Suraiya Jamal Sheikh, mononymously known as Suraiya, was an Indian actress and playback singer who worked in Hindi films. In a career spanning from 1936 to 1964, Suraiya acted in over 70 films and sang 338 songs. Regarded among the finest and greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she was known for her strong on-screen portrayals in a variety of genres. Suraiya was the most celebrated actress between the mid- to late 1940s and early 1950s and was paid more than her male counterparts.
Rajinder Krishan Duggal also credited as Rajendra Krishan, was an Indian poet, lyricist and screenwriter. His poems and lyrics were in the Urdu language.
Insaniyat is a 1955 Hindi-language action film produced and directed by S. S. Vasan. The film stars Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Bina Rai. The film's songs were written by Rajendra Krishan. The film's music is by C. Ramchandra. It is a remake of 1950 Telugu film Palletoori Pilla and is the only film to feature veteran actors Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand together onscreen.
Aadhi Raat is an Indian Hindi-language film of 1950, directed by S. K. Ojha and starring Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Jeevan, Cuckoo, Kuldip Kaur, Neelam and Tiwari. The music was composed by Husnlal Bhagatram, while Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar and Meena Kapoor were the playback singers.
Paidi Jairaj was an Indian actor, director and producer known for his works majorly in Hindi; few Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu language films, and Telugu theatre. During the talkie period, from 1931 onwards, he started with Shikari in Urdu and English languages. Subsequently, he became one of the leading actors for about two decades, along with V. Shantaram, Ashok Kumar, Prithviraj Kapoor, Motilal etc. He starred in about 170 feature films in a variety of roles. He directed a few films such as Mohar, Mala (1943), Pratima, Rajghar and Saagar (1951), which he produced. In 1980, he was awarded with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award for films in India, for his contributions to Indian cinema.
Bari Behen is a 1949 Hindi drama film directed, written and produced by D. D. Kashyap, starring Suraiya, Rehman, Ullhas and Pran. The film was remade in Sinhalese as Sujatha (1953).
Husn Lal and Bhagat Ram were the first legendary music directors duo in Bollywood. They are two brothers, Husn Lal and Bhagat Ram.
Saiyan (transl. "Beloved") is a 1951 Bollywood film-Hindi romantic drama directed by M. Sadiq for his Sadiq Productions Ltd. The story and screenplay were written by Azmi Bazidpuri. The music was composed by Sajjad Hussain, with lyrics written by D. N. Madhok, Rajendra Krishan and Hasrat Jaipuri. The film stars Madhubala, Ajit, Sajjan, and Jayant. It was both a critical and commercial success.
Pyar Ki Jeet is a 1948 Indian Bollywood film. It was the third highest grossing Indian film of 1948.
Aeeye is an Indian Bollywood social family film. It was released in 1949. Produced and directed by Yakub under Indian Productions banner, it had music by Nashad. The film had Sulochana Chatterjee, Noor Mohammed Charlie, Masood, Jankidas, Sheela Naik, Ashraf Khan and Yakub starring in it. The film was commercially unsuccessful and Yakub called it the "big mistake" of his life.
Zeenat Begum, sometimes known as Zeenat, was a Pakistani singer. She was known as The Queen of Yesteryear for singing songs in films and on radio.
Tamanna is a Bollywood film. It was released in 1942. The film was directed by Phani Majumdar, who also wrote the screenplay, for the Laxmi Productions Ltd. banner. This was the first film from the Laxmi banner, which had been started by Chimanlal Trivedi who earlier headed Circo Productions. Tamanna was also the renowned dancer, Leela Desai's, first film in Bombay. The main cast included Leela Desai, P. Jairaj, Karan Dewan, Jagdish Sethi and K. C. Dey, who besides acting, composed the music. S. K. Kalla wrote the dialogue and lyrics.
Balam is a 1949 Hindi romantic action film directed by Homi Wadia. Credited as A Hila Wadia Production by Wadia Brothers the film starred Suraiya, Wasti, Masood, Nigar Sultana, Jayant, Gulnar and Agha. The music directors were Husnlal Bhagatram.
Jhanjhaar (Fire) is a 1987 Hindi social drama film directed by V. Shantaram. Made under Rajkamal Kalamandir banner it was a V. Shantaram Productions film. It had music by Kalyanji Anandji. The film starred Sushant Ray, with Padmini Kolhapure, and the rest of the cast included Yunus Parvez, Sudhir Pandey and Ranjana Deshmukh. Ranjana's career came to a halt when she met with a car accident on the way to the shooting of this film in Bangalore.
Ghar Basake Dekho is a 1963 Hindi family drama film, directed by Kishore Sahu. The film was produced by Trikambhai Dave and Bal Chander Shukla for Ratandeep Pictures, with music composed by Chitragupta and lyrics written by Rajendra Krishan. The story was taken from the Gujarati stage writer Prabhulal Dwivedi's story, 'Grahasti'. The screenplay and dialogues were by Rajendra Krishan.
Sanam is a 1951 Bollywood romantic film directed by Nandlal Jaswantlal, who also directed the classic Anarkali. It starred Dev Anand, and his co-star was Suraiya, who also recorded the playback singing for the film. Meena Kumari acted in the film in a supporting role, where she played the role of Suraiya's best friend. The film was an average at the box office, which was attributed to Suraiya's fading stardom in the early 1950s, and Madhubala's and Nargis' simultaneous rise as the top female stars.
Aaj Ki Raat is a 1948 Bollywood production. It starred Suraiya and Motilal Rajvansh and was directed by D.D. Kashyap. The other actors included Yakub, Shah Nawaz, Leela Mishra, Anita Sharma, Raj Mehra and Sangeeta. The music was given by Husnlal-Bhagatram and lyricist for the movie was Rajendra Krishan.
Singaar is a 1949 Indian Hindi-language romantic film directed by J. K. Nanda. Produced by R. B. Haldia under his production company, the film stars Suraiya, Madhubala and Jairaj, with Durga Khote and K. N. Singh appearing in supporting roles. The music of the film was composed by Khurshid Anwar.
