Surdas was a 16th-century blind Hindu devotional poet and singer, who was known for his works written in praise of Krishna. His compositions captured his devotion towards Krishna. Most of his poems were written in the Braj language, while some were also written in other dialects of medieval Hindi, like Awadhi.
Kundan Lal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal, was an Indian playback singer and actor who worked in Hindi cinema, which was centred in Calcutta (Kolkata) during Saigal's time, but is currently based in Bombay (Mumbai). Saigal's unique voice quality which was a mixture of baritone and soft tenor was the benchmark for most of the singers who followed him. In fact it remains the gold standard even today shining through very early and practically primitive recording technology.
Khursheed Bano, often credited as Khursheed or Khurshid, was a singer and actress, and a pioneer of the Indian cinema. Her career ran through the 1930s and 1940s, before she migrated to Pakistan in 1948. Making her debut with Laila Majnu (1931), she acted in over thirty films in India. She is best known for her film Tansen (1943) with actor-singer K. L. Saigal, which featured many of her memorable songs.
This is a bibliography of notable books on Hindi cinema.
Lagan is a 1941 Indian Hindi language film. It was the fifth highest grossing Indian film of 1941. The film was directed by Nitin Bose for New Theatres Ltd. Calcutta. The film was a bilingual with K. L. Saigal and Kanan Devi acting as the lead in its Bengali language version, Parichaya. The music for both versions was by R. C. Boral. This was the last film Saigal did for New Theatres, Calcutta, before his move to Bombay to make films for different studios there.
Tansen is a 1943 Indian Hindi language film directed by Jayant Desai, featuring K. L. Saigal and Khursheed Bano in the lead roles. The film was based on Tansen, the 16th century musician in the court of Mughal emperor, Akbar. The film featured 13 hit songs, performed by the leads, including "More Balapan Ke Saathi", "Rum Jhum Rum Jhum Chal Tihari", "Kahe Guman Kare Gori", "Bina Pankh Ka Panchhi", "Sapt Suran Teen Gram", "Diya Jalao" and "Baag Laga Doon Sajni". It was the second highest grossing Indian film of 1943. In 2009, it was reported that another film based on the life of Tansen would be directed by Satish Kaushik.
Bhanwara is an Indian Hindi language film. It was the third highest grossing Indian film of 1944. It was released in 1944. The film was directed by Kidar Sharma for Ranjit Movietone. It starred K. L. Saigal, Arun, Kamala Chatterjee, Monica Desai, Lala Yakub and Brijmala.
Musafir is a 1940 social Hindi language film directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi. Produced by Ranjit Studios, the music was by Gyan Dutt and it starred Noor Mohammed Charlie, Khursheed, Ishwarlal and Yakub.
Sasural is a Bollywood film. It was released in 1941. The film was directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi for Ranjit Movietone. The story was by Gunvantrai Acharya with dialogues by R. S. Rammyae. Cinematographer was G. G. Gogate with audiography by C. K. Trivedi. Gyan Dutt was the music director, with lyrics by D. N. Madhok. The cast included Motilal, Madhuri, Nurjehan, Miss Iqbal, Kantilal, Tarabai, Bhagwandas, and Urmila.
Bansari is a Bollywood social film. It was released in 1943. Music composition was by Gyan Dutt with lyrics written by D. N. Madhok. The film was produced by Chandulal Shah for Ranjit Studios. Directed by Jayant Desai, it starred Ishwarlal, Noor Mohammed Charlie, Dixit, Shamim Bano, Kesari and Urmila.
Gyan Dutt was one of the most prominent music directors in Bollywood in the 1940s. He was music director for films such as The Secretary, Thokar (1939), Achhut (1940), Bhakta Surdas (1942), Sunehre Din (1949) and Ghayal (1951). Many of his songs were sung by K. L. Saigal. In 1948 he composed seven songs for a young Geeta Dutt in the films Chanda Ki Chandani and Hua Savera, although their most notable collaboration was Dilruba (1950) in which Dutt wrote eight songs, six of which were solos for Geeta Dutt.
