Rahul Dev Burman was an Indian music director and actor, who is considered to be one of the greatest and most successful music directors of the Hindi film music industry. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films, bringing a new level of music ensemble with his compositions. Burman did his major work with legendary singers Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, and Asha Bhosle. He also worked extensively with lyricist Gulzar, with whom he has some of the most memorable numbers in his career. Nicknamed Pancham, he was the only son of the composer Sachin Dev Burman.
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.
Aurat, also known by its English title Woman, is a 1940 Indian film directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Sardar Akhtar, Surendra, Yakub, Kanhaiyalal and Arun Kumar Ahuja. The film's music is by Anil Biswas and dialogue is by Wajahat Mirza. Mehboob Khan later remade this film as Mother India (1957), which is considered one of the biggest hits of all time in Indian Cinema.
Leela Desai, aka Lila Desai, was an Indian actress in the 1930s and 1940s. She was the daughter of Umedram Lalbhai Desai and his second wife Satyabala Devi, a musician of the early 1900s.
Zindagi is a 1940 Indian film, directed by Pramathesh Barua and produced by Birendranath Sircar. Starring K. L. Saigal, Jamuna Barua, Pahari Sanyal, Shyam Laha, Sitara Devi, and Nemo, it revolves around Ratan, an unemployed university graduate, and his relationship with Shrimati, who is on the run from her cruel husband.
Chitralekha is a 1941 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Kidar Sharma and based on the 1934 Hindi novel of the same name by Bhagwati Charan Verma. Its music is by noted classical musician Ustad Jhande Khan, giving popular songs like "Sun sun Neelkamal Muskaye," "Saiyyan Saware Bhaye Baware," and "Tum Jao Bde Bhagwan Bane, Insaan Bano."
Bhakta Surdas is a 1942 Indian Hindi language film devotional film. It was the third highest grossing Indian film of 1942. This was K. L. Saigal's first film after his move to Bombay from Calcutta. The film was directed by Chaturbhuj Doshi for Ranjit Studios. It had music by Gyan Dutt with lyrics by D. N. Madhok. Khursheed, after acting in several less popular films, finally became a big success with this film. The cast included K. L. Saigal, Khursheed, Monica Desai, Nagendra, M. Saigal and N. Desai.
Tadbir (transl. Fate) is a 1945 Indian Hindi language film. It was the fifth-highest-grossing Indian film of 1945. The film was directed by Jayant Desai under his Jayan Desai Productions banner and had music composed by Lal Mohammed, with lyrics written by Swami Ramanand Saraswati. The film starred K. L. Saigal, Suraiya, Mubarak, Jillobai, Rehana and Shashi Kapoor.
Vidyapati is a 1937 Bengali biopic film directed by Debaki Bose for New Theatres. It starred Pahari Sanyal as Vidyapati. His costars in the film were Kanan Devi, Prithviraj Kapoor, Chhaya Devi, Leela Desai, K. C. Dey and Kidar Sharma. The music was by R. C. Boral and lyrics by Kidar Sharma. Debaki Bose and Qazi Nazrul Islam wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues. The story is about the Maithili poet and Vaishnava saint Vidyapati. The songs of the film became popular and the lyrics though encapsulating Vidyapati's poetry were considered bold for its time. This however ensured the film garnered crowds at the theatres making it a big success of 1937.
President is a 1937 Hindi social romantic drama film from New Theatres. The Bengali version was called Didi. The direction, screenplay and cinematography were by Nitin Bose. The film starred K. L. Saigal, Leela Desai, Kamlesh Kumari, Jagdish Sethi, Prithviraj Kapoor and Bikram Kapoor. The story according to the credit roll of the film is "A tale of love and greater love" developed on an idea by M. M. Begg. It was a love triangle with a social content that highlighted the conditions of the mill workers. It was also the first film to show a liberated educated woman managing her own factory.
Zinda Lash is a 1932 Indian costume drama directed by Premankur Atorthy. The film was produced by New Theatres Ltd. Calcutta. The cast of the film included K. L. Saigal, Rattan Bai, Pahari Sanyal, Mahajabin, Nawab, Kumar and Radharani. The music direction was by R. C. Boral. B. N. Sircar started New Theatres Ltd. Calcutta in 1930 and produced his first film in Bengali, Dena Paona in 1931. In 1932 he produced films in Hindi where he introduced K. L. Saigal to Indian Cinema. The first was Mohabbat Ke Ansu and the second was Zinda Lash both directed by Premankur Atorthy. K. L. Saigal changed his name for his first three films and was billed as Saigal Kashmiri to prevent his family from finding out his profession. This film like his earlier Mohabbat Ke Ansu was not successful at the box office.
