Remembering Usha Kiran

( 22nd April 1929 - 9th March 2000 )

We, the Maharashtrians have a special pride for Madhuri Dixit for securing the topmost position in Bollywood in 90s. While the pride placed on Madhuri is not at all undeserved, at the same time we should also be proud of Usha Kiran, a Marathi actress who made a mark in Bollywood in 1950s, when forget acting in movies, going to a movie was a taboo !

Usha Kiran viz. Usha Balkrishna Marathe, started acting in films at the age of 19 to support her family. Her first film was Kalpana ( 1948 )a dance- drama film, produced by Uday Shankar, in which she played a small role. Her first film in lead role was 'Daag' ( 1952 ) opposite Dilip Kumar. But she rose to the fame from Patita ( 1953 ) opposite Dev Anand. Her performance in Patita established her in Bollywood.

Usha Kiran acted in about 50 Hindi and Marathi films. Other than Daag and Patita, her other hit  Hindi films were Badbaan, Nazrana, Kabuliwala, Chupke Chupke, Mili, Bawarchi etc. Her well known Marathi films are 'Shikleli Bayko', Postatil Mulgi and Jashas Tase.

Usha Kiran acted opposite to the Great trine ( Raj,Dilip,Dev), Ashok Kumar, and during 70s opposite to Rajesh
Khanna, Dharmendra and Amitabh Bacchan.

She had the honour of being Sheriff of Mumbai during 1996-97. This talented actress having a simple, sweet and expressive face succumbed to cancer in 2000. Dev Anand who worked with Usha Kiran in three films remembered her in his condolence as one of the finest actress he has ever worked with...

Remembering Manohari Sing

( March 8, 1931 to July 13, 2010 )

( To pay him tribute today please watch the  song ' Aawaz deke hame tum bulavo'  below from the film 'Professor'. Listen to the magic of Manohari Singh's saxophone between mukhada and first stanza and between second and third stanza... Music from the Great Shankar Jaikishan....)

It is very rare in Bollywood music that an instrument player in the orchestra commands the equal name and fame as that of the music composer or singer. But that happened in case of Manohari Singh.. but the journey of this saxophonist  was not so simple and smooth.. he toiled hard initially in brass band and then in Kolkatta's night clubs.. playing and practicing his favourite saxophone 13 hrs a day...
He received his first break in bollywood by S.D. Burman for the film in 1958 for the film 'Sitaron Ke Aage.' and thereafter played saxophone with other music composers also. But his hit song is ' Gata Rahe Mera Dil' from Guide partially composed by R.D.Burman. He had the strong association with R.D. Burman with whom he played Saxophone a number of times and  also acted as Music assistant and arranger.....

He last played his Saxophone for the songs of ' Veer Zara ' in 2004.This charming Piper said good bye to this mortal world on July 13, 2010 but leaving behind his immortal tunes to entertain us forever.....

Remembering Ravi

( March 3, 1926 to March 7, 2012 )

'जब चली ठंडी हवा, जब उठी काली घटा, मुझसे ऐ जाने वफा, तुम याद आये '

Yes, we do remember Ravi not only in 'ठंडी हवा,' but quite often for his melodious music and superhit songs.

Ravi was born as ' Ravi Shankar Sharma' in Delhi. He could not learn any classical music and was an electrician by the occupation. He shifted to Bombay in 1950 to become singer and had hard times as he had to stay on streets and sleep at night on railway platform.

The great music composer Hemant Kumar gave him the first opportunity to sing in chorus of ' Vande Mataram' in film ' Anandmath'. Thereafter he worked as an assistant to Hemant Kumar for some time. His first film as a music composer was ' Vachan ' . But he got popularity from the song of Talat Mehmood in 1957 from ' Ek Sal' (सब कुछ लुटाके होश में आये तो क्या किया ) He was consistent enough to establish himself as a recognised music composer by composing melodious music for the films ' Dilli ka Thug, ( ये राते ये मौसम नदी का किनारा ) Chirag kanha Roshni Kanha, Choudhvi ka Chand,(चौदव्हीका चांद हो या आफताब हो ) Ghoongat , Tower house (ऐ मेरे दिले नादान तु गमसे ना घबराना )

He thereafter had a long association with producer B. R. Chopra and composed music for of his films which became superhit viz. Gumrah,(चलो एक बार फिरसे अजनबी बन जाये हम दोनो ) Waqt (आगेभी जानेना तू , ओ मेरी जोहराजबी, हम जब सिमटके आपकी बाहो में आ गये ) and Nikah (दिलके अरमान आसुओमे बह गये )

Ravi's other best songs include तोरा मन दर्पन, छु लेनेदो नाजुक होठोंको ( Kajal ) रहा गर्दिशोमे हरदम ( Do Badan ) ना मुह छुपाके जिओ (Humraaz ) etc.

