Music And Movies

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links The end of the 60s pointed towards the change in guard regarding Hindi film music. Newer music directors like R D Burman, Laxmikanth Pyarelal, and Kalyanji Anandji started giving big hits. The old guard that included Naushad, Shankar Jaikishen, and O P Nayyar, among others, was starting to fade. Only S D Burman was able to hold his fort during this time.  Another important development took place during the end of the 60s. The actor called Rajesh Khanna was catapulted into stardom almost overnight due to the success of his movie, 'Aradhana.' In this movie, whose songs were humungous hits, both Mohd Rafi - the dominant male singer of those times - and Kishore Kumar sang songs for Rajesh Khanna. Yet, the public loved Kishore's voice for Rajesh Khanna, and that led to Kishore replacing Rafi as the most in-demand male playback singer. The other association that became a super duper hit was between R D Burman and Ki...

(Jesudas & Ravindra Jain) Do you recall any movie in which every song invokes a "All izz well" feeling in you? There are many movies in which every song is a gem but they may not necessarily evoke the 'feel good' factor. I can only think of a few movies which have such songs. One of them is 'Chitchor'.  'Chitchor' was a Rajshri Productions film, the production house started by Tarachand Barjatiya. Their philosophy in the 70s was simple. As in 'keep it simple, silly'. (The acronym would never happen in their movies.) Have a simple, idealistic story, which will appeal to the 'family audience'. Cast newcomers. Keep the budget low. Provide lovely music. In short, they depended on their stories and songs. Not on stars and marketing drives. They were successful for a long time. They left behind some superb melodies which the children of 70s can never forget, for all of them were 'feel good' melodies. They made mo...