A SPECIAL SERIES CELEBRATING THE 75 YEARS OF HINDI FILM MUSIC

(PRESENTED BY PRABHA JOSHI ON VIVIDH BHARATI PUNE)

EPISODE 15 (01/10/2006)
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Good morning listeners,

Welcome to the 15th episode of Flashback! In the first 10 episodes
we have discussed about the film music from 1931 to 1950. You came
across many rare songs and some of you might not have even heard
some of them before. But from 1950 onwards the golden era of film
music started and most of the songs turned out to be highly popular
both with the masses and classes. As we said in last two episodes
that the new generation of directors like Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt and
Raj Kapoor have been the major names in this golden era of Hindi
cinema, so we begin today's episode with Raj Kapoor's 1955 film
Shree 420.

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Song: mera joota hai Japani (Shree 420)
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With Khwaja Ahmed Abbas's screenplay and powerful acting by Raj
Kapoor, Nargis, Nadira and Lalita Pawar, Shree 420 was story of Raj,
an orphan who comes to Bombay with the dream of making it big. The
poor and chaplinesque Raj has to choose between a simple life with
teacher Vidya, who he loves, and a fancy but morally corrupt life at
the sides of master crook 'Shree 420' Seth Sonachand Dharmanand.
Matters come to a head when a housing scam threatens to defraud
thousands of common men and women of their life's savings.

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Song: dil ka haal sune dilwaala (Shree 420)
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"Gham se abhi aazaad naheen main, khush hoon magar aabaad naheen
main, manzil mere paas khaDi hai, paaon mein lekin beDee paDee hai",
such were words from lyricist Shailendra portraying the character of
Indian Chaplin. The credit for the success of Shree 420 also goes to
Shankar Jaikishan. Every song of this film has a strong situation
and flow with the film. Take the case of "muD muD ke na dekh muD muD
ke"; it has a slow beginning but in the later part it catches up a
fast rhythm symbolising the dilemna and restlessness in the hero's
mind.

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Song: muD muD ke na dekh muD muD ke (Shree 420)
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Awara and Shree 420 are considered to be the best films of Raj
Kapoor, which were not only popular in India but also in Russia and
the other countries of Central Asia. Decades later, Aziz Mirza made
Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman said to be inspired from Shree 420 and in
this way paid tribute to the genius of Raj Kapoor.

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Song: ramaiyya vattavaiyya (Shree 420)
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1955 was the year when the third version of Sarat Chandra's Devdas
was portrayed on the silver screen. In 1935 Pramathesh Chandra
Baruah of the New Theatres had made this film in Bangla and then in
Hindi. In 1955, it was Bimal Roy who cast Dilip Kumar for the title
role as no other actor of that time could be thought of for the role
other than Dlip Kumar.

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Song: kisko khabar thi (Devdas)
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The character of Paro was played by Suchitra Sen who was slowly
becoming a known name in the Bengali households at that time. And
Chandramukhi's character, which required dancing, was played by
Vyajayanthimala who had moved the audience the previous year by her
dancing in Nagin.

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Song: aage teri marzi (Devdas)
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The sets of Devdas, in the traditional Bengali art forms, were
erected in Mohan Studios. Sahir Ludhinavi took charge of the lyrics
while Burman Dada, with his expertise of Bengali folk, kirtan,
Bhatiali and Baul type of music, did full justice to the music of
this film.

S D Burman sings "rongeela rongeela rongeela re...." (Clip from
Jaimala)

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Song: aan milo aan milo Shyam saanvare (Devdas)
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Films like Daag, Sangdil, Footpath and Devdas, all these films
casting Dilip Kumar had tragic ending. Doing repeated tragic roles
had made Dilip Kumar mentally sick and depressed. His doctor advised
him not to take up any more tragic films for the time being. He got
relieved when filmmaker S M S Naidu approached him for Azad in which
has required to play a superhero. Packed with music, action and
glamour, this film was completed in just 2 months and proved highly
successful and the music composed by C Ramchandra rose to the lips
of the masses.

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Song: aplam chaplam chaplaai re (Azad)
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Azad was the remake of M G Ramachandra's Tamil film. At first,
Naushad was approached for the music but on the condition that he
compose and record all 9 songs in just 1 month. Naushad turned down
the offer and after him no other music directors could gain courage
to accept the offer with the said condition of time constraint.
Finally, C Ramchandra took up the challenge and gave all 9 songs in
less than a month without any compromise on the quality, thus
proving his excellence.

