The Three Reigning Queens, Albums of Madhubala, Meena Kumari & Nargis Options

[saurabhdatta]

WELCOME SWARAPRIYA !

[swarapriya]

(Meena) Sahara (1958)

Here is one of those films where everyone seem to do harm to a hapless woman. Meena Kumari endures so much pain and anguish that what she has to go through in this movie it gets to your nerves sometimes. I am uploading songs by Hemantda in two back-to-back posts. All songs due to the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you.

Here is the first set of songs ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Oct 12 2010, 08:45 PM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Sahara (1958)" ...

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

[Yadavagiri5]

(Meena) Sahara (1958)

Here is one of those albums where everyone seem to do harm to a hapless woman. Meena Kumari endures so much pain and anguish that what she has to go through in the movie it gets to your nerves sometimes. I am uploading songs by Hemantda in two back-to-back posts. All songs due to the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you.

Here is the first set of songs ...

Here is Bengali song by Lata (Duration 3:18) which sounds very similar to So Jaa Dukhiyaare, but is also different in many ways. Can anyone provide more details on this song?

[swarapriya]

(Meena) Sahara (1958)

Here is one of those albums where everyone seem to do harm to a hapless woman. Meena Kumari endures so much pain and anguish that what she has to go through in the movie it gets to your nerves sometimes. I am uploading songs by Hemantda in two back-to-back posts. All songs due to the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you.

Here is the first set of songs ...

Here is Bengali song by Lata (Duration 3:18) which sounds very similar to So Jaa Dukhiyaare, but is also different in many ways. Can anyone provide more details on this song?

Thanks for the song YG. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Nargis) Chori Chori (1956)

Shankar & Jaikishan were introduced by Raj Kapoor in the history making "Barsaat" in 1949. Since then they composed music for a number of films and in the process created many 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 was the first of eight they got in their brilliant career. Until recently this number seemed unsurpassable with Laxmikant & Pyarelal coming in a close second with seven awards. But recently A.R. Rahman has eclipsed all these numbers. He has swept away every major award any country has offered. He garnered a staggering 25 Filmfare awards (14 regular and 11 South) in a brief period of time!

By the time "Chori Chori" was ready to go into production, Mukesh was firmly entrenched as the voice of Raj Kapoor. Yet, Shankar & Jaikishan had Manna Dey sing for Raj in this film. This was a 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 that starred 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 with "Silence of the Lambs" in 1991 grabbing all major Oscars. 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 Happened One Night”. 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. 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".

The fascination for the English film “It Happened One Night” also yielded at least another two musicals in Hindi. The adaptations include “Solva Saal (1958)” and “Basant (1960)”. “Saal” had some lilting music by Burmanda and “Basant” had some swinging music by OP. But none of these movies enjoyed the same success as “Chori Chori” did.

It is interesting that Raj Kapoor who played Clark 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 his role in “Chori Chori”.

"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 absolute delights. Lata 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 a heart problem in a Los Angeles hospital. He loved "Rasik Balma" so much that he wanted to hear the song but no record of the song was yet available in Los Angeles. He called Lataji in Bombay and she readily obliged by singing the song over the phone for him. Lata repeated this gesture many times during his stay in the hospital while Mehboob Khan was recovering. Later after returning to India, a healthier Mehboob Khan thanked Lata for bringing him solace by singing the song for him and helping him in a quick recovery.

I will post songs of this film in three back-to-back posts. The first two posts consist of all songs of the film from an original soundtrack album. The third post contains a couple of version songs. Now for details of the songs and the songs themselves ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Oct 26 2010, 12:07 PM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Chori Chori (1956)" ...

Here are the rest of the songs from this award winning beautifully melodious album ...

[swarapriya]

Some of the Version Songs of "Chori Chori (1956)" ...

The following couple of version songs, a solo and a duet with Geetaji as the principal singer, are by the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Oct 26 2010, 12:07 PM

[Faraaj73]

Some of the Version Songs of "Chori Chori (1956)" ...

The following couple of version songs, a solo and a duet with Geetaji as the principal singer, are by the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you ...

Can anyone re-confirm who the duet singer is on the Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi version? My collection says Ambar Kumar not Bhushan.

[jyotirmoy]

Some of the Version Songs of "Chori Chori (1956)" ...

The following couple of version songs, a solo and a duet with Geetaji as the principal singer, are by the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you ...

