Shair Aur Sargam, Songs From Movies of 7 Great Lyricists Options

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Aashiq (1962)

Hrishida and Raj Kapoor became good friends after they collaborated in the 1959 blockbuster film “Anari”. Hrishida was looking for a right story so that he can rope in Raj for another film. When Vishwamitter Adil’s story of this film came along Mukherjee Saab was convinced that this would be the right vehicle. But as it turned out there was not much novelty in the story and this predictability and the high expectation set by this pairing proved to be downfall for movie’s success. This in spite of its beautiful music by Shankar & Jaikishan.

Every song from this film became a super hit. S&J were assisted by Dattaram & Sebastian. Interestingly, the music at the end of the song “Tum Aaj Mere Sang-1” had the similar tune of Hemantda’s super classic hit of Geetaji’s song “Piya Aiso Jiya Mein” from Guru Dutt’s “Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam”. However, like “Aashiq”, that film was also released in 1962. I am uncertain about the months these films were released during that year but my guess is that “Sahib” came early in the year and “Aashiq” later part of that same year.

I am uploading all songs from this film and a few instrumentals in three back-to-back posts. Here are the songs starting in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Aashiq (1962)"...

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

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Few Instrumentals of the Songs from "Aashiq (1962)"...

Here are a few instrumentals of a couple of songs from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Ganga ki Lahren (1964)

The novelty of this film was the casting of Savithri, a magnificently marvelous actress from the South. One of the greatest actresses the movie industry has seen, she acted in nearly 300 films, mostly in Tamil and Telugu. She came into the limelight at the age of 15 years when she starred as Paru in the film “Devadasu” shot both in Tamil and Telugu. After the stunning success enjoyed by that film, she never looked back by reigning supreme . She was unchallenged for nearly next 15 to 20 years. Most film magazines from North used to call her as “Meena Kumari of South”. There is a website dedicated to her life, career, and movies. This is available at: www.savithri.info

This movie has several good songs. The song “Jaya Jayahey” (appeared four times in the film) and the duet “Machalti Hui” are standouts. I am uploading these and others in two back-to-back posts.

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Ganga ki Lahren (1964)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Love in Simla (1960)

This film introduced R.K. Nayyar as a director. He earlier was associated as an assistant to a couple of Raj Kapoor’s films, the 1953 “Aah” and the 1954 “Boot Polish”. RK also wrote the story for this film. This movie also introduced both the leading pair, Sadhana and Joy Mukherjee. Sadhana appeared in bit roles in a few movies before this film but this was her first outing as a full-fledged heroine.

Sadhana was available when S. Mukherjee, producer of this film, was looking to cast a new heroine opposite Shammi Kapoor in “Dil Deke Dekho”. But its debutant director, Nasir Hussain, opted for Asha Parekh. For Joy, son of producer S. Mukherjee, this was the first film. Joy also starred in a couple of other “Love” movies; the 1966 hit “Love in Tokyo” and the 1974 “Love in Bombay” (that was actually released in 2013).

Sadhana’s looks were carefully modeled after the beautifully talented Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn. Sadhana’s haircut, which became a sensation throughout India, was known as “Sadhana Haircut”. This was a direct copy of Miss Hepburn’s hairdo. In the movie when Sadhana is crowned as “Miss Simla” with a crown on her head she exactly looks like Hepburn from the 1953 film “Roman Holiday”.

While filming the movie the director of the film Nayyar and Sadhana fell in love. But Sadhana’s parents vehemently opposed it and threatened to take Nayyar to the court. Not for another six years until Raj Kapoor intervened, they got married to each other.

The film was all out entertainer until it falters in the last 20 minutes or so. It becomes too heavy for its own good. In the end the movie was still satisfying mainly because of the beautiful performance of Sadhana and chartbuster music from Iqbal Qureshi. Every song from the film became a huge hit and helped the movie to become a box-office hit.

I am uploading all songs and a few music clips from this film in three back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Love in Simla (1960)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Love in Simla (1960)"...

Here are some of the music clips from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Mem-Didi (1961)

This movie directed by Hrishida was based on the 1933 Frank Capra classic English film “Lady for a Day”. The English film was based on Damon Runyon’s short story “Madame La Gimp”. Capra later remade it in 1961, his last movie, as “A Pocketful of Miracles”. Jackie Chan made it in Chinese which was dubbed and released in 1989 in English as “Miracles”. Interestingly, Hrishida himself remade this film in 1983 as “Achha Bura”. There were other movies also made in Hindi with slight variations of this theme. These include the 1973 “Loafer” and the 2008 “Singh is Kinng”.

Hrishida brought back Lalita Pawar in the title role after her award winning performance from his previous 1959 film “Anari”. She was brilliantly supported by the veteran actors David Abraham and Jayant. Most of the movie revolved around these three characters. Tanuja, young (she was 18 at that time), beautiful, and spritely had a small but impressionable role.

In spite of its sweet and endearing theme, the movie with three principal roles played by veteran actors was quickly forgotten. Music by Salilda was below the mark and did not do much to help the proceedings. Shailendra’s lyrics followed the same uninspiring pattern. The one song that was different and somewhat appealing was “Beta Bow Wow Wow”.

Here are the songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Geet (1970)

Most of the characters in the movie were introduced in the first 15 minutes into the movie. One can immediately tell what the story is going to be. The whole movie feels like annoyingly contrived, very pale, and is simply predictable. Yet the movie was surprisingly a huge hit. The only reason I can think of is its outstanding music.

Kalyanji & Anandji provide one of the best music of their career. They employ three lyricists for the songs. All of them come through in flying colors. All songs are very rich in lyrics helping the mood of the film and its beautiful music.

Several songs are repeated throughout the film. For example, the duet version of “Mere Mitwa” appears three times in the movie. The second and third time the song contains only the mukhda that is not different from the first one. But there is different music setting these other two versions take place in. I am uploading all three versions in spite of the repetition.

I am uploading all songs and a few instrumentals in three back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Geet (1970)"...

Here are more songs from this musical...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Geet (1970)"...

Here are few instrumentals and others related to the songs from this film...

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Asli-Naqli (1962)

This simple story of discovering ones own true personal identity was directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The movie has the regular drama but the show stealer was its music. Shankar & Jaikishan composed songs for this film that were all huge hits. S&J were assisted by Dattaram and Sebastian. The appeal of Sadhana's innocent looking charm with Dev's usual savvy also helped the movie to become a modest success.

I am uploading songs from this film in four back-to-back posts. The first post contains all songs from the film. The second post contains some of the musical clips from the film and a few version songs. The third post contains several instrumentals of the popular song “Tera Mera Pyaar Amar”. Finally, the fourth and the last post contains instrumentals of another popular song, “Tujhe Jeevan Ki Dor Se”.

Here are the songs in the first post...

[swarapriya]

Songs from "Asli-Naqli (1962)" Continued...

Here are a few music clips from the film and some version songs...

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"Asli-Naqli (1962)" Instrumentals

Here are a few instrumentals of the song "Tera Mera Pyaar" from this film...