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
Kalyanji Bhai of Kalyanji Anandji duo Music Composer of 1960s and 1970s.Kalyanji and Anandji were children of a businessman who migrated from Kutch to Bombay.Kalyanji was the eldest of three brothers.Kalyanji started his career as a musician, with a new electronic instrument called the clavioline. which was used for the famous "Nagin Been," used in the film Nagin (1954) which had the music of Hemant Kumar.Initially he along with his younger brother Ananji formed a musical group called Kalyanji Virji and Party which organised musical shows in Mumbai and outside.
They came at a time when big music directors like S.D. Burman, Hemant Kumar, Madan Mohan, Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan and Ravi were ruling the Hindi film music world – and it was a golden period of film music – it was very tough to make a place amongst them.The Bharat Bhushan–Nirupa Roy hit Samrat Chandragupta (1959) was their first film as Kalyanji Virji Shah,the song of that film"Chahe Paas Ho" a duet by Rafi and Lata became hit,Another film Post Box 999 came simultaniously,the song NEEND NA MUJH KO AYE became instant hit.Another song MERE DIL MAIN HAI EK BAAT was also became popular.
The younger brother Anandji who was assisting him till then, joined him officially to form the Kalyanji Anandji duo in Satta Bazar and Madari (1959).The Duo's First musical hit was CHALLIA (1961).All the songs of that film were hit."Dam Dam Diga Diga" and"Chhalia Mera Naam" were very popular among masses.Some of the songs of BLUFF MASTER were also became popular in the early 60s but the real recognition happened in 1965 when two decisive scores, Himalay Ki God Mein and Jab Jab Phool Khile, established them as composers to reckon with.The songs of both the films were super hit,Remember the song EK THA GUL AUR EK THI BULBUL of Jab Jab Phool Khile and "Chand Si Mehbooba" and "Kankaria Maar Ke Jagaya" of Himalaya Ki God Me were hit songs of that year.In 1967 came UPKAAR who can forget KASME VADE PYAAR VAFA and MERE DESH KI DHARTI. The Duo got their first National Award for "Saraswatichandra",in 1968. They got the Filmfare Award in 1974 for KORA KAGAJ.
In the seventies they gave hit music in many films like MAHAL.Johny Mera Naam,SAFAR,Purab Aur Paschim,Sachha Jhuta,Blackmail,Victoria 203,Dharmatma.Maryada,Zanzeer.Infact he was the favourite Music Director of Prakash Mehra.Lots of Amitabh Bachhan films had the music of Kalyanji Anandji
How can we forget their songs like Too kya jaaney wafaa (Haath ki safaai), Ye mera dil, pyaar ka deewaana (Don-original!), Laila main laila (Qurbani), Oh ya Allah (Muqaddar ka sikander), all of which had either the beats or orchestration heavily westernized? That apart the duo also gave quite a few folk numbers like Main to bhool chali babul ka des (Saraswathi Chandra), salaam-e-ishq meri jaan (Muqaddar ka sikander), khaike paan banaaras waala etc. .
Hindi films without songs and dance are not complete.Though there are few films without songs but very few. Music is the soul of Indian Cinema.The songs in the films started well before the sound films started but these were played separately on a gramophone during the screening of the film.these songs are listed as NFS. The first sound film ALAM ARA had 6 songs but none of those songs are available. Indrasabha that had 71 songs none of the song is available.The credit of first singer in a song movie goes to Wazir MMohammad Khan who acted and sang this song De De Khuda Ke Naam Se De.In the year 1931 a film naming TRAPPED its hindi name was Farebi Jaal. i have found this video from u tube,its a rare song sung and written by Master Vasant I am uploading this song here.
1930s was the era of K L SEHGAL and Pankaj Mallic.Saigal's songs became a rage all over the country and inspired many a future stalwarts.Sehgal's Devdas and Musical hit Street Singer released in this decade the immortal song of Street Singer "Babul Mora Naiyar Chhooto Jye" was the song of that decade.
In 1935 KL Sehgal's Devdas was released this film was outright success its music became popular K L Sehgal became the heart throb of the country, one of its song Balam Aye Baso Mere Man Main is still in the heart of people.
In the same year another film of Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani was released Its music was also became very popular The song Koi hum Dum Na Raha wasvery popular. This song was later after many years was again taken in a film JHUMROO (1961) sung by Kishore Kumar
In 1936 Achhyut Kanya starring Ashok kumar and Devika Rani was released.This film was shot,edited and released in just two months.It was a huge success,Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru came to see this film at Roxy cinema.Its all the songs were popular but the song Main Ban Ki Chidiya Banke Ban Ban Dolon Re sung by Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani was super hit
In 1937 another hit film of K L Sehgal's "President"was released. This film had the Immortal song "EK BANGLA BANE NYARA" The music was given by R C Boral , he was assisted by Pankaj Mallic who had a role in composing this song.
In 1939 PUKAR was released.Naseem Banu was a stunner and shot to fame with the film. Her song 'Zindagi ka saaz bhi kya saaz hei' was a big hit. The film got a huge response throughout the country.
Film released in 1939 Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani's another film KANGAN released,its music was also popular. K L Sehgal's another film DUSHMAN also released that year Song-Karoon kuya aas niraas bhayi (Dushman) (1939) Singer-K L Saigal, Lyrics-Arzoo Lucknowi, MD-Pankaj Mullick
This song from KANGAN is composed by Saraswati Devi. The song is sung by Leela Chitnis herself, as was the practice those days. Pradeep is the lyricist.This song is a nice walk down memory lane to the era of late 1930s, when actors used to sing their own songs.
1931 is a landmark year of Indian cinema.India's First Talkie movie Alam Ara was released on 14th March at Majestic Cinema at Bombay.The first Indian talkie was so popular that "police aid had to be summoned to control the crowds.The success of this movie influenced other regional language film makers to make movies in their languages. This year saw the release of 207 silent films from all over India and 28 Talkies. Out of the 28 talkies 23 were in Hindi, 3 in Bengali, one in Tamil, and one in Telugu. The first Bengali film was Jamai Shashthi by Madan Theatres Calcutta. The first Tamil film was Kalidas produced by Imperial Movietone and the first Telugu talkie Bhakta Prahlada, was directedby H. M. Reddy for Bharat Movietone. J Madan who wanted to make first sound movie at calcutta was an established name.His production film SHIRIN FARIHAAD released the same year and did the better business than Alam Ara. 1932 saw J Madan's film INDRASABHA which had 71 songs which is still a record. 30 talking pictures are made in India this year. Eight of them are made by Madan Theatres.This year saw the first Marathi talkie movie AYODHYECHA RAJA directed by V SHANTARAM.The first sound Gujrati movie(NARSINH MEHTA) was released.The East India Film Co started in Calcutta ,The MotionPicture Society Of India was founded.
1933 saw Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani's KARMA which has a distinction first English Film made in India.This year also saw the first coiour film SAIRANDHRI starring Leela and Shakuntla Pranjpye directed by V Shantaram.This year Wadia Movietone Co by JBH Wadia was also started Their first movie LAL-e YAMAN was released and it was very successful.PRAKASH PICTURES also founded this year which was founded by Vijay Bhatt. The First Air Conditioned Cinema Hall REGAL opens in Bombay. 1934 The end of Silent Cinema in India,the last Silent Movie was Melody of Love.Bombay Talkies was established,The first Oriya film SEETA BIBAHA directed by Mohan Sunder Deb Goswamy released.Zubeida and Nanu Bhai Vakil start the Mahalaxmi Cinetone.Kannada film BHAKTA DHRUVA directed by Parshavnath Y Altekar was released.Chaar Darvesh,BOMBAI KI MOHINI and DAKU KI LADKI were prominent films.
Still from K L Sehgal Devdas
1935 Devdas was released It was made by P C Barua starring K L Sehgal. Another hit movie of that year was ANARKALI starring Sulochana.This year also saw of the first Punjabi movie Krishna Dev Mehra's SHEILA starring Baby Noor Jahan . First Assameese movie of Jyotiprasad Agarwala's JOYMATI was also released this year.Some of the hit movies of this year are Hunter Wali,Aurat, Ek Hi Raasta,Watan.
