50 Years of Heer Ranjha

This legendary tale of love, written in the 16th century by Warris Shah in poetry. Chetan Anand chose to make this film in that form only. He selected the great poet of that time Kaifi Azmi. He created lines not only for the leads, played by Raaj Kumar and Priya Rajvansh but for the rest of the ensemble cast which included  Pran, Prithviraj Kapoor, Ajit, Jayant, etc. 
A unique film told in verse, written by Kaifi Azmi and directed by Chetan Anand. Poetry on celluloid never attempted before and after. The film has immortal music by Madan Mohan, another beauty of the film was its photography.inspired by the paintings of Sobha Singh, a legendary painter from Punjab, the imagery of the film is wonderful. thanks to the cinematic genius of cinematographer Jal Mistry.
Told in a Romeo and Juliet style, the story concerns relative differences that rip apart childhood darlings Heer and Deedho, so Heer goes away to exist an unspecified life as a laborer.

Priya Rajvansh and Raaj Kumar both gave good performances in their respective parts as the title characters Heer and Raanja, Beside them, there are fine performances to be had from Pran, Ajit and Prithviraj Kapoor in their respective parts as Chhote Chaudhary, Saida, and the King. 

The film released on 19th June 1970 was a moderate success in the Box office.
The film  starts with an introductory Nazm by Kaifi Azmi, recited by Films Director "Chetan Anand :
"Dard Punjab ke seene se chura laya Hun Chand tukde tere waris ke utha laya hun Aag meri na sahi iska dhuan mera hai Heer Ranjha ki kahani hai bayan mera hai ....
Chetan Anand screen-tested Zeenat Aman for a supporting role in the film. But during the audition, Zeenat's Urdu was very terrible. Chetan ended up not signing Zeenat. It was the first time that Chetan Anand worked with Raj Kumar, who was known for his dialogue delivery
Songs of Heer Ranjha

Song	Singer (s)
Do Dil Toote Do Dil Haare	Lata Mangeshkar
Milo Na Tum To	Lata Mangeshkar
Nache Ang Ve	Jagjit Kaur, Shamshad Begum
Doli Chadte Heer	Lata Mangeshkar
Meri Duniya Mein Tum Aayi	Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi
Tere Kooche Mein Tera Diwana	Mohammed Rafi
Ye Duniya Yeh Mehfil	Mohammed Rafi

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Great Songs Picturized on Motilal

Motilal (4 December 1910 – 17 June 1965 ) is credited with being among Hindi cinema's first natural actors. He was offered the hero's role in Shaher Ka Jadoo (1934) .  He is most remembered for his role as "Chunni Babu" in Bimal Roy's Devdas (1955), He produced and directed "Chhoti Chhoti Batein " died before its release in 1965.
He introduced Mukesh to the Hindi Film industry. Mukesh became his voice before Raj Kapoor. The first song he sang for him became an immortal "Dil Jalta Hai To Jalne Do" of Pehli Nazar(1945). In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song "Dil Jalta Hai...", he remarked, "That's strange, I don't recall singing that song"
Motilal acted in 60 films only, he played all types of roles, also sung few songs. In this blog, I am posting a few songs picturized on him.

Song of Pehli Nazar 1945

Song of Do Dil (1947)

Song of Lekh (1949)

Song of Ek Thi Ladki (1949)

Song of Mastana (1954)

Song of Jagte Raho 1956

Song of Chhoti Chhoti Baten (1965)

