Rewinding to the golden era of music

Evergreen melodies

Music is a world within itself. It has a language everyone can understand and relate to. Going back to the 50s, 60s and 70s’ era, one cannot help but recall the soothing melodies of yore, the energetic and foot-tapping scores of RD Burman or the rich cache of evergreen tracks made memorable by the hugely talented Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt, and Manna Dey amongst many others.

While Electronic Dance Music (EDM), Trance and Dubstep are some of the favourite music genres of the youth these days, the charm of old retro music is still very much alive amongst both the young and the older generations.

Why else will songs like Mai zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya or Yeh jo mohabbat hai, will still be a part of major playlists and the common modes of expressing feelings and emotions, even today?

To explore more about this unchanging love for old Bollywood music, Metrolife got in touch with RJ Sayema, 25, who hosts the popular radio show Purani Jeans on Radio Mirchi.

“Bollywood’s golden era is like a pair of purani jeans,” she explains. “It consists of such
evergreen music which transcends both gender and age barriers and offers a universal soothing experience to all our listeners,” she elucidates.

The 12-year-old show which is a super hit in 22 cities across India, most of the listeners of Purani Jeans, surprisingly range between 19-25 years of age, as Sayema tells us.

“From a 60-year-old to a 16-year-old, not a single soul is left unstirred by songs like Chhoo kar mere mann ko, Pal pal dil ke paas and Parda hai parda. It is the depth of these songs, their lyrics and the music, which takes the listener back to the story of the movie. A song like Jaane jaan dhoondta phir raha, from the popular film Jawani Diwani, will always make one recall how Randhir Kapoor was seeking out Jaya Bhaduri in the song!” she says with a smile.   
One is convinced by Sayema’s views, especially when we have songs like Whistle baja, Munni badnam hui, Shiela ki jawani or Honey Singh’s tracks like Love dose or Desi kalakar, in the present times.

Undoubtedly, they belong to the peppy genre of music, which one enjoys during the highs of life. Yet dancing on Duniya mein logon ko or Dum maro dum evokes a different kind of nostalgia and enthusiasm in the listener.

At 24, Preeti Gulati, a research scholar at Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, feels very much the same. As someone who grew up listening to these songs on the radio (played by her parents every morning), Gulati is a big fan of Geeta Dutt and Hemant
Kumar numbers.

“I really feel that a song like Tere mere sapne from Guide, or even Vishal Bharadwaj’s music in Machis - enters your soul. Not only do these songs have a longer shelf life, but they also have strong and impactful lyrics with which we can connect,” she says.

Comparing old music with the current pattern of music in Bollywood, Gulati adds, “I can only listen to these songs during my evening run. They have that typical dhinchak kind of music with pumped up beats and irritatingly catchy music, that one doesn’t want to listen to, yet can’t stop listening to, at the same time,” she laughs.

Similarly, Ritambhara Agrawal, 24, also feels that the retro numbers “reflect on life”.
A freelance writer and film producer from Jamia Millia Islamia, Agrawal loves listening to old Bollywood songs which “make sense.”

“There are times, when I filter my entire playlist in search of some evergreen tracks from Kishore Kumar which are soulful and romantic. And when I’m in a fun mood, I’ll always prefer Badan pe sitare lapete hue to any of Honey Singh’s tracks,” Agrawal tells Metrolife.

Clearly, we had some “full package songs with perfect music, lyrics and video” in the older times, as RJ Sayema calls them.

Today, a song like Jumme ki raat hai will garner more hits on YouTube because of Salman Khan, unlike earlier times when Raat kali ek khwab mei aayi or Neele neele ambar par which featured some little known actors, yet made it to the hit list in those times.

Will the current trend of music ever hold the everlasting impact on listeners or will the 60s-70s era continue to hold sway for years to come? Your guess is as good as ours...!