‘51 & ‘92: Wheel of Time – Part 3
“Thus pleasure is spread through the earth
In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find;
Thus a rich loving-kindness, redundantly kind,
Moves all nature to gladness and mirth.”
In matters detailing simple pleasures of life, Wordsworthji stood alone. A rainbow here, rows of daffodils there or a stray song of the solitary reaper and he would be in raptures. I don’t share his perpetual sunny disposition towards life but there are times when stray pleasures move me to gladness and mirth as well. And, dear reader (yes, by now you are in a minority of one so no plural), 1951 was a year which sprang stray pleasures in torrents.
Let me state it simply, 1951, in my not-so-humble opinion, is quite simply the best ever year of Hindi film music. So, forgive me, if I run out of superlatives here. Also, one additional request – if you have the links to some of these songs, please post them in the comments.
Before we move on, let’s take a quick survey of the state of the nation in 1951. Most of the attention was focused on the impending General Elections, the first for independent India, which was scheduled in early 1952. Political formations were being re-drawn and Sukumar Sen, independent India’s first Election Commissioner, was putting together the blueprint to ensure over 170 million eligible electorate participate in world’s biggest elections ever. Nehru, vote-catcher par excellence, had a temporary triumph over the right-of-the-centre faction within Congress when he displaced Tandon as the party president. Old associates of his like Kriplani, Kidwai and JP were out of Congress and fighting the elections as opposition. B.R. Ambedkar, Nehur’s Law Minister, quit after the failure of implementing the Hindu Code Bill which was aimed at codifying the rules of Hindu Law. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, a member of Nehru cabinet, quit to start the Jan Sangh (precursor to BJP) in September 1951 which would have far-reaching implications over the course of the next half century.
Among other firsts, it was also the year when the first five-year plan, modeled on the ten-year plans of Soviet Union which had so impressed Nehru during his trip in 1927, was launched with an outlay of a meager Rs. 2000 crores. It was also the year when the Central Censor Board for films was set up and the first copy of Screen rolled off the Indian Express printing press.
1951 was a seminal year for Hindi cinema. It was the year when it firmly perched itself as the primary source of entertainment of the nation as movie makers churned out hugely successful films which had a pan-India appeal. And perhaps more than any other year, it saw the launch of many a successful film careers. Some curious inter-planetary play was at work for how else can you explain all of these happening in a single year – B.R. Chopra making his directorial debut with Afsana, Kishore Kumar’s acting debut in Andolan, Guru Dutt starting off with Navketan’s Baazi, Vyjanthimala making her Hindi debut in AVM’s Bahar and Kaifi Azmi, Indeevar and Sahir penning their first Hindi film songs. There must have been something in the air in that year. And, of course, we will talk about all of the above shortly.
Let me start with, perhaps, the most under-rated music composer who had a great year in 1951. Anil Biswas should rightfully earn his place in the pantheon of Hindi film music greats and as one who with his shift from Calcutta to Sagar Movietone, Bombay actually started the trend of Hindi musicals. Unfortunately, mass market success determines greatness over the long run. Anil Biswas had some of the biggest hits of 1940s to his credit including Aurat and Kismet (Dheere dheere aa re badal dheere and Door hato aye duniya waalo). However, by late 1940s he was feeling the heat with the early success of new composers like Shankar-Jaikishen, Roshan and C Ramachandra. Perhaps, in 1951, Anil Biswas decided that it was time to set the records straight. ‘Tarana’ had Dilip Kumar playing a doctor who falls for village belle Madhubala but fate plays truant leading to separation, pain and assorted pathos, basically the early 50s Dilip Kumar template. Anil Biswas with his favorite singer, Talat, however decided to create a bit of magic in the soundtrack. ‘Seene mein sulagte hain armaan’ is quite simply the definition of melancholic duet with Talat and Lata in top form. Anil Biswas plays his favorite trick of changing the tunes for each of his antaras. And the picturization! A bed-ridden Dilip Kumar brooding over lost love while an ethereal Madhubala pines away. She looks simply divine. Talat sizzles with two other songs, Nain mile nain huye and Ek main hun ek meri beqasi ki shyam hain to close out an outstanding album.