Hemant Kumar- Aap Ko Hamari Kasam Laut Aiye

 Every distinguished creative artiste is born with one gift, but, Hemantda was born with several gifts. As a singer, he reigned supreme in Calcutta and Bombay. From "Naagin", "Jaal" to "Bees Saal Baad" and the '50s and '60s were decades that 'belonged' prominently to the unique talents of Hemant Kumar.
He started in Bollywood as a singer, turned into a composer, and later a producer and director. His first Hindi film as a composer was the 1952 film "Anand Math".
The music of Anand Math (1952) was a moderate success. Perhaps, the most notable song from this movie is 'Vande Mataram' sung by Lata Mangeshkar, which Hemanta set to a marching tune. Hemanta Kumar gained popularity in Mumbai as a playback singer. His songs play backed for Dev Anand under music director S D Burman in movies like Jaal ("Yeh raat, yeh chandni phir kahan ... "), House No. 44 ("Chup hai dharti, chup hai chand sitare... "), Solva Saal ("Hai apna dil to awara ..... "), Funtoosh ("Teri duniya mein jeene se ... "), and Baat ek raat ki ("Na tum hame jaano ..... "), became very popular.
He became popular as a composer after the release of "Nagin" in 1954 which became a major success owing largely to its music. He received the prestigious Filmfare Best Music Director Award for this film in 1955.. his classic ‘been’ music in the song “Man Dole Mera Tan Dole" is now immortal.

In the late 1950s, Hemanta ventured into movie production under his own banner: Hemanta-Bela productions. The first movie under this banner was a Bengali film directed by Mrinal Sen, titled Neel Akasher Neechey (1959). Latter he made films in Hindi, his production company was renamed Geetanjali productions and it produced several Hindi movies such as Bees Saal Baad, Kohara, Biwi Aur Makaan, Faraar, Rahgir,  and Khamoshi — all of which had music by Hemanta Da. Only Bees Saal Baad and Khamoshi were major commercial successes.
1962 was a special year for him, The music of Bees Saal Baad and Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam became very popular. Hemanta Da pulled out all stops for a score that ranks as one of the ten best ever composed for the Hindi cinema. Between them, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle created a universe of pain and romance in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam. From Geeta Dutt's 'Na Jao Saiyyan..' to Asha'a 'Bhanwara Bada Naadan Hai..', each song stuns each note cuts deeply in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam.

Hemant Kumar was also remained connected with Bangla Films throughout his career, in fact, he was very busy there in the late 60s and 70s. He remained the foremost exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, film and non-film songs. His output continued to be popular for most of the decade. Some of them are Jodi jante chao tumi... (1972), Ek gochha rajanigandha , Aamay prasno kore nil dhrubatara..., Sedin tomay dekhechilam... (1974), Khirki theke singho duar... (Stree, 1971), Ke jane ko ghonta... ( Sonar Khancha, 1974), Jeona daraon bandhu... ( Phuleswari, 1975 ) and popularised Rabindra sangeet using them beautifully in films as per situations. A very popular and classic example is the song Chorono dhorite diyogo amare.. in Dadar Kirti(1980). 
In 1980, Hemanta had a heart attack that severely affected his vocal capabilities, especially his breath control. After that, he composed music for a handful of Bengali movies and one Bengali and one Hindi tele-series.In 1987, he was nominated for Padmabhushan which he refused politely.

In September 1989 he traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to receive the Michael Madhusudan Award, as well as to perform a concert. Immediately after returning from this trip he suffered another heart attack on 26 September and died at 11:15 pm in a nursing home in South Calcutta.

With him, an era ended, but Hemant Kumar can never be forgotten. His music will live on for another 100 years. “Beqaraar Karke Humein Yun Na Jaaiye, Aap Ko Hamari Kasam, Laut Aiye"

Song of Anandmath 1951

Song of Sazaa 1951

Song from Patita (1953)

Song from Shart (1954)

Song from Nagin (1954)

Song from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955)

Song from House No. 44 (1955)

Song from Pyaasa (1957)

Song from Solva Saal (1958)

Song from Kabuliwala (1961)

