Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs

Archive for the ‘Post by Sudhir’ Category


“Upar Gagan Vishaal, Neeche Gehraa Pataal” – the unforgettable sound from the film ‘Mashaal’ (1950). The words carry a thrill – they have been written by Kavi Pradeep. The music is an uplifting exuberant melody – composed by SD Burman. And voice, the sound of which will make one sit up or even stand up – such is the strong conviction and the deep exhortation that one feels on listening to it – the singing voice is the deep, strong and bass-ful voice of Manna Dey. The song that set this young singer on the path to popularity and success.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

Is there another song for selling newspapers? I cannot off hand recall one. This one I do remember – film ‘Dooriyaan’, year is 1979, and this film I remember seeing on the big screen.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

Earlier today, in another post I had mulled over the decline of films with mythological themes. Extending that concern further, I would also include the theme of Muslim religious and social films, which seem to be on the decline. Once again, in the 90s and later, I cannot really recall any significant film based on Islamic social and religious values.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

For many years now, and please correct me if I am making this statement in error – for many years now, I do not recall having seen or heard about a film on mythological theme coming from the mainstream film industry. Maybe it is a sign of time, to be aware of. The industry seems to be getting more and more aligned with a global market and a global audience, that this genre of movie making appears to be dying out. And to think that the film industry started off in the first place with stories and themes based on mythology. Even in the 70s and somewhat in the 80s, some production banners dared to attempt making such films, but in the 90s and after, this genre has pretty much disappeared from the screen.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

As I checked the ‘list of films – moviewise’ on this blog, my reaction was – O My God, this film is not yet represented here. Wow. Well not that something is amiss. There is a ton of films that are still to find their way to this blog. But the music is so wow, and I wondered how it has stayed away from this blog thus far. The film is full of both lilting and sentimental gems. And so I must write this post and have this film debut its presence here.

There is an age old saying that advises to look before one leaps. No matter how simple a thing may seem, this adage holds true. And no matter how many times one may have tried or done something, there is always a chance one may make a slip the next time. That is what happened with me today. 🙂 Usually, when I am selecting songs for a write up, I will do a diligent check on the list of songs already posted for two purposes. One to ensure that the song is not already on the blog, and secondly, to get some info about the already posted songs from the same film to add to the write up. And in this effort, I am usually diligent about spellings and name variations and try to look into the lists more closely than just the alphabetical matching.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

Trawling, even for a few minutes, through the vast collection on the internet posted by so many lovers of Hindi music, the effort never goes unrewarded. And here is one delightful reward that I bumped into few days back, as I was looking for songs by Shailendra. A song that I heard long back, first time when I saw this film on Doordarshan, as a child, and then lost track in the interim. The film is ‘Insaan Jaag Utthaa’ from 1959. The film is a well known production from the banner of Shakti Films, Bombay, produced and directed by Shakti Samant. The main star cast of the film includes Madhubala, Sunil Dutt, Nazir Hussain, Minoo Mumtaz, Bipin Gupta, Nishi, Sunder, Krishnakant, Madanpuri, Manju, Praveen Paul, Shyam Kumar, Kesav Rana, SM Thakkar, TN Charlie and a host of character artists viz. Prem Anand, Sailen Bose, Kalpana, Mauji, Gautam, Kundan, Pacchi, Manju etc.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

Sometimes the directors of Hindi films will put across really strange scenarios, that one does not really expect to see in the films, especially in the formula or near formula films that are a hallmark of the Indian film industry. Now, think of Helen, and the very first thing that will come to mind is a dance song. In a variety of dance forms, whether that be a folk dance (a handful), a classical (very very few indeed), a fun song (very many) or a cabaret dance (a huge number), when one sees Helen on the screen, she is singing a song, and dancing. Some time back on a particular post, we came across a Helen dance song in which she is not singing herself, someone else is. In response, others readers identified more such songs where Helen did not sing, while she was dancing on the screen.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

The mention of the title “Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja” would immediately bring to mind the 1993 film starring Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. But no, we are talking about an earlier incarnation of this title, well almost 32 years earlier. Even though the year was 1961, and even though the lead pair of Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman were well established in their careers, yet this film, ‘Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja’ (1961) failed to make an impact on the box office. And now, when one mentions this name, people do not readily connect to the earlier film. In other words, it has become an obscure entity, that many people do not remember now.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

Sometimes a rhythm, a tune just sticks into the mind and keeps replaying itself over and over again. This is what has happened, when I bumped into this song two days ago. I was preparing for a write up on Shailendra, having identified other songs (which I will post later now). And then found this song – “dar a dad a daa a dad daaraa, chandaa ke paas ik taara”. The rhythm just refuses to go away from my mind, even though it is a tongue twisting formation, and the mind does stumble sometimes, when trying to go over it. A real foot tapping, ear catching melody that just stays with you once you have heard it.
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This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

I am writing again today to document another very important interaction; an interaction that has been a dream for me for many months now. I am in San Diego today, and the local time is 2.00 am. And I am writing this post from the residence of Shri Surjit Singh ji. I am sure friends on this blog would be familiar with his name, in context of Hindi films and film music. He is a diehard fan of this music, and has been playing a major role in raising awareness about it, collecting rare materials and making them available on the internet. His web site is at here , and I recommend friends and readers on this blog to visit this and find out more about him.
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