BAHAR (1951): Vyjayanthimala’s super-hit debut film

By

Sharada Iyer

Among the heroines of the Golden era of Hindi cinema, Vyjayanthimala and her sensational debut film ‘Bahar’ in 1951, deserve a special mention. For starters, this teenage dancer-actress was noticed by one and all for her beauty, her superb dancing skills and her graceful persona in her very first film itself and the film went on to become the sixth highest grosser of that year at the box-office. The film was produced by AVM Productions of Madras (now Chennai) and this was their first venture into Hindi films. After this they became associated with some entertaining family dramas produced during the Golden era and many of them were big hits.

The year 1951 is remembered for several landmark films like the Raj Kapoor Nargis starrer Awara, Dev Anand- Gita Bali starrer Baazi, Ashok Kumar’s 1^st double role film Afsana, Nargis- Dilip Kumar-Ashok Kumar love triangle Deedar, the Bhagwan-Geeta Bali superhit film Albela, the Dilip Kumar-Madhubala romantic film Tarana, etc. The fact that Vyjayanthimala made her mark with a distinct identity amidst these highly talented actresses spoke volumes of her scintillating screen presence and that too in her debut film itself!

Many heroines of that era like the famous trio of Meena Kumari, Madhubala and Nargis started their career as child artistes and had to resort to working in films from a very young age to help provide for their family. Vyjayanthimala, who was the daughter of a popular star of Tamil cinema Vasundhara Devi (who herself was a good dancer and singer), did not go through the process of becoming a child artiste. She made her debut directly as a heroine and was catapulted to fame from her first film itself.

Bahar (Spring) was originally made in Tamil in 1949 as Vaazhkai, (Life) followed by its Telugu version Jeevitham (Life) in 1950 and the success of these two films made AVM’s Meiyaapan venture into making its Hindi version as well, in 1951. Interestingly Vyjayanthimala was the heroine in all the three versions. As luck would have it the makers of the film who were on the lookout for a fresh young face to be launched in their new film happened to spot the young Vyjayanthimala performing Bharatanatyam dance during a school function. So impressed were they with the 13-year-old girl’s stunning performance that they signed her for their Tamil film Vaazhkai.

Unknowingly and without any predetermined agenda not only did Vyjayanthimala become a national heroine because of all the three debut films in different languages becoming super-hits, she ended up revolutionizing the image of the Hindi film heroine in a major way. With her thorough grounding of classical dancing, she became the first heroine who could dance like a dream and set a new bench mark which made any actress entering the industry to have dancing skills. She also became the first South Indian actress to reach the top of the Hindi film industry after which we have had many talented and beautiful actresses dominating the Hindi film industry from time to time like Waheeda Rehman, Rekha, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Jaya Prada, Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone etc.

Looking back, without any experience of acting or even having any idea of entering films at that stage, young Vyjayanthimala’s entry into the film industry was like a fairy tale and as she often says in her interviews- “It just happened in my life without any pre-conceived plan.” The Tamil film was a runaway success which ultimately led her to enter the Hindi film industry. Her knowledge of ‘abhinaya’ or expressing emotions through her eyes and body movements during her dance recitals proved to be a boon for her to pick up acting skills very easily and she was very adept and perceptive to convey the necessary emotions required by the film’s narrative.

The film Bahar had music by S D Burman and there were many songs picturized on her. For the audience back in 1951, this must have been such a new experience to see such grace and dancing skill in a heroine. The song picturized on her and sung by Shamshad Begum ‘Saiyyan dil mein aana re, aake phir na jaana re…’ became a sensational hit and what better way to have a great recall value for a new heroine than to have a hit song picturized on her! Another solo again by Shamshad Begum ‘Duniya ka mazaa le lo duniya tumhari hai…’ was also a big hit.

The film also had Kishore Kumar singing his first solo for music director S D Burman. The foot-tapping number ‘Qusoor aapka, huzoor aapka, mera naam lijiye na mere baap ka…’ had a male and a female version. While Kishore Kumar’s version was picturized on the hero Karan Dewan, the female version of the same song sung by Shamshad Begum was picturized on Vyjayanthimala. In this film S D Burman uses Shamshad Begum’s voice in a big way and it paid off.

Kishore Kumar version:

Shamshad Begum version:

In Bahar, along with Vyjayanthimala, another heroine was also introduced – Pandari Bai but her name appears as Padmini in the credits. While Vyjayanthimala played an ebullient and vivacious modern college-going girl with a mind of her own and a no-nonsense attitude towards flirting and frivolous behaviour of men, Pandari Bai is a village simpleton who is vulnerable and prone to being tricked by the city slickers and her role is very emotional and melodramatic.

The plot of the film was nothing to boast about, in fact the Pandari Bai angle was full of melodrama and showed women in a poor light. The story involves two parallel tracks- one with Vyjayathimala and the hero Karan Dewan and the other equally important one had Pran playing his usual dishonorable character opposite Pandari Bai. The other important people in the cast included Om Prakash as Vyjayanthimala’s dad, Sundar as Karan Dewan’s servant and Baby Tabassum as Pran’s niece.

Story in brief:

Pran is the nephew of Om Prakash’s second wife and stepmother of Vyjayanthimala. He wants to get married to Vyjayantimala but the latter has no intentions of encouraging him in any way; in fact, she does not even like talking to him. She is huge fan of a writer whose novels she does not miss reading and keeps dreaming of meeting him some day. But what she does not know is that the writer is Karan Dewan, who not only writes under a pseudonym but is also her next-door neighbour and whom she finds extremely annoying!

But a few incidents later which involve a lot of banter, songs and funny scenes between them, they end up falling in love. He also turns out to be Om Prakash’s old friend’s son which gives him more brownie points than Pran to become her suitor which does not go down well with Pran.

Meanwhile Pran pays a visit to his grandfather in the village and through his niece Baby Tabassum, manages to befriend a lovely village belle Pandari Bai. But Pran being Pran, he is never up to any good and his intentions are very clear to the audience right from the beginning. But our innocent Pandari Bai falls prey to his charms and ends up sleeping with him. Having accomplished his mission Pran leaves the village promising to return and once back he becomes busy pursuing Vyjayanthimala.

As expected Pandari Bai discovers she is pregnant and decides to end her life. On hearing this her poor father falls dead and her mother is of no help. However just at the critical juncture, Pandari Bai has a change of mind and decides to come to the city in search of Pran. There she asks every person she meets if they know the whereabouts of her ‘husband’! Soon she gives birth to a son and accidentally sees Pran while walking near his bungalow.

Not surprisingly, Pran feigns ignorance and asks her to leave and gives some money to keep her mouth shut. On her way out she is then hit by a car and rescued. Now she decides to leave the baby somewhere so that he can at least grow up as an orphan (instead of being called a ‘bastard child’) and proceeds for another attempt to end her life!!! And hold on! She is saved yet again. Phew!

Now she had left the child in a fruit basket which is bought by Karan Dewan’s servant Sundar and thus the child reaches Karan Dewan’s house to become the cause of misunderstanding between Vyjayanthimala and him. He is forcibly saddled with the responsibility of looking after this child. One day Pran spots Karan with the child, takes a photo and poisons Vyjayanthimala and Om Prakash’s minds against Karan. But mercifully after the initial misunderstanding, our heroine had the common sense to go and confront Karan Dewan and to get to the bottom of the matter.

Unknown to Karan Dewan, Pandari Bai had managed to track her baby by following Sundar whom she had seen by chance in the same marketplace where she had left her child in a basket (talk of coincidences!) and had been coming to see her son secretly through the window of Karan’s hall! One day she is caught when she enters to see her child who had fallen sick, and no longer able to hide the truth blurts out her full story. Vyjayanthimala offers to help her track the rogue who had tricked her. In the end Baby Tabassum comes to the rescue as she recognizes Pandari Bai as the village friend of Pran and then mercifully it is ‘all’s well that ends well’!

Comments:

Now reading the above story may make one wonder as to how the film became a hit. But we must remember that it was released in 1951 and seventy years back the societal values were different and such stories with dollops of drama kept the audience engaged and were accepted wholeheartedly. The film does offer an insight into the position of women at that time. Direction by M V Raman was good and a fresh cast was a plus point. The songs and dances were the added bonus.

In the acting department, Pran was just brilliant! He looks very handsome and his acting is top-class. It is little wonder that he reigned supreme in these negative roles with no one even remotely giving him any competition. Vyjayanthimala brought a freshness to the screen and her expressive eyes, graceful dancing and confident dialogue delivery made it a very attractive debut for her. She was quite effortless in her role.

Baby Tabassum was a delight to watch and quite a star in her own way. Om Prakash added his touch and class and makes the role memorable. Sundar as the servant was quite maddening and Karan Dewan somehow did not suit the role at all. He had no expressions. Pandari Bai in her debut film got stuck with a not-so-likeable role and her annoying actions as the character made no sense but she got all the dramatic scenes and also had two sad Geeta Dutt songs picturized on her.

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The film needs to be watched just to understand how Vyjayanthimala’s journey began. To gain an entry into the film industry with three super-hits in three different languages is a rare feat. It is doubtful if any other actor or actress has had this distinction in his/her debut film. She was just 16 years old and made quite a mark. She continued her journey and made a place for herself in the list of iconic actresses of the film industry and having kept up her passion for dancing she also earned accolades as one of the best dancers the country has ever produced.

I end the blog with the most popular song from the film:

Song: ‘Saiyyan dil mein aana re…’

[Note: All images are taken from the internet. Also as permission is not given for embedding the songs here, do click on the YouTube links to enjoy the songs]

MADHUBALA: First film as a child artiste and as a lead heroine

By

Sharada Iyer

Madhubala, born as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi, started her stint in the film industry as a child artiste Baby Mumtaz in the film Basant (1942) and went on to become one of the most beautiful and talented actresses of our film industry. Born in 1933 she was just 9-years-old in the film but looked charming at that age itself.

In 1947, at the young age of 14, she made her debut as a lead heroine in Neel Kamal opposite none other than the showman Raj Kapoor who also was incidentally making his debut as a lead hero with this film. Both Basant and Neel Kamal were films produced by Bombay Talkies. Madhubala’s name was still Mumtaz as can be seen in the credits of Neel Kamal as it was after this film that Devika Rani, the owner of Bombay Talkies, impressed with her beauty and acting and christened her Madhubala (sweet girl). She felt this name suited her more than her original name.

The same year Madhubala and Raj Kapoor came together in another film Dil Ki Rani where her screen name Madhubala appears in the credits. A third film Chittor Vijay, starring the two is also listed in their filmography but not much information is available about this film. Interestingly, both Basant and Neel Kamal belong to the treasured list of films released in pre-independent India and hence form an important part of the archival history.

BASANT (1942)

Cast: Mumtaz Shanti, Ulhas, P F Pithawala, Mumtaz Ali, Pramila, Master Suresh and Baby Mumtaz (Madhubala)

The film was directed by Amiya Chakravorthy who is also credited with the story and screenplay of the film. The film’s music became very popular and all the songs were catchy especially ‘Humko hai pyari hamari galiyaan…’, which has two versions– one sung by Parul Ghosh and chorus picturized on Mumtaz Shanti and the other by young Sudha picturized on Baby Mumtaz.  

Song: ‘Humko hai pyari hamari galiyan…’ (Singer-Parul Ghosh)

This superbly directed highly enjoyable family drama with excellent songs went on to become the biggest box-office grosser of the year 1942. Even eighty years after its release the film’s appeal has not dimmed as the story revolving around the life of the people involved with the world of theatre has a timeless quality about it. It gives a glimpse into how ordinary people can become stars overnight, how the pressures of the world of showbiz can really take a toll on relationships and how behind the smiling façade of the actors on stage there could be a lot of personal pain going on in their lives.

Pithawala and Ulhas play brothers. While Pithawala as the owner of a Theatre group is always looking for new talents and newer tricks to keep the company going, Ulhas is basically jobless and his efforts to help the theatre also don’t meet with success. Mumtaz Shanti and young Suresh are a poor brother-sister duo looking for a good job. By a quirk of fate, Ulhas meets them and brings them to his brother and makes them sing. Impressed by her voice and talent, she is signed right away and becomes a success. Literally overnight, a star is born and business booms.

Both Mumtaz Shanti and Ulhas also fall in love. Now the original heroine of the theatre Pramila and her father don’t take to this new turn of events kindly. In fact, Pramila has now not only lost her position in the theatre but also realizes even Ulhas is slipping away from her grip. In a bid to avenge this insult, she decides to drive a wedge in their love-life, and sows the seeds of jealousy in Ulhas regarding his brother’s interest in Mumtaz Shanti.

Soon they get married and start a happy life and are blessed with a little baby girl. He forbids her from working at the theatre and she is also happy in her domestic bliss. But after a while, circumstances force her with no other option but to return to the stage and that too in Ulhas’s absence. When he comes to know he is angry and misunderstanding the situation, he leaves town with the baby leaving Mumtaz Shanti broken-hearted. A lot of interesting drama ensues before the film ends.

Baby Mumtaz plays their daughter and appears only in the last 45 minutes of the film. Expectedly, she becomes instrumental in bringing her estranged parents together in the film. She seems a natural in front of the camera and acts very well. Though her basic features are the same, Baby Mumtaz is only 9-years-old in the film and it is indeed difficult to imagine that it is this cherubic and charming child artiste who goes on to become the ‘Venus’ of Hindi cinema- Madhubala!

Acting from the entire cast is excellent. This was Mumtaz Shanti’s debut film as a heroine in Hindi (she had earlier done a dance number in another Hindi film and also acted in two Punjabi films) and she comes up with a brilliant performance. The narrative was entirely through her character’s angle and she makes it memorable. Ulhas too is very good.

P F Pithawala who has quite a few superb films to his credit is his usual natural self and Mumtaz Ali (actor Mehmood’s father) who was the dance director of Bombay Talkies gets to play an important character in the film. Talented actress Pramila plays the part of the jealous seductress with élan and is excellent. For young Suresh who plays Mumtaz Shanti’s younger brother, this was probably his last role as a child artiste before he started coming in lead roles. He is also apt for the role.

