Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Shemaroo,Rs 499
This ones a steal with a combined running time of almost a 1000 minutes (!!) this is quite literally a six-pack for the film music buff.
With one volume each dedicated to the five most popular singers ever in Hindi cinema Mohammed Rafi,Lata Mangeshkar,Kishore Kumar,Asha Bhosle and Mukesh and a Rare Jewels volume on other giants,lesser names as well as todays singers down to KK (misspelt as Kay Kay!) and Shreya,this is something that we can treasure for ever,though we wish that Suman Kalyanpur had not been missed out in the last volume when even Vani Jairam and Jagjit Kaur make it!
However,lets not see what isnt there and concentrate on what is an audiovisual delight of some of the cream from the 50s to the millenniums first decade. The compiler casts the spell well to include the absolute chart-smashers (Yeh reshmi zulfen/Do Raaste,Ghar aaya mera pardesi/Awara,Dil ko dekho/Saccha Jhutha) mixed with rare beauties like the title-track of Raaste Kaa Patthar and some songs of high calibre filmed on non-stars like Apni aankhon mein basaakar (Thokar) and O babua yeh mahua (Sadma).
But we have one legitimate (pun intended) crib Shemaroo must,in all future compilations as well as reissues,carry a prominent credit sheet for the creators of these songs the lyricist,composer and songs.
