Rec.Music.Indian.Misc's FAQ Part 12

12.0 Information on Encyclopaedias and Books

12.1 What is the Film Music Encyclopaedia?

You might notice a few articles in rmim referring to an "Encyclopaedia Of Hindi Songs." Here are the details of it:

Exact title of book: Encyclopaedia of Hindi Film Songs (title in Hindi = "Hindi Film Geet Kosh")

Author: Volumes 1-4 (Harminder Singh), i.e., 1931-70. Volume 5 (Bishwa Nath Chatterjee)

Details of each volume:

Volume# year range total pages total films total songs (approx.) 1 1931-40 726 931 9000 2 1941-50 786 1236 11000 3 1951-60 660 1163 9000 4 1961-70 660 1007 7000 5 1971-80 832 1327 8000

12.1.2 Where can one get it? How much does it cost??

Copies are not available at bookstores, only through direct requests from:

     Mrs. Satinder Kaur,
     'Sachdev Niwas', 13/351,
     (Above Punjab & Sind Bank),
     Govind Nagar, Kanpur 208 006
     INDIA
     Ph. (91) (512) 217175

In about $100 you can the whole set of five volumes.

 Cost:

     Paperback: Rs.400/-
     Deluxe:    Rs.600/-

NEW UPDATE:
The current address of Har Mandir is


        Har Mandir Singh "Hamaraaz"
        HIG-545
        Ratanlal Nagar
        KANPUR - 208022

        Phone Numbers: (0512) 281211 and 217175
                                                     
(Letters are still forwarded from the old address. But use the new one
for faster delivery.)

NOTE: The prices might have changed. The prices are for each individual volume.

However, you can obtain these volumes from the following libraries in the US (information courtesy Surjit Singh. If you do not live in these places, you can get them via Interlibrary loan, from the "suppliers."

Univ of Texas at Austin   TX                      Supplier
Univ of California, Berkeley   CA                 Supplier
Library of Congress   DC                          Non-supplier
Univ of Hawaii, Hamilton Libr   HI                Supplier
Univ of Chicago   IL                              Supplier
Center for Res Libr   IL                          Supplier
Univ of Illinois   IL                             Supplier
Univ of Michigan Libr   MI                        Supplier
Duke Univ Libr   NC                               Supplier
New York Pub Libr Res Libr   NY                   Supplier
Syracuse Univ   NY                                Supplier
Univ of Pennsylvania   PA                         Supplier
Univ of Virginia   VA                             Supplier
Univ of Washington   WA                           Supplier
Univ of Wisconsin, Madison   WI                   Supplier

12.2 Information on Book sellers

```
 	Dr. J. K. Prashar
	Books India
	9 Swan Ave
	Strathfield NSW 2135
	Australia
```
who is the representative in Australia for the Hindi Book Centre and Star Publications. You can get through them all of the Diamond Pocket Books collections of filmi songs, ghazal, qawaali, rubaaiya and nazm lyrics; as well as all other Hindi books (and Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi etc).

Ram Advani's in Lucknow.

	Hindi Book Centre,
	4/5B Asaf Ali Rd,
	New Delhi-110 002; 
	ph: 23274874, 3273335, 3268651, 3261696; 
	fax: (011) 3273335.

The above information was provided by David Windsor

The Sri Ram Centre near Mandi House has a small bookshop, and has a few books on Shayari. Worth visiting.
The Triveni auditorium, again near Mandi House has a book shop. One can find a lot of books on Shayari, Hindi Poetry. Must visit.
In CP there are a few shops which sell Shayari/Kavita stuff. But you have to hunt and you have to have luck.
Urdu Ghar and GHalib Institute near New Delhi Railway Station. These are closed on Saturdays and Sundays. So I have not yet managed to enter inside.
The above information was provided by Abhay Avachat

12.3 Books on Urdu Ghazals and Urdu

1. Deewan-e-Ghalib

There are many many compilations of this. Naturally ! It's perhaps the "best-seller" of Urdu Shayari. All the compilations are based on the original by GHalib himself. There are compilations explaining EACH sher in detail, in the price range of Rs 500/-. There are inexpensive ones too. The one I have is by Ali Sardar Jafferey, and costs only Rs 35/-. It's a paperback version in Hindi, by Raajkamal publications. Priniting is excellent. Meaning for all the dificult words is present. A superb book, except that the introduction to GHalib's Poetry is as complicated as the Poetry itself :-) . Go for it.

