A Soulful, Melodious Evening At The Music Academy, Chennai!

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On 31st January, '18, we had attended a concert at the Music Academy.  The famous Ustaad Zakir Hussain played the tabla and another famous artiste Rahul Sharma played the unique instrument, Santoor.  We had attended Zakir Hussain's concerts 3-4 times earlier and are great fans of him as a person and as a tabla player.  His talent speaks everything here, in this small clip:



Ustaad Zakir Hussain is the son of the very very famous tabla player, Alla Rakha who used to play with Pt.Ravishankar (Sitar) in those days.  He learnt to play the instrument from a very young age and got a Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington too.  We, Chennai audience, love to attend his concerts.  He is a very soft-natured person with great sense of humour.  He always engages the crowd with some funny antics in the tabla or body language too.  People  never get bored in his concerts! Read about the awards these artists had in the highlighted wiki link pl. 

Rahul Sharma...we had attended his father's concert (Pt.Shivkumar Sharma, the famous Santoor player) once, some 4-5 years back along with Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia (Flute).  This concert in Chennai was the first one for Rahul Sharma, it seems.  He played raag Bageshri first and then the famous Kashmiri raag Pahaadi.

This unique instrument, Santoor (the original name is Shatha thantri veena ... veena with 100 strings). Pt.Shivkumar Sharma explains here:

In Ancient Scriptures of India there is mention of Shata tantri Veena which is known today as “Santoor”. This instrument got its present name Santoor with the Persian language influence in our Country. There are Hundred Strings in Santoor. It is a hollow box on top of which there are 25 bridges. Each bridge used to have 4 strings resting on it. To play this instrument, two wooden mallets are used. This instrument had been in use in the Valley of Kashmir for many centuries, in a typical type of Music known as “Sufiana Mausiqi” which means a music connected with Sufi philosophy.

The Journey of Santoor changed in early 1950’s when Pt. Umadutt Sharma, Father of Shivkumar Sharma, who was a very versatile Musician, a performing Vocalist, and Dilruba player but equally well versed in playing Tabla & Harmonium, saw this Instrument in Kashmir and thought of introducing Indian Classical Music on Santoor. He had an intensive training of Music under Pt. Bade Ramdasji a legendary Vocalist of Benaras Gharana. In early 50’s Pt. Umadutt Sharma was Music incharge of Radio Srinagar for a few years. During that period he did an extensive research on Santoor and started teaching his Son, Shivkumar Sharma the intricacies of Santoor.

Pt.Shivkumar Sharma has passed on his family's talent to his son Rahul Sharma. 

The father was a tabla player too and the son is a singer too like his grand father! Multi-talented family! The son is mostly into fusion music nowadays.  World music. He showed the taste of fusion music for some 10-15 mts. at the concert.

Pt.Shivkumar Sharma and Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia had created some good music for Hindi films in the name of Shiv-Hari.  Rahul Sharma played some traces of those songs in this concert.  The songs in 'Silsila' are memorable.  Their favourite raaga was Pahaadi!



I searched for a good link of Rahul Sharma.  Only audio links were available, well, mostly.  This link is interesting.  Father and son with the Kanjeera player, Selva Ganesh (Ghatam player Vikku Vinayakram's son!).  Interesting!



I hear 'Sangeet Saritha', a classical music programme via radio in the morning (I should say the programme involves interviews VIPs in different fields of mostly music).  I had been hearing this for the past 30-40 years! Many music directors, Classical singers discuss about their music/musical journey for 15 mts. a day, for 13 to sometimes 20 episodes.  7.30 to 7.45 am every morning.  I jotted down some points when Pt.Shivkumar Sharma spoke and did a post on it.  You can read it here!

Stress reliever....hear this!

Hope to attend more and more concerts in the years to come and write about them here!

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Cricket khelna mereliye mandhir jaane ki tarah tha....Sachin, A Billion Dreams!

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Watched this movie, yesterday and still thinking about it and pestering my husband by talking about the scenes! He is a cricket addict and I just watch it when India is at the winning stage:) He can recount ball by ball for matches of 10 years back! I talk about how short Sachin is, how tall Ashwin is:) But this movie even made me recount some of the scenes of the old matches in the film.  Some very cute home video clippings are also there in the movie.  We can see the real Sachin, a son, a husband, a father apart from being a cricketer.

I had watched the most dramatised movie 'Azhar' which was based on Mohammad Azharuddin, also a famous Indian cricketer who became famous for 'other' reasons and felt sorry for him in the end. Then watched a well-made movie on our another captain, MS Dhoni, 'MS Dhoni, the untold story' and liked it too. I like him more as a person! But this movie, also on a cricketer, touched me most.  Don't know why. I think I liked his whole family...liked his wife most.  She, being a doctor (MD in paediatrics), devoted her whole time to the family.  She talks often in the movie.  Cricket always came first for Sachin, family came later, she said (I had written a post on her here).  He was very close to his father and his brother played an important role in his cricket career. His brother introduced him to the then famous Cricket Coach, Ramakant Achrekar who asked him to shift to a school, which had a good cricket team. He stayed in his aunt's place and went to school and cricket coaching classes. His was a middle class family.  This was the changing point in his life. Achrekar was a tough coach and he used to give him one rupee coin whenever he finished the training session without getting out.  Sachin has got 13 coins which is still important to him.

The small boy who acted as young Sachin is very cute and acted very well.  Sachin was talking often in the movie, though some scenes were re-created.  Many clippings of important matches were shown throughout the movie.

'Sachin' name was chosen for him by his dad who was an ardent fan of Sachin Dev Burman, the famous Hindi film music director.  Sachin also is a music buff, he always played music in his dressing room, some songs played in repeat mode.  Our whole Indian cricket team was and is fond of Hindi movie songs.