He was instrumental in bringing Mahendra Kapoor ,the singer, to the limelight. He received the Filmfare award for best music composer twice viz. Khnadan and Gharana.

Later on Ravi diverted himself to Mallyam films and had a remarkable presence there. He received National awards for two Malyalam films in 1995 : Parinayam and Sukhrutam.

I was never an ardent lover of Ravi's Music. With due respect, I found his music of same style even though melodious. But I still remember the folks in college days who used to watch 'काजल , वक्त , दो बदन, हमराज at Matinee shows again and again to listen to Ravi's songs. He had a notable fan base.

Ravi's songs were much popular and used to be played at weddings ( आज मेरे यार की शादी है , बाबुल कि दुवाये लेती जा ) Interestingly the beggars in trains ( especially in Mumbai local trains ) used to recite only the songs of Ravi ( दिलके अरमान आसुओमे बह गये, तुम एक पैसा दोगे वो दस लाख देगा ) Reasons beyond my comprehension !

Even though popular among masses Ravi remained less appreciated by Hindi film industry. He was never retained by any Big banner production houses. Ravi , in spite of lack of appreciation,always remained a self content man till he breathed his last at Mumbai on March 7, 2012

Remembering OM Prakash

( 19th December 1919 to 21st February 1998 )

Since childhood, often I used to get impressed by the side actors, villains etc more than the heroes. And those side actors having a special style of acting or dialogue delivery were used to be my favouries. Obviously Om Prakash, the great versatile actor and comedian was one of them !

OM Prakash, Born as OM Prakash Chibber in Jammu started taking lessons in classical music when he was just twelve and joined All India Radio in 1937 on a monthly salary of Rs 25. He was known as “Fateh Din”, a radio personality and his programs made him popular all over Lahore and Punjab.
As an actor, he started his career in 1942 and played the leading man in some films like 'Dus Lakh' and 'Sadhu aur Shaitan'. However he had a greater success as a supporting actor. Due to his nasal voice and a peculiar style of dialogue delivery he became popular for his comedy films. His pivotal roles in the films like Chupke Chupke, Julie, Joroo Ka Ghulam, Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Pyar Kiye Jaa, Buddha Mil Gaya , Namak Halaal, Apna Desh will be remembered forever.
The most striking aspect about Om Prakash is his sheer versatility. He had done with ease almost all types of roles viz. lead hero, villain, comedian, family man, Munshi, alcoholic person, romantic old man, politician, hen pecked husband and what not ! He had a long spell of about 50 years in Bollywood and acted from Ashok Kumar, Great trine (Raj, Dilip, Dev ) to Rhishi Kapoor. He had a special relationship with Amitabh Bacchan as both worked in various hit films from Zanzeer to Sharabi

When Mehmood recevied the Radhakrishan award for best comedian for the film ' Pyar Kiye Ja' he acknowledged that Om Prakash, who played his father in the film equally deserved the award as his fabulous reactions made the scenes more entertaining. The scene of story telling in this film became so popular that it was repeated later in ' Dhoomdhadaka ' ( Marathi film ) by Lakshmikant Berde and Sharad Talwalkar.
After having 300+ films to his credit, Om Prakash breathed his last in 1998 in Mumbai

Dev Anand remembers Madhubala

(Kala Paani, 1958)

Dev Anand remembers Madhubala in his autobiography :

'I remember the film ' Kala Pani ' the most for Madhubala, the most beautiful of all heroines in the fairy land of films with her natural looks and always as fresh as morning dew. Her childlike innocence was accentuated by the most noticeable trait of her character, her famous giggle. She was forever giggling at the slightest pretext. Nobody knew when the next bout of giggles would come, and once it did, how long it would last !

Many times she would suddenly start giggling during a take when the camera was on. The lights had to be switched off indefinitely and tea ordered,until she was able to get a hold of herself.

The great giggler was perhaps laughing a the world around her that did not knew that she had a damaged heart, and would die quite young......'

