SEVEN ICONIC 70’s SONGS OF ARUNA IRANI

The seventies was a very melodious decade and a constant thread through all those years was an actress who never got the lead role in the films that we will mention in this post but made a lasting impression with her roles and songs in those films. The theme for this post is the 70s songs of Aruna Irani. I have cherry picked seven songs of this versatile and beautiful actress, keeping in mind how she made each of these songs memorable with her charismatic performance.

1. Dilbar dil se pyaare Caravan (1971)

A dulcet Lata solo, written by Majrooh Sultanpuri and music by R D Burman, this is an iconic Aruna Irani song and ranks among the favourites of all her fans. This was an apt song to start the list with although it fits into the chronological order, too. In a recent interview, Aruna Irani acknowledges this as one of her favourite songs and has shown gratitude to Lata Mangeshkar for giving her the biggest song of her career. 

This song is a melodious blend of serpentine Arab music and Romani folk music boosted by the classic guitar refrain and lifted by Majrooh Sultanpuri’s lyrics. Aruna Irani plays the role of Nisha, who is a knife thrower in a band of banjaras and is desperately in love with Mohan (Jeetendra) who drives the van of the caravan. Dilber dilse pyaare is a lovelorn tribute from a woman in love which almost celebrates Nisha’s unrequited passion, revelling in the joy it gives her. 

Trivia: Aruna Irani made her debut in the film Gunga Jumna (1961) playing Azra's childhood character. 

2. Choron ko saare nazar aate Naya Zamana (1971)

Composed by S D Burman and written by Anand Bakshi, this solo by Lata Mangeshkar is a lesser known song of Naya Zamana. Aruna Irani plays the role of Rekha, Dharmendra’s sister, who is accused of stealing in a party. Feeling awkward that the gift she brought may not be good enough for such rich hosts, she takes it back from the table on which all the gifts are kept. The host’s wife (Indrani Mukherjee) thinks that she is stealing one of the gifts. The humiliation she faces feels very unjust to her and what could have been a typical situation with a party song is lifted to a memorable cinema moment by Aruna Irani. This is probably the only party song that Aruna Irani would have done where she didn’t need to dance and she herself was the focus of the song for her expressions. This song underlines the fact that she wasn’t given her due in films and that she was a very able actress.

3. Ae phasa Bobby (1973)

Aruna Irani plays the role of Neema, who turns into a friend and guide for Raju in the film Bobby. The song is placed at the climax of the film, a classic rich boy-poor girl tale, where on realising that Raju (Rishi Kapoor) is being forced to leave Bobby (Dimple Kapadia) and marry a girl who isn’t his choice, Neema hints to Raju that maybe the only way out of this desperate situation is to elope with Bobby. Aruna Irani also appears in another song in this film ‘Main shayar toh nahin’. 

Trivia : Bobby was a trend setting films and was a major box office success as it got the second highest collection of all 70s Hindi films (No prizes for guessing that Sholay was the highest earner in that decade!). Also, the film was remade in Persian as Parvaz dar Ghafas in 1980.

4. Sapna mera toot gaya    Khel Khel Mein (1973)

When one has shared one’s dreams with someone and that person is gone, those dreams feel hollow and one feels shattered. Aruna Irani nails these emotions as she reminisces about Rakesh Roshan in this song. The song switches between memories in the antaras and back to reality with the mukhda. The slight pause before the mukhda as one is jerked back to the present works to emphasise the despair of broken dreams and the utter emptiness that takes their place. Aruna Irani’s eyes speak volumes in these pauses as she does full justice to the total starkness and despair in this song. 

Trivia: Aruna Irani holds the record for the most nominations in the category of Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. 

5. Panditji mere marne ke baad Roti Kapda aur Makaan (1974)

Composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal, this song is a gem in an album where every song is a treasure. This song has slipped past many people’s notice, and I was very keen to include it in this list because of that.  A classic diversion song where Aruna Irani diverts the attention of Manmohan to help Manoj Kumar flee. The lyrics are unusual with the intro lines leading up to the mukhda to make it a very catchy beginning. Lata Mangeshkar sings this Verma Mallik song with the right mystery and pathos as the song leads up to the character Poonam played by Aruna Irani dying at the end of the song while helping Manoj Kumar escape.

