Barsaat Ki Raat
Encyclopedia
Barsaat Ki Raat is a 1960 Bollywood
film starring Bharat Bhushan
, Madhubala
, Shyama
, Mumtaz Begum
and K.N. Singh. It was directed by P. L. Santoshi.
This film was released in black-and-white and is widely considered to be a classic. The film became particularly popular for its qawwali songs and was one of the biggest hits at the box-office in 1960. The film was also one of the last to star celebrated actress Madhubala
.
The story features a number of innovative themes while maintaining the basic form of a love story. It has particularly strong female characters who are independent minded and choose their own loves and destiny. The conflicts are not so much between the wishes of the parents and children about whom to marry, as is a common theme in Indian movies, but it is on the more complex level of the conflicts among the main characters themselves and the duplicitous signals men and women send each other. The movie glorifies the lives of "singing girls" not often regarded highly in Indian society. Although it is set with Muslim characters, the movie seamlessly shows the universality of sensual love.
The songs are beautiful and the qawwali sequences sublime. The song and dance does not occur randomly as is so often the case in Indian movies filling a formula; instead it is an integral part of the story itself which involves a poet and singer as well as poetry competitions that were once common.
Although Madhubala gets top billing, the main character is played by Shyama.
About the music on this film:
Female singers: Asha Bhonsle, Kamal Barot, Lata Mangeshkar
, Sudha Malhotra
, Suman Kalyanpur
Male singers: S. D. Batish, Balbeer, Bande Hasan, Manna Dey
, Mohammad Rafi
Music Director: Roshan
Lyricist: Sahir Ludiyanvi
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film starring Bharat Bhushan
Bharat Bhushan
Bharat Bhushan was an Indian bollywood actor, scriptwriter and producer, who is best remembered for playing Baiju Bawra in the 1952 film of the same name. He was born in Meerut, and brought up in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.-Personal Life:...
, Madhubala
Madhubala
Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi, known by her stage name Madhubala was a Hindi movie actress. She starred in several successful movies in the 1950s and early 1960s, many of which have attained a classic status...
, Shyama
Shyama
Shyama was born Khurshid Akhtar in Lahore, British India on June 7, 1935 . She was a Bollywood actress. Her best known roles were in Aar Paar, Barsaat Ki Raat and Tarana....
, Mumtaz Begum
Mumtaz Begum
Mumtaz Begum is a former mayor of Bangalore, India. She was Bangalore's*first Muslim mayor,*fourth woman mayor,*43rd mayor and was elected on 30 November 2005....
and K.N. Singh. It was directed by P. L. Santoshi.
This film was released in black-and-white and is widely considered to be a classic. The film became particularly popular for its qawwali songs and was one of the biggest hits at the box-office in 1960. The film was also one of the last to star celebrated actress Madhubala
Madhubala
Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi, known by her stage name Madhubala was a Hindi movie actress. She starred in several successful movies in the 1950s and early 1960s, many of which have attained a classic status...
.
The story features a number of innovative themes while maintaining the basic form of a love story. It has particularly strong female characters who are independent minded and choose their own loves and destiny. The conflicts are not so much between the wishes of the parents and children about whom to marry, as is a common theme in Indian movies, but it is on the more complex level of the conflicts among the main characters themselves and the duplicitous signals men and women send each other. The movie glorifies the lives of "singing girls" not often regarded highly in Indian society. Although it is set with Muslim characters, the movie seamlessly shows the universality of sensual love.
The songs are beautiful and the qawwali sequences sublime. The song and dance does not occur randomly as is so often the case in Indian movies filling a formula; instead it is an integral part of the story itself which involves a poet and singer as well as poetry competitions that were once common.
Although Madhubala gets top billing, the main character is played by Shyama.
About the music on this film:
Female singers: Asha Bhonsle, Kamal Barot, Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
, Sudha Malhotra
Sudha Malhotra
Sudha Malhotra is an Indian playback singer. She also acted in some Bollywood films and as a play singer worked in popular Bollywood movies in the 1950s and 60s, like Arzoo, Dhool Ka Phool, Ab Dilli Door Nahin, Girl Friend, Barsat Ki Raat, Didi, Kala Pani, Prem Rog, Dekh Kabira Roya...
, Suman Kalyanpur
Suman Kalyanpur
Suman Kalyānpur is a female singer from India.Suman Kalyanpur aka Suman Hemadey was born on January 28, 1937 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, , her maiden name being Hemmady. In 1943, her family moved to Mumbai , where she received her musical training. She married Ramanand S...
Male singers: S. D. Batish, Balbeer, Bande Hasan, Manna Dey
Manna Dey
Prabodh Chandra Dey , better known by his nickname Manna Dey , is a playback singer in Bengali Assamese and Hindi films. Along with Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, he was a part of Indian film playback music from the 1950s to the 1970s. He has recorded more than 3500 songs over the course of...
, Mohammad Rafi
Music Director: Roshan
Lyricist: Sahir Ludiyanvi