The Minoo Mumtaz Compilation Album

8/14/2019 The Minoo Mumtaz Compilation Album

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THE MINOO MUMTAZ COMPILATION ALBUM

PREAMBLE RAMBLE

What can be said about Minoo Mumtaz that hasn't already been said?

Everything - because just about nothing has ever been written about her.

And nothing - because there's nothing available from which to gather anyinformation.

What is known about Minoo Mumtaz?

She's Mehmood's sister. And that's it. We don't know when or where shewas born, anything about her family, childhood, dance training, earlyacting experiences, marriage (if any), children (if any), or even if she's stillwith us in the land of the living. All we have to go on is what remains inthe films. That's a lot, for sure, but it's not nearly enough.

She appeared as a fully mature actress and dancer in 1955 and appearedin 47 films, if IMDB's record is to be trusted. 1959 was her peak year whenshe appeared in 10 movies. After 1964 her career was just about over,

appearing in only 6 movies afterwards, and in no year more than onemovie. So, effectively, her career lasted only 10 years. In some films sheonly acted, 1958's Yahudi, 1960's Bindya, and 1961's Chote Nawab beingthree examples. She often was paired with the male comic, and providedquite a bit of comedy herself, in dialog and sometimes with the dancing.She was often the female lead's best friend. And at least once she was thebaddie (1959's Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan). But she's best known todayfor her glorious dancing. Whether a mujra, dancing as part of a qawaali, an


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item number or cabaret, classical or filmi, she mastered them all, and it'smostly for these dances that this DVD is being created.

WHY THIS DVD?

Mr. Naidu of the Helen compilation DVDs gets full credit for inspiring me tobegin creating my own compilation DVDs. He is absolutely correct thatthese kinds of DVDs haven't been released by the Indian DVD productioncompanies so far, and it's high time someone did something about that. Iown quite a few compilation albums myself. There are Lata MangeshkarDVDs, and also DVDs for Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar,and other singers. I have a Guru Dutt DVD, featuring songs from his films,and a DVD featuring songs from Nasir Hussain films. I have onecompilation DVD of something similar to those we've begun to put out, aShammi Kapoor DVD. BUT, none of these DVDs are definitive in anysense. They aren't greatest hits DVDs or greatest songs DVDs, or anythingof the sort. The Shammi Kapoor album features songs from only a few of his films, and it doesn't include many of his best songs. The problem, Ithink, is rights. One company might hold the rights to some films, anotherto other films, and another yet to more films. No single company can puttogether a real 'Best Of' DVD of some composer's or singer's work, or anan actor or actress or dancer's best work. This is a problem that we'independent' DVD producers don't have. We can use the full range of available DVDs to create what we like.

Much thanks goes to Mr. Naidu for inspiring me in this endeavor, and alsoto the classic Indian film bloggers to whom I owe so much. Most don'tknow me because I don't comment on their writings, but I'm sure there aremany other people out there like me, reading, learning, getting ideas forfilms to watch, and getting our craving for things having to do with Indian


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film satisfied by their writings, without commenting on what they read. Thewriters to whom I'm indebted include, but are not limited to, Richard of DANCES ON THE FOOTPATH, Memsaab of MEMSAABSTORY, dustedoff of DUSTED OFF, and Ritu Chandra of MAN PANCHHI ALBELA (who I wishwould write more because she's outstanding).

THE DVD I'm not a writer and don't have a blog. One of my hobbies is videoencoding. Indian DVDs are notoriously bad, the worst in the world.Whatever can go wrong on a DVD goes wrong on Indian DVDs. There arelots of reasons for this, and there are many things that can go wrong andI'll be discussing a few of them as this goes along. But since most out theredon't understand the where's and why's of video, but only understand thatthe picture is blurry or that movement is jerky, I won't go into too muchtechnical detail. Rest assured, though, that I've done all I can to improvethe video quality, even though often the source DVD is so horrible that notmuch can be done.

