Shyama- One of the Busiest Actresses of the Golden Era

Shyama (7 June 1935 – 14 November 2017) was one of the busiest actresses of the 50s and 60s. She appeared in as many as 80 films, mostly in leading roles. In 1963, she had as many as 18 releases and in 1964 she had 17 releases.
Shyama started her career from the bottom of the ladder but soon worked with the Top Heroes Of Golden Era with Dev Anand in Sazaa 1951, Tarana(1951) with Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor in Sharda and with Guru Dutt in Aar Paar.
Many memorable songs were picturized on her, An early song where Shyama first made an impact is the second version of the main love duet, ‘Tu Mera Chand Main Teri Chandni’, from A.R. Kardar’s Dillagi (1949) starring Suraiya and Shyam. 
There was magic whenever Geeta Dutt lent her voice for Shyama. This vibrant singer and exuberant actress complemented each other perfectly through several films be it Shrimatiji, Aar Paar, Musafir Khana (1955), or Chhoo Mantar (1956). But if one song truly stood out in their collaboration, it has to be the beautiful ditty from Bhai Bhai composed by Madan Mohan, Ae Dil Mujhe Bata De. 
She acted a serious character in Bimal Roy’s Maa with equal ease. Came Shart, another acting triumph of hers. Since then she played all sorts of roles in all sorts of pictures. Her notable films include Chandan, Sharda, Mirza Sahiban, Aar Paar, etc. She topped her acting triumphs by her memorable double role in Do Behnen. Her work in Sharda brought her the 1959 Filmfare award for the best supporting role.
In later years, her memorable roles came in films of Rajesh Khanna such as Masterji and 'Ajanabee (1974 film) and others such as Sawan Bhadon and Dil Diya Dard Liya.
In her long career, she played the lead, second lead, and vamp roles in around 147 films. The last film she did was the Sanjay Dutt starrer Hathyar.
She was married to cinematographer Fali Mistry in 1953. The couple had three children, two sons, Faroukh and Rohinton, and a daughter Shirin. Fali Mistry died in 1979, thereafter she continued to stay in Mumbai.
Shyama died on 14 November 2017 due to a lung infection at the age of 82. She is buried at Badakabarastan, Marine Lines.She was given Dada Saheb Phalke Award.

Song of Dillagi 1949

Song of Shrimati ji 1952

Song of Aar Paar 1954

Song of Aar Paar 1954

Song of Aar Paar 1954

Song of Shart 1954

Song of Bhai Bhai 1956

Song of Duniya Rang Rangeeli 1957

Bollywood's Love for Bicycle

Two days back I heard the news that one of the oldest bicycle manufacturers(Atlas cycle) of India closes its factory. This made me upset, I started to think, how useful is a bicycle to us. Riding your bicycle regularly is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
Bicycle remained an important part of our life, many films or scenes were created in this mode of transport. Cycle scenes or songs have been picturized on a variety of actors from the Black &White era to the recent films. The first Hindi film on this subject was Khajanchi released in 1942. In this film a cycling chase was picturized on character actor Janki Das, who was introduced in this film, he was a ‘World Cycling Champion’The highlight of the film was the cycling feat of Janki Dass through the lanes and bylanes of Lahore. 
Jankidas served as the only Indian member of the International Olympic Committee at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and was the only Indian to have broken the world record in cycling between 1934 and 1942. He broke eight cycling world records between 1934 to 1942.  

Actress Shubha Khote was a National Cycling Champion and was given a special chase scene on cycle in her debut film Seema in 1955. In 1959 film a love story started with a cycling accident. Incidentally, Shubha Khote was also in this scene among the girls singing and cycling.
Another film Shor 1972 the hero of the film enters into a cycling competition to win the prize money for treating his son. 

Jo Jeeta Woh Sikander, the 1992 film was based on cycling. The film story revolves around cycle races. First in a school competition. Aamir Khan trumped over the conniving Deepak Tijori.

Dil Dhadkne Do 

 Piku

Barfi

For the last 10 years, many films had cycle scenes, there was a cycle chase in Burfi, Amitabh Bachchan cycling on the street of Kolkata in Piku, paddling away in the streets of one of the most beautiful cities in the world along with your new-found love. Anushka and Ranveer show us exactly what to do after you fall for each other in Dil Dhadkne Do 

Salman Khan who is an avid cycle enthusiast in real life asked director Kabir Khan to keep a cycling scene in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.  Salman Khan gave a lift to his ladylove Kareena on his cycle.

