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