I have most of the DVDs that feature Minoo Mumtaz. There are a couple of DVDs I don't have, and a few more VCDs, which don't interest me.

YouTube features a couple of videos I wish I had and could include in thiscollection, particularly videos from 1959's BLACK CAT and QAIDI NO. 911.

Although I do what I can with the video, when it comes to subtitles, I can'tdo much. I've changed all the fonts from the lousy ones the Indiancompanies use to a more uniform and better looking one. I've retimed allthe subs. I've improved the quality of the English used whenever possible.But when a sub makes no sense in English, there's not much I can do. Andwhen there aren't any subs for a song, there's not much I can do. I don'tspeak a word of Hindi. The Hindi speakers won't care at all about the


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presence or absence of subtitles, but I'm lost without them, and throwcurses daily at the incompetent Indian DVD production companies thatthink subtitling is complete when just the dialog has been translated (andpoorly at that). I decided not to create a subtitle menu. I've set them toappear automatically, but if you don't want or need them, use your

remote control to turn them off.

THE VIDEOS

I 'auditioned' probably 45 or so videos before settling on the 23 collectedhere. I had several guidelines, some of which I broke before it was over. Iwanted no more than one from each film, although she performs twice inmany movies, and I broke that guideline twice. I wanted a goodrepresentation of her work, without being too heavy on the Mujras,perhaps her speciality. I consciously looked for videos where sheperformed with someone else, another dancer or an actor. Naturally I


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wanted videos from the decent quality DVDs, but wasn't really able tokeep to that one, as several of her best are from below average DVDs.

And although I really wanted all subtitled videos, that wasn't possibleeither. Of course, someone else might pick different videos than I, but Ireally did the best I could at picking the videos I would want to watch,

and I hope at least some share my likes. What follows is more informationabout the videos than just the song and film name found in the menus.

1. Saakhiya Aaj Mujhe Neend Nahin AayegiPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Rehman, Guru DuttSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: Hemant KumarLyrics: Shakeel BadayuniFilm: Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, 1962Starring: Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt, Rehman, Waheeda Rehman

The first five videos in the collection are my five favorites, with the restscattered more-or-less at random. If I were forced to name a favoritevideo of the several thousand I've seen, it would probably be this one(unless I was in a different frame of mind, in which case I might chooseJAAN PEHCHAAN HO from 1965's GUMNAAM). There's nothing new orunique in this opinion. Many others before me have recognized just howgood this video is. In a long-running poll to name the best mujra

performance over at Bollywhat.com, this one lost out in the finals toMadurai Dixit's performance in MAAR DALA from the newer DEVDAS, nota bad showing considering that many more people follow the newerIndian films than the classics. Although some credit goes to the music andarrangement, the lyrics, the direction, the lighting and editing, in truth,the lion's share of the credit goes to the cinematography of V.K. Murthy.Here is a man that absorbed all he could from the German Expressionistsand from the later Film-Noir cinematographers like John Alton, and then


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distilled what he learned through his own experience to become thegreatest of all Indian cinematographers. For much of this video his camerais in motion, on rails moving along with the dancers, moving in and out toemphasize movement even when Minoo Mumtaz is sitting on the floor justmoving her arms around, and he even gets the camera off the ground and

into the air. He uses all three dimensions, very unusual in Indian film. Andwhen the camera pauses it's usually for effect, like to gaze at Rehman inhis perpetual drunken stupor. Sure, the support dancers being in theshadows is the most famous thing about this video, but there's intelligentthought involved in all aspects of the camera and light work. Just payattention to how the camera is moving while watching the video. Payattention to the lighting and shadows and realize that each scene wasmeticulously staged with a great cost in time and effort.

The film won Filmfare awards for Meena Kumari (Best Actress), Abrar Alvi(Director), V.K. Murthy (Cinematographer), and producer Guru Dutt (BestFilm), and was nominated in several other categories. Althoughconsidered a flop at the time, it has gained in stature over the years andtoday is recognized as one of the great films out of India's Golden Age of Films.

