Ten of my favourite Waheeda Rehman songs
Waheeda Rehman! Just spelling out that name conjures a vision of great beauty for me. Beauty yes, but not coquette, not of a siren, very down to earth beauty, which radiates warmth. A smile, which brightens up your day. Grace, which mesmerises you. Eyes so expressive, that they could show a whole kaleidoscope of emotions and of a depth that one could lose oneself in it. An ethereal beauty! You would say how do a down-to-earth and ethereal go together. Well, that is what Waheeda Rehman is all about. Bringing together contradictions like truth always is. And truth is beautiful and divine. No wonder Guru Dutt sings and describes her a chaudhvin ka chaand (the full moon) in the film by the same name.
There was and is more to Waheeda than her beauty. A versatile actress, she proved her acting prowess again and again in different films. She showed their highs and lows, their dark and brighter sides, but what she gave them all was a human quality. A vulnerability, which made them connect to you. It might be the street smart hooker of Pyaasa or the career-oriented Rosie of Guide or the repentant Shanta waiting for her husband in Phagun. You could relate to all of them. You might not agree with them, but you could empathise with them.
Choosing ten songs from her films was not easy. Thus I laid some criteria for choosing them.
a. The film must have her in a main role.
b. It must be a solo song
c. Waheeda must be lip-syncing to the song.
Dustedoff and Sunehriyaadein have already published a post of their favourite Waheeda Rehman songs and Anu of her favourite Waheeda roles. This post began as a comment at Sunehriyaadein’s post. Over the years it has changed indeed! Enjoy!
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Tags: aa aa bhi jaa raat dhalne lagi, Asha Bhosle, badle badle mere sarkar, Balkavi Bairagi, Chaudhvin Ka Chaand [1961], dev anand, Ek Dil Sau Afsane 1963], Guide [1965], guru dutt, Hasrat Jaipuri, Hemant Kumar, Jaidev, Lata Mangeshkar, Majrooh Sultanpuri, meri baat rahi mere man me, Mujhe Jeene Do [1963], My ten favourite Waheeda Rehman songs, Neeraj, o jaadugar pyaar ke ye bataa, Phagun [1973], piyaa tose nainaa laage re, Prem Pujari [1970], raat bhi hai kuchh bheegi bheegi, Raj Kapoor, rangeela re tere rang me, Ravi, Reshma Aur Shera [1972], Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja [1961], S. D. Burman, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam [1962], Sahir Ludhianvi, sandhya jo aaye man ud jaaye, Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Shankar-Jaikishan, Sunil Dutt, Teesri Kasam [1967], tu chanda maina chandani, tum to dil ke taar chhed kar, Waheeda Rehman
My ten favourite Krishna songs
Today is Krishna Janmasthami, Krishna’s birthday. Krishna is the most favourite of all the Hindu deities in Hindi films and is sung about in many ways. Today while discussing with Madhu on Facebook, I started listing some Krishna songs, which came into mind and thus this list happened. It was made in a hurry, so pardon any mistakes made.
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Tags: A. K. Hangal, aaj sajan mohe ang laga lo, aan milo aan milo, ae sakhi radhike banwari ho gayi, Amar Prem [1972], Amol Palekar, Anand Bakshi, Apne Paraye [1980], Baby Naaz, Bappi Lahiri, Baseraa [1981], Biswajeet, Chitragupt, Devdas [1955], Dulari, Geeta Dutt & Manna Dey, Gulzar, guru dutt, Happy Janmasthami, Jaan Nisar Akhtar, Janmasthami, Jurmana [1979], kaanhaa bole naa, Kaise Kahoon [1964], Krishn, Krishna’s birthday, Lata Mangeshkar, maane naa maane naa manamohana, Madam XYZ [1959], Manmohan Krishna, manmohan man me, Mohammed Rafi, mohe panghat pe nandalal chhed gayo re, Mughal-E-Azam [1960], My ten favourite Krishna songs, Nana Palsikar, Nanda, Naushad, Poonam Dhillon, Prem Dhawan, Pyaasa [1957], R. D. Burman, raina biti jaye, Rajesh Khanna, Rakesh Pandey, Rakhee, Rekha, S. D. Burman, Saanware sunawo bansuri, Sahir, Salil Chowdhury, Sangat [1976], Shakeel Badayuni, Sharmila Tagore, shyam na aaye, shyam rang ranga re, Suman Kalyanpur, Waheeda Rehman, Yogesh Yesudas
Dear Pacifist has agreed once again to honour this blog with a post of hers. Thank you, Pacifist!
