1946 - So many firsts!!!
This is the second part of my earlier writeup on 1946.
pujaarii
The first movie of the well-known MD, Hans Raj Bahal. He
was
born on Nov. 19, 1916. Learnt music from Pandit Chunilal of
Ambala and opened a music school in, where else, Lahore.
Also made some records for HMV. He was an assistant to
Gobind Ram, Rashid Atre and Khemchandra Prakash, before
landing "pujaarii".
Baby Mumtaaz (later Madhubala, a goddess) sang a song,
bhagavaan mere pyaar ke diipak ko jalaa de, under his
direction in this movie. He gave music to many famous
panjabi movies in which Hindi-movie-singers sang. Some of
them are, "lachchhii" (1949), "chhaii" (1950), "juganii"
(1953), "bhanga.Daa" (1959), "do lachchhiaa.n" (1960) and
"pinD dii ku.Dii" (1963).
Asha Bhosle sang her first song in a chorus in 1948 and,
her
first solo in 1949, for ha.Ns raaj bahal.
shaahajahaa.n
The first movie for the lyricist, Majrooh Sultanpuri. Has
excellent music by Naushad (yet another god). It appears
that Naushad managed to get extremely succesful songs out of
Saigal without Saigal having to touch even a drop of ethyl
alcohol. Saigal told Naushad, kaash, aap mujhe pahale mile
hote. Perhaps the most famous Saigal song, jab dil hii TuuT
gayaa, written by Majrooh is from this movie. There was, and
still may be, a radio program from the Ceylon Broadcasting
Company's foreign service. It was called puraanii filmo.n ke
giit and started at 7:30 a.m. On every weekday, at exactly
three minutes and fifteen seconds before eight, a Saigal
song erupted on shortwave radios all over India. Most of the
time, it was, jab dil hii TuuT gayaa. This tradition of
having a Saigal song to end the program was started by the
announcer, Vijay Kumar Dubey in 1954. After Rafi died, they
replaced Saigal by Rafi, on the day of his death once each
year. Much info on Majrooh is available on the automailer.
shikaarii
The first Hindi movie by S. D. Burman (real name Kumar
Sachin Dev Burman) and Kishor Kumar, one of the trinity of
the latter-day singing gods of Hindi movies. SDB's father,
Nabdveep Chandra Dev Burman Bahadur, Raja of Tripura state,
was an accomplished singer and sitarist. SDB was born on
Oct. 10, 1902 in Komilla (Bangladesh) and his gurus were K.
C. Dey and Badal Khan. He sang in many music programs and
became music director of bangali dramas around 1932. He
gave his first radio program and first ever musical
direction, in a bangali movie "raajashrii" in 1937.
He gave music for four more bangali movies before doing
Hindi movies. It appears that he seldom sat down with a
harmonium to compose music. He used to roam around on the
roads to get inspiration for his tunes. He got lost once
and composed, jaaye.n to jaaye.n kahaa.n. Looking through
a window on a moonlit night, he gave us, ye raat ye
chaa.ndanii phir kahaa.n. Looking far away at nothing in
particular, as if looking for some lost treasure, he gave us
the treasure, tum naa jaane kis jahaa.n me.n kho gaye. More
about him later.
Kishore Kumar was born on Aug. 4, 1929 at Khandwa (M.P.),
the youngest of the three Ganguly brothers, the other two
being Ashok and Anup. His father wanted him to become a
lawyer. He went to college at Indore and carried a harmonium
singing, imitating his brother Ashok Kumar's voice. After
finishing college, he went to Bombay and announced to Ashok
that he wanted to become a famous stunt-movie actor. Ashok
consulted his horoscope and told him that he could never be
an actor of any kind. Nevertheless, he got acting jobs and
his first was in "shikaarii" (1946). He was listed at number
7, his brother was the hero. He gave his first sound test
for Khemchandra Prakash to sing for "ziddii" (1948) and was
allowed to sing only after his brother approved too. In
"ziddii" he sang for Dev Anand. His very first songs, a
solo, marane kii duaae.n kyo.n maa.ngu.n, and a duet with
Lata, ye kaun aayaa re kar ke ye solah singaar, became
immensely popular. He appears uncredited in "ziddi" a few
times as a gardener, makes a funny remark or two and then
disappears. He sang and appeared in many movies but his
biggest break as an actor came with AVM's "la.Dakii" (1953)
with Vyajyantimala. It was a box office hit. He made many
hit movies after that, but kept giving playback for Dev
Anand. More later.