2. Gora Rang Chunariya KaaliPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Mehmood, MadhubalaSingers: Asha Bhosle, Mohammad RafiMusic: OP NayyarLyrics: Qamar JalalabadiFilm: Howrah Bridge, 1958Starring: Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, K.N. Singh, Om Prakash,Madan Puri, Dumal, Kammo, Sunder

Although she acted in other films with her brother Mehmood (ChotiNawab comes to mind), this is the only video of which I'm aware where


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she actually dances with him. This is very unfortunate because he wasone of the best of the male dancers from this period. Although I haven'treally seen anything recognizing this soundtrack as one of the best, it'sone of my very favorites, probably in my top 5. There's something aboutan OP Nayyar soundtrack that's very appealing to westerners such as

myself, and the movie has 2 absolutely iconic songs, Helen and GeetaDutt's Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu and the Madhubala/Asha Bhosle tune Aaiye Meharbaan Baithiye Jane Jaan. But it also has many more catchysongs of which this is one. I've read this is a marriage song, although Isee nothing about marriage in it. Madhubala is on the run from someoneshe thinks to be a bad guy but who is really tailing her as part of a policeinvestigation. She passes by this celebration and drops in, partly to enjoythe song and partly to hide out. Minoo is cute as a bug with her village girlcostume and she and her brother make a great couple in this uptemposong.

3. Bhooj Mera Kya Naam RePerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Dev Anand, ShakilaSinger: Shamshad BegumMusic: OP NayyarLyrics: Majrooh SultanpuriFilm: C.I.D., 1956Cast: Dev Anand, Shakila, Johnny Walker, Kumkum, MinooMumtaz, Waheeda Rehman

During the 1950's and early 60's India made a number of films that mightbe considered as 'Noirish' if not actual 'Film Noirs'. Perhaps the twomovies closest to being true Film Noirs would be this one and Baazi,although others such as Aar-Paar, Howrah Bridge, and Singapore also had


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Noir elements. Here, Shakila was absolutely furious with C.I.D. inspectorDev Anand for commandeering her car the previous evening to chaseafter some bad guys. She had grabbed the keys from the ignition andtossed them out of the car, and since it was dark and pouring down rainshe had been unable to find them. They spent an uncomfortable night in

the car, and awoke the next morning to find the local village belles leadby the mysterious Minoo Mumtaz ("Why not guess my name?") goingdown to the river for water (I think). As the songs winds down, Shakilafinds the keys on the ground outside the car and takes off, leaving poorDev stranded out in the middle of nowhere. The movie was a smash,becoming the most popular film of 1956.

This is another song featuring Minoo as a village girl, and that's perhapsmy favorite incarnation of her. One of the things I like best about thisvideo is the way Minoo works her hands around her upper body and face,We saw it in the first video when she was sitting on the ground in closeup, and we see it again here, especially in the second and third verses. Ihave no idea where this came from, but I don't think it's from anychoreographer since she does it in most of her dancing. Maybe she took itfrom some classical dance training she may have had. Perhaps she got itfrom the South Indian dancers like Padmini. Padmini is about the best I'veseen at this, but Minoo is no slouch. I have no idea if the handmovements are meant to illustrate the lyrics, if they're purely decorative,or a combination of both, but to me it's one of the most attractive aspectsof her dancing.

4. Reshmi Salwar Kurta Jaali KaPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, KumkumSingers: Shamshad Begum, Asha BhosleMusic: OP NayyarLyrics: Sahir LudhiyanviFilm: Naya Daur, 1957Starring: Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Ajit, Chand Usmani,Jeevan


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Let me preface my remarks by saying up front that I hate colorizing black and white movies - hate it with a passion. In this case, though, I decidedto swallow my disgust with this Shemaroo hatchet job and use thecolorized version. It wouldn't be so bad if they would just do what the

