Arunji, whose anecdotes and memories of the good old times we adore and whose filmi knowledge, we admire, springs in the arena once again to fill up the empty time space here. Thank you Arunji! Without much ado, I pass the mike to him.
Arunkumar Deshmukh’s ten favourite inspired song-pairs
EK DIL DO JAANE- EK TUNE DO GAANE
The other day I was reading a book in my Drawing Room,when I heard my college going grandson telling a small boy,” you don’t know,but in our times,things were not like this…”
I smiled. Every generation thinks that their times were better that the present one.
I wondered whether if I tell today’s children that in my college days,Petrol was costing only 5 Rupees a Gallon (around 3.7 Litres) or that a car driver could be hired on a salary of Rs.150 pm, will they believe it ? We never believed when our elders told us that Gold was bought by them at 10 Rs. a Tola (about 11.4 Gms.),because at the time of my marriage Gold was costing 150 rupees per Tola(about 11.4 gms).Today when Gold has crossed the barrier of rs.30000 for just 10 gms,these stories look like Arabian Night stories,indeed !!
Sometimes I keep thinking if old times were better or the present times are better.I have not been able to come to any conclusion so far.
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Tags: Aa jao tumhe dil ka, Aakhri Dao [1958], Aankhon se jo utari hai dil mein, Anand Bakshi, Anil Biswas, Anjum Pilibhiti, Anmol Ghadi [1946], Arun Deshmukh, Arun Deshmukh’s ten favourite inspired song-pairs, Arzoo [1965], Asha Bhosle, Aye phoolon ki raanee, B R Sharma, Chunariya [1948], De di hamen Azaadi, Dharamputra [1961], Didi [1948], Dil e naashaad ko jeene ki hasrat, Dil jalta hai to jalne de, Dr.Safdar 'Aah', Ek phool do Maali [1969], Guest Post, Hamee se muhabbat hamee se Ladai, Hansraj Behl, Hasrat Jaipuri, Heer [1956], Hemant Kumar, Jaadoo [1951], Jagriti [1954], Jeevan Mrityu [1970], Kavi Pradeep, Kiska deep Jalta hai, Kya mil gaya Bhagwan, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Leader (1964), Madan Mohan, Main jab bhi akeli hoti hoon, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Mamta [1966], Manna Dey, Mitti Me Sona [1960], Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Mukund Masurekar, N.Datta, Naadan muhabbat walon ke, Naujawan [1951], Naushad, Naya Daur [1957], Noorjehan. Dil leke daga denge, O. P. Nayyar, Pehli nazar [1945], Phir milogi kabhi, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon [1963], Poocho na hamein, Prem Dhawan, Rahen na rahen hum, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Ravi, Roshan, S. D. Burman, S. H. Bihari, Sahir Ludhianvi, Saraswati Kumar Deepak, Shakeel Badayuni, Shanker Das Gupta, Shanker-Jaikishen, Thandi hawayen, Vo chaand muskuraya, Yeh parda hataa do, Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi [1966], Zamane mein aji kai aise naadan
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Seeing no new post from me on my blog, my readers got concerned about it. Pacifist just couldn’t tolerate this utter neglect and came again to my rescue. thank you, dear Pacifist. This is her third post on this blog and with it she is showing her business acumen. Bravo, Pacifist! More power to the small businessmen and -women!
Pacifist’s choice of 10 songs of small business
Thank you Harvey. I’m quite pleased at having this opportunity of posting 10 songs on a subject I have often thought about. People selling stuff, doing business. It was a wonderful time of economic opportunity, letting the small fish survive. Today they have been eaten up by the big fish. I don’t mean to imply that they all sold stuff in the filmi manner, but sell, they did.
So in memory of those small dying/dead businesses, here are 10 such songs.

