It was a Suraiya solo

Suraiya Jamal Sheikh was mononymously credited as Suraiya.

And the first three letters of her name spelled Sur, which means ‘melody’.

So, it was an apt name.

Not only did she act in the 1950 film Dastan, but she also happened to be the only female singer credited on its soundtrack.

The only song from the film in my collection was Ae Shama Tu Bata.

It happened to be a Suraiya solo.

The man who wrote the song was Shakeel Badayuni.

And it was composed by none other than Naushad Ali (mononymously credited as Naushad).

Rafi Saab ne akele gaaya

Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi was better known as Khayyam.

But at the beginning of the composer’s career, he adopted the pseudonym Sharmaji, which was one half of the music director jodi, the other being Varmaji (a.k.a. Rahman Varma).

One of the films for which Khayyam composed the music as Sharmaji was Biwi, which released in 1950.

The only song from the film in my collection was Akele Mein Woh Ghabrate Toh Honge.

It was written by Wali Saheb.

In congruence with the first word in its title, it was a solo – Mohammed Rafi sang it.

 

Mukesh’s fans loved this Du(e)t(t)

Kidar Nath Sharma – also known as Kidar Sharma – was a producer, director, and writer of dialogue, screenplay and songs.

He did all five of these in a film titled Bawre Nain, which released in 1950.

There was just one song from the film in my collection.

It was titled Khayalon Mein Kisi Ke.

The song was a duet – the two people who lent their voices to it were Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhury (who would go on to be known as Geeta Dutt) and Mukesh.

It was widely regarded as composer Roshan Lal Nagrath’s first hit.

This song marked Talat's debut

Although I referred to the subject of the previous song as one of Talat Mahmood’s breaks as a playback singer, the subject of this one is regarded as the first song he rendered, because the film it was from – Arzoo (1950) – released before Anmol Ratan*.

The song in question was Ae Dil Mujhe Aisi Jagah Le Chal.

It happened to be the singer’s only contribution to the soundtrack of the film.

The song, which was penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri, (Bis)was composed by Anil, who mentored Mahmood in Mumbai.

(*Note: Arzoo released on June 16, 1950.)

Lata sang with newbie Talat

There is no two ways about the fact that Talat Mahmood was one of the Anmol Ratan (precious jewels) of playback singing in the first half of the Golden Era of Hindi films (i.e., the 1950s).

Interestingly, in 1950, a film of that italicised name released, and it was among Mahmood’s first breaks.

The only song from the film in my collection was Yaad Aane Wale.

Lata Mangeshkar joined him behind the microphone for the Vinod composition.

The song was written by D N Madhok, who also penned the story and screenplay of the film.