Minoo Mumtaz

In a movie the Hero and the Heroine get the major spotlight.  However they cant carry a film on their shoulders, no matter how able they are.  They need sidekicks, marginal actors, extras, props, music, singers, bands etc.  And all this before the camera.  There are many more people behind the camera who bring a movie to us, too many to list.  Because the spotlight is on the hero and heroine, we sometimes fail to notice the amazing work done by others.  It is when you see just the dance on Youtube or a TV Channel playing just the song videos, that you notice how good the dancing is, how glamourous the dancer looks, how nifty the band in the background is.

This is when a compilation DVD works wonders.  You get a bouquet of songs by one artist to look at. Tommydan1 has created a compilation DVD of Minoo Mumtaz songs.  You can read all about the DVD here on Mister Naidu's blog and also Richard's blog

Minoo is perhaps best known for her wonderful mujra in Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam, the amazing:

Sakia aaj mujhe neend nahi aayegi
Suna hai teri mehfil me ratjagaa hai

But did you know she appeared in a movie called Black Cat as a heroine?

Alongside Balraj Sahni too ! The movie is a thriller where Minoo is the sweetheart of Balraj Sahni- the police chief- who is harried by the spurt in crime in the city and finds that his sweetheart's brother is the main suspect. Minoo sings the lovely :

Mein tumhi se poochti hoon
mujhe tumse pyaar kyon hai.

But she does not get to dance here, as she is a 'respectable' girl.


From Tom's DVD I picked these songs:

Ae ri jaane na doongi was chosen because of the lovely music, beautiful lyrics and great dancing.  There are two unknown girls dancing in a blue dress.  Bela Bose and Minoo Mumtaz dance in a pink dress.  Minoo is the tallest girl here and the dance is classical.






The second song is a qawwali from Taj Mahal:

Chandi ka badan Sone ki nazar
Is par ye nazakat kya kahiye

Minoo is great here in a blue dress again.  I think the actor who is opposite her is Balam. He is the one who opposed Shyama/Ratna in  Barsaat ki Raat qawwalis.  It sets such a lovely scene, a beautiful song, some great emoting by Minoo and also a dance.






The third song is taken from the film Akeli Mat Jayeo.  Rajendra Kumar and Meena flirt with each other while Minoo sings and dances in the background.  This is by far my favorite from Tom's dvd.  I had heard this song a lot, but never seen its video.  It wowed me totally.  The song can be viewed on youtube here. The embedding has been disabled.  But please do not let that deter you. Its amazingly sexy.

These songs have been taken from youtube and are not the best quality.  Tom's videos are crystal clear and bring out all that is amazing in a song.

Now to bring to you one of my favorite songs ever.  It is from the movie Jehan Ara.  The music and lyrics are just perfect.  You can see that Minoo was perfect in a classical dancing as well.  Her Kathak is faultless.  She is accompanied by a very young Aruna Irani, who leaves the stage when heavy duty dancing is required.

Catfight!!

Snake And Peacock Fight
Uploaded by tommydan1. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

This dance is from the film Suhaag Raat starring Jeetendra and Rajshri (1968).  It seems to take place on a kotha, which is highly unlikely.  It is more of a 'stage' kind of a dance.  Its fabulous, much better than all those Sridevi's scary nagin dances.  The wonderful Laxmi Chhaya teams up with Madhumati for this Snake and Peacock dance.