Songs to celebrate Karwa Chauth

 Like most other celebrations, this festival also can be celebrated with some popular Hindi songs from Bollywood movies.Bollywood has till date created a host of sequences and songs relating to the festival.

Here is a compilation of some of the new and old Bollywood songs on Karwa Chauth.

                              Aaj Hai Karwa Chauth Sakhi from Bahu Beti 1965

Song from Karva Chauth 1978

Song from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Karwa Chauth scene from Baabul

Karwa Chauth Scene from DDLJ

Pooja karo jee se jaan se from Jurrat 1989

Jab tak hai chanda jab tak hai chandaniya from Sharda 1981

Bole Chudiyan from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gum

Happy Birthday to SIMI GREWAL "The Lady in White".

Simi Garewal, popularly known as the lady-in-white is undoubtedly one of Bollywood's rarest gems. As this diva celebrates her Birthday today, let's take a look at why we absolutely love the enigma called Simi Garewal.

She  was born (17th Oct 1947)in Muktsar, Punjab, India, in a Jat Sikh family.Her father, J. S. Garewal served in the Indian Armyrising to the rank of Brigadier. After spending much of her childhood in England, Garewal returned to India while a teenager. Her felicity with the English language induced the makers of the English-language film Tarzan Goes to India to offer her a role. A gangly 15-year-old, Garewal made her debut alongside Feroz Khan in Raaz Ki Baat in 1962

During the 1960s and '70s, she was in several notable Indian films, working with leading directors such as Mehboob Khan's Son of India, Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1970), She starred opposite Shashi Kapoor in Columbia Pictures' Siddhartha, an English-language movie based on the novel by Hermann Hesse. Garewal did a nude scene in this film which caused some controversy in India.

 Simi has always been ahead of her times. In an era where actresses even refused to kiss, Simi never hesitated from flaunting her svelte figure if the role demanded that. Her immaculate dressing sense was an inspiration for many
.Garewal had her first serious relationship at the age of 17, with then Maharaja of Jamnagar, who was also her neighbor in England.Garewal was married to Ravi Mohan of Chunnamal family from old Delhi but her marriage was short and she is now divorced
She won 2 Filmfare Awards as Best Supporting Actress Award – Do Badanin 1966 and for Saathi 1968,Indian Television Academy Award for Best Anchor in 2003

Songs from SIMI'S Films

Song from Teen Deviyan 1965

Song from Johar Mehmood in Goa 1966

Song from Mera Naam Joker 1970

Song from  Seema 1971

Song from  Saath 1968

Song from Chalte Chalte 1976

Song from Karz 1980

Remembering HEMA MALINI on her 68th Birthday

Hema Malini was born the 16th of October in 1948 to a Tamil Iyenger family. When she was 15, she was considered for a role in a Tamil film, but was rejected because she was too thin.Earlier in Idhu Sathiyam 1961 a Tamil film she appeared for a small role as a dancer. 

She got her first Hindi film offer in 1968 opposite Raj Kapoor in Sapno Ka Saudagar, which she accepted. Since then she has been in numerous movies.
Hema Malini attended the Andhra Mahila Sabha in Chennai where her favourite subject was history.,she studied at DTEA Mandir Marg and in 12th Standard left to begin her acting career.Her 2nd Hindi Film was Waris 1969 with Jeetendra as her Hero.In the next year her 5 films released but she came into prominance only after Johny Mera Naam 1970 released.In most of her films, she starred opposite her husband; Dharmendra and with Rajesh Khanna and Devanand.

 Hema Malini's first film with Dharmendra was Sharafat (1970),later on she performed with Dharmendra in 28 films including Sharafat, Tum Haseen Main Jawan, Naya Zamana, Raja Jani, Seeta Aur Geeta , Patthar Aur Payal, Dost (1974), Sholay (1975), Charas, Jugnu, Azaad (1978) and Dillagi (1978).

 She fell in love with the already married Dharmendra when they filmed for Sholay in 1975, and both of them converted to Islam and married in 1980 because Dharmendra's first wife refused to divorce him. She is lovingly known as Dream Girl by fans ever since doing a film by the same name in the mid 70s. Other than acting, she is also a director, producer and a politician.