American company Legend Films does with their colorized films - include

the original and restored black and white version on a separate disc. Thenthose that preferred the original black and white version could watch thatone. Shemaroo wasn't satisfied with just foisting this piece of junk on us,but decided to cut out over 25% of the picture by making it 'widescreen'.So you get to watch a great movie cropped above and below so the entiremovie plays as a cramped and claustrophobic experience. And incompletely artificial almost day-glo colors! If watching on a standard 4:3TV set, you have the constant reminder of what they did because of thebig black bars above and below the picture. If watching on a widescreenHDTV, you get the double pleasure of having big black bars not onlyabove and below, but on the sides as well with a tiny video in the middle.Shemaroo, after making it 'widescreen' couldn't even bring themselves toencode it as 16:9, aka "Enhanced for widescreen televisions". Theenormous and atrocious Shemaroo logo has also been removed.

But there were a couple of reasons why I chose this version over the B+Wversion. One is that the VHS tape source for the NTSC B+W versionproduced a very poor quality DVD. The other is that the VHS used was aPAL VHS tape, while the Shemaroo DVD is made from the restored filmand is true NTSC. What this means is that the movement isn't speeded upby over 4% and the audio isn't a semi-tone higher and out of tune. As anaside, probably over 95% of the classic Indian films on DVD are madefrom 25fps PAL sources with speeded up and out of tune audio. Of the 23videos on this disc, 21 were made from DVDs that used PAL sources. At91% that's lower than the average, but is made up for by the fact thatone of the remaining two, the first one from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam from aBollywood Entertainment DVD, while it used a true NTSC source, fieldblended it to arrive at the required 29.97fps, rather than telecining it. Toomuch information, right? In any event, all of the other 21 videos on thisdisc have been slowed from their original PAL speed and the audio putback in tune.

Here we have Minoo playing the male role in a duet with the greatKumkum. And it's just delightful. OP Nayyar won a Filmfare award as BestMusic Director for his work on this one. The movie was a smash hit,coming in second in the box office for 1957, behind Mother India andahead of Pyaasa. It was also the second highest grossing film for theentire decade, second to the same Mother India.


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5. Jaanu Jaanu RePerformers: Madhubala, Minoo MumtazSingers: Asha Bhosle, Geeta DuttMusic: S.D. BurmanLyrics: Shailendra

Film: Insaan Jaag Utha, 1959Starring: Sunil Dutt, Madhubala, Nasir Hussain, Madan Puri,Minoo Mumtaz, Nishi

Two screen beauties cavorting amongst the heavy construction equipmentin the hot and dusty baseyard of a dam project, and the contrast couldn'tbe any greater. This is also one of the great female/female duets of alltime with Asha Bhosle making her voice sound more like that of her earlymentor, Geeta Dutt, as our two performers tease each other about theirboyfriends. Madhubala is paired with handsome Sunil Dutt while her bestfriend Minoo gets ... Sunder! The Eros logo has been removed as best Ican. There are 2 DVD versions of this film of which I'm aware. Don't getthe T-Series version. The T-Series is bad while the Eros one is merelymediocre.

I've spent a lot of words on the first five videos but will try and keep itbrief for the rest of them. The operative word is 'try'.

6. Yeh Duniya UsikiPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Devika (?), Raaj KumarSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: RaviLyrics: Shakeel BadayuniFilm: Gharana, 1961Starring: Asha Parekh, Rajendra Kumar, Raaj Kumar, ShubhaKhote, Agha, Minoo Mumtaz, Lalita Pawar


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Here Minoo gets to show off her classical dancing chops. This is a fine filmwith lots of Asha Parekh dancing, for the Asha Parekh fans reading this.Ravi won a Filmfare Best Music Director award for his work on this film.The film was very successful, becoming the 3rd highest grossing film inIndia in 1961, after Ganga Jumna and Junglee.

Unfortunately only the first two lines are translated.

