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

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Street Singer (1966)

Veteran actor Chandrashekhar wrote its story, screenplay, dialogues besides producing and directing it. Apart from all this, he was also the hero of the film. Earlier in 1964, he made “Cha Cha Cha” with all of the same responsibilities. That movie was a hit. This movie was not as big a hit as ‘Cha Cha Cha” was. Yet it enjoyed modest run.

Clearly Shekharji was influenced by Elvis Presley. In this movie he turns, twists, bends, jumps, shakes, and dances. He is no Presley, but does a pretty good job of it.

The music was supposed to be given by one Suraj, who the titles and posters claim was an assistant of Shankar & Jaikishan. As far as I know, Dattaram & Sebastian were the only two assistant music directors to S&J. This was true for every movie S&J composed music for. I cannot recall in any of these films one Suraj being their assistant. With Sharda singing all of the female songs in the film, I wonder whether this Suraj was no other than Shankar, who for God knows what reasons, big on her. Irrespective of who it was, one thing is for sure. Being a musical with lots of dances and Rafi Saab lending his voice the movie keeps one engaged.

There are quite a few songs in the film, most of them are longer in duration. It also has several dance numbers. Unfortunately except for a few, these songs are not easily available. The VCD I watched the movie had not only bad picture but also terrible audio. Because of this I am uploading the songs at a lower bit rate. Some (3 to be exact) of the songs came from various CD collections. They are fine to listen to. But for uniformity sake, I am uploading all songs at the same lower bit rate.

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Street Singer (1966)"...

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

[Viraj Padhye]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Street Singer (1966)

Veteran actor Chandrashekhar wrote its story, screenplay, dialogues besides producing and directing it. Apart from all this, he was also the hero of the film. Earlier in 1964, he made “Cha Cha Cha” with all of the same responsibilities. That movie was a hit. This movie was not as big a hit as ‘Cha Cha Cha” was. Yet it enjoyed modest run.

Clearly Shekharji was influenced by Elvis Presley. In this movie he turns, twists, bends, jumps, shakes, and dances. He is no Presley, but does a pretty good job of it.

The music was supposed to be given by one Suraj, who the titles and posters claim was an assistant of Shankar & Jaikishan. As far as I know, Dattaram & Sebastian were the only two assistant music directors to S&J. This was true for every movie S&J composed music for. I cannot recall in any of these films one Suraj being their assistant. With Sharda singing all of the female songs in the film, I wonder whether this Suraj was no other than Shankar, who for God knows what reasons, big on her. Irrespective of who it was, one thing is for sure. Being a musical with lots of dances and Rafi Saab lending his voice the movie keeps one engaged.

There are quite a few songs in the film, most of them are longer in duration. It also has several dance numbers. Unfortunately except for a few, these songs are not easily available. The VCD I watched the movie had not only bad picture but also terrible audio. Because of this I am uploading the songs at a lower bit rate. Some (3 to be exact) of the songs came from various CD collections. They are fine to listen to. But for uniformity sake, I am uploading all songs at the same lower bit rate.

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

Suraj is none other than Shankar. He also gave music to Marathi movie "Ti mi navhech" with same name.

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Street Singer (1966)

Suraj is none other than Shankar. He also gave music to Marathi movie "Ti mi navhech" with same name.

Thanks for the information, Viraj. I wonder why he used a different name and why movie titles and posters falsely claim that Suraj was an assistant to S&J.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Ehsan (1970)

I will skip my review of this film because watching it there was not a single thing I felt good about it. Here are the songs…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Oct 26 2018, 08:32 PM

[Viraj Padhye]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Street Singer (1966)

Suraj is none other than Shankar. He also gave music to Marathi movie "Ti mi navhech" with same name.

Thanks for the information, Viraj. I wonder why he used a different name and why movie titles and posters falsely claim that Suraj was an assistant to S&J.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

It is either income tax or they were bound by some contract so couldn't use their real name.

Viraj

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Mehrban (1967)

This movie was based on AVM’s 1960 hit “Padikkadha Medhai”. The Tamil film itself was based on the 1953 Bengali film “Jog Biyog”. The Tamil version was successfully remade into other South Indian languages. It was only a matter of time that a Hindi version will emerge. This 1967 film “Mehrban” was the answer.

Like most other movies made in south during this period it was a family drama. The movie belonged to Ashok Kumar and Sunil Dutt. Nutan had an insignificant role. Mahmood’s role was completely unnecessary as his comedy antics were very pale.

The movie was bolstered by excellent performances from Dadamoni and Dutt Saab. But it was Ravi’s music that stood out with few very good songs. Rafi Saab’s solo “Aye Mere Dost” had his voice imprint with its multiple modulations stamped all over it. By the way, this song has the shades of “Kal Chaman Tha” from the 1965 film “Khandan”. Interestingly both songs were written by Rajinder Krishanji and were composed by Ravi.

My favorite of the album is Asha’s solo “Saawan Ki Raat”. This semi classical song as sung by Ashaji is simply riveting.

