Best songs

Best songs of 1946: And the winners are?

Anmol Ghadi-Shahjahan-Safar-Eight Days April 11, 2019

As I started traversing back from the 1950s to the 40s in the year-wise review of film songs, I mentioned that we are entering the era of more unknown than the known. This is best exemplified by the year 1946: Out of 153 films in the year, nothing is known about five films, whether its […]

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Best songs of 1948: Final Wrap Up 4

Naushad_C Ramchandra_Ghulam Haider_Husnlal Bhagatram December 25, 2017

And the Songs of Yore Award for the Best Music Director goes to? I start with wishing the readers  Merry Christmas. After the Overview post and the three category-wise wrap ups – Wrap Up 1 for the best male solos, Wrap Up 2 for the best female solos, and Wrap Up 3 for the best […]

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The Unlucky Genius Ghulam Mohammad’s best songs for Talat Mahmood

Ghulam Mohammad and Talat Mahmood February 24, 2016

Ghulam Mohammad was Naushad’s senior in the music industry by several years. He was an established tabla player, earning Rs 60 per month, with Ustad Jhande Khan, when Naushad joined him, in 1937, as a piano player at Rs. 40 per month. Fate catapulted Naushad to commanding heights, making him the greatest Mughal of Movie […]

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Best songs of 1950: Final Wrap Up 5

Top music directors of 1949 November 22, 2015

The SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to? This year’s detailed review had more songs (152) than in any preceding year, and I had hoped that this would cover most of the noteworthy songs. Nevertheless, the readers added a large number of songs in the comments. This shows that there are a number […]

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Best Songs of 1955: Wrap Up 2

Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum September 28, 2012

SoY award for the best female playback singer goes to Lata, Lata, Lata, Lata….Mangeshkar (It is a while since I wrote the survey article on the Best songs of 1955 and its first wrap up on the Best male playback singer of 1955. Then a number of interesting themes came up, and completing this string […]

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Songs of Jigar

Songs of Jigar September 7, 2012

In my last post on Mukesh and his ‘dil’ songs, there was a song, Ae jaan-e-jigar dil mein samane aa ja. Urdu poetry gives the same status to jigar as to dil as a metaphor for something very vital and very dear. There are also other examples of ‘dil’ and ‘jigar’ being used together and […]

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Best songs of Rafi by Roshan

Thumbnail image for Best songs of Rafi by Roshan July 31, 2012

Double tribute to two geniuses Who composed the best songs for Mohammad Rafi cannot be conclusively answered. But there is no doubt that Roshan would figure in the top four or five for this honour. That is significant considering that Roshan did not have the advantage of a big banner nor big stars like Dev […]

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Best songs of 1955: Wrap Up 1

Thumbnail image for Best songs of 1955: Wrap Up 1 May 9, 2012

Songs of Yore Award for the best male playback singer goes to? My survey article on the Best songs of 1955 attracted a good deal of response. Some readers gave not only their shortlist of favourite five in different categories but also a detailed analytical, musical and emotional reasoning for their choice. As this exercise […]

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Best songs of 1955: And the winners are!

Thumbnail image for Best songs of 1955: And the winners are! April 9, 2012

I am delighted to present a survey of the best songs of 1955 and invite the readers to an interactive discussion to choose the best songs, singers and music director. For this post I have to thank the readers AM and KR Vaishampayan who suggested while discussing the music of Mughal-e-Azam (which failed to win […]

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Duets of Talat Mahmood: Breaking the image trap

Thumbnail image for Duets of Talat Mahmood: Breaking the image trap February 24, 2012

A tribute on his birth anniversary February 24 When you think of Talat Mahmood you think of his iconic soft, sentimental melodies like Meri yaad mein tum na aansoo bahana, Jalte hain jiske liye, Humse aya na gaya tumse bulaya na gaya, Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho, Zindagi denewale […]

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