Commemorating the International Women’s Day with female duets

Men may not be from Mars nor women from Venus, but there is a fundamental difference in the way the two genders bond with each other. In semi-urban settings at a party, the two genders automatically segregate, each forming their own group. We generally ascribe it to patriarchy. But at a recent get-together for three days at a resort with colleagues, including women colleagues and their spouses, we were at a dinner hosted by a local friend. As the number of guests increased, there was a need for some to move into another room to decongest. We didn’t realise there was anything unusual when men moved into another room until, after some time, the ladies led by some feisty colleagues trooped into the room slamming the gender segregation. Patriarchy surely does not explain this.  

{ 27 comments }

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)

(The “Lords”, i.e. the father Cawas Lord and his two sons – Kersi and Burjor Lord – have lorded over the instrumental music in Hindi film songs right from the beginning of the talkies till the 1980s when the era of live orchestra by musicians and arrangers in the music room was caming to en end. The SOY regulars will recall the review of Greg Booth’s “Behind the Curtain“. Therefore, it is very befitting that the guest authors, Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav, now write on the most illustrious family of instrumentalists in the film music world. The Lords have seen the zenith of the sculptors of film music to their decline and disappearance of an era of how music was made in our films. Thank you Piyushji and Ashokji for another excellent article in the series on the Arrangers and Musicians. – AK)

Even in the absence of authentic statistics, there is unanimity among Hindi film historians that, from 1947 to 1987, one or other member of the Lord family – father Cawas Lord, the elder son Kersi Lord and the younger son Burjor Lord – has, on an average, played in every third song recorded in Bombay. Jazz and Latino music became integral to Bombay film music largely due to the Lords.

Cawas Lord

Cawas Lord (1911 – 2007) was born in a very strict and traditional Parsi family from Pune. Young Cawas was so much interested in music that at the age of 12 he migrated to Mumbai. His music career at Bombay commenced with playing military drums and bagpipes under various military bandleaders. By the ’30s Cawas Lord had started playing percussion instruments for earliest talkie films. He is said to have arranged the background score for India’s fist talkie film Alam Ara (1931).  

{ 10 comments }

Street Dancers of Bollywood

13 February 2024

Guest article by DP Rangan

(An interesting feature of our films is the dances performed in the streets, often by unknown actors. Sometimes the main protagonists also take to dancing and singing in the streets. Naturally a big crowd assembles around them enjoying the performance. These songs generally come at a critical juncture in the film, for relieving the tension, or as a surrogate for the inner feelings of shy lovers, or a gangster’s mole distracting the attention of the people for the gang to commit their act. These songs were key for taking the story forward. Often these songs became the high point of the film and achieved everlasting popularity – note the recent remix of ‘Jhumka gira re’ in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’.  

Our guest author today is well-known to the regulars of SOY – he has written over 30 articles for the blog. Considering that Hindi is not his native language, and he is into 80s, and half the year he travels abroad, this is no mean feat. The theme ‘Street Dancers of Bollywood’ has long been on his radar, and in fact the completed article has been in my folder for quite some time. He is still not back in India from his travels. But I find he has been logging in and commenting nevertheless. Therefore, without waiting any further I post this superb article. Thanks a lot Mr Rangan. – AK)

It is next to impossible to determine when dancing as a sort of celebration was introduced among humans. Migration of homo sapiens commenced from Africa and over several millennium they spread over Europe and Asia. It is much later they settled in various places, found a community with distinct language of their own.  Once basic necessities of survival were achieved, society turned towards development of various kinds of artistic skills.  Music and dancing were the offshoot of such an endeavour. There is adequate archeological evidence of prevalence of a sort of music and dance even in early societies of human beings. Over a long period of time as they improved their standard of living, artistic skills also flourished in tandem. Music and dancing diversified among societies in the world and in our country this reached a pinnacle much earlier.  Many schools of music and dancing were established in different regions.  In music we had the Hindustani and Carnatic system.  In dance many offshoots as Kathak, Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam evolved.  

{ 39 comments }

Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion (2)
Author: Arunkumar Deshmukh (Copyright)
Publisher: Professor Toofanii Publishers, Lansing, MI USA (2023)
Editor: Professor Surjit Singh
Price: ₹450 plus postage (Paperback) at pothi.com

Have you heard of Indurao Nimbalkar, Zohra Jan, Raja Sandow or Renuka Devi? They are important names from vintage era of our films. Some of them started during the silent era and moved into talkies with great success. Or much later in Shree 420 (1955), who can forget the character of Seth Sonachand Dhrmanand, the stocky man with handlebar moustaches and a mischievous smile? This character was also there in Jaagte Raho (1957). Or, countless others who made our films memorable by their presence, but they have all gone into oblivion.

