No sir, I don't just write 'love' stories!

20/20 Answers

1.Jeene ka shauk hai agar tho marne ko ho ja tayyar! - I am surprised that not many got this one. A high-profile movie from a high-profile director who used to give big hits believe it or not with a high-profile hero who gives hits to this day believe it or not! This one is from Pardes. The song goes – Ho gaya hain mujhe pyaar. I live how it opens up Nai hona tha, arey nai hona tha, nai hona tha, nai hona tha lekin ho gaya…ho gaya hain mujhe pyaar. Somehow the concept of falling in love against all odds never ceases to capture my interest. This line sums up the songs beautifully. Have heard phrases like if you want to die then fall in love…but here it is more subtle. First love is equated to living and then a direct get ready to die. Delicious.

2. Jis tarah aap chaahe nazar aaon main, mujhko har rang mein aazmaa lee jiye! – Many of you got this one. When the music of ‘Phir Teri Kahaani yaad aayee’ was released, it was heavily promoted on Zee TV (was it?). Everyone was excited. A major film by a major director starring decent enought actors being debuted on TV - the concept was mindblowing. The music was out of this world. The expectations were high? As is very usual with Bollywood, the movie turned out to be a damp squib. Also the one million and one ads did not help matters that much either. The songs still manage to linger. Still manage to haunt. There is a touch of melancholy associated with each one of them. Though 'Tere Dar par sanam chale aaye' is often said to be the best of the lot [and I don't disagree] this song was also a gem. 'Shaayarana si hain zindagi ki sada' sings a drunk Neena Gupta with a 'aap bhi zindagi ka maza leejiye' as Pooja and Rahul watch. Then Pooja takes up the cudgels and croons this line. Conveying how much she is in love and to what extent she is willing to go for it. Touching!

3. Woh tera kothe pe nange paaon aana yaad hain! - This ghazal has got to be one of the all-time bests. I have heard Ghulam Ali doing many renditions of it and it never fails to capture me. It was used in 'Nikah' as a backdrop for the repentant man drinking and thinking about his ex-wife. Not the best kind of picturization I had in mind. The flash-backs do infuse some life but the absolutely wooden expression of Pankaj Parasher did not help matters either. Would have loved to see someone who could act with his eyes [like maybe Sanjeev Kumar or Aamir Khan or even Amitabh Bachan] to be doing the drinking. Ah! 'Chupke Chupke raat din..aansoo bahaana yaad hain! Hum ko ab tak aashiqui ka woh zamaana yaad hain! . Kya baat hain! How wonderfully aashiqui is co-related with tears. The magic of subtletly in urdu sher-o-shaayri. Ok don't get me started ;-)

4. Tumhe toot ke chaaha tha, nafrat bhi karen tho kaise karen! - I have a whole blog dedicated to this one. Ab naam Mohabbat ke from Ghulam

5. Main tehri rahi, zameen chalne lagi! - I was at a stage when I would not pay much attention to the music of SRK starrers. Dunno why. I think I could not bear the thought of him crying/romancing for the umpteenth time. So I put everything to do with him in the ignore list. This was one such song too until I happened to pay attention to it. I realized the loss had been mine as far as this song was concerned. Loved how it starts off with a dabi dabi 'aaa...' and then gains momentum and then slows down again with a violin in the background as Sonu Nigam picks it up 'Suraj hua madhyam..Chaand jalne laga...aasmaan yeh hain kyon pighalne laga'Beautiful lines. Especially the question at the end - Kya yeh mera pehla pehla pyaar hain? What I love about this particular line is that the singers manage to convey the feeling of being static when she/he says Main tehri rahi and then the music gains momentum to denote chalne lagi! Awesome. The only redeeming factor of a movie called Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum. Kabhi Ghum? Yeah right!

6. Tumhare palkon se girke shabnam hamaare aankhon mein ruk gayee hain! - I remember when I was very young watching this song on Chitrahaar. The time when Mithun da could actually looked very good. Tall, dark and passably-handsome. Of course he was either dancing or fighting. But this song was an exception. He is this dignified what looks like a military man escorting a village belle. I have never gotten around to waching 'Ghulami' so please excuse if I am wrong. Everything about this song was perfect. Lata was sooo soo good at this time. Just listen to the beginning. How she croons 'oooo...'. These days she'd be so shrill and out of breath, it'd be a torture. But here she is perfect. The opening is 'Zihaal-e-miskeen mukun baranjish..bahaale hijra bechaara dil hain'!. Wanno know what that means? Join the group! This is a lift from a persian poem that goes like this -

Zehal-e miskin makun taghaful, duraye naina banaye batiyan;
ki taab-e hijran nadaram ay jaan, na leho kaahe lagaye chhatiyan.

