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

[swarapriya]

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

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

[swarapriya]

Few Instrumentals of the Songs from "Abhinetri (1970)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Sagaai (1966)

S.D. Narang who had surprising success with his 1964 film “Shehnai” put together some of the members from that film for “Sagaai”. Narang wrote, produced, and directed this film. Again lead pair was Rajshree and Biswajeet. Rajinder Krishan who wrote the lyrics for “Shehnai” also wrote songs for this film. Ravi, who gave hit music for “Shehnai”, was also the composer once again for “Sagaai” songs.

This time around the film completely belonged to Rajshree. Other characters come and go as bulk of the work revolves around Rajshree. Her character has to endure many heart breaking difficulties throughout life. The man she was engaged to loses his legs in an automobile accident before getting married. When her rich parents refuse to have her marry him, she walks away from her house to nourish her man back to health. She gets married to him in his helpless state. Then her younger brother suffers a car accident coming to see her so that she can tie a Rakhi on his hand. Her father-in-law’s complete forest estate including his house burns down to ashes in a fire. The list just goes on and on.

Amidst all this there was Rajendranath trying to dominate screen time with utterly nonsensical buffoonery. That left very little time for fine actors like Rehman to show their skills.

There are a few good songs in this film. Mahendra Kpoor’s both solos seem to have the same tunes used by Ravi in other films with Kapoor lending his voice. Yet they are fine to listen to.

Here are these and other songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Zindagi (1964)

Songs from this film were recently uploaded in this very thread. They are available starting at the following location...

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...mp;#entry752480

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Anokhee Pehchan (1972)

I have no clue about this movie. Neither I could locate a DVD nor a songs CD. The songs I am uploading here are all from various videos. Even though the audio quality of them is quite adequate, I have decided to upload all songs at a lower bit rate.

Here are the songs…

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Pyar Mohabbat (1966)

This film was the only pairing of Saira & Dev. It was produced and directed by Dev’s good friend Shankar Mukherjee. The movie has two distinct halves. The first half is extensively shot abroad in places like, Copenhagen, Egypt, Rome, and others. Most of the story happens aboard a cruise ship. The second half is shot in India with predictable twists and turns in the story. In between it is sprinkled with 10 songs composed by Shankar & Jaikishan.

Like the movie itself, the music is very inconsistent. There are some good songs and there are some bad songs. Dattaram was the assistant music director.

Saira who already has a shrilled voice keeps screaming and shouting and has many scenes with temper tantrums. Dev looked good and exhibits controlled acting.

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Pyar Mohabbat (1966)"...

Here are the rest of the songs and a few music clips from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Dastak (1970)

This was noted Urdu writer Rajinder Singh Bedi’s maiden directorial venture. He also produced the film based on his own story, originally published in early 40s. Even though Bedi Saab directed only a handful of films, his recognized best work was as a multiple-award winning dialogue writer of several films of Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

The film also introduced Rehana Sultan in the lead. She was a graduate of the Film Institute and was the first one from the Institute to land a major role in Bombay Filmworld. She garnered the National Award for Best Actress for her brilliant performance. She also had another important film that very same year. 1970’s “Chetna” dealt with lives of prostitutes. This back-to-back art films projected a certain image of Rehana and she could never capture the imagination of filmmakers to offer her roles in the mainstream commercial films.

Sanjeev Kumar, who was the hero of the film, also won the honors of landing on the Nation Award for Best Actor. Kamal Bose, who was the cinematographer, won the National Award for the Best Black & White Photography. Hrishida, who was the editor of the film, won the Filmfare Award as the Best Editor.

Besides fine acting, and rich lyrics penned by Majrooh Saab, the film is best known for its unforgettable compositions. Every song from the film is a piece of gem. The treasure is in the listening pleasure of mastery of instruments used in these songs, especially a blend of various instruments such as veena, sitar, and gentle rhythm of tabla beats that create a lasting mesmerizing experience. The movie also won yet another National Award, a first for its music composer Madan Mohanji that he richly deserved.

