**Sadabahar Geet Thread#1** ||Invitees only|| - Page 98

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Wow! This is an amazing discovery for me! Thanks for sharing, Madhu!

Do you know the name of the actress? Is this from a Pakistani movie?

The great combination of Ustad Nazir Ali & Madam Noor Jahan, as well as Firdous actress, Pakistani actress.

Here's another Lata- Suraiyya duet from Balam (1949)

Music: Husnlal Bhagatram

Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un7P3UGZCrs&list=TLGG4gNVuMD3PAAyODAxMjAyMg&t=7s

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Babe have you read my Naushad tribute? (Links on page 1) 😎😳

I surely need to catch on this! 🤩 Thanks for letting me know about it 😳

Some time back, it was birth (or death ) anniversary of Manna Dey, couldn't manage to come here that day but this song on my mind for quite some time after that. It's quite a well known song so it might have been posted on this thread earlier, but still posting it again as it is one of the most timeless classic of Manna Dey ❤️

I had listened to this song first when I watched the movie Meri Surat Teri aankhe. A different movie with Ashok Kumar in lead role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vh8_1ruoRo

Born: 1929 in Lahore, Punjab, British India [now Pakistan]

Died: January 31, 2004 (age 75) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

The Melody Queen Of India--The distinctively talented Suraiya, Indian cinema's queen of melody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkH92UBpI18&list=RDpkH92UBpI18&start_radio=1&rv=pkH92UBpI18&t=4

Suraiya was born in Lahore in 1929. In 1941, she paid a visit to Mohan Studios, where the film "Taj Mehal" was being shot. A child played a part in this film. Mr. Nanubhai Vakil, the director, proposed she play the role, and she agreed to face the camera for the first time. The shot was deemed acceptable in the first take itself!

Her singing career found a mentor in music maestro Naushad. Suraiya had participated in a children`s program on All India Radio after friend Raj Kapoor and neighbor Madan Mohan had cajoled her. Naushad heard Suraiya on the radio and chose her to sing for Mehtab in Kardar`s Sharda, 1942. Suraiya had to stand on a stool to reach the mike to croon Panchi ja, picturised on the much-older heroine, Mehtaab.

When Mehtab, a popular heroine at the time, first saw Suraiya, a 13-year-old girl, she was apprehensive to have her as her playback singer, but after hearing her, she wanted Suraiya to sing all of her songs in her films.

She was effectively launched as a singing star in Bombay Talkies Humaari Baat (1943). She made her presence felt in perhaps India's first multi-starrer K.Asif's Phool (1944) and played strong supporting second lead roles to Noorjehan in Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Munawar Sultana in Dard (1947). Suraiya had her moments with Socha Tha Kya, Main Dil Mein Dard Basa La Aayee and Man Leta Hai.

She was starred opposite the legendary K.L. Saigal in three of his later films - Tadbir (1945), Omar Khaiyam (1946) and Parwana (1947), the last remembered for her haunting rendition of Jab Tumhi Nahin Apne.

Her pairing with the then superstar Dev Anand was a huge hit and the two went on to star in many successful movies together - Afsar, Shayar and Jeet et al. They were romantically linked and were all set to marry when her strict grandmother put her foot down and broke their relationship.

The heartbroken Suraiya never married, though many leading men of her time were interested in her..

Surraiya's idol was Gregory Peck and he visited her by surprise during a night of 1954 while in transit at Mumbai on his way to Sri Lanka for shooting. He was much impressed by her simplicity.. Dev Anand molded himself in the postures of Gregory Peck.

The 1948-49 phase saw her rise to her peak. With Pyar ki Jeet (1948), Badi Bahen (1949) and Dillagi (1949) she became the highest-paid female star of her time. At her peak, Suraiya generated hysteria, shop owners would down their shutters to see her starrers on the first day itself, crowds would throng outside her residence at Marine Drive in Bombay just to get a glimpse of her and actor Dharmendra recalls going to see Dillagi 40 times!

