Parties, Sarees and Melodies has a poll up now. One of the questions on there was to pick the best movie soundtrack of the 1950s, at least among those that have been posted to that blog. That was a very, very tough choice for me, but I picked one. And it wasn’t one of the three great ’50s soundtacks from Shankar Jaikishan (no, not Awaara, Shree 420, or Chori Chori). It wasn’t Navrang, either, much as I love that one. When I had to make a final decision, I just had to pick this:
(That’s Sadhna, 1958. Starring Vyjayanthimala, Sunil Dutt, many others. Music director N. Dutta. Vocals Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Mohammed Rafi, Balbir…)
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P.S. Fortunately, that poll has an initial question for which you can pick ten favorite albums – for which I did pick all of the above-mentioned… But there was a whole lot of other great stuff coming out of Bollywood in the ’50s too. And some incredible muisc from Kollywood also (as I think I’ve said before)…
The songs fit the movie so perfectly too, and the lyrics are pure poetry by Sahir Ludhianvi. Good choice!
Thanks for the nod :) , and for mentioning the lyricist. I neglect to say who writes the lyrics; I guess most people do. The lyrics do look great, from what I’ve seen in subtitles.
Another excellent find Richard! Thanks for the tip! :)
Sita-ji, you are welcome – very happy to give any helpful tips to the person who first tipped me off about Naya Daur!
By the way, not sure if you saw Howrah Bridge, but some of that O.P. Nayyar music is very reminscent of Naya Daur…including the cabbie wedding clip that I posted the other day (“Gora Rang Chunariya”). I think you would also appreciate the lyrics, which are strangely relevant to a little conversation that went on at Bollywood Food Club recently…
yes Richard! I must add Howrah Bridge to my “to watch” list.
And I picked up on the comment from “Gora Rang Chunariya” related to our discusion of lady dacoits….”I’m related to a gangster, he taught me to steal.” LOL