Not content, Anil Biswas also gave Aaram (starring Dev Anand, Madhubala and Prem Nath) in the same year. Aaram is a connoisseur’s delight with Biswas going back to his original discovery, Mukesh, with Aye jaane jigar and Talat holding his own (and appearing on screen) with Shukriya shukriya. However, what elevates the album is that amazing Lata number Man mein kisike preet basa ley, perhaps an all-time bhoole-bisre geet of Lata. And do I start again about how Madhubala looked in this song while Prem Nath played the pianoforte. Dev Anand by this time had gotten into a habit of getting out of Churchgate station and walking down to Suraiyya’s Marine Drive home. So when the two came together in Do Sitare, Anil Biswas, showered his riches on Suraiyya too with Mujhe tum se mohabbat hai and Ho mere dil ki dhadkan mein. Do Sitare was the last of Suraiyya-Dev films and legend has it that Suraiyya’s grandmother threw the Do Sitare ring into the sea.
The other music director who hit a purple patch in 1951 was Chitalkar Ramachandra (aka Anna). With Khazana (Madhubala again, this time paired opposite Nasir Khan, brother of Dilip Kumar), CR introduced us to the khazana of African folk music with Do diwano ka afsana and Babadi bam bam. And, Lata, his muse sang typically sweet CR compositions, Soyi soyi chandni hai, Aye chand pyar mera and Mohabbat pe itani jawani. CR also had another hit with Sagai with Lata’s Dil ki kahani standing out. But the defining soundtrack of 1951 was CR’s Albela. Albela was Bhagwan’s labour of love and his close friend CR ensured that the music was unforgettable. Albela was the biggest hit of the year and catapulted Bhagwan from his chawl to a Juhu sea-facing bungalow with the legend about seven cars (for the seven days of the week) parked outside. The songs, Bhagwan’s dance steps and Geeta Bali’s effervescence all clicked big time. Where does one even start with Albela – a Benny Goldman inspired soundtrack. The lori Dheere se aaja ankhiyan mein, foot-tapping Bholi surat dil ke khote, Lata solos Dil dhadke nazar sharmaye and Balma bada nadan, the chart-busting Sham dhale khidaki tale or when you think it’s all over in the movie and the end credits roll, Shola jo bhadke comes up to force you dance in the aisles and then leave the hall.
But one of the lesser known names deserves equal credit for CR’s success in Albela. This was his assistant, the Goan Chic Chocolate (no, I am not making this name up). Chic was born as Antonio Vaz but adopted the stage name of Chic Chocolate and by mid-40s was widely regarded India’s best jazz musician. He led a double life. In the evenings, his band played out the best of the world music at The Taj (with Chic taking his title of ‘Louis Armstrong of India’ seriously) while in the morning he assisted music directors in film studios. The swing and percussion that we so like in Gore Gore (Samadhi, 1950) and Shola jo bhadke are Chic’s creations. He even featured in Albela in a Latin ensemble beaming away with his group. Chic also worked for Madan Mohan – they were in some sense guru bhais since Madan Mohan assisted CR as well (in Shabistan). The swing in some of Madan Mohan’s early numbers (till he got carried away by his status of Ghazal maestro) like Geeta Dutt’s Aye dil mujhe bata de is courtesy Chic. Chic, himself, composed excellent music in 1951 for Dev Anand and Madhubala (again!!) starrer Nadaan which had Talat crooning the fantastic Aa teri tasveer bana loon and Lata singing Saari duniyaa ko piichhe chhod kar. Very few have even heard of Chic today. We forget pioneers that easily.
Shankar-Jaikishan also had a big year. RK Films produced one of the biggest hits of the year with Awaara and the songs were a rage. I must confess that I am not huge on S-J compositions. But they had a great year with Awaara, Nagina and Badal (Prem Nath as Indian Robin Hood). Awaara deservingly became India’s first cross-over hit with its music creating waves in Soviet Union, Middle East and West Asia. The signature S-J style in the title track, the soulful Lata number Aa jao tadapte hain armaan, the dulcet duet Dam bhar jo udhar, Hindi cinema’s first dream sequence Ghar aaya mera pardesi or Mukesh agonizing over the pros and cons of love in Hum tumse mohabbat karke sanam – each number was sculpted to perfection. Badal had some good music including Lata’s Aaj mane na and Lata-Mukesh duet Aye dil na mujhse chupa. S-J were soon turning into a commercial hit generating machine, the first of their kind with many to follow, who banked on stars and big banners for their success.
