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

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Majboor (1964)

Here is an old fashioned family drama that was made so many times in 60’s and 70’s. One of the distinguishing features of this film was its music. Kalyanji & Anandji came up with great music. Laxmikant & Pyarelal once again were assistant music directors of the film.

Every song in this movie is a beauty. My favourite is Hemantda’s solo “Tumhen Jo Bhi Dekh Lega”. Outstanding lyrics for this song were penned by Indeewarji. Hemantda seemed to be a specialist in these types of songs. In his hypnotic voice the song mesmerizes you. Another beautiful song is the duet by Lataji and Mahendra, “Diwaana Keh Ke”. Here are these and other songs from this fine album…

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Abe-Hayat (1955)

Prem Nath played a friend of the poor taking their cause and fighting for justice. On his way to find nectar to save the life of the king he is wooed by the king’s daughter (Shashikala), an evil “pari” (Smriti Biswas), and kind sister (Ameeta) of a villainous sorcerer. With not much novelty in the story and poorly directed, many songs sprinkled throughout the film do not help with the proceedings.

Here is a note on the song “Tu Ne Pilaayee”. I am uploading it as two parts, both sung by Asha. Part 1 is in the DVD but part 2 is not. I found this on a CD. Even though beginnings of these songs are the same, they are entirely different.

Here are these two versions of the song and others in two back-to-back posts…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Abe-Hayat (1955)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Javed Akhtar) Khel (1992)

This film directed by Rakesh Roshan deals with a group of cheats (played by Madhuri, Anil & Anupam Kher) who tried to swindle out of riches of a widow (Mala Sinha). The story, screenplay, dialogues and lyrics of the songs were written by Javed Akhtar Saab. But Akhtar Saab generously borrowed material from a couple of popular English films, “Bedtime Story (1964)” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)”. The latter was almost a remake of the former. Some of the funny scenes from “Khel” were almost direct lifts from these movies.

There are several good songs in the film. Ashaji’s two versions of “Ek Baat” are beautiful to listen to. Amit Kumar has a fine solo, “Soone Shaam”. Here are these and other songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Lal Batti (1957)

One of our great thespians, late Balraj Sahni, who was one of the principal actors in the film, was also its co-director. I have not seen the movie but it has a great premise for a story. It is about passengers who were forced to spend the night in a train while it was detained on the platform on the eve of India’s independence. The music composer was Salilda. At least one song is standout. “Haaye Jhilmil” is a sheer beauty that comes alive in the sweet voice of Lataji. Here is this and other songs from this album…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 24 2013, 01:17 PM

[taiyab53]

(Majrooh) Lal Batti (1957)

One of our great thespians, late Balraj Sahni, who was one of the principal actors in the film, was also its co-director. I have not seen the movie but it has a great premise for a story. It is about passengers who were forced to spend the night in a train while it was detained on the platform on the eve of India’s independence. The music composer was Salilda. At least one song is standout. “Haaye Jhilmil” is a sheer beauty that comes alive in the sweet voice of Lataji. Here is this and other songs from this album…

Dear Swarapriya
Laal Batti contains only 4 songs
the song Jaane Kahan Khoya mera laal is from the Film Jawahar 1960. MD Salil Da.
just correction
taiyab

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Lal Batti (1957)

One of our great thespians, late Balraj Sahni, who was one of the principal actors in the film, was also its co-director. I have not seen the movie but it has a great premise for a story. It is about passengers who were forced to spend the night in a train while it was detained on the platform on the eve of India’s independence. The music composer was Salilda. At least one song is standout. “Haaye Jhilmil” is a sheer beauty that comes alive in the sweet voice of Lataji. Here is this and other songs from this album…

Dear Swarapriya
Laal Batti contains only 4 songs
the song Jaane Kahan Khoya mera laal is from the Film Jawahar 1960. MD Salil Da.
just correction
taiyab

Thank you very much Taiyab. I made changes to the table to reflect your recommendation. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Ferry (Kashti) (1978)

This is an early album of Hemantda that starred Geeta Bali & Dev Anand, the pair that sizzled the screen in "Jaal (1952)". Here Dev played a much subdued role of a mild mannered and protective father of a child who lost his mother whereas Geeta Bali played a woman running away from her past.

Music director Hemantda utilized talents of some fine singers in this album whose names we don't hear every day (Laxmi Shankar and Ratna Gupta). But the results are the same. Beautiful. Incidentally, Laxmi Shankar’s voice almost sounds like that of Geetaji’s.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan played sarod (for Dev's character) and Pt. Nikhil Banerjee played sitar (for Geeta Bali's character). Ravi was the assistant music director. There is a beautiful piece of sarod music and a “jugalbandi” in the film. The jugalbandi starts as a sitar solo. It slowly drifts into a sarod solo. Finally it ends up as a jugalbandi between the two players of these respective instruments. Simply awesome.

