A SPECIAL SERIES CELEBRATING THE 75 YEARS OF HINDI FILM MUSIC

(PRESENTED BY PRABHA JOSHI ON VIVIDH BHARATI PUNE)

EPISODE 14 (24/09/2006)
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Good morning listeners,

Welcome to the 14the episode of Flashback! As we go through the
years of the 50s decade, we find that each year of this decade has
given us some of the best and landmark films of Indian cinema, from
all points of views like acting, music and direction. Talking about
the directors, while the senior directors like Mehboob Khan, V
Shantaram, Sohrab Modi and others continued to leave their impact,
the young and fresh breed of directors like Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy,
Amiya Chakraborty and Guru Dutt were also side by side in giving
films with substance. Let us begin today's episode of Flashback with
Guru Dutt's Aar Paar released in 1954.

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Song: kabhi aar kabhi paar laaga teer-e-nazar (Aar Paar)
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After starting his career in the Prabhat as dance director, Dev
Anand gave him his first directorial venture as Baazi in 1951. It
was followed by Jaal and Baaz. In 1954, Guru Dutt launched his own
film production company and Aar Paar was the first release.

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Song: baabuji dheere chalna (Aar Paar)
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Aar Paar is the story of Kalu, a taxi driver, who has two women who
love him and would like to marry him. Kalu first wants to establish
himself, and become rich, before he can even think of marriage. One
of the women who love him, has a father who is involved in gangster-
type activities, and would like Kalu also to join him, so that he
can get rich soon. Kalu has now to decide to become rich quick or
sleep better. Guru Dutt, with his talent, converted this ordinary
story into an extra-ordinary film.

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Song: yeh lo main haari piya (Aar Paar)
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Aar Paar was the first hit film for music director O P Nayyar. Guru
Dutt has always given due importance to the music of his films and
the songs of his films have been integral part of the films
themselves. And Aar Paar is no exception.

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Song: mohabbat karlo jee bharlo aji kisne rokaa hai (Aar Paar)
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The fresh music of O P Nayyar was highly and widely accepted across
the nation. Soon, he became the 'Rhythm King' of the Hindi film
industry.

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Song: sun sun sun sun zaalima (Aar Paar)
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Motivated from the success of Aar Paar, the three Anand brothers of
the Navketan banner decided to make a film on a similar theme and
named it as 'Taxi Driver'. While Chetan Anand directed the film, the
story was by Vijay Anand and Dev Anand played the lead role of
Mangal, the taxi driver.

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Song: jaayen to jaayen kahaan (Taxi Driver)
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Composer S D Burman and Navketan were closely associated with each
other since the beginning. With the music of Taxi Driver fetching
Filmfare Award, the bond between the composer and the banner
strengthened further.

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Song: dil jale to jale (Taxi Driver)
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Bimal Roy, in 1954, directed Biraj Bahu, which is based on the
famous novel by the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattapadhyay. While
actors Kamini Kaushal and Abhi Bhattacharjee did their part
effectively, composer Salil Choudhury too brought out the rural
environment of Bengal with his music in this film.
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Song: mera man bhula bhula kaahe Dole (Biraj Bahu)
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While Do Bigha Zameen was based on rural misery, Bimal Roy, in 1954,
made Naukri that dealt with the problem of urban unemployment. In
this film he made Kishore Kumar as the hero. Unfortunately, Naukri
did not do what Do Bigha Zameen had done on the box office. Lyricist
Shailendra and composer Salil Choudhury tried their best on the
music front.

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Song: chhoTa sa ghar hoga baadalon ki chhaaon mein (Naukri)
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Filmistan released one of the most popular patriotic and children's
film in 1954. The highly optimistic film Jagriti was made under the
direction of Satyen Bose. Sung by Pradeep, this song of this film is
still sung in the schools in all national occassions and functions.

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Song: aao bachchon tumhe dikhaayen jhaanki Hindustan ki (Jagriti)
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Through Jagriti, Filmistan proved that a good story does not demand
a big star cast. A low budget film can also make a great mark if it
has a substance to narrate. Lyricist Pradeep and composer Hemant
Kumar did full justice to the songs, which were mostly patriotic in
flavour.

