THE MINOO MUMTAZ COMPILATION ALBUM

PREAMBLE RAMBLE
What can be said about Minoo Mumtaz that hasn't already been said?

Everything - because just about nothing has ever been written about her.

And nothing - because there's nothing available from which to gather any
information.

What is known about Minoo Mumtaz?

She's Mehmood's sister. And that's it. We don't know when or where she
was born, anything about her family, childhood, dance training, early
acting experiences, marriage (if any), children (if any), or even if she's still
with us in the land of the living. All we have to go on is what remains in
the films. That's a lot, for sure, but it's not nearly enough.

She appeared as a fully mature actress and dancer in 1955 and appeared
in 47 films, if IMDB's record is to be trusted. 1959 was her peak year when
she appeared in 10 movies. After 1964 her career was just about over,
appearing in only 6 movies afterwards, and in no year more than one
movie. So, effectively, her career lasted only 10 years. In some films she
only acted, 1958's Yahudi, 1960's Bindya, and 1961's Chote Nawab being
three examples. She often was paired with the male comic, and provided
quite a bit of comedy herself, in dialog and sometimes with the dancing.
She was often the female lead's best friend. And at least once she was the
baddie (1959's Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan). But she's best known today
for her glorious dancing. Whether a mujra, dancing as part of a qawaali, an
item number or cabaret, classical or filmi, she mastered them all, and it's
mostly for these dances that this DVD is being created.

WHY THIS DVD?

Mr. Naidu of the Helen compilation DVDs gets full credit for inspiring me to
begin creating my own compilation DVDs. He is absolutely correct that
these kinds of DVDs haven't been released by the Indian DVD production
companies so far, and it's high time someone did something about that. I
own quite a few compilation albums myself. There are Lata Mangeshkar
DVDs, and also DVDs for Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar,
and other singers. I have a Guru Dutt DVD, featuring songs from his films,
and a DVD featuring songs from Nasir Hussain films. I have one
compilation DVD of something similar to those we've begun to put out, a
Shammi Kapoor DVD. BUT, none of these DVDs are definitive in any
sense. They aren't greatest hits DVDs or greatest songs DVDs, or anything
of the sort. The Shammi Kapoor album features songs from only a few of
his films, and it doesn't include many of his best songs. The problem, I
think, is rights. One company might hold the rights to some films, another
to other films, and another yet to more films. No single company can put
together a real 'Best Of' DVD of some composer's or singer's work, or an
an actor or actress or dancer's best work. This is a problem that we
'independent' DVD producers don't have. We can use the full range of
available DVDs to create what we like.

Much thanks goes to Mr. Naidu for inspiring me in this endeavor, and also
to the classic Indian film bloggers to whom I owe so much. Most don't
know me because I don't comment on their writings, but I'm sure there are
many other people out there like me, reading, learning, getting ideas for
films to watch, and getting our craving for things having to do with Indian
film satisfied by their writings, without commenting on what they read. The
writers to whom I'm indebted include, but are not limited to, Richard of
DANCES ON THE FOOTPATH, Memsaab of MEMSAABSTORY, dustedoff of
DUSTED OFF, and Ritu Chandra of MAN PANCHHI ALBELA (who I wish
would write more because she's outstanding).

THE DVD
I'm not a writer and don't have a blog. One of my hobbies is video
encoding. Indian DVDs are notoriously bad, the worst in the world.
Whatever can go wrong on a DVD goes wrong on Indian DVDs. There are
lots of reasons for this, and there are many things that can go wrong and
I'll be discussing a few of them as this goes along. But since most out there
don't understand the where's and why's of video, but only understand that
the picture is blurry or that movement is jerky, I won't go into too much
technical detail. Rest assured, though, that I've done all I can to improve
the video quality, even though often the source DVD is so horrible that not
much can be done.

I have most of the DVDs that feature Minoo Mumtaz. There are a couple of
DVDs I don't have, and a few more VCDs, which don't interest me.
YouTube features a couple of videos I wish I had and could include in this
collection, particularly videos from 1959's BLACK CAT and QAIDI NO. 911.