As you know Sachin started his cricketing career at the age of 15 and then no looking back...it was a tough life for him.  Thank god, he met Anjali (I liked the way Anjali explained how it happened, in the movie) and married her in 1995 at the age of 22.  Thanks to the understanding couple, they stood together in their  unusual, hectic life together. They have got a son and a daughter.  Anjali was a great support, Sachin said in many interviews.

Sachin was the first cricketer to score 100 centuries in international cricket.  He had played many matches even after having multiple wounds in his body.  I think the post will be tooooo long if I start mentioning about his cricket career here.  Important occasions were included in the movie.

He explains how he got the news of his father's death in the middle of a match in New Zealand (I think!), came home and went back because the family wanted him to continue playing the match.  His family is a very close knitted family.  Very supportive to each other.

He is very conscious about his statements about other cricketers and members of the board, but tells openly in the movie how hurt he was when the announcement came about removing him from the captaincy and when he was again offered the post without discussing with him.

They showed Sachin's great fan Sudhir Choudhary as soon as the movie began.  Sachin made him to hold the world cup India won as an affectionate gesture later. He was taken along with the cricketers to the matches wherever India played, by our Cricket board.  You can see him in this trailer clip.

His dream was to win the world cup and hold it in his hands and he did it!  Felt bad seeing him going back to the dressing room after his last match.  His dedication to the game/playing for his country, ended. 







It was tough life for him from childhood until his retirement.  Let him and his family enjoy a happy, peaceful life.

AR Rahman's music is superb.  They are showing it on TV often now.  Watch and enjoy!



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The Father Of Family Planning In Our Country!

T.T. Vasu, The Father of Family Planning in India.

As soon as I read this article in 'The Hindu' today, I wanted to post it in my blog for future reference!

I have seen this person, a couple of times at The Music Academy, when I went for the December classical music concerts. My husband said that this person was the son of TT Krishnamaachari, the Union Minister during Pt.Nehru's time.  He was at the helm of administration of the Music Academy. Now, after reading the Hindu article, I googled about him.  This article said:

CHENNAI: The industrialist T.T. Vasu, who passed away on Tuesday a few weeks after his 76th birthday, has been lauded as a versatile personality, one who excelled not only in promoting business and industry but also art and culture. Born on April 24, 1929, the last of the four sons of T.T. Krishnamachari, who served as Union Minister of Industries and Commerce and Finance, Mr. Vasu grew up to inherit his father's capacity and interest in several fields, funding and sponsoring projects that marked his space in the realm of business, philanthropy and classical arts. He also contributed in large measure to the promotion of health care, travel and communications. 

This article is very interesting.  I had never known this fact about Mr. T.T. Vasu.  Have a look at the article:

‘The Father of Family Planning’

• The Hindu
• 9 Jan 2017

T.T. Vasu

It was 50 years ago that another ‘make in India’ venture got going. It was the first condom-manufacturing plant to be set up in the country. It was a joint venture between London Rubber of the U.K., manufacturer of the famed Durex condoms, and the TTK Group which had been importing the brand. T.T. Vasu was in charge of the project and before the project could be approved and the plant set up in Madras, he had a problem on his hands; a Central Government committee, set up to examine whether India needed family planning, felt that manufacture of contraceptive measures in the country was not necessary.

As Vasu in typical irreverent fashion kept repeating over the years, he went to Nehru in appeal and wondered what a bachelor, spinster and widower knew about family planning. The three were, respectively, Ashok Mehta, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Union Health Minister; and Vasu’s father, T T Krishnamachari, Union Finance Minister. In the event, London Rubber India’s plant was set up in Pallavaram in 1967.

With sales slow to get off the ground, the factory had little work till the Swedish Government gifted the Government of India 85 million condoms for free distribution. Vasu persuaded the donor to have the contraceptive manufactured in Madras — and he played a key role in advising the Government of India on how to distribute them as the 1970s were born. Nirodh had arrived — and it was no wonder many in the know called Vasu the ‘Father of Family Planning in India’.

A similar Vasu story told in a recently released, rather frank biography of him is of his wanting to set up a TTK plant in Madras to manufacture on contract Pond’s cosmetics. Apparently, when the papers went up to Rajaji, Chief Minister 1952-54, for approval to set up the factory in Madras, Rajaji is alleged to have minuted, “Sita never used cosmetics; I do not understand why Indian women need such products now.”

Off Vasu went to Nehru and the Prime Minister is said to have told the Industries Ministry’s Principal Secretary who brought him the file. “Sita was a naturally beautiful woman and not many Indian women are blessed like her, so they must have all the help they feel they need.” And so, permission was granted to set up the plant — but Vasu took it to Bangalore.

He brought it to a spanking new plant in Pallavaram in 1967, when there was a more sympathetic Chief Minister. In Tamilnadu!


I should have read about this before he died in 1975.  I would have seen him at the Music Academy with more reverence.  He looked like a very ordinary person then.  But he was an interesting personality.  Hope this deed of him (Family Planning), spreads.  

Picture courtesy: here

Now, I Am A Fan Of Ustaad Rashid Khan!

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Ustaad Rashid Khan

We had been attending 'Naad Ninaad' concerts for the past few years now.  The Hindu(news paper) is sponsoring them and it comes in November.  This year too we went to Chennai's famous Music Academy to hear the music. And loved it.  Thanks goes to The Hindu!

We, i.e. our family heard about Rashid Khan (The name is pronounced as Raashid and not Rashid!) in the very old (1998)Saregama, a musical Reality programme anchored by Sonu Nigam. Many stalwarts from Hindi Film music industry and our Hindustani Classical music stalwarts participated as judges.  Many following episodes showed them singing in front of India Gate and other prominent places and we came to know about many famous Hindustani music singers then.  One of them was Ustaad Rashid Khan.  I still remember him singing in that programme.  No, I hadn't heard about him before that.  We, South Indians are involved with Carnatic music than Hindustani music then.  Now, the atmosphere is changing.  Every year we get to hear many Hindustani concerts in our famous Music season, in Chennai, in November and December!  This concert was houseful till the end, i.e. 9.30 pm! Mostly people start leaving the hall by 9 pm! Both Ustaad Shahid Parvez Khan and Ustaad Rashid Khan made us sit glued to our seat till the end! The sitar played by Ustaad Shahid Parvez Khan was divine.  I will write about him also sometime!