Interestingly seven years later in 1949, Madhubala and Suresh team up together in the love triangle Dulari with Geeta Bali forming the third angle of the triangle. The film is remembered to this day for the famous song- ‘Suhani raat dhal chuki, na jaane tum kab aaoge…’  sung by Mohammed Rafi.

Renowned flautist and the pioneer of Hindustani classical flute music Pannalal Ghosh scored music only in few films and one of them was Basant. Incidentally the female playback singer of the film who put life into all his compositions was his wife Parul Ghosh, who happened to be the sister of music composer Anil Biswas who in turn happened to be Pannalal Ghosh’s childhood best friend. And it is their daughter Sudha who sang for Baby Mumtaz in the film!

(There are articles in the internet which state that though the credit was given to Pannalal Ghosh, Anil Biswas was the main composer but as he was not part of Bombay Talkies at that time, his name could not be used and he had no problems giving credit to his best friend and brother-in-law Pannalal Ghosh.)

Song: ‘Humko hai pyari hamari galiyan…’ (Sudha Ghosh)

Song: ‘Mere chote se man mein choti si duniya re…’

NEEL KAMAL (1947)

Cast: Begum Para, Raj Kapoor, Mumtaz (Madhubala)

Directed by Kidar Sharma, this Bombay Talkies production starred 14-year-old Madhubala as the heroine opposite 23-year-old Raj Kapoor. The story, screenplay, lyrics and dialogue were also by Kidar Sharma. Music was by B Vasudev. Though the film was not a commercial success, it will remain a landmark film in the annals of film history as this was the film which launched the careers as hero and heroine of two such great actors who went on to become two legends of the golden era of Hindi cinema and contributed to the growth of our cinema in a big way. But back then, no one had any idea of what was to come…

The film is basically a love triangle with a tragic end. The second heroine and the third angle of the triangle in the film was the beautiful and sensuous heroine Begum Para who had already acted in a few films and gained popularity. In the film, Begum Para and Madhubala play royal sisters but are separated when they are young because of an untoward incident and by a quirk of fate, as adults they end up falling for the same man Raj Kapoor. Being the senior actress, Begum Para got the top billing in the film credits.

The film starts with a coup in the palace of Janakgarh where the King’s brother-in-law attacks the palace at night to kill the King and take over the kingdom deceitfully by catching him off-guard. But the king though wounded, manages to escape with his Queen, his two young daughters and a few loyal servants and takes refuge in the cave of a temple.

Now that he has injured himself during the escape, he is in no position to travel. His only hope is to send message to his brother. His elder daughter dons the attire of a boy and volunteers to undertake the journey to her uncle’s kingdom to bring help. She bids farewell to her father aware of the possibility that she may never see him alive again. She manages to escape with a few trusted aides.

Meanwhile, with the help of his spies, the treacherous brother-in-law comes to know of the King’s hideout, manages to track him down and beheads him and also mercilessly kills his sister, the Queen. Unknown to any of them, the younger daughter who is very small is hiding in the cave and walks out after the villains leave.

When the child reaches the temple steps, a sweeper who belongs to the lower caste of ‘untouchables’, takes her home and much against his wife’s wishes, adopts her and dotes on her. He feels she is God’s answer to his prayers as he and his wife had been praying for a child for a long time. However, his wife does not like this and ill-treats her and taunts her at every given opportunity.

The little girl grows up to be Madhubala and meanwhile her elder sister who had escaped to her uncle’s kingdom is Begum Para. With the help of her uncle, the evil brother-in-law is killed and Begum Para becomes the Princess of Janakgarh.

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Madhubala and Begum Para

Raj Kapoor plays a sculptor who stays with his mentor and guide-Guruji.  One day while working in the temple he has a fall and is taken home by Madhubala and her father where they look after him until he is fine. She becomes very devoted to him and starts loving him but he feels her love might be a distraction and may steer him away from his path of becoming the best sculptor. Not wanting to stay away from him her family decides to go with him to Janakgarh where he plans to work for the princess in the palace.

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At the palace, Begum Para after seeing his divine work starts falling for him and he also starts getting close to her. He starts ignoring Madhubala and starts spending more time with Begum Para. Madhubala keeps pining for him. While Raj Kapoor’s guruji is not happy with this situation as he realizes that her love is selfless and pure, Madhubala’s adopted mother who never liked her, is very happy. She then reveals the fact that she is actually an adopted child whose lineage is unknown and since her adopted family belongs to ‘untouchables’, she can never marry Raj Kapoor even if he loves her back.

On hearing this young Madhubala decides to end her life as she cannot imagine a life without her love. By the time Raj Kapoor realizes who is his true love and fights with the princess to go back to Madhubala it is too late. And sadly, it is only after she dies does the princess also come to know that the young untouchable had actually been her own younger sister, whom she had been searching since a long time.

A blue lotus flower grows at the place where Madhubala had jumped into the water and Raj Kapoor who till then had been an atheist, decides to enter the temple for her sake and places the flower at the idol’s feet.

Madhubala as the innocent untouchable looks very sweet, fits the role and her acting is very natural. Though just 14 years old, it was clear that she had a lot of talent and needed the right kind of role to shine. Raj Kapoor’s role was quite ill-written but his dialogue delivery and acting had a certain maturity which was quite remarkable. He had a very serious role and no light-hearted moments. Begum Para looked lovely and was apt in the role of the mother and elder daughter.  The actress who played the stepmother was also brilliant.

The story was not bad but the screenplay was too simple, linear, not very engaging and had nothing exciting or dramatic except the killing in the beginning. In those days the lyrics imparted a lot of meaning in carrying the story forward so songs were an essential part of the narrative. So, there were too many songs in keeping with the characteristics of that era. The songs were nothing great and could not make any impact.

This is the first film of Begum Para I watched and by luck she had played a double role- that of the mother or queen and the elder daughter who falls in love with Raj Kapoor when she grows up. None of the articles on the film actually mention this fact but I came across her interview in cineplot.com, (a priceless site for information on our old actors), in which she herself mentions about her double role in the film.

(Interesting trivia: Begum Para had a very short acting career but her connections with the film industry run deep. She married Dilip Kumar’s younger brother Nasir Khan and their son Ayub Khan is an actor in the industry. Her older sister Zarina is the grandmother of Amrita Singh which makes her the grand-aunt of Amrita Singh and great-grand-aunt of the current generation actress Sara Ali Khan. Begum Para’s elder brother married old time actress Protima Das Gupta.)

Here are two songs from the film which will give an idea of how young Madhubala looked like in her first film:

Song: ‘Jaiyo na bides mora jiya bhar aayega…’

‘Song: ‘Bhool jaate hain bhool jaaya na kare…’

Did the triumvirate of Dilip Kumar-Dev Anand-Raj Kapoor ever act together?

By

Sharada Iyer

The period extending from the mid 1940’s to late 1960’s is often referred to as the Golden era of Hindi cinema as this era witnessed the best of our industry in terms of quality of cinema, directors, actors and musicians. The era also gave our industry its distinct character and a unique identity which set it apart from the rest of the world cinema.

Of the stars who shone in the galaxy during this era, it was the troika of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor who commanded maximum respect and adulation and had the largest fan-following within the industry as well as outside. All three were pioneers and trendsetters in their own way and started their careers in the industry around the same time. While Dilip Kumar was introduced in the film Jwar Bhata in the year 1944, Dev Anand started his career in 1946 with the film Hum Ek Hain. Raj Kapoor after doing a small role as a child artiste in only one film in 1935 also made his debut as an adult actor in a small role in 1946 in the film Valmiki.

All three of them carved their own path and were the dominant stars of the Golden Era. Raj Kapoor went on to become a much-acclaimed actor-director earning him the title of ‘The greatest Showman’, Dev Anand also became an actor-director and was usually associated with slick and stylish city-based films and became popular for his trendy fashion sense as well, and Dilip Kumar came to be hailed as the greatest actor and set a high bar for future generations to emulate.

However, ironically all three never got the opportunity to come together on screen and act in a single film. Maybe no director or story writer could conceive a script to bring these stars together. However, there were two films where two of the three acted as co-stars and these two films therefore are rare treasures to be appreciated and preserved for this unique aspect. While Dilip Kumar got the opportunity to act with Dev Anand in Insaaniyat and with Raj Kapoor in Andaz, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand could never do a film together during their entire career.

This blog is an attempt to relive some of the magical moments from the only two films which saw two of the legends coming together, albeit in different combinations.

ANDAZ (1949)

Cast: Nargis, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor

Director: Mehboob Khan

Music director: Naushad

When producer-director Mehboob Khan decided to make a glamorous, suave, sophisticated, glossy and modern-day love triangle set in the urban milieu, he signed the then upcoming young stars Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Just the previous year, in 1948, the audience had witnessed the Nargis-Dilip Kumar pairing in hit films like Babul and Mela and the Nargis-Raj Kapoor pair in the latter’s first directorial venture Aag. Having seen the chemistry of the pairing, the casting of Andaz generated a curiosity among the public who were eager to see the three of them together in what was considered a casting coup at that time.

Looking back, what a rare piece of cinema it turned out to be! For starters, no one had imagined the stupendous reception the film got at that time turning it into the second highest grossing film of the year. Also, who would have dreamt of the legendary status the three stars would reach in the years to come turning them into cinematic icons of the era! The film turned out to be a blessing for all of them and helped boost their careers by catapulting them into the big league.

Cinematography by Faredoon Irani was top-class. Lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri and music by Naushad were also big contributing factors for the film’s success. Interestingly Mukesh sang for Dilip Kumar and Mohammed Rafi for Raj Kapoor in the film but after this Mukesh went on to become Raj Kapoor’s voice and Rafi became Dilip Kumar’s voice. The film gave a major fillip to the career of the then upcoming young singer Lata Mangeshkar who never looked back after 1949, the year she delivered three hit films-Mahal, Barsaat and Andaz, and went on to become the ‘Nightingale’ of Hindi cinema.

Plot:

The film revolves around a modern, rich young girl Nina (Nargis) and her relationship with the two men who enter her life. She is westernized in her behaviour and outlook and lives with her father who is the owner of a huge estate. She is loved by two men- Dilip (Dilip Kumar), who saves her life by rescuing her when she falls down from her horse, and Rajan (Raj Kapoor) who is her fiancé. Actor Sapru plays her father and dancer Cuckoo her best friend.

After rescuing Nargis from the fall Dilip Kumar is besotted by her charm and she in turn becomes very friendly with him. Her friendly, flirtatious and outspoken demeanor is understood to be the blossoming of love between the two by both Dilip Kumar and the audience. Thus, the dramatic entry of Raj Kapoor after 45 minutes of the film as her fiancé, and after Dilip has fallen crazily in love with Nargis not only comes as a surprise but also makes way for an undercurrent of sexual tension between the characters thus creating scope for a lot of drama. Dilip Kumar is shocked to suddenly learn of the presence of Raj Kapoor in Nargis’s life and finds it difficult to face and accept this reality.

Song: ‘Toote na dil toote na, saath hamara choote na…’

What follows is a sequence of unexpected but interesting incidents that turns the lives of the three of them upside down. Does Raj Kapoor find out about Dilip’s feelings for Nargis? Does Nargis confide about her close friendship with Dilip Kumar in Raj Kapoor’s absence? Why did Nargis hide the presence of a fiancé in her life from Dilip Kumar? Does she subconsciously develop feelings for Dilip and is afraid to face her true feelings? Or was she honestly just interested in friendship with him? Mehboob Khan’s masterpiece was a statement on the effect and influence of western culture on the youth of that time and mulls over the realistic possibility of a platonic relationship between a man and a woman.

Both Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor put a lot of life into their characters to paint a vivid saga of love, romance, friendship, betrayal, angst and heart-break. Their confrontation scenes are brilliant. One must remember that at the time of the making of the film, they were youngsters still trying to prove their mettle in the industry and had not yet become established big stars. That they still managed to leave such a forceful impact with their natural and restrained performances was indeed a creditable achievement. Giving the two men able support was Nargis in her glamourous and stylish avatar and does a brilliant job of the remarkable character she gets to play.

Andaz went on to become the second highest-grossing film of 1949. Till date when people talk of all the love-triangle stories made in Hindi cinema Andaz still remains at the top! No other film has come close to this film for it was not just another run-of-the-mill love story. The story was off-beat and the characters were not just black and white as all three of them were were shown with grey shades which kept the screenplay interesting throughout. The protagonists had layers to their character. The narrative had a psychological angle which made room for plenty of dramatic scenes to hold the audience interest. On the whole, the strong script, brilliant direction, excellent cinematography, superb songs, well-etched out characters and above all mesmerizing performance from the three stars turned this film into a classic which remains unbeaten.

The same year Raj Kapoor-Nargis pair gave another super-hit Barsaat which started the beginning of one of the greatest on-screen romantic pairings the film industry would ever witness in the years to come. Nargis went on to do some great films with Dilip Kumar also. But sadly, this remarkable trio of Dilip-Raj-Nargis was never again seen on screen and no other director could bring them together…

The film was studded with many musical gems. Here are the links to two more songs from the film:

Song: ‘Yun toh aapas mein bigadte hain…’

Song: ‘Hum aaj kahin dil kho baithe…’

INSAANIYAT (1955)

Dilip Kumar, Beena Rai, Dev Anand

Director: S S Vasan

Music Director: C Ramchandra

It took six years after the stupendous success of Andaz for two of the legends to be signed together for their lone on-screen outing. It was producer-director S S Vasan, the founder of the famous Gemini Studios from South, who had the distinction of bringing Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand together and created quite a buzz with his casting coup. The beautiful and talented heroine Bina Rai was cast as the heroine opposite the two men. Supporting cast had Jayant, Agha, Shobhna Samarth, Paidi Jairaj and ‘Zippy’- the star chimpanzee from America, in important roles.

Plot:

The film was an action film dealing with humanity with the story revolving around a tyrant king Zangoora played by Jayant who is constantly at loggerheads with the poor villagers tormenting and looting them at will and making their lives miserable. For this job he has two commanders Dev Anand and Jairaj. During one such looting instance, village girl Bina Rai slaps Dev Anand and rebukes him for his shameful and cowardly behaviour of using force on innocent people to rob them of all their wealth.