Parwana (transl. Moth) is a 1947 Indian Hindi-language drama film. It was produced by R. B. Haldia and Pratap A. Rana, and directed by J. K. Nanda. The songs were composed by Khurshid Anwar and became popular. The lyrics were written by D. N. Madhok and Naqshab. The film starred K. L. Saigal, Suraiya, Najma, K. N. Singh, Baby Khurshid and Azurie. It was K. L. Saigal's last film and was released in February 1947, one month after his death in January 1947. Suraiya, who had stated in an interview that she was a big fan of Saigal's, and had already acted in two films with him. The first two were Tadbir (1945) and Omar Khaiyyam (1946). Parwana was their third film together and the most famous.
Rajrani Meera is a 1933 Hindi devotional film. It was directed by Debaki Bose for New Theatres Ltd. Calcutta. The cinematographer was Nitin Bose with music composed by R. C. Boral. The film was a bilingual, made in Bengali as Meerabai and directed by Hiren Bose and Basanta Chatterjee. The film starred Durga Khote, Prithviraj Kapoor, K. L. Saigal, Pahari Sanyal, Molina Devi and Indubala. K. L. Saigal had a small part that of a devotee in the film with Prithviraj Kapoor playing the male protagonist role. The film made Prithviraj Kapoor who played the role of the King of Mewar, Mirabai's husband, a big star and is cited as one of his career's best films.
Aap Ki Marzi is 1939 Hindi romantic comedy film directed by Sarvottam Badami. The film was produced under the Sudama Productions banner. The music composer was Gyan Dutt with lyrics credited to Pyare Lal Santoshi and S. P. Kalla. It starred Motilal, Sabita Devi, Khursheed, K. N. Singh, Mazhar Khan, Vasanti and Sunalini Devi. This was director Badami's second comedy film; he had earlier directed the comedy Teen Sau Din Ke Baad (1938) which turned out be a box office success. Aap Ki Marzi was based on the MGM produced, Edward Buzzell directed film Paradise for Three (1938) from Erich Kastner's novel.
Manjhdhar or is a 1947 Hindi/Urdu historical drama film produced and directed by Sohrab Modi for Minerva Movietone. The story was by Pandit Sudarshan, with art direction by Rusi K. Banker and sound recording by M. Eduljee. It had music composed by Ghulam Haider, Gyan Dutt and Anil Biswas, the lyricist was Shams Lucknowi. The film starred Sohrab Modi, Khursheed, Surendra, Eruch Tarapore and Rafiq Ghaznavi.
Bulo C Rani was an Indian music director. He was a music director in Bollywood from the 1940s until the 1960s. He scored music for 71 films from 1943–72, including some evergreens like "hame to loot liya mil ke husn waalo ne" and others.
Dina Nath Madhok was a prominent lyricist of Bollywood in the 1940s to 1960s. He started his career with the 1932 film Radhey Sham. He wrote over 800 songs in his career spanning four decades and was regarded as one of the top lyricist in the 1940s earning himself the soubriquet "Mahakavi Madhok". Madhok is cited as one of the three "First Generation" of lyricists along with Kidar Sharma and Kavi Pradeep. Apart from writing lyrics, he wrote screenplays and directed films. He directed almost 17 films like Baghdad Ka Chor (1934), Mirza Sahiban (1939), Biwamangal (1954) and the Madhubala-starrer Naata (1955).
Mohabbat Ki Kasauti also called Rooplekha in Bengali was a 1934 Indian "semi-historical" bilingual film in Hindi and Bengali, directed by P. C. Barua for New Theatres. Though Barua is consistently mentioned as director, according to author J. K. Bajaj, Debaki Bose directed Rooplekha in 1934. It had music by R. C. Boral and the cast included Rattanbai, K. L. Saigal, Pahari Sanyal, Noor Mohammed Charlie and Vishwanath. Jamuna started her career with a small role in the Hindi version.
Chaturbhuj Doshi (1894–1969) was a Hindi and Gujarati writer-director of Indian cinema. He was one of the top Gujarati screenplay writers, who helped script stories for the Punatar productions. He is stated to be one of the leading figures who launched the Gujarati film industry with work on notable films like Gunsundari (1948) and Nanand Bhojai (1948). Doshi, was “well known” for his family socials and had become “a celebrity in his own right”. He made a name for himself as a journalist initially and was referred to as the "famous journalist" and publicist by Baburao Patel, editor of Filmindia.
