A tribute to old Hindi film music. Songs of the 30s through the 60s.

Singers

Best songs of 1953: Wrap Up 1

Talat Mahmood, Rafi, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar

August 8, 2013

Songs of Yore award for the Best Male Playback Singer goes to? In the first Wrap Up I take a look at the best male solos of 1953. I am greatly helped by the readers’ comments on the survey article – Best songs of 1953 – which are not only very exhaustive, but much more […]

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Rafi’s best songs by SD Burman

July 31, 2013

A tribute on Rafi’s death anniversary July 31 There is one thing common between Mohammad Rafi and SD Burman. If Rafi was the most versatile singer, SD Burman was the most versatile composer. He is the only music director who can claim to have composed equally great music with Rafi as with Kishore Kumar, his […]

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Geeta Dutt’s best songs by SD Burman

July 20, 2013

A tribute on her death anniversary July 20 There is a great deal common between Geeta Dutt and SD Burman – both being Bengalis is just one of them. Geeta Dutt was born on 23rd November, 1930 at Faridpur in East Bengal (now in Bangladesh) in a prosperous landlord family. Her family had to move […]

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Best duets of Talat Mahmood and Asha Bhosle

February 24, 2013

A tribute on Talat Mahmood’s Birth Anniversary, February 24 When I wrote on Talat Mahmood’s peppy duets last year, it left many readers naturally unsatiated. He, of the velvety voice, is known more for his heart-touching, soft and romantic duets. The readers very generously gave a big list of his duets with various female singers, […]

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An evening with Mubarak Begum

January 5, 2013

Kabhi tanhaiyon mein hamari yaad ayegi: Happy Birthday to you (January 5) From various accounts on the internet I had taken Mubarak Begum to be lost for the civilization. Supposedly she was living in anonymity, in penury in some Bombay chawl with her son, who was said to be an autorickshaw driver. Therefore, I was […]

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Forgotten actor-singer of New Theatres: Asit Baran

November 27, 2012

I often wondered who filled in when New Theatres stalwarts led by KL Saigal headed for Bombay in the early 1940s? I got my answer while searching for songs from the New Theatres era, when an unknown voice held me spellbound for its incredible charm. Then some videos turned up on the YouTube. So here […]

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SD Burman: His wonderful landscape of non-film songs

October 31, 2012

A tribute on his death anniversary October 31 When Harvey wrote Sun mere bandhu re on SD Burman’s film-songs quite some time back, my first reaction was that he had taken away my theme. Now I am thankful that he did it, because I would have been in a serious dilemma as to which ones […]

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Best Songs of 1955: Wrap Up 2

Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum

September 28, 2012

SoY award for the best female playback singer goes to Lata, Lata, Lata, Lata….Mangeshkar (It is a while since I wrote the survey article on the Best songs of 1955 and its first wrap up on the Best male playback singer of 1955. Then a number of interesting themes came up, and completing this string […]

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Mukesh and his romance with ‘Dil’

August 27, 2012

A tribute on his death anniversary August 27 Everyone is born with a heart, but that does not make everyone a romantic. There was something special about Mukesh and ‘dil’, not only his romantic heart but his romancing the heart. Mukesh started his journey with ‘dil’. As a young lad, while singing at his sister’s […]

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Best songs of Rafi by Roshan

July 31, 2012

Double tribute to two geniuses Who composed the best songs for Mohammad Rafi cannot be conclusively answered. But there is no doubt that Roshan would figure in the top four or five for this honour. That is significant considering that Roshan did not have the advantage of a big banner nor big stars like Dev […]

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