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.
Karodpati is a Hindi 1936 comedy film directed by Hemchander Chunder. The film was produced by New Theatres Ltd. Calcutta, and the music was composed by R. C. Boral with the assistance of Pankaj Mullick. The lyrics were written by Kidar Sharma who also acted in the film. The film starred K. L. Saigal, Sardar Akhtar, Molina Devi, Pahari Sanyal, Nawab, Trilok Kapoor, Rajkumari, and Kidar Sharma. The film showcased K. L. Saigal performing a farcical-comedy role which was a different format from his normal tragedy based stories. The story revolves around a cinema-crazy young man who wins a lottery, leading to a series of comedic situations when his friends join him.
Pujarin is a 1936 Hindi social film. It was directed by Prafulla Roy for International Film Craft. The film was based on a story by writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay from his story "Dena Paona". The film was the remake of the Bengali film Dena Paona directed by Premankur Atorthy. The music direction was by Timir Baran with lyrics by Pandit Bhushan and Kidar Sharma.The film starred K. L. Saigal, Chandrabati Devi, K. C. Dey, Pahari Sanyal and Rajkumari. The story is about a reckless immoral youth who marries for money then deserts his wife due to circumstances, only to return as an aristocrat and reform through the love of his wife.
Ek Hi Raasta is a 1939 Hindi social film directed by Mehboob Khan. The director of photography was Faredoon Irani with story by Babubhai A. Mehta and Wajahat Mirza. The film was produced by Sagar Movietone. The cast included Arun Kumar Ahuja, Sheikh Mukhtar, Anuradha, Kanhaiyalal and Harish. This was the debut film of Sheikh Mukhtar, who went on to act in and direct several successful films, and Arun Kumar Ahuja, a prominent actor in the 1940s. Ek Hi Raasta is a film about wrongs of society and its laws. It was one of the early Hindi films to make a noticeable application of WW II.
Manmohan is a 1936 Indian Urdu/Hindi-language romantic tragedy film directed by Mehboob Khan. This was Khan's third film for Sagar Movietone after Al Hilal (1935) and Deccan Queen (1936). The cinematographer was Faredoon Irani who, starting from Mehboob Khan's Al Hilal (1935), went on to establish a long working relationship with him lasting till Khan's last film Son of India (1962). The music was composed by Ashok Ghosh assisted by Anil Biswas. The story writer was Zia Sarhadi who also wrote the lyrics, screenplay and dialogue in addition to acting in the film. Though he had started his writing career on Khan's backing for Deccan Queen (1936), it was with Manmohan that he achieved success. The film was inspired by Devdas, (1935), which was a big hit at the box office. Surendra was chosen as the singing star to rival K. L. Saigal from New Theatres Calcutta, whose songs from Devdas had mesmerised the nation. Though Manmohan was referred to as the "poor man's Devdas" the film went on to do well and the songs became very popular. The film starred Bibbo, Surendra, Yakub, Kayam Ali, Bhudo Advani and Mehdi Raza.
Hamari Yaad Aayegi is a 1961 Hindi romantic drama film, written and directed by Kidar Sharma. Produced under the banner of Show People, the director of photography was D. C. Mehta. The music was composed by Snehal Bhatkar with lyrics by Kidar Sharma. The film had the well-known title song "Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein Hamari Yaad Aayegi", sung by Mubarak Begum. The film featured the director's son Ashok Sharma in the main role along with Tanuja, Anant Kumar, Madhavi, Sujata and Rajinder Dube.
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.
Surendra was an Indian singer-actor of Hindi films. Known by his mononym, Surendra was born and educated in Punjab to be a lawyer by profession. He came to Bombay to become a singer on the recommendation of a Delhi distributor and his friends. He was "picked" by Mehboob Khan whom he met at Sagar Movietone, to sing and act in films as an alternative to the then Calcutta-based singer-actor, K. L. Saigal. Surendra started his career with his debut starring role in Deccan Queen (1936), directed by Mehboob Khan. He soon became a part of Sagar Movietone when his song "Birha Ki Aag Lagi More Man Mein" from the film became an "instant hit".