Song of Khajanchi 1941

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Song of Anari 1959

50 Years of Jeevan Mrityu

Released on 4 June 1970, Jeevan Mrityu is a Rajshri Production starring Dharmendra and Rakhi, the debut film of Rakhi. If you are a Dharmendra fan this film is for you. Dharmendra gives one of his best performances in this film. 
Dharmendra was at his best. Usually, he is known for his action but in this, you see him as a well-educated man who reaches the top in a short span with his hard work. Dharmendra has given an answer to all those who think he cannot perform emotional scenes well.  It wouldn't be wrong to say that the entire movie depends on Dharmendra's performance.

 The film was a remake of a 1967 Bengali film Jiban Mrityu starring Uttam Kumar and Supriya Devi in lead roles. The story was about a bank manager played by Dharmendra who is falsely implicated in a case of embezzlement by his colleagues Harish (Ajit), Jagat Narayan (Kanhaiyalal), Barrister P. Amarnath (Ramesh Deo) and Ramakant (Krishan Dhawan) for stealing Rs 10 lakh. and sent to jail for seven years. 
After completing his seven-year term, he finds a benefactor in Raja Ranvir Singh (Bipin Gupta) and plots revenge against his colleague. After Ashok is mistakenly reported to be dead, he takes on a new identity( In a disguise of a Sardar)  and sets off to get his former colleagues. 

Raakhee looks pretty in Dharmendra’s company, especially the melodious song, “Jhilmil Sitaron Ka Aangan Hoga”, featuring them in the first half of the movie. The sad version of this song, a solo of Lata Mangeshkar in the second part.
The film was a big hit as well the song "Jhil Mil Sitaron Ka" composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal. It will always be remembered as one of the finest offerings from the house of Tarachand Barjatjya, known to give quality films that could be viewed by the entire family.

Song of Jeevan Mrityu 1970

Song of Jeevan Mrityu 1970

Song of Jeevan Mrityu 1970 (Sad Version)

Raj Kapoor had a great ear for music

Have you ever thought, why the music of all his films remains immensely popular? The reason being he himself had a great knowledge of music. He learned music in his childhood. In his early days, he wanted to be a music director. He even sang in his earlier films like Dil Ki Rani, Chitchor, Chittor Vijay, Jail Yatra, and Gopinath.
His music journey started with Papaji (Prithviraj Kapoor) in theatre in Calcutta. When he came to Bombay he learned classical music playing Harmonium, Tabla, and Sitar at Narayan Rao Vijay Academy. He was also with Anil Biswas for some time.
He was very fond of composing tunes, he composed tunes with Ram Ganguli with whom Shankar, Jailishan used to play Harmonium and Tabla. It was there the birth of the Team of Shankar Jaikishan and Raj Kapoor took place, that entertained the music lovers.
Lata Mangeshkar in an interview said that a filmmaker has to be a musician himself to understand the quality of music needed in his films. She said that Raj Kapoor had a sharp music sence. Raj saab was a complete musician. He played the tabla, the harmonium, and the piano. He composed songs and sang them in his own voice before handing them over to professional playback singers.
Raj Kapoor's song sittings were very famous, all the stake holders of the song used to be invited on the sittings, time was no limit, every one present cold give his suggestion. He loved to listen to tunes, to prune and trim the compositions, to correct the singers. He also sit with the Lyricist to change a particular line or word which is not matching the tune, he perfected the compositions to suit his taste.
Lata Mangeshkar at a function said that the music of RK Films may have been attributed to Shankar-Jaikishan or Laxmikant Pyarelal in Bobby or Satyam Shivam Sundaram but it had the final finish of Raj Kapoor which used to be icing on the cake.
Raj Kapoor was of the opinion that songs are the important ingredient of Hindi cinema.He beeived that these should carry the story ahead. Like his peers Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt, he gave as much importance to the execution of a song as to a scene.
For him, the songs were truly not only audio but audio-visual. He saw music as it were; and only when he could how the song could be filmed, did he okay its recording. His use of elaborate sets, of light and shade to convey sombreness and technicolour to project joy, were all part of his visual perception.
Songs in RK films were never just 'there'; they were seamlessly woven into the fabric of the film, used intelligently and sensibly to complement the narrative.

