Jo diyatha tumne ek din - Mahendra Kapur - Sambandh

Today is the birth anniversary of Mahendra Kapur, the great singer. Composer OP Nayyar always preferred Rafi saab. But when differenes cropped up between the two, OP saab had to look for other singers. Thus emerged this beautiful song sung by Mahendra Kapur for the heart touching film 'Sambandh'. Let us remember Mahendra Kapur by watching a video of this song.

MASAAN - the movie

I had a chance watching the movie MASAAN. To make a movie with the backdrop of burning ghats (smashan) in Varanasi is a very bold attempt. The advent of mobile phones, internet, facebook, youtube, etc. has been delicately used in weaving the story. The makers of the movie, the cast deserve all credit for making the movie a memorable one. I agree with the review of the movie by Indian Express. http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/masaan-movie-review/

There is a tussle between what has always been, and what can be

It announces the arrival of new talents in its writer and director: Grover’s story is eminently worth telling, and Ghaywan tells it beautifully.

I recommend watching the video of this movie.

Actress Nanda - Tribute

Tribute to Nanda on her birth anniversary today. She was low profile compared to other leading actresses of her times such as Nutan, Meena Kumari etc. but no less iconic in stature for that. Sashi Kapoor and Nanda were considered a hit pair those days. They appeared in eight films and almost all of them are hits.

Nanda - Pencil drawing - My tribute

Jaidev - Music composer - My tribute on his death anniversary (6th January)

I like the compositions of Jaidev. He gave super hit songs but did not receive the recognition he deserved. Here is an excerpt from an article entitle 'Sounds of silence' courtesy the Hindu 'Businessline' newspaper.

Three national awards and numerous evergreen songs were not enough to save composer Jaidev from rejection by the Hindi film industry

Success, it is said and believed, is a lonely road. Failure lonelier. Underachievement is probably the loneliest of all.

Jaidev’s life story reads much like the script of a black-and-white film that tells of a melancholic protagonist, either pining for his love or battling terminal illness or poverty. In a field where success is measured by commerce, and only commerce, Jaidev’s creativity found few takers. His life was not one of penury. But one that lacked appreciation from the very people he worked with yes.

In an interview with Ameen Sayani, the grand old man of radio, Jaidev explained that he didn’t marry in order to have a proper work-life balance. What he carefully avoided was that he was probably unsure of his capability to sustain a family with the transient nature of success he achieved in his career. 'When he died in 1987, at the age og 68, his body was brought straight to the crematorium from the hospital. Like a destitute’s.

Jaidev’s path to the music industry was chequered. He debuted in films as a child actor, an attempt which did not add value to his career. His training in music was continuous though, culminating in a stint under sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan. Jaidev assisted Khan in Navketan’s third film, Aandhiyaan (1952). He played the sarod and the surmandal (harp), especially for background scores. When director Chetan Anand left Navketan to go solo with Joru Ka Bhai (1955), Jaidev was his choice for composer. However, Chetan’s films, in spite of brilliant music, especially in the inordinately delayed Kinare Kinare (1963), fared miserably. It is not known whether Jaidev’s decision to assist SD Burman went against him, asHum Dono (1961), the only project he did independently for Navketan, remained his last film with the Anands — both Chetan and Dev. This despite the undying popularity of the songs from the Dev Anand-Nanda-Sadhna starrer — Abhi na jao chhod kar, ke dil abhi bhara nahin is just one example. His partnership with Sunil Dutt and Ajanta Arts, which started off on a positive note with Mujhe Jeene Do(1963), failed to survive the winds of change as Reshma aur Shera (1971) flopped.

Luck, as always, had a decisive and rather cruel part to play in Jaidev’s story. Ved Rahi’s Pyaasi Aurat, renamed Prem Parvat (1973), which had one of the most well-known songs of the ’70s (Yeh dil aur unki nigahon ke saaye) sank without a trace. So did Aalingan (1974), which had the radio favourite Pyaas thi phir bhi takaza na kiya, a film where he was forced to take on Pyarelal as an assistant. Even small-time producers and directors stayed away from Jaidev.

