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.

Pia (no) Milan ko jaana

I had promised avid readers (what, you?) that I would come up with a piece on piano songs from Hindi films. I generally keep my promises (unless I break them), and here is proof. I delved into my (fading) memory, did some research with the aid of that great gift to researchers (starts with a G) and compiled a list. I think it is about 95% right (5% error is permissible, remember?).

1. Chalo ek bar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen...from Gumrah.

2. Patthar ke sanam, tujhe humne ..title song from the movie.

3. Pyar diwana hota hai mastana hota hai...delight from Kati Patang

4. Dost dost na raha...Sangam..there is a hilarious scene in the film (not related to the sombre song sequence), where one of the characters leans at an acute angle for a prolonged length of time.

5. Kaun aaya ke nigahon mein chamak jaag uthi..Waqt..a female on the piano in this case.

6. Dheere dheere machal ae dile beqaraar..Anupama, with a wonderful tune. What a song!

7. Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat,  kaun ho tum batlao..SD Burman tune from Teen Deviyaan..Dev Anand on piano..khallas!

8. Uljhan suljhe na, rasta soojhe na, jaoon kahan main, jaoon kahan,..so sang Zeenat in Dundh, a neat murder mystery.