This incident makes a big impact on Dev Anand who then gives up his bad ways and turns over a new leaf by joining the village people, in the hope of becoming one of them. He becomes good friends with Dilip Kumar, a childhood friend of Bina Rai. Having grown up with her all these years, he had grown to love her and nurtured dreams of marrying her. Meanwhile Dev Anand ends up saving Bina Rai’s life from a wild bull and unknown and unaware of Dilip’s feelings, they fall in love with each other. Thus, the basis of a love triangle is laid.

Song: ‘Aayee jhoomti bahar, laayi dil ka karaar, dekho pyar ho gaya…

But unlike Andaz, where the love angle formed the crux of the film, here Dilip Kumar after his initial anger and heart-break decides to sacrifice his love for his friend’s sake and finds happiness in their love. Now they join hands to fight against the evil oppressor Zangoora. Dev Anand trains the villagers to fight and many action scenes are there. Bina Rai as the love interest not only looked lovely and acted well, she also got to play a very important character. Both men love her and her relationship with both of them till the end forms an important aspect of the film. Agha had a very good supporting role.

The scenes featuring Zippy, the chimpanzee, were very enjoyable and his antics were just unbelievable to watch. He even had two full songs featured on him. It must have been quite a treat for the viewers at that time. In the film he befriends Agha and is entrusted with very important tasks during the villagers’ fight against Jayant. In fact, the last climax totally belonged to Zippy and had him rescuing Bina Rai’s child in a very enterprising manner. Insaaniyat was a big success and was the 6^th highest grosser of the year 1955.

It was a great experience watching these two greats together and the director captures their camaraderie very well. As both Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar are on the same side while fighting, there were no confrontation scenes except the one in the beginning when Dilip learns of the Dev’s feelings for Beena Rai. It was a rare sight seeing Dev Anand, who plays ‘Bhanupratap’, sporting a moustache and playing the role of a warrior and villager. Wonder if he ever played a role like this in his entire career before or after this film! Dilip Kumar as the villager ‘Mangal’ was his usual natural self. Their screen-time was almost equal and both acted very well.

But the star of the film was neither Dilip Kumar nor Dev Anand but the chimpanzee Zippy who travelled in style all the way from America thanks to the imagination and enterprise of the director S S Vasan who wanted to introduce something novel, surprising and exciting for the viewers. He managed to strike a deal with the American studios and got their performing chimpanzee Zippy, who had already attained popularity in Hollywood by appearing in Howdy Dowdy and The Ed Sullivan Show. Zippy accompanied by his trainer Ralph Quinlan travelled to India and Zippy was given a warm welcome both in Mumbai and Chennai.

Here are a few other songs from the film. However as these links do not have permission for embedding in the blog, do click on the link provided and enjoy the songs:

Song: ‘Zulm sahe na, zulm kare na…’

Song: ‘Main Bandar hoon shaher ka…’

SHAKUNTALA DEVI: Fascinating biopic of a remarkable woman!

By

Sharada Iyer

To the world Shakuntala Devi- the mathematical genius from India remained an enigma! No one could comprehend how this seemingly ordinary woman could crack such tough numbers in a jiffy and at times even spell out the answer in reverse order! Her mysterious ways of arriving at the perfect answer to the toughest Mathematical problems beating even the fastest computer of her time not only gave her entry into the Guinness Book of World Records but also the title of ‘Human Computer’!

But there was a lot more to this extraordinary woman than her professional side. Shakuntala Devi was after all, like everyone else, a human and in various phases of her life as a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, a wife, a mother and a mother-in-law she had to navigate through some tough personal times to become the woman the world came to know her as.

Real vs Reel

The film which released on Amazon Prime on 31^st July is an attempt by writer-director Anu Menon to give us a glimpse into the life and times of Shakuntala Devi through the eyes of her daughter with whom she apparently had a troubled relationship. In the very first scene the daughter is shown filing a criminal case against her mother which makes the viewer sit up and from then on we are hooked on to the film till the very end.

The biggest plus point of the film is that it does not unnecessarily deify her but shows her as a woman who was unapologetic about the way she lived as she did not believe in conforming to the social diktats the society wanted to cast her in as a ‘woman’ a ‘wife’ or a ‘mother’. She followed her heart and carved her own path for she knew that her happiness lay in being surrounded by numbers and mathematical problems and nothing and no one would be allowed to take that away from her. In one scene she tells her daughter- “Why should I choose to be normal when I can be amazing?” That in essence sums up the feisty personality of the woman who never questions the choices she makes in her life.

The film also reveals that she was one of the earliest people in the country to support homosexuality and in fact even wrote a book on it. Apart from being a mathematician she also became famous as an astrologer and a writer. She had even set sights on a political career.

However to cramp all this into a 2-hour film is not an easy task so some aspects though very significant are only mentioned fleetingly and could have been highlighted more. The essential focus is on her personal relationships starting with the troubled one with her parents. She remains angry with them all her life and even though she vows not to make the kind of mistakes that she felt they did, her daughter ends up having the same kind of resentment towards her which becomes ironical. So like her favourite number ‘zero’ she realizes albeit a little late that life always goes in circles and that we should not be too harsh or judgemental towards anyone for every person is doing what they feel is best at that time.

In a biopic, the choice of the cast is of utmost importance. Today in our industry there could not have been a better person to portray the character of this eccentric mathematical genius than Vidya Balan. She fits into the character like a glove and carries the film on her shoulders confidently and superbly. There are some scenes though which tend to become melodramatic and she goes a little over-the-top with her enthusiasm. This is especially evident when she is portraying Shakuntala’s younger self. But to her credit she manages to capture the spirit of the character.

Sanya Malhotra who plays her daughter is okay. Her acting skills are nothing to rave about but she does get to play a difficult role and has a lot of screen time. She is good in some scenes and quite out of depth in others. Jishu Sengupta who plays Vidya Balan’s husband is very good and so is Luca Calvani, the actor who plays her Spanish friend Javier. Amit Sadh as her son-in-law is good and fits the part.

Nowadays since all songs are played in the background not much recall value is there. There is a song added when the end credits are rolling which does not add any value and was avoidable. Direction, dialogues and camerawork are all good. Editing could have been more taut as some scenes do seem a little abrupt.

Today we talk so much about women empowerment, but here was a woman way ahead of her times who walked the talk with a rare dynamism and a kind of vitality difficult to come by! Shakuntala Devi was born in 1929 and the period in which she grew up women were not looked upon as being capable of such brilliance and that too in the field of Mathematics so dominated by men. And here was a little girl of six years solving tough calculations at the Mysore University leaving everyone spellbound. For such a woman to achieve what she did and win laurels and recognition not only in our country but all over the world is nothing short of spectacular and unbelievable!

Kudos to the producers and the entire team who thought of bringing to life the journey of this rare genius of our country. The film may not be a perfect in every respect but it helps us to understand the woman behind the brains and definitely deserves to be watched by one and all…

 

MADHURI DIXIT: The dancing queen with the captivating smile

By

Sharada Iyer

The very mention of Madhuri Dixit’s name brings to mind her charming on-screen persona, her brilliant dances and that 1000-watt smile which never fails to light up our hearts with a happy feeling.

This blog-post celebrates the birthday of this beautiful actress as she turns 53 today by taking a look at some of her scintillating dance numbers.

It was the year 1984. A simple and unassuming girl made a modest debut in a Tarachand Bharjatya family drama titled ‘Abodh’. She went almost unnoticed though a few reviewers did find her promising. This was followed by a spate of rather ordinary films like ‘Uttar Dakshin’, ‘Swati’, ‘Awara Baap’, ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi’, ‘Mohre’, etc. which may not have given her career a boost in terms of box-office hits but it gave her an opportunity to work with some highly talented seniors like Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Nana Patekar, Anupam Kher, Sadashiv Amrapurkar and her favourite on-screen hero Anil Kapoor.

However destiny had earmarked the year 1988  for her and with that one memorable dance number with catchy lyrics ‘Ek do teen, char paanch …’ she danced her way into the hearts and minds of millions of cine-goers and has remained there ever since. A whole generation of fans and industry people came under her spell for the next decade and a half till she decided to take a break to set up her personal life.

Her no-holds bar dancing had caught the pulse of the nation and overnight she became a sensation. There was no looking back for this beautiful and talented actress. Neither the director of the film N Chandra, nor the choreographer Saroj Khan in their wildest dreams had imagined this kind of response to this dance number. Audience flocked to the cinema halls to see this number again and again as they could not have enough of their ‘Ek Do Teen girl’! That is when people realized she had been around for four years but had never got the opportunity to set the screen on fire with her presence and her dance.

Well! The rest is history. She followed it up with some lovely films which always had some outstanding dance number of hers. Take the case of the song ‘Humko aaj kal hai intezar…’ from ‘Sailaab’; very few dance numbers have shown the heroine dancing in such a bewitching yet elegant manner. Once again Saroj Khan had done justice to her talent.

Many of her dances were solo numbers with more focus on her and she seemed to be enjoying as much as the audience which came through and created magic when she came on-screen. Most of the time stories revolved around her in such a way that not including a dance number of hers was unthinkable. Many of the films are remembered more for her acting and dances than the story or the hero.

Film: Yaarana (Song: ‘Mera piya ghar aaya...‘)

 Film: Anjaam (Song: ‘Chane ke khet mein...’)

The film ‘Raja’ had her team up with Anil Kapoor’s brother Sanjay Kapoor. The film was a big hit and the songs were a big hit. The song ‘Nazren mili dil dhadka …’ had her don just a loose kurta and no jewellery or heavy make up and yet she looks so lovely.

She also made a great team with Salman Khan in ‘Saajan’ and ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’ with the latter considered to be the one of the biggest blockbusters in Bollywood history. In fact 25 years back when it was released there was a lot of apprehension. ‘How can a film have 14 songs?’-was the question on everybody’s lips. But it defied all norms and clichés and in fact defeated video-piracy which was at its peak and managed to draw the audience back into the theatres. And what a treat for the audience! Their favourite Madhuri Dixit was there in all the songs and dances. She even managed to leave a mark in her ‘pregnant’ avatar in the song ‘Didi tera deva deewana…’ and the purple sari of hers became a fashion statement and a must-have in every fan’s wardrobe.

She teamed up with the super dancer-choreographer Prabhudeva in ‘Pukaar’ to give us a scintillating dance number ‘Kay sera sera sera jo bhi ho so ho…‘. To match steps with this guy is no easy task and Madhuri held her own with elan.

She did a few sensuous dance numbers too. In 1992, her duet with Anil Kapoor with  to the lyrics ‘Dil dhak dhak karne laga…’ set the screen on fire making the Anil-Madhuri pair one of the hottest on-screen pairs of the industry. With already ‘Hifaazat’, ‘Jeevan Ek Sangharsh’, ‘Tezaab’, ‘Parinda’ and ‘Kishen-Kanhaiya’ behind them this lovable and good-looking ‘jodi’ was at the top. 

In ‘Khalnayak’ her number ‘Choli ke peeche kya hai…’ with naughty lyrics created a furore and she received some flak for it but the song was so catchy and the combination of her, Neena Gupta and the background dancers made the song a raging hit and continues to be popular even today. She plays an undercover cop out to catch the baddie.

She never shied away from group dances and was game for dancing with other heroines. Her dance from the song ‘Gajar ne kiya hai ishara…’ from ‘Tridev’ was a fast-paced dance number and though there are two more dancers Sonam and Sangeeta Bijlani, it is Madhuri who wins our hearts.

In the murderous version of ‘Devdas’ directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, she played Chandramukhi and had lovely dances picturized on her. The script also incorporated a dance number ‘Dola re dola re...’ between Paro (Aishwarya Rai) and her which made no sense to the story but was a treat in terms of sheer value a wonderful dance number.

In ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’, there is a dance face-off between her and Karishma Kapoor where the latter’s jealousy comes to fore when she realizes that Madhuri is to be the new heroine of the play. Both of them are brilliant!

Unfortunately her pairing with Shah Rukh Khan did not create the kind of magic like she did with Aamir Khan in ‘Dil’ or Salman in ‘HAHK’, but their chemistry and performance in ‘Koyla’ (an absolutely brilliant film) was outstanding. This dance number ‘Saanson ki mala pe…’ brings out the pain in the hearts of the lovers as they realize how the evil Amrish Puri had tricked her into marrying Amrish and now both are caught in a helpless situation.

Her dance numbers gave her the chance to emote beautifully and those expressive eyes could effortlessly convey a range of emotions from pain and anguish to sensuality and fun. Note her emotive prowess in the number ‘Bada dukh deena tere Lakhan ne…’ from ‘Ram Lakhan’ and the song ‘Tabaah hogaye…’ her last release ‘Kalank’ .

 In ‘Sangeet’ she had the chance to play a double role that of a mother and her blind daughter paired opposite Nitish Bharadwaj and Jackie Shroff respectively. As suggested by the title, the film was about music and dance. Here is a beautiful dance number from the film- ‘O rabba koi toh bata de…’. Such grace and beauty is indeed hard to come by.

In 2002 she decided to take break and went to America to be with her doctor husband and when she returned to screen after five years with ‘Aaja Nach Le’, things had changed in the industry. Marketing and PR were in the forefront. New heroines had come and all her old co-stars who had turned producers were busy acting with these younger actresses. She was not one to fret. She was confident of her talent and she chose a film with ‘dance’ at its core and played a mother of a young girl. Akshaye Khanna was her hero. But the focus was on her and she gave us some mesmerizing dances in the film. Her expertise in ‘Kathak’ has remained her strong point and added to her grace and poise.

Watch this popular title track from the film:

With not too many women-oriented subjects for her age-group, she has to wait for good roles. She has been seen in ‘Gulab Gang’ with Juhi Chawla, ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ with Naseeruddin Shah, ‘Total Dhamaal’ with Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgn and ‘Kalank’ opposite Sanjay Dutt. Her dances in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ were a treat to watch. In the film ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’, at actor Ranbir Kapoor’s insistence, the dance number ‘Ghagra‘ dance number with him and Madhuri was included. To dance with a brilliant dancer like Ranbir did not deter her from taking up the challenge.