Can anyone re-confirm who the duet singer is on the Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi version? My collection says Ambar Kumar not Bhushan.

He was Bhusan.

[swarapriya]

Some of the Version Songs of "Chori Chori (1956)" ...

The following couple of version songs, a solo and a duet with Geetaji as the principal singer, are by the courtesy of the Forum members. Thank you ...

Can anyone re-confirm who the duet singer is on the Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi version? My collection says Ambar Kumar not Bhushan.

He was Bhusan.

Thanks for the confirmation, Jyoti. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

(Madhubala) Howrah Bridge (1958)

“Howrah Bridge” made by the producer and director Shakti Samanta (later of “Aradhana (1959)” fame) borrowed heavily from the movies of Humphrey Bogart with Lauren Bacall and Ava Gardner. The whole atmosphere of the movie that was a murder mystery gives that feeling thanks to the brilliant cinematography that showed the grimy streets, seedy people, shifting landscape, and shady nightclubs. Yet Kolkata (Calcutta that time) is shown in all its glory with several exotic locales, especially during the song “Eent ki Dukki Paan ka Ikka” sung beautifully by Rafi Saab, with the magnificent backdrop of the famous Howrah Bridge serving as an appropriate background.

Ashok Kumar in some scenes impeccably looked like Humphrey Bogart, mainly because he was suited up that way. But Dadamoni was his own actor and he displayed that ease and smile with his role that left an impression that he was enjoying every minute of it. By the way, Bogey who always played serious roles seldom smiled in his movies.

Madhubala playing an Anglo-Indian in the movie looked absolutely gorgeous. She was dressed very much like Lauren Bacall or Ava Gardner lush in full skirts. She was stunningly radiant through out the movie. She torches and scorches the screen with the sensuality and sexiness seldom seen in the movies. Especially in the night club cabaret song, she is aided by that beautiful song by Asha, “Aaiye Meherbaan”. Incidentally Madhubala’s other song from the film “Mahal (1949)”, “Aayega Aanewaala”, with Ashok Kumar made Lata a singinig sensation. Even though Asha was an established singer at this time, the song “Aayiye” established her as one of our premium singers, no less talented than her famous sister.

Helen who is an Anglo-Burmese by birth plays a Chinese lady in this movie, cutely made up like a Chinese doll. She was still new into the movies, only 19 when this film was made. Her song in the night club, “Merra Naam Chin Chin Chu” had sparks flying all over thanks to the singing of Geetaji. This song not only became a perennial favorite among filmgoers but is still popular all over the world. For Geetaji, who was instrumental in kick starting the career of music director O.P. Nayyar’s career with several assignments for her husband’s (Guru Dutt) films during OP’s struggling days, this was the last song she sang. It is such a pity because together these two people who were brilliant in their own respective fields and gave us so many winning songs when they worked together in earlier movies couldn’t come to grips to work again.

Talking about the music, here OP delivers some of his best work. Every song is such a delight. His music always has that tilt towards lilt, sensibility of sensuality, and caressing care freeness. If nothing else the songs mentioned earlier have stood the test of time proving once again what kind of a musical genius he was and why his style set him apart from everyone else.

I am uploading songs from the film in first two posts. The third post has three instrumentals by Dr. Kamath. All songs in the first two posts are from an original soundtrack album.

Here is a description of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves ...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 25 2010, 06:23 AM

[swarapriya]

Continuing Songs from "Howrah Bridge (1958)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this swinging album from the inimitable OP...

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Nov 3 2010, 04:58 AM

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Howrah Bridge (1958)...

I am uploading in this post three brief instrumentals of the same song, "Aaiye Meharbaan", by N.R. Kamath. The first one is performed with a flute using tabla beats. The second version uses the same flute with a slow beat and no tabla. The third version uses a long bass flute with a white scale of 4, and is done like in the second version with a slow beat. The source of all three instrumentals is YouTube. Here are these ...

[swarapriya]

(Meena) Savera (1958)

Here is a fine album from the very seldom heard Sailesh Mukherjee. There are several good songs in this album including a couple of melodious ones from Geetaji. I am uploading these songs, all but one due to the courtesy of the Forum members. Please be warned that quality of these songs is about average.

It appears like that I may be missing the song shown in red italics in the table below. If indeed this is the case, and if you happen to have it, please do share with rest of us. Thanks.

Here are these songs ...