I am writing this post for Valentine’s Day which is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year on 14 February people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family and friends. Every person may have individual experiences of unconditional love and attachment. It can be wrong to pressure yourself to find true love; if you have yet to experience a genuine connection with another person or feel a sense of comfort with them. The song koi sone ke dilwala, koi chandi ke dilwala implies that love is fragile, it isn’t strong.

कोई सोने के दिलवाला कोई चांदी के दिलवाला,
शीशे का है मतवाले तेरा दिल,
महफ़िल ये नहीं तेरी दीवाने कहीं चल.

There’s someone who’s heart of gold, some other’s heart is of silver, my heart is of glass (fragile). This song is shot in a party. The hero of the song says this party does not belong to him he consoles himself by saying dear crazy mind let’s move on. Lyricist Majhrooh Sultanpuri wrote this song for film Maya (1961) sung by the great Mohamed Rafisab, composed by Salil Chowdhary and filmed on Dev Anand. This is one of the superhit songs and remains timeless. This song will never die. Generations will listen to it. Long live Mohd. Rafi Sab.

Sone ke dilwala means someone who is exceptionally kind, generous, and compassionate, someone who is loyal with a willingness to help others without expecting anything in return.  And, silver hearts represent a romantic heart, someone who is deeply in love with something, or a person. A heart of glass means someone who is easily hurt or emotionally fragile, like glass which can break easily, suggesting that their feelings can be shattered quickly by a minor setback, one who gets disappointed; it describes a person who is highly sensitive and prone to emotional pain. 

While many would ideally choose “heart” over “money,” in reality, when faced with a difficult decision between following one’s passion (love) or pursuing financial stability, people often tend to prioritize money due to the practical need for security and necessities, even if it means sacrificing the love of his/her life.

The word love has depth.  We don’t love easily. Love is not a universal experience; some   people might feel an immediate attraction as falling in love quickly, for others, developing deep love takes time and getting to know someone well. This means there’s no single answer to whether someone “gets love easily” as it varies greatly from person to person depending on factors like inner personality, character, outer personality, intelligence, earnings, attachment styles, and life experiences. 

Every person who falls in love experiences variety of pains and pleasures of love. Each person has his/her own character and personality; they have different backgrounds and conditions. So, there is no set of rules that applies equally to everyone. Also, whom a person dates also is a matter of personal choice. No one has any right to intrude in anybody’s private affair. The youngsters say, not even their parents have any rights.  But our heart and gut do give us signals about the right or the wrong person. Do we hear to the signals?

Because people often lose all objectivity when they fall in love, it is said ‘Love is blind’.  The song koi sone ke dilwala, koi chandi ke dilawala’s last stanza says that this party isn’t really my vibe, I think it’s time to head out because I am not enjoying it any longer. I should get out of here.  This means the hero feels like he doesn’t belong to that gathering, and it would be better to leave and seek out a different social environment that aligns more with his interests or personality.

How a person experiences pain is unique to each one. Attraction and affection don’t stay the same, and love can feel different for each person. Love too has a lifecycle – introduction, development, growth, maturity and in some cases decline. A person may experience and express love differently from another person. Some people have intense feelings that they are unafraid to express, while others take time to open or prefer to show love in subtler ways.

Also, people demonstrate their love for others in various ways. Whether through acts of service, physical touch, quality time, words of affirmation, gift-giving, acts of kindness, sacrifice, or support, the key is to find the expression that resonates most with your loved ones. Essentially, “everyone’s pain is different”, “everyone’s experience of love is different”. Listen to this beautiful song.  Happy Valentines Day!

This song memorises me; its picturized-on actor Motilal and Raj Kapoor in the movie “Jagate Raho” Raj Kapoor in his hey days has acted in this movie directed by Sombhu Mitra and Amit Maitra. Raj Kapoor was young and known for his romantic roles. In this movie he hardly had any dialogues.

The story written by KA Abbas; the movie was a courageous endeavour because it was an experimental movie to inform a poignant story of an anonymous, destitute guy who simply desires to have little water to quench his thirst. But the society is unaware of the numerous poor people’s small needs.  The movie is set during a nighttime in a residential complex. We often associate darkness with negative, end, ignorance and evil while light is associated with life, goodness and knowledge. But there is beauty in darkness. In darkness, we understand our real self, we know what we are and what we are not. In darkness, we know that there is more we cannot see.  

