Thanks to the Shalin Bhatt for those videos. Lalita Pawar is one of my favorite actresses – as I know she is for a few other people out there – but, of course, we know her in somewhat different kinds of roles. But here is Lalita in her glamorous youth, years before the notorious slap that gave her a crooked eye… And it is so nice to hear her sing, too!
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Richard,
You are terrific as usual. These songs bear the style of the New Theatres, Calcutta. So, before Bombay finally prevailed, Calcutta was the Gold Standard in music! The first song has some likeness to Main ban ki chidiya ban ke ban ban dolun re
Nice, Richard! Thank you for unearthing these. I’ve seen some of those old photos of Lalita Pawar’s, but haven’t heard her singing (except for that little bit in Professor, where she sings Premnagar mein basaaoongi ghar mein). Such a treat, these.
Fabulous finding!
A real treat! Though can’t really differentiate her sound from that of the others from that era.
AK, “terrific”?! You are too kind… And, yes, I can hear what you mean regarding the Calcutta sound. Madhu and Harvey, thank you for the nice words too – I agree, these are a treat!
Richard,
I found in Shalin Bhatt colloction, a Wazir Jan(?) song from possibly around 1907. I posted it once but the link disappeared and posted the new link again. I remember checking once in Michael Kinnear’s book that it is from that period. But I am not sure since finer details involve lot of cross-checking and talking to the experts. In any case, I like the song and am glad to find it again. Thanks
When Lalita Pawar was typed as (typical) villainous mother-inlaw, Hrishikesh Mukherjee had cast in her two of the most caring motherly roles in Anadi and Anand..
Such coleections do ceratinly go to bring the important aspects of history of Hindi Cinema to the digital archives for all generations to savor.
Lalita Pawar was indeed very beautiful in her youth and looked very glamorous.She got negative roles as well as some memorable roles in Anari,Shree 420 and many other films.Who could forget Mrs D’sa(Anari) and Matron from “Anand’……