Female Singers of Vintage Era

‘The stormy petrel of the Indian screen’: Shanta Apte

A tribute to Shanta Apte on her 56th Remembrance Day (b. 23 November 1916/1918 – d. 24 February 1964)

Shanta Apte

I became aware of Shanta Apte quite late compared to her contemporary Kanan Devi about whom I was quite familiar from my very young radio listening days. Today I know that Shanta Apte was to Pune/Bombay what Kanan Devi was to Calcutta. The former was the First Lady of the Prabhat Studios while the latter was the First Lady of the New Theatres. These two great film companies in the studio era occupied the pole position in Poona/Bombay and Calcutta respectively. Kanan Devi was a bilingual actor-singer in Bengali and Hindi, and likewise Shanta Apte in Marathi-Hindi. The two studios often made bilingual films, one in Hindi and the other in their respective regional language. Shanta Apte and Kanan Devi were the top female actor-singers of the 1930s and early 40s. Yet with such uncanny symmetry, it is surprising that while AIR was very enamoured of the New Theatres, they almost completely blacked out, as far as I can remember, early songs of Prabhat Talkies. The vintage female singers featured on AIR comprised Khursheed, Amirbai Karnataki, Zohrabai Ambalewali (thanks to Naushad), Bombay Talkies songs, besides the usual Shamshad Begum, Suraiya and Noorjehan. An hour-long documentary anchored by Harish Bhimani, titled Gaaye Chala Ja (recently repeat telecast on DD), ostensibly as an overview of 60 years of Hindi film music, followed the same pattern, omitting to mention Shanta Apte as well as Prabhat and other songs of the early 1930s from Bombay/Poona. And interestingly, this asymmetry in the recognition of the New New Theatres-Calcutta’s early music and Prabhat-Bombay’s still continues. The Vividh Bharti broadcasts an hour long programme of old film music at 6.30 AM everyday. I don’t recall when I last heard a Shanta Apte song on the radio, though Kanan Devi, Khursheed, Amirbai Karnataki are quite common.

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The Swar Kokila Kanan Devi

A tribute to Kanan Devi (22 April 1916 to 17 July 1992) on her birth centenary

Kanan DeviThe most important female pillar of the New Theatres, an enormously popular actor-singer of Bengali and Hindi films at the dawn of the film industry, having received the best actress awards a number of times, Padmashree, Gold Disc from the Gramophone Company of India, and finally Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1977 – Kanan Devi couldn’t have asked for more. Yet her life was one of pain and inner-conflict about her legitimacy and acceptance in the ‘respectable’ Bengali society. Those were the days when cultured ladies from ‘good’ families did not join the film profession. She herself was from the fringes of society. But a time came when at an award function the Governor stood up to greet her. She was now a respected cultural icon of Bengal. Her greatest achievement was earning respectability for women in the film industry.

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Naushad-C Ramchandra duel for Amirbai Karnataki

A tribute on the 50th death anniversary of Amirbai Karnataki (c.1906 – 3 March 1965)

(As her death anniversary was too close to my scheduled post on Holi songs, I am posting my tribute to Amirbai Karnataki, with her songs by Naushad and C Ramchandra, with some lag.)

Amirbai KarnatakiWhich is the most popular Amirbai Karnataki song which even the new generation is aware of? Gore gore baanke chore kabhi meri gali aya karo (her duet with Lata Mangehskar) is a perennial favourite. If one is asked to name another song, the most likely answer would be O janewale baalamawa laut ke aa laut ke aa (her duet with Shyam Kumar). One by C Ramchandra, and the other by Naushad. In the vintage era, ‘A’ stood for Amirbai Karnataki. And the Great Mughal Naushad and the Mighty Maratha C Ramchandra were the two Ace music directors whose battle royal continued over Amirbai Karnataki too.

