This Hindi film song is sung by a very well-known actress from a distinguished film family. Who is she? Bonus points if you know the film name!
Bollyviewer is our winner with some good guesses behind her! The actress is Nutan; she was the daughter of Shobhana Samarth, and the sister of Tanuja—and therefore the aunt of Kajol and Tanisha. Her son is the actor Mohnish Behl. She sang this song “Ae Mere Humsafar” in the film Chhabili (1960), which incidentally was directed by her mother.
June 18, 2008 at 6:47 pm |
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess Noor Jehan, as she is one of the few singer/actresses I can name off the top of my head.
June 19, 2008 at 1:46 am |
This song is driving me nuts… It sounds like a 50s song and the only singing actress in those days was Suraiya and I dont think she can be classified as coming from a “distinguished film family”. So come on – give. Who is it?
June 19, 2008 at 1:56 am |
I’m just going to take a wild guess and say Shobhana Samarth. OK, I give up.
June 19, 2008 at 1:58 am |
Found it – its Nutan and the film is Chhabili! :-)
June 19, 2008 at 6:01 am |
Good detective work, Bollyviewer! I was actually thinking it could be Nutan but said to myself, “No, that can’t be it…”
Next time I’ve just got to trust my instincts… :D
June 19, 2008 at 8:15 am |
Yay Bollyviewer for getting it right, yay Banno for getting the family right and yay Filmi Girl for giving it a good guess.
It is Nutan, the song is “Ae Mere Humsafar” and the film is Chhabili, which I haven’t been able to find on DVD yet, sadly.
Shobhana Samarth of course was her mother; Tanuja her sister, and therefore Kajol her niece. Her son is the very handsome Monish Behl! Shobhana said about Nutan that she loved to sing and she wrote bhajans as well. Would love to hear some of those!
June 19, 2008 at 2:41 pm |
Althoough it is too late: Shobhana Samarth, you can get a lot of stills of her if you get one of the picture books on Indian cinema history. Contemporary of Naseem Banu, Saira Banu’s mother.
Nutan had a very good singing voice within her range, and sang bhajans, I don’t know if she ever recorded them or I am just remembering an old interview.
June 19, 2008 at 3:18 pm |
Mohnish Behl is Nutan’s son? Never knew that. I only knew him as the original Mr. Mehra from one of my favourite Indian drama serials before he was replaced by Anoop Soni who played the news reporter in Swades.
June 19, 2008 at 3:45 pm |
Yup, he is! I believe he is her only child, as well. Her husband/his father was killed in a fire in their home a few years ago now (she passed away from cancer a long time ago now)…
June 19, 2008 at 10:07 pm |
Mohnish Behl played a memorable role in Maine Pyaar Kiya! Did Nutan sing any more? Her voice in the song is beautiful.
June 20, 2008 at 2:07 am |
YES! Mohnish played that BAD guy who tried to have his way with Bhagyashree at the party AND tried to shoot the dove! But then in Koyla he played a super good guy. Now thanks to you memsaab, I’ll think of him as Kajol’s dashing cousin.
June 20, 2008 at 9:41 am |
Hey I didnt “guess” it! Spent the whole day looking for it on google using different actresses and keywords, and finally struck it rich when I used “ae mere humsafar” rather than “aye mere humsafar”!
I really like Mohnish Behl, too. Remember rooting for him in MPK – he was so much better looking than Salman Khan! :-)
June 20, 2008 at 9:48 am |
I know, Mohnish Behl is so handsome. TO DIE FOR handsome. I have no clue (once again) why he is always relegated to bad guy or secondary roles…I guess he’s on television too now and again.
I don’t know of any other recorded songs by Nutan. If anyone reading this does, do tell!
And bollyviewer—I was referring to the guesses other people made. I know you worked hard for it! :-)
June 20, 2008 at 12:21 pm |
I don’t think there were any other film songs by Nutan. If she had been born in the singing era, she would have been a good singer. But in the times when Lata, Asha and Geeta Dutt were at their peak, its hard not to see a music director choosing “geniuses” over merely a sweet voice.
But she did sing bhajans later in life, I am sure I remember that, but I don’t know if they were recorded permanently.
June 20, 2008 at 12:27 pm |
Yes, that’s a perfect way to describe Nutan’s voice: it’s very sweet. But not in the same class as Geeta, Lata and Asha for sure.
June 21, 2008 at 8:09 pm |
Gasp!
Some time ago, alan (from Bellevue to B’wood) said the reason he watched Indian films was “because of the girls!”– I don’t know if he’s seen this one!
I had heard of Nutan, yet never actually laid my eyes on her, sorry for the expression, not very gallant!
But she’s really an eyeful.
Is she also a good actress?
Which films would you recommend, Greta?
This period of my life is amazing.
June 22, 2008 at 2:45 am |
Beautiful song and lovely piece of trivia as well – I might use it in a quiz sometime as an audio question. Danke, Greta!
I remember reading an interview with Sooraj Barjatya a long time ago where he said that his family made a promise to Nutan that they would make her son a star, or something on those lines. Which might explain why his most memorable turn as a good guy (as opposed to the traditional snarling dove-killing heroine-molesting baddie he usually plays) is in HAHK. In fact, outside of MPK (and probably Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, unwatched by me), he’s always gotten good guy roles in Sooraj Barjatya’s films.
~r
June 22, 2008 at 8:10 am |
Yves, she is an excellent actress in addition to being such a beauty :-) She made a lot of good films, I don’t even know where to start on recommendations (well, how about Dilli Ka Thug?) She was paired often with Dev Anand, one of those that I love is Tere Ghar Ke Samne.
Ramsu, that’s very interesting re: Sooraj Barjatya. Thanks! :-)
July 8, 2009 at 2:50 am |
I am late to this trivia, but I would like to add that Nutan was the first Filmfare Miss India winner when the Filmfare magazine started Miss India contests in early 1950s.