Baiju Bawra is a 1952 Hindi musical romantic drama film directed by Vijay Bhatt. Produced by Prakash Pictures, with story by Ramchandra Thakur and dialogues by Zia Sarhadi, Baiju Bawra was a musical "megahit" which had a mighty 100-week run in the theatres. Bhatt's decision to make a film based on classical music was met with scepticism by the Indian film industry due to its "lack of mass appeal", but the film and music turned out be an "overwhelming success".
Mela is a 1948 Indian Hindi-language romantic tragedy film. It was produced by and directed by S.U. Sunny for Wadia Movietone. It starred Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Jeevan, Rehman and Nur Jehan. The film's music was composed by Naushad. Mukesh gave playback for Dilip in this film and one of the "Mukesh hits" was "Gaye Ja Geet Milan Ke". Mohammed Rafi's voice was used just once, for the popular song "Ye Zindagi Ke Mele", set in a fairground and picturised on a wandering mendicant at the start of the film. The lyrics of the songs were written by Shakeel Badayuni with story and dialogue by Azam Bazidpuri.
Kishore Sahu was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. He appeared in 22 films between 1937 and 1980, and he directed 20 films between 1942 and 1974.
Dard (Pain) is a 1947 Bollywood drama film directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar. The film was produced by Kardar Productions. It was a surprise "musical hit" at the box office as it had an ordinary star cast. Suraiya played the second lead, with Munawwar Sultana as the main heroine. The film was Suraiya's first "big hit", becoming a popular singing star following the success of the film. The hero of the film was Kardar's brother Nusrat (Kardar), who shifted to Pakistan following Partition in 1947, where he acted in a few films.
Anjaan is a 1941 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Amiya Chakrabarty and produced by Bombay Talkies. It was Chakrabarty's first film direction. The film's story and screenplay were by Amiya Chakrabarty, with dialogues by J. S. Casshyap. The cinematography was by the debutant R. D. Mathur. Its music direction was by Pannalal Ghosh, with lyrics by Kavi Pradeep and P. L. Santoshi. The film starred Devika Rani, who had recently returned to films after a two-year absence, following the death of her husband Himanshu Rai in 1940. The cast included Ashok Kumar, David, V. H. Desai, Gulab, Suresh and Om Prakash.
Sawan Aya Re is a 1949 Hindi romantic drama film, directed by Kishore Sahu. Produced by Sahu under his "Hindustan Chitra" banner, it had Khemchand Prakash as the music director. The cast included Kishore Sahu, Ramola Devi, David, Pratima Devi, Ramesh Gupta, Sofia and Mohana.
Shararat (Mischief) is a 1944 Hindi comedy film directed by Kishore Sahu. Produced by Hindustan Chitra Productions, it had music by S. N. Tripathi and Khan Mastana. Following the commercial success of his earlier comedy film Kunwara Baap (1942), Sahu made another comedy with Shararat, which he not only directed and wrote the story for, but also cast himself in the main role. The actors co-starring with him were Maya Banerji, Protima Dasgupta, Ramesh Gupta, Sushil Sahu and Moni Chatterjee.
Veer Kunal also called Son Of Ashoka is a 1945 Hindi historical fiction film directed by Kishore Sahu. Besides directing the film Sahu also produced it and wrote the story and screenplay. The cinematographer was Chandu. Produced under the Ramnik Productions banner, it had music by Khan Mastana. The starcast consisted of Kishore Sahu, Shobhna Samarth, Durga Khote, Mubarak and Maya Banerji.
Raja is a 1943 Hindi film directed by Kishore Sahu. It was the first film from the newly established "Purnima Productions". A social satire, it starred Kishore Sahu and Protima Das Gupta in the lead. The music was composed by Khan Mastana, and Kishore Sahu sang the songs picturised on him. The rest of the cast included Ramesh Gupta, Gulab, Moni Chatterjee, Badri Prasad and Rani Bala.
Holi is a 1940 Hindi/Urdu social drama film directed by A. R. Kardar. Holi was produced by Ranjit Movietone and had music composed by Khemchand Prakash with lyrics by D. N. Madhok. It had Khursheed and Motilal starring in the lead with Sitara Devi, Ishwarlal, Keshavrao Date, Dixit, Ghory and Manohar Kapoor.
Jeevan Prabhat is a 1937 Hindi film social drama, produced by Bombay Talkies and directed by Franz Osten. The music director was Saraswati Devi with lyrics and dialogues by J. S. Casshyap. The screenplay was by Niranjan Pal. The film's "star value" was Devika Rani, with Kishore Sahu making his debut as an actor in the film. The cast included another debutant, Renuka Devi, with Mumtaz Ali, Maya Devi and M. Nazir.
