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.
1. Aath Din (1946); MD Sachin Dev Burman
2. Door Chalen (1946); MD KC Dey
3. Chalte Chalte (1947); MD Khemchand Prakash
4. Jail Yatra (1947); MD Neenu Majumadar
5. Parwana (1947); MD Khurshid Anwar [Anil Biswas (?)]
6. Pul (1947); MD Neenu Majumdar
7. Shehanai (1947); MD C Ramchandra
8. Aaj Ki Raat (1948); MD Husnalal-Bhagatram
9. Anokha Pyar (1948) MD Anil Biswas-01
10. Dhanyawad (1948); MD A.R.Qureshi
11. Dukhiyari (1948); MD Gyan Dutt
12. Ghar Ki Izzat (1948); MD Govindram
13. Gopinath (1948); MD Neenu Majumdar
14. Hip Hip Hurray (1948); MD-Hanuprasad
15. Kuchh Naya (1948); MD Neenu Majumdar
16. Lakhpati (1948); MD Husnlal Bhagatram
17. Nain Mile Jab (1948); MD Govindram
18. Nai Reet (1948); MD S.K. Pal
19. Phool Aur Kaaten (1948); MD Dadasaheb Chanderkar
20. Pyar Ki Jeet (1948); MD Husnlal Bhagatram:
21. Raees (1948); MD Manohar Arora.
22. Rangeen Zamana (1948) MD Pt Govindram
23. Anmol Moti (1949) MD Ram Ganguli
24. Anyaay (1949) MD Ram Prasaad
25. Bholi (1949) MD Govindram
26. Kamal (1949) MD S.D.Burman
27. Ladli (1949); MD Anil Biswas-02
28. Ma Ka Pyar (1949); MD Govindram
29. Policewali (1949); MD A.R.Qureshi
30. Roomal (1949); MD Hansraj Behl
31. Aadhi Raat (1950); MD Husnlal-Bhagatram
32. Aankhen (1950); MD Madan Mohan
33. Aflatoon (1950); MD Neenu Majumdar
34. Apani Chhaya (1950); MD Husnalal Bhagatram
35. Biwi (1950) MD Aziz Hindi and Khayam
36. Chor (1950); MD Govindram
37. Gulnar (1950); MD Hansraj Behl
38. Jalte Deep (1950); MD Shardul Kwatra
39. Khel (1950); MD Sajjad Husain
40. Lajawab (1950); MD Anil Biswas-03
41. Nirdosh (1950); MD Shyam Sundar
42. Putli (1950); MD Aziz Hindi
43. Shaadi Ki Raat (1950); Govindram
44. Do Sitare (1951); MD Anil Biswas-04
45. Ghayal (1951); MD Gyan Dutt
46. Hulchal (1951); MD Sajjad Husain
47. Usha Kiran (1952); MD Badri Prasad
48. Doraha (1952); MD Anil Biswas-05
49. Aagosh (1953); MD Roshan
50. Aakash (1953); MD Anil Biswas-06
51. Jalianwala Baag Ki Jyot (1953); MD Anil Biswas-07
52. Gulsanobar (1953); MD Bulo C Rani
53. Haridarshan (1953); MD Shankar Rao Vyas
54. Mashooqa (1953); MD Roshan
55. Mehman (1953); MD Anil Biswas-08
56. Naina (1953); MD Manna Dey
57. Naa Illu (1953); MD Chittor V. Nagaiah
58. Rahi (1953) MD Anil Biswas-09
59. Adhikar (1954); MD Avinash Vyas
60. Maan (1954); MD Anil Biswas-10
61. Majboori (1954); MD Robin Chatterji.
62. Naaz (1954); MD Anil Biswas-11
63. Paisa Hi Paisa(1956); MD Anil Biswas-12
64. Jalti Nishani (1957); Anil Biswas-13
65. Pardesi (1957) MD Anil Biswas-14
66. Chaar Dil Chaar Rahen (1959); MD Anil Biswas-15
67. Angulimal (1960) MD Anil Biswas-16
68. Lucky Number (1961); MD Anil Biswas-17
69. Sautela Bhai (1962); MD Anil Biswas-18
70. Return of Mr Superman (1960); MD Anil Biswas-19
71. Chhoti Chhoti Baatein (1965); MD Anil Biswas-20
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 film Aath 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 Bikram Kapoor.
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.
.jpg "clip_image031")
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.
1) Door Papiha Bola
2) Anil Biswas: The Maestro and my father by Shikha Biswas Vohra
3) Door Papiha Bola: Suraiya by Anil Biswas
4) The mentor and the protégé: Talat Mahmood songs by Anil Biswas
5) The incredible brother and sister duo in music: Anil Biswas’s songs for Parul Ghosh
6) Remembering Anil Biswas, the singer
7) The maker of Mukesh: Anil Biswas
8) The Swar-Samragyi and the Sangeet-Maartand: Best of Lata Mangeshkar by Anil Biswas
9) Anil Biswas songs for Bombay Saigal: Surendra
10) Best songs of 1951: Final Wrap-Up 5
11) Down the memory Lane with ‘Anil Da’ by Sharad Dutt
4.2 By other writers:
‘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.
5.2 Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen (2014) Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Taylor & Francis, p. 603. ISBN 978-1-135-94325-7 is used as a reference for the rare information.
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.
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
I think a lot of this article is based on speculation, and I wish Ms Lal hadn’t marred a decent article with assumptions based on nothing but the fact that Meena didn’t sing as many songs for Anil Biswas as Lata did. At the time, the Lata wave was so intense that there was hardly any music director, barring OP Nayyar, who would have used any other female singer as their first choice for the heroine.
The blog is about music – and I respect the sheer amount of research that Ms Lal has done, and the songs she has selected. Let’s keep it to the music and not the personal lives of the artistes of which we know nothing?
Just a personal opinion.
Anu,
You are absolutely right. I have said the same thing in a stronger language in the post, and in my mails to her. But since she set great score by her ‘finding’ I decided to carry it. I have forewarned her this is going to attract strident reactions.
AK ji , do U remember I had commented in the post of Suraiyya not to discuss anything about their personal lives nd the post should not have any gossip kind of info.
अरे , इतना मीठा मधुर स्वर्गीय संगीत जो इन महानुभावोंने हमारे लिए निर्माण किया हैं उसे तहे दिलसे njoy करते हैं ना !
क्या रखा हैं किसीकी जाती जिंदगी के बारें में चर्चा करनेमें – – – और वो भी तब जब की उस चीज़ की सफाई देने के लिए उनमेंसे कोई जिंदा भी नहीं हैं ।
Nd Shalan ji , what a nice selection of songs nd interesting info about each of them !
Shalan ji , thnx for this first post nd looking forward for the next part .
Nd yes , a special thnx for the posters of the movies .
