Pradeep Kumar - Meena Kumari - the most royal pair of the millennium.

Pradeep Kumar – Meena Kumari – the most royal pair of the millennium.

Whenever the elegant pair of actors and actresses of bollywood films are thought about the combination of Raj Kapoor and Nargis, and Dilip Kumar and Vaijayantimala gets the privilege. Their combination gave the greatest hits of bollywood history and Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor being stars, their stardom reached Europe and Middle-East, so their hit films were the most famous films in the 50s and 60s like Awaara or Madhumati.

But whenever reference comes about the most royal pair of bollywood films, Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari’s name comes at the beginning. Pradeep Kumar acted in around 6 films with Madhubala, including Rajhath (1956), Yahudi Ki Ladki (1957), Gateway of India (1957), Police (1958), Mahlon Ki Khwab, (1960) and Passport (1961). But other than Rajhath and Gateway of India the other films did not do impressive business.

In the early 50s, he acted opposite Meena Kumari in the film Bandhan. They also acted in the film Adil – e – Jahangir. But the pair actually got accolades from refined viewers with the film Aarti in 1962 under Rajashree Productions. In the film, their characters were noble, they came together to serve the poor. Ashok Kumar played the role of materialistic doctor who came in the way for his affection towards Meena Kumari. From that time the combination of Pradeep Kumar, Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar, composer Roshan Lal Nagrath and singer Mohammad Rafi resulted in magic. All the songs of Aarti composed by Roshan and sung by Rafi were majestic in nature catering to the tastes of cultured audience including “ab kya misaal doon mai tumhare shabab ki”, “baar baar tohe”, “aap ne yaad dilayatha to mujhe yaad aya”, etc.

Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari acted together in Kidar Sharma’s Chitralekha in 1964. Pradeep Kumar played the role of royal Samanta Beejgupta during the famous Gupta age. Roshan and Rafi combination again created magic with the legendary bhajan “man re to kahe na dheer dhare”.

Pradeep Kumar, Meena Kumari and Ashok Kumar came out with another triangular love story in the film Bheegi Raat in 1965. It was Kalidas’s film. The film had powerpact performances of all the three. The Roshan Rafi combination again created gold with the songs “jane yeh kaun hai”, “dil jo na keh saka”, etc., which became super hit. Singers in the 80s and 90s who sang Mohammad Rafi's songs used to make a point of singing "dil jo na keh saka" which just grew in popularity with passage of time.

In 1967, Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari acted in two films of M. Sadiq, namely Bahu Begum and Noorjahan. Again Roshan Rafi combination was at their best. In Bahu Begum, along with Rafi’s “hum intezar karenge”, Manna Dey showed his brilliance in the qawallis picturised in dargas, and Lata was brilliant in the song “duniya kare sawal”. Ashok Kumar was sublime in performance in a sacrificing role opposite Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari. Pradeep Kumar balanced Meena Kumari with his orthodox urdu talafoos which learned and adapted with time.

In the 70s, with the death of Meena Kumari, and the retirement of Pradeep Kumar from lead roles, the royal style of romantic stories faded away which were prevalent during the golden era. All the films of Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari combination require preservation and restoration for the romantic appeal, royal style of performance, elegance and superlative class of music.

The music of Gumraah stormed bollywood in 1963.

The music of Gumraah stormed bollywood in 1963.

Many films in the 60s were known for their everlasting music. The tunes had remained immortal in the minds of the viewers and for those reason the film also did brilliant business. Gumrah was one of those films released in 1963 whose music had remaining evergreen.

It was a film of BR Chopra who had given thoughtful films like Kanoon and Dhool Ka Phool before. His films used to have very strong social messages. In this film Sunil Dutt, Mala Sinha and Ashok Kumar played the lead roles.

Although Sunil Dutt loved Mala Sinha and both met each other in hill station, their relationship did not end up in marriage. Mala Sinha married a famous lawyer played by Ashok Kumar in the film. Sunil Dutt was a painter in the film.

Shashikala approached Mala sinha and said that she was the wife of Sunil Dutt. She wanted to inform Ashok Kumar about the intimacy of Sunil Dutt and Mala Sinha. On that issue she blackmailed Mala Sinha. At the end of the film Mala Sinha came to know that Shashi Kala was Ashok Kumar’s secretary and Ashok Kumar did the act to convince Mala Sinha to restore matrimonial home. He did not like her intimacy with Sunil Dutt.

The music composed by Ravi in the film was of very high class. His soft romantic tunes were given adequate expression by Mahendra Kapoor. The landmark songs included “chalo ekbaar phir se ajnabee ban jaye humdono”, “in hawawo me in fizayon me tujhko mera pyar pukare”, “ yeh hawa yeh hawa ye hawa”, etc.

Probably Mahendra Kapoor sang the best songs of his life in the films of BR Chopra including Gumrah, Humraaz and Waqt. Almost all those songs were composed by Ravi who received a number of filmfare awards for his excellent music during the 60s. The film did excellent business too. The film and the songs should be restored.

Aarti was a musical blockbuster of early 60s.

Aarti was a musical blockbuster of early 60s.

Bollywood films reached its zenith during the 60s. Director Phani Majumdar directed a classic film Aarti in the early 60s with Pradeep Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari.

Meena Kumari and Ashok Kumar became doctors together. Ashok Kumar went abroad for further studies and after return opened a clinic in West Bengal. Pradip Kumar saved Meena Kumari when she fell in a river in West Bengal while going to a relief camp after a natural calamity. From that time Meena Kumari was impressed with Pradeep Kumar.

Meena Kumari married Pradeep Kumar even after knowing that she had to live in a joint family along with Pradeep Kumar’s father played by Jagirdar and brother played by Ramesh Deo. Ashok Kumar wanted to marry Meena Kumari but due to disinclination showed by Meena Kumari the relationship did not mature.

At the end of the film Pradip Kumar met with a serious accident and required operation. Ashok Kumar was the only competent surgeon in the region to do the operation. Meena Kumari inspite of her differences relied on Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar had the scope of showing negligence and killing Pradeep Kumar. Instead he fulfilled the liabilities and responsibilities of a responsible doctor. As part of consideration she asked Meena Kumari to live happily with Pradeep Kumar and his family.

The most striking feature of the film included its superlative music. Roshan composed the tunes and Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote the lyrics. Rafi’s songs “ab kya missal doon mai tumhari shabab ki”, Rafi Lata’s duets like “baar baar mohe kya samjhaye” and “aapne yaad dilaya to mujhe yaad aya” stormed bollywood in the early 60s. Rafi was at his best and the lyrics were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Pradeep Kumar was known for acting in historic films like Taj Mahal, Anarkali, Anandmath, etc. When he was cast in a social drama, Pradeep Kumar depicted the character of a middleclass Indian very well. He later got a job and showed his submissiveness before Meena Kumari. Meena Kumari was probably the most powerful actress of the classic age, that is the 50s and 60s. She as usual reached the depth of the character. Ashok Kumar was sublime in his individual role. The character artists in the film like Shashi Kala, Rajender Nath, Mehmood played their role in style. The film did great business. The film should be restored for its superlative music and powerful performances of the artists in the film.