Saw a musical show at Balgandharva in Pune- 60s to 90s. Singing by various artistes, reasonably good. Song selection could have been better, in my view. But the show was free, so worth the three hours or so. One good idea was visuals from Youtube were flashed along with the singing, so relived a theatre experience with original actors, alongside.. my favourite was Khatuba, from Alibaba aur Chalis Chor, filmed on Zeenat Aman. Ek main aur ek tu was good too, and Kanta lagaa..
Most of my favourite songs are from the period 1969- 79.
Aradhana, from 1969, is why I also included 1969 in the decade. Another film that had good songs was Mahal, also from 1969. Aankhon aankhon ein hum tum ho gaye deewane, Yeh duniyawale poochhenge, and Aaiye aap ka tha hamein intezaar were three good songs.
Phoolon ke rang se, Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye, from Prem Pujari, and Dil aaj shayar hai, and Chudi nahi ye mera dil hai.. are songs from Dev Anand films that are top of my list, during this period.
Rajesh Khanna had several films with hit songs, Kati Patang among the top ones- Pyar Deewana hota ahi, Ye jo mohabbat hai, and Ye shaam mastaani, were three great songs from that film.
Amar Prem was another with Chingari koi bhadke, Kuchh to log kahenge and Ye kya hua, were three gems. Again with Rajesh Khanna in them.
Aap ki Kasam and Mere Jeevan Sathi had great songs too- Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo makaam from the first, and Chala jaata hoon kisi ki dhun mein, O mere dil ke chain, Deewana leke aaya hai from the second were great.
Hare Rama hare Krishna had Dum Maro Dum, and Sholay had Mehbooba, mehbooba..
Rajesh Roshan entered with a big bang in Julie, and Dil kya kare, and Bhool gaya sab kuchh were great songs from that film.
Apradh and Dharmatma by Feroz Khan had good songs too. I liked Hamare siwa tumhare aur kitne deewane hain, and Tum Mile pyar se, from Apradh, and Tere chehre mein woh jadu hai from Dharmatma.
Rajnigandha had its captivating title song, and Chitchor had several, sung so well by Yesudas- Gori tera gaon bada pyara and Aaj se pehle, and Tu jo mere sur mein.
Jawani deewani had great songs like Jaane jaan dhoondhta phir raha.. and Ye jawani hai deewani, and Samne ye kaun aaya dil mein hui hulchul.
Namak haram was another film of Rajesh Khanna with great songs like Main shayar badnaam and Nadiya se dariya..
Gol maal had the song Aanewala pal jaanewala hai.
Parichay had a favourite of mine- Musafir hoon yaaro..
Aandhi had 3 great songs- Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa, Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai, and Is mod se jaate hain.
A lot of Hollywood films are masala of a different kind. A few are good, in various genres. But overuse of technology and special effects/VFX have spoilt the kind of good films we got to saw earlier in decades gone by. This also seems to be happening in India to an extent, with tech playing a larger role than before.
When I started watching Hollywood films in the 70s and 80s, I did not understand the accent, always. But some movies made a mark with good action, comedy and so on. Slapstick was also a part of some. Laurel and Hardy were early favourites in childhood. Until we came tp appreciate Charlie Chaplin and his social commentary/satire, in Modern Times and The Great Dictator.
In humour of a different kind, fell Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. I liked both. Some action films like Guns of Navarone, Mackenna's Gold, or Where Eagles Dare were awe-inspiring. I did not dig the ovies that relied on special effects all that much. Star Wars or Close Encounters or disaster films like The Towering Inferno, I mean. Lawrence of Arabia seemed like a meaningful film, about the history of the Arabs.
Lately, I have liked the trilogy starting with Before Midnight which was really made well. Before that, some capers like Romancing the Stone, or A Fish Called Wanda were also fun watches.
A really good suspense film- apart from Hitchcock films- was The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, remade badly as Karz. The original was deadly!
This is a million dollar question, and if any predictive analyst, or fortune-teller can tell, the producer will be eternally grateful. I have been a movie-goer for at least 50 years, and I don't know for sure the answer as to why I watch a particular film.
