Late Hem Chandra Jain :

 (1932 - 2007)

About the 'Hindi Film Music Collector' : Late Mr Hem Chandra Jain was the Mentor for this website. He was closely associated with and a good friend of "Film Geetkosh" compiler Mr Har Mandir singh 'Hamraaz' of Kanpur. 

After 5 volumes of Geetkosh were published (a monumental work indeed !!!), some of the group members started collecting Geets themselves. Mr Jain belonged to this group based in India and  U.S. who have been collecting songs of mainly Thirties & Forties, extended afterwards upto 1956 when Vividh Bharti came into existence and songs thereafter are easily available. He passed away on September 14, 2007 at Agra.

October 30, 2007:

It all started as the quest of an individual to collect a few more of Saigal songs and listen to them in the hope of being able to sing a larger number of his songs to himself. 

Having collected a fairly large number of songs and associated resources from the Internet, the urge to share the same with other Fans led to setting up of this website. 

Soon, support and encouragement started pouring in from several well-known music lovers and Collectors like Dr Manohar Lal Kapur, Dr Surjit Singh, Zainuddin Vahanvaty, Mr Surhall Dhall, Mr Zafar, Mr Kamalakar Pasupuleti, Dr Jyothi Prakash Guha, Dr Suresh S Chandvankar. Mr UVR, Mr Prithviraj Dasgupta, Mr K Vijay Kumar, Mr Naseer Qureshi, Mr urzung khan, Mr Afzal A. Khan, Dr. Dipendra K. Sinha, Mr MV Devraj, Mr Naresh Khattar and Mr Kamaal Mustafa (listed in no particular order).

Agra-based Hindi Film Music Collector Late Mr Hem Chand Jain became the self- appointed Mentor of the site, tendering advice, providing invaluable insights and insisting that all the available songs be posted on the site for the benefit of other music lovers.

Thanks to his vision and generosity, two of Saigals rarest of rare songs found their way into this website and thus into the public domain. 

For the very first time now, 'Saigal Fans' can now preview all the songs of the great singer at this website !

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18th September, 2007

Obituary : Hem Chandra Jain 

I  regret to inform of the sad demise of Mr Hem Chandra Jain, 75 yrs, a lover of classic Hindi film music and a mentor for this website, on 14th September, 2007 at Agra. His son informs us that he had heart troubles for a long time but the end came suddenly and all too soon. 

This marks the passing away of yet another of the rare species of 'Collectors' who were witness to the classic Indian film era and who helped preserve the rich musical heritage of the Indian sub-continent for posterity. 

Mr Jain provided valuable insights into the formative period of the film music and mentored me in upgrading the website devoted to KL Saigal at www.kundanlalsaigal.com. 

Thanks entirely to his support and encouragement, all the songs 'known' to have been rendered by KL Saigal will soon be posted on this site. I gratefully acknowledge his contributing several rare songs which have been the exclusive preserve of 'collectors' so far. 

May his soul rest in peace. 

- MV Surender