AK ji,
For me Meena Kapoor is always Sunday ke Sunday and Yaad rakhna Chand Taaron…
I didn’t know this much about her.
A nice article,as always.
To my ears, Geeta Dutt’s voice sounds very similar to Meena Kapoor’s, so I find it quite uncanny that Meena Kapoor’s death anniversary coincides with Geeta Dutt’s birth anniversary, which is today. Another instance of the Roshan-Madan Mohan-type of connection….
Pramodji,
I remember that. I make one exception though – if something is very widely prevalent in public domain, I allude to it in a non-judgmental, inoffensive way.
Dr Shetty,
I also had a similar myopic view of Meena Kapoor – Mori atariya pe kaga bole and Kuchh aur zamana kahta hai. Shalan Lal’s article expands our understanding.
Ashwin,
Thanks a lot for this interesting trivia.
AK ji,
Please note that Hansa Wadkar was NOT her real name. She was RATAN SALGAOKAR from Goa.
Indira Wadkar was NOT Master Vinayak’s wife. Vinayak had married her younger sister SUSHEELA BAI.
Nanda is daughter of Vinayak and Susheelabai.
There are enough proofs for what I have said. Nanda has given an interview also clarifying these points. That interview is available on internet even today.
CR’s Marathi autobiography original copy is with me and I have already said about AB attending his maiden song recording, as described in his book. I do not want to repeat all that.
-AD
Salan Lal ji,
MK features in the TAJ MAHAL,1964 Qawwali
Chandi ka badan,Sone ki Nazar
Us par ye nazaaqat kya kahiye…
With Rafi, Manna Dey and Asha Bhonsle.
Sahir Ludhianvi, Roshan.
Some sites mention MK as the singer with Dilraj Kaur for the parody
Jiya lalchaye Raja tere darshan ko..
from MANGALASUTRA, RDB.
The lyricist for the beautiful
Raat banoo main
Aur Chand Bano tum…
(Bhupinder Singh, Asha Bhonsle) is Nida Fazli. But, for the parody, the source mentions Kavi Pradeep!!!
To be read as 1963.
Shalan Lal ji,
You are incorrect in saying MK features only in one chorus of DO RAHA.
You are pointing to
Aji Bach ke chalna…
Anil Biswas, Shankar Dasgupta, Shamshad Begum,MK.
The movie has a delightful duet
Tera mera mera tera pyar ho gaya..
with Shankar Dasgupta.
Prem Dhawan.
So,Lata:MK= 2:2!
Shalan Lal ji,Arun Deshmukh ji,
I think Kesarbai,Indira and Susheela were the sisters of Hansa’s father. I have read it in an article earlier and,even Wikipedia has the same to say. May be incorrect!
Yes, Susheela Bai was Master Vinayak’s wife and Nanda’s mother.
Arunji,
About Anil Biswas giving his voice in Shehnai, you have been quite clear earlier also, and I have alluded to it in my comments. Even earlier I had occasion to express my doubt to her on SoY as AB was known to be unhappy about its iconoclastic music.
Thanks a lot for correcting the record on Hansa Wadkar.
AK.
One correction to your introduction remark My contention was that she should have been credited too, along with Lata as it was a twin song and not a version song.
For me Meena Kapoor version of mere liye to gamein intezar chhod gaye is the best song of that album.
Coming to dicussing personal life of celebrities, I would not like to discuss or debate what they do in their private lives, but when their actions influence the career or professional life of others I would discuss debate and argue presenting circumstancial evidence not to pass any judgement but to gather more evidence if available in outer domain.
Discounting other than music related discussions, Shalan Lalji deserves all the credit for an exhaustive article and selection of Meena Kapoor’s song for the article really are worthy of a tribute.
Meena Kapoor would be one more artist who did not get what she deserved.
Her soul will certainly lay in peace when she finally comes to know that there are enough people who care for her voice and would so emotionally continue to remember her songs…
Mumbaikar8,
The point is you felt Meena Kapoor was undermined. Therefore, leaving aside the private affairs, you should be happy at this article.
Ms. Shalanlal – By now I have come to know your way of tackling a subject. The extent of research you had undertaken is jaw dropping. Many may argue that in a musical blog such details are not necessary. I do not subscribe to it. In all my thematic posts I have tried to acquaint readers with some thing on the topic. Many times I got carried away, but our great blog master has in an adroit manner restored the balance between subject and music by wielding his editorial scissors . AK’s foot notes throughout your article are very relevant. Except for Anoka Pyar other songs are being heard for the first time here. Once again my deep appreciation for your endeavour.
Shalanji
really a great tribute to our forgotten (not for SoYlanders) melodious singer Meenaji. Songs compilation is as superb. Great article to read.
Dhanyawaad song “main roti hun tum hans rahe ho krishn murari” has striking resemblance with Dukhiyari’s “ab kisko sunaun main katha krishn murari” sung by Lata, MD. Gyan Dutt same year 1948 !!
Ab kisko sunaaun main katha krishn murari
Fariyad hai fariyad meri tumse bihaari
Lataji in Dukhiyari
https://youtu.be/DM1c29WqDks
adding some Meena Kapoor films missing in your list.
Ek tha ladka (1951)
sulag rahi hai haye jawani gham ki aag men
https://youtu.be/4YK-aulCHJ0
Actor (1951)
kaise bitaaun zaalim kali kali raat re
https://youtu.be/CRr44VNY0U8
Bahu beti (1952)
mukh mod bhi liya dil tod bhi diya
https://youtu.be/zBA9kpaig0o
Zamaane ki hawa (1952)
khushiyon ka is tarha se zamana nikal gaya
https://youtu.be/OUaZnMhnz4k
Malika Salomi (1952)
main matwali naagin hun
https://youtu.be/QPPBreXWzJE
Shole (1953)
anokha jadugar bhagwan
https://youtu.be/xOggv1CWN5o
Jhamela (1953)
kaise ye insaan banaaye
https://youtu.be/8HORLktZrnI
Gul Bahaar (1954)
lagi aisi nahi dil ki jo aankhon se nazar aaye
https://youtu.be/ABSyW4Ga6AM
Pyase Nain (1954)
pyase nainon ki pyas bujha de
https://youtu.be/9sWp3Ncz0aM
Dak Babu (1954)
ek pardesi man bhaya
https://youtu.be/vap26vUo0QI
Aabroo (1956)
tum ko dil de baithe hai
https://youtu.be/kshL9CJ-Xfk
Akashpari (1958)
unhen haal apna batana padega
https://youtu.be/tawehjb1SdA
Raja Beta (1958)
mere angana gilli khele balam mera chhota sa
https://youtu.be/_O_gEXH31lo
possible we are missing some more films..
In the beginning:
AK.s Editing and presentation of the post
I am very grateful to the hard work AK has done of editing using both butcher’s knife and a surgical knife.