Some other movies of 1946 now follow.
subhadra
Lata, a newcomer sang with an established Shanta Apte,
in a
duet, mai.n khilii khilii phulavaarii. She did quite well.
anamol gha.Dii
Another top-notch movie produced by Mehboob, with nusic
by
Naushad. Had immensely popular songs. Four solos by Noor
Jahan:
aa jaa merii barabaad mohabbat ke sahaare,
mere bachapan ke saathii mujhe bhuul naa jaanaa,
javaa.n hai mohabbat hasii.n hai zamaanaa,
kyaa mil gayaa bhagavaan tumhe.n dil ko dukhaa ke,
three solos by Surayya:
mai.n dil me.n dard basaa laaii,
man letaa hai ang.Daaii,
sochaa thaa kyaa kyaa ho gayaa,
two solos by Surendra:
kyo.n yaad aa rahe hai.n guzare huye zamaane,
ab kaun hai meraa,
and a duet by Surendra and Noor Jahan,
aavaaz de kahaa.n hai,
a solo by Rafi:
teraa khilaunaa TuuTaa balak,
and, finally, a duet by Shamshaad and Zoharabai,
u.Dan khaTole pe u.D jaauu.n.
All songs were written by tanaviir naqvii, except kyaa
mil
gayaa bhagavaan, which was by anjum piiliibhiitii.
doctor koTaniis kii amar kahaani
The third movie produced by IPTA in 1946. It is based on
a
novel, "And One Did Not Come Back" by Abbas, and tells the
story of Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis (played by V. Shantaram) who went to
China to help the chinese against the Japanese invaders, and
got married to a chinese girl (Jayashrii).
hamajolii
Noor Jahan sang 6 out of 10 songs. Among them are:
raaz khulataa nazar nahii.n aataa,
dukh dard se jag me.n koii aazaad nahii.n hai,
ye desh hamaaraa pyaaraa hindustaan jahaa.n se nyaaraa.
Music was by Hafiz Khan (Khan Mastana) and lyrics by
anjum
piiliibhiitii. Mehboob, who did not direct this movie, sang
a song, jag kii sevaa kar le bande.
jiivan yaatraa
Lata appears in the movie and is mentioned at number 5.
She
sang one solo, chi.Diyaa bole chuu.n chuu.n chuu.n. Music by
Vasant Desai and lyrics by diivaan sharar.
nargis
First of the four original Hindii movies I know that are
named after their stars [Check!]. Kids, name the other three now.
Nargis was the heroine and Rahaman the hero. The duo Husnlal
-Bhagtram provided the music. Most of the songs were sung by
amiirbaai, who also played a role.
umar Kayyaam
Second movie pairing Saigal and Surayya. Music by Lal
Mohammad and lyrics by Dr. Safdar Aah. 7 songs, three by
Saigal and 4 by Surayya.
Most of the info comes from the following:
"The Encyclopaedia of Hindi Film Songs," vol. II
"Listeners' Bulletin"
"Star-Portrait"
"Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema"
"Limca Book of Records 1993"
Posted by Surjit Singh, a movie fan period.
surjit_singh@yahoo.com
PS: I finally learnt how to format my posts.
Back
to the Index of Articles by Surjit Singh
Back
to Surjit Singh's Home Page
|