10 beautiful village songs
Poos ki sard raat thi…, chilchilati dhoop mein nange paon…, (it was a freezing winter night…, bare feet in the blistering heat…,) are phrases I associate Munshi Premchand with. Though we used the term chilchilati dhoop , poos ki raat was new. Village life in the north, as depicted in his novels, was very harsh as these two terms indicate. My interest in his novels branched into reading some of his short stories too, so when Harvey asked me to write a post I thought of Munshi Premchand and villages.
Now we all know that the village life as depicted in our films is nothing like the real thing, but some of the older films did manage to get some sort of realism, simplicity, though in some cases burdensome (Mother India). Whatever the case they always give me a feeling of being purified. Blame it on the pollution inducing contemporary films. Dilip Kumar, Balraj Sahni, even Raj Kumar made convincing villagers. The heroines all looked good enough. Not only that, but the folksy songs were great. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 10 beautiful village songs, A village mela (fair), Amitabh Bachchan, Anjaan, Asha Bhonsle, Balraj Sahni, Dharti kahe pukar ke, Dilip Kumar, Do Bailon Ki Katha, Do Beegha Zameen (1953), Do Boond Pani (1971), Godan (1963), Gunga Jamuna (1961), Har haseen cheez ka, Harvesting, Heera Moti (1959), Heeya jarat rahat din rain, Hemant Kumar, Jaane kahe jiya more dole, Jab se lagan lagayi re, Jaidev, Jawaharlal Nehru, Julmi sang aankh ladi, Kaifi Azmi, Kishore Kumar, Lali lali dolia mein lali, Lata Mangeshkar, Leisure time in the village, Madhumati (1958), Manna Dey, Minoo Purshottam, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Munshi Premchand, Naach re dharti ke pyare pyare, Nain lad jainhe, Naushad, Neeraj, Nirupa Roy, O bedardi aa mil jaldi, Parveen Sultana, Peetal ki meri gaagri, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Raj Kapoor, Rakhee, Ravindra Jain, Reshma aur Shera (1971), Roshan, Salil Choudhary, Saudagar (1971), Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Shankar-Jaikishan, Shreyas Talpade, Shubha Khote, Simi Garewal, Teesri Kasam (1966), The village backbone: Rain, The village belle gori, The village rasiya (hero), the womenfolk, Village celebration – wedding, Village children, Village family, Vyjayanthimala, Waheeda Rehman, Welcome to Sajjanpur
First of all I would like to thank everybody for their good wishes to my/our blog on its birthday.
The quiz got a nice response. Shashi and Samir sent me the answers the very next day. They had some sophisticated techniques to get to the answers. Samir in his feedback to the quiz elaborated on it. Samir, would you be so kind to post it also in the comments section below? It is very enlightening!
Lalitha was very industrious and worked till the last hour and sent me her answer four hours back.
Totally eight persons sent me their answers and it was fun going through them. Lomo and Andi were new for me. They told me that they usually read my posts and the comments by the readers and that they enjoy it a lot and at times more the comments than the post itself (so says Andi).
Here are the scores
Archana = 128,5
Pacifist = 126
Shashi = 124
Samir = 106
Lomo = 100
Lalitha = 93
Andi = 93
Anu = 55
Congratulations Archana for scoring the most points and thanks to all participants! The email communication with you regarding the hints and clues was a source of great pleasure for me!
Well, here are the answers! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5 Rifles, Aaj Yeh Meri Zindagi, Aar-Paar, Abhi To Haath Me Jaam Hai, Ambika Johar, Amitabh Bachchan, Anand Bakshi, Anjaan, Asha Bhosle, Aziz Nazan, Bappi Lahiri, Chandan Ka Palna [1967], Chhod Mera Haath Mujhe Peene De, dev anand, Dharamendra, Dil Hi To Hai [1963], former Miss India, Geeta Dutt, happy God, Hasrat Jaipuri, Hoon Abhi Main Jawan Ae Dil, Hum Hain Nashe Mein, Jhoom Bharabar Jhoom Sharabi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Leela Naidu, Madan Mohan, Mahjabeen, maid of jerky movements, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Manna Dey, Meena Kumari, Mohd. Rafi, Mujhe Le Chalo, Mukesh, Namak Halal, Naza Sholapuri, Nutan, O. P. Nayyar, R. D. Burman, Raj Kapoor, Rajinder Krishan, Rakesh Khanna, Ramlal, Ravi, Roshan, Sahir Ludhianvi, Sandhya, Seeta aur Geeta [1972], Sehra [1963], Shahi Kapoor, Shakila, Sharaabi, sharabi sharabi mera naam ho gaya, Subah-O-Sham [1972], the illustrious one, Thodi Si Jo Pee Li Hai, Tumhari Mast Nazar, Waheeda Rehman, Yeh Raaste Hai Pyar Ke
My five favourite S. D. Burman sung songs
Either I am just too indecisive or I love all his songs, which makes a list of 10 favourite S. D. Burman songs so difficult. That is why I took the easy way out and went off to make a list of 10 favourite songs sung by him. That in turn would have been too easy, because I found only around 13 songs where he has lent his voice and only eleven of them were solos.
