White Light: August 2010

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Independece day and Deshbhakti

Gone are those days when people used to respect the national anthem, the latest version of National Anthem played by MTV on the television is the latest inclusion in the saga. It can start at any given moment, you might be lazing around in your bed, eating your meals, talking on phone etc… and as soon as you hear it, well I stand in respect of it. I agree that’s my personal opinion but then why give such an opportunity, and to top it all they call themselves “Asli Indian” after doing this act. And lastly, they came out with a bad version in terms of music.

This reminds me of the enthu that we used to have on the morning of Independence / Republic day, when we were back in school. All the nukkads and crossings in the city would be playing patriotic songs from Old Hindi movies. There would be a national flag in the hands of every child going to school for the parade, in his bus / riksha / trolley. The excitement of getting a “laddoo” at the end of a parade, and then come back from school and see the parade / hear the prime minister’s speech on TV. This is all getting lost somewhere….

So inspired from such series of events, here goes the list of my favorite patriotic songs from hindi movies, why has Bollywood stopped coming up with them now? (This is not in order of preference. But a general list)

1) Kar Chale hum fida – Haqeeqat (1965) (Mohd. Rafi): "zinda rehne ke mausam bahut hain magar, jaan dene ki rut roz aati nahi...."

2) Mera Rang de basanti chola - Shaheed (1965) (Mukesh, Mahendra Kapoor, Rajendra Mehta): “Jis chole ko pehen shivaji khele apni jaan pe, jise pehen jhaansi ki raani mit gayi apni aan pe”

3) Taqat watan ki humse hai – Prem Pujari (Manna Dey): “dekar apna khoon, seechte desh ki hum phulwari, bansi se bandook bana dein hum wo prem pujari”

4) Ae mere pyare watan – Kabuliwala (Manna Dey): “ maa ka dil ban ke kabhi seene se lag jaata hai tu, aur kabhi nanhi si beti ban ke yaad aata hai tu”