Madan Mohan registered his first real hit with Talat’s Meri yaad mein tum na aansoo bahana for Madhosh. It was a Talat year and he could no wrong. Talat also gave him Jis dil mein basaana chaha tha in Adaa. Madan Mohan was also starting to establish his legendary pairing with Lata at this time as you sample Sawri surat man bhaye in Adaa. Husnlal Bhagatram were running their last lap and had one big success in B.R. Chopra’s directorial debut Afsana. Starring Ashok Kumar in a double role, it had that huge Lata chartbuster Abhi to main jawaan hoon.
S.D. Burman heralded his arrival on big stage with five big hits in the year. In Vyjanthimala’s debut film, Bahar, he has Shamshad Begum singing the immensely popular Qusoor aapka and Saiyan dil mein aana re (no, it’s not ‘originally’ picturized on Tanushree Dutt). In Naujawan, S.D. Burman paired up with first-time lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi and delivers Thandi hawayen. If a song could actually change the weather around you, this is it. It is pure magic and the picturization with Nalini Jaywant twirling on her own at home and curtains flying make this a memorable start to the golden SD-Sahir combination. S.D. continued his rich vein of form with Sazaa which has my all-time favorite Lata solo, Tum na jaane kis jahan mein kho gaye. SD also showed his fascination for Lata’s voice in Buzdil with four great solos, Rote rote gujar gayi, Jhan jhan jhan jhan (yes, 4 times) paayal baaje, Main albeli and Jaane na hai ye duniya. Rote rote introduced Hindi cinema to the talents of Kaifi Azmi. Kaifi was the firebrand socialist but firebrand socialists too need capital to make ends meet. So Director Shaheed Lateef and his wife, the legendary Ismat Chugthai, got him to write lyrics for Buzdil to ensure he stayed afloat. But the biggest SD album of the year was Navketan’s Baazi. With this SD ensured he became Navketan’s in-house composer for time to come. Baazi established Dev Anand as a frontline commercial actor and its songs (with strong jazz accents and Geeta Dutt in top form) were a rage. Baazi was directed by Dev Anand’s close friend Guru Dutt. As the legend goes, the two had struck up a close friendship at Prabhat Studios when a dhobi had mixed up their clothes. They had entered into a friendly pact that if Guru Dutt got to direct a film, Dev would star in it and if Dev got to produce one, Dutt would direct it. SD-Sahir strengthened their association while Geeta Dutt had huge hits in Suno gajar kya gaaye, Yeh kaun aaya ki mere dil ki duniya mein, Tadbeer se bigadi huyi and Aaj ki raat piya’.
It was a year of such riches that we haven’t still covered some big names yet. Naushad had Jadoo and Deedar of which the latter was a huge commercial success. Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Nargis and Nimmi starred in Deedar which defined the tear-jerker in Hindi cinema. Dilip Kumar played the role of a blind singer with aplomb and Naushad invested the soundtrack with the required emotions. How do you choose from a collection like this – Bachpan ke din bhula na dena, Dekh liya maine kismat ka tamasha, Duniya ne teri duniya wale, Huye hum jinke liye barbaad, Le ja meri duayen le ja, Meri kahani bhoolnewale, Naseeb tere azmane aya hoon and Tu kaun hai. Roshan delivered Malhar with Indeevar’s debut in Bade armaano se rakha hai balam with Mukesh opening himself up to accusations of going besuraa. The other memorable number of Malhar is that wonderful Lata-Mukesh duet Kahan ho tum zara aawaz do. Sajjad Hussai, the allegedly difficult to work with composer, produced two gems in Saiyan (Lata’s Kaali kaali raat re) and Hulchul. Hulchul was K. Asif’s big film with Balraj Sahni in the lead. It was a script written by Hasrat Jaipuri. Balraj Sahni was arrested during the shooting of the film for his strong communist leanings and he was given a special permission to shoot. The film bombed and set K Asif’s magnum opus Mughal-e-Azam back by many years. It has two fantastic numbers,Lata’s Aaj mere naseeb ne and Rajkumari’s Koi kis tarah.