Vachan is a 1938 costume drama Hindi film directed by Franz Osten. The regular Bombay Talkies writer, Niranjan Pal, walked out of the Bombay Talkies production team after an altercation with Himanshu Rai in 1936. Saradindu Bandyopadhyay, a famous writer known also for creating Byomkesh Bakshi, replaced Pal in the story department, writing for films like Nirmala and Vachan in 1938 and Durga in 1939. The screenplay was by Agha Jani Kashmiri, with dialogues and lyrics by J. S. Kashyap. The music was composed by Saraswati Devi aided by J. S. Kashyap. The film starred Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar, a popular pair from Bombay Talkies who worked in seven films together. Devika Rani remained the bigger star with Kumar's name being "over-shadowed" in the credit rolls, as well as the publicity of the film.
Shanta Apte (1916–1964) was an Indian actress-singer who worked in Marathi and Hindi cinema. Renowned for her roles in films like Duniya Na Mane/Kunku (1937) and Amar Jyoti (1936) under the Prabhat Films banner, she was active in Indian cinema from 1932 to 1958. Apte's impact on Marathi cinema "paralleled" that of Kanan Devi in Bengali cinema. Along with Kanan Devi, Apte is cited as one of the "great singing stars" from before the playback singing era. Apte began her career in films playing the role of a young Radha in the Marathi film Shyamsunder (1932). She joined Prabhat Films acting in her first Hindi language film Amrit Manthan in (1934).
Abhagin is a 1938 Hindi film directed by Prafulla Roy for New Theatres Ltd., Calcutta. A bilingual, it was made in Bengali language as Abhigyan. The film was based on a story by Upendranath Ganguly, with dialogues by A. H. Shore. R. C. Boral provided the music composition with lyrics for the Hindi version by Munshi Arzu, and by Ajoy Bhattacharya for the Bengali. The screenplay was by Phani Majumdar for whom it was his first independent film as a scriptwriter. Bimal Roy, who was to make a name for himself as a prominent Bengali and Hindi director, was the cinematographer for the film. The cast included Molina Devi, Prithviraj Kapoor, Vijay Kumar, Nemo and Bikram Kapoor.
Bibbo was a music composer, singer and actress who worked in both Indian and Pakistani films. She acted in Indian cinema from 1931 to 1947 before moving to Pakistan, following Partition of India in 1947. She started her acting career with Ajanta Cinetone Ltd. in 1933, working with directors like M. D. Bhavnani and A. P. Kapoor. She was one of the top leading ladies of the 1930s along with actresses like Devika Rani, Durga Khote, Sulochana, Mehtab, Shanta Apte, Sabita Devi, Leela Desai and Naseem Banu. She was referred to as "one of the most important female stars of the 1930s and 1940s". Her fame had her featured in the lyrics of a popular song from the film Gharib Ke Lal (1939) sung by Mirza Musharraf and Kamla Karnataki, with music by Sagheer Asif and lyrics by Rafi Kashmiri. "Tujhe Bibbo Kahoon Ke Sulochana", where Sulochana referred to another popular actress of the time. This was the first time a song featuring famous actors was used in the lyrics of a film song.
Bhai-Bhai (transl. Brothers) is a 1956 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by M. V. Raman for A. V. M. Productions. It had screenplay by Javar Seetharaman, with Hindi screen adaptation of the Tamil film Ratha Paasam directed by C.V. Sridhar. The music director was Madan Mohan, with dialogues and lyrics written by Rajendra Krishan. One of the popular songs from the film was "Ae Dil Mujhe Bata De", sung by Geeta Dutt, "in an unabrasive fast tempo". The song became one of Madan Mohan's earliest hits, and the music of the film in journalist-author Bharatan's words, went on to "conquer the box office".
Nastik is a 1954 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film written and directed by I. S. Johar. It was produced by Filmistan Ltd.. Its cinematographer was Dronacharya, and the choreography was by the Indian classical dancer Lachhu Maharaj and Narendra Sharma. The dialogues were by Mrs. Ramma Johar. C. Ramchandra composed the music while the lyricist was Kavi Pradeep. Known for his "patriotic" lyrics, Pradeep's "immortal" song "Dekh Tere Sansar Ki Haalat Kya Ho Gayi Bhagwan" sung by him, remains popular. The film starred Nalini Jaywant, Ajit, Raj Mehra, Ulhas, Mehmood and Roopmala.
Karan Dewan was an Indian cinema actor in Hindi films. He worked in over seventy films from 1941 to 1979. He started as a journalist while still in college, editing a film-based magazine in Urdu. His brother was the film producer and director Jaimani Dewan.
Rehana was a film actress who predominantly worked in Indian and Pakistani cinemas. She was known as both The Queen of Charm and The Dancing Damsel of Bombay. She worked in leading roles in films such as Sagai, Tadbir, Hum Ek Hain, Shehnai, Sajan, Samrat and Sargam.
Khalil was an Indian cinema actor of silent and talkie films. He achieved stardom with silent films like Gul-E-Bakavali (1924), Kulin Kanta (1925), and Lanka Ni Laadi (1925) which was a major success commercially. His other successes included Cinema Queen (1925) with Sulochana, Draupadi (1931), and Daily Mail (1930). Khalil is referred to as the "macho hero".
