The Musical Journey...2 (continued)

Hi,
A very Happy Dusshera to everybody out there! May Goddess Durga shower all her blessings to you and your family members.
Let's continue with the tags I had associated with the decades of Hindi Cinema Music.

Energetic 80's

According to the purists, this was the worst decade of Hindi Cinema Music and they generalise that by blaming Bappi Lahiri! But I beg to disagree that whatever came in this decade was totally crap! There were some real gems from this decade which continue to shine even today. The early half of this decade was dominated by Bappi fever , who made us feel for few years that disco was what Hindi Cinema music is all about! Disco from Bappi Lahiri's stable was bearable, anything that was intolerable was the music he scored for those South movies (movies produced by Southern India production houses). Bappi Lahiri is a music director who started his career in 1970's and in the seventies he was what I feel at his very best. Listen to the scores of Chalte Chalte (Chalte Chalte Mere Geet), Aangan Ki Kali (Tumhein Kaise Kahoon), Zakhmee (Jalta Hai Jiya Mera), Toote Khilone (Maana Ho Tum) and you will get the idea why I feel so! Bappi Lahiri gave good music in the 1980's in movies like Disco Dancer, Namak Halaal, Sharabi! So it is quite unfair to blame him for all the troubles in 1980's!
Anyways, coming back to the 80's, this decade gave us scores like Silsila, Love Story, Aasha, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Karz, Hero, Prem Rog, Disco Dancer, Saagar, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Tezaab, Ram Lakhan, Maine Pyar Kiya amongst others! The Bappi fever was so severe in the early 80's and continued till 1985, that it threatened to change the course of Hindi Cinema Music. But that was not to be! Laxmikant - Pyarelal single handedly took over the charge and the fever was effectively medicated by the popularity of scores like Ghulami, Pyar Jhukta Nahin, Naam to name a few! Actually the flag of good popular music in the mid 80's was left only in the hands of L-P! And then, destiny intervened! Anand- Milind arrived with a bang in 1987 with a phenomenal score in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, and gone were the Disco days! The movie's timeless melodies were the biggest reason for it's success. A score that was a trendsetter, and it single handedly brought back the era of love stories with good music. This trend was ably carried forward in the late 80's by a movie called Maine Pyar Kiya, which proved the eternal singing power of Lata Mangeshkar!
My opinion is that this was the most thrilling decade as far as the music in Hindi cinema is concerned! The highs were towering and the lows were stooping in this decade! The highs were achieved by scores like Silsila, Love Story, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Maine Pyar Kiya, and in the same decade the lows came in the form of Mawaali, Justice Chowdhary, Pataal Bhairvi and several others which I don't even feel like mentioning! This contradiction of sorts among the music scores makes this decade one of my personal favourites! Only in this decade you can find scores which fill your heart with warmth and at the same time, you will find scores which will encourage you to stop listening to Hindi Cinema music! This is what I feel is the beauty of this decade! A thriller of a decade, and this thrill makes this decade, the Energetic 80's!

Transitional 90's
India became a liberal economy in the early 90's and this led to the opening of print media, electronic media, and suddenly India was bombarded with real time informations and news from the whole world! More and more Indians started getting the flavour of different cultures from all around the world and this exposure had it's reflection in the Hindi Cinema as well! Suddenly our filmmakers, the music directors all started looking west for inspiration. The previous decades were not oblivious from the west, but it became much more pronounced in the 90's, solely because there were some quick real time informations out there! This decade is also best remembered for the fact that the old guards of the Hindi Cinema Music, namely Laxmikant - Pyarelal, R. D. Burman, Kalyanji - Anandji handed over the mantle to a younger breed of music directors! This decade also saw the end of the era system. Not a single music director from this decade can claim that they enjoyed the unmatched success of their predecessors! Every year in this decade saw a new music director taking over the guard, but sadly no one had a consistent run in the popularity charts.
This decade gave us scores like Aashiqui, Saajan, Saudagar, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Khalnayak, Baazigar, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, 1942 A Love Story, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Dil To Paagal Hai, Gupt, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Taal, to name a few!
This decade had variety in music which is incomparable with any of the previous decades. The search for starting a new trend in Hindi Cinema Music was throughout there in the decade of 90's. The fading out of veteran music directors and the old guard of filmmakers was the primary reason behind this search! The younger breed of filmmakers came into the scene in this decade and had very noble intentions to create a new sound, a new flavour of Hindi Cinema music. There were many experiments made in this decade and the biggest of them was made by a music director from the South (Southern India) named A. R. Rehman. Right from his very first movie - Roja - he tried some fresh musical arrangements for his songs. This experiment worked big time and suddenly he bacame the blue -eyed boy of the whole nation! More often than not, his experiments failed post Roja, but no one can doubt his musical talents as far as the arrangement of a song goes! This decade's irony can very well be identified by the co existence of experimental music of A. R. Rehman and that of the conservative sounding music of the likes of Nadeem - Shravan and Anand - Milind!
My opinion is that, 90's music reflected the times we lived in! Every Indian was confused with his identity - he wanted to be a cool, chilled out guy who wanted to take on the world on his own terms, and at the same time he also could not let go of the Indian values with which he was born! This very irony is reflected in the Hindi Cinema music of the 90's! That makes this decade the Transitional 90's!

इक दिन बिक जायेगा माटी के मोल
जग में रह जायेंगे प्यारे तेरे बोल!
दूजे के होठों को देकर अपना गीत
कोई निशानी छोड़ फिर दुनिया से गोल!

Bye for now!
आपकी अपनी आवाज़
Vishal

P. S. If you wanna know about the movie or want to listen to the songs listed in this post, just click on the movie name or the song !