She also ventured into production and her Marathi film ‘Bucket List’ where her touching portrayal as a mother met with a lot of appreciation. She became the judge for reality dance shows which had sprung up in every channel. She started her own online dancing academy and is taking dance classes.

The problem with the industry and ‘star image’ is that the audience wants to see more and more of the same type of roles from their favourite. Throughout her career, though dancing remained her main USP, she tried to maintain a balance by taking on strong character-driven films also. ‘Parinda’, ‘Mrityudand’, ‘100 Days’, ‘Prahar’, ‘Lajja’, ‘Anjaam’, ‘Yaarana’, ‘Rajkumar’, ‘Beta’ and more recently in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ and ‘Total Dhamaal’, she played memorable characters.

She never got the opportunity of doing a film with superstar Amitabh Bachchan, but they teamed together for a fun dance number for the film ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’. Govinda also joins them in the song- ‘Mere pyar ka ras zara chakna...’.

In 2000, M F Hussain tried to showcase women in an enigmatic way by presenting Madhuri in many avatars. Here is a unique song picturization with Madhuri where the ‘gathri’ or bundle is supposed to represent the burden a woman is expected to carry all her life.

She has been nominated about 13 times in the best actress category in the filmfare awards and won it three times. She has also been conferred the coveted ‘Padma Shri’ by the Government of India. She has won several other awards as well by other associations and groups. Here’s wishing this gorgeous actress all good wishes and hoping our writers come up with interesting subjects and interesting characters to tap more aspects of her talent. 

Myriad shades of the on-screen Bollywood mother

By

Sharada Iyer       

The ‘mother’ figure has played a very prominent and significant part in Hindi cinema. Though mostly seen in the role of a warm, loving, caring, understanding and sacrificing person which a mother is without doubt, she is sometimes portrayed as an intimidating and powerful woman and she can also become ruthless and cruel as a ‘mother-in-law’ or a stepmother. A number of actresses have brought to life these myriad shades of our on-screen Bollywood mother in their own unique way and added their special ‘X’ factor to make these characters realistic and life-like.

This blog-post is a tribute to all the on-screen mothers of Bollywood. It must be mentioned however that neither is it possible to cover all the types of mother’s roles played in a single blog-post nor will it do justice to the talent of these actresses who have immortalized the ‘mother’ character with their own interpretation on screen. This post focuses on a few shades of mothers picked from an assortment of films across different eras.  

There was a time in the early years of cinema when certain actresses got slotted into ‘mother’ roles and subsequently were given similar roles for a major part of their career. Leela Chitnis, Nirupa Roy, Durga Khote, Sulochana, Achla Sachdev, Leela Mishra, Kamini Kaushal, etc. were the pioneers who started doing mother roles once they passed the so-called ‘perfect age’ for heroines. With a few exceptions they portrayed the kind-hearted loving mothers mostly doting on the sons.

Kamini Kaushal

Leela Chitnis

Sulochana

Durga Khote

Take the case of Leela Chitnis. A beautiful actress of 1930’s and early 40’s, she took on the role of Dilip Kumar’s mother in the 1948 super-hit Shaheed. She was very young at that time and after this film found more popularity in her career as the archetypical virtuous suffering Bollywood mother than she did as a heroine. Kamini Kaushal who had played the heroine in the 1948 Shaheed made the smooth transition to mother’s roles when she decided to play Manoj Kumar’s mother in the 1965 Shaheed and again in Upkar in 1967 and her roles are remembered till date.

The ‘mother’ roles changed a little with changing times as different layers were added to her character. Easily the most popular and the most written about mothers of Hindi cinema are Nargis Dutt in Mother India and Nirupa Roy in Deewaar. Though Mother India was set in rural India and Deewaar had the backdrop of Mumbai city, the characters these women portrayed had some similarities. They were strong characters who were deserted by their husbands leaving them to fend for themselves, face the hardships and embark alone on the long, daunting and arduous journey of bringing up the sons under heart-wrenching circumstances.

In both cases one son follows the path of righteousness while the other strays from it. But their love for their mother remains undeterred. And when it comes to making the right choice both women show that however much they may love their son they will not hesitate to be brutally honest in their emotions and voice their disapproval at the wrong path chosen. While Nirupa Roy walks out of her son Amitabh’s life knowing that it would destroy him, Nargis kills her son Sunil Dutt to save the honour of the village belle he abducts. Probably it is this very trait that made these two on-screen mothers stand apart from the rest giving them an iconic status.

A mention must be made of the actress Sardar Akhtar who played the iconic mother’s role in the original film ‘Aurat’ (1940) on which Mother India (1957) was based. Incidentally both were directed by Mehboob Khan. To be honest as a film Aurat captures the essence of rural India in a more realistic way than Mother India and Sardar Akhtar is outstanding in the role of the protagonist mother who shoulders the entire burden of bringing up her children in dire poverty. Devoid of any glamour and much make-up she lives the character beautifully.

Durga Khote’s regal portrayal of Salim’s mother Queen Jodabai in Mughal-e-Azam also became a milestone character. Torn between her duties towards her husband-Emperor Akbar-and her deep-rooted love for her son Salim, she is caught in the crossroads between her maternal affection and the diktats of the royal family and this was brought our very well by her.

Sharmila Tagore plays Rajesh Khanna’s mother in the super-hit Aradhana which had him essaying the role of lover and son. As she gives birth to her son after her lover dies in a plane crash, in a moment of weakness she leaves the child in an orphanage and by the time she comes back to take him again, her son is given away to a childless couple. Luckily she gets employed as the child’s nanny and she could be near her son at all times. She loves and dotes on him and even goes to jail for the unforeseen crime he commits to save her honour but he becomes aware of her true identity as his real mother much later in life. Here the mother’s character is indeed very touching. For an actress at the height of her fame to don the make-up of an old woman and play it so remarkably, her character as the mother remains etched in our memories.

Here is a lovely song from the film: ‘Chanda hai tum era suraj hai tu…’

While Sharmila in Aradhana feels awkward to let the world know about her child out of wedlock, 2 years later Hema Malini in Andaz decides to be honest about her son’s birth. Her lover Rajesh Khanna dies in a motorcycle crash but instead of being a whimpering widow she is shown to come to terms with the past and find love again without guilt when she decides to embrace a new life with her new man Shammi Kapoor who incidentally plays a widower with a daughter.

Here is a song sung by all four of them which became very popular: ‘Haina bolo bolo…’

An unforgettable dominating mother was played by Dina Pathak in Khubsoorat released in 1980. As the matriarch of the family she feels it is her rules of discipline and punctuality that has kept the family knitted together. She feels too much kindness and a little lax in her rules might lead to total disruption of the clock-work routine she sets for the family members. Things go haywire when her daughter-in-law’s sister played by Rekha comes to stay with them. There are several confrontation scenes as the two women are diametrically opposite in their outlook to life. Dina Pathak comes up with a memorable performance.

An actress who has always strived to play different kinds of mothers in her films is the highly talented Ratna Pathak Shah. In the remake of the original Khubsoorat, she gets to play the no-nonsense disciplined mother from a royal family and is appalled at the idea of her son Fawad Khan falling in love with a commoner Sonam Kapoor. She seeks class, royalty and perfection in everything.

Ratna Pathak also gets to play a very realistic down-to-earth mom to Imran Khan in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Their mother-son relationship was depicted very naturally and went down well with the audience. She tries her level best to make her son the opposite of what her late husband Naseeruddin Shah had been but in the end things don’t work out in her favour and these scenes are laced with lots of humour.

Next we come to another interesting mother played by Amrita Singh in the film 2 States. She plays a loud-mouthed Punjabi woman who is stuck in an unhappy marriage with her alcoholic husband Ronit Roy and is often beaten up by him. She however shares a unique bond with her only son Arjun Kapoor but comes to depend on him so much that she does not realize that eventually he has to build a future and a life of his own which may or may not match her ideas. So she finds fault with the Tamilian girl whom her son loves a lot and does not miss any opportunity to show down the girl’s parents. She plays the Punjabi mother to perfection.

In the 2019 crime drama Badla, Amrita Singh is seen in a completely different light out to revenge the person responsible for her son’s disappearance. The character showed the desperate tactics a mother is willing to resort to revenge her wronged son’s culprit. It was a small yet powerful and unforgettable role.

Another strong mother character who was seen in the more recent blockbuster Bahubali Part I & Part II was Ramya Krishnan. Seen in the powerful role of Queen Mother or ‘Rajmata Sivagami’, she was simply brilliant and her performance was one of the highlights of the film. She raises both her son Bhallaladeva and her nephew Amarendra Bahubali and makes decisions which decide the future of her kingdom Mahishmati. The role gives her opportunity to display a variety of facets of her personality including some grey elements also. Ranging from a skilled warrior to a loving mother to a jealous mother-in-law when her pride makes her take an injudicious decision and finally to sacrificing her life to rectify her mistake and thereby ensuring the safety of her kingdom in the right hands, it was a dream character to play.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is perhaps one of the few films showing a close-knit mother-daughter duo. Away from the eyes of her dominating husband Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal is the best friend to her daughters. She understand the plight of Kajol and even advises them to elope to find happiness. But sadly she does not have the courage to stand up to her fierce husband and this brought out in her dialogue when she tells Kajol that there is no harm in dreaming of great things but don’t expect the dreams to get fulfilled in life.

On the other hand, actress Meher Vij in Secret Superstar portrays one of the most heart-wrenching mother characters written in recent times. Even though she is at the receiving end of extraordinary physical abuse at the hands of her alcoholic and useless husband, she encourages her talented daughter to dream about becoming a singer and gives her strength to pursue them in the face of all kinds of obstacles. She does not want her daughter to meet with the same fate as her and in the end when she decides to walk out, it is one of the best scenes where her sterling character comes through.

Meher Vij

Swara Bhaskar

Another inspiring mother character is Swara Bhaskar in Nil Battey Sannata. She is a 10^th class fail and working as a household help but wants her daughter to pass her 10^th exams so that she does not fall into the same rut. Her struggles to make her adolescent daughter understand results in many highs and lows in their relationship and finally she decides to join the same school as her daughter to make her understand. A master performance from Swara who brings out the emotions of a young single mother so beautifully that her engaging journey tugs at our heart.

Shabana Azmi plays mother to Sonam Kapoor in the biopic on flight attendant Neerja who was on the ill-fated plane which was hijacked by some terrorists. This is again one of the few films which showed a great mother-daughter bond and in the end the speech Shabana gives after her daughter’s death will bring tears to everyone’s eyes and clearly showed why Shabana is Shabana and no one can come near her in histrionics.

This song from Neerja brings out the emotions between the mother-daughter duo…

Priyanka Chopra in The Sky is Pink and Vidya Balan in Paa played mothers to children battling a terminally-ill condition. While Priyanka’s daughter played by Zaira Wasim is born with a rare genetic disorder SCID which will not let her live beyond 16 or 17, Vidya Balan’s son played by none other than Amitabh Bachchan in an unbelievable get-up also suffers from a rare disorder Progeria which would eventually end his life very early. The emotional, physical and mental challenges faced by such mothers as they work tirelessly to give their children a few extra years is brought out brilliantly by these two actresses. As we live their journey through this film, it leaves us teary-eyed as they play very relatable characters.

What happens when mothers discover that their sons are gay? Kirron Kher in Dostana and Neena Gupta in Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan come up with super performances laced with lots of humour when they confronted with such a situation.

Here is a funny song picturized on Kirron Kher in Dostana: ‘Maa da laadla bigad gaya…’

Mothers were also shown having grey shades.

Sonia Sahni in Bobby, Shyama in Mastana, Kamini Kaushal in Prem Nagar and Achla Sachdev in Hare Rama Hare Krishna are examples of high-society mothers who were too busy either with their work or kitty parties and meetings and had little or no time for their children. Hence they were left in the care of the governess who in turn either loved the child too much or ill-treated senselessly depending on the actress playing the governess. In such families somehow at the end the mother was made to carry the burden of guilt for neglecting her ‘duty’ which in today’s times may not hold water.

Here is a song sung by the child actress Bobby from the film Mastana at a school function yearning for her mother’s love while the evil governess played by Manorama sits and enjoys in the audience.

Song: ‘Maine maa ko dekha hai, maa ka pyar nahi dekha…’

Supriya Pathak gives a dark edge to motherhood in Ram Lila where she plays mother to Deepika Padukone. She is unbelievably evil and ruthless and will go to any extent to keep her daughter from marrying Ranveer who unfortunately belongs to the warring enemy tribe. There is a scene which showed her cutting off her daughter’s finger as punishment for trying to run away with Ranveer. It requires real guts to portray mother of such evil proportions and Supriya is too good.

Evil stepmothers have been the norm since our fairy-tale days and the same generally holds true in Hindi films also. Aruna Irani in Beta is Anil Kapoor’s step mother and ill-treats not only him and daughter-in-law Madhuri but also her husband just to get all the wealth in her real son’s name. Similarly Archana Puran Singh in Raja Hindustani derives a vicious pleasure in destroying her stepdaughter Karishma Kapoor’s life.

On the other hand Sridevi’s act as a stepmother in her last film Mom was a touching portrayal of how stepmoms can also be as loving and caring as a real mother.

But when the focus shifted to ‘mother-in-law’ it was a totally different ball-game. While their love for their sons remains intact, all the hatred shifts to the new daughter-in-law. Actress Lalitha Pawar was the best in this category. When she played the role of the evil mother-in-law out to squeeze her daughter-in-law for ‘Dowry’ in the 1950 film Dahej, little did she realize that her character would become so popular that the tag of the most evil and heartless mother-in-law would become her biggest USP. Her vile acts in films like Patita, Sau Din Saas Ke, Majhli Didi, Chirag, etc. have been unbeatable.

