Street Dancers of Bollywood | Songs Of Yore
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Guest article by DP Rangan
(An interesting feature of our films is the dances performed in the streets, often by unknown actors. Sometimes the main protagonists also take to dancing and singing in the streets. Naturally a big crowd assembles around them enjoying the performance. These songs generally come at a critical juncture in the film, for relieving the tension, or as a surrogate for the inner feelings of shy lovers, or a gangster’s mole distracting the attention of the people for the gang to commit their act. These songs were key for taking the story forward. Often these songs became the high point of the film and achieved everlasting popularity – note the recent remix of ‘Jhumka gira re’ in ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’.
Our guest author today is well-known to the regulars of SOY – he has written over 30 articles for the blog. Considering that Hindi is not his native language, and he is into 80s, and half the year he travels abroad, this is no mean feat. The theme ‘Street Dancers of Bollywood’ has long been on his radar, and in fact the completed article has been in my folder for quite some time. He is still not back in India from his travels. But I find he has been logging in and commenting nevertheless. Therefore, without waiting any further I post this superb article. Thanks a lot Mr Rangan. – AK)
It is next to impossible to determine when dancing as a sort of celebration was introduced among humans. Migration of homo sapiens commenced from Africa and over several millennium they spread over Europe and Asia. It is much later they settled in various places, found a community with distinct language of their own. Once basic necessities of survival were achieved, society turned towards development of various kinds of artistic skills. Music and dancing were the offshoot of such an endeavour. There is adequate archeological evidence of prevalence of a sort of music and dance even in early societies of human beings. Over a long period of time as they improved their standard of living, artistic skills also flourished in tandem. Music and dancing diversified among societies in the world and in our country this reached a pinnacle much earlier. Many schools of music and dancing were established in different regions. In music we had the Hindustani and Carnatic system. In dance many offshoots as Kathak, Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam evolved.
I have not seen any movies from the silent era. But I am sure dancing would have been part of the show. With the advent of talkies from 1932, their place was cemented and it became an organic part of the theme. Actresses who had achieved proficiency in dancing as Kathak, Bharatnatyam had an easy entry into films and we had wonderful scenes of dancing in historical and social movies with equally good matching music.
Actresses with no formal skill in dancing, did some sort of pirouetting while singing. Dance masters who stage-managed such scenes were also part of film production team. My sympathies were with the actresses who had to exert more in some sort of flitting around while participating in solos/duets while the male counterpart was more or less stationery. Film producers hit upon the idea of including scenes of dancing by second tier actors and actresses with light music in the background. Thus was born street dancers in our pictures. In these scenes, occasionally male actors, too, took an active part and it was usually staged in the street with a crowd of persons as spectators and admirers. There was another type in this genre. The hero and the heroine, as a pair of lovers, were buttonholed into witnessing such street dancing and it usually happened at night. I will now introduce a few songs on this topic. As expected female solos were the dominant kind as female dancers were the focus of the entire scene.
1. Do din ke bahar pyare by Lata Mangeshkar & chorus from Dulari (1949), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad
A rich man’s daughter kidnapped as a child by a band of gypsies, grows up with them and returns to the town from where she was lifted. She is now a full grown beauty. Madhubala as the gypsy looks the part and the picture is full of dance songs. She is dancing in the street with her troupe with an admiring crowd around. Suresh, the hero, is astride his horse with a stable hand at his side and is devouring Madhubala with his eyes and she also sings in gay abandon with pointed attention at him. The picture had many iconic songs.
2. Tamtam se jhanko na Raniji, gaadi se gaadi lad jayegi by Shamshad Begum & others from Namoona (1949), lyrics Pyarelal Santoshi, music C Ramchandra
A street dancing scene unfolds with a female dancer accompanied by harmonium toting male and the usual crowd of spectators enjoying this free entertainment. C Ramchandra is always the master of any situation and the lyricist also did his part with such lines as – hazaron tumhare hain peeche pade, hazaron tumhare hai aage khade, ….wo dekho policeman aa jayega, aur thane me tumko wo le jayega. There is also an equally good song of the same kind – Mhari gali ma aao ji (Lata Mangeshkar).
3. Mere ghungar wale baal, O Raja by Shamshad Begum & chorus from Pardes (1950), lyrics Shakeel Badauni, music Ghulam Mohammad
Cuckoo as part of the gypsy band puts up a very good performance and she is all provocation and enchants the two gate-crashers, Rehman and Karan Dewan who are accidental spectators. Ghulam Mohammad’s musical skills are evident in this dance number and Shamshad Begum had sung with gusto. All elements have fused together in this song.
