The Three Reigning Queens, Albums of Madhubala, Meena Kumari & Nargis Options

[parag_sankla]

(Madhubala) Aaraam (1951)

Here are some pretty good songs from this album. Couple of these came from CD collections and others are by the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you. I have longer versions of most of these songs but their quality is so terrible that I have decided to not upload them. But the quality of these songs I am uploading here is fine. Here they are ...

I think Aaram is one of Anil Biswas's best works - all the songs except the yoyo one being classics. The best is probably Man Mein Kisi Ke Preet Basale, which is one of Lata's best solos. Here is an extended version in decent audio...

1951 Aaram - Lata - Man Mein Kisi Ki Preet Basale (Extended)-ab 3m 41s 128kbps mp3

Faraaj sahab

Can not agree more on this one. All the songs from this album are truly classics, with "Mann mein kisi kee" being the icing on the cake. I can listen to this song for hours in repeat mode. Many thanks for the extended version of it

Best Regards
Parag

[swarapriya]

(Meena) Baiju Bawra (1952)

Baiju Bawra's music was a milestone in the film industry. It may be the most magnificent music ever composed for a film. In every song there is genius of Naushadji. In every word there is richness of lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni Saab. And there is Rafi Saab's most magnificent voice elevated to a stage that nobody ever heard before or since then. The music that takes you on a journey to worlds never seen before; sweet, melodious, and heart warming.

“Baiju Bawra” was produced and directed by Vijay Bhatt. The critic S.M.M. Ausaja describes Bhatt’s illustrious life and times as “a man’s kaleidoscopic journey towards achieving his creative nirvana”. That just about aptly describes in one simple statement this magnificent achievement that is “Baiju Bara”. Coming from humble beginnings, Vijay Bhatt he and his older brother Shankarbhai Bhatt, moved to Bombay seeking theater related work. Subsequently they ended up writing screenplays for movies. Soon after this they decided to establish their own studios. They called it “Prakash Studios” and started making movies under the banner “Prakash Pictures”.

The first movie they released in 1934 was called “Actress”. This was a huge success. Then they started making movies in both Hindi and Gujarati. Some of the movies they made were “Bombay Mail (1935)”, “Challenge (1936)”, “His Highness (1937)”, “State Express (1938)”, and “Bijli (1939)”. They launched a new hero, Zakaria Khan, who was working as a police officer at that time, renamed him Jayant (father of that great actor Amjad Khan of “Sholay (1975)” fame), in “Bombay Mail”. Jayant also starred in all subsequent movies of Prakash Pictures through 1939. Almost all these movies were financially successful.

Vijay Bhatt brought in Babubhai Mistry, a poster painter, to do trick shots for one of his movies called “Dreamland (1936)”. He made “Leatherface” in 1939 and introduced a child artiste named Mehajabeen. The child artiste grew up to be the great actress Meena Kumari.

When Bhatt visited Mahatma Gandhi at his ashram, Mahatma suggested that Bhatt make a movie on the Gujarati saint and poet Narsi Mehta. As a result he made “Narsi Bhagat” in 1940 both in Gujarati as well as Hindi. The movie became a huge hit. Buoyed by the success of “Narsi Bhagat” Bhatt turned attention to Hindu epics. He made several movies on Rama. These include “Bharat Milap (1942)”, “Ram Rajya (1943)” “Rambaan (1948)”, and “Bal Ramayan (1956)”. “Ram Rajya” is the only movie Mahatma Gandhi ever saw in his life!

He also made historical or semi-historical dramas such as “Vikramaditya (1945)”, “Baiju Bawra (1952)”, “Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1954)”, and “Angulimala (1960)”.

Bhatt also gave a major break to Naushadji. Naushadji’s debut film “Prem Nagar (1940)” was not a success. He was looking for a break when he met Vijay Bhatt. Bhatt signed him for his movie “Mala (1941)” as the music director. Subsequently he also scored music for three other Bhatt’s movies; “Dushman (1941)”, “Station Master (1942)”, and “Baiju Bawra (1952)”.

Bhatt originally planned to have Nargis and Dilip Kumar to play the lead roles in “Baiju Bawra”. But both actors were so busy that they couldn’t accommodate dates for Bhatt. Meena Kumari, whom Bhatt introduced as a child star in “Leatherface” was making mostly B-grade movies such as costume dramas or mythological movies until “Baiju”. He decided to rope in Meenaji to play the lead and signed Bharat Bhushan to play the male lead opposite her.

Bhatt was also instrumental in giving a boost to the careers of Rajendra Kumar (“Goonj Uthi Shehnnai”) and Manoj Kumar (“Hariyali Aur Rasta”).

Vijay Bhatt was active making movies for a long time. His last directorial venture was “Heera Aur Patthar” made in 1977. He was 86 when he passed away in 1993.

