Raj Kapoor, The Master Showman Options

[swarapriya]

Chori Chori (1956)

Shankar & Jaikishan were introduced by Raj Kapoor in the history making "Barsaat" in 1949. Since then they have composed music for a number of films creating some unforgettable songs. Yet they never won any major award for all of their accomplishments. Not until this movie, "Chori Chori", came along. This was the first movie for which they got Filmfare award for best music. It will be the first of eight they will get in their career. This number is still unsurpassed with Laxmikant-Pyarelal coming in a close second with seven awards.

By this time, Mukesh was the voice of Raj Kapoor. Yet, Shankar & Jaikishan had Manna Dey sing for Raj. Surprising choice. But not surprisingly, Manna da delivers some unforgettable duets with Lataji that are cherished even today.

This movie was based on director Frank Capra's English hit "It Happened One Night" made in 1934 and starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. It won five major Oscars (best picture, best director, best actress, best actor, and best screenplay). Not until 1975 another movie ("One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest") won as many major awards. The feat was repeated only once more by "Silence of the Lambs" in 1991. The movie "It Happened One Night" was also remade in English as a musical, "You Can't Run Away From It" starring June Allyson and Jack Lemmon.

"Chori Chori" was a carbon copy of the English version. It was remade in Hindi by Mahesh Bhatt in 1991 under the name "Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin". This movie was also a success mainly because it has some beautiful music composed by the duo Nadeem & Shravan. I will upload these songs right after this under this same section. The movie was also made in Bengali with Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar in 1959 under the name "Chaoa Paoa". It was also made in Kannada under the name "Hudugaata".

It is interesting to note that Raj Kapoor who played Calrk Gable's role in "Chori Chori" was complimented by the Hollywood actress Shirley Maclaine during her visit to India when she told Raj that he looked like Clark Gable unaware that Raj played one of his roles.

"Chori Chori" has some beautiful music and sweet songs with great compositions. Apart from the three Lata-Manna duets, Lataji's two solos,"Panchhi Banoon" and "Rasik Balma" are just out of this world. Lataji never sounded this sweet and this better.

Here is one great story reported about the song "Rasik Balma". The late great Mehboob Khan was recuperating from heart problem in a Los Angeles hospital. He loved "Rasik Balma" so much that he wanted to hear the song but no record was available in Los Angeles. He called Lataji in Bombay and she readily obliged by singing the song over the phone for him. Lataji repeated this gesture many times during his stay in the hospital while Mehboob Khan was recuperating. Later after returing to India, a healthier Mehboob Khan thanked Lataji for bringing him solace by singing the song for him and helping him in recovering quickly.

Now for details of the songs and the songs themselves ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 27 2008, 10:53 AM

[swarapriya]

Songs Of "Chori Chori (1956)" Continued ...

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

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 22 2008, 01:54 AM

[swarapriya]

Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991)

This movie is a remake of the Nargis-Raj Kapoor starrer "Chori Chori (1956)". It was directed by Mahesh Bhatt and has in the leads Pooja Bhatt and Aamir Khan. The music was composed by the duo Nadeem & Shravan except for one song. That one song was composed by Anu Malik. The album has as many as thirteen songs but the movie had only few of them. There are some beautiful songs here and thought it is appropriate to upload them here. Because of the number of songs, I will upload them in three parts.

Here are the first five songs ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 22 2008, 01:49 PM

[swarapriya]

Songs Of Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991) Continued ...

Now for the second part of the songs from this album. Note that the song "Ishq Ne Aag Lagai Hai" was composed by Anu Malik whereas the rest of the songs were composed by Nadeem & Shravan.

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs Of Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991) ...

Concluding songs from this album ...

[abhayp]

Telepathy at work again, Swarapriya! Just this afternoon, I was thinking about the "thillana" from 'Chori Chori' and telling myself I must find it; I log on to HF later in the evening and find it waiting for me, all neatly packaged! So close to Christmas, I can only say that Santa Claus is at work!

Thank you!

Warm regards,
Abhay

[swarapriya]

Telepathy at work again, Swarapriya! Just this afternoon, I was thinking about the "thillana" from 'Chori Chori' and telling myself I must find it; I log on to HF later in the evening and find it waiting for me, all neatly packaged! So close to Christmas, I can only say that Santa Claus is at work!

Thank you!

Warm regards,
Abhay

Well, who said there is no Santa Claus? Cheers Abhay.

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 22 2008, 02:57 AM

[swarapriya]

Jaagte Raho (1956)

“Jaagte Raho” is one of the brilliant movies ever to adorn Indian cinema. It probably ranks high up there with Guru Dutt’s classic “Pyaasa”. Yet neither could even garner a single award nationally. But both movies received significant recognition in later years. Indian audience took notice of “Jaagte Raho” only after it won the Grand Prix award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

“Jaagte Raho” was made in Bengali and Hindi simultaneously. The Bengali version was called “Ek Din Raatre”. Raj Kapoor who was brilliant in “Shree 420” metamorphizes the closed nature of the city theme in this movie with a mesmerizingly stunning performance.

K.A. Abbas who authored ”Shree 420” also assisted the debutant director duo Amit Moitra and Shombhu Mitra who wrote the story. The story goes that Raj has invited the actor Shombhu to codirect this movie. Shombhu directed only another movie later in Bengali in 1959, “Subha Bibaha”. I am not sure what Amit has done after this movie. One thing is for sure, neither one directed another Hindi movie.

