At the historical concert on the occasion of Noorjehan’s return to Bombay after 35 years, in 1982, Saajan ki galiyan chood chale was Lata Mangeshkar’s reply to her Didi’s Aawaaz de kahan hain. It was difficult to say which song excelled the other.No list of the best songs of Lata Mangeshkar is complete without Saajan ki galiyan chhod chale (Bazaar, 1949) and Baharein phir bhi ayengi magar hum tum juda honge (Lahore,1949), both composed by Shyam Sundar. These songs were integral to creating Lata Mangeshkar Tsunami, along with the songs from Barsaat (Shankar-Jaikishan), Andaaz, Dulari (Naushad), Patanga (C Ramchandra), Ek Thi Ladki (Vinod), Laadli (Anil Biswas), Badi Bahan (Husnlal-Bhagatram) and Mahal (Khemchand Prakash), in 1949.
Swing into the New Year with guest article by Ashwin Bhandarkar
(A promise made is a debt unpaid. When Ashwin Bhandarkar wrote his first guest article on 6 May 2017, titled Beena madhur madhur kachhu bol, I had indicated he would be writing more articles for SoY. Here he makes good his promise, and I thank him profusely for that. There is yet another good news for music lovers – this is different from the theme he had reserved with me originally, which means we can expect more from him.
Ashwin is one of the select Group of Music Experts on the blog. As for his day job, he is a BITS Pilani and IIM Calcutta alumnus, and works with an IT services major in Pune. His last post established his reputation as a Pun-dit Pun(e)kar. In this one, too, he wears his scholarship lightly. He presents an amazing range of ‘Jhoola’ songs from Hindi and regional films, and Hindustani and Carnatic classical music. There is no better way to ring in the New Year than swinging to the massive playlist (42 songs) he has compiled in the end. Thank you Ashwin again, and wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. – AK)
It feels so good to be back as a guest writer on SoY! My prolonged absence, after a debut that I am not shy to say I am proud of, can be attributed to a combination of procrastination, writer’s block and the fear of not being able to come up with something that would hold the attention of my readers. A few days back, I decided that enough was enough and that everything would work out well, provided I only put finger to keyboard and got started. So I swung back into action in right earnest over the weekend by beginning this article on songs on swings.
One of the criticisms of my debut post was that readers had to wade through a lot of stuff before they could get to the music. Stung by (and that was not an intentional pun on the topic of my previous post – my coming up with it was by hap-pun-stance) this, I decided that for future posts, I would get on with the business of presenting the songs curated by me, without much ado. So, here goes…
Guest article by Sangeeta Gupta, daughter of Madan Mohan, wishing Merry Christmas to the readers
(Sangeeta Gupta discovered ‘Songs of Yore’ like any other person who stumbles upon this blog while searching for something relating to old film music, and started commenting like any other reader, without wearing her identity on her sleeve. Arvinder Sharma informed me that she is the daughter of Madan Mohan. Since SoY was carrying a tandem series on Roshan-Madan Mohan, I approached her for writing a guest article on her father, as a finale to the series, with his songs for ‘other’ singers. As unassuming as she is on the blog, she accepted my request without any fuss or airs, even though she was not in good health.
Sangeetaji is the eldest among the three siblings, her two younger brothers being Sanjeev and Sameer Kohli. She is a homemaker, she has been away from Bombay for 36 years (she lives in Jaipur). She is a passionate listener of the music of all composers, especially semi-classical songs and ghazals. I thank Sangeetaji for concluding the tandem series on Roshan-Madan Mohan, with her personal reminiscences of Madan Mohan. Since I have covered major singers separately, she very kindly agreed to mention songs by ‘other’ singers. Thank You, Sangeetaji. – AK)
I have been an admirer of ‘Songs of Yore’ ever since I discovered it. The blog shows respect to all the artistes, and does not indulge in bringing down one to bring up another. This is the quality which made me read it regularly, especially whenever I was looking for some reference link to a song or topic. My heartfelt congratulations to AKji and wish that he continue with his efforts and endeavours. It is my pleasure to write for this blog about my father, who was a legend in his lifetime.
The best songs of Rafi for any music director would include a number of duets. So it is for Madan Mohan, despite the fact that his solos for Rafi are significantly more than the duets. That is an exception to the general trend of duets being far more in number than male solos. Since we are doing a tandem series on Roshan and Madan Mohan, we have seen in the case of Roshan that his duets for Rafi are far more than his solos. In the case of Madan Mohan-Rafi, out of a total of 168 songs, solos are more than 90, and duets are about 75. But the sheer number of duets makes a post on this necessary to enjoy the full charm of their association.
And the Award for the Best Music Director goes to?
After the Overview post and the three category-wise wrap ups: Wrap Up 1 for the best male solo, Wrap Up 2 for the best female solo and Wrap Up 3 for the best duets – it is time to collate and discuss the dominant music directors of the year 1947 and try to decide a winner. Recapitulating, this was the year of C Ramchandra’s Ana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday which was a brazen break from the tradition of classicism. The purists scoffed, but CR had the last laugh because it became uproariously popular. Shalan Lal’s last post on Meena Kapoor describes the frenzy this song created. Shehnai had some more delightful songs. He also had a stupendously popular Humko tumhara hi aasra tum hamare ho na ho from Saajan. This was a two-version song – a Rafi solo and a Rafi-Lalita Deulkar duet – both being immensely popular. The Overview post in the long list of ‘Memorable Songs’ had some more songs of CR from other films.
Guest article by Shalan Lal as a tribute to Meena Kapoor (c. 1930 – 23 November 2017) on her first death anniversary
(Meena Kapoor has not been acknowledged enough on SoY. Mumbaikar8 has drawn pointed attention to this omission, and was sore that I credited the songs of ‘Anokha Pyar’ (1948) like ‘Yaad rakhan chaand taaro is suhani raat ko’ to Lata Mangeshkar instead of her. There must be other readers, too, who are big fans of Meena Kapoor. Shalan Lal’s exhaustive piece on her makes up for this gap and should please her admirers. While taking a comprehensive look at her career, she takes a close look on the first ten films for which she sang. She also gives her own take on whether her partner/husband, Anil Biswas, did enough for her singing career. This part may be highly contentious and provocative, but that has been her usual style to attract involved discussion.