Please have a look at this video first.  This is just a sample.  He expanded this song elaborately, with a touch of pure classical in the end at the concert.  This one is mild, ghazal type.  Really, melodious:



Ustaad Rashid Khan (Wiki says), born on 1st July, 1996, belongs to the Rampur Sahaswan Gharana and is the great grandson of the founder Inaayat Hussain Khan.  Every gharana has got unique type of singing Hindustani music.  But Rashid Khan didn't just stick to his gharana, though he got trained in that, adopted many other gharana styles like Amir Khan's and Bhimsen Joshi's.
He is married to Joyeeta Bose, from the family of Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose.  (The comment section in the 'yaad piya ki video gave some details). 

This information is for serious Hindustani music fans:

His renderings stand out for the emotional overtones in his melodic elaboration. He says: "The emotional content may be in the alaap, sometimes while singing the bandish, or while giving expression to the meaning of the lyrics." This brings a touch of modernity to his style, as compared to the older maestros, who tended to place greater emphasis on impressive technique and skillful execution of difficult passages.

Rashid Khan has also experimented with fusing pure Hindustani music with lighter musical genres, e.g. in the Sufi fusion recording Naina Piya Se (songs of Amir Khusro), or in experimental concerts with western instrumentalist Louis Banks.


Rashid Khan gave his first concert at age eleven, and the following year, 1978, he performed at an ITC concert in Delhi. In April 1980, when Nissar Hussain Khan (his maternal grand uncle from who he was learning music) moved to the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Calcutta, Rashid Khan also joined the academy at the age of 14. By 1994, he was acknowledged as a musician (a formal process) at the academy.

Wiki says:  Pandit Bhimsen Joshi once remarked that Rashid Khan was the "assurance for the future of Indian vocal music".He was awarded the Padma Shri as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2006.

You can know more about him in his interview programme in Rajya Sabha TV.

Shaksiyat Rajya Sabha programme:




This is his typical classical singing.  He sang this at the concert. Click here: Awesome rendition!

He has got two daughters and a son, who also have started giving concerts.  He has done playback singing in some movies like Jagjit Singh and his voice is melodious and soft in them. This is one:

From the movie 'Jab we met':




I used to hear just Jagjit Singh's ghazals all these days.  Now, Rashid Khan will also become my favourite! Never knew about him this much.  This concert has introduced me to an incredible, unique voice!

The video which is given below shows my favourite Carnatic singer Bombay Jayashree and now my favourite Hindustani singer, Ustaad Rashid Khan in a 'different' type of music, is it fusion...well, I liked it! You too will love this! Over to Coke studio:

Lata Mangeshkar, Who Was/is My Favourite Singer Since My Childhood!

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The Great Lata Mangeshkar!

Where shall I start? I had been hearing Lata Mangeshkar's songs from my childhood via radio.  It was 'Aap ki farmaayish' during daytime in those days and even now, though we hear her in 'bhoole bisre geeth' in the morning too, where very old songs are played.  She is 87 years old now!

From my mother, grand mother to my sons, love her songs/voice! My son loves her old songs, though!

Wikipedia gives more details about her here! I think I will write mainly about the precious cassette we had during the late 1970's!

It was the Cassette season then! No CDs.  We used to hear via radio for many years until then.  Then my husband brought home a car stereo.  It was like small box with knobs and a slot for inserting cassettes.  My elder son was around 2 years old.  He grew up hearing music even when he was in my womb! I am crazy about music...mainly film music, a little doze of bhajans too! I used to play the radio, mainly Vividhbharati from early morning bhajan programmes to night's 'aap ki farmaayish'.  You must be knowing that I am a great fan of 'Sangeet Sarita' programme which can be heard even today from 7.30 to 7.45 am.  The result, my sons also became very familiar with music.  (I think this programme has influenced us to appreciate all sorts of music from ghazals to western classical music).  We used to have many cassettes after the tape recorder came home.  One was 'Lata Mangeshkar's 1971 Live concert  at London's Albert Hall'. It was played 3-4 times a day, everyday! I remember my son mimicking the English words which can be heard in the beginning of the cassette! Dilip Kumar speaks in chaste Urdu! I can't follow many words in his speech even now! But it sounds good in his voice! The cassette became useless after it got cut 2-3 times (I had pasted them again and again!).  I couldn't get a new one later.  I had been searching for it for many years now.  Thank god, I got it now, thanks to 'you tube' and Mega Ayub! Her voice during this concert was at its peak! Soft and clear! Each and every song covered here, is a gem!

Here is some notes about this event at the famous 'Albert Hall' in London:

The 103-year-old Royal Albert Hall in London -- Britain's most prestigious auditorium with a seating capacity for 6000 -- witnessed a musical phenomenon unequalled in its hallowed history when the inimitable Lata Mangeshkar made her international "debut" on its august stage with a series of three concerts in the aid of the Nehru Memorial Project in Britain in March 1974.

Seldom, indeed, has the hall been booked for a single recitalist three times in one week. What, however, made the event equally unique was to have the hall packed by an oriental artiste for all three nights -- and something more. For even after the intermission on the final night (March 14), there still were crowds willing to pay double the highest price for admission to the hall!

Inside the hall, Lata, the cynosure of all eyes, received a big ovation as Dilip Kumar -- one of India's top-notch film stars, who was also specially invited by The India League, sponsors of the Memorial Project -- introduced her at every concert as his "little sister" and as "a singer with the voice that defied description and definition".