Song from Anupama 1966

Song from Khamoshi 1969

Song from Bees Saal Baad 1963

Bollywood Needs Film like Suicide Company PvtLtd

Depression is alarmingly rising in the youth and adults in India making it a major cause of concern. Bad relationships, anxiety, and low self-worth; leading to suicide in many cases. In Bollywood, for the last few years, many actors have killed themself by this act. Yesterday Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging at his Bandra apartment Its high time for Bollywood to stop trivializing suicide & make films to prevent suicides
A short movie titled ‘The Suicide Company Pvt. Ltd,’ is based on an innovative subject to combat and address this concern. This subject, I think is considered taboo. Suicide and depression are rarely the themes of films in Bollywood.
Last year I saw the above-mentioned film. This is a short film of 20 minutes, directed by Indian filmmaker Jehangir Irroni. It is produced by Shaleen V Vaid under the banner of Vistree. Featuring Bollywood stars Jay Bhanushali and actress Swara Bhaskar in the lead roles, the film’s theme is based on “Suicide and Depression” which is written by Pragnya Tripathi, also a Clinical Psychologist by profession like Jehangir Irroni.
This film got an official entry at the prestigious Los Angeles Film Awards.has won awards and nominations internationally and nationally. The film won the Best Film in the Drama category award in Toronto at the "Alternative Film Festival (ALTFF)", Best Screenplay at Indian Film & Television Directors' Association Film awards (IFTDA SHORTIES), and an "Honourable Mention Award" at Asia South East-Short Film festival.

Jay Bhanushali is a journalist in this film, he is in severe depression, his girlfriend leaves him for his best friend. He tries numerous attempts at Suicide which fail. Until one day he finds the solution “THE SUICIDE COMPANY PVT. LTD.” A company that plans and helps people in committing suicide. He hires a Suicide Planner (Swara Bhaskar) from the company to help him die. 
A brilliantly directed film, Bollywood filmmakers should make films on this subject. Sushant Singh Rajput worked last in a film Chichore where he showed that suicide is not a solution, instead, we should fight and live.

Bollywood Films Based on Tenants and Landlords

Yesterday I watched the latest released "Gulabo Sitabo" on Prime Video. The film is based on the landlord and tenant relationship. On this subject, many memorable films were made earlier also. A very interesting film released in 1956 "New Delhi". Kishore Kumar plays a Punjabi boy. He comes from Jalandhar to Delhi but is unable to find a place to stay, as everywhere he goes people want to give room only to a person of their region. Desperate, Anand masquerades as a Tamilian, Anand Kumaraswamy, and finds a place to stay with a Tamilian family. 
In 1957, two films on this subject were released. Dev Anand and Nutan starrer Paying Guest and Dilip Kumar starrer Musafir. In Paying Guest Dev Anand looks for a house in the guise of an old man.  Another Landlord-tenant story was Anari released in 1959. Here Raj Kapoor was the tenant and Lalita Pawar was the landlady. Here the relationship was of a mother and son. 
Quite a few Hindi movies have explored different shades of this relationship Here are a few of these films.
Paying Guest(1957)

Ramesh (Dev Anand) keeps on getting evicted as a tenant due to failure to pay rent, then dons the guise of an old man to gain entry in a house as a tenant, He falls for the landlord's daughter Shanti (Nutan),Ramesh is unable to pay the house rent and Shanti gives him the money her father had given her for monthly expenditure. 

Biwi Aur Makan (1966)

It is one of the masterpieces of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and remade in different languages It centers around five young men, bosom buddies from their college days, The five friends, therefore, go out looking for other accommodation—and keep drawing a blank wherever they go. There seems to be no place available.  one evening, Suresh comes bearing news. He has found a place. Three rooms, a rent of a mere Rs 100, no advance but the landlord  Mr. Mishra, wants to rent his house only to married couples; no bachelor allowed.
 Frustrated at this, two of them disguise themselves as women and pose as wives for the other two males. They are able to secure accommodation with the Mishra family. Complications arise when the two "women" fall in love with Mishra's two lovely daughters 

Woh Saat Din(1983)

It is Anil Kapoor's first hit film, in this film he is a tenant and the heroine Padmini Kolhapuri is the landlord's daughter. It is love at first sight for Maya as she falls for the naive, innocent Prem. However, Prem, aspiring to be a true musician, rejects Maya's advances. Furthermore, Prem is in love with Maya but believes that he isn't worthy of her. They declare their love for each other and plan to elope, but destiny has other plans in store for Maya and Prem. On the day of their elopement, the lovers are caught by Maya's parents. As a result, Prem and his sidekick are kicked out of the house  

Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho(1984)

The film is a comic satire on a judicial system, where cases drag on for decades. An elderly couple, Mohan Joshi (Bhisham Sahni) and his wife (Dina Pathak), sues their landlord (Amjad Khan) for not maintaining their 'collapsing' apartment building. For this, they hire two cunning lawyers Naseeruddin Shah and Satish Shah, the lawyers milk the old couple dry, while they become rich. Back home in the society, the old couple is ridiculed for fighting the landlord, but they fight on nevertheless.


