Jahan teri yeh nazar hai

The 1981 film Kaalia was a big commercial success. It cemented the status of Amitabh Bachchan as a popular star, and his increasing identification as the ‘angry young man’ of Hindi cinema with a stream of similar roles. Director Tinu Anand‘s first outing with the star, but not his last, would include many popular songs in its repertoire, including the romantic Tum saath ho jab apne. But the song that would remain the iconic hit from this film and this era of film music is the mischievous Jahan teri yeh nazar hai.
Continue reading

Aye kaash ke hum

Continue reading

Gum hai kisi ke pyar mein

As a director, Manmohan Desai will always be known as the one who took the Hindi masala movie to its pinnacle from the 1960s to the early 1980s. He had a dream run of mostly successful films, all depending on a cornucopia of drama, a focus on mass entertainment above all other considerations, and a list of tropes that made his moves near-formulaic while also being very separate entities. He was most prolific in the 1970s and the 1972 film Raampur Ka Laxman was one of his early hits during that era. In an utterly rollicking smorgasbord of a movie involving long lost brothers, crime, conspiracies and romance, to name a few elements, the song Gum hai kisi ke pyar mein is a quiet little happy moment of romance acknowledged.
Continue reading

Aise to na dekho

The girl at the window or the balcony is a classic romantic trope, probably tracing back to ancient theatre, lost in the mists of time. In Hindi cinema, with the majority of the audience living in an increasingly crowded urban environment, that quickly turned into lovers at windows in adjacent houses or apartments, forever separated by the insignificant but fathomless divide between buildings. Many a romantic tale, some serious, some light-hearted, have been woven across that gap over the decades. Being Indian cinema, inevitably, songs were sung across the abyss, and Aise to na dekho from the film Teen Devian is a wonderful example of the genre.
Continue reading

Tum saath ho jab apne

By the end of the 70s, Amitabh Bachchan was the undisputed king of Hindi cinema and he had settled into a comfortable niche of angry action hero and romantic rogue that worked out quite well for him with almost every outing. Kaalia, released in 1981, was another in this line of Amitabh starers, along with Parveen Babi as his partner in on-screen romance.

Tum saath ho jab apne inherits a long history of Hindi songs set in strange parties where everyone seems satisfied to stand around and enjoy the song and dance unfolding before them, peppered with layers of meaning between the protagonist and the antagonist, who also happens to be invited, or is the host in some cases!
Continue reading

Pehla nasha

Continue reading

Ek ladki bheegi bhagi si



Continue reading