5. Rang le aayenge Bhanwar (1976)

A song full of passive aggressive asides by Randhir Kapoor, ably aided by Aruna Irani towards a hapless Parveen Babi who cannot say the truth and has to bear the onslaught of their accusations. A classic party scene where the hero has a lot of angst against the heroine, and she has no option but to listen amidst a room full of curious party goers. This is a brilliant creation by R D Burman, written by Anand Bakshi and sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosale, with underlined pathos by the heart wrenching sarangee. Although the song’s focus is on Randhir Kapoor and Parveen Babi, Aruna Irani steals the show with the sharp sarcasm in her expressions and the inner intention to create a rift between the couple. 

Trivia: I have come across some articles that claim that Aruna Irani and actress Bindu are first cousins. However, there has been no way of confirming this, so I leave it to my readers to comment below if they know this as true!

Note: A helpful reader has since confirmed that Aruna Irani and Bindu are indeed cousins with this link from The Kapil Sharma Show. 

7. One two cha cha cha Shalimar (1978)

This is a very catchy song that helps to starts off a very unusual film on a brilliant pace. Written by Anand Bakshi and music by R. D. Burman, this song is sung by Usha Uthup. Aruna Irani has a guest appearance in this film for this song. She plays the role of a dance teacher, and the song is filmed in a dance school where she is shown teaching the steps for the Cuban dance form Cha Cha Cha. This is one of her briefest appearances on screen in a film, but she makes an indelible mark on the minds of the audience. Shalimar, for many of us, is Aruna Irani’s One two cha cha cha. 

It was very difficult to narrow down my favourite Aruna Irani songs to a mere seven. I have had to leave out many of my favourites like Kya gazab karte ho ji (Love story), Sham-e-furqat ka dhal gaya saya re (Sanyasi) Humein tumse pyar kitna (Kudrat) because they were not from the 70s, except for Sanyasi! Do comment below with your favourite Aruna Irani songs, no matter which decade you select them from! 

Seven sparkling songs of Rati Agnihotri

 

Two posters adorned the walls of my room in my schooldays. One was of Kumar Gaurav and the other was of Rati Agnihotri. They remain my ‘popstars’ of my teens. 

Seeing Rati Agnihotri films now has made me realise that her films always had great songs, most of them by Laxmikant Pyarelal and R D Burman. She was one of the few actresses of her time to have music director Ravi compose music for one of her films (Tawaif).  Here’s following her journey with some of her best melodies.

 1. Solah baras ki baali umar                        Ek Dujjhe ke liye               1981

Ek Dujjhe Ke Liye was directed by K. Balachander. It was a remake of his Tamil film Maro Charitra. Rati’s first Hindi film and definitely among her best. This film was a super hit in its time and has made a place in Indian films history as one of the lasting love stories. Vasu-Sapna became legendary at that time and rewatching this film tells us why. The magic is intact in this film with the chemistry between Kamal Hassan and Rati, no matter how many times we watch it. It was tough to choose just one song from this film as Rati Agnihotri shines brilliantly in all of them. Based on Raag Ahir Bhairav, Solah baras ki touches very poignant chords as Sapna visits various places to relive moments that she spent there with Vasu.  Written by Anand Bakshi and music composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal, this song is rendered beautifully by Lata Mangeshkar.

Trivia: The tune of Solah baras ki can be spotted in the background score composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal for Raj Kapoor’s film Bobby during the scene where Bobby ( Dimple Kapadia) leaves for Kashmir.

2. Chalo haseen geet ek banayein                        Shaukeen     1982

Rati plays the role of Anita as a singer at a local club in Goa. This film was a huge hit and was the among the highest grossing movies of 1982. The music of this film was by R D Burman and the song Chalo haseen geet is sung by Ashok Kumar and Chirashree Bhattacharya and written by Yogesh. A fresh and breezy song which is timeless and can get our feet tapping every time we hear it.

Trivia: Shaukeen is based on Samaresh Basu’s novel. Gulzar’s Kitaab and Namkeen are also based on this author’s novels.

 3. Aisa to socha na tha         Pasand apni apni               1983

Pasand Apni Apni was a Basu Chatterjee film and the song Aisa toh socha na tha is filmed in the classic Basu Chatterjee style. Local train of Bombay, heroine in a simple cotton saree with situations and emotions that the common man can relate to. It is interesting to note how Rati Agnihotri readily took on a deglamourised role in this film. She plays the role of a struggling actress whose life path crosses with a millionaire (Mithun Chakraborty) and events unfold in a light yet engrossing tale. Aisa toh socha na tha is sung by Asha Bhosale with music composed by Bappi Lahiri and lyrics by Yogesh.

