bollywood,binaca geetmala,humour etc-squarecut's blog: Rain songs in Bollywood

Friday, July 4, 2008

Rain songs in Bollywood

How do you act when it rains ? Most people will remember running for cover, and cursing themselves for not being adequately prepared with an umbrella or a raincoat. Kids are admonished by their moms not to get wet else they would catch cold.Kids on the other hands would love to go out in the rain, if possible. Many school kids like my kid loves to go to school on rainy days because it allows her to wear that new raincoat of hers.

Fortunately filmy moms and pops ( Nirupa Roy and Satyen Kappu ?) do not prevent their (grown up) kids- read heroes and heroines, from getting wet in the rain. And the Hero and Heroine make full use of this lack of parental control. They get wet in the rain to their hearts content,their cloths getting drenched and moreover they sing songs too,while frolicking in rain.

Note-The videos open in new windows.
Song 1:
In fact, there have been movies named after rain. For instance, there have been quite a few movies named as "Barsaat". Raj kapoor acted in the first movie by this name in 1949, and this rain song from this movie continues to be a much loved song to this day:

Barsaat mein humse mile tum sajan barsaat me( Barsaat-1949)Singers-Mukesh,Lata, Lyrics-Shailendra, MD-Shankar Jaikishan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG98gGvfheQ

Song 2:
A milestone in Bollywood rain songs. Photo of Raj Kapoor and Nargis with an umbrella is one of the most memorable stills in the history of Bollywood movie industry. This song served as a template for future rain songs in Indian movies in general and in Raj kapoor movies in particular.

Pyar hua ikraar hua (Shree 420 1955) Singers-Manna Dey,Lata, Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri, MD- Shankar Jaikishan

Song 3:
Rainy season could well be regarded as the season of love in Bollywood movies, but in this song, love is farthest from the minds of the hero and heroine.Hero is annoyed at his sleep being disturbed and the girl's car has conked off in the rainy night. But the situation and picturisation is tailormade for the audience to go weak in the knee.

Ek ladki bhigi bhagi si (Chalti ka naam gaadi 1958)

Song 4:In Bollywood movies, arrival of rain means blossoming of love in one's heart, so in Indian movies, Rainy days are valentine days. And this song spells out the details.

O Sajna barkha bahaar aayi (Parakh 1960)Singer-Lata,Lyrics-Shailendra,MD-Salil Choudhary

Song 5:
India is a country blessed with abundant rain. That is why the Indian vocabulary vis a vis rain is rich. For instance,when it rains in light drizzle, we Indians do not say that it is running kittens and pups. We have a richer vocabulary. We call is rimjhim barsaat. And this word rimjhim was used for the first time in this song:

Rimjhim ke taraane leke aayi barsaat (Kala Baazar 1960)Singers-Geeta Dutt,Rafi,Lyrics-Shailendra,MD-S D Burman

Song 6:
One of the earliest Rafi song on the theme of Rain. He would go on to have a string of many such memorable rain songs in the coming years.

Tu kahan ye bata is nasheeli raat mein (tere ghar ke saamne 1963)Singer-Rafi,Lyrics- Hasrat Jaipuri,MD-S D Burman

Song 7:
Raj Kapoor and Mukesh jumps in the fun yet again, inventing some new terms in the process in the song

Dum dum diga diga (Chhaliya)Singer-Mukesh,Lyrics-Qamar Jalalabadi,Music- Kalyanji Anandji

Song 8:Romancing in a suspense movie under rain must be some experience. Manoj Kumar and Nanda croon to the divine voice of Rafi, and the jarringly shrill voice of Sharda, respectively.