Shalan Lal is a UK-based academic. – AK)
“Here’s looking at you, my followers, from the heaven above!”
A musical and otherwise look at the first 10 films for which Meena Kapoor sang
As per the available information, Meena Kapoor’s singing career in Hindi films spanned from 1946 to 1965, singing over 100 songs, including solos, duets and chorus songs. She was born in 1930 to Bikram Kapoor, an actor with the New Theatres Company, Calcutta. He appeared in the two versions of Devdas (1935) as the bullock cart driver: the one with P.C. Barua in Bengali, the original version, and the one in Hindi, in which Saigal played the role of Devdas. He also appeared in Bimal Roy’s Devdas (1955) with Dilip Kumar in the lead role.
Pramathesh Barua and Bikram Kapoor in the famous scene of “Devdas”
From 1933 to 1963, Bikram Kapoor acted as a character actor in the New Theatres films and the films produced in Bombay, totalling over 45 films. It is said that he was also related to Barua. Barua was the prince of a small princedom in Assam. Barua created his own film company that became defunct before he joined the New Theatres. After very successful films productions at the New Theatres he left it as he could not get along with BN Sarkar. So in the feud and in the competition with the New Theatres Company and BN Sarkar as a person, he resurrected his old film company. His anger and fury dissolved in his early passing away due to his Devdas like death on account of drowning himself in his excessive drinking.
Meena Kapoor was six years old when Devdas of Saigal became popular all over India with all the songs hit in this film. It is possible that she must have watched the film with her parents to see her father‘s acting. The other musical films of the New Theatres also could be part of her growing up. She sang her first song when she was just sixteen years old. According to one article, Meena Kapoor sang many songs at the age of eleven when still in the school. She was self-taught to find her way through the difficult passages of the songs easily.
One does not know if she sang in Bengali films as well. But in the quality of her singing voice, she had natural lilt of Punjab and fine cultivation of Bengal, a unique quality! Her Hindi diction was clear and naturally sweet. It is said that Sachin Dev Burman was a regular friend of Bikram Kapoor household and suggested to him that she should have regular classes in music. But Bikram Kapoor wanted her to pursue her school work. This means he did not want her coming near the film industry. Some of her publicity photographs appearing in the Wikipedia show that she was like a Victorian young maiden reading novels of romances that transported her to a different world. As she grew up in the golden musical days of the New Theatres she must have absorbed sweetness of Saigal, Uma-Shashi*, K.C.Dey. Pankaj Mullick, Kanan Devi and so on. Young people who grew up when Tagore and Sharatchandra mesmerised the youth of ‘Shonar Bongla’ had to be the part of the Bhadra Lok.
(*For further reading about Uma-Shashi and the New Theatres, AK’s post on “New Theatres’ Romance with Prem” published on May 29, 2011 is very remarkable.)
Meena in another world “Tell us what have you been reading?”
“Are they chocolate box novels of Barbara Cartland or pride romances of Jane Austen or the heart-tearing stories of the Bronte sisters that take you to a faraway different world?”
According to the excellent obituary article written by ‘Mehfil Mein Meri’ on 3 December 2017 titled Remembering Meena Kapoor, she sang more than a hundred songs for Hindi films. If she sang two songs per films she needed only fifty films to reach one hundred. And if she did four songs per film she needed only twentyfive films.
Following is a list of films in chronological order that had her playback and have been gone through by the author for this article. The numbers at the end of Anil Biswas MD are to denote the chronological order of his composition in which Meena Kapoor sang songs. These numbers are not of his songs but are the chronological order of his films. For example in serial #58, against Rahi (1953) Anil Biswas-09 means that was the ninth film of Anil Biswas in which he gave a song to Meena Kapoor, and so on.
Out of the above 71 films in which Meena Kapoor sang, only 20 had music by Anil Biswas. One site mentions that there was a Meena Kapoor song in the 1947 film Parwana, composed by Anil Biswas. There is a famous film Parwana (1947) which had KL Saigal in the lead role and music by Khursheed Anwar. It is also known that Anil Biswas never gave music for a KL Saigal film. Was there another film by the same name, or is this an error? More research is needed in this area. Meena Kapoor might have sung in more films that still need to be discovered.
Here are some of the songs of Meena Kapoor from the first ten films of the Bollywood and the contagious, infectious filmy gossips and the ambience of the related films to celebrate the Anniversary of the death of Meena Kapoor.
1)Eight Days (1946)
This film had a very successful cast: mega star Ashok Kumar, Veera, Sa’adat Hasan Manto, Sunalini Devi, Upendrnath Ashk, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, SL Puri, Leela Mishra and Agha Jaan. The story was written by Manto and the dialogues were by both Ashk and Manto. The lyrics were written by Gopal Singh Nepali and Qamar Jalalabadi. The film was directed by Dattaram Pai who was a sound engineer at the Bombay Talkies. But according to the memories of of Upendrnath Ashk who wrote a book on his hostility to Sa’adat Hasan Manto called “Manto Mera Dushman”, the filmAath Din was in reality directed by Ashok Kumar, the great actor of the film Kismat.
The highest grossers of 1946 were Anmol Ghadi, Shahjehan, Phulwari, Omar Khayyam and the film 1857. Aath Din did not have much impact on the Box Office. But later on it became important because of the two great literati people Ashk and Manto. In 1956, Ashk got his memoir published under the title Manto and Aath Din, and his Hindi-Urdu book called Manto Mera Dushman as well. As described in the book his enmity with Manto began at the All India Radio, Delhi where both Manto and Ashk were employed in the Drama Department. Ashk was also literary consultant to the department. One of the radio plays written by Manto was torn down by the radio official on the advice of Ashk.
It is a coincidence that both the great writers of Urdu literature and later on in Hindi, had deep influence of the Russian Literature prior to the “October Revolution”. Both translated many Russian stories and novels in Urdu, and Ashk translated from his own Urdu into Hindi. They both belonged to the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) in Bombay. Premchand was the mentor of Ashk and told him Hindi had bigger audience and money. They both got the highest literary awards from their respective countries: Ashk got Sangeet Naatak Akademi Award in 1965 and Manto posthumously got Nishan-e-Imtiaz Award (Order of Excellence) in 2012 in Pakistan.
