Audio India

Johnny Walker (Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi… May 15, 1923-July 29, 2003) was born in Srinagar, India. His father was a mill worker. The family later moved to Bombay. Badaruddin tried different occupations and while he was working as a bus conductor on the B.E.S.T. line that he caught the attention of Balraj Sahni, who was working on the screenplay of Guru Dutt’s Baazi. Guru Dutt gave him the screen name “Johnny Walker” and they remained good friends. Guru Dutt madea special effort to have a role for Johnny Walker in his films.

Johnny Walker met Noor(actress Shakila’s sister) on the set of Aar Paar and married her later. They had 3 daughters and 3 sons. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was quite fond of Johnny Walker.

He acted in several films…including Baazi(1951), Aar paar, Mr. & Mrs. 55, Pyaasa, Devdaas, Mughal-e-Azam, Chaudhvin ka chaand, Kagaz ke phool, Anand, Shaan….his last film was Kamal Hasan’s Chachi 420(1998)

Some of his very memorable roles were in C.I.D.(1956), Chhori chori (1956),Madhumati(1958) and Mere Mehboob (1963).

Awards …
Best supporting actor, Madhumati (1958)
Best Comedian, Shikar (1968)

Some of the very popular songs, filmed on Johnny Walker…
Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahan…C.I.D.
Dekhta chala gayaa main zindagi ki rah mein…Gateway of India
Tu aja re, ke dil hai beqarar…Naya andaaz
Gareeb jaan ke…Chhoo mantar
Sar jo tera chakraye…Pyaasa
Mera yaar bana hai dulha…Chaudhveen ka chaand
Jangal mein mor nacha…Madhumati

I thank Azam for helping me pay tribute to the one and only, Johnny Walker…

Movie: Mr. & Mrs. 55
Music: O.P. Nayyar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Original singers: Mohammed Rafi & Geeta Dutt

Download “Jaane kahan mera jigar gayaa ji”

Guru Dutt (Vasanth Kumar Padukone) was born on July 9, 1925 in Bangalore, India.
He did his schooling in Bengal and spoke fluent Bengali. He was a well known actor, director and producer in Bombay film industry. Some of his memorable films were Baazi, Jaal, Aar Paar, Mr. and Mrs. 55, C.I.D., Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam and Kagaz ke Phool. He married Geeta Roy in 1953 overcoming a great deal of family opposition. He later had a romantic involvement with Waheeda Rehman. He died on October 10, 1964 from overdose of sleeping pills.

“Pyaasa” is a story of a struggling poet Vijay (GuruDutt) who was ditched by his love, Meena(Mala Sinha). She married a wealthy publisher, Mr. Ghosh(Rehman). Vijay meets a prostitute, Gulabo(Waheeda), who loves his poems and gets those published. At the end, Vijay, who had enough of this selfish world, leaves with his true companion, Gulabo.

In 2004, the sound track of Pyaasa was chosen as Best film music by British film institute magazine. This was the last collaboration of the popular SDB, Sahir team. The story was partly based on the life of its writer Chandra Shekhar ‘Prem’ . The song… “Hum aap ki aankhon mein” was added upon pressure from the distributors…as a relief from a pessimistic story. Guru Dutt had initially hoped for Nargis, Madhubala and Dilip Kumar for the roles of Meena, Gulabo and Vijay.

For this tribute, I am posting one of my live recordings from 2 years back.

Movie: Pyaasa (1957)
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Original singer: Geeta Dutt