Jaane chaman shola badan (Gumnaam 1965)Singers-Rafi,Sharda,Lyrics-Hasrat Jaipuri,MD-Shankar Jaikishan

Song 9:
Rain or shine,Dharam paaji enjoyed life big way. And here he is contemplating enjoying rain with Ashaji ( our beloved Ms Parekh)

Kuch kehta hai ye sawan ( Mera gaon mera desh 1971)Singers-Rafi,Lata,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song 10:
Having drawn the plans in the previous song, the duo implement their plan in this song

Aaya saawan jhoom ke(Aaya saawan jhoom ke)Singers-Rafi,Lata,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song 11:
Rajendra Kumar and Babita figure in this sensuous rain song which brings the term "rimjhim" back into rain songs.

Rimjhim ke ye geet saawan gaaye(Anjaana) Singers-Rafi,Lata,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,Md-Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song 12:Just as Rafi and Lata were becoming constant voices in rain songs, Mumtaz was becoming a constant presence in rain songs. Here is one such song from that era which had bucketful of good rain songs

Chup gaye saare nazare (Do raaste 1969)Singers-Lata,Rafi,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song 13:
Another mast mast song picturised on the same actor duo.This time the male voice belongs to Kishore Kumar

Gore rang pe na itna gumaan kar (Roti 1970)Singers-Kishore,Lata,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song 14:
Wonderful depiction of how a typical Mumbaikar couple would like to enjoy rain. Alas, these days rain means not just drenching, it means water logging as well in Mumbai. Just three decades ago, one could get drenched without getting flooded in Mumbai, and this song shows how.

Rimjhim gire saawan (Manzil)Singer-Kishore,Lyrics-Yogesh,MD-R D Burman

Song 15:
With Mumtaz retiring from Bollywood, the mantle of getting drenched in the rain fell on Zeenat Aman, and here she proves to be an able replacement.

Bhigi bhigi raaton me (Ajnabi 1974)Singers-Kishore,Lata,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-R D Burman

Song 16:
And here Ms Aman is seen hampered from enjoying rain by the more basic necessities of life

Hai hai ye majboori (Roti Kapda aur makaan 1975)Singer-Lata,Lyrics-Verma Malik,MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song 17:
Meanwhile, the old man of Ms Ekta Kapoor was quite enjoying himself in rains in his bachelor days. See for yourself:

Abke saawan me jee dare (Jaise ko taisa)Singers-Kishore,Lata,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-R D Burman

Song 18:
Zeenat Aman getting drenched is alright,but the puritanical Ms Hema Malini was the sort who would drown herself in "chullu bhar paani" at the thought of doing Zeenat Aman kind of wet sari roles. But here she is seen getting drenched for a patriotic cause.

Zindagi ki na toote ladi(Kranti)Singers-Lata, Nitin Mukesh,Lyrics-Santosh Anand, Music- Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song 19:
It always helps the love life of a couple if they are financially independent and both work in the same office. Here two persons working in Hospitality industry enjoy rain in a downmarket way.

Aaj rapat jaaye to (Namakhalal 1982)Singers-Kishore,Asha,Lyrics-Anjaan,MD-Bappi Lahiri

Song 20:
Just when one thought that lyrics were becoming dispensable in songs, here comes a song with nice lyrics, almost a hark back to the era gone by.Words like "sawan", "jhadi" in a song in 1980s, wow!

Lagi aaj saawan ki phir se jhadi hai (Chandni)Singers-Anupama Deshpande,Suresh wadkar,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-Shiv Hari

Song 21:The lyrics here are much more basic and functional, and do their job. It was quite an effective song, mainly because of its tune.

Tip tip barsa pani (Mohra)Singers-Alka Yagnik,Udit Narayan,Lyrics-Anand Bakshi,MD-Viju Shah

Song 22:
And suddenly, we find the clock being turned back, and for a change we have a song that belongs to the days of yore, to the golden era of Bollywood music.And the lyrics here actually use the forgotten word "rimjhim rimjhim"

Rimjhim rimjhim (1942 a love story)Singers-Kavita Krishnamurthy,Kumar sanu,Lyrics-Javed Akhtar,MD-R D Burman

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