I do have more than 10 songs with a different product being sung and sold, but I’m such a sucker for melody, tunes which are pleasing to my ears that I left some and took some even though the product got repeated. Boot Polish was one such, Tel Maalish another 🙂
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Tags: aaj ki taaza khabar, Asha Bhonsle, baman ho ya jaat, Bhagwaan, boot chappal sandal- Karigar (1958), C Ramchandra, channa chor garam babu, Chitragupt, dev anand, Dhumal, ek aana boot polish do aana tel maalish, Film Pyaasa (1957), Ghar ki Laaj (1960), Guest Post, Jaan Nissar Akhtar, Jadoo [1951], Johnny Walker, Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Ujala (1958), Karigar (1958), Kishore Kumar, lelo choodiyan main laya nirali, lelo lelo do phool jani lelo, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Maya [1961], Meena Kumari, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Nalini Jaywant, Naushad, Naya Andaaz (1956), O. P. Nayyar, OP Nayyar, Pacifist, Prem Dhawan, Rajendra Krishan, Ravi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Sajid Khan, Salil Choudhary, sar jo tera chakraye, SD Burman, Shakeel Badayuni, Shamshad Begum, Shanti Mathur, Sheikh Mukhtar, Son of India (1962), surma mera nirala, Tel Maalish Boot Polish (1961), This Singing Business, Usha Mangeshkar, zindagi hai kya, Zorabai
Arunji has been a loyal follower of this blog and has always been very much encouraging with his comments and suggestions. This is his second post here on this blog in the role of an author. It is an honour for me that he agreed to do this post. His personal reminiscences as usual makes this post more dear to me. Thank you Arunji!
Arunkumar Deshmukh’s ten favourite songs with “interesting” lyrics
Words like ‘Dumbak dumba’ or ‘chidi chapata ‘ or Ding dong etc always attracted me in Hindi songs. In the early 50s I was an avid listener of Radio Ceylon. They used to have a weekly programme of ‘ Anokhe Bol ‘ for 15 minutes. I waited thru the week for this programme. it was my favourite programme. Songs played in this programme had odd words in it and those songs haunted me for the entire week till the next programme, when next set of songs took over.
From my early childhood i was very fond of seeing films and enjoying its music. We were in Hyderabad State. This being a Muslim ruled state; there were many peculiar things in those days. For example, in most Theatres, there used to be a class called “ZANANA “(Ladies Only). This was like a balcony. It was meant for those Burkha-clad Muslim women who wanted to see the films, without being seen by the men folk. A huge cloth curtain was dividing the Zanana Class and the rest of the Theatre. A She-male or a He-female (I don’t know which! ) was appointed with the exclusive duty of removing the huge curtain once the film started and closing it before or as soon as the Interval or the end of the film, so that the women could see the film and still not get exposed to the prying eyes of the men folk in the theatre.
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Tags: Aawaz, Ajit, Aka baaka chidi chadaka, Asha, Asha Bhosale, Ashok Kumar, Aye Ichak Beechak Churr, Aziz Kashmiri, Bawre Nain, Bhagwan Sinha, Bimal Roy, C Ramchandra, chhupa chhupi agad bagad, Cuckoo, Denewala Jab bhi deta, dev anand, Dhitang Dhitang bole, Dholak, Do Bigha Zameen, Eena Meena Dika, Ek Do Teen, Ek Thi Ladki, Funtoosh, geeta bali, Gupchup gupchup pyar Karen, Halla Gulla Layilla, Haryala sawan aaya, Hemant Kumar, Hyderabad State, k. n. singh, Kidar Sharma, Kishore Kumar, Lara Lappa, Lata, Majnu, Manna Dey, Meena Kumari, Meena Shorey, Mehmood, Nimmi, Prem Dhawan, Rafi, Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Krishna, Roshan, S. D. Burman, Sahir Ludhiyanvi, Sailesh Mukherjee, Salil Chaudhary, Sandhya Mukherjee, Satish Batra, Savera, Sazaa, Shailendra, Shamshad Begum, Sheila Ramani, Shyamsunder, Vinod, Vyjayantimala, Zanana Class
Arunji has been a loyal follower of this blog and has always been very much encouraging. With this post he makes his debut here on this blog in the role of an author. It is an honour for me that he agreed to do this post. His personal reminiscences makes this post more dear to me. Now, without much ado I give the microphone to him.

It is said, that Indian Films represent the life in India. There is, however, a section of people who believe that the society emulates what is shown in films. So, what is the truth?
When the Talkie came to India and films were made, only one thought was there in the minds of the producers and that was to make films based on Mythological and Historical stories.
This went on for first 5-6 years, but then film makers realised that people will like their films if they could relate their lives with it. So, films based on stories with village background, the caste system, dowry, the moneylender and the farmers were made. These became popular. The urban and the city viewer who was educated were looking for something different. Thus, films were made on love stories set in cities and bigger towns.
