My Favourites: Songs of Celebration

Christmas Eve is around the corner and New Year's Eve, just beyond. This is the season for party-hopping. I must confess I would like to have a quiet evening at home, sipping a glass of Cointreau and watching a thoroughly amusing film from my ever-increasing pile of unwatched DVDs, but I know I'll be spending these two days at a friend's place, as I have done for the past 6 years.  Thankfully, these are not dance parties. I have two left feet and am totally lacking grace when it comes to dance, though I'm graceful (enough) otherwise. However, it is another (and more alarming) situation - the parting of the Red Sea.

Don't know what I mean? Well, since I became an adult and until I came to the US, I have never hosted, or been a guest at, a social occasion where there was a segregation of men and women. Perhaps it was because 500 sq. ft. flats in Bombay do not lend themselves to such segregation. Perhaps. The truth of the matter was that our friends were not the sort who wanted to hide themselves in two different rooms. We all sat in the same room, on any available seating (and the floor, if not), happy to socialise together. Not so over here. 

Most of my social circle live in rather huge Colonial houses, whose very floor plan is conducive to such parting. If you walk in the front door, the men move like herds of cattle into the 'formal living room' while the women, like yet another herd of cattle, move into the 'family room' - these rooms being on either side of the foyer.  Then, for the rest of the evening, 'never the twain shall meet'. 

Perhaps this is not the case amongst the Indian diaspora all over the US. It certainly is the case here in this specific community in New England. (Perhaps I need to find a different social circle? Or ensure that the friends I meet do not live in Colonial houses? Okay, it's not all bad, I do derive some enjoyment in sitting back and watching people, but I'm feeling somewhat like Grinch these days. :) 

However, I do like the party songs from old Hindi films - not the ones where the hero is moaning and groaning over his lost love while the rest of the crowd stand around looking uncomfortable (or bored), but the ones where everyone looks like they are having fun. There is dancing, and merriment, and some lovely numbers.

Without further ado, let's move on to some of my favourite party songs. 

1. Mud mud ke na dekh mud mud ke

Shree 420
1955
Singers: Asha Bhonsle, Manna Dey
Music: Shankar-Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra

A very sassy, very saucy, very, very pretty Nadira sashaying as she seduces Raj Kapoor into staying back at the party - don't look back, she says; and Raj is torn as his Vidya leaves. Should he stay? Or should he go? Finally, the pull of Maya is too tempting to resist. And Raj not only stays, he sings. And dances.

2. Beta dar mat dar mat dar mat 

 Bhai Bahen
1959
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Music: N Dutta
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

Now, tell me. Can you imagine the Sahir who wrote Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai to be the same man who penned this nonsensical albeit humorous number? It is picturised on Johnny Walker, so that adds to the fun on screen. There are lots of familiar faces in the background in this rollicking rock and roll number. According to the text accompanying the YouTube clip, movie mogul GP Sippy is visible in the song. He apparently played a (small) villainous role in the film.

3. Gaal gulabi kiske hain

Love in Simla
1960
Singer: Mohammed Rafi
Music: Iqbal Quereshi
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishen

Love in Simla introduced two stunning leads to Hindi films - a dashing, boyish Joy Mukherjee and the beautiful, gamin Sadhana Shivdasani in her first adult role. It took the ugly-duckling-turned-into-a-swan theme, added a little bit of feminist overtones, mixed in some emotions and gave us a frothy love story interspersed with some lovely tunes. Obviously, music director Iqbal Quereshi was inspired (Ventures' Tequila) when he composed this song. He speeded up the beat, changed a few arrangements, and gave us... this.

  
4. Chheda mere dil ne taraana tere pyar ka

Asli Naqli 
1962 
Singer: Mohammed Rafi 
Music: Shankar-Jaikishen 
Lyrics: Shailendra

The situation is piquant. Anand has just left his love Renu, bowing to the emotional blackmail of his grandfather. However, what is interesting is that he does it knowing that his grandfather will destroy Renu's life if he doesn't. Renu knows  why Anand is leaving. Back in his grandfather's home, where the old man has thrown a party to celebrate the return of the prodigal (and  to get him engaged to a girl more suited to their status), Anand is adamant (chip off the old block, after all). He loves Renu, and he will have her, or no one. 

