Valentines
& ualentinar

Four out of five Hindi film songs are odes or litanies to love and can be called Valentunes. Over the years, the visual form and lyrical and musical format of the love song has undergone considerable changes. And yet, the overall graph is still divided into love duets, songs that woo or seduce willing or unwilling objects d’amor, songs of separation which include woebegone plaints of unfaithfulness, and rarer songs that can also be classified in specific musical categories like qawwalis, ghazals and devotionals.

From the touch-me-not Ashok Kumar-Devika Rani duets of the ’30s that were considered the height of screen passion then, to the au courant hero and a semi-nude heroine backed by a peekaboo camera and a hundred gymnasts doing pelvic exercises, has been a long journey indeed. The changes have been largely dictated by market pressures, existing talents and social influences. Let us then look at the men and women who influenced the course of the modern love song significantly.

Raj Kapoor - Nargis:
This team unleashed underplayed passion for the first time in the love song. The key word was subtlety aided by an undercurrent of romantic charge as in Awara (Dum bhar jo udhar munh phere), Aah, Shree 420, Chori Chori and others.

Raj alone developed sexual undertones and overtones further. After the innuendo of Bol Radha bol sangam hoga ke nahin and Main kaa karoon Ram (Sangam), came the sheer physicality of Mera Naam Joker’s steamy Mere ang lag jaa baalma, Satyam Shivam Sundaram’s and Ram Teri Ganga Maili’s overt erotica, interspersed with teenage passion ticking away in the shape of Hum tum ek kamre mein band ho (Bobby) and Mohabbat hai kya cheez (Prem Rog).

Dev Anand:
Debonair, urbane, a shade flippant, yet no-nonsense, Dev Anand brought to screen romance the importance of a stylish wardrobe and a gait that defied the laws of equilibrium. Khoya khoya chand (Kala Bazaar) and all his hits from Jewel Thief, Johny Mera Naam and many other films saw Dev Anand as the Leaning Tower of Pizzazz, with heroines spanning from Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman and Geeta Bali, to Tina Munim and Sabrina.

Shammi Kapoor:
The man who re-defined the concept of screen romance with Tumsa Nahin Dekha and Dil Deke Dekho consolidated his hyperkinetic stance with "Yahoo" and "Suku suku" in and as Junglee. Love and music were never the same again. Chaste inertia was replaced by raw energy as aggression (Kaho pyar hai tumse/An Evening In Paris) and determination (Tum mujhe yoon bhoola na paaogi/Pagla Kahin Ka) came amalgamated in a passion pack (Iss rang badalti duniya mein/Rajkumar).

Kishore Kumar:
Thanks to Kishore Kumar, Govinda can be called a hero even after his umpteen comic roles and antics. Kishore Kumar made the audience take the comic hero seriously as he romanced top-grade heroines like Madhubala (Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si/Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi), Nutan (C-A-T, cat maane billi/ Dilli Ka Thug) and Vyjayantimala (Nakhre waali/New Delhi) successfully.

Madhubala:
She could be regal, effervescent or tragic. But consciously or unwittingly, Madhubala brought in the first blurring of lines between heroine and vamp by being effortlessly sensuous every time, thus paving the way for the modern heroine’s more overt proclivity for seduction with Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Kala Pani, Barsaat Ki Raat and many other films.

Jeetendra:
Jeetendra mixed the sophistication of Shammi Kapoor with the tapori flavour of the roadside Romeo. In the ’60s and early ’70s this meant tight white apparel and the manhandling of incandescent heroines, and in the ’80s he merged it with the disco and bawdy or banal lyrics like Jhopde mein charpai (Mawaali) and Saath mere jaaogi ice-cream khaaogi (Justice Choudhury). Strangely, the predominance of L-P, RD and Rafi in the ’60s-’70s saw to it that though the songs were visually acrobatic, the melody per se was dignified and enduring (Farz, Caravan).

Rajesh Khanna:
Romance was never so intense and melodious as in the Rajesh Khanna era. Passion was conveyed through the eyes; and a virtual parade of exquisite love songs was unleashed by master composers like Laxmikant-Pyarelal (Do Raaste, Mehboob Ki Mehndi, Aan Milo Sajana, Daag, Prem Kahani), Kalyanji-Anandji (Safar), R.D. Burman (Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Aap Ki Kasam, Mehbooba) and S.D. Burman (Aradhana, Premnagar). This was the transition period of screen romance - and a perfect balance was struck between mind and body, chaste romance and sensuousness, and tradition and modernity.

Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Kapoor rewrote the rules of the game - a collegian or teenager now had to look his age. The ’70s teenager was caught in the transition phase of social mores on love and sex, and the innocence was tinged with rebellion. Screen romance too took a new and bolder dimension with the volatile passion of Hum tum ek kamre mein band ho and the hi-voltage eroticism of Jhoot bole kauwa kaate (Bobby) that caught the teenagers’ imagination. With Bobby, teenage love stories laced with music became first a sporadic trend, and then a deluge after Love Story, Ek Duuje Ke Liye, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Maine Pyar Kiya and Aashiqui also made the charts sizzle.

Amitabh Bachchan:
From a reluctant lover in early films to the comic one (My name is Anthony Gonsalves/Amar Akbar Anthony, Khaike paan Banaraswala/Don), Bachchan took romance to a new direction. The variety was amazing as he combined the poetic lover of a Kabhi Kabhie, Muqaddar Ka Sikander and Silsila with the fun-loving premi of Khuddaar, Desh Premee, Aakhree Raasta and even Hum (Jumma chumma de de) in the ’90s.

Zeenat Aman:
The hep Zeenie baby gave the love song a rhythmic Western feel, thanks to her path-breaking success as a heroine whose glamour and grammar seemed to have roots in the West. Aided by sizzling RD numbers, vocalised mostly with special sensuousness by Asha Bhonsle (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, Manoranjan, Heera Panna, The Great Gambler), Zeenat got the heroine out of the saree-
salwar matrix.

Govinda:
Govinda took over where Amitabh left off, the chhote miyan mixing up the ishtyles of Kishore Kumar and Bachchan, and adding his own bit. Uninhibited even in the face of the 100 extras when present, Chi-Chi went the gamut from double entendre (Raja Babu, Aankhen et al) to sheer clowning in films like Coolie No. 1.

Shah Rukh Khan:
The boy from Delhi tried to make capital out of a return of sophistication, mixed with youth and intense romance. A stream of classy romantic musicals has made him the icon of love in today’s times, Hrithik Roshan notwithstanding. For SRK, Mohabbatein is just the culmination of his idealistic love in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Pardes, Dil To Pagal Hai and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

Madhuri Dixit:
She equated screen romance with the perfect Madhubala-esque blend of beauty and sexuality, and made sizzling songs an essential part of a desirable heroine’s persona (Tezaab, Beta, Khal-Nayak et al).

Yash Chopra:
If Raj Kapoor disrobed his heroines and Manoj Kumar drenched them, Yash Chopra froze them by placing them in ethnically sensual poses against snowy Swiss mountains in thin sarees. Romance for Yash Chopra is cool indeed! l

Rajiv Vijayakar

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Milestone Love Songs
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