1936 was the year of ACHYOOT KANYA starring Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani,Sohrab Modi started Minerva Movietone his first movie Khoon Ka Khoon was not successful.Other successful movies of the year are Miss Frontier Mail,Mr & Mrs Bombay,Mamta and Jeevan Naiya starring Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani.
Still from Kisankasnya
1937 the first Colour film Kisan Kanya was released,Aspi Irani's film Naujawan became the first hindi sound film without songs some of the prominent films of that year were Duniya Na Maane of V Shantaram,Zameen Ka Chand ,Parakh and Hurricane Hansa of Wadia. 1938 first Malyalam sound film S Nottani's BALAN was released,This year a Social family drama BHABHI was released on 17th December at Bombay's Roxi Cinema it was a hit movie renuka Devi's performance was the highlight she was co starred with P Jairaj, another film STREET SINGER of K L Sehgal was musical superhit it is said that this movie was the greatest hit of Sehgal's career the famous song BABUL MORA NAIYAR CHHOOTO JAYE was of this movie.Other movies were Dharti Maata,Adhikar.Gopal Krishna and Jailor
1939 this year 84 hindi films were released. The film industry celebrated its silver jubilee with the convening of a Motion Picture Congress, conferences and an exhibition.PUKAR of Sohrab Modi was the most successful movie of that year another film AADMI of V Shantaram was successful,Prem Sagar and Punjab Mail were other notable novies of that year.Dushman of K L SEHGAL also released the same year.The film is remembered for some of the most beautiful songs sung by K L Saigal music was given by pankaj mallic.
Few R D Burman's indian classical film Songs Ghar Aaja Ghir Aye Badra (Raga Malgunji)
This is from RD Burman’s first movie as a music director – Chhote Nawab (1961). RD wanted Lata Mangeshkar for his first song, despite knowing that his father SD Burman had not worked with Lata for six long years following a rift. RD sent word to Lata through Jaidev (who was SD’s assistant) and in the process mended fences between SD and Lata.This song is based on a lesser known Raag called Raag Malgunji. The song is picturised on a courtesan who sings this song to her clients viz Mahmood while his wife waits for him in their home.This is one of the master pieces of RDB Raina Beeti Jaaye (Raga Todi & Khamaj)
The exquisitely tuned ‘Raina Beeti Jaaye’ for Amar Prem (1972) is a case in point. RD fused two ragas –Todi and Khamaj in the song expertise that had hitherto been attributed only to his father SD Burman. Anand Bakshi’s lyrics blend with notes of this song to create a magical feel.Here is a song from the movie that was sung by Lata and picturised on Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna. Anand Bakshi was the lyricist and R D Burman composed the music Beeti Na Bitayee Raina (Raga Yaman Kalyan) Set to the notes of evening raga Yaman Kalyan, the Lata-Bhupinder duet fetched them both a national award for best playback singer that year, besides fetching Gulzar the best lyricist award. This song was picturised on Jaya Bhaduri and Sanjeev Kumar. Piya Baawri (Raga Behag) It is true that RD relied on Asha more for his experimental music and on Lata for his classical numbers, but here is a surprise where Asha sings an authentic Raga Behag based composition by hubby RDB with aplomb. The song is also special for the tabla ‘bols’ by Ashok Kumar:It is sung by Asha Bhonsle and Ashok Kumar and it is picturised on Rekha, Ashok Kumar, Shashikala, Rakesh roshan
Hamein Tumse Pyar Kitna (Raga Bhairavi)
Kudrat (1981) was written and directed by Chetan Anand. RD had composed a song Hamein Tumse Pyaar Kitna based on the morning Raga Bhairavi. Parween Sultana and Kishore Kumar did a solo version each of this song. Kishore Kumar was nominated for a Filmfare Award for his rendering of the song, while Parveen Sultana walked away with the Best Female Playback Award from Filmfare for her version of the song.
