Year: 2011

The World Cup mania: A song to cricket

‘She’ ne khela ‘he’ se aaj cricket match

Dev Anand-debonair cricketer When the entire country is caught in the frenzy of the One-day Cricket World Cup, I get to hear today a fun song on cricket from the film Love Marriage (1959). It is surprising I had not heard this song before. Had Vividh Bharti kept it on hold to play before the final match between India and Sri Lanka at Mumbai on April 2, 2011?

Dev Anand is the debonair cricketer on the field. Among the spectators is Mala Sinha who is surprised to see him as the star player of the opposite team. Dev Anand bugged her no end as she was persuaded into taking him as her flat mate when she was looking for a female house mate to share her rent. And as you could have guessed he rains fours and sixes taking his team to victory, and in the process winning the heart of the hostile heroine. In the after-match dancing and singing of this song amidst his admiring cronies and a giggling gang of girls, including by-now-bowled-over Mala Sinha, seeking his autographs, he proclaims with unconcealed glee क्रिकेट में तो जीत गए पर हारे प्यार का मैच.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Kamal Barot – A tangy flavour to music

Kamal Barot When I started this blog I had not thought I would be ever writing about Kamal Barot. She was not one of the biggies like Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhosle. She was not one of the smallies who gave at least a couple of immortal songs which you instantly recall – in this category I can think of Mubarak Begum’s Kabhi tanhaaiyon mein yun hamari yaad ayegi from Hamari Yaad Ayegi (1961) or Jagjit Kaur’s Tum apna ranj-o-gham apni pareshaani mujhe de do and Gori sasural chali  from Shagun (1964). She did figure though in a large number of hit songs as one of the voices in a duet or a treblet or a multiplet (purists will pardon my freewheeling coining of new words), but none that you could solely associate with Kamal Barot.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The ‘other’ Madan Mohan

Humse nain milana BA pass kar ke

Madan Mohan Commuting to your office could be a pain, but if your driver’s musical taste goes back to the Golden Era, ranging from Mukesh to Hemant Kumar to Talat Mehmood to Shamshad Begum to Suraiya, you look forward to the drive; the traffic jam is no longer an irritant, in fact it only lets you linger over the melodies a little longer.

I had become accustomed to these melodies playing on the car stereo. One day it was the turn of Shamshad Begum. After the familiar Kabhi aar kabhi paar, Saiyan dil mein ana re, Chandni ayee ban ke pyar, Kahe koel shor machaye re etc, I was struck by a very peppy, very light hearted number Humse nain milana BA pass kar ke.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Mukesh not the only voice of Raj Kapur

Wonderful Rafi, Talat songs on Raj Kapur

Raj Kapur 2 When Mukesh died (in 1976), Raj Kapur said he had lost his voice. And rightly so. When you think of Raj Kapur, you think of Awara hun, Mera joota hai japani, Ruk ja o janewali ruk ja, Chhalia mera naam, Mera naam Raju gharana a-naam, and countless other Mukesh songs lip-synched by Raj Kapur on the screen.

You are also aware of the outstanding Manna Dey songs in duets such as Pyaar hua ekraar hua, Ye raat bheegi bheegi, A ja sanam madhur chandni mein hum etc. This came about when Mukesh was distracted from playback singing as he became convinced by his handsome looks that he was hero material.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Best of Mahendra Kapoor-OP Nayyar

clip_image001Mahendra Kapoor was the favourite singer of BR Chopra Films, and Ravi was their favourite composer. BR Films-Ravi-Mahendra Kapoor combination gave a large number of well known songs. After Ravi, the only music director who used Mahendra Kapoor in a significant manner was OP Nayyar, apparently on rebound when he had some rift with Mohammad Rafi. Following behind would be Kalyanji Anandji, who used Mahendra Kapoor to some degree following the great success of Mere desh ki dharti on Manoj Kumar in Upkar (1967). His songs with other music directors are few and far between.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE