Kaifiyat, Kaifi Azmi - The Poet Extraordinaire Options

[swarapriya]

Pakeezah (1972)

This movie was conceived around 1960 by Kamal Amrohi. He wanted to make a movie that ages will remember Meena Kumari, his actress-wife, as one of the greatest actresses ever. Amrohi Saab was a perfectionist, much like Asif of “Mughal-E-Azam” fame. He was behind everything in making of the movie; music, photography, sets, costumes, art, acting, editing, story, dialogues, lyrics, screenplay, and other areas.

As the color pictures started becoming vogue, Amrohi Saab scrapped the movie he was shooting because it was being done in black and white. After a few months of shooting, he scrapped the partly shot color film again. He felt that ordinary lenses could not do justice to the elaborate sets designed for his movie. He restarted shooting the film in cinemascope, which is a special lense.

Also, because Amrohi was into each and every detail in making the movie, the schedules slipped badly. Meena Kumari got busy and was not easily available. Then the relationship between Amrohi and Kumari soured and they were first separated and then eventually divorced. After the divorce, Meena Kumari refused to act in the movie. By 1968, Kamal Amrohi’s financial situation deteriorated. He was hoping to complete “Pakeezah”. Meena Kumari’s roles as an actress were also few by this time. She decided to resume shooting for the movie.

In between years, Ghulam Mohammad Saab, the music director of the film, passed away after composing several songs. Also, the original cameraman passed away. The movie was to resume with Dharmendra in the lead but Amrohi scrapped the idea as it was rumored that he was romantically involved with Kumari. Raaj Kumar was brought in. Naushadji was brought in to finish the musical score.

In the final version of the movie, only six songs of Ghulam Mohammad Saab were used. Naushadji composed three new songs as well as the title music. He also scored the background music which itself is considered to be a classical masterpiece. The songs composed by Ghulam Mohammad Saab that didn’t make into the film were released as a separate album years later as “Pakeezah Rang Barang”. It has nine separate tracks.

Apparently there were three songs which Naushadji composed that didn’t make the final cut. These were “Ban Ban Bole Koyaliya” by Parveen Sultana, “Mori Baali Umariya Mein” by Rajkumari, and “Ab Ke Na Jaa Bides”, also by Rajkumari. I don’t know whether these songs are available or not. If they are available, I am inviting members to share them if they can.

As a musical experience, this probably was the best one by Ghulam Mohammad Saab. He enjoyed only a limited success as a composer and as an occasional actor. He also worked as an assistant to Naushadji. Unfortunately, he didn’t live long enough to see the musical masterpiece he has created.

The movie, which is a milestone in the Hindi film industry, wasn’t honored with any noteworthy awards. It was nominated in few categories for Filmfare awards, but scraped up only one. It was nominated as the Best Picture and lost to the lousy film “Be-Imaan”. Kamal Amrohi lost to Sohanlal Kanwar as the Best Director. Kanwar directed “Be-Imaan”. Meena Kumari lost to Hema Malini as the Best Actress. Hema won for “Seeta Aur Geeta”. Ghulam Mohammad Saab was nominated for the Best Music Director Award but lost to Shankar & Jaikishan for “Be-Imaan”. Not something to be proud of by S&J, I am sure. The only Filmfare Award it won was the Filmfare Critics’ Award for N.B. Kulkarni in the Best Art Direction category. When Pran’s name was called as the Best Supporting Actor for “Be-Imaan”, he refused to accept his award saying that the snub by the Award Committee to Ghulam Mohammad Saab was too much to take.

There are more stories of recognitions bestowed on the undeserved like that happened in the year 1972. Unfortunately, it happens so routinely year after year, but this one takes the cake. I think the 1972 Filmfare Awards put many people to shame, including most of the winners.

I am uploading songs in five separate back-to-back posts. The first two posts are the ten songs from the film and a couple of specials. The third post contains some of the musical pieces from the film. The last two posts contain the songs from “Pakeezah Rang Barang”.

Here are details of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves. I am including a couple of specials in this post. One of them is the song "Chalte Chalte" with Lata's introduction. This is taken from her album "Lata in Her Own Voice-1". The other one is the song "Inhi Logo Ne". This one is a live recorded version. This is from the album "Lata Live in 1981-1".

Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Pakeezah (1972)"...

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

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 8 2011, 02:05 AM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Pakeezah (1972)"...