It is important that this legacy of Hindi cinema of the early years is documented. Our problem is we don’t know where to look for information. This is where the author Arunkumar Deshmukh comes in. He is well known to us and to everyone who blogs on old films and songs. Arun ji is always helpful to anyone seeking information. No one can be a hero to his friend. But I should say, Arun ji’s work is heroic. In fact this is the second volume of the book by same name. Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion Book 1 has been already reviewed on this blog. The Book 2 covers some additional forgotten artists. “Same name confusion” was there in the first book too. There were artists having the same name, such as several Rajkumaris, Amirbais, Sitaras and so on. Arun ji covers similar ground in Book 2 too, covering some new sets of same names.

After this book you can answer the name of the unforgettable character of Shree 420 at the bottom left corner of the cover picture of the book. Born Mirza Muhammad Beg in Calcutta, Nemo started his acting career with New Theatres. Arun ji mentions an interesting story of how he got to acquire the name Nemo. In one New Theatres film, Mirza Beg was required to play the role of a witch. Apprehensive of controversy of a man playing the role of a witch, Mirza Muhmmad Beg suggested a gender neutral name, ‘Nemo’ (meaning a ‘nobody’ in Latin). This name stuck to him. Among important roles he played was of Dharamdas, the sincere caretaker of Devdas (1935). Arun ji mentions that he was also a national billiards champion when he entered the films.

Probably everyone would be hearing the name of Indurao Nimbalkar for the first time. He was one of the few who started off from the silent era and did well during the talkies. He was invited by V Shantaram to play the role of the sage Vishwamitra in Prabhat’s first talkie film Ayodhya Ka Raja (1932). When Shantaram broke out from Prabhat and set up his own production house, Rajkamal Kalamandir, Nimbalkar played the role of the sage Kanva in its first production Shakuntala (1943). He became a regular fixture in Rajkamal, acting in most of its famous films. In between he played King Dashrath in Prakash Pictures’ Bharat Milap (1942) and Ram Rajya (1943). Anyone who has some interest in film history ought to know about Nimbalkar.

The first part of the book contains similar pen portraits of some 34 artists from the early era, some of them quite well known, such as Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sohrab Modi, AR Kardar etc. His article on Kazi Nazrul Islam has been overtaken by the recent controversy about his legendary song ‘Karar oi lauh kapat’ which has been adapted by AR Rahman for the film Pippa. The family says though they had given permission, they did not know that AR Rahman would distort the song to such an extent.

An interesting portrait is about the yesteryear actor Ranjan (real name Ramnarayan Venkatraman Sarma) who became famous for his sword fighting skills in the film Chandalekha (1948). He was an expert violin player, qualified dancer in Kathak, Kathakali and Bharat Natyam. He was an A grade flyer, a skilled magician, a swimmer of Olympic standards. He did PhD in Physics. He wrote the story of the film Munimji (1955). He must be the most qualified and multi-talented artist in our films. Alas, as the sword fighting was not much in demand, he was reduced to acting in B and C grade films.

The second part of the book contains 20 sets of same name artists. I would mention two which are well-known and create a lot of confusion. Hafiz Khan Mastana and Hafiz Khan are two persons or the same person? We know the former more popularly as the singer Khan Mastana. He came from the reputed Etawa gharana which has given a succession of top sitarists in the country – Vilayat Khan, Imrat Khan, Shujat Khan etc. Hafiz was more interested in film music which would have been a blasphemy for the family. The music director Meer Saheb added Mastana to his name to hide his identity. Arun ji writes he gave music to 29 films, composing 215 songs. He sang 152 songs in 83 films. You remember his famous song Watan ki raah par watan ke naujawan shaheed ho (with Rafi, Shaheed, 1948). At his peak he was filthy rich. He lost everything when bad times came, and was seen begging near Mahim masjid. Hafiz Khan, the music director, has become immortal for the qawwali Aahein na bharin shkawe na kiye kuchh bhi na zuban se kaam liya (Zeenat, 1945). He gave music for some more films, a favourite of mine is Dil ki dhadkan pe ga, umra bhar muskura (Talat Mahmood, Lakeerein, 1954).

You also get to know that the actor Munawwar Sultana and the singer Munawwar Sultana – often a source of confusion – were two different persons.

