My ten favourite songs from Gulzar-Pancham collaboration
Though the pair R.D. Burman – Gulzar is very popular and famous. They might have done at the most a one and half dozen films together as composer-lyricist team. Nevertheless their partnership was very fruitful. Pancham admitted that working with Gulzar brought the best in him though at times the work together was very complicated.
Preparing this list was a pleasant though a very weary process for me. I have lost count how many times I included and rejected the songs. None of the songs here were in the original list except for dhanno ki aankhon me.
So to make matters at least a little bit easy for me, I set up the following rules:
1. The song must be from a film.
2. The film must have had a proper release in the cinema halls.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aandhi [1975], aap ki aankhon me kuch mahake hue se raaz hai, Anoop Ghosal, Anuradha Patel, Asha Bhosle, beeti na bitaayi rainaa, Bhupinder, dhanno ki aankhon me haan raat ka surma, din jaa rahe hain raaton ke saaye, Doosri Sita [1974], ek hi khwab kai baar dekha hai maine, Ghar [1978], Gulzar, Hema Malini, Ijaazat [1987], is mod se jaate hain, Jaya Bhaduri, Jeetendra, Jugal Hansraj, Khushboo [1975], Kinara [1977], Kishore Kumar, Kitaab [1977], Lalita Pawar, Lata Mangeshkar, Masoom [1983], Master Raju, mera kuch saaman tumhare paas padaa hai, Mithun Chakraborty, Nasseruddin Shah, o maajhi re apna kinara, Pancham, Parichay [1972], R. D. Burman, Raja Murad, Rekha, Sanjeev Kumar, Shaban Azmi, Sitara [1980], Suchitra Sen, tujhse naaraaz nahin zindagi, Vinod Mehra, ye saaye hain, Zarina Wahab
Thoughts on a wall on Mother’s Day
Growing up in Bombay as a small kid in the 1970s meant knowing your Sholay [1975] and Deewar. I had allegedly seen Sholay, but I couldn’t remember a single frame of it. It is quite possible that this was again a trick by my siblings to console me since they often went to films without me. After all who would like a eight years younger brother tagging along. I never had a chance to see Deewar. All the same I think I knew all the dialogues of both the films. One just couldn’t escape them. One thing all the same always rankled me that I hadn’t seen Deewar, this fact was remedied by the post on Parveen Babi, where in the comment section, pacifist provided me with the link to the movie (bless her!).
In this post, I will just write down some thoughts to this landmark film and not write much about the story, I think many of my readers know it. If some don’t, Anu has given an excellent (nearly frame to frame) narration of the plot on her blog. Good insight in the film has also been provided by Philip Lutgendorf and at Upperstall. All three articles make good reading.
Possible Spoilers Ahead
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amitabh Bachchan, Deewar film review, Deewar [1975], Deewar [1975] film review, Gulshan Rai, I am in love with a stranger, Iftekhar, Javed Akhtar, keh doo tumhe ya chhup rahoon, koi mar jaaye kisipe kahan yeh dekha hai, Maa, Madan Puri, maine tujhe maanga tujhe paaya hai, Manmohan Krishna, Master Alankar, Master Raju, Mother's day, Neetu Singh, Nirupa Roy, Pancham, Parveen Babi, R. D. Burman, Sahir Ludhianvi, Salim Khan, Shashi Kapoor, Stayendra Kapoo, Sudhir, Wall, Yash Chopra, Yunus Parvez
My ten favourite Parveen Babi songs
Parveen Babi would have turned 63 today (4th April). She was a wonderful actress and a beautiful one at that. Born in Junagadh, Gujarat, she made her film-debut with Charitra [1973] opposite the cricket player Salim Durrani (is he related to G. M. Durrani, the singer?). I couldn’t find any video from Charitra but here is a song and here another one from her second film Dhuen Ki Lakeer [1974] opposite Ramesh Arora. Both the films flopped but she got noticed and had her major hit with Amitabh starrer Majboor [1974]. From then on there was no looking back. She not only had looks and sex-appeal but also good acting skills. If it were not for her impulsiveness and her illness, she would have reached heights, which other actresses could only have dreamt of. Instead she got reduced to playing the seductress and heroines in multistarrers like Shaan [1980], Do Aur Do Paanch [1980], The Burning Train [1980] and Mahaan [1983] or playing bit roles in Kranti [1981] and Razia Sultan [1983]. Nonetheless she left a big impression on the viewers and is still remembered for her mesmerizing looks and fabulous screen-presence.