One is, it is situational. Like a friend and you decide to go out, and a film just appears as a viable option. But which one? You may like a hero/heroine/director and decide on that basis. Or, a good review you read or saw on TV may persuade you. Also, your friends saw it and so you want to.
In the sixties or seventies, there was no TV in India, and we were starved for entertainment. So we ended up watching almost every film - Hindi in my case, and a few Telugu films as I lived in Hyderabad. Many were good, though a bit theatrical, but usually had decent story, acting and production values, though technology was not too advanced, and not digital. They were also long, about 2 and a half to three hours, as they had to deliver value for money.
Anand, Sholay, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Anjaana, Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan, Aadmi aur Insaan (the song Zindagi, ittefaq hai is in this one), Teesri Manzil, Jewel Thief, Tere Mere Sapne, Zanjeer, Chupke Chupke, Rajnigandha, The Train, Roti, Amar Akbar Anthony, Love in Tokyo, Namak Halaal, were some films I remember from the seventies. Aradhana's songs are still popular. So is Gulabi aankhen jo teri dekhi from The Train. Many songs had an impact, and drove people to watch the movie!
Among recent ones, (eighties and later), Ayushman Khurana films, or Sriram Raghavan-directed films have been usually good. Happy Bhag Jayegi was very good, and I watched it because it was shown in our auditorium at IIM Indore. I liked Finding Fanny also, and a few others on diverse subjects-Vicky Donor, about a sperm donor, or Bareilly ki Barfi, about a small-town girl. Bahubali was great for its special effects, and casting. RRR and KGF were watchable and entertaining as spectacles.
So I guess there's no formula, really. Lost and found worked for a while, with Yaadon Ki Baraat, but the film was well-made with great music too...Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko is a classic.
I remember Feroz and Sanjay Khan from my early days at the movies, much before Shah Rukh and others came along. Aamir was playing a kid in Yaadon ki Baraat then.
Sanjay Khan was definitely the handsome one, and starred in quite a few unremarkable movies. Dus Lakh, Babul Ki Galiyaan, Mela, Dhadkan and Dhund were some of these, and I mostly remember nothing of these. But he was tolerable as an actor.
Feroz was the stylish one, and in later years, he made his own films and starred in them. They had him playing larger than life roles, like Dharmatma or Qurbani. I haven't seen Jaanbaaz, but I can guess how it would have been, based on past films of his. Qurbani became famous for introducing Nazia Hasan to Indian films. The Disco Deewane girl sang Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye, to baat ban jaaye (under Biddu's music I think), and became a rage. Laila main laila by Kanchan was also a big hit.
Last I remember seeing Feroz was in Welcome, a crime caper.
Of course, there was Amjad Khan and his wonderful debut in Sholay in 1975.
Even after TV and digital media came around, radio remains a favourite of mine. Starting from around 1970, the radio was always on in our house, and KL Saigal had the last word in Purane filmon ke geet on Radio Ceylon (later, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp.). The same channel used to broadcast Aap hi ke Geet from 8 am to 9 am, and Binaca Geet Mala, hosted by Ameen Sayani, on Wednesday nights. This was everybody's favourite, and we made it a point to listen in. It was a weekly countdown of top songs. My taste in Hindi film songs was shaped during the 70s, listening to Kishore, Rafi, and others-Hemant Kumar for instance-Bees Saal Baad had two great songs sung by him.
Also a lot of SD Burman, RD Burman and lyricists like Neeraj, Sahir and Majrooh. The songs of Mere Jeevan Sathi and Kati Patang were a rage in the years they released, and are remembered to this day. Also Jewel Thief, Teesri Manzil, Jawani Diwani, Prem Pujari, Gambler and Hare Rama Hare Krishna..we grew up adoring Nasir Husain romcoms and his stage songs in Yaadon ki Baarat and Hum Kisise Kum Nahin. The theatres were grand too, and I remember watching Sholay in 70 mm at Hyderabad. (Also Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare).
Anyway, I switched to Vividh Bharati later, and they have great archives from that Golden Era of music. I continue to listen to the radio to this day.
Saw an entirely different kind of play- a musical, called a sangeet-natak. Instead of dialogues, the characters converse through songs. Spe...
