Archive for the ‘Hemant Kumar Lata duet’ Category
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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Blog Day : |
5133 | Post No. : | 17089 |
Today’s song is from a Costume drama-Jalti Nishani-1957.
There was another film Jalti Nishani made in 1932, by Prabhat Film Company of Poona. It was a bilingual film, made in Hindi and Marathi and the Marathi version was titled ” Agni kankan” ( अग्नी कंकण ). That was the usual story of an honest king, a bad Vazir, a runaway queen with her son and the revenge taken after 20 years. The 1957 film with the same title had almost a similar story with some variations. This film was made by Emsheth productions, produced aptly by a rich person called A.G.Dhanik. It was directed by Tara Harish and the melodious music was provided by the grand old man of Hindi film music – Anil Biswas.
The image of Anil Biswas carved in the minds of Music lovers is that of a smiling person who was respected by one and all in the industry. But few people know that behind that smiling face were many unpleasant events in his life. A failed marriage, loss of all earnings while settling the separation, loss of a dear friend-Mehboob, loss of an young son in Indian Air Force, a failed musician son, a pathetic end of his musical career field in Bombay and a life spent away from Bombay made Anil Biswas a Philosophical person at the end of his life.
I have full respect and liking for him as a person and also as a music melody creator in Hindi films. Today, in this post, we will take a short look at his life and a retelling of some interesting happenings of his life. In his Bio,you will find a less known story of his ambitious but unfortunate son who died untimely. I am not going into the details of his songs and music nor am I going to delve into the details of his interesting early life in Bengal, before coming to the Bombay film world scene. So, here we go….
Anil Biswas,the Bhishma Pitamaha of HFM,was a respected person in the industry.He started from the mid 30s and for the next 25 years or so,he created many everlasting gems in film songs. In Bombay,the Playback was first started by him in the film Mahageet-1937. By the mid 50s his magic started waning and by 1960,he was almost gone from the industry. Initially he did 10-11 films with Sagar,then with Mehboob for National studios and then in Bombay talkies- where his name became immortal with the film Kismet-1943.
He married Ashalata in 1936. Along with her he started variety pictures and they produced films like Laadli-49,Laajawab-50;Badi Bahu-51,Hamdard-53 and Bajuband-54. ( a less known fact is-Anil da had made a Guest appearance in the film Hamdard-53 as a barber.) He also acted in the film Mehman-53 (produced by Ashalata),as a Pujari and a song was shot on him.In both cases he did not get any payments. As a Producer he lost heavily, because Ashalata usurped all the money. Frustrated, he gave up everything and separated from her in 1954.
To sustain life,he bought a Truck and did a business of transportation. In addition he also took the contract for a canteen in Mehboob Studios. He failed in both ventures. By now,his relations with Ashalata were soured and sweet links were established with singer Meena Kapoor-25 years younger to him, since 1948 itself.According to some reports, they got married with each other on 19-3-1957. The death of Brother in law and close friend Pannalal Ghosh in 1960 and younger brother Sunil in 1961 as well as his eldest son- Pradeep,broke his heart. He left Bombay and joined A.I.R. at Delhi on 1-3-1963,where he worked upto 27-6-1975. Later he was a consultant for Nehru University for a few years.
Like many filmi couples,Anil da’s married life was also a failure. In Bombay,he used to stay in a huge bungalow,called ” Asha-Pradeep “, on Vincent Road. From Ashalata,he got 3 sons-Pradeep,Amit and Utpal and 1 daughter-Shikha. His son Utpal formed a pair as Amar-Utpal and gave music to few films. The other son Amit established the First Digital Recording Studio in Bombay. Daughter Shikha too got married and settled.
However,hardly anything is known about his eldest son Pradeep,anywhere. Here is some information,hitherto not known much,brought specially for our readers.
Pradeep was a very bright student and always topped in school and college. He passed his entrance exam and the interview,with flying colours for entry to NDA college at Poona,to join armed forces. He excelled even in NDA training.Not only was he very popular there but sang well too. He participated in the music Festival of Khadakwasla NDA and sang 3 songs,winning all prizes. He was also a NDA Topper.
Shri Gopinath Talwalkar,an A.I.R. Programmer at Delhi,used to interview the Toppers of NDA every year. That year Pradeep was the Topper, so he was interviewed. Though the interview was in Hindi, after the recording,Pradeep asked Talwalkar,in pure Marathi,whether his interview had been good. Talwalkar was shocked. Pradeep then explained that he was Anil Biswas’s son and he had learnt Marathi from his actress mother Ashalata. Pradeep knew Hindi,Marathi,English and Gujarati languages.
After completing his NDA training,he was posted as Flight cadet at Jodhpur. He was further promoted and became Pilot Officer in 1957. During one Training flight some altitude problems occurred and his plane crashed at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, killing Pradeep instantly. This happened in 1961.