Although I do what I can with the video, when it comes to subtitles, I can't
do much. I've changed all the fonts from the lousy ones the Indian
companies use to a more uniform and better looking one. I've retimed all
the subs. I've improved the quality of the English used whenever possible.
But when a sub makes no sense in English, there's not much I can do. And
when there aren't any subs for a song, there's not much I can do. I don't
speak a word of Hindi. The Hindi speakers won't care at all about the
presence or absence of subtitles, but I'm lost without them, and throw
curses daily at the incompetent Indian DVD production companies that
think subtitling is complete when just the dialog has been translated (and
poorly at that). I decided not to create a subtitle menu. I've set them to
appear automatically, but if you don't want or need them, use your
remote control to turn them off.

THE VIDEOS

I 'auditioned' probably 45 or so videos before settling on the 23 collected

here. I had several guidelines, some of which I broke before it was over. I
wanted no more than one from each film, although she performs twice in
many movies, and I broke that guideline twice. I wanted a good
representation of her work, without being too heavy on the Mujras,
perhaps her speciality. I consciously looked for videos where she
performed with someone else, another dancer or an actor. Naturally I
wanted videos from the decent quality DVDs, but wasn't really able to
keep to that one, as several of her best are from below average DVDs.
And although I really wanted all subtitled videos, that wasn't possible
either. Of course, someone else might pick different videos than I, but I
really did the best I could at picking the videos I would want to watch,
and I hope at least some share my likes. What follows is more information
about the videos than just the song and film name found in the menus.

1. Saakhiya Aaj Mujhe Neend Nahin Aayegi

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Rehman, Guru Dutt
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: Hemant Kumar
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Film: Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, 1962
Starring: Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt, Rehman, Waheeda Rehman

The first five videos in the collection are my five favorites, with the rest
scattered more-or-less at random. If I were forced to name a favorite
video of the several thousand I've seen, it would probably be this one
(unless I was in a different frame of mind, in which case I might choose
JAAN PEHCHAAN HO from 1965's GUMNAAM). There's nothing new or
unique in this opinion. Many others before me have recognized just how
good this video is. In a long-running poll to name the best mujra
performance over at Bollywhat.com, this one lost out in the finals to
Madurai Dixit's performance in MAAR DALA from the newer DEVDAS, not
a bad showing considering that many more people follow the newer
Indian films than the classics. Although some credit goes to the music and
arrangement, the lyrics, the direction, the lighting and editing, in truth,
the lion's share of the credit goes to the cinematography of V.K. Murthy.
Here is a man that absorbed all he could from the German Expressionists
and from the later Film-Noir cinematographers like John Alton, and then
distilled what he learned through his own experience to become the
greatest of all Indian cinematographers. For much of this video his camera
is in motion, on rails moving along with the dancers, moving in and out to
emphasize movement even when Minoo Mumtaz is sitting on the floor just
moving her arms around, and he even gets the camera off the ground and
into the air. He uses all three dimensions, very unusual in Indian film. And
when the camera pauses it's usually for effect, like to gaze at Rehman in
his perpetual drunken stupor. Sure, the support dancers being in the
shadows is the most famous thing about this video, but there's intelligent
thought involved in all aspects of the camera and light work. Just pay
attention to how the camera is moving while watching the video. Pay
attention to the lighting and shadows and realize that each scene was
meticulously staged with a great cost in time and effort.

The film won Filmfare awards for Meena Kumari (Best Actress), Abrar Alvi
(Director), V.K. Murthy (Cinematographer), and producer Guru Dutt (Best
Film), and was nominated in several other categories. Although
considered a flop at the time, it has gained in stature over the years and
today is recognized as one of the great films out of India's Golden Age of
Films.

2. Gora Rang Chunariya Kaali

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Mehmood, Madhubala
Singers: Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi
Film: Howrah Bridge, 1958
Starring: Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, K.N. Singh, Om Prakash,
Madan Puri, Dumal, Kammo, Sunder

Although she acted in other films with her brother Mehmood (Choti
Nawab comes to mind), this is the only video of which I'm aware where
she actually dances with him. This is very unfortunate because he was
one of the best of the male dancers from this period. Although I haven't
really seen anything recognizing this soundtrack as one of the best, it's
one of my very favorites, probably in my top 5. There's something about
an OP Nayyar soundtrack that's very appealing to westerners such as
myself, and the movie has 2 absolutely iconic songs, Helen and Geeta
Dutt's Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu and the Madhubala/Asha Bhosle tune
Aaiye Meharbaan Baithiye Jane Jaan. But it also has many more catchy
songs of which this is one. I've read this is a marriage song, although I
see nothing about marriage in it. Madhubala is on the run from someone
she thinks to be a bad guy but who is really tailing her as part of a police
investigation. She passes by this celebration and drops in, partly to enjoy
the song and partly to hide out. Minoo is cute as a bug with her village girl
costume and she and her brother make a great couple in this uptempo
song.