What do you do when you have a year like this? You thank your stars and pray that your appetite is never satiated. Harivansh Rai Bachchan had the exact words to describe this:
“Chahe jitna mein doon haala,
Chahe jitna tu pi pyala,
Chahe jitna ban matwala,
Sun, bhedi batati hun antim,
Yeh shant nahi hogi jwala,
Mein madhushala ki madhubala”
We move on to 1992. Frankly, any year in Hindi cinema will pale when facing up to 1951. 1992 had its moments, Aamir Khan’s Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander had Jatin-Lalit in fine form with the anthemic Pahla Nasha. J-L also gave Khiladi which established the Abbas-Mastan template – a good musical with some cheap thrills thrown in – and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, the 1992 version of Shri 420 (with even the song sequences matching). Nadeem-Shravan were going strong with Deewana, Bekhudi and Dil Ka Kya Kasoor. Anand-Milind, though on decline, had a good year with Beta, Ek Ladka Ek Ladki, Yaad Rakhegi Duniya, Dil Ashna Hai, Deedar (yes in 1951 and 1992 as well) and Vansh. LP had an odd Angar and Khuda Gawah while RD had Drohi to save face in the year. Ram Laxman had the middling Muskurahat and Satwaan Aasman. Bappi Lahiri had success with David Dhawan’s Shola aur Shabnam.
My picks of the year include ‘Pahla Nasha’ (JJWS), Tum jo mile toh (Drohi), Soone sham savere (neglected Amit Kumar in Khel, Rajesh Roshan), Tere liye saari umar (Yaad Rakhegi Duniya), Mushkil mein (Angaar) and Yeh dhadkan (Mashooq, Shyam Surendra). And the two songs that had me banging my head against the wall – O Krishna, you are the greatest musician of this world (Meera ka Mohan, Arun Paudwal) and Akhha India janta hai (Jaan tere naam, Nadeem-Shravan). Of these, the latter deserves added attention on account of Ronit Roy wearing a Naval Band uniform and doing some serious mass P.T. to attract Farheen’s attention. It had that awesome line which went,
‘tere se marriage karne ko mein Bambai se Goa aaya,
pan mere ko tere dad ne red signal dikhlaya,
father se tere kya lena mujhe,
tu chahe mujhko mein chahoon tujhe’.
That aptly sums up from where we began this journey in 1951 with Sahir and Kaifi Azmi to where we had reached by 1992.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
How about Govinda’s “Gori Gori” from Shola Aur Shabnam? Apparently, he has sung that song – according to MusicIndiaOnline. (If this is true, then it could have been a good trivia question!)
Shola Aur Shabnam was a half decent soundtrack.
Then there is that “Dhak Dhak” from ‘Beta’
Then there is Khuda Gawah…
And this song makes me laugh.. “Bichoo O Bichoo” from Chamtkar.
^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^
First of all, thank you very very much for all the information. I have not heard half of the 1951 songs you mentioned. Listening to them now from musicindiaonline
1992 had Khuda Gawah! First Ajooba(1991) and then Khuda Gawah. Man! I was soooo happy to watch Amitabh Bachchan on Big screen in these two movies. Needless to say I loved both of them :D
(I was 6-7 years old)
I still remember that my brother had bought ‘Deewana’ cassette and I looked at SRK’s pic on the top and said something like Yuck! Ye hero kabhi nahi chalega :D and I didn’t watch ‘Chamatkar’ because it had some childish and funny bhoot thing :D
‘Sardi khaansi na maleria hua…’ was on TV all the time!
I also remember this very funny song from the movie ‘Khel’ which went like ‘mujhko chaand laake do..’
I have, obviously, heard and watched Aawara. I am compeletely in love with some of the sequences in the movie, most of them related to songs. The scene before ‘Ek bewafa se pyaar kiya..’ and the dialogues after ‘Dam bhar jo udhar…’on the boat are just too good and the songs so perfectly match the mood.
So, I am guessing that Bahar had the famous ’saiyan dil mein aana re..’ which was remixed into a disgusting song few years back.
I am sure you did not forget ‘Anand Math’ which had the very famous ‘Vande Mataram’ by Lataji (I just found out that there is a Hemant Kumar version also of that song)but chose not to mention it for some reason.
I remember I used to sing something like thandi hawayen lehraa ke aayen, gadha mast hai, ullu sust hai..something something :D
It was much later that I realized that it was actually a very beautiful song.
Here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZk7-Juga4
Wow!! This has to be the most authoritative post on hindi film music.
Hi, stumbled on your blog. Great review of songs of 1951. I fully agree with “Man mein kisi ki preet” being an all time great song. Someone recently uploaded it on youtube http://youtube.com/watch?v=1DgM721LlKI .
