Published another volume of the BollySwar book series - BollySwar: 1961 - 1970. The 1960s was probably the most talent-rich decade in the history of Hindi film music. Naushad, SJ, OPN, SDB were still at their peaks even as LP, KA, RDB spread their wings.
I recommend voting for BJP if you’re undecided. BJP governments are scrutinized a lot more than others resulting in better outcomes for citizens. Eg: Aadhaar privacy issues, recurring outbreaks of encephalitis in UP and the existence of a state called Tripura
How normalised is Hinduphobia in the Indian society? A journalist, Abhisar Sharma, openly uses गौ मूत्र as an epithet months after the Pulwama bomber Adil Ahmad Dar used the same slur in a video justifying the killing of 40 Indians.
Phd करके कोई फायदा नहीं होता, अगर दिमाग मे गौ मूत्र भरा हो। ये साकेत उसकी मिसाल है। अरे भाई गाली देना, किसी मृत व्यक्ति को अपशब्द freedom of expression नहीं होता। खैर तुम तो बोलोगे ही। वर्ना टिकट कैसे मिलेगा चुनाव लड़ने के लिये । ये तो qualification है संस्कारी पार्टी की।
@dhume
Yes, he did. It's just that he used weasel speech so his supporters could make excuses for him. He essentially fanned Hinduphobia, already a growing problem in India and around the world. Would he ever say anything similar about any other religion?
Fahad Faasil's take on how he wants audiences to interact with films is quirky and refreshing. He has a point because I think there's case to be made that film criticism/appreciation has become excessively self-indulgent. People discuss films threadbare in 2 hour podcasts. They
Rishab Shetty deserved a better “appreciation letter” for Kantara than this. “I’m a godless man”? “Compassion is lacking in gods”? “Dravidian stock”? “Testosterone father”? What a pile of bs this is by Kamal Haasan!
Sharing a thread of some interesting opening credit frames from Hindi films of the 1960s - dedications, messages, and unusual credits; from deeply personal to bizarre to political to preachy.
Aas Ka Panchhi (1961)
Thanks for the music
@Atmojoarjalojo
. You have gone above and beyond what I imagined when I said you were here to stay 12 years ago. Wishing you many more wonderful years...
#BREAKING
: Two more non-local traders shot at by Pakistani terrorists in Trenz area of Shopian in South Kashmir. Charanjeet Singh shot dead.
Sanjay Kumar is injured. Both brought to Pulwama district hospital. Sanjay Kumar now being rushed to Srinagar. More details are emerging.
This song gave me goosebumps. A quintessential Bengali protest song. Arijit Singh following the footsteps of many greats before him.
Aar Kobe -
Singer: Arijit Singh, Lyricist: Arijit Singh, Music Composer: Arijit Singh
84year old father. Vegetarian throughout his life. Hospitalised for a hip implant revision surgery. Dietitian comes in and talks about the importance of protein in diet, different sources of protein (veg and non-veg). I tell her he’s vegetarian, so let’s talk about vegetarian
It has been a long time since a singer has featured this prominently in a film’s promotion. We are probably witnessing Arijit Singh’s peak (as a singer at least). Hope he stays there for some time before evolving into the music director we know he can be.
Arijit Singh has sung Hindi film songs for more than 50 MDs including Pritam, Jeet Ganguly, Amit Trivedi, Mithoon, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, A.R. Rahman, Vishal-Shekhar, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Not a quote I would use for this occasion. “Conquer” betrays arrogance. Also, this remark was insensitive - Mount Everest is sacred for the Sherpas, the people who helped Edmund Hillary scale the peak eventually.
After a failed attempt to conquer Mount
#Everest
Sir Edmund
#Hillary
remarked, “I will come again and conquer you because as a mountain you can’t grow, but as a human I can.” Rest is history and lesson is to keep trying until you achieve your
#dream
.
Happy to see Arijit Singh do well on Spotify’s 2023 global charts.
Which Indian artists do you think would have appeared high on global charts if music streaming existed in the past?
I think artists need a) a critical mass of high-quality songs, and b) a large and devoted
The recent fawning over Kumar Sanu is proof that nostalgia can make even mediocre artists look great. Many people who go gaga over Sanu also take pleasure in running down contemporary greats.
Just because you were young when you heard their songs doesn’t mean they were great.