This was also the time of crisis for Anil da. He was struggling to survive. Films were not coming to him. Since he married Meena Kapoor, Lata Mangeshkar-a fast close friend of Ashalata , had gone against him and Meena’s singing career was suppressed. He had already lost Pannalal Ghosh and Sunil-his brother and now Pradeep’s death devastated him and he was literally forced to seek employment with Delhi A.I.R., when the opportunity came. After retirement, till his death on 31-5-2003, he spent his life in total anonymity and recluse. So sad for a composer, who was once a fountain of enthusiasm and who was considered Mentor by leading contemporary composers like C.Ramchandra.
Here is an anecdote about C.Ramchandra and Anil Biswas…
On the day of recording the first ever Hindi film song (a chorus song) of C.Ramchandra, (in 1942) all arrangements were done. Chorus singers were ready, musicians were ready and technicians were ready. Suddenly, a set of visitors arrived at the studio. The visitors were all top composers of the day like Anil Biswas, K.Datta, Naval Chatterjee and some others.They all had heard about C Ramchandra, his tunes and his work. They wanted to see how he operated. C Ramchandra had tremendous respect for Anil Biswas. He knew that the contributions of Anil Biswas to Hindi Film Music was praiseworthy. Anil Biswas was a master of harmonization technique in western and Indian music instruments.
C Ramchandra described this event thus-
” It was my great fortune that a senior composer whom I considered as my Guru was present at my first recording. To my greatest surprise all the visitors joined the Chorus group for singing. I just wanted to check if the final take can be taken. I said one ..two..three and the song and music started, but I felt something was wrong. One singer sounded different. I stopped and ran outside to the singers. To my shock it was Anilda who put a Teevr Nishad which was not in my composition. He smilingly asked, is it Ok ? I said respectfully, No Dada, this is not right. He very magnanimously and without further questions agreed and they all sang on my tune only !. ”
Here is one more anecdote about Anil Biswas and Dilip kumar…
A few interesting lines about the duet –‘Aa mohabbat ki basti basayeinge hum’. One afternoon Anil Da at his residence was in the company of celebrated actors –Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar. He played on his harmonium and hummed the serious tune of his forthcoming melody -‘Aa mohabbat ki basti basayeinge hum’. As to who will be the female singer, there was absolutely no doubt about Lata; but who will give the male voice? “Dada it should be Talat”-said Ashok Kumar. Whereas Dilip Kumar suggested –“Anil Da, in any case looking at the serious lyrical notes, male singer should be your favorite Mukesh.” Anil Da had something else in his mind. “How if Kishore sings with Lata”- said the maestro. “Kishore!’ –Dilip was taken aback; “if Kishore will sing such a serious song, then ‘Aapka joota aur mera sar (if Kishore will sing such a serious song, my head is ready for your shoe-beating)’” –added Dilip Kumar. “Mein joota le kar aataa hoon, sar tayyar rakho (Be ready with your head, I am bringing my shoe).”
Kishore Kumar was called, who at the first instance, bluntly refused to sing the said duet with Lata. But, the maestro’s conviction prevailed and eventually a heart-throbbing duet was created!
Film Girls school-49 has a very interesting History. As we know the film had 9 songs and there were 2 MDs-Anil Biswas and C Ramchandra (4 and 5 songs each).
This film was produced by Kavi Pradeep under the banner of Lokmanya Productions,Bombay. This was a company floated by him and Amiya Chakrawarty-director of this film. To understand the complexities of Girls school, we must go back a little. In 1942, Anil Biswas was invited by Ranjit @ 1500 pm and by Bombay Talkies @ 2500 pm. As National studio was winding up, AB wanted to make a change anyway, but due to the contract of national he could not join Bombay Talkies openly. He ,however , gave music to film Basant-42 and the name of his brother in Law, Pannalal Ghosh was used as its MD.
Finally when AB joined Bombay Talkies, there were already 2 groups there. One was led by Devika Rani and Amiya Chakraborty and the other was led by S. Mukherjee along with Ashok kumar, Gyan Mukherjee, Pradeep etc- a total of 15 artistes. AB was invited by Devika Rani and that too at 2500 pm,when Pradeep was getting 1500 pm. This irritated Pradeep to no end and he started troubling and finding faults with Anil Biswas. However Anil Biswas gave excellent music to film Kismet and then everyone was happy as the film celebrated jubilees everywhere.
