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

[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…

[swarapriya]

(Shakeel) Kohinoor (1960) - Post 1 (Songs)

"Kohinoor" may not be a gem of a movie but it is one of those films that exploited Dilipji's talents to a maximum. One of our most gifted actors, here he exhibited his acting prowess by going from comedy to romantic hero to a tragedy king very effortlessly. For his portrayal he won the Best Actor Filmfare Award.

There is one "mirror" sequence in this movie between Dilip Saab and Jeevan that is very hilarious. This was a direct lift from the famous Marx Brothers' movie called "Duck Soup" made in 1933. Groucho was in that mirror sequence. Many years later, in 1955, Harpo Marx (brother of Groucho) reenacted the same mirror scene on the Lucille Ball TV show bringing down the house with laughter. By the way, in Amitabh's "Mard (1985)" a similar sequence was shot between Amitabh and Prem Chopra.

“Kohinoor” was a commercially successful movie. The music played a major part in that success. Naushadji displayed his versatility as a music composer with a classical song like “Madhuban Mein” on one hand and a beautiful romantic duet like “Do Sitaaron” on another hand and several other beautiful songs in between.

I am uploading songs and some specials in three back-to-back posts. First two posts contain all songs from the film. The third post contains a couple of version songs and some instrumentals. Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Kohinoor (1960) - Post 2 (Songs)

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

[swarapriya]

Kohinoor (1960) - Post 3 (Specials)

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

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Boxer (1965)

This is simply a bad movie. Producers trying to exploit the physique of Dara Singhji didn't have much of a story to begin with. Mumtaz is completely wasted in the film. LP's songs are about average with the exception of Lataji's solo "Do Nain". Here is this and other songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Begunah (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=652

[swarapriya]

(Javed Akhtar) Yugandhar (1993)

This movie was an ambitious undertaking to say the least, but in the end it is another crime and revenge drama where there is only a thin line between good and bad. Almost every coming scene can be easily anticipated as it has been rehashed so many times in previous films. As a result, the final product from director N. Chandra (of "Tezab (1988)" fame) was a total disappointment.

There are only four songs in the film but some of them are of longer duration. LP does a passable job in the music department. Here are the songs...

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Aakhri Dao (1958)

Here is another fine album from Madan Mohan Saab where every song is a delight. Asha has several beautiful numbers in this album. She and Rafi Saab dominate the proceedings. Rafi Saab has a heart rendering song in "Tujhe Kya Sunaaoon". Lata has only one duet in this Madan Mohanji's album and it is a beauty. The song is "Woh Chaand Muskaaya". Here is this and other songs from this fine album...

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Nagin (1954)

“Nagin” was inspired by the great Shakespearean play “Romeo and Juliet”. The novel thing about the movie is that it has a background of two rival groups of snake catchers living in some forest. But that is only part of the charm. It has the superb music composed by the great Hemantda. He was assisted by young Kalyanji Virji Shah (of Kalyanji-Anandji team) and another young man named Ravi Shanker Sharma (also known as Ravi), who will eventually become great music directors in their own right. Been music was played by Ravi. Kalyanji made use of an electronic instrument called Clavioline to generate some of the sounds for the songs. The use of the synthesizer was a first for an Indian movie.

The songs were such a craze when the movie was released that there were all kinds of stories of the effect of been music. Some rural touring theaters reported that while been music was being played it attracted several cobras into the theater and the panic stricken fans ran out of the theaters. These probably were tall tales but there is no denying to the fact that snake charmers used to play the music from the film as part of their show. This all sounds very fishy (or snaky) because snakes are deaf and only react to movements and heat.

Another winning point about the movie was the performance of its heroine, Vyjayanti Mala. A trained dancer, she was barely 17 or 18 when she acted in this movie. Her dances rivaled those of snakes and charmed movie goers all over India and suddenly she became a force to reckon within the Hindi film field.

The movie was like one prolonged song and dance sequence. It is a celebration of young love and life; restless, exciting, hallucinating, intoxicating, and charmingly mesmerizing. Let us have some fun with these beautiful songs. I am uploading all songs and several instrumentals in five separate posts. The first two posts contain songs from the film. The other three posts contain instrumentals of some of the popular songs from the movie.

Here is the first set of songs starting in the next post…