Sahir & Shairi, Films of Sahir Ludhianvi Options

[swarapriya]

Milap (1955)

This movie was first for both director Raj Khosla and the music director N. Dutta as an independent one. The movie was based on Frank Capra’s 1936 Hollywood classic that starred Jean Arthur and Gary Cooper. The English version, considered a classic, was a multiple award winning film including the Best Director Oscar for Capra. However the Hindi version of the film flopped despite a good story, fine acting by the principles, rich lyrics, and beautiful songs.

N. Dutta, who made his debut with this film, was assistant to S.D. Burman and other musicians for a long time. When he got a chance to provide music for this movie he jumped at the opportunity. Knowing the power of lyrics, and having worked with S.D. and seen the results before, Dutta insisted on having lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi. He had his wish granted by the producer. The result is that there are some great lyrics and some fine music and some pretty good songs. Even though the movie was a financial failure, Dutta went onto provide melodious music for several other movies, with Sahir Saab writing lyrics for many of them.

The first time director of “Milap”, Raj Khosla, was a good friend of Dev Anand, the movie's hero. Before turning to be a fulltime director, Raj assisted Guru Dutt in many of the movies Guru directed. Khosla got another opportunity to direct “C.I.D. (1956)” starring Dev Anand for Guru Dutt. The success of that movie paved way to many more blockbusters from him.

I am uploading these songs in two back-to-back posts. There are some really good songs in this album. Geeta Dutt dominates with three beautiful solos and a duet with Rafi Saab. I love the way Geetaji sings the song "Hum Se Bhi Kar Lo". An absolute delight, it just oozes with overwhelming sweetness. However, the song “Yeh Bahaaron Ka Sama”, sung individually by Lata and Hemantda, became a signature song of the movie. Our fellow member Venkat wrote earlier when these songs were posted nearly two years back that the mukhda of the duet “Bachna Zara” is identical to the mukhda tune of a Lata solo, “Tara Rara” from “Hoor-E-Arab (1955)”. The music for this film was composed by Ghulam Mohammed. Both 1955 movies, different music directors, and different songs with the same mukhda! May be an amazing coincidence.

Here are the details of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves ...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Milap (1955)" ...

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

[sangeetbhakt]

Concluding Songs from "House No. 44 (1954)" ...

I am uploading in this post several specials. I am including here Jagjit Singh's version of "Teri Duniya Mein". This is from his album "Close to My Heart". I am also including Lata's version of the same song. This one is from her album "Lata's Shraddhanjali-1". Finally I am including a slightly extended version of the same song. In this there is some humming by Lata before the actual Hemantda's song.

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

The humming is almost certainly Asha and not Lata.

But speaking of Lata, the solo "Phaili hui hai sapnoN ki baaheN" is such a lovely song. I absolutely love it.

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "House No. 44 (1954)" ...

I am uploading in this post several specials. I am including here Jagjit Singh's version of "Teri Duniya Mein". This is from his album "Close to My Heart". I am also including Lata's version of the same song. This one is from her album "Lata's Shraddhanjali-1". Finally I am including a slightly extended version of the same song. In this there is some humming by Lata before the actual Hemantda's song.

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

The humming is almost certainly Asha and not Lata.

But speaking of Lata, the solo "Phaili hui hai sapnoN ki baaheN" is such a lovely song. I absolutely love it.

I wonder if someone else can second your opinion whether the humming belongs to Lata or Asha. Speaking about "Phaili", I am with you all the way, SB. It is one of my favorites of Lata.

Cheers,
S

[yogihit]

SP thanks again

[Viraj Padhye]

Concluding Songs from "House No. 44 (1954)" ...

I am uploading in this post several specials. I am including here Jagjit Singh's version of "Teri Duniya Mein". This is from his album "Close to My Heart". I am also including Lata's version of the same song. This one is from her album "Lata's Shraddhanjali-1". Finally I am including a slightly extended version of the same song. In this there is some humming by Lata before the actual Hemantda's song.

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

The humming is almost certainly Asha and not Lata.

But speaking of Lata, the solo "Phaili hui hai sapnoN ki baaheN" is such a lovely song. I absolutely love it.

I wonder if someone else can second your opinion whether the humming belongs to Lata or Asha. Speaking about "Phaili", I am with you all the way, SB. It is one of my favorites of Lata.

Cheers,
S

Hi SP,

I second Sangeetbhakt. It indeed looks Asha.

Viraj

[rpnawani]

Thanks Swarapriya for sharing these beautiful albums. It is a treat to hear Sahir's shairi with great music.

rpnawani

[swarapriya]

SP thanks again

You're very welcome, Yogi. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

Hi SP,

I second Sangeetbhakt. It indeed looks Asha.

