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| Courtesy: Madhyamam.com |
One can sometimes have too much of the rain. Especially in Kerala, where, once the monsoons hit, you can go for days without seeing the sun. It's just a never-ending downpour. Our old house in Kerala begins to look dark and depressing, with its tall windows shuttered. The old, traditional black oxide floors begin to seep the damp after some time, making it very easy to slip if you don't watch where you keep your feet. The newly-tiled roof still leaks because nothing can really withstand the fury of the pelting rain. And so, we sometimes have a bucket sitting pretty in the middle of the dining room floor, providing background music to our meals.
Clothes do not dry, and when they do, the musty smell of damp does not seem to leave them; or perhaps that smell has permeated our nostrils so much that we smell that smell everywhere. Umbrellas are no protection at all, the rain and the wind whipping them from our hands, the modern folding umbrella sometimes folding in on itself making carrying an umbrella utterly useless. It can get pretty depressing, pretty fast, especially if you have to go somewhere.
If you don't, though, it is quite nice to be able to sit on the window sill and watch it rain; scoot under the covers with a good book, and watch it rain; get up, make some coffee, sit back, and watch it rain... I'm sure you get the picture.
Clothes do not dry, and when they do, the musty smell of damp does not seem to leave them; or perhaps that smell has permeated our nostrils so much that we smell that smell everywhere. Umbrellas are no protection at all, the rain and the wind whipping them from our hands, the modern folding umbrella sometimes folding in on itself making carrying an umbrella utterly useless. It can get pretty depressing, pretty fast, especially if you have to go somewhere.
If you don't, though, it is quite nice to be able to sit on the window sill and watch it rain; scoot under the covers with a good book, and watch it rain; get up, make some coffee, sit back, and watch it rain... I'm sure you get the picture.
I realise this post goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. But when I began writing about rain songs, I had had no intention of making two posts out of them. Only, I realised there were plenty of songs from new(-er,-ish) films that I liked. Sometimes it is for the actors, sometimes it is for the picturisation, sometimes for the music, and sometimes, it just is.
Having stated that as a disclaimer so I don't get pilloried for putting in 'modern' songs (especially some of them which require quite a stretch of imagination to describe them as 'songs'), and with due apologies to blog reader Subodh and fellow blogger SoY (who both thought my previous post was poetic), here are my choices - all of them from films I have seen, and all of them having the rains as a physical presence.
Yeh Dillagi (1994)
Music: Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen
Lyrics: Sameer
Singers: Kumar Sanu, Lata Mangeshkar
Fellow blogger dustedoff posted this song in my previous post with the comment ...it has much wrong with it - Kajol is too plump and her look all wrong;
the rain is too artificial, and the general set-up rather idiotic. True. All too true. But what can I say? I have a yen for Akshay Kumar. I have a bigger yen for Akshay Kumar in formal clothes. Plus, he can dance. Plus, he is reprising Bogey's role in Sabrina. Kajol is a good actress and a competent enough dancer, though you can see that she is labouring over steps that he is whizzing through as easy as you please. Lyrics? Please! Music? Umm, it's got a catchy rhythm, no? Did I mention I have a yen for Akshay Kumar?
Paheli (1977)
Music: Ravindra Jain
Lyrics: Ravindra Jain
Singers: Hemalata, Suresh Wadkar
From a non-descript movie from the Rajshri stable comes this lovely little melody, with the chorus using a very common onomatopœiac Bengali phrase that describes the rains - brishti pade tapur tupur... As was the Barjatya wont, the film starred newcomers Nameeta and Satyajeet, and like all Rajshri heroines before and after, Nameeta was also rather pretty - not glamorous, but pretty. Pleasant music, lovely picturisation - they look like they were enjoying themselves in the rain, splashing puddles, making paper boats... where has that innocence gone?