Tribute after tribute, as also bouquets galore, came to Lata from many eminent personalities of England and India.

Then amid the ideal setting that matched her many-splendoured talent, Lata sang her songs with a seraphic impulse. She could demand and obtain the spontaneous surrender of her 18000and odd listeners -- and sent them home with gladdened hearts and nostalgic memories.

That is at once the singular distinction of the one and only Lata Mangeshkar..."the undisputed melody queen of India"..."the pint-sized bundle of musical genius"... "a singer with a moonlight in her throat"... "a legend in her lifetime"...                                      

I am hearing this now after many years but still can remember the song list clearly!  She is singing even now....for the current famous music director, AR Rahman!

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P.S.: I heard this song just now, from the movie, 'Anand'. Goose bumps! She is unbelievably good!

I Am Overwhelmed By Rabindranath Tagore & Anurag Basu!

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First I must thank the director, Anurag Basu for introducing ordinary people like me to such intense stories by our own Indian Writer/Nobel laureate/Painter/Poet, Rabindranath Tagore.  I know Tagore as a poet (Gitanjali...a bit familiar), a writer of our National Anthem 'Jana Gana Mana', vaguely familiar with his paintings also.  I knew he wrote stories.  Am very familiar with Rabindra Sangeet, have heard them and watched them in TV.  Love the typical/unique tune of those songs.  But never knew that his stories were so intense, psychological, women oriented.

Well...I am talking about the TV serial 'Rabindranath Tagore Stories' which is being screened in EPIC channel at present.  The stories are based on the lifestyle of  people in India, esp. Bengal in the 1920s and 1930s.  I can relate/understand the situation in those days because I have heard from my mother and her sister, some typical stories of suppressed women of those days.  But here, in Tagore's stories, the women are portrayed as very intelligent, sometimes rebellious, who wanted to come out of the so called 'traditional' web. I had two grandmothers (Father's and Mother's mothers), both widows, one's head was shaved and no blouse, the other one wore blouse and even home stitched underwear! The first one always sang bhajans, shlokas, very religious and the other one recited shlokas but loved classical music, film songs, watched movies with daughters, read books and newspapers etc.  Well, let me go back to the Tagore stories now!

Please read about our Tagore first....He was born on 7th May, 1861 in Calcutta.  Lived for 80 years...and gave us so much in literature/poetry and many more things.  He is the youngest of thirteen children, lost his mother very early in his life and was brought up mostly by servants.  Wiki says that many of his siblings became famous in some or other area.  Tagore largely avoided classroom schooling and preferred to roam the manor or nearby Bolpur and Panihati, idylls which the family visited. His brother Hemendranath tutored and physically conditioned him—by having him swim the Ganges or trek through hills, by gymnastics, and by practising judo and wrestling. He learned drawing, anatomy, geography and history, literature, mathematics, Sanskrit, and English—his least favourite subject. Tagore loathed formal education—his scholarly travails at the local Presidency College spanned a single day. Years later he held that proper teaching does not explain things; proper teaching stokes curiosity.

He comes from a Zamindar family and so, no dearth of money at any time in his life.  His father wanted him to become a lawyer and sent him to law school in the U.K.  He didn't complete that course but was interested in English poets!

Became interested in painting at the age of 60 and had an exhibition in France!

He wrote and acted in drama-opera! Mind boggling personality, he was!

I have watched some movies based on his stories, again, they were based on the period of early 1900s, lifestyle in Bengal.

He started Vishwabharathi University in Shantiniketan (Indira Gandhi studied there, I think!)

Hmmm....I must thank the director of Rabindranath Tagore stories, a Hindi serial, Anurag Basu.

Until now, I didn't have an idea of how great Tagore was. He had written all types of stories from love stories to thrillers! Superb story-teller and great director combination is here! Wherever music is needed, Rabindra Sangeet is used.  Background music is memorable...yes, memorable! A big plus point to the serial. I am addicted to this programme.

He says in this video clip given below that he approached many channels for screening Rabinranath Tagore stories, which were short stories in individual episodes.  At last EPIC channel accepted and now, they are being screened in the channel.  Many familiar faces of TV and movies are there in nearly every episode.  You see them in entirely different angle.  Serious, good acting.  The women are beautiful in traditional Bengali dresses.  Men in dhothies with old, oily hairstyle.  I was feeling, sometimes heavy-hearted ('Tyaag'), sometimes laughing loudly ('Dhai Aakhar Prem Ka') after watching each episode! I started watching a bit late, so missed some episodes.  They are available in Netflix, it seems.  The name of the stories are here. Each and every episode/story is a gem.

My favourite actress Radhika Apte is in an episode.  Mind-blowing acting!

Now, to a glimpse of 'Rabindranath Tagore stories' clip! I used to use Punjabi words like 'Puththar' at home when 'Buniyaad' serial was screened in DD, long back and now, pronounce Chandrakanth as Chondrokonth, Madhavi as Madhabi!





This EPIC channel has got many interesting programmes, mostly based on India, its history, heritage and mythology.

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Dream Chasers! The Fastest Man On Earth!

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The Olympic season has started! Just 2-3 weeks back, I watched a couple of movies based on Olympic games. One was 'Race' which was based on the famous Jesse Owens, the track and field athlete, the American player.                                                                        

The original Jesse Owens is shown in the above pictures. He was an American track & field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medal winner in the 1936 games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump.  He was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history''. Owens was the youngest of ten children, three girls and seven boys, born to Henry Cleveland Owens and Mary Emma Fitzgerald in Oakville, Alabama, on September 12, 1913.(Read more in the wiki link).

He became famous for his talent plus for participating in the 1936 Berlin Olympics during Adolf Hitler's rule.  I read about him after seeing the movie.  The movie was very well-made.  They show how he improved his talent step by step with good, sincere coaches.  His coach during the Olympics was Larry Snyder, a track & field coach at Ohio University, where Jesse studied.  Jesse's real name is J.C. Owens...he was nick named Jesse by his school teacher! Now, to a clipping from the 1936 Olympics where the great Jesse could be seen!



