I posted this first song, from Dilruba (1950), a while back and it was also one of the songs that influenced me, on the spur of the moment, to call my YouTube site “LifeIsaTrain.” Then, more recently, I was reminded of this wonderful song at Atul’s Bollywood Song A Day. Musically, this is one of my favorite Geeta Roy/Dutt songs (composed by Gyan Dutt, whose music I’d like to hear a lot more). But I love this song not only for the music but also the visuals… I’m grateful to this song for introducing me to Rehana.
That, however, was not her first train song. Her breakthrough film was Shehnai (1947). The song below also features the first duet between Geeta Roy and Lata Mangeshkar (and was also, so I’ve read, Lata’s first song for C. Ramchandra):
Speaking of famous duets, this must be one of the sweetest-sounding duets of all. It is Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood in “Mohabbat Mein Aise” from Sagai (1951), and there’s Rehana again:
And she got to dance to a nice 1949 duet sung by Shamshad Begum and Mukesh. (And by the way, I read somewhere that the actor in this film was just not as famous as Rehana at the time…)
Here she is in a great scene from another movie I’m going to have to watch sometime, Sargam (1950):
Unfortunately, Rehana kind of peaked in the early ’50s, and by 1955, she wasn’t doing so well, so she decided to try her luck in Pakistan. But there, she got to be in only a couple of real hit movies. Here she is in one of them, Aulad (1960):
As far as I know, the last film she appeared in was Dil ne Tujhe Maan Liya (1963). She supposedly had seen much better days by now, but I am very fond of the dance that I found from this one! (Unfortunately, the only clip I could call up has embedding disabled. But you know what to do – just click the window…)
There is a very informative post at Uppserstall (from where I shamelessly took her picture). Appaerntly, Rehana was quite a sensation for a while. She was not konwn as a very good actress but as a good dancer, often of a somewhat scandalous bent. (Some stuffy elitists even claimed she was vulgar. Compared to some of the stuff in my last post… Well, I find that hard to imagine!) She also is known as the first “Jhatka queen” (any good definitions appreciated).
When Rehana’s glory days ended, she ended up living a quiet life, and now she lives in seclusion. That’s a familiar story, but it doesn’t have to be a bad one. (Often when I read about stars who end up as recluses, I feel envious. If only I could afford to become a real recluse some day! I got into that sort of conversation with someone recently when talking about Shyama.)
Hello
looks like a lovely post..and haven’t got time to watch it! but will do so soon, i promise.
its because i am still in London, btw.
Bawa, I thought you were still away on your trip when you sent this, so I was surprised to see any comment at all from you yet. Anyway, thank you for the nice words, even if based on only a partial viewing. Hope you are back to say more soon!
Do you have an opinion of the film Bhoothnath? I really liked it when it first was released last summer. Based on what you’ve written here, I think you would like Bhootnath. Click here if you’d like to check out my site. Cheers!
Hi. Sorry, not interested in this film, and I can’t see what it has to do with Rehana and these films above. Given the lack of connection, I have to wonder if you’re spamming me (no offense if you aren’t, though). Still, your site might have some useful Bollywood information, so I don’t mind the referral here.
richard, i realise I have started commenting again, but didn’t tell you i was back; but as I am still with the film project, and also painting the living room, and a dozen other things…have not had time to watch all the posts. But will catch up.
London was great, and the trip was very successful. I also got interviewed by a local channel that broadcasts on the internet, if they warn me in time I shall let you know the time and date in advance.
It took me a few days to catch up on comments myself. Welcome back, Bawa. Glad to hear that the trip to London went so well. I hope you are able to let me know about the time and date of the interview. (BTW, will this be a YouTube-posted, taped appearance, like the kind that I’ve seen of both Memsaab and Dustedoff, or is it a streamed kind o thing?)
Thanks for the info, Richard!
When I used to read her name in the encyclopedia (or was it just a list of hindi movies) I always used to wonder, how she looked, since I’d never ever seen amovie with her.
Now Iknow a lot much more, thanks to you!
a great blog, should visit more often!
Is it Dulari in Shehnai?
During the times,w e didn’t know her name, my brother used to call her, ‘the one who appears from behind the door’.
Thank you for the nice words, Harvey – much appreciated.
I don’t know about whether Dulari is in Shehnai. She’s not in the cast list that I looked at. I don’t know much about what Dulari looks like… I thought she might be the mystery woman whom Memsaab pointed out in Shair (because I looked at a list for that and knew about five of the actresses and had narrowed it down to two…), but Memsaab said that wasn’t Dulari. So, probably, your guess on this one is better than mine. :)
The actress in Shehnai is definitely Dulari. She also danced with Rehana and Mumtaz Ali (Mehmoods father) in the song “Ana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday” in the same film – the song which marked the westernization of music in Hindi films by C. Ramchandra
Thanks for the info, Sami. I didn’t know that was Dulari and Mumtaz Ali (Minoo Mumtaz’s father!)…
Can someone pl upload original video songs of rangili 1952 featuring rehana & raaj kumar?
Madhav, thank you for visiting this post from 5 1/2 years ago! Hopefully, soon I will upload – or re-link to – the songs that disappeared from this post. :) I just checked YouTube, and there are some audio copies of songs from Rangili, but I don’t see a film clip. (You may have found that out yourself, too.) I don’t know if anybody is going to fulfill your wish and upload an actual video from that film. Maybe they aren’t available?