Naushad was already an established and a well known music director by the time he was signed to provide music for “Baiju Bawra”. He already gave music to some 30+ movies by that time. Most of these movies boasted several popular songs that are remembered even today. In his lifetime Naushadji gave music to 74 movies. By the time he was signed up to provide music for “Baiju” he already had 43% of his career work completed. “Baiju Bawra” turned out to be his monumental achievement. He garnered Filmfare’s Best Music Director award for his work. It turns out that this was the only movie for which he got this award. Naushadji was a recipient of Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke Awards.

Shakeel Badayuni was a romantic lyricist at heart. When he was introduced to Naushadji in mid-1940’s he signed Shakeel Saab to write lyrics for his next movie, “Dard (1947)”. The songs of the movie became a huge success and Badayuni Saab arrived. In his lifetime, he wrote songs for about 60 plus movies, most of them for Naushadji. He received Filmfare award as the Best Lyricist three years in a row, in 1961 for “Chaudhvin Ka Chand”, in 1962 for “Gharana”, and in 1963 for “Bees Saal Baad”.

Ustad Amir Khan who sang several beautiful classical songs in the movie acted as an advisor for Naushadji. Ustad was born in a family of musicians but as he grew older developed his own singing style. He had many disciples during his lifetime and was a recipient of Padma Bhushan and the Sangeet Natak Academy Awards.

Pandit D.V. Paluskar (known to his close friends as Bapurao), who was part of the jugalbandi with Ustad Amir Khan in “Baiju Bawra”, was a Hindustani classical vocalist and a bhajan singer. Considered a child prodigy, Paluskar passed away at the very young age of 34.

Meena Kumari turned her career around with “Baiju”. She received the Best Actress award from Filmfare for her role in the movie. She repeated this very next year with her performance in Bimal Roy’s “Parineeta”. She won the award twice more, one for the role of Chhoti Bahu in Guru Dutt’s “Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam” and later on for “Kaajal”. After “Baiju” there was no turning back for Meenaji. One after another she portrayed some magnificent roles and established herself as the queen of tragedy. Marred with personal life tragedies, she passed away at the young age of 39.

Bharat Bhushan struggled early as an actor but as “Baiju” established himself as someone worth noticing. Even though he did manage to make an occasional good movie, such as “Basant Bahar” and “Mirza Ghalib”, Bhushan was never able to achieve the heights he scaled with “Baiju”.

It is the culmination of so many talented people that created this musical extravaganza called “Baiju Bawra” …

I will upload songs of "Baiju Bawra" in back-to-back four separate posts immediately following this post ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 10 2009, 05:03 AM

[swarapriya]

Songs of Baiju Bawra (1952) - Post 1

Here is the first set of songs from this magnificent albm. Thumbnail pictures of each song were from the pictures originally uploaded by our fellow member Saki. Thank you very much Saki.

Now for the songs ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 10 2009, 05:09 AM

[swarapriya]

Songs of Baiju Bawra (1952) - Post 2

Here is the second set of songs from this masterpiece album. Thumbnail pictures of each song were from the pictures originally uploaded by our fellow member Saki. Thank you very much Saki.

Now for the songs ...

[swarapriya]

Songs of Baiju Bawra (1952) - Post 3

Here is the third set of songs from this melodious album. Thumbnail pictures of each song were from the pictures originally uploaded by our fellow member Saki. Thank you very much Saki.

Here are a couple of pointers about the origin of these songs. All these are from a DVD. Their quality is passable except for "Ghanan Ghana". The quality of that song is poor through a minute but gets better afterwards. I may have gotten "Tu Ganga Ki Mauj" part 2 and 3 from the members of this Forum. Thank you.

Now for the songs ...

[swarapriya]

Songs of Baiju Bawra (1952) - Post 4

Here is the fourth and final set of songs from this brilliantly concieved and composed album. Thumbnail pictures of each song were from the pictures originally uploaded by our fellow member Saki. Thank you very much Saki.

Here are a couple of pointers about the origin of these songs. Extended version of the song "Aaj Gawat" is from a DVD. I am also including here an extended version of the song "Mann Tarpat" from the album "Golden Collection-Classical Hits" CD album. The live version of "Bachpan Ki Mohabbat" is from the CD album "Lata Live in 1981 - Vol. 1". Finally, the extended version of the song "O Duniya Ke Rakhwaale" is from the CD album "The Last Journey of Mohammed Rafi".

Now for the songs ...