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Song: jaa ri jaa ri o kaari badariya (Azad)
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For one duet song of Azad, C Ramchandra called up Talat Mahmood to
sing with Lata. As Talat saahab used to playback for Dilip saahab in
those days, so Anna had composed the song keeping Talat in mind. But
due to certain problem, Talat could not make up for the recording
and C Ramchandra decided to sing the song himself. He sang it just
like Talat saahab and sometimes it really appears to be Talat's
voice. Lets us listen to this song as well, its written by Rajinder
Krishan!

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Song: kitna haseen hai mausam (Azad)
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Mehboob Khan, Sohrab Modi and V Shantaram, the super trio, who have
been the major filmmakers in the 40s continued to produce effective
movies in the 50s decade as well. Aan, released in 1952, by Mehboob
Khan was the first tecnicolour film of India. Sohrab Modi's name is
associated with the 1952 film Jhansi Ki Rani, while V Shantaram's
Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje of 1955 is counted in one of the landmark
films of Indian cinema.

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Song: jhanak jhanak paayal baaje (Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje)
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Dance and music formed the soul of Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje.
Eminent dancer Gopi Krishna played the character of Giridhar while
the heroine was Sandhya. Vasant Desai was the music director, who
proved his hold over Indian classical music in this film. Using only
Indian instruments and that too played by eminent musicians, Desai
composed the dance based songs and received wide acclaim for the
work. Shantaram too did not make any compromise and invited some of
the renowned musicians to play certain instruments in the songs and
background music. These include Samta Prasad the renowned Tabla
player, Sudarshan the noted Khol player from Calcutta, Ustad Haleem
Jafar Khan the famous Sitarist, and Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma the noted
Santoor player.

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Song: murli manohar krishna kanhaiya (Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje)
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Sohrab Modi, under his banner Minerva Movietone, released Kundan in
1955. It was inspired from Victor Hugo's book Les Miserables. Let us
listen to one very rare song from this film composed by Ghulam Mohd
and sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

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Song: jahaanwaale hamein duniya mein kyun paida kiya tune (Kundan)
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Actor Sunil Dutt had played a small role in Kundan. In the same year
1955, director Ramesh Sehgal launched Sunil Dutt as hero in his
Railway Platform. Today, Railway Platform is remembered only for
this song, written by Sahir, composed by Madan Mohan and sung by
Rafi saahab.

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Song: basti basti parbat parbat gaata jaaye banjaara (Railway
Platform)
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--

Guru Dutt tried to depict the prevailing social and political
situation of the country through his comic film Mr & Mrs 55.
Released obviously in 1955, this film had Madhubala opposite Guru
Dutt in the lead roles.

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Song: udhar tum haseen ho (Mr & Mrs 55)
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After Aar Paar, Mr & Mrs 55 was the next musical hit for O P Nayyar.
Once again, O P Nayyar and Majrooh Sultanpuri fulfilled Guru Dutt's
imagination of the situations and characters.

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Song: ThanDi hawaa kaali ghaTaa (Mr & Mrs 55)
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Producer-Director A R Kardar roped in Kishore Kumar and Chand Osmani
for Baap Re Baap. Once again O P Nayyar's music, lyrics by Janisar
Akhtar, and Kishore Kumar's own acting style and mannerisms brought
a new trend in film music, the Kishore Kumar style of acting and
singing.

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Song: daal kaise galey jab ke joota jaley (Baap Re Baap)
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One more song of this film, an Asha-Kishore duet, is worth
mentioning. There is an interesting incident related to this song.
Lets hear it from Asha Bhosle herself:

Asha Bhosle speaks: ek gaana main aur hamaare mazaakiya Kishoreda,
dono gaa rahe the, (sings) 'piya piya piya...', gaana
poora 'rehearsal' hoke 'final recording' shuru huya, aur maine
galati se unki 'line' pe (sings) 'haaann' aisaa keh diya, to unhone
meri taraf aise haath baDhaake kaha ki aage, matlab, band naheen
karna, waise 'recording' chaalu rakhaa, jaise hi 'recording' khatam
huya maine kahaa 'dada, phir se karte hain, maine galati kee hai,
bahut baDi galati kee hai maine, beech mein bol diya'. kehne
lage, 'bilkul chinta mat karo, main hoon na us 'picture' mein,
main 'hero' hoon, jaise hi 'heroine' gaane lagegi, main uske munh
par haath rakh doonga'.

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Song: piya piya piya mera jiya pukaare (Baap Re Baap)
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O P Nayyar's music was also heard this year in films like
Musafirkhana and Miss Coca Cola. The later was the film from which
the love story of Geeta Bali and Shammi Kapoor had started. Here is
a Geeta Dutt number from Miss Coca Cola.