He has got such an innocent happy face.  The crowd loved him.  Hitler was not happy because a non-Aryan race black man was leading in most of the athletic events.  He wanted his Germans to win an show the world that their race is supreme.  So, some controversy was there.  He was not there for the 'medal awarding' ceremony.  He ordered not to film the event, etc.  You can see how much ordeal Jesse went through in the film.  The American camera woman was given lot of trouble, but she did film his final event which got him the Gold medal.  Asked him to pose (running pose) after the event separately, for  her and the picture became very famous. The Germans didn't like it at all.

His coach gave his 100% in pushing him, encouraging him throughout.  He even went out at midnight to get a pair of new shoes for Jesse (with all the army questionings).  Really, Jesse as well as the coach are great! I can write pages and pages about this person and the movie.  But it will be toooo long.  So, some videos now from the event as well as the movie.  First, to a link where the real Jesse, his coach and the movie castings can be seen here!

 Now, to the real Olympic games scene and the real HITLER!



Everywhere in Berlin he was discriminated because of his colour.  A controversy is there that Hitler didn't shake his hands after he won the gold medal.  But Jesse said that The Chancellor waved his hand at him before leaving the stadium! He said further "Hitler didn't snub me – it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram." Roosewelt was the President then.

Yes, the American President didn't even bother to congratulate him even after he came back from Berlin.   The colour always dominated them.  One good act was from Lutz, a German athlete who helped during the Olympics, stayed Jesse's friend till his death during WW II. The movie shows the friendship beautifully! You can see the friend in this video clip!



Stephan James as Jesse and Jason Sudelkis as his coach did a memorable job! I liked the American Camerawoman too (Carice van Houten). Now, to the 'Race' movie trailer:



Owens was quoted saying, the secret behind his success was "I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up."

Jessi The fastest man on Earth!

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The Young Man I Admire!

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I heard this song in the afternoon.  Such a melodious song by Shiv-Hari.  Amitabh is reciting some verse in the beginning.  Such a powerful voice.



Music: Shiv-Hari (Sivkumar Sharma & Hariprasad Chaurasia) Lyrics: Javed Akhtar. Movie: Silsila (1981). Actors: Amitabh Bachchan & Rekha.

I watched Amitabh starrer 'Wazir', a 2016 movie, 2 days back. Amitabh is around 74 years old now.  Still his enthusiasm is in tact! And voice too!

Amitabh is singing in the II half of the song!



Music: Rochak Kohli, Lyrics: Deepak Romola, Gurpreet Saini. Actors: Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar.

We were discussing about Amitabh Bachchan while hearing the Silsila song and were admiring him as to how he is still so active in life.  So, this post!

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She Came Into This Profession By Accident...Now, Is The Famous Daadisa!

Surekha Sikri in a different costume other than 'daadisa'! (courtesy)

I watched this programme, 'Guftagu' last Saturday in Rajya Sabha. It is very good.  Felt like watching Door Darshan programme, without the loudly dressed up anchors shouting or 'I know all' type of interviewers, never allowing the guest to 'think' and express themselves. Syed Mohammad Irfan, the interviewer here, is the best person for this type of programme, I feel.  He was looking at Surekha Sikri, the actor about whom I am writing here, with lot of respect and admiration.  He was prompting her whenever needed.  Otherwise, he was just listening intently.  Along with Surekha, I admired him too, here!

When did I first notice her? Maybe in Tamas, a Govind Nihalani television film/serial.  It came in Door darshan in the 80's as one hour series for four hours.  I still remember, the plot was so strong that my husband didn't even wanted to hear the background music and closed the door of his room when I was watching it.  A memorable film for me.  I noticed Surekha Sikri then.  And next, in one Rajasthani based story where she lives in a desert with her husband and loots the travellers who come to stay in their house as guests.  She kills her own son who came there as a traveller, without knowing that he was their son.  I can never forget her character in that movie.  Anyone remember the name of the movie? Then I noticed her in 'Mammo', a Shyam Benegal movie, where she acted very well along with another of my favourite actor Farida Jalal. She has acted in many other movies but I remember the above mentioned movies vividly.

Now, she is acting in a famous television serial, 'Balika Vadhu' which is running for the past 7 years, I think.  I and my husband had been watching it from day one! No, we are not couch potatoes watching many serials.  We watch only one or two serials at a time.  Now, it is Balika Vadhu and Ashoka.  And some musical reality shows.

This serial, Balika Vadhu, has got small small incidents and all of them give a positive message to our society, from child marriage to adult education.  Surekha is the strength/pillar of the serial.  She learnt Rajasthani language just to act in this serial.  Very strong minded character.  Her character changes from a strong minded, old fashioned woman to a modern, a 'full of love' woman here.  Have a look here . 

She is from Uttar Pradesh.  Father was in the Air Force and mother was a teacher. Studied in Aligarh and later became an NSD (National School of Drama) graduate.  Acted in theatres with NSD Repertory company for around 15 years and then shifted to Mumbai.  Then her movie and television career started.  She loves Hindustani music, can sing quite well and a bookworm too!! You can hear her giving more details of her life here:

'Mujhe stage pe khada hona nahin aathaa thaa'...she says here...now, she is the pinnacle of acting! She can act in any type of role now, whether it is a good lady or a bad, cunning lady! Everything comes natural for her.  She gives her 100% to the role, body language, expression in dialogue, everything.  

In another interview here, she says "The process of acting is a continuous learning experience. What I could do five years earlier, I can do better now. My growth as an actor reflects in my work. I have tried to give the character many shades; she is not a cardboard character. She proves that it is not necessary for a negative person to remain that way forever. That if she examines herself, does some soul-searching; she too can overcome her rigid mindset. Her character (as Daadisa in Balika Vadhu) proves that it is possible to change.”

