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

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Mastana (1954)

Here is another Madan Mohanji's album minus Lataji...

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Jagte Raho (1956)

“Jagte Raho” is one of the brilliant movies ever to adorn the Indian cinema. It probably ranks high up there with Guru Dutt’s classic “Pyaasa”. Yet neither could earn even a single award nationally. But both movies received significant recognition in later years. Indian audience took notice of “Jagte Raho” only after it won the Grand Prix Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

“Jagte Raho” was made in Bengali and Hindi simultaneously. The Bengali version was called “Ek Din Raatre”. The closed nature of the city and indifference of its people that form the theme for the movie gives Raj Kapoor another chance to give a mesmerizingly stunning performance. This set up of the movie has close resemblance to Raj’s earlier hit “Shree 420 (1955)”.

The debutant director duo Amit Moitra and Shombhu Mitra also were responsible for the story and the screenplay of the film. The story goes that Raj has invited the actor Shombhu to co-direct this movie with Amit. Shombhu directed only another movie later in Bengali in 1959, “Subha Bibaha”. I am not sure what Amit has done after this movie. One thing is for sure, neither one directed another Hindi movie. K.A. Abbas, who authored “Shree 420” earlier for Raj, wrote the dialogues for this film.

The movie boasts several good performances by many of the supporting actors. But the most brilliant one was by the venerable Motilal. As a drunk he gave one of the most memorable performances ever to hit the Indian screen. The song he sings on the screen, “Zindagi Khwaab Hai”, was done by Mukesh. Interestingly, Motilal was the one who brought Mukesh to Bombay when he heard him sing at his sister’s wedding. Interestingly, it was Manna Dey who was signed to sing this song. He did have a first cut of the song. But Raj changed his mind and wanted to Mukesh to sing the song. The movie was released with Mukesh’s version. Mannada’s version became available later on. I am including this in one of my posts.

Shankar & Jaikishan, who were regulars with Raj’s movies, did not compose music for this movie. Instead the honors went to Salil Chowdhury. Salilda took the opportunity to compose some beautiful tunes. Apart from “Zindagi” the other numbers that are worth their weight in gold are the bhangra song “Teiki Main Koi Jhoot Boliya”, Asha’s melodious “Thandi Thandi” and the beautiful “Jaago Mohan Pyaare” by Lataji. Incidentally, the piece of music composed at the end of the movie was later used by Salilda for Bimal Roy’s “Madhumati (1958)” in the song “Aaja Re Pardesi” at the suggestion of the lyricist Shailendra. Bimalda was initially reluctant to this idea but Salilda won him over.

Nargis made a cameo appearance in this movie near the end. This was the sixteenth and the last time Nargis and Raj Kapoor were in a movie together. Nargis parted her ways with Raj and married Sunil Dutt whom she met when she was working with him in “Mother India” the previous year.

I am uploading below all the songs from the movie in two back-to-back posts. The first post contains all the songs from the film. The second post contains some instrumentals.

The songs start in the next post…

[swarapriya]

Jagte Raho (1956) - Songs

Here are the songs from this fine album including Manna's version of "Zindagi"...

[swarapriya]

Jagte Raho (1956) - Instrumentals

Here are some instrumentals of songs from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Shakeel) Ghunghat (1960)

This movie was based on Tagore's famous novel "The Wreck". It was made earlier in Tamil and Telugu, both in 1956. Those films were directed by T. Prakasha Rao of "Sasural (1960)" fame. The Hindi version was directed by Ramanand Sagar, who became a household name with his "Ramayana" television series later on.

Tagore’s story revolved around a ship wreck. This was changed in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil versions to a train accident. While the shooting was going for southern versions, there was a train accident in Ariyalur. The director Prakasha Rao used that footage of the accident and integrated into the movie to blend into the story nicely.

Both southern versions had disappointing run in theatres. However, the Hindi version was a huge hit. This may be in large part due to some fine music given by Ravi. Madhubala, who richly deserved the Filmfare best actress award for her performance in "Mughal-E-Azam (1960)" lost to Bina Rai in this movie. Rai's performance was really nothing to write home about.

I am uploading songs from this film in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Ghunghat (1960)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Bedaag (1965)

Here are the songs from this album. Most of these are from a CD and some are from a DVD. The song "Bedhadak Daalo Rang" was contributed by Viraj Padhye, a member of this Forum. Incidentally, this song is neither available on CD nor on DVD. Thank you very much Viraj for this rare one.

Here is this and other songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Basant Bahar (1956)

Songs from this album were recently uploaded in this very thread. They are available starting at the following location...