2. Deewan-e-Mir

I know of just one. Again by Ali Sardar Jafferey, in Hindi paperback version costing Rs 35/- by the same Raajkamal publications. It's based on many sources. He also gives very interesting facts about the real Shers by Mir. There seem to be many Shers which are not by Mir, but are still credited to him. Majrooh Sultanpuri has helped him in compiling this. A very nice introduction has been written. Meaning for all the dificult words is present. In all, again a must.

3. Urdu Ke Lokapriya Shayar

This is a series of books by Prakash Pandit. Each book contains representatives of all types of poetry (Nazm, GHazal, Rubaai) by one popular Shayar. Not all the work of the Shayar can be found here, but his choice for selection is fairly good. All the books contain some biographical notes. Printing is OK. While giving the meaning, some words have got omitted. The paperback versions cost Rs. 20/- each and the hardbound versions cost Rs. 35/- each. Some of the prominent Shayars in this series are Sahir Ludhiyanavi, Shakeel Badayuni, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Zauk, Iqbal, Hafeez Jalandhari, Zafar etc. All these are worth buying. It is from such books, you can trace origins of some film songs. eg. Sahir's book will give you the original versions of many songs like "kabhi-kabhi", "taajmehal" etc.

4. TalKHiyaaN

This is Sahir's first book and he shot to fame overnight with it ! It's a must buy, but quite difficult to obtain. I yet to have a copy for myself. There have been 11 editions of this, and it has been translated into 14 different languages, including some European languages too !! You can find a lot of his film songs in this book.

5. Other books

There are a lot of compilations by Prakash Pandit, like Shers grouped by certain themes or featuring one poem by all the great Shayars. These are neither great nor bad. There are some books in English too. Here the GHazal is presented in English script, sometimes alongwith Hindi or Urdu script and English translation is given. I personally do not like these translations at all. But the discussions given in the books can be interesting. My recommandation is - have a close look at the book and only then buy - if you are sure that you will like it.

6. Dictionary

With all these books, you will benefit a lot by having a dictionary with you. There are again many. From Urdu to Hindi or Urdu to English. Some give the words in Urdu script, some in Hindi and some in Roman script. From my experience these are difficult to find. The one I have is from Urdu to Marathi, and is published by Maharashtra State Govt. No idea, how to obtain it. There is one interesting 'Lughat' (transliterated dictionary) from Urdu to English, which also gives a few hundred Shers at the begining. I saw it in a shop in CP, but did not buy, due to the price. (Rs 400/-)

7. Aaina-e-GHazal

This is a real treasure ! It gives meanings of the most commonly found difficult words in Urdu Shayari. It's NOT a dictionary in the normal sense of the word. But the words are arranged according to the Hindi Alphabet. The complete book is in Hindi and English script. It's writen by Dr.Vinay Vaikar (a medical Dr by profession) and the late Dr. Zarina Sani ( a Shaira herself).

Some salient features of this book are.

Meaning of over 7000 words.
Meaning of each word is given in 3 languages. Hindi, Marathi and English, thereby making the meaning really clear.
With each word there is one great Sher, to emphasize the meaning ! There are over 6000 unique Shers. This makes it a great collection of Shers too ! Most of the Shers, in this series have been taken from this book alone.
There is a superb essay at the end "GHazal Kya Hai" . The definition of Ghazal present in the FAQ is due to this. The essay of course has much more than just definition.
There is an alphabetical index for the word-begining. This makes the search fast. ie. it's given at the begining at which page words begining with 'ka', 'kaa', 'ki' etc. are.
I have the very first edition. In the later editions, I believe, sketches of famous Shayars are also given.
Excellent printing, binding and paper quality.
I bought it only for Rs. 75/- !!! This was more than a decade ago. The current price is around Rs. 250/-. Still very affordable.
Jagjit and Chitra Singh have given a warm review and introduction at the begining.

Isn't all this very attractive ? If you buy this book, you will thank me for the rest of your life :-) One problem you might face is the difficulty level of the Shers. Not all are easy, in fact the average level is quite high. But this is not a bug, rather a feature ! Remember that each Sher is a classic.

I do not know if this book is available in Delhi. But it should not be difficult to obtain it from Bambay/Pune/Nagpur. The publication is Amit Prakashan from Nagpur. So if you know anybody from Nagpur, you can request him/her to get a copy for you.