7. Miyaan Meri Biwi MeriPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Johnny Walker, Ashok Kumar,MadhubalaSinger: Geeta Dutt, S. BalbirMusic: S. BalbirLyrics: Prem DhawanFilm: Ek Saal, 1957Starring: Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, Mehmood, Kuldip Kaur,Johnny Walker, Minoo Mumtaz, Madan Puri

Johnny Walker is a private investigator and Minoo Mumtaz is his secretary.Johnny's been hired by Ashok Kumar's girlfriend Kaldip Kaur to make sure


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he's not fooling around. He's a thief sent to steal Madhubala's father'smoney, but he's about to fall in love with Madhubala who has only oneyear to live (Ek Saal) because of a brain tumor. Even though both are bigcity sophisticates, here Minoo and Johnny dress up as travelingperformers to get the scoop on what's really going on between Ashok and

Madhubala. These two are probably my favorite comic couple, surpassingeven the Mehmood/Shubha Khote team. We'll see more of Johnny andMinoo later, and it was all I could do not to stick more of their songstogether into this DVD, because I like them so much.

Unfortunately, there were no subs for the songs on this DVD.

8. Ina Meena DikaPerformers: Kishore Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, VyjayanthimalaSinger: Kishore KumarMusic: RaviLyrics: Asad BhopaliFilm: Aasha, 1957Starring: Viyayanthimala, Kishore Kumar, Pran, Om Prakesh,Lalita Pawar, Minoo Mumtaz, Asha Parekh (uncredited)

I'll be the first to admit that this performance probably doesn't belong onthis DVD. It's not a solo performance, nor even a duet performance by

Minoo Mumtaz. But this song is so darned good, and all the performancesso energetic, and it's one of my favorites, so it's included. When you makeyour compilation DVD, you too can include whatever you like. Minoo doesprovide good comic and dance support for Kishore Kumar. Unfortunatelythis portion of the Ultra DVD is of very poor quality, and I did my best toremove their ugly logo, but opaque logos like this one can only bereplaced with a blur, pretty much.


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9. Chandi Ka BadanPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Jeevan, and some people I don'tknowSingers: Asha Bhonsle, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, SudhaMalhotra

Music: Roshan LalLyrics: Sahir LudhiyanviFilm: Taj Mahal, 1963Starring: Pradeep Kumar, Bina Rai, Jabeen Jalil, Veena, Jeevan,Minoo Mumtaz, Helen

This film was a pretty big hit in 1963, coming in second at the box officeto Mere Mehboob. And Music Director Roshan won the Filmfare award forhis work. If you can get past the wooden performances from the twoleads, it's not too bad of a film. It's the soundtrack, though, which earnsTaj Mahal its place in history. It's one of the best ever made, thanks tothe team of Roshan and Sahir Ludhiyanvi.

Unfortunately, color films from this era have fared even worse over theyears than have the black and white films. I did what I could, but it'spretty hopeless. The problem is that the colors, originally way too green,vary not just within the video, or from scene to scene, or even from frame

to frame. But they vary within the same frame. After doing what I couldyou'll still notice that backgrounds might be normal on the right side of the frame but pinkish on the left side. Or bluish on the right while pinkishon the left, as in the picture above. In addition, it's from a T-Series DVD.

As you might already know, T-Series may use one of three different sizedlogos to deface their DVDs, and this DVD uses the big one.Here we have Minoo and friends in a long qawaali, with some dancingthrown in for good measure


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10. Dil Ki Kahani Rang Layi HaiPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Guru DuttSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: Ravi

Lyrics: Shakeel BadayuniFilm: Chaudhvin Ka Chand, 1960Starring: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Johnny Walker,Minoo Mumtaz

This film was another success at the box office, placing fourth in 1960,behind Mughal-E-Azam, Barsaat Ki Raat, and Kohinoor. Although not allDVD versions of the film have the title song in color (the Moserbaerversion doesn't), most people are aware of that one song being in color.What fewer people know is that there was another song filmed in color,but only one DVD has it. It's the Eros version, one of the poorest qualityDVDs it's ever been my misfortune to see. Their version of the song wasmissing many frames. The audio quality was very bad also. I took theaudio from the better quality Yash Raj DVD and joined it with the fixed upcolor video from the Eros DVD. Because the Eros video was missing manyframes, the audio was longer than the video, and I used some of the

tricks of the trade to duplicate frames to put them back in synch. You canstill easily find places where the audio is out of synch, until a little whilelater I get them back in synch again. The color might look a little bit like itwas colorized, or that the video is 'cartoony' in appearance. This was theprice I had to pay to make the video presentable.


