Melodies from Kerala

It is heart breaking to see the current state of cinema in Kerala, not too different from the state of West Indian cricket today. I think of the likes of Viv Richards and Clice Lloyd and Micheal Holding and Malcolm Marshall and all thouse giants who dwarfed the rest of the world not very long ago, and then I look at their team today. Its sad.

Tme same is equally true of Malayalam films. Not very long ago – perhaps about 10-15 years ago, I was hooked on Malayalam films. Despite being a Tamilian having very limited knowledge of the Malayalam language, I enjoyed the tremendous variety and quality of films that came in. Mohanlal was my favorite and I savoured his films be it the comic fare (the films with Srinivasan, Priyadarshan) or his more dramatic fare- Bharatham, Pavithram, Dasaratham and the like. Apart from the quality of the films themselves, the music of the films was also most memorable and the picturizations of songs just superb. You usually had very few songs in a film – maybe 3 or 4- and they were usually back-ground songs.

I was just enjoying such a song today – and it really fills me with longing for an age that has rushed by..

Yesudas was obviously the Voice Premiere of Malayalam cinema – and has been so for a long long time now. Many of his songs are now landmarks of Indian cinema.

souparnikaamrutha from Kizhakunarum pakshi cast a spell over me. I had to keep listening to it again and again.  Very tastefully picturized too..

I think Kerala also benefitted from the compositions of many of the legendary music composers of Indian cinema. Salil Chowdhury was of course a household name there but Naushad also tried his hand there and I thought the result was great – much superior to his later output in Hindi films. Consider this melody..

But I think it is fair to say that Raveendran was the heart of the great Malayalam music of the time. He has created some of the finest songs but this song from His Highness Abdullah will perhaps be his definitive creation.. a milestone of Malayalam cine music

To round off, two of my most favorite songs from the same film Pavithram which also highlight the point I made earlier about the picturization of songs in Malayalam films in that period.. background with the story developing through the song. Both are brilliant compositions and I consider them to be amongst the most beautifully picturized songs ever

Reliving Salil magic

Two posts in one evening - a record of sortatcs for me. Just catching up on old favorites on Youtube..

One of this is one of my great favorites of Bengali music- jodi kichuu amaar shudaai rendered by Shyamal Mitra for Salil Chowdhury.. this is one of those songs that make you feel helpless. You feel lost.. its very unsettling. There is something deep within you tat resonates to the composition.. the rendition. This is the magic of great music. The ultimate experience. A great composition meets a great voice and magic is created.

The fact that it is not just about the composition is underscored when you hear the same composition transposed to Poonam ki raat - dil taDape taDapaaye. After listening to the Bengali version, it is almost insulting to having hear the Hindi version. Rafi is a great singer but Salil compositions have never been his strong points and I always get the feeling that Salilda seemed to make Rafi sing to mock his singing abilities. Hearing Rafi sing this song is a real pain..

But there is a remedy. Just dont listen to this song. Give a repeat hear to Shyamal Mitra's magical rendition and cleanse your ears

Kishore's masterpiece - panthii huuN main

I believe I have talked about Kishore Kumar's skills as a composer earlier and if I have, then I would unfailingly have expressed my deep, deep admiration of a masterpiece from Door kaa raahi, pa.nthii huu.N mai.n us path kaa. This post is only about that song because it is playing on my upgraded Mac OS X (Lion) system right now and I feel tears welling up again as I hear the melody play out.