After her marriage, Malini made films including Kranti, Naseeb (1981), Satte Pe Satta, Rajput, and Ek Nai Paheli (1984). Malini portrayed the role of a classical singer in the film opposite Rajesh Khanna, 

She directed the film Dil Aashna Hai with Divya Bharti and Shahrukh Khan in the leading roles. Following this, Malini focused on dancing and television work
After taking a break from films for a number of years, Hema made a comeback with Baghban (2003). for which she earned a Filmfare Best Actress Award nomination. She also played a substantial supporting role in the 2004 film Veer-Zaara. In 2011, she directed her second feature film Tell Me O Khuda which featured both her husband Dharmendra and her daughter Esha Deol

In 1999, Malini campaigned for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Vinod Khanna, a former Bollywood actor, in the Lok Sabha Elections in Gurdaspur, Punjab. In February 2004, Malini officially joined the BJP From 2003 to 2009, she served as an MP to the upper house of the Rajya Sabha, having been nominated by the then President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. In March 2010, Malini was made general secretary of the BJP, and in February 2011, she was recommended by Ananth Kumar, the party general secretary. In the 2014 general elections for the Lok Sabha, Malini defeated the Mathura incumbent, Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) by 3,30,743 votes.She was then elected to the Lok Sabha.

She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Her daughters Esha Deol & Ahana Deol are also trained Odissi dancers. They performed with Malini in a production called Parampara for charitable events. She also performed with her daughters at the Khajuraho Dance Festival. Malini also studied Kuchipudi with Vempati Chinna Satyam and Mohiniattam with Kalamandalam Guru Gopalakrishnan. She has played a number of dance roles including Narasimha and Rama in Tulasidas's Ramcharitmanas.In 2007, she performed in Mysuru on the eve of Dussera, where she played the roles of Sati, Parvati and Durga. Malini owns the Natya Vihar Kalakendra dance school.

She won Best Actress Award for Filmfare in 1973 for Sita Aur Geeta. and nominated for 10 times Last she was nomited for Baghban in 2003.
Let's Celebrate her Birthday with her Hit songs

Song from Sapnon Ka Saudagar 1968

Song from Waris 1969

Song from Abhinetri 1970

Song from Sharafat 1970

Song from Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song from Andaz 1971

Song from Seeta Aur Geeta 1972

Song from Prem Nagar 1974

Song from Dharmatma 1975

Song from Sholay 1975

Song from Dus Numbari 1976

Song from Dream Girl 1976

Song from  Trishul 1978

Song from Kranti 1981

Song from Satte Pe Satta 1982

Song from Razia Sultan 1983

Song from Baghban 2003

Remembering SHANKAR of Shankar-jaikishan on his 94th Birth Anniversary

Shankar Singh s/o Ram Singh (15 October 1922 – 26 April 1987) was a native of Telangana, and spent his early years in Hyderabad. During his formative years, Shankar played the tabla and learned the art formally from Baba Nasir Khansahib. For many years, Shankar studied as a disciple of the legendary composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, in whose orchestra he performed.
Shankar started his career with a theater group run by Satyanarayan and Hemawati, before shifting to Prithvi Theatre where he played tabla and performed some minor roles in plays. Shankar worked as assistant to the leading composer duo of Husnlal Bhagatram.
Shankar used to frequently visit the office of a Gujrati director Chandravadan Bhatt who had promised Shankar a break as a Music Director when he produced a film. It was outside the office of Bhatt that Shankar met Jaikishan Both used to visit Prithvi theatre and became good friend.

 While working in Prithvi Theaters, Shankar and Jaikishan used to compose tunes and were in touch with Raj Kapoor, who was working as an assistant to the famous director Kidar Sharma and was aspiring to be an actor/director. Thus, the three had met at Prithvi Theater.
Raj Kapoor made his debut as a director with the film Aag in 1948. Its music director Ram Ganguly was assisted by Shankar and Jaikishan. However, during the recording of a song for his new venture Barsaat, Raj Kapoor had some serious differences with Ram Ganguly and decided to assign its music to Shankar who insisted on taking Jaikishan as his partner. Thus came into existence the new pair of music directors named 'Shankar-Jaikishan' who composed the music for the film.

A Rare Photo of  Shankar with R K Team

While working as a team, Shankar and Jaikishan used to compose their songs separately. Generally, Shankar liked to work with Shailendra and Jaikishan with Hasrat Jaipuri though there are notable instances where Shankar worked with Hasrat and Jaikishan with Shailendra. Between the two, Shankar was the senior partner and hence, he would usually arrange the orchestra, even for Jaikishan's songs. There was a gentleman's agreement between them for not identifying the actual composer of the song.
Dance numbers, title/theme songs and soulful songs were Shankar's forte while Jaikishan was a master of composing background score, apart from romantic songs.

 They,specially Shankar didn’t just stick to established singers but made sure they found the right voice for the mood. For instance, they used an unknown Subir Sen for Dil mera ek aas ka panchi from Aas Ka Panchi (1960), Suman Kalyanpur for Dil ek mandir hai from Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Manna Dey for Yeh raat bheegi bheegi,  Chori Chori (1956), Asha Bhosle for Mud mudke na dekh from Shri 420 (1955), Mukesh (for Dilip Kumar) in Yeh mera diwanapan hai, Yahudi (1958) and made many more such off kilter choices.            