With this background,Anil Biswas joined Girls school as a MD, mainly due to Amiya who knew his calibre. Kavi Pradeep being a producer and a Lyricist started interfering with Anil Bswas’s work and criticising him at every opportunity. AB was fed up. He had already recorded 3 songs and a solo by Lata , ” tum hi kaho,mera man udas kyun na rahe” was to be recorded. Anil Biswas had taken C Ramchandra as his assistant for this film. Though CR was already a popular and well known composer himself, still due to sheer respect for Anil Biswas, he had accepted to be his assistant here. When the tune for Lata’s solo was made, Pradeep passed caustic remarks about it being not so good. There was an altercation between Anil Biswas and Pradeep and Biswas quit then and there and went away.
Automatically, C Ramchandra had to take over as MD for the balance songs. Pradeep was very happy. Next day recording of Lata’s solo song took place under the supervision of C Ramchandra, as planned. Later when Lata came to know that Anil Biswas had left and C Ramchandra had replaced him,she was very angry and said that she would not have recorded the song had she known about AB’s exit. She objected to CR’s taking over and complained to the Artistes association too. (Remember, at that time Lata and CR’s relations had not formed yet, Lata was still with Husnlal.)
Later on in 1954, when O P Nayyar replaced Roshan for Mehbooba-54, Lata took up the issue with the MDs’ association. Anil Biswas was the chairman that time and OPN was boycotted. That time Lata quoted the film Girls school incident to prove that she was ” highly Principled” !
Anyway, this was how C Ramchandra became the next MD of Girls school-49,with 4 duets of Shamshad and 1 solo for Lalita Deulkar. All the 4 duets of this pair are very interesting. However, with all this jhamelas, film Girls school-49 was a total Flop. Pradeep lost heavily and closed the production company forthwith, after just one film.
One peculiar thing with Anil Biswas was that he liked to compose Chorus songs. That is why in almost every film you will find at least one chorus song. Right from his first film to his last film, I checked the song list. Even in his today’s film there are 2 chorus songs. Today’s song also has a chorus in it. It is a good song. Let us enjoy it.
(Information used in this article is from books Sagar Movietone, Mehboob Khan, Journey down melody lane, Ritu aaye Ritu jaaye- Marathi book Anil Biswas, by Sharad Dutt , notes from RMIM with thanks and my notes.)
Song- Aisa jaam pila nazron se hosh rahe na baaqi re (Jalti Nishaani)(1957) Singers- Hemant Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar , Lyrics-Qamar Jalalabadi, MD-Anil Biswas
chorus
Lata + Chorus
Lyrics
o o o saaqi ee re ae ae
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
hey ae ae
aisa jaam pila nazaron se
hosh rahe na baaqi re
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ae ae
aaj lage kyun ujda ujda
bhara hua maikhaana aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
jisko nazren dhoondh rahi hain
aen aen aen aen
aen aen aen aen
kaha hain wo deewaana ji
kaha hain wo deewaana
ye kaisi mehfil il il il il
ye kaisi mahfil hai jismein
pyaasaka hai khud saaki re ae ae
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
hey ae ae aisa jaam pila nazron se
hosh rahe na baaqi re
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ae
ek mein din hai raat ek mein
chhalke do paimaane
ae ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae ae ae
kiski kismat mein kya likha aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
ye kismat hi jaane he ji
ye kismat hi jaane
koi na jaane is mehfil mein
kaun rahega baaki re ji jee
kaun rahega baaki re
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
saaqi re ho
he ae ae ae
aisa jaam pila nazron se
hosh rahe na baaqi re
So ja nanhe mere tu to so jaa
Posted on: March 31, 2021
This article is written by Peevesie’s mom, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4639 | Post No. : | 16298 |
Hullo Atuldom
“Ek Hi Raasta” (1956) was a movie that was produced and directed by B.R.Chopra with story-screenplay- dialogue written by Pt. Mukhram Sharma. Its songs were penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri and composed by Hemant Kumar who had Ravi as assistant and Yash Chopra was assistant to B R Chopra.
This is a movie which I saw only recently. It is popular as a movie on widow remarriage. But it dealt with a lot more.
It showed the young lady’s problems after her remarriage. It showed that the lady had a problem getting her son to accept the new man in her life as his father in spite of the new father being his own father’s boss and friend as also the little one’s. The movie tried to find the mental challenges a little boy faces when he is not told the whole truth regarding his father’s death. There are more complexities when the lady gives birth to a baby from her second marriage. The little boy leaves his foster father’s home with his infant brother in search of his father and mother. There are some tense moments (I was on the edge of my seat) before the movie comes to a close.
Daisy Irani (credited as Raja alias Roop Kumar in the movie’s titles) was simply brilliant. And who better to play the young mother than Meena Kumari.
Meena Kumari may have been typecast as a tragedy queen but there have been movies where she has shown her comic timing as in “Azaad”; “Mem Sahib”; “Miss Mary” etc. This movie too had comic moments between Sunil Dutt, Daisy Irani and Meena Kumari. There are also scenes that show her dancing capabilities.
