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The 1960s – Golden Years – Part 2

The Money Rakers (1960 - 1963)

Barsaat Ki Raat

Barsaat Ki Raat was a musical romance that became the second-highest grosser in 1960 behind the record-breaking Mughal-e-Azam. Directed by PL Santoshi, its mainstay was the music of Roshan and the lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi particularly in the qawwalis for which the film stands out as a benchmark. P L Santoshi, was a veteran writer, lyricist, and director who debuted as director in 1946 with Prabhat Films Hum Ek Hain, which was also the debut of Dev Anand, Rehana, and Rehman as actors, and Guru Dutt as Assistant Director. He had many hits to his credit, including Khidki (1948), Sargam (1950), and Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke (1957) which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.

Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar’s Zindagi bhar nahi bhoolegi, Mohammed Rafi’s solo Main ne shayad tumhen pehle bhi, Lata Mangeshkar’s solo Mujhe mil gaya bahana, and Suman Kalyanpur and Kamal Barot duet Garjat Barsat Sawan Aayo Re are all memorable songs as are the qawwalis Na tho caravan ki talash Hai, Jee chahta hai choom loon, and Nigah-e-naaz ke.

Sahir Ludhianvi scaled new heights with his lyrics for Na tho karwan ki talaash hai, the film's piece de resistance. The qawwali begins in a slow tempo with the lover expressing the depth of love,

Tera Ishq hai meri aarzoo,
Tera ishq hai meri aabroo,
        dil ishq, jism ishq hai, aur jaan ishq hai,
        imaan ki jo poochho to imaan ishq hai,
Tera ishq main kaise chhod dun
meri umr bhar ki talash hai

Love is my desire, love is my honour,
my heart, my body, my life, and even my faith.
How can I leave your love?
It is what I have longed for all my life.

And longing, with the lover seeking solace in death,

Jo dawa ke naam pe zahar de usi charaagar ki talash hai

I am in search of a healer who will give me poison in the name of medicine.

The qawwali continues, declaring that the mania of love is unstoppable, whether by rasn-o-daar (ropes and gallows), khanjar (dagger), or talwar (sword). No barrier can stop a beloved from answering the call of her lover. Love transcends religion, caste, or social status.

Ishq na puchche deen dharam, ishq na puchche jaataan

Love does not depend on faith, caste or creed.

The poet recalls the devotion of Radha, Sita, and Mira and declares that love is the decree of Mohammed, the desire of Buddha and Jesus. Love has the power to turn dust into divine,

Intahaa tho yeh hai ke bande ko khuda karta hai ishq

In the ultimate, love can transform a human being into God.

The song is an ode to love that deserves to break out of the confines of film music to find a permanent place in literature. The singers Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra, S. D. Batish, and Mohammed Rafi excelled in a genre in which we were not accustomed to hearing them.

Kohinoor

Dilip Kumar mentioned in an interview that playing tragic roles in succession had taken a toll on him, causing depression. He was advised to vary his roles to restore his mental health. Aan, Aazad, and SU Sunny’s Kohinoor gave him relief. Kohinoor is an action, adventure, musical comedy, full of sword fights, songs, and dances. Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari created some notable comical scenes that viewers did not expect from these seasoned actors excelling in the tragic genre. The best comic scene is when Dilip Kumar and a dead drunk Jeevan face each other across a mirror frame after the mirror has fallen from it. Dilip Kumar hilariously copies Jeevan's hysterical actions, making the latter believe that Dilip Kumar is his reflection.

Naushad created some delightful music compositions for Kohinoor. All of them were hits and are worth listening to again and again. Among them, my favourites are Mohammed Rafi’s Madhuban mein radhika nache re, and Dhal chuki sham-e-gham, Lata Mangeshkar’s Dil mein baji pyar ki shehnaiyan, Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar duets Do sitaron ka zameen par hai milan aaj ki raat, and Koi pyar ki dekhe jadugari.

Madhuban mein radhika nache re, is a classical dance song in Raag Hameer in which Kumkum dances as Dilip Kumar sings and plays the Sitar. Dilip Kumar decided to learn to play the sitar to make the sequence look natural. He persuaded Naushad to record this song after the film's shooting. There were difficult and fast passages that Naushad wanted to shoot showing the fingers of sitarist Halim Jaffar Khan playing the Sitar in the close-ups, but Dilip Kumar did not allow him to do so. Instead, he practiced playing the sitar for a year and injured his fingers while shooting for the song. Dilip Kumar won his fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Kohinoor in 1961.

Chaudhvin ka Chand

The disastrous failure of Kaagaz Ke Phool left Guru Dutt poorer by 17 crores, a whopping loss at the time. Guru Dutt decided to return to making commercial films to save his studio. He picked up a Muslim social story by Saghir Usmani for Abrar Alvi to write a screenplay. Guru Dutt decided to stop directing films after Kaagaz Ke Phool. He entrusted the direction to M Sadiq, veteran director of films like Jaimani Diwan’s 1944 superhit Rattan, PN Arora’s Pardes (1950), and Anjaam (1956), which was Vyjayantimala's first film in Bombay, and Chhoo Mantar (1956). He chose Sadiq against the advice of his close associates because Sadiq was going through a difficult time, and Guru Dutt was helping him financially. Ravi was the music director.

