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

[swarapriya]

(Meena) Jagir (1959)

Here is an album from the great maestro Madan Mohan Saab. All these are a gift from the Forum members. My many thanks to all of the providers. Here are the songs...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 15 2011, 12:05 PM

[swarapriya]

(Nargis) Yaadein (1964)

Nargis's great acting career was more or less over after three of her films were released in 1958 ("Adalat", "Ghar Sansar", and "Lajwanti") when she decided to retire from acting. In 1960's "Kala Bazar", Dev Anand's film, she appeared in the film along many luminaries where there is a scene in which the premiere of "Mother India (1957)" is shown. Then she appeared in her husband's experimental one-man drama, "Yaadein", at the end of the movie in a silhouette. She did come back in 1967 at the persuasion of her brother, actor Anwar Hussain, to appear in "Raat Aur Din".

I am uploading songs from "Yaadein" here. There are only a couple. One of them was contributed by Taiyabji, one our fellow members. Thank you Taiyab.

Here are the two songs...

[swarapriya]

(Madhubala) Barsaat ki Raat (1960)

Here is a beautiful musical extravaganza from Roshan Saab. Roshan Saab was not the first choice as a music director for the movie. Originally Khayyam Saab was signed to provide its music. But differences developed between the producers and Khayyam Saab that forced Khayyam Saab to leave the project. This gave an opportunity to Roshan Saab to provide for great qawwali music ever screened for an Indian film. There are so many of these qawaalis in the movie that it feels like a long mushaira and a never ending musical celebration.

Sahir Saab who wrote the lyrics was at the top of his game here. The title song is just a thing of beauty. Rich lyrics. Mesmerizing singing of Rafi Saab. The experience just leaves one on cloud nine.

Interestingly, neither Sahir Saab nor Roshan Saab was nominated for any awards that year. Most honors went to “Mughal-E-Azam” but Shakeel Badayuni Saab won the Best Lyrics Award for the title track of "Chaudhvin ka Chand" and Shankar & Jaikishan won for their music for "Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai".

The movie came in the same year as the magnum opus "Mughal-E-Azam" came for Madhubala, the heroine of both the films. Her beauty was still radiant in spite of her health problems that became public knowledge much later. But Madhubala didn't have much to do in this film. Even her character was not that well etched.

Bharat Bhushan, the hero and one of the producers of the film, on occasion made good movies. This was one of them. He suited well in the role of the poet. He and the music and a sprightly Shyama lighted the screen with several musical interludes while Madhubala giggled away into hearts of her audience.

I am uploading songs from this album in three back-to-back posts. The first two posts contain all the songs from the film. The third post has some extended version songs.

Here is a description of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves...

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Barsaat ki Raat (1960)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Barsaat Ki Raat (1960)"...

I am including in this post three extended versions of the popular qawwalis from this album...

[swarapriya]

(Meena) Madhu (1959)

Here are the songs from this album, most of them thanks to the courtesy of the Forum members...

[swarapriya]

(Madhubala) Tarana (1951)

Here is a beauty from Anilda. The songs reflect the moods of the lead pair, Madhubala & Dilip. There was budding romance between these two and it can be easily seen how it displays on the screen when these two are together. Madhubala never looked this prettier, lighting up the screen with her sensuously infectious smile. Dilip never looked this easy going in any roles he played. Their real life romance permeates the on screen presence and it is refreshing to see them together in all its moods of a blooming beautiful romance.

I am uploading these songs in three back-to-back posts on request. The first two posts contain all of the songs from the film. The third post contains a couple of extended versions and a special.

Here are the songs in the first post...

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Tarana (1951)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Tarana (1951)"...

I am including in this post a couple of extended version songs and a special version of "Seene Mein Sulagte Hain". This song is by the famous ghazal singer Jagjit Singh. It is taken from his album, "Close to Heart". Here are these songs...

[swarapriya]

(Nargis) Awara (1951)

I am re-uploading these songs on request...

K.A. Abbas had a tremendous influence over the movies Raj Kapoor made early in his career. He was responsible for the proletarian ethos of the Raj’s early films. The culmination of coming together of Abbas ji and Raj was professionally strange, to speak the least. Raj was a deeply religious person. Abbas ji on the other hand was probably an agnostic but a definite rationalist. If Raj was progressive, that was veiled and became somewhat clearer only though his films. He didn’t adhere to any ideology and definitely was apolitical. In contrast Abbas ji was a hard core and avowed, die hard Marxist.

Abbas ji wrote stories, dialogues, or screenplays for some of Raj’s best movies. These include “Awara” (1951 - screenplay and dialogue), “Shree 420” (1955 - story, screenplay, and dialogue), “Jagte Raho” (1956 - screenplay), “Mera Naam Joker” (1970 - story and screenplay), “Bobby” (1973 - story and screenplay), and “Henna” (1991 - story). Almost all these movies were smashing successes except for “Jagte Raho” and “Mera Naam Joker”. Even these two became kind of cult classics many years after their releases.