The story of Eight Days was very typical Bollywood-ish. A rich householder’s maid servant’s daughter fell in love with the rich man’s son, but the maid servant did not like that and created problems in the way of the star-crossed lovers. The maid servant had in mind another rich person’s daughter for her master’s son. But that person was interested in the wealth of the maid servant’s master.
The film had seven songs sung by veteran singers like Binapani Mukherjee, Lalita Deolkar and Amirbai Karnataki. Meena Kapoor got a solo song written by Gopal Singh Nepali, Kisi se meri preet lagi, ab kyan karun. This song has an echo in the film Barsat (1949) song, ‘O, O! mujhe kisi se pyar ho gaya’, lyrics by Jalal Malihabadi, composition by Shankar-Jaikishan and sung by Lata Mangeshkar.
She also got a duet with Chitalkar in Eight Days: Ek nai kali, sasural chali, dubli si dulhan ban ke, lyrics by Gopal Singh Nepali. This shows that Chitalkar too was employed by the Filmistan who in the following year gave excellent music to the Filmistan film Shehnai (1947) which became a blockbuster and used the voice of Meena Kapoor for the famous song Aana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday.
The film Eight Days had music by SD Burman who also sang the haunting song, Ummeed bhara panchhi, tha dhund raha sajani. SD Burman, who spent his time in the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) Calcutta, was employed with Filmistan by Shashadhar Mukherjee, who invited Meena Kapoor to sing as a playback singer for two songs for Eight Days. This was also recorded as the first film of Meena Kapoor as a playback singer in the HFGK Vol. II.
(According to ‘Mehfil Mein Meri’ tribute to Meena Kapoor, she recorded her first song for Neenu Majumdar’s compositions in Pul (1947), but her songs recorded for S.D. Burman’s Eight Days (1946) were released first.)
1. Kisi se meri preet lagi by Meena Kapoor from Eight Days (1946), lyrics Gopal Singh Nepali, music SD Burman
2.Ek nai kali sasural chali dubli si dulhan ban ke (duet with Chitalkar) from Eight Days (1946), lyrics Gopal Singh Nepali.
2)Door Chalein(1946)
Krishna Chandra Dey was the divine singer and composer.
Naseem Banu was the heroine in this film. She was called ‘Pari’, a heavenly beauty!
Meena Kapoor got singing engagement in Door Chalein (1946) produced by Durga Films, Bombay. The film was directed by Phani Mujumdar and had music by KC Dey. She knew both from the days of the New Theatres Company. Here Meena Kapoor got a solo Zindagi mein nai kahani and two duets with KC Dey: Na rona, na rona and Anjanae se pahchane. Her voice was also used in three chorus songs: Door kahin door chalein, Dil ka lut jana and Ghar laut chalein. The last song suggests the yearning for Bengali homes by all the Bengali artists in Bombay. It came out in Nitin Bose, the famous director, and Hemant Kumar, the singer and music director, who never made a home in Bombay but commuted between Calcutta and Bombay.
Around this time the mighty New Theatres of Calcutta, the jewel of Bengal and the crowning glory of Calcutta, was hobbling to oblivion eventually, and that had orphaned of all kinds of artists who started crowding in Bombay. In that period, by Calcutta Mail one would reach Bombay in three nights and three good days.
At this stage one could safely say Meena Kapoor’s playback singing career started smoothly ahead of Lata Mangeshkar who was not much noticed during this period, and one would have expected Meena Kapoor to have grown in stature in the future, as songs became very important part of the Indian films Industry. A huge number of film-making companies mushroomed in every part of Bombay from Grant Road to Malad at all the suburban stations on the railway line called BBCI (short for the “Bombay, Baroda, & Central Indian” Railway) owned by the Maharaja of Baroda, which is now known as the Western Railway. Its rival company was called GIP (short for the “Great Indian Peninsula” Railway), which is now called Central Railway. Both original companies were private companies for profit making business. In Independent India, the Central Government nationalised all private railways with a Minister in charge. Nationalisation is the game of “October Revolution”.
3. Aa gayi aa gayi zindagi mein ik nai kahani by Meena Kapoor from Door Chalein (1946), lyrics (?), music KC Dey
3)Chalte Chalte(1947)
Film Chalte Chalte, aka ‘On the Way’, had Patanjal, Latika, Sudha, Kanta Kumari, Anwaribai, Shekhar, Gope and KN Singh in the cast. The film was produced and directed by SK Malik. I found a wonderful poster of the film. Sometime in future I would like to write about the filmy posters and hoardings that created craving in the fans for songs, stories and actors and escapism for the have-nots.
The actor Patanjal is obviously on the left side in the poster and was the hero, and Latika who is on the right was the heroine. One can identify Gope and KN Singh easily. It seems the actor Patanjal got some parts in later films like Taxi Driver (1954), CID Girl (1969) etc. The name ‘Patanjal’ is very unusual and it may be coming from ‘Patanjali Yog’. But what is ‘Patanjali Yog’ and what is its connection with the actor Patanjal?”
The actress Latika also got main parts in many films. Her first film was Parakh in 1944. She was in films like Gopinath (1948), Jugnu (1947) and Shanti (1947).
Actor Shekhar seems to be the same one who was the hero in the film Aakhiri Daao (1958) with Nutan, with many good songs by Madan Mohan. Shekhar was born in a village of Punjab where there was no water or electricity. He acted in many films from 1945 to well into sixties. He was the hero only in a few films. In Aakhiri Daao in a picnic scene, Shekhar looked amateurish under the spell of love while lip-synching the song, तुझे क्या सुनाऊँ मैं दिलरुबा तेरे सामने मेरा हाल है, to the pretty Nutan in the voice of Mohammed Rafi. The song created furore as its melody was similar to a song that Dilip Kumar lip-synched in the film Sangdil (1952): ये हवा, ये रात, ये चाँदनी, तेरी एक अदा पे निसार है in the silken soft voice of Talat Mahmood.