Saaransh(1984)

An old couple played by Anupam Kher and Rohini Hattangadi has no source of income, so they rent out a room of their Shivaji Park (Mumbai) apartment to a budding Bollywood actress, Sujata Suman (Soni Razdan).The latter's intimidation at the hands of an influential politician after she gets pregnant by his son compels her aged landlord/lady to step up and support her in whatever way they can.


Kirayadar (1986) 

Basu Chatterjee's Kirayadar chronicles the legal woes of a father-son duo forced to reside in a tiny room after the tenants refuse to vacate their flat in Mumbai. They file a complaint in the local court to arrange to evict the tenants, who have also sworn to fight this matter right to the very end. Watch as lawyers take over their respective lives, get their fees, and get adjournment after adjournment 


Mr. India(1987)

In this film, Sridevi is a journalist and rent a floor of Anil Kapoor's huge house overlooking the sea with the hope of peacefully filing her news reports.

Only to realize the one and only condition she placed -- no kids -- popping out from every corner in abundance.

Hera Pheri (2000)

Landlord Paresh Rawal shares a comic camaraderie with his tenants, Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty. The troika's constant wrangling and wishful thinking is set aside after they receive a call from a kidnapper and a hilarious scheme to exploit a 'wrong number' is set in motion.

Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar(2001)

The age-old tenant-landlord tussle is once again reiterated between Suniel Shetty and Mahima Chaudhary in this film. Sunil Shetty arranges the marriage of his two sisters. In debt, he goes to the city to ask the tenants to leave his house, as he intends to sell it and repay his debts. A Maharashtrian woman, her two daughters, Jyoti, Saraswati (Mahima Chaudhry), and one son, Chotu (Master Aditi) are living there. When Dayashankar asks them to vacate, they refuse. What results is Dayashankar's hilarious attempts to force them to vacate 

Dear Zindagi (2016)

Alia Bhatt is a promising cinematographer who wishes to direct her own films. She lives in a rented apartment in Mumbai. Her life takes a downturn when Raghuvendra (Kunal Kapoor), a film producer for whom she breaks up with her childhood sweetheart, gets engaged to someone else. Her landlord turns her out of her apartment because the building association wants to rent apartments only to married couples. Her sudden expulsion from her apartment forces her to move back home in Goa and address her acute anxiety to an incredibly wise therapist.

Story Behind the Song "Chalo Dildar Chalo"

This immortal song from Pakeezah(1972) was originally a solo sung by Lata Mangeshkar, intended for use as a dancing number, the fascinating solo version was cut from both the film and record released, later a romantic version, a duet was recorded. You may have noticed it or not, Rafi sab has sung but just a single line in it which is the Mukhda. Amazing how a single line sung by Rafi sab had made it an immortal Rafi song.
This was the only song in this film having a male voice. All the other songs were female solo. The music of this film was given by Ghulam Mohammad. He composed a total of 15 songs for the film out of which only six were used. The remaining songs were released in 1977 in an album called "Pakeezah Rang Barang". This album was released exclusively by Saregama in 1977.
This film took 16 years to complete. The mahurat of the film happened on July 16, 1956, and the film got released in Feb 1972. The music of the film was recorded by the end of 1959. Kamal Amrohi wanted this film to be a musical so 15 songs were recorded earlier.
The shooting of the film was halted in 1964 due to mutual differences between lead heroine Meena Kumari and her director-husband Amrohi. In 1968, the composer of the film passed away. So, when the film was revived in 1969, Naushad was roped in to complete the background music for the film. Many exhibitors suggested Kamal Amrohi change the music according to the then-popular trend and style. To this Amrohi said that he would have readily done this if only Ghulam Mohammed was still alive but now he cannot betray a man, who gave him such melodious songs, after his death. So he kept his music intact but used fewer songs as planned to keep up with the fast-changing trend.
In 1969 the shooting of the film resumed after a gap of five years. By this time Meena Kumari's health got deteriorated. She was suffering from Liver Cirrhosis. Few songs were yet to be picturized. Her condition became so bad that during the filming of the grueling emotional Mujraa “Teer-e Nazar,” Meena Kumari collapsed.  Keeping in mind her medical condition, a body double was brought. Actress Padma Khanna played her body double in this song as she was an adept Kathak dancer which was an urgent requirement of the song. Meena Kumari personally trained her for the scene, and the song was filmed with the majority of the dancing done under a veil in order to hide her face. 
Similarly in this song too Padma Khanna acted as Meena Kumari. Her face was actually never shown in the song.