Mirza Ghalib made in 1954 saw her finest dramatic performance as she made alive and vivid the role of the married Ghalib's lover, a courtesan. Ghalib also saw some of her finest singing - Aah ko Chaihiye Ek Umar, Nuktacheen Hai Gham-e-Dil, Dil-e-Nadaan Tujhe Hua Kya Hai, Yeh Na Thi Humari Kismet etc. Her singing is till date regarded as the definitive Ghalib.

Her greatness can be judged by these comments. "You have put life in the soul of ‘Mirza Ghalib’", " Tumne Mirza Ghalib ki Rooh ko Zinda Kar Diya" (she had brought Mirza Ghalib to life) were the remarks of PanditJawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister.

The Hollywood legend Gregory Peck was keen to meet Suraiya. In connection with the shooting of some film he happened to visit Mumbai where he was honored by the great actress by meeting him

Shama (1961) was a musical hit and her last film was Rustom Sohrab (1963), which also boasts of one of her finest ever songs - Yeh Kaisi Ajab Dastaan Ho Gayi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j85uH5ffEWM

She held her own against legends like Nurjehan, Zohrabai Ambalewali, Amirbai, and even Begum Akhtar. Her career lasted only 20 years, yet the quality of work she has left is astounding.

"She was a vibrant young girl, always ready to burst into laughter, a quality she preserved till her end," music maestro Naushad recalls of this celebrity.

Naushad Ali said, she entered the film industry at the very tender age of 9; literally accompanied by her grandmother who remained a strict and powerful influence and chaperone throughout her career.

“She sang in films like Dillagi, Dastaan, Nadaan, Dard, Deewana, Anmol Ghadi. Her unsophisticated voice was her specialty,” he analyses. “Her natural tonal quality was very good. She was gifted with a naturally melodious voice. Hers could be called non-professional singing, but her pick-up was very good and she learned things quickly. She retired too early, she could’ve sung a lot more.”

Suraiya was declared the first Melody Queen (Malika-e-Tarannum) in the sub-continent and much later Noor Jehan was awarded with the same title.

Aah Ko Chahiye Ek Umar Asar Hone Tak....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmCKNeqYc7A

Suraiya was vivacious and had a passion for literature.

Suraiya: Malika-e-Husn (queen of beauty)

With her arresting almond-shaped eyes, Suraiya, the lovely melody queen created aura with her popular numbers like 'tu mera chaand, main teri chandani' ,'dil-e-nadan, tujhe hua kya hai' and 'woh paas rahe ya door rahe' .

When one looks back at this great singer's career, one hears tunes like 'nain diwane,"man mor huwa matwala,' and the spectacular 'woh paas rahe ya door rahe nazaron mein samaye rehte hain'; frothy numbers like 'tarari tarari,' sentimental numbers like 'tu mera chand,.

She held her own against legends like Nurjehan, Zohrabai Ambalewali, Amirbai, and even Begum Akhtar. Her career lasted only 20 years, yet the quality of work she has left is astounding.

But any reference to Suraiya would be incomplete without a mention of her fabled romance with her co-star Dev Anand.

“When I entered the industry,” he reveals, “she was already a big star, she was a lovely person, a good singer, very friendly, her singing was effortless."

“I particularly recall her singing the songs of Anil Biswas one of the very fine music composers of that time. And I’d sit and listen. I don’t know what to say what can one say when anyone dies-one feels sorrow. I remember I had cried when our relationship broke up. We had lost touch and gone our separate ways and this was a closed chapter in my life.” He revealed." -How cruel love was!

So much agony she had in her singing!

As an actress, Suraiya had an edge over her contemporaries Kamini Kaushal and Nargis because she could sing her own songs. After three hits Pyar ki jeet (1948), Badi Behen, and Dillagi (1949), she became the highest-paid female star.

In the late 1940s, she worked with Dev Anand. While shooting during the film Vidya, she became romantically involved with Dev Anand. The two of them were paired in seven films together: Vidya (1948), Jeet (1949), Shair (1949), Afsar (1950), Nili (1950), Do Sitare (1951) and Sanam (1951), all of which were successful at the box office. In these films, Suraiya had been always the first-biller in the credits, indicating that she was a bigger star than Anand.

