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ओ सावन राजा कहाँ से आए तुम?
Some of my favorite rain songs
the lyrics of the falling raindrops
in a drizzle or a downpour…melting the heat away…
the pleasure of a hot cup of tea and a plateful of pakoras
the thrill of the shivers, as you get wet
the spontaneity
the nostalgia of the childhood कागज़-की-नाव
the heightened emotions…which make you feel good and romantic all over!
Some of my favorite songs are woven with these images of lyrical, romantic melodious rains…which make me look beyond the mucky grounds, the overflowing gutters and the overflooded roads!
I see melody, romance and the spirit of life in these numbers: sometimes through the very picturesque images of rain captured in these songs or through the mellifluent and meaningful lyrics!
Spontaneity in some of the numbers seems to skip and hop, while many of these numbers are composed so beautifully that the rhythm resonates within, long after the song is over!
- प्यार हुआ इकरार हुआ है, प्यार से फिर क्यों डरता है दिल
According to me this is the " King of romantic songs", not to mention among the best picturised rain song ever …without an ounce of doubt! The ingredients are perfect…An awkward, not-so-rich guy trying to please his lady love…the perfect pair of Nargis and Raj Kapoor in ' Shri 420' silhouetted against dark clouds…the studio rain which is falling not so ferociously as the couple share an umbrella, and more than perfect lyrics!
I still get goose pimples when I hear the words " हम न रहेंगे, तुम न रहोगे, फिर भी रहेंगी निशानियाँ " endorsing the immortality of love as the three Kapoor kids trot down the road in their raincoats…
No one has been able to create a more perfect backdrop for a rain song or captured the innocence of love so beautifully!
- 'जिंदगी भर नहीं भूलेगी वोह बरसात की रात' The images that the words of these songs create are as potent as the heroine who is the 'अनजान हसीना' in the song: Madhubala! The lyrics of this number, the background score are so live: you can actually 'see' the scenes happening before you as the hero, Bharat Bhushan meets the captivating Madhubala on a rainy day….हाय वोह रेशमी जुल्फों से बरसता पानी…..कभी देखी न सुनी ऐसी वह जज़्बात की रात…Somehow the Mohammed Rafi version of the song sounds more intoxicating than the Lata Mangeshkar version : my opinion, you may differ!
- ओ सजाना, बरखा बहार आई, रस की फुहार लायी
What do I remember about this song :
That this is one of exceptional, extraordinary, unforgettable Lata-in-her-heydays number…
That it is picturised on Sadhana who looks gorgeous even without her famous fringes!
That the song is one of the musical gems from Salil Chowdhury!
That I can rewind this number twenty times just to listen to Lata croon, "ऐसी रिमझिम में ओ सजन , प्यासे प्यासे मेरे नयन, तेरे ही ख्वाब में खो गए.."
- रिमझिम रिमझिम, रुमझुम रुमझुम...भीगी भीगी रुत में,तुम हम, हम तुम
This song from ' 1942- A love story' oozes melody, enchantment, romance with every word, every verse, every visual : whether it is Manisha Koirala opening the windows to invite the rain in or Anil Kapoor prancing about with "बूंदों की यह लड़ी लायी हैं वोह घरी जिसके लिए हम तरसे" or the wonderful RD Burman music!
R.D.Burman's golden touch recreated the magic of the songs of yesteryears in this song! It definitely stands apart from one of "these songs of today" which we have come to lament and dissociate from!
- हाय रे हाय, नींद नहीं आए... This one never fails to bring a smile on my face… Our leading pairs in this song, Jeetendra and Leena Chandavarkar are not just ' 'singing in the rain' but also ' jumping in the rain'! The most graphic scene is that of the hero dragging the heroine by her leg as she struggles to hop on her fours, attempting to smile and sing at the same time, with rains pouring down intensely!
Infact, I thought the leading couple was playing badminton in this song, but that is another energetic number with the same pair! This is a great song to watch with friends: we can all collectively appreciate the humor in Jeetendra's tightfitting trousers, the heaves, the huffs, the puffs and the extraordinary calisthenics which created the most vigorous dance number here!
What I love about this song is that the fact that the couple prances about in the rain totally convinced of their style of romancing: Hey, this is the way we do it!
- आज रपट जायें... Another fun song in the rainwith our favorite Amitabh Bachchan and the looking very awkward, Smita Patil! Our hero is aggressive and hell bent on making his ladylove enjoy the rain in the plebian manner, on the streets of Mumbai, without the umbrella!
This song also has some vivid images: the aggressive Amitabh Bachchan, the hey-I-can't-do-this-commercial-cinema-bit-of-song-and-dance Smita Patil as Amitabh pushes a hand cart on which she is perched and the absolutely spirituous voices of Kishore and Asha with the 'Ah ha! Oh ho's' in place !!!…
- रिमझिम गिरे सावान... An absolute contrast to the song above: a mellow Amitabh and a breathless Moushumi as she tries to keep pace with the tall hero...running around the tourist spots of Mumbai as the song plays in the background….Lata's mellifluous voice filling the space and Kishore's baritone complimenting it perfectly!
This is among the most naturally shot songs of the rain..right from the wet benches to the slant of Moushumi's kajal ! You can almost visualize yourself and your loved one on the screen there: there is no overt romancing, no studio created showers : the simplicity of the song and the passion of the words..'सुलग सुलग जाए मन'… seep in right through to you !
- देखो जरा देखो बरखा की लड़ी … This one represents the joie de vivre in its truest sense! For me the sparkle in Kajol's eye as she matches steps with Akshay Kumar was enchanting…Ofcourse the background of the song is what makes it exceptional in my medley of songs!
Akshay Kumar plays your typical workaholic , serious yuppie type whose life revolves around work! Kajol makes him realize that there is more to life than oh so important business deals….The hero lets his hair down, gets drenched in the rain and fantasizes about Kajol who he has fallen in love with!
This one is special because I could identify with Akshay Kumar and his propah attitude to life! After a few years of corporate grind ,I too felt like loosening my tie of appropriate behavior and letting my hair down to the spontaneity of life!
- ओ सावन राजा कहाँ से आए तुम?
Madhuri, Shahrukh and the cute kids dancing to Shiamak Davar steps in the Yash Chopra movie " Dil to pagal hai" ! There is a certain elegance in this song visible in the designer chiffon outfit of Madhuri, the well-rehearsed voices of Lata and Udit Narayan the perfect set of the streets and the well fed street urchins who couldn't by any standards be called urchins …
The choreography in this song was amazing as was the energy of the dancing kids who more than matched the more experienced Madhuri and Shahrukh step to step, jig to jig ! The music of Uttam Singh was superb , to put it mildly!
Remember the 'chak jhum jhum' twist? Didn't you feel like getting up and doing that jig yourself …This is one song as popular with my sixty-year-old father as with my four-year-old daughter!
- टिप टिप टिप बारिश शुरू हो गई
The words were not exceptional, yet better than the " Rain is falling chama cham cham , ladki ne aankh mari gir gaye hum' kind of songs which were being churned out during that time ! I don't remember the name of the movie, the heroine or any other details of the song .'Dancing in the rain' with just an umbrella as a prop was a very ordinary background to a song!
Yet, what makes 'Tip tip tip…' extra-ordinary is that special effort which Aamir Khan put in this number!He was faultless! The steps matched and the music helped the ordinary lyrics stand out ! A flawless musical and visual delight ……
I have shared some of my special numbers here and in the Playlist here
Songs which celebrate rain
….What do your favorite rain songs mean to you?
Does your list resemble mine?
Why don't you go down the memory lane and find out ?…..
