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

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Tin Tin Tin (1959)

I am not sure of how many songs are there in this film.

This is what Geetkosh lists

Thanks for the information Sangeetji. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Daaera (1953)

The story of “Daaera” revolves around a very young woman (played by Meena Kumari who was barely 19 at that time) tending to an ailing husband (played by Kumar) who is old enough to be her grandfather. Kamaal Amrohi (see his attached picture below), of “Mahal (1949)” and “Pakeezah (1972)” fame, who directed the movie, was married to Meenaji during this time. He was already married but Meenaji fell in love him during one of her shootings and married him in 1952. He was at least14 years senior to her.

The movie from the outset is very gloomy. Meenaji’s character never leaves the place she is in. Either she is taking care of her husband in one room or she is sleeping in the attached terrace and gazing the sky’s enormous vacuum. There are only few characters in the film that come and go. There is a doctor who pays an occasional visit to the patient. Next to the terrace there is another woman (Roopkala) who is hiding away from her own sad story. Then there is the landlady (Pratima Devi) who rented the house to the “odd” couple. She has a son (Nasir Khan) who along with rest in the family mistakenly thinks that Meena is the daughter of the old man and falls in love with her.

Amidst this story of darkness filled with gloom and eventual doom, one thing that stands out as a bright spot is its music. The songs composed by Jamal Sen are simply outstanding. More on Jamal Senji below. Beautiful lyrics for these songs were written by Kaif Bhopali and Majrooh Sultanpuri. The standout singer of the album is Mubarak Begum. She has three beautiful solos and a duet with Rafi Saab. Begum Saab is simply superb in these songs. I wonder why she never got her proper due. There are also three beautiful songs by Talatji in his own inimitable style that deeply touches heart.

A word about Jamal Senji. Jamal Sen was a descendant of Tansen and a rich lineage of proficient musicians preceding him in his family. He himself was a singer, dancer, poet, and was a master of many musical instruments including dholak, pakhawaj, and tabla. He worked many years under Master Ghulam Haider until the latter migrated to Pakistan after the partition. He finally got a break in Kidar Sharma’s “Shokhiyan” in 1951 as a full-fledged music director. The music of the film was a roaring success. It was followed by “Daaera”. The movie flopped but its music stood out. Uncompromising and proud of his lineage, Sen never was co-operative. This slowly alienated him among the film folks. He slowly drifted away from memories. In the end he died in sheer poverty, isolated, unsung, unwanted, and uncared for.

More about the songs from this film. The song “Aa Bhi Jaa” appears many times in the movie as the first two stanzas are repeated several times. Also the lovely duet “Devta Tum Ho” appears four times, each time with different lines. I took most of the songs from a DVD whose soundtrack was simply awful and the audio quality was uneven. I tried to clean the songs the best I could and the final result is not as bad as it sounds. For example, the song “Aa Bhi Jaa” starts with a lot of noise, about 30 seconds of music. Then when the vocals come the sound becomes crispier. I have a CD version of this (about a minute shorter) available. I will be happy to upload this if anyone is interested. Another note. The song “Aansoo Toh Nahin” in the DVD is 4 min 27 secs long. This is exactly identical to the CD version I am uploading here but that is nearly shorter by 70 seconds. Repeated listening of both versions didn’t offer any clue where the differences lie. If anyone is interested in the DVD version, I will be happy to upload this as well.

I am uploading these songs in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Daaera (1953)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Samadhi (1950)

Here are the songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Shrimatiji (1952)

I am uploading songs from this album in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Shrimatiji (1952)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this album except one. The missing song is shown in red italics in the table below. I am requesting members to share this song if they have it. Thanks.

Here are the songs...

[swarapriya]

(Shakeel) Jan Pahchan (1950)

Most of the following write up appeared in one of my earlier postings...

Here is another Nargis-Raj starrer that had similar theme like Raj's maiden directorial venture "Aag (1948)". He repeated the same theme again with "Satyam Sivam Sundaram" made in 1978. Ramanand Sagar who made his debut with Raj's "Barsaat" in 1949 for which he wrote its story, screenplay, and dialogues is at the helm here writing the screenplay and dialogues for “Jan Pahchan”. But the real story here is neither about Nargis & Raj nor Sagar. It is about the music of this movie.