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Down the memory lane with ‘Anil Da’

Wishing Merry Christmas to all with guest article by Sharad Dutt concluding Anil Biswas Centenary Celebrations

(SoY celebrated 2014 as the Centenary Year of Anil Biswas with a guest article by his daughter, Shikha Biswas Vohra on the New Year Day, remembering him as a father and a maestro. This was followed by singer-specific posts on his songs for Lata Mangehskar, Suraiya and Parul Ghosh, and Talat Mahmood, Mukesh, Surendra and Anil Biswas himself as a singer. One might think that Anil Biswas has been discussed enough. And some readers speculated last month whether there would be some more in the series during the rest of the year. Anil Biswas Centenary Series deserves a befitting finale, and I conclude the year, wishing Merry Christmas to all with this guest article by Sharad Dutt, an eminent radio/TV personality for nearly 50 years, who was among the closest persons to Anil Biswas during his Delhi years, which resulted in a 4-part short film on him and his biography ‘ऋतु आये ऋतु जाये’ – the only so far.

Anyone who followed old film music during the Golden Era of AIR and Doordarshan cannot but be familiar with the large body of work by Sharadji. He is the one who made all those short films on music personalities you would have seen on DD: KL Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Khemchand Prakash, Surendranath, Zohrabai Ambalewali, Naushad, Noorjehan, Roshan, Mukesh, Salil Chaudhary, and many more, besides Anil Biswas I mentioned earlier. He has produced about 100 documentaries on literary, political and film personalities. He has written a biography of KL Saigal too, besides Anil Biswas – both earning prestigious awards.

After retirement as Deputy Director General of Doordarshan, Sharadji is busier than ever in his second innings as Director of P-7 News. He is presently working on video documentation of Hindi film music since its beginning, and biography of poet-lyricist Shailendra. I am grateful that in spite of being neck-deep in work, he accepted my request to write this piece, with special emphasis on Anil Biswas’s association with the artistes of 30s and 40s. – AK)

Anil Biswas with Sharad DuttI was barely ten, when I first heard the song Seene mein sulagte hain armaan, ankhon mein udaasi chhayi hai. At that age I could not comprehend the meaning of the song, nor had I the courage to ask somebody. In those days, it was not becoming for a middle class kid to have undue interest in movie songs. I did not know then how the songs were composed, who were the music directors and what their role was in the making of the song, but I found the music so enchanting that I would croon it every day. There was one more song which I found really captivating. It was Jeevan hai madhuban, tu isme phool khila.

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The Doyenne of Vintage Era: Khursheed

A tribute in her Centenary year

KhursheedI realised somewhat late that Khursheed’s Birth Centenary (b. 14 April 1914, d. 18 April 2001) fell this year. But she is such a prominent singer of the Vintage Era that I had to pay my tribute with her selected songs. Vintage Era refers to not only a period of time, i.e. the 1930s through 40s, but also, and more importantly, a different style of singing, which became extinct with the arrival of Lata Mangeshkar. No singer represented this contrast better than Khursheed. Endowed with a full-throated, open and powerful voice, she was one of the leading singers of the Vintage Era. Blessed with a beautiful face and charming personality, she was also the leading lady in many films. Her roles as actor-singer against the legend, KL Saigal, in Bhakt Surdas (1942) and Tansen (1943) has given her an important place in the history of Hindi cinema. The songs of these films are remembered today as much for Khursheed as for Saigal. Besides these two films, she sang for most of the great composers of the era.

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Songs of Yore completes four years

With a tribute to Juthika Roy

Songs of Yore_4 yearsI 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.

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The incredible brother-sister in music: Anil Biswas’s songs for Parul Ghosh

Continuing Anil Biswas Centenary Year celebration with his songs for Parul Ghosh as a tribute to her

Anil Biswas and Parul GhoshI 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.

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New Theatres’ romance with Prem

Best love songs of Vintage Era

New Theatres I have been in the New Theatres mood since I wrote my last post on Pankaj Mullick. BN Sircar established New Theatres in Calcutta in 1931, i.e. the same year the first talkie Alam Ara was released in Bombay. Music has been an integral part and a defining feature of our films ever since. And so it has been with the New Theatres as well. It is also not surprising that love has been the dominant theme of our songs. But the New Theatres took love to entirely unexpected heights. It was not merely a matter of semantics that pyar, mohabbat, ishq for them was Prem or Preet. It also denoted for them something deeply spiritual, other-worldly and supremely blissful.

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