This movie had eight songs and the blog has five of them. Two of the songs are in the same video on YouTube maybe because they follow each other in the movie with a very small dialogue in between.
| Song | Date of posting |
|---|---|
| Chali gori pee ke milan ko chali | 31 January 2009 |
| Saaanwle salone aaye din bahaar ke | 21 April 2009 |
| Bade bhaiyya laaye hain London se chhori | 11 April 2012 |
| Chamka ban kar aman ka taara | 15 august 2012 |
| Bekas ki aabroo ko neelaam kar ke chhoda | 27 November 2012 |
The above are the songs from “Ek Hi Raasta” that are on the blog. The last post was in November of 2012. Don’t know how the movie has missed being YYIIPPEEEED. This post hopes to take it one step closer.
Meena Kumari was barely 38 when she bid goodbye to this world in 1972. Unbelievable that it is 49 years ago. Paying tribute to this uniquely beautiful lady who had a sweet voice too.
Today’s song is in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar, the first part of the song being in Hemant Kumar’s voice. It shows the young mother trying to forget her pain and put her son to sleep and how both of them are missing the father.
Audio
Video
Song-So jaa nanhe mere tu to so jaa(Ek Hi Raasta)(1956) Singers-Hemant Kumar, Lata, Lyrics-Majrooh Sultanpuri, MD-Hemant Kumar
Lyrics
bhola bachpan
dukhi jawaani
lambi sooni raahon mein
nikle dard liye manzil ka
do khaamosh nigaahon mein
kaun kahe raahi ko
kitni door kahaan tak jaana hai
jeewan ki sunsaan dagar mein
kab tak thokar khaana hai
so jaa nanhe mere
tu toh so ja
tu toh so o o ja
so jaa nanhe mere
tu toh so ja
tu toh so o o ja
jaagne ko pade hai
abhi din tere
tu toh so ja
so jaa nanhe mere
tu toh so ja
tu toh so o o ja
laut kar phir na aayenge
bachpan ke din
laut kar phir na aayenge
bachpan ke din
kho ja sapnon mein
tu mere aansoo na gin
tera nanha sa dil
mera gham kyun kare
tu toh so ja
so ja nanhe mere
tu toh so ja
tu toh so o o ja aa
mera saathi chhoota
meri kismat luti
mera saathi chhoota
meri kismat luti
aansuon ki toh ab hai meri zindagi
jaagna meri taqdeer hai baaware
tu toh so ja
so ja nanhe mere
tu toh so ja
tu toh so o o ja
so ja nanhe mere
tu toh so ja
tu toh so o o ja
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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4448 | Post No. : | 15901 |
Today’s song is from film Daku ki Ladki-54. I remember, there was a film in 1933 with the same title, featuring Sulochana, Dinshaw Bilimorea, Ghulam Mohd. Hadi etc. In that film, Ghulam Mohd. had done the role of the Daku, Sulochana was Daku’s Ladki and Dinshaw was the Police Officer.Ghulam Mohd. was known as ” The Prince of Imperial Film Company”, in those days.
Today’s film was made by Harish Productions. Naturally, the director and the Producer was Tara Harish only. Music was by Hemant Kumar. The cast of the film was Geeta Bali, Sheikh Mukhtar, Arjun, Shivraj, Rajan Kapoor, Mukri, Sankatha Prasad, Cuckoo etc etc.
The word “Daku” regularly appeared in the film titles right from the time Talkie films started. There were a total 32 films starting with the word Daku. When the film Daku ki Ladki came in 1933, as if to counter it, a film called Daku ka Ladka came in 1935. Thank God Daku’s family did not expand further ! Interestingly, there were 16 films based on female Dakus and only 7 films on Male Dakus. I wonder, what is the Hindi word for female Daku. A Dakin ? or a Dakuin ? or is it enough just to say He Daku and She Daku ? While female Dakus were honoured by calling them Daku Rani in 5 films and Daku Maharani in 1 film, the poor He Dakus had prosaic titles like Daku Bhupat or Daku Mansoor etc.etc.
When I took up discussing the 50’s film songs, I found that a lot of melodious and good songs to be yet to be discussed. Today’s song is one such song. To listen to Lata and Hemant Kumar is nothing short of a Bliss. Out of 2 such duets from this film one had remained to be discussed. In one of her interviews, Lata had said that she had always enjoyed singing duets with Hemant Kumar. She also said ” I used to feel as if some Sadhu was singing when I heard him singing a song”.