Khemchand Prakash (his picture attached), who made his debut when he was 21 as a music director in 1939 with "Ghazi Salahuddin" was just coming back from his greatest triumph "Mahal", made in 1949. The movie catapulted Lata Mangeshkar to fame and fortune. Unfortunately Prakashji passed away while composing music for "Jan Pahchan". He was barely 42. In his brief stint of 11 plus years of professional career he composed music for 34 films. Manna Dey took over after Prakashji's death to complete the music directorial duties of "Jan Pahchan".

Besides turning around Lataji's career, Prakashji was also responsible for giving Kishoreda his initial break in the movie "Ziddi" made in 1948 with the solo song "Marne Ki Duaayen".

Every song in this album is an absolute beauty. Here Geetaji is at her best singing five soul stirring solos and a beautiful romantic melody with Talat Saab. I haven't heard many of Dasgupta's songs, but both of his solos are also fine listening. I am uploading these songs in two back-to-back posts.

Here are the songs in the first post…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Mar 27 2013, 12:20 PM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Jan Pahchan (1950)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Air Mail (1960)

I have only three songs from this album. I am missing at least three songs that are shown in red italics in the table below. If you have these or other songs from this album, please kindly share. Thank you.

Now for the three songs I have...

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Parbat (1952)

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

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...4658&st=219

[swarapriya]

(Javed Akhtar) Kaala Patthar (1979)

This movie came from Yash Chopra's house. Its story was written by Salim & Javed team. It was loosely based on Joseph Conrad's serial "Lord Jim" that was published starting in 1899 in Britain's Blackwood Magazine. Later it was published as a book with the same title. In 1965, Richard Brooks made it into a movie with the same name where Peter O'Toole played the title role of a tormented soul who was trying to come to terms with his past for the serious error of neglect he committed earlier in his life that resulted in the loss of several lives.

Interestingly, the great Salil Chowdhury provided the background music for the film. The songs were composed by Rajesh Roshan. It is interesting to know how this came about as the practice of splitting music duties like in this film was not as prevalent in 70's and 80's as it is today.

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

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Kaala Patthar (1979)"...

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

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Fareb (1953)

Here are the songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Shaan (1950)

Here are the songs from this album...

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Aah (1953)

Most of the following write up appeared in one of my earlier postings of this fine album...

This was the first movie Raj produced but did not direct that was a commercial failure. At least his "Aag (1948)" was an artistic triumph even though it did not pan out financially. After garnering unprecedented successes he enjoyed with his earlier movies, "Barsaat (1949)" and "Awaara (1951)", the failure of "Aah" was a big downer for Raj. Bunny Reuben, who was a close friend of Raj, writes in Raj’s biography how Raj recalled his "Aah" experience. Raj went and saw the movie on the first day in the Opera House in Bombay and could tell from the way the audience reacted that this movie was going to be a flop. Based on this he decided to revise its ending from tragedy to a somewhat neutral ending where the hero's life is "spared" and is reunited with his sweetheart for eventuality they were to face together. The DVDs that are available out today have this revised version.

If one examines Raj's own home production movies until this point, one key trend stands out. In all these movies one of the key characters either dies or suffers a traumatic experience. In "Aag" this is shown as the disfigurement of the hero. In "Barsaat" there is a death (Nimmi's). In "Awaara" the hero is imprisoned for life. In the original version of "Aah" the hero dies. Later on this also manifests in several of his other movies.

The story of "Aah" was written by Inder Raj Anand. But nearly final 30 minutes of the movie of the original version was a direct lift from Barua's Devdas (with K.L. Saigal), made in 1935. Here we see the hero traveling in a train with his servant, then using a horse carriage to go to the bride’s place on her wedding night, and eventual death right in front of her bungalow as the wedding procession passes by unaware of his dead body. By the way the horse carriage driver was played by Mukesh singing that famous song “Chhoti Si Zindagani”.

I am uploading all of the songs from this movie in back-to-back two posts. All songs of the movie are from an original soundtrack album CD. I am uploading a special and also an extended version of the song "Jhanan Jhanan". Unfortunately, its quality is not that good. This song is by the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you.

The songs of "Aah", like most of Shankar-Jaikishan's earlier movies, made history. Each of the song was a major hit. Even though they all are marvelous, one song is a standout. Lataji's "Yeh Shaam Ki Tanhayian" is one of my all-time favorites. I probably heard this zillion times yet I never get tired of it. The sweetness, the melancholy, and the longing were superbly executed in an unforgettable way by Lataji to Shailendra's rich lyrics. This song stays in your heart forever. This is truly an ageless classic masterpiece.

Now for details of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves...