It all began on Sunday, June 17 – Father’s Day. Almost all music groups on Facebook wanted members to post songs on that theme. So there were masterpieces like ‘Papa’ by Paul Anka, ‘Bachelor Boy’ by Cliff Richard, ‘My Boy’ by Neil Young, ‘Father And Son’ by Cat Stevens, ‘My Father's Eyes’ by Eric Clapton, and even ‘Daddy Cool’ by Boney M.
Everyone was posting English songs. Someone even put a link of Madonna's ‘Papa Don't Preach’. Well, he must not have got the meaning. I said, let me post at least one Hindi song. And my choice was ‘ Papa Kehte Hain Bada Naam Karega ’ from the 1988 film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak ( QSQT ). The hit was sung by Udit Narayan, composed by Anand-Milind and written by the legendary Majrooh Sultanpuri. It marked Narayan’s arrival in film music. I got many likes, but it also led to another discussion - the return of ‘malady’.
Chartbusting albums
Now, let’s get into serious medieval history. The only genre which worked in 1980s Hindi film music was the ghazal, besides some R.D. Burman-Gulzar hits, and few exceptions here and there. Because most films were action-oriented, there were hardly any songs worth remembering. The year 1988 changed all that with QSQT and ‘ Ek Do Teen ’ in Tezaab , sung by Alka Yagnik, composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and written by Javed Akhtar.
In interviews a few years later, both Narayan and Yagnik said they were responsible for the return of ‘malady’. So did Anand, Milind, Nadeem, Shravan, Rajesh Roshan, Kumar Sanu and Anuradha Paudwal. I guess they all meant melody. It doesn’t matter. But between 1988 and 1992, there were quite a few successful soundtracks. Parinda , Maine Pyar Kiya , Aashiqui , Dil and Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin . Never mind if R.D. Burman rehashed Leo Sayer in Parinda and Raam-Laxman ripped Stevie Wonder and rock band Europe in Maine Pyar Kiya .
Rajesh Roshan gave Sanu his first hit with ‘ Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaaye ’ in Jurm . Sanu later told me he had never heard the original version ‘500 Miles’ till he read an article somewhere. I suspect I was the guilty culprit who spilt the beans. And of course, Nadeem-Shravan always claimed that the resemblance of many songs from Aashiqui with Pakistani film songs was pure coincidence. Sorry, I forgot Bappi Lahiri and Anu Malik, but would need an entire page for that.
Timeless tunes
All this happened before A.R. Rahman arrived with Roja and Jatin-Lalit hit the big time with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar in 1992. There was a change in scenario. But for four years preceding that, so much malady.. oops melody.. was floating in the air. And it continued for a good part of the decade.
Oh, we were talking of songs for Father’s Day. Who can forget ‘ Tu Mera Dil Tu Meri Jaan, I Love You Daddy ’ from the 1995 Akele Hum Akele Tum ? Here, Anu Malik was just ‘inspired’ by the Jim Reeves song ‘But I Love You Daddy’. And what a perfect inspiration.
That era had its own charm, despite all the copies. We still hum those songs. Now, we’re through half of 2018, and how many songs can we think of? In my case, not one.