R D Burman was born on 27th June 1939 at Calcutta.Initially, he was nicknamed Tublu by his maternal grandmother. - RD Burman was nicknamed as Puncham and was popularly addressed by most of his industry friends by the same name. Apparently the nickname was given to him by actor Ashok Kumar when he heard the newborn Rahul saying the word Pa repeatedly R D Burman was a child prodigy though Music was in his genes but he got the earlier education of music by his father
- RD Burman composed his first song at the age of nine which was taken for the Dev Anand's film FANTOOSH(1956)" Ai Meri Topi Palat Ke Aa" another tune was taken in PYAASA " Sar Jo Tera Chakraye". R. D. Burman has been credited with revolutionizing the Bollywood music. He incorporated a wide range of influences from several genres in his scores. He also experimented with different musical sounds produced from methods such as rubbing sand paper and knocking bamboo sticks together. He blew into beer bottles to produce the opening beats ofMehbooba, Mehbooba. Similarly, he used cups and saucers to create the tinkling sound for the song Churaliya Hai from the film Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973) - Popular music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal played in the orchestra of RD Burman. RD Burman also gave break to several singers like Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet and Mohammad Aziz
R D Burman and Asha Bhonsle marriage photograph
R d Burman married in 1966 to Rita Patel but got Divorced in 1971. Later he married Asha Bhonsle in 1980.The Asha-RD Burman Pair created magic .Asha Bhonsle in an interview said"Pancham was the only man who understood me. We had tremendous musical compatibility. He gave me the confidence to improvise and sing better than before. He introduced me to the western style of singing.All songs I sung for him are my favorite. However, right now I feel like humming my all-time favorite “Mera Kuch Saamaan” from the film Ijaazat." It is generally believed that puncham da was expert in giving western music but the fact is that he was equally best on Indian classical.Some of Lata Ji's melodious and semi classical songs were composed by R D Burman
Take RD’s first film itself – Chhote Nawab. The Raag Malgunji based "Ghar aaja ghir aayi badarwa sanwariya" created a sensation and is still fresh and timeless.
The songs listed below are only representative. But it will give you the drift. Amar Prem had two gems – "Raina beeti jaye" based on Raag Lalit, and "Bada natkhat hai" based on Raag Khamaj.
In the next part watch some of the Videos of R D's classical geniu
The songs are integral part of Indian Cinema.Right from the advent of Indian Talkie cinema in 1931, musicals with song numbers have been a regular feature in Indian cinema.Within the first few years itself, Hindi cinema had produced a variety of films which easily categorised into genres such as "historicals", "mythologicals", "devotional, "fantasy" etc. but each having songs embedded in them such that it is incorrect to classify them as "musicals".The first talkie film ALAM ARA(1931) had seven songs
Immediately after Alam Ara another movie SHIHREEN FARIHAD(1931) by J F MADAAN had 42 songs A film INDRA SABHA released in 1932 had 71 songs which made a record of highest number of songs in a single film till today. Though Talking cinema started in India 1n 1931 but film songs were played with the films durring the silent movie era.Those days playback music was not born Initially few musicians used to play music durring the screening of the movie but after the invention of gramophone the records were played with the movies. Experiments in capturing sound on a recording medium for preservation and reproduction began in during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s. Many pioneering attempts to record and reproduce sound were made during the latter half of the 19th century – notably de Martinville's Phonautograph of 1857 – and these efforts culminated in the invention of the phonograph, patented by Thomas Edison in 1877. The First recorded film song was sung by GAUHAR JAAN recorded on 2nd November 1902.Though GAUHAR KHAN'S song was the first hindi song recorded but before that few bengali songs were recorded.If you google search we find that the first recording done in India was in 1988.Hemendra Mohan Bose, an Indian entrepreneur, imported the phonograph of Edison and made the cylinder record. The records were popularly known as Bose's record. Rabindranath Tagore recorded the 'Bande Mataram' here in his own voice. De De Khuda Ke Naam Pyare from Alam Ara carries the credit of being the first song ever to be played on the Hindi film screen. The name of poet is lost in history. The music is composed by Pherozeshah M Mistry. The singing voice is that of Wazir Mohammed Khan, who plays a fakir and a beggar. And he is singing this song