The third part of the book titled, “Look What I Found” has some unusual stories and their sources. About the ban of Hindi film songs on AIR, Arun ji says the minister of information and broadcasting, BV Keskar, was not the real culprit. He was a purist all right. In July 1952, AIR announced its new policy (i) to reduce the time for film songs, (ii) not to announce the name of the film of the song. As a protest the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) who were copyright holders of the songs, withdrew the license of AIR to broadcast film songs. That led to a huge surge in the popularity of Radio Ceylon which in turn did a yeomen service to popularise Hindi film songs.

Master Vitthal, the first superstar of silent films, and the hero of the first talkie Alam Ara (1931) got involved in a legal dispute between two producers. The fair judge held an open auction in the court, and thus Imperial Films got the right to have him and Mater Vitthal got to act in the history-making film.

Arun ji predates the first duo music directors several years before Husnlal-Bhagatram. According to him Rewashankar Marwadi-Banne Khan should be considered the first duo music directors who gave music to 12 films, such as Barrister’s Wife (1935), College Girl (1935), Qeemati Aansoo (1935) etc.

Thus, you can see the book is packed with information, mostly unknown. Are there any flaws in the book? This is where I feel sad that Arun ji’s book is marred by trivial errors galore on every page. These are broadly of the following types: (i) random use of capital case when not needed, and small case when capital case was needed, (ii) random use of spaces or absence of spaces between punctuation marks and the text, and (iii) huge spaces between words, such as just two small words in a sentence spread apart. It is clear that no one has proof-read the text before printing. But overall Arun ji deserves compliments for his zest for life (he is above 80) and for bringing out this book. He has enough materials for many books in him and I wish he brings out more.

{ 34 comments }

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)

(Continuing their series on Arrangers and Musicians, now the guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav throw the spotlight on one of the most respected musicians, Goody Seervai, who became synonymous with piano accordion. The songs they have mentioned have been our eternal favourites, but for most of us it would be the first time that we would be able to associate with the accordion player who sculpted these songs with his tunes. Thank you Piyushji and Ashokji for another excellent article, 11th in the series. – AK)

It was after 1943 that the new crop of music directors started using western musical instruments in the orchestration of the Hindi film songs. C Ramchandra, because of his association with trumpet player Chic Chocolate and jazz drummer Kawas Lord, went in almost overdrive by experimenting with using western tunes in the songs. Music directors like Anil Biswas, Naushad, S D Burman etc. further expanded the range by combining Indian classical and folk music with western music and western musical instruments like violin, cello, guitar etc. It was this trend in orchestration of Hindi film music that led the search for the instrumentalists in hotels, clubs and functions of the communities in big cities like Bombay and Calcutta, where strong culture of bands consisting of Goanese and Parsi instrumentalists had developed very well. It was at one of such bands that Chocolate and Lord met Goody Seervai and were impressed by Seervai’s style of playing the accordion. They immediately introduced Seervai to C Ramchandra and Naushad.  

{ 10 comments }

Guest article by DP Rangan paying a tribute to Qamar Jalalabadi on his 21st Remembrance Day (b. 9 March 1917 – d. 9 January 2003)

(Among the main markers of a film song – the film, the singer, the lyricist and the music director – the lyricist, whose words gave birth to the song, is remembered the least. SOY regulars used to comment about lack of due recognition to the lyricists on the blog. No longer; thanks to several guest writers many lyricists have since been well covered. Today’s guest writer, DP Rangan, himself has contributed a number of articles on them.

Qamar Jalalabadi is very well known to the lovers of old film songs for his successful association with  Husnlal-Bhagatram, Kalyanji-Anandji, OP Nayyar and others. Many of his songs are of timeless quality. Thank you Mr Rangan for another thorough article on an eminent lyricist of yesteryears, Qamar Jalalabadi. – AK)

A seven year old lad of Jalalabad (now in Pakistan) is busy compiling songs in Urdu. He has developed a flair for shayari, but his skill is frowned upon by his unsympathetic  family. He continues in the same vein and pours out more songs. When he is around nine years old he comes across an individual with similar disposition named Amar Chand and has intimate discussions with him on his passion. Recognising the talent hidden in the boy, he is all encouragement and asks him to change his name and suggests Qamar  (meaning Chand). The imaginative boy coins the name Qamar Jalalabadi (adopting the village Jalalabad where he lived) for himself and is known by this moniker thereafter.  

