Bollywood Music the complete journey

Bollywood Music the Complete journey

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. What about music then? Music is vast. The choices of masses are so varied. Generation to generation, choices have changed. Today, the melody & lyrics have taken a backseat while rhythm is ruling the nest. What sounded melodious to our grandfathers were seen as tragic renditions or "rona-dhona" by many in our generation, what sounds melodious to us, is scoffed at by the next generation as "boring oldies" and what sounds like great music to them sounds "too noisy" to us.😛 Yet in the midst of this, there are still songs from every era that has waved its way into the heart of music lovers, they still reign, these are the songs that are remembered by the grandfathers and also by us. Today's music directors are releasing these very "Olden Goldies" in the form of remix album which are now liked by the current generation as well.

An interesting observation is that musical discussions can be very ambiguous. You can go on writing whatever you feel about music. This article is about the changes that Indian film music has undergone from its starting and how I see the transition from the 1930's till date. I have chosen Bollywood film music because it is related to us all more than any other form of music.

So here are my views:

1. The 30s (1930 - 1939)

It's the starting era of Indian film music. Saw music directors like Khemchand Prakash, R.C. Boral and Pankaj Mullick who purely believed in Hindustani Classical music. The concept of playback singing was not in the air and the filmstars of those days used to sing their own songs. This era of music has seen singers/actors like Ashok Kumar, Noorjehan, Suraiya and Devika Rani. The recordings were done in one shot and there was no scope of error during recordings.

Worth listening albums of this era - Achchhut Kanya, Bandini, Raja Harishchandra, Street Singer, Millionaire

2. The 40s (1940 - 1949)

The first half of this era was exactly similar to the 30s. The second half saw the emergence of K L Sehgal as an artist and singer. He was so famous that later singers like Mohd. Rafi and Mukesh tried to immitate him. This era saw the emergence of C.H.Atma and Naushad as music directors. The second half introduced the playback singing. C.H. Atma, himself had hit songs like Mandwe tale gareeb ke to his credit. After the partition, Noorjehan left for Pakistan and Bollywood saw the emergence of Lata Mangeshkar as playback singer. She got her first success with music director Ghulam Haider. Mukesh and Rafi also evolved as good singers - thanks to Naushad Sahab.

Worth listening albums of this era - Tansen, Shahjahan, Parwana, My Sister,Shaheed

3. The 50s (1950 - 1959)

This era can be termed as "The Raj Kapoor" era. With movies like Aag, Anari, Mr. 420, Shankar-Jaikishan became the big names to reckon with. While lyricists Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri penned memorable lyrics and Shanker Jaikishen scored the music. This combination produced many memorable songs. Naushad was still in the scene and S.D. Burman and Chitalkar emerged as great music directors of their times. This era saw the emergence of Kishore Kumar as a singer and also it gave us singers like Manna Dey and Talat Mehmood. The recording was still done in one go but Hemant Kumar revolutionized the Indian Music Industry by the use of Keyboards (Synthesizers) for the first time in his film -Nagin.

Worth listening albums of this era - Nagin, Navrang, Aawara, Shri 420, CID

4. The 60s (1960 -1969)

New music directors like Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal became popular in this era. Innovation was at its best, thanks to the music directors like Chitragupta. New music directors started a new trend - Writing songs on tunes. Earlier it was vice versa. Mahendra Kapoor started his long term relationship with Manoj Kumar.

Worth listening albums of this era - Humraaz, Bhabhi, Guide, Jaanwar

5. The 70s (1970 - 1979)

This was the era of R D Burman and Gulzar Sahab. The depth in lyrics somehow started fading away and new lyricist like Anand Bakshi replaced greats like Shailendra, Neeraj and Pradeep. The songs became a bit modern. Bappi Lahiri emerged as a music director in the late 70s and was hit with songs like Chalte chalte mere ye geet, Bambai se aaya mera dost etc.

