A tribute to old Hindi film music. Songs of the 30s through the 60s.
With a tribute to Juthika Roy
I have often said I started blogging स्वान्तः सुखाय. As Songs of Yore completes four years today, I find I have become a little less selfish. Now I do a lot of things that are suggested and driven by the readers. And, you don’t need a preacher to tell you that nothing pleases a person more than knowing that what he does also pleases a lot of other people. So, I have to thank all the readers for making the journey of Songs of Yore so delightful.
Continuing Anil Biswas Centenary Year celebration with his songs for Parul Ghosh as a tribute to her
I can’t think of a weightier brother sister-duo in Hindi film music. Obviously, Mangeshkars’ dominance is unparalleled, but they are primarily ‘sisters’; Hridaynath’s footprint is very negligible on film music, whereas Anil Biswas is a Titan. Parul Ghosh was born in 1916 to a music-loving mother, two years after her brother Anil Biswas, who would dominate the film music as one of the all time greats in the years to come. Thus, music was in her DNA. She was married to the renowned flautist, Pannalal Ghosh. With such pedigree, it is not surprising that she got a break with the New Theatres. Her name is associated with a landmark event in film music – the first playback song, Main khush hona chaahun, in Dhoop Chhaon (1935), composed by RC Boral. She was one of the three singers to have this achievement, the other two being Suprova Srakar and Harimati Dua. In spite of an impressive start, her early career progressed in fits and starts, until her brother, Anil Biswas, took her as his major singer.
Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav
(As the SoY regulars are aware, the series on Multiple Version Songs has grown in dimension well beyond what was originally envisaged by Ashokji, about a year and half back. Fortunately, SoY family has some tremendously talented and knowledgeable people, and they chipped in with guest articles, on my request, to cover various aspects of this theme.
Following close on the heels of the last post on Rabindrasangeet-Pankaj Mullick, written by Venkaramanji, which was 16th in the series on the Multiple Version Songs, this post on Haunting Melodies in Spooky Films just shows the enormous range of MVS. The haunting melodies are meant to be repeated a number of times in the movie to create an effect of suspense, mystery, fear and eeriness. It takes an analytical mind with sharp observation, like Ashokji’s, to decipher the varied moods and settings of the different versions of such songs. I am happy to present this article by him which widens the exploration of MVS. – AK)
The journey exploring a definite genre of Hindi film songs – Multiple Versions of A Song – has had several streams till now.
‘Haunting Melodies’ is a genre in itself in the film songs. These types of songs are normally the cornerstone of a thriller or a suspense drama. Typically, the song either precedes ‘that’ event in the narrative which builds the suspense or helps build aura of suspense around a character or a set of events in the film. In that sense, quite a few of the haunting melodies simply repeat in relation to the flow of the story. But there are quite a few which have major, or sometimes subtle, variations in lyrics, rhythm or orchestration – to amplify the differing events / situations in the film narrative.
Hridaya Pankaje Rabi Viraje
A tribute to Gurudev Rabindranath Thakur (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) and Pankaj Mullick (10 May 1905 – 19 February 1978) by guest author N Venkataraman
(The appeal of Rabindranath Thakur’s poetry and songs of love, nature and worship transcends the boundaries of language and culture. Pankaj Mullick, one of the titans of music and films, has a historical place in bringing Rabindra Sangeet mass popularity through his singing, and using it in films for the first time. I was looking for a knowledgeable Bengali to write on Rabindra Sangeet-Pankaj Mullick-films songs, as a part of the series on Multiple Version Songs. SoY readers are familiar with Venkataramanji’s breadth and depth of knowledge, and he is as pucca a Bengali as anyone could be. I am grateful that he accepted my request to write this double tribute to the two great souls of India on the occasion of Gurudev’s 153rd and Pankaj Mullick’s 109th birth anniversaries. – AK)
Sometime during May last year, AKji had wished to bring out two articles, under the Multiple-Version-Songs series. The first one, on ‘SD Burman’s Bengali songs and their Hindi versions’, was done by AKji in October 2013. The post on ‘Rabindra Sangeet tunes used in Hindi films’ was generously offered to me, but with a rider – I must accommodate a tribute to Pankaj Mullick, whose birthday follows a couple of days after Gurudev’s. The topic, Rabindra Sangeet tunes used in Hindi films, has been covered earlier on some other sites, and I believe most of our knowledgeable readers and our Bengali friends must be aware of these songs and related facts. But that did not prove to be a deterrent. On the contrary, it gave me an opportunity to explore uncharted areas and approach the subject a bit differently. The experience was not futile. Although I could use only a fraction of my acquisition in this post, it helped me to enhance my knowledge and listen to many wonderful songs.
