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

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Pocket Maar (1956)

In some of his earlier movies Dev played several shady character roles. This movie was one of them. I am not certain how successful the movie was, but overall it was not bad. Even though Geeta Bali was the leading lady of the film it was Nadira who had a bigger and meatier role. Music by Madan Mohanji, who seldom disappointed, was about average. The duet of Lataji and Talat Saab, “Yeh Nai Nai Preet Hai”, was a chart buster. It is also my favorite of the album. Here is this and other songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Dil Deke Dekho (1959)

This was the first film released under S. Mukherjee’s Filmalaya banner. He left Filmistan to form this company. “Leader” was the first vehicle he launched under this banner. For various reasons the filming of “Leader” was stalled. He decided to invite Nasir Husain, one of his regular writers at Filmistan and the director of the hit “Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957)”, to direct this film. For Husainji, this would be his second directorial venture.

Husainji elected Shammi to play the male lead. Shammi got a boost to his career with mold breaking performance in “Tumsa Nahin Dekha” that was directed by Husain. This movie, “Dil Deke Dekho”, introduced Asha Parekh as an adult actress, in the role of the leading lady opposite Shammi. Hitherto she acted only as a child artiste. But this was her big breakthrough. When S. Mukherjee asked Nasir Hussain, the writer and director of the movie, to select either Sadhana or Asha Parekh for heroine's role, he went along with Asha. Sadhana came later in Mukherjee's "Love in Simla" as its heroine in 1960. Incidentally Asha was only 17. She and Nasir Husain Saab collaborated in six more films, most of them huge hits. She was also his business partner in distributing films. Asha also is the most successful stars ever in Hindi films with most jubilee hits, more than any other leading lady, to her credit.

This movie was kind of a landmark in the sense that it introduced to the Bombay filmworld a new music director. Introduction of music directors may not happen every day, but they do happen on occasion. There is nothing really new about that. But this time the new music director happened to be a woman. After these many years of mature film industry, even today, there are not too many women music directors. Usha Khanna was only 17 years when she made her debut as a music director. It was a sensational debut by a young music director. Every song in the movie became a huge hit with beautifully composed and melodiously addictive songs.

Amazing thing about these songs is that they sound so much like O.P. Nayyar's. Not to take away any credit from Usha Khanna as songs composed by her in subsequent movies demonstrated that she is no flash in the pan. O.P. was her family friend and she followed OP's music closely. Some of that must have influenced on her music compositions of "Dil Deke Dekho". It was OP who introduced Usha to Mukherjee who. Initially Usha wanted to be a singer. But when Mukherjee saw that she can compose too, she composed songs of some songs written by her father, he gave her a break as a music director.

In a male dominated industry Usha Khanna has been a lone shining star. It is a great tribute to her that she will not let any artificial barriers erected in her path discourage her. She went on to be active in the film industry for 40 plus years. That kind of longevity itself speaks volumes about her ingenuity as a creative artist. On the way, she composed music for some 80 plus movies and television shows. Her legacy is a rich repertoire of hit songs from many popular films, like this debut film of hers that are popular even today.

She composed music for 11 movies written or produced or directed by Sawan Kumar. Many of these were musical hits (like "Hawas" and "Souten"). Later she was married to him but that lasted only a brief period.

Incidentally Usha is credited with helping several budding singers by giving them opportunities to sing in her films. Some of these names include Anupama Deshpande, Hemlata, Mohd. Aziz, Roop Kumar Rathod, Shabbir Kumar, and Sonu Nigam.

I am including a picture of Usha here. Also in the second post, I am including a brief interview she did with "BharatStudent.com" where she talks about how she got a break as a music director.

There are so many beautiful songs in this great album. Every song is an utter delight. Each one of them is immensely hummable. One of my favorite Rafi Saab songs is in this album. It is the song "Hum Aur Tum Aur Yeh Sama". It is one of those great songs that only Rafi Saab can sing, charged with erupting emotion and packed with heart weakening romance. In the film this was picturized beautifully too. This is one song for ages to remember... unforgettable!

I am uploading all songs and some music clips from this film, a couple of version songs, and some instrumentals in three back-to-back posts. The first set of songs start with the beginning of the next post...

[swarapriya]

Songs from "Dil Deke Dekho (1959)"...

Here is the first set of songs from this popular film...

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Dil Deke Dekho (1959)"...

Here are more chartbusters from this hit album including one of Rafi Saab's greatest songs, "Hum Aur Tum"...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Dil Deke Dekho (1959)"...

Here are some music clips from the film, version songs, and instrumentals...