The protagonist Raj Kapur during that night, is mistaken to be a thief by the police officers, he runs away and therefore throughout the movie he is shown in panic state. The movie is a parody of the so-called respectable people staying in high end colony are selfish, frauds in society. They are heartless. The police who fake to be the guardians and ethical gatekeepers of society are muggers themselves. Watching the hypocrisy of those educated guys leaves the hero baffled as he receives a glimpse of the ill-mannered humans of the so-called civilised humans. Released in 1956, Jagte Raho was ahead of its time. 

The song zindagi khwab hai is picturized on actor Motilal who is shown drunk, and Raj Kapoor hides from him. The song starts with Sant Kabir’s doha which is expressed as Rangi ko narangi (colourless) kahe, jale doodh ko khoya (lost) Chalti ko gaadi kahey Dekh Kabira roya. Kabir describes the nature of man which makes him live in a world of paradoxes. A fruit has a wonderful colour and man calls it narangi (colourless). Cooked, sweetened milk is called khoya which means lost in Hindi. The one which is on the go is called Gaadi which means buried in the ground. Taking a cue from this very situation, Kaviraj Shailendra takes these paradoxes further to say Zindagi khwab hai, Khwab mein jhooth kya aur bhalaa sach hai kya. Life is an illusion – a dream; in a dream, nothing is true and nothing false. 

Motilal excels in this role of a drunkard, singing this song which is sung incredibly by Mukesh. The song shows compassion in Raj Kapoor befriending a street dog. Composer Salil Chowdhury uses oboe (a wood-wind instrument), flute and xylophone to lighten the atmosphere. The song is about paradoxes. Raj Kapoor plays a natural destitute, he brings a smile on your face automatically. In comes the drunk Motilal singing the above Kabir doha and rest of the song. The super lyricist Shailendra lifts the mood as the song progresses.

Ek pyaali bhar ke maine, gham ke maare dil ko dee, zeher ne maara zeher ko, murde mein phir jaan aa gayi. A paradox again: a dead comes alive after having a sip of the alcohol. Kaviraj Shailendra surpasses here indicating there’s so much poison in our hearts, we are as good as dead. The influence of alcohol changes all that, we become alive after having alcohol.

The picturisation fittingly supports the song. Motilal wearing a crisp white dhoti and kurta with a garland in his neck indicates that he belongs to the richer class of the society. He is drunk and in the intoxicated state he sings on the streets at night least bothered about his position. Lyricist Shailendra wanted to give subtle advice to the listeners that life is momentary, live in present, in this moment. Live your life as it comes, live happily. It is just a dream, an illusion and is going to pass away. Yet it is real because you are living. The trouble is that you are befuddled by hope, dream, desire, need and wants which are never ending.

Listen to the most profound song:

Indian cinema legend Salil Chowdhary was a multifaceted artist. He was a musician, a lyricist, a poet, and a writer. As a composer in his film career, Salil Chaudhary gave music in more than 100 films which included multiple languages such as Malyali, Bengali, Oriya

Salil Chaudhary’s father was very fond of Western classical music. His childhood was spent listening to his father’s western classical music collection. He could play many musical instruments. I hereby narrate an incident relating to Salil Chowdhary which I heard on radio 92.7 FM channel by Annu Kapoor in his program “Suhana Safar with Annu Kapoor.

In the year 1958, there was a famous shop in Los Angeles, America, where Indians used to mix musical instruments. The name of the owner of the shop was Devin Bernard and the shop had some Americans, including many Indian-origin people, who worked in this shop. Salil Chaudhary was then just 35 years old, and one day he reached that shop. No one knew who he was. He was dressed simply and looked ordinary due to which the salesmen and salesgirls present there were not giving him any attention. He started looking very carefully at the instruments present in the shop.

Since the job of the employees is to handle the customer who came to their shop, then a salesgirl named Christina came to Salil Choudhary asking if he was interested in buying any instrument. Salil Chowdhary told Christina that he wanted to see some Sitar. Christina showed him few Sitars, but Salil’s eyes fell on a Sitar which was kept at the highest height in the shop. He asked Christina to show him that Sitar.

Since that Sitar was set too high and Christina was not interested in handling this ordinary looking man anyway, she tried to avoid it. But Salil Chaudhary was resistive that he wanted to see the same Sitar. The owner of the shop, David, came to make inquiry. When he understood Salil’s interest in that one Sitar, he asked his staff to take down the same Sitar. Showing the Sitar to Salil, Christina said that it is called Boss Sitar. Common sitar players cannot play it and it is used in big shows.