The composer of the songs of Sangdil, Sajjad Hussain, who was a very proud and “Aadidappa” personality, chastised Madan Mohan for stealing his melody. I wonder MM could have done something like that. Couldn’t both the melodies have a common root? (It is now accepted that Madan Mohan’s song was inspired from Sajjad Hussain’s, and the latter was not amused. One version says that Madan Mohan had taken Sajjad Hussain’s permission. The other version has it that on being accosted by the latter, Madan Mohan was able to pacify him by saying that he could only take inspiration from a genius like him. – AK)
Back to the main theme. Chalte Chalte had music direction by one of the most melodious directors of the period, Khemchand Prakash, popular for his glorious Tansen (1943) with massive thirteen songs shared between Saigal and Khursheed. Chalte Chalte had total eleven songs and Meena Kapoor got three duets and no solo:
1) Aaj bar aayi hain dil ki tamanaayein (with Manna Dey)
2) Aate hain woh aahista aahista haule haule (with Patanjal)
3) Gaye ja, O dilruba tu gaye ja (with Rajkumari)
Sadly even with the great MD Khemchand Prakash, Chalte Chalte seemed to have made no mark on the audience. We have no information or gossip about anything in the present resources available. Perhaps SoY members may find something somewhere and it will be welcomed by me.
4.Aate hain wo aahista aahista haule haule by Patanjal and Meena Kapoor from Chalte Chalte (1947), lyrics Lal Chand ‘Bismil’ Peshavari, music Khemchand Prakash
4) Shehnai(1947)
Shehnai seemed to be an ideal formula for comedy songs and general rumpus and uproar to entertain the filmgoers flippantly. The team of C Ramchandra, Pyarelal Santoshi and Lata Mangeshkar came up with a number of similar comedies towards the end of the forties and the beginning of the fifties.
This film had ten songs and all became ragingly popular. One had not seen before this kind of hullabaloo in music, dance and the characters creating comic commotion. This film had a minor role for Kishore Kumar who later carried on the logical end of the buffoonery in music and acting, thus enriching Hindi films, music and songs. Of course Mehmood, Johnny Walker etc. carried on the tradition of ragingly funny films that started with this film.
This film has a song sung by Amirbai’s in her heart-slicing voice, Mari katari mar jana, which has an Urdu couplet at the beginning, followed by the main heart-pouring song-verses. This became a kind of fashion with many music directors later on, for example in Deedar (1951) Naushad preceded his song, Hue hum jinke liye barbaad, with the couplet in recital style: Asir-e-punja-e-ahad-e-shabab. The SoY fans may find similar examples in many film songs.
Amirbai Karnataki was the second among six sisters and a brother, born in a traditional Muslim singing family of Bijapur in Karnataka. Amirbai and one of her younger sisters, Gauhar Karnataki, worked for a Kannad Theatre Company, and later acted and sang in Hindi films. Not much is known about their other sisters.
Amirbai in the film “Station Master `1942
AK has done some work on Amirbai in a post titled ‘Naushad–C Ramachandra duel for Amirbai Karnataki’ as a tribute to her on her 50th Death Aniversary on March 15, 2015 and is worth reading for the music lovers.
Shehanai has a rampantly famous duet, Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday, in two parts. The first one was in the voices of Meena Kapoor and Chitalkar (C Ramchandra). This song just blew up the audience of 1947 and still does with similar effect. Meena Kapoor handled the comic and clowning effect in the song extremely well. She was just seventeen years old. Singing comic songs is more difficult than singing sad melodious songs. Part two of this hilarious hullabaloo was in the voices of Samshad Begum and Chitalkar.
The actors are lip-syncing and dancing comically to the above song in the film Shehnai.
There is another song in the film as a duet, Chhuk chhuk chhaiya chhaiya, sone ki machhariya, by Meena Kapoor and Binapani Mukherjee. She sang very well with the fellow Bengali singer and the song became popular especially among the children who were forbidden to see the film that time.
The third song was a chorus, Jawani ki rail chali jaye re. The chorus was also joined in by Anil Biswas who later married Meena Kapoor. This reference comes from the sensational biography of C Ramchandra published in the seventies in Marathi and not available now because of a lot of dubious references in it. (That Anil Biswas attended the recording of ‘Shehnai’ and joined in this chorus song does not seem to be correct. Arunkumar Deshmukh, who has translated some parts of C Ramchandra’s Marathi autobiography, has stated in an earlier discussion that the book contains no such reference. Shalan Lal is probably mixing up with some other film. – AK)
And other participants in this jaunty chorus song were Lata Mangeshkar and Geeta Roy as well and other singers of the Filmistan Company. This was the first time that Lata Mangeshkar was singing for C Ramchandra.
5. Ana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday by Chitalkar and Meena Kapoor from Shehnai (1947), lyrics PL Santoshi, music C Ramchandra
5) Pul aka ‘Bridge’ (1947)
The film Pul alias ‘Bridge’ was made by Rajlaxmi Pictures, Bombay, and the director was Sudhir Sen. Its music was composed by Neenu Majumdar. The film had nine songs and the singing voices were of Neenu Majumadar, Laxmi, Hamida Banu, Shanta and Meena Kapoor. The lyrics were by Rammurti Chaturvedi, Narendra Sharma and Meerabai. The following actors were credited in the films: Rehana, Biman Banerjee, Balraj Mehta, E. Bilimoria, Bikram Kapoor, Jahan Aara, Maya, Chandabai, Madan Puri, Narmada Shankar and Moni Chatterjee.
According to the obituary tribute by ‘Mehfil Mein Meri’, Pul was the first film of Meena Kapoor and the MD Neenu Majumdar was the first to use her voice as the playback in the film, but the release of this film was delayed for a year. One can see the logic as Meena Kapoor’s father was in this film. One can also assume that the father, mother and daughter migrated to Bombay like other New Theatres orphan artistes. But what is the source of knowledge that the film Pul was delayed for a year to be screened? (SD Burman’s biography by Sathya Saran titled ‘Sun Mere Bandhu Re’ states at page #71, “Meena Kapoor clarified in an interview that her first song was actually for a film called ‘Pul’, but ‘Aath Din’ released first and thus became the vehicle for her debut.” – AK)
Meena Kapoor got a solo bhajan by Meerabai, and a duet with Neenu Majumadar, Aaye bhi nahin, beet gaye din bahar ke, lyrics by Pt Narendra Sharma. The film had two chorus songs but HFGK does not mention Meena Kapoor’s name. I think her voice is in both the chorus songs, thus making totalling her 4 songs in the film. (No song from this film seems to be available on the YouTube. –AK)
Then next film also has Neenu Majumadar’s composition and Meena Kapoor’s voice.