Sid V will throw Devesh under the bus. The Wire kool aid drinkers will praise Sid V for his bravery/honesty/integrity. Sid V will win some firang journalism award. The Wire will get more funds. Meta will emerge untainted by the allegations. Win-win.
Wordcloud of the most prominent Hindi film music artists of 2011-2020. Size of name denotes number of songs to their credit. (Slight adjustments were made to make everything fit)
It still hasn’t registered on many people that the Kolkata murder-rape was part of a coverup of a larger conspiracy. The doctor had stumbled upon a criminal racket run by the principal, a TMC functionary, and was threatening to expose them. The rape-murder was to eliminate the
Sooner or later Pritam will be considered a legend (by those who don’t already do so). No composer in the last 20 years has been as consistently good as him while also being prolific.
Here’s one reason why Rohin and that DickheadMax fellow are blaming the Centre - to pre-empt the blame that will eventually be assigned to the entity it truly belongs - the Kerala state govt. Make no mistake, this is a man-made disaster.
@cricketkit
"Based on race" - Indians and Pakistanis are of the same race. Pakistan was carved out of India based on religion (Brits ought to know). Pakistan is hostile to India and responsible for many terrorist attacks/military action against it. We have the right to regard anyone with any
Doing some diligence calls with people in small-town North India, and it's almost a shock to hear the literary Hindi. "Niji swarth ke liye hum charitra ko nahin tyag sakte" what?
@UnfilteredTales
@coolfunnytshirt
We discussed it in a music group and we concluded that this is a made up story floating around on WhatsApp. This version is there in the film. Mukesh was always meant to sing for Raj Kapoor. Kishore was Randhir’s voice.
@coolfunnytshirt
Another travesty - Kishore Kumar did not win a single National Film Award for singing in a career spanning 40+ years. Naresh Iyer won it for his debut song.
The Gandhi-Gowda clans are laughing and the joke is on us. They get all the power with none of the tiresome accountability. Gotta give it to HDK for being candid about it though.
#WATCH
Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy says, "it isn’t my independent government. I asked people for clear mandate to do their bidding. But now, I am here indebted to Congress leaders. I am not here because of mandate from state’s 6 crore population"
Go for an Arijit Singh concert, get a crash course on Indian music. By my count, the man sang more than 60 songs. Other than his songs, he sang Pancham, Varaha Roopam, half the OST of Dil Se, Pasoori, and a lot more. Unless I missed something, this is the selist:
"Arijit Singh’s share of voice in the total number of songs made and released is tremendously huge because labels and film producers have no risk appetite anymore and tend to gravitate towards successful formulas and voices. With Arijit, you know you cannot go wrong."
The Supreme Court erred on Sabarimala. SC didn’t grant women devotees’ the right to pray in the temple (they’ll continue to abstain), it gave Hinduphobes a chance to desecrate Sabarimala.
A story to remind how vacuous Bollywood activism is. It is from a little less than a decade ago when the film Rockstar was about the be released. A.R. Rahman's spectacular music had created a lot of buzz around the film.
#FreedomForTibet
Itni Si Baat ❤️
Cherish this song. Don't hold back your compliments. For it isn't often that absolute legends - SEL, Gulzar, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal - collaborate to create beauty like this.
A little less than 5% of all of Pancham’s Hindi film songs were plagiarised. SDB was the top plagiariser in the 1960s (9%). Some of the greatest MDs of Hindi film cinema plagiarised. IMO it didn’t define them. Your loss if you let it overshadow their fantastic work.
A thread of unpopular opinions to counter other unpopular opinions on Indian music.
Rooting for Suman over Lata is rooting for the less talented underdog over a legend. Touching, but horribly wrong. 😀
I knew Rajendra Krishan was a prolific lyricist but was a little surprised to learn just how prolific. He wrote the highest number of Hindi film songs between 1951-1970, almost 300 more than the next most prolific lyricist, Majrooh Sultanpuri! Partial list:
The older we grow the more we become like our parents. One example- we hoard like them. Here I am sitting with a box of cassettes I’ll never use but can’t let go of.
Another day of WhatsApp groups obsessing over migrating to Signal. I have no idea why people who share their deepest secrets with Google every day are freaking out about the policy change of an encrypted messaging service. Herd mentality?
That harmonium riff in What Jhumka is insanely catchy. Pritam has done this before with the Nagin been sampling in Twist / Haan Main Galat. He knows what works and the brilliance of the source material helps.