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Song: de dee hamein aazaadi bina khaDag bina Dhaal (Jagriti)
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Raj Kapoor too did not lag behind in making a film full of optimism.
It was the 'Nehru age' and Raj Kapoor tried his hand in making a
film on the street children. Titled as Boot Polish, this film was
directed by his long time assistant Prakash Arora, which was his
directorial debut. Baby Naaz, Ratan Kumar and David's powerful and
natural acting made the audience shed tears in the theatres.

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Song: nanhe munne bachche teri muTThi mein kya hai (Boot Polish)
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Through these simple words like "teri muTThi mein kya hai?",
lyricist Shailendra tried to convey a highly philosophical message.
In fact, this has been the speciality of Shailendra's songs in which
he used to speak out very complicated philosophies of life in very
simple words. Anyway, now let us listen to another song of this film
which Raj Kapoor picturised on Shailendra himself.

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Song: chali kaun se desh (Boot Polish)
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Starting with Anandmath in Filmistan, composer and singer Hemant
Kumar, in 1954, scored music in 3 films, namely, Jagriti, Shart and
Nagin, which straightaway placed Hemnat Kumar in the front row of
music directors.

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Song: jaadugar saiyaan chhoDo mori baiyaan (Nagin)
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Nagin's story was written by IPTA writer Bijon Bhattacharjee. The
film required music played by snakecharmers on an instrument known
as 'been'. The magic of this instrument was created by Ravi and
Kalyanji on harmonium and claviolin respectively. Ravi, who later
became independent music director, worked as assistant to Hemant
Kumar in Filmistan.

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Song: tan Dole mera man Dole (Nagin)
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Nagin had Pradeep Kumar and Vyajayanthimala in the main star cast,
but today this film is remembered only because of Hemantda's
melodious music.

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Song: tere dwaar khaDaa ek jogi (Nagin)
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Filmistan's another release in 1954 was Nastik. Directed by I S
Johar, the Censor Board had put restrictons on this film for
its 'naastik' theme. Lets us listen to the most popular track of
this film sung by Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.

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Song: gagan jhanjhana raha pawan sansanaa raha (Nastik)
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Filmistan, led by Sasadhar Mukherjee, emerged out as one of the
leading film making companies of the period. Sasadhar Mukherjee,
over the years, have given break to many artistes, which include S D
Burman, Hemant Kumar, director Hemen Gupta, Satyen Bose. One more to
add to this list in 1954 was Vibhuti Mitra who made his directorial
venture in Shart. Shart was the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's
novel 'Strangers on the Train'. Hemant Kumar's music once again
reached the hearts of the masses with songs like "na yeh chaand
hogaa na taare rahenge, magar ham hamesha tumhare rahenge". But
today lets listen to another nice number of this film.

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Song: dekho woh chaand chhupke karta hai kya ishaare (Shart)
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1954 saw the release of the last film by Bombay Talkies. Ashok Kumar
tried his best till 1953 to drag out the banner from its crisis but
failed due to the internal politics among the share holders. Under
the direction of Phani Majumdar, Badban was released in 1954 that
starred Ashok Kumar, Leela Chitnis and Dev Anand. With this film
Bombay Talkies finally shut down. The Prabhat Film Company of Pune
too closed down the following year but the Government converted it
into a Film Institute. But Bombay Talkies was not lucky enough
unlike the Prabhat. The BT complex in Malad was replaced by an
industrial complex. Now the only sign of Bombay Talkies is one
Himanshu Rai Street, thats all!

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Song: kaise koi jeeye zeher hai zindegi (Badban)
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The Baiju Bawra famed director M Sadiq directed Shabab in 1954.
Starring Bharat Bhushan and Nutan, the music was once again by
Naushad and all the songs were based on classical music.

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Song: jo main jaanti bisrat hai saiyaan (Shabab)
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D N Madhok was a popular name in the list of lyricists during the
1940s and 50s decades. In 1954, D N Madhok directed a film called
Bilwa Mangal that had Bulo C Rani as the music director. We here
bring you a number from this film sung by Suraiyya.