A similar type of evil mother-in-law character was enacted by Tanvi Azmi in Bajirao Mastani where she plays mother to Peshwa Bajirao played by Ranveer where she detests her son’s second wife Mastani (Deepika Padukone) just because of her religion and resorts to all kinds of atrocious and evil acts to get her killed.

As I had mentioned in the beginning these are just a few of the characters picked from the innumerable films. There are so many more facets which can be explored and from different angles but for now I end the blog with my 2 of my favourite ‘Maa’ songs of Hindi cinema which capture the innate essence of a mother and in the eyes of her children:

The first is the outstanding song ‘Usko nahi dekha humne kabhi par iski zaroorat kya hogi…’ from the film Dadi Maa (1966). Touching lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri are set to a simple yet catchy tune by none other than music director Roshan and brought to life by some brilliant singing by Mahendra Kapoor and Manna Dey.  In the film the lovely actress Bina Rai plays mother to actors Kashinath and Dileep Raj.

In the film Raja Aur Runk adapted from Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, the brilliant child star Mahesh Kothare is seen singing conveying all his emotions to his mother played by one of the most popular mothers of Bollywood Nirupa Roy. Lata Mangeshkar’s rendition is flawless as usual

Song: ‘Tu kitni achchi hai,tu kitni bholi hai…’

 

DOUBLE DHAMAKA: BOLLYWOOD DOUBLE ROLE SONGS

By

Sharada Iyer

The concept of double roles is not only unique to Indian cinema, but has also played a significant part in the history of our 100-year old film industry. When the same actor/actress gets to play double/triple/multiple roles in the same film, it gives them a wonderful opportunity to display their prowess in a variety of characters- as a parent and child, siblings with negative and positive shades, as identical twins, as part of a reincarnation saga or at other times just a doppelganger who becomes part of the plot to generate excitement and interest among the audience.

Hindi cinema has a rich repertoire of double role films and different actors during different eras have added their own charm and interpretation to bring the characters alive on screen. For the audience it is double the fun to see their favourite actor/actress in more than one role and hence it is added dose of fun and excitement for them.

This post concentrates on songs from some of the double-role films wherein both the roles essayed by the actor/actress are part of a song picturization. This is not a common occurrence because not all double-role films have stories whereby both the characters can be seen simultaneously on screen. For instance if they are playing parent and child then at times the second character appears only after the death of the other. Similarly in films dealing with reincarnation it is difficult to show the actors in different births together in one frame on screen.

In this blog-post I have put together some interesting songs where the different roles played by the actor/actress are visible either singing together or they are present in the same song. There is also a brief write-up about their characters and the context in the plot where the song appears. For some of the songs the blog links may not open directly but please click on the YouTube link which appears to enjoy the song.

I start the blog with one of my all-time favourite films which remains unique till today for its story, characters, direction and of course acting by the child artiste Baby Sonia (Neetu Singh), who plays the main protagonist.

Film – DO KALIYAN : Baby Sonia (Neetu Singh) (1968)

This super-hit film released in 1968 was a remake of the 1965 Tamil original Kuzandaiyum Deivamum which itself was based on the British film Twice Upon a Time and the 1961 movie The Parent Trap. The plot deals with identical twin sisters whose are separated at birth and grow up with one of the parents without knowing the existence of the other parent or the other sister. They study in the same school where people cannot help noticing the uncanny similarity of their features. Their temperaments are different and after the initial fighting is over, they realize they are identical twins. Soon they decide to switch places to meet the other parent and also hatch a plan to reunite their parents. A thoroughly entertaining film which made Baby Sonia a household name overnight. All the songs were hits.

The song chosen here shows the sisters in the same class. This evergreen song remains a favourite even today for the tune as well as the superb lyrics and of course Lata Mangeshkar’s exemplary singing.

Song : ‘Bachche man ke sachche…’

Film- KUCH KHATTI KUCH MEETHI : Kajol (2001)

This film has a story of identical twin sisters switching places very similar to Do Kaliyan but here the girls are much older. Kajol gets to play the twin sisters one of whom grows up with her mother in London while the other grows up with her alcoholic dad in India. Rati Agnohotri who played the mother returned to big screen after a gap of 16 years and had Rishi Kapoor opposite her as the father off the twin girls.

The song here is when they are overjoyed to meet each other and soon decide to switch places and also try to patch up things between their parents.

Song:  ‘Kuch Kuch Khatti Kuch kuch meethi…’

Film- DO BEHNE : Shyama (1959)

This film had the talented actress Shyama in the role of two sisters with different personalities. While the boisterous one falls into bad company and is ditched by her male friend, the docile one falls in love with Rajendra Kumar and gets married to him. By a quirk of fate one of the sisters gets killed and the other has to take her place. It’s a film which I chanced upon by luck and found it to be quite enjoyable.

This song which comes right in the beginning of the film straightaway establishes the characters of the two sisters.

Song: ‘Main natkhat ek kali…’

 Film – AAMNE SAAMNE : Mithun Chakravorty (1982)

Directed by Shakti Samanta’s son Ashim Samanta, the plot idea had shades of his father’s B&W film China Town where a look-alike simpleton (Gopi) is made to impersonate a smart and ruthless smuggler (Johnny). Gopi and Johny meet each other when the simpleton comes from the village to town in search of a job and Johny decides employ Gopi to work for him. He fools him by convincing him to agree for a complete transformation to look like Johny himself and manages to fool the police for a while.

This song comes in the film when the training period is over and the transformation is so perfectly done that everyone in the room is left wondering as to who is the actual ‘Johnny’ and who is the imposter!

Song: ‘Tu mai ban gaya mai tu ban gaya…’

Film – HASEENA MAAN JAAYEGI : Shashi Kapoor (1968)

Directed by Prakash Mehra this film had one of the most entertaining plots ever written for a double-role film. Shashi Kapoor plays look-alikes Kamal and Rakesh and both are in love with the heroine Babita. All three study in the same college but Babita loves the poor and honest Kamal as opposed to the rich brat and her father’s friend’s son Rakesh who leaves no stone unturned to woo her. The plot turns interesting when both of them get enrolled in the army when War breaks out but during a scuffle one of them is killed while the other returns home to the wife Babita.

Not only does the heroine keep mistaking one for the other, many a time even the audience is left confused making it a challenge even for us as to who returns from the War. The song chosen here comes in the beginning when she invites both to the club by mistake and even in the song her confusion is very clear and interestingly so is ours.

Song: ‘Dilbar dilbar kehte kehte…’

Film- GORA AUR KALA : Rajendra Kumar (1972)

This super-hit film of 1972 had Rajendra Kumar in the double role of royal twins separated at birth. When the King is murdered by his supposedly trusted commander, both the new-born princes escape from the palace albeit with different people. They had been conjoined at birth and the operation performed leaves one of the twins with a paralyzed left arm and dark skin owing to a blood disorder. As the royal doctor who escapes the palace ends up being caught by a dacoit, this Rajendra Kumar grows up to be a dacoit. The other one is normal and grows up with the King’s loyal minister in a village. There are some very well-choreographed sword-fights and the dacoit Rajendra Kumar comes up with an excellent performance.

A unique thing about the film is that even though there are two heroines both of them love Hema Malini while Rekha’s love for the dacoit remains one-sided. The song here is sung when their true identity is revealed and they are united with each other and their mother.

Song: ‘Ek gora ek kala…’

Film- JIGRI DOST : Jeetendra (1969)

A delightful family entertainer where Jeetendra entertains in the double role of look-alikes. For a change both are good and kind-hearted and there is no smuggler/thief angle here. One of them is an illiterate villager and the other an upcoming lawyer and they end up in the same house. Once the two of them realize they look identical they manage to trick the people around for a while before the truth is revealed. The villain in the film is K N Singh who had murdered the lawyer Jeetendra’s father years ago.

The song chosen here is sung when both the Jeetendras go to meet their respective lovers- Mumtaz for the villager and Komal for the lawyer. Incidentally Komal is actually Shatrughan Sinha’s wife Poonam Sinha who acted in a few films under the name of Komal before she decided to give up acting.

Song: ‘Phool hai bahaaron ka…’

Film – SACHCHA JHOOTA : Rajesh Khanna (1970)

Director Manmohan Desai delivered a delightful entertainer replete with action, thrills, comedy and emotion which deservedly fetched Rajesh Khanna his first Filmfare Best Actor award. He plays two look-alikes-an honest village simpleton Bhola and a ruthless diamond smuggler Ranjit. After the initial shock of seeing his doppelganger, Ranjit devises the ingenious plan whereby he convinces Bhola to masquerade as Ranjit which helps him to both fool the police as well as to carry on with his nefarious activities without suspicion.

The song chosen here is picturized at a masquerade party where both the charatcters come together. While Bhola is the one singing the song Ranjit is  hidden behind a black mask and cape to escape the police officers Vinod Khanna and Mumtaz who are also disguised as guests at the party.

Song : ‘Dil ko dekho chehra na dekho…’

Film – DOUBLE CROSS : Vijay Anand (1972)

A badly written and directed film starring Vijay Anand getting to play identical looking brothers- Ajay and Vijay. While Vijay is a photographer and in love with Rekha, Ajay after being spurned by his lover takes on a new name Jimmy and turns to smuggling to amass wealth.

This duet sung by Kishore Kumar and Bhupinder is sung by the brothers when life had been simple for them and Ajay had not yet taken the path of crime.

Song: ‘Hum dono ki yaari kya kehna…’

Film – HUM DONO : Dev Anand (1961)

The only film where Dev Anand played a double role as Amar and Major Verma and the film is set in India during wartime. The film as well as its music became a big hit. Amar loves Sadhana and Majaor Verma is married to Nanda. Amar after getting enlisted in the Indian Army is posted under Major Verma who turns out to be his exact look-alike except for an added moustache. When war breaks, Major Verma is reported missing and presumed dead and the onus falls on Amar to convey the news to the Major’s family. But when he goes to their house, he is mistaken to be Amar and as Nanda has a weak he refrains from telling the truth which results in Amar getting caught in a difficult position.

This beautiful song appears in the film when both of them are in a pensive mood thinking about their respective loved ones.

Song : ‘Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe rona aaya…’

Film- HUM DONO : Rajesh Khanna (1985)

This film was a remake of a Telugu film Somokkadidi Sokokkadidi and had Rajesh Khanna playing a poor villager and his look-alike Dr Shekhar who has a flourishing practice. The villager decides to earn a few bucks by impersonating the doctor once he leaves the clinic and pockets whatever money he makes fooling patients by way of treating them. He even falls for the girl who had set her sights on the doctor. After a while the doctor finds out the truth and then confusion follows before everything is sorted out.

In this song the doctor is amused to see his impersonator not only dressed like him but also romancing the girl who had professed her love for the doctor many times.

Song: ‘Tu lajawab bemisaal dilbar yaar…’

Film – MAHAAN : Amitabh Bachchan (1983)

The film had Amitabh Bachchan in a triple role -father and his twin sons with Waheeda Rehman, Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman as their respective heroines. It has the typical plot of separation in the first few reels and reuniting at the end with a lot of drama in between. Amitabh Bachchan has a whale of a time in all three roles with the narrative written to cater to his ‘star’ image.

In this song sung by Kishore Kumar and Amit Kumar the two sons enter the villain’s den to rescue their father and end up confusing the cronies in the process.

Song: ‘Asli kya hai,naqli kya hai…’

Film – GHAZAB: Dharmendra (1982)

This is a remake of a superb Tamil film Kalyanaraman and had Dharmendra playing a double role as twin brothers. One is a village simpleton with crooked teeth while the other grows up in the city but for a long time they have no idea that they are brothers. In a strange twist of circumstances, the village simpleton is murdered and this ghastly scene is witnessed by his lover played by Rekha who then loses her mental balance. The movie has interesting twists and turns.

The song chosen here has both the brothers though one is the ghost of the village simpleton who is teaching his brother to sing the song he used to sing to her.

Song : ‘Jaaneman, jaane-jigar, jaan-e-tamanna, jaan le…’

Film -DARD : Rajesh Khanna (1981)

This film is a remake of the 1966 classic Mamta but instead of the mother-daughter duo played by Suchitra Sen this film this film alters the script by making Rajesh Khanna play the father-son duo. By a quirk of fate not only is the older Rajesh Khanna unable to marry his lover Hema Malini he is forced to marry another girl and finally ends up in jail by taking the blame of the murder committed by his evil brother-in-law. Meanwhile his wife dies at childbirth and now his son grows up with Hema Malini and becomes a lawyer.

The song chosen here shows both the father and son enjoying some special moments with their special women.

Song: ‘Pyar ka dard hai meetha meetha pyara pyara…’

Film- DIL HI TOH HAI : Jackie Shroff (1982)

This film is another royal saga where Amjad Khan is the King of some remote kingdom in Rajasthan and has twin sons Harshvardhan and Govardhan. For some strange reason right from childhood the King loves only Harshvardhan and wants him to be crowned prince and is therefore made to undergo rigorous training in every department as befitting a . But the prince right from childhood hates this stifled life dull of rules and discipline and behaviour expected from a future prince like him. He envies brother Govardhan’s freedom of getting to go wherever he wants. Govardhan being a little dull in the brain is considered to be a dimwit by all except Harshvardhan who loves his brother.

When he comes to know that his father is expecting him to forcefully marry a princess of his choice Harshvardan decides to exchange places with his brother and run away. But before that he trains him a little bit to walk and act like him. This song is picturized just before he plans his escape.

Song : ‘Chat ke upar do kabootar…’

Film- DUPLICATE : SHAH RUKH KHAN (1998)

Shah Rukh Khan gets to play an interesting double role in this comic thriller where he gets to play the dual role of look-alikes. Bablu is a chef in a restaurant and is in love with the manager Juhi Chawla while Manu his look-alike is a ruthless criminal and has Sonali Bendre as his girlfriend. Manu kills his partner (Gulshan Grover) for betraying him and running away with the loot money and is now being hunted by the police but Bablu ends up getting arrested.  When the criminal comes to know of his duplicate he decides to take his place to escape the police and expectedly a lot of confusion ensues.

The song below has both the Shah Rukhs romancing their lady-love but from the looks of it they seem to have ended up with the wrong girls.

