Madhuri Dixit is one of those few actresses who is aging so gracefully that with every passing year, she only ends up looking even more beautiful. She has given us some iconic songs like, Ek Do Teen, Tamma Tamma Loge, Kay Sera Sera that are definitely going to stay with us forever.she is blessed by the Gods of dance and in the industry that heavily relies on its culture of song and dance, she became a goddess.
Madhuri Dixit gave Bollywood some of its biggest hits in the 90s. From Choli Ke Piche Kya Hai To Dhak Dhak to Dola Re Dola, Bollywood's dancing diva had many hits to her name. Today, we take a look at some of her dance hit songs in a career spanning over three decades.
In this blog, I have selected 15 dance songs by Madhuri Dixit.
Recall the song “Hey, Maine Kasam Li” where the hero Dev Anand on a Bicycle and the heroine Mumtaz sitting on the crossbarriding across green fields singing the song with very little action and lots of cuddling. What a picturization.
Tere Mere Sapne is one of my favorite movies. It has substance. Commercially, it did not do very well at the box office but I believe it is one of the most sensitive Bollywood movies by Goldie Vijay Anand. He also acted in this film, he plays a doctor and gave a memorable performance.
The film is based on the novel “The Citadel” by A.J.Cronin, published in 1937 in UK. based on his own experiences as a doctor. Dedicated to the medical community, the film starts off with a young, idealistic MBBS doctor Anand Kumar (Dev Anand) moving to a village near a coal mine. He attains his degree in medicine and re-locates to a small village to assist the local doctors there. Upon arrival, he is met by the ailing Dr. Prasad and his wife, and hired on a salary of Rs.250/- per month. He meets with the other doctors namely Dr. Kothari (Vijay Anand), an alcoholic, and Dr. Bhutani, a dentist. Anand finds that he is saddled with all of Kothari's work as well his own due to the reason that Kothari is drunk every night. He nevertheless carries on, aided by the local school-teacher, Nisha Patel(Mumtaz), who he eventually marries. Then one day a proud father, Phoolchand, gives a baksheesh to Anand for the safe delivery of his first-born. This does not auger well with Mrs. Prasad and she fires Anand. Anand and Nisha re-locate to Bombay, and after sometime Anand establishes himself as a leading doctor, is honored for his thesis, and gets to be the personal doctor of a leading Bollywood actress Maltimala. When Dr. Kothari and Dr. Bhutani go to visit them, they find while Nisha is still the same good-natured woman, who is expecting a child, Dr. Anand is a changed individual, who has no time for friends, personal life, or even his wife, and is not even aware that she is pregnant. The two return home disappointed, followed by Nisha, who has decided to separate from Anand.
There are many beautiful songs and several great dances featuring Hema Malini. Vijay Anand’s direction keeps things moving along at a good pace. There are so many wonderful characters in this film too. Mumtaz gave a stunning performance. Music by S D Burman and lyrics by Neeraj is superb.
Naushad started as an independent music director from the 1940 film Prem Nagar. He made Hindi songs popular by mixing UP and Bihar folk music with Indian classical music.He first got noticed with A.R. Kardar's film Sharda (1942) wherein 13-year-old Suraiya debuted with the song "Panchhi Ja" for the playback for heroine Mehtab. It was Rattan (1944) that took Naushad right to the top
It was in 1946 he got superstar status with the two immortal songs from the film Anmol Ghadi.. In the same year, K L Saigal gave one of his immortal songs "Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya" under his composition in Shahjehan (1946) in Raag Bhairavi. His favorite ragas were raga Pahadi, Aiman, Darbari, Kafi or Des along with Raga Bhairavi. He also composed songs in unconventional and difficult ragassuch as Jaijaiwanti, Kedara, Brindabani Sarang, Bihag, Durga, Kirwani and Kalavati.
In this blog, we take a journey of his raga-based songs in Bollywood.
In the 1944 film Rattan, he composed 10 songs and the music by Naushad was such a phenomenal hit that the company earned Rs 3 lakhs in royalties from Gramophone sales in the first year. You would be surprised to note that the producer Kardar spent 75,000 rupees on the production of this film.
The Song based on Raga Pahadi
Song of Rattan 1944
Raga Bharavi
Song of Shahjahan 1946
Raga Kafi
Song of Shahjahan 1946
Raga Pahadi
Song of Anmol Ghadi 1946
His most durable composition Suhani raat dhal chuki was shaped in Pahadi and was from film Dulari made in 1949 that became legendary and is still considered an integral part of any singer’s repertoire in any musical gathering.
Raga Pahadi
Song of Dulari 1949
Raga Pahadi
Song of Andaz 1949
Raga Jaijalvanti
Song of Andaz 1949
Raga Bhimpalasi
Song of Babul 1950
His classical genius was the 1952 film Baiju Bawra in which he used the voices if the great Ustad Amir Khan and D V Palusjar. The climactic contest between Tansen and Baiju Bawra in the royal court of Mughal emperor Akbar demanded music of the highest finesse to exemplify the capabilities of these historical legends. Naushad introduced classical music with deft handling, making it melodious for mass appeal and yet retaining enough artistry as the situation demanded. There could not have been a better composer than Naushad Ali to make this film an unforgettable feature of Indian cinema. The music in “Baiju Bawra” is divine! It is, in fact, the soul of the film. There are many moments in “Baiju Bawra” when the contribution of Naushad emerges the strongest point of the movie. Mohammad Rafi, lyricist Shakeel Badayuni and Naushad leave you in a trance with the all-time great number “Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj”. Rafi had reportedly confessed to this being one of the toughest songs of his career as a demanding Naushad sought perfection from the legendary singer.
