Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Classical Indian music in Hindi films

I decided to have some discussion on movie songs/dance. By no means i am a subject matter expert but just a curious viewer.Today while going down the memory lane, i got reminded of the movie Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955) known for its music and dance. So i looked in You tube and to my surprise i found all known songs published here.

The sequence is between Legendary GopiKrishna and actress Sandhya, wife of legendary Shantaram the director/producer of the movie. The romantic portion between Neela and Girdhar draws inspiration from the mythological Krishna-Radha romance. Very few know that this kathak dance has rendition and tabla played by none other than legendary Pt. Samta Prasadji of Benares gharana.All tabla in the movie is played by Pt. Samta prasadji.

The dance steps are loosly based on Bhil.This is beautiful composition based on Raag Malgunji sung by Great Hemantda and Lataji. Raag Malgunji is a combination
of Bageshri and Rageshri. Just for curious listeners some other songs that are based on this raag are Unko Yeh Shikayat hey ki hum (Adalat, lata) and Jeevan Se bhari (Safar,Kishore).

The last song which shows Gopi Krishna performing Shiv Tandav.