This is a fun clip I found on YouTube that begins with a bunch of pics of South Indian (mostly Tamil) film stars, then shows Sayee Subbalakshmi dancing in Alibaba and the 40 Thieves. And this is a unique Sayee Subbalakshmi clip because three quarters into the video, Sayee and Subbalakshmi are actually labeled, so those who don’t know yet can see which one is which!
Speaking of Sayee Subbalakshmi, Sayee’s son S. Ratchagan has been writing to this blog for the past couple of days, providing a lot of good history about Sayee and Subbalakshmi and their family (which includes some very interesting singers, etc., as well), as part of long-ongoing comments to a post about this great dancing duo that I originally put up back in October 2008. Some people have already seen these latest comments because they are linked to from the comments list on the sidebar, but for those who haven’t, I very much recommend visiting that old post now for a lot of information that you probably haven’t read before. (Plus we have been promised yet more – which I am very much lookiing forward to!)
Thank you so much not only for the Sai-Subbalaxmi dance but also the lovely melodies by Bhanumati. She is also a really nice singer. At one small glance there is a lot of information. Will read word-to-word after a little break. You haven’t seen Azaad? That is also a nice movie and stars Dilip Kumar and quite a young Meena Kumari. I’ve seen it and liked it a lot. In fact, I think it is available to watch online. Shouldn’t be difficult to find……
Who are the singers of the Sayee-Subbalaxmi song?
Hi, Vidur. I did see Azaad (I have the DVD), and in that film, as I said once before, the best thing was Sayee-Subbalakshmi:
http://roughinhere.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/the-main-reasons-to-see-azaad-1955/
Azaad was OK, but I liked the Dilip-Meena combination more in Kohinoor, among other films.
I wouldn’t describe Azaad as having “quite a young” Meena Kumari… Some of her best films, like Madhosh and Baiju Bawra, were made a few years earlier.
Have you seen Lal Haveli (1944)? I’ve seen scenes from that… Now that is quite a young Meena Kumari! :)
I’ll get back to you re. the singers in the song above…
Yes, I have seen Lal Haveli and it’s one of my favourite movies. I liked Baby Meena Kumari a lot too. She also sang a line in her voice which was a bit shaky. I also enjoyed Kohinoor a lot for its comedy, dances, songs, performances, hero and heroine.
Also, when you hear Swarnalata’s Salam Babu in Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum, you can see a very young Waheeda Rehman. How different she looks! She is native to Chengalpattu in the state of Tamilnadu, which is why she probably started with Tamil movies. Also, I admired Bhanumati a lot. She’s simply great. I enjoy the music of this film a lot. Hope I’ll get it sometime.