Home Archive for November 2016

Kaifi Azmi (January 1919 � 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He will always be remembered who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures.At the age eleven, Azmi wrote his first ghazal Itna To Zindagi Mein Kisi Ki Khalal Pade.Most of the people, including his father, thought he recited his elder brother's ghazal. When his elder brother denied it, his father and his clerk decided to test his poetic talent. They gave him one of the lines of a couplet and asked him to write a ghazal in the same meter and rhyme. Azmi accepted the challenge and completed a ghazal. This particular ghazal was to become a rage in undivided India and it was immortalised as it was sung by legendary ghazal singer, Begum Akhtar.
Kaifi Azmi wrote his first lyrics for the film Buzdil, directed by Shaheed Latif and music by SD Burman, released in 1951.As a lyricist and songwriter, though he wrote for numerous films, he will always be remembered for Guru Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat (1964), India's greatest war film. Some notables films for which he wrote lyrics include Kohra(1964), Anupama (1966), Uski Kahani (1966), Saat Hindustani (1969), Shola Aur Shabnam, Parwana (1971), Bawarchi (1972), Pakeezah (1972), Hanste Zakhm (1973), Arth (1982) and Razia Sultan (1983). For Naunihal (1967), he wrote the song "Meri Aawaz Suno Pyar ka Raaz Suno" (Hear my voice, hear the secret of love) sung by Mohammad Rafi. The song is picturised over the funeral procession of Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Meri Awaz Suno from Naunihal 1967

Here I am Presenting some of my favourite songs of Kaifi Azmi
In 1961, 2 films SHAMA and Shola Aur Shabnam released with his songs

Dil Ghum Se Jal Raha Hai from Shama sung by Suman Kalyanpur

Jeet Hi Lenge Baazi from Shola Aur Shabnam 1961

Jaane Kya Dhoondti Rehti Hai from Shola Aur Shabnam 1961

His association with Chetan Anand from 1964 film Haqekat and later on his all films produced some great songs. His greatest feat as a writer was Chetan Anand's Heer Raanjha (1970) wherein the entire dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of the greatest feats of Hindi film writing.

Kar Chale Hum Fida from Haqekat 1964

Zara Si Aahat Hoti Hai from Haqekat 1964

Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil from Heer Ranjha 1970

Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho from Hanste Zakham 1973

Betab Dil Ki Tamanna from Hanste Zakham 1973

His association with Music Director Khayyam gave some of the immortal songs of Bollywood.earlier songs from Shola Aur Shabnam 1961,later Shagun 1964,Kabhie Kabhie 1976,Noorie 1979 are few of them

Parbaton Ke pedon par from Shagun 1964

Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein from Kabhi Kabhi1976

from Noorie1979

His association with Hemant Kumar also gave us many Immortal songs.Remember the Songs of Kohra 1964 and Anupama 1966

Yeh Nayan Dare Dare from Kohra 1964

Dheere Dheere Machal from Anupama 1966

In 1972 Released Pakeezah and Bawarchi and later Hanste Zakham,Arth and Razia Sultan gave beautiful songs

Chalte Chalte from Pakezah 1972

Tum Bin Jeevan Kaisa from Bawarchi 1972

Ae Dile E Naadan from Razia Sultan (1983)

The niche singer of the Golden Era

Who can forget Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haq hai tumko, which was also composed by her. This was a duet with Mukesh,

Sudha Malhotra was born on November 30, 1936 in New Delhi. She spent her childhood in Lahore, Bhopal and Firozpur. She has been singing on the radio from the age of five. She was discovered by Ghulam Haider at a programme at Firozpur in the aid of Red Cross. She completed her graduation in music from Agra University. Her family moved to Bombay in 1948 where she was trained in classical music by Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan and Pandit Laxman Prasad Jaipurwale. Her first break in playback singing was in 1949 in the film The Last Message in which she sang Chal raha swaraj ka jhagda with Vinod and others.

She was discovered as a child artist by Ghulam Haider (a prominent music director of the 1940s). She debuted in the movie Arzoo. She retired from film industry in 1960, following her marriage with businessman Giridhar Motwani (whose family owned the Chicago Radio Mike Company). She recorded for a few albums in the following years, including for Jagjit Singh's In a Mood of Love. She also sang for Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog in 1982.