Song of Barsaat 1949

Song of Awaara 1951

Song of Shree 420 1955

Song of Chori Chori 1956

Song of Anari 1959

Song of Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai 1960

Song of Sangam 1964

Song of Teesri Kasam 1966

Song of Mera Naam Joker 1970

Bollywood Songs Picturized in Foreign Location

It is believed that Sangam 1964 was the first film shot in Foreign but on researching, I have found that Naaz(1954) was the first Bollywood film shot in Foreign Locations. The film starring Ashok Kumar and Nalini Jaywant. This movie was shot in England and Egypt. 
In 1960, two films Bewqoof starring Kishore Kumar and Singapore starring Shammi Kapoor had songs picturized in Italy and Singapore.
There was another film "Hongkong" released in 1962 was shot in HongKong and Singapore. A couple of songs were picturized on Helen and Om Prakash. Yes, it is true it was Raj Kapoor's Sangam that popularized  Rome, Venice, Vatican, Switzerland.
In the 60s films like An Evening In Patis, Love In Tokyo, and Humsaya encouraged more producers and directors to shoot songs on foreign locations. Yash Chopra had a fascination for picturizing songs on foreign locations starting from the evergreen  'Dekha Ek Khwab....' song from his 1981 film 'Silsila' in the Netherlands, and his film 'Faasle' (1985), in Switzerland. 
The video of Naaz 1954 film is not available so the first song of my this blog is from the film Bewqoof 1960 which was picturized on Kishore Kumar and Mala Sinha. The sing was picturized in Italy. This song was sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhonsle, with one line in Manna Dey’s voice, slipped in.

Song of Bewqoof 1960

Singapore (1960) was an Eagle Films Production movie. It was produced by F C Mehra and directed by Shakti Samanta. the movie had Shammi Kapoor, Padmini,A couple of songs were picturized in Singapore

Song of Singapore 1960

Hongkong 1962. This film was produced by the actor Omprakash
The song is picturized on Helen where she is seen wooing Omprakash.on a beach in Singapore.

Song of Hongkong 1962

Sangam was the first film that was shot in Switzerland. the famous multi-lingual song in the voice of Vivian Lobo. The song is built from the lines ‘I Love You’ said in five different languages. English, Russian.German, and French. The song was picturized in the background when Raj Kapoor and Vijyantimala visit Europe after their marriage. 

Song of Sangam 1964

The success of Sangam and the craze of the Indian public to see the foreign locations encouraged Indian filmmakers to shoot or picturise songs..

 Love in Tokyo was one of those rare Hindi films of the 60s that was set almost completely in Japan, and it had several songs that were shot outdoors. 

Song of Love In Tokyo 1966

“Around the world” (1967) was another film of the 69s, many songs were picturized in this film,this song Dunia Ki Sair Karlo was shot in the USA 

Song of Around the world” (1967)

An Evening In Paris is a 1967 film that revolves in the French capital city of Paris. The movie stars Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore The title song was picturized in Patis, Another song Akele Akele Kahan Ja Rahe Ho was shot in Switzerland.

Song of  An Evening In Paris 1967

Song of  An Evening In Paris 1967

In 1967 another film Aman was released which was shot in Japan. There was a song picturized on Rajendra Kumar and Saira Bano

Song of  Aman 1967

The film ‘Spy In Rome’ was released in 1968, starring  Dev Kumar, Jaimala, Rajendra Nath, A couple of songs were picturized in the beautiful and historic city of Rome. We can see Dev Kumar and Jaimala strolling through the streets of Rome,

 

Song of Spy In Rome 1968 

1968  popular song De Data Ke Naam from Aankhen was shot in Beirut

Song of Aankhen 1968

The 1970 film Prem Pujari was Dev Anand's first film as director, the song " Pholon Ke Rang Se" was shot in Switzerland.  Grimsel Hotel can be seen in Background.

Song of Prem Pujari 1970 

Purab Aur Paschim  was also 1970 film, one song of this film "Koi Jab  Tumhara Hridaya Tod De"   this song was actually filmed at Oxford University in London

Song of Purab Aur Paschim 1970

In 1972 actor Feroz Khan turned into Producer, Director with the release of Apradh starring Mumtaz and himself. It was the first Hindi film introducing Formula One Car racing. This film was shot in Germany. A couple of songs were shot in Europe

.

