TEN TOP BOLLYWOOD SOUNDTRACKS OF ALL TIME
WWW.T3INDIA.COM AUGUST 2019 T3 Tomorrow’s Technology Today 93- MERA NAAM JOKER ( 1970 )
When ‘Mera Naam Joker’ was
released, it was a big flop. Raj Kapoor
had clearly got carried away and
made a film that was far too long
and heavy. The movie got a new life
thanks to Shankar Jaikishan’s music.
The movie had 12 songs of which
3 were left on the recording table
because the movie was proving
to be far too long. On the video
circuit, ‘Joker’ became a huge hit.
Randhir Kapoor confessed that the
highest music royalty received by R
K Films was for “Joker’. Three songs
of Joker are immortal. All of them
are philosophical. Manna De’s ‘ Ae
bhai zara dekhke chalo’ is perhaps
his most popular song ever. ‘ Jeena yahan, marna yahan’ by Mukesh is
so meaningful and full of pathos, it can bring tears to your eyes. Finally,
‘Jaane kahan gaye woh din’ again by Mukesh is an emotional number
that tugs at the heart. All the other numbers are also very special. Such
was Bollywood in those days that even after such a magnificent effort,
the failure of the film made Raj Kapoor look for other music directors.
The role of ‘Brutus’ was played shockingly by Mukesh who took Raj
Kapoor to Laxmikant Pyarelal. Mukesh, actually, owned his entire career
to SJ who very often had fought to have Mukesh sing their songs. E.g.
Yeh mera diwanapan hai in Yahudi.
6) ARADHANA ( 1969 )
Until Aradhana, Shakti Samanta specialized in producing crime
dramas. With Aradhana, he made the move to love stories and
hit the jackpot.
Aradhana made the careers of Rajesh Khanna and Kishore
Kumar. It featured S D Burman at his very best. All the songs
were of a very high standard but ‘ Roop tera mastana’ and
‘Mere sapnon ki rani’ remain evergreen numbers. Sadly,
Aradhana did not pick up any major music awards. This is a
commentary on the awards rather than on the superb music
of S D Burman.- TEESRI MANZIL ( 1966 )
All of Shammi Kapoor’s movies had
excellent music. This was because he had
made a remarkable combination with
Shankar Jaikishan. Nasir Hussain had a
huge hit with Shankar Jaikishan in ‘Jab
Pyar Kisise Hota Hai’. SJ were riding the
crest of success and were overwhelmed
with assignments. Nasir Hussain wanted
to try out Rahul Dev Burman. Shammi
Kapoor had reservations but eventually
gave in. A young Rahul Dev Burman
proved that he also could achieve magic
with Shammi Kapoor and ‘Teesri Manzil’
became a huge musical hit. ‘O mere sona’,
‘ O haseena zulfonwali’ and ‘ Aaja aa aa aaja’ were monster hits in their
time and are popular even today. Teesri Manzil brought in a new trend
of racy and foot tapping dance music.
- GUIDE ( 1965)
Dev Anand’s ‘ Guide’ ranks
amongst his best movies.
Contributing in no small
measure was S D Burman’s
delightful music. ‘Gaata
rahe mera dil’ and ‘Kanton
se kheench ke ye aanchal’
still move song lovers and
Mohammed Rafi’s ‘ Din
dhal jaaye’ brings in the
emotions. Shailendra’s lyrics
lent greater meaning to the
songs. Song picturisation
was also top class. No
doubt, Guide was a musical
milestone for both Dev
Anand and S D Burman. - AN EVENING IN PARIS ( 1967)
Wow! One more Shammi Kapoor
film! This one deserves its place only
for one reason - the longevity of the
music and its freshness even today.
Inerestingly, all the numbers of the
film were composed by Shankar, bar
one. Jaikishan’s contribution was the
‘Akele Akele’ number. All the songs
carry rich orchestration. Just listen
to the title track or the ‘Deewanon
ka naam to puchho’ number and you
could feel that they were composed today! Again, ‘Raat ke humsafar’
ranks amongst the most romantic duets ever. A superb album, indeed.
The lead pair of Shammi Kapoor & Sharmila Tagore lent extra punch
to the picturisation.
10) PAKEEZAH (1972)
Long in the making, Pakeezah
finally made it to the theatres
in 1972. What a film and
what a brilliant musical score!
Ghulam Mohammed was
the music director but he
died before the film could be
completed. Naushad stepped
in and did the needful. Lata
Mangeshkar is in full form
and songs like ‘Chalte, chalte’,
‘ Inhee logon ne’ and ‘Chalo
dildaar chalo’ are immortal.
Yes, we know that the younger generation has no stomach for
classical or semi classical tunes. However, Pakeezah clearly
showswhattheyaremissing.Asanethnicscore,Pakeezah
has no equals.
Next month : Top Bollywood Soundtracks of all Time 11-20