Some hits of 1992
- O rabba koi to bataaye pyaar hota hai kya- Sangeet
- Aaj raat chandni hai
“Tum Na Jane Kis Jahaan Mein Kho Gaye”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOwgLWVgmV8
“NAUJAWAN – THANDI HAWAEIN”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZk7-Juga4
For the first time I devored the former and skipped the latter part. Some songs did ring a bell in my harebrained pile of memories, while others were just so pleasant to read about, for the associations and the impact they made. Truly a standout list there. I feel like doing a Khaiyyaam now, “kahaan wo purkashish awaaz ka zamaana aur kahaan ye gadhon ki baithak…kahaan wo mousiqui aur kahaan ye andhadhund shor”
Sigh…
what can i say?
a link to this post was sent to me by tushar this morning and i wasnt half aware what I would be in for.
Loot kar mera jahaan chup gaye ho tum kahaan sings lata this very moment…she croons personally for me into my earphones…its just for me.
Talat’s Seene mein sulagte hain armaan…seeing those words on my screen sent me into a tizzy. I had to listen to it…and then the next one, and the next…
childhood and these heavily intoxicating melodies, never saccarine but a whole lot intense….
Yes, intensity is what makes me stick to them and stick by them…
and yes, its probably how my brain got wired…those inputs, the music.
nice post Subrat. Tushar has told me a whole lot about u. We should touch base sometime. Would love to explore possibilities for a retro hindi music channel I work for.
Deepak
The song from vansh in 1992 ….”aake teri bahon mein..har shyam lage sinduri” ….was kind of good …
oh I love that song too!
Neeraja: Thanks. Anand Math was 1952. I checked the year this time unlike the Samadhi faux pas of the last post.
Saiyan dil mein aana re was from Bahar picturized on a very young Vyjanthimala
etj, oldmusiclover – glad to find kindred souls.
HG, Shailesh – thanks for adding to ‘92 list.
Tushar – I guess I am succeeding then
Deepak: Have mailed you. Tushar was raving about his visit to your studio
I had heard a story about Bhagwan…selling off the rights of Albela at throw-away price…can somebody confirm this ?
@Subrat
wokay, my bad.
Thanks, I found saiyan dil mein aana re on youtube.
I can see your job getting more and more difficult as you cover 50-60 decade. Good luck!
Neeraja: job difficult? I have so many other stories to tell but to no avail. I am stuck with this time machine. People take me to be 70 yrs old!!!
@Subrat
I said difficult because there are so many good songs, important people from that era. People(including me) will be ready to jump on you if you miss even one :D
PS: You are not 70? :P how come you know so many details and stories?
Subrat…another 1992 hit…
Police Officer (jackie Shroff, Karishma Kapoor) “back marti hai front marti hai… dekho yeh ladki current marti hai”.
“Tu naja mere badshah” from Khuuda Gawah was one of the best songs of 1992 (picturisation, music, performances & lyrics)
Subrat: Great piece as always.
So glad you mention Man Mein Kisi Ki Preet from Aaram. The piano piece in the start is out of this world. I wonder why this song has never found a place in many compilations. For me, that’s the best Lata ditty of 1951.
Some trivia-
1951 was the year when Lata sang a record 225 songs – that’s the higehst for her in any year.
Chic Chocolate – there was also a strong belief that CR and Chic were one and the same person, especially since CR had used multiple names in the past. Chic also came up with a good song next year (1952) in Rangeeli – Koi Dard Hamara by lata.
Thandi Hawayen – CR is believed to have suggested the beautiful humming at the start of the song to SDB.
Hulchal – Sajjad had a fall out with K Asif and walked out of the film after a few songs (Aaj Mere Naseeb Ne wasn’t even recorded properly). Mohd. Shafi completed the film by composing a few songs, one being Ek Jhooti Si Tasalli by Lata, which had lyrics very similar to Mukesh’s song in Roshan’s Shisham
SD Burman had experimented with different singers during his tenure in bollywood films including Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle. Among them he had special respect towards Lata due to her melodious voice. Lata had sung the songs
Balraj Sahani is one of the most gifted character actors of bollywood films of 50s, 60s and 70s. He performance used to be absolutely natural, without mannerisms. He was sublime in his performance in Do Bigha Zameen,