Worth listening albums of this era - Aandhi, Mausam, Gharonda, Julie

6. The 80s (1980 - 1989)

Probably the least remembered years in Bollywood music. Melody paled into insignificance and songs like Ek aankh maroon, aaj rapat jaayen became hits. Bappi da ka drum replaced the traditional dholaks and tablas of Laxmikant Pyarelal. Close on Bappi da's heels were Laxmikant Pyarelal as far as commercial success went. The later years saw the emergence of new age music directors like Anand-Milind and Nadeem Shravan. The face of Indian music was about to undergo a major change.

Worth listening albums of this era - Disco Dancer, Sharaabi, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Maine Pyar Kiya

7. The 90s (1990 - 1999)

New music directors heralded new kind of music. In the early years, Anand-Milind and Nadeem-Shravan ruled the charts. New singers like Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet emerged and singers like Mohd. Aziz and Shabbir Kumar were forced to quit. The latter half saw the emergence of Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit and Allah Rakha Rehman (A. R. Rehman). Who would have imagined that these three will change the face of Indian music to such an extent? This era also saw the emergence of Sonu Nigam as a playback singer.

Worth listening albums of this era - Aashiqui, Bombay, Love, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Darr

8. The new millenium (2000- Today)

Music has lost the melody. It is purely the rhythm that is selling. Thanks to a few music directors like Adesh Srivastav, Ismail Durbar and Santanu Moitra who are still trying hard to keep the melody alive. Jain-Lalit have now broken their partnership and is no more sought after. Anu Malik is the biggest thing after Himesh Reshammiya. Remix songs are coming in the same album sometime they are released even before the original single. This is possibly the worst era in my opinion when it comes to melody.

Worth listening albums of this era - Parineeta, Chameli, Baghbaan, Swades, Lagaan, Aashiq Banaaya Aapne

So friends this is my recap in a nutshell about the evolution of Indian Bollywood music from origin till today - the journey from classical to melody to synthesized orchestration and upbeat rhythm. I have posted my views. Some of you may agree and some may not. It will be interesting to see your point of view too. So, I put it up to you now. All you need to do is answer these questions with your views:

If you have to choose your favorite song out of all the eight eras, which song will you choose???

What appeals to you more, melody or rhythm?

How important is lyrics for a song?

If you were given a choice to decide what type of songs you wanted, which type would you opt for?

And lastly which in your opinion was the best era till now in bollywood music?

Now, it's over to you all to continue the discussion.😊

Great topic Barnalidi, and a great sum up of the era's. My replies in blue below:

[quote=Barnali]

If you have to choose your favorite song out of all the eight eras, which song will you choose???

My favorite songs are all Kishore Kumar numbers and they are all from the 70's. There are quite a few actually , so I cannot pick out just one...but anyone of the following would do for me:

Mere Naina Sawaan Bhado

Chingari Koi Bhadke,

Jeevan Se Bhari Teri Aankhen

Ruk Jaana Nahi Tu Kahi Haarke

Rim jhim gire sawan

What appeals to you more, melody or rhythm?

Melody defines a song and sets its rhythm.So for me melody is more important.

How important is lyrics for a song?

Music is a very integral part of our lives. Happiness or sadness, success or failure , love or loneliness, for each mood there is a song.How will the song relate to the feelings at that particular time, if befitting sensible lyrics are missing. The lyrics is the one that touches the heart to find that special place, so good lyrics in a song is very important for me.

If you were given a choice to decide what type of songs you wanted, which type would you opt for?

Melodious classical based songs with good lyrics and good rhythm..

And lastly which in your opinion was the best era till now in bollywood music?

1950-1980
Songs of Shanker Jaikishen, Madan Mohan, SD Burman, C.Ramachandra, Naushad, Khaiyyam, Salil Chowdhury, R D Burman, Jaidev, etc are still so memorable and still remain so fresh.

That was a very interesting write-up Barnali Di! 👏

Well, here are my replies to the questions;

If you have to choose your favorite song out of all the eight eras, which song will you choose???

Well, I don't have favourites in eras, but some songs I really like are Ajeeb Daastan hai yeh, I think the year of the song was 1950 or 1960, I don'n know the movie name. And from the 70/s I love the music of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherji films! 😳


What appeals to you more, melody or rhythm?