3. Bhooj Mera Kya Naam Re

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Dev Anand, Shakila
Singer: Shamshad Begum
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Film: C.I.D., 1956
Cast: Dev Anand, Shakila, Johnny Walker, Kumkum, Minoo
Mumtaz, Waheeda Rehman

During the 1950's and early 60's India made a number of films that might
be considered as 'Noirish' if not actual 'Film Noirs'. Perhaps the two
movies closest to being true Film Noirs would be this one and Baazi,
although others such as Aar-Paar, Howrah Bridge, and Singapore also had
Noir elements. Here, Shakila was absolutely furious with C.I.D. inspector
Dev Anand for commandeering her car the previous evening to chase
after some bad guys. She had grabbed the keys from the ignition and
tossed them out of the car, and since it was dark and pouring down rain
she had been unable to find them. They spent an uncomfortable night in
the car, and awoke the next morning to find the local village belles lead
by the mysterious Minoo Mumtaz ("Why not guess my name?") going
down to the river for water (I think). As the songs winds down, Shakila
finds the keys on the ground outside the car and takes off, leaving poor
Dev stranded out in the middle of nowhere. The movie was a smash,
becoming the most popular film of 1956.

This is another song featuring Minoo as a village girl, and that's perhaps
my favorite incarnation of her. One of the things I like best about this
video is the way Minoo works her hands around her upper body and face,
We saw it in the first video when she was sitting on the ground in close
up, and we see it again here, especially in the second and third verses. I
have no idea where this came from, but I don't think it's from any
choreographer since she does it in most of her dancing. Maybe she took it
from some classical dance training she may have had. Perhaps she got it
from the South Indian dancers like Padmini. Padmini is about the best I've
seen at this, but Minoo is no slouch. I have no idea if the hand
movements are meant to illustrate the lyrics, if they're purely decorative,
or a combination of both, but to me it's one of the most attractive aspects
of her dancing.

4. Reshmi Salwar Kurta Jaali Ka

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Kumkum
Singers: Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhiyanvi
Film: Naya Daur, 1957
Starring: Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Ajit, Chand Usmani,
Jeevan
Let me preface my remarks by saying up front that I hate colorizing black
and white movies - hate it with a passion. In this case, though, I decided
to swallow my disgust with this Shemaroo hatchet job and use the
colorized version. It wouldn't be so bad if they would just do what the
American company Legend Films does with their colorized films - include
the original and restored black and white version on a separate disc. Then
those that preferred the original black and white version could watch that
one. Shemaroo wasn't satisfied with just foisting this piece of junk on us,
but decided to cut out over 25% of the picture by making it 'widescreen'.
So you get to watch a great movie cropped above and below so the entire
movie plays as a cramped and claustrophobic experience. And in
completely artificial almost day-glo colors! If watching on a standard 4:3
TV set, you have the constant reminder of what they did because of the
big black bars above and below the picture. If watching on a widescreen
HDTV, you get the double pleasure of having big black bars not only
above and below, but on the sides as well with a tiny video in the middle.
Shemaroo, after making it 'widescreen' couldn't even bring themselves to
encode it as 16:9, aka "Enhanced for widescreen televisions". The
enormous and atrocious Shemaroo logo has also been removed.

But there were a couple of reasons why I chose this version over the B+W
version. One is that the VHS tape source for the NTSC B+W version
produced a very poor quality DVD. The other is that the VHS used was a
PAL VHS tape, while the Shemaroo DVD is made from the restored film
and is true NTSC. What this means is that the movement isn't speeded up
by over 4% and the audio isn't a semi-tone higher and out of tune. As an
aside, probably over 95% of the classic Indian films on DVD are made
from 25fps PAL sources with speeded up and out of tune audio. Of the 23
videos on this disc, 21 were made from DVDs that used PAL sources. At
91% that's lower than the average, but is made up for by the fact that
one of the remaining two, the first one from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam from a
Bollywood Entertainment DVD, while it used a true NTSC source, field
blended it to arrive at the required 29.97fps, rather than telecining it. Too
much information, right? In any event, all of the other 21 videos on this
disc have been slowed from their original PAL speed and the audio put
back in tune.