      4. Boom Boom            Star                            1983

Right after the Nazia Hassan wave in India with Qurbani, Nazia Hassan and her brother Zoheb Hassan made a couple of private albums with Biddu, following which Biddu produced Kumar Gaurav -Rati Agnihotri film Star. Rati Agnihotri was the only screen persona to get the playback of Nazia Hassan on screen besides Zeenat Aman. Star had a very successful soundtrack and Boom Boom remains mint fresh every time we see it. She played the role of Maya who works at a nightclub.

As my opening paragraph will tell you, knowing that Rati Agnihotri and Kumar Gaurav were coming together in a film had made my schoolfriends and me nearly delirious with expectations. It was a bit of a setback to see that they were not paired together in the actual sense ( I will avoid spoilers here in case someone sees the film now!) It was also a disappointment that the film didn’t click at the box office.

    5. Sajna sun sun          Rishta Kagaz Ka                  1983

The first thing you will realise when you see this song is that the whole situation looks very familiar.  Aarti, played by Rati Agnihotri, is trying to woo and distract Arun , played by Raj Babbar , from his work. It feels like this song was made as a tribute to Bindiya chamkegi from Do Raaste. The tribute is complete with Rati wearing an orange saree with a clear accolade and salute to Mumtaz in this song.  This is purely my conjecture and, despite searching on the net, I have managed to find no reference to this. However, I am totally convinced that this song was filmed keeping Bindiya chamkegi in mind. It just seems too much of a coincidence to have so many unintended similar points in a song (I have this same conjecture for another song in this list and you will come across that soon!)

    6. Mujhe tum yaad karna    Mashaal                    1984

The lyrics of this song caught my fancy the first time I heard them. All songs in hindi films that precede any parting between lovers talk of parting as an anguish of love and say things like ‘Bhoolne waale yaad na aa’ or ‘tum yaad na aaya karo’. This song instead asks to make sure they remember each other.  

Mujhe tum yaad karna aur

Mujhko yaad aana tum

Even the stanzas are out of the box with the boy telling the girl to meet people and stay busy and smiling, while she tells him to smile and be friendly with every approaching girl. Which is very different from the standard parting duet where the boy and girl concentrate on telling each other to keep on remembering them!

Sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar to the music composed by Hridaynath Mangeshkar, this song is written by Javed Akhtar. Rati Agnihotri plays the role of Geeta who is a press reporter and comes across Raja (Anil Kapoor) who decides to turn over a new leaf under the mentoring of the editor Vinod Kumar (Dilip kumar) who she works for.

     7. Bhool ho gayee jaane de   Zabardast 1985

The conjecture I mentioned for another song is for this one! This song also feels like a clear tribute to Shammi Kapoor- Asha Parekh song O mere Sona re from Teesri Manzil. Here, there is a distinct connection as both are Nasir Hussain films. The heroine wooing the hero, the female solo with lyrics laced in mischievous pleading, the broken handbag strap of the hero halfway through the song…well, this was elementary, my dear Watson! This is an Asha Bhosale solo composed by R D Burman and written by Majrooh Sultanpuri. O mere sona re also had the exact same creators. If you see both these songs one after the other, you will realise the joie de vivre is the same in both, a lot of which is a credit to the actors Rati Agnihotri and Rajeev Kapoor as Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh were a tough act to follow. People who just do remixes should observe these songs to understand what a real tribute is. The entire creation is new, there is a lot of hard work and the team brings together something that is a masterpiece even when seen after the original.

6. 

We see that Rati’s films have very little stereotyping if we follow her career graph. From a career-oriented journalist in Mashaal to a housewife in Rishta Kagaz ka to a tawaif in the film Tawaif, she took on a wide range of roles and made a mark even though the films in those days mostly centered on the hero. Hope you enjoyed following Rati Agnihotri’s musical journey in Bollywood. Comment with your favourite Rati Agnihotri song!

Seven Songs of Sapne

 

‘The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.’ This was said by Eleanor Roosevelt and our HFM has happily given life to this quote with its myriad songs on Sapne/ dreams. Be the dreams in any form, they fill our lives and provide some balance in good days and bad.

1. Mere sapne mein aana re

Film: Rajhat 1956

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Music Director: Shankar Jaikishan

Lyrics: Shailendra

Madhubala lights up the screen with the honeysweet rendition by Lata Mangeshkar. As she asks her beloved to appear in her dream, she imagines everything she probably wouldn’t dare to suggest when she actually met him. The shy hesitant personality which takes on a different bravado for her dreams sets an interesting contrast in this song.

Mere sapne mein aana re, sajnaa,

Mere sapne mein aana re,

Woh baat zaraa mere kaanon mein,

phir se keh jaana re...

