Dear Friends

I am honoured to upload the rare gems by Akhtari Bai from the film Roti which was released in 1942. This was four years before I was born.

The story goes this way. Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, as Begum Akhtar was then known was approached by the famous producer-director Mehboob Khan in Lucknow,to act in ROTI. The music of this movie was composed by maestro Anil Biswas. ROTI contained six of her songs/ghazals but unfortunately due to some trouble between producer and director, Mehboob Khan subsequently deleted 3-4 ghazals from the film. All the ghazals are available on Megaphone gramophone records.

1 Phir fasle bahaar aayi dile deewana - Safdar Shah Sitapuri
2 Rahne laga hai dil mein andhera tere bagair - Behzaad Lucknowi
3 Ulajh Gaye Nainwa - arazu Lucknowi
4 Woh hans rahe hain aah kiye jaa raha hoon- arazu Lucknowi
5 Aye Prem Teri Balihari Ho - - Safdar Shah Sitapuri
6 Char dinon ki jawani - Safdar Shah Sitapuri

I have been able to get hold of these from various sources and am uploading them for the benefit of lovers of Anil Biswas's compositions. The recordings have the unmistakable 78 rpm. scratch in the background. I tried removing it as much as I could and these results are the best I could do.

Those who know Begum Akhtar in the recent years will be surprised to hear her sing songs like Char Dinon Ki Jawani and Ulajh Gaye Nainwa. Buth the other four pieces reveal the real artiste Begum Akhtar is.

Does any one know which of these songs were deleted from the movie ?

SGBhagwat

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Dear Bhagawatji,

This is an immense gift you have given to the lovers of not just Anil Biswas' music, but old music in general. I recall the days when I used to have these records and how precious they were to me but with time, we seperated and the last few years, I have been desperately trying to hunt down these songs in good condition. Your uploads are some of the best quality recordings I have heard of these songs.

Thank you so much for sharing them with us. It is our fortune that we had a man of the genius of Anil Biswas to show the way in those early years of film music - and we are fortunate to have these songs with us thanks to you.

Regards,
Shriram

Thanks for fairly good quality copies of these songs.
All the six songs were removed from the movie as
demanded by ABF due to some differences with
Menboob.

urzung khan

Thanks a lot!!

Wow!!!

Thank you for a very rare album...

First of all, thanx to sgbhagwat for these songs. It is always great to get a
hold of these rare gems.
But now coming to what Urzung said, the film (according to the Geetkosh)
had 14 songs. So I guess, even after taking out all of the Begum Akhtar
songs, they had quite a few left to include. However, I see that she actually
acted in the film. When they took out the songs, was the character also
removed, or were the songs simply excised?
Just curious.

i saw the film about 15-16 years back on dd.i think two of begum akhtar songs were there in the film.sitara had a major role in the film and she sang some lovely songs.''sajna saanjh bhayi'' was one of the most popular song of the film.
regards,
mahesh

Bhagwatji

I have been going through this today due to a long vacation away from Muscat. I would like to echo every sentiment earlier expressed by Sri. These are indeed priceless gems from the boundless ocean of HFM that the great Anil Biswas bestowed upon us. He was, undoubtedly, the doyen of music directors in Mumbai and his contribution, along with his other contemporaries such as Khemchand Prakash, Gyan Dutt, Naushad, C. Ramchandra, Ghulam Haider, Sajjad, B.C. Rani, H. Behl, Govindram and many others matched that of R.C.Boral, Pankaj Mullick and Kamal Dasgupta from Kolkatta in that golden period of HFM.

Please do continue to upload rare gems of above maestroes. As mentioned by Mahesh, Sitara's songs from Roti were, indeed beautiful. Please upload, if possible.

Many manay thanks for your uploads.

Pradeep

bhagwatji,
can you upload the songs again or pm them to me.
thanks in advance,
mahesh

Please reupload.

Dear Mahesh & Raj Nandini

I am sorry for thhe incomplete post yesterday. I am posting all the above songs in a Torrent. this is my first experience with a torrent on HF but I have uploaded a lot of stuff on Desitorrents.

Torrents make your uploads less bulky and you save a lot of time. If you cannot download with Torrent, please send me a Personal Message. I will send the files to you.

After all,............ good music is for sharing.

SGB