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Song: ham ishq ke maaron ko (Bilwa Mangal)
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In 1954, Suraiyya was also seen in D D kashyap produced Shama
Parwana. Earlier she had worked under the direction of D D Kashyap
in films like Pyar Ki Jeet and Badi Bahan. Shama Parwana had Shammi
Kapoor as the hero. Last year he had made his debut in Gul Sanobar,
and followed by Jeevan Jyoti and Laila Majnu. Shama Parwana had
Husnlal Bhagatram as the music composer and this was their last hit
musical film. Here is a foot-tappering duet from this film sung by
Mohd Rafi and Suraiyya.

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Song: shaam-e-bahaar aayi (Shama Parwana)
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Debaki Bose of New Theatres has been directing films since the 30s
decade. He had directed K L Saigal in memorable film like Chandidas.
In 1954, he directed Kavi based on Tarashankar Bandopadhyay's novel.
The star cast included Bharat Bhushan, Geeta Bali and Nalini
Jaywant. C Ramchandra's soothing music was heard in this film.

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Song: tere raaste pe hamne ek ghar banaa liya hai (Kavi)
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Producer director S K Ojha's highly ambitious film Naaz was released
in 1954. This film had picturisations in the Egyptian capital of
Cairo, and this is the first film in the history of Indian cinema to
have a foriegn locale. Starring Ashok Kumar and Nalini Jaywant, here
is a nice track from this film, Anil Biswas is the composer.

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Song: jhilmil sitaaron ke taleaa mera daaman thaam le (Naaz)
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After 1950, Suraiyya returned back with a bang in 1954 in films like
Bilwa Mangal, Shama Parwana and the most important one being Mirza
Ghalib. Just listen how composer Ghulam Mohd had composed Mirza
Ghalib's shaayri in raag yaman.

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Song: nuktacheen hai gham-e-dil (Mirza Ghalib)
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There are lacs of admirers of Mirza Ghalib all over the world.
Sohrab Modi's version of Mirza Ghalib brought him huge fame from all
quarters. Actors Bharat Bhushan and Suraiyya had received the
National Award for this film. Before we listen to one more song from
this film sung by Suraiyya and Talat Mahmood, here is something told
by Suraiyya about this film:

Suraiyya speaks: Zindegi mein kuchh mauke aise aate hain jinpe
insaan sadaa naaz karta hai. Meri zindegi mein bhi ek mauka aisa
aaya tha jab film Mirza Ghalib ko President's Award mila aur us film
ka ek khaas show Rashtrapati Bhawan mein huya jahaan humne Pt
Nehruji ke saath yeh film dekhee thi. Pt Nehru har scene mein meri
taarif karte aur main phooli na samaati.

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Song: dil-e-naadaan tujhe huya kya hai (Mirza Ghalib)
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In 1954, the Indo-Russian friendship resulted in an Indian Film
Festival in Russia. The films which were shown in the festival
included Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zameen, Raj Kapoor's Awara, Khwaja
Ahmed Abbas's Munna and Chetan Anand's Andhiyan. Out of these, Awara
was the most popular there and had to be dubbed in Turkish and
Russian languages.

In 1953, when Indian Motion Pictures Association (IMPA) put a ban on
All India Radio from broadcasting film music, the radio channel
which was at an advantage out of this was the Radio Ceylon. Soon,
Radio Ceylon became the most popular radio channel of the sub-
continent. Radio Ceylon, which is now known as Srilankan
Broadcasting Corporation, still plays the song "din hai suhaana aaj
paheli taarikh hai" from the film Paheli Tarikh on every 1st day of
the month since its release in 1954. Written by Qamar Jalalabadi,
composed by Sudhir Phadke and sung by Kishore Kumar, we now bring
you this rare song.

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Song: din hai suhaana aaj paheli taarikh hai (Paheli Tarikh)
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Mirza Ghalib, made under the Sohrab Modi banner of Minerva
Movietone, was directed by Sohrab Modi himself. Another film of 1954
in which Suraiyya worked was the Nitin Bose directed film Waris.
Talat mahmood was cast opposite Suraiyya. If you remember, Shakti
Samanta's Kati Patang was influenced from this film. Before we end
today's episode, we bring you one Talat Mahmood - Suraiyya duet from
this film. Dear listeners, the title music of this Flashback
programme is also derieved from this evergreen duet only. So, enjoy
this song and see you again next week same day same time. Good-bye!

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Song: raahi matwaale tu chheD ek baar man ka sitaar (Waris)
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END OF EPISODE 14