A Song Performed By Carmen Miranda and Vasunthara Devi aka Vyjayanthimala’s Mother

Ten Favorite Songs and/or Dances from The Year 1947

The year of independence and partition was also obviously a great year for music and dance in Indian films. So here we go with ten of my favorite music/dance sequences from one of my favorite years for such things, as my way of saying happy anniversary of your independence (but too bad you had to break up, too).

(By the way, with this last one, to get the dance that qualifies, you’ll have to go to 5:35. I tried, but I don’t think there is any way to start a YouTube video at a specific point in a WordPress blog. But I certainly could not leave this song off the list!)

Five Favorite Dances to the Voice of Rajkumari

Mostly solos, a couple of great duets, half mujras, half street or theater performances, some on familiar visual terrain and some extremely unusual-looking… But all really good dance sequences from the 1940s or early ’50s, featuring the sweet, unmistakable voice of Rajkumari.