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Song: ban dhaDkan kajraare naina Dole re (Miss Coca Cola)
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Raj Khosla, after producing Aar Paar and Baazi, directed Milap
independently in 1955. This film was also the first independent film
of N Dutta as music director, who used to be assistant to S D
Burman. Milap had Geeta Bali and Dev Anand in the main roles and
Sahir Ludhianvi wrote the songs. One such song from this film in
Geeta Dutt's voice is here for you.

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Song: jaate ho to jaao par jaayoge kahaan (Milap)
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Another assistant of S D Burman was Jaidev. He also made debut as
independent composer in 1955 in Chetan Anand's Joru Ka Bhai. Chetan
Anand had left Navketan over differences with Dev Anand. Vijay Anand
had played a small role in Joru Ka Bhai.

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Song: subah ka intezaar kaun kare (Joru Ka Bhai)
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Navketan's House No 44 was made in 1955 under M K burman's
direction. Dev Anand once again played the role of wrong doer
getting changed in the end.

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Song: tei duniya mein jeene se to behetar hai (House No 44)
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Houes No 44 brought the poet inside Sahir Ludhianvi and S D Burman
also did full justice to his poetry by his soulful compostions. Lets
listent o one more track from this film.

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Song: chup hai dharti chup hain chaand sitaare (House No 44)
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House No 44 was the first film of Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik after
their marriage on the sets of Taxi Driver through a mariage
registrar. The picturesque locations used in this film were those of
Mahabaleshwar. One such song beautifully picturised in these
Sahyadri range is here for you.

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Song: phaili huyi hain sapnon ki baahen (House No 44)
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Dev Anand paired up with Nalini Jaywant in the Subodh Mukherjee
directed Filmistan's Munimji. Dev Anand's typical style and
mannerisms were first noticed in this film in its full form, which
over the years have remained his trademark.

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Song: jeevan ke safar mein raahi (Munimji)
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Munimji had Shailendra as the lyricist and S D Burman as the
composer. Based on classical music, here is a wonderful composition
from this film in Lata Mangeshkar's honey-filled voice.

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Song: ghaayal hiraniya main ban ban Doloon (Munimji)
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Director Amiya Chakraborty have always given us social films packed
with entertainment. His films have taken up various social issues
over the years. The 1955 film Seema has been one of his memorable
films.

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Song: suno chhoTi si guDiya ki lambi kahaani (Seema)
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Seema is also remembered for actress Nutan's powerful performance
and music director Shankar Jaikishan's powerful music. This song by
Lata Mangeshkar is one of her noted songs based on pure classical
music.

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Song: manmohana baDe jhooThe (Seema)
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Another important film of 1955 was S U Sunny's Udan Khatola, based
on Frank capra's Lost Horizon. Shaqeel-Naushad combo was heard in
the songs and the star cast of the film included Dilip Kumar, Nimmi,
Jeeva, and Surya Kumari.

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Song: mera salaam le jaa (Udan Khatola)
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Naushad did a lot of experiments in this film. He tells about the
music of one such experimental songs of this film:

Naushad speaks: isi film ka ek aur geet hai raag pilu par aadhaarit
jise maine ek 'experiment' ke taur par banaya tha. iski khaasiyat
yeh hai ki ismein ek bhi saaz istemaal nahin huya par log yeh
pehchaan bhi nahin paaye. is gaane mein mardaana aur
janaana 'humming' se poore gaane ka 'music' tayyaar kiya gaya
tha. "More saiyanji utrege paar o darya dheere baho", suniye

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Song: More saiyanji utrenge paar (Udan Khatola)
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A name similar to that of Naushad, in the list of music directors,
was Nashad. His real name was Shaukat Dahelvi. He made debut as
composer in 1955 in K Amarnath's film Baradari. This Lata-Rafi duet
of this film is remembered for its beautiful composition and
orchestration.

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Song: bhula naheen dena ji bhula naheen dena (Baradari)
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Nashad, Jamal Sen, Sajjad Hussain, S Mohindar, Sardar Malik - we
often forget these names while discussing about the music directors
of the golden era of film music. Its true that these composers could
not reach to that level of success unlike the other successful
composers, but we cannot overlook their contribution towards Hindi
cine music. So, before ending today's episode of Flashback, let us
pay tribute to all these lesser-known music directors and listen to
one more song composed by Nashad for the film Baradari in Talat
Mahmood's velvette voice. We shall meet again next week same day
same time, till then, Good-Bye!

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Song: tasveer banaata hoon tasveer naheen banti (Baradari)
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END OF EPISODE 15