Songs such as this capture the deep sensitivity of Kishore Kumar, a factor that he appeared to conceal by performing diametrically opposite characters in films. This glorious song is perhaps the brightest gem of the literal treasure of melodies that Kishore created in this off-beat film that ffew cared to watch. Its the store of a man in search of himself.. it stays away from adding any glitter-glamour of the typical Bombay film world. Its a throwback to the simplistic mode of films perfected by Bimal Roy and leter Hrishikesh Mukherjee albeit without any major leading heroes and heroines of the time barring Tanuja to an extent.

panthii huuN mai.n is beautiful poetry written in pure Hindi by A.Irshad. Kishore has brought to life the words through a brilliant composition that relies almost entirely on a simple, minimal Indian orchestra -mostly sitar, violin and the tabla. The prominence is on the emotional depth of the rendition,Kishore does what you would typically expect only a Lata or Talat or Mukesh to do - just pull the tears to your eyes. It is a depth of rendition that Kishore rarely got the oppurtunity to render during his prime. It is a sad loss.. because you listen even to his lighter romantic songs like vo dekhen to unakii inaayat (Fantoosh) and tum jahaaN jahaaN (Apna haath jagannaath), you realize the potential of the man. You wonder how things would have been if he had gotten to sing more for the likes of Anil Biswas, Khemchand Prakash.. those masters. But even as a composer of this one song alone, he deserves posterity..

Sheer magic  !!

Chitalkar sings live

Youtube hs ben the source of many many pleasant surprises for me. How many many songs whose picturizations I never imagined I would see appeared there. Sometime back, I had shared my utter delight in seeing a clip of an old televiosion music show where C.Ramchandra sang his sholaa jo bhaDake. You can now imagine my state when I saw some very kind soul sharing BBC recordings of the same legend rendering unforgettable melodies in his own voice.Listening to it, we cant but feel huge regret that the man did not sing more in films. His voice has the dard that makes for happy listening. Of course, the compositions are all the ones we know well and made famous by other singers. But Chitalkarsaab gives the songs his own touch - you dont feel the songs lack anything when he sings them.

Anaarkali's mohobbat aesii dhaDan hai is one of Lata's most beautiful songs but see how CR deals with the song:

Very very nice indeed. Then he takes on aadhaa hai chandramaa from Navrang - and in my view, you cant listen to Mahendra Kapoor again after hearing Chitalkar's rendition:

CR of course was a fairly prolific singer in his own way. Albelaa was one soundtrack that he literally owner But apart from this magnificnt track, there was plenty for us CR fans to delight in. His fun songs in particular had an intoxicating quality about them. One of my favorites is this delight from Baarish.

A true legend !!

That sublime melody again..

Oh oh oh.. I found the video of that sheer-magic song sunaa tuu man kii biin par from Ram Hanuman Yudh on Yuotube. A musical triumph from S.N.Tripathi and Lata that takes you to sublime levels of tranquility. A sense of peace that only truly great music can bring.  The quality of the song in the video is also better than what I have so its much more of a listening pleasure.

Listen to the song from the 3:35 time of the video.

Sublime melody

Luck eluded them

The late 1940s through the early 1950s was a harsh period. It dealt cruelly with many many musical folks, Talented artistes who came with dreams of being among the constellation of stars in the musical sky of cinema. But there was room for only a few, so most faded or disappeared altogether. When you listen so the creation of some of those artistes today, you are filled with anguish that we could not get more music from them. Apparently, there were close to 100 music directors vying for survical. It was eventually the suvival of the luckiest. That is not to belittle those who survived. Not at all. How can one grudge the likes of Naushad and Sachind Dev Burman and Salil Chwodhury the success they achieved. They were truly great composers who deserved the success they received. But think of sapanaa ban saajan aaye- one of the greatest Lata melodies of all time. Lata is of course a phenomenon but who remembers Jamal Sen, the man who composed the song? The same Jamal Sen was the man behind one of the greatest soundtracks of our films – Daayeraa, a Nasir Khan-Meena Kumari film directed by Kamal Amrohi. Each song in that heavy, morose film is a treasure. Has there ever been a better bhajan in films than devataa tum ho meraa sahaaraa? I tell you- no. Not all the great bhajans that Lata or Asha sang can match the depth and beauty of this song. And whose was the glittering voice that rendered this song? Ah Destiny. That the voice behind this most magical of songs should remain unsung. Give it a listen:

Isnt that mgic? Mubarak Begum sang that song and at least for the conneisseurs, signed herself for eternal memory. But the crulety of fate becomes more evident when you listen to her other sublime renditions from the same film- suno more nainaa, diip ke sa.ng jaluu.N mai.n, jalii jo shammaa to.. each song worth going miles and miles to hear.. worth spending a trasure to own. Outstanding compositions and superb renditions.. its just not fair that Mubarakji was never utilized to any great extent further. Snehal Bhatkar provided her with one of the few real successes of her career in Hamaari yaad aayegi- kabhii tanhaaiyo.n me yuu.N. Again, a splendind song. But for me, Daayeraa remains her greatest achievemt and not even Lata could have provided the life that Mubarak provided to words of those songs.