Many songs from the film are repeated throughout the movie. Hemantda’s beauty “Naav Badha Le” starts as the title song but some of its pieces are repeated throughout the movie, some 7 or 8 times. Laxmi Shankar’s song “Kaisi Laagi” has two parts. The song by Ratna Gupta, “Yehi Hai”, appears in the movie three times. The third part is a repeat of portions of the first, but it appears like may be at a slightly slower pace. Nevertheless I am uploading it here.

Rajinder Krishan who also collaborated with Hemantda the very same year for the history making music of "Nagin" wrote the lyrics.

I am uploading these songs in two back-to-back posts. The first post contains all songs that have several parts. The second post contains the rest.

Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Ferry (Kashti) (1978)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Chori Chori (1956)

Shankar &Jaikishan were introduced by Raj Kapoor in the history making "Barsaat" in 1949. Since then they composed music for a number of films and in the process created many unforgettable songs. Yet they never won any major award for all their accomplishments. Not until this movie, "ChoriChori", came along. This was the first movie for which they got Filmfare award for Best Music.It was the first of eight they got in their brilliant career. Until recently this number seemed unsurpassable with Laxmikant&Pyarelal coming in a close second with seven awards. But recently A.R. Rahman has eclipsed all these numbers. He has swept away every major award any country has offered. He garnered a staggering 25 Filmfare awards (14 regular and 11 South) in a brief period of time!

By the time "ChoriChori" was ready to go into production, Mukesh was firmly entrenched as the voice of Raj Kapoor. Yet Shankar &Jaikishan had Manna Dey sing for Raj in this film. This was a surprising choice. But not surprisingly, Manna da delivers some unforgettable duets with Lataji that are cherished even today.

This movie was based on director Frank Capra's English hit "It Happened One Night" made in 1934 that starred Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. It won five major Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay). Not until 1975 another movie ("One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest") won as many major awards. The feat was repeated only once more with "Silence of the Lambs" in 1991 grabbing all the major Oscars. The movie "It Happened One Night" was also remade in English as a musical, "You Can't Run Away From It" starring June Allyson and Jack Lemmon.

"ChoriChori" was a carbon copy of the English version, “It Happened One Night”. It was remade in Hindi by Mahesh Bhatt in 1991 under the name "DilHaiKe Manta Nahin". This movie was also a success mainly because it had some beautiful music composed by the duo Nadeem&Shravan. The movie was also made in Bengali with SuchitraSen and Uttam Kumar in 1959 under the name "ChaoaPaoa". It wa also made in Kannada under the name "Hudugaata".

The fascination for the English film “It Happened One Night” also yielded at least another two musicals in Hindi. The adaptations include “SolvaSaal (1958)” and “Basant (1960)”. “Saal” had some lilting music by Burmanda and “Basant” had swinging music by OP. But neither one of these movies enjoyed the same success as “ChoriChori”.

It is interesting that Raj Kapoor who played Clark Gable's role in "ChoriChori" was complimented by the Hollywood actress Shirley Maclaine during her visit to India when she told Raj that he looked like Clark Gable unaware that Raj played Gable’s role in “ChoriChori”.

"ChoriChori" has some beautiful music and sweet songs with great compositions. Apart from the three Lata-Manna duets, Lataji's two solos,"PanchhiBanoon" and "RasikBalma" are absolute delights. Lata never sounded this sweet and this better.

Here is one great story reported about the song "RasikBalma". The late great Mehboob Khan was recuperating from a heart problem in a Los Angeles hospital. He heard "RasikBalma" and loved it very much. He wanted to hear the song but no record of the song was available in Los Angeles. He called Lataji in Bombay and she readily obliged by singing the song over the phone. Lataji repeated this gesture many times during his stay in the hospital while Mehboob Khan was recovering. Later after returning to India, a healthier Mehboob Khan thanked Lataji for bringing him solace and comfort by singing the song for him and helping in quick recovery.

I am posting songs from this film and several instrumentals in five back-to-back posts. The first two posts consist of all songs from the film plus couple of version songs. The third, fourth, and fifth posts containinstrumentals of some of the popular songs from the film

The songs start in the next post...

[swarapriya]

Chori Chori (1956) - Post 1 (Songs)

This and the next post contains beautiful songs from this film. Here is the first set of songs...

[swarapriya]

Chori Chori (1956) - Post 2 (Songs)

Here are the rest of the songs fro this melodious album including a version song of "Yeh Raat" by Geetaji and Bhushan...

[swarapriya]

Chori Chori (1956) - Post 3 (Instrumentals)

Here are some instrumentals of the popular song "Aa Jaa Sanam" from the film "Chori Chori"...

[swarapriya]

Chori Chori (1956) - Post 4 (Instrumentals)

Here are a few instrumentals of the popular songs "Panchhi Banoon" and "Rasik Balma" from the film "Chori Chori"...

[swarapriya]

Chori Chori (1956) - Post 5 (Instrumentals)

I am uploading in this final posting instrumentals of the popular song "Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi" from the film "Chori Chori"...