Gaata Rahe Mera Dil: 50 Classic Hindi Film Songs

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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!
 

Selected pages

Contents

AUTHORS NOTE
PROLOGUE A NOTE ON THE ORIGINS OF PLAYBACK IN INDIAN CINEMA
THE HOOF TROT
THE ORIGINAL GHOST
GRANDEUR IN TRAGEDY
CONSONANCE IN DISSONANCE
ODE TO CLASSICALITY
A TRIBUTE TO TAGORE
DUSK MELODY
A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
ODE TO LOVE LOST
THE ENIGMA THAT IS LIFE
MONSOON MELODY
AND QUIETLY FLOWS THE HOOGHLY
ANTHEM OF A NEW GENERATION
THE PURE HEART

CLASSICAL RAPTURE
THE LAST NIGHT
SILHOUETTE
AGELESS
SUNSET BOULEVARD
THE OLD MONK
THE ULTIMATE FILMI QAWWALI
YODLEE
THE QUINTESSENTIAL BHAJAN
FRONTIERWALLAH
BAKER STREET CHANDANGARH
DARK OF THE NIGHT
PARADISE SERENADE
SEVENTH HEAVEN
PRISTINE MELODY
THE LONGEST
THE HEARTS MANY IMPATIENT DESIRES
DELICATE ASA DREAM
TWIN TRIUMPH
TILLERS TALE
GALLIC MELODY
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
THE RETURN OF MELODY
THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND
THE 51ST SONGTHE DEAR DEPARTED
ONE FOR THE ROAD TO THE NEW MILLENNIUM
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
THE MAN THE MUSIC 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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