In the Vintage Era review of songs, we have reached the end of the 30s. In a stark reminder of our poor record of preserving our legacy, our Resident Scholar, N Venkataraman, gives a stark figure that only 4 Hindi films – Pukar, Aadmi, Dushman, Durga – are available in public domain for viewing. These are from famous production houses: Minerva; Prabhat; New Theatres and Bombay Talkies. Talking of Venkataraman ji, he is a great asset to SOY. In addition to songs, he was very prompt in correcting any inaccuracy in historical (general history) details.
It appears some good quality video links of songs beyond the above four films are available on the YouTube. In my Overview Post, I had given a broad statistics that of the total number of songs in which song titles are known in the year, in less than 40% of the songs singers are known. It is not surprising that so much of our music is just not available. That is no reason for the mental barrier some music lovers feel in accessing the Vintage Era music. But they all have a sense of discovering never heard before gems.
The comments veered over great deal of history of that period, sometimes with a generous dollop of opinions. Overall, a very satisfying discussion. I thank all the participants for their active participation.
Coming back to the Wrap Up 1 about Best Male Solos, this was the era of KL Saigal (Dushman) and Pankaj Mullick (Kapalkundala) and they did sing everlasting songs which are remembered till date. I find Jagmohan’s Mujhe na sapnon se bahlaao is also from this year. This has to be one of his earliest non-film songs, and it is among his most recognizable songs.READ THE FULL ARTICLE
I have been forced into temporary inactivity. During such periods I can do nothing but contemplate on some issues. I find thinking about Iran-US-Israel War, the Middle East crisis quite mind boggling, so I reflect on simple things like the Hindi film songs. Of late, my mind has been reflecting on the pairs, Aaiye & Chale aaiye; Jaaiye & Chale jaaiye. Is there a difference or are they the same? It seems there is indeed a difference in the connotation of Aaiye and Chale aaiye and Jaaiye and Chale jaiye. It appears to me that the addition of the adverb adds an extra degree of pleading. Look at these pairs:
DP Rangan has set romance in the air with his “Love is Bliss”. This is the season when the dullest person starts feeling desirous. I remember a folk proverb, “Phagun mein budhwa devar laage”. In the context of Hindi films, it generally refers to the romance for a person. I have explored romances for various types: Romancing the pardesi balma; Romancing the stranger, Romancing the beimaan balma, Romancing the anaadi balma. and so on. But the romance can be for inanimate objects also. The news and social media are full of pictures of hordes of tourists descending upon Japan to watch its cherry blossoms. Northern Lights are eternal favourites. There are people crazy for Stonehenge and Machu Picchu. Apart from resources and time, one has to have a wanderlust. Some may feel, it is quite discordant to talk about romance in the midst of the raging Epic Fury in the Middle East, और भी ग़म हैं ज़माने में मोहब्बत के सिवा, but the life has to move on.
Now we are entering the thirties, the last stretch going back to when it all began. The first talkie film was made in 1931. Most of the early stars of talkie films carried on from the silent era. The change of era also exposed the shortcomings of many silent film superstars in adjusting to the demands of talkie films, mainly in dialogue delivery and singing abilities. Some made a gradual exit. This also sowed the seeds of professional playback singing. The playback technology had been discovered in 1935/1937, but the constraints of recording technology meant that it was yet to be fully operational in practice. All this turmoil meant that the change of era did not herald a complete transition from silent to talkie era. Silent films still continued to be made for quite a good number of years into the talkie era. The year 1939 was the end of the 30s. Therefore by 1939 the last silent film must have been made a few years ago. Here I am not talking about largely silent films like Pushpak (1987) and Black, which were largely silent because of artistic reasons, just as Schindler’s List (1993) was a b&w film.