Rajesh Khanna

Thanks Suresh. Wish you and your loved ones a great New Year!

No, no, no. How can anyone forget Raj Kapoor? He is always special and will be forever.

Thanks. Could not agree with you more.

Aurat (1967)

This was Rajesh Khanna's second movie. But it was Padmini's movie all the way. Rajesh played her brother and had a limited role. The movie was made by Gemini and directed by Kishore Sahu. Padmini, a beautiful woman and a talented dancer, had to play a role that demanded some histroinics. The movie sadly shows that she was not much of an actress. The story itself was so antiquated that it is hard to swallow. The only redeeming feature of this movie was its beautiful music by Ravi. Almost all songs are good to hear. Lata's solos and Asha's solo are very appealing. But my favorite is the duet "Yeh Kaun Hai" by Asha and Mahendra Kapoor.

The source of these songs is a DVD. The quality of the DVD was very poor. The songs also reflect the same quality. I tried to clean them as much as I could. There is also a skip in Rafi's solo song. Now for the details of the songs and the songs themselves ...

Thanks for this album.

Thanks SP for Aurat.

Baharon Ke Sapne (1967)

Nasir Hussain made himself a name as an out and out entertainer. However, in 1967, while assigning directorial duties of making "Teesri Manzil" to Vijay Anand, he made this socially conscious movie. In a later press article he told its reporter that he wanted to make this movie for a long time and finally had an opportunity to do it. Even though it has superb songs, the movie was not a commercial success. Nasir Hussain went back to his old and proven successful formula of making entertainers.

Here are the details of the songs and the songs themselves ...

Raaz (1967)

Rajesh started his acting stint working for several famous producers. This movie was produced by Sippy (later of "Sholay" fame). Like Rajesh himself, its heroine Babita (later to become wife of Randhir Kapoor) was a relative newcomer. The movie was based on mystery and had some beautiful songs by Kalyanji & Anandji. The dual version of "Akele Hain" is one to savor. The duet of Lata and Mukesh is another popular number.

Here is a description of these songs and the songs themselves ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jan 16 2009, 12:16 AM

Thanks swarapriya !!! I totally agree "Akele Hain..." is an awesome song !!!!

Hi Jigri, I'm glad to hear from you. Cheers. -S

Thanks SP for Raaz and Baharon Ke Sapne.

You're welcome. Cheers.

Aradhana (1969)

"Aradhana" established several firsts in the Hindi film industry. Shakti Samanta was known to make entertainers and not emotional dramas. Here he goes against the trend to make a great break away movie. The movie itself was based on the 1946 Hollywood classic “To Each His Own”. Samanta won the Filmfare best picture award for the movie. Five years later, in 1974, the movie was made into Tamil ("Sivahamiyiri Selvan") and Telugu ("Kannavari Kalalu").

Samanta originally offered the role to that fine Bengali actress Aparna Sen. For reasons unknow, she refused the role. Samanta who earlier introduced Sharmila Tagore in “Kashmir Ki Kali” offered her the role where she has to play a mother most of the movie. The serious side of Sharmila was only seen in Satyajit Ray’s films but never before in a Hindi movie. She played the role Olivia de Havilland won an Oscar in the English version. Interestingly, Sharmila also won the Filmfare award for best actress for her touching portrayal in this movie.

Rajesh Khanna starred in five movies before “Aradhana”. All of them were failures. In 1968, he didn’t have a single movie. But this all changed in late 1969. “Aradhana” was released nationwide in October 1969. By overnight it became a huge hit and Rajesh Khanna became a phenomenon. A super star was suddenly discovered by the film going public. The Khanna phenomenon lasted nearly five years until romance was replaced by angry young man’s problems.

This movie also catapulted Kishore Kumar to a playback singing force. In an article in “Screen”, the writer explains that the two duets of Rafi Saab were first picturized and Burman da was all set to go for other songs with Rafi. But Burman da seriously fell ill and went into coma. R.D. Burman who was assisting his father, took over the reins. He also made the decision to use Kishore’s voice for Rajesh. Both of his solos and the duet with Lata that he recorded became huge hits. The song “Roop Tera Mastaana” became a national craze. It also fetched Kishore da a Filmfare award as the best male playback singer.

Because of the date conflicts of Sharmila and Rajesh, for the song "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani", Samanta shot only Rajesh's portions in Darjeeling. Sharmila's portions were done in a studio. Incidentally, in the recent movie "Parineeta (2005)" where Sharmila's real life son, Saif Ali Khan, plays a major role, apparently rides the same train his mother should have used.

All these songs came from a CD. I am also including a version song by Amit Kumar, “Mere Sapnon Ki Rani” from his private album. Now here are the details of all the songs and the songs themselves …

Last Song Of "Aradhana (1969)"

Here is the last song. This was done by Amit Kumar. It is from his private album "Khiza Ke Phool". Bit rate is 192 Kb/s. Time is 5:04. MP3. The song is "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani".

Aradhana was the film that made Rajesh Khanna a superstar and made Kishore Kumar the undisputed KING of playback singing.Rajesh Khanna was replaced by Big B in 1974 but Kishore Kumar craze is intact even today.