8. Barso re
Guru (2007)
Music: AR Rehman
Lyrics: Gulzar
Singers: Shreyas Ghoshal-Keerthi
I liked the picturisation, which was as far from being 'choreographed' as it could be. Aiswarya is uninhibited enough in front of the camera, and wonderfully graceful, and quite manages to pull off the exuberance of a young girl in the throes of her first love. The landscape is beautiful (and too verdant to be Gujarat, but perhaps it is, after all?), and the song is perfect Rehman. What's not to like? (Perhaps the fact that there is not one single decent video of the song. The lip sync is completely off in the video I have linked to, and it is obvious that the clips are playing in a loop.)
7. Boondon se baatein (Thakshak/1999)
Music: AR Rehman
Lyrics: Mehboob
Singer: Sujata Trivedi
Govind Nihalani's first foray into the world of commercial cinema, Thakshak had it all - a good plot, excellent acting (Rahul Bose was in his element), good music, lovely lyrics, and the film was eminently watchable - except that the songs, though excellent, were too many, largely irrelevant, and diluted the pace of the narrative. But as I said, the songs were excellent, and this one is picturised on my favourite actress, Tabu - so what is it that I do not like about it? Oh, only that Sujata, a very fine singer with an excellent voice, is afflicted with girlishness - that's torture of the most exquisite kind, when they make singers who have perfectly decent voices go all fluttery and ethereal and cute! It usually makes me want to kill someone.However, it's a good song for all that.
6. Bheegi bheegi raaton mein Ajnabee (1974)
Music: RD Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Singers: Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
There is something about thunder in Hindi films; it has perfect timing. It is to the hero's advantage actually, since it sounds just when the heroine has decided to go in, and she automatically turns and runs into his arms. This is a very sensuous number; I think it is safe to say that it was with the advent of Zeenat Aman (in Haay haay ye majboori from Roti Kapda aur Makan) that the directors suddenly woke up to the fact that the rain provided the perfect background for sexiness. This song, in my opinion, is a far better one (Kaka is droves better than Manoj Kumar, especially because he says 'Mujhe baarish mein bheegna bahut achcha lagta hai'), and RD's music springboards beautifully off Anand Bakshi's lyrics. (It is 'Bambai ki baarish', as Kaka says, so of course I'm going to like it!) It also proved that RD did not compose good songs only for Asha Bhosle; Lata Mangeshkar's rendition is flawless, and Kishore Kumar is in full form. 
Namak Halal (1982)
Music: Bappi Lahiri
Lyrics: Anjaan
Singers: Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle
If today's media frenzy had been there in the 80s, then this would have been a casting coup to crown all casting coups. One of the ruling quartet of 'art' and 'parallel' cinema, cast opposite the reigning Shahenshah of Masala. In a masala film to end all masala films. What is more, she did the jhatkas and matkas quite well. If you want proof (I said, 'If') that Smita Patil is a consummate actress, look no further. No one would say she was not enjoying herself doing this sequence. Reportedly, when she saw the rushes, she burst out crying. Obviously, she knew the gulf that lay between 'her' cinema and the commercial film that she had just signed. Nothing had prepared her however, for how shocking it actually was. Her colleague, Shabana, was actually more comfortable within the diktats of commercial cinema.
However, this was Bappida at his kitschiest best, Kishore and Asha were having a blast, Amitabh loosened up enough to look like he was enjoying himself, and they shot in the real rains, not studio showers; on the real Bombay streets, not studio sets. I remember liking this song a lot when I was a kid. So, are those enough reasons to include this in the list?
Dil Toh Paagal Hain (1997)
Music: Uttam Singh
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Singers: Udit Narain, Lata Mangeshkar
One of the best choreographed numbers from that era, courtesy Shiamak Dawar, it broke the mould of the same tired steps (and PT exercises) that we had been seeing for a time. Of course, once he came in, that became the norm, and for the next ten years, we had variations on a similar theme. But, in this movie, in this song, it was fresh, it was new, and it was 'different'.
It helped that the song was picturised on Madhuri Dixit, but the bunch of kids who begin the song were from Dawar's dance academy and did him proud. As Shahrukh Khan admitted in an interview after Yash Chopra's death, he obeyed Yashji blindly - or, why would he have even signed a movie where he was supposed to teach Madhuri and Karisma Kapoor to dance? A catchy tune, a beautifully choreographed dance, three beautiful people and a bunch of cute kids - you couldn't go too far wrong.