There are only a few songs in the film. The song “Maai Ri” has a version by Mohanji himself. When he was ready to sit down and compose this song with Lataji lending her voice, he got a message stating that Lataji is ill and will not be able to attend her recording session. Then Madanji went ahead and sang the song himself to guide Lataji how he perceived it. Later on after Mohanji passed away some of CD collections honoring him included this song. I am uploading it in its entirety here.

A note about the ghazal from the film “Hum Hain Maata-E-Koocha”. This song was not written for the film. It came from one of Majrooh Saab’s published book of his ghazals. In some gathering Madanji heard Majrooh Saab recite this ghazal and decided to include it in the film. The original ghazal apparently is much longer than what we hear in the film. Out of 7 stanzas Madanji selected only three; 1, 3, and 7. There is a brief audio clip with Madanji singing beginning of this ghazal. It is available on his web site. Because of its poor quality, I am not uploading it here.

Here are all the songs and a few music clips from the film, in two back-to-back posts, starting with the next post, with Majroohji and Madanji collaborating and completely captivating your time…

[swarapriya]

Songs from "Dastak (1970)"

Here is the first set of songs from this beautiful album...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Dastak (1970)"

Here are the rest of the songs and a few music clips from the film...

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai (1966)

How to pair two great talents like Ashok Kumar and Motilal in the same film and see how to waste them on a senseless story badly put together, then this is the movie for you. It did not help that about one-third of the movie was shot abroad in France and Italy. And there are some good songs in the film that hardly mattered. The mindless concoction the director traverses us through the spineless yarn leaves one unhappy.

If you do not get enough of Saira Bano, then you are in for a treat. She has a double role in the film. Now it is a different matter that she and Joy Mukherjee have no histrionics to exhibit.

There is something curious about the song “Nange Baazoo”. In the DVD it had the words “Nange Baazoo Nangi Tangey” whereas in the CD it is “Nange Baazoo Nangi Raney”. I am not sure why there is such discrepancy.

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai (1966)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Chand aur Suraj (1965)

This movie deals with the bond between two brothers. While the movie started promisingly, it becomes a boringly predictable family drama. Here are all the songs from the film…

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Anuraag (1972)

Shakti Samanta has produced or directed nearly 60 films. Some of these were super hits and some were modest successes. Since 1969’s “Aradhana” he made a string of super successful movies. Then in 1972, he hit upon this simple story idea that he was intending to make it into a film. But he was not convinced that people will buy into this, so he almost abandoned the idea. When Rajesh Khanna, who admired Shakti because he was the one who made him a superstar, heard about this he persuaded Samanta to go ahead with the project. He volunteered to star as a guest. He even financed it for distribution along with Shakti’s home production.

I am glad to see that good senses prevailed. When the movie was released, it was not a raging hit. Yet it garnered enough viewership to enjoy modest success. In my opinion, this probably was the best outing for Samantaji. His storytelling starts like a gentle breeze in the morning and continues through until an unexpected storm wreaks havoc by the evening leaving audience drenched. The predictability of the ending did not take away from the deftness with Shaktiji handled the situation.

Samanta was working here with veterans like Nutan and Dadamoni, and up and coming Vindod Mehra. He introduced Moushmi in her first Hindi role as the heroine. But this was out and out Dadamoni’s picture. Great Ashok Kumar was simply brilliant in his role displaying histrionics fit only a thespian like himself is capable of performing. To go along with this another great outing for Burmanda’s song compositions. Every song proved to be a hit with Lataji dominating. Bakshi Saab’s lyrics lifted the songs to even greater heights.

The song “Mera Raaja Beta” appeared three times in the film. The second one was an abbreviated version of the first. The third one was completely different. My favorite of the album is Lataji’s melodious rendering of the song “Sunn Ri Pawan”. I am uploading these and other songs and a few music clips in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Anuraag (1972)"...

Here are the rest of the songs and a few music clips from this beautiful album...