I present some of her songs, including some that are not so well known, as my felicitation on her 80^th birth anniversary today.

Mila gaye nain from Arzoo (1950), lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri, music Anil Biswas

Song from from Arzoo 1950

Awaz de raha hai koi from Gauhar (1953)

Song from from Gauhar 1953 (Audio only)

Na Woh Hamare Na Dil Hamara from Dill e Nadaan 1953

Song from Dil e Nadaan 1953

Maalik Tere Jahan mei from Ab Dilli Door Nahin 1957

Ab Dilli Door Nahin 1957

Aaj apna Ho Na Ho from Kal Hamara Hai (1959)

Song from Kal Hamara Hai (1959)

Tum mujhe bhool bhi jao from Didi (1959)

Song from from Didi (1959)

Hum tumhare ho chuke hain humko tumse pyar hai from Rangeela Raja (1960)

Song from Rangeela Raja (1960)

Na main dhan chaahun with Geeta Dutt from Kala Bazar (1960)

Song from Kala Bazar (1960)

Salame Hasrat Qubool Kar Lo from Babar 1960

Song from Babar 1960

Kashti ka khamosh safar hai with Kishore Kumar from Girl Friend(1960),

Song from Girl Friend(1960), Audio only

Dekho Ji Mera Haal Re from Solva Saal

Song from Solva Saal 1958

Sunday,A day to refuel your soul and be greatful for your blessings.Take a deep breath and relax.Enjoy your family,your friends,a cup of coffee with these 7 Bollywood Fun Songs
Part 6 27th Nov 2016

Meri jaan ghair ko tum paan khilaayaa na karo

This song is from the 1955 Minerva Movietone production Kundan.The lyrics are by Shakeel Badayuni, and the singing voices are of Mohammed Rafi and Geeta Dutt.In this song paan seller played by Kum Kum, and one of her customers, played by Om Prakash. As the song starts, and progresses, one is led to believe that Om Prakash is wooing Kum Kum

Song from Kundan 1955

O soniye o soniye jab jeet huyee hai hamaari

Here is a song from �Ten O Clock� (1958) for Sunday Mood.The song is picturised on Suresh, Geeta Bali and others.This song is sung by Rafi, Geeta Dutt, male and female chorus. The song is picturised as a bicycle song cum picnic song and also a song where the two groups are teasing each other.

Song from �Ten O Clock� (1958)

Suno re bhaiyya ham laaye hain ek khabar mastaani

This song is a nice forgotten gem from Paigham 1959,song is sung by Rafi. Pradeep is the lyricist.Music is composed by C Ramchandra. In this song, people ,led by Johny Walker, are riding bicycles and going in a procession singing this song.

Song from Paigham 1959

Ham manmauji raahi mastaane

This is a Mukesh song from the 1970 film �Daghaabaaz�. The song appears at two places in the film, and in both the clips we see that the main performer on screen is Chandra Shekhar.The songs of this film are written by BD Mishra and the music is by Dilip Roy.

Song from �Daghaabaaz�.

Arre zindagi hai khel koi pass koi fail

This song is sung by Manna Dey and Asha Bhonsle. It is picturised as a roadside tamasha song on Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Master Ripple.This song is from Sita Aur Geeta 1972

song from Sita Aur Geeta 1972

Main Tera Tota Tu meri Maina

This song is from the film Paap ki Duniyaa 1988,Sung with much enthusiasm and gusto by Kishore Kumar and S Janaki, this song was a superhit in the 80s.Picturised on Chunky Pandey and Neelam

