Saat Saath, Musings & Amusings Options

[akbaralibhai]

Thank you Swarapriya for this wonderful S.J. album.

[swarapriya]

(Sunil) Chhaya (1961)

Here is another beautiful contribution from ever so durable Salilda. The movie was made by AVM. Hrishida was at the helm of the direction. It has some of the unforgettable songs of early 60's that are a pleasure to listen to even today. Yet the movie didn't do much at the box office. It is a surprise and major disappointment that Hrishida was at the helm of the affairs. The movie was a very feeble effort. In the end it is remembered for its songs, thanks to Salilda. Talat Mahmood, a great crooner, is at the center stage in this album. He has three solos and a duet. All are very wonderful songs.

I am also including a shorter version of the song, "Chham Chham", initially uploaded by our fellow member, Aditya Pant. It is slightly different from the original sound track CD version in that it has sargam and is very appealing. Thank you very much for sharing this with us Aditya.

Here are the songs from this beautiful album ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 5 2010, 07:39 PM

[swarapriya]

Thank you Swarapriya for this wonderful S.J. album.

You're very welcome Bhai Saab. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Amitabh) Abhimaan (1973)

1973 was a breakthrough year for Amitabh's acting career. His "Zanjeer" was released that year and immediately established him as an actor to look forward to in the future. It also gave him an identity as the "Angry Young Man". Besides "Abhimaan" and "Zanjeer", in which his costar was Jaya Bhaduri, he was in five other movies in 1973 including "Namak Haraam". He also married Jaya the same year, just a month before the release of "Abhimaan".

"Abhimaan" is definitely one of the top movies of Hrishida. It has a great subject, fine performances, and great story telling. Above all, it has some of the best music ever composed by Burmanda. Now that is saying a lot, as Burmanda was on mark most of the time.

Many thought the movie actually reflected Jaya and Amitabh's lives, with Jaya on the top of her career and Amitabh still trying to find his niche. Some also felt that it was the life of Kishoreda and his wife Ruma Ghosh. But I believe, it was actually based on the famous Hollywood classic, "A Star is Born". This movie was made many times in English. The first version came in 1937. This William Wellman directed movie starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in the leads. The story of the film interestingly paralleled the lives of Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay, popular actors of those years. The 1937 film became a huge success, financially as well as critically. The only difference in this version and "Abhimaan" was that the English movie ends in a tragedy as the down on luck hero was never able to come to terms with the success of his wife for which he himself was responsible for.

The movie was remade in English by George Cukor with the same title in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason in the leads. This again was a huge success as Judy made a grand comeback after a few years of hiatus from the movies. Barbra Streisand made this movie, once again with same the name, in 1976. She starred in the lead opposite Kris Kristofferson. This time the movie was panned by critics yet it managed to be a financial success mostly because of the pull enjoyed by Streisand during the time.

In spite of the huge success enjoyed by "Abhimaan", it was nominated for very few awards. Amitabh gave one of the finest portrayals and yet he was not nominated. (Rishi Kapoor won the Best Actor Award for "Bobby".) But Jaya Bhaduri won as the Best Actress from Filmfare. She was the co-winner along with Dimple Kapadia, who made a stunning debut with Raj Kapoor's "Bobby". Jaya Bhaduri was also nominated as the Best Actress for her fine portrayal in "Koshish" that same year. By the way, Amitabh did win a Filmfare Award as the Best Supporting Actor, for Hrishida's other film of 1973, "Namak Haraam".

Incidentally, after the movie was released, Jaya made a conscious decision to ease off from her acting career fearful from the experience from this movie to not face any such real life crisis.

As mentioned earlier, Burmanda won the Filmfare Award as the Best Music Director. Interestingly, his son RD was also nominated the very same year for "Yaadon Ki Barat". By recognizing the Senior Burmanda, for a change, Filmfare Awards Committee did the right thing. This is just one great music. Some of the best tunes ever tuned by Burmanda. With the semi-classical touch and melodies that ooze sweetness, the songs offer you unforgettable experience.

I am uploading these songs from the original sound track album in back-to-back two posts. Here is the first set ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 8 2010, 12:37 AM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Abhimaan (1973)" ...

Here are the rest of the songs from this Burmanda's great musical masterpiece. I am also including a special version of the song "Tere Mere Milan". This one has a brief introduction by Majrooh Sultanpuri Saab, the lyricist of the song. It is taken from the album "Legends: S.D. Burman - The Ageless All Rounder (CD5)".

Now here is the sweetness ...

[swarapriya]

(Dharamendra) Chand Aur Suraj (1965)

Here is another fine offering from Salilda ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 7 2010, 09:00 AM

[romesh]

(Dharamendra) Chand Aur Suraj (1975)

Here is another fine offering from Salilda ...

dear SP

chand aur suraj is from 1965 and not 1975

romesh

[swarapriya]

(Dharamendra) Chand Aur Suraj (1975)

Here is another fine offering from Salilda ...

dear SP

chand aur suraj is from 1965 and not 1975

romesh

Thank you Romesh. It was just an oversight on my part. I made corrections to the title. Thanks. Cheers. -S

[Faraaj73]

(Amitabh) Abhimaan (1973)

But I believe, it was actually based on the famous Hollywood classic, "A Star is Born". This movie was made many times in English. The first version came in 1937. This William Wellman directed movie starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in the leads. The story of the film interestingly paralleled the lives of Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay, popular actors of those years. The 1937 film became a huge success, financially as well as critically. The only difference in this version and "Abhimaan" was that the English movie ends in a tragedy as the down on luck hero was never able to come to terms with the success of his wife for which he himself was responsible for.

