A tribute to old Hindi film music. Songs of the 30s through the 60s.

Miscellaneous

हे भगवान्‌ !

October 9, 2022

Gods have been an important part of our lives and, therefore, our films. We do not set off on a journey without checking whether it was an auspicious moment or not. There is a Rahukaalam when everything comes to a standstill: No weddings, no new investment or purchase of car or home appliances, no taking […]

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Songs of Sarcasm

August 13, 2022

If the world only comprised narcissists at one extreme, and the most polite and courteous who profusely praise others at the other end, it would be a very boring place. Things are never black and white. There are various shades of grey in life. In our interactions we often cannot resist the temptation of putting-down […]

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In praise of a woman’s beauty

June 29, 2022

A keen reader S. Joseph often suggests some themes to write on. He once wrote to me that there were many songs of a man praising the beauty of a woman, and also, somewhat less, of a woman praising a man, and it might be a nice theme for the blog. I felt diffident precisely […]

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Songs of Narcissists

June 18, 2022

Narcissism is seen as some kind of personality disorder denoting an exaggerated sense of self-importance, arrogant, self-centred behaviour and need for excessive attention and admiration. Narcissus in the Greek mythology was cursed by the gods to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. When he saw his reflection he became […]

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Songs of Yore completes twelve years

June 7, 2022

In normal times, completing twelve years of blogging would have been a matter of joy, and possibly a bit of crowing. That would look quite out of place in these unusual times. We thought that we would be getting some respite from Covid. But now there is a scare of the fourth wave hitting the […]

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Impossible Songs

March 18, 2022

Wishing the readers a very Happy Holi The regular readers of SOY are aware that on Holi, when everyone is out throwing coloured water on each other, I often reflect on some serious issues. Not on things like “What is the Ultimate Reality”, or the nature of Brahma (ब्रह्म) and Jeev (जीव) – Are they […]

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Romancing the Jaadugar Balma

January 12, 2022

By now the regular readers of the SOY can easily answer if Amitabh Bachchan were to ask on KBC, बलमा के कितने प्रमुख प्रकार हैं? It is sad that this season of KBC has come to an end; if it is revived, he might some day ask this question! We have met with anaari, pardesi, […]

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Romancing the Rogue or Songs of Beiman Balma

January 1, 2022

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year Readers would recall that one favourite of our film heroines was the Dunce, who went by various names such as anari balma, naadan balma, bhole balam etc. Raj Kapoor was the leading light of the type, followed by Bharat Bhushan. They were clueless about the girls, which was […]

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Songs of women for the women by the women

November 10, 2021

Wishing the readers a very Happy Chhath festival My fellow bloggers Madhu and Anu are apt to say, no sooner do you put two women together in our films than they start singing. There must be something about women and singing – female solos outnumber male solos by more than three times, and female duets […]

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Q&A in songs

September 6, 2021

We used to learn in our schools that literature is the mirror of society. As I grew, I realised this is more true of our film songs which mirror every aspect of the society and our lives. No wonder there are a large number of ‘I ask, you answer’ songs. Questioning and seeking answers is […]

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