Bollywood Melodies: A History of the Hindi Film Song

Front Cover
Penguin Books India, 2008 - Art - 261 pages
Music surrounds us. And we Indians wouldn't have it any other way, would we? If you are an Indian and have been exposed to Hindi film music, just pause and look back through the mists of time, and you will discover that there is a tune buried somewhere in your consciousness which kick-started your first love affair. Without Bollywood melodies how would you have coped with those exhilarating and restless nights and days when you felt the first stirrings of attraction and passion? How would you have dealt with your achy breaky heart without the haunting melodies of love and betrayal sung by the icons of yesteryears like Mukesh, Rafi and the inimitable Kishore Kumar?Don't you thing it's time for you to raise a toast to a Sahir Ludhianvi or a Kaifi Azmi for giving you those life-altering insights that helped you grow from a boy to a young man? To acknowledge that the edge of the intense loneliness you felt was blunted by the soul-stirring melodies of Shanker-Jaikishan, Naushad, Madan Mohan and Laxmikant-Pyarelal? Whether you have lived through the 1940s, 1950s or are a new millennium youngster, there is no getting away from the inescapable fact that without Bollywood music, your life would have been so much more parched and colourless. So, for those who want to revisit those times in their lives, this book by Ganesh Anantharaman, Bollywood Melodies: A History of the Hindi Film Song, is a true gem.As I flipped through the first few pages of this work of love and nostalgia that this young writer has put together, it hurled me back into the pages of history where I was thrown into intimate contact with the works of icons of every age, who have pulled out jewels from their hearts and scattered them through the sands
 

Contents

The Journey of the Hindi Film Song
1
The Pioneers
23
The Masters
35
The Followers
78
Annu Malik
84
Firstgeneration Lyricists
101
Thirdgeneration Lyricists
121
Gulzar on the Poets of Hindi Film Music
130
130
258
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