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

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) April Fool (1964)

Shankar & Jaikishan made sure that this day, April 1 celebrated as an All Fool's Day around the world, will be remembered by the Indian music lovers forever by composing some of their beautiful and memorable music for this film. Subodh Mukherjee, who introduced Saira Banu in "Junglee" in 1960, is back here with another winner with her in this film.

All songs from this film were chart busters. S&J were assisted by Sebastian and Dattaram.

The song “Aa Gale Lag Jaa” I am uploading here has over 5 minutes of music preceding it. This is the “Pool Aquatics Show” in the movie. I am also uploading this separately as a music clip in the third post.

I am uploading all of the hit songs plus a few music clips from the film in three back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "April Fool (1964)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "April Fool (1964)"...

Here are a few music clips from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Mamta (1966)

This emotional rollercoaster was directed by Asit Sen. Suchitra Sen who played the dual role of mother and daughter simply dominated the film from beginning to end with a brilliant and unforgettable performance. Then there was Ashok Kumar. The ease with which he approached his role is simply admirable. Dharmendra in a smaller role also makes a mark.

Ms. Sen was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award but lost it to Waheeda Rehman for her stint in “Guide”. Suchitraji as the mother was so brilliant that she reminded me of great Nargis in the 1957 blockbuster “Mother India”. Many felt that Suchitraji lost the award because her Hindi diction was not that great. Whew!

Another thing going for the movie was the brilliant combination of the lyricist Majrooh Saab working with Roshanji. The result is that their combined product was an absolute charmer. There are mujras, thumris, geets, a ghazal, and several unforgettable songs. Yet for all this sparkling effort, neither Majrooh Saab nor Roshanji were nominated for any awards. Shankar & Jaikishan won the award for “Suraj” the same year.

I am uploading all songs, a couple of specials, and a few instrumentals in four back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Mamta (1966)"...

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

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More Songs Related to "Mamta (1966)"...

Here are a couple of specials (see the great Noor Jehanji's intro of Lataji) and a few instrumentals related to the songs from this film...

[swarapriya]

Few Instrumentals of the Songs from "Mamta (1966)"...

Here are a few more instrumentals of the songs from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Man-Mauji (1962)

This film was a remake of the 1955 Telugu super hit “Donga Ramudu”. Whereas the Telugu film had mixture of comedy, pathos and good songs, for some reason when remade into Hindi most of this was gone with only music worth mentioning. The movie hardly had any comic relief even though Kishoreda was the principal actor. Even the pathos and poignancy of the classic Telugu film were solely missing from the Hindi version. As mentioned only Madan Mohanji was on the mark with his music.

The storyline of the movie borrowed some ideas from the 1943 classic monster hit, Ashok Kumar’s “Kismet”. But the main inspiration came from an English short story, “Loving Brothers”, from a book on anthology of American short stories. That story tells the love between two brothers. In this film it was changed to the relationship between the older brother and his younger sister.

Incidentally, Jaya Lalitha, the future star of Tamil and Telugu films, and who ruled the state of Chennai with iron fist as its Chief Minister, had a cameo appearance in this film as Krishna in the dance drama “Radha Krishan”.

There are several good tracks in the film. Kishoreda’s “Zaroorat Hai” was a chartbuster. Also at the top of the list is Lataji’s solo “Main Toh Tum Sang”. This is closely followed by another Lataji’s solo “Chanda Jaa”. Kishoreda’s other solo “Bura Lagta Hai” was for some reason not included in the film.

I am uploading these and other songs from the film plus a few instrumentals in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Instrumentals from "Man-Mauji (1962)"...

Here is a version song of "Main Toh" and a few instrumentals of the same song...

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Naughty Boy (1962)

Shakti Samanta, later of “Aradhana (1969)” and other movies fame, produced and directed this slapstick comedy. The only thing worth remembering about this film is its music. As always, the great Burmanda is on the mark. Almost every song is fun to listen to. RD was his assistant. The film credits only Asha and Kishoreda as the playback singers. But there is a duet in the film, “Ho Gayi Shaam”, that was sung by Asha and Mannada. Interestingly, Manna was singing here for Kishoreda. It wasn’t any typical Mannada song and Kishoreda could have handled it without any sweat. Yet for some curious reason Burmanda had Manna sing that song.

The movie’s heroine was Kalpana (Mohan) who made her debut with Shammi Kapoor in the hit comedy “Professor” which also came the same year as “Naughty Boy”. She acted only in five or six films. One of the notable of these was with Dev Anand in “Teen Deviyan (1965)”. Her last film appearance was in the film “Nawab Sirajuddaula”. That came in 1967 the year she got married. Soon after her marriage she quit acting. Her marriage however was short lived. She divorced her husband and lived alone with her daughter. She passed away earlier in 2012 at the age of 65 with complication arising from cancer.

I am uploading songs from this film in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Naughty Boy (1962)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this movie...

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Suhana Safar (1970)

This movie finds a rich heiress run away from her family to find a poet whose book she is fond of. She meets someone who is not a poet and commences the journey with his help. Most of the journey takes place in a bus full of passengers played by various comedians and character actors. With a bus load of people all talking at the same time the move loses its momentum and in the end becomes a forgettable journey.

There are two outstanding songs in this film. They are duals. One is sung by Rafi Saab, and the other by Sumanji. The song is “Ahaa Ahaa”. This is the eighteenth film Bakshi Saab wrote lyrics for in 1970. That is simply incredible. 18 films in 12 months!

I am uploading the above mentioned songs and others in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Suhana Safar (1970)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this movie...

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Baghi (1964)

Rafi Saab’s solo “Aap Maujood Yahaan” stands out in this just about an average album. Here is this and the rest of the songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Mere Lal (1966)

Here are the songs from this lesser known film...