Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai

 What's it about the titles of films? There was a producer-director who insisted on starting his titles with an A. No, he did not direct Awara, but many other films later- Aap ki Kasam was one I think, Aasha another, and several others.

Rakesh Roshan liked K better, so he made Koyla, Kaho Na Pyar Hai, Krrish, and so on.

Then there was another K fan who was also a Dharmendra fan, and made Khel Khiladi Ka, and so on. I think his name was Arjun Hingorani. Rekha sang Maine Ais to nahi kaha tha, to Dharmendra's Rafta Rafta where they are hanging on a JCB a few hundred metres from earth.

Not sure if there were any fans of B, C, D or E. But B.R. Chopra seemed to like one word titles- Hamraaz and Gumraah being examples. Both also had Ravi as their music director, and great songs by Mahendra Kapoor. Neele gagan ke tale and Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum are my favourites. He also made Dhund, and Ittefaq, and Kanoon, I think.

Remembering Mahabharat- by BR Chopra

The TV series made a great impression on me when I first saw it. Its beauty (to me) lies in the fact that it shows a realistic world fuelled by desire for power, crooked uncles (Shakuni is a great character, played effortlessly by Gufi Paintal), casteism, idealism (Bhishma) gone wrong, the good, the bad and the in-between, indecisiveness, a mother's power over sons (in asking them to share a wife), and so much more.

I particularly liked the way Krishna was portrayed by Nitish Bharadwaj- I still remember the smiling visage, as a friend of the Pandavas, and his exasperation at some of their oaths. He asks them to think before they utter some of the more consequential ones, at one point.

Mahendra Kapoor's soulful song which rounded off each episode also was memorable. Draupadi played by Roopa Ganguly was also a powerful character. Mukesh Khanna had a role of a lifetime, and so did many of the Pandavas, and Duryodhana and Karna. Later, I read Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, which tells the story from Draupadi's point of view. That was great too.

Ravi- Tribute to his Music

Aye meri zohra jabeen, tujhe maloom nahi, tu abhi tak hai haseen aur main jawaan... was a lovely song, full of zest, from Waqt, a film by B.R. Chopra. Hamraaz and Gumraah too had some excellent songs composed by Ravi. Neele gagan ke tale, tum agar saath dene ka waada karo and Na muh chupaake jiyo aur na sar jhukake jiyo, ghamon ka daur bhi aae to muskura ke jiyo (could be the inspiration for the HDFC Life ad tagline sar uthake jiyo?) from Humraaz, and Chalo ek baar phir se, ajnabi ban jaayein hum dono from Gumraah rank among the best in my book.

I don't know if it was by design or otherwise that Mahendra Kapoor figures in many of his songs. 'Zohra jabeen', of course, was sung by Manna Dey.

He was not mentioned among the greats of Hindi film music, but was superb when he did compose, as is evident from the list above, even if not complete. If you need any more proof, Chaudhvin ka chaand and its title song should do the trick. I also found on looking up his biography that he had scored music for Aankhen, the Dharmendra- Mala Sinha starrer that had some good songs, particularly the lilting "Milti hai zindagi mein mohabbat kabhi kabhi" by Lata Mangeshkar. Also my favourite song from Aadmi aur Insaan was his composition- "Zindagi ittefaq hai..."- how true. Maut bhi. We'll remember you as long as we are around.