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.
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Thank you for this, Richard. I listened to this lot of songs while doing some writing this morning (and ended up having to rewrite a good bit of it, because I got so distracted)! :-) Lovely songs. My favourite would be the last one, which (after Aayega aanewaala) is probably my favourite from Mahal anyway. Am off to listen to it all over again.
Hi Richard – You might already know this, but I recently discovered that the dancer in the second video is Roshan Vajifdar! The credits say the dancer is her and the dance composition was done by her sister, Sherin/Shirin Vajifdar! It’s such an unusual South-North hybrid dance and setting.
Madhu, I am happy that my post distracted you so much. :) Yes, they are lovely songs, with lovely dances, too! The Mahal mujra is such a classic scene as well as a classic song…and is exactly the one I had in mind when I mentioned that some of the dances were “extremely unusual looking.” I can’t say it’s my second-favorite song in Mahal, because I think every song in that film that isn’t my/our favorite is tied for my second favorite. I love the Rajkumari depth-of-despair, pre-suicide/homicide song that comes later, but of course, there’s no dancing in that one.
Minai, no, I didn’t realize that this was Roshan Vajifdar or that Sherin Vajifdar had something to do with this, too. What a great coincidence! (I was inspired just now to look at the post I did a couple of years ago, where people connected to the Vajifdar Sisters wrote in with all sorts of good tidbits. Unfortunately, none of the clips are left in that one.) I was responding first to the beautiful music and the voice of Rajkumari and then I noticed there was a very good dance in this clip. (That’s all I knew – hadn’t seen the film, either.) Thank you for that very interesting information!
Two paintings of Roshan Vajifdar http://vintagesareeblouse.wordpress.com/category/dancer/
All of them are beautiful songs.
Singaar and Station Master songs were new.
Looked with more attention at the dancer in the Mahal song (since I’d seen the film some time ago). Very graceful and interesting choreography. Good sister combination.
Thanks Richard.
Swarup, thanks for the link. It’s been too long since I last went to that Vintage Saree Blouse blog, and it’s always great when I return to it. (I thought I had put it in the blogroll, but I don’t see it there. Well, I will have to add it soon.)
Pacifist, I am glad you agree that all these songs are beautiful! And, yes, agree re. all that you said about the Mahal scene, of course!