The Three Reigning Queens

(Madhubala) Tarana (1951)

Here is a beauty from Anilda. The songs reflect the moods of the lead pair, Madhubala & Dilip. There was budding romance between these two and it can be easily seen how it displays on the screen when these two are together. Madhubala never looked this prettier, lighting up the screen with her sensuously infectious smile. Dilip never looked this easy going in any roles he played. Their real life romance permeates the on screen presence and it is refreshing to see them together in all its moods of a blooming beautiful romance.

I am uploading these songs in three back-to-back posts on request. The first two posts contain all of the songs from the film. The third post contains a couple of extended versions and a special.

Here are the songs in the first post...

Continuing Songs from "Tarana (1951)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this fine album...

Concluding Songs from "Tarana (1951)"...

I am including in this post a couple of extended version songs and a special version of "Seene Mein Sulagte Hain". This song is by the famous ghazal singer Jagjit Singh. It is taken from his album, "Close to Heart". Here are these songs...

(Nargis) Awara (1951)

I am re-uploading these songs on request...

K.A. Abbas had a tremendous influence over the movies Raj Kapoor made early in his career. He was responsible for the proletarian ethos of the Raj’s early films. The culmination of coming together of Abbas ji and Raj was professionally strange, to speak the least. Raj was a deeply religious person. Abbas ji on the other hand was probably an agnostic but a definite rationalist. If Raj was progressive, that was veiled and became somewhat clearer only though his films. He didn’t adhere to any ideology and definitely was apolitical. In contrast Abbas ji was a hard core and avowed, die hard Marxist.

Abbas ji wrote stories, dialogues, or screenplays for some of Raj’s best movies. These include “Awara” (1951 - screenplay and dialogue), “Shree 420” (1955 - story, screenplay, and dialogue), “Jagte Raho” (1956 - screenplay), “Mera Naam Joker” (1970 - story and screenplay), “Bobby” (1973 - story and screenplay), and “Henna” (1991 - story). Almost all these movies were smashing successes except for “Jagte Raho” and “Mera Naam Joker”. Even these two became kind of cult classics many years after their releases.

Abbas ji in an interview fondly recalled his association with Raj Kapoor as follows: "While Raj Kapoor is no great ideologue, he is not allergic to ideas. Indeed, with his basic sympathy for the common man, he is more than amenable to socially progressive ideas and humanist ideals, so long as their presentation does not interfere with the popularity potential of his film".

What did Raj Kapoor thought of Abbas ji? Here is what Raj said in one interview: “Fortunately, I have from the very start been happy in my professional associations and it was quite early in my film career, when I was scarcely a film and a half old, that my association with K.A. Abbas began. That was ‘Awara’, an exciting intellectual adventure, which set off an exchange of ideas and a way of working between Abbas sahib and myself that continues to this day. ‘Awara’ embodies my earliest fashioning of the sort of universal humanity symbol which was to go on taking finer shape through a succession of films until ‘Mera Naam Joker’, where it emerged as the crystallization of my entire philosophy of life.”

Here are some interesting tidbits. Dewan Basheshwarnath Kapoor, father of Prithviraj and grandfather of Raj, appeared as a judge in the beginning of the fim. Shashi Kapoor, younger brother of Raj, played young Raj in the film. Prem Nath, Raj’s brother-in-law appeared as one of the singers on the boat in the song “Naiyya Teri”. Raja Navathe, the assistant director of this film, later directed Raj’s musical “Aah (1953)”.

I am uploading all the songs and some specials in five back-to-back posts. The first two posts contain the complete songs from the film. The third post contains a few music clips. The fourth post contains several extended version songs. The fifth and the final post contain some specials.

Here are the details of the songs and the songs themselves in the first post…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jun 20 2011, 11:40 AM

Continuing Songs from "Awara (1951)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this great musical masterpiece...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jun 12 2011, 07:51 AM

Some Music Clips from "Awara (1951)"...

Here are some music clips from this trend setting movie...

Some Extended Version Songs from "Awara (1951)"...

Here are some of the extended version songs from this musical extravaganza. Please note that the full version of "Tere Bina" includes two songs that were part of the dream scene. These are "Tere Bina" and "Ghar Aaya". If you decide to download these two songs separately, you don't to download the full version and vice versa.

Here are the songs...

Concluding Songs from "Awara (1951)"...

Here is the fifth and final post of songs of this magnificent movie. I am uploading here a couple of specials with introductions by Raj Kapoor himself. These came the "Legends" album. Details are shown in the table below. I am also posting three instrumentals. The source for these was "You Tube".

Here are the songs and instrumentals...

Great job as always! Really though-provoking write-up -- I didn't really think about the differences in ideology of Abbas and Kapoor before.

Thanks for the compliments, SJF.

When someone appreciates what your penned thoughts are on a subject that matters a great deal to you, then you know that the effort was worthwhile. Cheers. -S

Here are the two extended version songs (Source Vinyl). from original sound track.

10 Tere Bina Aag Ye Chandni Dur.9.47 256kbps





This post has been edited by hemdutt: Jun 13 2011, 05:14 PM

07 Awara Hoo 3.09 160kbps



This post has been edited by hemdutt: Jun 13 2011, 05:14 PM

Thank you Hemduttji for sharing the vinyl versions of these two songs. Cheers. -S

Last few requests: Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta (1953) and Beqasoor (1950). Thanks!

(Meena) Do Bigha Zamin (1953)

Here is an instant classic from Bimalda. This was his maiden venture as a producer and director. Its story was written by Sail Chowdhury who also composed its music. Its screenplay was written by Hrishikesh Mukherjee who also was the editor and one of the assistant directors of the movie.

The movie garnered several awards. It won the Best Picture Filmfare Award and the Best Director Filmfare Award. It was the first movie to win an International Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It won a prize for Social Progress at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. It also won a National Award.

The movie introduced comedian-actor Mehmood in a bit role. It had the child actor Jagdeep in a small role. Meena Kumari appeared as a guest. When I uploaded these songs earlier, Abhay, one of our fellow members wrote how Meena ended up acting in this film. Here is what the comedian Asit Sen said in a Filmfare interview. Asit Sen had a role in “Do Bigha Zamin” and also was working simultaneously in another movie in which Meena Kumari was the leading lady. On the sets of this other movie he narrated the story of “Zamin” to Meena. Moved by the story, Meena, already an established star, approached Bimalda to give her a small role. Bimalda couldn’t refuse her request. She ended up playing a guest role in the film.

The movie has only a few songs. But it has that Salilda’s lilting touch that elevates them to beautiful melodies. I am re-uploading these on request from an original soundtrack album. Here are these songs…