She married Hemant Rege after a long courtship during 'Tamas' days.  Happily married couple they were.  He expired in 2009. Her only son is an artist and lives in Bombay.

She has done films like Sardari Begum, Deham (malayalam), Sarfarosh, Zubeida, Raincoat, and Little Buddha and won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress twice – for Tamas in 1988 and Mammo in 1995.  She has also won the Sangeet Nataak Akaademi Award in 1989 and the ASSOCHAM Ladies League’s Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award, earlier this year.

Our whole family had been admiring her for the past many years.  I am so happy to write about her today.  These types of women influence us and it might reflect in some way in our life.  She is in my 'People whom I admire' list now!

A Unique Music Director!

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Ramesh Vinayakam! I had heard some of his songs in radio and knew he is good.  Hearing one of his songs in a reality show and noticing the tune, background music, I thought I should write about him.  I had seen him giving tips to new budding singers in a reality show and they were too good.   Now, hear some of his songs and you will notice his name when you hear a 'sara hatke - different' song hereafter!



Ramesh Vinayakam is the male singer.  Female singer? Soft, melodious song. This movie, 'Nala Damayanthi' was directed by Kamal Haasan.  His influence is there in Madhavan, you can notice in the video!

The next song also is sung by Ramesh Vinayakam...'Different' type:

I was looking out for Ramesh Vinyakam's songs and came across this gem, from the movie 'Ramanujan'. I am hearing this song for the first time. Vani Jayaram's voice is entirely different...unique. I like this voice of hers. Wiki has written this about the song:

'Being a film about a mathematician, the songs were related to mathematical terms as well. Poet Vaali had written a number, "Narayana Narayana", which was said to "incorporate the idea of infinity and nothingness'

This is another song from the same movie, Ramanujan.  I wonder 
why I hadn't noticed this song before! Hear this:



Ramesh Vinayakam and Vinaya (new voice I think and sounds lovely) are singing. Or is it Kaushiki Chakraborty's voice?  Please write in the comments section if you are familiar with this voice! The tune is good.  The background music is soft.  'Different' type of song.  The lyrics are too beautiful.  You can see/read them in the comments section too (in you tube)! Na.Muthukumar is superb here. My impression about the lyricist has gone up now!

Wiki says this about the songs of Ramanujan:

He said that he had to go classical for one part of the film and into European sounds for another segment. No modern instruments, but old world instruments were used in order to bring the period alive, while four orchestral pieces were recorded in Germany, where the composer worked with the Stuttgart-based GermanPops Orchestra that has worked on contemporary and classical styles. Being a film about a mathematician, the songs were related to mathematical terms as well. Poet Vaali had written a number, "Narayana Narayana", which was said to "incorporate the idea of infinity and nothingness", while another number, written by Thirumazhisai Azhwar thousands of years ago, "stresses that numbers are absolute".One of the instrumental tracks, "One to Zero" was described as a "musical metaphor" as it was based on the numbers, with Vinayakam explaining, "One is represented by one note, two by two notes and so on, while zero is represented by a rest.After the initial exposition, at any point of time, three of these layers criss-cross each other from a distance of one beat from each other".

Thirumazhisai Azhwar's song sung by Unnikrishnan is here. It describes about numbers and the music...listen!

This looks like western classical. From the movie, Ramanujan. I am ignorant of this music. But sounds important.  Click  and see! 

This is a fast number, sung by Vinayakam.  Background music is interesting!

He has done many devotional song albums.  He is proficient in Carnatic music, Western music and has a diploma from Trinity college of music, London.  

He is speaking about 'Ramanujan' here. 

Waiting to hear more music from him in the future.

Perambalur Collector, Darez Ahmed, Another Sathyarthi In The Making?

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I read this news in The Hindu today:

Perambalur Collector receives PM’s award! 

'Perambalur Collector Darez Ahmed has received the ‘Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in public administration.’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave away the award, which carries a purse of Rs. 1 lakh, in appreciation of his service in protecting girl children. 

Mr. Darez Ahmed had evolved various programmes to check foeticide and female infanticide. . Focus on ante-natal care included a special surveillance to check foeticide.'

  

I suddenly remembered reading about him just a couple of days back in a Tamil weekly magazine, 'Ananda Vikatan'.

Perambalur is a municipality town near Cuddalore and Salem (Tamilnadu).  Wikipedia gives more interesting details about this town!

This post is about the present Collector of Perambalur, Darez Ahmed, who is making a difference here, particularly for the upliftment of girl children and women.  Let me write in detail about his amazing work. Now, to the Vikatan article:

Normally, school children and teachers get tensed up when they come to know that their area Collector will be visiting them soon.  It is the opposite here...all of them are happy to receive him.

Darez Ahmed, took the post of the Collector of Perambalur 4 years back.  He was not acting like a man with a prestigious post but was mingling with people and children like an ordinary person.  He roams all over the villages and talks to people like a family member.  Everybody loves him.  You can notice it from the pictures below.

Hearing about the award for their Collector, the whole Perambalur is happy and celebrating.

His office has stopped more than 450 child marriages of all religions.  He stopped a marriage of a particular religion and faced the wrath of their people from the whole of Tamilnadu.  Still, he was firm on his stand and said that every child should be married only after they reach the marriageable age. 
After stopping the child marriages, he made the girl children to study further and some are doing their engineering/medical courses now.  He arranged for their stay in the schools and colleges from the Govt. fund.

The Collector participated in the recently held Perambalur marathon titled, 'Run to protect girls'

He is one among them.