Here we have Minoo playing the male role in a duet with the great
Kumkum. And it's just delightful. OP Nayyar won a Filmfare award as Best
Music Director for his work on this one. The movie was a smash hit,
coming in second in the box office for 1957, behind Mother India and
ahead of Pyaasa. It was also the second highest grossing film for the
entire decade, second to the same Mother India.
5. Jaanu Jaanu Re
Performers: Madhubala, Minoo Mumtaz
Singers: Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt
Music: S.D. Burman
Lyrics: Shailendra
Film: Insaan Jaag Utha, 1959
Starring: Sunil Dutt, Madhubala, Nasir Hussain, Madan Puri,
Minoo Mumtaz, Nishi

Two screen beauties cavorting amongst the heavy construction equipment

in the hot and dusty baseyard of a dam project, and the contrast couldn't
be any greater. This is also one of the great female/female duets of all
time with Asha Bhosle making her voice sound more like that of her early
mentor, Geeta Dutt, as our two performers tease each other about their
boyfriends. Madhubala is paired with handsome Sunil Dutt while her best
friend Minoo gets ... Sunder! The Eros logo has been removed as best I
can. There are 2 DVD versions of this film of which I'm aware. Don't get
the T-Series version. The T-Series is bad while the Eros one is merely
mediocre.

I've spent a lot of words on the first five videos but will try and keep it
brief for the rest of them. The operative word is 'try'.

6. Yeh Duniya Usiki

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Devika (?), Raaj Kumar
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Film: Gharana, 1961
Starring: Asha Parekh, Rajendra Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Shubha
Khote, Agha, Minoo Mumtaz, Lalita Pawar
Here Minoo gets to show off her classical dancing chops. This is a fine film
with lots of Asha Parekh dancing, for the Asha Parekh fans reading this.
Ravi won a Filmfare Best Music Director award for his work on this film.
The film was very successful, becoming the 3rd highest grossing film in
India in 1961, after Ganga Jumna and Junglee.

Unfortunately only the first two lines are translated.

7. Miyaan Meri Biwi Meri

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Johnny Walker, Ashok Kumar,
Madhubala
Singer: Geeta Dutt, S. Balbir
Music: S. Balbir
Lyrics: Prem Dhawan
Film: Ek Saal, 1957
Starring: Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, Mehmood, Kuldip Kaur,
Johnny Walker, Minoo Mumtaz, Madan Puri

Johnny Walker is a private investigator and Minoo Mumtaz is his secretary.

Johnny's been hired by Ashok Kumar's girlfriend Kaldip Kaur to make sure
he's not fooling around. He's a thief sent to steal Madhubala's father's
money, but he's about to fall in love with Madhubala who has only one
year to live (Ek Saal) because of a brain tumor. Even though both are big
city sophisticates, here Minoo and Johnny dress up as traveling
performers to get the scoop on what's really going on between Ashok and
Madhubala. These two are probably my favorite comic couple, surpassing
even the Mehmood/Shubha Khote team. We'll see more of Johnny and
Minoo later, and it was all I could do not to stick more of their songs
together into this DVD, because I like them so much.

Unfortunately, there were no subs for the songs on this DVD.

8. Ina Meena Dika

Performers: Kishore Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, Vyjayanthimala
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Asad Bhopali
Film: Aasha, 1957
Starring: Viyayanthimala, Kishore Kumar, Pran, Om Prakesh,
Lalita Pawar, Minoo Mumtaz, Asha Parekh (uncredited)

I'll be the first to admit that this performance probably doesn't belong on
this DVD. It's not a solo performance, nor even a duet performance by
Minoo Mumtaz. But this song is so darned good, and all the performances
so energetic, and it's one of my favorites, so it's included. When you make
your compilation DVD, you too can include whatever you like. Minoo does
provide good comic and dance support for Kishore Kumar. Unfortunately
this portion of the Ultra DVD is of very poor quality, and I did my best to
remove their ugly logo, but opaque logos like this one can only be
replaced with a blur, pretty much.
9. Chandi Ka Badan
Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Jeevan, and some people I don't
know
Singers: Asha Bhonsle, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Sudha
Malhotra
Music: Roshan Lal
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhiyanvi
Film: Taj Mahal, 1963
Starring: Pradeep Kumar, Bina Rai, Jabeen Jalil, Veena, Jeevan,
Minoo Mumtaz, Helen