[mohamedparvez]

(Madhubala) Pardes (1950)

Here is one of my favorite albums of Ghulam Mohammed Saab. This one boasts several beautiful songs. It has one of my favorite solo of Shamshadji, "Mere Ghungharwaale Baal". It is so sensational that you feel like swinging to the tune the way Shamshadji sings with such gay abandon. Then there is an utterly delightful duet of Lata and Rafi Saab, "Ankhiyan Mila Ke". This song was composed with so much zest that you are envigorated with its melody. The song contrasts Lata's melosonically sweet young voice to that of the deep vocals of Rafi Saab that has a touch of strong inflection and a distinctive and decisive tinge in the style of singing. Lata also has another five beautiful solos. Ghulam Mohammed Saab was such a great composer and you wonder why he never got his due. It is a pity.

The album has nine songs. I am uploading seven of them here. The two missing songs are shown in red italics in the table below. I am requesting members to share these songs if they can. Thank you.

Now for the songs ...

DEAR SWARAPRIYAJI I HAVE ONE MISSING SONG FROM FILM:PARDES (1950) BITRATE:128KBPS DURATION:3.25

TRACK:MEIN HOON BADA NASEEBON WALA

SINGERS:RAFI SAAB SHAMSHAD BEGHUMJI

[swarapriya]

DEAR SWARAPRIYAJI I HAVE ONE MISSING SONG FROM FILM:PARDES (1950) BITRATE:128KBPS DURATION:3.25

TRACK:MEIN HOON BADA NASEEBON WALA

SINGERS:RAFI SAAB SHAMSHAD BEGHUMJI

Parvezji,

Thank you very much for the song. It turns out that one of our fellow members, Exon, has already uploaded this song. Please see the post 272.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

[swarapriya]

(Nargis) Aadhi Raat (1950)

Songs from this album were recently uploaded by our fellow member romeshji in the directory "Legends > Legendary Music Directors > Husnlal - Bhagatram " under the title "Aadhi Raat-1950/8 Songs". Thank you very much for sharing these songs romeshji.

The songs are still available and can be accessed at the following path ...

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=82302

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 15 2009, 01:10 AM

[swarapriya]

(Madhubala) Badal (1951)

Here is a swashbuckler where a beautiful Madhubala and the dashing Premnath (who is playing a Robinhood type of role, "Badal" is his name in the movie - he still has lots of hair), are in love. It has some beautiful music by Shankar & Jaikishan, this being one of their very very early albums. I will upload the songs in back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 20 2009, 01:13 AM

[swarapriya]

Songs of "Badal (1951)" Continued ...

Here are the rest of the songs from this beautiful album, including my favorite one by Mukesh, "Main Raahi Bhatakne Waala Hoon" ...

[nandi]

Thank you for the uploads of so many wonderful songs in such good order.
nandi

[swarapriya]

Thank you for the uploads of so many wonderful songs in such good order.
nandi

My Dear Nandi,

You're a pal.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

[swarapriya]

(Meena) Tamasha (1952)

Here is a beauty of an album. Khemchand Prakash passed away after composing only two songs for this film. Rest of the songs were composed by one of our great singers, Manna Dey, and S.K. Pal. Interestingly this was not the first film for which Manna Dey composed songs. Earlier in 1950, Burmanda was composing music for "Mashaal", also starring Ashok Kumar. Burmanda was so unhappy with Bombay filmworld that he decided to quit without completing his assignment for "Mashaal". Mannada took over to complete songs for that film. Of course, Burmanda changed his mind and came back to stay in Bombay, thanks to Ashok Kumar's persuasion. Thank you Ashokji for this great favor you have done for music lovers.

Interestingly, Mannada didn't sing any songs for this movie. There were only two male songs and both of them were solos by Kishoreda. Music for one of this was provided by Mannada. This is very intersting to me. I wonder how Mannada felt directing Kishoreda for the song because later on in 1968 in "Padosan" there were apparently not too kind comments Mannada made about losing to Kishoreda in the jugalbandi competition as Manna felt that he shouldn't be losing with all the classical training he has where as Kishoreda didn't have any such training. These were the stories published in the newspapers and their accuracy can be easily questioned. Mannada is a seasoned professional, and the song competition was from the movie and was not a real life situation. I am convinced that Mannada has a lot of respect for Kishoreda as another professional singer.

This movie also starred Dev Anand and Kishore Kumar. Meenaji, fresh from her success with "Baiju Bawra" looks absolutely stunning from the stills I have seen. Here is a picture I have borrowed from Geetaj's website. By the way Geetaji has a beautiful song "Raat Mohe Meetha Meetha" singing for Meenaji in the movie.

I am missing one song shown in red italics in the table below. Requesting the Forum members to share this song with rest of us. Thank you. Thanks also go to the members because most of these songs came by their courtesy.

Now for the songs ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 24 2009, 06:58 AM

[swarapriya]

(Nargis) Babul (1950)

Here is a beauty from Naushad Saab. All songs except one are from CDs. Talat's version of "Chhod Babul Ka Ghar" was contributed by the Forum members. It has very poor quality. I am including here for completeness sake.

I am uploading the songs in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set ...