Great Composer Feroze Nizami Ji, Pre - partition films Options

[Vidur Sury]

Feroze Nizami Ji made excellent and very melodious music, and this naturally made him famous. It was sheer hard work from him and the singers he employed. His compositions had a great range from Hindustani Classical Music to Western Music as well as Thumris and Ghazals. He had a very large singer variety as well and made very good use of many of those great vocal talents. He himself was a great exponent of classical music. Hope to create a thread for his Pakistani films soon as well.

Starting a thread to appreciate this great genius and enjoy his immortal compositions. This is dedicated to his 10 pre - partition films, 1943 - 1947. He used almost 30 singers!

Here is his short but extremely memorable filmography:

1. Vishwas (1943) with Master Chaila Lal Ji
2. Badi Baat (1944)
3. Umang (1944)
4. Us Paar (1944)
5. Piya Milan (1945)
6. Sharbati Aankhein (1945)
7. Amar Raj (1946)
8. Nek Parveen (1946)
9. Jugnu (1947)
10. Rangeen Kahani (1947)

Regarding his favourite singers of pre - partition period, though he used a large number of singers, the great Amirbai Ji was his favourite vocalist (obviously, so, even among females). His second female favourite was another great top 1940s singer, Hamida Bano Ji. His favourite male singer was the veteran great, Mohammed Rafi Ji, who received a lot of encouragement and further training from him. G. M. Durrani Ji, a melodious top male singer of 1940s came next.

He used many more top playback singers like Zohrabai Ji, Rajkumari Banaraswali Ji, Shamshad Begum Ji, Zeenat Begum Ji, Naseem Akhtar Ji, Parul Ghosh Ji, Mohantara Ji, Binapani Ji and Hafiz Ali Khan Mastana Ji. Noor Jehan Ji, Feroze Dastoor Ji, Nirmala Devi Ji are some famous singing stars who sang for him. He also encouraged some great 1940s' singers who unfortunately never became top, like Kusum Mantri Ji and Krishna Kumari Ganguly Ji. Great classical vocalist, Malika-E-Mauseeqi Roshan Ara Begum Ji has sung some of her best film songs for him.

I will be posting the interesting song lists very soon, uploading songs I have. Our dear friends having the balance are requested to upload them.

Vidur

This post has been edited by Vidur Sury: Aug 3 2011, 05:25 PM

[Vidur Sury]

Next comes a great classic of excellent singing star (during 1940s, turned to playback singer after that) Nirmala Devi Ji and great actor Motilal Ji. For those who don't know Nirmala Ji, she was a great classical singer and mother of recent famous actor and comedian Govinda Ji. This film is Piya Milan (1945). Perhaps her famous duet with Rafi Ji, from Musafirkhana (1955), Jhoothe Zamanebhar Ke would make her more familiar.

Feroze Nizami Ji makes splendid use of the very mellifluous Nirmala Devi Ji's voice, giving this film's heroine half the number of songs in the film. Immortal melody queens Zohrabai Ji and Rajkumari Ji thrive under him as well, along with the relatively Krishna Kumari Ganguly Ji.

Surprisingly, Nizami Ji gives popular comedian Mirza Musharraf a solo - with - chorus as well. That would be certainly very interesting to hear, since I don't know any other film song by him. Also, Zohrabai makes a very versatile and gracious voice for Najma Ji (of Parwana, 1947 fame.....hero's sister? I think). Zohrabai Ji's voice seems to be employed very well with her innocence and sweetness in "Rakhi Ka Din", her soft romantic touches in "Aaye Din Aaye" and her bold and powerful quality in "Jaag Utho Nariyon". He shows us the worth and versatility of all such great singers he uses.

Below are four classics by Nirmala Devi Ji, as well as film and song details. Enjoy these 4 and please upload the balance.

All 128 kbps:

5. Piya Milan (1945)
Banner: Wadia Movietone, Bombay
Leading Pair: Motilal, Nirmala Devi
Cast: Najma, Leela Mishra, Mirza Musharraf, Wazir, Mohammed Khan, S Alam

1. Kisne Diya Hai Hamko Sahara - Nirmala Devi - 3.18 min

2. Ro Raha Hai Aaj Koi Muskurane Ke Liye - Nirmala Devi - 3.14 min

3. Aayi Basant Rani, Lachkili Sharmili - Nirmala Devi, Chorus

4. Suna Do, Mohabbat Ke Naghme Suna Do - Nirmala Devi - 3.03 min

5. Jaate Ho To Jao, Mere Gokul Ke Gwale - Krishna Kumari Ganguly

6. Rakhi Ka Din Aaya Bhaiyya - Zohrabai Ambalewali, Chorus

7. Lo Doob Gaya Khursheed, Ab Dekho Andhera Chane Laga - Rajkumari Dubey/Banaraswali

8. Ga Ga Re Manwa Ga, Geet Khushi Ke Ga - Nirmala Devi - 3.21 min

9. Aaye, Din Piya Milan Ke Aaye - Zohrabai Ambalewali

10. Jaag Utho Naariyon, Desh Ki Dulariyon - Zohrabai Ambalewali

11. Gopi O Mere Aziz God, Dekha Karo - Mirza Musharraf, Chorus


Enjoy and please upload the remaining!

Vidur

[abhayp]

Next comes a great classic of excellent singing star (during 1940s, turned to playback singer after that) Nirmala Devi Ji and great actor Motilal Ji. For those who don't know Nirmala Ji, she was a great classical singer and mother of recent famous actor and comedian Govinda Ji. This film is Piya Milan (1945). Perhaps her famous duet with Rafi Ji, from Musafirkhana (1955), Jhoothe Zamanebhar Ke would make her more familiar.

Nirmala Devi (aka Nirmala Arun) was a singer of semi-classical music who also sang playback for a few movies. I didn't know she had acted as well - I thought she was only a singer. Are you sure that the singer Nirmala Devi and the actress (listed as Nirmala) are the same person?

The singer was indeed Govinda's mother.

Warm regards,
Abhay

[Aditya Pant]

Next comes a great classic of excellent singing star (during 1940s, turned to playback singer after that) Nirmala Devi Ji and great actor Motilal Ji. For those who don't know Nirmala Ji, she was a great classical singer and mother of recent famous actor and comedian Govinda Ji. This film is Piya Milan (1945). Perhaps her famous duet with Rafi Ji, from Musafirkhana (1955), Jhoothe Zamanebhar Ke would make her more familiar.

Nirmala Devi (aka Nirmala Arun) was a singer of semi-classical music who also sang playback for a few movies. I didn't know she had acted as well - I thought she was only a singer. Are you sure that the singer Nirmala Devi and the actress (listed as Nirmala) are the same person?

The singer was indeed Govinda's mother.

Warm regards,
Abhay

Abhay,

Nirmala Devi (singer and Govinda's mother) acted as well. She, along with her husband Arun Kumar Ahuja had also produced a movie Sehra 1948 in which the both were the lead actors. The film sank without a trace affecting their financial status badly, but the notable thing about that film was that it was S. Mohinder's debut.

Aditya