This film was a pretty big hit in 1963, coming in second at the box office
to Mere Mehboob. And Music Director Roshan won the Filmfare award for
his work. If you can get past the wooden performances from the two
leads, it's not too bad of a film. It's the soundtrack, though, which earns
Taj Mahal its place in history. It's one of the best ever made, thanks to
the team of Roshan and Sahir Ludhiyanvi.

Unfortunately, color films from this era have fared even worse over the
years than have the black and white films. I did what I could, but it's
pretty hopeless. The problem is that the colors, originally way too green,
vary not just within the video, or from scene to scene, or even from frame
to frame. But they vary within the same frame. After doing what I could
you'll still notice that backgrounds might be normal on the right side of
the frame but pinkish on the left side. Or bluish on the right while pinkish
on the left, as in the picture above. In addition, it's from a T-Series DVD.
As you might already know, T-Series may use one of three different sized
logos to deface their DVDs, and this DVD uses the big one.
Here we have Minoo and friends in a long qawaali, with some dancing
thrown in for good measure
10. Dil Ki Kahani Rang Layi Hai
Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Guru Dutt
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Film: Chaudhvin Ka Chand, 1960
Starring: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Johnny Walker,
Minoo Mumtaz

This film was another success at the box office, placing fourth in 1960,
behind Mughal-E-Azam, Barsaat Ki Raat, and Kohinoor. Although not all
DVD versions of the film have the title song in color (the Moserbaer
version doesn't), most people are aware of that one song being in color.
What fewer people know is that there was another song filmed in color,
but only one DVD has it. It's the Eros version, one of the poorest quality
DVDs it's ever been my misfortune to see. Their version of the song was
missing many frames. The audio quality was very bad also. I took the
audio from the better quality Yash Raj DVD and joined it with the fixed up
color video from the Eros DVD. Because the Eros video was missing many
frames, the audio was longer than the video, and I used some of the
tricks of the trade to duplicate frames to put them back in synch. You can
still easily find places where the audio is out of synch, until a little while
later I get them back in synch again. The color might look a little bit like it
was colorized, or that the video is 'cartoony' in appearance. This was the
price I had to pay to make the video presentable.
11. Jaane Na Doongi
Performers: Meena Kumari, Pradeep Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, Bela
Bose
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Roshan
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Film: Chitralekha, 1964
Starring: Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari, Pradeep Kumar,
Mehmood, Minoo Mumtaz, Achala Sachdev, Bela Bose

This is the other song that probably doesn't belong in this compilation, but
I thought the dancing so spectacular that I had to include it. Meena
Kumari sings to Pradeep Kumar while 4 dancers perform. Because some
of the video focuses on Meena and Pradeep, I find myself yelling at the
screen for them to get out of the way so I can see the dancing better.
Minoo Mumtaz is one of the dancers in pink, the one on the right in
thephoto above, while her partner in pink is Bela Bose. I don't know the
dancers in blue.

This is another one with screwy colors, at least for parts of it, and the
remains of a big T-Series logo. Damn them!

12. Dil Humse Woh Lagaaye

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz and (?)
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Mubarak Begum
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Khumar Barabankvi
Film: Bara Dari, 1955
Cast: Geeta Bali, Ajit, Pran, Chandrashekhar, Murad, Amir Banu,
Minoo Mumtaz, Cuckoo
In this, her first appearance in a film, she seems already to be a fully
matured actress. She already has those physical and mental attributes
that would mark her entire career - the willowy figure, the generous
mouth, a ready and pleasant smile with the nearly perfect teeth, and the
grace and confidence which would make her a popular figure for the next
decade.

Here's another qawaali to enjoy. The DVD is very blurry, but what can you
do? Except for one DVD version of Baazi, I have yet to see a decent DVD
of a Geeta Bali movie.