 

 

6. Tiki riki tiki riki takauri 

Woh Kaun Thi 

1964

Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhonsle

Music Director: Madan Mohan 

Lyrics: Raja Mehdi Khan

Madan Mohan, king of ghazals and Rock and Roll? Check. Manoj Kumar dancing (and smiling when he does so?) Check. I didn't even know he could dance, but he does a mean step, matching the beautiful Helen. This is a lovely foot-tapping mumber in a score that comprised several timeless melodies.

7. Choti si mulaqat pyaar ban gayi
Choti si Mulaqaat
1967
Singers: Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhonsle
Music: Shankar Jaikishen
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

It's not often you get to watch Uttam Kumar shake a leg. While the initial tap dancing is definitely not Kumar, he does a good job of the shaking and jiving to the foot-tapping number. Accompanying him is Vyjayanthimala, who is no mean danseuse herself. Both look like they are enjoying themselves, and that is half the battle won.

Chanelling Lalitha, I do have a question - how on earth does Vyjayanthimala manage to move so well with her pallu  tied in a double bind?

 8. Aaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charche 

Brahmachari
1968
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur
Music: Shankar-Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra

If ever a song was designed to make you get up and dance, this was one. Of course, Rafi was singing for Shammi Kapoor, so how could it not  be energetic. I love everything about this song - a very young and pretty Mumtaz in a orange sari (or well, a dress designed to look like a sari but hugging every curve), the orchestration, a handsome glowering Pran, and Shammi, glorious, can't-bear-to-stand-still Shammi! He leaps, he shimmies, he rolls on the floor - he sits for exactly two seconds at the piano before jumping up like something bit him - it is positively tiring to just watch him! As for Mumtaz, again, how does she move in that outfit, much less match Shammi step for step?

8. My name is Anthony Gonsalvez 

Amar Akbar Anthony 
1977 
Singers: Kishore Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan 
Music: Laxmikant-Pyarelal 
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

Anthony has invited Jenny to the Easter party at the Church. He is not sure she will turn up. But he does. Suited and booted, with a tophat, a monocle and an umbrella! The mangled English dialogues were Amitabh's own concoction, and he delivers them with great flourish. Amitabh moved to this ditzy tune with elan, making even the silliest of actions seem utterly rational.

This is probably the second-most hilarious sequence in the whole mad film (the song leading to the utterly, jaw-droppingly hilarious drunken scene where Anthony chats to his reflection in the mirror, scolding it, and at the same time, cleaning up (the reflection's) wounds).

Ironically, this iconic character may not have come to be - the original name of the character was Anthony Fernandes. Somehow, no one liked the name. It was Pyarelal who came up with the name we all know and love, paying tribute to his old master, a musician by name Anthony Gonsalvez.  

9. Huzoor is kadar bhi na itarake chaliye

Masoom
1983
Singers: Bhupinder, Suresh Wadkar
Music: RD Burman
Lyrics: Gulzar

The eighties was not a very good decade for movies. However, occasionally, there would a light that dispelled the bleakness. From Shekhar Kapoor's brilliant Hindi adaptation of Erich Segal's 'Man, Woman and Child'  comes this ghazal, one of the many melodies that RD wove using the magical threads of Gulzar's lyrics. Coming at the beginning of the movie, the situation is ironic - little does Naseeruddin Shah or Shabana Azmi know the storm that will be unleashed the very next day. This is a song that I never tire of hearing. Fantastic film, fantastic performances, wonderful songs. Bliss.

10. 1956 1957 1958 1959 

Anadi
1959
Singers: Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Shankar-Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra

This is out of chronological order, but hey, this is a New Year song. So apropos, no? I love its tongue-in-cheek lyrics. If you listen carefully, one could sing this song even today. Doesn't every generation rue the changing mores and fashions of the newer one? 

Fashion badhenge
Kapde ghatenge
Maalik hi jaane, kitne rahenge
Mausam ka ye khel
Zulfen chantao nakhoon badhaao
Chehre pe naqli chehra chadaao
 

Come to think of it, isn't it strange that they were complaining of this more than six decades ago? Just proves that nothing really changes. Hmm...

And so, we come to the end of another year. A sad one, for many reasons. Here is hoping that the year to come will be filled with love and laughter, hope and happiness, health and peace of mind for all of us. Wishing all my readers a Merry Christmas and a very, very Happy New Year. 

P.S. 

I'd like to say that this post came about because one of my readers, Lalitha, commented after Devsaab died, that we needed some fun to lighten our moods. Upon which quest, she is now cruising the seas, probably with a tequila in her hands. So, Lalitha, you have your own 'dedication' after all.