Tag: Hindi Film Song

My “now” song: Kabhi neem neem, kabhi shahad shahad

Posted on by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music — it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. That particular piece of music becomes my “now’” song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

I think that my regular readers would know by now that I love music, but few people know that I sing too. One of the reasons for not knowing this is I’m quite shy about singing in public and therefore only some very close friends and immediate family members have heard me sing.

But last week, I surprised myself. I had gone to Agra to attend a conference with two colleagues, who are also friends. Somewhere during the car journey from Delhi to Agra, one of my friends started singing and before I knew it I had joined in. We sang old Hindi film songs, some not so old ones too and had a great deal of fun. We sang in between the conference sessions, after the day’s sessions got over… get the picture?

Long after my return, one of the songs that we sang has remained with me and I have been singing it and humming it all the time. Not surprisingly, it has become my “now” song

“Kabhi neem, neem, kabhi shahad shahad“, from the film Yuva, sung by Madhushree (& A.R. Rahman) to lyrics by Mehboob and music composed A.R. Rahman is one of the most melodious, romantic and mushy songs I have heard. And unlike many beautiful Hindi songs that I can’t bear to watch on-screen due to bad picturisation, this is one song that I like to listen to, sing and watch as well.

I particularly love the portion where Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherji do a little jig (2:02 to 2:51 minutes) as the former yodels away. Kabhi neem neem… is so much on my mind that I’m singing the song even as I type out this post. 🙂

So tell me, what are you listening to these days and what is your “now” song?

My “now” song: Ab ke baras bhej

Posted on by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music — it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. That particular piece of music becomes my “now’” song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

My “now” song is Ab ke baras bhejo bhaiya ko baabul from the film Bandini and sung by Asha Bhosle to music by S.D. Burman and lyrics by Shailendra.

In Ab ke baras… the singer yearns for the return of her childhood days and the song remains one of the most haunting Hindi film melodies to be composed. I have always loved this song, but right now I love it for a different reason — the emotions in the song capture my yearning for the monsoons to arrive in Mumbai.

It’s end June and the monsoons have been delayed for almost a month now. Yes, Mumbai’s had a few showers, but not of the monsoon variety. These showers have only increased the humidity and the heat, while cooling, drenching, traffic clogging, train stopping monsoons are nowhere in sight. I monitor the skies all the time, alert to change in wind pattern. But to no avail. The wisps of clouds floating in the sky mock me as does the bright sunshine.

Though the song makes a passing reference to the rains, and the context is very different, no other music captures my mood right now. And I have been humming it for a while now and also have it playing on a loop when I’m working.

Rain gods, weather gods, gods of climate change: are you listening?

PS: This post is a first of sorts. I typed, edited, corrected, linked, added media, published this post and then shared it on various social media platforms using a Dell Venue Tablet that has been sent to me as part of the “Dell Blogger Review Programme”. I’m not sure, if I can do my usual long posts from a tablet, but this short one has been surprisingly easy.

My “now” song: Kuchh toh log kahenge

Posted on by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music — it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my “now’” song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

Last week, I received a call from an old friend. She was quite upset with a common acquaintance of ours for having made some disparaging comments about her on a social media platform. I had seen those comments and also the insecurity that had brought forth such petty comments.

I mentioned as much to my friend and told her to just ignore the comments. She said that she was trying to, but was finding it difficult as she was worried about what others who had read those comments would think. Her exact words were in Hindi: “Log kya kahenge?”

And my reply to her was this song:

“Kuchh toh log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kahna
chhodo bekar ki baaton mein, Kahin beet na jaaye raine…”

I haven’t stopped singing this song since then. Not surprisingly, this beautiful song from the film Amar Prem, sung by Kishore Kumar to music composed by R.D. Burman with lyrics by Anand Bakshi has become my “now” song. I find this song very self-affirmative, especially in a world that is so impatient and with people who are so quick to jump to conclusions and judge you.

My friend has put the incident behind her and is feeling better, much better. To be honest, I’m feeling better too. I didn’t know I needed this song as well. 🙂

PS: What is your current “now” song?

My “now” song: Oh re taal mile nadi ke jal mein

Posted on by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music — it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my “now’” song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

My “now” song is Oho re taal mile nadi ke jal mein from the film Anokhi Raat and sung by Mukesh to music composed by Roshan with lyrics by Indeevar.

This song was a hot favourite during my college and University days in Pune and I have some fond memories associated with it…

  • of listening to this song on Vividh Bharati
  • of singing along while completing whatever assignment or journal I was working on at that time
  • of hostel gatherings and antaksharis where this song was a ‘must sing’.
  • of hearing this song rendered at every field trip and class picnics by a classmate who only knew this one song.

I was in Pune last week and met some friends from my University days. As it usually happens with old friends, there was some talk of the present, a little of the future and a lot of reminiscing about the past. And one of the things that came up was this song.

I sang the song then and I’m still singing it after a week. 🙂

My “now” song: Zindagi mere ghar aana

Posted on by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music—it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my “now’”song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

Yesterday was a rare day at home. I actually got control of the TV remote, and so after the first few minutes of savouring the power of having the TV remote in my hand, I got down to what one does best with it — surf channels. One of the channels I halted at was a music channel which had a programme on songs beginning with the word “Zindagi”. The half hour programme saw some of the more popular and well known “Zindagi” songs getting  discussed and screened.

As I watched the “Zindagi” songs play across the screen, a long-forgotten “Zindagi” number stirred in the depths of my memories and slowly uncoiled itself and before long I had muted the TV volume and was singing Zindagi mere ghar aana, from the 1979 film Dooriyan.

I first heard this song, which is sung by Bhupendra Singh and Anuradha Paudwal, on Binaca Geetmala around the time it was released. I had loved this song even then and would often be found humming or singing along when the song was aired. Soon other songs displaced it and this song got relegated to the deep, vast recesses of my memory. Only to have it resurrected with the programme on “Zindagi” songs. I find that I still like the lilting tune, and today I can even appreciate the simple, romantic lyrics.

So, tell me, has this post triggered off memories of any “Zindagi” song that you like? And do you have any favourite “Zindagi” song? Do share. 🙂

My “now” song: Maula maula maula mere maula

Posted on by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music—it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, etc. This becomes my “now’”song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

My “now” song is Maula maula maula mere maula (or Arziyan) from the film Delhi 6, sung by Kailash Kher and Javed Ali with lyrics by Prasoon Joshi and music by A.R. Rehman.

This song is very special to me. Alone and homesick in London, this was a great song to calm and comfort me. It was also a song that helped me through dissertation angst and other course work as well. This song also transcended language barrier and had my Arabic- and Chinese-speaking friends hooked to it.

And back home in India, the song still continues to calm and comfort and support and inspire me as ever before.

Enjoy. 🙂