Shair Aur Sargam

(Javed Akhtar) Godmother (1999)

This film was based on the life of Santokben Jadeja (see her photo attached below) of Gujarat state. She was an underworld gangster who later was elected as an MLA from Kutiyana in Porbandar. Shabana Azmi portrayed her in the film that won many National honors. Here is a list of these awards…

• Best Feature film in Hindi.
• Shabana as the Best Actress.
• Vishal Bharadwaj as the Best Music Director.
• Javed Akhtar Saab as the Best Lyricist for the song “Maati Re Maati Re”.
• Sanjeev Abhyankar as the Best Playback Singer for the song “Suno Re Suno Re”.
• Renu Saluja as the Best Editor.

Raima Sen, the daughter of Moon Moon Sen and the granddaughter of Suchitra Sen, was introduced in this film. In a limited role she made her mark as a sensitive actress.

The song “Maati Re Maati Re” appeared four times in the film, each time with different verbiage. I am uploading all these four versions here. The singer list in the DVD shows Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan also as singers. I have not found their songs either in the DVD or in the CD. If anyone of you have these songs please kindly share with rest of us.

I am uploading songs and some music clips from the film in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…



This post has been edited by swarapriya: Feb 17 2015, 07:32 PM

Music Clips from "Godmother (1999)"...

Here are some music clips from this multiple award winning film...

(Majrooh) Pehli Raat (1959)

This film was based on the early Telugu hit “Modati Raathri” made in 1950. It is Nimmi’s movie all the way. There are many other characters come and go but basically Nimmi is nearly in most of the scenes. There are many songs in this film composed by Ravi. Of these “Aurat Ko”, “Hum Ko”, and “Ruk Ruk” stand out. Especially Rafi Saab’s solo “Ruk Ruk” is simply superb.

I am uploading these songs and others in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

Concluding Songs from "Pehli Raat (1959)"...

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

(Rajinder Krishan) Champakali (1957)

Nandlal Jaswantlal, who directed this movie for Filmistan, was on a roll with several musical hits in a row to his credit. These included “Anarkali” in 1953, “Nagin” in 1954, “Taj” in 1956, and this film, all made by Filmistan. One common trait of all these movies was they had lyrics written by Rajinder Krishan (most of Anarkali’s). Last three movies had music by Hemant Kumar and were assisted by Ravi. If “been” was the musical instrument in “Nagin”, “baansuri” was central to “Taj” and “Champakali”.

I am not certain how successful this movie was but it has several good songs in it. I am uploading these in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

Concluding Songs from "Champakali (1957)"...

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

(Shailendra) Insaan Jaag Utha (1959)

Producer and director Shakti Samanta who made many popular entertainers was experimenting with this film trying to go serious. But an inconsistent storyline and patchy screenplay did not help the proceedings even though some of the songs sparkled. Samanta waited another 10 years to break the mold with his triumphant “Aaradhana”.

Here is another fine album from Burmanda. Especially couple of songs just ooze with honeyed melody that was a trademark of many songs of Burmanda. These are “Chaand Sa Mukhda”, a duet by Asha and Rafi Saab, and the other is “Jaanu Jaanu Re”, also a duet, but this time by Asha and Geetaji. Another song that also appealing is the solo by Asha, “Baat Badhti Gayi”. Jaidev and RD were assistants to Burmanda.

Two years earlier, in 1957, Madhubala walked out of B.R. Chopra's "Naya Daur" in a dispute as its leading lady. The dispute finally landed in the court where Madhubala eventually lost the suit. Here she was given another chance in this Shakti Samanta's musical film to reprise a similar role that her replacement Vyjayanti Mala played in “Naya Daur”. Made up to look glamorous or not, with Madhubala’s role set in a rural environment, her effervescence still pervades the movie with enlightening and enchanting energy.

Samanta Saab shot this movie almost entirely outdoors. The locale was Nagarjuna Sagar, in then Andhra Pradesh and now in Telangana, where the dam was under construction at that time. The site, the atmosphere, and the buzz associated with the work of the dam fitted well like a glove with the movie's theme.

I am uploading the above mentioned songs and others from this album in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

Concluding Songs from "Insaan Jaag Utha (1959)"...

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

(Shakeel) Ram Aur Shyam (1967)

"Gunga Jumna (1961)" was the last major hit Dilip Saab enjoyed until the release of "Ram Aur Shyam" in1967. With the huge money spent on it, "Leader (1964)" could barely garner its investment back. "Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966)" met a similar fate. Failure of his films was unfamiliar ground for Dilip Saab. This film changed that.

This movie was first made in Telugu. Its name was "Ramudu Bheemudu (1964)". It was a huge hit. Later it was remade in Tamil with equal success. When Dilipji was approached to play not one but two roles of twin brothers in the movie, he jumped at the opportunity to play a dual role. This was a first in his richly illustrious career.

Incidentally, Vyjayanti Mala was originally cast to play one of the heroines in the movie. Two weeks of the movie also was in the can. By this time Vyjayanti Mala drifted away from Dilipji and firmly entrenched in Raj Kapoor's camp, even though she made only two movies with Raj (“Nazrana (1961)” and “Sangam (1964)”). It was reported that this irritated Dilip Saab to no end and he was in no mood to work with her as his costar. The production was dragging under this cloud. It was difficult to work for all those involved given the reality of the situation. Vyjayanti Mala withdrew herself from the movie and was replaced almost immediately by Waheeda Rehman. After that the production went without a hitch.

Many film observers and critics believe that this was the movie that finally established Mumtaz as a full-fledged and bankable star even though she had many earlier successes in supporting roles and as heroine to Dara Singh in several of his films. This was a long time coming and she richly deserved the break. Interestingly neither Mumtaz nor Waheeda had much of a role in the film. It was all Dilipji from the beginning to the end.

This is another movie which fetched Dilip Saab the Best Actor Award from Filmfare. It was almost a routine thing to expect his winning these awards if he appeared in a movie. This movie also inspired later "Seeta Aur Geeta (1972)" with roles of twin brothers switched to twin sisters. These roles were played by Hema Malini that also fetched her the Best Actress Award from Filmfare. Salim and Javed took the credit for the story even though it was not their original idea.

Here are the songs...

Dear HF members

the song AURAT TO BITHAYE DIL MAIN TUMHAIN, is not listed in HFGK.

it is also not listed in Talat Mehmood .net although on Youtube there is one video

the female singer do not seems to be ASHAJI, more of SUDHA MALHOTRA.

any comment from other members.

taiyab

My Dear Taiyab,

The song "Aurat Toh" may not be listed in HFGK and in Talat Saab's website, but it is in the DVD. That is where I got the song from. As far as who the female singer is, like you said, I will invite our members to share their feelings about it.

Thanks & cheers,
S

(Anand Bakshi) Milan (1967)

Most of the following write up appeared in one of my earlier postings of this album…

Like most of L.V. Prasad’s Hindi films, “Milan” was also based on a Telugu film called “Mooga Manasulu (1964)”. The Telugu film was a super hit in spite of its storyline bordered on an occasional absurdity. The Telugu movie was a success based on the strength of beautiful outdoor shooting on the banks of the river Godavari, fine portrayals of the principal actors, and beautiful music. It was only a matter of time that it was to be made in Hindi.

The Hindi film was directed by the same director of the Telugu film, Adurti Subba Rao (see the attached photograph). He was a prominent director of Telugu films who made nearly 50 films including a few in Hindi. Rao, born in Andhra Pradesh, was a bright student and matriculated at a very young age from high school. He withdrew in the very first year of college against his parents’ wishes to pursue his dream to be an ace photographer. He decided the place to learn photography was Mumbai.

In Mumbai, he studied for three years to get a degree in photography at St. Xavier’s College. While pursuing his studies, he found a job with the Bombay Film Lab. He discontinued the school to take the fulltime employment to learn about processing and printing. He also learned to edit films. Uday Shankar, who was making “Kalpana”, was looking for someone to assist him. Rao grabbed the opportunity to become an assistant editor for the movie as well as its assistant director. During this time he got his first break to be an independent editor for a Tamil film. He moved to Madras.

His first few assignments in Madras were to write stories and dialogues for few films. He also managed to work as an editor, wrote lyrics for some songs, and tried his hand at camera. With all these activities he was getting around to know some important people in the industry and decided to launch his own film. His film “Amara Sandesham (1954)” was a flop but helped him to establish more film contacts. It was Annapoorna Films managing partner Madhusudan Rao who signed him for a multi film contract. For that banner, Rao directed several hit films.

After having established himself by earning a good name in the industry, he restarted his company to make series of movies, mostly hits. The Telugu film “Mooga Manasulu” on which “Milan” was based was one of them.

For this film, Prasad parted companies with the music director duo Shankar & Jaikishan who provided hit music for several of his earlier movies. Prasad decided to go this time with Laxmikant & Pyarelal and their partnership worked for a string of successful movies starting with this one.

Hindi version of the film also enjoyed super success at the box office. The music of the film was one of its biggest draws. Many believe that the movie also gave Mukesh a second lease of life as a singer because during that time he was going through a lean period. It was his songs that lifted the movie to a newer and higher level.

The song “Saawan Ka Mahina” is an example of the film craft at its best. So many things came together to make this an unforgettable audio visual experience in the film. The contrasting images of Nutan and Sunil Dutt, one educated and sophisticated, the other uneducated and a simple person, both performing the song as one teaches the other on how to sing is a scene to behold. The camera shows sun and shade and later as the night falls everything seem to bask in the glorious moonlight. In the stillness of the night, as the boat travels through the water breaking the silence with ripples as the lingering moonlight reflection adds to the beautiful mood.

Another great song is by Lataji, “Aaj Dil Pe”. Superbly crafted and exquisitely sung by Lata it leaves a deep lingering effect on the listener. This song is like a ghazal and it appears like LP may have purposely given it a Madan Mohan touch. For some reason this song was left out of the film. Such a pity…

The movie grabbed several Filmfare awards. Nutan won as the Best Actress. Jamuna, the South Indian star, who had an important role in the film walked away with the Best Supporting Actress Award. For the magnificent music they composed, Laxmikant & Pyarelal won the Best Music Director Award. Sunil lost to Dilip for his portrayal in “Ram Aur Shyam”.

I am uploading songs, some specials and few instrumentals of this film in three back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs starting in the next post…

Songs from "Milan (1967)" - Part 1

Here is the first set of songs from this popular film...

Songs from "Milan (1967)" - Part 2

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

Specials & Instrumentals of "Saawan Ka Mahina" Song from "Milan (1967)"

Here are a couple of specials and a few instrumentals of the song "Saawan Ka Mahina" from the film...