Oyeah, a Sapna came true

(Am)It’s one thing for a debutant to compose just one track in a film; it’s quite another to witness it become one of the year’s biggest hits.

That was indeed the case with Viju Shah. And the song in question was none other than Tirchi Topiwale (also billed as Oye Oye) from Tridev.

Although it was inspired by Gloria’s 1987 hit Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, his (Este)fans couldn’t care less.

Anand Bakshi penned the song, which was sung by Kumar and Sapna Mukherjee, who bagged the Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Award in 1990.

It appealed to the MASSes

Tridev (1989) was an actioner, and thus, was tailor-made for Kalyanji-Anandji, who were undoubtedly the Shahs when it came to composing the music of films of that genre.

But by no means were they not versatile, as (Trid)evidenced by the fact that they composed Main Teri Mohabbat Mein, a romantic track penned by Anand Bakshi.

It was rendered by the M(el)o(hamme)dious Aziz and Sadhana Sargam.

The soundtrack earned them [and Viju Shah (the son of Kalyanji and the nephew of Anandji)] a nomination in the Best Music Director category at the Filmfare Awards in 1990.

It will (Paudw)always touch (Man)h(e)arts

When one is discussing the music of Ram Lakhan, the romantic track picturised on its P(y)ar(el)allel leads – Jackie Shroff and Dimple Kapadia – (Laxmi)kan’t (and shouldn’t) be forgotten.

Tera Naam Liya was a relative shortie on a soundtrack that was chock full of lengthy numbers – it was five minutes and 58 seconds long.

But that’s (Man)hardly the reason why Hindi film music aficionados remember the song, which was penned by Anand Bakshi and rendered by Udhas.

This song earned Anuradha Paudwal a nomination in the Best Female Playback Singer category at the Filmfare Awards in 1990.  

Ms Mangeshkar’s pLa(ta)int became immortal

O Ramji Bada Dukh Dina – the six-minute, four-second long track from Ram Lakhan – was a song Lata Mangeshkar was expected to take to like a du(c)k(h) does to water. So it wasn’t surprising that she rendered it beautifully.

The Laxmikant-Pyarelal composition was penned by Anand Bakshi. And because he loved to KISS (keep it simple, stupid), his use of Ramji didn’t border on the ambiguous.

Ram – the name of Jackie Shroff’s character in the film – was suffixed with the honorific ji (used across India as a term of respect), because he was Lakhan’s older brother.

MAN, the introduction was fantabulous!

While my last two posts were a build-up of sorts to My Name Is Lakhan, here’s a post on the track from Ram Lakhan, which was penned by Anand Bakshi and was seven minutes and ten seconds long.

The film’s soundtrack earned Laxmikant-Pyarelal a nomination in the Filmfare Best Music Director category in 1990.

And Mohammed Aziz was nominated in the Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer category for the song, which began with the catchy Dhina Dhin Dha and contained the nonsensical phrase One Two Ka Four.

Anuradha Paudwal and Nitin Mukesh were his co-singers.

Amit and Aziz (Chi)nailed it

Main Hoon Woh Hero, from Ram Lakhan (1989), is about a role reversal of sorts, in which the baddie claims to be the hero, while Lakhan (played by Anil Kapoor) seems to have no qualms about referring to himself as a zero.

Their banter, which was nine minutes and seven seconds long, was penned by Bakshi (An)and set to music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

While Amit Kumar fit the bill as the voice of the cocky ‘hero’, they couldn’t have ‘zero’ed in on a better singer than Mohammed Aziz for Kapoor.

They were joined by Alisha Chinai.       

(Am)It was dedicated to Mumbai

Bom Bom Bom Bom Bombay Meri Hai from Rakhwala (1989) was the second song of what could be called Amit’s Bombay trilogy.

The tracK(u)marked the singer’s collaboration of three other chips off the old block – Sameer (whose real name is Shitala Pandey) penned it and Anand-Milind were the music directors. The former was lyricist Anjaan’s son.