And while on Daayeraa, it is also worth recalling the three superlative Talat solos that Jamal Sen created in this film- aa.Nsuu to nahii hai aa.Nkho.n me, aa bhii jaa merii duniyaa me koii nahii and ae chaa.Nd sitaaro.n. All of them sheer classics and rank among the finest solos of Talat. Ah Destiny..

My favorite "chaaNd" songs

The moon is one of the favorite metaphors fused by our filmi poets. They use it to describe the beauty of the heroines, the same heroines beseech the satellite to look after love of their hart or send messages to him and the same moon looms large in the skies as the tears flow from the heroines' eyes.

Amongst the multitude of "chaand" songs, I selected ten of those which I am enjoying most at the present. I have made a small slide-show of this list here:

Hope you like it !

Khayyam saab's magic

As I browsed through Youtube today (a daily search that I make to discover any rare songs that I missed earlier), I found this lovely piece of Lata singing a portion of her wonderful "jiit hii le.nge baazii" duet with Rafi in "Sholaa aur shabnam". I daresay I have heard it earlier but it made a resounding impact on me as I heard it today. No instruments, just pure Lata. The effect is simply magical !!



See the full duet in all its glory:

Seergazhi at his best - "Padikaada mEdai"

I am back after a while- and surprisingly enough, it is Seergazhi Govindarajan who forces me out of this lull. Seergazhi is not one of my favorite singers- not by a long way. I mock him a lot saying he has this "constipated" way of singing.

But of course, he had a great range and one of those true Tamil singers. This song is a triumph. Bharathiyar's poetry is taken to great heights by the magnificent music of K.V.Mahadevan and rendition of Seergazhi. A melody forever.

But what elevates the song further is the performance of S.V.Ranga Rao during the song. Tamil cinema was blessed with a whole host of brilliant character actors during that time. The likes of Balayya, M.R.Radha, Thangavelu are all unforgettable even today. Ranga Rao belongs to that league. A natural actor with a booming, unforgettable voice, he loomed large in the world of Tamil cinema as well (in addition to Telugu films) through the 50s and 60s. Sivaji Ganesan and Ranga Rao's exchanges in this film "Padikaada mEdai" is the stuff of legends.

Remembering Hansraj Behl: haaye jiyaa roye

Hansraj Behl is easily one of the most under-played music directors ever. I would think he was a fairly popular composer during the late 40s-early 50s because his outptu if fairly high in number. But what makes him very special is that a good portion of that output is of a high quality and some of that is very very high on the list of greatest compositions ever. This song being a case in point.

Lata has combined in quite a few special melodies for Hansrajji. Remember that delectable "haaye chandaa gaye parades" from "Chakori"? Or "jab raat nahii kaTatii" from "Changez Khan"? But this amazing song from the 1958 "Milan" is perhaps their best together, and arguable is Hansrajji's best ever composition. The atmosphere is suffused with stark despair, a deep hopelessness and yet, a sense of peace. Lata sounds so amazing here. It is when you hear such renditions that you understand why Lata is Supreme. I dont think anyone else could have rendered this song so beautifully.

Nalini Jaywant has, in my opinion, lip-syncd amongst the finest songs of Hindi films. In fact, if you cover the songs picturized on her and Madhubala, you would cover most of my personal favorites. "Anokhaa pyaar", "Samaadhi", "Naubahaar", "Naujawaan", "Naaz", "Raahi", "Shikast", "Munimji" etc. are all outstanding soundtracks. "Milan" boasts of two evergreen melodies - this one and "saarii duniyaa se puuchhaa milaa naa nishaa/N". She was a fine actress and a pleasure to view on screen when listening to such great songs.