In the Costume drama Daku ki Ladki-54, Ravi Shankar Sharma was Hemant’s assistant in composing music.In few Hemant Kumar films, Ravi has sung songs, including this film. Later on when Ravi himself became a famous and successful composer, he made Hemant Kumar sing in his films. HK was a very respected person in the industry. When he came to Bombay his Hindi was not so good. Like all Bangla people, he had inherent difficulty in pronunciation of certain Hindi words. This was because, in Bangla language, there are no such sounds as plain ” A ” (अ ). So, Arun becomes Orun and Lata becomes Lota. With great practice and hard work, he improved his Hindi. Initially, even Geeta Roy had this problem.
In the cast of the film, you will see a name Shivraj. Not much is known about this good actor. Sometimes I feel some actors have such features that they are fixed for certain roles only and they are misfits in another role. For example, can you ever imagine Rashid Khan or Kanhaiyalal in a role of a sophisticated Millionnnaire ? Or Aruna Irani or Padma Khanna in a Mythological Devi’s role ? They may be good actors, but their physical features and style of acting restricts them to certain roles only. This is true even in case of big stars. Thus, Ashok Kumar became a laughing stock as Abhimanyu or warrier Humayun in full war gear.
The name SHIVRAJ in the cast always created curiosity in my mind. I had seen this actor in several films. I was unable to get any information on him anywhere. His role as the meek husband of Kaushalya (Manorama) in the film Seeta aur Geeta-72 is unforgettable. When I started work on this post, I tried again. This time I found an article – actually an Obituary – on him in The Hindu, dated 4-6-2017. Of course it described in it only about his different roles. From some other source, I got his date of Birth and Death and a little other information.
Shivraj was born on 11-6-1920 in Madhya Pradesh. His full name was Shivraj Pandey. After doing his graduation, he came to Bombay in search of a good job, but joined the film industry. To start with he worked in Minerva as an assistant in administration, He did some film roles too without getting credited. He left Minerva and got a role in the film Sarai ke bahar-47. This was a film made by National studios. His next films were Ziddi, Majboor, Batohi, and Asha all in 1948. Then there was no looking back. Shivraj acted in 212 films. He directed 1 film, Jaani Dushman-57. He retired from work in 2000, but his last released film was Yaar meri zindgi-2008. Shivraj died on 4-6-2017.
There is also a name Arjun in the cast. Now this is a ‘ Same Name Confusion ‘ artiste. Arjun was the Hero in film Malhar-51, opposite actress Shammi (Nargis Rabadi). His name is confused with Music director C.Arjun and many people wrongly presume that C.Arjun acted in the film Malhar. This Arjun is different. His name was Arjun Bakshi Gill. His first film was Naujawan-51, then came Malhar-51.Later he acted in Daku ki Ladki-54 etc. He wrote screenplays and went on doing small roles in films. He migrated to Canada and opened a Music shop. A RMIM member met him there, and recognised Arjun as Malhar Hero. Arjun died in 2001. His daughter Jyoti Bakshi was also an actress, who died in pitiable condition in 2003.
Finally, let us take a look at dancer Cuckoo.
It was 1944. The talkies were already around for 15 years. Devika Rani and Shobana Samarth had already established their glowing presence but it was still a time when nice girls didn’t even become leading ladies, let alone do roles where they had to wriggle their hips — however tastefully — and bare flesh, which at the time meant shoulders and maybe a bit of leg. At such a time, a pretty, fresh-faced Anglo-Indian girl with eyes that danced as enchantingly as her feet appeared in two films — “Pehli Nazar”- 1945 (in which Mukesh made his debut with “Dil Jalta hai toh jalne de”) and “Mujrim -1944.” The girl’s name in the film’s credits was listed simply as “Cuckoo.” Cuckoo was perhaps the first of the most well known dancing queens of Indian Cinema. She was born on 4-2-1928. Her predecessors were many, including a dancer called Azurie, who it is said Cuckoo modeled herself on. But in terms of the sheer body of work and its impact, Cuckoo would have to be the first among Hindi cinema’s dancing queens. It was with her that “cabaret” became an almost indispensable part of films made between the 1950s and 1970s.
Her debut in 1944 was an instant hit and in the space of just the next five years, she had appeared in an incredible 49 films, including Mehboob Khan’s “Anokhi Ada” (1948), H. S. Rawail’s “Patanga” (1949) and Devendra Goel’s “Aankhen” (1950). The only major filmmaker of the time who did not feature Cuckoo in his films was V. Shantaram. In a lot of her films, her role was just a song but its impact was so electrifying that distributors considered it almost as indispensable as the heroine. Like the Helen-Asha combination later on, in many of these songs, Cuckoo’s screen `voice’ was Shamshad Begum. Together, they were responsible for some unforgettable hits.
Mehboob Khan’s films proved to be the turning points in Cuckoo’s career. Her dance numbers in hisAnokhi Ada established her as the leading dancer of the time; and Andaz, a romantic melodrama featuring Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Nargis, gave the dancer an opportunity to showcase her acting skills.During her peak period,she was getting Rs.6000/- per dance appearance.