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11. Jaane Na DoongiPerformers: Meena Kumari, Pradeep Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, BelaBoseSinger: Lata MangeshkarMusic: Roshan

Lyrics: Sahir LudhianviFilm: Chitralekha, 1964Starring: Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari, Pradeep Kumar,Mehmood, Minoo Mumtaz, Achala Sachdev, Bela Bose

This is the other song that probably doesn't belong in this compilation, butI thought the dancing so spectacular that I had to include it. MeenaKumari sings to Pradeep Kumar while 4 dancers perform. Because someof the video focuses on Meena and Pradeep, I find myself yelling at thescreen for them to get out of the way so I can see the dancing better.Minoo Mumtaz is one of the dancers in pink, the one on the right inthephoto above, while her partner in pink is Bela Bose. I don't know thedancers in blue.

This is another one with screwy colors, at least for parts of it, and theremains of a big T-Series logo. Damn them!

12. Dil Humse Woh LagaayePerformers: Minoo Mumtaz and (?)Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Mubarak BegumMusic: NaushadLyrics: Khumar BarabankviFilm: Bara Dari, 1955Cast: Geeta Bali, Ajit, Pran, Chandrashekhar, Murad, Amir Banu,Minoo Mumtaz, Cuckoo


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In this, her first appearance in a film, she seems already to be a fullymatured actress. She already has those physical and mental attributesthat would mark her entire career - the willowy figure, the generousmouth, a ready and pleasant smile with the nearly perfect teeth, and thegrace and confidence which would make her a popular figure for the nextdecade.

Here's another qawaali to enjoy. The DVD is very blurry, but what can youdo? Except for one DVD version of Baazi, I have yet to see a decent DVDof a Geeta Bali movie.

13. Zulam LekePerformer: Minoo MumtazSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: Madan MohanLyrics: Rajendar KrishanFilm: Khazanchi, 1958Cast: Shyama, Balraj Sahni, Rajendra Kumar, Chitra, Manorama,

Anwar, Shammi, Minoo Mumtaz


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I have a confession to make. I enjoy watching Minoo Mumtaz perform amujra more than I do Vyjayanthimala. I freely admit that Vyjayanthimala isthe better dancer; I'd be a fool not to. In my opinion Vyjayanthimala is thebest dancer of the classic or any other era of Indian film. For me, it's aquestion of attitude. Vyjayanthimala is the best and she knows it. She'sust too arrogant for my tastes. Minoo Mumtaz always seems to beenjoying herself and always seems eager to please. She makes me feelmore comfortable, more at ease. There, I've said it.

14. Badla Sara Zamana BabuPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Johnny WalkerSinger: Asha Bhosle, Mohammad RafiMusic: C. RamchandraLyrics: Kavi PradeepFilm: Paigham, 1959

Starring: Vyjayanthimala, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Pandarabai,Motilal, Johnny Walker, Saroja Devi, Minoo Mumtaz


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This song looks very funny. I just wish I could understand it. But alas, nosubtitles. Minoo is in her comic country girl incarnation, performing withJohnny Walker. It's further evidence for her being Johnny's best partner, Ithink.

The film was a huge hit, the fourth in 4 years for the Dilip Kumar andVyjayanthimala pairing, and was the second biggest grosser of 1959,second to Anari.

15. Jaa Re Jaa RePerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Pradeep KumarSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: Madan MohanLyrics: Rajendar KrishanFilm: Duniya Na Mane, 1959Starring: Pradeep Kumar, Mala Sinha, Bhagwan, Sulochana, DaisyIrani, Sheikh Mukhtar, Helen, Minoo Mumtaz

Another mujra, but one of her best, I think. I'd rate it the second best in thiscollection, second to the one from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam that opened thiscollection. Just my opinion. There's some kind of an ugly logo I did my

best to get rid of.

