The Great Love Triangle Films of Bollywood

After Love Stories, the love triangle is another popular subject of Hindi film lovers. Since its early days' Hindi cinema has showcased love triangles in an ethereal spectrum. The movies with this subject are very common since the 80s onwards, every 3rd movie is a love triangle.
Not many love triangles of the 50s and 60s have a happy ending, however, in Bollywood movies the unthinkable happens, and over the years there have been love triangle movies that have left audiences rather happy than teary-eyed.
Another peculiar feature of the love triangle films was its sad songs and dialogues. The characters portrayed by actors and actresses in love triangle movies often connect with audiences that have experienced a similar phase in their past.

The first great Love Triangle film of Bollywood was Anmol Ghadi released in 1946  directed by Mehboob Khan, starring Surendra, Suraiya and Noor Jehan. 

Andaz After the success of this film, Mehboob Khan made another Love Triangle with Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, and Nargis as Andaz in 1949. At the time of its release, Andaz was the highest-grossing Indian film ever.

Aan This subject was dear to Mehboob Khan, he made another Love triangle with Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, and Premnath in 1952 film Aan which was a technicolor film and was a great hit.

Aar Paar  In 1954 Guru Dutt directed himself in Aar Paar with a love triangle with Shyama and Shakila. Guru Dutt plays Kalu in this film who is a migrant taxi-driver in Mumbai. He has two women who love him and would like to marry him. 

Devdas Another great Love triangle was the 1955 film starring Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen, and Vyjayantimala. the film was directed by Bimal Roy. Devdas and Paro were childhood friends.Devdas goes away for some years to live and study in a boarding school. After finishing school, Devdas (Dilip Kumar) returns to his village, Paro (Suchitra Sen) looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into their lifelong journey together in marriage. Devdas meekly seeks his parents' permission to marry Paro, but Devdas' family was against him.In a weak-minded state, Devdas then flees to Calcutta where he meets Chandramukhi (Vyjayanthimala).

Pyaasa 1957 was another great love triangle starring Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, and Mala Sinha. It is also surmised that the story is based on the life of the film's lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi who had a failed affair with poet and writer Amrita Pritam.
Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai was a 1960 film starring  Raaj Kumar, Meena Kumari and Nadira as leads. The film tells the story of a surgeon who is obligated to marry the daughter of a family friend, while he is in love with a colleague nurse, played by Meena Kumari. It is one of the noted acting performances of lead actress Meena Kumari's career.
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was a 1962 love triangle film produced by Guru Dutt and directed by Abrar Alvi. This was a  friendship between a beautiful lonely wife (Bibi) of an aristocrat (Sahib) and a career-driven low-income part-time servant (Ghulam). The film stars Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari, Rehman, Waheeda Rehman 

Sangam 1964 was another love triangle starring Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, and Vyjantimala. Sundar (Raj Kapoor), Gopal (Rajendra Kumar) and Radha (Vyjayantimala) have been friends since childhood. As they grow into adults, Sundar develops an obsessive romantic attraction to Radha, but she prefers Gopal, who is also in love with her. Yet, as Sundar has confided his feelings for Radha to him, Gopal decides to sacrifice his love for his friend's sake.

Shagird 1967 was a love triangle but with comedy. Professor Brij Mohan Agnihotri (I. S. Johar) is a confirmed bachelor, and he firmly refuses to get married. He has a student named Ramesh (Joy Mukherjee), who considers him his mentor. On a visit to his friend out of town, Brij meets his friend's beautiful daughter, Poonam (Saira Banu), and falls in love with her. Throwing all caution to the winds, he changes his appearance and attempts to conquer Poonam, but he later finds that Punam is attracted to his student, Ramesh. Now the professor has to decide whether to get rid of Ramesh, or to reverse their roles and make him his mentor

Silsila was a 1981 romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, Shekhar Malhotra (Shashi Kapoor) and Amit Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) lead independent lives. Shekhar is a squadron leader with the Indian Air Force, and Amit is an emerging writer. Shekhar has fallen in love with the lovely Shobha (Jaya Bachchan), while Amit seeks to woo the attractive Chandni (Rekha). Chandni's parents prepare to arrange her wedding to Amit. Both Shekhar and Amit plan to marry at the same time, but Shekhar is killed in air combat against PAF, leaving a pregnant Shobha behind. Taking pity on Shobha, Amit marries her and writes to Chandni to forget him

Saagar is a 1985 film directed by Ramesh Sippy. The film stars Rishi Kapoor, Kamal Haasan, and Dimple Kapadia. Mona (Dimple Kapadia) runs a small restaurant in Goa. Raja (Kamal Haasan), who lives close by, is a good friend. He is in love with her but is unable to profess his feelings. Ravi (Rishi Kapoor) is from a rich industrialist family who moves to Goa from the US. Mona and Ravi fall in love with which Raja knows nothing.

