My ten favourite insomnia songs
Spending the night in bed tossing around has happened to each and everybody of us. One would like to sleep, but the stream of thoughts just don’t end. The body is tired, but the mind wide awake. You tell yourself, that you have so many things to do the next day and the most appropriate thing to do now would be to sleep. You get irritated over it, which make matters only worse. And then in the wee hours of the morning, when you are supposed to be soon getting up, you fall asleep in sweet, sweet slumber! A dear friend of mine, Raja, was in this situation a few days back. This unfortunate incident made me come up with this list.
But the songs below don’t sing about the situation described above, but are rather moans of separated lovers or are freshly-fallen-in-love pairs. For this list, I have chosen songs with neend(iyaa) na aaye in the mukhdaa (refrain). I hope you like them as much as I do.
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Tags: Aji Bas Shukriya [1958], Amar Prem [1974], Amirbai Karnataki, Amrita Singh, Anand Bakshi, Anil Biswas, Anita Guha, bairan neend na aaye mohe, bairan nindiya kyun nahin aayi, beimaan tore nainawaa neendiya na aaye, Chachaa Zindabad [1959], D. N. Madhok, Dhun [1953], Dilip Kumar, Faroque Kaiser, geeta bali, Hansraj Bahl, Hemant Kumar, insomnia, jaane kyaa baat hai, Kaifi Irani, Kalyanji-Anandji, Lata Mangeshkar, Madan Mohan, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Miss Mary [1957], Munimji [1955], my ten favourite insomnia songs, Nalini Jaywant, Nargis, neend na aaye, neendiya na aaye, o neend na mujhko aaye, Post Box 999 [1958], Pujaari [1946], R. D. Burman, raina beeti jaaye, Rajesh Khanna, Rajinder Krishan, Roshan, S. D. Burman, saajan bin neend na aave, saari saari raat teri yaad sataye, Sahir Ludhianvi, Shakila, Sharmila Tagore, so gaya saara zamana, Sunil Dutt, Sunny Deol, Sunny [1984], Tarana [1951], tum bin piya nindiya na aaye, Wali Sahab
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
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
Aar-Paar has been one of my favourite time-pass Guru Dutt films. And every time I watch it, I discover something new about it and I end up liking it more than ever. It is his first independent movie under his own production. Basically it is a bit like Baazi without the gamble and the dimensions toned down. And for the first time no K. N. Singh. Did they fall out? As far as I know Guru Dutt never repeated him in his films again except for C.I.D.
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Tags: Aar-Paar, Aar-Paar film review, Ameer Banu, Bir Shakuja, bollywood, film-noir, Geeta Dutt, guru dutt, Guru Dutt series, hindi cinema, Johnny Walker, M. A. Lateef, Mohammed Rafi, O. P. Nayyar, old Bombay, raj khosla, Rasheed, Shakila, Shyama, trams