> Anu Malik's Baadshah wow the author got some weird music taste.
- Jahanzeb --- In [email protected], Vithur <vith...@...> wrote: > > Song is king > > Think about it. How many Hindi movies can you recall without songs in them? > And how many without title songs? Luke Kenny jogs down memory lane to > explore an old trend that has come full circle. > > Indian cinema is the only film fraternity in the world to continually > include songs in its stories. It has been this constant co-joined phenomenon > that has led to much dancing in the streets, in a manner of speaking. > > One of the other unique trends that came out of this was the branding of the > `title song'. For every film that has its bouquet of situational ditties, > one of them would inadvertently be a melody woven around the title of the > film, thereby popularising the film instantly by having a catchy melody with > the name of the film on everybody's lips months before the release. > > Sing along > So let's look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Hindi film title songs. > Most recently, a lot of the films released had a title song to their credit, > but that's probably because the titles of the films were titles of > yesteryear song hits, namely Bachna Ae Haseeno and Aa Dekhen Zara and the > title songs were themselves reworkings of the original songs. > > But a lot of films recently boasted of title tracks to compliment the film > itself, Race, De Taali, Krazzy 4, Mission Istanbul, One Two Three, Money hai > to Honey Hai, Singh Is King, Fashion, Delhi 6 and Rock On! > > Each of these title songs became invariably successful regardless of the > fate of the films themselves. Uniquely, Jaane Tu..ya jaane na, which is a > line from a yesteryear classic, `Tera mujhse hai pehle ka naata koi' from > Manmohan Desai's 1973 classic Aa Gale Lag Jaa, did not have a reworked > track, yet it did form the title track which has won its creator AR Rahman > many awards. 2007 also saw most of its big releases with hugely successful > title songs Om Shanti Om, Taare Zameen Par, Chak De India, Partner, > Welcome, Bhool Bhulaiya, Heyy Babyy, Ta ra Rum Pum, Cash among others. > > Yet there were a few films over the past few years that did not have the > mandatory title song to push it further.. Veer Zara, Guru, Ghajini, Jodha > Akbar, Rab Ne Banadi Jodi (although the latter is a song from the 1979 > Amitabh Bachchan starrer, Suhaag). > > The '90s boasted of some really big hit title songs, some of which were > really good (for that time), some are dated (in today's time) and some were > outrageously bad. > > Although the composers were only trying to entertain a demographic, some of > the songs are inexcusable. > > Ok first up, what I think are good title songs, a random selection from the > '90s, Ismail Darbar's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, AR Rahman's Taal se taal mila > and Dil Se, Anu Malik's Baadshah, Jatin Lalit's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, are a > few of the all time greats. > > The dated ones are probably, Nadeem Shravan's Saajan, Aashiqui & Raja > Hindustani, Laxmikant Pyarelal's Khuda Gawah and Khalnayak, Illayaraja's > Coolie No.1 etc. > > The downright worst ones ever (with all due respect) are Laxmikant > Pyarelal's Aashiq Awara, Anu Malik's Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Soldier, > Dilip & Sameer Sen's Aflatoon, Viju Shah's Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan, Jatin > Lalit's Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha, Raam Laxman's Hum Saath Saath Hain among many > others. And these were the just the title songs. > > Cut to the '80s in my opinion the worst phase for Hindi films overallyet, > in that crassness, lie some genuine gems and lots of unintentional, `What > were they thinking?' situations. But it happens to the best of us so let us > look back with a bit of affection. > > Over here I will desist from commenting on the quality of the songs because > they happened to me at a very unevolved time in my younger days, so for me > they will always remain fun songs from a brighter time. > > The '80s for me was one word Shaan and RD Burman's title song summed up the > entire flawed philosophy of the '80s commercial Hindi cinema. Other Hindi > film title song gems that invigorated my young musical mind were, Kalyanji > Anandji's Qurbani, Laxmikant Pyarelal's Ek Duje Ke Liye, Hero(the flute > song) and Mr. India, RD Burman's Satte Pe Satta & The Burning > Train(scintillating opening credits); Amar Utpal's Shahehshah (Andheri > raaton mein), Raamlaxman's Maine Pyar Kiya (aai laav yoo) among many others. > > Nostalgia ticket > But the '80s were fun, a time of discovery and evolution of new media. The > Sunday movies on Doordarshan and the golden era of Vividh Bharti on radio > furthered my education of Hindi films (and music) when I watched (and heard) > the various hits of the last thirty years dating right back to the early > '50s. Let me give you a quick decade-wise reminisce of some classic title > songs of those past thirty years. > > A bit of a pause here to mention the inimitable Bappi Lahiri, who single > handedly, crossed over decades with his catchy title songs from films like > Chalte Chalte, Disco Dancer, Kasam Paida Karnewale Ki, Dil Se Mile Dil, > Tarzan etc. He remains the only composer in Hindi films still active since > the '70s and has built up a prolific 35 year body of work. > Ok, first up, the seventies Laxmikant Pyarelal's Bobby (Hum Tum..) & Amar > Akbar Anthony; Kalyanji Anandji's Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (that bike and > jacket), Don (arrey dewanon!) & Hera Pheri, RD Burman's Hum Kisise Kum > Naheen, Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (what qawwalis!) and Yaadon Ki Baaraat. > Fabulous stuff here. > > Then, in the '60s, one can only imagine our mommies and daddies grooving to > Shankar Jaikishen's An Evening in Paris, spending many moonlit nights to > Ravi's Chaudhvin Ka Chand. It is interesting to note here that although the > sixties had huge hit films like, Aradhana, Mughal-e-Azam, Junglee, Jab jab > Phool Khile, Farz, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena, Jeene Ki Raah, Waqt, Upkar, > Hamraaz and the awesome Teesri Manzil among many others, none of these films > had a title song. > > Similarly the '50s too had its share of super hits like, Mother India, Naya > daur, Shree 420, Madhumati, Anarkali, Albela, Udan Khatola, Navrang, Chalti > Ka Naam Gaadi etc and yet none of these had a title song amongst the stellar > music they contained, save for the latter film that had the song, Babu > Samjho Ishaare, which contained the line `Yahan chalti ko gaadi kehte hain > pyaare..' . > > And just for discussion's sake and to close the circle, almost none of the > films of the forties glorious hits like Kismet, Anmol Ghadi, Sikander, > Andaz, Chandralekha, Barsaat et al, had any semblance of a title song at > all. The few that did were just the mere mention in a line of a song like, > Ramesh Saigal's Shaheed (with Dilip Kumar). > > In conclusion, one finds that the title song was a trend that started in the > '60s on a minimal level, intensified as the glamorous '70s came into vogue, > was used in the '80s as an in-your-face instrument of popularisation, > standardised in the '90s and has again become the fashionable thing to do in > the 2000's. > Well, as long as the music is memorable and the songs are good, it can't be > a bad thing now, can it? > http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=1c28af36-6347-4c24-b441-64a7d0ba5918&Headline=Song+is+king > > -- > regards, > Vithur >