She fell in love with him during the shooting of the song Kinare kinare chale jayen ge from the film Vidya—while shooting the scene, the boat they were in capsized, and Anand saved Suraiya from drowning.

See that song --- Kinare Kinare....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6IX--5YGI4

Their entire affair was conducted in a clandestine manner, with friends like Durga Khote and Kamini Kaushal going out of their way to engineer secret rendezvous. On the sets of the film Jeet, Anand finally proposed to Suraiya and gave her a diamond ring worth Rs 3,000. Her maternal grandmother opposed the relationship as they were Muslim and Anand was Hindu, and so, Suraiya remained unmarried.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8sxkm7CcKY

Along with an emotionally fluid performance where her expressions of love, expectation and hurt just seemed to merge into one another, the queen of cadence also recorded what is still regarded by many as the definitive Ghalib.

After many years, later rendering her voice, she also sang for Nimmi in Shama (1961) besides singing for herself, because the other singer Suman Kalyanpur failed to dub her portion of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqSJ6q6K58

https://youtu.be/R8sxkm7CcKY

Naushad Ali, Husnlal – Bhagat Ram and Khursheed Anwer played significant roles in Suraiya’s career but such stalwarts as Anil Biswas, S.D. Burman and Ghulam Mohammad also enhanced her popularity as a singer. Then there were other music directors she teamed up with just once or twice but rendered some extremely melodious

Suraiya has the rare honor to work with many other singing-stars of her time including Noor Jehan (Anmol Ghadi), C.H. Atma (Bilwamangal), Talat Mahmood (Maalik and Waris), Mukesh (Mashuqa), K.L Saigal (Tadbeer, Omar Khaiyyam and Parwana) and Surendra (1857 and Anmol Ghadi).

Though she left the screen when she was only 34, Suraiya was featured in more than 60 films. Her last appearance was in another historical drama, Rustom Sohrab, (1963), in which she starred as Princess Tehmina, wife of the legendary Persian hero of the title, played by one of the father figures of Indian cinema, Prithviraj Kapoor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ8OHCAAqKw&list=RDpkH92UBpI18&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXt5CIs1s6w

Let us pay our tributes by remembering her melodious songs friends.❤️

A melodious memorable duet by Suraiyya and Mukesh who did not have many duets to their credit--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni8x2h4a6_8

O. P. Dutta, director-writer, the only living director (when she died) to have worked with her (in Pyar Ki Jeet) remembered her: "Suraiya, Bano to me, was a bundle of unforgettable qualities. A sublime voice, the ring in the voice, the perfect diction, the effortless rendering. But she always insisted that she was no singer... There were congratulations all around (on her success in his film). But Suraiya insisted she was no great shakes as an actress. The argument was over when she gave a sterling performance in Bari Behen. The success made Suraiya smile that unforgettable smile that could send a thousand hearts aflutter. She was right at the top and I was very happy for her."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-XmZgp9cJ0

Thank you for that nice compilation of facts about Suraiyya on her death anniversary, Madhu.

I had a massive crush on Gregory Peck growing up - my dad introduced me to many of his movies, and he would often relate anecdotes about how Dev was insecure about Suraiyya's obsession with him, and tried to model himself on Peck so his lady love would stay enamoured of him. 😆

Greg Peck, IMO, was a complete gentleman actor. All of his co-stars and directors had only good things to say about him. And he immortalized characters like Joe Bradley and Atticus Finch I cannot ever get over how stunning he and Audrey were in Roman Holiday. They don't make them like them anymore.

I love these Suraiyya-Talat duets. I think they complemented each others' voices perfectly.

❤️

Rahi Matwale - Waris (1954)

Music: Anil Biswas

Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi

This contains all 3 versions including the Suraiyya solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B29b5ccmwMA

Mann dheere dheere gaye re - Maalik (1958)

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86X8ojU_J8E

Dil-e-nadaan tujhe hua kya hai - Mirza Ghalib (1954)

Music: Ghulam Mohammad

Lyrics: Mirza Ghalib

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQfQlSaUMt4