I found this funny :)

The Music Man..

72 years ago , A man was born today. Through his music , he made life of an entire nation a li'l more tolerable, pain- a li'l more bearable and love- a li'l more lovable, if nothing else.

There is nothing left to say about his music, his sheer genius. Here i picked up 5 of my most favourite R.D Burman songs..not necessarily in that order :

Yeh Sham Mastani : This is the song from Asha Parekh-KaKa ( oops..Rajesh Khanna) starrer "Kati Patang". This film has a complicated story track (which i forgot almost) with mistaken identity, oppressed widow, sizzling cabaret dancer, lecherous Prem Chopra, sulking Asha Parekh,drinking Rajesh Khanna blah blah blah. But what made the film immensely popular was it's music with numbers like " Yeh jo mohabbat hain" ( which is the anthem of all cheated-in-love-and-drinking-like-fish lovers in pubs!) and "Mera naam hain shabnam" with ravishing,sizzling, swaying Bindu but for me, the real gem is "Yeh sham mastani". Picturised on a too-eager-to-please Rajesh Khanna ( in yellow trousers..!!!!) and a reticent Asha Parekh, with lush,green valley under their feet and a Chrystal,clear sky above them- Kishore Kumar's voice was so beautiful and heart wrenching in this song that it hurts !

Dum maro dum : Ahead of it's time, the Dev Anand directed cult "Hare Krishna Hare Rama" was trend-setter in early 70s in many ways, like fashion, boldness, music, the introduction flower children for the first time in hindi cinema, hippie culture etc etc. and most importantly the original sex goddess of Indian Cinema Zeenat Aman with her super slim waist and super arrogant cleavage! In this song, Asha Bhosle made a whole nation dance with her voice.Iskon demanded banning of the song for the so-called offensive lyrics.Zeenat Aman created a fashion icon out of herself with bell-bottoms, colored glass, namabali kurti , and marigold garland. And this song defined the revolution of a generation.

Is mod se jaate hain : He penned lyrics like dream.He composed music like solid gold. Together both of them- Gulzar and R.D created this musical poetry in motion (literally) from the controversial political drama " Aandhi". Both Lata and Kishore did something which touches one's heart and fills one's eyes.

Do lafzon ki hain dil ki kahani : I think, after this song only Venice (with it's romantic gondolas)became 3rd hottest destination for honeymooners ( 1st two are Paris and Switzerland subsequently!!!) in India. From the late 70s potboiler " The Great Gambler" - this melancholic tune became the song of so-close-yet-so-far-away loving hearts! When Asha Bhosle crooned "yeh zindagi ke din kitne kam hain..kitni hain khusiyan aur kitne gam hain" life seemed not-so-bad suddenly.

Hoga tum se pyara kaun : This is the song of my dream from the film "Zamane ko dikhana hain". Whenever i see it , i imagine myself in the place of Padmini Kolhapure and Rishi Kapur would be singing and proposing to me over-the-roof of a running train. It's beautiful. It's fresh. It's young. And well, "cute" would be the best word to describe it.

P.S.1.- I would like to thank all the F.M channels in Kolkata for playing R.D numbers throughout the day.

P.S.2- My PG mate (a regular bathroom singer) and I ( an occasional one) sang RD songs in whenever we went to bathroom all the day! :)

The Shitty Affair..

You are what you read

A noble person quoted the above line long ago ( such a beautiful thought but i forgot his/her name :( )..but may be that's the reason why i felt so shitty after finishing a literary horror called " Oh yes i am single and so is my girlfriend.." penned jointly by Durjoy Datta and Neeti Rustagi ( so the whacking should have been divided between the two for wasting my one rainy evening and Rs. 20 of the reading charge). The story revolves around a nerd(since nursery!) who went to become an engineer ( What Else!) and subsequently a management graduate ( the salvation). Meantime he got the time to wander ( actually philander) into opposite sex. The focal point of the story is how he realized,after having numerous romps, the true love of his life- that was his nymphomaniac girl friend of once!

The plot could have been fleshed out as a cute, romantic novel but in reality it turned out to become such a bad read that after finishing it over, i felt cheated. It's amazing how the publisher ever let the book publish! Throughout the novel , the dude searched for love (actually lust) and after one point of time , it became so repetitive and annoying. ( No, not one point of time but right from the beginning! ). His path had crossed with that of hot chicks time and again and he got confused kis se pyar karein! And once he met Miss Right and they instantly hit it off followed by the inevitable you-know-what . then he cheated on her.Then he found another girl.The cheated girl got another bakra and this go on and on as if they don't eat,shit,work or sleep ( i mean they sleep but not ours type of sleep ..they only sleep with each other all the time). And the most irritating parts were the sexual implications-they were amateurish and yackish.

So,if i want to conclude just in one line what i felt after going through the pain of reading, i should infer from what seemed to me, the author's most fav term in the book-

It totally fucked up my mind

10 things I like about DCH..

In 2001 something magical happened in Indian silver screen..and after that life was not the same ..

It is a story of 3 dudes - one street smart, one confused and one vague. They came, did some crazy things, mouthed some cool dialogues about life and love, changed- and well with them, changed the life style of a whole urban generation literally. It has been 10 years since Farhan Akhtar's cult film hit the screen and still the charm and the craze about DCH is intact in many ways. Here I have listed 10 things which i like about Dil Chahta Hain :-

1. Amir Khan with his never-seen-before avatar ( cool spike and cute goatee) depicting a street smart and intense persona- SEXY!

2. Amir Khan with a oh-so-cutely-confused Shefali Khan-turned-Saif Ali Khan - SEXIER!!

3. Amir Khan and Saif Ali with a dreamy-poetic-romantic-headstrong (all in one) Akshay khanna - SEXIEST!!!

4. After seeing DCH- "A roadtrip to Goa with friends" is a must-to-do thing in every DCH-addicted dudes' and babes' bucket list.

5. I am extremely suspicious with this younger-guys-falling-for-older-than-them-girls trend is a strictly post DCH in-thing( OK OK..i know love can happen anywhere,anytime and anyway- but still....). P.S- Sachin Tendulkar is an exception.

6. The process of Aging can be so sexy, graceful and charming- Who realized it before seeing a superbly elegant Dimple Capadia in simple kurti and jeans on-screen?

7. If you eternally confused about -among your potential list of boyfriends and girlfriends , with whom to get hitched-Do one thing: just close your eyes and whose face instantly pops-up into your mind - IT'S HE OR SHE !! ( though i m still doubtful with the effectivity of this formula). It's the most tried -and-tested funda for lacs of lovelorn youth. Amir Khan showed the way!

8. After Sholay, friendship had never been so cherished, so respected and so valued- like it happend in Dil Chahta Hain.

9. The frivolous- yet so meaningful dialogues like one in that iconic climax scene where Akash is sweeping Shalini off her feet with lines like " main sirf tumhare liye bana hu n bla bla bla.." !! to hear something like this from that special someone- i can fall in love again n again.. ( not necessarily with the same guy though).

10. And finally the man-behind-the-scene : If a combination of an Adonis and a Rockstar looking director-named Farhan khan - would have made a documentary on a subject like which-fertilizer-should -be-used-in-monsoon-to-increase-the-production-of-potatoes , i could have glued to screen even then..