Golden melodies revive sultry evening

The phrase ‘old is gold’ is just right when the talk is about well-known lyricist Indeevar and the classic golden melodies of Hindi cinema which remain popular even to this day and time.

Even today, Bollywood music industry draws inspiration from the vast treasure of classic symphonies and songs of legends and presents it with a modern touch. But despite the popularity of these remixes which come with a double dose of heavy music, what shines through and touches the soul are the beautiful lyrics.

Amongst Hindi music industry greats was Shyamalal Babu Rai, popularly known as Indeevar whose contribution to the Hindi cinema has been sterling. Spanning a career of four decades, he had to his credit more than a thousand songs for over 300 films, which included several chartbusters.

He penned the title track of several classic films like Safar, Johnny Mera Naam, Akhir Kyun. One of the most memorable song was Dil aisa kisi ne mera toda, from the film Amanush, for which he won the Filmfare best lyricist award in 1975.

Few, especially old timers, can forget the peppy Bade armaan se rakha hai balam teri kasam sung by a young Lata Mangeshkar from the 1949 film Malhar or the hauntingly beautiful Kasme vade pyaar wafa from the 1967 film Upkar, rendered by the inimitable Manna Dey.

Paying rich tributes to this legendary geetkar at a musical event, held over the weekend, well-known Delhi band Do-Re-Mi in collaboration with Savitri Vikas Samiti (SVS), a Non Profit Organisation, organised a musical event, kept music lovers regaled with rendition of popular numbers penned by the late song maestro.

The event was also an effort to keep alive the legacy of the songwriter. Speaking to Metrolife, Dr Anita Srivastava, president of SVS, said “this musical tribute is an attempt to re-live the magic of Indeevar’s music and connect the generations together.”

According to her, “today’s generation are listening to these old songs with a remix version, but unfortunately are not aware of its original magic and its creator.”

Started in 2013, the musical event also confers an Indeevar award on a talented musician/lyricist as a tribute to the late lyricist. This year, the 2nd Geetkar Indeevar Award was conferred on Santosh Anand, who was honou­red by Raj Chopra of B R Films and S M Khan (Director General, Registrar of Newspapers for India).

Happy at being honoured with the 2nd Great Geetkar Indeevar Award, Santosh Anand said, “I am glad to receive this award and I really miss my dear friend Indeevar. He was a great artiste who came up with amazing lyrics and even today people sing his songs. Sadly, today, I feel we don’t get to listen to good songs, as they don’t have geet or sangeet they are just defined by drum beats. I think today’s young talent should learn from this legend.”