Shair Aur Sargam

(Rajinder Krishan) Bombay Ka Chor (1962)

It seems like many of the movies made in late 50’ and early 60’s started with a lot of promise but ended up as a routine crime thriller. Take for example this film. It starts out as a comedy with too many antics by venerable Kishoreda sprinkled with some fine songs. Then midway through it degenerates into a mindless crime thriller.

Rafi and Rajinder Krishan do their best with the help of fine singing by Asha and Kishoreda. The result is that there are several catchy songs in the film. Kishoreda’s “Hasrat Hi Rahi” is the song to be remembered for ages. Beautifully sung to the fine composition by Ravi Saab to memorable and touching lyrics by Krishanji. Talking about touching lyrics, Rafi Saab had only one song in the film, “Hai Bahaar-E-Baagh-E-Duniya”, but it is a heart warming winner. Ashaji contributed several beautiful solos. “Halki Halki Sard Hawa” is a standout. It is followed by another winner “Kaun Aaya”.

The fim has nearly 14 minutes of ice skating. This was performed by the American troupe with their famous show called “Holiday On Ice”. Even today, that is a popular show in USA. Asha has two songs with no one particularly singing as a background to skating. These songs are “Kaun Aaya” and “Husn Ki Dekhiye”.

I am uploading all songs from this fine album in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

Concluding Songs from "Bombay Ka Chor (1962)"...

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

(Shailendra) Half Ticket (1962)

This zany comedy which paired the husband & wife team of Kishoreda and Madhubala was inspired by the Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin Hollywood English comedy hit "You're Never Too Young" that was released in 1955. That film itself was a remake of Billy Wilder’s first directorial film in Hollywood, “The Major and The Minor”, released in 1942. That film is now considered a classic comedy. Unfortunately “Half Ticket” does not live up to neither one of the English films. Kishoreda’s whole movie is a non-stop one antic after another and it finally gets on your nerves.

One of the highlights of the film is a song by Kishoreda changing his voice to female vocals. The song "Aa Ke Seedhi Lagi", per Salilda, was originally to be sung by Lataji. For some reason Lataji could not make it to the recording session. Kishoreda immediately volunteered to sing the female portion himself. Before Salilda could make up his mind, the incredibly talented Kishoreji started singing the female portion. A brief introduction of this is included in the special version of this song that I am also posting here.

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

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jan 26 2017, 12:04 AM

Concluding Songs from "Half Ticket (1962)"...

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

(Anand Bakshi) My Love (1970)

This movie again deals with the familiar love story that was told umpteen times before. The only difference this time is that the setting of the movie is changed from India to East Africa. Also, we have seldom used music director, Daan Singh (see his attached picture below) at the helm of music.

Singhji for most of his life worked in Jaipur for AIR. He tried his luck as a music director but was not able to make a career in Mumbai film world. This film “My Love” was his second film. He had few more films for which he composed music but they were not released. For example, the 1973 film “Bhool Na Jaana” (couple of songs sung by Mukeshji were “Pukaaro Mera Naam Le Kar” and “Gham-E-Dil Kis Se Kahoon”).

Mukeshji was his favorite singer. His two songs from “My Love”, “Woh Tere Pyaar Ka Gham” and “Zikr Hota Hai” were chartbusters. Especially the song “Woh Tere Pyaar”. Apparently this was one of Mukeshji’s favorite. Rafi Saab’s title song “Yeh Tumhaare Raaste” is another lovely song.

Singhji made use of the setting of the film to score beautiful background music. The East African music influence is not obvious in the songs he composed but most of them either were preceded or were trailed by that type of music. I am including several music clips to show how Daan Singh Saab was able to capture the African drum beats beautifully.

I am uploading all songs (in the first post) and several music clips (in the second post) in two back-to-back posts. A note about the audio quality of the songs. Most of the songs are in very good quality. But in a few of them the quality of the voices suffers as it becomes a tad feeble for few seconds but then corrects itself.

Here are the songs in the first post…

Music Clips from "My Love (1970)"...

Here are a few music clips from this album with deep influence of East African music...

(Hasrat) Apne Huye Paraye (1964)

After the unexpected death of Amiya Chakrabarty at the young age of 44, his son Ajit took over the reins of his father’s production house. Amiya, as you can recall, directed Dilip Kumar’s maiden venture “Jwar Bhata” in 1944. He also directed him in the 1952 film “Daag” for which Dilipji won his first Filmfare Award. He followed this with “Patita” in 1954, “Seema” in 1955, “Kathputli” in 1957, and also in 1957 “Dekh Kabira Roya”. This was such a formidable line of success for anyone to follow.

Ajit, Amiya’s son, produced and directed only two movies; “Apne Huye Paraye” in 1964 and “Pagla Kahin Ka” in 1970. Neither one made any dent with film going people.

The story of “Apne Huye” borrows heavily from other successful Hindi films, notably 1960’s “Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai”. The lack of character development and predictability make the movie very forgettable. Even Shankar & Jaikishan’s effort seems to be feeble as it is lost in the overall execution of the film. They were assisted by Dattaram & Sebastian. In some of the songs one can see the effect of Sebastian, the use of sax instrument melodiously stands out.

I am uploading all songs from this film in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

Concluding Songs from "Apne Huye Paraye (1964)"...

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

(Majrooh) Daadi Maa (1966)

This film was produced and directed by L.V. Prasad who was responsible for many hit films in Hindi. His formula for success was simple. Take a successful South Indian film and remake it in Hindi studding it with many stars and embellishing it with beautiful music. But “Daadi Maa” was an exception. For it he decided to forego his proven formula. He chose a film from Telugu, a 1960 flop, “Nithya Kalyaanam Paccha Thoranam”. Convinced that it will make a good movie, he had subtle changes done to the story and in the process came up with a winner.

The name of the movie should have been “Maa”. Because it was all Bina Rai’s film. She gave a great understated performance without going overboard displaying controlled emotions. This probably was best performance of her career. Ashok Kumar as her husband played an unsympathetic role. His role calls for fuming all the time and it is interesting to see of all the people even Dadamoni occasionally could go overboard in expressing anger or disgust.

The movie boasted many players: Binarai, Shashikala, Tanuja, Mumtaz, Chand Usmani, Mukri, Mohan Chhoti, Karan Dewan, David, Dilip Raj, Kashinath, Kanhaiyalal, Rehman, Mahmood, Ashok Kumar, and others…

Roshan Saab’s beautiful music also helped in the success of the movie. Most of the songs became very popular. The song of the album is Mahendra & Manna’s “Unn Ko Toh”. A beautifully done song paying a magnificent tribute to mother. Majrooh Saab’s superb lyrics simply touch your heart and move you. Incidentally, Roshan Saab’s son, Rajesh, himself a fine music director, came up with a similar song for somewhat similar situation. The film was Rakesh Roshan’s 1995 hit film “Karan Arjun”. Both young Roshans are sons of the Senior Roshan Saab. The song was “Suraj Kab Door Gagan Se” sung by Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu & Udit Narayan. It was written by Indeewarji.

I am uploading all songs from this film in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

Concluding Songs from "Daadi Maa (1966)"...

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

(Rajinder Krishan) Jhoola (1962)

This is simply a bad movie with nothing to offer. The only redeeming feature was Salilda’s music. There are several good songs in the film. The duet by Lataji and Mukeshji, “Door Bahut” and Mannada’s stirring solo “Ek Samay Par” stand out. Especially the latter song. Mannada was simply a master at these songs and his rendering of this was simply outstanding. Lataji’s three solos are also not that bad. Salilda later used the tune for one of Lataji’s song, “Aankhon Se Kaajal” in a 1963 Bengali film. I am not sure the name of the movie. The song was by Krishna Chatterjee. I am including that song “Gun Gun Gun Gum” here. It is a beautiful song but I couldn’t tell that it had the same tune as that for “Aankhon”.

Here are these and other songs from this film…

(Shailendra) Shrimatiji (1952)

This Filmistan’s comedy, set in 1942, was directed by I.S. Johar from his own story and screenplay. He also had a supporting role in the film. The film was out and out Shyama’s movie. From the first scene to the last, she was the dominating presence. I am not much of a fan of her but she did a good job in the lighthearted role.

Incidentally Johar’s buddy in the film was played by Majnu. These two come back together once more in Shammi Kapoor’s 1956 hit “Hum Sab Chor Hain”. This was one hit Shammi enjoyed before shaving his moustache for 1957 “Tumsa Nahin Dekha”. These two films were also from Filmistan.

“Shrimatiji” had three music directors; Basant Prakash, Jimmy, and S. Mohinder. Most of the songs were composed by Jimmy. Ravi was the assistant music director. All of songs except two were written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra contributed lyrics for one song each.

The DVD of the film I had was of very good quality. Unfortunately it was missing two songs. The song “Nain Mila Lo” is one of them. It is available from other sources but the quality is inferior. I am uploading this at 128 KBPS. The second part of this song is from the DVD. It is only 36 seconds long. It is different from this first portion because all female characters and male characters in the movie sing this together. I am not sure whether Shamshadji and Kishoreda were part of this second part of the song. I also have the same question for the song “Aashiqon… (S)”. Did Kishoreda’s voice appear with other male voices in this song? I am not sure. In the song “Hey Baabu” somewhere in the middle of it, one can hear yodeling. I am convinced that was Kishoreda’s voice but cannot authenticate it.

The second song missing from the DVD is Shamshadji’s “Kabhi Hamaare”. Details of this are shown in red italics in the table below. I am requesting members to upload this song if they can. Thank you.

I am uploading all songs I have from this movie in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

Concluding Songs from "Shrimatiji (1952)"...

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

(Anand Bakshi) Pushpanjali (1970)

Kishore Sahu wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogues for this film besides acting in it, and producing it as well as directing it. His daughter Naina Sahu was the leading lady of the film. Unfortunately Sahu Saab’s story has not much going for it and the movie, in spite of a few good songs, finally disappoints.

The two songs worth mentioning are Mukeshji’ solo “Jaane Chale Jaate Hain” and Lataji’s and Mannada’s beautiful duet “Shaam Dhale”.

I am uploading these and the rest of the songs below…