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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Yeh soundtrack kisise kam nahi.. !!!!

On a lazy Sunday morning, as is usually the norm, I switched on the PC and searched for songs to play. While doing so, I remembered Sunday mornings at IIM Bangalore, wherein from 12pm onwards, one of the radio stations played 4 hrs of Hindi film music based on a common theme (with a female RJ that some of my floor mates almost fell for !!!). Anyways, taking a cue from that, I decided to play my own theme-based playlist. And the theme I chose was songs from the same movie. Now this is a quite difficult choice. In my estimation, there would be only a handful of movies which have more than three songs that are remembered. And to find a movie in which ALL (or atleast five) numbers are popular is a thankless job. But finally, I managed to find one and now I find myself listening to one of the all-time great soundtracks in Hindi movies. Each song of the movie is not only remembered more than 30 years old, and particular song has also made it as the title of a recent Bollywood movie. Yes, I am talking about the 1977 classic Hum Kisise Kam Nahi.

(As an aside, while on the subject of all-time great movie soundtracks, I hope to shortly name FIVE such soundtracks whose ALL-ROUND qualities set them above the rest. Apart from the above-mentioned, I know Kabhie Kabhie will find a place in my list. I invite readers to help me out with possible candidates).

Coming back to Hum Kisise Kam Nahi, while I confess to not having seeing the movie itself, the richness of the soundtrack is mind-boggling. Composed by that genius RD Burman at the height of his powers and assisted by the vocal chords of Asha, Kishore and Rafi, the soundtrack has the requisite variety to offer and more: a qawwali, fast-paced tracks, the mandatory tear-jerker etc. Just for the record, let me put down the jewels in the crown, in no particular order:

a. Kya Hua Tera Vaada
b. Chaand Mera Dil Chandni Ho Tum
c. Hum Ko To Yaari Teri Yaari
d. Tum Kya Jano Mohabbat Kya Hai
e. Aa Dil Kya, Mehfil Ye Tere
f. Yeh Ladka Hai Allah Kaisa Hai Dewaana
g. Bachna Ae Haseeno Lo Main Aa Gaya
h. Mil Gaya.. Humko Saathi Mil Gaya
i. Hum Kisise Kam Nahi (qawwali)

Now, frankly, need I say anything more ?? Anyone with even an average knowledge of Hindi film music would remember ALL of the above nine songs (can I call them the navratna ?? ;)). And as I said before, they offer more than the required variety. Some of my personal favourites are’ Kya Hua Tera Vaada’ (beautifully written by Majrooh : sample ‘nasha daulat ka aisa bhi kya, ke tujhe kuch bhi yaad nahi’, and equally well rendered by Rafi saab), ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ (and it has been my favourite even before Ranbir Kapoor and his three deviyaan made it known to the new millinenium generation), and ‘Yeh Ladka Hai Allah’ (another peppy duet from the Asha-Rafi-RD team), not to mention that ‘Chaand Mera Dil’ would rank amongst the finest in soft romantic numbers.

Listening to the above soundtrack has definitely made my Sunday morning. And anyone who doesn’t have the CD with him/her , waste no more time. Go to the nearest Music World/Planet M and grab the CD !!!!

Happy Listening !!!

Cheers
Amit

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