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Published: 16 October 2017

Last Updated: 16 October 2017

Early sound effects in the background or for songs were produced manually by using all kinds of props. Everybody knows about the sound of horse running produced by coconut shells. Realistic sounds such as footsteps, doorbell, phone ringing could be produced by using the real thing. For thunderstorms they used a gadget called thunder-sheet, a metallic sheet suspended by wires and moved back and forth. Here is the earliest example I have in my collection (Laal-e-Yaman song Number 8)

Laal-e-Yaman Song 8

Now you know!

 Listen to Parivar (1967)

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Published: 15 October 2017

Last Updated: 15 October 2017

I had read her name in the HFGK and felt bad that I did not even know how she looked like. Luckily her children live in Californian and I was able to get a lot of photos and info from them to write a book on her. The book contains more that 80 rare photos, most of them never-before-seen in public or internet.

Apart from the HFGK and books on filmographies, she was never mentioned anywhere else. What I completely forgot was that I had seen her picture in the book, Indian Cinema A Visual Voyage, by Ravi Gupta! A few days ago, I re-discovered it and here it is!

The book is available worldwide. To see the first 15 pages and ordering info, please visit

 Indurani: An Unsung But Unforgettable Heroine Of The Early Talkies

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Listen to Milan Ki Raat (1967) 

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Published: 14 October 2017

Last Updated: 14 October 2017

This is the earliest song in which I hear drums other than tabla, something beaten with a stick rather than a palm:

Listen to 1937_anaath-aashram_09_sarakaar-ye-Ghulaam.mp3

Now you know!

 Listen to Bhakta Prahlad (1967)