Hemant Kumar

Hai apna dil to awara, na jaane kis pe aayega...Dev Anand sings in Solva Saal to an irritated Waheeda

Beqarar karke hamein yoon na jaaiye, aapko hamari kasam laut aaiye..Biswajeet to a not-unpleased Waheeda

Na tum hamen jaano, na hum tumhe jaane, magar lagta hai kuch aisa, mera humdum mil gaya

Khwab chun rahi hai raat intezaar hai, tumhara intezaar hai, tum pukar lo.

Yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahan..

Ya dil ki suno duniyawalon.

He was incomparable in the songs mentioned here, and many more that he composed. Happened to hear a few of his songs today. His voice did not have the variety that Kishore Kumar's did, but he was very good at what he did.

Enchanting Songs 2

Continuing on my pet theme, here is a sequel of selections.

'Hawaon pe likh do hawaon ke naam' by Kishore Kumar...from the movie Do Duni Char (old). Music by Hemant Kumar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ITslFEtHc

'Koi humdum na raha koi sahara na raha from Jhumroo,' sung and composed by Kishore Kumar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDPb2ShfjHo


'Hai apna dil to awara na jaane kis pe aayega' by Hemant Kumar in Solva Saal, picturised on Dev Anand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax0gD5lCEgg

'Zara nazron se kehdo ji nishaana chook na jaaye' sung by Hemant Kumar in Bees Saal Baad. A unique feature is dialogue interspersed within the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_m-b_75OSY

Jai ho for now.

Book Review- Housefull

This is a book edited by Ziya Us Salam and is a collection of essays about Hindi films and film-makers mostly from the 'golden era' of the fifties to the seventies. Full of nuggets that might be interesting to film buffs like me. I will give you an example from the essay on Mughal-e-Azam.

Asif's (the director's) second wife Nigar Sultana played Bahar in the film. The role was initially conceived for Sitara Devi, the Kathak dancer, who happened to be Asif's first wife..Nargis was the original heroine of the film, and 10 reels were shot with her. She was replaced with Madhubala because Raj Kapoor did not want Nargis to play opposite the new hero Dilip Kumar(yes, he was replacing Chandra Mohan, who passed away).

Anyway, the narrative, starting from Bimal Roy, V. Shantaram ( he founded Prabhat and then, Rajkamal Kalamandir) and Guru Dutt's films, goes on to those of Navketan, and Shakti Samanta and Yash/B.R. Chopra. Then there are essays by people like Vijay Lokapally, the journalist, and others, about various solo films.

One essay I liked a lot was the one about Bees Saal Baad, the suspense film that had songs by Hemant Kumar such as 'Zara nazron se kehdo jee, nishaana chook na jaaye' and Beqaraar karke hamein yun na jaaiye, aapko hamari kasam laut aaiye'. The review of Jewel Thief and Guide are also very good.