The above information was provided by Abhay Avachat

8. Urdu for Ghazal Lovers.

by Sultan Nathani. The book has a collection of poems in Urdu and Devanagari side by side. (So you can practice reading urdu.) And then it has a rather large dictionary of urdu words most likely to be used in gazals. (Cost around Rs. 25).

The above info was provided by Helen Abadzi

9. Masterpieces of Urdu Ghazal: from the 17th to the 20th century.

by K.C.Kanda. The book has collections of ghazals from Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz and so on. The book has the songs in Urdu, and Roman script, so it is easy to ready for people who can't read urdu. It also contains translations of the ghazals. the book is published by Sterling Publishers Priv. Ltd.

12.3.1 Are there any books to learn Urdu?

1. Rupert Snell and Simon Weightman, Hindi, Teach Yourself Books: (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1989). Cassette of dialogues from the book also available.
2) Richard Barz, and Yogendra Yadav, An Introduction to Hindi and Urdu, 4th ed.,: (Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1991). This has been published in India, but I don't know the publisher (but I think it's Munshiram Manoharlal).
3) R. S. McGregor, Urdu Study Materials (Delhi: Oxford, 1992).: This book also has an introduction to the script.
4) Christopher Shackle, and Rupert Snell, Hindi and Urdu Since 1800: A Common Reader: , SOAS South Asian Texts No. 1 (London: School of Oriental and African Studies, U of London, 1990).

Above information provided by : daw601@leonard.anu.edu.au (David Anthony Windsor)

12.4 Information on Encyclopaedia on Indian Cinema

Title: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema
Published by: British Film Institute and Oxford University Press, 1994
Authors: Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen (Editors)

Format of Encyclopaedia:: Biographies of Personalities (partial fimographies).
Review of significant movies only (chronological).
Lot of statistics.
Features:: Decent index.
Lots of pictures.
All periods are covered till 1991-92.
Problems:: Coverage is not complete for any period/any person/any language.
Tries to cover too many languages and did not do a good job.
Lot of omissions.
No song info anywhere.

12.5 Information on books on Lata Mangeshkar.

"In Search of Lata Mangeshkar". by Harish Bhimani. It contains information about her family and many anecdotes. Has a lot of pictures. Harish Bhimani has been the compere of many of Lata's shows abroad and had traveled extensively with her. The book published by Indus, the comprador division of Harper Collins, and the ISBN is 81-7223-183-0.
"Lata Mangeshkar - A Biography", by Raju Bharatan. Written by the well known film music critic Bharatan. The book traces the development and major influences on Lata's singing. From UBS Publishers Dist. Ltd, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7476-023-7.

"Lata Mangeshkar Gandhar Svaryaatraa 1945-1989". Edited by: Vishwas Nerurkar. The publishers' information is:

	Mrs. Vasanti P. Nerurkar,
      	2/15, Kailash Parwat, Gilbert Hill,
      	Andheri (W), Bombay 400 058, 
	India.
	(Ph: 22-624-3587)

Phule Vechita by Lata Mangeshkar. This book is a compilation of Lata's writings in Marathi. The compilation was done by Madhuvanti Sapre, former journalist and a Ph D student.