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...4658&st=634



This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 19 2013, 01:38 PM

[swarapriya]

(Javed Akhtar) Roop ki Rani Choron ka Raja (1993)

Basking from the glory of the success of “Mr. India (1987)” the team that was responsible for that film was assembled once again to make this film. Javed Akhtar Saab was hired to write the story. He also wrote the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics. LP once again composed music. Most of the cast remained intact except Anupam Kher who replaced Amrish Puri as the villain. Shekhar Kapur again was hired to direct the film.

Half way through the movie Kapur had creative differences with the producer and decided to quit. He was replaced by Satish Kaushik who finished the film. The movie’s budget bloated because of various delays and by the time it was ready for release it proved to be one of the most expensive movies ever made. The movie failed to click and proved to be a financial debacle.

Arshad Warsi who used to choreograph songs before turning into an actor was credited choreographing the title song.

I am uploading songs from this album, many elaborate and long numbers, in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Roop ki Rani Choron ka Raja (1993)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957)

Finally here is the movie where real Shammi arrived. It was a long way coming but came he did and with such a thud that it made waves all over the Hindi film world. After this movie, for Shammi and his fans, the movies were never the same again.

Under the guidance of his wife Geeta Bali, Shammi went through a complete metamorphism for this movie. She was trying to give one last gasp try to save his professional carrier. With so many critics panning him to be another Raj Kapoor look-alike, he decided to shave his upper lip. He studied carefully why Elvis Presley and James Dean were so popular with youth all over the world. He groomed his hair in Jimmy Dean’s style. He took a guitar and added twists and turns to his acting a la Elvis even though he could not play it. These changes earned him in the industry the nick name of “Rebel Star”. This was mainly because of the changes he made for himself to appear as the star of the hit English movie “Rebel Without a Cause (1955)” that starred Jimmy Dean.

When "Tumsa Nahin Dekha" was released people immediately embraced this new incarnation of Shammi. He was an overnight box-office sensation. Things in Bombay film world were never the same anymore. Incidentally, Shammi was not the first choice of the producers for the role. It was initially offered to Dev Anand. Dev had some misgivings about the choice of the leading lady Ameeta and decided to decline the offer.

This movie had a first-time director, Nasir Hussain. He was a popular writer for Filmistan Studios. One of his most popular stories was Dev Anand-starrer "Munimji (1955)". Hussain also wrote the story and the screenplay for “Tumsa”. Its heroine, Ameeta was a protégé of the head of the Filmistan Studio. He was re-launching her with this movie. All the camera work, lighting, exposure, and publicity were carefully planned and centered around her. Even the title of the movie was selected in praise of her when Tolaram Jalan, the studio head, ran a contest among his employees to come up with a name for the movie. But when the movie was released, people flocked theaters to watch mostly Shammi and listen to OP's mesmerizingly magical music.

The movie's huge success was eminently aided by one of the best scores OP provided in his career until that time. The mantra was simple. The beat should be upbeat. The style should be snappy. It is this that helped the singing and swinging style for Shammi. If OP came up with riveting rhythms, Shammi became a perfect foil with his acrobatic dancing. For Hindi films, it was the dawn of a new hero. No more sighs. Just smiles. Rafi Saab’s incredibly melodious voice helped Shammi also discover his groove.

Every song from this film was a huge hit. Each one of them left a deep impression on its listeners. OP was superbly assisted by the singing of Rafi Saab and Ashaji. Majrooh Saab wrote all of the lyrics except the title song. The title song was written by Sahir Saab. Originally Sahir Saab was signed to write the lyrics for the movie. He was coming off from the career crowning achievement of penning lyrics for Guru Dutt's humane classic saga of a poet striving for recognition, "Pyaasa (1957)". Sahirji was in mood to write similar lyrics and was not ready for the type of lyrics this movie demanded. So Nasir Hussain quietly replaced Sahir Saab with Majrooh. Majrooh Saab did not disappoint. His association with Hussain Saab continued for years and years for many more movies.

I am uploading songs and a few version songs in two back-to-back posts. The title song sung by Asha that I am including here was not in the movie. There is a15 second talk by Shammi I am including where he talked about the changes he made to himself for “Tumsa”. Here are these and other delightful songs from this popular album starting in the next post…

[swarapriya]

Tumsa Nahin Dekha - Songs (1957)

Here are the songs from this popular album...

[swarapriya]

Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) - Specials

Here are version songs of a couple of popular songs from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Meenaar (1954)

Here are the songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Kismet ka Khel (1956)

Kishore Sahu wrote the story, screenplay, produced and directed this film that tells a simple story of a group of cheats who are good at heart and a wrongly accused man on the run who joins them to escape police. S&J songs are not generally what one expects from them. They are a bit let down. Here are the songs from this album…