16. Teri Gali KaisePerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Dev Anand, NadiraSinger: Lata MangeshkarMusic: Madan MohanLyrics: Rajendar KrishanFilm: Pocket Maar, 1956


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Starring: Geeta Bali, Dev Anand, Nadira, Madan Bhandari, Gope,Sunder, Lalita Pawar, Minoo Mumtaz

This one's a bit unusual among her dances. I guess it's a cabaret, sincethere's an audience. It's one of her early dances (from only her secondmovie) and she carries it off splendidly. Another Geeta Bali (and DevAnand) movie; another lousy DVD. I did my best to remove the uglyShemaroo logo. I did this one a while ago and would do a better job iftackling it today.

17. Jane Jana Yoon NaPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Dara SinghSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: G.S. KohliLyrics: AnjaanFilm: Faulad, 1963Starring: Dara Singh, Mumtaz, Minoo Mumtaz, Kamran, Randhir,Shyam Kumar


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After removing the ugly Shemaroo logo, unblending it and slowing it to theproper speed, and making a few other slight improvements, this DVDdoesn't look so bad, one of the better ones from which this collection wasgathered. It must have been tough being Dara Singh in hot India andunder the even hotter studio lights. His shirt is clean and dry at thebeginning but in no time at all he's drenched in sweat. No wonder he's allthe time bare-chested in his movies. Well, that and to make the ladiesswoon.

Here Minoo's working with the bad guys to get Dara to take a knock-outdrug, but she turns good soon afterwards.

18. Ukkad Dukkad BambaPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Shammi KapoorSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: O.P. NayyarLyrics: Qamar JalalabadiFilm: Basant, 1960Cast: Shammi Kapoor, Nutan, Pran, Johnny Walker, Minoo Mumtaz,Kammo, Cuckoo, Murad


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I prefer Minoo's other dance in this film. It reminds me of a 1950'sbeatnik-type modern dance of a kind you might have seen performed in aSan Francisco coffee house. Not taking into account the costumes andsetting as found in this film, of course. I used this one because it alsofeatures Shammi Kapoor who adds to any video in which he appears.Minoo appears as a tribal woman, the only film in which I can rememberher doing so.

Unfortunately, the DVD is very soft and blurry looking, with no subs forthe songs.

19. Chodo Chodoji Baiyan MoriPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, CuckooSingers: Lata Mangeshkar, Shamshad BegumMusic: NaushadLyrics: Khumar BarabankviFilm: Bara Dari, 1955Cast: Geeta Bali, Ajit, Pran, Chandrashekhar, Murad, Amir Banu,Minoo Mumtaz, Cuckoo


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This is the second video from Bara Dari in the collection, and although Itried to use only one video from each movie, I thought this film was worthincluding both of her videos. The other was included because it was herfirst time on screen; this one was included because here she's dancingwith the then reigning movie item number queen, Cuckoo. Here, as well

as with the earlier qawaali from the same film, the subtitles are very crudeand maybe incorrect, for all I know.

The song and dance isn't all that very different from her dance duet withKumkum in Naya Daur in that Minoo is also playing the male role in themale/female tug-of-war.

20. Thodi Der Ke LiyePerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Meena Kumari, Rajendra KumarSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: Madan MohanLyrics: Majrooh SultanpuriFilm: Akeli Mat Jaiyo, 1963Starring: Meena Kumari, Rajendra Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, Agha,Charlie, Ruby Mayer

I consider this one to be an absolutely outstanding cabaret number, not just one of Minoo Mumtaz's best, but one of the best, period. RajendraKumar is trying to romance Meena Kumari as it goes along, and herresistance does break down at the end, but you can ignore all that and

just concentrate on the dance. Although I dearly love her comic dances,something like this one shows she can be sexy, erotic even, when theoccasion demands. Just my opinion.


