Gaata Rahe Mera Dil: 50 Classic Hindi Film Songs

Front Cover
Harper Collins, Jun 1, 2015 - Music - 320 pages

Look behind the scenes of fifty celebrated songs, from an estimated repository of over one lakh!'De de khuda ke naam pe': when Wazir Mohammed Khan sang these words in India's first talkie, Alam Ara, he gave birth to a whole new industry of composers, lyricists and singers, as well as an entirely new genre of film-making that is quintessentially Indian: the song-and-dance film. In the eight decades and more since then, Hindi film songs have enraptured listeners all over the world. From 'Babul mora, naihar chhooto jaye' (Street Singer, 1938) to 'Dil hai chhota sa' (Roja, 1992); from the classical strains of 'Ketaki gulab' (Basant Bahar, 1956) featuring Bhimsen Joshi to the disco beats of Nazia Hassan's 'Aap jaisa koi' (Qurbani, 1981); from the pathos of 'Waqt ne kiya' (Kaagaz Ke Phool, 1959) to the exuberance of the back-to-back numbers in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), here is an extraordinary compilation, peppered with trivia, anecdotes and, of course, the sheer joy of music. Find out answers to questions like:With which unreleased film did Kishore Kumar turn composer?In which song picturization was dry ice first used?Which all-time classic musical was initially titled Full Boots?Where was the title song of An Evening in Paris shot?The idea for which song originated when the film-maker visited Tiffany's in London?Which major musical partnership resulted from the celebrations around an award function for a commercial jingle for Leo Coffee? How many of your favourites find mention here? Make your own list!
 

Contents

COVER TITLE PAGE DEDICATION AUTHORS NOTE
1893
PROLOGUE
1896
A NOTE ON THE ORIGINS OF PLAYBACK IN INDIAN CINEMA
1902
THE HOOF TROT
1907
THE ORIGINAL GHOST
1913
GRANDEUR IN TRAGEDY
1919
CONSONANCE IN DISSONANCE
1925
ODE TO CLASSICALITY
1930
GALLIC MELODY
1966
DUSK MELODY
1966
A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
1967
ODE TO LOVE LOST
THE ENIGMA THAT IS LIFE
MONSOON MELODY
AND QUIETLY FLOWS THE HOOGHLY
ANTHEM OF A NEW GENERATION

A TRIBUTE TO TAGORE
1936
CLASSICAL RAPTURE
1943
THE LAST NIGHT
1948
SILHOUETTE
1954
AGELESS
1959
SUNSET BOULEVARD
1965
THE OLD MONK
1971
THE ULTIMATE FILMI QAWWALI
1930
YODLEE
1936
THE QUINTESSENTIAL BHAJAN
1943
FRONTIERWALLAH
1949
BAKER STREET CHANDANGARH
1955
DARK OF THE NIGHT
1962
PARADISE SERENADE
1967
SEVENTH HEAVEN
1971
PRISTINE MELODY
1977
THE LONGEST
1982
THE HEARTS MANY IMPATIENT DESIRES
1982
DELICATE AS A DREAM
1951
TWIN TRIUMPH
1957
TILLERS TALE
1963
THE PURE HEART
THE LAST WORD IN CABARET
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
SINGING IN THE RAIN
AND THEN THEY WERE DONE
ALLEYWAYS OF THE HEART
DEW FRESH
CLASSICAL RHAPSODY
AUTUMN MEMORIES
PACKING A MUSICAL WALLOP
SOUL MUSIC
IGNITING THE DISCO FEVER
SUBLIME POETRY
THE SIGNIFICANT OTHER
YOUNG LOVE PRISTINE MELODY 50 THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND
THE 51ST SONGTHE DEAR DEPARTED
ONE FOR THE ROAD TO THE NEW MILLENNIUM
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TALK TO
ABOUT THE AUTHOR COPYRIGHT
Copyright

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About the author (2015)

Balaji Vittal is the co-author (with Anirudha Bhattacharjee) of R.D. Burman: The Man, The Music, which won the National Award for Best Book on Cinema (2011), Gaata Rahe Mera Dil: 50 Classic Hindi Film Songs, which won the MAMI Award for Best Book on Cinema (2015), and the highly acclaimed S.D. Burman: The Prince-Musician.

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