Those days middle class was growing in India by leaps and bounds and these were the people, who could spend the money. Now these were the people the films were aimed at.
In the 40s and 50s, the most common transportation vehicle was CYCLE. Almost everybody knew how to ride a cycle. Few people had cars and motorcycles had not yet become popular. Scooters were yet unknown.
I remember, I got my first Cycle when I was in school. My school was 3-4 miles far and I used the cycle to go to school in the morning and to go to friends in the evening. There were many cycles on the road and there was a Traffic rule that every cycle must have a Lamp on the Cycle’s handle as a caution to other vehicles. These lamps were kerosene and Cotton-batti lamps in the night. Sometimes, the lamps got extinguished due to wind. Unaware of this, the police used to catch us. On hearing our plea about the lamp, wind etc, the police would touch the glass of the lamp. if it was still warm, we were let out with a warning only. This was the life in late 40s and early 50s, when I was in Hyderabad State.

It was natural that now cycles too should feature in films. Imaginative Directors used cycles for the heroes when they chased the heroines and for the heroines when they went on a picnic with sahelis. In many films, the village affluents would be shown as cycle owners and the city people using it for moving about.
Up to the 70s, cycles were part of many films. Slowly, cycles were replaced by scooters, Mopeds and motor cycles in films and by 80s, it was only cars and fancy Mobikes for the heroes. Poor cycles were reduced to be shown, only used by the doodhwalla bhaiyyas (milk-men).
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Tags: Aas Ka Panchhi [1961], Agra Road [1957], akela hoon main, Ameeta, Arunkumar Deshmukh, Arunkumar Deshmukh’s 10 favourite cycle songs, Asha Bhsole, Baat Ek Raat Ki [1962], C Ramchandra, dev anand, dil mera ek aas ka panchhi, Ek Hi Raasta [1956], G. M. Durrani, Geeta Dutt, Ghulam Haider, Guest Post, Hasarat Jaipuri, Hemant Kumar, Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956), humko hansate dekh zamana jalata hai, I. S. Johar, inse rippy tippy ho gayi, Johnny Walker, Kalyanji-Anandji, Kavi Pradeep, Khan Mastana, Khazanchi [1941], Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, main chali main chali, Majnu, Majrooh Sultanpuri, manaa janaab ne pukara nahin, Meena Kumari, Mehmood, Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Nutan, O. P. Nayyar, Omprakash Bhandari, Padosan [1968], Paigham [1959], Paying Guest [1957], Prem Dhavan, pyaase panchhi neel gagan ke, Pyaase Panchhi [1961], Qamar Jalalabadi, R. D. Burman, Rajendra Krishna, Rajendra Kumar, Roshan, S. D. Burman, saanwale salone aaye din bahar ke, Saira Bano, sawan ke nazare hain, Shakila, Shamshad Begum, Shankar-Jaikishen, Subir Sen, Sunil Dutt, suno re bhaiyya hum layen hain, Vijay Anand, Wali Saheb
Dear Pacifist has agreed once again to honour this blog with a post of hers. Thank you, Pacifist!
10 beautiful village songs
Poos ki sard raat thi…, chilchilati dhoop mein nange paon…, (it was a freezing winter night…, bare feet in the blistering heat…,) are phrases I associate Munshi Premchand with. Though we used the term chilchilati dhoop , poos ki raat was new. Village life in the north, as depicted in his novels, was very harsh as these two terms indicate. My interest in his novels branched into reading some of his short stories too, so when Harvey asked me to write a post I thought of Munshi Premchand and villages.

