I still remember the good old days, when we were in school and the only channel on television was Doordarshan, the very Indian channel. The special day used to be Wednesday and it was special because of “Chitrahaar,” the once in week program airing half a dozen awesome Hindi movie songs!
Yes! The oldies, the melodious songs! So, we Indians have these Hindi movie songs running through our veins! Honestly speaking, most of us think, eat and sleep these songs. We have anthems earmarked for each and every emotion, feeling and thought of ours – well embedded in some minute cells in our brain, the think tank. These songs give that extra edge to the Hindi movies across the globe. My Sinhalese friends from college days were in love with the DDLJ hero and though they could not understand, read or write much of the Devnagri lipi, the songs were always on their lips.
I miss the old days and the magical voice of Ameen Sayani, the Binaca Geetmala and the list of “faujibhais” and their request for songs. There is no dearth of resources now, just by the click of a mouse we can download any of our favourite numbers from the plethora of websites giving it for free or otherwise. Now we can listen to any song anytime, anywhere but still nothing like the old Hindi movie songs and the inherent nostalgia attached. What we lack today is the time and state of mind to sit back, close the eyes and enjoy a beautiful song. The speed of life has taken away a lot form us and the reality is that we do not even have the time to realise this truth. Come what may, the Hindi movie songs are still an integral part of us and I feel it would always be so.