1958: The year of Helen's arrival, the Asha-Madhubala juggernaut and Madhumati’s magic

Shakti Samanta’s noir film Howrah Bridge released in 1958. The film starred Ashok Kumar and Madhubala in the lead roles and was based in the city of Calcutta. With a sizzling music score and some fine performances, the film was a hit at the box office. A more important outcome of the film was that it catapulted the dance artiste Helen into the limelight because of her performance in the song, ‘Mera Naam Chin-Chin-Choo’.

Helen had acted in films as a chorus dancing girl from the early 1950s. She herself claims that her first film was Shabistaan (1951), which was directed by Bibhuti Mitra. Her first solo dance was in K Amarnath’s Alif Laila (1953). ‘Mr John, Baba Khan’ from the 1957 film Baarish, which starred Dev Anand and Nutan, was her first acclaimed song. However, it was only with ‘Mera Naam Chin-Chin-Choo’ that Helen truly arrived. Writer and author Jerry Pinto contextualised Helen’s appearance in the song, that later made her such a phenomenon, in his National Award-winning book, Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bom.

Jerry Pinto in Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bom

Her use of English establishes her westernisation, underlined by the dress she is wearing, the honky-tonk music, and the way she dances with the sailors, those international symbols of the serially monogamous male, reputed to have a ‘girl in every port’. The basic outline of the Helen figurine was born.”

Another fine song from Howrah Bridge was the Asha Bhonsle chartbuster, ‘Aaiye Meherbaan’. The song was picturised on Madhubala, who plays club dancer Edna in the film. This was a bit of a golden year for the Asha Bhonsle-Madhubala combination as the playback artist sang a number of hit songs for the talented actress in 1958. Bhonsle also sang the foot-tapping ‘Yeh Kya Kar Daala Tuney’ in the same film for the actor. Then in Raj Khosla’s Kala Pani, Asha Bhonsle and Mohammed Rafi sang the memorable duet ‘Achha ji Main Haari Chalo Maan Jaao Na’, which was picturised on Madhubala and Dev Anand. In the upcoming episode ofThe Golden Years: 1950-1975 Javed Akhtar says,“Asha ji sang many lovely, beautiful songs for Madhubala. Perhaps it was Madhubala’s naughty smile, her coquettish behaviour, it used to go very well with Asha ji’s voice. Asha Bhonsle’s voice suited Madhubala perfectly.”

The magic continued in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), which had the Ganguly brothers—Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Anoop Kumar—come together for the film.  Besides the many melodious and quirky songs in the film such as ‘Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si’, ‘Hum Thay Who Thee Aur Sama’ and ‘Babu Samjho Ishaarey’, Bhonsle sang the duets ‘Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka’ and ‘Main Sitaaron Ka Taraana’ with Kishore Kumar for Madhubala. But the song with which Bhonsle most worked her magic for Madhubala was in Phagun (1958). Based on a story of caste conflict, Phagun’s song ‘Ek Pardesi Mera Dil Le Gaya’, which was performed by Madhubala’s character for her banjara community’s livelihood, became very popular.

Phagun’s story was set in the rural hinterland somewhat like the Bimal Roy-directed Madhumati (1958). Bimal Roy made many great films as a director including Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Devdas (1955), Sujata (1959) and Bandini (1963), but few could match the commercial success of Madhumati. While Phagun had a small element of rebirth in it, Madhumati was a full-blown tale of reincarnation and revenge. Music composer Salil Chowdhury did a fantastic job with the film’s score as he beautifully captured the idyllic, folk setting of the film in his compositions. From the haunting nature of ‘Aaja Re Pardesi’, to the zany ‘Jungle Mein Mor Naacha’, to the lilting ‘Zulmi Sang Aankh Ladi’, to the absolutely cathartic ‘Tootey Huey Khwaabon Ne’, there was a song for every mood in Madhumati.

Akhtar says that Madhumati is among the top three or four romantic films ever made in Hindi cinema. ‘Even after Bimal Roy’s death, Madhumati’s success provided for his family.The earning from this film continue even today. It is a terrific film,’ says Akhtar. But the success of the film can also be gauged by references to it in later years. In the 1971 film Guddi, Jaya Bhaduri’s character sings ‘Aaja Re Pardesi’ at a party in the film. Interestingly, Guddi’s director, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was a Bimal Roy protégé and had worked as an editor on Madhumati. More recently, the ending of Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, which starred Shah Rukh Khan and released in 2007, was inspired very much from Madhumati’s climax.

Watch The Golden Years: 1950-1975 with Javed Akhtar this Sunday at 8 pm to learn more about the many fine Hindi film songs from 1958.