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sd burmanSD Burman had experimented with different singers during his tenure in bollywood films including Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle. Among them he had special respect towards Lata due to her melodious voice. Lata had sung the songs “piya to se naina lage re” and “aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai” composed by SD Burman, extraordinarily which gave a new dimension to the film Guide in 1965, picturised on Wahida Rehman. Her song “rulake gaya sapna mera” brought tears in the eyes of listeners in the film Jewel Thief, in 1967, picturised on Vaijayantimala.

Lata was sublime in her performance in Tere Ghar Ke Saamne in the song “yeh tanhai haie re hai”, and the duet song “dekho rutha na karo” with Rafi, composed by SD Burman wchih was picturised on Nutan. The film Abhimaan in 1973, was based on music and Lata’s performance in each of the songs were unique, including the songs “tere mere milan ki”, “teri bindiya re” which were sung by Kishore and Rafi also. Jaya Bacchan gave immortal lips in the legendary songs in the film.

SD Burman had given landmark songs to Lata also in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Chupke Chupke in 1975. the film was based on the story portrayed in Uttamkumar’s Choddobeshi, and the bengali actresses Jaya Bacchan and Sharmila Tagore tried to maintain the Bengali flavour in the film. Lata’s song “chupke chupke” was very big hit.lata mangeshkarIn Bimal Roy’s Sujata and Bandini, SD gave folk tunes to Lata and in both these films the songs played a significant role for their success. Songs like “mora gora anng laile”, sung by Lata had not lost its appeal even today. SD Burman had lot of love and respect for Geeta Dutt as he gave songs like “jane kya tune kiya”, “waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam”, picturised on Wahida Rehman which became very famous during the 50s. Similarly SD had given landmark songs to Asha including “raat nashili hai”, in Jewel Thief, picturised on Tanuja, “acchaji mai hari” the duet song of Asha and Rafi in Kala Pani, 1958.

But whenever he thought about the song which would mark his identity Lata’s name automatically came in his mind. His songs in Milli, like “maine kaha phoolon se”, or the song “dil pukare are are are” from Jewel Thief, shows that SD Burman also believed that Lata was indispensable in the golden age of Indian film music. The songs composed by SD Burman and sung by Lata should be restored and preserved.
HelenHelen had contributed a lot in bollywood films from 50s to 70s with her powerful dancing. In the early 50s, most of the actresses did not learn specialised dancing and as such the films required Cuckoo, and other dancers to fill up the vacuum. But Helen, encouraged composers to create music in the manner which suited her dancing style.
HelenIn Gumnam, in 1965, she got a positive role, being one of the many members who were trapped in an unknown island and killed one after the other. In that film also Shankar Jaikishan had composed the song “is duniya me jeena hai to sunlo meri baat” in a typical manner which suited her choreographic skills. She also acted well in the film showing the anxiety of the character. She also performed in the mujra composed by Roshan, titled “nikele the kahan jane ke liye” in the film Bahu Begum, which was sung by Asha. In Teesri Manzil, in 1966, her dance number opposite Shammi Kapoor, titled “woh haseena zulfowali” composed by RD Burman, and sung by Asha and Rafi, became an everlasting hit.

She also acted in prominent roles like the partner of Mehmood, in the film Pyar hi Pyar, where the central characters included Dharmender and Vaijayantimala. Shankar Jaikishan, even procided the orchestration in the song “muqabla humse na karo’ in the film Prince, where Helen performed the western dance number against Vaijayantimala who performed the eastern dance number. Shammi Kapoor complimented both of them with his rock and roll style of dancing.
HelenIn the 70s, Helen performed in mostly dance numbers, like “piya tu ab to aja” in the film Karwan, sung by Asha, composed by RD Burman, “mehmooba, mehbooba, in Sholay, etc. Very significantly the acting skills of Helen were not exploited to that extent by most producers and directors. But whenever she got good roles she had done well. For example she performed the role of the mother of Meenakshi in Big B's Akela, and done well. At the same time she acted mostly in negative roles, including the role opposite Rajesh Khanna in Mere Jeevan Saathi. Viewers expect Helen to act in character roles in the films made in the years to come, as it is evident that she had not lost her acting potentiality and still can contribute in recent films.
Farooq SheikhFarooq Sheikh appeared in the 70s in bollywood films and brought a new dimension of refined commercial films. He mainly acted in films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Sai Paranchpe, who were involved with realistic films.

He acted in Saath-Saath, opposite Dipti Naval, and portrayed the complexity of life of middle-class person. After education is completed in many parts of India, it is not easy to get jobs, and when one gets any job, the slaray is not adequate to maintain a family. The songs in the film mainly sung by Jagjit Singh, including “tumko dekha to yeh khayal aya”, “yeh tera ghar yeh mera ghar”, etc., were well appreciated by critics and the mass.

Farooq SheikhIn Katha, which was serio-comic film, he played the role of the friend of Naseer, who lived in a flat complex. His character was exactly opposite to the character of Naseer, who was honest, god-fearing and truthful. He went on telling lies one after the other and the resident in one of the neighbouring flats, Deepti Naval, believed them and married him on such belief. The film had many comedy instances like the time when Farooq Sheikh went to a neighbour’s house and praised her son to get a cup of tea, while Naseer, did fifty separate jobs in the room of old neighbour, just to get some milk which he used to make tea.

Farooq Sheikh was elegant in innocent characters as well, the character he played in Kisi Se Na Kehna, opposite Dipti Naval, where his father Utpal Dutt wanted to get him married to a village girl, who was simple and believed in traditional values. He took the help of Saeed Jaffry to falsely state that Deepti Naval, who was a doctor to be a village girl. Utpal Dutt agreed to solemnize the marriage and that belief and the intellectual comedy impressed all sections of audience.

Farooq SheikhFarooq Sheikh also portrayed the character of legendary writer Sarat Chandra Chatterji in TV channel in the episodes shown on Srikanto. He acted with Sujata Mehta in the respective episodes. His other successful films include Umrao Jaan, opposite Rekha. His way of asking questions was so impressive that the TV program Jeena isi ka naam hai, which was initially conducted by him where he brought various bollywood personalities, lost a number of audience from the time he left it. He is expected to make a comeback in bollywood films in character roles in future.

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