Jaane kahan gaye voh din!

DM-Sir,
Are you still in India?

I did not know that you were into researching Hindi-Films music.

My $.02; Hindi movies were original and authentic upto 1950ies. Elvis`s invasion and it`s captivation of Desi cinema made the Hindi movie music just an imagery of Rock N Roll.

Once I heard on AIR that in those days(pre 1950ies), directors used to make actors act based on how songs were sung.

Good article.
Regards

Iam still admirer of Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burmans combination even fate 60s into seventys and eights when Kishore died..
Kishores song for Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh in earlier films like Abhiman and Aradhna showed the variation in Kishore kumar fom `Yudling` earlier singing to `tere bindya re`

Dost-Mittar,

On TV Asia they have a great programme - ``Abhi to main jawaan hoon``, hosted by one Shiraz Sharif in New Jersey. Its a phenonmenal programme for 1 hr, three days a week, where he plays old movie songs. He plans out different themes and so forth. I just love it!!

Dost-mittar,

Wonderful article. But no mention of Gulzar at all ? I mean the ``Humne Dekhi Hai
Un Aankhon Ki Mahekti Khushboo`` Gulzar, or the Gulzar of Aandhi, not the
bartan-chappal-baarish Gulzar of more recent times.

I bet old foggies in 1960s were also bemoaning the death of music in Indian films at that time.. ``Hamare zamane main Saigal kya gaata tha. Ye Barman warman kaun hai bhai?``

DM:

The era of Naushad Ali and OP Nayyar has gone for ever. However if the music, poetry, art or literature is rooted in the soil then it emerges time after time and never dies.

To give you an example of Junoon group of Pakistan. Their most popular numbers hark back to folk characters like Sanwal, Sohni and Mahiwal. Another example is Buleh Shah who died five hundred years ago. But his poetry still becomes a hit with

Buleha Kee Janaan Mein Kaun.

Naushad, Nayyar and many others have used folk and classical in their songs. That is the reason why people still continue to enjoy their music.

Folk and classical music emerges from the soil over thousands of years. It reflects the hopes, fear, aspirations of common people of certain area.

Since the human beings continue to have these human emotions these songs will never die.

Regarding modern music, I believe it is the influence of dominant western culture. The film songs of current era last for a few weeks and then fade away.

So I am very optimistic about the music of these stalwarts.

Hassan N

nice article..but music and song-writing in hindi movies is not dead yet.. have you listened to ``jawa pe laga lagare, namak isq ka``?

d-m sahib,

Enjoyed reading this. Some random thoughts:

1. S.C. Burman popularized the ``bhatiali`` from Bengal and other folk tunes from the North-East. Try listening to Abbasuddin (I think he migrated to East Pakistan) if possible.

2. It is said that Sahir Ludhyanvi was openly gay. Makes me chukle, for many like my father had no problem singing ``...mein aadmi hoon, aadmi se pyar karta hoon,....``.

3. Did IPWA metamorphize to IPTA? B. Sahni, Hangal and many other greats were once members.

May follow up later.

I would like to correct an error. The article wrongly attributes lyrics of the film ``Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi`` to Sahir Ludhyanvi; the lyrics of the film were, in fact, provided by Majrooh Sultanpuri.

Excellent article - there is no doubt that a lot of effort and research has gone into it but it also made me sad. It made me sad because of the blatant commercialization of this art form.

A few years ago a friend coined the term ``disposable songs/music`` while we were discussing the modern music and comparing it with old that has become classic. His stance was that the modern music has become disposable with a shelf life of about 1-2 years whereas any singer`s useful lifespan has reduced to 6 months- 3 years. The reason being that the artist put more effort on the saleability factor rather than the art aspect of it. We live in a culture where everything is disposable. My stance was that nothing has changed from the old times, but the technology. In old times the music recording and playing instruments were quite rare. Not everyone could afford kuttay aur bhonpoo wala gramophone; so the songs were less often repeated and heard and hence had a greater shelf life.

But then came the Remix racket when old classicals were remixed ad nauseaum; but still their popularity and effect has not changed; which means that the true art never dies, and never expires.

Radio Paksitan has been playing this song everyday for the past 3 decades, sometimes more than once. You just have to feel it to know that it will never expire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OevNc8Ldax0