I won’t go on about her sad end to her life and other tragic details of her life. These things can be read about in internet. Here is a post dedicated to this exceptional actress. Ten of her solo songs, which I like. Enjoy!
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Ameer Aadmi Gareeb Aadmi [1985], Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Anand Bakshi, Anjaan, Asha Bhosle, Bappi Lahiri, Bindu, Bullet [1976], Chor Police [1983], Ek Bar Jaan-E-Jaana, Ek Gunaah Aur Sahi [1980], Happy Birthday, Har Ek Rasta Sajaa Ke Chal, Jab Tum Chale Jaaoge To Yaad Bahut Aaoge, Jaidev, Kala Sona [1975], Khaiyyam, Khwab Ban Kar Koi Aayega, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Main Hoon Tujh Pe Kyun Fida, Main To Beghar Hoon, Namak Halal [1982], Nida Fazli, Pancham, Parveen, Parveen Babi, Pyar Karne Wale, R. D. Burman, Raat Baki Baat Baki, Rajesh Roshan, Razia Sultan [1983], Shaan [1980], Shashi Kapoor, Suhaag[1979], Telephone [1985], ten favourite Parveen Babi songs, Tumse Milke Zindagi Ko Yun Laga, Yahi Hai Tamanna
My 10 favourite ‘maanjhi’ songs from Hindi cinema
To say that I love the maanjhi songs would be an understatement. Particularly “O re maanjhi” from Bandini takes me to a different dimension. Maanjhi (also pronounced as maajhi) is a boatman. In songs and poems they are often pleaded to by lovers (mostly women) to take them across the river to meet their beloved. In devotional songs he is the spiritual master who is being begged by the seeker to give him/her that shift in consciousness, which will take him/her from the body consciousness to brahman. These two different levels give the songs a certain spin.
So here are my favourite 10 ‘maanjhi’ (in chronological order) songs from Hindi cinema. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aaya Sawan Jhoom Ke. Maanjhi naiya dhoondhe kinara, Amit Kumar, Amitabh Bachhan, Aruna Irani, Asha Parekh, Ashok Kumar, baaz, Bade acche lagte hai, Ballika Badhu, Bandhe Hath, Bandini, Biraj Bahu, chalo hole hole, dev anand, Dharmendra, Ferry, geeta bali, Gulzar, guru dutt, Hema Malini, Hemant Kumar, Hum Hindustani, Jeetendra, Kamini Kaushal, Kashti, Khushboo, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Maajhi Albele, Maanjhi Chal O Maanjhi Chal, Maanjhi Meri Qismat Ke Jee Chahe, Manjhi re le chal naiyya, mere saajan hai us paar, Mumtaz, Naav Badha Le Maajhi Jor Laga Le, Nirmal Choudhary, Nutan, O Maanjhi O Maanjhi Re, O maanjhi re apna kinara, OP Nayyar, Pancham, Rajendra Krishna, Rajni Sharma, RD Burman, Sachin, SD Burman, Shailendra, Swaroop Dutt, tu Chale To Cham Cham Baje, Upahaar, Usha Khanna
Though the pair R.D. Burman – Gulzar is very popular and famous. They might have done at the most a one and half dozen films together as composer-lyricist team. Nevertheless their partnership was very fruitful. Pancham admitted that working with Gulzar brought the best in him though at times the work together was very complicated.
Preparing this list was a pleasant though a very weary process for me. I have lost count how many times I included and rejected the songs. None of the songs here were in the original list except for dhanno ki aankhon me.
Harveypam's Blog 