The translation thanks to google goes something like this:
Do not overlook my misery by blandishing your eyes,
and weaving tales; My patience has over-brimmed,
O sweetheart, why do you not take me to your bosom.

So now you know where it came from. Ok back to the song. We have a tall and lanky Mithun Da who joins this street-side dancer much to the chagrin of his lady love. I love the scene where he realizes that the lady in question is feeling bad and stops dancing and walks over to her. [yes,yes blame the woman to act like a wrench when the man is having some fun!] A sunset in the background. A huge structure. The woman on one side of it..the man climbing the stairs on the other end. There as something about it. Something so striking that it has remained with me even after the last Chitrahaar I watched was over a decade ago! So the lady croons this line when the misunderstanding about who he loves is cleared and she is all smiles and the poor fella is crying now! ;-)

7. Zara sa jhoot bhi dhang se kahaa nahi jaata! - This is one from the newer movies. Rog . A very beautiful song rendered even more beautifully by the very, very talented Udit Narayan. 'Khoobsurat hain woh itna saha nahi jaata'. There are some songs that grow on you. There are some songs that capture you instantly. The very first time that you hear them. This is one such song. Not to mention the lyrics. AWESOME! Take for instance this stanza. Rooh banke miloonga, aasmaan mein kaheen...pyaar is jahaan mein farishton se kiya nahi jaata! Mamma Mia! Wait it gets better! The singer goes on to say that she says that she is not mine and then comes this line. MAMMA MIA!

8. Ay pyaar teri pehli nazar ko salaam! - Most of you got this line. Mainly because this belongs to the mukhda. Yes right from 'Ek duje ke liye'. I loved the pehli nazar in it. How romantic! Sigh!

9. Tere is pyaar pe mere siva haq na kisi ka hain! - A lesser known song from a lesser known movie. 'Aaena hain mera chehra' from Aaena starring Jackie Shroff, Amrita Singh and Juhi Chawla. This song had the absolutely gorgeous Juhi Chawla making clear to her sister, ex-fiancee of her current husband that she [Juhi] is the rightful owner of this man's love.[uff]. There is this meek girl who turns into a tigress when her world is threatened. Loved the feeling that this line conveys. Stay off! or else!

10. Usne chaaha mujhe, usna thukra diya waqt ki baat hain! - I have been trying to get hold of this ghazal for soo long. No luck. Its a real gem of a ghazal. Waqt se waqt ki kya shikayat karoon, waqt hi na raha, waqt ki baat hain sung very beautifully by Pankaj Udhas. Udhas used to sing some wonderful melancholic ghazals early in his career. 'Deewaron se milkar rona...' or 'Aye ghame zindagi kuch tho mushvara..' or one of his innumerable peena - pilaana routines. Dunno what happened after that...somehow he got into frothy numbers and then he developed this irritating habit of trying to sing sweetly. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww! I had given up completely on him when I heard this gem. Beautifully conveys how time has spoilt everything. Love, life..time itself!

11. Na jaane kyon dil bhar gaya, na jaane kyon aankh bhar gayee! - Ijaazat is one movie that had everything going for it. The story, the cast, the music, the lyrics - everything! All the songs of this movie are A+ class. choti si kahaani se..baarishon ke paani se..saari vaadi bhar gayee... croons Asha Bhonsle. Love the way her voice is used as a background to the song too! Sometimes you feel like this nai. You don't know why but tears well up! How beautifully this line sums it up. Gulzaar saab...Salaam!

12. Koi aata nahi hain phir marke! - I have never watched 'Bazar' [I know tocs..sorry] fully. Just caught it in bits and parts. Love the Naseer-Smitha Patil track. Love against all odds! Somebody please tell me if this track is pictured on them. This song caught my fancy as I listened to it for the first time when I had landed here. Dunno why - na jaane kyon dil bhar gaya! Dekhlo aaj humko jee bhar ke...koi aata nahin hain phir marke! Amazing! Simply amazing!

13. Bewajah tareef karna aapki aadat tho nahin! - Many of you got this one too. Ghar had some really good music. A very bold theme too. A house-wife getting gang raped and how everything that her husband does later looks like he is pointing fingers at her. Mighty interesting even though I had watched it when I was very, very young. Aapki aankhon mein kuch mehke hue se khwaab hain..aap se bhi khoobsurat aapke andaaz hain! goes Vinod Mehra to which a bewitchingly beautiful Rekha[sari, loose plait, kaajal, shiny lipshtick look] has to say this. Wonderfully conveys the playfulness and love between a newly wedded couple.