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Songs and scissors

It was one bleak and black day years ago when the Gramaphone Company of India acquired rights to Tamil cine songs. I am flabbergasted at the apparent deafness of ears these people seem to possess. I was listening to the seminal "mayakkamaa kalakkamaa" on a P.B.Srinivas collection and am again feeling totally frustrated at the HUUUGE chops made to the song. The interlude music gets knocked off, and the antataa (stanzas), whose lines were originally sung twice, are rudely scissored to leave only one rendition available. And the cut sounds so horrible that one can only shed silent tears for P.B.Srinivas and Kannadasan and Viswanathan Ramamoorthy. This is a totally nonsensical treatment of music and particularly music which has azquired such an aura over time.

Of course, our dear music company is not partial. It performs such happy scissoring to plenty of other songs. It does not allow us to enjoy the marvellous prelude music to "onDru sernda anbu maarumaa", listenevrs may never get to listen and appreciate the beautiful use of violins in the prelude of "uDalukku uyir kaaval"... the examples are aplenty. I do not understand why these companies have to revert to such editing? It is not as though they are filling up the CD with plenty of songs. I do not mind getting a couple of songs less - but DONT sacrifice the musical beauty of the song.

Oh well.. I guess its easier to just buy the VCD of the movie and get the music from there - with lower quality perhaps, but at least complete.

Youtube- Rafi & Lata - Zindagi Bhar Nahin Bhoolegi - Barsaat Ki Raat [1960]

An awesome song.. I keep going back to listening to this serene melody now and then and keep rediscovering its magic. While the more popular Rafi solo is great indeed, it is this duet version which has always enchanted me more. Lata sounds glorious and Rafi so soothing. Oh.. and of course, there is Madhubala..

Hmm.. digging into Lata-CR

As I walked through the list of CR-Lata soundtracks, I found that their quality was quite inconsistent. Soundtracks like "Teerandaaz", "Shagoofaa" have a whole host of Lata songs - they are pleasing to hear but rarely register. I think when they were good, the songs tend to be totally sublime. To their credit, the duo hit the peaks fairly often during their time together. But the valleys were also not infrequent. Not "terrible" mind, just average music.

In contrast, I think composers like Anilda and Roshan were more consistent. You usually could bet on at least Lata magical melody per soundtrack. These may not always touch the peaks of the Lata-CR peaks but the output is much more consistent.

Just a passing thought as I listen to "mar mar ke do ghaDii ko" from "Teerandaaz:..

Lata Surveykshan

Vinay Jain has kept on his efforts in setting up polls towards identifying the most popular soundtracks and songs of legendary musical personalities. It was all-composers so far. Now, it is the turn of Lata. The series began with a selection from her solos till 1953. These years being the peak years of maestros like Anil Biswas, C.Ramchandra, Naushad, Husnlal Bhagatram etc., the selection was going to be one helluva job. The selection of thirty songs was almost impossibly tough and I had to tearfully exclude some great favorites from the list.

Vinay announced the results today - and the winning songs were not surprises. "ye zi.ndagii usii kii hai" and "aayegaa aane vaalaa" are at the top. Its pleasing to see three C.Ramchandra songs in the top 10 but very disappointing to see no Anilda there.

