Latest revision as of 19:47, 20 November 2023

Vyjayanthimala in the song Sun Rasiya, Kaahey Ko Jalaye Jiya, Aa Ja from the film Nagin.
Original colours.
The last 17m11sec of Nagin were in colour and consisted of one long sequence of songs. However, none of them made it to the BGM annual charts. Two other songs from the film did, including the no.2 song of the year.

[edit] The 39 most popular/ significant Hindi-Urdu songs of 1954

[edit] Notes about the credits

Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik in the song Jayein To Jayein Kahan from the film Taxi Driver

i) Who sang the song Chhota sa ghar hoga badloñ ki chhaoñ meiñ in the film Naukri ? An otherwise reliable website writes: Kishore Kumar and Usha Mangeshkar. But Prof. Anil Bhargava, Mr. Harmandir Singh ‘Hamraaz’ and countless websites write that the female singer was Shaila Bellé and not Usha Mangeshkar. The film’s credits give the names of make up assistants but not of singers. SaReGaMa, that ultimate repository of Indian popular music, credits only Usha Mangeshkar (there is no mention of Kishore, though in the 60-second excerpt that you hear on SaReGaMa you hear only Kishore’s voice). This glaring omission reduces the credibility of the SaReGaMa website. However, because of SaReGaMa’s stature, Indpaedia has gone along with it.

ii) Who wrote the lyrics and music of the song Chandamama door ké pooé pakaaéiñ boor ke in the film Vachan? Hindi Geet Mala credits Ravi Shankar with the music and Ravi with the lyrics.

However, But Prof. Anil Bhargava, Mr. Harmandir Singh ‘Hamraaz’ and YouTube say that Ravi composed the music and Prem Dhawan wrote the lyrics. Indpaedia has followed them.

iii) Who composed the music of the No. 2 song of the year, Man Doley Mera Tan Doley? More than one YouTube upload credits the tune to ‘Ravi and Kalyanji,’ adding that the two were assistants to Hemant Kumar. One assumes that the Ravi in question would be the man who later created hit after hit for producer- director BR Chopra (e.g. Waqt). However, the credit titles of the film mention only Hemant Kumar, and Indpaedia has gone along with the official credit.

The back cover of the LP and the label in the centre of the EP (a disc with two songs on each side), all mention only Hemant Kumar as the composer of this particular song.

‘Ravi and Kalyanji’ are not mentioned as assistant music directors in the official credits of the film. However, we are informed that the assistant music director of the film was a person called Ravi Shanker.

Surely not the maestro?

Not likely. The full name of the Chopras’ favourite was Ravi Shankar Sharma, so it must have been he.

Indpaedia has been able to get hold of several black discs, of the type that used to be called SP (Standard Play, i.e. only one song on each side), which credit the been played in the film to ‘Ravi Shanker and Kalyanji.’ In both Hindi and Urdu, this instrumental track has been described as a gat (a composition). The Urdu credit tells us that the track is ‘bhaag 2’ (part 2).

The word before ‘gat’ in Urdu could possibly be been . In Hindi, it reads more like ‘bom.’

[edit] Binaca Geetmala’s Top 16 songs of 1954

[edit] 11 songs in the ‘next rung’

The Geetmala ki Chhaon Mein CDs have only five ‘songs in the shade’ (chhaoñ songs) from 1954. Prof Bhargava has compiled a list of seven. The two lists have only one song in common. Thus, in all there are eleven songs in the ‘next rung’

GC: Geetmala ki Chhaon Mein is a set of 50 CDs issued by Saregama in instalments that continued into 2012-13. The set concentrated on songs that had ‘remained in the shadow’ (chhaoñ) of the main annual list of Binaca and its successor Geet Malas. These, thus, were the ‘next rung’ of songs, which were popular but did not make it to the main annual list.

AB: Bhargava, Anil, Binaca Geetmala ka Sureela Safar (Hindi; 2007; Rs.1,200), Vangmaya Prakashan, Jaipur-302015.  vangmaya_jpr@yahoo.com)

[edit] Raags in songs

Vyjayanthimala in Man Dole Mera Tan Dole from Nagin (1954)
Colourised

Few film songs that have a root in Indian classical music remain faithful to a raag throughout their length. Indpaedia volunteers have sometimes mentioned raags even when there is merely a hint of that raag in a song. (‘Raag’ is frequently spelt ‘raga,’ while ‘taal’ is also spelt ‘tal.’)

Wherever a taal has been mentioned, it is the one verified by ChandraKantha.com, and sometimes the raags, too.

[edit] Twelve additional songs with a classical background

[edit] See also

[edit] For lists of popular songs

Annual lists for the years 1931-51 have been arranged in the alphabetical order, and not in the order of popularity.

Hindi-Urdu songs: An introduction <> Hindi-Urdu songs: methodology <> Hindi-Urdu songs: sources and abbreviations <> Hindi-Urdu songs, 1931-49: years not known

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1931 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1932 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1933 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1934

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1935 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1936 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1937 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1938 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1939

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1940 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1941 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1942 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1943 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1944

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1945 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1946 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1947 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1948 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1949

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1950 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1951 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1952 Binaca Geet Mala: History and trivia Binaca Geet Mala 1953: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1954: greatest hits

Binaca Geet Mala 1955: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1956: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1957: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1958: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1959: greatest hits

Binaca Geet Mala 1960: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1961: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1962: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1963: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1964: greatest hits

Binaca Geet Mala 1965: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1966: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1967: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1968: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1969: greatest hits

Binaca Geet Mala 1970: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1971: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1972: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1973: greatest hits Binaca Geet Mala 1974: greatest hits

Binaca Geet Mala 1975: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1976: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1977: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1978: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1979: annual list

Binaca Geet Mala 1980: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1981: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1982: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1983: annual list Binaca Geet Mala 1984: annual list

Binaca Geet Mala 1985: annual list Cibaca Geet Mala 1986: annual list Cibaca Geet Mala 1987: annual list Cibaca Geet Mala 1988: annual list Cibaca Sangeet Mala 1989: annual list

Cibaca Sangeet Mala 1990: annual list Cibaca Geet Mala 1991: annual list Cibaca Geet Mala 1992: annual list Cibaca Geet Mala 1993: annual list Hindi-Urdu songs: 1994

Hindi-Urdu songs: 1995 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1996 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1997 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1998 Hindi-Urdu songs: 1999

Hindi-Urdu songs: 2000 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2001 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2002 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2003 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2004

Hindi-Urdu songs: 2005 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2006 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2007 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2008 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2009

Hindi-Urdu songs: 2010 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2011 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2012 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2013 Hindi-Urdu songs: 2014

Hindi-Urdu songs: 2015

[edit] For lists of popular Hindi-Urdu films

Indpaedia has lists of the highest grossing films of all individual years (and some decades) from Hindi-Urdu films: 1940 to the present.

Records for the 1930s are non-existent but you may still want to read:

Hindi-Urdu films: 1931 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 1932 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 1938 <>Hindi-Urdu films: 1939

Below are sample links, one from each decade. Links to all individual years (and some decades) will be found at the bottom of every page in the Hindi-Urdu films series.

Hindi-Urdu films: 1941 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 1950 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 1968 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 1977 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 1986 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 1995 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 2004 <> Hindi-Urdu films: 2013 <>