Cuckoo remained the top dancer of Hindi films till she was displaced by Helen and such dancer-actresses as Vyjayanthimala.Cuckoo gave dances in about 76 films. Ironically, it was Cuckoo who had initiated a 13-year-old Helen into films as a chorus dancer.Cuckoo continued to dance until the beginning of the 1960s, the last few years as part of the chorus dancing.It has been recently confirmed that Cuckoo’s real name was Cuckoo Moray.Cuckoo died a slow lingering death, due to Cancer on 30-9-1981 penniless and unattended. No one from the Film industry attended her cremation. (Thanks for some information from Cineplot and from the book”Tujhe mere geet bulate hain” by Sanjeev Tanwar).
Today’s song is a delightful duet of Lata and Hemant Kumar. Let us now enjoy it….
Song-Nazron se chhup gaya hai taqdeer ka saweraa (Daaku Ki Ladki)(1954) Singer-Lata, Hemant Kumar , Lyrics-Kaif Irfani, MD-Hemant Kumar
Lyrics
nazron se ae
chhup gaya hai ae ae
taqdeer kaa aa savera
nazron se chhup gaya hai
taqdeer kaa savera
girta hai jo bhi aansu
leta hai naam teraa
ham rah gaye tadap kar
munh zindagi ne phera
girta hai jo bhi aansu
leta hai naam teraa
nazron se chhup gaya hai
taqdeer kaa savera
duniya mein ham ye kaisi taqdeer le ke aaye
tukde dil-o-jigar ke
ashkon mein muskuraaye
hansti hai mujhpe kismat
rota hai pyaar meraa
girta hai jo bhi aansu
leta hai naam teraa
nazron se chhup gaya hai
taqdeer kaa savera
aaja ki dil liye hai maayoosiyaan nazar mein
ek shamma jal rahi hai
teri yaad ki jigar mein
baaki hai har taraf ab chhaaya hua andhera
girta hai jo bhi aansu
leta hai naam teraa
nazron se chhup gaya hai
taqdeer kaa savera
girta hai jo bhi aansu
leta hai naam teraa
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This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
| Blog Day : | 4108 | Post No. : | 15259 |
Today’s song is a lovely duet by Lata and Hemant Kumar, from film Daaka-59. The film was made by Starland productions, Bombay for Hasmukh Kheda. The film was directed by Nanubhai Bhatt and the 6 songs of the film were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri (2 songs) and by Prem Dhawan (4 songs). Their music was composed by the King of Melody – Chitragupta. Dilip Dholakia was his assistant for this movie.
The cast of the film was Ashok Kumar, Nirupa Roy, Pran, Maruti, Smriti Biswas, Badri Pershad, Balam, Kesari, Kathana etc.etc. Songs of this film were recorded in 1956, but for reasons not known to us, the film was censored only in 1959 (25-11-1959). The length of the film was 12,698 feet and was in 14 reels.
Why I gave the details of the length and number of reels is that during the period of 50s, I remember how the films used to begin in the theatres. In Hyderabad city, once the show time was up, the theatre would be plunged in darkness and advertisements would start with slides or shorts. After this, usually there would be Indian News Reel or a Documentary of the Films Division. The Indian News reel was interesting and when some Cricket match was being played, here or abroad, some shots of the match would be shown. By this time, all the audience used to be in their seats. The first scene of the start of the main film was showing its Censor Certificate. It was at this time, when 99% audience used to read loudly in chorus, “14 Reels”, as if they had discovered some top secret ! Perhaps, it gave them an idea whether the film was a long one , normal or a short one.
Ashok Kumar (13-10-1911 to 10-12-2001) the Hero of this film, always surprised me. I wonder how much energy this man must have had. If you see his Career graph,it is most unusual. I am saying this because, normally an actor is at his best Performance level when he is young. As the age increases, his level diminishes and after a certain period, he is away from the Silver screen. In case of Ashok Kumar this is very different story. See the following chart and you will realise what I mean.
| Period in years | Aproximate Age | No. of films done in the decade |
|---|---|---|
| Decade 1 (1936-1940 ) | 25-30 years | 12 (First film- Jeevan Naiya-1936) |
| Decade 2 (1941-1950 ) | 30-40 years | 23 |
| Decade 3 (1951-1960) | 40-50 years | 55 |
| Decade 4(1961-1970) | 50-60 years | 62 |
| Decade 5(1971-1980) | 60-70 years | 85 |
| Decade 6 (1981-1990) | 70-80 years | 60 |
| Decade 7 (1991-1997 ) | 81-86 years | 13 (Last film- Aankhon mein tum ho-1997) |
From 1936 to 1997 he acted in 310 films. That is a very long journey in films, of 61 years ! His first Heroine-Devikarani- was born in 1908 and the Heroine of his last film- Suman Ranganathan was born in 1974 ! He worked with Heroines from 4 generations (a film generation is counted as 15 years). Ashok Kumar ,in his career, paired with Devika Rani-she was 3 years elder to him in age- in 8 films, with Nalini Jayawant in 11 films and with Nirupa Roy in 21 films in 33 years’ period-from Bhai Bhai-56 to Dana Pani-89.
