Indian music + best Indian songs of all time
Language
In 2001, the film Dil Chahta Hai was at least a minor revelation. Made with a technical skill and a disregard for many common
The film Dard was released in 1947 and proved to be an important milestone for many involved. The music composer Naushad Ali k
In 1996, Sunil Shetty had more than half a dozen film releases. They were all likely action/revenge/angry-young-man pot-boiler
Do Dooni Char was a film made in 1968. It was based on Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, a source that would be referenced
Band Baaja Baaraat was a movie that came out of nowhere. Sure, it was produced by the ever eminent Yashraj Films, but it had l
The phenomenon of the various regional language film industries feeding material to the Hindi film industry in Bombay, and vic
The reason the Indian film industry, as a collection of all its many regional language industries, has been the most prolific
There are some films that are a huge deal when they are released, and fade away into obscurity over time. Sometimes it’s
Heroes and heroines dancing between trees has been an oft repeated cliché for the tropes of Hindi film songs. Like all clichÃ
By the 1980s, Amitabh Bachchan was at the height of his stardom. While the decade was not the most vibrant for the Hindi film
Dil Chahta Hai will remain a landmark film in the world of Hind cinema for many reasons. While it didn’t have the sheer
Raj Kapoor is most often remembered for working on and in his sometimes lavish, opus-like home productions, but he did plenty
Karam, released in 2005 would certainly qualify as unconventional for a Hindi film, even though it subscribes to all the trope
By the time the 1959 film Anari came along, Raj Kapoor was a well established presence in the Hindi film world, as was his his
The 1998 film Ghulam will be remembered for many reasons. It remains director Vikram Bhatt‘s best film (from what I̵
In the early 2000s, there was a rash of films that were either made by film-makers of India origin living in other parts of th
In Hindi films and songs, like in many other things, there are the popular, there are the highly regarded and lauded, and then
As a director, Manmohan Desai will always be known as the one who took the Hindi masala movie to its pinnacle from the 1960s t
If the great golden run of Indian pop music peaked during the mid 1990s, by the end of the century and into the new millennium
Songs stick in our memory and become important to us for various reasons, often coloured by our associations with them, rather
Tere mere sapne, released in 1996 was not a super-hit movie, but it still stands out in memory if you lived through the time,
In the black and white Hindi films of the 1950s, it was fairly common for them to shoot a scene or two, or at least a song, on
This song from the 1981 film Yaarana has a special memory for me. While the song itself is a great little melody, what first c
Jo haal dil ka is a very strange song. It’s strange only in the context in which it is presented. After all, heroines in
There isn’t enough that can be said about SD Burman‘s talent as a music director. He brought to it an old-school c
Hindi films have always been very fond of having songs which have a hidden meaning to the audience and some of the players on
As a singer, KK is one of those hidden gems. Not that he is unknown by any means, but over more than a decade, he’s sung
As much of a startling change to the landscape of Hindi film music as A.R. Rahman was in the mid-1990s, his transition from Ta
The clichéd ‘running around trees’ Hindi film song was made possible by that other strange practice that’s
Hemant Kumar, while never gaining the sort of insane popularity as other playback singers of Hindi cinema during his time, alw
Chhoti Si Baat is one of my favourite romantic comedies, if not one of my favourite films of any kind in any language. So, it
Most songs in any language end up being about love. Perhaps love provides some extra creative impetus for the penning and sing
The smoky confines of bars, the garish halls of old brothels, and such houses of mostly ill-repute have long been a great excu
The girl at the window or the balcony is a classic romantic trope, probably tracing back to ancient theatre, lost in the mists
In 2005, Yahaan arrived and went by without anyone noticing, for the most part. The undervalued Jimmy Shergill might have had
I vaguely remember watching Hamari yaad aayegi in a scratchy video copy when I was younger, and only minor impressions remaine
In the mid 90s, shortly after the economic liberalisation of India and the influx of new things like satellite television and
By the end of the 70s, Amitabh Bachchan was the undisputed king of Hindi cinema and he had settled into a comfortable niche of
When Pehla nasha, from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, first played on screens large and small in 1992, and Aamir Khan appeared in a l
Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi is the first Hindi film I remember seeing in its entirety. I’m sure there were others before then,
The lyrics of Pehla Nasha by Majrooh Sultanpuri for the 1992 romantic sports film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar are simple on the sur
Song lyrics written by Majrooh Sultanpuri married to a tune composed by RD Burman have a way of going well beyond a simple son
Dil Ibadat Kar Raha Hai‘s lyrics were penned by Sayeed Qadri for the 2009 film Tum Mile starring Emraan Hashmi and Soha
Hasrat Jaipuri‘s playful lyrics for Woh Chand Khila Woh Taare Hanse are an enduring legacy of the 1959 Hindi film Anari,
Pudhu vellai mazhai is the original Tamil version of the Hindi song which became a nation-wide sensation Yeh haseen wadiyan fr
The old Hindi song Laaga chunari mein daag had its lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi for the 1963 romantic film Dil hi to hai.
The lyrics for the most popular song from the album Paisa were likely written by Shaleen Sharma with inputs by the rest of his
The lyrics of Yeh haseen vadiyan were penned by P K Mishra for the Hindi version of Roja in 1994. A R Rahman‘s original