[surhall]

namskar
very good and best your services to hf
dhall

[swarapriya]

namskar
very good and best your services to hf
dhall

Thank you kindly Dhallji.

Cheers,
S

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Yahudi (1958)

The great Bimal Roy who made many socially conscious films directed this period drama set in the days of Roman Empire. I was apprehensive to watch this film at first lest my feelings for Bimlada may change. But Roy did not disappoint. He was a great director and here told a powerful love story between a Roman prince (Dilip Kumar) and a Jewish woman (Meena Kumari). This was the time when Jews were mercilessly persecuted by the Romans.

The movie was based on Agha Hashar Kashmiri’s play “Yahudi ki Ladki”. This play in turn was adapted from a classic Persian play.

Sohrab Modi appeared as the father of Meena Kumari in a very powerful role. The movie had some of the best dialogues seen in a Hindi film, especially those scenes in which Dilip Saab and Modiji appear together or separately. Vajahat Mirza penned these dialogues but did not win any awards. This very same year, 1958, Bimalda’s “Madhumati” was released and swept just about every Filmfare Award there was. Rajinder Singh Bedi won the Award for Best Dialogues for “Madhumati”. But I think Mirza Saab richly deserved it.

The movie, in spite of its ridiculous looking costumes and men’s make up had good performances by Dilip Saab and one of the best by Modiji. Sohrab Modi Saab was nominated for an Award in the Best Supporting category but lost to Johnny Walker in “Madhumati”. There is nothing to take away from Johnny but just go figure this one out.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee was the editor of the film.

Music by Shankar & Jaikishan has some good songs. Shailendra won the Award for the Best Lyrics for “Yeh Mera Deewaanaapan Hai”. Here are this and other songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Shakeel) Bedaag (1965)

Songs from this film were uploaded few months back in this very thread. The songs are no longer available. I will be happy to re-upload them if anyone is interested. Thanks.

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Sau Saal Baad (1966)

Here is a film that has such beautiful songs that it is like discovering some hidden treasure. I must admit that I was not aware of any songs from this film. May be, perhaps, I heard Lataji’s “Yeh Raat” before. That one is a beautifully haunted song much like “Kahin Deep Jale” from “Bees Saal Baad (1962)”. Yet there are other songs in this film, couple of them in classic raagas that are equally good. I am uploading all songs from this film below. Except for the song “Ab Ke Baras” all songs are of excellent quality. Even this song has no distortion but the audio quality is a bit inferior. Therefore I am uploading it at a lower bit rate.

Here are these and other beautiful songs from this film...

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Parvarish (1958)

Sebastian D’Souza and Dattaram Wadekar played a huge role in the unprecedented success enjoyed by the famous music director duo Shankar & Jaikishan. Sebastian and Dattaram,(Dattaram was the music director of this film), were assistant music directors to S&J. Each excelled in their own niche and together their team was a potent combination that helped S&J to retain top position in the industry year after year. Sebastian was a superb music arranger (composer). Dattaram (whose photo is attached below) was a master at creating rhythm. The soul of a song is its composition and the rhythm. Thus these two gave soul to so many hit songs.

Dattaram assisted S&J in over 60 films.

While shooting for “Shri 420”, Raj decided to make a film for children. At the suggestion of S&J he decided to give a break to Dattaram as an independent music director. The film was “Ab Dilli Door Nahin (1957)”. The movie and songs from that film became very popular. In 1958, he followed its success with another hit musical in “Parvarish”, the songs from which I am uploading here.

Even though Dattaramji proved to be successful with many hit songs from his films, his contributions as an independent music director of Hindi films was limited to only 12. Most of these came in 60’s. His last Hindi film was the 1971 “Ek Din Aadhi Raat”. He gave music to an occasional Bhojpuri film after that but from the mainstream Hindi cinema he disappeared totally.

I am uploading songs from this film and some specials along with few instrumentals in two back-to-back posts. These are available starting in the next post...

[swarapriya]

Parvarish (1958) - Songs

Here are the songs from this film...

[swarapriya]

Parvarish (1958) - Specials

Here are some specials and few instrumentals related to this film...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 7 2014, 01:51 AM

[swarapriya]

(Javed Akhtar) Kabhi Na Kabhi (1998)

The story, screenplay, dialogues and lyrics for this film were written by Javed Akhtar Saab. There was not much novelty in the story and the movie proved to be a flop. The music for the film was composed by at that time the up and coming sensation A.R. Rahman. His use of musical instruments and orchestration was somewhat novel that contributed to the popularity of several songs. I am uploading these in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Kabhi Na Kabhi (1998)"...

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