Though he came back to prominence with Bhim Sain’s Gharonda (1977) and Muzzaffar Ali’s Gaman(1978), Jaidev’s associations with Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Alaap, 1977) or Basu Chatterjee (Tumhare Liye, 1978) did not bring him much success. He never became the preferred composer for any filmmaker, good or bad, even when the misfortune of films hardly had anything to do with the music. He was the only Hindi film composer of his time to receive three national awards. Curious as it may be, the same is the number of his films which were declared a hit, from a list of 40-odd titles.

Today, the songs for which Jaidev is remembered are steeped in loneliness. Be it Ek akela is sheher mein(Gharonda), or Seene mein jalan, aankhon mein toofan sa kyon hai or Aap ki yaad aati rahi raat bhar(both from Gaman). Maybe his life followed the dichotomy expressed by Sahir Ludhianvi in Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe rona aaya (Hum Dono). Jaidev lived and died on the fringes of Bollywood, much like his own composition from Kinare Kinare: Chale ja rahe hain, mohabbat ke maare, kinare kinare, chale ja rahe hain.

(Anirudha Bhattacharjee, a Kolkata-based musician, and Balaji Vittal, a Hyderabad-based professional, are authors of R.D. Burman: The Man, The Music. Their second book, Gata Rahe Mera Dil: 50 classic Hindi film songs, is releasing this month)

Deepika Padukone - Pencil sketch

I wish Deepika Padukone a very happy Birth Day. I am very much impressed with her splended  performance as Mastani in the recently released film "Bajirao Mastani".

Chetan Anand - Producer, Director - A tribute

Chetan Anand (3 January 1921 – 6 July 1997) was a Hindi film producer, screenwriter and director from India, whose debut film,Neecha Nagar, was awarded the Palme d'Or (Best Film) award at the first ever Cannes Film Festival in 1946. It was the debut film for Kamini Kaushal and became the first Indian film to gain international recognition^[7] and was the debut of Pandit Ravi Shankar.^[8] Later he co-foundedNavketan Films with his younger brother Dev Anand in 1949.^[2]

He was the eldest brother of the Anand family as he was the elder brother to Hindi film actor-directors, Dev Anand and Vijay Anand. 

By the early 1950s, he and his younger brother Dev Anand had set up Navketan Productions in Mumbai. Afsar, starring Dev Anand and Suraiya, was the first film made by Navketan, which turned out to be a moderate success. It was followed by Taxi Driver and Andhiyan, both of which he directed for the Navketan banner.

While he made his reputation as a director, Chetan Anand kept on acting too occasionally. He appeared in Humsafar made in 1957. In 1957 he directed two movies Arpan andAnjali, in which he played lead roles too. He went on to act in Kala Bazar, Kinare-Kinare, Aman, Kanch Aur Heera and Hindustan Ki Kasam, which he directed too.^[9]

Later on Chetan Anand started his own production banner called Himalaya films and teamed up with photographer Jal Mistry, music director Madan Mohan, lyrics writer Kaifi Azmi and actress Priya Rajvansh. Together they gave some of most memorable and unique films in Hindi cinema like Haqeeqat, Heer Raanjha, Hanste Zakhm, and Hindustan Ki Kasam.

Anand is known to be the film-maker who 'discovered' Rajesh Khanna from an acting competition. Khanna as a result got his first break and was cast by Anand in the film Aakhri Khat, although G.P.Sippy's 'Raaz' introducing Rajesh Khanna and Babita was the first 'released' film for Rajesh Khanna. Aakhari Khat is known for its beautiful locations, songs penned by Kaifi Aazmi, composed by Khayyam, the beautiful lady Indrani Mukherjee and the child star 'Bunty'. Actually Bunty and the music were the main attractions of this film. Chetan Anand later directed Rajesh Khanna in the film Kudrat, based on the theme of reincarnation, which helped the latter arrest a slide in popularity, allowing Rajesh Khanna make a temporary comeback with this hit film.

Apart from 17 feature films he is also known for the acclaimed television serial, Param Vir Chakra, which was aired Doordarshan in 1988. (Source: Wikipedia)