He has started a programme now, called 'Super 30', through which children who are good in their studies in Govt. schools, are selected and makes the teachers to coach them to compete in the entrance exams to join medical and engineering colleges.  At present, more than 300 children are being coached here.  He has warned the errant teachers to work sincerely and so, the admission in govt. schools is increasing around 26% every year. He has started grading the schools according to their performance and sometimes visits them and takes classes to check the standard of teaching in the particular school.  This programme is called 'sigaram' means 'peak'.  He insists the villagers to send their children to aanganwaadis so that they have good, healthy food.

He has made arrangements to offer loans (education loan) for the children doing their higher studies from his district.  More than 10,000 students have availed this facility until now.

He has helped the cotton growing farmers to get good rates for their produce.  He gives priority to the problems of the local farmers.

People seem to be very comfortable with him and he, with them.

He has helped many children who have got serious problems with his own money for special treatments.  He is a down to earth person.  Travels in buses, auto rickshaws etc. to mingle with the locals.

He has arranged for the annual book fare in his district which is praised by the locals.   

He had been receiving accolades for the past 3 years, like 'Best Collector' award, award for helping 'special children'  from our earlier Chief Minister. 

Now, he has received the Prime Minister's award for 'Excellence in Public Administration'.  But he says that 'his officers followed his orders sincerely and so the acknowledgement goes to them too'.

Let us congratulate him and look forward to many more acknowledgements for his sincere work.

I felt so happy while writing this positive post. We need more people like him in the future. Hope many people read this post and know about him. Our whole country needs a good leader like him. I am a dreamer, you know!


P.S.: Sathyarthi is an Indian children's advocate and an activist against child labour.  He was awarded 2014's Nobel peace prize.

I had written about one more sincere Collector here. Have a look please.



Edited to add on 24.4.2015: I came across this news about the Collector now, thanks to the 'Frontline' magazine. He is a Medical graduate. The article says explains how his department stopped child marriages and later helped the girls to do higher studies.  Interesting article.  It also says:

Recalling the fight against child marriage in Perambalur, Dr Ahmed told Frontline that it all began after he read the magazine’s Cover Story essay by the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen titled “Many faces of gender inequality” (Frontline, November 9, 2001). The seven types of anti-female bias mentioned in the essay, which talked about 100 million missing women, triggered the Collector’s initiative.

The Shadows Of His Hands Are Singing 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara'!

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I have been watching my friends and relatives making animal images in shadows, since my childhood.  Even I showed my children, shadows with fingers on our wall at home...dogs, fish and birds. Not more than that! But the video which I saw this morning made me dumbfounded. It will make you too!

If you know the song 'Mile sur mera tumhaara' and had seen the video since our Door Darshan time, you will enjoy this, better! Every picture in the video is shown in the shadows! The shadows are lip sinking with the song's lyrics! Amazing! If you are not familiar with the song, watch the video of the song first and then, this video.  It is the second one below this video. Now, let us see the singing shadows first!



The last image of the Four lions, the Emblem of India,  and the flying flag, brought tears in my eyes! Beautiful, aren't they?   The beautiful rabbit, the Goan with a hat, Balamurali Krishna singing with his hands moving, the mridangam artist playing, the Taj Mahal, the peacock, camel, elephants,  people on a boat, North East Indians dancing,  I can go on... The video shows the artist playing with his fingers. Needs 100% concentration for doing this, I am sure.

Now, watch the real song:



You know what I did while writing this post now? I opened two windows in my computer, one with the shadow video and another with the song video and watched both frame by frame! I love this song and am never bored of hearing this.  I had done a post on this earlier too (here).

I looked out for the name of the artist and got it! His name is Prahlad Acharya. (link). He hails from Udupi (Karnataka), MY home town!

He was interested in magic from his childhood and  learnt magic from Uday Jadugar,.  He learnt shadow play and other magics while travelling with him during his shows. The link says:

'Today, the 40-year-old has traveled across the globe, telling stories using shadows. He can perform the Panchatantra tales, Kannada folktales such as the story of Punyakoti, the holy cow who kept her word to a tiger by offering herself to it after she fed her calf.'

I came across another video of this artist,  which is also interesting (link)

Now, I came across the Wiki link of Prahlad Acharya! We can know more about him here.

He comes in my 'People whom I admire' list now!

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This Person Is One Of Our Country's Unsung Heroes!

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I have never heard of Kailash Satyarthi until his name was declared for this year's (2014) Nobel Peace Prize.  This media person also says so!  Instead of our government or media recognizing him, a Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized him and awarded him, the Nobel peace prize alongwith Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai. 'Satyarthi, 60, and Yousafzai, 17,  were picked for their struggle against the oppression of children and young people, and for the right of all children to education, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.'

Now, I see his face in all the news papers and news channels, day in and day out!  His name was considered for this award for the past 5 years, it seems.  Still, nobody, even Barkha, Arnab or Rajdeep, our famous news gatherers mentioned anything about him.  Satyarthi (his 'bachpan bachaao aandholan') had saved around 80,000 children from Child labours in mines, quarries and other hard places at great risk to himself.  Every teashop, match making or small provision stores engage children.  Many of them are Bihari children...sometimes parents send them out for work out of poverty or the children leave home and start working at a young  age.  Satyarthi said in an interview yesterday that parents should give respect to their children and heed what they say.  The children should be happy in their homes/with their parents.  Then they won't run away and land with greedy people. 

Satyarthi was born in 1954 at Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.  He did his graduation (Electrical Engineer) in Vidisha and then did did his Post graduation at Bhopal.  He said in an interview that he did this to please his parents.  He became a Lecturer and worked for a few years in a college in Bhopal.  Wiki says:

n 1980, he gave up his career as a teacher and became secretary general for the Bonded Labor Liberation Front; he also founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Mission) that year. He has also been involved with the Global March Against Child Labor.

Another link says this about him.