Song from Paap ki Duniyaa 1988

Nashe Si Chad Gayi

This song isfrom Befikre yet to be released film

Tun Tun. The name conjures up the image of a roly-poly, funny woman. She was christened thus by none other than Dilip Kumar. She was working with the thespian in her first film Babul which had Nargis in the romantic lead.Though today's generation know her as a commedian but I am giving her Tribute as a singer
Tun Tun (11 July 1923 � 24 November 2003) was the screen name of Indian playback singer and actress-comedian, Uma Devi Khatri, who was called "Hindi cinema's first-ever Female comedian"She was born in a conservative North Indian family in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. After the untimely death of her parents while she was in her teens, she was raised by her brother and later by her uncle.
At the age of 23 she came to Bombay to try her luck in singing.
She made her debut as a solo playback singer, in Nazir's Wamiq Azra (1946).Soon she signed a contract with the producer-director A.R. Kardar, who used Naushad as music director, and went on make a place for herself amidst music stalwarts like Noor Jehan, Rajkumari, Khursheed and Zohrabai Ambalewali.
She is known for her song "Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon Dil-e-beqarar ka" but she sang many immortal Songs like "Yeh Kaun Chala Meri Aankhon Mein Sama Kar", and "Aaj Machi Hai Dhoom Jhoom Khushi Se Jhoom", which she sang for actress Munawar Sultana in A.R. Kardar's Dard (1947), again under the music direction of Naushad; she also sang a duet, "Betaab Hai Dil Dard-e-Mohabat Ke Asar Se", with Suraiya.
Success of Dard meant that she next received Mehboob Khan's Anokhi Ada (1948), which again had two hit numbers, "Kahe jiya dole" and "Dil ko lagake humne kuch bhi na paya". This brought her into the league of highly rated playback singers. She reached her peak as a vocalist in director S.S. Vasan's "Chandralekha" (1948) made by Gemini Studios, Chennai. Her seven songs, which include hits like, "Saanjh ki bela", remain her most accomplished work in her singing career.

IMMORTAL SONGS SUNG BY UMA DEVI

Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon from Dard 1947

Betab Hai Dil from Dard 1947

Yeh Kaun Chala from Dard 1947

Dilwale Jal Jal kar

O Chaand Mere from Chandralekha 1948

Meri pyari Patang from Dillagi 1949

Sajna aa Ja re from Chandralekha 1948

A Duet with ohammad Rafi from Dholak 1950

Geeta Dutt a legendary singer was born on 22nd Nov 1930.Before her marriage with Guru Dutt she was known as Geeta Roy.She was born in Faridpur before the Partition of India. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema. She also sang many modern Bengali songs, both in film and non-film genre.
In 1942, her parents moved to an apartment in Bombay. Geeta was twelve and continued her schooling at the Bengali High School.K. Hanuman Prasad took Geeta under his patronage, trained and groomed her in singing and later launched her into singing for movies. In 1946, she got the first break with an opportunity to sing in the mythological film Bhakta Prahlad for which Prasad was the music director. She was given only two lines to sing for a few songs.
In the initial stages of her career, Geeta's voice seemed suitable for devotional songs. In fact in the Dilip Kumar-Nargis starrer, Jogan, many devotional songs, including ones written by Meera Bai were sung by Geeta, the most popular being Ghoonghat ke pat khol re, tohe piya milenge and Mai toh Girdhar ke Ghar Jaaungi.

In 1947, she got her break with Do Bhai. The music of Do Bhai became a hit with "Mera sundar sapna beet gaya" topping the charts. The song touched the pulse of thousands of music lovers. She was popularly nick-named "Bangal ka jadu" (the magic from Bengal). In the same film she sang the evocative "Yaad karoge, yaad karoge, ik din humko yaad karoge." It was remarkable for a teenager to sing with such maturity.

Mera sundar sapna beet gaya

In 1949 with the release of Mahal and the runaway success of Aayega Aanewala made Lata Mangeshkar the Voice of India and she became an undisputed leader in Hindi Films.but during that period Geeta Dutt emerged as another female voice.The uncanny ability of Geeta Dutt that made her race past her contemporaries was her unique versatility to sing any kind of song with the authentic tone, feeling, passion and emotion

Geeta Dutt's chart-busting "Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le" in Guru Dutt's directorial debut Baazi (1951) was the turning point S D Burman fully exploited Geeta's potential across the spectrum. "Aan milo shyam saanware" (Devdas, 1955), the duet with Manna Dey, has the unmistakable touch of the Baulfolk music of Bengal. "Nanhi kali sone chali" (Sujata, 1959) is one of the most popular and heart-touching lullaby ever where Geeta Dutt's voice rings maternal love in every note. The bubbly exuberance of "Aye dil mujhe bata de" (Bhai Bhai, 1956) is in sharp contrast to the pathos of "Waqt ne kiya" in (Kaagaz Ke Phool, 1959).

