Golden Age of Hindi Film Music...In Ten Episodes

I will take one giant leap forward from 1962 to 1971. Charles Manson and his death cult, the so-called 'Manson family', were sentenced to death  by the courts - it was  later commuted to life in prison in 1972 - for what were called the Tate-LaBianca murders, one of the most gruesome serial killings in the US at that time.  I had recently watched a Netflix series called 'The Mindhunter', about a breakthrough effort, in the 70s,  by the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI that revolutionized the methods used by law enforcement agencies to profile criminals. The interviews with the serial killers like Charles Manson and Edmund Kemper that helped device these methods were  at once fascinating and deeply disturbing. Fascinating for the insights into the psychology of serial killers that it provided and disturbing for how brutal and psychotic these seemingly intelligent and, at least in Kemper's case, affable people could be. The other big event of 1971 was the India-...

Raj Kapoor was a genius at enhancing the movie experience for his audiences. He regaled them with songs and sentiments, elaborate sets and costumes, and tramped about in his favorite Chaplinesque avatar. His scorching chemistry with the stylish Nargis only added to the effect,  further accentuated by the incredible camera work of Radhu Karmakar. Raj was the Ultimate Showman. For the world outside of India, he embodied Indian cinema like no one else has ever since - not even Satyajit Ray. Time magazine in its 'All Time Best Movies...' tribute called him, " India in all its vitality, humanity and poignancy". That was Raj Kapoor. There was another gentleman who was going to take that art of visually enrapturing the audience to a completely new level. The person’s name was Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone – popularly known as Guru Dutt. Guru Dutt was born to a Konkani family in current-day Karnataka but spent much of his early life in Kolkata.  He debuted as a direct...

I don’t know if there is anyway to be objective about music. It is not like string theory or the tuning fork experiment that you can postulate things through a well-established procedure. Music is one of those disciplines where you are afforded the right to be openly prejudiced about your preferences, and allowed to get away with phrases such as “personal taste”, “can’t relate to that music”, et al, and shut out the counter-opinion without sounding chauvinistic or downright stupid. I am starting there because this series will have a bunch of opinions. Opinions that you will perhaps vehemently disagree with.  Opinions that will shake the very foundations of your thought process.  Opinions that will make you pose the existential question, Who Am I ? No, no. I am not going that far. Just know that my music tastes were largely conditioned by my family of delightful bigots. That includes my mom that bursts with South Indian pride quite inopportunely; my rabid SPB-S Janaki loving ...