Song: ‘Ladna jhagadna jhadake akadna…’

Film- HUMSHAKALS : Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor (2014)

This comedy of errors had all three actors in triple role and had some really funny scenes. Unfortunately the film did not do well as it got a lot of flak from the critics for not having much logic. But the film does have its interesting moments where identities are confused and all three act well.

In the song below two sets of the characters can be seen with one set of the trio dressed in drag.

Song: ‘Khol de dil ki khidki…’

Film – HUMJOLI : Mehmood (1970)

Mehmood with his extraordinary talent carved a special niche for himself in the film industry and there was a time when special roles were written for him to showcase this talent. This particular film had him in triple role as grandfather, father and son. He did an amazing imitation of the real life trio of Prithviraj Kapoor-Raj Kapoor -Randhir Kapoor and the scenes became a special highlight of the film. Jeetendra and Leena Chandravarkar were the hero and heroine of the film.

This song has all three coming together on screen with Aruna Irani as the wife of the youngest Mehmood.

Song : ‘Yeh kaisa aaya zamana yeh kaisa…’

Film – WHAT’S YOUR RAASHEE? : Priyanka Chopra (2009)

A unique film directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar which had Priyanka Chopra playing twelve roles. The hero Harman Baweja plans to get married and starts seeing girls in a hope to find the perfect match. He meets twelve girls each of them belonging to a different ‘raashee’ or sign of zodiac with Priyanka playing all the twelve characters. The film was a real challenge for Priyanka Chopra and all credit to her for doing a very fine job of etching out 12 different characters with different traits and mannerisms.

In the song chosen Harman is thinking of all twelve of them before he makes his final decision.

Song : ‘What’s your raashee?….’

Film – CHHICHORE : Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Navin Polishetty, Tushar Pandey, Varun Grover, Saharsh Kumar Shukla (2019)

This film which released in September 2019 was a delightful entertainer and traced the journey of seven friends from their college days to the time they enter their forties. Both the time frames- the campus caper as well as the scenes when they are older- are directed very well and the actors are very natural.

This is not a film with double roles but for just one song we can see the younger and older versions of the characters coming together simultaneously almost making it look like a double role albeit only for the song. Since the blog-post is about songs and as the idea of the song is really unique and enjoyable I decided to include it in the blog as the last song.

Song: ‘Arrerere pagle fikar not…’

On a personal level I do find the concept of ‘double roles’ really fascinating. Attached here are the links to three of my earlier blog-posts related to this topic :

(https://myviewsonbollywood.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/bollywoods-fascinating-tryst-with-double-roles/)

(https://myviewsonbollywood.wordpress.com/2017/07/18/double-role-films-of-rajesh-khanna/)

(https://myviewsonbollywood.wordpress.com/tag/amitabh-bachchan-double-roles/)

 

 

 

 

 

Bollywood Rewind: The year 1960 at a glance

By

Sharada Iyer

The period immediately after Independence was a great time for the growth of our cinema. In fact, the years roughly starting from the late 1940s and extending up to the late 1960s is often referred to as the Golden Era of Hindi Cinema. Each year of the Golden era gave us magical films with mesmerizing music which retain their fond recall value in every cine-goer’s heart to this day.

For this blog-post I have chosen to look back on the year 1960. Many visionary directors, exemplary cinematographers, phenomenal singers, outstanding lyricists, remarkable music directors, good-looking and talented actors and actresses all contributed in giving us some classic and memorable cinema to make this year a landmark year in Bollywood history.

1960 was indeed a special year not only for our industry in particular but also for our country in general. It was on 1^st May 1960 that the Indian State referred to as ‘Bombay State’ till then, was divided into two new states- Maharashtra and Gujarat. The city of Bombay was made the capital of Maharashtra.

Before partition, Hindi films were being made by three major centres- The Bombay film industry, The Lahore film industry and the Calcutta film industry. However, after partition Bombay became the sole focal point for producing Hindi films and our industry thus firmly established its home in Bombay city in Maharashtra.

The year also gave us the epic film Mughal-e-Azam unanimously considered by one and all as the greatest film ever made in our country. Neither before nor after has there been a film to match it in aura, stature, story, concept, production values, screenplay, music, sets, grandeur, costumes, direction, lyrics, dialogues, etc. The film had one of Hindi cinema’s most enigmatic on-screen romantic pair of Dilip Kumar and Madhubala bringing to life the unrequited love of Salim and Anarkali facing opposition from none other than Salim’s own father Emperor Akbar played by Prithviraj Kapoor.

Here is a Shakeel Badayuni masterpiece from the film- In the song ‘Pyar kiya toh darna kya…’ the line ‘parda nahi jab koi khuda se bandon se parda karna kya…’ deserves a special mention. It defined the very essence of Salim and Anarkali’s love and Anarkali’s defiance and fearlessness towards Emperor Akbar himself forcing him to accept defeat. Lyrics like these are not written everyday.

‘Pyar kiya toh darna kiya…’

This film considered to be director K Asif’s labour of love took 16 years to complete as it went through several obstacles including change of cast as well but when it was released it created history and till date remains the biggest block-buster in terms of box-office collections also. Even after 60 years every film lover continues to be in awe of everything associated with the film with the minute detailing of every aspect remaining an enigma.

Superb acting by the brilliant cast of Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Durga Khote, Ajit and Nigar Sultana, evergreen music by Naushad, memorable lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni, and dialogues by a team of four writers-Kamal Amrohi, Wajahat Mirza, Amanulla Khan and Ehsan Rizvi- the film continues to inspire the new generation in every respect.

‘Ghadi bhar ko tere nazdeek aakar…’

1960 boasted of some of the greatest musicals of Hindi cinema like Mughal-e-Azam, Chaudvin ka Chand, Barsaat ki Raat, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Kaala Bazaar, Dil Apna aur Preet Parayi, Jaali Note, Bambai Ka Babu, Hum Hindustani, Chhalia. 

Music directors Roshan, Ravi, Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishen, S D Burman and Kalyanji Anandji gave some evergreen songs. Among the lyricists we had memorable lyrics from Sahir Ludhianvi, Shakeel Badayuni, Shailendra, Qamar Jalalabadi, Prem Dhawan, Asad Bhopali and a few from S H Bihari and Raja Mehndi Ali Khan as well.

Here are some remarkable songs of 1960

‘Zindagi bhar nahi…’

‘Ajeeb dastaan hai yeh…’

‘Khoya khoya chand…’

‘Aha rimjhim ke ye pyare pyare…’

1960 is also remembered for giving us one of Hindi cinema’s best crime thrillers Kanoon. What made Kanoon unique was that it was a song-less ‘who-dun-it’. At a time when music was at the heart of all our films, director B R Chopra was gutsy enough to give the audience a song-less murder thriller-Kanoon. And his confidence paid off as this movie was accepted by the people whole-heartedly and is rated even today among the top 10 thrillers of Bollywood.

The trend of Muslim socials started with Guru Dutt’s Chaudvin Ka Chand which had another great on-screen couple Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman playing lovers with Rehman forming the third angle of the triangle. Ravi composed some great numbers and lyricist Shakeel Badayuni created magic with the title song of the film ‘Chaudvin ka chand ho ya aaftab ho….’

‘Sharma ke agar…’

Barsaat ki Raat was another unique film and gave Hindi cinema some of its greatest qawaalis. The film had the outstanding ‘Isq Ishq hai ishq ishq…’ by Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhonsle which till date is considered the ultimate in qawaalis. The genius music director Roshan put his soul in the film and the results are there for all to see. Sahir Ludhianvi’s memorable lyrics resonate to this day in every music lover’s heart.

‘Yeh ishq ishq hai…’

‘Nigahen naaz ke…’

The ten highest-grossing films at the Indian Box Office in 1960: (source: Wikipedia)

Rank	Title	Cast
1.	Mughal-e-Azam	Dilip Kumar, Madhubala
2.	Barsaat Ki Raat	Madhubala, Bharat Bhushan
3.	Kohinoor	Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari
4.	Chaudhvin Ka Chand	Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman
5.	Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai	Raj Kapoor, Padmini
6.	Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi	Raaj Kumar, Meena Kumari
7.	Love in Simla	Joy Mukherjee, Sadhana
8.	Ghunghat	Bharat Bhushan, Pradeep Kumar, Asha Parekh, Bina Rai
9.	Kanoon	Ashok Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Nanda
10.	Kala Bazar	Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman

 

Highlights of the year

Let us revisit this fabulous year to get an overview of the kind of films which were released and who were the stars dominating that year. A look at the list of films definitely suggests that romance was the dominant theme in 1960.

The triumvirate of Dilip Kumar-Raj Kapoor-Dev Anand who were at their peak had some great releases to their credit. Dilip Kumar was undoubtedly the ‘Shehenshah’ of 1960 with the magnum opus Mughal-e-Azam (opposite Madhubala) breaking all records to emerge as the biggest grosser of 1960 followed by another super-hit Kohinoor (opposite Meena Kumari). Both were in the top three successful films of the year clearly indicating the power of his stardom.

‘Madhuban mein radhika…’

Raj Kapoor acted in and directed the brilliant Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai and started a new era in R K Films when he signed South star Padmini as the R K heroine. The film was a super-hit. He also had two more film that year- Chhalia opposite Nutan which had one of the best rain-songs of Hindi cinema-‘Dum dum diga diga…’ and Shriman Satyavadi opposite Shakila which did not do well but had the heart-tugging ‘Haale dil hamara jaane na bewafa yeh zamana…’.

‘Aa ab laut chalein…’

Dev Anand had six releases- Jaali Note opposite Madhubala, Kaala Bazaar opposite Waheeda Rehman, Bambai ka Babu and Sarhad opposite Suchitra Sen, Manzil opposite Nutan and Ek Ke Baad Ek opposite South star Sharada . Of these only Kaala Bazaar made it to the top 10, Bambai Ka Babu, Jaali Note and Manzil did well but the other 2 did not fare well.

‘Sach kehta hoon bahut haseen ho…’

‘Chal ri sajni…’

Veteran Ashok Kumar came out trumps with his outstanding performance in the murder mystery Kanoon. He starred in another suspense thriller Kala Aadmi opposite Shyama. His other releases included Kalpana where both Padmini and Ragini were cast opposite him, Aanchal opposite Nirupa Roy and a special appearance in Masoom with many child artistes.

‘Dil dhoondta hai sahare sahare…’

The genius singer-actor Kishore Kumar also made his mark with a heart-tugging and one of his career best performances in Apna Haath Jagannath opposite Sayeeda Khan and three light-hearted films- Bewaqoof opposite Mala Sinha, Girlfriend opposite Waheeda Rehman and Mehlon Ke Khwab opposite Madhubala’s sister Chanchal. Interestingly the film also had Madhubala but she was paired opposite Pradeep Kumar.

Balraj Sahni had the critically acclaimed Anuradha opposite the lovely Leela Naidu which dealt with marital discord and he also starred in family socials Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere and Bindiya.

 ‘Jaane kaise sapnon mein…’

Both Pradeep Kumar and Bharat Bhushan shared screen space in the much acclaimed Ghunghat opposite Bina Rai. Incidentally Bina Rai walked away with the Filmfare Best Actress award for the year for her performance in the film.

‘More cham cham baje payalia…’

Bharat Bhushan also starred in the hit Barsaat Ki Raat and Chand Mere Aaja. He was praised for his sensitive performance in the title role of Angulimal who undergoes reformation from a killer and adopts the path of Buddhism. The song ‘Buddham Sharanam Gachchami …’ sung by Manna Dey became quite popular at that time.

Here is a small clip of the song:

Sunil Dutt had Hum Hindustani, Ek Phool Chaar Kaante, Duniya Jhukti Hai and Usne Kaha Tha to his credit. One of the best songs of the year was picturized on him…

‘Chodo kal ki baatein…’

Shammi Kapoor, who had yet to yahoo down the snow-clad hills with his Junglee which came the next year, had three releases- Basant (opposite Nutan), College Girl  (opposite Vyjayanthimala) and Singapore (opposite Padmini). All three were average hits.

‘Yeh sheher bada albela…’

Rajendra Kumar had a super- hit in Kanoon and his two other releases were family dramas with a social message- Patang (opposite Mala Sinha) and Maa Baap (where he and Pran play brothers). Manoj Kumar had only one film Honeymoon opposite Sayeeda Khan.

‘Rang dil ki dhadkan bhi…’

Among the heroines, top actresses Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman and Meena Kumari had two blockbuster hits each featuring in the top 10 films of 1960. Madhubala had Mughal-e-Azam opposite Dilip Kumar, Jaali Note opposite Dev Anand, Barsaat Ki Raat opposite Bharat Bhushan and Mehlon Ke Khwab opposite Pradeep Kumar.

Apart from the two top hits Chaudvin Ka Chand and Kaala Bazaar, Waheeda Rehman had Ek Phool Chaar Kaante opposite Sunil Dutt and Girlfriend opposite Kishore Kumar.

South star Padmini had a good year with one super-hit Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai opposite Raj Kapoor, three average hits- Kalpana opposite Ashok Kumar, Bindiya opposite Balraj Sahni, Singapore opposite Shammi Kapoor while Sarhad opposite Dev Anand did not do well.

Here is a lovely song from the film Kalpana with both the sisters Padmini and Ragini dancing together and the soft classical composition is rendered in the soulful voices of Mohammed Rafi and Manna Dey.

‘Tu hai mera prem devta…’

Actress Nanda also had a good year with seven of her films being released in 1960- Kanoon, Aanchal, Usne Kaha Tha, Kala Bazar, Chand Mere Aaja, Apna Ghar and Jo Huwa So Bhool Ja.  Nanda also received her first Filmfare trophy -Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in Aanchal.

‘Ga rahi hai zindagi…’

The beautiful and talented actresses Shyama and Shakila had four releases each. Nutan was seen in Chhabili directed by her own mother Shobhna Samarth in which she sang her own songs one of them being the popular ‘Ae mere humsafar…’. Chhalia (opposite Raj Kapoor), Manzil (opposite Dev Anand) and Basant (opposite Shammi Kapoor) were her other three releases.