If songs from the film "Pakeezah" were magnificent, so was its background music. It was scored by the great Naushad Ali Saab. I am presenting in this post some of the music clips from the film. I am also including here a male version of the song "Inhi Logon". I am not sure whose voice is this one. If someone can help identify it, I would appreciate it.

Here are the music clips and the song, all from a DVD...

[swarapriya]

Songs from "Pakeezah Rang Barang (1979)"

There were nine other songs that were composed by Ghulam Mohammad Saab that were not in the released version of "Pakeezah (1972)". In 1979, an album of these songs was released. It consists of nine songs. I will post these in this and the next post.

Here are the songs from this post...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 8 2011, 02:10 AM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Pakeezah Rang Barang"...

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

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 8 2011, 02:13 AM

[swarapriya]

Rivaaj (1971)

Here are the songs from this album...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 14 2011, 02:04 PM

[ShankarJaikishanFan]

Rivaaj (1971)

Here are the songs from this album...

Thanks! Even though this wasn't a hit album there's some really great songs here!

[swarapriya]

Rivaaj (1971)

Here are the songs from this album...

Thanks! Even though this wasn't a hit album there's some really great songs here!

You're very welcome. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

Shaayar-E-Kashmir Mahjoor (1972)

This movie was about Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad, better known as Mahjoor, a great poet from Kashmir. I am uploading most of the songs from this film, all thanks to a great friend and member of this Forum, Erum Rashmi, who is no longer with us. May God bless your soul, Erum. I am still missing a couple of songs sown in the table below in red italics. If you can, please kindly share. Thanks.

Here are the songs from this album...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Aug 22 2011, 04:19 AM

[capricornn]

please share the following songs again:

bahu beti=dil tod bhi diya
sakhi hatim=ye aankhen
kagaz ke phool=hum tum jise kehta hai shadi
apna hath jagannath=ghanshyam ghamshyam (part2)
apna hath jagannath=dhole too aaj apne dil ke
ek ke baad ek=nazar milaaayi to duniya se
saat phere=sata ke mujhko

This post has been edited by capricornn: Aug 27 2011, 05:31 AM

[swarapriya]

please share the following songs again:

bahu beti=dil tod bhi diya
sakhi hatim=ye aankhen
kagaz ke phool=hum tum jise kehta hai shadi
apna hath jagannath=ghanshyam ghamshyam (part2)
apna hath jagannath=dhole too aaj apne dil ke
ek ke baad ek=nazar milaaayi to duniya se
saat phere=sata ke mujhko

Here you go (some of them are due to the courtesy of the Forum members)...

[swarapriya]

Sultana Daku (1972)

In 1956, Azmi Saab wrote lyrics for a song for a film of the same name, "Sultana Daku". Here he is, after 16 years, writing all the lyrics for a movie with the same title. I am uploading these songs, all thanks to the courtesy of the Forum members...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Sep 8 2011, 08:43 PM

[capricornn]

please share the following songs again:

bahu beti=dil tod bhi diya
sakhi hatim=ye aankhen
kagaz ke phool=hum tum jise kehta hai shadi
apna hath jagannath=ghanshyam ghamshyam (part2)
apna hath jagannath=dhole too aaj apne dil ke
ek ke baad ek=nazar milaaayi to duniya se
saat phere=sata ke mujhko

Here you go (some of them are due to the courtesy of the Forum members)...

Thanks, Swarapriya for sharing these gems.

[capricornn]

please share the following songs again:

bahu beti=dil tod bhi diya
sakhi hatim=ye aankhen
kagaz ke phool=hum tum jise kehta hai shadi
apna hath jagannath=ghanshyam ghamshyam (part2)
apna hath jagannath=dhole too aaj apne dil ke
ek ke baad ek=nazar milaaayi to duniya se
saat phere=sata ke mujhko

Here you go (some of them are due to the courtesy of the Forum members)...

Thanks, Swarapriya for sharing these gems.

[swarapriya]

Alam Ara (1973)

"Alam Ara" of 1931 was the first ever Indian Talkie released. It became a sensational hit mainly because it was the first Indian film with sound. Nanubhai Vakil remade it in 1956 and later in 1973. The 1973 version had all the songs written by Kaifi Azmi Saab and they are absolutely great. Rafi Saab and Suman Kalyanpur lent their voices to the superb songs composed by Iqbal Qureshi Saab.

Here are these beautiful songs...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Sep 7 2011, 09:56 AM