He had to sing his own songs. By that time the system of Playback had started, but actor singing his/her own songs also continued for some time. He sang 77 songs in 25 films. Effectively, his singing was halted by Mohd. Rafi, when he sang for Ashok Kumar in the film Saajan-47- a duet with Lalita Deulkar ( Humko tumhara hi aasra). After this Ashok Kumar sang one song each in film Chalti ka naam Gaadi-58, Aashirvad-68, Kangan-72, Khoobsurat-80 and finally in Shaukeen-82.
Look at his energy level in the above chart. As he grew up in age, his demand increased, he worked in more and more films till he was 86 year old. He was simply unique in this respect. May be Amitabh Bachhan is a match to him or even better than him because nowadays more films are made than before. I hope some contributor does this comparison in the same way.
When Ashok kumar started acting, he had a great problem. He did not know what to do with his hands. in all his early films, you will find him acting very awkwardly, because of this problem. When he acted in film Anjaan-41, this problem was solved. In this film he did a Doctor’s role, who is accused of a murder- which he did not commit. He had to be a detective to collect proof of his innocence and argue in the court also. During this period, he started smoking cigarettes and his ‘Hand’ problem was solved once for all. After this film, Ashok Kumar and his smoking became inseparable in every film ! (and also in private life) .
Ashok Kumar was one of those actors who did Natural acting in their films. Initially, that was not so, but after solving his ‘Hand’ problem in film Anjaan-41, he was one of the best such actor. Motilal, Sanjeev Kumar, Amol Palekar, Farooq Shaikh and Paresh Raval are some other names that came to my mind in this category.
For actress Smriti Biswas, film Daaka-59 was her last film. She quit films and married actor, director, producer and studio owner S D Narang.
Actress Smriti Biswas was born on 17-2-1932, in Calcutta in a middle class family. She was educated at home and she worked as child star in Bangla films, Sandhya and Dwandwa in the 1930s.
Hoping to make a better career, she shifted to Lahore. Here Pancholi studio gave her a break with the film Dhamkee-45. The film shooting started in 1943, but it was released in 1945. She got Raagini-45 in the same year. Its Director was Shanker Mehta. Two more of her films, viz Nek Dil-48 and Roop rekha-48 were also released there.
After Partition she returned to Calcutta. S.D.Narang, actor, producer and director also shifted to Calcutta along with her. He established his own Bengal National Studio and made Bangla and Hindi films with Smriti. Their ‘Ek Aurat’-48 was quite popular.
New Theatres cast Smriti in their film “Pehla Aadmi”-50 based on the story of Subhash Chandra Bose. It was directed by Bimal Roy. Both Smriti and Narang came down to Bombay. In the decade of 1950’s, she did about 21 films there. Daaka-59 was her last film. In 1960, she married S.D.Narang and retied from films, though she was still in demand. She has 2 sons. S.D.Narang died on 25-1-1986. She is in her 80s but enjoys life with family and friends.
Smriti Biswas did only about 27 films in her career, but her vivacious looks, sweet face and speaking style still reminds us of her roles.
Some of her more well known films are, Arab ka Saudagar-56, Bhai saheb-54, Lakhon mein ek-55, Samsheer-53, Aab e Hayat-55, Hum Safar-53 (opposite Dev Anand), Dilli ka Thug-58, Teen batti chaar Rasta-53, Baap re Baap-55 and Bhagam Bhag-56.
Recently I saw an article in Maharashtra Times of 14-4-2017. It was mentioned that She was living in a barely 500 square feet flat in Nashik, along with her two grown up, unmarried sons. All the property, Gold and money left by S D Narang was looted by other relatives and Smriti finds it difficult to pull on.
The Heroine of this film Nirupa Roy was a very unconventional actress of Hindi films. Her repertoire of roles was so varied that she could not be stamped with any one type of roles.
Nirupa Roy (4-1-1931 to 13-10-2004) was an enigma of Hindi Cinema. She has been a Heroine in 110 films,a mother in over 50 films,has been a Goddess in 50 Mythological films, a suffering wife in over 30 films and a Stunt girl in about 10 films.( I remember our Raja ji once said that it was difficult to imagine Nirupa Roy in any other dress than a Saree.) She sang Bhajans,romantic songs,Comedy songs,qawalis,sad songs and peasant folk songs on the screen.