Abbas ji in an interview fondly recalled his association with Raj Kapoor as follows: "While Raj Kapoor is no great ideologue, he is not allergic to ideas. Indeed, with his basic sympathy for the common man, he is more than amenable to socially progressive ideas and humanist ideals, so long as their presentation does not interfere with the popularity potential of his film".

What did Raj Kapoor thought of Abbas ji? Here is what Raj said in one interview: “Fortunately, I have from the very start been happy in my professional associations and it was quite early in my film career, when I was scarcely a film and a half old, that my association with K.A. Abbas began. That was ‘Awara’, an exciting intellectual adventure, which set off an exchange of ideas and a way of working between Abbas sahib and myself that continues to this day. ‘Awara’ embodies my earliest fashioning of the sort of universal humanity symbol which was to go on taking finer shape through a succession of films until ‘Mera Naam Joker’, where it emerged as the crystallization of my entire philosophy of life.”

Here are some interesting tidbits. Dewan Basheshwarnath Kapoor, father of Prithviraj and grandfather of Raj, appeared as a judge in the beginning of the fim. Shashi Kapoor, younger brother of Raj, played young Raj in the film. Prem Nath, Raj’s brother-in-law appeared as one of the singers on the boat in the song “Naiyya Teri”. Raja Navathe, the assistant director of this film, later directed Raj’s musical “Aah (1953)”.

I am uploading all the songs and some specials in five back-to-back posts. The first two posts contain the complete songs from the film. The third post contains a few music clips. The fourth post contains several extended version songs. The fifth and the final post contain some specials.

Here are the details of the songs and the songs themselves in the first post…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jun 20 2011, 11:40 AM

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Awara (1951)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this great musical masterpiece...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jun 12 2011, 07:51 AM

[swarapriya]

Some Music Clips from "Awara (1951)"...

Here are some music clips from this trend setting movie...

[swarapriya]

Some Extended Version Songs from "Awara (1951)"...

Here are some of the extended version songs from this musical extravaganza. Please note that the full version of "Tere Bina" includes two songs that were part of the dream scene. These are "Tere Bina" and "Ghar Aaya". If you decide to download these two songs separately, you don't to download the full version and vice versa.

Here are the songs...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Awara (1951)"...

Here is the fifth and final post of songs of this magnificent movie. I am uploading here a couple of specials with introductions by Raj Kapoor himself. These came the "Legends" album. Details are shown in the table below. I am also posting three instrumentals. The source for these was "You Tube".

Here are the songs and instrumentals...

[ShankarJaikishanFan]

(Nargis) Awara (1951)

I am re-uploading these songs on request...

K.A. Abbas had a tremendous influence over the movies Raj Kapoor made early in his career. He was responsible for the proletarian ethos of the Raj’s early films. The culmination of coming together of Abbas ji and Raj was professionally strange, to speak the least. Raj was a deeply religious person. Abbas ji on the other hand was probably an agnostic but a definite rationalist. If Raj was progressive, that was veiled and became somewhat clearer only though his films. He didn’t adhere to any ideology and definitely was apolitical. In contrast Abbas ji was a hard core and avowed, die hard Marxist.

Abbas ji wrote stories, dialogues, or screenplays for some of Raj’s best movies. These include “Awara” (1951 - screenplay and dialogue), “Shree 420” (1955 - story, screenplay, and dialogue), “Jagte Raho” (1956 - screenplay), “Mera Naam Joker” (1970 - story and screenplay), “Bobby” (1973 - story and screenplay), and “Henna” (1991 - story). Almost all these movies were smashing successes except for “Jagte Raho” and “Mera Naam Joker”. Even these two became kind of cult classics many years after their releases.

Abbas ji in an interview fondly recalled his association with Raj Kapoor as follows: "While Raj Kapoor is no great ideologue, he is not allergic to ideas. Indeed, with his basic sympathy for the common man, he is more than amenable to socially progressive ideas and humanist ideals, so long as their presentation does not interfere with the popularity potential of his film".

What did Raj Kapoor thought of Abbas ji? Here is what Raj said in one interview: “Fortunately, I have from the very start been happy in my professional associations and it was quite early in my film career, when I was scarcely a film and a half old, that my association with K.A. Abbas began. That was ‘Awara’, an exciting intellectual adventure, which set off an exchange of ideas and a way of working between Abbas sahib and myself that continues to this day. ‘Awara’ embodies my earliest fashioning of the sort of universal humanity symbol which was to go on taking finer shape through a succession of films until ‘Mera Naam Joker’, where it emerged as the crystallization of my entire philosophy of life.”

Here are a couple of tidbits. Shashi Kapoor, younger brother of Raj, played young Raj in the film. Prem Nath, Raj’s brother-in-law appeared as one of the singers on the boat in the song “Naiyya Teri”. Raja Navathe, the assistant director of this film, later directed Raj’s musical “Aah (1953)”.

I am uploading all the songs and some specials in five back-to-back posts. The first two posts contain the complete songs from the film. The third post contains a few music clips. The fourth post contains several extended version songs. The fifth and the final post contain some specials.

Here are the details of the songs and the songs themselves in the first post…

Great job as always! Really though-provoking write-up -- I didn't really think about the differences in ideology of Abbas and Kapoor before.