13. Zulam Leke

Performer: Minoo Mumtaz
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Rajendar Krishan
Film: Khazanchi, 1958
Cast: Shyama, Balraj Sahni, Rajendra Kumar, Chitra, Manorama,
Anwar, Shammi, Minoo Mumtaz
I have a confession to make. I enjoy watching Minoo Mumtaz perform a
mujra more than I do Vyjayanthimala. I freely admit that Vyjayanthimala is
the better dancer; I'd be a fool not to. In my opinion Vyjayanthimala is the
best dancer of the classic or any other era of Indian film. For me, it's a
question of attitude. Vyjayanthimala is the best and she knows it. She's
just too arrogant for my tastes. Minoo Mumtaz always seems to be
enjoying herself and always seems eager to please. She makes me feel
more comfortable, more at ease. There, I've said it.

14. Badla Sara Zamana Babu

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Johnny Walker
Singer: Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi
Music: C. Ramchandra
Lyrics: Kavi Pradeep
Film: Paigham, 1959
Starring: Vyjayanthimala, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Pandarabai,
Motilal, Johnny Walker, Saroja Devi, Minoo Mumtaz
This song looks very funny. I just wish I could understand it. But alas, no
subtitles. Minoo is in her comic country girl incarnation, performing with
Johnny Walker. It's further evidence for her being Johnny's best partner, I
think.

The film was a huge hit, the fourth in 4 years for the Dilip Kumar and
Vyjayanthimala pairing, and was the second biggest grosser of 1959,
second to Anari.

15. Jaa Re Jaa Re

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Pradeep Kumar
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Rajendar Krishan
Film: Duniya Na Mane, 1959
Starring: Pradeep Kumar, Mala Sinha, Bhagwan, Sulochana, Daisy
Irani, Sheikh Mukhtar, Helen, Minoo Mumtaz

Another mujra, but one of her best, I think. I'd rate it the second best in this
collection, second to the one from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam that opened this
collection. Just my opinion. There's some kind of an ugly logo I did my
best to get rid of.

16. Teri Gali Kaise

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Dev Anand, Nadira
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Rajendar Krishan
Film: Pocket Maar, 1956
Starring: Geeta Bali, Dev Anand, Nadira, Madan Bhandari, Gope,
Sunder, Lalita Pawar, Minoo Mumtaz

This one's a bit unusual among her dances. I guess it's a cabaret, since
there's an audience. It's one of her early dances (from only her second
movie) and she carries it off splendidly. Another Geeta Bali (and Dev
Anand) movie; another lousy DVD. I did my best to remove the ugly
Shemaroo logo. I did this one a while ago and would do a better job if
tackling it today.

17. Jane Jana Yoon Na

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Dara Singh
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: G.S. Kohli
Lyrics: Anjaan
Film: Faulad, 1963
Starring: Dara Singh, Mumtaz, Minoo Mumtaz, Kamran, Randhir,
Shyam Kumar
After removing the ugly Shemaroo logo, unblending it and slowing it to the
proper speed, and making a few other slight improvements, this DVD
doesn't look so bad, one of the better ones from which this collection was
gathered. It must have been tough being Dara Singh in hot India and
under the even hotter studio lights. His shirt is clean and dry at the
beginning but in no time at all he's drenched in sweat. No wonder he's all
the time bare-chested in his movies. Well, that and to make the ladies
swoon.

Here Minoo's working with the bad guys to get Dara to take a knock-out
drug, but she turns good soon afterwards.

18. Ukkad Dukkad Bamba

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Shammi Kapoor
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: O.P. Nayyar
Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi
Film: Basant, 1960
Cast: Shammi Kapoor, Nutan, Pran, Johnny Walker, Minoo Mumtaz,
Kammo, Cuckoo, Murad
I prefer Minoo's other dance in this film. It reminds me of a 1950's
beatnik-type modern dance of a kind you might have seen performed in a
San Francisco coffee house. Not taking into account the costumes and
setting as found in this film, of course. I used this one because it also
features Shammi Kapoor who adds to any video in which he appears.
Minoo appears as a tribal woman, the only film in which I can remember
her doing so.

Unfortunately, the DVD is very soft and blurry looking, with no subs for
the songs.