14. Kaunsa yeh bandhan hain, yah kaunsa apnapan hain! - Feroze Khan! What an ear he has for good music. His earlier movies had some kick-ass stuff[as ssm would say]. 'Dharmatma' had such good songs. One masterpiece after another. As if that was not enough there is JaanBaaz with some foot-tappingly beautiful numbers. This was one of the slower ones. Jab jab teri surat dekhoon pyaar sa dil mein jaage...teri taraf hi dil mujhe kheeche..kya tu mera laage? I absolutely love songs where the mukhda ends with a question. This is a background song with Anil and Dimple making eyes at each other. My! Was Dimple beautiful!! Also used to adore Anil at that time. A wonderful, wonderful actor. He was so young but could convey so much with those itsy eyes of his! This film also had such great numbers like 'Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo' and 'Har Kisi ko nahin milta...'. WOW!

15. Din bhi yahaan tho lage baras ke samaan! - Again a very well known number. Humein tumse pyaar kitna yeh hum nahin jaante, magar ji nahin sakte tumhaare bina . It almost always features in a Kishore Kapoor collection. Very well sung. One of his slow numbers. The better ones too! Love the way the song leads to this stanza. 'Suna ghum judaai ka uthaate hain log. Jaane zindagi kaise bitaate hain log...din bhi yahaan tho lage baras ke samaan!'. How sweet! All I have to say to the fella is - jab juda ho tho jaano ki jeena tho padta hain! Mar tho nahin jaa sakte. Very unromantic I know ;-) but that's the truth.

16. Nainon me kal os giri thi! - One of the lesser known numbers. Jagjit Singh sings to his own music in Leela once again a movie with a bold theme- in love with an elder woman. Haven't seen the movie so cannot comment but loved the music. Very soft and intense ghazals. Jaag ke kaati saari raina...nainon me kal os giri thi.. goes a more bass voice of Jagjit Singh as he makes an effort not to sound very errr Jajit Singhy! Loved the concept of dew drops in eyes - another word for the plain aansooo!Also conveying the fact that the eyes didn't sleep all night so subtly. That they managed to catch the dew-drops which from early in the morning! Ah!

17. Ishq me uff yeh khud hi se ladna, ek saza hain seene mein! - Huge Brownie points to Silent Melody for getting this one! How could you people [esp gals] not get this one? An absolutely divine good-enough-to-eat John Abraham conveying the pathos of being away from his loved one. Awaaarapan, Banjarapan..ek khalaa hain seene mein he goes in Jism and there is os in my eyes! Beautiful slow beat...a subdued voice of ????....Once again love the way the song leads to this stanza - Dil jis cheez ko na kehta hain, zeheh usi ko kehta hain haan...ishq mein uff ye khud hi se ladna ek sazaa hain seene mein! How wonderfully the conflict between the heart and the mind is put forward. Too good yaar!

18. Jis chaman mein tere pag mein kaante chube,
us chaman se hamein phool chun-na nahin! - An older number from Kati Patang where a romantic Rajesh Kapoor tries to convey his love for a widowed Asha Parekh as she tries her best not to pay attention to him. The singer is Mukesh. Though Mukesh was limited to slow moving numbers, man was he good at it! I can almost feel the tears in his eyes as he hums this line! He is that good. I also love the line following it - haan yeh rasme yeh kasme sabhi todke, tu chali aa chunar pyaar ki odke. Saying I care a damn about all the ways of this world! Exquisite! Jis gali mein tera ghar na ho baalma, us gali se hamein guzarna nahin!

19. Buth hum ko kahen kaafir, Allah ki marzi hain! - Ok this one is from no movie. Just belongs to the collection of Ghulam Ali ghazals that have managed to make a permanent place in my heart. Hungaama hain kyon barpa thodi si jo peeli hain!. Rebellious lyrics are sooo soo good. Mocking at the ways of the world while trying best to stick to them. Mirza Ghalib was so good at it. He would drink wine [which is a taboo in islam] and say - Masjid mein may peene de wais, ya aisi jagah dikha jahaan khuda na ho! Kinda showing you know which finger to the finger-pointers. This is none such ghazal. After counting the ways he has angered God, he comes to this stanza where he says that idols [another no-no in islam] are addressing him as the infidel and it is all to do with God's will! LOL! Very good shaayar saab - get the point!!

20. Yeh kya ghazab yaar hain? Sajna yahi pyaar hain! - OK taking a fall here. Just one of those lines from one of those songs. A good one though. Aashique mujhe aashique tune banaaya jaane jaana! says Bobby Deol to Karisma in guess the name of the movie? Aashique. So he asks the girls what the **ck is this? and she goes...sajna yahi pyaar hain!

And the winner is - Reshmi. The prize is...umm...errr...a wish for whatever you want me to write next [not much eh?]....Also the special mention for Silent Melody. [clap,clap].

posted by Fizo @ 3:06 PM