She changed her Heroes like “Badalate huwe saathi”. She did 18 films with Trilok Kapoor ( 50-65), 12 films with Balraj Sahni ( 53-72), 16 films with P.Jairaj ( 53-78), and 21 films with Ashok Kumar ( 56-89). She was Amitabh’s mother in 12 films and a stunt Girl in 8 films. She even wrote a popular film song for film Samrat Chandragupta-58 ( Mujhe dekh chaand sharmaye – Lata).
Today’s song is a sweet duet of Lata and Hemant Kumar. Listening to some of their duets is a divine experience. Some of their duets like “yaad kiya dilne kahan ho tum”, “ye raat ye chandni phir kahan”, “gupchup gupchup pyar karen”, and ” Sanware salone aaye din bahar ke ” are some of the songs they made immortal in HFM. Lata’s voice never sounded sweeter with any other singer.
Today’s song is not as well known as the songs mentioned above, nevertheless this song has the hallmark of a Lata-Hemant Kumar duet song. It is a song that is best heard at night time- a “chhaayaageet” category song.
Audio
Song- Chaand ne kuchh kaha taaron ne kuchh suna (Daakaa)(1959) Singers- Hemant Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Lyrics- Prem Dhawan, MD- Chitragupta
Both
Lyrics
chaand ne kuchh kaha
taaron ne kuchh suna
baat hi baat mein jaane kya ho gaya
aankhen jhuk jhuk gayin
dhadkanen ruk gayin
kya bataaun mera dil kahaan kho gaya
chaand ne kuchh kaha taaron ne kuch suna
baat hi baat mein jaane kya ho gaya
hum to khud se hi nazren churaane lage
jaane kya soch kar muskuraane lage
hum to khud se hi nazren churaane lage
jaane kya soch kar muskuraane lage
ab to dil na kisi bhi bahaane lage
baat hi baat mein jaane kya ho gaya
aankhen jhuk jhuk gayin dhadkanen ruk gayin
kya bataaun mera dil kahaan kho gaya
raat aayi hai zulfen sanwaare huye
aankhon aankhon mein kya kya ishaare huye
raat aayi hai zulfen sanwaare huye
aankhon aankhon mein kya kya ishaare huye
bas hai itni khabar
hum tumhaare huye
baat hi baat mein jaane kya ho gaya
chaand ne kuchh kaha
taaron ne kuchh suna
baat hi baat mein jaane kya ho gaya
Honthon pe tera naam
Posted on: October 17, 2016
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Here is yet another melodious song- that sounds rather like a Bhajan from the 50s. The film is Fashion-57. It is sung by Lata and Hemant kumar.
Read more on this topic…
Naach re dharti ke pyaare
Posted on: August 12, 2016
This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
“Heera Moti”(1959) was based on Munshi Premchand’s story “Do Bailon Ki Katha”. This is a story of two bullocks owned by a poor farmer couple.
The story is told from the point of view of the bullocks.
The movie was produced by Pravin Desai and directed by Krishan Chopra for Rupalaya production. The movie had Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy, Baby Naaz,Helen, Cuckoo, Ashim Kumar, Shubha Khote, P.Kailash, Rashid Khan, Baij Sharma, Moolchand, Charubala, Bhola etc in it.
Read more on this topic…
Do bol tere meethhe meethhe
Posted on: August 8, 2016
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Today’s song is a melodious duet of Lata Mangeshkar and Hemant Kumar from a less heard film Daaraa-53. The Music Director is Mohd. Shafi and the film is directed by Harish. It was produced by Shaikh Mukhtar, under the banner of Omar Khayyam films, a company belonging to Harish. The cast of the film was Shaikh Mukhtar, Begum Para, Nigar Sultana, N A Ansari, Mukri,Tun Tun,Sankata Prasad etc. There were just 7 songs in the film but 7 Lyricists wrote one song each, Today’s song is written by Madhup Sharma.
Read more on this topic…
“Maa Beta” (1962) was a Tasveeristaan Production movie. It was produced by Kuldip Sehgal and directed by Lekhraj Bhakri. The movie had Nirupa Roy, Manoj Kumar, Ameeta,Lalita Pawar, Manmohan Krishna, I.S.Johar, Sheela Ramani, Kumar, Vijay Dutta, Manorama, Leela Mishra, Tarun Bose, Indira Bansal, Shamlal, Raj Prakash, Madhumati, Shukla, etc in it.
Read more on this topic…
This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
The film ‘Teesri Gali’ makes a debut on this blog today. It is one of the lesser known films from 1958. But being that the music direction is by Chitragupt, there are bound to be some very good songs included in this film. And sure enough, the song in this post is a gem that has stayed obscure for too long. A very wonderful and a lilting duet in the voices of Hemant Da and Lata ji.
Read more on this topic…
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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