Posts

Showing posts from June, 2021

'Kal Aaj Aur Kal ' completes 50 Years

Image
  Released on 1st July 1971 wast the first film of Randhir Kapoor as Actor & Director. This   was the last film of Shanker-Jaikishan for R.K.Films. Jaikishan had already completed the recording music for this film before he died. Babita was the heroine of the film who later married Randhir Kapoor. The highlight of the film was the presence of Raj Kapoor, Prithviraj Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor, the three generation of Kapoors in a film. This film came a fter the colossal disaster of “Mera Naam Joker”.   The movie was based on how three generations live under one roof but with different opinions. The movie is a time-pass. The grandfather and grandson always had difference in thoughts while the father always tries to makeup between them. In the end, the grandfather dies giving the message that it is KAL AAJ AUR KAL. Randhir Kapoor does not show much of promise as a director  He was no way near to Raj Kapoor’s classic touch. He directed a few films after this but none ...

Kalyanji Bhai- The Musician behind the Immortal Been Tune of 'Nagin'

Image
  Kalyanji Bhai of the Kalyanji Anandji music duo started his career as a musician. He was very good at Harmonium, violin, guitar, and drums. He played these instruments under many music directors.  Kalyanji, who introduced  a new electronic instrument called the clavioline.  With this  instrument , he played the been for a snake sequence in the film Nag Panchami (1953), the music of which was scored by Chitragupt. People came to watch the film just to listen to this music .  Hemant Kumar heard this tune and decided to use this in the song " Man Dole Mera Tan Dole"  of Nagin(1954). The song and this tune became immortal.  He was soon the most sought-after musician in Bollywood.  Kalyanji then, with his brother Anandji, started an orchestral group called Kalyanji Virji and Party which organized musical shows in Mumbai and outside. This was the first attempt made for holding live musical shows in India. In 1957 Subhash Desai, the elder bro...

50 Years of Mela

Image
  Released on 30 June 1971, Mela was a hit film of that year. This was the first time the two Khan brothers, Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan appeared together in a film. Mumtaz was the heroine of the film. This film was the second   directorial venture of Prakash Mehra after  Haseena Maan Jayegi  (1968). The film is a lost and found story, a very popular subject of the 70s. It was based on a rural background where a Shahri Babu(Sanjay Khan) comes and falls in love with a village girl(Mumtaz). There is a dacoit Shakti Singh(Feroz Khan who does  not permit anyone to plow his land as he believes that his evil paternal uncle(Randhir) forged documents to make him the owner, and he blames himself for losing his brother, Kishan, during a Mela 20 years ago. Kanhaiya buys the land from his uncle in the city who dies soon after out of shock upon receiving such a large sum of money.,Now Kanhaiya comes with his foster mom to reside at the Uncle s home in the village. The music o...

The Tune that Mesmerized Raj Kapoor

Image
  It is the famous waltz ' Waves of the Danube'  composed by the Romanian Josef (or Ion) Ivanovici in 1880. This tune has been used in many films over the years – Josef von Sternberg’s  Dishonored , Akira Kurosawa’s  Stray Dog , and Emir Kusturica’s  When Father Was Away on Business , to name a few – but its most famous film incarnation is as  The Anniversary Song  from  The Jazz Singer(1927)  Raj Kapoor first heard this tune when he saw  The Jolson Story  (1946) rather than coming across a recording of the original waltz. He was so mesmerized by this tune, he decided to use this in his film Barsaat. When he used this tune in Barsaat, he was approached by the copyright people for breaching the copyright. He had to pay  something like 35,000 rupees, a handsome amount in the 40s.  Since he purchased the tune, he used this tune in  RK films –  Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti  Hai (1960),  Sangam  (1964),...

Great Bollywood Songs Shot in Kashmir

Image
    Kashmir was an integral part of Hindi films through the sixties, seventies, and most of the eighties. Many hit songs were picturized at the beautiful locations in Kashmir. The first song that emerges in our mind is  Shammi Kapoor's Yahoo dance in the snowy peaks of Kashmir.  The other song  Yeh Chand Sa Roshan Chehra from the 1964 film 'Kashmir Ki Kali' that was picturized on Shikaras has been wildly popular ever since the release of the film. The beauty of Kashmir is eternal and so is Love, barring one or two songs  Most of the evergreen romantic numbers in the Bollywood albums of the golden era of Indian Cinema were picturized on the blissful moments of love in the snow-clad and lush green locales of  Jammu & Kashmir , .   The earliest known arrival of a film unit in Kashmir dates back to 1944. That year, the Taj Mahal Film Company, Bombay to shoot scenes of its movie,  Begum , featuring Ashok Kumar as a shepherd and Nasee...

R D Burman-A Magical Maestro

Image
  His range varied from the catchy 'Aaja Aaja' from Teesri Manzil to the soulful thumri 'Hame Tumse Pyar Kitna' by Parveen Sultana in Kudrat. He also composed the mischievous number Ek Chatur Naar, Badi Hoshiyar from Padosan, and the melodious Tere Bina Zindagi Se koi Shikwa to Nahin from Aandhi A magical maestro, he could conjure up a serenading classical raga theme or a peppy Western romantic tune out of thin air.  He Revolutionised Hindi Film Music by introducing new  elements (jazz and rock styles) into Hindi film songs   For several decades, he produced iconic music in Hindi and Bengali for as many as 330 films. Most of the current generation of music directors have been influenced by him. He  was the master of experiments and changed the way one would look at music. His voice modulation brought in a new dimension to popular music. Burman brought in various innovations to the background music of Hindi and Bengali films. His unconventional way of generating ...