When one is on the surgery table or a butcher’s table one has to lie still and let them do what they want to do and get ready for the after effects because one has offered the state of writing a post.
The article was very long and the exposé was going to be controversial one can understand the need of the editor to shortened it; remove the parts he thinks objectionable, haphazard, raising many issues etc.
But then the editor’s need often does not match the need of the creative writer who had worked out or rather sculpted out with the selections of words, compositions of sentences, illustrations, the aesthetic points the balance of the paragraphs and the woven tone and the tune of the subject and more so working for six months writing and re-writing under good, bad and ugly environments and so.
But one has to come to the terms that a blog is not a gallery of art and arts venue but a quickie place for the quickie readers to have quickie responses.
Under these circumstances I have to praise AK that he has done his best to present the post in the best possible attractive way.
As I shall go through I may find some answers to his doubts and queries and various sundry and important mentions and references of them.
Shalan La
Ms. Shalan Lal;
The article is gripping and give a detailed account of the progression of songs well connected to the time ….and history both personal and professional . Statistics…yes to those who are collective of data…are useful . But what is more interesting is that as times moves on the voice and singing abilities got improved making Meena more close to front runners . …..meeting the professional standards of excellence. In your article the qualitative analysis should have been included as integral part also…..i.e. qualitative and quantitative .
For any good singer …..breath management , vocal range , modulation, resonance , intensity, pitch accuracy….etc….are all prerequsite which only comes thru dedicated lesson and practice . Real time comes when he or she is asked to match a soft wave or a timber vibration ….a very tough call I suppose . But Meena Kapoor did sang brilliantly in such circumstances too . I will try to post such songs where she sang and came out sparkingly beautiful . Yes I will rate her of the likes of sulochana kadam and Geeta Dutt .
Ek dharti hai……Adhikar [1954]…..Avinash Vyas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuShRctVl64
Aankhen bhari huin hain…..Talat, Meena….Majboori [1954]..robin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fMbWxAHin4
Jignesh Kotadia ;
Wellcome back to your musical destination again . With you and Dr. Shetty I am expecting thunder in winter too. So getting cozy and getting ready with woolens .
KSBhatiaji
thanks
hope i can regularize myself here in new year.
adding some more
Gham e zindagani uthaaun kahan tak
https://youtu.be/IROGzA0WdVY
Anu Warrier @ 01;
Thanks for your intelligent contribution.
The Bollywood and Hollywood, political and business and social world, and the modern TV media, Internet, Twitter etc. have made the glamour out of their business and gossip of the private life often come in focus and social media needs to talk about it and express opinions though events have been happened long ago from the memories of the people but by the anniversary tributes some parts are brought back. In this context “Me-Too” has now became a valid force itself in the social media.
My point in dwelling on the life of Meena Kapoor and Anil Biswas came under scrutiny as the oddity of the age gap between them was mentioned by most of the obituary writers on Meena Kapoor in 2017.
In the beginning I mentioned at the end of the paragraph number 5 as “Young people who grew up when Tagore and Sharatchandra mesmerised the youth of ‘Shonar Bongla’ had to be the part of the Bhadra Lok.”
After the reformation movement of “Raja Ram Mohan Rai” and followed by the renaissance in Bengal the “Bhadra Lok” situation lasted in Bengal for a very long time and I believe it is still alive.
It is said that the mother of “Raja Ram Mohan was worried about the plight of the young widows of the Hindus. So she asked her son to do something about it. That was the spur of the social reformation in Bengal and consequently in other parts of India.
Odd age gap marriages were discarded as part of the renaissance and reformation of the new society.
The pictures of Meena Kapoor reading novels and romances etc showed that she had aspiration of living a life of modern life. This also suggested that she would seek her own new life than other young girls of her time.
Many novels of Sharat Chandra were put in the film media by the New Theatres. The novels of Sharat Chandra were a high discussing point of the youth of Bengal. In many stories of Sharat Novels odd married couples were highlighted.
Anil Biswas, who as young man belonged to IPTA, must have engaged in discussion on those social aspects of Bengali and India as whole country.
Considering this entire ethos I became curious about how this person of some spirit gave himself to the temptation of falling in love with a very young impressionable cultured girl and made her to come to terms to love him and sacrifice her life for him in the glamorous words like “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.AK’ quotation.”
Now we come to point of the songs, films musicians, singers etc. Here we have two points. If we decide that we must talk only the songs and not how these made by, whom they have made etc.
Tthen we should analyse ourselves what we like about the songs?
Is it just the words of the lyricist and not the life of the lyricist that makes up the lyrics?
Many found it is revealing that Sahir Ludhiyani had so many disappointments in his life and he put them in the words.
People like Shailendra’s influence of religious songs in Hindi and his communist period when he was working as railway worker and writing poems.
There was a good elaboration of the song “Laga Chunariyamein Daag” in the previous post on Roshan.
Both Kabir and Ludhiyanvi had not so easy life and both liked to be outside the society and then comment on it. The Indian mysticism in the song was done which based on the material life of the Hindu people. Without that experience as the outsider both Kabir and Ludhiyanvi would not have created the wonderful lyric song.
If we did not know the background of both the writers the song would have lesser meaning.
Must we make difference between one private experience that could be talked about and not the other one?
Now about a writer’s speculations:
Most of the writers with the imagination and creative force in them need speculating aspect of the creativity. This is also needed for most of the artists expressing themselves in their chosen medium.
Here is an end part of the Sonnet of Shakespeare who had imagination and wrote and painted characters in his plays with speculations in the history and imaginations, the famous Sonnet called “True Love”
“ If this be error and upon me proved
I never writ, nor no man ever loved”
About thirty five years ago I was going through the shelves of books on Indian History and travel writers of the library of the “School of Oriental and African Studies” and selecting some books on the history and reading them passionately without realizing that a Professor who was responsible for this section was watching me. Finally at my reading table he came and wanted to see what I was reading. I was engrossed in reading “the Story of Aurangzeb” by Sir Jadunath Sarkar. I came to the section when “Aurangzeb invited his last and youngest brother “Murad” for a dinner and when Murad was well fed and was drunk as his drinks were spiked by Aurangzeb. Then Aurangzeb started accusing him in very harsh words and telling his younger brother that he had done many crimes against the crown and as well as Allah.”
The description of this scene was written in such a realistic way that as if the writer was present at the scene, and I was surprised at it. I expressed my surprise to the professor and I said this is more a fiction and not real history. The professor who was a lover of Sir Jadunath said, “All who wrote history books needed to have imagination and speculation on the events. As that is the only way we can satisfy ourselves in the absence of true historical record. That also might not be reliable as written records or spoken words might have been done so under different circumstances and for different reasons.
I hope this may help you and other SoY readers and the creator of the SoY as well who brush away tha whatI have written and probingly questioned the love of Anil Biswas for Meena Kapoor.
