This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
I have been watching and enjoying films since last 65 years and like all other Senior Citizen,I too have developed love for old films,old songs,old times,old customs and old memories.But I have ensured that my love of these ‘ oldies ‘ is not blind or of extremist view.I don’t have hard core opinions about old or new things. I do enjoy many new things which have made life more comfortable and enjoyable,like computers,Mobile phones or TV serials etc.
As far as films and songs are concerned,I have no grudge against current output,because I know this is as per the new Generation’s demands and likings.Today’s Mantra is ” Use and throw “. That is how, today’s songs do not last more than 3 to 4 months. Not because they are ‘Bad’,but because the output has increased so much that composers like even Annu malik gave music to more than 200 films in a span of about 15-20 years. Nowadays,I doubt if any composer even lasts that much-excepting A R Rahman.In his case I feel he is becoming too repetitive.
Just study the following table-
MD
Period
Activity years
No. of Films
No. of songs
No of films produced in his period
R C Boral
1932-1955
23
31
322
2201
Anil Biswas
35-65
30
92
783
3294
C.Ramchandra
42-78
36
110
958
3921
S D Burman
46-76
30
89
717
3304
Roshan
49-73
24
57
459
2583
Naushad
40-2004
64
66
649
8389
O P Nayyar
52-94
42
73
586
5367
Shankar Jaikishan
49-86
37
171
1281
4472
Ravi
55-90
35
112
818
4261
Rajesh Roshan
74-04
30
117
839
4811
R D Burman
61-89
28
293
1755
3372
Bappi Lahiri
73-2000
27
382
2036
4035
Anu Malik
78-2000
22
246
1582
5996
Chitragupta
46-88
38
145
1055
6785
Usha Khanna
59-03
44
182
968
6148
Anand Milind
84-13
29
201
1361
285
Laxmikant Pyarelal
63-98
35
503
2895
4703
Kalyanji Anandji
59-84
25
233
1434
2759
(This data is collected from various sources. Accuracy is not guaranteed).
The above chart clearly underlines a well known fact that quantity can not be a substitute for quality. On the other hand quantity is always at the cost of quality.
Take the examples of R C Boral, Naushad, S D Burman, Roshan, Anil Biswas or C Ramchandra. Compare them with newer composers. You will find that there is a greater output, but where is the durability of songs ? Today we remember the songs of Boral, Burman or Naushad, but frankly, how many songs from composers like Bappi Lahiri, Anand Milind or Anu Malik will stand the test of time ?
I do NOT claim that everything New is bad and everything Old is good. I have always maintained that ” Everything that is before 1970 is Not good and evrything that is after 1970 is NOT bad “. There are few really good songs even in the post-1970 period. After all,it is a question of ‘Taste’. Tastes or likings of songs changes with the generations. It is but natural that new generation likes new songs. No problem.. But the point of statement is here is not of ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but of durability and sustainability. Pre-1970 songs win hands down on this point. But again,it is a question of personal choice. many youngsters may differ with my view.
The reasons of quantity replacing quality may be many and may even be justifiable too.So,it is wiser to keep off from debating issues and enjoy whatever is good from old or new !
Many films post 70 are my favourites, like Sholay, Deewaar, Zanjeer, Mere Apne, Guddi, Khubsoorat, Chupke Chupke, Krish, Maalamaal weekly, Jodha Akbar etc. Some of the songs of this period are very good too.
One such song is from film JULIE-1975.The song is ” My heart is beating…” sung by Preeti Sagar ( daughter of singer-actor Moti Sagar) and composed by Rajesh Roshan. The song is in English-no big deal ! It is not unusual to have English song in a Hindi film. Way back in 1933, film Karma had an English song, sung by Devika Rani and later Shanta Apte had sung another English song in the film Duniya na maane-1937.
I liked this song for 2 reasons-
1. It is NOT like a Hindi song and
2. It reminds me the melodious songs of yore from singers like Connie Frances (Lipstick on your collar or everybody is somebody’s fool) or Doris Day (Never on a Sunday or Que serai serai) or Julie Andrews (The sound of Music-Do Re Mi ).
Preeti Sagar has sung it beautifully, pouring her heart into it. The song became very popular too, but Preeti did not get benefitted from it so much and remained a small time singer with about 40 songs in about 25 films in all. She gave up singing and like a wise person, established her own company ‘Angella Films’ for making Advertisement films, short films and doing dubbing work of Hindi feature films.
Julie-1975 was based on an original Malayalam film ‘Chattakari’-1974 featuring the same star of Hindi film, Laxmi. The film was quite popular as it contained a lot of drama and discussed an age old problem of Inter-caste marriage. The theme has been quite popular since the 30s and 40s dealing with pairs of differing castes, religions and status. Ashok Kumar’s ‘Achhut Kanya’-1936, Kishore Kumar’s Nai Dilli-57 and Kamal Hassan’s ‘Ek duje ke liye’ come to the mind off hand.
Neither the hero Vikram Makandar nor the heroine Laxmi Naranan were New comers, still it was a fresh pair and represented the aspirations of the youngsters of those times. Laxmi, who acted in 160 films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films in her career never cashed on the success of Julie. She was more interested in doing southern movies. She hardly acted in about 10 Hindi films. Recently she has done grandmother’s role in a Hindi film. Here is a short Biography of Laxmi-
Lakshmi Narayan is an Indian film actress in Tamil Nadu, India. She has won a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award in the Best Actress category. Lakshmi is best known for her title role in the Hindi hit film Julie (1975) for which she won the Filmfare Best Actress Award.She also directed a Kannada movie Makkala Sainya.
