Syed Ammar Alavi

One of the most successful musical director duos in Hindi cine music industry, Kalyanji Anandji are renowned for composing some of the best melodies like ‘chandan Sa Badan’, Humne tujhko pyar kiya hai jitna’, ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas’, ‘Jeevan Se Bhari Teri Aankhen’, ‘Zindagi Ka Safar’, ‘Mera Jeevan Kora Kagaz’ and ‘O Saathi Re’, among many others. They always produced fresh, contemporary music in every decade of their career. A number of their songs also had a lovely blend of rhythm and melody. Finely balanced and truly versatile, is an apt summary of their style. Kalyanji teamed up with his musician brother Anandji to rule the hearts of Hindi film music lovers with haunting melodies for three decades. As a music director, his forte was melody, the perfect matching of tunes with the mood of the lyrics. Starting as an assistant to music director Hemant Kumar in the 1952 hit Nagin, and going independent with Samrat Chandragupta later, Kalyanji created melodies which do not lose t...

The talented actor Noor Mohammad, also known as Charlie, became the highest paid comedian of his time. Noor Mohammad belonged to the Memon community, and like many young men of his age, he was a great fan of Charlie Chaplin. He loved to walk and talk with Chaplin’s style and even had a tiny moustache like his ideal artiste from Hollywood. In its infancy, the Hindi film industry handed over the mantle of comic roles to one man, Noor Mohammad aka Baba Charlie. Later on, his version of Charlie Chaplin, complete with the walk, talk and moustache, became so popular that he added the moniker to his name and was called Noor Mohammad Charlie. The 1932 film Pak Daman Raqqasa, directed by B. R. Oberoi, introduced this most peculiar young character Baba Charlie, with nudges, prods and his individual hairstyle that took the nation by storm. Later, films like Chandarhasa, Premi Pagal, Nadra, Farzand-e-Hind, Toofan Mail, College Girl, Raat Ki Rani, Secretary, Thokar, Barrister’s Wife, San...