The movie boasts several good performances by the great supporting cast. But the most brilliant one was by the venerable Motilal. As a drunk he gives one of the most memorable performance ever to hit the Indian screen. The song he sings on the screen, “Zindagi Khwab Hai”, was done by Mukesh. Motilal is the one who brought Mukesh to Bombay after he heard him sing at his sister’s wedding.

Shankar & Jaikishan, who were regulars with Raj’s movies, did not compose music for this movie. Instead the honors went to Salil Chowdhury. Salil da takes the opportunity to compose some great tunes. Apart from “Zindagi” the other numbers that are worth their weight in gold are the bhangra song “Main Koi Jhoot Boliya” and the beautiful “Jaago Mohan Pyaare” by Lataji. Incidentally, the piece of music composed at the end of the movie was later used by Salil da for Bimal Roy’s “Madhumati (1958)” in the song “Aaja Re Pardesi” at the suggestion of the lyricist Shailendra. Apparently Bimalda was initially reluctant to this idea.

Incidentally, Nargis makes a cameo appearance in this movie near the end. This will be the sixteenth and the last time Nargis and Raj Kapoor will be in a movie together.

I am uploading all the songs from this movie. Several came from a CD and others from DVD including extended versions. One or two songs may have come from other sources such as this Forum. I am also including an instrumental version of “Jaago Mohan Pyaare”. Now for details of the songs and the songs themselves …

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 27 2008, 10:51 AM

[swarapriya]

Songs Of "Jaagte Raho (1956)" Continued ...

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

[simplefable]

Chori Chori (1956)

SP..rather late in coming..it is, as usual fascinating to read your notes. There is so much behind the scenes of these fabulous films, will never get bored reading about them...

Just wanted to add a couple of version songs which are courtesy this great forum..version songs of Geeta ji. Not in the greatest of sound quality, yet an interesting study indeed...

Yeh raat bheegi bheegi..
Geeta, Bhushan
mp3, 128 kbps, 3.41 min




Panchi banoo ud te phiroo..
Geeta
mp3, 128 kbps, 3.26 min

[swarapriya]

SP..rather late in coming..it is, as usual fascinating to read your notes. There is so much behind the scenes of these fabulous films, will never get bored reading about them...

Just wanted to add a couple of version songs which are courtesy this great forum..version songs of Geeta ji. Not in the greatest of sound quality, yet an interesting study indeed...

Yeh raat bheegi bheegi..
Geeta, Bhushan
mp3, 128 kbps, 3.41 min




Panchi banoo ud te phiroo..
Geeta
mp3, 128 kbps, 3.26 min

Thanks SF. I didn't realize that these version songs existed. Thanks for sharing these with us. Cheers.

[smahesh]

Prema Lekhalu (1953)
A Telugu Movie

This movie is Raj Kapoor's "Aah" dubbed in Telugu. Like the Hindi version, this Telugu version also didn't work. I believe, the Telugu version was released with the revised ending.

All songs in Telugu were a rage. They were written by up and coming writer named Arudra at that time. Arudra was a nephew of the great Telugu poet and writer Sri Sri. Many wrongfully thought at that time that it was Sri Sri who wrote the songs so that Arudra can gan a foothold in the industry. But subsequent events proved this to be wrong. Arudra became a recognized writer on his own merits. Besides Sri Sri was not much of a romantic writer.

Some say that Raj got this idea to dub this movie into Telugu from Shankar, one of the music directors of the movie. Shankar, born in Punjab, was raised in Hyderabad. He spoke good Telugu. Raj apparently liked the idea and had the movie released in Telugu.

Most of these songs I have acquired are from the interet. All these songs were uploaded earlier this year by Oye-Sonu. Interestingly, all Telugu songs are of shorter duration than their original Hindi counterparts. I have given a description of these songs in the table below. I have also given for each Telugu song the original Hindi song with time durations for reference.

Now for the songs ...

swarpriya,
thanks for the rare telugu album.

regards,
mahesh

[simplefable]

I didn't realize that these version songs existed. Thanks for sharing these with us. Cheers.

SP..sharing with people like you is very special. As the next time you share the album, you will be sure to carry these version songs too..into many more hearts. pleasure is all mine.

[swarapriya]

swarpriya,
thanks for the rare telugu album.

regards,
mahesh

It is my pleasure Mahesh. Cheers.

[swarapriya]

Sharada (1957)

This was the first movie produced and directed in Hindi by the late great L.V. Prasad. It was the start of some great blockbusters from his production house, most of them family dramas packed with entertainment value. "Sharada" was orginally made in Tamil in 1954 as "Ethirparadathu" with Padmini and the great thespian Shivaji Ganeshan. It was later remade in Telugu in 1956 as "Ilavelupu" that starred Anjali Devi and that wonderful actor Nageshwara Rao.

The movie in Hindi had the formidable cast with Meena Kumari and Raj Kapoor heading the list. Prasad was acquainted with Raj Kapoor having met him before at a function hosted by Prithvi Theaters. Meena Kumari in the title role gave an unforgettable performance. So did Raj Kapoor. It was his first movie after his "split" from Nargis.

The movie was nominated for several Filmfare awards. It managed to win a few but it has the formidable opposition from Mehboob Khan's "Mother India" which won most of the awards for that year. L.V. Prasad lost the award to Mehboob Khan. Meena Kumari lost to another great actress of our times, Nargis. Yet, "Sharada" managed to win three Filmfare awards. Shivaji Avadhut won for editing, Shyama won for best supporting actress, and Raj Mehra won for best supporing actor roles.

Because of the number of songs (12), I will upload them in two parts. Here is a description of the first seven songs from this album...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Dec 30 2008, 09:53 PM