After listening to Christina, Salil told her that in America it is called Boss Sitar, but in India is called the evergreen Sitar. After this, Salil asked for permission to play the Sitar, which David gave him. As soon as Salil Choudhary started playing the sitar, the people present in the shop got mesmerised by his stationary and transverse style and they were awestruck by Salil’s ease yet mastery of playing the sitar. They all gathered around him. When Salil Chaudhary finished the raga, there was complete silence. Salil Choudhary fascinated everyone present there with his music.

The shop owner, David, was so impressed with Salil that he asked Salil, “who are you? I have heard Ravi Shankar. No one plays the sitar like him, but you are no less than him, I am so glad that you came to my shop”. Salil told David that he wanted to buy that Sitar. David himself was an avid music lover and he was so impressed by Salil, that he gifted the Sitar to him.

This was the time when Salil Chowdhary was composing music for the film Parakh (1960) and the story of the movie was written by him. One of the songs which is evergreen till today is “oh sajana, barkha bahar ayi” based on rag Khamaj and the main instrument in the song is Sitar. 

Christina stood with tears in her eyes after listening to the melody. She kissed Salil’s hands and gave him a dollar, saying that she usually underestimated Indian people and took pride in Americans. She further said that she very reluctantly showed Salil the sitar and she apologized for her rude behaviour. She requested him to give his autograph on the dollar note. Salil smiled and looked at Christina and wrote his name on the note given by her – Salil Choudhary.

Listen to the beautiful and evergreen song “Oh sajana” in Lata Mangeshkar’s voice picturised on simple yet classy looking actor Sadhana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwjtKZBYFRo

Saxophone is a versatile instrument which many Hindi and other regional film song composers have used skilfully. These songs are youthful and evergreen. Saxophone displays various moods very effectively; romance, separation, high spirt, bravery etc. One of my friends who teaches playing saxophone says that it is one of the easiest instruments to learn. Running scales up and down are easier on saxophone, also, switching from piano or other wind instruments is very easy. The scales run up and down the keys, making it perfect for beginners or people who are switching from the piano or other wind instruments.  The saxophone was designed around 1840 by Adolphe Sax, who was a Belgian instrument maker, flautist, and clarinettist.

Hindi film music is famous for conveying emotions. The tune, lyrics, vocals and the variations in vocals are all creative processes to convey the emotion for which saxophone is used by creative music directors. Apart from these creative, the rugged sound of saxophone makes songs more intense. Music composers normally choose instruments based on the range of the instrument and how it can support and convey the primary emotion in the song. In few movies we see the actors playing saxophone to portray the mood of the song. Musical instruments have been used since earliest times for a variety of purposes, ranging from the entertainment of concert audiences to the complementing dances, rituals, boosting mood at work place environment and also as therapy/medicine. Musical therapy aids in physical and mental wellbeing. It helps to improving respiration, lowering blood pressure, improved cardiac output, reduced heart rate and relaxed muscle tension. For mental health

Saxophone is a versatile instrument; composers have used it effectively to convey many moods. Though the saxophone is made of metal, it generates sound with a single reed, and so it is classified as a woodwind rather than as a brass instrument.

The saxophone is loved by both jazz and classical musicians, but the qualities demanded of the instrument are different for each genre. With jazz, the ideal instrument allows players to express their individuality. Manohari Singh is known as maestro of the saxophone. He has mainly worked with R.D.Burman. S.D. Burman, Ravi, Chitragupta, Roshan, Salil Chowdhary, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, O. P. Nayyar and R.D.Burman used saxophone in their composing.

I give here below some great pearls composed with saxophone:

Yeh kisane geet cheda – Meri Surat Teri Aankhen (1963) S.D.Burman Suman Kalyanpur & Mukesh  

Hai duniya usiki – Kashmir ki kali (1964) – O.P.Nayyar  – Mohamed Rafi

Aage bhi jane na tu – Waqt (1965) Ravi – Asha Bhosale

Jane Kaisa hai mera diwana – Ansoo Ban Gaye Phool (1969) Laxmikant-Pyarelal Kishor Kumar, Asha Bhosale 

Ratkali ek khwab me ayi – Buddha Mil Gaya (1971) – R.D.Burman – Kishare Kumar

Gujar jaye din, din – Annadata (1972) Salil Chowdhary – Kishor Kumar

Tumko dekha to yeh khayal aya – Sath Sath (1980) – Kuldeep Singh – Jagjit and Chitra Singh

The song ‘na jiya lage na’ is one of the finest songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar from the movie Anand (1970) starring Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Sumita Sanyal, Ramesh Deo, Seema Deo etc. The song is picturized on beautiful and elegant Sumita Sanyal. It is sung by Lata Mangeshkar and composed by Salil Choudhary, penned by Yogesh. The opening note of this song ‘na…….’ is very mesmeric…you can’t ignore it.

