The 98th birth anniversary of Shakti Samanta, the well known producer-director of Hindi and Bengali films took place about a couple of days ago. Out of curiosity, I Googled his filmography and was quite surprised to find out that the list spread over almost 40 years covered a variety of genres and included many of the most popular films of the era in which I grew up.
Being a Hindi film music buff, the minute I saw the titles, I started humming the songs from the films too and decided that at least some of them should be strung together as a small tribute to Shaktida. I have selected six songs , two each from films released in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. He was active in the '80s too but none of those films or the songs gave me positive vibes !
While selecting these songs, I have tried to have a diversity of music directors and singers and even the leading actors on which these films have been shot. By no means is this list comprehensive but it does give a fair idea of how film music itself changed over those three decades.
So, if you are a fan of Hindi film music, do strap on your headphones and listen to these six beautiful songs.
1950s - films selected: Howrah Bridge and Detective - both released in 1958.
1. From Howrah Bridge, a murder mystery film and one of Shakti Samanta's first hits, I have selected the seductive 'Aaiye Meherban' in the lovely voice of Asha Bhonsle. On screen Madhubala crooned this song in the presence of a suave and debonair Ashok Kumar. O P Nayyar composed this song.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4ixEgnecg
2. Detective released in the same year, 1958, was not that successful a film. It had Pradeep Kumar and Mala Sinha in the lead roles. This song was sung by Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt. Her brother Mukul Roy composed the music and also produced the film. I love this song 'Mujhko tum jo mile' for its soft lilt.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_AKKWy4ayg
1960s: films selected: China Town, a 1962 release and Aradhana, which hit the screens seven years later.
3.China Town starred Shammi Kapoor and Shakila, the former in a double role. This crime movie had music by Ravi and Mohammad Rafi's silky voice embellished this foot-tapping song 'Baar Baar Dekho' which has held its own over the ages.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7tTei9K0WY
4. Aradhana, released in 1969 was a huge hit and was responsible for the resurrection of the singing career of Kishore Kumar. It was also the first of a long series of super-hits which Rajesh Khanna delivered. This racy iconic song 'Mere Sapno ki Rani' had some lovely shots of the Darjeeling Mountain train as well as that of Sharmila Tagore reading an Alastait McLean thriller. SD Burman composed the music.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PdSmDRGIwM&t=8s
1970s: the two films which feature here are the 1975 release Amar Prem and the bilingual Anand Ashram which was released two years later.
5. Amar Prem had exquisite music by Rahul Deb Burman. My personal favourite is the classical 'Raina Beeti Jaye' sung by Lata Mangeshkar and picturised on Sharmila Tagore. The lead pair of Aradhana - Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore featured in this film too. For me, this is one of Lataji's best songs ever!
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl1XkstVXn8
6. Anand Ashram was produced in both Hindi and Bengali. This story of an idealistic doctor was first made into the film Doctor in 1940, starring Pankaj Mallick. Uttam Kumar, the super star of Bengali films reprised Pankaj Mallick's role in both the versions with Sharmila Tagore as his leading lady. Shyamal Mitra was the music director . This peppy song was sung by Kishore Kumar.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnMTRqUcgRI
This small tribute tries just to give a cross - section of Shakti Samanta's prolific work. I hope it is a representative sample!
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