3. Megha re megha
Lamhe (1991)
Music: Shiv-Hari
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar
Sigh. I like Sridevi. I like the song. I like the picturisation. I even like the saawan ke jhoole (In Rajasthan, it is to welcome the rains; in Kerala, where there is no shortage of rain, bamboo swings are hung during the Dec-Jan festival of Thiruvathira to welcome Kaamdeva.), and, did I mention I like Sridevi?
As Pallavi, the only daughter of a Rajput Thakur, she did a wonderful job. As Pooja, the unfortunate daughter of a mother who dies in childbirth, and who, growing up, falls in love with the man who was in love with her mother, she was even better (despite the two braids and the overt girlishness). Nice songs, and a movie ahead of its time that deserved a better fate at the box-office. Watch Sri in this song, and in Morni baaga ma bole aadhi raat ma. She not only looked gorgeous, she danced so gracefully. She definitely didn't get her due in Hindi films.
Talking about Morni baaga ma bole aadhi raat ma, I'm absolutely going to plug this girl's version - she is AMAZING. There's no other word to describe not only her command over the sur - she does not miss a single note - but also the way she switches between the two very different voices with such ease.
Lamhe (1991)
Music: Shiv-Hari
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar
Sigh. I like Sridevi. I like the song. I like the picturisation. I even like the saawan ke jhoole (In Rajasthan, it is to welcome the rains; in Kerala, where there is no shortage of rain, bamboo swings are hung during the Dec-Jan festival of Thiruvathira to welcome Kaamdeva.), and, did I mention I like Sridevi?
As Pallavi, the only daughter of a Rajput Thakur, she did a wonderful job. As Pooja, the unfortunate daughter of a mother who dies in childbirth, and who, growing up, falls in love with the man who was in love with her mother, she was even better (despite the two braids and the overt girlishness). Nice songs, and a movie ahead of its time that deserved a better fate at the box-office. Watch Sri in this song, and in Morni baaga ma bole aadhi raat ma. She not only looked gorgeous, she danced so gracefully. She definitely didn't get her due in Hindi films.
Talking about Morni baaga ma bole aadhi raat ma, I'm absolutely going to plug this girl's version - she is AMAZING. There's no other word to describe not only her command over the sur - she does not miss a single note - but also the way she switches between the two very different voices with such ease.
Singers: Kumar Sanu, Kavita Krishnamurthy
Manisha Koirala looked ravishing, and Kumar Sanu had never sounded so good before or since, justifying RD's faith in him. It was to be RD's comeback film, but it turned out to be the Boss' swansong. Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had thrown out all his initial compositions claiming they were rubbish. RD slaved over the score again, wondering if he would ever be half as good as he knew he was. Unfortunately for him, he never lived to see that he was twice as good. Each song in this film is a keeper. Pushed to choose my favourites, I would pick the quiet Ye safar bahut kathin magar rendered beautifully by Sivaji Chattopadhyay and Kumar Sanu's Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga. But for the rains, it can only be this. 
My favourite of the 'modern' rainsongs. Rendition-wise, I prefer Kishoreda's version, but in picturisation, Latadidi wins hands down! Why? Let me count the ways:
1) It's got Amitabh. Long before I had a yen for Akshay Kumar, I adored AB. (I still do.) And what do you know, he's wearing a suit too! (Ha! You thought I was going to come with some deep, philosophical reason for liking this song?)
2) It shows Bombay, my Bombay, all clean and fresh-washed.
3) In the rains. The 'real' rains. Remember Bambai ki baarish?
4) It's my list. :)
5) Umm yeah, Moushumi looks pretty.
What would your choices be? Remember, rains are a must this time around. 1) It's got Amitabh. Long before I had a yen for Akshay Kumar, I adored AB. (I still do.) And what do you know, he's wearing a suit too! (Ha! You thought I was going to come with some deep, philosophical reason for liking this song?)
2) It shows Bombay, my Bombay, all clean and fresh-washed.
3) In the rains. The 'real' rains. Remember Bambai ki baarish?
4) It's my list. :)
5) Umm yeah, Moushumi looks pretty.