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21. Aaye Ho To Dekh LePerformer: Minoo MumtazSinger: Suman KalyanpurMusic: RaviLyrics: Prem Dhawan

Film: Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan, 1959Starring: Meena Kumari, Rajendra Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, HoneyIrani, Madan Puri, Asit Sen, Sunder

Another Meena Kumari/Rajendra Kumar starrer, but this time MinooMumtaz plays the baddie, a role similar to the ones Nadira played sooften. She has tricked Rajendra Kumar into marrying her and aftermarriage proceeds to go on a spending spree. Here she's throwing a partyfor her cat, and also provides the evening's entertainment in the form of her dance. He shows up right at the end, looking not at all happy.

22. Aji Chale AaoPerformers: Helen, Minoo MumtazSingers: Asha Bohsle, Lata MangeshkarMusic: Shankar, Jaikishen

Lyrics: ShailendraFilm: Halaku, 1956Starring: Ajit, Meena Kumari, Pran, Minoo Mumtaz, Raj Mehra,Helen


24/25

You'd think that there would be more Minoo Mumtaz/Helen duet dances,but this is the only one with which I'm familiar. Here we have a veryyoung 17 year old Helen dancing with a Minoo Mumtaz who's probablyabout 5 years older.

The DVD source is bad and there are no subs for the songs.

23. Soja Re ChandaPerformers: Minoo Mumtaz, Kishore KumarSinger: Asha BhosleMusic: Chitalkar RamchandraLyrics: Rajendar KrishanFilm: Aasha, 1957Starring: Viyayanthimala, Kishore Kumar, Pran, Om Prakesh,Lalita Pawar, Minoo Mumtaz, Asha Parekh (uncredited)


25/25

I had finished choosing the videos for this compilation, but some timeafterwards checked the total file size and found there was a little bit of room left over. So I went looking for a small video that was on my 'shortlist' that might fit. So this one sort of 'snuck in'. But maybe, after all theexciting dances, it's appropriate to end on a slow note and a lullaby/lori.

Even though this is from the same film (Aasha) as the very poor videoquality Ina Meena Dika, the quality of this one isn't so bad, even takinginto account the remains of the Ultra DVD logo.

EPILOGUE

That's about all. Thanks for reading and I do hope you enjoy the DVD.There will be some links coming up. If you want to contact me aboutvideo encoding, then PM me as 'manono' at either Doom9.org orvideohelp.com. If you wish to view movies and/or music videos I'veuploaded to video sharing sites, then you can find them undertommydan1 at either Veoh or DailyMotion. And maybe I'll be back on

YouTube some day. If you wish to ask questions about or make commenton this DVD, then use the post about this DVD at Richard's blog, DancesOn The Footpath.

LINKS:

The blogs referenced earlier:

Richard's: http://roughinhere.wordpress.com/Memsaab's http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/dustedoff's: http://dustedoff.wordpress.com/Ritu Chandra's: http://rituswanderlust.blogspot.com/

Video encoding sites:

Doom9 forums: http://forum.doom9.org/ Videohelp.com: http://www.videohelp.com/

My channels at video sharing sites:

Veoh: http://www.veoh.com/users/tommydan1DailyMotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/tommydan1
http://roughinhere.wordpress.com/http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/http://dustedoff.wordpress.com/http://rituswanderlust.blogspot.com/http://rituswanderlust.blogspot.com/http://forum.doom9.org/http://www.videohelp.com/http://www.videohelp.com/http://www.veoh.com/users/tommydan1http://www.dailymotion.com/tommydan1http://www.dailymotion.com/tommydan1http://www.dailymotion.com/tommydan1http://www.veoh.com/users/tommydan1http://www.videohelp.com/http://forum.doom9.org/http://rituswanderlust.blogspot.com/http://dustedoff.wordpress.com/http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/http://roughinhere.wordpress.com/

Documents

The Minoo Mumtaz Compilation Album