The Three Reigning Queens

Remaining 3 tracks of:

Film: Neki Aur Badi(1949)
Lyrics: Kidar Sharma
Music: Roshan

All tracks are in MP3 and bitrate and duration are provided

05-3.15-Ram duhai hai-Rajkumari & AshaBhosle-186kb
06-3.14-Dilwalo o dilwalo-Rajkumari-187 kb
07-3.16-Hame bhane lage dil-Rajkumari-186 kb
08-2.45-Chand hansa akash pe-Amir Bai-187 kb

This post has been edited by mirsa: Aug 18 2009, 01:43 PM

Mohd ji, thank you very much for "Neki aur Badi" songs. Cheers. -S

(Madhubala) Dulari (1949)

Here is a beautiful album from the great Naushad ji. His greatest achievement "Baiju Bawra" is another three years away but you can see the sweetness of his compositions with the simple instruments he uses in almost every song.

Then there is Rafi Saab's solo for ages, "Suhaani Raat Dhal Chuki". An absolute beauty. It reverberates in your heart for ever. The sweetness in the voice, the melancholy in the melody, the tenderness with it was delivered, the passion with which it was parlayed, it lingers in your heart for days and days ...

I am also including this song with a heartwarming tribute to Rafi Saab from Naushad ji that appeared in the "Legends: Mohd. Rafi - The Virtuoso (CD1)" album. It is close to 70 seconds long and it deeply touches your heart. I am also including Lata's rendering of the "Suhaani Raat" song from her "Shraddhanjali-3" album with few poignant remarks about Rafi Saab. Remember, there is no Lata's version in the actual movie. Finally, I am including the version sang by Sonu Nigam of the same song from his tribute to Rafi Saab album.

Because of the number of songs in this album, I will upload these in back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 19 2009, 09:10 AM

Songs of "Dulari (1949)" Continued ...

Here are rest of the songs from this great album. Included are some specials paying tributes to Rafi Saab by Naushad ji and Lata ji.

Its well-known that the poor reception of Neki Aur Badi made Roshan contemplate suicide. Rajkumari has a famous solo above but Chand Hansa is a wonderful composition.

Yes, this is known among most music lovers. I am glad it didn't happen and the good senses prevailed. Imagine that! We would have been deprived of so many great songs he eventually composed for our listening pleasure as his everlasting legacy. Thanks for reminding us about it.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 19 2009, 10:31 PM

(Meena) Veer Ghatotkach (1949)

Meena Kumari, in her early career, played in many mythological films. This was one of them. It has some beautiful songs by Tripathi ji. These are all by the courtesy of the Forum members.

Thanks Swarapriya for uploading these rare songs.

rpnawani

Sure thing. Cheers. -S

(Nargis) Humayun (1945)

This is another of great Mehboob Khan's movie in which Nargis appeared. In this historic epic drama, Shamsahd Begum, one of our great singers, sang all songs except one. These songs were ripped from a DVD and their quality is suspect. Here are the songs ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 21 2009, 05:47 AM

I'm not sure, but I think the singers for 2 songs are;

- Husn Kehta Ja Raha Hai - Shamshad & Ghulam Haider
- Jo Desh Kal Nahin Tha - Khan Mastana & Shamshad

Request confirmation from senior members.

Aditya

Aditya

I'm not a 'senior member' or 'senior' (thank God!) but I have exactly the same credits for both songs and believe they're correct.

(Madhubala) Imtihan (1949)

If anyone has songs from this album, please share. Thanks.

(Madhubala) Mahal (1949)

The movie “Mahal” made history when it was released in 1949. It has set new standards in acting, music, cinematography, writing, singing, direction, and virtually every aspect of film making. We can explore some of them in a bit more detail below …

Kamaal Amrohi, who wrote the story of the movie, also directed it. It was his maiden directorial venture. It was a psychodrama with overtones of a ghost story that was unlike anything seen before on the screen. A critic noted that “Mahal” was among the earlier efforts to improve not only the content but also the form of Hindi Films. The film is known for its richly textured visuals, the imaginative use of sound, its tantalizing ambiguity and of course haunting music.

This was Madhubala’s second movie in an adult role (“Neel Kamal” was her first). She grew up to be a beautiful woman and the movie with its richly textured visuals showed her as the haunting spirit that not only occupies the mahal but also makes its occupant, the hero, helplessly succumb to the charm and to the inexplicable mystery surrounding her. Many critics felt that she literally stole the show from the veteran actor Ashok Kumar, who also was the producer of the movie.

The movie had one of hauntingly superb compositions created by Khemchand Prakash. The use of sounds and orchestration was many years ahead of rest of the competition. The great Naushad ji acknowledged publicly that Prakash ji was like his guru. One of the decisions Prakash ji made was to have Lata Mangeshkar, who was still trying to establish herself in the industry, to sing three songs. With the support from Ashok Kumar, in spite of the protests from the Bombay Talkies, he studio that was making this movie, he stuck to his guns. Her rendition of the song “Aayega Aanewaala” with its haunting melody was used through out the movie. This technique became a template for future movies such as “Madhumati”, “Bees Saal Baad”, “Woh Kaun Thi” and “Mere Saaya”. The song was recorded by placing a mike in the center of a huge hall with Lata ji standing in one corner and starts to sing the preamble (or prelude) while slowly approaching towards the mike. An unsatisfied Prakash ji had Lata do this little over 100 times before he was satisfied with the end result.

Khemchand Praksh ji was not only responsible for giving Lata the push she was looking for but also was the music director who introduced Kishore Kumar as a singer in “Ziddi (1948)”. Unfortunately, Prakash ji didn’t live long enough to reap the benefits of his success of “Mahal”. After completing his assignment for “Jaan Pehchaan (1950)” he passed away because of bad health. He was only 42.

For Lata ji, 1949 was a banner year. Apart from “Mahal”, she also enjoyed unprecedented successes with “Andaaz”, “Dulari” and “Barsaat”. She virtually wiped out rest of the competition after such a phenomenally successful string of movies. Only two persons could hold their own ground against such onslaught, Geeta Roy and Shamshad Begum.

Rajkumari also had three solos and a duet in the movie. She started as a singer actress but her weight problems made her to stick to singing only. She was one of the most sought after singers of her time who demanded heavy price to sing. The song “Ghabraake” from this movie is one of her greatest triumphs.

The movie editor was Bimal Roy, who later became an independent producer and director and made some great motion pictures. Working on “Mahal”, Roy must have gotten ideas on how to present his “Madhumati” on the screen. The opening scenes in both the movies, the haunting music, and other ideas all were inspired by this movie.

The film was brilliantly photographed by Josef Wersching who was the chief cameraman of the Bombay Talkies. He was largely inspired by the German expressionistic films that were made in 1920s. Not only the light and shades that were used but focus on the images of Madhubala pacing through the old Mahal also helped create the spookiness the story called for.

I am uploading these songs in two back-to-back posts ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 23 2009, 09:59 PM

Songs of "Mahal (1949)" Continued ...

Here are the rest of the songs from this Hindi film classic ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 23 2009, 11:39 AM