 

 

2. Sapne mein sajan se do baatein

Film: Gateway of India 1957

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Lyrics: Rajinder Kishan

Music: Madan Mohan

Somehow one of the first songs to come to mind for Sapne is this song. That is surprising as I have never seen this song on video as it isn’t available. However, that has never stopped me from visualising Madhubala in this sweet melody composed by Madan Mohan. Lata Mangeshkar has sung this song with such emotions that our mind can bridge the gap for the visual and its almost as if we have seen the video with Madhubala’s dulcet smile. This is true for most old hindi film songs that have missing videos, our mind’s eye directs the visuals.

Ik raat milan ki aayee thi,
aur uske baad judaayi thi,
gham aur khushi ki do raaten
ik yaad rahi ik bhool gaye…
Sapne mein sajan se do baaten…

 

 

3. Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hai    1965

Film: Guide

Singer: Mohammed Rafi

Music director: S D Burman

Lyrics: Shailendra

A shattered Rosy slowly comes to life as Raju hands her the hope of shared dreams and a life together in this song. Each line is steeped in sincerity as the trio of Kaviraj Shailendra, S D Burman and Mohammed Rafi serve us magic on a platter. The pathos of the saxophone set against the early light of Udaipur with Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman is the ultimate magic that cinema has ever offered.

Lakh manaa le duniya,
Saath na yeh chhootega,
Aake mere haathon mein
Haath na yeh chhootega…
O mere jeevan saathi
Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain..

 

 4. Sapnon ka Saudagar    1968

Film: Sapnon ka Saudagar

Singer: Mukesh

Lyrics: Shailendra

Music: Shankar Jaikishan

Life throws many curve balls and it can sometimes be difficult to keep our spirits up. At times like these, what helps is hope. No matter how difficult the circumstances, keeping hope and optimism alive helps one chart the troubled waters. With the words ‘Tumse kismet khel chuki, Tum kismet se khelo’, Shailendra has nailed the power of hope in his inimitable manner.

Ik chhaliya aas ke peechhe,
Daude to yahaan tak aaye,
Har shaam ko dhalta suraj
Jaate jaate keh jaaye…

Woh tay kar legaa manzil

Jo ik sapna apnaaye…’

 

 

 

 

5. Sapna mera toot gaya   1973

Film: Khel Khel Mein

Singer: Asha Bhosale and R D Burman

Music: R D Burman

Lyrics: Gulshan Bawra

 

When one has shared one’s dreams with someone and that person is gone, those dreams feel hollow, shattered. This song is filmed on Aruna Irani where she reminisces about Rakesh Roshan. However, this song, for me, will always be about Asha Bhosale and Pancham. That tug at the heartstrings will always be there when I hear this song as I think of both of them. The song switches between memories in the antaras and back to reality with the mukhda. The slight pause before the mukhda as one is jerked back to the present works to emphasise the despair of broken dreams. The utter emptiness that takes their place.

 

6. Ek din sapne mein dekha sapna

Film: Golmaal      1979

Singer: Kishore Kumar and Sapan Chakraborty

Music: R D Burman

Lyrics: Gulzar

A dream within a dream! As only Gulzar can visualise! This is a song on farfetched dreams. Something that has practically zero chance of materialsing and yet gives immense joy to the mind. My sapne mein sapna was always a wish to meet Dev Anand. Never happened but then that’s why it qualified to be my sapne mein sapna! Life gets colours of joy with such dreams. The song has Ramprasad (Amol Palekar in one of his finest roles) imagining himself in Amitabh Bachchan’s shoes and signing autographs while Big B looks on in dismay. Rekha begging him to stay back and Lata’s singing  being accompanied on the tabla are further sapnas, each of which bring a smile to our lips.

The sweetest line of this song is

‘Ik din sapne mein dekhi sapni,

Woh jo hai na Lata apni..’

7. Dekho maine dekha hai yeh ek sapna   

Film: Love Story   1981

Singers: Amit Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar

Music: R D Burman

Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

When dreams are ambitions as well as visions of life with one’s beloved, then this song fits the bill! The debut film of Kumar Gaurav who went on to be the heart throb of young girls at that time. This film also established Amit Kumar as the singing voice of Kumar Gaurav, a lot like Shailendra Singh’s voice getting associated with Rishi Kapoor at the beginning of his career. The song hints at the lead character Bunty’s inclination towards taking up the field of architecture, something that he had disagreed with his father for in the beginning of the film as he wanted to be a pilot. The lyrics follow each part of the house design blending in nicely with aspirations for different facets of his life.

 

I was limited by the number seven and could not list more of my favourite songs on sapne. Do write in with your favourite sapne songs in the comments!