Anarkali was a Musical Milestone for C Ramchandra

 

 C. Ramchandra's biggest success as a music composer was the 1953 movie Anarkali, though he had already tasted success with  Shehnai (1947), Sargam(1950), Samadhi(1950) and Albela(1951). The film was a Musical Hit and went on to celebrate Golden Jubilee. It was the highest-grossing film of 1953 and again ranks 2nd in the top 25 Best Musical Films of all times according to IMDb.

The Music direction of this film was given to the composer Vasant Prakash, who was the younger brother of famous composer Khemchan Prakash. He even composed a song “Aa jaane wafa aa” penned by Jan Nisar Akhtar and sung by Geeta Dutt. Basant Prakash had major health problems after having recorded this one song with Geeta Dutt. C. Ramchandra took over as the composer. The film had a total of 11 songs, with 10 composed by C Ramchandra and 1 by Basant Prakash.

This film was a musical hit. The first-ever 'Binaca Geetmala' Annual Program of 1953 - saw  "Ye Zindagi usiki hai" catapulted to  the No. 1 position. This song came in parts in the film. The first two stanzas were when the lovers happy in each others company. The 3 rd stanza - jo dil yahan na mil sake signalled their despair and separation, while the last 2 were of unrequited love when Anarkali was being cemented into a wall on all sides. Lata Mangeshkar gave her soul in singing this song.

Out of 11 songs, only one song was a duet "Jaag Dard-E-Ishq Jaag" sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Hemant Kumar.  Hemant Da had 2 solos in this film , recall the song "Zindagi Pyar Ki Do Char Ghadi Hoti Hai'.There were other beautiful songs too other than the above . 1. Aaja ab to aaja [Lata Mangeshkar- lyricist  Shaillendra]; 2. Mohabbat aisi dhadkan hai [Lata Mangeshkar] 3. Muzse mat puch mere ishq mein kya rakkha hai [Lata Mangeshkar] ; 4. Muhabbat mein aise kadam dagmagaye [Lata Mangeshkar] ; 5. Dua kar ghame dil khuda se dua kar [Lata Mangeshkar].

Track #	Song	Singer(s)	Lyricist	Music Composer
1	"Aa Jaan e Wafaa"[3]	Geeta Dutt	Jan Nissar Akhtar	Vasant Prakash
2	"Aaja Ab To Aaja"[3]	Lata Mangeshkar	Shailendra	C. Ramchandra
3	"Mujhse Mat Poochh"	Lata Mangeshkar	Rajendra Krishan	C. Ramchandra
4	"Dua Kar Gham-E-Dil"	Lata Mangeshkar	Shailendra	C. Ramchandra
5	"Jaag Dard-E-Ishq Jaag"[3]	Lata Mangeshkar, Hemant Kumar	Rajendra Krishan	C. Ramchandra
6	"Mohabbat Aisi Dhadkan Hai"[3]	Lata Mangeshkar	Hasrat Jaipuri	C. Ramchandra
7	"Zindagi Pyar Ki Do Char Ghadi"[3]	Hemant Kumar	Rajendra Krishan	C. Ramchandra
8	"O Aasman Wale Shikwa Hai Zindagi Ka"	Lata Mangeshkar	Hasrat Jaipuri	C. Ramchandra
9	"Yeh Zindagi Usiki Hai"[3]	Lata Mangeshkar	Rajendra Krishan	C. Ramchandra
10	"Ae Baad E Saba Zara Ahista Chal"	Hemant Kumar
11	"Mohabbat Mein Aise Kadam Dagamagae"	Lata Mangeshkar	Rajendra Krishan

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

Song of Anarkali 1953

The Journey of Bollywood Through Film Posters

 

A Film Poster is not merely a collage of images or piece of information or any colourful design. It is the first information and a publicity tool that attracts cine-goer to watch the movie. Bollywood's film posters have a long and illustrious history, right from 7th July 1896, the first day of screening films in India till today.

 Dadasaheb Phalke promoted his film Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian film, through his hand-painted film poster. Since then technology, techniques, ideas and designs have been changing for decades. Starting from 'Raja Harishchandra', the first Indian film, to till today, the posters of Bollywood films have come a long way from broad visible brush strokes with a striking array of colours and typography to modern-day digital prints on glossy sheets.

It included the title of the film and names of the director, producer, writer and the star cast but in Limca Book of Records, the first poster is mentioned of Baburao Painter’s hand-painted poster of his film Maya Bazaar, also known as Vatsala Haran (1923),

Initially, the film posters were text-based. This included the name of the film(title) in large and bold letters, the names of Hero, Heroine, Director, Producer, date of release and cinema hall. Later in 1924, the image of the hero or heroine appeared in posters. This was designed by Painter himself, depicted the heroic and noble side of Shivaji. 

With the rise and popularity of printing technology in the country, now film posters were being printed in large scale to be distributed all over the country. These posters were seen on the walls of important streets, barbershops, restaurants, near cinema halls.

There are many persons who have a hobby of collection of film posters. Now, these rare posters are being sold. I present here a journey of Bollywood film posters decade wise. These images are available through google.