Ajit who had not yet switched over to villain roles had three releases as a hero without much luck- Gambler, Baraat and Delhi Junction. Interestingly Pran was the villain in Delhi Junction.  Among the male supporting artistes Pran made his mark with seven releases including hit films like Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Chhalia, Maa Baap, Bewaqoof, etc. Helen appeared in more than 20 films which spoke of the popularity and demand for her songs and dances. In Hum Hindustani she was the second heroine along with Asha Parekh.

‘Neeli neeli ghata…’

NEW TALENTS OF 1960:

The year saw many new talents make an entry in the film industry which included Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Tanuja, Joy Mukherjee, Sadhana, Indrani Mukherjee, Prem Chopra, Moni Bhattachajee, Gulzar and Manmohan Desai.  All of them went on to carve a special niche for themselves and their invaluable contribution to our industry remains unmatched.

Dharmendra was introduced in Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere by director Arjun Hingorani and today after completing 60 glorious years in the industry he remains the same humble and loving man that he was in his early days.

Joy Mukherjee and Sadhana were introduced together in a romantic musical titled Love in Simla which was a super-hit and both became stars overnight. Joy Mukherjee remained one of the luckiest stars who got to lip-sync some of the best songs sung by Mohammed Rafi. Music directors O P Nayyar and Shankar Jaikishen contributed in a big way to his career by composing some of their most memorable songs in his films. Sadhana was not only considered a good actress but also became a style icon as long as she acted in films.

The same year Joy Mukherjee also acted in Hum Hindustani and Sadhana in director Bimal Roy’s critically acclaimed Parakh. Though she had a very small role she was noticed for her transformation into the simple village girl which was a big contrast from her role in Love in Simla.

‘O…sajna barkha…’

One of the most versatile actors of the industry Sanjeev Kumar made his entry with a very small role in Hum Hindustani and had to wait a while before he achieved stardom and overtook so many others with his humongous talent.

The ace villain Prem Chopra who made his entry into the film world with a Punjabi film Chaudhary Karnail Singh, also made his entry into Hindi films albeit in inconsequential roles in Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh and Hum Hindustani. His presence almost went unnoticed till he got better opportunities to showcase his talent.

Though actress Tanuja had acted as a child artiste Baby Tanuja in 1950 in Hamari Beti, as an adult her debut film was Chhabili directed by her mother Shobhna Samarth with her sister Nutan also acting in it.

Actress Indrani Mukhrjee made her debut in the film Usne Kaha Tha with Sunil Dutt and Nanda as her co-stars. The film was directed by Moni Bhattacharjee who had been Bimal Roy’s assistant director in many of his classic films. Incidentally this film was his debut film as an independent director.

Writer-director-lyricist Gulzar stated his career as a lyricist in the film Shriman Satyavadi. His name flashes as Gulzar Deenvi in the credits and he was one of the lyricists along with Hasrat Jaipuri and Gulshan Bawra.

Director Manmohan Desai was given his first break as a director in Chhalia by his brother producer Subhash Desai. The film starring Raj Kapoor and Nutan was a big hit and had great music by Kalyanji Anandji.

‘Dum Dum Diga Diga…’

FILMFARE AWARDS for the year:

Best Film: K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam

Best Director: Bimal Roy (Parakh)

Best Story: Ruby Sen (Masoom)

Best Music Director: Shankar-Jaikishen (Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi)

Best Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni (‘Chaudvin ka chaand ho…’)

Best Playback Singer: Mohammed Rafi (‘Chaudvin ka chaand ho…’)

Best Actor: Dilip Kumar (Kohinoor)

Best Actress- Bina Rai (Ghunghat)

Best Supporting Actor: Motilal (Parakh)

Best Supporting Actress: Nanda (Aanchal)

Best Dialogues & Best Cinematography: Mughal-e-Azam

When we look at the list of winners it is heart-breaking to note that K Asif never won the Best Director award for his Mughal-e-Azam and lost out to Bimal Roy whose Parakh was an average film. Similarly Naushad gave probably his career-best score in Mughal-e-Azam where each song was a gem. Instead the award went to Shankar-Jaikishen for Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi. Honestly except for ‘Ajeeb Dastaan hai yeh…’ there is no great recall value for the other songs of the film. Roshan did not even get nominated for his outstanding score in Barsaat ki Raat. Hindi cinema has yet to see qawaalis to match the standard of this film.

Though Bina Rai was good, Madhubala was outstanding as Anarkali in Mughal-e-Azam but the award went to Bina Rai for Ghunghat. That was a time when there were no separate awards for Best Male and Best Female playback singers. So Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Pyar kiya toh darna kya …’ lost to Rafi’s ‘Chaudvin ka chand ho…’. Both were brilliant songs and both deserved awards. Prithviraj Kapoor was not even nominated for Best Supporting Actor award!

Well! As the saying goes ‘In life you win some, you lose some’. But whatever the outcome at the awards ceremony there is no doubt that those who did not win are also etched in our memories for their memorable contribution in making 1960 one of the best years of the film industry.

I end the blog with this very popular song from the film Masoom -a superb film with three child artistes- Sarosh Irani, Honey Irani and Aziz. The song was rendered by Hemant Kumar’s young daughter-Ranu Mukherjee.

 

 

 

 

 

LIVELY DANCES OF ASHA PAREKH

By

Sharada Iyer

Asha Parekh, the charming, elegant and beautiful actress of the sixties and seventies, brought to her on-screen characters a special vitality, oomph and grace which made her a very popular and much loved actress of the ‘golden era’ of Hindi cinema. She was one of the rare actresses who tasted success with her very first film and became a star overnight. She remained one of the highest paid actresses of her time and was often referred to as the ‘Hit Girl’ owing to her outstanding record of ‘jubilee’ hits.

This blog celebrates some superb dance numbers picturized on Asha Parekh. (As some of the songs are not allowed to be embedded in any blog, do visit the YouTube link that appears on the screen)

Let us start with one of her most popular dance sequences which remains a favourite even today and has been a hit in the remix circle also. Set to R D Burman’s scintillating beats the song is bound to make the listener also get up and start dancing.

Film: SAMADHI (1972)

Song: ‘Bangle ke peeche teri beri ke neeche hai re piya…’

She teamed up with R D Burman once again to give us the energetic foot-tapping number from the murder-mystery thriller Teesri Manzil. This time she had Shammi Kapoor giving her company and this Asha-Rafi duet remains unmatched even today. In fact the black and pink outfit almost became like Asha Parekh’s signature outfit after the release of this film.

Film: TEESRI MANZIL (1966)

Song:’ Aaja aaja main hoon pyar tera…’

Along with Waheeda Rehman and Vyjayantimala, she was one of the few dancing actresses of Hindi cinema who had special dance numbers choreographed on her. The producers and directors went out of the way to incorporate a special dance song of Asha Parekh in all her films. Sample these three outstanding numbers showcasing her talent in three very different types of dances

Film: SHIKAAR (1968)

Song: ‘Parde mein rehne do…’

Film: LOVE IN TOKYO (1966)

Song: ‘Koi matwala aaya mere dwaare…’

Film: ZIDDI (1964)

Song: ‘Yeh meri zindagi ek pagal hawa…’

Asha Parekh was a trained classical dancer and proficient in various dance forms like Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Odissi. Having learnt dance from a very young age, she started giving stage performances from the age of 10 years. Her large beautiful expressive eyes remained her best feature and helped her convey a range of expressions and emotions.

Film: MERI SOORAT TERI AANKHEN (1963)

Song: ‘Naache man mora magan tighda tighi…’

Film: ZIDDI (1964)

Song: ‘Raat ka sama jhume chandrama…’

As destiny would have it, director Bimal Roy happened to see one of the performances of the ten-year old Asha Parekh and so impressed was he with the young girl’s talent that he signed her up as a child artiste for his upcoming film Maa which released in 1954. The same year saw the release of another film of hers as a child star – Aasman. It is not clear which of these released first. Also the prints of both these films are not available on YouTube so not much information can be added.

She continued to act as Baby Asha Parekh in a few more films like Dhobi Doctor, Baap Beti, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, etc. In 1957 she got the chance to dance with her idol Vyjayantimala in the film Aasha. In the dance she acts as ‘Krishna’ and Vyjayantimala dances as ‘Radha’. It was a small role but Asha was very happy.

Film: ASHA (1957)

Song:’ Chal chal re kanhai…’

She was then signed by director Vijay Bhatt as the heroine of his upcoming film ‘Goonj Uthi Shehnai’ opposite Rajendra Kumar. But after a few days she was removed as the director felt she was not good heroine material.As luck would have it producer director Nasir Hussain signed her up for his new film Dil Deke Dekho opposite Shammi Kapoor. The film which released just before Asha Parekh’s 17th birthday was a musical blockbuster and there was no looking back for Asha Parekh. She became associated with good music and good dance numbers in all her films.

Film: LOVE IN TOKYO (1966)

Song: ‘Sayonara sayonara…’

Film: JAB PYAR KISISE HOTA HAI (1961)

Song: ‘Nazar more dil ke paar huyi…’

Born on October 2^nd, 1942 into a middle class family, she was the only child of her parents Salma Ibrahim Lakdawala (who changed her name to Sudha Parekh after marriage) and Bachubhai Motilal Parekh. Her mother was keen that she learn dancing from a very young age and ironically it is this expertise in dancing that helped Asha Parekh to gain a foothold in the film industry!

Film: HEERA (1973)

Song: ‘Aaj nachun aise ke aag lag jaaye…’

Film: CHIRAG (1969)

Song: ‘Bhor hote kaaga pukaare kahe raam….’

Asha Parekh had a long and successful innings and looked good with every hero she was paired with. Be it Ashok Kumar, Guru Dutt, Pradeep Kumar, Biswajeet, Dev Anand and Sunil Dutt from the ‘Black & White’ era or Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Joy Mukherjee, Dharmendra, Rajendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar and  Vijay Arora from the ‘Colour era’.

Film: BHAROSA (1963)

Song:’Kahe itna gumaan goriye…’

Film: GHOONGHAT (1960)

Song: ‘Kya kya nazare dikhati hain akhiyaan…’

Film: SHIKAAR (1968)

Song: ‘Jab se laage tose nazariya…’

Film: BHAI BHAI (1970)

Song: ‘Sapera been baja been baja naachungi…’

Asha Parekh’s pleasant demeanour and kind personality made it very easy for directors and heroes to work with her. Nasir Hussain, Raj Khosla, J Om Prakash, Shakti Samantha, J P Dutta, Manoj Kumar, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, etc., were the great directors under whom Asha Parekh worked and they helped hone her acting skills by offering her a variety of roles. She was blessed to have had many outstanding and memorable songs sung by both the legendary singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle picturized on her thereby raising her recall value as an actress giving her a special place in the annals of cinematic history.

Film: CHIRAG (1969)

Song: “Chhayee barkha bahar…’

Film: CARAVAN (1971)

Song: ‘Daiya yeh main kahan aa phansi…’

Film: HUM HINDUSTANI (1960)

Song: ‘Chedo na mohe kanha ja ja ja…’

Here are two short dance sequences from two films which are set to music piece and have no song

Film: CHHAYA (1961)

Film: MAHAL (1969)

Starting from her first film Dil Deke Dekho in 1959 for the next 20 years she gave box-office hits almost every year after which she slowly graduated to playing senior roles. She was also a very good actress and she rose to the occasion whenever the script demanded. She is remembered for her memorable performances in Kati Patang, Aaye Din Bahar Ke, Chhaya, Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki, Raakhi Aur Hathkadi, Chirag, Aan Milo Sajna, Love in Tokyo, Ziddi, etc.

Film: AAYE DIN BAHAAR KE (1966)

Song: ‘Khat likh de sanwariya ke naam babu…’

Film: HEERA (1973)

Song: ‘Jai ambe jagdambe maa…’

Film: RAKHI AUR HATHKADI (1972)

Song: ‘Bahiyan dhar ke lipta…’

Song: ‘Tere milan ko kaise chalun…’

Film: JAWAN MOHABBAT (1971)

Song: ‘Mere sapnon ki rani tum nahi ho…’

(She comes in the last part of the song after 5.40sec)

I end the blog with this superb dance competition number where the magical combination of music director O P Nayyar and Asha Bhonsle add further pizzazz to Asha Parekh’s dancing. Actress Tabassum looks funny singing such a classical composition. The other dancer’s name is unknown to me. If anyone reading this blog has any idea do share the information.

Film: PHIR WOHI DIL LAYA HOON (1967)

Song: ‘Dekho bijli dole bin badal ke…’

 

 

 

DEVIKA RANI: The Enigmatic First Lady of Indian Cinema

By

Sharada Iyer

On September 21^st, 2019, I had the good fortune of watching a brilliant play titled ‘Devika Rani: Goddess of the Silver Screen’. Written by Kishwar Desai (whose book on this incredible screen diva will be released next year) and directed by the talented stage veteran Lillette Dubey, the play brought to fore many significant and hitherto unknown incidents in the personal life of Devika Rani who was indeed a trailblazer of pre-independent Indian Cinema.

The play roughly covered around 18 years of Devika Rani’s life from 1926 to 1943- approximately from the time she met her husband Himanshu Rai to the last time she appeared on the silver screen as an actress. Lillette Dubey’s daughter Ira Dubey who reprises the role of Devika Rani comes up with a memorable performance and also does a fabulous job of singing the famous song – ‘Main ban ki chidiya ban ke ban ban dolun re…’.

Apart from Ira the other artistes also acted very well. Joy Sengupta who played Himanshu Rai and Pranav Sachdev who played Ashok Kumar deserve a special mention for really looking and living their respective parts. The play was in English except for the dialogues of the Hindi films being enacted. The duration of the play was just 2 hours and it was a memorable evening indeed. Added bonus was watching the play in the august company of yesteryear actresses Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh and Helen who were seated in the audience and seemed to be enjoying the play just as much!

THE ETERNAL DIVA:

To understand the magic of Devika Rani who dominated the Indian film industry in the thirties and early forties, one has to understand her real-life and reel-life persona. Her charisma was not just about her being an actress. She had so many more talents and her aura continued even after she gave up acting and concentrated on being only the producer of Bombay Talkies.

