Thank you dear friends, readers, participants and lovers of the quiz and the blog!
Thank you for the overwhelming response! It was also nice to see you, Lomo and Andi, who put their annual appearance at the birthday celebrations. Good to know, that you are there somewhere in the background. Maybe this is also a good opportunity to thank all the dear readers, who read the posts but can’t respond. THANK YOU everybody for all the support, love and affection you shower on me and the blog.

It was great fun for me to put the quiz together, but what was difficult, was to give points. In fact most of the participants gave all the answers right. There were only small technical mistakes, like forgetting to name a singer or the film name explicitly. So the points scored show rather my stringency, or shall we say tight-fistedness in giving points, rather than the participants’ knowledge of the songs.
Nobody got the answer to the 20 points question. What’s more, some also attempted to solve it. In fact, I would have been really surprised if anybody had got it right. Who would keep the statistics of this blog? 🙂
Maybe I should have framed the question properly. My mistake!

Sunehriyaadein had the best go at that question and her answer had me in splits for hours. With her kind permission I’m sharing it here.
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Tags: A big white mausoleum, aaja re aa zaraa aa lehra ke aa zara aa, above the second floor, AK, Anand Bakshi, Andi, Anniversary Quiz Answers, Anu, Aparna, Arunkumar Deshmukh, Asha Bhosle, Asha Parekh, Asha-Rafi, Ava, bachpan ke din bhi kya din the, Badi Behen [1949], Bina Rai, blames it on somebody, broken heart and don’t want to live anymore, chale jaanaa nahin, Chris, come hither a bit = aaja re aa zaraa aa, coy boy toy Roy, Cycle, dance till it dies, Dave, dekhiye sahibon woh koi aur thi, dev anand, Dharmendra, don’t go after meeting the eyes, Elder sister, Elvis and a wish, Flames, Footpath [1953], geeta bali, Geeta Dutt, Gold = Hema Malini, Hemant Kumar, Husnlal Bhagatram, Jaal [1952], jab dil hi toot gaya, jab tak hai jaan jaan-e-jahan, Joy Mukherjee, K. L. Saigal, kaisa jaadoo daalaa re, kaisa jadoo daalaa re, Khayyam, Kishore Kumar, Lalitha, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Lomo, Lotus-like, Love in Tokyo [1966], Madan Mohan, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Manna Dey, Meena Kumari, Miss Fish, Mohd. Rafi, Moon-Art, Mukesh, nain milaake, Nalini Jaywant, Naujawan [1951], Naushad, Pacifist, punished for love, Quiz Answers, R. D. Burman, Raja, Rajinder Krishan, Roshan, S. D. Burman, Sahir Ludhianvi, Saigal, Sardar Jafri, Shahjehan [1946], Shailendra, Shammi Kapoor, Shankar-Jaikishan, Shashikala, Sholay [1975], songsofyore.com, Sujata (1959), Sujata (means of a good caste), Sunehriyaadein, Taj Mahal [1963], Teesri Manzil [1966], thandi hawayein lehrake aaye, The childhood days spent like a butterfly, The cool breezes blowing, The Emperor of the world, the magician’s spell, the net, the night and moonlight will not come again, the pedestrian zone, The sacred book, The stringed instrument, where the sun rises, woh koi aur thi, ye raat ye chandani phir kahan, Youthful, zurm e ulfat pe hamen log sazaa dete hain
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
My ten favourite kaun aayaa songs

