Music And Movies

  The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links In the last part, we saw the partnership between Lata and C.Ramachandra and the many hits they gave together. Another important music director (duo) who established Lata as the numero uno of Hindi film music singing was the Shankar-Jaikishen duo. Shankar-Jaikishen broke into the Hindi film music world through the movie 'Barsaat.' They then went on to rule the Hindi film music world for over two decades, churning out super hit numbers for many films. They formed successful partnerships with major heroes like Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, and Rajendra Kumar, to name a few. They were the court musicians of RK Films. They withstood competition from music directors like Naushad, C.Ramachandra, O.P.Nayyar, and S.D.Burman to remain in the top slot.  Their association with Lata started from their first film itself. 'Barsaat' was not a major milestone in their career, but the songs of that film became a major milest...

Rajesh Khanna, the first 'super star' of Hindi films, passed away recently. He was responsible for the pleasant memories of a whole generation. As expected, his passing away made people sad. At the same time it made them nostalgic for those innocent days, when the music was melodious, the singers were titans and then there was the charm and charisma of Rajesh Khanna. There have always been Director-Music Director, Actor-Music Director combinations which have given great music. RajKapoor-Shankar Jaikishan, Vijay Anand - S D Burman, Hrishikesh Mukherjee - R D Burman in the Dir-MD combo and Dev Anand-S D Burman, Shammi Kapoor - Shankar Jaikishan in the Actor - MD combo come to mind immediately. Similarly Rajesh Khanna - R D Burman - Kishore is what comes to mind immediately when one thinks of Rajesh Khanna. While this trio gave us some extraordinary music, I feel Rajesh Khanna inspired other music directors as well to give him the best. Unlike Raj Kapoor or Dev Anand, Raje...

(Sahir Ludhianvi) I don't think there could have been better locality than Boiguda in Secunderabad to grow up in , for it was the most cosmopolitan of all localities. A locality which was populated by Tamilians, Telugus, Anglo Indians, Marwadis and Hindi speaking folks. Populated by the rich marwadis, the middle class government servants and slum dwellers. Populated by Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Christians. Everyone was a friend. And festival ours. As kids we loved festivals for they brought with them things to eat. Thus at an early age I had tasted multiple cuisines. Of all the cuisines, I have a special affection for the Muslim cuisine. (And Telangana cuisine,especially the Bagar Annam) We used to attend Muslim weddings especially to eat. Most of us were pure vegetarians and special care was taken by our friends to ensure we got only the vegetarian stuff. The biriyani, the double-ka-meeta and what not. I still remember the wedding in the family of our local 'Dada', Jah...