The reason the Indian film industry, as a collection of all its many regional language industries, has been the most prolific producer of cinema for a large chunk of film history, is because it is a very deep creature. There are the popular blockbuster films staring big-name stars and top-flight talent, but the vast majority of the iceberg is made up of low budget films, made with second-tier stars, unknowns, lower budgets, and much less media attention or publicity. This has always been true, especially considering the relatively lower budget profiles of Indian films. In 1959 Guest House was probably such a film, which may not have lasted much in cultural memory as a piece of cinema, but its songs live on, and Tum se kuch kehna hai is on of its best remembered gems.
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Tag Archives: lata mangeshkar
Woh chand khila woh taare hanse
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 slightly-awkward and naive Chaplinesque on-screen persona, made famous by such films as Awaara (1951). So perhaps in some ways he was playing to type in this mix of romance and intrigue. Along with co-starring the effervescent Nutan, the film did give us some very memorable songs, chief among which is the chirpy well-remembered Woh chand khila woh taare hanse.
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Ajeeb daastaan hai yeh
Songs stick in our memory and become important to us for various reasons, often coloured by our associations with them, rather than the songs themselves. In my case, there are a whole range of old Hindi songs that have childhood memories for me, to do with when I first heard them or how.
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Na jaane kyun hota hai yeh zindagi ke saath
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 is inevitable that the songs of the film also hold a special place in my heart. Na jaane kyun hota hai yeh zindagi ke saath, the closest thing the film has to a title track, is a slow and melancholy tune, but it never fails to bring a smile to my face when watched in the context of the film. Such a musical beast is worthy of mention here.
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