A tribute on Shamshad Begum’s first death anniversary April 23
As the ethnic stereotypes go, no two people can be further apart from each other than a Bengali and a Punjabi. SD Burman and Shamshad Begum were the leading lights of the two extremes – East Bengal and the West Punjab, yet when they combined they created a unique magic. When Shamshad Begum had a revival through remixes, the song that led the pack was Saiyna dil mein ana re, composed by SD Burman. Shamshad Begum’s leading composers were Naushad, C Ramchandra, OP Nayyar and Ghulam Mohammad, and in the earlier era, Ghulam Haider. Anyone else would not have even dared to try to enter this illustrious field, but the versatile genius that he was, SD Burman created his own niche with her, adapting his music to completely suit her style.
Generally I would not have given much thought to their combination as it appears quite counter-intuitive to me. But when I closed my series on SD Burman last year, Mr Venkataraman treated it as the last of ‘that year’, and suggested that I cover his other prominent singers, namely Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, Talat Mahmood and Hemant Kumar this year. As I looked up more closely I came across many more of her songs than we are generally aware of. Here is an overview of their combination, continuing my tribute to SD Burman, as well as a tribute to the great singer Shamshad Begum on her first death anniversary (April 23).
After reviewing the best songs of 1955 and 1953, which were gap years in the Filmfare Awards (Baiju Bawra, 1952 was the first film to get the Filmfare Awards for the best music, but in the later years no films of 1953 and 1955 won these awards), I come to the pre-Filmfare era with 1951. This briefly explains my odd selection of years. Henceforth, it is going to be yearwise review in reverse order until 1945, which is the task given to me by the readers.
Who is not aware of Tu shokh kali main mast pawan, tu shamm-e-wafa main parwana or Dhalti jaye raat kah de dil ki baat? The songs are among all time greats of Rafi. But many lovers of old film music may not be aware or might have forgotten the name of Lachhiram. A very awkward and unfamiliar name, and not among the mainstream composers, he is a perfect candidate for my series on the Forgotten Composers: Unforgettable Melodies.
Raj Kapoor overturns Bollywood triangle to convey profound social messages
Reviewing a film is not a joke unless you are Madhu, Anu or Memsaab Greta. Then, why am I venturing into a field in which I have no expertise, and why Sangam?
Review of a Bollywood blockbuster like Sangam suffers from both the ends. At one end are the highbrow intellectuals, who have breakfast with Fellini, lunch with Kurosawa, dinner with Vittorio de Sica and tea, off and on, with Satyajit Ray. At best they would grudgingly acknowledge Bimal Roy and Do Bigha Zameen. They would trash Sangam as the usual worthless, escapist fare with songs and dances and a lot of melodrama. At the other end are the rest, people like you and me, who go to see what it offers, and come back ga-ga over its grand star cast, high drama, tense love triangle, wonderful foreign locales and great music. Both the set of reviewers miss some very profound social messages strewn in the film, which would be obvious if you watch it with a little more than casual interest.
My last post on Talat Mahmood’s songs by Anil Biswas reminded me that last year when I had ‘closed’ my series on SD Burman, Venkatarmanji and some other readers mentioned some more singers who gave memorable songs with Dada. Talat Mahmood was one of the names mentioned. They fit in very nicely. SD Burman was unarguably the greatest musical talent from Bengal after Anil Biswas to enrich the Hindi film music. Talat Mahmood had a good deal of Bengal in him, having worked under the name of Tapan Kumar in Calcutta for a number of years before he shifted to Bombay and created a sensation with his very first song with Anil Biswas, Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal. It was natural SD Burman would also take him in. However, with Dada’s natural fondness for Kishore Kumar, and the versatile Rafi, Talat Mahmood’s had only about 15 songs with him, a fraction of the other two singers. In any case Talat Mahmood was a niche singer; his total number of songs – about 450 Hindi film songs – would be a fraction of what the other mainstream singers sang. But his impact was way beyond his numbers, and SD Burman created several immortal songs with him, as he did with Mukesh with about the same number of songs.
A tribute to Talat Mahmood on his 90th birth anniversary
Anil Biswas was not the first composer for whom Talat Mahmood sang in films. He debuted as an actor-singer in Calcutta in Raj Laxmi (1945). While in Calcutta, he also sang (and acted) in Tum Aur Main (1947), Samapti and Swayansiddha (1949). During this period he sang some 40-50 songs (film and non-film) under the name Tapan Kumar. But well before he came to films, he had acquired great fame because of his non-film geets and ghazals. His singing debut was in 1941 with his first non-film geet Sab din ek samaan nahi. A few years later his another non-film song Tasweer teri dil mera bahlaa na sakegi became a national rage.