B/W glory, aka Dev Anand & Rafi
I liked posting the knitting obsession film so much that I decided to make a habit of it. I’ve become addicted to Youtube, and it’s wonderful collection of old Hindi film music videos. One song reminds you of another, you wonder if *that* one will be there, and perhaps *that* one, and before I know it, hours have passed. So I thought I’d periodically share some of my favourites with you.
I saw this one after a very long time. From "Tere ghar ke saamne" (In front of your house), a light-hearted romantic comedy where the hero, an architect has to live up to some silly promise he makes to he heroine about building a beautiful house right opposite her father’s palatial bungalow. Stupid story, as most popular Hindi films go, but like most films of the 1950s and 60s, some of the most wonderful music. This one is a solo by my favourite male singer Mohammed Rafi, and picturised on Dev Anand, who was quite the hottie of that generation (and also for a lot of us who grew up after he was past his prime). His slightly-startled expression, the bobbing head, all of it was lapped up like crazy. The woman he’s serenading is Nutan, also a major actress of this period. The stairs they are ambling down are those within the early 13th century minaret in Delhi, the magnificient Qutb Minar. It’s such a simple and impossibly romantic song, I love it.
Cute song.
You forgot to mention that Dev Anand was considered the desi Gregory Peck! He was pretty darn old by the 70s and 80s but I still like the old b/w films of my parents’ generation. Those are the songs I mostly listen to on Raaga.
I had no idea there were so many clips of old Hindi movies on YouTube! I don’t think I’ve seen that movie, yet the video looks familiar to me. Or maybe I’ve just heard the song. My husband has quite a list of old movies he wants me to see to bring me up to speed on Hindi films (so far I’ve mostly seen newer releases).
There’s a channel here that shows old Hindi (I assuem) movies on Saturday afternoons. I haven’t had time to watch any. This weekend is… Woh kaun thi?
Sneaksleep and Deeni, thanks for visiting the blog! Yes, he was the desi Peck, wasn’t he? But I never really got that. Somehow Peck never reminded me of him. And Youtube is seriously addictive. I used to order hindi flicks on netflix just to watch the songs, and now I don’t need to do that anymore.
Spud, Woh Kaun Thi (tr: Who was She?) is a bad suspense/whodunit, I think. Some great songs and the very swanlike (and IMO stuck-up) Sadhana and the somewhat regrettable Manoj Kumar. But that’s wonderful, such old films on TV! One of its most famous songs is http://youtube.com/watch?v=FpVC7JZexwI
I thought you’d like the principle of the thing, even if not perhaps the movie itself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EolVATHv1lQ
THAT is my fav. song from the Woh Kaun thi.
I got motion sickness just with the camera movements and all those multiple sadhanas and manoj kumars in the mirrors!
but it is indeed a lovely song. and yaar, i am the original lata mangeshkar fan.
movie trivia: this is one of the earliest films in which you see manoj kumar in profile all the time; this would become his obsession in later years, where every third shot we’d only see him in profile. he was WEIRD.