I’m sure it must have happened to you as well. Sometimes you meet a person and the mere presence of this man/woman makes you feel good. You need not talk about overtly intelligent topics. You might not laugh heartily, but just being in the presence of that particular person makes you feel wonderful. It makes you feel as if you have experienced inner growth. Few days back, I again had such an experience, where I was left wondering: What was that? I was so elated, that I posted the song yeh aaj meri zindagi me kaun aa gaya on a forum I frequent, which gave me the idea for this post.
Unlike my last experience, the encounters making the characters of Hindi film exclaim “yeh kaun aayaa” are mostly of romantic nature. Some feel that spring has come, while others feel the moon has risen. Everybody has his or her own of exclaiming and rejoicing in this emotion. I personally think that a good song can convey more than the words themselves. So, enjoy my ten favourite kaun aayaa songs and tell me about yours.
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Tags: Anand Bakshi, Anoop Kumar, Asha Bhosle, Asha Parekh, Baazi [1951], Deepti Naval, Dekh Kabira Roya [1957], dekho yeh kaun aayaa, Dil Deke Dekho [1959], Farooque Sheikh, Geeta Dutt, imi Garewal, Imtihaan [1974], Indu Jain, Jawani Diwani [1972], Jaya Bhaduri, Kalpana Karthik, Katha [1983], kaun aayaa kaun aayaa, kaun aayaa ki nigahon me chamak jaag uthi, kaun aayaa mere man ke dwaare, kaun yeh aayaa mehfil me, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Look who’s here!, Madan Mohan, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Manna Dey, Mohd. Rafi & Usha Khanna, Munshi Aarzoo, my ten favourite kaun aayaa songs, Nartaki [1939], Naseeruddin Shah, Naushad, Pankaj Mullick, Poonam Dhillon, R. D. Burman, Raaj Kumar, Raj Kamal, Rajendra Krishan, Rajendra Kumar, Randhir Kapoor, Ravi, rosha maati, roz shaam aati magar aisi na thi, S. D. Burman, saamne ye kaun aayaa dil me huyi hulchal, Saathi [1968], Sadhana, Sahir Ludhianvi, Savere Wali Gaadi [1986], Shakeel Badayuni, Shammi Kapoor, Sunny Deol, Suresh Wadkar & Asha Bhosle, tambadi maati, Tanuja, Usha Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Waqt [1965], yeh kaun aaj aayaa sawere sawere, yeh kaun aayaa, yeh kaun aayaa ke mere dil ki duniya me bahaar aayi, yeh kaun aayaa roshan ho gayi mehfil kisake naam se
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
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
My ten favourite Nutan romantic-duets
Comes 4th of June and it is Nutan’s birth anniversary again and also that of bollwood deewana and Richard’S sister. It is turning fast into a tradition to celebrate Nutan’s birthday on this blog. This is her third birthday here. Last year I listed my favourite solo songs of hers. This year it is the turn of duets.
As usual I have taken only one duet per film. What really surprised me was that in her three most famous films, Seema [1955], Sujata [1959] and Bandini [1963], she doesn’t have any duets with her love interest! They are also missing in her Nagina [1951] and Hum Log [1951].
Well, here are my favourite Nutan duets. Enjoy them!
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Tags: . Dekho Rootha Naa Karo, 4th of June, Aasmanwale Teri Duniya Se Jee, Ae Chaand Zaraa Chhup Jaa, Ae Kaash Chalte Milke, Anil Biswas, Asha Bhosle, Basant [1960], Bharat Bhushan, Chhod Do Aanchal, Chori Chori Ek Ishara, chupke se mile pyaase, dev anand, Dil Hi To Hai [1963], Dilli Ka Thug [1958], Geeta Dutt, Ghulam Mohammad, Hasrat Jaipuri, Heer [1956], Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Laatsaab (1967), Laila Majnu [1953], Lata Mangeshkar, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Man Ki Been Matwari Baaje, Manna Dey, Manzil [1960], Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, my ten favourite Nutan romantic-duets, Naushad, Nutan's birth anniversary, Nutan’s birthday, O Saajana Chhuta Hai Jo Daaman Tera, O. P. Nayyar, Paying Guest [1957], Pradeep Kumar, Qamar Jalalabadi, Raj Kapoor, Ravi, Roshan, S. D. Burman, Sahir Ludhianvi, Shabab [1954], Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Shammi Kapoor, Shankar-Jaikishan, Talat Mehmood, Tere Ghar Ke Saamne [1963], Tumhari Mast Nazar Gar Idhar Nahin Hoti, Yeh Raatein Yeh Mausam
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
First of all I would like to thank everybody for their good wishes to my/our blog on its birthday.
The quiz got a nice response. Shashi and Samir sent me the answers the very next day. They had some sophisticated techniques to get to the answers. Samir in his feedback to the quiz elaborated on it. Samir, would you be so kind to post it also in the comments section below? It is very enlightening!
Lalitha was very industrious and worked till the last hour and sent me her answer four hours back.
Totally eight persons sent me their answers and it was fun going through them. Lomo and Andi were new for me. They told me that they usually read my posts and the comments by the readers and that they enjoy it a lot and at times more the comments than the post itself (so says Andi).
Here are the scores
Archana = 128,5
Pacifist = 126
Shashi = 124
Samir = 106
Lomo = 100
Lalitha = 93
Andi = 93
Anu = 55
Congratulations Archana for scoring the most points and thanks to all participants! The email communication with you regarding the hints and clues was a source of great pleasure for me!
Well, here are the answers! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5 Rifles, Aaj Yeh Meri Zindagi, Aar-Paar, Abhi To Haath Me Jaam Hai, Ambika Johar, Amitabh Bachchan, Anand Bakshi, Anjaan, Asha Bhosle, Aziz Nazan, Bappi Lahiri, Chandan Ka Palna [1967], Chhod Mera Haath Mujhe Peene De, dev anand, Dharamendra, Dil Hi To Hai [1963], former Miss India, Geeta Dutt, happy God, Hasrat Jaipuri, Hoon Abhi Main Jawan Ae Dil, Hum Hain Nashe Mein, Jhoom Bharabar Jhoom Sharabi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Leela Naidu, Madan Mohan, Mahjabeen, maid of jerky movements, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Manna Dey, Meena Kumari, Mohd. Rafi, Mujhe Le Chalo, Mukesh, Namak Halal, Naza Sholapuri, Nutan, O. P. Nayyar, R. D. Burman, Raj Kapoor, Rajinder Krishan, Rakesh Khanna, Ramlal, Ravi, Roshan, Sahir Ludhianvi, Sandhya, Seeta aur Geeta [1972], Sehra [1963], Shahi Kapoor, Shakila, Sharaabi, sharabi sharabi mera naam ho gaya, Subah-O-Sham [1972], the illustrious one, Thodi Si Jo Pee Li Hai, Tumhari Mast Nazar, Waheeda Rehman, Yeh Raaste Hai Pyar Ke
My ten favourite Dev jodis

