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

Songs on themes

Nuptials in Bollywood

January 14, 2018

Guest article by DP Rangan (With Makar Sankranti and Pongal, as the month-long ‘inauspicious period’ comes to an end and the wedding season is set to resume with full vigour, our indefatigablete DP Rangan comes up with a very nicely-timed post on nuptial songs from our films. In his characteristic style, Mr Rangan packs in a […]

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Waterfalls in Bollywood

November 2, 2017

Guest article by DP Rangan (DP Rangan is a man with boundless energy. Even with a late debut on the Songs of Yore, at the rate he is writing he will soon overtake the regular guest writers. After the horse series, he switched to romantic themes of moon and stars. This post on Waterfalls in […]

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Beena madhur madhur kacchu bol

May 6, 2017

Guest article by Ashwin Bhandarkar (If we broadly divide the SoY community into two categories – ‘music experts’ and ‘others’ – Ashwin Bhandarkar belongs to the first category. Therefore, it is not surprising that he is appearing as a guest author; the surprise is that it has taken him so long to do so. He […]

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“Whose father’s what goes?”

March 13, 2017

Wishing the readers a very Happy Holi with some songs of brazenness Once a casual acquaintance, but who had a way of showing great familiarity, visited me. He started discussing something very animatedly, every second sentence he would look at me intently and ask, “Whose father’s what goes? Isn’t it?” I didn’t know what to […]

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Flowers bloom in Bollywood

February 5, 2017

Guest article by DP Rangan (Someone suggested a post on flower songs, Hans offered to compile a list of such songs, and our man of many flowers, the evergreen and eternal romantic, DP Rangan, offered to write a post. And here we are. Flowers are a common motif across cultures with a variety of associations – from […]

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Bollywood celebrates Deepavali

October 30, 2016

Wishing Happy Diwali with guest article by DP Rangan (Readers are now used to seeing DP Rangan’s name as a guest author regularly. He can write faster than I can schedule him on SoY. At any point of time I have a couple of his articles in my mail. I admire his amazing enthusiasm. I […]

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Songs of Angana

October 19, 2016

We have seen in the songs of atariya how its vantage location at the back of a house makes it an ideal secret meeting point for the lovers. Aangan or angana, i.e. courtyard, on the other hand, is a central feature of the house. Open to the sky, and surrounded on the four sides by […]

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Bacchus in Bollywood

October 9, 2016

Guest article by DP Rangan (The intoxicating drink as elixir of life is a part of mythology in almost all cultures. Harivansh Rai ‘Bachchan’ said that while the world celebrates Holi and Diwali only once a year, दिन को होली रात दीवाली रोज़ मनाती मधुशाला. After galloping on the High Horse, riding the tonga, and […]

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Dekho Dosto Chhed Ka Maza!

September 18, 2016

Guest article by Shalan Lal [The title is adapted from Hasrat Jaipuri’s lyrics in the film ‘Shararat’ (1959)] (From Krishna teasing the gopis to Kishore Kumar, Shammi Kapoor and other heroes teasing heroines in the films, chhed chhad has been an integral part of our culture. You would expect from the title that the post […]

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Tonga in the Tinsel World

March 5, 2016

Guest article by DP Rangan (DP Rangan has been a familiar figure in the comments section. He recently debuted as a guest author with his piece on Bollywood’s love affair with horses. I had introduced him as a member of the very senior brigade, who has the enthusiasm of a teenager. The proof is this […]

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