Shair Aur Sargam, Songs From Movies of 7 Great Lyricists Options

[swarapriya]

(Shakeel) Uran Khatola (1955)

Part of the following write up appeared in one of my earlier postings of this album...

This movie was loosely based on Frank Capra’s 1937 classic film “Lost Horizon.” The story of this movie was based on James Hilton’s best-selling 1933 novel of the same name that was inspired by the real-life mountaineer George Leigh-Mallory who lost his life during a fatal climb of Mount Everest in 1924. The film also had some similarities with another English movie made in 1935 called “She” an adventure tale about a lost land.

The Hindi version of the movie was produced by its music director Naushadji. The story is as strange as it can be. There is a young good looking queen, played beautifully by Surya Kumari, who rules by iron fist. People from other places are not allowed into their kingdom. Nimmi is one of the residents who falls in love with a stranger, played by Dilip, who was rescued from a plane wreck. The queen also falls for the stranger. Except for the beginning scene, Kumar’s role does not offer too much scope for showing his acting skills. Also, Nimmi, for more than half of the movie is donned as a young man to protect her identity from the vengeful queen. So on and on…

In spite of this twisted fantasy yarn, the movie was a success. It has to do a lot with Naushad Saab’s great score and some spirited singing by Lataji and Rafi Saab. But what made this movie apart from others was the casting of T. Surya Kumari in the role of the queen. Surya Kumari, who bore the famous family name of Tanguturi, was a Telugu-speaking lady, who came from a rich, politically active and influential background.

Surya Kumari was a lady of elegance and style and stood tall with a very slender figure. She was bestowed with a beautiful voice and became popular singing patriotic songs even before she was 10 years old. Prakasam Pantulu, her uncle, was a freedom fighter who defied British troops during the Indian independence struggle. She accompanied him to many political rallies where her singing was a major draw than the speeches given by the seasoned politicians. (See her picture below.)

She acted in her first movie when she was only 12 years, in a special part especially written for her to accommodate her singing talent. Altogether she acted in about 25 movies. In 1947 Shantaram who heard her voice on a gramophone record, offered her to sing for the heroine of his film “Apna Desh.” Later she acted in the Hindi movie “Watan (1954).” By this time, she had grown up to be a beautiful woman and was crowned as Miss Madras. Soon after this she was offered the role of the queen in “Uran Khatola.” The film became a hit. It even fetched her nomination for the Best Supporting Actress Award from Filmfare. However, she lost to Nirupa Roy for her performance in “Munimji.”

Surya Kumari spoke several languages including Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, English, Gujarati, and Sanskrit. Even with the success she enjoyed with “Uran Khatola”, she acted in only one other Hindi movie (also made in English) called “Bombay Might 417”. That was the last of her movies. However, she did remain very active participating and promoting Indian culture abroad. When in US as a member of a cultural organization, she met the famous Hollywood producer and director Alfred Hitchcock. Fairly impressed with her varied skills and her rich resume, Hitchcock offered her to work with him. She spent several years in US, working in the background and assisting Hitchcock in production, and collaborated in producing several episodes of the popular television show “Alfred Hitchcock Presents …”. She also taught in New York City at Columbia University.

Later she moved to UK and met and married Harold Elvin, a poet, painter, and potter. She lived rest of her life in UK until she passed away in 2005. Surya Kumari, a lady with many skills, was truly a remarkable lady in every sense of the word.

I am uploading songs from this film in three back-to-back posts. The first two posts contain songs from the film and the third post has some music clips and instrumentals. All songs of the film I am uploading here are from a DVD. Most of these are also available on CD. But DVD versions are longer in duration with additional music. If anyone is interested, I will be happy to upload the songs from CD.

The songs from this album start in the next post...

[swarapriya]

Songs from "Uran Khatola (1955)"

Here are the songs in this post...

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Uran Khatola (1955)"...

Here are more songs from this beautiful album...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Uran Khatola (1955)"...

Here are specials and instrumentals related to this album...

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Hercules (1964)

The team of Dara Singh, Nishi, N. Dutta, and Anand Bakshi were back once again this year with this movie. Their other movie this same year was “Badshah”. Whereas “Badshah” was partly in colour, “Hercules” was a full-length colour film. Mumtaz, who co-starred with Dara Singh in 15 movies, had a supporting role in the film.

“Hercules” was out and out Dara Singh’s movie. It showcased his muscle man status. The movie started with Daraji killing a tiger with his bare hands and ended with him decimating an entire army. In between he fought with a 7-headed serpent, killed a mammoth monster, got the best of a giant reptile, got rid of a medusa-like monstrous woman, wrestled at least on three occasions with three fearsome champions, and so on. Yet he found time to woo two women (Nishi and Helen). However, it was a poorly made film and Dara Saab was not responsible for that. It had a weak script and was directed unimaginatively.

Here are the songs from the film…

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Aaj ki Baat (1955)

This movie was produced and directed by the late veteran actress Leela Chitnis. Chitnis was an educated lady who entered stage and later films to support her children. Starting with extra roles in no time she became a leading lady. She acted opposite many heroes of those times. At one point she was more popular than Devika Rani.

Before becoming an actress, Chitnis supported India’s freedom struggle when she was based in England. She even gave shelter to freedom fighters at the risk of being arrested. As an actress, her reign as the popular leading lady lasted only 10 years. Later she started taking mother roles. She passed away in US where she lived with her children since late 80’s.

I am uploading five of the songs from this movie below. Their quality is variable ranging from poor to fair. I am missing at least two more songs listed in red italics in the table below. I am requesting members to share these with rest of us if they can. Thank you.

Here are the five songs I have…

[Abdur Rehman]

Two missing songs albeit at a lower bitrate... quality is average

[taiyab53]

Two missing songs albeit at a lower bitrate... quality is average

dear abdur rehman
the song you have uploaded MERI NAGRI MAIN KYUN AAYA is not the same song
you have uploaded TU ISHQ DE-LATA-GUNAAH 1953.(may be wrong tag)
if you have the ashaji's song from AAJ KI BAAT please upload.
thanks
taiyab

[swarapriya]

(Javed Akhtar) Drohi (1992)

This movie was made simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi. It was directed by Ram Gopal Verma. The highlight of the movie was its music, both songs and background. The songs were composed by RD with Akhtar Saab penning the lyrics. The background music was composed by Mani Sharma.

It appeared to me as if RD was experimenting in this album. He used a lot of Latin American and African instruments and the songs came out atypical of any RD’s I have heard before. This probably was bold on his part. I myself for one gratified with the results RD obtained.

Whereas songs standout with fresh and hitherto unheard beats, the background music was also equally effective. It was composed by Mani Sharma an up and coming music director from South at the time of the release of the movie. Since then he made himself name by providing hit music for many Telugu films. I am uploading here several music clips from this album to prove my point.

A note on the song “Aise Humein Dekho Nahin”. On CDs this is given as a solo and as a duet. I am uploading both of them here. Both songs are identical till about the five minute mark. Then they diverge.

I am uploading all songs and several music clips in three back-to-back posts. The first two posts contain songs from the film. The third post contains several music clips.

Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Drohi (1992)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Music Clips from "Drohi (1992)"...

Here are some music clips from this film...

[swarapriya]

Two missing songs albeit at a lower bitrate... quality is average

Thank you very much for the song "Aaj ki Raat" Seshadri. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Apradhi Kaun? (1957)

This movie directed by Asit Sen was produced by Bimalda. Sen, who made several good movies like “Mamta (1966) and “Safar (1970)”, had a good story at hand but spent too much time on frivolous characters that don’t add anything to the story. What should have been a gripping whodunit drama slows down because of this and does not go anyplace.

The movie introduced two new actors, Lillian and Tarun Bose. Lillian who played a character generally played by Helen subsequently did not appear in too many movies. However, Bose went on to portray many roles as a character actor in several films (for example, Hrishida’s “Anupama (1966)”).

A note about the music. Ever so dependable Salilda who composed songs lets you down here with uninspired music. None of the songs had his usual stamp on them. It may have something to do with the subject of the film he was dealing with.

Here are the songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Shagufa (1953)

I am uploading songs from this album in two back-to-back posts. The first post contains all songs from the film. The second post contains couple of instrumentals.

Here are the songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

Instrumentals of the Songs from "Shagufa (1953)"...

Here are a couple of instrumentals of the songs from this album...