Song of Apradh 1972

In 1974 Dharmatma was the second film of Feroz Khan as producer and director. This film was shot in Afganistan. This song was shot in  Bamyan Valley. 

Song of Dharmatma 1975

More songs in Part 2

Raj Khosla came to Bombay to become a Singer

He wanted to become a playback singer but destiny made him an ace director of his time. He had learned classical music from the age of six, and as a student, had joined All India Radio, filling in whenever a singer could not make it. He struggled hard to become a singer,  only one composer gave him a song that too after rehearsing went to Mukesh. He did get a song in 1949 film Bhool Bhulaiya, Bulo C Rani composed it, later in Madan Mohan's debut film Ankhen (1950), wherein he sang the quaint 'Rail Mein Jeeya Mora'.
During his struggle days, he became a friend to Dev Anand, who spotted his talent of direction made him an assistant of Guru Dutt at the time of making of Baazi in 1950. He assisted Guru Dutt in Jaal(1952) and Aar Paar(1954).

 in 1954 got a break with "Milap", starring Dev Anand and Geeta Bali. In this film, not only Raj Khosla made a debut as a Director, but a new Music Director, N. Dutta gave debut music. The next film he directed was C I D (1956) which was a hit From here onwards he never looked back. His next two films Kala Pani (1958) and Solva Saal (1958) were back to bach hit. 
He entered into production also, he co-produced and directed Bombay Ka Babu which was again a hit. Till then he directed 5 films in all the 5 films Dev Anand was his hero. The next film he directed was Ek Musafir Ek Hasina in 1962 for Shashdhar Mukharjee with Joy Mukharjee as a hero. The next film he directed was Woh Kaun Thi (1964) with Manoj Kumar and Sadhana.
Khosla explored a variety of styles be it crime thrillers like CID, suspense thrillers like Woh Kaun Thi, and musicals (Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962). Now he tried melodramas (Do Badan (1966) , he was successful in that too. In 1969 he came out with Do Raste and Chirag both the films were hit. The next genre he tried dacoity with highly successful Mera Gaon Mera Desh in 1971 and Kachhe Dhaage in 1973.
He made films after Mera Gaon Mera Desh and had hits like Prem Kahani (1975) starring the then hottest pair of the day Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz, Nehle Pe Dehla (1976) and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978). After enjoying big hits like Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978) and Dostana (1980) with Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, and Shatrughan Sinha, Khosla ran into some rough weather as his other films started flopping. The last film he directed was Sunny in 1984, which was not a hit.A dispirited Khosla took refuge in alcohol and died in Bombay on 9 June 1991
 He, along with Guru Dutt and Vijay Anand, was among the directors, who were also responsible for song picturizations being taken to a new high in the Hindi cinema of the 1950s and 6os.

Songs were sung by Raj Khosla in films

Song of Bhool Bhulaiya 1949

Song of Aankhen 1950

Songs of Films directed by Raj Khosla 

Song of Milap 1955

Song of CID 1956

Song of Kala Pani 1958

Song of Solva Saal 1958

Song of Bombai Ka Babu 1960

Song of Woh Kaun Thi 1963

Song of Mera Saya 1965

43 Years of Amar Akbar Anthony

This film was released on 27 May 1977 and earned ₹155 million at the Indian box office, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of that year. Amitabh Bachchan in his blog said that 'Amar Akbar Anthony' is estimated to have made Rs 7.25 crore in those days. Inflation-adjusted, it crosses the collections of Bahubali 2—The Conclusion today! The film ran for 25 weeks in 25 cinema Halls in Bombay alone which is a record.
You would be surprised to note that when the film was in pre-production, Manmohan Desai thought of shelving it but his wife encouraged Manmohan Desai to complete it. He was not sure of the success of the film. On the day of release, Manmohan Desai got very nervous and sick. When he heard "House full" boards were being put at cinema halls he became well and happy. 
Regarding the title of this film, he said that it was an unusual title at that time. In the '70s when film titles revolved around 'Behen Bhabhi' and 'Beti', this one was so out of place. The director Manmohan Desai got the idea of this film while reading a newspaper! He read a news piece of a drunk man named Jackson, who was fed up of his life and hence decided to drop his three children in the park. Similarly, in the film, Pran takes his children and drops them in a park at the beginning of the film.