Not only was it picturised on Anil Kapoor, but it also contained excerpts of a couple of jhakkas tracks from other films that are, and will always be, synonymous with him – Ek Do Teen and My Name Is Lakhan.     

(Wadk)Ardent Asha fans loved it

When Leo’s When I Need You released in 1977, no soothSayer could predict that not only would a version of that song be on the soundtrack of a Hindi film, but would also go on to become very popular.

However, both those things could B(hosl)e said about Tumse Milke from Parinda (1989).

R D did (Hallau)rise to the occasion like the proverbial phoenix, but he wasn’t really able to recreate the (Bur)mania he generated in his heyday. Khurshid penned the track, which Asha and Suresh Wadkar rendered.

It was five minutes and eleven seconds long.

This track was sung S(u)P(er)Bly

If Mere Rang Mein Rangnewaali, the male solo from Maine Pyar Kiya, weren’t one of the film’s best songs, Raamlaxman would have had been B(a)la(subrahmanya)med for (Koh)lifting it from The Final Countdown, which released in 1986 and continues to be the Swedish band’s most popular song.  

Of course, hE(u)roped S P in to render it. And frankly, only the deep-voiced crooner from the South could’ve done justice to it.

But, to the composer’s delight, Hindi film music buffs lapped up the song, which was penned by Dev and was six minutes and 46 seconds long.

(Pig)Eons ago, Lata was S(u)P(er)B

Kabootar Ja Ja Ja, from Maine Pyar Kiya, proved that neither Lata Mangeshkar nor S P Balasubrahmanyam could be pigeonholed. They were accompanied by a chorus.

Incidentally, the name of the kabootar – entrusted with delivering Bhagyashree’s first love letter to Khan – was Handsome, an adjective often used to describe the film’s leading (Sal)man.

A (Koh)list of songs about our feathered and furry pals would definitely be incomplete without mention of this track, penned by Dev.

At eight minutes and 24 seconds, it was the longest song on the film’s soundtrack, which was composed by Raamlaxman.

Was this track that reLatable?

There were three versions of Dil Deewana, which, in the descending order of duration, were as follows – the female version (which was five minutes and 55 seconds long and rendered by Lata Mangeshkar and a chorus), the male solo (which was five minutes and 22 seconds long and rendered by S P Balasubrahmanyam) and the duet (which was a minute and three seconds long and rendered by Mangeshkar and Balasubrahmanyam).

The Raamlaxman composition from Maine Pyar Kiya earned Balasubrahmanyam the Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award and Asad the Filmfare Best (Bhopa)L(yr)icist Award in 1990.

  

They drove the BLU(e)S away

A boy and a girl can just be platonic friends.

That was what Asad, who penned Aaya Mausam Dosti Ka, from Maine Pyar Kiya, wanted the Bho(pa)li-bhaali janata to believe.

And there must've been quite a few young, innocent folks who took his word for it.

The Raamlaxman composition, which was six minutes and 47 seconds long, sampled Tarzan Boy (Baltimora’s debut single, which released in 1985).

S P Balasubrahmanyam and Lata Mangeshkar shared the Sing(h)ing credits with a couple of other singers – Usha Mangeshkar and Shailendra [who wasn’t given short (Raj)shrift by the banner]. 

A Wonderful song waS(P)B‘Lata’ntly lifted

One needn’t listen to Aate Jaate Hanste Gaate – from Maine Pyar Kiya – on loop to realise that it sounds familiar.

Dev penned the song, which was (Koh)lifted from Stevie’s I Just Called To Say I Love You, the Wonderful ballad that released in 1984.

He was nominated in the Filmfare Best Lyricist category in 1990.

The track, which was sung by S P Balasubrahmanyam and Lata Mangeshkar, fetched Raamlaxman the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director in 1990.

At three minutes and 29 seconds, it was one of the shortest tracks on the film’s soundtrack.

   

He was already (Balasubrah)manyamile ahead

Even if one isn’t a die-hard Khan fan, he/she might concur that S P Balasubrahmanyam kicked off the (Sal)mania that has engulfed scores of people, most of them young ladies.