Shalan La
Pramod Godbole @ 03
Thanks for your contribution.
It is very difficult to distinguish between what is cheap gossip and what are real concerns?
As the Hollywood grew up into a mighty Industry, side by side the Magazines and similar kinds of glossy and not so glossy journalism grew up. Many writers grew up from this kind of writers and also they provided the kind of record for the history of the films. They all are well preserved and many have used to write on them what kind of writings was done.
Many of the stories and solid books are written from them. The bust up of double characters, like Jerry Lewis and Dean Marin books are available to read and enjoy and inform about the history. The death of Marilyn Monroe and the involvement of Kennedy Brothers in her life are still a high gossip points.
What is true about the filmy people is true about non-filmy celebrities and political figures of by gone time as well. Without gossipy aspects the films on life of Anarakali, Padmavati, Bajirao etc would not have been interesting to the people and producers.
When Indian films achieved a high point in the public from forties to seventies so many weeklies, fortnightlies and monthly journals came into daily life. Some journals had mock trials in their journals of glamorous actors and actresses based on the gossips.
The most famous among them was called “Film India” that had two columns one called “Bombay Calling” and other was “Questions to the Editor”. These were purely gossip columns. The Indian “Times of India “had also their daily columns and also weekender supplements that discussed sundry and sultry matters about the famous people.
Today you will find in the Archive Centre at Poona aka Pune many of these issues as serious resources for the study of the history of the films.
So gossiping is not that bad. It gives some information about the art of films in the past and how it was made and also about the songs we all love so much.
Shalan Lal
AK @ 07
Thanks for your comment and how the posts in “SoY” blog expand our ideas about music, stories behind them and the ethos of the social sector and many other areas.
Your comment is very apt.
Shalan la
Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh @ 09
Dr. Pradeepkumar Shetty has provided a fine answer at the comment number 13.
It seems that you are fond of creating rigid framework of knowledge and the understanding derived from it.
My purpose of bringing Vinayak and Nanda about Hansa Wadkar was that her story was nearly forgotten and needed to bring in light that she belonged to a large very creative family of the film makers.
Further on the additional about her original name really matters less in her story that I was telling using her film “Dhanyawad” as I had an inlaid tone and link about how “Women” in the film Industry or being related to the filmy people have been treated..
Recently I heard that “Prthvirak Kapoor’s name Prthviraj was not his real name but something else and he assumed Prthiviraj for his theatrical and filmy career.
Now it really does not matter if his name was anything other than “Prithviraj” his contribution to the Hindi Theatre and Hindi Films and creating a giant of Filmy family attracting his brother and cousin brothers and in general giving Punjabi community a strong base for the Filmy art.
So some archaic name he might have is not very important apart from satisfying some curiosity.
“Hansa Wadkar’s whatever her name and where she was originated is very useless information for her agonized life.
If you do not want to engage further in this post it is your choice.
But I shall always have respect for you for creating chronological data on the film culture whether it is useful or not.
Shalan Lal
Shalan ji,
Thanks for your article.
At 67, I am starting to get old but you being senior, will of course forgive though I am not commenting on Meena-Lata M. – Anil Biswas saga.
1. Very interesting observation you made, giving example of historian Sarkar and his writing as if he was present when Aurangjeb accosted his brother. At once, I am reminded of writer Raju Bharathan. He wrote articles for the Illustrated Weekly of India, sometimes on films and sometimes on cricket. He tried to create impression that he was stating facts though often it was only fiction, what is worse, he got carried by his strong prejudices.
2. I started listening to hindi film songs on Radio from the age of roughly eight years, ie from 1959 onwards. Therefore did not get to listen often to the songs of (a) Anil Biswas Or (b) Meena Kapoor. At a more mature age, and becoming slightly wise after attending classes in hindustani semi-classical vocal music I was impressed by the beauty of the compositions by Anil Biswas. Now, after listening to the songs of Meena Kapoor, I may tell my children that Meena Kapoor was a very good singer (though they will still hardly care). Though they agree when I say Lata, Asha, Shamshad Begum and Geeta Dutt were top-quality singers.
Regards.
I had seen an interview of Anil Biswas on Doordarshan. Meena Kapoor was present. Anil Biswas stated ,”The best singer of Hindi movies is sitting next to me! “,,Strong proclamation!”.. I thought.
Ms. Shalan lal ;
Your continuation of article thru your further comments and observations brings a nostalagic memories back to me . Yes Film India was a fav. film magazine in our house . Being a big family we all brothers and sisters would go thru every picture and article . Imagine myself being hardly six or seven year old but got interested in films thru its glossy fotos and presentation of articles . Moreover even the advt. were not spared….we use to find some interesting actors and actresses appearing in high standard advt. Dilip kumar appearing in Brykilne hair cream , Suraiya in Lux soap, Shashikala in Protex talc powder , Shakila in Himalaya bouquet …..and so on . Yes, Raj Kapoor mukesh etc appearing in Deluxe Tenor advt.
So to say the magazine had a magical spell on all of us . We used to watch movies only after reading reviews for which the magazine had a strong hold . It could make or break the movie at the box office …so a bit of guaranty was always there .
During 1952 or so filmfare stepped in as a new addition to the existing film magazines. What attracted was its pint size as in its early editions it was a sort of 5 by 7 inch size magazine only [ equalent to hindi magazine Parag ]. The popularity of Filmfare outsmarted Film India which I think stopped its printing in late 50s…..the reason not known. Rightly you have brought as these are referals to history which are correct to last of its contents. The layout , the standard of printing and reporting thru nice fotos was a treat for cinema lovers. The Meena kapoor reading a book….the foto in your article is an example for fine reporting.
I find Anil Biswas and Salil Da always in white dress ups . At one moment of time Salil in some door darshan interview had indicated that he was not of a person to throw or attend film parties . This was one of the reason why he composed in less movies than his counter parts. Was it true for Anil Biswas too ? one more question …Was Anil attracted to Meena Kapoor as a person or Meena Kapoor as Singer ?
Shalan Lal ji ,
Yes , I agree to what U hav stated ,
” gossiping is not that bad ” .
Well , I am really very eager to read other parts of this biography of Meena Kapoor.
Thnx for the reply .
I apologize for the bad remarks in my previous comment.
With regards ,
Pramod Godbole.
ksbhatia ji,
Yes. For all the movie/ music lovers of my generation,too,( children of the 60s),Film magazines were a huge attraction, sources of information( mostly facts,some unfounded gossips_ we weren’t big admirers of it, though!)
Film India, and it’s later avatar, Mother India, were not really a part of our lives.
But, FILMFARE, like Binaca Geetmala, definitely was! 1952…yes.
SCREEN, established one year earlier, was a staple at the barbershops and all the release ads in it’s many pages was a huge draw for us. Some good articles,too.
Then a storm of glossies, glamour and gossip driven…Star & Style,Cine Blitz,Star Dust etc.
TRADE MAGAZINE ,a serious niche one.
My favourite? Hands down… MOVIE. I think it was in the market for nearly a decade. Seriously good stuff. My personal attachment grew with several of my letters getting the First Prize.
Present scenario? Honesty,NO IDEA.
Dr Pradeep Kumar @ 04 and Mr. Ashivin Bhandarkar @05
Yes sometimes Meena Kapoor’s voice after forties sounded like Geeta Roy-Dutt.
It seems they became very close friends later in their lives. When Meenaji moved to Delhi she heard the death of Geeta Dutt.
In an Hindi magazine she paid the tribute to Geeta and wrote about their days in Bombay together.
In this article she described how she along with her mother and Geeta enjoyed going around various places like the Picnic parks at the Tansa and Viaha lakes and similar places in Bombay. They were a threesome group.
Geeta Roy lived at her father’s place in Hindu Colony and regularly appeared at the Durga Festival in Shivaji Park which was an event for all the Bengalis to meet there.
Shalan Lal
Dr Pradeep Kumar Shetty @10 & 12
Your reference to Meena K’s voice in the chorus song of film Taj Mahal seems to be correct as it is mentioned in the article on the the film in the Wikipedia. But her name is not mentioned in the Hindi Film Geet Kosh and that is why I did not include it in my list.
But now I have corrected my list in my MS. So the number of her films became 72 and I am very obliged to you for this information.
She already sang for Roshan for the film “Aagosh 1953”.
Thanks again.
Shalan Lal
Dr. Shetty @ 36;
Yes you said it all which I missed. Movie …..was one of my fav. too ….the main reason , its clear crystal fotos and close up on glossy papers. Happy to note that you won many awards thru your dedicated write ups.
The gossip coulmns of Star & Dust however , failed to impress me with their catty reporting . As Filmfare followed the foot steps of other glamourous magazine it lost its shine too. It becoming more of a fashion mag…..so got out shelved too.
Anyway this is the best platform thru which we all are interacting and exchanging our views . I am happy quite of us are all like minded.
Jignesh ji from #20 to 23 ;
I am slowly and surely enjoying the various songs posted by you . I find many of them sad and a few romantic too. The duet of Meena Kapoor and Asha ji from Raza Beta is rather a surprise one . Its Music Director Roshan, being a punjabi, the song is based on punjabi folk earlier to which was used by Salil Da in Jagte Raho……Rafi, Balbir duet….Koi na bhayi koi na. I am trying to find if Meena sang for some punjabi movies too.
Ms. Shalan Lal ;
Two songs where meena sang differently……
Kachchi hai umariya……Char Dil Char Rahen…..Anil Biswas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVY7nNFkYw
bheegi Bheegi Raat Aayi…..Aakash [1952]….Anil Biswas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D07vPT0E5Qc
Mere dil ke geet chup the…..Aakash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLEYkFcWbTg
Three Meena ‘s were ruling the industries in mid 50s ., and all of them had different styles and wardrobes .
Meena Kumari…..in white sarees
Meena Shorey…….in typical punjabi , salwar kameez duppatta ,
matching black and white suit ….her fav. I suppose polka dots .
Meena Kapoor….. mostly in sarees making a combination north
and east appearence ….,feature some time resembling Aasam
touch.
But one thing was common in all ….their singing abilities .
Mumbaikar 8 @ 15
Thanks for your intelligent comment and your upright view about the private and public area of the celebrities about which I have extensively explained my view in the comment section.
I support your view about Meena Kapoor’s name in the duet contribution and also in chorus songs as well as I have mentioned in the comment of Dr Shetty’s finding her voice in the chorus song of the film Taj Mahal 1963 which is absent in the HFGK. Thanks for your contribution.
Shalan Lal
ASHOK M VAISHNAV @ 16
I am very obliged to you for so generous praise for my efforts to uplift the position of Meena Kapoor in the Hindi Film songs of the old time.
I agree with Mumbaikar 8 about MK’s equal status with Lata. Sadly I see there was a clear down grading of her qualities that were not properly explored by her closest MD Anil Biswas.
Hence I tried to fill in the gap with some speculative explorations- a lot of negligence on the part of Anil Biswas.
It is my genuine view Meena Kapoor was doing well before she met AB and also she did not do so bad afterwards as well with her work with other MDs.
I have also raised the question about why an intelligent and socially concerned man should have given up to easy thing like falling in love at a mature life and having growing up children at home. Their need and his wife’s need all are thrown to the wind.
It is good to remember some films at this juncture “Duniya Na Maane 1937 of “Prabhat Films and later films “Ratan 1944” of Gemini Productions & “Mela” 1948 of Wadia Borthers.
We must not let ourselves just be a consumer of the songs and music but active in the things behind the song makers, film-makers and other allied art and artists.
Shalan Lal
Mr D.P. Rangan @ 18
I feel doubly elated by your very honest appraisal of my present post.
A veteran post writer and rightly remembered and praised by AK for your greatest contribution so far about creating a “Tandem” way. giving a new tool in the skilled hands of AK to use further for dual appreciation of a Music Composer is surely a new vista and worth to measure in gold.
I thank you again for uplifting words for me when they are rightly needed now.
Shalan Lal
Ms. Shalanlal
Happy to realise I have a fellow traveler in the matter of presenting posts for this blog. Original concept of tandem posts was that of AK. I was soliciting his opinion about compiling film songs composed by Madan Mohan based on Hindustani classic music. He suggested that Roshan may also be included. I was able to execute the idea and got his approval.
Jignesh Kotadiya @ 19
I thank you very much for your comment and praise in it for my hard work.
You are right to feel the similarity in two songs. So often the great musicians come under pressure to compose similar work due to their bosses and also of the period and atmosphere of the time. Thanks for making this point.
I am deeply obliged to you for finding the further 13 films “booty”. I shall add them to my list in the MS. If you find any more. then they too will be included. So the present list makes 72+13=85. I hope it will make about hundred if you keep digging the trodden earth which has hidden them.
Thanks again.
Following is my analysis of your addition of them.
1) Ek tha ladka (1951) MD Murari Sharma & Raj Hans
sulag rahi hai haye jawani gham ki aag men
https://youtu.be/4YK-aulCHJ0
2) Actor (1951) MD Ajiz Hindi & Ibrahim
kaise bitaaun zaalim kali kali raat re
https://youtu.be/CRr44VNY0U8
A dding 2nd Rakhiya Bandwa Ley Mere Bhaiya “Chorus” in HFGK
3) Bahu Beti (1952) MD Batish
“mukh mod bhi liya dil tod bhi diya”
https://youtu.be/zBA9kpaig0o
4) Zamaane ki hawa (1952) MD Z.Sharnab, Gulshan Sufi, Khan Mastana, Aziz Hindi
“khushiyon ka is tarha se zamana nikal gaya”
https://youtu.be/OUaZnMhnz4k
Additional 2nd “Kya Khel Khelata Hai, O Asmanwale” found in HFGK
5) Malika Salomi (1952) not 1952 film but 1953 MD Iqbal & Krishn Dayal
“main matwali naagin hun”
https://youtu.be/QPPBreXWzJE
Additional 2nd “ Jig Chika “Chorus” in HFGK
6) Shole (1953) MD Narshe Bhattacharya & Dhaniram
“anokha jadugar bhagwan” in two parts
https://youtu.be/xOggv1CWN5o
7) Jhamela (1953) MD C. Ramchandra
“kaise ye insaan banaaye”
https://youtu.be/8HORLktZrnI
8) Gul Bahaar (1954) Dhaniram & Khayyam
“lagi aisi nahi dil ki jo aankhon se nazar aaye”
https://youtu.be/ABSyW4Ga6AM
9) Pyase Nain (1954) MD S.K. Pal
“pyase nainon ki pyas bujha de”
https://youtu.be/9sWp3Ncz0aM
10) Dak Babu (1954) MD Dhaniram
“ek pardesi man bhaya” In HFGK Only Mubarak Beghum’s name. Is it a duet?
https://youtu.be/vap26vUo0QI
11) Aabroo (1956) MD Bulo C Rani
“tum ko dil de baithe hai” duet with Rafi
https://youtu.be/kshL9CJ-Xfk
12) Akashpari (1958) MD Inayat This song is not mentioned in HFGK
“unhen haal apna batana padega”
https://youtu.be/tawehjb1SdA
Additional 2nd “Kahan Maan Aye Mehmaan” with Sulochana in HFGK
The Film “Lachak” 1953, MD Motiram & Inayat. Some of the songs from this film are included in the “Akash Pari”.
13)Raja Beta (1958) HFGK mentions the name of the film in their appendix number 01 Roshan as MD but the song is absent.
“mere angana gilli khele balam mera chhota sa”
https://youtu.be/_O_gEXH31lo
I am extremely thankful to you for this extension of the list.
Shalan Lal
ksbhatia @ 25
I shall come back to your this and other comments. You have done extremely well and I want to go through with them with great respect.
I hope by Sunday I shall be ready.
Shalan
Ashok Kumar Tyagi @ 32
I am glad you appreciated my mention of Sir Jadu Nath Sarkar the great pioneering historian of the Mogul Period. His writings made the British rulers to give him Knighthood. If you have not ready of his books I shall recommend you to do so to know the history of the Mogul rule. It is like many novels and fine storytelling. I regard him very high.
It is very strange that you got at the level of Sir Jadu Nath Sarkar, Raju Bharatam. That made me say immediately “ Kahan Raja Bhoj Aur Kahan Ganga Teli”!
But then you made the remark that he got carried away with his technique. In the history of the Indian films and filmology the works of Raju Bharatan is quite achievement. He was the first man who would write on the films as they appealed to the common man that too in the “English”. This made watching Indian films quite respectable.
His writing is entertaining and the filmmakers got interested in him and invited him in their cultural dos. So he himself became a celebrity.
Whatever your age may be it is good of you to take interest in the films and film songs.
Shalan Lal
Shalanji
Thanks a lot for your kind words and appreciation. I will definitely try to locate her more films on YT. I expect she would have sung at least in 100 films, maybe some of her rare films have not seen the surface yet..but it will be in this Sanjeevani Era. So, HFGK has also missed many films, it’s obvious.
30th November (2017) is a memorable day for me as I got the golden opportunity to meet the mysterious genius Mr. AK when the AK couple visited Surat last year. It was a great time to host them for a lunch and to spend some 4-5 musical hours with them. Thanks great man.
Jignesh,
I am joining in just to say thanks for your nice words. We mentioned it in the SoY’s eighth anniversary post.
Ms. Shalan Lal;
My exploration of variety of composition of Meena Kapoor shows that not only her voice matched Geeta Roy but she was close to Suriya too. I think my fellow friends with sharp ear bugs will agree to after hearing songs from Putli [1950] and Lakhpati [1947] . Film Putli had songs by Geeta dutt and shamshad as well , but Meena dominated by singing more songs than her counterparts .
Sab mere sahare toot gaye…..Lakhpati
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKztZlg_G6A
Kabhi aiyo hamare gaon……Putli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LKY5jiaAfc
Koi ambua pe piyu piyu gaye……Putli ….this song has the punjabi folk touch and sang beautifully as a duet with little known singer Raja Gull.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4a6A1pRtZA
Woh mele nahin kayi din se….Putli ….a fast number, a test for her following beats and rhythm .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OejQUHTHDvw
Koi bedard mere dil ka cayen loot gaya……Putli….a nice melody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U1UbudCzwA
Tere bin mora jiya lage na…..Putli ….a pure melody of the style of Suraiya . It is not a copy i will rate it as modulation to highlight pathos , state of loss or sadness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXPFiU5FqZ8
And finally a stage song [duet , with chorus] that satisfy one of the very enjoyable article by AK ji .
Ek dilli ke rasiya se ….Putli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMVz1i53Rjg
….will come back for more songs.
ksbhatia@51
Just a quickie response: “You are a genius!”
Now back to your earlier comments:
Ksbhatia @ 25
Your contributions to SoY have been always deep, plenty and come out of a genuine study of the art of film, art of songs and art of living in the society. Hence you are very valuable to both post writers and post readers.
In this comment you have made many good points especially about the singers. qualities of the singing. The filmy songs were a light version of the classical song yet rules of the same as mentioned by you and they are the same ones mandatory for the singings artists..
But the light versions needed to be light and not classical. Also when the films were made they needed to be made more to the public inclined and not the few who were used to the songs what were called “Baithaki” concerts where people sit with their legs folded for a very long time, hours and until day break.
While cinema going general public needed to identify themselves with the songs in their humming or appreciation of the song situations.
So not the classical singers, but those who could croon, chant, intone etc. were given priorities. The filmy musicians became later on ambitious and wanted to match their creations with those of the classical or halfway there.
Lata satisfied their dreams and more so her own self-love. Asha joined her later on and then singings for the films became exclusive art for those who could be halfway to the classical singers.
Hence, Rafi and not Mukesh, Lata and not Meena Kapoor etc. became a demand from both MDs and public as well. Lata for all songs was RK’s economic need but then it became norm for him.
But then she started asking separate money for each song and her prices started going up with the passage of time. That made the music in the film going wary.
In this context many good singers slowly started disappearing. All female singers were measured against Lata and male singers against Rafi. Both Lata and Rafi became jaded, mechanical and lack lustre.
To date Lata and Rafi are the high mountains for any new singers to climb over.