12.6 Information on other books

Listener's Bulletin, a monthly, edited by Hamraaz Saahib and published by the Secretary, the Flying Listener's Club, Kanpur.
Limca Book of Records, 1993 edition, edited by Vijaya Ghose, published by Bisleri Beverages Limited.
The Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats, by Patrick Robertson, published by Guinness Books in 1988.
Star-Portrait, by Harish S. Booch and Karin Doyle, pub- lished by The Lakhani Book Depot, Girgaon, Bombay in 1962. It cost Rs. 4/- in those days and is probably out of print now.
Mukesh Geet Kosh. by Harish Raghuwanshi. A compilation of the FULL TEXT of each of the 992 songs (info about 2 bangla songs was obtained after the publication of the book) and all the relevant info about the song, like the movie, year, MD, lyricists and co-singers, if any, was published by Mr. Harish Raghuwanshi of Surat, Gujarat in a 684-page book called "Mukesh Geet Kosh" in 1985. The book is out of print now, but Mr. Raghuvanshi is working on the second edition. He has recently published an authoritative and comprehensive 412 page encyclopaedia of 599 Gujarati movies (1932-1994). He can be reached at:
```
	Mr. Harish Raghuwanshi
	Vision House
	Sagrampura,
	Near Putli
	SURAT - 395 002
	Gujarat
```
Pancham An Anthology of R D Burman's Musical Works.
This book contains list of all R.D. Burman's films (292), from Chhote Nawab (released in 1961). It gives information about film's banner, year, producer, director, artists, singers, lyrics, name of audio company and list of songs (not the full lyrics).
It also contains list of
1. RDB's Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya and Marathi films in the same format as the Hindi films.
2. 134 basic Bengali non-filmi songs,
3. T.V. serials for which R.D. Burman composed music,
4. Shelved Hindi films for which R.D. Burman had composed songs.
  The book has few articles about R.D. Burman. The book also has rare photograph (both color and B&W).
  This book was released in a function held on September 21 1997 at Mumbai (Bombay) by Asha Bhosale. This book is a must for all R.D. Burman fans.
  The book has been compiled by Vishwas Nerurkar who also compiled the Swarasha book on Asha Bhosle's songs. His address is:
```
	 	Vishwas Nerurkar
             	2/15, Kailash Parwat,
             	Near Bhawan's College,
             	Mumbai 400 058
		India

             	Tel. 91-22-624 3587
```
  Publisher:
```
		Mr Rashesh B. Shah
		C/o B. Vijaykumar & Co.
		Mehta Bhavan, 6th flloor
		Opp. Albless Baug
		311, Charni Road
		Mumbai 400 004
		India
```
  The above information on R D Burman book was sent by Raju Bathija
5. The Indian Film perhaps the Ph. D. thesis in India on the subject of movies. The writer, Miss Panna Shah, was awarded the Ph.D. degree working with the eminent Professor G. S. Ghurye of the University of Bombay in 1950. Reprinted by Greenwood Press, West- port, Connecticut in 1981.
6. Directory of Indian Film-Makers and Films compiled and edited by Sanjit Narwekar, published by Greenwood Press in 1994. Excellent first-hand source on Indian directors.
  The above information was provided by Surjit Singh
7. Lehren: 80 Glorious Years of Indian Cinema, 1913-1993 Rajendra Ojha, ed. (Bombay: Screen World Publications, 1994).
```
	ISBN-81-800258-1-3
	Price: paperback Rs.1500/- US $150
	       hardback Rs. 2000/- US $200

	Screen World Publication
	Prakash Photo Studio, 295, N. C. Kelkar Road,
	Dadar, Bombay - 400 028
	Tel: 806-2244, 805-2758
```
  Screen World also puts out Annuals, which they claim contain 'correct and updated addresses and telephone numbers of every person and concern in the entertainment world'. They also have an information service, which I suppose is a sort of commercial PSTAT thingy.
  The above information was provided by David Windsor
8. Pilgrim of the Swara - K L Saigal by Raghava R Menon
```
 

         Published by: Clarion Books, New Delhi, 1978

         Second edition of the book came out in 1989 under the banner
         of Hind Pocket Books.
```
  Info provided by Ashok Dhareshwar
9. SWARAASHA (Hindi): - Asha Bhosle by Vishwas Nerurkar and Prasad Sinkar
  A compilation of Hindi film song refrains of the songs Asha Bhonsle;
```
		Vishwas Nerurkar
                Prasad Sinkar; 
                2/15, Kailash Parwat,
                Near Bhawan's College,
                Mumbai 400 058
                Tel. 91-22-624 3587
		India

                Price: Rs. 350.
                (Published by Sansaray-Nerurkar)

(This was the earlier address given in the book:-

                          5, Naresh Smruti, 
                          II Floor, 
                          near Kalwa Consumer Society, 
                          Station Rod, Kalwa,
                          Thane-400605.  
                          

)
```
  The main part of the book is in four sections. The first lists Asha's solo numbers and choruses led by her. The second, Asha's duets with male singers. The third, her duets with female singers. The fourth, song-refrains, in which more than two singers participate. The first and last are strictly chronological. The second and third are first divided by the co- singer's name (arranged according to the Devanagari alphabet, in a confusing manner) and then listed chronologically.
  Info from A. K. Ranga Rao for The Hindu
10. Talat Mahmood Geet Kosh by Rakesh Pratap Singh. Published in 1992.
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