The song is very soothing showcasing Sumita Sanyal waiting for her lover to come home. Lyricist Yogesh has written the song expressing the yearning and longing of the heroine. Sumita Sanyal has portrayed the song with lot of longing she emotes her feelings very gracefully. This song is originally a Bengali song thus the Hindi version also sounds sweeter. Both Bengali and Hindi versions are sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

Salil Chowdhary could play several musical instruments. He had the magic in his hands; any instrument that he could lay his hands on he would be able to play it very comfortably. His orchestration was always symphonic with blend of complex use of the different instruments. His music never got moulded into any pattern. His flair for experimentation always lent his own signature originality to his composition. In this song sitar chords stand out accompanied by table beats.

Do you know the movie Anand was based on the friendship between Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Raj Kapoor. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was so close to Raj Kapoor that not a day passed when they didn’t meet at least once. The two were so close that Hrishida would often get gloomy thoughts about the two of them being separated by death. That’s how Anand was born. In fact Hrishida wanted to make it with Raj Kapoor playing the role that Amitabh Bachchan finally played; the fact is this movie gave a big break to Amitabh. Hrishikesh Mukherjee got to work with his best friend Raj Kapoor only once in Naukri which was a big failure.

Rajesh Khanna had no leading lady in Anand. Sumita Sanyal was cast opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Though there was no song situation for her, Hrishida created one, as he wanted at least one song by his favourite Lata Mangeshkar in the film. And, that song became a super-duper hit!!!

The song is set in raag Malgunji, and the tal of the song is Keherava. Composers like Salil Chowdhary, RD Burman, Kalyanji Anandji, Madan Mohan have composed beautiful evergreen songs in Malgunji which is a late night raga. Malgunji portrays the early realization of the reunion.   

Listen to this very beautiful song.

The feel of this song is unmatched. It seems when this song was being recorded, R. D. Burman was crying profusely and beating his hand on the wall praising Kishore Kumar’s versatility for singing this song so soulfully. On screen, you see Jitendra simply dressed, with spectacles standing on the boat and rendering this great number; there is no romancing, no glamour, no heroine in the scene (except twice Sari-clad simply dressed Hema Malini is shown separately in different shots) the song is just shot on a boat, rowed by a boatman(mazi).

River has a magical beauty, and it lends itself to a variety of metaphors. Its timeless flow denotes jeevan ki dhara. The river plays an important role in the country side. The rivers mark boundaries of villages; and are usually meeting place of lovers. Rivers play a significant role in our life. We therefore see many songs with river themes. Also, river water can inspire, soothe, cuddle and calm a person. I think river water has a musical feel which great composers like S.D.Burman, Salil Chowdhary, Hemant Kumar, R.D.Burman, Kalyanji Anandaji and Bhupen Hazarika have captured in their songs.

This song is from film Kushboo, based on the Bengali novel “Panditmashai” by Sharat Chadra Chattopadhyay. The film was released in 1975, produced by Prasan Kapoor and directed by Gulzarsab. The film’s music was composed by the great R.D.Burman.

The genre of the song is “Bhatiyali folk song.” Bengal has a vast coastal land with long rivers and sea. Hence you will see many Bhatiyali songs sung by boatmen. S.D Burman used to say that Bhatiyali has its roots in earth, flowers, sky, and river. The notations of Bhatiyali songs, its words, and its pathos have an enchanting interpretation reminding the listeners of the river, and the journey by river. Bhatiyali’s mood and its passion are immersed in philosophies of life.

‘O mazi re’ song is written by Gulzar Sab. The song is about life’s unstoppable journey without a shore and an anchor. The river has eroded many shores which are now flowing with the river. Life is like a paper boat which flows directionless and it can’t reach any shore. The lyrics are awesome describing the solitude and yearning of the protagonist of the film Jitendra (Dr. Brindavan) who is separated from his childhood love Hema Malini (Kusum). He is married but loses his wife and is lonely.

The song is sung by Kishore Kumar and is has a magical hollow effect on the listeners.  It seems when this song was being recorded the people present for recording were so much moved by Kishore Kumar’s singing that most of them burst into tears like R.D.Burman did. Kishore Kumar’s voice full of twinge and pathos had that magic effect on them. R.D always said that though Kishore was an untrained singer, he was like a volcano of talent, who could improvise any song incredibly and he would provide vocal insights and expression beyond the composer’s imagination.

Watch this soulfully magical song and enjoy few stirring moments.