Here are these songs and others from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Chhoti Chhoti Baten (1965)

This was late great character actor Motilal’s labor of love. He wrote its story, produced it, and directed the film besides acting in it. After finishing the movie he died before it was released. It won the National Awards as the third Best Feature film and fetched Motilal the Best Writer Award. These awards came posthumously.

The movie was a character study of people you live, work, and interact with. Hardworking all his life, barely able to meet family and debt demands, the principal character portrayed by Motilal finds one fine morning himself inheriting a great fortune. He fulfills all wishes of his family and embarks on a journey to find a safe haven where he can settle down in peace. He temporarily finds peace in a small remote village only to discover that what he is looking for cannot be found.

The music for the film was composed by Anil Biswas. By strange coincidence this was also his last film before his retirement. Biswasji lived until 2003, but after this 1965 film he never worked on any other film. There are several great songs in this film. There is a story behind the song “Zindagi Khwaab Hai”. When Motilalji passed away, lyricist Shailendraji wrote this song as a tribute. In Raj Kapoor’s 1956 masterpiece “Jagte Raho”, Motilal’s character has a song that started with the exact same wording. It was also written by Shailendraji. The tribute song was to be included in this film as a background song. However I found that in the film I saw it was missing. Incidentally both songs were sang by Mukeshji, who was related to Motilalji. It was Motilalji who brought Mukeshji to Mumbai and introduced him to the Hindi film world.

Here is this and other songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Apna Desh (1972)

This movie was a remake of the 1969 Telugu film hit “Kathanayakudu”. It was also made in Tamil and Kannada. The movie about bad people or politicians appearing to be good may have been a novel thing when this movie was made. After these many years the subject matter now seem to be somewhat dated even though it is still very relevant.

This is a watchable movie thanks to several good performances. Rajesh Khanna looked slim and trim and was disarmingly good. He was paired with Mumtaz who as usual was very appealing. But it was Om Prakash who nearly stole the show in the role of a vicious wolf disguised as a god loving and charitable “lamb” of a person.

I read that the little nephew of Rajesh Khanna in the film actually was Sridevi as a child artiste. This must be some mistake. The “boy” has no resemblance to Sridevi what so ever.

RD’s music proved to be a big asset for the film. My personal best is the song “Kajra Laga Ke”. The tune and the way the song was molded appeared to me borrowed by RD from his dad’s 1971 hit song “Hey Maine Qasam Lee” from “Tere Mere Sapne”. That song was done by Lataji and Kishoreda, as is this song. A note about the part 2 of “Sunn Champa”. It is a one-line song, not different from the part 1 of the song. The only difference is that the part 2 version is preceded by some music.

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Apna Desh (1972)"...

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

[swarapriya]

Instrumentals of Songs from "Apna Desh (1972)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Suraj (1966) - Post 1 - Songs from the Film

This lackluster routine period drama had two things going for it. There are a few spectacular dazzling dances by its beautiful heroine, Vyjayanthi Mala. The other thing is the great music by the bubbly and effervescent music director duo Shankar & Jaikishan. The movie became a huge hit thanks to them.

Mumtaz appeared in yet another insignificant role as a companion to the princess. Her turn to explode as an actress to reckon with is still a few years away but she was destined to make her mark. The movie could have made crispier by eliminating worthless comedy involving Johnny Walker, Agha, and Mukri. Their antics dominated much of the screen time and yet their scenes were not even funny.

All songs from the film became hugely popular. This was the movie in which S&J introduced Sharda as a singer. She had two solos and both of them were hits.

There are three songs from this film that are my favorites. One is Rafi Saab’s duet with Asha, “Kaise Samjhaaoon” and the other two are Rafi Saab’s solos “Bahaaro” and “Chehre Pe”. Of these three “Bahaaro” is such a great pleasure. I just do not get enough by tirelessly listening to this over and over again. God Bless Your Soul, Rafi Saab!

“Bahaaro” probably is one of the best romantic songs written, composed, and sang. Filmfare Awards were given to Hasrat Jaipuri for its rich lyrics and to Rafi Saab for so deliciously singing the song. S&J grabbed yet another Filmfare Award as the Music Directors of the film. They were assisted by Dattaram & Sebastian.

The song “Bahaaro” has been a perennial favorite with all the budding musicians. It was literally played by hundreds of instrumentalists using various instruments. I am uploading several of these here.

I am uploading all songs from the film, a couple of specials, and a whole bunch of instrumentals in six back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first post…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 7 2018, 07:04 PM

[swarapriya]

Suraj (1966) - Post 2 - Concluding Songs from the Film & Instrumentals on Flute

Here are the rest of the songs from this popular musical and a few instrumentals on the flute...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 7 2018, 07:05 PM

[swarapriya]

Suraj (1966) - Post 3 - Instrumentals on Guitar

Here are a few instrumentals of the song "Bahaaro" on various guitars...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 7 2018, 07:05 PM

[swarapriya]

Suraj (1966) - Post 4 - Instrumentals on Keyboard

Here are a few instrumentals of the song "Bahaaro" on various keyboards...