Have a story to tell? A theme to work on? An emotion to express? A mood to paint? Easy. You can do all this and more with Hindi film songs. For musical stories or theme-based songs or lyrical expressions of moods or...whatever, this promises to be a fun-filled ride. Come, get on the bandwagon!
Presenting a duet from "Meena Bazaar" (1950). Ravindra Dave was the director, while Nargis and Shyam Kumar played lead roles in this film. A forgotten song from a forgotten film, but a nice one!
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi
Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi
Music: Husnlal Bhagatram
"Adalat" (1958) starring Pradeep Kumar, Pran and Nargis is better known for solos like Jaana tha humse door, Unko yeh shikayat hai and Yun hasaraton ke daag mohabbat me dho liye. Presenting a playful duet from this film today. Though the composer is Madan Mohan, the song reminds you of O. P. Nayyar.
A sweet duet from "Champakali" (1957) today. Bharat Bhushan and Suchitra Sen played the lead roles in this film. Hemant Kumar is the playback singer as well as composer here. He is often credited as Hemanta Mukherjee in the composer's role.
"Barsaat" (1949) was an important milestone for several people associated with it. It was one of the early films directed by Raj Kapoor. He purchased RK Studios in 1950 with the earnings he made from this film. Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Prem Nath and Nimmi appeared in the lead roles.
Shankar Jaikishan made their debut in the world of composing with superb work here. Most of the 10 songs they composed for this film went on to become major hits. Presenting a lovely solo today. Lata Mangeshkar's young voice sounds so different here singing as she was in the style prevalent in those days. Dr. Ramesh Shastri, a Sanskrit scholar wrote the lyrics for this song. He did not stay on in Hindi films because of his religious and academic leanings. He taught in some colleges, satisfying his creative urge by writing bhajans under the pen name of Ramsharan.
RK Studios's well-known logo was inspired by one of the posters of this film.
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics: Ramesh Shastri
Music: Shankar Jaikishan
Presenting a song from "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi" (2004), a romantic comedy directed by David Dhawan. Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra are in the lead roles. This film is inspired by the Hollywood film, Anger Management.
The selection of this number has a special significance as it happens to be Priyanka Chopra's birthday today.
"Hum Aapke Hain Koun" (1994) is a mega film. The highest grossing Hindi film ever, it is a long film with a huge star cast and features 14 songs. Many dubbed it as a "wedding video" on account of its long wedding sequences and songs. Presenting one of the songs from this film. It is centred around the playful tradition of the bride's sisters and friends hiding the groom's shoes and demanding money for their return.
Raamlaxman's music is one of the high points of this film. His real name is Vijay Patil. He formed a team with composer Raam under the title of Raamlaxman. After Raam's passing away, he continued to compose music with the same title.
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Lyrics: Ravinder Rawal
Music: Raamlaxman
An old solo from "Darbaar" (1955) today. The cast included Mahipal, Chitra, Sunder, Tiwari, Kammo, Kamal and Niranjan Sharma. Presenting only audio here as video of this song is not available.
I am happy to be updating my blog after a long gap with a new theme: Costume Drama. As the name suggests, I will present songs from Hindi films that feature different items sported by a character as a part of his or her costume. Hoping to come across some great songs here! Unlike my earlier themes, I will not conclude this theme at any point. Instead, will post as and when I find good songs that fit in this theme.
---
Here is an evergreen number from "Pakeezah" (1972) to open this new series. This film was Kamal Amrohi's ambitious project that he started in the early '60s with his then wife Meena Kumari. But soon the couple fell apart and as a result, work on the film stalled. Shooting resumed more than a decade later where a visibly older and unwell Meena Kumari completed her scenes as well as dance sequences. The film did not do too well initially after its release. Ironically, it picked up after its leading lady's passing away within a few weeks.
Ghulam Mohammed's wonderful compositions were and are still very popular.
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Music: Ghulam Mohammed