REAL-LIFE PERSONA:

Multi-faceted, Bewitching & Ambitious

Stunningly beautiful and extraordinarily talented in various fields, Devika Rani was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word. Armed with a degree in acting, music, architecture, set-design and décor, she also had knowledge of various technical aspects of production, costume designing and make-up as well. Indeed she walked the path which no other actress before or after her has done including becoming the owner of a film studio in India- the prestigious Bombay Talkies. She played a major role in establishing the studio in partnership with her husband Himanshu Rai and with the help of their common friend Niranjan Pal (the son of nationalist leader Bipin Chandra Pal). The studio which was set up in Malad, Bombay, was equipped with the latest and technically advanced equipment and was built on the lines to match the top international studios of that time.

Behind that exquisitely beautiful face lay a strong woman who had the guts and gumption to challenge the male order in an era when women were afraid of stepping out to work and especially in the world of acting. Having being exposed to the European culture from a very young age, she was westernized in her thoughts and actions. She was a true feminist at a time when the term was probably not even coined properly! In fact she was among the first educated Indian women to enter this profession and her presence lent dignity and grace to the women in this field and the industry has a lot to be grateful to her for being the path-breaker.

Her personal life remained a colourful one throughout as she did not believe in treading the ‘conformed’ path a woman was supposed to lead and followed her heart in all the choices she made. She married Himanshu Rai-a man 16 years older to her, became a partner with him in starting a studio with world-class facilities, continued to be the studio’s head after her husband’s death, eloped with her hero Najam-Ul-Hassan during the shooting of her 2nd film while she was still married to Himanshu Rai, then realizing her mistake she came back and went on to become a top actress of her time, left acting to just remain a producer for a while and finally she left everything to get married to a Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich to settle for a quiet life first in the hills of Manali and later in their farmhouse in Bangalore.

Born on 30^th March 1908 in the progressive Bengali family in Waltair, Andhra Pradesh, she was sent to study in London at the young age of nine. Her maternal great-grandmother Saudamini Devi and paternal grandmother Sukumari Devi were both Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s sisters. So she was related to Tagore from both sides. Her father Colonel (Dr) Manmathanath Chaudhury was the first Surgeon General of Madras Presidency. (http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/families/tagore.html)  

After finishing her schooling, she enrolled herself in the Royal Academy of Arts and Royal Academy of Music, London and got a degree in acting as well as singing. She always had an interest in the field of Arts and decided to take up a job in London as a textile engineer. While working in London, for a while Devika Rani stayed with Niranjan Pal, a writer for plays at that time, and his English wife Lily.

Himanshu Rai

Interestingly, Himanshu Rai, who had already done a few stage plays in London and starred in the highly successful silent film Light of Asia in 1925 (based on the life of Buddha), was getting into film production at that time. He had acquired a name and was quite a well-known figure. He had also worked with Niranjan Pal in two of his plays and they knew each other. It was thus through this common friend that Devika Rani met Himanshu Rai. Little did they know that this chance encounter would end up changing not only their lives forever but also prove to be a game-changer for the film industry in India!

When Himanshu Rai was introduced to the young and multi-talented Devika Rani, he was totally besotted with her intelligence and charm and signed her to assist his production team in the costume and set-designing department for his upcoming film- A Throw of Dice in 1929. The two of were deeply in love and even though she had heard rumours of Himanshu being a womaniser, Devika Rani decided to get married to him. After this film they proceeded to Germany to get a better understanding of some more aspects of film making-production, camerawork and other technical aspects and also underwent training at the UFA (a German motion-picture production company) in Berlin.

Incidentally Lillete Dubey’s play throws light on some poignant aspects of her life. For instance when the premiere of their first film together-Karma had been held the Mable Arch Cinema, London the foreign media were very impressed with Devika Rani’s stunning beauty and acting but the same did not apply for her co-star and husband Himanshu Rai who did not like being side-lined and felt a little left out of the limelight.

The play also  showed that Devika gets a shock when she comes to know of Himanshu’s first marriage to a German lady called Mary Heinlin and that he even had a daughter through her. He had hidden this part of his life from her and she was shattered emotionally. After this their personal relationship underwent a change and though they remained cordial to each other and proved to be excellent business partners doing everything they could to develop Bombay Talkies into a world-class studio, their marriage could never get back on track and their feelings could never be the same. Sadly he subjected her to physical abuse as well.

After coming to India the first film to be produced under the banner of Bombay Talkies was Jawani Ki Hawa which starred Devika Rani and a new hero Najam-Ul-Hassan. The film was a hit and they were signed for their next venture Jeevan Naiyya. It is said that during the making of this film they developed real feelings for each other and when only a few scenes of the film had been shot the two decided to elope leaving the producer and the unit in quandary. When one views this incident in the wake of how she had been shattered emotionally and mentally, it is not difficult to understand her reason for eloping with her on-screen hero.

Having always lived life on her terms, Devika Rani did not care about what this step would do to her reputation both personally and professionally. But their common friend Shashadhar Mukherjee who worked as the sound engineer at Bombay Talkies intervened, found out where Devika had gone and managed to convince her not to throw away her career like this and also asked her to think of her dream of running Bombay Talkies.

Soon Devika Rani returned but the career of the hero Najam-Ul-Hassan had finished as Himanshu Rai refused to have him back in the film. In his place Shashadhar Mukherjee’s brother-in-law and friend Ashok Kumar was taken. Ashok Kumar at that time had been working in the technical department as an assistant. His earnest and handsome face, shy disposition, winning smile and his curly mop of hair won everybody’s vote. His name was changed from Kumudlal Ganguly to Ashok Kumar and thus Bombay Talkies gave to the industry its first superstar.

 

REEL-LIFE PERSONA:

Devika Rani’s entry into films coincided with the time the talkies were making inroads in the world of cinema. Right from her debut film Karma (1933) she found appreciation not only for her stunning looks but also her acting prowess. The film was the first English language talkie made by an Indian. With her superb English diction she wowed the foreign media who were completely bowled over by her performance and she was the cynosure of all attention at the film’s premiere. The film also made news for featuring a 4-minute long kissing scene!

Bombay Talkies right from its inception tackled social dramas which resonated with the customs and traditions prevalent at that time in our society. Though Devika Rani acted in only 15-16 films in her ten-year long career she always tried to portray characters who had a progressive outlook and managed to impart strong messages through her roles. Most of the films were female-centric films where her character was central to the story. Her pairing with Ashok Kumar became very popular and together they starred in eight hit films- Jeevan Naiyya, Achchut Kanya, Savitri, Vachan, Izzat, Anjaan, Nirmala and Janmabhoomi.

In fact when the titles appeared in her films it was always ‘Bombay Talkies presents Devika Rani in…’. The names of other actors appeared only at the end after the names of the producer, director, and all technical artistes had appeared.

 

Some of her important films include:

ACHHUT KANYA (1935):

This is not only Devika Rani’s best film it is also considered a milestone in the history of Indian cinema. It was a touching love-story of a low-caste Harijan girl and an upper class Brahmin where the two childhood friends who had dreamt of a life together had to bow down to the pressures of caste system so deeply entrenched in the society at that time. The film shows the futility of these social evils which for senseless reasons raises objections to the union of two souls who love each other deeply. Excellent direction, compelling narrative and dialogues, melodious songs and a haunting performance by Devika Rani made the film immortal and is definitely a must-watch.

Here are two excellent songs from the film:

 Song : ‘Main ban ki chidiya ban ke ban ban dolun re…’

 Song: ‘Kit gaye ho khewanahaar…’

NIRMALA (1938)

This film has Devika Rani playing an educated girl who tops her class in studies and along with Ashok Kumar is tied in the first position. She joins college and wishes to continue her studies. But having promised  a dying friend some years back, her parents want her to get her married to that friend’s son. As luck would have it she falls in love with Ashok Kumar and astrologers predict a very happy marriage for the two. However, everything starts going wrong starting from Ashok Kumar being kidnapped by the friend’s son and just manages to reach the venue on time. After that she has several miscarriages and is not able to conceive and she leaves the house without informing Ashok Kumar. Both face many obstacles before being reunited in old age. The film throws light upon the mindless belief in astrological practices and superstition. Both of them act very well.

Song: ‘Bolo sajani bolo…’

IZZAT (1937)

The film is a tragic love story and involves two ‘warring clans’, the Marathas and the Bhil tribe. After the kind head of the Marathas dies, he is succeeded by his evil nephew who commits atrocities on the tribes. Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani play the lovers. Circumstances turn the tribal Ashok Kumar into a bandit and when the evil nephew tries to molest his beloved Devika, he kills the nephew and is sentenced to death. Devika goes to meet him in jail and she also dies. It was an interesting plot and in a romantic scene between the lead pair, we can spot Ashok Kumar lying down with an exposed torso holding Devika’s hand!

Song: ‘Matwaale nainon waale, ghungrale baalon waale…’

JEEVAN PRABHAT (1937)

The story is about remarriage and caste system. She plays a Brahmin girl but as she is not able to bear children she is sent away and her husband decides to remarry.  Back in her home, she gets close to her childhood friend who belongs to a lower caste. Kishore Sahu and Mumtaz Ali play her husband and friend respectively.

ANJAAN (1941)

This is a love triangle between Ashok Kumar, Girish and Devika Rani. She plays a governess to the three children of a widow ’Ranima’. Both Ashok Kumar who is a doctor and also a guardian to the children and Girish who is the estate manager fall in love with her but Girish’s intentions are more evil. To remove his competitor from the path he kills Ranima and puts the blame on Ashok Kumar. After Himanshu Rai’s death, she returned to acting with this film and this was the last film she did with Ashok Kumar.

Song: ‘Mere jeevan path par cha gayi yeh kaun…’

Song: ‘Pyare pyare sapne hamaare…’

Song: ‘Main toh tumse bandhi rahoon…’

JANMABHOOMI (1938)

Ashok Kumar is a doctor and he and Devika are engaged to be married. But the death of his close friend changes Ashok Kumar’s mind and he decides to devote his life to serving the friend’s village and backs out of the marriage. Though disappointed Devika Rani does not lose heart and decides to join him as his co-worker in his quest for improving the backward mind-set of the villagers and educating them in scientific practices. Expectedly they face strong opposition and even get arrested on the charge of murder but everything works out fine in the end. The film throws light upon how one person can bring about a change in the society.

Song: ‘Yeh pyaari pyaari paati kiski…’

DURGA (1939):

Devika Rani plays an effervescent and tom-boyish character who is always up to tricks and gets away with all her pranks she plays on the villagers. Much to the chagrin of the village evil-mongers, they are never able to catch her red-handed and after her mother dies they hatch a plan to get her out of the village. They burn her house which forces her to go away and stay with a wealthy money lender who is a widower and has a small daughter. But she is not aware of his intentions to marry her. She not only manages to transform him but also makes him realize that her heart belongs to the village doctor played by actor Rama Shukul. The film is basically a social drama but gives her scope to showcase her bubbly self as a prankster.

Song: ‘Nadi paar hai aam ki bagiya…’

DEVIKA RANI & HER LEGACY

No write-up on Devika Rani is complete without writing about her tryst with Bombay Talkies. The world class studio that she established in 1934 in partnership with her husband Himanshu Rai had the latest equipment from Germany and the films they made not only met high technical standards, but were said to closely resemble the glossy movies being made by Hollywood’s MGM studio.

They had a loyal staff comprising of talented people like director Franz Osten, cameraman Joseph Wirsching,(both Germans), writer Niranjan Pal, dance director Mumtaz Ali, music director Saraswati Devi. There were other loyal staff members Shashadhar Mukherjee, Amiya Chakravorthy, etc. The quality of films, writing and direction were all world class.

The studio is credited for introducing some great talents to the industry as is evident from the list of illustrious artistes who got a break. The careers of actors like Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Madhubala, Kishore Sahu, Rajendranath, Mumtaz Ali (actor Mehmood’s father) and Leela Chitnis, directors like Franz Osten, Shashadhar Mukherjee, Amiya Chakravorthy and music director Saraswati Devi- all  started with Bombay Talkies.

Devika Rani passed away on March 9^th, 1994, one year after her husband Roerich died at their Bangalore farmhouse. She had no children from both her marriages to carry on her legacy. Today not many remember this great personality and even Bombay Talkies has faded away from our memory. Sadly in 2014 a fire broke out in a building in Borivali and that had housed many original prints of several films of Bombay Talkies- Achhut Kanya, Jhoola, and now they are lost forever.  (https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/achhut-kanya-bandhan-prints-destroyed-in-fire/story-6y2z5HFvq6wkq2O0HDHotK.html )

Devika Rani with her husband

But the intelligent lady that she was she must have had a premonition of the ways of the industry and minds of the public which is probably why she had maintained a file of reviews, bills, photographs and film scripts of Bombay Talkies which are now a priceless source of connection to our industry’s past.After the studio shut down in 1954 when all the people associated with it had parted ways, Devika Rani kept all these materials with her and prior to her death she sent it to the curator of the Roerich Museum in New York, saying that “Someday someone may come looking for them.”

Ironically, today the owner of this prized collection of memorabilia is Peter Heitze- who happens to be none other than the grandson of the founder of Bombay Talkies-Himanshu Rai! He is the son of Himanshu Rai’s daughter Nilima through his German wife Mary. Though his mother had hidden the fact about his Indian ancestry, a chance finding of his grandfather Himanshu Rai’s photograph led him to know about the past and when he visited the Roerich Museum the curator was more than happy to hand over all the archives to him. Today he is the sole custodian of the priceless collection of Bombay Talkies archives. Here is the link to this interesting news on Peter Heitze.  (https://www.bengaldaily.com/himanshu-rai-the-founder-of-the-bombay-talkies-studio-and-his-two-wives/)

For her immense contribution in the field of Indian cinema she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1958. She was also the first recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award-the country’s highest award for films, when it was instituted in 1969. In 1990, Soviet Russia honoured her with the ‘Soviet Land Nehru Award’. A commemorative stamp was also issued in her honour.