Before going to the Birth of Indian cinema let us look back to the Birth of Cinema in the world.In the year 1891 Motion Picture Cameras were invented . The very first patented film camera was designed in England by Frenchman Louis Le Prince in 1888. He built and patented an earlier 16 lens camera in 1887 at his workshop in Leeds. The first 8 lenses would be triggered in rapid succession by an electromagnetic shutter on the sensitive film; the film would then be moved forward allowing the other 8 lenses to operate on the film. After much trial and error, he was finally able to develop a single lens camera in 1888, which he used to shoot the first sequences of moving film in the world William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, a Scottish inventor and employee of Thomas Edison, designed the Kinetographic Camera in 1891. The camera was powered by an electric motor and was capable of shooting with the new sprocketed film.Because of the limits of technology, films of the 1890s were under a minute long and until 1927 motion pictures were produced without sound. In 1895 the Luminiere brothers introduced the art of cinematography in Paris. The Motion Pictures atracted the people and became popular By 1897 First Film Studio was built. The Birth of Cinema in India can be attributed to the Luminiere Brothers. They came to India in 1896 and brought the prints. The Luminiere brothers held their first public showing at Bombay's Watson's hotel on 7th July 1897.The first show was a silent movie for 10 minutes.6 such short fims (17 meters each) were screened.The success of this show another screening was held in another venue at Novelty Theatre Bombay on 14th July 1887 Total of 24 such 10 minutes fims were screened on that night.This magic of Motion Picture was so fascinated that within a year Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar popularly known Save Dada and HiraLal Sen made 2 short films by 1899.These short films were mere attempts at capturing live theatrical performances on film.Bhatavdekar was infact the first movie maker of India Irony with him that he had a projector but not a camera .he hired a camera from England to shoot 2 scenes of 3 minutes each which were titeled DO PEHALWANON KI KUSHTI and BANDAR KO NACHATA HUA MADARI. These 2 Films were released in 1989 thus started the journey of Indian Cinema. F B THANAVALA was the next to make films, his 2 films SPLENDID NEW VIEW OF BOMBAY and TABOOT PROCESSION were released in 1900. In 1901 Hiralal Sen made his mark as a film producer of historical and mythological films in Calcutta. In 1905 another great personality from Calcutta theatre world J F Madan linked exhibition of cinema with production in 1905 to estabilish Elphinstone Bioscope Company. He was the first businessman to foresee imminent business opportunities of film making in India.In few years he not only build his company like Hollywood Companies but also brought Forign actresses to work in Indian films as heroines because that time Indian ladies were reluctant to work in films. Durring the early years of 20th century a lot of cinematic entertainment was imported from abroad like Life of Christ (1901), Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp (1902), Alibaba and 40 Thieves (1903) and Napoleon Bonaparte (1904). This was primarily because India was a colony of the British Empire and a large English population lived in the country. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the availability of foreign cinema not only brought the wondrous technological advancements of the western world to India but also inspired the Indian film makers to venture into making full length feature films.
Still from Raja Harishchandra
The first full length feature film made in India was Dadasaheb Phalke’s silent opus RAJA HARISHCHANDRA in the year 1913. Main films that followed included - Mohini Bhasmasur (1914), significant for introducing the first woman to act before the cameras - Kamalabai Gokhale, Satyawan Savitri (1914), Satyavadi Raja Harischandra (1917), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kalia Mardan (1919). By 1920 India was producing more than 27 films a year which was a big number. The first Indian film makers turned to ancient epics and puranas for source material. The phenomenal success of Raja Harishchandra was kept up by a series of mythological films. The content of the films would not change for a long time till the advent of talkies and colour in the 1930’s. The Silent Movie Era continued from 1897-1930 durring this period of 34 years nearly 1200 movies were released in India.Sad part is that very few prints are available now.