Song of Pakeezah 1972

                    Chalo Dildar Chalo - Lata Solo version not in the film

50 Years of Sawan Bhadon

Released on 12th June 1970, Sawan Bhadon was the debut film of Rekha and Navin Nischal. It was also the debut film of the famous villain Ranjeet. Dancer Jayshree T also came into limelight with this film. The film was produced and directed by Mohan Segal. 
The film was a surprise hit. Sawan Bhadon celebrated a jubilee run in over 30 theaters across the country

It had a few catchy numbers like "Kaan Mein Jhumka, Chaal MeinThumka" was very popular among masses. The music was composed by Sonik Omi, not a big name in the music industry at that time, only Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya (1966) was their earlier film was noticeable.

Sawan Bhadon was a run-of-the-mill film. Sawan Bhadon is the tale of Vikram played by Navin Nischal, a wealthy guy who’s been living in Europe when he decides to return to India. He has a step-sister Dolly and step-mother Sulochana, who are very cunning and greedy and steal Vikram's money during his absence from India. 

Vikram, on his way home, is blocked by some thugs, who are actually the men hired by Sulochana's brother to kill him. But a village girl Chanda(Rekha) and her friends help him. Both of them fall in love with each other and plan to marry with Chanda's family's consent. But Sulochana is against the marriage and tries to force Vikram to leave her, but Vikram does not obey her. 

Vikram comes to know that behind his back, Sulochana has fraudulently acquired properties of the villagers and he decides to return them to their rightful owners. Sulochana decides to kill him with the help of Madan by planting a bomb in his car before he heads towards Bangalore. The car explodes as per her plan and everyone including Chanda believes that Vikram is dead. All enemies of Vikram celebrate his death but Vikram survives.

Vikram returns home but Sulochana does not believe that he is alive. She tries to prove by all means that he is not Vikram. But Vikram proves that he has escaped merely with some injuries. Sulochana decides to kill the Vikram look-alike by poisoning his milk but he survives again

In the end, she confesses that she saw him falling out and burning from the exploded car and had bashed his head. The Vikram look-alike then admits that he is not Vikram, but CID Inspector Vinod.

Chanda is very disappointed about Vinod acting as Vikram, but Vinod tells her Vikram is not dead really but survived with injuries.
This film lifted the career of Jayshree T, who had 3 songs in the film. Ranjeet became a villain and of course Rekha and Navin Nischal.  

If you enjoy lots of melodrama, energetic music and thrill, this is the film for you.

Songs

#	Song	Singer
1	"Kaan Mein Jhumka, Chaal Mein Thumka"	Mohammed Rafi
2	"Sun Sun Sun O Gulaabi Kali"	Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi
3	"Ek Dard Utha"	Asha Bhosle, Usha Khanna
4	"Aankhen Meri Maikhana"	Asha Bhosle
5	"Mera Man Ghabraaye"	Asha Bhosle
6	"Akhiyan Naa Maar"	Asha Bhosle
7	"Hai Nazarbaaz Saiyan"	Asha Bhosle

Song of Sawan Bhadon 1970

Song of Sawan Bhadon 1970

Song of Sawan Bhadon 1970

Song of Sawan Bhadon 1970

Song of Sawan Bhadon 1970

Song of Sawan Bhadon 1970

Song of Sawan Bhadon 1970