We all know that Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra were the lyric writers for Shankar Jaikishan but both of them wrote for other Music directors also and gave us many immortal songs. He made his debut from the 1949 film Barsat, this was also Shankar Jaikishan's debut film. The success of the film and its songs made him and Shailendra the permanent Lyricist for Raj Kapoor films and Shankar Jaikishan
Immediately after Barsat, he wrote a song under the composition of Bulo C Rani for the 1950 film Wafa. The song 'Armaan Bhara Dil Toot Gaya' a duet by Lata & Mukesh, was a hit. He also wrote a song for the composer Sajjad Hussain for the 1951 film Halchal. He wrote a song for Anarkali 1953 under the composition of C Ramchandra. He worked with SD Burman in just 3 films ...Tere Ghar ke saamne had super hit songs Similarly in 1963 film Ziddi. With Kalyanji Anandji he wrote for' Ji Chahta Hai' and Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani. With O P Nayyar in Howrah Bridge
Here are a few of the great songs of Hasrat Jaipuri composed by Music Directors other than Shankar Jaikishan
Shamshad Begum’s debut in Hindi films came in 1941 in Khazanchi, a year before Noorjehan’s in Hindi films in Khandan (1942), both under Ghulam Haider. The song 'Sawan Ke Nazare Hain' made her instant famous and became favourite of every household. In the next year the song Duniya mein garibon ko aaram nahi milta from Zameendar (1942), and Gaaadiwale dupatta uda liya jaye re from Poonji (1943) made all the successful music directors of that era to approach her to sing their compositions
Naushad acknowledged in an interview that he was indebted to Shamshas Begum in reaching the top.It was Begum's solo and duet songs sung for Naushad in the late 1940s and early 1950s which made Naushad famous. Naushad was floored on the clarity of her tone, She sang 60 songs under his direction. She was the lead singer in Anokhi Ada, Mela (1948) and Chaandni Raat (1949).
Two of the most iconic songs of our films – Ana meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday and Mere piya gaye Rangoon – are C Ramchandra-Shamshad Begum creation, She sang nearly 60 songs for C Ramchandra. He used her voice for the first time in a film Safar, 1946, in a duet with him. Sheis credited with singing one of the first Westernised songs, "Meri jaan...Sunday ke Sunday", this made her the most sellable female voice. She kept getting more offers to sing songs and was the highest-paid female singer from 1940 to 1955 and again post-Mother India in 1957 to 1964.
In 1946, S D Burman asked Shamshad Begum to sing in his debut Hindi film as music director, Shikari (1946), with the song, "Kuch Rang Badal Rahi". In 1949, came Shabnam, in which Burman asked her to sing duets named "Pyar Main Tumne" and "Kismat Bhi Bhichadna" with Mukesh, which became popular. Shabnam was Burman's biggest hit to that date with Filmistan, In 1954, when Nayyar got a break as a composer, he approached Begum to record songs for Mangu. Nayyar described her voice as resembling a "temple bell" for its clarity of tone. He worked with her until the late 1960s and gave her many hit songs, including "Ab To Jee Hone Laga" from Mr. & Mrs. '55, "Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar", "Kahin Pe Nigahen Kahin Pe Nishana", "Boojh Mera Kya Naam Re" – CID (1956); "Main Jaan Gayi Tujhe" from Howrah Bridge, "Zara Pyar Karle" from Mangu, "Saiyan Teri Ankhon Mein" from 12' O Clock, "Thodasa Dil Lagana" from Musafirkhana, and many others.
She stopped recording her songs in the year 1955 after her husband's death, the songs released between 1955 and early 1957 including songs from films such as CID, Naya Andaz, Baradari, Mr. & Mrs. '55 and other hits continued to be popular. At this juncture, Mehboob Khan approached her in 1957 and said he wanted a full-throated voice for Nargis in Mother India. The first song she sang after returning to her career was "Pee ke ghar aaj pyari dulhaniya chali" for Mother India. She made a successful comeback and subsequently recorded many notable songs for films such as Howrah Bridge, Jaali Note, Love in Simla, Bewaqoof, Mughal-e-Azam, Bluff Master, Gharana and Rustom-E-Hind.
You would be surprised to know that Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar were part of a chorus in a few songs of Shamshad Begum. From 1949 to 1960, beginning with the song "Dar Na Mohabbat Karle" from Andaz, Mangeshkar and Begum have sung many duets together, with the most famous being "Pyar Ke Jahan Ki" from the 1949 film Patanga, "Bachpan Ke Din" from 1951's Deedar; their last song together was Mughal-e-Azam's song "Teri Mehfil Mein Qismat" in 1960
She sang over 6,000 songs in Hindi and Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Punjabi languages and of the 1287 songs were Hindi film songs.
Shamshad Begum died at her Mumbai residence on the night of 23 April 2013 after a prolonged illness. She was 94 that time. Her melodious voice with powerful lyrics gave us songs that have remained popular even today.