Now we all know that the village life as depicted in our films is nothing like the real thing, but some of the older films did manage to get some sort of realism, simplicity, though in some cases burdensome (Mother India). Whatever the case they always give me a feeling of being purified. Blame it on the pollution inducing contemporary films. Dilip Kumar, Balraj Sahni, even Raj Kumar made convincing villagers. The heroines all looked good enough. Not only that, but the folksy songs were great. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 10 beautiful village songs, A village mela (fair), Amitabh Bachchan, Anjaan, Asha Bhonsle, Balraj Sahni, Dharti kahe pukar ke, Dilip Kumar, Do Bailon Ki Katha, Do Beegha Zameen (1953), Do Boond Pani (1971), Godan (1963), Gunga Jamuna (1961), Har haseen cheez ka, Harvesting, Heera Moti (1959), Heeya jarat rahat din rain, Hemant Kumar, Jaane kahe jiya more dole, Jab se lagan lagayi re, Jaidev, Jawaharlal Nehru, Julmi sang aankh ladi, Kaifi Azmi, Kishore Kumar, Lali lali dolia mein lali, Lata Mangeshkar, Leisure time in the village, Madhumati (1958), Manna Dey, Minoo Purshottam, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Munshi Premchand, Naach re dharti ke pyare pyare, Nain lad jainhe, Naushad, Neeraj, Nirupa Roy, O bedardi aa mil jaldi, Parveen Sultana, Peetal ki meri gaagri, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Raj Kapoor, Rakhee, Ravindra Jain, Reshma aur Shera (1971), Roshan, Salil Choudhary, Saudagar (1971), Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Shankar-Jaikishan, Shreyas Talpade, Shubha Khote, Simi Garewal, Teesri Kasam (1966), The village backbone: Rain, The village belle gori, The village rasiya (hero), the womenfolk, Village celebration – wedding, Village children, Village family, Vyjayanthimala, Waheeda Rehman, Welcome to Sajjanpur
You all know Pacifist. She has been a loyal follower of this blog since its conception. While corresponding with her for the quiz, I happened to ask her if she would like to do a guest post for the blog and she kindly agreed. The topic of her debut post must reflect her opinion about me. If that is true, I won’t defend myself, because it is true. Thank you, dear Pacifist for this post. I am sure the readers will enjoy this post as much as we did.
Thank you Harvey for inviting me to write a guest post on your popular blog. I feel quite overwhelmed. Being no writer the safest topic that came to mind was the 10 favourites
Not that I had to think about the subject, one’s always toying with this or that idea. I had a few in mind already. So here are my 10 favourite funny songs.
The most important point (LOL, point reminds me of Kelerk) was not to fall into the trap of – drunken songs, comedian songs, men dressed as women songs, though I have one of each, but will explain why they were chosen in spite of it.

I have selected songs which made me go *hehe* or *snort* or outright *guffaw* at some particular moment in the song. *just smiles*were excluded. Some have funny lyrics or are slapstick , but what is common is they are all madcap songs – some more than the other.
*No just smiles* leads me to the next point or even a ‘Disclaimer’.
Sense of humour varies from person to person so these songs may not raise even a smile on the faces of some listening to them, who might wonder what was wrong with me Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 10 favourite funny songs, Anand Bakshi, Anoop Kumar, Asha Bhonsle, Asha Parekh, Ashok Kumar, Ashok Saraf, Baazi 1968, Bewaqoof (1960), Caravan (1971), Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi, Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi (1982), Dilip Kumar, funny lyrics, G. M. Durrani, Golmaal (1979), Gulzar, Helen, Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956), I. S. Johar, Irshad, Jeetendra, Johar in Kashmir (1966), Johnny Walker, Kalyanji-Anandji, Kishore Kumar, Leader (1964), Mahendra Kapoor Sushma Shreshta, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Manna Dey, Master Bittu, Meri Biwi Ki Shaadi (1979), Mohd. Rafi, Mukri, Naushad, O. P. Nayyar, Pariwar (1956), Pati Patni aur Woh (1978), R. D. Burman, Ravinder Jain, S. D. Burman, S. H. Bihari, Sagina (1974), Salil Choudhary, Sanjeev Kumar, Sapan Chakraborty, Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Shammi, slapstick, Suresh Wadkar, Ten favourite madcap songs, Usha Khanna, Vidya Sinha, Vyjayanthimala
Shashi, a contestant in the great Indian Talent Show and also a fellow Dharam-fan, came up with the idea of making a list of bahaar (spring) songs. Since I wasn’t in the spring mood, I asked him if he would like to do a guest post… and he agreed.
My mother always says that a good house is where guests come. If my blog is my house than I am blessed indeed. I have so many guests who come here regularly and also leave comments which give me new ideas and also widen my horizons with new songs. So here is one guest, who is also doing a post and bringing in the spring. After all his name is Shashi (the Sun)!
Shashi’s ten favourite spring songs
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