2025

OP Nayyar’s association with Mahendra Kapoor

Thumbnail image for OP Nayyar’s association with Mahendra Kapoor May 27, 2025

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar in OP Nayyar centenary series (Ravindra Kelkar wrote a series of articles on OP Nayyar eight years ago. The grand centenary celebrations of Rafi on SOY inspired Mr Kelkar to mount a similar tribute to OP Nayyar whose centenary is on 16 January 2026. He also offered to write a […]

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Zindagi ai zindagi, zindagi tere hain do roop

Thumbnail image for Zindagi ai zindagi, zindagi tere hain do roop May 16, 2025

Haar Jeet, Sukh Dukh, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham – the two opposite feelings, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes alternately are so common in real life, we don’t give much thought to it. Even major disasters, terrorist acts do not move us, they are some statistics in news. Except that something so horrific happens that it hits you […]

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Best songs of 1940

Thumbnail image for Best songs of 1940 May 6, 2025

And the winners are? This is the transition year between the 1930s and 1940s. This was the year when Himanshu Rai, the founder of Bombay Talkies, passed away. The internecine war in the studio had not yet begun. So Bombay Talkies was going great guns with Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis with films like Aazad, […]

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R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations – Rhythm Instruments

Thumbnail image for R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations – Rhythm Instruments April 25, 2025

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav (My first post of the current calendar year was a review of RD Burman’s biography by Anirudh Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal. In that review I had also mentioned that for me RD Burman was a post-1970 phenomena, which was beyond the time period I had set for this blog. […]

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OP Nayyar’s transition from Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt to Asha Bhosle

OP Nayyar with Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle April 14, 2025

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar launching OP Nayyar’s Centenary Celebrations with a tribute to Shamshad Begum on her 106th birth anniversary, and also wising a very Happy Baisakhi, Bihu, Vishu and similar festivals across India (Ravindra Kelkar is another once-an-SOY-regular who has woken up after a deep slumber. This time it came as a bigger […]

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Book Review: Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion Book 3

Thumbnail image for Book Review: Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion Book 3 April 2, 2025

Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion Book 3 Author: Arunkumar Deshmukh Publisher: Professor toofaani publishers, East Lansing, MI, USA Price (Pothi.com): ₹590 plus shipping (Paperback) Copyright: © Arunkumar Deshmukh Pages: 161 No one can be a hero to his friend. We all know Arunkumar Deshmukh well, I also happen to have […]

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Songs of Alankars: Figures of Speech

Thumbnail image for Songs of Alankars: Figures of Speech March 20, 2025

My last post was also on alankars; that was the jewellery women wear on different parts of their body. The language also needs alankars to beautify it. Without figures of speech a language would be quite bland. A British writer Nate White’s article, “Why do some British people not like Trump” went viral sometime back. […]

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Songs of Alankar: Women Obsessed With Jewellery?

Thumbnail image for Songs of Alankar: Women Obsessed With Jewellery? March 8, 2025

Commemorating International Women’s Day Last year around the time I wrote about the subtleties of female bonding on the International Women’s Day, a momentous event called “Pre-Wedding” was taking place at Jamnagar. It filled me with pride, as I am sure it would have many Indians, that at the bash hosted by an Indian tycoon […]

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The evolution of Mohammad Rafi: PART ONE (1944-55)

Thumbnail image for The evolution of Mohammad Rafi: PART ONE (1944-55) February 25, 2025

Guest article by Hans Jakhar extending the centenary celebrations of Rafi (b. 24 Dec 1924 – d. 31 July 1980) (Hans Jakhar, an SOY regular, is an avid Rafi fan and a Master of Data. Therefore, when I decided to celebrate 2024 as Rafi’s centenary year, my thoughts first went to him whether he would […]

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Some Less Heard Gems of Mohammad Rafi – The Sad Romantic Solos: 1940s through 50s

Thumbnail image for Some Less Heard Gems of Mohammad Rafi – The Sad Romantic Solos: 1940s through 50s February 14, 2025

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav wishing everyone a very Happy Valentine Day with Rafi’s sad romantic solos, extending his centenary celebrations (Ashok M Vaishnav had sent this article for Rafi centenary celebrations in the calendar year 2024. But with series on Kalyanji-Anadnji and Usha Khanna added in, I could not squeeze this article in […]

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