I guess if a song has no melody, rhythm won't sound right. It should have the right mix of both.

How important is lyrics for a song?

Very important. As much as I love to listen to a song for the way it sounds, I listen to the lyrics too. A song like Roobaroo from RDB has no "music" in the true sense, but I still love the song bacuase of the lyrics. 😳

If you were given a choice to decide what type of songs you wanted, which type would you opt for?

Slow and sweet songs with meaningful lyrics. 😳

And lastly which in your opinion was the best era till now in bollywood music?

There were memorable songs in all the eras except the 80's. But I love the songs from the 70's the most as most of my old favoutirtes are from that era. 😳

Great topic Barnali. Will try to write later.

Barnali has mentioned 'Bandini' as one of the movies to view from the 1930s. Kind of confused. Are there 2 Bandinis then? Bimal Roy's Bandini was in the 1960s, isn't it?

Originally posted by: Ethnos

Barnali has mentioned 'Bandini' as one of the movies to view from the 1930s. Kind of confused. Are there 2 Bandinis then? Bimal Roy's Bandini was in the 1960s, isn't it?

i too thought bandini came in 50's or 60's I am not sure with nutan and balraj sahani. May be there are 2 bandinis.

Great post di.. 👏 Will come back and post my views 😊

Great topic Barnali !!!

I remember my dad telling us when we were young that his dad would take huge objection to their listening to hindi songs. He especially disliked the shrill Lata ( what are they doing to music now a days was his usual complaint it seems) while my dad and his siblings would smuggle the radio into their beds and listen with the minimum volume, ears stuck on to the radio.... 😆 😆 😆

So the old generation scoffing at the music of new generation is age old......but yes,there are exceptions, at times both new and old generation agree and bad music always is bad - new and old irrespective. The unanimity in thinking that 80s were the worst in music stands proof to this. Even the new generation of the 80s which is now the mid generation rejected it out and out as well !!! So much so that T. Series recycled old music to cater to the demand for quality music. I remember that was actually an era when English music became more popular due to lack of quality hindi music, barring some here and there glimpse of brilliance once in a while ( 'humne sanam ko khat likha' is one of them, 'mera woh saman lauta' do another).

I think both lyrics and music go hand in hand to make agreat song. If you just have lyrics but mediocre melody, it will go unnoticed.If you have just some catchy music but no lyrics, it will fade away in no time. Have music with melody - and it will stay forever. 'Kal ho na ho' or a 'dil chahata hai' are the best examples of this combination.

Great choices! 👏

If you have to choose your favorite song out of all the eight eras, which song will you choose???
Umm now thats really hard especially since my taste changes with every song i hear!! 😆 And to say one song wud be too hard!! However i guess i think it would be Pehla Nasha Pehla kumaar from jo jeeta wohi sikander! 😳 It is a sole touching song! 😳

What appeals to you more, melody or rhythm?
A song should have both mixed in it. It should be in rythm with a good melody. only then can it be a complete song. 😳

How important is lyrics for a song?
Very important. They are the base of every song. The words are the things that change the meaning of the whole song. However with the new trend of fast songs, words and lyrics dont matter any more. Its only the beat that work. Its actually sad bec a song can not be felt without its lyrics.

If you were given a choice to decide what type of songs you wanted, which type would you opt for?
I dunt know actually! 😆 It depends on me mood. When i feel low or im in a romantic mood and want to day dream a lil then slow songs set the mood that is usually at net. However while dancing i prefer fast songs or when im in a masti mood i really want to hear fast songs with meaning!

And lastly which in your opinion was the best era till now in bollywood music?
This is call the hardest question of the century! 😆 All the era have been beautifull and different. They really can not be compared especially since song composing is an art. 😳 However i think i like the present era best because 1st of all, i have heard the most songs from the present era, and 2ndly this era has a lot of different kind of music. Music has developed greatly in this era, however sadly it has also declines a little. 😊