Saajan is a 1991 romantic drama film directed by Lawrence D'Souza and produced by Sudhakar Bokade. It stars Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan, 

Darr: A Violent Love Story is a 1993 psychological romantic thriller film directed and produced by Yash Chopra The film stars Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla, and Shah Rukh Khan. Kiran (Juhi Chawla), a beautiful college student, Kiran's boyfriend Sunil (Sunny Deol) is a Navy-Marine Commando. Rahul (Shahrukh Khan), her classmate who has a crush on her. Rahul tries to be friendly with Sunil in order to be closer to Kiran. When Rahul receives the news of Kiran and Sunil's engagement, he tries to shoot and kill Sunil 
Kiran and Sunil get married but Rahul still refuses to give up on Kiran.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is a 1999 romantic drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.The film stars Aishwarya Rai in the lead role playing the role of a young girl Nandini. The film also stars Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn. The film has been described as a loose adaptation of Maitreyi Devi's Bengali novel Na Hanyate and is based on a love triangle.

Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani- A Film that couldn't be Completed

An unusual pairing was made by the producer and director M L Anand for the Neelkamal Films in 1958. It was signing Kishore Kumar opposite Nargis for the film Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani.
The film, written by Inder Raj Anand, had them both in double roles, in a tale of mistaken identities. The supporting cast included Johnny Walker, Pran, Ulhas, Mukri, Anwar Hussain (Nargis’ brother), Ram Mohan and Minoo Mumtaz with Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri writing the songs, which were composed by Shankar-Jaikishan.

M L Anand had already directed Nargis earlier in Lahore (1949), one of the first films to address the trauma of Partition of the sub-continent, and in Bewafa (1952), where Raj Kapoor played a rare negative role in a love triangle that also co-starred Ashok Kumar.
It is said that 8 songs of the film were recorded in the voices of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, and Geeta Dutt. The film also made quite some headway in its filming following a major schedule in Shimla. One of the songs, recorded on September 9, 1958, Kaisi Khoob Raat Hai, a light-hearted ditty sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi was all set to be filmed later in Kashmir. But then Nargis got pregnant with her first child, actor Sanjay Dutt. She opted out of the film, leading it to be shelved for good.

The pairing of Nargis and Kishore Kumar never happened. Today, just the film advertisement (the picture accompanying this piece) and a couple of surviving stills with Osianama give us a hint of what might have been…

Rajkumari- The Great Singer of the 40s

Not many of us remember her today but once she was among the topmost singers of Bollywood. She sang for 100 films, till the early 1950s. She is best known for her songs, "Sun Bairi Baalam Sach Bol Re" in Bawre Nain (1950), "Ghabaraa Ke Jo Hum Sar Ko Takraayan" in Mahal (1949) and "Najariya Ki Maari" in Pakeezah (1972).
She was just 10 years old when she recorded her first song for HMV in 1934 and she started her career as a stage artist. Vijay Bhatt and Shankar Bhatt of Prakash Pictures spotted her during one of her shows.
Her first film with them was a Hindi-Gujarati bilingual called Sansar Leela Nayi Duniya. She got important roles in films like Aankh Ka Tara and Turki Sher (1933). She was the heroine in Bhakt Ke Bhagwan and Insaaf Ki Topi (1934).
 She also used to sing for popular music director Lallubhai. He gave music to films starring Rajkumari ji like Nai Duniya, alias Sacred Scandal (1934) (Sansaar Leela in Gujarati version), Laal Chitthi, alias Red Letter (1935), Bombay Mail (1935), Bambai Ki Sethaani (1935) and Shamsheer-e-Arab (1935). 
She sang many duets with G M Durrani. The 1942 film Nai Duniya had many duets of Rajkumari and G M Durrani.
Nai Duniya was a 1942 Bollywood film directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar and starring P. Jairaj, Shobhana Samarth, and Mazhar Khan. Suraiya sang her first song; "Boot Karun Mai Polish, Babu" with Naushad as M.D. in this film.
Rajkumari had a soft and very sweet voice with a small range. She sang quite a few songs with Mukesh. She did not get much opportunity to sing with Mohammed Rafi – mainly because Lata Mangeshkar was a fast upcoming singer at the time. She sang with Noor Jehan in Naukar (1943). She never sang with K. C. Dey, but she did sing songs composed by him, as well as his nephew, Manna Dey.
Rajkumari was married very late in life. Her husband was V.K. Dubey who was from Varanasi where he spent a lot of his time (because he owned a shop there), while she settled in Bombay. He later joined her in Bombay. Rajkumari Dubey died in 2000. Her last song was with R D Burman for the 1977 film Kitab.