 

Posters of 1930s

Chandidas 1934

 Amar Jyoti (1936)

1935 film Song of Life (Bhikharan, 1935

Duniya Na Mane (The Unexpected) (1937)

Baghban-1938

1940s Posters

Aurat 1940

Bandhan 1940

Nartaki_(1940)

Lagan (1941)

Khazanchi_1941_poster

Basant_(1942)

Kismet-1943

Tansen 1943

Rattan 1944

Anmol Ghadi 1946

Barsat 1949

1950s Posters

Samadhi 1950

Baazi_(1951)

Do_Bigha_Zamin 1953

Mother_India_poster

1960s Posters

Mughal e Azam 1960 poster

Guide 1965 Poster

1970s Posters

Johny_Mera_Naam_poster

Sholay-original-movie-poster

1980s Posters

Qurban 1980

Maine_Pyar_Kiya 1989

1990s Posters

Dilwale_Dulhania_Le_Jayenge 1995 poster

Hum_Aapke_Dil_Mein_Rehte_Hain 1999

2000s Posters

Lagaan 2001 poster

Dhoom 2 (2006)

Dabang 2010  poster

Dangal  2016 poster

Story Behind the Song 'Jhooth Bole kauwa Kate'

 

This popular song of the 1973 film Bobby was sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Shailendra Singh. This was composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal. The song was in fact based on Bundelkhand folk song ' Mein Mayke Chali Jaongi'. These lines were suggested by Vithal Bhai Patel, the great Hindi poet to Raj Kapoor.

Raj Kapoor added Mukhra( 'Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kate') to these lines which he heard from Rajendra Kumar 8 years back in 1962 during the shooting of Sangam.

There was an incident at the time of the shooting of Sangam in Paris. After the shooting of previous day Raj Kapoor told Raj Kapoor that in the next day they will start shooting early so he takes care that he wakes him up early. 

The next day Rajendra Kumar got up and was ready for shooting, finds Raj Kapoor still sleeping, he went to his room and knocked Raj Kapoor's door. Raj Kapoor was annoyed by being disturbed. Rajendra Kumar on this said that he himself had asked him to get up in the time which Raj Kapoor said you are lying. Rajendra Kumar at that instance saw 2 crows sitting on the balcony of the room and suddenly said Jhooth Bolun to Kauwa Kate, Raj Kapoor remembered those words and used these words as Mukhra of the song. 

Vithalbhai Patel was credited for this song in this film but Anand Baxi who completed the song was not happy that he did not get credit for the song. In the film immediately the song finishes another song starts. This song was also written by Vithalbhai Patel.'Na Chahon Sona Chandi'

Song of Bobby 1973

Qamar Jalalabadi- A Forgotten Lyricist

 

Qamar Jalalabadi (9 March 1917 – 9 January 2003), a poet who wrote more than 700 songs in more than 150 films gave us many immortal songs. One of his songs became the Radio Ceylon's anthem on the first of every month for decades, "khush hai zamana aaj pehli tarikh hai".

 Some of his memorable songs from his early films are  "Ik dilke tukde hazaar huye, koyi yahan gira koyi wahan gira…" in Pyar Ki Jeet (1948 film), , “Ik Pardesi Mera Dil Le Gaya” (Phagun, 1958), “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu” (Howrah Bridge, 1958), “Dum Dum Diga Diga” (Chhalia, 1960) and “Main To Ik Khwaab Hoon Is Khwaab Se Tu Pyaar Na Kar” (Himalay Ki God Mein,1965).

Right from the age of seven, he started writing poetry in Urdu. There was no encouragement from home, but a wandering poet named Amar Chand Amar met him in his hometown and encouraged him to write, recognising his immense talent and potential. 

To try his luck he came to Pune in the early 1940s. In 1942, he wrote lyrics for his first film Zamindar, the song  "Duniya me garibonko aaraam nahi milta" sung by Shamshad Begum became popular. Besides writing songs he also wrote dialogues and script for films. In 1944 he wrote dialogues and songs for 1944 film 'Ramshastri' and 'Chand'.  The noted dancer Sitara Devi performed some of his songs in Chand (1944). Chand was one of the earliest of Qamarji's successful and memorable films.He worked with S D Burman in 1946 in the film “Eight Days” where the comic song “O Babu Babu Re” became quite popular. He went on to work with music director Sardar Malik on many films. 

In 1947, he wrote songs in more than 10 films. "sunti nahi duniya kabhi fariyaad kissi ki" (Renuka, 1947) and the ghazal "Dil kis liye rota hai...pyar ki duniya me, aisa hi hota hai" (sung by Naseem Banu for the film Mulaquat in 1947) became very popular.

 He wrote either the script or dialogues for many films such as "Shaheed"(1948), “Munimji” (1955), “Phagun” (1958), “Ujala” (1959), “Maya” (1961) and “Taj Mahal” (1963). 

Here are a few of his memorable songs

Song of Zamindar (1942) Audio only

Song of Eight Days (1946)

Song of Pyar ki Jeet (1948)

Song of Shabnam 1949

Song of Sanam 1951

Song of Aansoo1953

Song of Pehli Tarikh 1954

Song of Howrah Bridge (1958)

Song of Howrah Bridge (1958)

Song of Phagun (1958)

Song of Chhalia (1960)

Song of Chhalia (1960)

Song of Himalay Ki God Mein (1965)

Song of Johar Mehmood In Goa (1965)

Song of Aansoo Aur Muskan (1971)