Shalan
Ksbhatia @ 34
Your experience of reading FilmIndia in the family is very incredible. You have not spared the adverts as well. As I had inside information about the working of the FilmIndia from one of the relatives at the time I can tell you the editor Baburao Patel right from the beginning of its first volume in 1935 himself would go through the art work and advertisement’s art work as well layouts on every page from the front cover to the dust cover at the end.. There was a great following of the FilmIndia in Bombay and all over the world. Even the Hollywood VIPs would visit and occasionally stay at his spacious one of its kind, house called Girnar on the Pali Hill. Baburao was a multi-person besides being a rogue of the race horses and on the race courses and in general.
When he started doing commercial of the food cooked by his own second wife “Sumati”. He sold a mango pickle called “Dilip Kumar” with a picture of the actor on the jar. His first wife was from his farming community (Baburao always presented himself as one from the Banjara community) and he was married to her when he was about 12 years old according to the custom of his community. But he abandoned her and never mentioned her. The Dilip Kumar Pickle was broadly advertised in the fifties in the FilmIndia.
This is just to add spices to your Film-India reading.
But in this comment you have made many valid points and I cannot address them all at this small place but I have enjoyed reading them.
More about more comments you have made later on.
You have asked in this section the following question “one more question …Was Anil attracted to Meena Kapoor as a person or Meena Kapoor as Singer ?”
The answer is in the obituary written by “Mefilmmeain Meri” 2017 as following:
“ He met Meena Kapoor during the recording of Anokha Pyar (1948). He fell in love with her voice and then with her. His relationship with Meena Kapoor led to his divorce with his first wife Ashalata in 1954. Anil Biswas and Meena Kapoor got married in 1959. They didn’t have children of their own, though Anil da had four children from his first marriage.”
Sadly this was cut out in the editing room. This was a very important thread of my contention that “Anil Biswas” really did not love her but liked her as his associate.
During his period he had seen Shantaram seeking young Jaishree, Baburao Patel alluring young and highly educated Sushila Rani and previously Barua marrying very young Jamuna and so on.
There might be a pervert fashion that was set in the society to seek a younger inexperienced girls for marriage or being associated with.
There are more chilling storeys about very famous and very respected people in India at that time.
Shalan Lal
Shalan Lal ji,
You have listed the MK songs for RETURN OF SUPERMAN,1960 as 4. In fact,it is 6: 4 solos and 2 duets with MK.. Mahinder Kapoor and Shankar Dasgupta.
There is one duet by Mubarak Begum and Anil Biswas and possibly an eighth song details of which are obscure…
The lyricists listed for the movie are:
Kaif Irani, Manmohan Sabir,PL Santhoshi, Anand Bakshi; And,? Sahir Ludhianvi for the song I am going to present now.
Stella O Stella
Tera Johnny tha ab tak akela
Johnny O Johnny
Ab ye dil mera tere dil se fasela…!!
Bin tere har minute
O meri chocolate
Yun lage jaisa kadwa karela…
Romeo jaise lagte ho tum
Juliet ki kasam sachh kehte hain hum…
Wrong number..did you say?
NO. Difficult to believe, though, this one coming from Anil Biswas in 1960. A breezy,bindaas,chalu song, highly enjoyable. The other songs from the movie— romantic, sentimental … equally good.
Meena Kapoor, Mahinder Kapoor.
??? Sahir ( I strongly feel it is an error.)
https://youtu be/ gTsCrhlCGYQ
The link does work. I checked thrice.
Dr. Shetty,
Stela O Stela O Stela was from char dil char, probably it was dropped from that movie and was reused in Return of Superman. Sahir is the lyricist, as he wrote all the songs of CDCR.
Here in Char dil char rahen movie Shammi Kapoor is Johny and Kumkum Stela 1.16 onwards to 1.25 it is obvious that the song is chopped .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3CPrcCQh_k
Mumbaikar ji,
Thank you for the information.
I would not have guessed.
Interestingly, my next observation was going to be about CHAR DIL CHAR RAAHEN!
Dr Pradeep Kumar Shetty @ 53 &
munbaikar8 @ 54
Thanks to Mumbaikar 8 for giving information about the “Stella” song. I hope that will satisfy Dr. Shetty about this unique song. This was not the first English song in the Hindi films. RK’s “Sangam” had one Called “I Love You (Ich Liebe Dich) ! in the voice of Vivian Lobo.”
The film “the Return of Superman” came into my seventh part monologue.
I wrote about it as following:
“This film is not mentioned in HFGK or in the List of Wikipedia. This film had very little information elsewhere as well. But it looked some Blog Creators had seen it and referred it.
So the film seems to be in existence and may be worth to see for a change of usual wooing and cooing films.
The film had seven songs composed and directed by Anil Biswas and Meena Kapoor had a field day under the baton of Anil Biswas and Lata was not around. Hurray!
The lyricists of the films were Kaif Irfani, Manmohan Sabir, Anand Bakshi, Pyarelal Santoshi etc…
The song “Stella O Stella” from the previous film “Char Dil Char Rahe” is used here as well. The lyric of this song was written by Sahir Ludhiyani.
The other playback singers were Mubaraq Begum, Shankar Das Gupta and Anil Biswas.
Meena Kapoor had total four solo songs and two duets one with Shankar Das Gupta and the other with Mahendra Kapoor.
Mubaraq Begum had one solo and another one goes on the name of Anil Biswas.
This film was directed by Manmohan Sabir who was one of the lyricists.”
No Superman of Hollywood films had songs but the Hindi films had to have songs even in the film of Mr X Kishore Kumar does it in invisible state. And it is all wonderful.
Dr Shetty I shall correct my information if you can tell me your resource for the double check.
Shalan Lal with thanks and obligations.
Ms. Shalan Lal @52;
I am glad you liked my work and I am thankful to you for your kind words ….which inspires me a lot .
Thoughts and Vision …..is what keep me going and what follows is ….Listening Music and Feeling Blessed . Music is the only art form that moves ……unlike Painting or Photographs which are static . Yes , correct interpretation can make the static fotos last for ever in your mind . Cinema is the ultimate combo of fine cinematography and background music…..which is ultimate creation of so many art departments ; everyone putting their very best .
Some time I feel that we should also watch C grade movie clips …..for the efforts put in by budding producers and directors keeping the limitations of economy in mind and the results obtained . Such films do have many surprises as most of them carry poster type sets….to some it may look funny but for some …..lessons in art. Good music do some surprise too.
Ms. Mumbaikar 8, Dr. Shetty ;
Stella song , if I remember correctly, was discussed some years back in Open House or an article by AKji . My friends ….Hans , Arvinder Sharma, Mumbaikar ….all participated in discussions . Besides there was one more song by MK based on famous Beatle’s song……She is very pretty …pretty pretty priya .
