Kaifiyat

Manthan (1976)

“Manthan”, co-written by its director Shyam Benegal, had the unique distinction of financed by 500,000 dairy farmers of Gujarat. They each contributed two Rupees to make sure that the movie was made. It deals with the politics of change in a small rural area in the state of Gujarat where all the fortunes of the village are controlled by the landlord of the village or the sarpanch of the village. The movie won just about every major award there was nationally. It won the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Hindi. Vijay Tendulkar won the National Award for the Best Screenplay. Preeti Sagar won the Best Female Singer Award from Filmfare. It was also an official entry for Oscars in the category of the Best Foreign Language film.

Kaifi Azmi Saab wrote dialogues for the film. It was photographed by Govinda Nihalani, another brilliant director himself (of “Aakrosh (1980)” and “Ardh Satya (1983)” fame). There is only one song in the film. It was sung by Preeti Sagar. It was written by her sister Neeti Sagar. The song appeared in pieces throughout the movie, five times. It appeared during the titles and during the ending and in between three times. Preeti Sagar, who sang the song, was just sensational. The song has a heavy bent on Gujarati folk tunes and gives you that wonderful feeling listening to it. It is a pity that Ms Sagar never got her proper due. She (see the attached picture below) shot to fame in “Julie (1977)” with the English song “My Heart is Beating”. After that quick success, unfortunately she had only limited opportunities to sing in the films. She was one of Benegal’s favorites. She sang for at least five of his films (“Nishant (1975)”, “Manthan (1976)”, “Bhoomika (1977)”, “Kalyug (1981)”, and “Mandi (1983)”). She is currently focused on children’s education and entertainment.

By the way, the song “Mhaaro Gaaon” became a commercial theme song for the “Amul” Corporation as an advertisement for their butter. They even championed the film to make sure that “Manthan” got enough exposure among public.

Most of the songs I am uploading here are from a DVD. The audio quality of the songs was iffy but still passable. I am uploading a more “complete” version of the song “Mhaaro Gaaon” from a CD. I am also uploading a private rendering of the same song. Descriptions of these are given in the table below. These uploads also include several musical clips.

Here are the songs…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 14 2011, 02:50 AM

Dhoop Chhaon (1977)

I am uploading songs from this album below. It appears like I may be missing the song shown in red italics in the table below. If indeed this is the case, please kindly share if you can. Thanks.

Here are the songs I have...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 14 2011, 02:53 AM

Dil Aur Patthar (1977)

I have only one song from this film that I am uploading here. The missing songs are shown in red italics in the table below. If you can, please kindly share them. Thank you.

Here is the song I have...

Kanneshwar Rama (1977)

This unusual sounding title of a film has a couple of, well, very unusual but heart warming songs with singers I haven't heard from before. Here are these from the film that starred Shabana with the lyrics written by her esteemed father, Kaifi Saab...

Swarapriya,

Balappa hukkeri was a great folk singer of North Karnataka. Known for the songs which covers the life and styles of Farmers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuG12u1MuuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtmMcTAfixE


Two of his all time best songs.. These songs were very common on AIR Karnataka when we were kids..

Kishor

This post has been edited by kishor: Nov 22 2011, 10:05 PM

Thank you very much Kishor for the information and the pointers. This just goes to show that we have such a rich talent that seem to never gets a chance for proper exposure. Cheers. -S

Ooparwala Jane (1977)

Here are the songs from this fine album...

Sahib Bahadur (1977)

The man who symbolized undying enthusiasm for life is no more among us. Dev Anand, synonymous with bundle of energy, finally succumbed to the unavoidable death. But his work he left behind us will stay forever with us. May his soul rest in peace...

This movie was made by Dev's older brother Chetanji. More and more I think about some of the movies he made, I can't help but reassess his abilities as a great director. Take this movie for example. He assembled a whole bunch of fine character actors. Then he cast his own wife, who is expressionless most of the time and can hardly act, in the lead opposite his brother Dev. Then he made a picture that was neither serious in approach to the subject nor funny in the situations he created instead of the buffoonery of several actors. Its absurdity was simply pathetic to watch. The only saving grace of the movie was its beautiful music by Madan Mohanji. As usual he delivered it again here.

Chetan Saab made this movie in 1950 as "Afsar" with Dev and his heartthrob during those years, Suraiya. The real life romance of the two generated enough chemistry that spelled the movie to be a modest success. Of course it boasted several beautiful songs by Suraiya and others composed by the great Burmanda. But this lame remake was a downer in a big way.

I am uploading the songs and some musical clips from the picture in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post...

Concluding Songs from "Sahib Bahadur (1977)"...

I am including in this post several music clips from the film. Also, I am including the humming of the tune for the song "Mushkil Hai" by Madan Mohanji himself. Particulars of these are given in the table below.

Here are these clips...

swarapriya,

"rahi tha main awara" song have one small part in movie....can u pls upload that part...its a slow version....

Here is the song Gargi. I had it but decided against uploading because I didn't think it was any slower than the complete version. Anyway, here it is...

thanks for uploading this one swarapriya.....

Shankar Hussain (1977)

Here is another great album from Khayyam Saab. There are several beautiful songs in this film. Lataji's both solos are just outstanding. But the standout song from the album is Rafi Saab's probably the most melodious romantic songs ever, written beautifully by Kamal Amrohi Saab, "Kahin Ek Masoom Nazuk Si Ladki". This is one great rendition. You feel like kissing the supremely sweet voice of Rafi Saab. Just love it...

I am uploading these songs in two back-to-back posts. The first post contains all the songs from an original soundtrack album. The second post contains rest of the songs and several extended version songs. These were contributed by the members of this Forum. Thank you. But please be warned that the quality of some of these songs is very poor. I am including them here for completeness sake.

Here are the songs in the first post...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 13 2011, 02:57 PM

Concluding Songs from "Shankar Hussain (1977)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this album. These are all thanks to the courtesy of the Forum members. Please be warned that the quality of some of these songs is very poor, especially "Chalke" and "Ran". Other songs, including extended versions, fare much better. The longer version of "Kahin Ek" is the same as the two parts of this song combined.

Here are these songs...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 12 2011, 05:16 AM

Toote Khilone (1978)

This movie was directed by Chetan Anand's son Ketan Anand. It starred among others Shekar Kapur in the lead. Kapur is related to Anands and is a noted director himself. I haven't seen this movie but its music by Bappi Lahiri is outstanding. Most of the songs are good but three are real standouts. These are the solos by Lataji, Yesudas, and Kishoreda. Here are these and other songs from this album...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 26 2011, 05:05 AM