19. Chodo Chodoji Baiyan Mori

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Cuckoo
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Shamshad Begum
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Khumar Barabankvi
Film: Bara Dari, 1955
Cast: Geeta Bali, Ajit, Pran, Chandrashekhar, Murad, Amir Banu,
Minoo Mumtaz, Cuckoo
This is the second video from Bara Dari in the collection, and although I
tried to use only one video from each movie, I thought this film was worth
including both of her videos. The other was included because it was her
first time on screen; this one was included because here she's dancing
with the then reigning movie item number queen, Cuckoo. Here, as well
as with the earlier qawaali from the same film, the subtitles are very crude
and maybe incorrect, for all I know.

The song and dance isn't all that very different from her dance duet with
Kumkum in Naya Daur in that Minoo is also playing the male role in the
male/female tug-of-war.

20. Thodi Der Ke Liye

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Meena Kumari, Rajendra Kumar
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Film: Akeli Mat Jaiyo, 1963
Starring: Meena Kumari, Rajendra Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, Agha,
Charlie, Ruby Mayer

I consider this one to be an absolutely outstanding cabaret number, not

just one of Minoo Mumtaz's best, but one of the best, period. Rajendra
Kumar is trying to romance Meena Kumari as it goes along, and her
resistance does break down at the end, but you can ignore all that and
just concentrate on the dance. Although I dearly love her comic dances,
something like this one shows she can be sexy, erotic even, when the
occasion demands. Just my opinion.
21. Aaye Ho To Dekh Le
Performer: Minoo Mumtaz
Singer: Suman Kalyanpur
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Prem Dhawan
Film: Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan, 1959
Starring: Meena Kumari, Rajendra Kumar, Minoo Mumtaz, Honey
Irani, Madan Puri, Asit Sen, Sunder

Another Meena Kumari/Rajendra Kumar starrer, but this time Minoo

Mumtaz plays the baddie, a role similar to the ones Nadira played so
often. She has tricked Rajendra Kumar into marrying her and after
marriage proceeds to go on a spending spree. Here she's throwing a party
for her cat, and also provides the evening's entertainment in the form of
her dance. He shows up right at the end, looking not at all happy.

22. Aji Chale Aao

Performers: Helen, Minoo Mumtaz
Singers: Asha Bohsle, Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Shankar, Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra
Film: Halaku, 1956
Starring: Ajit, Meena Kumari, Pran, Minoo Mumtaz, Raj Mehra,
Helen
You'd think that there would be more Minoo Mumtaz/Helen duet dances,
but this is the only one with which I'm familiar. Here we have a very
young 17 year old Helen dancing with a Minoo Mumtaz who's probably
about 5 years older.

The DVD source is bad and there are no subs for the songs.

23. Soja Re Chanda

Performers: Minoo Mumtaz, Kishore Kumar
Singer: Asha Bhosle
Music: Chitalkar Ramchandra
Lyrics: Rajendar Krishan
Film: Aasha, 1957
Starring: Viyayanthimala, Kishore Kumar, Pran, Om Prakesh,
Lalita Pawar, Minoo Mumtaz, Asha Parekh (uncredited)
I had finished choosing the videos for this compilation, but some time
afterwards checked the total file size and found there was a little bit of
room left over. So I went looking for a small video that was on my 'short
list' that might fit. So this one sort of 'snuck in'. But maybe, after all the
exciting dances, it's appropriate to end on a slow note and a lullaby/lori.
Even though this is from the same film (Aasha) as the very poor video
quality Ina Meena Dika, the quality of this one isn't so bad, even taking
into account the remains of the Ultra DVD logo.

EPILOGUE

That's about all. Thanks for reading and I do hope you enjoy the DVD.
There will be some links coming up. If you want to contact me about
video encoding, then PM me as 'manono' at either Doom9.org or
videohelp.com. If you wish to view movies and/or music videos I've
uploaded to video sharing sites, then you can find them under
tommydan1 at either Veoh or DailyMotion. And maybe I'll be back on
YouTube some day. If you wish to ask questions about or make comment
on this DVD, then use the post about this DVD at Richard's blog, Dances
On The Footpath.

LINKS:

The blogs referenced earlier:

Richard's: http://roughinhere.wordpress.com/
Memsaab's http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/
dustedoff's: http://dustedoff.wordpress.com/
Ritu Chandra's: http://rituswanderlust.blogspot.com/

Video encoding sites:

Doom9 forums: http://forum.doom9.org/

Videohelp.com: http://www.videohelp.com/

My channels at video sharing sites:

Veoh: http://www.veoh.com/users/tommydan1
DailyMotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/tommydan1