The lesser-known fact is from one of the songs from the movie. We are referring to the song 'My name is Anthony Gonsalves...' Audience loves to listen to the song even today, especially, the starting lines which go, 'Sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated with the exuberance of your own verbosity,' uttered by Anthony after he emerges from the huge Easter egg. The words are a quotation from a speech given by Benjamin Disraeli in 1878. 

Another lesser-known fact is that initially, Amitabh's character name was Anthony Fernandes when Manmohan Desai met lyricist Anand Bakshi, and the song "My name is Anthony Fernandes" was written, it didn't go well with Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Composer Pyarelal then recalled his violin teacher, composer Anthony Gonsalves, and suggested an alternative "Anthony Gonsalves", which would be finalized as the character's name.
The soundtrack of the film, composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal with lyrics penned by Anand Bakshi, proved as popular and successful as the film itself. For the song, "Humko Tumse Ho Gaya Hai", four leading playback singers, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, and Lata Mangeshkar sang together for the first and only occasion in their careers.

The film stars Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rishi Kapoor opposite Shabana Azmi, Parveen Babi, and Neetu Singh in the lead roles. The film was scheduled in such a way that the entire cast, including the three titular stars, didn't have to shoot together except for the climactic sequence and the title song, "Anhoni Ko Honi Karde", where they all perform together. It was shot over a period of a month at Ranjit Studios in Mumbai.
There was an interesting goof in the film. In the introduction scene between Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, Rishi's character Akbar Illahabadi calls Neetu Singh's character Dr Salma by her real name and not with her character's name. This goof is noticeable enough, but no efforts were taken to correct it in the movie. This is the scene when Akbar comes to Dr. Salma for a health check-up and he refers to Dr. Salma as Neetu. 
Recall the cult scene wherein Amitabh Bachchan mouths a dialogue looking into the mirror? The dialogue 'Pakka idiot lagtaa' is still fresh in everyone's mind. It was after Amitabh did the mirror scene that Manmohan Desai became a life long fan of Amitabh. Manmohan saw the scene later on and told Amitabh that if he ever wants to leave Manmohan Desai it will be fine, but he (Manmohan) would never leave him.who later formed a hit combo.
You would be surprised to note that Manmohan Desai had met Amitabh in 1972. Salim Javed had introduced him to Manmohan. Desai was not impressed with Amitabh and stated "The only role I will ever offer him is a CHICKEN ROLL !"

Rishi Kapoor in his biography revealed that he was shooting for Laila Majnu 1976 when he got a call from Manmohan Desai that he would like him to play the role of Akbar in his next movie, he thought that Akbar would be someone like Akbar Baadshah the kind of role his grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor played in Mughle Azam 1960 and Rishi Kapoor said to Manmohan Desai he won't be playing that role which his grandfather had played after further discussion he came to know the character was about three heroes belonging to different faiths.
The role of AMAR was originally offered to Dharmendra, but he declined it because of his busy schedule. It was then Vinod Khanna was signed. In the original script, Vinod Khanna did not have any heroine opposite himself he insisted Man Mohan Desai to cast and actress opposite him as his co-stars Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor had actress paired opposite them. Shabana Azmi was cast at the last moment.

This film was full of entertainment but was also full of illogical facts such as the scene where all 3 brothers giving blood directly to the mother. A miracle in medical science and also in the last scene when Neetu Singh catches Parveen's wrist to find out whether she is pregnant. It became a joke that Manmohan Desai is entertaining but you have to leave your brain at home to see his films.
This film truly belonged to Amitabh Bachchan. He received his first Filmfare award for this film. The film crowned Amitabh Bachchan as a ‘One Man Variety Show’ 

Songs of Amar Akbar Anthony

	Title	Time
1.	"Ye Sach Hai Koi Kahani Nahin"	Mohammad Rafi	02:22
2.	"Amar Akbar Anthony"	Kishore Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor, Shailendra Singh	05:52
3.	"Humko Tumse Ho Gaya Hai Pyar"	Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar	07:33
4.	"Taiyabali Pyar Ka Dushman"	Mohammad Rafi	04:40
5.	"Parda Hai Parda"	Mohammad Rafi	07:59
6.	"Shirdi Wale Sai Baba"	Mohammad Rafi	05:52
7.	"My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves"	Amitabh Bachchan, Kishore Kumar

Song of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977

Song of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977

Song of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977

Song of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977

Song of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977

Song of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977