I got the news at fellow blogger Madhu’s site about Dev Anand’s sad demise. I just couldn’t believe it. The tag of ever-green hero suited him so well, that one thought that he was immortal. Just two days back, I wrote at Greta’s blog that Dev’s films from the 50s and 60s hardly let one down.
Dev was a good actor dominating the film industry for three decades. He had his own school of natural acting which endeared him to the masses as well as the critics. He remained for most part true to his genre of a slick urban hero, but he was versatile as far as the different fields of film production was concerned. He was producer, director, actor and once even a singer!

Dev, I think, must have had the most number of female co-stars in the history of the Hindi film industry. He acted with many new faces but also with established actresses. And he looked good with everyone of them. Here is to Dev and his female co-stars
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Tags: aajaa pancchi akela hai, abhi na jaavo chhod kar, accha ji me hari chalo man jawo na, Asha Bhosle, de bhi chuke ham dil nazrana dil ka, dev anand, dil ka bhanwar kare pukar, geeta bali, Geeta Dutt, Hema Malini, Hum Dono [1962], Jaal [1952], Kala Bazar [1960], Kala Pani [1958], Kalpana Karthik, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, layi khushi ki duniya hasti hui jawaani, Madhubala, Mala Sinha, Manna Dey, Maya [1961], Mohd. Rafi, Mukesh, Nau Do Gyarah [1957], neend churake raaton me tumne baaton baaton me, Nutan, R. D. Burman, ruk jaana ruk jaana humse do baatein karte chali jana, S. D. Burman, Sadhana, Salil Choudhury, sanj dhali dil ki lagi thak chali pukar ke, Shareef Badmash [1973], Suraiya, tasveer teri dil me jis din se utari hai, Tere Ghar Ke Samne [1963], Vidya [1948], Waheeda Rehman, Warrant [1975], Zeenat Aman
This post is on the same lines like Dustedoff’s ‘Some thoughts on the songs of Pyaasa‘. Bandini is a classic film, about which much has been written and said. It is always a treat for the eyes and the soul to watch it. As I was returning from Germany last Sunday, I was humming O jaane wale ho sake to laut ke aanaa and the thought crossed my mind to write up on the songs of the film, since they are so much like companions for me.

The music is by S. D. Burman and the lyrics by Shailendra and Gulzar (Mora gora ang lai le) It is interesting, that of the seven songs only two are picturised on the main character of the film. The two male protagonists don’t get any songs. Of the remaining five, four songs are sung by junior artistes and one is a background song.
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Tags: Asha Bhosle, Ashok Kumar, Bandini, Bandini film review, Bikash, Bimal Roy, Deven, Dharmendra, film synopsis, Good Luck Tea House, Gulzar, Kalyani, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Nutan, Praveen Paul, Raja Paranjape, S. D. Burman, Shailendra, Songs of Bandini, Tarun Bose