Use your Vivek
I am a true believer in randomness. Things happen, we do not make them happen. We can only work towards it. I started writing full time for a living, three years back, on a rainy afternoon, when I turned up at DNA looking for a job and got one. The funny part is I still love it.
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Dark clouds. Black thunder with a flash of lightening. Drops of rain. The smell of wet earth. The red gulmohar in all its glory. Ek cup garam chai. Kishore Kumar singing "rim jhim girre sawan."
I wake up to a rainy Mumbai morning, frantically searching for CDs and cassettes (yeah I still listen to them) which have my favourite rain songs. An hour and a half later, I have come up with a list of what would be my top 10 rain songs of all time: songs about the rain, songs picturised in the rain and both.
So here we go (The songs are in no particular order.)
1) Saawan ke mahine main: This is an old Dev Anand - Mohammed Rafi number, written by Rajinder Krishen and set to tune by ghazal samrath Madan Mohan. "Sawan ke mahine main, ek aag thee seene main, thodi si jo pee leta hoon, do chaar ghadi ji leta hoon," go the lyrics of this very soulful number. A very good song to wake up to, on a rainy morning, which makes you feel melancholic, and reminds you of those days, you wouldn't want to remember about. It prolongs the pain and if you are the kind who seeks pleasure even in pain, nothing to beat this number.
2) Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si:If you are the kind who is against plagiarism of any kind you shouldn't be listening to this song. S D Burman who composed this song for the superhit movie Chalti ka Naam Gaadi, was more than inspired by the song 'Sixteen Tons' by Tennessee Ernie Ford (in fact "Hum the woh thi aur samaa rangeen samajh gaye nai" another song from the same movie is a straight lift from 'The Watermelon song', by the same singer.One story goes that Kishore Kumar forced BurmanDa to copy both the songs). But that is beside the point. What really works for the song is the beautiful Madhubala and the 'jumpy' (for the lack of a better word) Kishore Kumar. A great song to follow Saawan Ke Mahine Main, to liven up the proceedings.
3) Pyar Hua Ikraar Hua: One rain song which needs no introduction, featuring Raj Kapoor and Nargis, probably the most famous on screen couple of Hindi cinema, with a chemistry, never really seen in Hindi movies after Nargis stopped working with Raj Kapoor.
4) Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi: This song from the movie Chori Chori had the same team which was responsible for Pyar Hua Ikraar Hua: Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeskhar, Shankar Jaikiskhan and Hasrat Jaipuri. This makes for terrific listening on rainy nights when one has nothing to do and is drowning in aloneness. Chori Chori was a copy of the Hollywood Classic It Happened One Night. Having said that it was not as blatantly copied as Dil Hai ki Maanta Nahi, where the writing trio of Robin Bhatt, Akash Khurana and Javed Siddiqui had gone to the extent of even translating the dialogues of the English original in Hindi.
5) Zindagi Bhar Nahi Bhoolegi Wo Barsaat Ki Raat: This movie had a rather unlikely pair of Bharat Bhushan and Madhubala starring in it. This was one of the last few movies in which Madhubala acted. But despite the odd casting of the lead pair what really makes this song work are the beautiful lyrics by Sahir: "Zindagi bhar nahi bhoolegi wo barsaat ki raat. Ek anjaan hasina se wo mulakat ki raat. Hai wo reshami zulfon se barastaa paani, phool se gaalon pe rukne ko tarasataa paani. Dil main tuufaan uthaate hue haalaat kii raat." Nobody writes like Sahir anymore.
6) Rimjhim Girre Sawan: Another famous rain song. This song from the movie Manzil has probably been heard by more people than seen. It stars Amitabh Bachchan and Maushami Chatterjee, is set to tune by R D Burman and written by Yogesh, who wrote some fantastic songs in the seventies and early eighties. The version that everybody has heard, has been sung by Kishore Kumar, but there is an equally well sung, though not as famous, female version, sung by Lata Mangekshar. Why not check that out this season?
7) Hai Hai je majboori ye mausam aur ye doori: Zeenat Aman at her sexy best trying to seduce a rather uptight Mr Bharat aka Manoj Kumar. This song probably made Hindi film producers realise that a rain dance routine by the heroine can be a big money spinner. The only saving grace in Roti, Kapda aur Makaan - a lousy Mr Bharat movie. Written by Verma Mallik, set to tune by Laxmikant Pyarelal and sung rather oddly by Lata Mangeshkar. A great song for rainy afternoons when one is unlucky enough to be without a partner.
8) Jaane do na, paas aao na: This was probably the last time a Hindi film heroine looked sexy while dancing wearing a proverbial red sari. After this the dance masters of Bollywood, turned dance into exercise. Dimple Kapadia's comeback movie after Bobby, which proved the point that looking sexy had nothing to do with shedding clothes (you know the old Hindi film heroine line "agar script ki demand hogi to main expose karungi") A good song to play if the girl friend/wife/partner is not getting the hint.
9) Saawan Barse Tarse Dil: Don't think many people would have heard this song, from this movie called Dahek starring Akshaye Khanna and Sonali Bendre. This is one of the few rain songs which has been shot outside a studio and beautifully captures the rains in Mumbai.
10)Ab ke saawan aise barse: The only non film song to make it to my list. Sung by Shubha Mudgal in a booming voice and written by Prasoon Joshi (which incidentally was his first big hit.) I listen to this song, when summer is at its peak, my head is about to burst due to the heat and I wish that it rains. Oh, and at times, it does.
PS: An obvious miss in the list "Aaj rapaat jaaye to humme na uthaiyo." Somehow I have never gotten around to liking this song starring Smita Patil and Amitabh Bachchan, who both look very conscious about what they are doing in the song. And more than that I feel it's a pretty average song composed by Bappi Lahiri, who really was at his best while copying English music.
Hi Ajay
Yeah I missed out on a few songs. But then I was choosing my favourite ten songs and that was a limitation.
Cheers
Thanks for pointing that out
hi Prashant
Yes I agree there are many more songs. But I was just trying to point out my favourites.
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