#365DaysOfWriting – Day Twenty-Four
There’s a certain magic in old Bollywood songs.
A lot of people look at me with raised eyebrows when I tell them my favourite brand of music is old Bollywood songs.
“It was way before your time!” they say.
Yes, but when you have been brought up on a constant diet of Kishoreda, Rafisaab, Hemantda, Lata didi, Ashaji, Manna Dey and the like from the age of 3, you are bound to love that kind of music. Not to forget the great composers – Burmanda (SD), Panchamda (RD), Hemantda (Kumar/Mujherjee), Roshan, Shankar-Jaikishen, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and many more.
I have a few favourite songs.
From Vijay Anand’s masterpiece, Guide, which was Dev Anand’s tour de force. The music, given by the maestro, SD Burman. And given life by the mellifluous voice of Mohd. Rafi. This isn’t a simple romantic number – this is Raju’s (Dev Anand) declaration of undying love for Rosie (the peerless Waheeda Rahman). At the end of this song, you get a feeling that YOU are Raju, and you’ve fallen hopelessly in love with the sad, the helpless Rosie.
This is from one of my all-time favourite Bollywood love stories, Amar Prem. Sung by the maverick genius Kishore Kumar, with tunes by RD Burman. This song is possibly the most sophisticated, polite way of not giving a f**k about the world and its hypocrisy. And who better to act it out than Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore?
Asit Sen (no, not the comedian) probably extracted the performance of a lifetime from Waheeda Rahman in Khamoshi (with all due respect to Guide). Hemantda composed and sung this himself, and it is so haunting and inviting that you cannot blame Waheeda Rahman’s character for getting attracted towards it. The icing on the cake? Lyrics by Gulzar.
Another classic, from Meri Surat Teri Aankhen. Music given by SD Burman, and sung by the classical maestro, Manna Dey. Ashok Kumar wants to sing a song to fulfil his dying father’s last wish, and this song tugs at your heart strings even while maintaining a classical rhythm. You want his father to live, so he can perform an encore.