Her father Yaragudipati Varada Rao (aka Y.V. Rao), originally from Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, was a filmmaker and actor whose films dealt with important social issues. Her mother Kumari Rukhmani was a Tamil actress, whose mother Nungambakkam Janaki was also an actress. They eased her into films, making her a third-generation film actress. She was fifteen when she started acting in films. Her first film was a Tamil film titled Jeevanamsam (1968). She became a star in South India in the 1970s acted in all four South Indian languages: Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. Her Malayalam film Chattakari (1974) was remade in Hindi as Julie (1975) and in Telugu as Miss Julie Prema Katha (1975). In addition to the Filmfare Best Actress Award, she won an award from the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards for most outstanding work of the year, for her work in Julie.
She is a versatile actress with glamourous touch. In a telugu fil Panthulamma she acted opposite Ranganath is credited to be one of her best. After her success in Julie however, she didn’t star in many Hindi films and instead concentrated on doing more South Indian films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the Tamil film Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal (1977), becoming the first South Indian actress to win in that category for a Tamil film.
When her career as a leading lady ended in the 1980s, she started playing supporting roles as mother and later as grandmother. She played Aishwarya Rai’s grandmother in Jeans (1998) and Kareena Kapoor’s grandmother in Hulchul (2004). She has performed in more than 400 films and has also been involved in politics. Lakshmi took a break from acting to host two talk shows, including the Tamil talk show achamillai, achamillai. After the talk shows ended, she returned to acting in films. She is fluent in all four South Indian languages. She presently hosts a talk show in Kannada for Suvarna channel called “Edu Kathe ala Jeevana”.
Lakshmi was married three times. Her first marriage was to Baskar, which was arranged by her parents when she was seventeen. Her only biological child, Aishwarya, was born in 1971. Her marriage ended in divorce, and she gained custody of her daughter, who later became an actress in the 1990s, making her a fourth generation actress. Lakshmi fell in love with her Chattakari leading man Mohan, but that relationship ended. While she was shooting En Uyir Kannamma, she and actor-director Sivachandran fell in love and got married. Her daughter Aishwarya, gave birth to a baby girl in the mid 1990s, making Lakshmi into a real-life grandmother. Lakshmi adopted a baby girl in 2001.
Vikram Makandar,who started acting from 1967 acted in almost 40 films. He always regretted having worked in Julie-75,because the entire focus was on the Heroine. The film did not help him at all. very wisely,he had invested in shares,which made him very rich and he could produce a film ‘ Situm’-84,with Rekha. Later on he started his own prospering Event management company. The story of Julie-75,as adapted from Wiki is as follows-
This film depicts the restrictive social conventions regarding inter caste marriage and unwed motherhood in India. Julie (Laxmi) is a Christian Anglo-Indian girl with a loving, but alcoholic father (Om Prakash) and a dominating mother (Nadira), a younger brother and sister (Sridevi). She falls in love with her best friend’s (Rita Bhaduri) brother Shashi Bhattacharya (Vikram), a Hindu boy, and she has a passionate encounter with him, which leaves her pregnant. He goes away to college, not knowing about her condition. Her mother is distraught when Julie tells her about the pregnancy. They don’t tell the rest of the family. Her mother thinks about getting Julie an abortion, but a devout Christian (Ruby Myers) talks her out of it. Julie is sent away to have her baby in secret. The rest of the family is told that Julie got a job. After the baby’s birth, Julie’s mother arranges for the child to be left in an orphanage, and demands that Julie return home and forget about the baby.
When she comes back home, her father has died. She is now the primary earner in the family. Later, she runs into her old boyfriend Vikram and she tells him everything. He then asks to marry her, but his mother objects to the mixed marriage. She blames Julie for seducing her son and having the baby. Julie’s mother doesn’t want the marriage either, as it will represent a mixed-caste marriage, and she wants to return to England. However, the wisdom of the boyfriend’s father (Utpal Dutt) prevails as he confronts the mothers’ prejudices regarding caste and religion, and urges both to accept the baby boy. The film ends with the mothers offering their full blessings to the young couple, and Julie’s mother promising her grandson she will “never leave him.”
Let us now enjoy my favourite song from Julie-1975…
Song-My heart is beating (Julie)(1975) Singer-Preeti Sagar, Lyrics-Harindranath Chattopadhyay, MD-Rajesh Roshan
Lyrics
My heart is beating,
keeps on repeating
I am waiting for you
My heart is beating,
keeps on repeating
I am waiting for you
My love encloses
a plot of roses,
And when shall be then our next meeting,
‘Cos love you know,
That time is fleeting,
time is fleeting,
time is fleeting
My heart is beating,
keeps on repeating
I am waiting for you
My love encloses
a plot of roses,
And when shall be then our next meeting,
‘Cos love you know,
That time is fleeting,
time is fleeting,
time is fleeting
Oh, when I look at you,
The blue of heaven seems to be deeper blue,
ho ho ho
And I can swear that,
God himself seems to be looking through (hoo..hoo)
Zu-zu-zu
zu-ru-zu
I will never part from you,
And when shall be then, our next meeting,
‘Cos love, you know,
That time is fleeting,
time is fleeting,
time is fleeting
Spring is the season,
That drops the reason of lovers who are truly true
Young birds are meeting,
Why I am waiting
waiting for you (hoo-hoo hoo hoo)
Darling you haunt me,
Say do you want me
And if it is so,
when I will be meeting,
‘Cos love you know,
That time is fleeting
time is fleeting,
time is fleeting
My heart is beating,
keeps on repeating
I am waiting for you
My love encloses
a plot of roses,
And when shall be then our next meeting,
‘Cos love you know,
That time is fleeting,
time is fleeting,
time is fleeting
hmm hmm hmm hm
zu zu zu zu
zu zu zu zu
hmm hmm hmm