After all, it was he who rendered all the songs picturised on the actor in Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), his debut as a leading man.

It would be a crying Sha(a)me if Aaja Shaam Hone Ayee – which was penned by Dev – weren’t on the (Koh)list of Raamlaxman’s best compositions.  

Lata Mangeshkar was the co-singer of the track, which was five minutes and 14 seconds long.    

It (Bis)was a refreshing (Bach)change

As stated in the post on the Jaadugar song, Amitabh Bachchan wasn’t really a big box-office draw in the late 1980s.

But the (Kai)fire in the then Angry Not-so-Young Man’s belly could never really be extinguished.

He sang Itne Baazu Itne Sar, which was penned by the patriarch of the erudite Azmi clan.

It was the only song in the off-beat Main Azaad Hoon (1989), and (Bis)was composed by the one-hit wonders Amar Haldipur and Utpal.

A line from the track, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, probably inspired the title of the 2010 Abhishek Bachchan-starrer.

He sang about aN(it)intrinsic problem

It never seemed to bug Hindi film music buffs that Paisa Bolta Hai – a qawwali by the renowned Pakistani siblings – spoke about the wealth amassed by unscrupulous folks, who continue to do so.

But what was more appalling was the (Be)Sabri of Rajesh Roshan to recreate it. He composed the music of the 1989 film Kala Bazaar, on whose soundtrack the inspired (and Indianised) version – sung by Nitin Mukesh – featured.

Although it didn’t go on to become a chartbuster, Roshan obviously wasn’t sweating. However, it (Saee)didn’t do Payam, who penned it, a world of good. 

The Bachchan magic was waning

Between the ages of 45 and 55, Amitabh Bachchan played the lead in a string of indifferent films, one of which was Jaadugar (1989). It was his seventh (and last) collaboration with producer-director Prakash Mehra, and the duo's only flop.

Hindi film music aficionados can’t – and mustn’t – forget Kalyanji-Anandji’s contribution to the success of the first four Mehra-Bachchan films.

Keen to repeat it, the foursome teamed up for Padosan Apni Murgi from the aforementioned film.

Javed Akhtar penned the track, rendered by the actor in his distinctive baritone.

Sadly, it was nothing to crow about.

       

(M)Itwas (B)ablast from the past

As far as dream debuts in Bollywood are concerned, an unforgettable one was that of Babla Mehta.

A singer with a voice that resembled that of the legendary singer Mukesh (to whom he continues to pay homage at concerts, both in India as well as overseas), his maiden song was Tere Mere Honthon Pe (simply known as Mitwa), the duet from Chandni.

His first co-singer was none other than Lata Mangeshkar, whose duets with his idol continue to enthrall Hindi film music buffs.

The four-minute, 31-second track, penned by Anand Bakshi, was composed by Shiv-Hari.

Melody and masti were Ma(ngeshka)rried

A chorus, comprising only members of the fairer sex, joined Lata Mangeshkar, Bollywood’s eternal bachelorette, as she sang Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Choodiyan Hain.

Anand Bakshi penned the sangeet staple from Chandni.

The film released on September 14, 1989, and was a hit, as was the song. There couldn’t have been a better gift than that for Mangeshkar, who became a sexagenarian a fortnight later.

At five minutes and 34 seconds, this Shiv-Hari composition was the longest song on the soundtrack.

But hopefully no one complained, because they got more bang(les) for the buck.

Wadkar eschewed the monsoon (Anupa)masti

Those associated with Hindi film music usually make a song and dance about the rain. But Shiv-Hari bucked the trend.

Lagi Aaj Saawan Ki from Chandni – which was three minutes and 25 seconds long – was the shortest song on the film’s soundtrack.

The haunting track was penned by Anand Bakshi, who was nominated for the Filmfare Best Lyricist Award in 1990.

It fetched Suresh Wadkar a nomination in the Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award category the same year.

Anupama Deshpande – who bagged the 1985 Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – was his co-singer.