6) Jail Yatra (1947)
In the first picture Raj Kapoor looks as though from Awara (1951). The second is more in the line of Jail Yatra, but he was not the hero of the film. The hero Jagirdar is secondary in the present publicity, and Raj Kapoor has been glorified. Neither Kamini Kaushal nor Raj Kapoor was famous then. In Jail Yatra they were just ordinary people affected by the national upheaval. But the above poster of the Jail Yatra in colour has the images of Raj Kapoor and Kamini Kaushal from their later films. I wonder is this manipulation of history? Any SoY reader has any point of view?
I had carried an impression for a long time that the only film in which Raj Kapoor acted with Kamini Kaushal was ‘Aag’ (1948) which was his debut film as a producer and director. A couple of months back, I got an mp3 clip of a rare song from the obscure film Jail Yatra (1947) in which Raj Kapoor was teamed up with Kamini Kaushal as a romantic pair though the lead actor was Gajanan Jagirdar who was also the producer and director of the film. Other actors in the film were Badri Prasad, Sunalini Devi, Bikram Kapoor, Dixit, Ramlal, Hemvati, Pratima Devi etc. Acting with Kamini Kaushal in Jail Yatra perhaps gave confidence to Raj Kapoor to cast her opposite himself in Aag (1948). A comment by a reader of a blog on cinema:
“The information and pictures are more or less of Raj Kapoor and Kamini Kaushal and very little about Gajanan Jagirdar who made this film under his own banner and production company. It was directed by him as well. Mr. Jagirdar was a great thespian on the powerful Marathi stage. He produced many plays and later on was invited by Shantaram to act in the Prabhat films. He acted in the most powerful film of Shantaram called ‘Shejari’ in Marathi and ‘Padosi’ in Hindi. In the Marathi film he played the character of a Muslim and in Hindi he repeated it against Mazhar Khan who played a Hindu character. In the thirties and forties Mazhar Khan was a very powerful actor. He produced and directed some films. His last film was the famous ‘Pahli Nazar’ with Motilal in the lead who lip-synced Mukesh’s ‘Dil jalta hai to jalne de’, composed by Anil Biswas. Then Mazhar Khan went to Pakistan.”
The film Jail Yatra had Bikram Kapoor in a minor role. His daughter was one of the playback singers as well. So this film had three Kapoors who were in reality minor names at that time. The film had music direction and composition by Neenu Majumdar. There were eight songs in total. The lyrics were by Rammurti Chaturvedi, Narendra Sharma and Sajjan who later had acting roles in some films as well.
The HFGK has identified three singers of three songs only. One song ‘पिया मिलने नवेली नदी जाए रे’ was sung by Raj Kapoor, lyrics by Rammurti Chaturvedi who also had a small acting role in the film. Another song, O gori kahan chali us paar, was a duet in the voices of Meena Kapoor and Neenu Majumadar, lyrics by Sajjan. The third was a solo in the voice of Neenu Majumadar, Duniya saari jail re jiski unchi deewarein, lyrics by Sajjan. Other songs are not identified. But the SoY readers may find them somewhere.
6. O gori kahan chali us paar by Neenu Majumdar and Meena Kapoor from Jail Yatra (1947), lyrics Sajjan, music Neenu Majumdar
The highest money grossing films at the Box Office of the Independence year 1947 were: Jugnu, Do Bhai, Dard, Mirza Sahibaan. Shehani, and Elaan.
7)Anokha Pyar(1948)
The year 1948 was very good for Meena Kapoor as she got singing assignment in 15 films that year.
Look up at the picture above, the central figure of Dilip Kumar. That face is from Andaaz and not from Anokha Pyar. So are the faces of Nargis and Nalini Jaywant from different pictures.
At that time Anil Biswas, the most senior MD of the Hindi films in all senses of the word, met melodious-voiced and pretty looking Meena Kapoor at the sweet eighteen years of her age, at the golden threshold of her life and he fell in love at the musical recording of his compositions, according to ‘Mehfil Mein Meri’. This led to break-up of his marriage in 1954 with the charming actress Meherunnisa aka Ashalata who had borne him four children.
Ashalata was one of the ‘Lux’ beauties. Lux chose only pretty looking and sophisticated ladies for their advertisements. Before Ashalata doing the advert, Shobhna Samarth did the advert and she was a very well-known beauty of her time. She was also the mentor of Ashalata. Ashalata was not just a pretty face for the Lux soap adverts but a highly competent, skilled artist and administrator to run a film company created by her mainly and supported by Anil Biswas. Her sons helped her later on. She was a very brave woman but sadly circumstances forced her to enter the difficult path of life, not of her own making. She also did other aspects of the productions of films and her talents were hired by other film producers of the period as well. I hope that Anil Biswas’s daughter Shikha Biswas Vohra writes on her mother to remember her talent and contributions.
“Anil Biswas gave her chance in many of his movies, though Lata Mangeshkar remained his first choice in the majority of the movies, and Meena Kapoor was given other songs”. Mark the words “though Lata Mangeshkar remained his first choice in the majority of the movies”.
The marriage of Meena Kapoor and Anil Biswas took a long time to come about, they were tied in holy matrimony in 1959 when she was 29 and he was 44. Her father Bikram Kapoor died in 1963. It seems that he objected to it for a long time. Many of the obituaries written in 2017 mentioned the ‘staggering age gap’ between the couple but the writers did not comment on it.
There is a dead confusion about the songs that Meena Kapoor sang for the film Anokha Pyar under the baton of Anil Biswas. The HFGK made a special note under its entree of Anokha Pyar. The film had ten songs and out of these, the number 2 (Yaad rakhana chaand taaro), number 4 (Mere liye wo gham-e-intezaar chhod gaye), number 7 (Ek dil ka lagana baki tha), number 9 (Aye dil meri wafa ka koi asar nahi hai), and the last one (Ab yaad na kar bhool ja) were picturised with Meena Kapoor as the female voice, but the gramophone records were issued in the voices of Lata Mangeshkar/Ira Nagarth, because Meena Kapoor took ill at the time of the recordings. The song number two was also picturised in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar.