{ 32 comments }

Mohammad Rafi from A to Z

1 January 2024

Wishing the readers and their friends and families a very Happy New Year with Rafi’s centenary year celebrations (b. 24 December 1924, d. 31.7.1980)

Mohammad Rafi is the undisputed most versatile playback singer of Hindi films. You think of genres – bhajan, qawwali, romantic, patriotic, ghazal – he could do all. There was another unique aspect about his voice – he had the unique ability to modulate his voice to sound like the character he was singing for on the screen, without much conscious effort. He personified Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, and he was the voice of Johnny Walker and Mehmood. His over 4800 Hindi film songs are the most by any male playback singer, leaving the next Kishore Kumar far behind. He is outnumbered by only the two great Mangeshkar sisters – Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

 

{ 39 comments }


Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)

(Van Shipley earned acclaim for his proficiency in violin and guitar, and he brought out many independent albums of tunes of film songs on these instruments. As such, he was among the well known arrangers and musicians. Yet there is no authentic data of the specific songs in which he played these instruments. Raj Kapoor was highly impressed with him after hearing his violin at a concert and brought him into his team. Thus, Van Shipley got associated with many everlasting songs from RK films.

I thank today’s guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vasihnav for throwing some light on one of the legendary musicians of Hindi films in their series on Arrangers and Musicians. – AK)

(Valentine) Van Shipley (B: 30-8-1927 | D: 8-3-2008) commenced his career in Hindi films by playing violin, he is perhaps better known as ‘The Man with Golden Guitar’. His mother, too, was a skilled guitar player. Valentine’s three brothers and two sisters were talented musicians. However only Valentine Van Shipley went to become a professional musician. Van Shipley took his first violin lessons from Allahabad-based violinist, Gagan Chatterjee. While he was learning Hindustani classical music from noted khayal singers Ustad Bande Hasan Khan and his son, Ustad Zande Hasan Khan, he also took lessons in western music. He continued his training in violin from Ustad Allaudin Khan while he was with AIR, Lucknow. While at Lucknow, he got further training in sarod from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, who was then director of AIR Lucknow. Ustad Vilayat Khan was his classmate. He was friends with Pandit Ravi Shankar whom he had met in 1961.

 

{ 8 comments }

And the SOY Award for the Best Music Director of 1942 goes to?

After the Overview Post, Wrap Up 1 of the best male solos, Wrap Up 2 of the best female solos and Wrap Up 3 of the best duets, it is time for the final Wrap Up 4 to discuss the best music director 0f 1942. There were at least two musical blockbusters in the year: Bhakt Surdas (composed by Gyan Dutt) and Basant (Pt. Pannalal Ghosh/Anil Biswas). The reason I am crediting like this is that Pt. Pannalal Ghosh is officially credited as the music director, but it is said that Anil Biswas was the actual music director, who could not use his name because of contractual reasons; Pt. Pannalal Ghosh only gave background score. This trivia has been mentioned so many times at different fora that I would henceforth use only Anil Biswas as the music director of Basant. There are some more films in the year in which Anil Biswas was the music director without any confusion.  

{ 7 comments }

Guest authors Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)

(The most prominent identity of Dattaram is as long-time assistant of Shankar-Jaikishan. He later started giving music independently, but he continued his association with S-J. Thus in public mind when one thought of Dattaram, one thought of Shankar-Jaikishan, even though Dattaram had composed some outstanding songs independently.

Most of us also know him as an ace percussionist who could play many instruments, such as tabla, dholak, drums, duff proficiently. His unique style of playing percussion instruments came to be known as Dattu Theka.

It is this aspect of Dattaram as a percussionist that the guest authors Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) focus on. Continuing the series on Arrangers and Musicians, they highlight several immortal songs with which Dattaram has been associated as a percussionist, many with music directors other than Shankar-Jaikishan.

Thank you Piyush ji and Ashok ji for another informative article in the series. – AK)

Dattaram (Wadkar) (1929 – 7 June 2007), is, unfortunately, remembered either as one of those talented music directors who could not get the commercial success he deserved or as assistant to Shankar-Jaikishan who handled the percussion part of the orchestration. However, lamenting over this stark reality of the ways of Hindi Film music world, Dattaram’s nonrecognition as music director or as arranger also hides his outstanding contribution as an outstanding player of dholaki and other percussion instruments.

[Please visit Saaj Tarang special episodes on various percussion instruments like, Dholaki, Dholak, Pakhavaj, Mridangam, Tabla Tarang, Bongo and Folk Rhythm instruments.]  

{ 18 comments }