Song of Nai Duniya 1942

Song of Nai Duniya 1942

Song of Mahal (1949)

Song of Mahal (1949)

Song of Bawre Nain (1950)

Song of Pakeeza 1972

Song of Kitab 1977

Shashi Kapoor - India’s first global star

Shashi Kapoor(18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film Dharmputra. He started as a child artist with his brother Raj Kapoor's directorial Aag (1948). He became global with Merchant Ivory productions The Householder (1963),
The Householder was the first collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, a documentary filmmaker till then. They went on to make nearly forty films together, many of which were written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Shashi Kapoor worked in seven films made under the Merchant–Ivory Productions banner: The Householder, Shakespeare Wallah, Bombay Talkie, Heat and Dust—all directed by James Ivory—and three films by three other directors—The Deceivers, In Custody and Side Streets.
Shooting for the film started in 1961 and was completed in 1963. It was made in two versions, Hindi and English, the latter was picked by Columbia Pictures. It was a huge hit — both with critics and audiences — for a film that was made on a budget of $125,000.
After The Householder, Shashi Kapoor signed their next film, Shakespeare Wallah.It was released in 1965, this was a film about a traveling troupe of actors who perform Shakespeare plays in India. Satyajit Ray gave the music for the film, and Madhur Jaffrey won the Best Actress award (Silver Bear) for 15th Berlin International Film Festival.
Pretty Polly (also known as A Matter of Innocence) was a 1967 British film, directed by Guy Green and based on the short story Pretty Polly Barlow by Noël Coward. It stars Hayley Mills, Shashi Kapoor, Trevor Howard, and Brenda De Banzie.
Bombay Talkie (1970) was the next film Shashi Kapoor did with them. Jeniffer Kapoor, his wife was the heroine of that film. You would be surprised to note that Amitabh Bachchan played a minuscule role in the movie. The music of the film was given by Shankar Jaikishan.
Siddhartha was a 1972 Indo-American film based on the novel of the same name by Hermann Hesse, directed by Conrad Rooks.Shashi played Sidhartha and Simi played Kamla in this film. Simi Garewal's nude scene caused controversy in India. The Indian Censor Board, at that time, did not even permit on-screen kissing in Indian films.
Heat and Dust (1983) was the next film directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. It stars Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, and Julie Christie. Heat and Dust was based on the novel written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, which won the Booker Prize in 1975. The screenplay for the film was written by the writer herself. It  was Merchant Ivory's biggest commercial success 
The other films he acted are Sammy And Rosie Get Laid(1987), The Deceivers (1988), In Custody (1993),Jinnah (1998) and Side Streets(1998),

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Sajan Ki Galiyan - An Incomplete Film of Dev Anand

Sajan Ki Galiyan, 1966. The film, besides Sadhana and Dev Saab, was to be the launchpad of Zaheeda, Nargis’ niece, who later was introduced in Prem Pujari (1970). This was the 3rd film of Dev Anand and Sadhana together after Hum Dono(1961) and Asli Naqli (1962).
The film was to be produced cinematographer Fali Mistry (Guide, Hare Rama Hare Krishna) and to be directed by Raj Khosla,

 If there is one director Sadhana worked with extensively, it was Raj Khosla. The two teamed up for four films – Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962) and Khosla’s unforgettable mystery trilogy with the actress – Woh Kaun Thi? (1964), Mera Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967). 
The music of Sajan Ki Galiyan was being composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. Fortunately (or unfortunately as one rues what might have been), two songs from the film can now available on YouTube. One is the deliciously romantic Mohammed Rafi solo, “Humne Jinke Khwab Sajaye” a signature S-J composition written by Hasrat Jaipuri. The other clip is a short scene and a song featuring Dev Saab, Sadhana and Zaheeda – “Hum Khoob Jaante Hai”, sung by Mohammed Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur and Geeta Dutt.

This film was to be made in color. It was the second color film after the Guide for Dev Anand.The clips of the songs of this film are featured in Film Hi Film (1983), which wove scenes from incomplete films into the storyline of an old-time filmmaker (Pran) training newcomers for a film he is making in a bid to recapture his long lost glory. Pran coaches them for the intended movie by showing them various scenes from unfinished films.