Why was there Lata’s name and not Meena’s? It is logical that if Lata Mageshkar sang for the records, her name should be on the records. But the compositions were done for Meena Kapoor and she was on the sound track of the film! What a confusing reel knot that lost Meena Kapoor the real race in the playback singing with Lata! All the above songs were superhits. Being on the record and named as ‘Lata Mangeshkar’ she got fabulous publicity and push in the singing world.
The HFGK used only Lata Mangeshkar’s name against its enumerations of the songs of the film Anokha Pyar. Meena Kapoor’s name is absent even in the chorus song ऐ दिल मेरी वफ़ा में कोई असर नहीं है, lyric by Shams Azimbadi. The song has voices of Lata Mangeshkar, Meena Kapoor and Nagarth. This information is from some other source. (Which source? The video of this song is available. There are only Nalini Jaywant and Nargis on the screen, leaving no room for the third voice. – AK)
There are two more duets in two voices for the characters of Nalini Jaywant and Nargis. The duet भोला भाला री मोरा बलमा न जाने, lyrics by Zia Sarhadi, is in the voices of both Lata Mangeshkar and Meena Kapoor. This information is not mentioned in the HFGK. The song goes under Lata Mangeshkar’s name alone who later sang all songs of the film Barsat; thus started her one-voice-for-all-characters career. But did Lata sing both the voices in duet? This could be another record-breaking incident for Lata! Another duet is मेरे लिये वो ग़म-ए-इंतज़ार छोड़ गये, lyrics by Behzad Lakhanavi. This song in HFGK goes only in one name that is Lata Mangeshkar while it was in the voice of Meena Kapoor. (Again Shalan Lal seems to be off on facts. Videos of these songs, too, are available on the YT. ‘Bhola anadi mora’ is picturised only on Nalini Jaywant, and ‘Mere liye wo gham-e-intezar chhod gaye’, on Nargis. How does she see duets in these songs? – AK)
So Meena Kapoor remained only in a shadow and only on the film without even credit. “Is this love, is this love, is this love?” From this film onwards Lata Mangeshkar got assurance and self-confidence for her future career and Meena Kapoor was left limping behind and mute, and I am jaw dropping speechless.
In an interview with a cine journalist Meena Kapoor said, “Anilji was bitter about the latter years of his film career but he once told me, ‘Looking at you so much younger to me yet so contented, I too have learnt to accept.’ We were called the ‘lovebirds’. He passed away six months ago, but I am unable to accept it till date.”
If Anil Biswas was in love with the pretty songstress, then he must have been very confused which one was his real love! If Anil Biswas was in real love of Meena Kapoor and her voice, he would have found numerous aspects of her voice qualities and virtuosities and would have exploited them in the songs as he was a very fertile composer and experienced music director, but all his goodies in the music went to Lata Mangeshkar.
From my looking at 71 films that had Meena Kapoor’s songs and those that were composed by Anil Biswas, his preference and bias was always for Lata Mangeshkar except Pardesi (1957) where the best song went to Meena Kapoor and she proved that she could be better than Lata Mangeshkar. But alas, it was very, very late in her life!
Anil Biswas died in 2003, leaving his love-bird wife Meena Kapoor wasted before and after his death. Her life of forty four years with Anil Biswas seemed not very well spent or fruitful otherwise or musically, even as she was as talented as Lata Mangeshkar, which she proved in the Pardesi (1957) song.
She was not in communication with her step children before going to Calcutta to live in her family home. She suffered from a stroke resulting in paralysis, a very long, lonely, forlorn, abandoned, painful and tormented drag of life!
(I have serious differences with Shalan Lal on this part of her observations. The speculation on the personal relationship between Anil Biswas-Meena Kapoor-Ashalata is totally uncalled for and we have no basis to make such sweeping comments. For the record, in an interview when asked why she shifted to Delhi, Meena Kapoor replied that she gave up her singing career because she wanted to be with Anil Biswas. Shalan’s thesis about how Meena Kapoor’s singing career could have shaped, but for Anil Biswas’s apathy to ensure her due credit in ‘Anokha Pyar’, and his later unfair treatment to her, is equally far-fetched. Why can’t we draw a straightforward inference that Anil Biswas kept the personal and the professional apart, and judged Lata Mangeshkar to be more talented? Every singer has a ‘Rasiya re man basiya re’, or ‘Kabhi tanhaaiyon mein hamari yaad ayegi’, or ‘Tum apna ranz-o-gham apni pareshani humein de do’ – moment, and you can’t build up an entire fanciful career on that basis. – AK)
7.Yaad rakha chaand taaro is suhani raat ko by Meena Kapoor from Anokhi Raat (1948), lyrics Zi Sarhadi, music Anil Biswas
(In this long video of the song, you hear Mukesh, Meena Kapoor and Lata Mangeshkar’s voices clearly. – AK)
8)Dhanyawad (1948)
This picture was made by Kalpana Pictures, Bombay. The music is by Allah Rakha Qureshi and the lyrics by Sajjan. It was directed by Gajanan Jagirdar. It had a cast of Hansa Wadkar, Lalita Pawar, Sajjan (as the hero), Leela Mishra, Agha, and BikramKapoor.
HFGK mentions six songs, and possibly there were some more songs which HFGK could not find. Meena Kapoor got a solo bhajan, Main roti hun, tum hans rahe ho Krishna Murari, which became very popular.
The dazzling Hansa Wadkar in one of the films of the Bombay Talkies.
Hansa Wadkar’s “Tell it all” autobiography detailing how men in power exploited and physically abused her became a sensation. This was a Me-Too moment much before Hollywood’s Weinstein affair. She became famous posthumously when the master art-movie maker, Shyam Benegal, made a film on her life called Bhumika (1977) with Smita Patil acting as Hansa Wadkar. The film won many Indian and international awards. The film is now a permanent feature in the various film festivals all over the world.