The choice of the album/song is always up for debate but I find it fitting that Pritam and Arijit Singh won the National Film Award for the same album. They complement each other in the best way possible and I'm delighted to see them winning the award together.
What Postcard does is reprehensible but fact checkers are doing a good job of dealing with them. I’m not sure using the law against them is the right thing. What if every journalist who “promoted enmity between religious groups” with fake "church attacks” news were arrested?
Kesariya sweeps Filmfare Awards.
Congratulations to Pritam, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Arijit Singh.
Also - 1 minute silence for haters of “love storiyaan”. 😀
A thread to counter the lazy critique that Arijit Singh sounds the same in every song. IMO Arijit experiments with his singing style more than most singers. At times, he risks a lot and the results produced are not great – but I think it’s admirable that he puts himself out there
This Lata Mangeshkar tribute by Arijit Singh is so beautiful and heartfelt. Love the Hindi-Bengali transitions. I think he made an attempt to keep his natural “kharash” in check - worked really well. He should try this more often.
People who have been on Twitter for long will probably remember Bhupinder’s version of Is Mod Se Jaate Hain. There are days - like today - when I prefer this version over Pancham/Lata/Kishore’s. Listening to it now. 😢
Tu Hai Mera Sunday is a hidden gem on Hotstar. A charming film with an excellent ensemble cast and lovely music. Feels like a sincere homage to Basu Bhattacharya.
Today’s gyanis - “Arijit Singh is so overused. He is single-handedly destroying Hindi film music and stealing opportunities from past legends and current talent”.
20 years later - “Nobody like Arijit Singh. So sad he is not getting enough songs now. He has so much more to offer”
It’s not easy but it’s high time we confront our issues in Punjab. Trying to shut people up with violence or by accusing them of generalizing/exaggerating the issue will not work.
Journalists: “Leveraging our superior intellectual ability, analytical skills and understanding of people and current events we predict that X will not happen”
X happens
Same journalists: “Exclusive. Our lack of capacity for shame helps us explain how and why X happened”
From an Indian perspective, Trump is emerging is a far better alternative to the American Democratic nut cases. I hope he wins his re-election bid. Better to squabble with America on trade issues instead of security.
"India’s action [in Kashmir] is unacceptable and the communications blockade must be lifted immediately, and the US government must be speak out boldly in support of international humanitarian live and in support of a UN backed peaceful resolution"
@BernieSanders
#isnacon
Nava Durga Gayatri Mantra Jaap
#ArijitSingh
is giving stiff competition to yesudas and other classical singers on singing insanely low register !!
Dont remember a playback singer singing such low in the recent past!!
@kamalaakarsh
Unlikely we’ll agree on this but I’ll just say this as withdraw - while BJP tends to use communalism for votes, Congress institutionalises it. Eg: RTE in the centre, Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, ant-superstition bill, Lingayat minority status in KA
Arijit Singh's share of the total no. of songs recorded is not "tremendously huge". He has recorded 379 songs, less than 5% of all the Bollywood songs recorded since his debut. His share has gone up marginally in the last 2 years.
I don’t think this is a problem with just individuals. Urban life and lifestyle has been a major culprit in this. We have been able to increase our standard of living but not the standard of life. Let me compare this to a phenomenon that I observed in Indian film music. -1
Arijit pays tribute to musical maestros from Kolkata, Ustad Rashid Khan and Subhankar Banerjee.
Such a lovely song (and video). Put a smile on my face. ❤️
Says someone who has never heard Mohit Chauhan live. Mohit has excellent voice texture but he would have remained an obscure, one-hit indie artist without the help of modern sound production and some fantastic tunes by MDs who value texture more than the ability to sing in sur.
Also, how can I not highlight their effusive praise for Arijit Singh. 😎
“Greats like Shankar and Arijit make it sound easy.”
“His voice is touched from above, like Kishore da’s.”
Moral:
Nostalgia is a potent hallucinogen. Use it for succour but don’t let it shape your worldview. Be in the moment. Make the most of what life has to offer today. Don’t pine away for the past, don’t lose hope for the future. Be happy. :-)
Kamal makes a reference to Nirmalyam. There are similarities between Kantara and Nirmalyam of course - both are journeys of a man’s faith, the protagonists undergo a shocking climactic transformation in both. However, they are completely different films: