Muse & Music, Music of the Golden Age Options

[swarapriya]

Muse & Music

Most film loving folks think that the music made for films from 50’s through 80’s represents golden age of music. This may be debatable. However, one thing is certain. Several great musicals emerged during this period and we saw the rise of many singing legends during this time.

One way to take a closer look at the music of the Golden Age is to look into the period through the female stars who were popular in this time frame. Because it is just about impossible to cater for all the stars, I came to a conclusion that probably the following 12 stars will sufficiently represent movies that are part of this golden era. These are:

Asha Parekh
Hema Malini
Mala Sinha
Mumtaz
Nutan
Rekha
Sadhana
Saira Banu
Sharmila Tagore
Vyjayanti Mala
Waheeda Rehman
Zeenat Aman

Others may come up with a different list. But for the music of the Golden Age I want to share with our fellow members these stars probably make a fair representation.

Let us look at filmographies of these actresses and see if we can come to some conclusions. I will present the filmographies in the order listed above.

[swarapriya]

Rojulu Maaraayi (1955) - A Telugu Movie

This was the first movie of Waheeda Rehman. She appeared only in one song in the movie as a dancer. The song “Eruvaakaa” by Jikki and the film became runaway hits.

“Rojulu Maaraayi” was shot mostly in and around Dandu Mitta village in Andhra Pradesh and was one of the first Telugu films to realistically depict life and problems of village farmers. Janaki and Nageshwara Rao were paired for the first time on the screen. The editor of the film was K.B. Tilak, who later established his own banner called Anupama Pictures and produced and directed several socially conscious movies in Telugu (“M.L.A.” and “Mundadugu”) and Hindi (“Kangan” and “Chhoti Bahu”).

The song “Eruvaakaa” was originally written in 1953 by Kosaraju for a film called “Paaleru” in Telugu that was never made. The song was recorded by Master Venu, the music director. Kamala Laxman, the famous Bharata Natyam artist was originally contracted for the dance sequence. But the producer ran into financial problems and making of the movie was completely abandoned. But when plans were getting ready to make “Rojulu Maaraayi” producers signed Master Venu to provide music. He informed producers about the song he recorded couple of years back that was never used. Producers readily grabbed the song and had some changes made to it.

The “Eruvaakaa” song as part of its music used a kind of “daffli” that is quite popular in the villages of Andhra Pradesh and may be even unique to that region. This is a round instrument that is about two feet in diameter. The frame is usually from bamboo. The medium is cured animal skin, generally that of a cow. This “daffli” is held under your arm and a stick in each hand is used to produce sounds by beating the leather surface tightly secured in the wooden frame with the sticks. A simiply devised musical device such as this, produces amazing beats of sound and as evidenced from this song can reproduce beautiful rhythms.

Now the song was ready to be used in the movie, but this time around Kamala Laxman was not available to picturize it on. Someone suggested dancing sisters from Vijayawada named Waheeda and Shaheeda who never acted in films. Waheeda was signed for the dance. The song, the movie, and the dance, and its star became overnight sensations. Becaue of the sensation the song caused, Waheeda was even called as the “Eruvaaka” girl. N.T. Rama Rao who was making “Jayasimha” at that time immediately signed her for a major role in that movie.

The song made such an impact that producers released the movie with just that song colorized. Every place the movie played it was a huge hit. In Hyderabad, it was the first Telugu movie to celebrate a silver jubilee.

One of the singers of the song “Chiru Navvulu” was M. Krishna Kumari. A close acquaintance of the music director Master Venu, this is the only song she sang in the movies. She has a fairly decent voice yet sadly it went unrecognized.

During the jubilee celebrations of the movie, Guru Dutt who was in Hyderabad on a business trip was in attendance at the function. He was introduced to Waheeda during the break. Impressed with her good looks, Guru persuaded her to sign a contract with him. Apprehensive and reluctant in the beginning, Waheeda agreed. She appeared in Guru Dutt’s next film directed by Raj Khosla, “C.I.D.” with Dev Anand that went on to become a huge hit.

Years later, the tune of the song “Eruvaakaa” was copied by that great melody maker S.D. Burman. The song is “Dekhne Mein Bhola Hai” sung by Asha in “Bombai Ka Babu (1960)” which was also a huge hit.

Because of the number of songs in this movie, I will upload them in two back to back posts. Here is the first set of songs …

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Jun 9 2009, 01:24 PM