My selection of 30 songs are below:

ye zi.ndagii usii kii hai jo kisii kaa ho gayaa
ye shaam kii tanhaaiyaa.N aise me.n teraa Gam
tum kyaa jaano tumhaarii yaad me.n
wo to chale gaye ai dil yaad se unakii pyaar kar
bahaare.n phir bhii aaye.ngii
man me.n kisii kii priit basaale
kaTate hai.n dukh me.n ye din
cha.ndaa re jaa re jaa re
tumhaare bulaane ko jii chaahataa hai
baa.Ndh priiti phuul Dor
miTTii se khelate ho baar\-baar kis liye
sapanaa ban saajan aaye
priit ye kaisii bol rii duniyaa
kaalii kaalii raat re dil ba.Daa sataaye
vo din kahaa.N gaye bataa
mere piyaa se ko_ii jaake kah de
haay cha.ndaa ga_e parades
dil dha.Dake nazar sharamaaye to samajho
hai kahii.n par shaadamaanii
bahaar aa_ii khilii kaliyaa.N
mujh se mat puuchh mere ishq me.n kyaa rakhaa hai 
mere liye vo Gam-e-i.ntazaar chho.D gaye
kaagaa re jaa re jaa re
mil mil ke bichha.D gaye nain 
vo paas nahii.n majabuur hai dil 
kis nazar kaa mast ishaaraa hai zi.ndagii
zindagii bebas hu_ii hai ... o aasamaan waale
duur jaaye re raah merii aaj terii raah se
ai chaa.Nd pyaar meraa tujhase ye kah rahaa hai
naa_ummiid ho ke bhii duniyaa me.n jiye jaate hai.n

But the exercise was good fun. It made me to re-listen to a whole lot of songs that I had not heard in a long while. So, thank you Vinay !

Talat Mahmood - Raat Ne Kya Kya Khwab Dikhaye - Ek Gaon Ki Kahani [1957]

This evergreen magical song has been haunting me for the past week as I try to recover daya from my crashed hard drive. The pace of the song, the lyrics and orchestration are all superb. But ultimately, it is Talat's wonderful singing that makes this song so magical. There is such an apparent ease with which he delivers. A song meant for Talat and Talat only. Magic forever...

Singers tuning themselves

Listening to Mukesh's "kise yaad rakhuu.N", I was wondering how many of our top-league playback singers have tried their hand at composing songs. Mukesh's afore mentioned perennial beauty from "Anuraag" indicates his abilities in this regard. Add to this the other gem from this track "pal bhar kii hii pehachaan"..

Manna Dey was perhaps the most prolific of the lot - he assisted his famed uncle K.C.Dey and Khemchand Prakash in a number of films. He then scored independently for films like "Chamkee", "Tamaashaa", "Sukh rambhaa" among others. "raat mohe miiThaa miiThaa" and "mere chhoThe se dil ko" are two amazing melodies from "Tamaashaa".

To my knowledge, Talat has not composed in films. He is credited with composing at least two of his geets - "Khudaa vo vaqt na laae" and "dil kii duniyaa basaa gayaa hai kaun". The latter is one of his best geets.

Kishore turned in unforgettable music in "Door gagan kii chhaaon me", "Jhumroo" and "Door kaa raahi". All had fantastic Kishore songs and unforgettables from other singers too. Asha's "path bhuulaa ek aayaa musaafir" is a case in point. Kishore's own "panthii huu.N mai.n" is my all-time favorite Kishore solo.

Rafi, Lata, Asha, Geeta - I do not know if they composed anything. Maybe they did, but I have not heard any of them.

Hemant Kumar's name is missing from this list. He holds such a unique position in Indian cinema - the only top-league singer AND a top-league composer. I think of him first as a composer then a singer. But no question - he is perhaps the richest musical personality of our films.

Oh Madhubala!!

Every now and then, I see an old video on the web, more specifically on Youtube, and I happen to see something new or fresh in that most illuminating face of Hindi films, Madhubala. Today it was this unforgattable Hemant-Geeta duet from the film "Police":

chale ham kahaa.N..

Madhubala has cast her spell on me since I saw her in "Taraanaa" about 20 years ago. I still consider "Taraanaa" to be her best film, both in terms of performance and looks. And of coure, the magnificent Anil Biswas-Lata combo helped no end. This is such a delightful scene:

Dilip & Madhubala sizzle on screen

I found myself scourging the web for more of her pictures/stills and found there are so many enthusiastic fans she has in today's world who seem to be more active and creative in declaring their adoration for her than I am. This is a wall paper a fan has created. Its now the wallpaper on my Macbook too :) Than you Sir!