The first song sung by him for a Hindi film I found was for Eight Days [1946]. (Anu informed me later that he sang for the film Taj Mahal [1941] under the baton of Madhavlal Damodar. The song was ek prem ki pyaari nishani.) After that it looks like he took a 12 years break and lent his voice to Dev Anand in Kala Pani [1958] for the song dil laga ke kadar gayi pyaare. He sings dhin ta ta between the stanzas. The first Hindi solo of his after Eight Days is most probably sun mere bandhu re for Sujata [1960]. After this nearly all of his songs appear as background songs. Mere saajan hai us paar, although sung by a waysider, the camera stays on this character only at the beginning of the song, giving it a feeling of background song. While compiling this list, I realised the big impact this singer has left on us. He sang around ten solos in Hindi films and still one has at least five songs of him at the tip of the tongue.
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Tags: Amar Prem [1972], Anand Bakshi, Ashok Kumar, Bandini [1963], Bimal Roy, boatman, dil laga ke kadar gayi pyaare, Doli Me Bithai Ke Kahaar, Eight Days [1946], Guide [1965], Kala Pani [1958], Majrooh Sultanpuri, mere saajan hai us paar, My five favourite S. D. Burman sung songs, Nutan, Piya Tune Kya Kiya - Zindagi Zindagi [1972], R. D. Burman, Raju, S. D. Burman, Shailendra, Sharmila Tagore, Sujata [1960], Sun Mere Bandhu Re, Sunil Dutt, Wahan Kaun Hai Tera, Waheeda Rehman
For Christmas, I was thinking of doing a Christmas song list. But I could come up only with aao tumhe chand pe le jaaye from Zakhmee [1975]. But then I thought Mother Mary and Joseph must have also sung some lullabies to baby Jesus, so why not a list of my ten favourite loris (lullabies).
Lullabies have not always been my favourite songs. Once when a 6 year old child at a friends place asked me to sing an Indian lullaby to him, I realized that I knew only few authentic lullabies in my mother tongue and soon I ended up singing filmi loris! The child must have been pretty deaf or a great fan of off-tune singing. More evenings followed and made me realize how sweet basically loris are.
Some rules, which I followed for my list:
a) The person singing must be singing it to a child and not to a grown-up person
b) Only one song pro film
Well here they are! Try not to fall asleep while reading it! Yawn! 😉
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Tags: Aa Ri Aajaa Nindiya Tu Le Chal Kahin, Aaja Ri Aa Nindiya Tu Aa, Anand Bakshi, Anil Biswas, Ankhiyon Me Chote Chote, Asha Bhosle, Bharat Vyas, Chanda O Chanda, Chanda Re Chanda Re, Do Aankhen Barah Haath [1957], Do Bhigha Zameen [1953], Door Ke O Chanda, dustedoff, Ek Dil Sau Afsane 1963], Geeta Dutt, Humshakal [1974], Kishore Kumar, Kunwara Baap [1974], Lajwanti [1958], Lakhon Me Ek [1971], Madhulike Liddle, Main Gaoon Tu Chhup Ho Jaa, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Meena Kapoor, Meena Kumari, Mehmood, Merry Christmas, Nanhi Kali Sone Chali, Nargis, Nauker [1979], Nirupa Roy, Oleg Strizhenov, Pardesi[ 1957], Prem Dhawan, R. D. Burman, Radha Saluja, Rajesh Khanna, Rajesh Roshan, Rasta Dekhe Tera Vyakul Man Mera, S. D. Burman, Salil Choudhary, Sandhya, Sanjeev Kumar, Shailendra, Shankar-Jaikishan, So Jaa Re Lalna Jhulao Tohe Palna, Sujata (1959), Sulochana Latkar, V. Shantaram, Vasant Desai, Waheeda Rehman
My ten favourite Dharmendra songs
Dharmendra had his birthday on 8th December, but unfortunately it was shadowed by Dev Anand’s demise. Happy belated Birthday, Dharmendra!
