composer Roshan offered her a singing role in the film Taj Mahal. The song eventually became a duet with Suman Kalyanpur. She mostly did in female-female duets over male-female on some occasions. “Na Na Na Re Na Na”, “Huzur-E-Wala”, “Unse Nazrein Mili Aur Hijaab Aa Gaya” & “Mero Saiyan Gulabia Ke Phool” are the chartbusters of the golden era that comes out from Minoo’s duet. In 1973 her duet"Ni Main Yaar Manana Ni" with Lata Mangeshkar from the film Daag became very popular, this year she was nominated for the Best Playback Singer Female for the song "Raat Piya Ke Sang Jaagi Re Sakhi "for the film Prem Parbat
Song of Prem Parbat (1973)
Sharda
She got her first big break in Bollywood with the song "Titli Udi" in Suraj (1966). She was promoted by Shankar of the Shankar Jaikishan duo. Few of her songs “Chale Jaana Jara Thehro”, "Duniya Ki Sair Karlo", “Dekho Mera Dil Machal Raha”, “Wo Pari Kahan Se Laon”, & “Kaisee Padi Maar” earned her the due fame. As a singer, she won Filmfare Awards as Best Female Playback Singer for “Baat Zara Hai Aapas Ki” and as a music director, her song “Achcha Hi Hua Dil Toot Gaya” got Md Rafi nominated for the same (Best Male Playback Singer). Sharda’s backing vocal in “Jab Bhi Ye Dil Udaas Hota Hai” with Md Rafi is considered to be in the top list of many.
Song of Suraj 1966
Jaspal Singh
He lent his voice to various Bollywood actors of the 1970s and 1980s. Music Composer, Ravindra Jain gave him the big break for a song in the movie called 'Geet Gata Chal' of 1975. After this song, he became a household name. His voice was unique and was unlike any other and he sang for hit movies like 'Nadiya ke paar', Ankhiyon ke jharokhon se','Sawan ko aane do' amongst others.Jaspal Singh is also best remembered as a voice of Sachin (the Actor) as the majority of songs were exclusively done for him.
Song of Sawan Ko Aane Do 1979
Poornima
She started her career as a child singer in Ramesh Sippy's 1971 film Andaz. In that film, she sang under the music direction of Shankar Jaikishan the song "Hai Na Bolo Bolo" along with Mohammed Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur and Pratibha. The song went on to become a hit. As a child singer, she was known as Sushma Shrestha,.She is mostly remembered for her songs like "Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle" from Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973) and "Kya Hua Tera Vada" from Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977); both earned her nominations for the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award.
After her marriage, she changed her name to Poornima and became the voice of Juhi Chawla. Her song "Barsaat Mein Jab Aayega Saawan Ka Maheena" from Maa was a hit. Few things changed till David Dhawan's Bol Radha Bol. "Tu Tu Tu Tu Tara" was nothing short of an anthem and the remaining songs, which were a success also, gave Poornima the opportunity to savor success and adulation that had eluded for long.
Song of Bol Radha Bol 1992
Kabban Mirza
He is known for singing a couple of melodious songs in Hindi cinema. His singing was featured in the film Razia Sultan, directed by Kamal Amrohi (1983). He also sang a song, entitled "Is Pyar Ki Basti Mein" for the movie, Sheeba, though he was not given credit for it.
Song of Razia Sultan 1983
Dilraj Kaur
Dilraj Kaur was a singer in Hindi films in the 80s. She has sung for music composers like Usha Khanna, O.P. Nayyar, Jaidev, R.D. Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and others. It was O P Nayyar who gave her all the songs of Heera Moti. She started playback singing from a Punjabi film in which she sang a duet with Mohammad Rafi
