Cinema: The Magic Lantern!!

'तितली उड़ी उड़ जो चली, फूल ने कहा आजा मेरे पास, तितली कहे मैं चली आकाश' The legendary playback singer and music director Sharda Rajan Iyengar 'The butterfly’ flew far away, from where nobody ever returns. Millions of her fans are inconsolable, as if they are crying 'Don’t go away, stay my love: चले जाना, ज़रा ठहरो (Around the World) . Sharda had done playback singing for many superhit Bollywood films in her vivacious, youthful and melodious voice like the tinkling of temple bells. Her musical journey began with Rajendra Kumar-Vyjayanthimala starrer golden-jubilee "Suraj" (1966) and continued till her end, be it playback singing/music-direction, pop music/ghazals/bhajan albums or grand musical events etc. Sharda's full name was Sharda Rajan Iyengar and she was born on 25 October 1933 in a Vaishnava Iyengar family of Kumbakonam (Thanjavur district), Tamil Nadu. The family first shifted to Chennai and then to Mumbai. She received training in Sanskrit and ...

  Suman Kalyanpur, a shy girl, has fragile and thin voice as sweet as the honey. She carved herself a secure niche as a singer with her sonorous voice and accurate use of vocal octaves. Her soft warbling voice suited to the romantic ditties. Her singing of melodies like ‘Dil Gham Se Jal Raha’ (Shama), ‘Mere Mehboob Na Ja’ (Noormahal) and ‘Haal-e-Dil Unko Sunana Tha’ (Fariyad) reminds us of an era when songs were sublime and filled with purity. She has a mild tremolo in her voice which made her singing huskier and more enchanting. Her skills and tastes were both towards soft, melody-based numbers. She never sang Cabarets, Mujras or any songs with lyrics or situations wherein the visuals would have offended one’s sensibilities. She has a special knack for folk based songs. Even with a relatively limited repertoire, she has given some evergreen nuggets: The zingy ‘Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche’ (Brahmachari), the dreamy ‘Theheriye Hosh Mein Aa Loon’ (Mohabbat Isko Kehte Hain), ...

  Tributes on his 42nd Death Anniversary The angel of music, Mohammed Rafi with unique tonal voice, with versatility and crystal clear intonations rendered thousands of heart-warming songs. These varied from fast peppy numbers to classical songs, lamenting melodies to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to patriotic songs. He poignantly brought out emotions with his exquisite melodious and mellifluous voice for over seven decades. Goddess Saraswati’s abode was in his sublime divine voice. In Baiju Bawra, he demonstrated his virtuosity while in ‘Pyasa’ he gave the evocative power to the lyrics. Though he did make a partial transition to a more playful style as in Junglee, he was too closely wedded to the classical tradition to wander too far from it. Celebrities have fans but Mohammed Rafi had worshippers, who have built “Temples” in his sweet remembrance. Mohammed Rafi was born as Pheeku to Hajji Ali Mohammed and Allah Rakhi on 24 December, 1924, in the villa...