The Melodies of Rain
Monsoons in India bring with them a multitude of memories and of course monsoon songs. Bollywood’s fascination for rain is well known; be it to depict the longing between two lovers or their union. Songs and song situations in Hindi cinema have been created for the sole purpose of showing beautiful showers that enhance the mood (whether mellow or romantic) of the story and the characters. The monsoons arrived in Mumbai on June 10th and while I’m away in Brattleboro, Vermont, I was feeling pangs of separation from Mumbai rains… the same pangs of separation that monsoon poetry so eloquently describes. That week, I decided to do a monsoon songs special on my radio show. The complete monsoon episode of Vidhi’s Bollywood Jukebox can be found on the podcast link at the top of this post. Here are a few songs that you can hear on the podcast:
Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho
Kaifi Azmi’s romantic, breezy lyrics characterise this meandering song. Though the lyrics do not mention rain, plenty of thunder and showers accompany the soundtrack. Moreover, the visual of lead actors Naveen Nischol and Priya Rajvansh cruising in a kaali-peeli Mumbai taxi during heavy showers is what makes the song extra nostalgic. And then, the song culminates in them sitting by the sea face which is something every Mumbai person enjoying rains has experienced.
Rim Jhim Gire Saawan
The version I love is the Lata Mangeshkar one where lead actors, Amitabh Bachchan and Moushmi Chatterjee are seen sprinting from one iconic monument to another in Mumbai city. The rain soaked city of then Bombay acts as a beautiful backdrop and visible in the song are the sea front, Marine Drive, Oval Maidan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and many more. In an interview, Moushmi Chatterjee mentioned how the song had to be shot in real monsoons and so on one particularly heavy rainy day, the actors and the crew set out and aimed to complete shooting by the end of the day. As a result, Bachchan and Chatterjee pranced hurriedly from one location to another as they were ferried by Ajitabh Bachchan in his car. In the video, you can also notice how Moushmi Chatterjee’s eye makeup is running off because there was no rain-proof makeup in the 70s and neither did they have the time to touch up makeup in between shoot.
Kahan Se Aaye Badra
A classic song based on Raga Megh: the mellifluous rain raga that beckons monsoons or a distant lover with equal longing. This song was rendered beautifully by two classically trained singers, KJ Yesudas and Haimanti Shukla and was picturised on Deepti Naval and Vinod Nagpal. It’s a scene between a student and teacher during an on-going lesson in Hindustani classical music. As the female protagonist Neha matches notes with her teacher, she cannot help but recall her disintegrating romance with Siddharth (played by Farooque Shaikh) and breaks down mid-song as the notes of Megh bring back a flood of memories.
Ab Ke Saawan
This one is from an indipop album by the same name. Indipop is a genre that emerged in India in the ’90s and brought to the fore a lot of independent artists of which Shubha Mudgal was one. A trained Indian classical vocalist, Mudgal introduced her voice and herself to Indian audiences through this thunderous music video of people enjoying the first showers of monsoon. The song begins with a Rajasthani folk artist crooning casually on the streets and a jamming band catching the folk melody onto the synthesiser indoors. What follows is a visual of people dancing, singing and rejoicing in the rain unabashedly as the lyrics suggest. This one’s unmissable when there’s a downpour outside!
Geela Geela Paani
Gulzar’s lyrics, Vishal Bharadwaj and Sandeep Chowta’s music and Lata Mangeshkar’s mellifluous vocals come together to create a song with a rain mood like no other. Add to that, the visual of Urmila Matondkar (who plays the coy, aspiring singer, Vidya) enjoying the onset of monsoon with a dreamy appreciation followed by an overjoyed dance.