Chaudhvin ka Chand was successful and more than recovered Guru Dutt's losses from Kagaz ke Phool. The film’s songs were major hits, led by Chaudhvin ka chand ho, sung by Mohammed Rafi and Dil ki kahani rang layi hai, both filmed in colour. For the title song, Mohammed Rafi won the Filmfare Award for Best Singer and Shakeel Badayuni won the Filmfare Award for Best Lyrics. Ravi was nominated for Best Music Director but lost the Award to Shankar Jaikishan for Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi.

Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai

For over a thousand years, the ravines of Chambal Valley in Madhya Pradesh harboured professional dacoits for whom robbery and murder were a traditional way of life. Desperate poverty led many to become dacoits. The sharp ravines provided good hiding places for the dacoits to attack travellers on the winding dirt roads of the valley. In the 1950s, the dacoits brazenly committed hundreds of murders, kidnappings, and robberies every year, killing the rich, waylaying travellers, and murdering innocent people including policemen. The government declared huge rewards for capturing the dacoits or information leading to them. For the head of a notorious dacoit, the reward was a princely sum of Rs 25,000 but these and other police measures failed to control the dacoits. Newspapers reported stories of the marauding dacoits every day. The matter became so important that during my UPSC interview for Central Services in 1957, I was asked what I would do if I were to be posted in Chambal Valley as an IPS officer.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave chose to use Gandhian methods to persuade the bandits to give themselves up and join the mainstream as peaceful citizens. In return, the government promised to commute all death sentences, protect dacoit families, and provide education for their children. The government also announced a development program for the Chambal Valley. Acharya Vinoba Bhave succeeded in persuading some of the dacoits to give up arms and take up peaceful professions. The event stirred the nation and inspired Raj Kapoor to produce Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai. In 1956, the government adopted the Second Five-Year Plan to establish a Socialist Pattern of Society. Raj Kapoor’s film talks about establishing chochalist baraabari through love instead of violence.

Following up on the initiative of Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Jay Prakash Narayan set up an ashram, known as the Change of Heart Mission, in Chambal Valley in 1972, and invited the dacoits to surrender. Soon afterward, the most notorious dacoit of the time surrendered at the feet of Jay Prakash Narayan along with about two hundred of his followers.

The story of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, written by Arjun Dev Rashk, juxtaposes love and kindness represented by a naïve traveling bard, played by Raj Kapoor, against hatred and violence, represented by the aggressive dacoit played by Pran. Lyricist Shailendra effectively portrays this in the song Hum bhi hain tum bhi ho, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Mukesh, Manna Dey, and Mahendra Kapoor. The film relates how the bard wins over the hard-hearted dacoits to the path of peace and non-violence, with the help of the women and children of the gang, led by the gang leader’s daughter who falls in love with the reformer.

The direction of the film was credited to cinematographer Radhu Karmakar, but Raj Kapoor’s hand is discernible in every frame. The film was shot mostly near Jabalpur and the rocky banks of the Narmada River replaced the Chambal valley ravines. Radhu Karmakar was on his own in capturing the beauty of the marble rock gorges of the Narmada. Shankar Jaikishan composed good tunes with Mukesh’s Mera naam raju and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai being the most popular. My favourite song is Lata Mangeshkar’s O Basanti pavan pagal.

In the 9th Filmfare Awards in 1962, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai won Awards for Best Film, Best Actor for Raj Kapoor, Best Editing, and Best Art Direction. In the National Film Awards in 1960 it won Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi

Kamal Amrohi, dialogue writer and director of Mahal (1949) produced Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi, written and directed by Kishore Sahu. After the failure of the much-hyped expensive film Mayurpankh (1954), Kishore Sahu did not produce any other film but directed three films none of which attracted public attention. He acted in Kala Pani, Love in Simla, and Kala Bazaar. Kamal Amrohi gave him a chance to redeem his reputation.

The storyline of Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi had nothing novel to offer. Doctor-nurse romance, the hero forcibly married to someone else, and the wife’s reaction when she discovers the romance falls into a well-known pattern. Kishore Sahu’s tight script, crisp direction, and extremely good performances by Meena Kumari and Raaj Kumar, who express their feelings using their glances more than their speech, raised the film to a higher plane. In one of her most noted performances, Meena Kumari shows her heartbreak without over-the-top histrionics. Raaj Kumar’s restrained acting made him the favourite actor for sensitive roles. Bombay Talkies veteran Josef Wirsching’s cinematography, rich in symbolism, lifts the narrative.

Outstanding music by Shankar Jaikishan ensured the success of the film. Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai won the Filmfare Award for Best Music in competition with some of the best musicals of all time, Mughal-e-Azam, Barsaat ki Raat, Chaudvin ka Chand and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai and Anuradha. Lata Mangeshkar’s haunting Ajeeb dastan hai yeh was a mega hit and is still popular in Karaoke circles. We were captivated by Helen dancing for Uiii, itni badi mehfil aur ek dil, kisko dun sung by Asha Bhonsle, adapted from Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat, and sang along with Mera dil ab tera o sajana sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

After the ban on playing film songs was lifted, All India Radio censored the lyrics of the songs and objected to words its officers perceived as objectionable. All India Radio found the lyrics of Sheesha-e-dil itna na uchhalo objectionable and banned it by putting a “Not Approved” label on the 78 RPM record submitted to AIR. Unfortunately, the clerk entrusted with the job put the label on the wrong side of the record. The song continued to be played freely until the error was rectified. Meanwhile, the song on the other side of the record could not be played. It happened to be Ajeeb dastan hai yeh! AIR could not prevent us from listening to it on Radio Ceylon. Incidentally, Ajeeb dastan hai yeh was also adapted from an English song, My Lips Are Sealed by Jim Reeves.