Viven lobo ‘s song in Sangam did not do well . I think it was either made short or removed in the shorter version of the movie in re release. Viven lobo….was he french singer ….I am not sure.
Ms. Shalan Lal;
Continuing with some Meena Kapoor songs ….which again I suppose are cross section of songs which she sang differently.
Dil toot ta huye….Ghayal [1951]…..Gyan Dutt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fu9_9mtP64&t=87s
Kya Khel Khelta Hai……Polcewali [1949]….A R Qureshi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbPzi16yXg&t=98s
Phool kisike Haar Kisika…..Ghayal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFoq6rIds_w&t=70s
ksbhatia ji,
Vivian Lobo might have been a member of Shankar Jaikishan orchestra. He could as well have played at a hotel in Churchgate, Mumbai.
ICH LIEBE DICH… though short and, largely, indecipherable, enamoured me from my childhood days as much as the other gems of SANGAM!
But,99.9% of music lovers had absolutely no clue about the song…no lyricist mentioned,no clarity about the languages.
I hit upon a goldmine of information about the song in Atul’s Song A Day…an article by Sudhir, published 6 years ago. You must read it to believe it!
I will not be a spoilsport to take away from you all the pleasure of reading the original article. Do it , that is, read it post haste,ASAP.. I guarantee you you will all be amazed at what you find.
Sayonara for the time being.
ICH LIEBE DICH all.
The 1937 movie ” Duniya na
mane ” had poem of Longfellow sung by Shanta Apte.
Btw , the very first photo of Meena Kapoor in this post has resemblance with actress
Shyama .
Pramod Godbole ji,
Thanks for reminding me about the very first time an entire English poem is used in a Hindi movie.
Under the music director Keshav Rao Bhole,Shanta Apte has very credibly sung(narrated) H W Longfellow’s PSALM OF LIFE….In the world’s Broadfield of battle.
A personal connection with me…my 11th/12th English professor,Late Mr Kuddannaya, was a serious type of a teacher: only academics for him,no jokes,no anecdotes. He was already about 2 decades into teaching when I became his student. It was my good fortune that he became very fond of me. He continued to teach for another 15: years afterwards. But, neither before nor after me,he had a Favourite student! It was a legend in our college about my being the chosen one!
Coming to the point, we used to take Autographs from friends and teachers while leaving the school (10th) and college (12th/ Degree) and would dearly preserve it for prosperity. My dear Sir had autographed in my book with two quotations (unusual again… one is the norm!)…
The first…
Black men are the diamonds of the ladies’ eyes ( Shakespeare? I may have got one word wrong)…Sir was fair to the extent of being almost red/ pink…pucca European looks! And me? Dark complexion! Never having any complex, though! To this day,I don’t know why Sir wrote it in 1977!
The second….
TRUST NO FUTURE,HOWE’ER PLEASANT!
LET THE DEAD PAST BURY IT’S DEAD!
ACT,ACT IN THE LIVING MOMENT…
HEART WITHIN AND GOD OVERHEAD!
Sir’s way of cautioning me,in a solemn, blessing way… Topper, brilliant and all that! Well! The professional colleges are a different ball game altogether. Forget the past glory which will be history soon. Strive and endeavour for in the present, the living moment.
Well, these lines are from the above poem! A celebrated work of Longfellow’s.
I am fascinated by it’s use eight decades ago in a Hindi movie. Wah! Wah!
The beginning lines…
TELL ME NOT,IN MOURNFUL NUMBERS,
LIFE IS BUT AN EMPTY DREAM!
FOR THE SOUL IS DEAD THAT SLUMBERS..
AND THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM!
I am already having an urge to delete the whole post.. I know very well my personal anecdote has absolutely no significance in the present context. I just let myself go!! Anyways,I know most of you will tolerate the transgression, some will be amused,a few annoyed/ frustrated/ irritated…. and a handful may think…well, well,well!!!
The link does work.
Poor soul who has kindly uploaded says SOME OF LIFE for PSALM OF LIFE.
https://youtu.be/ VbHmcym_tmY.
( Do bear with me if I sound self praising. Every word here is factual and truthful.)
Ksbhatiaji. @ 58
I think you are right, we have discussed this song before.
I envy your memory. I have amnesi (my children call it selective amnesia).
I forget all about discussing things, and at times I remember things that I had thought about discussing but had not done 🙁
Dr.Pradeep ji ,
Ur reply was nt at all self-praising.
It was very interesting to go thru Ur nostalgia .
U were so lucky to have a teacher like Prof.Kuddannaya who had our friend Pradeep ji as his favourite student ( no wonder ) nd what a gem was that different kind of an autograph !
Thnx for a very nice reply .
Pramod Godbole ji,
I can’t tell you how much relieved I felt after reading your response. Till then,I was telling myself,” goofed up, didn’t you?”
Genuinely appreciate.
Thank you.
Mumbaikar 8 . @64;
Some time , some where , in some article …..i mentioned….what to do with failing memories ? . Ms. shalan lal promptly replied with tagging an Hemant Kumar song . Now I am unable to track that song . So memories come and they go at their will. Yes ; sometime forgetting recent and upholding past strongly.
Dr. Shetty, Godbole ji;
Its a great feeling we all are living and enjoying our past thru nostalgic memories . Those born in mid 40s thru mid 50s do have common lives that we all lived . The song….He is a jolly good fellow….not only applied to Army but to other professionals like Doctors and Engineers as the song further says……and so are all of us.
Oh ! My mind gets back to prelude music of Awara [ She is jolly good fellow] just before the classic song ….Ek bewafa se pyar kiya….and see the party how really it looks like.
Watch @ 2.34 for a minute or so…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlhD2rFaAl0
In continuation of songs @59;
here are some more of Meena Kapoor songs …..
Kahin chandni hai kahin hai sawera….Beewi [1950]…Aziz Khan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXrq5Fs8pdQ
Gham sehna hai….Raees [1948]….Manohar Arora
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKVt2LMe6xU&t=46s
Mujhe malum hai koi aane ko hai….Nayi Reet[ 1948]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnk6HtI_pfc
Here is the one melody which is different and among the best too. This melody shows that with time how Meena’s voice became better and better.
Kabhi tum kwab mein …..Gul Sanobar[1953]…Bulo C Rani
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrBtwi3JV1M
‘Mere Chanchal Naina’ a Meena Kapoor song from the movie Angulimal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27eJUwDWR5A
(Bharat Vyas/Anil Biswas/1960)
It is said the Rabindra Gaan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO3WRH2MXyY
(Madhu Gandhe Bhara…) is the insipiration behind the Angulimal song.
Arvind @70
Thanks for your very good information of the song from the 1960 film Angulimala.
I shall include it in the last part of Musical Memories of Meena Kapoor songs
The information about Tagore’s influence is very important.
Shalan Lal