Babuji Dheere Chalna

Geeta Dutt also sang for other Music directors also gave many hit songs,In Aar Paar she sang for O P Nayyar gave memorable songssuch as Babuji Dheere Chalna and Yeh Lo Main Haari Piya.
During Geeta's recording of songs for the movie Baazi, she met its young and upcoming director, Guru Dutt. Their romance culminated in marriage on 26 May 1953

Geeta Dutt's singing career began to get affected. As her husband got involved with his new leading lady, Waheeda Rehman, the singer's career too took a dive. Ironically, she continued to be the playback singer for the actress.Geeta Dutt came up with one of her best renditions in the heart-rending "Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam," composed by S. D. Burman and penned by Kaifi Azmi where she poured out her pain, anguish and pathos in every word.

With Guru Dutt's demise in 1964, Geeta suffered a nervous breakdown. It is said when she recovered, she realised her place was taken by other singers. However, the fighter that she was, she fought her way back, delivering a stunning performance in Anubhav, which also turned out to be her last performance. She ultimately succumbed to cirrhosis of liver and passed away on 20th July 1972.She was only 42 years old that time.

My tribute to Geeta Dutt
You are the darling of the nation,you are not physically present but we know that your voice remains,your songs remain at the heart among the millions of your fans all over the globe for all the times to come.

Milestone Songs of Geeta Dutt

Aye Dil Mujhe Bataa De from Bhai Bhai 1956

Jaane Kya Tune Kahi from Pyasaa 1957

Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam from Kaagaz Ke Phool 1957

Ja Ja Ja Bewafa from Aar Paar 1954

Piya Aise Jiya Mein from Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam 1962

Na Jao Saiyan from Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam 1962

Aankhon Hi Aankhon Me Ishaara from C I D 1956

Thandi Hawa Kaali Ghata from Mr & Mrs 55

Na Ye Chaand Hoga from Shart 1954

Chupke Se Mile from Manzil 1960

Nanhi Kali Sone Chali from Sujata 1959

Mujhe Jaan na Kaho Meri jaan from Anubhav 1972

Helen was Born on 21st Nov 1939.She is famous for her performances in flamboyant dance sequences and cabaret numbers. She was known as the Cabaret Queen of India and the Golden girl of India. Her father was of Indian Origin and mother of Burmese origin.Her father died during the Second World War. The family migrated to Mumbai in 1943 during World War II, but her mother's salary as a nurse was not enough, and Helen had to quit her schooling to support the family.

Mr. John O Baba Khan srom Baarish 1957

A family friend, an actress known as Cukoo, helped her find jobs as a chorus dancer in the films Shabistan and Awaara (1951). She was soon working regularly, and was featured as a solo dancer in films like Alif Laila (1952) and Hoor-e-Arab (1953) but got recognition from the song "Mr. John O Baba Khan" in the film Baarish.

Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu

In 1958, she had her first major hit with her performance in the song "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" in Shakti Samanta's hit film, Howrah Bridge which was sung by Geeta Dutt. She was in great demand after this, performing as a cabaret dancer and vamp in film after film. She won nomination for the best supporting actress in 1965 for the movie 'Gumnaam'
v\Vamp roles and "item numbers" kept her busy through the 1960s.She was known to have acted in 500 movies by 1972 which was a huge record for her.She also performed numerous stage shows .
She never had success as Leading or character artist in films though she played the heroine or played dramatic roles. She won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Mahesh Bhatt's film Lahu Ke Do Rang (1979)

Helen retired from the screen for a number of years, but made a few guest roles in 1999 and 2000. In Mohabbatein, she plays the prim and proper head of a girls' school, who is pulled out onto a dance floor and surprises everyone with her lively dancing. She also made a special appearance as Salman Khan's mother in the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Helen is selected for the Padma Shri awards of 2009 along with Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar. Helen married Salim Khan, his second wife in 1980. They adopted a girl, Arpita.

Best of Helen's Songs & Dances

Compitition Of Helen with Vaijyantimala -