 Shankar and Jaikishan began to give music separately but few may be aware about their split Though the two never disclosed the separation, the fact is that the two did started working separately in the mid-60s. The reason is attributed to the fact that Shankar introduced a new singer Sharda (famous for her song Titli Udi... in the movie SURAJ) much against the disagreement of Jaikishan. Further Shankar's fondness for Sharda and Jiakishan's inclination towards Lata Mangeshkar created differences between the two and in the mid-60s the two split. They always credited their name on screen as music by Shankar Jaikishan. 

The impact of this separation was so severe that Jaikishan took to heavy drinking. In an interview, Shammi Kapoor, who was very close to Jaikishan, confessed that the prime reason of Jaikishan's untimely death was his consumption of excessive alcohol due to his separation with Shankar.

After the death of jaikishan gave the Hit music of Lal Patthar and Sanyasi but slowly& slowly  Shanker's career goes downhill.First Raj Kapoor opted for Laxmikant Pyarelal for Bobby then Loyalist Sohanlal Kanwar, who has been with him since 1970, leaves him..

Shankar died in the night of April 26, 1987 due to a massive heart attack as known from his family source. The world came to know about his death a day after the cremation was over.
, Shankar was a very private man and, thus, maintained a very low profile. He married a widow named Kunda with two sons. The two did not have any children of their own. Kunda also passed away a few years after Shankar. No one knows the whereabouts of the step sons.

RAJ KAPOOR & SHANKAR JAIKISHAN SONGS
Raj Kapoor & Shankar Jaikishan's association was one of the most successful and memorable music collaborations in Hindi Films. Other such collabrations were Dev Annand and S D Burman,Dilip with Naushad etc.S J and Raj Kapoor team worked together in 19 movies including 9 for R K Films.The first time they came together in Barsaat 1949.

Song from Barsaat 1949

Song from Awaraa 1951

Song from Aah 1953

Song from Boot Polish 1954

Song from Shri 420 (1954)

Song from Chori Chori 1956

Song from Anari 1959

Song from kanahiya 1959

Song from Main Nashe Me Hoon  1959

Song from Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai  1960

Song from  Aashiq 1962

Song from  Sangam 1964

Song from  Teesri Kasam  1966

Song from  Diwana 1967

Song from  Mera Naam Joker 1970

The Films that are 50:TEESRI KASAM- A Melancholic Delight.

Teesri kasam  is a 1966 film based on a short story, mare gaye gulfam by phanishwarnath renu, a hindi novelist. the film stars Raj kapoor and Waheeda Rehman. the duo Shankar-Jaikishan composed the flim's score.directed by Basu bhattacharya, Teesri Kasam is an unconventional film that portrays the society of the rural india and simplicity of villagers.Released on  01 July,1966 was a box office disaster.

The story is rather simple: Hiraman, a cart-driver who is involved in black-marketing is almost caught by the police, and, upon escaping, vows he’ll never trade smuggled goods any more. He then reverts to bamboo trafficking, but that’s also a failure, and similarly he vows not to deal with it: what will be his third vow (teesri kasam)? We learn about it as he sets off on a journey, loaded this time with a rightful cargo, even if the lawfulness of this consignment will have to be reconsidered along the way, and will in effect lead to that fateful third vow.

The songs of the movie perfectly match the action, in a way that only movies of that era knew how to, it seems to me. They is always a profound justification for them, they always comment upon the action in a true and meaningful way.

 All the songs filmed on Hiraman are a reflection of his simple heart and lack of worldly-wisdom. The songs in the Nautanki, filmed on Hirabai, tantamount to either the rural folk songs when she is merely entertaining the crowd, or a deep pang of love lost when she is reflecting her relationship with Hiraman. The Chalat Musafir Moh Liyo Re song is an absolute rural-chaupal song, the types heard even today in those parts of the country.
One of the greatest lyricists, Shailendra, who was a good friend of Raj Kapoor, was so enamoured by Renu’s novel that he wanted to produce the film adaptation. He roped in Basu Bhattarchaya as the director, a protégé of the great Bimal Roy, and Basu Chatterjee, an upcoming director assisted him in direction. Shailendra had planned for Mehmood and Meena Kumari to play the lead, but that didn’t materialise due to various reasons, and his old friend Raj Kapoor volunteered to step in as the lead, and also brought another friend, Waheeda Rehman, as the female lead. Raj Kapoor even agreed to work for a nominal fee of only Re. 1 for the film.

The film went on to win the President’s Gold Lotus Award for Best Feature Film of 1966, Best Lyricist (Shailendra) and Best Director (Basu Bhattarchaya), but Shailendra did not live long to see all the critical accolades showered on his masterpiece. 

Songs of Teesri Kasam