And of course, that she lip-synced my all-time favorite song only adds to her aura:

man me kisii kii priit basaa le (Aaraam)

Tampering with credits - bad, bad

The music forums have been abuzz of late following the credit of the "sar jo teraa chakaraaye" to R.D.Burman instead of S.D.Burman in the film "Road, Movie". S.D.Burman was of course the official music director of the film. Apparently, Guru Dutt's son Arun Dutt has "confirmed" that it was the son who actually created this song and not the father.

For ages now, we have been hearing about not just RDB but other assistants being the actual sources of S.D.Burman's songs. If we to believe everything, then poor Sachinda might end up with a handful of original creations!! But this is the first time that someone has actually tampered with credits officially and that is what is causing the uproar.

"Pyaasaa" is more than half-a-century behind us. Most of the people who were involved in the making of the film are no longer alive. So how can anybody mess around changing official credits of a film. There is no documented evidence of R.D.Burman having composed "sar jo teraa". Changing credits of a song simply based on word-of-mouth is totally ridiculous. Worse, it sets a really dangerous precedent. Not so long ago in one of the TV shows, Hridaynath Mangeshkar mentioned that Roshan had been more responsible for "Anarkali"'s "ye zindagii usii kii hai". So should we start crediting this song to Roshan and not C.Ramchandra based on Hridaynath's assertion? And havebnt we heard that the songs of "Sohni Mahiwaal" were actually Mohd Shafi's compositions which Naushad just bought? Where does truth begin and where does it end? There is no end to debates and discussions. This mukhadaa carries the RDB touch so it must an RDB song, that piece of orchestration is all C.Ramchandra so how can it be Roshan? etc etc.

There was a lot of collaborative music (some healthy and some perhaps not so healthy) done during those times. So discovering credit based on some "experts" is too shallow.

Khayyam - A legend recognized at last

Khayyam, that most under-appreciated and unsung of our great music directors, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Filmfare. I believe this to be the most redeeming Filmfare moment over the past many years of the Award.

Khayyam has been active in the film world for over sixty years now. It was heart-warming to see him remembering Husnlal-Bhagatram, G.A.Chishti and Pt Amarnath in his speech - all composers whom he assisted during his early years in Bombay. I hve not seen too many composers being so generous. In fact. Khayyam also is most generous in paying tribute to his peers and seniors like Khemchand Prakash, Jaidev, Madan Mohan and Roshan in various interviews in recent years.

Khayyam entered the film world during the years when there was a pantheon of top-notch music directors, many of them whom had carved a niche for themselves. Though his music quickly achieved critical acclaim, the films themselves failed at the box-office. Even "Footpath", which starred superstar Dilip Kumar and boasted of wonderful melodies including "shaam-e-Gam ki qasam" came a cropper. This quickly led to Khayyam being looked on as a jinx. Over the next two decades or so, Khayyam held on. He kept composing any number of bewitching melodies in films like "Gulbahaar", "Phir subah hogi", "Baarood", "Mohobbat isko kahate hain", "Sholaa aur shabnam", "Shagoon", "Aakhri khat" and many, many non-film geets and ghazals with Begum Akhtar, Talat, Mukesh and Rafi. But popularity or box-office success continued to prove elusive.

Came the 1970s and suddenly, Khayyam found himself in the limelight. "Kabhi Kabhi" achieved immense popularity. This was followed by "Trishul", "Noorie", "Thodi si bewafaai", "Razia sultaan" and of course, "Umraao jaan". With minimal comprimises to the more modern musical tastes, Khayyam managed to achieve great popularity with music rooted in the folk and classical elements of Indian music. "Umraao jaan" has become the definitive "ghazal" film of Indian cinema. Say "ghazal" and you cant but think of Asha's mesmerizing vocals in "in aa.Nkho.n kii mastii me". Khayyamsaab's fote has always been the ghazal or the ghazal-numa-geet. Some of my very favorite ghazals include Talat's "kaun kahataa hai tujhe" and Mukesh's "ashaar mere yuu.N to zamaane ke lie hai.n".

