A tribute to old Hindi film music. Songs of the 30s through the 60s.

Singers

Mukesh and his romance with ‘Dil’

August 27, 2012

A tribute on his death anniversary August 27 Everyone is born with a heart, but that does not make everyone a romantic. There was something special about Mukesh and ‘dil’, not only his romantic heart but his romancing the heart. Mukesh started his journey with ‘dil’. As a young lad, while singing at his sister’s […]

Read the full article

Best songs of Rafi by Roshan

July 31, 2012

Double tribute to two geniuses Who composed the best songs for Mohammad Rafi cannot be conclusively answered. But there is no doubt that Roshan would figure in the top four or five for this honour. That is significant considering that Roshan did not have the advantage of a big banner nor big stars like Dev […]

Read the full article

Some perspectives on Jhumka gira re

March 8, 2012

Every married man encounters this experience quite often – you are all dressed up to go to a wedding, you go out to take out your car. The dear wife should have by then locked the house and come to the driveway. But you wait and wait, yet there is no sign of her. You […]

Read the full article

Duets of Talat Mahmood: Breaking the image trap

February 24, 2012

A tribute on his birth anniversary February 24 When you think of Talat Mahmood you think of his iconic soft, sentimental melodies like Meri yaad mein tum na aansoo bahana, Jalte hain jiske liye, Humse aya na gaya tumse bulaya na gaya, Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho, Zindagi denewale […]

Read the full article

Suraiya: The Last Singing Star

January 31, 2012

A tribute on her death anniversary January 31 Aside from Lata Mangeshkar Suraiya is among my top favourite female singers. She debuted as a child artiste in 1942 (film Sharda). Within three years she rose to become one of the top singing stars acting opposite the greatest legend KL Saigal in 3 films. Within the […]

Read the full article

Best non-film songs of KL Saigal

January 18, 2012

A tribute on his death anniversary January 18 If you grew up in the radio era and had an ear for music, Saigal-song-a day was a daily ritual – Radio Ceylon would end their programme of old film songs with a Saigal song every morning at 7.57 AM. So by the time I reached college […]

Read the full article

Naushad’s best songs for Mohammad Rafi

December 24, 2011

Double tribute on their birth anniversaries Mohammad Rafi’s birth anniversary falls on December 24 (b 1924) and Naushad’s on December 25 (b 1919). This close proximity also extended to their music. Rafi was to playback singing what Naushad was to music composing – both at the commanding heights of their profession for over two […]

Read the full article

Roshan: the great melody maker for Lata Mangeshkar

November 16, 2011

A tribute on his death anniversary on November 16 I have expressed great admiration for Roshan at several places in my blog. Among the greatest and most melodious songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Roshan compositions occupy a very high place. He did not achieve big commercial success as some of his peers, but for music lovers […]

Read the full article

Kishore Kumar – The best mad, crazy, comic songs

October 13, 2011

A tribute on his death anniversary October 13 MJ Akbar in his obituary to Shammi Kapoor wrote in India Today that one reason for Shammi Kapoor craze was that he was mad. But who was the maddest of them all? The great superstar Amitabh Bachchan could do a mad act with straight face. You can […]

Read the full article

My favourite Lata Mangeshkar songs by C Ramchandra

September 28, 2011

Birthday greetings to Lata Mangeshkar on September 28 Presenting my favourite Lata Mangeshkar songs composed by C Ramchandra, as my birthday greetings to her on September 28, is not a very diplomatic thing to do, given the history of their relationship. As her biographical accounts go, Lata Mangeshkar was more than a muse to C […]

Read the full article

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →