I must have been around 12 years old when I got hooked to old Hindi songs. I had begun to recognise different voices and started forming distinct preferences during this discovery phase. Asha Bhosle was and is my favourite female playback singer. Among the male voices, while Rafi was and is my favourite, I was also fond of Manna Dey … More My favourite Hemant Kumar Songs
Some years back, the vibrant city of Amsterdam with winding canals and narrow houses and steep staircases was the place I used to call home. A singular aspect of life in Amsterdam is cycling. The entire city has a cycling path of nearly 400 kms. It is the preferred mode of travel for most residents. You aren’t … More My Favourite Cycle songs
Here is another song list, quick on the heels of the previous one. This one features a legendary actress who worked extensively with Mr. Sunil Dutt, mostly in the melodramatic Madras productions of the mid-late sixties; though this was not her only claim to fame! Nutan, of the speaking eyes and quiet, elegant dignity, would … More My favourite Nutan songs
I realised a few days ago, that of all the many song lists, I have not compiled a list of songs featuring one of my favourite actors – Sunil Dutt. Sure enough, many of his songs have regularly featured in other lists on my blog (also primarily because he has acted in so many songs penned … More Remembering Sunil Dutt ….. with a song list!
There are some movies that can be watched again and again – not necessarily because they are classics, but just because they are light, breezy, sweet and great fun. Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, 1963 Navketan production directed by Vijay Anand, falls under this category. I remember watching it way back, the year Nutan passed away, when … More Tere Ghar Ke Saamne (1963)
Nov 5th marked the thirtieth death anniversary of one of the most impressive actors of the fifties and sixties, the regal, suave Rehman. His family traced its roots to King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan and two of his grand-nephews are actors in Pakistan. Born in 1921 in Lahore, Rehman grew up in Jabalpur. After his graduation … More Remembering Rehman…
Today (October 31,2014) is the thirty-ninth death anniversary of one of Hindi film music’s greatest music composers, Sachin Dev Burman. SDB is one of my favourite music directors. O.P. Nayyar is another music director I have a special fondness for. As I sit to make a list of SDB songs, I realised that I have blogged about … More A tribute to S.D. Burman
This post is unabashedly about the best lyricist/ poet Hindi film music (in my opinion) has ever seen. I have mentioned before in this blog that I adore Sahir Ludhianvi and that one or more of his songs do find a way into this blog every week or so… But today I have a valid reason to … More Mandatory Sahir Post of the week!
Today is the first death anniversary of that phenomenal, versatile, and fairly underrated singer, Manna Dey. Despite being born in the times of Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore and getting slotted as someone who is good for classical songs only, it is to his credit and brilliance that he managed to sing (some very popular songs) till the … More Remembering Manna Dey on his first death anniversary
I heard an old Manna Dey – Geeta Dutt bhajan from the film Devdas after a long time. It found a reference in Dustedoff’s impressive post on her top 10 songs featuring string instruments. As is the case, often memories are triggered – due to a word, a sound or a song. In this case it … More Na Main Dhan Chahun Na Ratan Chahun (Kala Bazaar, 1960)
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