Viraj

Okay SB & Viraj. I made appropriate changes to the table. Thanks for keeping me not only honest but straight as well. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

Thanks Swarapriya for sharing these beautiful albums. It is a treat to hear Sahir's shairi with great music.

rpnawani

RP, thanks for your note. It is the same sentiment prompted me to start this thread. Sahir was one of those poets whose creations will stand test of time and will be enjoyed for many generations to come.

Cheers,
S

[swarapriya]

Munimji (1955)

Munimji was a sort of breakaway movie. Its storyline and many scenes from the movie formed a template for many successful future movies. It was produced by Filmistan (Shashidhar Mukherjee also know as S. Mukherjee - father of actor Joy Mukherjee), the studio that was responsible for so many money spinning musicals. It was directed by Subodh Mukherjee, younger brother of Shashidhar, a first for him. Subodh always wanted to make a movie and has similar storyline ideas. Instead he ended up directing Munimji. Writing duties were handled by Nasir Hussain, a future famous producer and director himself who churned out several successful musicals to his credit. Nasir and Subodh also co-wrote the screenplay. The dialogues were written by Nasir and Qamar Jalalabadi. Interestingly, Jalalabadi who is a renowned lyricist, didn't write any songs for this movie.

Dev's portrayal in the movie was full of light-hearted fun and was just great. He was nominated in the Best Actor Filmfare Award category, but lost to Dilip Kumar (for Azaad) in apparently a very close vote. Nirupa Roy played Dev's mother and won the Best Supporting Actress Filmfare Award for her portrayal. In years, apparently, Roy was younger to Dev in real life!

Interestingly, Nasir Hussain practically took the same story idea and made three other money spinners in "Tumsa Nahin Dekha," "Dil Deke Dekho," and "Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai" all major musical blockbusters.

The songs of "Munimji" are just superb. I have so many favorites in this movie. The dual version of the song “Jeevan Ke Safar”, especially the version by Kishoreda is just awesome. Another one of my favorites is the trio by Geetaji, Hemantda, and Thakur, the song “Dil Ki Umangen”. An unforgettable song that is absolute fun to listen to with both Geetaji and Hemantda at their teasingly pleasing best. I read in this Forum that Thakur who is the cosinger of this song is none other than the great veteran actor Pran himself. I am not able to confirm this.

It is noteworthy that Burman Da did not have Sahir write all the songs, he wrote most of them, even though their collaborations in many of the previous movies enjoyed phenomenal success. The writing duties for this film were split between Sahir and Shailendra.

I am uploading these songs in back-to-back two posts. Here are the details of the songs in the first post and the songs themselves ...

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Munimji (1955)" ...

Here are the rest of the songs from this beautiful Burmanda album. I am also including here a special version of the song "Jeevan Ke Safar" with an introduction by Jagjit Singh. This is taken from the album, "Legends: S.D. Burman - The Ageless All Rounder (CD 1)".

Here are these memorably melodious beauties ...

[Faraaj73]

Munimji (1955)

Another one of my favorites is the trio by Geetaji, Hemantda, and Thakur, the song “Dil Ki Umangen”. An unforgettable song that is absolute fun to listen to with both Geetaji and Hemantda at their teasingly pleasing best. I read in this Forum that Thakur who is the cosinger of this song is none other than the great veteran actor Pran himself. I am not able to confirm this.

Swarapriya

Pran sang the comedy part of Dil Ki Umangein Hain Jawaan...and it was obviously picturised on him...

[swarapriya]

Munimji (1955)

Another one of my favorites is the trio by Geetaji, Hemantda, and Thakur, the song “Dil Ki Umangen”. An unforgettable song that is absolute fun to listen to with both Geetaji and Hemantda at their teasingly pleasing best. I read in this Forum that Thakur who is the cosinger of this song is none other than the great veteran actor Pran himself. I am not able to confirm this.

Swarapriya

Pran sang the comedy part of Dil Ki Umangein Hain Jawaan...and it was obviously picturised on him...

Thanks for the confirmation, Faraaj. I am still not able to comprehend why the album uses the name as Thakur instead of the real name. Cheers. -S

[swarapriya]

Railway Platform (1955)

Here is another beautiful album from Madan Mohan Saab. Sunil Dutt made his acting debut with this movie. It has several hit songs with Rafi Saab's "Basti Basti" taking the top honors. I am uploading these songs in two back-to-back posts. Here is the first set of songs ...