So much has been written about Dharmendra’s good looks. What shall I add to it? When I think of his fine appearance, the song that comes to my mind is:
chaand aahen bharega (the moon will sigh)
phool dil tham lenge (the flowers will clasp their hearts)
husn ki baat chali to (when the talk is of good looks)
sab tera naam lenge (your name will be mentioned)
What I find enchanting about him is his dazzling smile. When he smiles it has an assurance of ‘everything will be fine’ and one just melts away. He was not only good looks; he also made some splendid movies, till he went into the kutte-kaminey mode.
Choosing songs from his films was not easy, since many good songs by Mohd. Rafi have picturised on him. So to make things easier for me I had to put in some rules
a) One song pro film
b) Only solo songs
c) Songs to which he lip syncs, i.e. no background songs,that is why pal pal dil ke paas from Blackmail [1973] is conspicuous by its absence.
After the correction by Samir, I’ll put another clause:
d) Songs, where he is not “in Rakhee’s imagination, or just floating around”, that is why pal pal dil ke paas from Blackmail [1973] is conspicuous by its absence. 😉
Ten favourite Dharmendra songs is not a very original post. Sunehriyaadein and Greta have also done a similar post some time ago. Here is my take on it. So, here we go…
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Tags: Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai, Aap Ke Haseen Rukh Pe, aga ye jawal ye laju nako, Anand Bakshi, Anjaan, Anupama [1966], Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi [1966], Bhupendra, Blackmail [1973], Do Chor [1972], Dulhan Ek Raat Ki [1967], Duniya O Duniya Tera Jawab Nahin, Ek Haseen Shaam Ko, Ek Hi Khwab Kai Baar Dekha, Gulzar, Happy Birthday Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Hemant Kumar, jaane woh kaise log they, Kahani Kismat Ki [1973], Kaifi Azmi, Kalyanji-Anandji, Khamoshi [1969], Kinara [1977], Kishore Kumar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Loafer [1973], Madan Mohan, Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Mala Sinha, Meri Jaan, meri jaan meri jaan kehna maano, Mohammad Rafi, Mumtaz, My ten favourite Dharmendra songs, Naya Zamana [1971], Nutan, O. P. Nayyar, pal pal dil ke paas, Pratiggya [1975], Pyaasa, R. D. Burman, Rafta Rafta Dekho Aankh Meri Ladi Hai, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Rajinder Krishan, S. D. Burman, Tanuja, Tum Pukar Lo, Waheeda Rehman, Ya Dil Ki Suno
My ten favourite Dev jodis
I got the news at fellow blogger Madhu’s site about Dev Anand’s sad demise. I just couldn’t believe it. The tag of ever-green hero suited him so well, that one thought that he was immortal. Just two days back, I wrote at Greta’s blog that Dev’s films from the 50s and 60s hardly let one down.
Dev was a good actor dominating the film industry for three decades. He had his own school of natural acting which endeared him to the masses as well as the critics. He remained for most part true to his genre of a slick urban hero, but he was versatile as far as the different fields of film production was concerned. He was producer, director, actor and once even a singer!
Dev, I think, must have had the most number of female co-stars in the history of the Hindi film industry. He acted with many new faces but also with established actresses. And he looked good with everyone of them. Here is to Dev and his female co-stars
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Tags: aajaa pancchi akela hai, abhi na jaavo chhod kar, accha ji me hari chalo man jawo na, Asha Bhosle, de bhi chuke ham dil nazrana dil ka, dev anand, dil ka bhanwar kare pukar, geeta bali, Geeta Dutt, Hema Malini, Hum Dono [1962], Jaal [1952], Kala Bazar [1960], Kala Pani [1958], Kalpana Karthik, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, layi khushi ki duniya hasti hui jawaani, Madhubala, Mala Sinha, Manna Dey, Maya [1961], Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Nau Do Gyarah [1957], neend churake raaton me tumne baaton baaton me, Nutan, R. D. Burman, ruk jaana ruk jaana humse do baatein karte chali jana, S. D. Burman, Sadhana, Salil Choudhury, sanj dhali dil ki lagi thak chali pukar ke, Shareef Badmash [1973], Suraiya, tasveer teri dil me jis din se utari hai, Tere Ghar Ke Samne [1963], Vidya [1948], Waheeda Rehman, Warrant [1975], Zeenat Aman
My ten favourite songs on not wanting to let go.