Both Hansa Wadkar and Lalita Pawar were heroines in Marathi films. Hansa Wadkar also worked for the Bombay Talkies and Prabhat Films in Pune and the films of Bhalji Pendharkar. Her aunt Indira Wadkar was also an actress married to the well-known actor-director of the 1903s and 40s, Vinayak, famous for his Marathi film Brahmachari. The actress Nanda was their daughter. (Arunkumar Deshmukh explains in his comment #9 below that Indira Wadkar was not married to Master Vinayak, but it was her sister Susheela Bai who was married to him. – AK)
8. Main roti hun tum hans rahe ho Krinshna Murari by Meena Kapoor from Dhanyavad (1948), lyrics Sajjan, music AR Qureshi
9)Gopinath (1948)
The film Gopinath was made under the banner of Shanti Lokchitra Company, Bombay. The director of the film was Mahesh Kaul who has many good films at his credit and music was by Neenu Majumadar. The actors according to the billing were Raj Kapoor, Tripti Mitra, Latika, Randhir, Mahesh Kaul, Baby Zubeda and NiranjanTiwari. Lyrics were by Surdas, Mirabai, and Rammurti Chaturvedi.
Meena Kapoor got five songs in the film, including four solos and a duet. All songs she sang sweetly, especially those of Surdas and Meerabai. The film got some success and Meena Kapoor showed full promise to flourish as a playback singer. The film had second running when Raj Kapoor became famous with the films like Barsaat, Aah and Aawara.
The story of Gopinath is about a young man who is star-struck and neglects his real love, childhood girlfriend, sought as his wife by his mother. The filmy girl as usual takes him for a ride and leaves him in limbo. Hurt by the state, the lover boy returns home. The story had some echo in Raj Kapoor’s personal life: his wife Krishna chosen by the family, and his obsession with his screen star Nargis.
9. Main birhan baithi jaagun jagat sab sove ri aali by Meena Kapoor from Gopinath (1948), lyrics Meerabai, music Neena Majumdar
10. Ayi gori Radhika Brij mein bal khati by Neenu Majumdar and Meena Kapoor from Gopinath (1948), lyrics Surdas, music Neenu Majumdar
10)Ghar Ki Izzat (1948)
Ghar Ki Izzat (Honour of the House) is a social family drama directed by Ram Daryani for Murli Movietone. The film starred Dilip Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti in lead roles with Manorama, Jeevan and Gope. The cinematography was by Kumar Jaywant. The music was composed by Pandit Govindram. The story writer was KS Daryani who also wrote the dialogues, and the lyrics were by IC Kapoor.
The milieu is an upper middle-class joint family with the mother treating her son’s wife shabbily. The son, an educated man working as a lawyer, is unable to handle the situation at home and turns to drink. But Gope provides comic relief and also sings a very good song, Bane hain hum ghar jamai, in his own brother Ram Kamlani’s voice. The film had eleven songs and luckily Meena Kapoor got a song Boot polish karva le babu. That became a hit song in the film. The other songs went to Shamashad Begum and Zohrabai Ambalewali.
The highest grossing films of 1948 were: 1) Shaheed, 2) Chandralekha, 3) Pyar Ki Jeet, 4) Mela, 5) Ziddi, 6) Nadiya Ke Pyar, 7) Suhagraat.
11. Boot polish karva le babu by Meena Kapoor from Ghar Ki Izzat (1948), lyrics IC Kapoor, music Neenu Majumdar
(It is interesting to note that Suraiya had earlier sung a song with similar mukhada, ‘Boot karun main polish babu’, acknowledged as her first song, in the film ‘Nai Duniya’ (1942), composed by Naushad.)
ADDENDA and ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
1. In the ten films from 1946 to 1948 I have chosen for detailed analysis, Meena Kapoor sang about 30 songs under the baton of the following music directors:
1) Aath Din, S.D Burman: 2 songs
2) Door Chalein, KC Dey: 6 songs
3) Chalte Chalte, Khemchand Prakash: 3 songs
4) Shehnai, C Ramchandra: 3 songs
5) Pul, Neenu Majmudar: 5 songs
6) Jail Yatra, Neenu Majumdar: 1 song
7) Anokha Pyar, Anil Biswas
8) Dhanyawad, Allah Rakha Qureshi 1 song
9) Gopinath, Neenu Majumdar: 5 songs
10) Ghar Ki Izzat, Pt. Govindram: 1 Song.
The songs of Anokha Pyar are not included as there is no clear understanding of which songs go to whom?
There are more films in 1948 that have Meena Kapoor’s playback singing. She sang up to 1965 in 71 films and total of 145 songs or more.
2. Her crowning glory came to her in the song Rasiya re man basiya re in the film Pardesi (1957), composed by Anil Biswas, lyrics by Prem Dhavan and Sarder Jaffrey and the song was lip-synced by Nargis, the first Lady of the Indian Screen as she was called after Devika Rani.
3. This article is based on the Part I of the seven parts Monograph I had sculpted out after myriad searches and going through the seventy one films and more material related to the songs of Meena Kapoor.
4. Readers are encouraged to read the following articles:
Anil Biswas’s Centenary celebration at SOY in 1914:
4.1 There are eleven titles under the name of ‘Anil Biswas’ on the right hand panel of the blog under the title, Music Directors: Anil Biswas. Except for two, rest of the articles are by AK.
‘Mehfil Mein Meri’ already mentioned.
‘Anil Biswas’ an article in the Wikipedia
Cinestan: Trivia on Anil Biswas
5. Comparison of number of Lata Mangeshkar and Meena Kapoor songs by Anil Biswas in the same films
1. Anokha Pyar (1948) Confusion? Lata got 9 L-09 M-00
2. Ladli (1949): Total Meena 2, Lata got 7 L-07 M-02
3. Lajawab (1950): Total Meena 1, Lata got 9 L- 07 M-01
4. Do Sitare (1951): Total Meena 1 chorus, Lata got 2 L-02 M-01
5. Doraha (1952): Total Meena 1 chorus, Lata 2 solos L-02 M-01
6. Aakash (1953): Total Meena 2, Lata got 2 L-02 M-02
7. Jalianwala Baag Ki Jyoti (1953): Meena 2, Lata 2 L-02 M-02
8. Mehman (1953): Total Meena 4, Lata 4 L-04 M-04
9. Rahi (1953): Total Meena 3, Lata 4 L-04 M-03
10. Maan (1954): Total Meena 2, Lata 5 L-05 M-02
11. Naaz (1954): Total Meena 1, Lata 5 L-05 M-01
12. Paisa Hi Paisa (1956): Total Meena 1, Lata 4, L-04 M-01
13. Jalati Nishani ( 1957): Total Meena 1, Lata 6 L-06 M-01
14. Pardesi (1957): Meena 3, Lata 1 L-01 M-03
15. Chaar Dil Chaar Raahen (1959): Meena 2. Lata 3, L-03 M-02
16. Angulimaal (1960): Total Meena 3, Lata 2 L-02 M-03
17. Lucky Number (1961): Meena 1, Lata Unknown L-U M-03
18. Sautela Bhai (1962): Total Meena 4, Lata 1 L-01 M-04
19. Return of Mr Superman (1960): Meena 4, Lata Unknown L-U M-04
20. Chhoti Chhoti Baatein (1965): Total Meena 1, Lata 2 L-2 M-1
M for Meena Kapoor’s songs: Total 41. L for Lata Mangeshkar’s songs: Total 70. Thus Lata Mangeshkar had advantage of 29 additional songs in the twenty films for which Anil Biswas used Meena Kapoor’s voice. This includes songs of Anokha Pyar for Lata Mangeshkar. As the researchers are still finding Meena Kapoor’s songs, the analysis is still fluctuating.