4. Duniya jawan hai dil meherban hai by Gandhari and Mohammad Rafi from Rail Ka Dibba (1953), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Ghulam Mohammad
Street dance by Cuckoo with a male accompanying her playing the harmonium, a standard scene in movies wherever it finds a place. This song emphasises the importance of money in human life. The music director and lyricist have combined together to present a light tune but with meaningful thoughts.
5. Aao hamare hotel me chay piyo garam garam by S D Batish and Sudha Malhotra from Kundan (1955), music Ghulam Mohammad, lyrics Shakeel Badayuni
This is not a classic street dance. It was a novel situation and I felt I could squeeze this here. Om Prakash and Manorama as owners of the hotel are inviting people to sample their tea, biscuit and other items. All the songs in the film were well tuned by Ghulam Mohammad and a rare song of light theme from Shakeel Badayuni.
6. Baliye Oh baliye chal chaliye by Lata Mangeshkar and Usha Mangeshkar from Aazad (1955), music C Ramchandra, lyrics Rajendra Krishna
Pakshiraj remake of successful Tamil movie “Malai Kallan” (Bandit of the Hill), Aazad was a runaway success in Hindi, too, with Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari in lead roles. C Ramchandra composed music at short notice and was exemplary. In this scene Sai and Subbalakshmi, well known dancing sisters, are putting up a show outside Meena Kumari’s residence with the objective of conveying an important message to her from Aazad (Dilip Kumar). This is a street dance with all its characteristics.
7. Is duniya mein sab chor chor by Lata Mangeshkar from Bhai Bhai (1956), music Madan Mohan, lyrics Rajendra Krishna
Nimmi is merrily singing in the streets condemning the world as a den of thieves and calling bystanders in like terms – “Koi chhota chor, koi bada chor ye baitha chor ye khada chor” . Her dance with a mischievous gleam in her eyes is captivating and Madan Mohan music is most apt for this song.
8. Mera naam Abdul Rehman by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar from Bhai Bhai (1956), music Madan Mohan, lyrics Rajendra Krishna
A classic street dance song with all elements in the right place. Kishore Kumar as usual at his best in his singing style. A pleasure to watch this song tuned by Madan Mohan in apt fashion.
9. Honth gulabi gaal katore by Mohammad Rafi & Asha Bhonsle from Ghar Sansar (1958), music Ravi, lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri
Street dance in true Bhangra style and well enacted by Johnny Walker and Naaz (my presumption). Anyone listening to this song would attribute it to O P Nayyar. Versatile Ravi has shown he can also compile songs in Punjabi style.
10. Badla sara zamana by Mohammad Rafi & Asha Bhonsle from Paigham (1959), music C Ramchandra, lyrics Kavi Pradeep
Johnny Walker and Minoo Mumtaz enact this roadside show. Johnny Walker talks about the corruption in values in the society and loss of integrity by people. Just a routine song, below the standard of C Ramchandra. Johnny Walker by his pantomime keeps this alive.
11. Gori odh ke malmal by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar from Kali Topi Lal Rumal (1959), music Chitragupt, lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri
Aga and Kumkum are the dancers. Aga is describing the way he is being beleaguered by Kumkum and how she is trying to enmesh him in her charms.
12. Pani hota doob hi jaate by Mohammad Rafi and Kamla Sista from Miyan Biwi Raazi (1960), music S D Burman, lyrics Shailendra
Kamla Sista was discovered by S D Burman in a college music contest to which he was invited. She sang her only song, a duet and vanished. This is a typical street dancer song.
13 Jhumka gira re Bareli ke bazaar mein by Asha Bhosle from Mere Saya (1966), music Madan Mohan, lyrics Raja Mehdi Ali Khan
The ultimate in this genre of song I consider this to be. Asha Bhosle brought to life the seductive nature of the song by her way of singing and Madan Mohan composed a melody to remain forever in the minds of listeners. Sadhna as the gypsy double of city bred Sadhna played her part to perfection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETSsIHOnuTY
I throw down my pen now. I had some difficulty in garnering this many songs. A majority I remembered from radio days and movies I had seen. I am fondly hoping that blog followers will dig out many more songs of this elk from the Hindi film music ocean.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of music lovers. This blog claims no copyright over these songs, which vests with the respective copyright holders.
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