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The
festival has ancient associations with the quintessential lovers, Radha and
Krishna having played Holi in Vrindavan with their cowherd friends, soaking
each other in colour and reveling in expressing their feelings for each other -- all of which makes it the most-depicted
festival in Hindi films.
This
year, for our Holi blogpost we thought we would just list our favourite Holi
songs from the movies. Somewhere along
the way, we decided to include songs of euphoria and celebration, a folksy earthiness
and a joyful beat, that simply make us rise to our feet and start dancing…with
or without the colour. So here goes….
The number
one on our list just has to be this one from “Aap ki Kasam.” No
prizes for guessing the song. With the crackling chemistry between Mumtaz and
Rajesh Khanna, it’s a song that just induces a certain floatiness, a masti
in the listeners whenever it’s played. Jai
Baba Shiv Shankar …..ki jai!
My sincere apologies if you don’t like Dilip Kumar, but these two songs from Ganga Jamuna and Sangharsh are path-breaking songs in the genre that we are talking about. I cannot think of not including them in a list of this kind. They just wind themselves about your feet and you wish they would never stop. Those lyrics in chaste Awadhi spoken in eastern UP, that sweetness of expression, that innate rustic goodness of the gaaon ka chhora….I don’t know about you, but they always leave me asking for more. Still haven’t guessed which songs I am talking about?
Another very
folksy song from Teesri Kasam, the story of which revolved around an
actress in a nautanki company. The
melody was recently remixed for a holi song in Badrinath ki Dulhaniya.
Take your pick. (A footnote: Wikipedia assures me that any resemblance between
Krishan Dhawan in the first and Varun Dhawan in the next is purely
coincidental. They are not related in any way. After seeing the visuals, I
found it really hard to believe…but then Wikipedia ki kasam)
This is a
true blue holi song from Navrang, a film based on the performing arts in
the background of India’s freedom struggle.
A rajkavi (court poet, played by Mahipal) of a king in a small
state has been commissioned with the task of writing a special Holi song. He
struggles for inspiration, finally imagining his wife (the legendary actress Sandhya)
as one of Krishna’s cohorts in Vrindavan. He has the entire court getting to its feet when
he sings it in the presence of the king. The song reverberates with spirit of
holi and Sandhya’s histrionics as the poet’s muse.
How could
I not play this song? Again, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Holi, except
for the bhang connect and the floaty spirit it evokes. But this song was a
raging superhit when the film was released, with our own chhora Ganga
kinarewala and his dehati dance moves cramping Zeenat Aman’s style. Some
years later, both the movie and the song spawned a sequel with Shahrukh and
Priyanka trying their level best to dance in high heels, but they didn’t quite
manage to recapture the magic of the original.
This one is
the immortal filmi holi song without which Holi cannot happen anywhere
in India, or even abroad for that matter, wherever people celebrate the
festival. Again, it a folk song and its filmi version creditably retained
the spirit, but I always feel the reel-life love triangle vibes (echoing the rumoured
real-life love triangle) overpowered the song in the end. Absolutely no prizes (not even a free pichkaari),
for guessing this one.
Several years later, when the chhora Ganga kinarewala of our generation began playing father roles, there was a holi song in one of them (Baghbaan) which I love because of the way it mentions raghubeera playing Holi (rather a rare mention of the prince of Ayodhya ever having fun in his life). Another plus point of the song was our very own Dream Girl who looked charming as always, not to mention two hardcore villains being made to actually sing a holi song and dance to it on the screen.
I thought of winding up this post with two
of Shahrukh Khan’s songs…..first his infamous holi song from “Darr” where you
see him conveying burning lust, jealousy, envy wordlessly, even through the layers of
colour smeared on his face, and to the beat of the dhol.
To conclude, I chose my favourite SRK
song from “Raees.” Again nothing to do with Holi per se, but lot of
celebratory, feel-good vibes, complete with a folksy song on kite-flying, which
plays a big part in many Indian festivals, the kajal in his eyes, a
naughty wink and a delicious flash of the famous SRK dimples on screen.
I know, I know there are hundreds of songs that are
missing from this list….but they are for you to mention in the comments section
below! So bura na maano Holi hai…….Here’s leftrightthodasacenter.blogspot.com
wishing all of our readers a Happy Holi. Even if Covid has made sure you’re
just stuck at home watching filmi songs and Barsaane ki lathmaar Holi
on TV.
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