Remembering Madhubala

( 14th February 1936 to 23rd February 1969 )

'The beauty in its purest form'

It rarely happens that even after a lapse of time... years together.... the hearts of millions people are filled with memories of a personality and their minds wander for ever around that charishmatic persona ....Madhubala was one of them......
Born as Mumtaz Jehan Begam Dehlavi, Madhubala was fifth of eleven children of her father. The family suffered innumerable hardships and Madhubala was compelled
to work in films as a child artist. Her first film was Basant ( 1942 ) when she was of 9 years old. She continued to act in films since then and assumed the screen name ' Madhubala' on the advice of the then veteran actress Devika Rani. Madhubala achieved recognition from ' Mahal' ( 1949 ) and her popularity reached at its peak in early 1950s as her succeeding films Dulari, Beqasoor, Tarana, and Badal were box office hits. Her bewitching eyes, mischievous glances, dazzling smile, glowing skin, natural look unburdened by make-up and a matchless, timeless sensuous personality did have a magic effect
Her stardom and huge fan base even forced Hollywood to take note of her by including an article on her in August 1952 issue of 'Theatre Arts' under the title 'Biggest Star in the World'. American Director Franc Capra was interested in inducting her in Hollywood but Madhubala's father refused.
Madhubala acted in about 70 films. Some of her notable films are Mahal, Chalti ka Naam Gadi, Howrah Bridge, Phagun, Kala Pani, Barsaat ki Raat and lastly the landmark ' Mughal-e- Azam' which made history.
However restrictions on her Public life by her dominating father, break up with Dilip Kumar, her incurable heart disease and late and ' not so happy' marriage with Kishor Kumar marred the personal life of this enchanting beauty.
Madhubala's health started deteriorating around 1960 and she was confined to bed. However she did not give up. With a slight improvement in 1966 she made an attempt to complete ' Chalak' opposite Raj Kapoor. When she found that acting entails strain on her body, she was set to make a directional debut by a film ' Farz aur Ishq'. Ultimately she surrendered against the cruel destiny on 23rd February 1969, but not with desperation and regrets. She might have rested in the arms of death ,humming innocently and mischievously in its ears ......अच्छा जी मैं हारी चलो मान जाओ ना ......

Remembering Pran

( 12th Feb 1920- 12th July 2013 )

' And Pran ...'

These two words ' And Pran ...' have appeared at the end of the titles of about 250 films.... This reflects the immense contribution Pran has made to the Hindi Cinema. True, Amitabh while paying tribute on Pran's demise called him as ' Magnificiant Pillar' of the film industry !
My first memories of Pran dates back to my childhood, to the movie ‘ Ram aur Shyam’. I still remember I was trembling by fright in my seat when he was slogging Dilip Kumar with ghastly cruelty. Thereafter I got fascinated by Pran’s performance in ‘ Madhumati ‘ especially the scene in which he says ‘ Sorry’ to Dilip Kumar with an aristocratic arrogance and in ‘ Dil Diya Dard Liya ‘ in which he misses no opportunity to insult Dilip Kumar. By the time I was in college, Pran had made a special place in my heart.

Pran, born as ' Pran Krishan Sikand 'was academically gifted especially in Mathematics. But he started his livelihood as a photographer. His first Hindi film was ' Khandan' ( 1942 ). His trademark of blowing smoke rings started from Film Bari Bahen. 'Ziddi' was his first notable film which launched his career as well as that of Dev Anand. Pran rose to the heights of fame after 'Ziddi' and ruled the film industry for about six decades as a villain and supporting actor. His career span stretches from the beginning of the era of great trine ( Raj, Dilip, Dev ) to the superstar Rajesh Khanna and Big B. His association with Dev Anand itself stretched for about 30 years from Ziddi ( 1948) to Des Pardes ( 1978 )
A natural gifted artist, Pran struck terror in the generation of filmgoers by his blood shot eyes and cold voice. Generating hate amongst the audience by his scornful smile and sneer, his influence was enough to desist people naming their children ' Pran'. He will always be remembered for his roles in Madhumati, Ram aur Shaym, Azad, Jis Desh Men Ganga Bahati Hai, Chori Chori, Amardeep, Rajkumar, Aah, Aadmi, Munimji, Don,Upkar, Zanzeer, Parichay, Majboor, Victoria No 203 etc .
Pran was awarded by Filmfare as best supporting actor in 1967, 1969 and 1972. He was honoured Padmabhushan in 2001 and Dadasaheb Phalke award in 2010.
Pran shifted himself to the roles of character actor in the later part of his career. Being a versatile actor he gave the superb performances. But for majority of his fans ( including me ) Pran was always a villain, is a villain and will always be remembered as a Villain …..
Rightly honoured as ‘Villain of Millenium’ in 2000 by Star Dust !