As I was humming abhi na jao chhodkar few days back, I realised that, not wanting to let the lover go is an oft-repeated motif in Hindi film songs. Well, from this thought to the thought of making list was a short hop.
Letting go, is a difficult task in life and not only the lover but also many other things in life. So here is to the process of relinquishing and surrender!
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Tags: Abhi Na Jao Chhodkar, Anand Bakshi, Anil Biswas, Asha Bhosle, Asha Parekh, Bade Dilwaala [1983], Bees Saal Baad [1962], Beqaraar Kar Ke Hume Yun Na Jaiye, Biswajeet, Bulo C. Rani, dev anand, Dharmendra, Do Badan [1966], Don't go... !, Geeta Dutt. Nargis, Hemant Kumar, Hum Dono [1962], Jaidev, Jogan [1950], jogi jab se tu aayaa more dwaare, Kahin Na Jaa Aaj Kahin Mat Jaa, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Manoj Kumar, Mat Jaa Mat Jaa Mat Jaa Jogii, Mat Jaiyo Naukariya Chhodke, mat jaiyon nagariya chhod ke, Meerabai, Mere Hamdam Mere Dost [1968], Mohammad Rafi, Mujhe Jeene Do [1963], Na Jaa Kahin Ab Na Jaa Dil Ke Sivaa, Na Jaa... !, Na Jaiyo Radhe Cheedenge Shyam, Naa Dir Diim ... Naa Jaa Naa Jaa Balam Balam Mere Naa, Naa Jaa O Mere Humdum, Nadii Naare Na Jaao Shaam Paiyaan padu, Nasir Husain, Padmini, Pardesi[ 1957], Prem Dhawan, Pyar Ka Mausam [1969], R. D. Burman, Ravi, Rishi Kapoor, Sadhana, Sahir Ludhianvi, Sardar Jafri, Sau Saal Baad [1966], Shakeel Badayuni, Sharmila Tagore, Shashi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Tina Munim, Waheeda Rehman
My Ten Favourite Telephone Songs From Hindi Films
The research for the fruit expose has been needing me to call lots of people on phone. This lead me to the idea of making a telephone song list. Okay, I didn’t come up with it in the last few days, but have been collecting them over the last few months. And the fact that, that I love Jalte hai jiske liye just drove me to make this list. Not all of the songs are sung completely on the telephone. Some just start with it and end up with the characters cavorting around the trees, but telephone songs they are.
So, give me a ring!
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Tags: Aadesh Srivastav, Alka Yagnik, Amitabh Bachchan, Anand Bakshi, Anhonee (1952), Anil Biswas, Anjaan, Asha Bhosle, atulsongaday, Baazi 1968, Baghban (2003), Bombay Ka Chor (1962), C Ramchandra, Chand Zard Zard Hai Mere Dil Mein, Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi (1970), Ganesh, Gope, Hello Hello Ji, Hema Malini, Jaali Note (1960), Jalte Hain Jiske Liye, Jidher Dekhoon Teri Tasveer, Juari (1968), Kahan Gaya Mera Sanam, Kaho Kya Hai Ji, Kalyanji-Anandji, Kishore Kumar, Krishna Bose, Mahaan (1983), Main Yahaan Tu Wahaan, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Mala Sinha, Mere Dil Ki Dhadkan Kyaa Bole, Mohd. Rafi, Mr. Naidu, Mubarak Begum, Mumtaz, Nanda, Nargis, Neend Ud Jaye Teri Chain Se Sone Wale, Nigar Sultana, Nutan. Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon, O. P. Nayyar, Patanga (1949), Pyar Ki Yeh Batein Humko Na Samjao, R. D. Burman, Rajinder Krishan, Ravi, S. D. Burman, Sameer, Samshad Begum & Chitalkar, Shailendra Raj Kapoor, Shakeel Badayuni, Shashi Kapoor, Sujata (1959), Suman Kalyanpur, Sunil Dutt, Talat Mahmood, Talat Mahmood & Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mohammad, Tanuja, Telephone songs, Waheeda Rehman