Song of Sajan Ki Galiyan

Song of Sajan Ki Galiyan

Nasir Hussain - The Maker of Rom- Com- Musicals

Started his film career as a story writer when he joined Filmistan in 1948. The famous films he wrote for Filmistan include Anarkali (1953), Munimji (1955), and Paying Guest (1957).  The first film he directed was Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1957 for Filmalaya. Another film he directed in 1958 was Dil Deke Dekho. The highlight of both of these films was its music. His films were full of adventure, romance, fun, music, outdoor and entertainment
He started his own film company, Nasir Hussain Films and turned producer-director. He made musical hits like Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Teesri Manzil (1966), Baharon Ke Sapne (1967), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), Caravan (1971), Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973), and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977).
Nasir Hussain was an admirer of Dev Anand, when he was making his first film as a director Tumsa Nahin Dekha he wanted Dev Anand as his hero but Dev Anand refused the film because of the heroine being a newcomer so Shammi Kapoor was approached. Similarly when Teesri Manzil was planned Dev Anand was signed for the film but due to differences with Hussain he opted out and Kapoor was cast.

Nasir Hussain introduced Asha Parekh with the film Dil Deke Dekho opposite Shammi Kapoor since then she was in all of Hussain's films until Caravan (1971). Hussain, Majrooh Sultanpuri, and R.D. Burman collaborated on Teesri Manzil, Baharon Ke Sapne, Pyar Ka Mausam, Caravan, Yaadon Ki Baraat, and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.

He made Yaadon Ki Baraat in 1973 which was written by Salim-Javed, who had written Zanjeer the same year. Both the films dealt with the hero wanting to avenge his father's death, and both featured Ajit as the villain. Yaadon Ki Baraat has been identified as the first masala film.

The 1980s were not good for him, all his films Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981), Manzil Manzil (1984) and Zabardast (1985) all flopped, Hussain's son Mansoor Khan took over the reins of Nasir Hussain Films, although Hussain continued to write scripts and dialogues for films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992). In Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he introduced his nephew Aamir Khan as a hero. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak was a milestone in the history of Hindi cinema, setting the template for Bollywood musical romance films that defined Hindi cinema in the 1990s 

Song of  Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1957

Song of Dil Deke Dekho 1958

Song of Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai 1961

Song of Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963),

Song of Teesri Manzil (1966)

Song of Baharon Ke Sapne (1967)

Song of  Pyar Ka Mausam (1969)

Song of Caravan (1971)

Song of Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973)

Song of Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977)

Song of Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981)

Song of Manzil Manzil (1984)

Urdu Shayari in Bollywood Songs

Urdu Shayari is primarily a spoken art form and therefore more suited to theatrical and cinematic adaptation. In fact, when this Shayari was decorated with music, it made Urdu poetry accessible and entertaining to the masses. 
Urdu, from the very beginning, was the most important language of the talkies. Starting from the first Sound Film "Alam Ara" till the 8os Urdu Shayari was predominantly used in Hindi songs.
As Urdu was the lingua franca of artistic expression, Urdu poetry became indispensable to songwriters. Two of the earliest lyricists in Hindi cinema – Kidar Sharma and Dina Nath Madhok – perfectly symbolized this synergy between poetry and cinema. 
.The credit of the first song and the singer in a movie goes to Wazir Mohammad Khan who acted and sang this song De De Khuda Ke Naam Se De, it was in Urdu.

De De Khuda Ke Naam Se De from Alam Ara

In the 40s till Golden Era, the Urdu Shayari was at its prime. The Urdu poets of the era belonged to different parts of the country. Stalwarts like Jan Nisar Akhtar (father of Javed Akhtar), Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi (father of Shabana Azmi), Mazrooh Sultanpuri and Shakeel Badayuni, were either related or were close friends with each other.
 Almost all lyricists of that time had formal training in Urdu poetry and were well-versed with its various forms like ghazal, nazm, qawwali etc. Their careers began in mushairas 

Song of Dulari 1949

Song of Chaudhavin Ka Chand 1960

From romantic sonnets like Chaudhavin Ka Chand to songs of desperate misery like Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari, and qawwalis like Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai, this was truly the high noon of Urdu poetry in Bollywood. The philosophical song " Mein Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya" by Sahir Ludhianvi from the movie Hum Dono, exemplifies what a naturally poetic time this was for the Hindi cinema. 

Song of Hum Dono 1961

The advent of parallel cinema, commonly called “art films”, further gave opportunities to traditional poets such as Shahryar, who wrote the lyrics for Umrao Jaan and Gaman. Independent artists like Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Salma Agha also wrote tunes for famous Urdu ghazals. Many of these were used in movie soundtracks and gave us classics like Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho and Chupke Chupke Raat Din.

Song of Taj Mahal 1963

Song of Sadhana 1958

Song of Kala Paani 1958

Song of Kaghaz Ke Phool 1959

Song of Gumrah 1963

Song of Sangam 1964

Song of Safar 1970