(The idea that Anil Biswas’s love for Meena Kapoor was quizzically questionable is my own finding after looking at the songs by Anil Biswas for her and in the same films for Lata Mangeshkar. Hence I hold the rights for it and the way this post is written. Shalan Lal)
5. Acknowledegments:
5.1 The Illustrations are from the Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia and other places. Here they are for the illustrations only for the article that is aimed to inform, educate and entertain without any profit motif. The author recognises the rights of those who legally hold the rights.
5.3 I am also thankful to other blogs like Cineplot, Hindi Geet Mala, Indian Express etc. for their invaluable research work and finding the songs of Meena Kapoor that had not mentioned in the usual sources like HFGK.
5.4 Vidur Sury’s blog has a nice article on Amirbai Karnataki.
A tribute to Roshan on his 51st death anniversary (14 July 1917-16 November 1967)
DP Rangan started a tandem series on Madan Mohan-Roshan on July 14 which, in a unique coincidence, happened to be the birth anniversary of one, and the death anniversary of the other. I have since written a number of posts on their association with their main singers Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, and their qawwalis. As the year end approaches, it is time to pay a final tribute to Roshan on his 51st death anniversary with his songs for ‘other’ singers. Later, I plan to end the year with a similar tribute to Madan Mohan with his ‘other singers’.
My post on Rafi’s solos by Roshan appeared more than six years ago, several years before I started the series on the stalwart music directors. And the reason was simple: Roshan ranked among the top in my reckoning for Rafi songs, along with Naushad, SD Burman and OP Nayyar. Duets have no less importance in creating this imprint on my mind. It just so happened that I am coming back to the duets of this combination after six years when DP Rangan set off a tandem series on Roshan and Madan Mohan.
(No event in history has caused as much impact on the world of politics and ideas as the Russian Revolution of October 1917. And no revolution has strayed as much from its path, turning into a totalitarian regime and causing untold miseries on its people. The political edifice collapsed under its own weight, but it did have a romanticised sway on art, culture and literature for a long time.
The topic of this post is way beyond the scope of this blog, but Shalan Lal has a way of weaving many threads and transcending boundaries in her articles. She shared her first draft long ago, in time for the centenary of the revolution, but I had a lot of comments on her content and presentation. Anyone else would have given up, but she persisted and has redone the article substantially. After the politics, she quickly comes to the echoes of the October Revolution in our films and songs. This would stimulate and provoke, which she encourages liberally. I am happy to present Shalan Lal’s guest article commemorating the completion of a century and one year of the October Revolution. – AK)
The October Revolution occurred ‘One hundred and one’ years ago on 24 October 1917 in Russia, in Petrograd, renamed later on as Leningrad, and then renamed again, after the Soviet Project was dissolved like an air bubble in 1994, as St Petersburg or Petrograd. (And some say why the changes of Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai and Calcutta to Kolkata, Poona to Pune, etc. – ironically they all are the echoes of the Red Revolution!)
This seemed to be a practice in politics of many parts of the world. In Tripura, a Lenin’s statue was knocked down by the jubilant BJP party workers after their victory in the last state election. Here is the picture of the Lenin’s statue being knocked down in the city of Belonia. After knocking down the statue the severed head of the statue was wickedly kicked about. A kind of anger expressed by supposedly civilized BJP members in the style of the knocking down of the statue of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after the fall of Iraq. Also the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha!
And the Song of Yore Award for the Best Duet goes to?
The total number of duets in the list of ‘Memorable Songs’ in the Overview post on the best songs of 1947 is about 30 out of 119. This is about 50% more than the male solos, but less than half the female solos. This is similar to the average distribution of the types of songs. As I go down the list of the songs, they can be clearly divided into two categories: one, that attained everlasting popularity; and the other, which remained unknown, except among collectors and intense followers. This is unlike the 1950s and 60s when a large number of songs were in the middle. The absence of the middle ground in 1947 and earlier is a reflection of the antiquity of these songs. The Internet era has made many more songs known, but these are unlikely to displace the ones that have got etched in our memory. Therefore, while any exercise of selecting the best ten will necessarily remain within the familiar territory, I have been covering the unique but less familiar songs under the category ‘Special Songs’.
AK on Rafi ‘s songs for “not the top heroes”Gandhi Vadlapatla, I remember one of Rafi's best patriotic songs, Jahan daal daal par sone ki chidiya karti hai basera...
At the historical concert on the occasion of Noorjehan’s return to Bombay after 35 years, in 1982, Saajan ki galiyan chood chale was Lata Mangeshkar’s reply to her Didi’s Aawaaz de kahan hain. It was difficult to say which song excelled the other. No list of the best songs of Lata Mangeshkar is complete without Saajan ki galiyan chhod chale (Bazaar, 1949) and Baharein phir bhi ayengi magar hum tum juda honge (Lahore,1949), both composed by Shyam Sundar. These songs were integral to creating Lata Mangeshkar Tsunami, along with the songs from Barsaat (Shankar-Jaikishan), Andaaz, Dulari (Naushad), Patanga (C Ramchandra), Ek Thi Ladki (Vinod), Laadli (Anil Biswas), Badi Bahan (Husnlal-Bhagatram) and Mahal (Khemchand Prakash), in 1949. 
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