The movie was remade in English by George Cukor with the same title in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason in the leads. This again was a huge success as Judy made a grand comeback after a few years of hiatus from the movies. Barbra Streisand made this movie, once again with same name, in 1976. She starred in the lead opposite Kris Kristofferson. This time the movie was panned by critics yet it managed to be a financial success mostly because of the pull enjoyed by Streisand during the time.

As an avid film buff, I've seen all the versions you mention except for the reviled Streisand one. I faintly recall at least two other thinly disguise international (Euro, Far-East) versions that I have seen. I honestly think that while James Mason had his moments, the indian version was the best of the lot and a credit to all its collaborators...

[swarapriya]

(Amitabh) Abhimaan (1973)

But I believe, it was actually based on the famous Hollywood classic, "A Star is Born". This movie was made many times in English. The first version came in 1937. This William Wellman directed movie starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in the leads. The story of the film interestingly paralleled the lives of Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay, popular actors of those years. The 1937 film became a huge success, financially as well as critically. The only difference in this version and "Abhimaan" was that the English movie ends in a tragedy as the down on luck hero was never able to come to terms with the success of his wife for which he himself was responsible for.

The movie was remade in English by George Cukor with the same title in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason in the leads. This again was a huge success as Judy made a grand comeback after a few years of hiatus from the movies. Barbra Streisand made this movie, once again with same name, in 1976. She starred in the lead opposite Kris Kristofferson. This time the movie was panned by critics yet it managed to be a financial success mostly because of the pull enjoyed by Streisand during the time.

As an avid film buff, I've seen all the versions you mention except for the reviled Streisand one. I faintly recall at least two other thinly disguise international (Euro, Far-East) versions that I have seen. I honestly think that while James Mason had his moments, the indian version was the best of the lot and a credit to all its collaborators...

Faraaj,

Agreed.

Yes, Hindi version was more effective. May be because it is the language we are familiar with. Or may be it is because of the characters we know of them in our own lives. Or may be because of the deft handling of the subject matter by Hrishida who is thoroughly familiar with the medium. But in my humble opinion, I think apart from the heart warming human drama it presents and great performances by the leading players, I think it was the music of Burmanda. I admit that I am partial here. But if you think about it, seems like music is in the blood of our people. They take to heart the songs that are melodious, well sung, rich in lyrics. You don't need to have all these attributes to like a song. For me anyone of these will do. You save the experience in the deep layers of your memory and savor it from time to time as the occasion deamnds.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 8 2010, 12:37 AM

[swarapriya]

(Jeetendra) Himmat (1970)

Here is another offering from South with Jeetendra in the lead. Ever since his "Farz (1968)" hit the bulls eye, film producers of the South were unusually fond of Jeetendra. They made many movies with him as their hero with almost similar themes, just about with the same actors, and many times with escapism as the goal with subjects that were farcial to insignificant and offered very little to remember even after an open minded viewing. This movie proves my point.

There is no Sridevi in this, but beautiful Mumtaz is the leading lady. Sridevi's turn into Hindi films will come later. Bappi Lahiri wasn't discovered by these producers yet, so they have LP as the music director. They took the cue from the great L.V. Prasad in that for many of his movies which became huge hits in Hindi, LP was the composer. Also no Kishoreda yet to sing in these movies. That will come in only in a year or two with Bappida composing music.

In all fairness, this album has some good songs. LP is generally dependable. Eventhough they worked on several movies simultaneously, most of them had a song or two to remember by. When you have Rafi Saab at the helm and Asha giving ample support, the music of any album has to feel good.

One of the songs of Rafi Saab, "Himmat Kare", was missing curiously from the CD. Sometime back I have downloaded this from the Forum. Unfortunately its quality is less than poor. My problem with the song is not simply the quality, but thre are so many annoying skips. I tried to clean it but still it doesn't cut the mustard. I am including here for completeness sake. Please download at your own risk. Also, I am requesting members to share this song if they have a better version.

Now for the songs from this album ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 8 2010, 12:46 PM

[swarapriya]

(Manoj) Grahasti (1963)

This popular family drama from Gemini Studios was a very successful film thanks to some fine acting by Ashok Kumar and several nice tunes by Ravi. It was successfully remade in Telugu in 1968 as "Manchi Kutumbam". I will upload songs from the Telugu version in this very same thread following the uploads of the Hindi songs.

Here are the songs from "Grahasti" ...

[swarapriya]

Manchi Kutumbam (1968) - A Telugu Film

This movie was based on the Hindi hit "Grahasti (1963)". There are some nice songs in this album. It has one of my favorite songs of Susheela, "Manase Andaala Brindavanam". Here is this and other songs from this film ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 9 2010, 01:04 PM

[kishor]

Manchi Kutumbam (1968) - A Telugu Film

This movie was based on the Hindi hit "Grahasti (1963)". There are some nice songs in this album. It has one of my favorite songs of Susheela, "Manase Andaala Brindavanam". Here is this and other songs from this film ...

swara priya,

The song Nera nera is sung by pithapuram nageshwara rao

Preminchuta pillavanthu has one more voice in it and thats of K J Yesudas(probably his first song in telugu)

and Missing song from your list

Tyagaseelivamma anuraga seelivamma _ Ghantasala_2.12min_1.99mb

[swarapriya]

Manchi Kutumbam (1968) - A Telugu Film

swara priya,

The song Nera nera is sung by pithapuram nageshwara rao

Preminchuta pillavanthu has one more voice in it and thats of K J Yesudas(probably his first song in telugu)

and Missing song from your list

Tyagaseelivamma anuraga seelivamma _ Ghantasala_2.12min_1.99mb

Thank you very much Kishor for the song and filling in the missing details. Appreciate it. Cheers. -S