Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga

No, I am not recounting my experience, though I could. This is a tribute to my favourite music composer R.D. Burman, whose Death anniversary was January 4th. One of his last films was 1942, a Love Story, from which I have chosen this song, Ek ladki ko..

He was a fabulous composer, and I will only recount what I remember off the cuff, from his vast repertoire of songs, with a categorisation of my own-

Innovative- Jaane jaan dhoondhta phir raha., Dum maro dum, mit jaaye gham,...

Philosophical- Musafir hoon yaaron, na ghar hai na thikaana, Aanewala pal, jaanewala hai, Chingari koi bhadke,..

Romantic- Ek ajnabi haseena se, Pyar deewana hota hai mastana hota hai, O mere dil ke chain, Kehna hai, kehna hai, aaj tumse yeh pehli baar, gulabi aankhen jo teri dekhi...

In his own voice- Mehbooba mehbooba,  Dhanno ki aankhon mein, Duniya mein logon ko dhokha kabhi ho jaata hai..

Classical- Mere naina saawan bhaadon, Hamein tumse pyar kitna yeh hum nahin jaante, ...

Mature- Songs from Aandhi, Ghar,..

Exuberant- Chala jaata hoon kisi ki dhun mein..

Comic- Mere saamne wali khidki mein, Ek chatur naar,..

Rocking on stage- Most songs from Teesri Manzil, Yaadon ki Baaraat, and Hum Kisise Kum Nahin.

This blog gets its name from one that he composed- Yeh shaam mastani, Madhosh kiye jaaye..

Why I am a Dev Anand Fan

It is because of his attitude towards life. In a word, carefree. Or if you prefer the hyphens, happy-go-lucky. In Hindi/Urdu, zinda-dil.

 

He was an actor, producer, director. What may not be so well-known is that he and Guru Dutt were good friends who started in the industry around the same time. But of course, they took different paths, Dev Anand a much longer one but to my mind, no less distiguished.

His film persona usually matched his real self- he was debonair, self-confident, incurably romantic (his autobiography is titled Romancing With Life too). Some of his characters were unforgettable. The guy who sang Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuen mein udaata chala gaya in Hum Dono. Or Yeh dil na hota bechara in Jewel Thief.

Hema Malini's first big hit, many years later, was with him in Johny Mera Naam. O mere raja is a great hit from the film. He would also sing another duet with her in Shareef Badmaash- Neend Churake raaton mein, humne baaton baaton mein dekho baat badal di hai.

He introduced Zeenat Aman in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, a film about drug abuse with the iconic song Dum Maro Dum. He also introduced Tina Munim in Des Pardes, which had some of my favourite songs- Nazar lage na saathiyon, and Tu pee aur jee, among them.

His songs were the highlights of his films, right from Hai apna dil to awara (Hemant Kumar sang this) to Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar (Rafi) to Are yaar meri tum bhi ho ghazab and Khwaab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat kaun ho tum batlao (both from Teen Deviyan, Kishore Kumar). Some other great songs were Tu kahaan yeh bataa is nashili raat mein, Maana janaab ne pukara nahin, Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jaega kahaan, Chudi nahin yeh mera dil hai, Dil aaj shaayar hai gham aaj naghma hai, Hey maine kasam li, Abhi na jao chhod kar ke dil abhi bhara nahin.....

Romantic Icons of the 70s

There were quite a few romantic heroes/heroines of the 1970s whom I grew up watching on screen. The music added a lot of charm to many of their films. Some of those were-

Rishi Kapoor, often paired with Neetu Singh, who dazzled with his rom-com roles in Rafoo Chakkar, Khel Khel Mein, Amar Akbar Anthony, Bobby (with Dimple Kapadia), Hum Kisise Kam Nahin (with Kajol aka Sunita Kulkarni). Don't know why Shailendra Singh stopped singing for him and Kishore Kumar took over.

Dev Anand, the 'evergreen' romantic, was in his element in Gambler (Dil aaj shayar hai), Johny Mera Naam, Prem Pujari (Pholon ke rang se, Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye), and Hare Rama Hare Krishna. His teaming with Hema Malini in Shareef Badmash and Chhupa Rustam worked for both. Tere Mere Sapne with Mumtaz (another cute looker) also was a good film.

Rajesh Khanna, of course, was the king of the 70s with Aradhana, Kati Patang, Aan Milo  Sajna (Accha, to hum chalte hain), Aap Ki Kasam, Mere Jeevan Sathi (O mere dil ke chain), Namak Haram (Nadiya se dariya), Amar Prem, Daag, Prem Nagar (Yeh laal rang kab mujhe chhodega).

Shashi Kapoor was also a good-looking dude and managed to hold his own, though none of his solo films were spectacular. Pyar ka Mausam had some excellent music though (Tum bin jaoon kahaan and Nisultana re, pyar ka mausam aaya).