Some personal well known Khayyam favorites:
- sojaa mere pyaare sojaa (Asha, Footpath)
- gar terii navaazish ho jaae (Talat, Gulbahaar)
- kaii aese bhii aa.Nsuu hai.n (Lata, Gul Sanobaar)
- ro ro biitaa jiivan saaraa (Talat, non-film)
- aese naa mu.nh chhupaao (Rafi & Lata, Baarood)
- terii duniyaa me nahii koii (Lata, Baarood)
- jo ham pe guzaratii hai (Suman Kalyanpur, Mohobbat isko kahate hain)

My very favorite Khayyam songs (desert-island material) - those two sublime melodies from "Sholaa aur shabnam" - Rafi-Lata's "jiit hii le.nge baazii ham tum" and Rafi's "jaane kyaa Dhuu.nDhatii rahatii hai".

A true legend of Indian film music. I hope the Indian government also steps in and recognizes him with further honors. Congrats Khayyam saab. Thank  you for all the sublime moments you have brought to our lives.

Geetmala ki chhaaon me - First impressions

Ameen Sayani with Saregama released the second installment of the "Geetmala ki chhaaon me GMKCM)" series - a journey through the lesser-ran-but-great songs of the great years of his Geetmala radio series.

The first GMKCM set had three of the five CDs covering the pre-countdown years (mostly 1950-1953) while CDs 4 and 5 focussed on the hit songs of 1954 and 1955 respectively. I had bought this set after a lot of internal debate. I had almost all the songs in my collection and I knew well what were the top hit songs of the years 1954 and 1955. The only incentive was to experience that golden age of Indian film music in the voice of Ameen Sayani himself. I enjoyed the set immensely. You felt you were back in that black and white period where legends of music ruled the roost and melody was queen. Though I obviously was disappointed by the non-inclusion of masterly soundtracks like "Parchhaaian", "Aaraam", "Anandmath", "Raag rang", "Naubahaar" etc.,
I still enjoyed Ameen Sayani's presentation and decided that the set was truly worth it.

I waited for the next set eagerly and bought it quickly enough. At the end of listening to three of the five CDs, I am left feeling disappointed. No - its not a case of too-high-expectations. Some thoughts which may explain this feeling:

1. You can clearly see the sagging overall quality of music in our films and popular taste. Ameensaab cannot of course help this but it does affect the listening pleasure.

2. But I am completely irked by Ameensaab's apparent devotion to Raj Kapoor and to a letter extent, Shankar Jaikishan. He actually played out a song from "Aawaaraa" in CD 2 (meant for songs in 1957) just because people had complained about the film not being mentioned. My dear Sir, why do not you then mention "Parchhaaiaan" too. and "Naubahaar"? Are these lesser soundtracks than "Aawaaraa"? I thought this series of CDs were meant for songs that did not make the hit list. "Aawaaraa" songs certainly make that list dont they? Can any of "Aawaaraa" songs match the sheer bliss that is conveyed by songs like "kaTate hai.n dukh me din" or "dekho jii meraa jiyaa churaaye liye jaae" or "man me kisii kii priit basaa le"?

Then, he played snatches opf all the popular songs from "Basant bahaar" (6 or 7 of them I think) but mentions sadly that only a couple of "Madhumati" songs made the list. Whoa! Why not play snatches of all the "Madhumati" songs pray? "Madhumati" is, arguably, the most popular and universally loved soundtraks ever.

3. Worst of all, I never got that back-in-time experience that the first set conveyed. CD2 of this set is devoted totally to the 2007 function held to release the first set. While it is fine to recall that good occassion, you cant do that for one full CD.

4. The overall presentation of the hit-parade and the "chhaaon" songs was a little chaotic. I never knew if I was listening to a hit-parade song or not.

In summary, the problem with this second set is that it doesnt convey an "experience". You do not feel that you re-lived another age.