Landmark Tunes- Hindi Films

There are a few landmark tunes that are associated in my mind with music directors in Hindi films.

Vasant Desai- Bole re papihara in Guddi. It is so different from the usual songs.

RD Burman- Dum maro dum from Hare Rama Hare Krishna. I don't think anyone else could have thought of this.

SD Burman- Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jayega kahan (film- Guide), in his own voice.

Jaidev- Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya. A masterpiece from Hum Dono, sung by Mohammad Rafi.

Kalyanji Anandji- Pal bhar ke liye koi hamein pyar kar le from Johny Mera Naam. Dev Anand and Hema Malini added a lot of charm to it.

Shankar Jaikishen- Sayonara, sayonara from Love in Tokyo.

Laxmikant Pyarelal- Mere mehboob qayamat hogi from Mr. X in Bombay.

OP Nayyar- Piya piya piya mora jiya pukare, from Baap re Baap. Early use of Kishore Kumar's yodeling, and trademark hoofbeats that he used in many songs.

Albums- Hindi

There are great songs in Hindi films, but this is about a whole album of a Hindi film being good. Most of these are from the 70s, or earlier. You can add your own favourites to the following-

1. Waqt

2. The Train

3. Mere Jeevan Sathi

4. Aradhana

5. Rajnigandha

6. Chitchor

7. Khel Khel Mein

8. Guide

9. Johnny Mera Naam

10. Amar Prem

11. Jawani Diwani

12. Anand

13. Hamraaz (Sunil Dutt)

14. Aandhi

15. Jewel Thief

Celebrities and Surnames- A Correlation Study

What are the chances of your becoming a celebrity with the surname Mishra? Gurnani? Gopalan? Almost zero. But a Kapoor in your surname would increase your chances by a million times. A Khan in your last name, by a zillion times (Saif and Irrfan in addition to the triumvirate).

Celebrity-hood sits as easily on a non-Khan too. Not convinced? Khan (Na) is a powerful surname, shared by the first 'superstar' Rajesh and then Vinod, and his son Akshaye. (Sur)name yourself Raman, and you may become the big boss of Physics or Maths, but a name like Padukone would catapult you into the big league of Badminton or Bollywood.

Some other powerful surnames are Bhosle, Bachchan, Kumar (Manoj, Rajendra "jubilee" Kumar, "jaani" Raj Kumar, and my all time favourite Kishore), Burman, Dutt, Mehra, Desai, Parekh, Roshan, Samanta (the producer-director), Rai (both the Northern and the Mangalorean versions), Shah (Kundan directed Jaane Bhi do Yaaro, the cult comedy), Kher, Bajpai, Sharma (Kapil is my favourite comic)

Saving the best for the last- the legend Tendulkar, and the biggest of all, Gaekwad. Why? That's the real surname of Rajnikanth.