Author: Ganesh Anantharaman
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 261
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143063405
Description
A delightful history of the Hindi film song and its hold over popular psyche
‘De de Khuda ke naam pe’ sang Wazir Mohammed Khan in Alam Ara (1931), giving birth to a phenomenon—the Hindi film song. Over the years, the Hindi film song has travelled a long way, influencing and being influenced by popular taste. Considered downmarket not so long ago, it is undoubtedly the most popular musical genre in India today, pervading almost all aspects of Indian life—weddings, funerals, religious festivals, get-togethers and political conventions—and emerging as a medium to articulate every shade of joy and sorrow, love and longing, hope and despair.
Bollywood Melodies traces the evolution of the Hindi film song to its present status as the cultural barometer of the country, through an evaluation of the work of over fifty outstanding composers, singers and lyricists—from K.L. Saigal to Sonu Nigam, Naushad to A.R. Rahman, Sahir Ludhianvi to Javed Akhtar. Placing the song in the social context of the times, Ganesh Anantharaman looks at the influences that shaped it in each era: Rabindra Sangeet in the 1930s, the folk-inspired 1940s, the classical strains of the following decade and the advent of Western beats in the late 1960s. The author also chronicles the decline of music in Hindi films over the next twenty years before a new crop of musicians and singers gave the film song a new lease of life.
Erudite yet lively, and including insightful interviews with icons like Lata Mangeshkar, Dev Anand, Gulzar, Manna Dey and Pyarelal, Bollywood Melodies is not only a treasure trove of information for music lovers but also an invaluable guide to understanding the nation’s enduring love affair with the Hindi film song.
Contents
Foreword : Mahesh Bhatt
Author's Note
The Journey of the Hindi Film Songs
PART 1: THE MELODY MAKERS
First Generation Composers: The Pioneers
Pankaj Mullick
Khemchand Prakash
Anil Biswas
Naushad Ali
Second Generation Composers: The Masters
C Ramchandra
Shanker- Jaikishan
S D Burman
Madan Mohan
O P Nayyar
Salil Choudhry
Roshan
Hemant Kumar
Ravi
Jaidev
Vasant Desai
The Third Generation Composers: The Brave hearts
Kalyanji-Anandji
R D Burman
Luxmikant Pyarelal
Khayyam
Ravindra Jain
The Fourth Generation Composers: The Followers
Bappi Lahiri
Rajesh Roshan
A R Rahman
Anand - Milind
Nadeem - Shravan
Annu Malik
Jatin - Lalit
Twenty First Century Composers
Dev Anand Remembers S D Burman
Down Memory lane with Pyarelal
PART 2: THE SONG WRITERS
First Generation Lyricist
Kidar Sharma
D N Madhok
Pradeep
Second Generation Lyricists
Majrooh Sultanpuri
Shakeel Badayuni
Sahir Ludhianvi
Shailendra
Kaifi Azmi
Third Generation Lyricists
Gulzar
Anand Bakshi
Javed Akhtar
Gulzar on the Poets of Hindi Film Music
PART 3: THE PLAYBACK SINGERS
First Generation Singers
K L Saigal
Noorjehan
Suraiya
Shamshad Begum
Second Generation Singers
Lata Mangeshkar
Geeta Dutt
Asha Bhosle
Mukesh
Talat Mahmood
Mohammad Rafi
Kishore Kumar
Third Generation Singers
Udit Narain
Kumar Sanu
Anuradha Paudwal
Kavita Krishnamurthy
Sonu Nigam
Alka Yagnik
Manna Dey: An Echo from the Golden Era of Hindi Film Music
Lata Mangeshkar on other Playback Singers
Index of Songs
General Index