NEW DELHI — Many years have passed, but a police chief named Amitabh Thakur can remember the precise moment when he first set eyes on Kailash Satyarthi, who won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

Mr. Satyarthi was lying on the ground, bleeding profusely from the head, while a group of men converged on him with bats and iron rods. They worked for the Great Roman Circus, which was illegally employing teenagers trafficked from Nepal as dancing girls. Mr. Satyarthi, a Gandhian activist in a simple white cotton tunic, had come to free them.  As he approached the scene, the chief realized he was interrupting a savage beating.

 Born about six and a half years after India won independence, Mr. Satyarthi, 60, was so deeply impressed with Gandhi’s teachings that, as a teenager, he invited a group of high-caste local bigwigs to a meal prepared by low-caste “untouchables”; the invited guests boycotted the event and then shunned his family. Deeply upset, the boy dropped his Brahmin family name in favor of Satyarthi, which means “seeker of truth,” according to an account on his website.

This link says how his family of a daughter and a son with his wife supported him throughout his work all these years.

This is a story of a child labourer in a quarry, who was educated by Satyarthi.  We can come across many stories like this in the following days!

Another link says this about him:

Among those who celebrated on Friday was Mohammad Manan Ansari, who began working at a mica mine at 6, digging ore that would sell for 5 to 20 cents a pound. Mr. Ansari, now a college student in his late teens, recalled watching as a small friend was crushed by falling rocks in one of the mine’s tunnels. He said he would be grateful to Mr. Satyarthi for the rest of his life.

“My happiest moment was when Bachpan Bachao Andolan workers came and saved me,” he said. “Now Kailash’s Nobel is the second happiest moment of my life. I can’t explain my joy in my own words.”

Satyarthi is the seventh Nobel peace prize and only the second Indian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize after Mother Teresa in 1979.  

The NDTV interview with Satyarthi is here.  The interviewer is not very good, though. 

Let us all celebrate him! We need more people like him here, in India, people who have guts to serve others instead of their own families like us.

Photo courtesy: google

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I Watched This Artist Doing Wonders With His Small Knife!

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We went for a wedding at Coimbatore, a couple of days back.  The wedding went on very well. The food was very good!!! But we still talk about the vegetable carving they displayed at the choultry!

It is a fashion nowadays to display this art during weddings.  I had admired this art at many weddings.   I saw some beautiful art on copra (dry coconut) also here.  It came from Bangalore, which is famous for copra art.  Then we saw this man carving a pumpkin...peeling/scraping the outer skin thinly off from the veg. and then drawing small small squares on it with a wooden pencil-like stick with a sharp tip.  Then started sketching the design for carving. Nearby was a nearly finished crocodile (!) which was created out of bitter gourds.  He has got a couple of small, sharp knives. He holds the knife closely in his fingers and carves these images beautifully.  One assistant was chopping cabbage on the floor, red and green, separately.  When I asked Samy, the artist, 'is it for the cows?' (I thought he was cutting the wastes!), he said that it was for decoration!  I regret for not taking a picture of him when he was working.  I was standing there and watching for a long time! It was magic! Now, to the images.  Click on the pictures to have a better look:

So many images! You can see the cabbage strips on the floor!

The beautiful peacock! All the brinjals, carrots, beetroots, moolis were sliced and pinned.  The feathers were balanced on a couple of banana stems first and then removed or are they under the 'feathers'?!

I think, this was the best image! Half-way image/sculpture of the bitter gourd crocodile...You can notice the scraped pumpkin on the side which turned into Ganesha later! The crocodile is without teeth here, at this stage!

Crocodile with sharp lauki (bottle gourd) vegetable teeth and mooli, beetroot eyes! Now, I notice the carrot bits in its teeth, blood?! Bottle gourd snake is lying nearby! And '(beetroot) smiling rabbit' is sitting happily! Lauki is the main vegetable used here, I feel.

Southekai/cucumber tortoise!

Birds out of mooli, lauki, carrot and beetroot! The flowers were looking very natural!

The penguins out of big brinjal, small brinjal and carrots!

Srinivasa image out of red pumpkin!Beautiful, isn't it?

Ganesha with garland, modak, etc.   Even the sacred thread is there!

I admire this young artist and I would like him to go places.  He deserves it.  I should have taken his picture when he was working...

His address:

T.M.Samy,
Excellent Carving,
Vegetable & Ice Carving Decoration,
30, RR Layout,
New Siddhapudur,
Coimbatore-641044

Phone: 9885281100, 9698981100

Email: excellentcarving@gmail.com

Humen Tumse Pyaar Kitna...Har Din Hum Aapko Yaad Karten Hain, Gungunaate Hain, Aapke Gaanen!

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The legend called Kishore Kumar!

Today is the 85th Birth Anniversary of our famous Kishore Kumar, Hindi Film playback singer, actor, director, lyricist, composer, the list goes on...a multi-faceted personality.

As all my friends know, my day begins with MS Subbulakshmi's Vishnu Sahasranaama first and then the radio is switched on.  From Vividh Bharati's Sangeet Sarita programme, I start hearing Kishore, Rafi, Manna Dey, Latha and Asha's songs! They seem to repeat the songs often but I never get bored.  Kishore is the first favourite of all the members in my family.  I have written many times, about how crazy my  elder son was and is, about Kishore Kumar's songs.  My mood lifts up as soon as I hear his voice! We can recognise Latha's voice the decade of the song, since she started singing from a small girl to middle age and now old age...her voice changed slowly (Latha is my favourite singer too!).  But Kishore Kumar's is the same from the mid 40's to the late 80's.  You can know more about him with this wiki link here.

He came to to Bombay with his brother, Ashok Kumar, who was a famous actor then,  to do playback singing.  But became famous by singing along with acting, in movies.  At some period, he was so busy acting in films that Rafi sang some songs for Kishore Kumar in some movies! He was a good actor playing serious roles plus a great comedian.  But all of us remember him for his eternal songs in Hindi films.  He had sung all types of songs from classical, semi classical to masti bhari songs! All the music directors were after him.  His tantrums were legendary.  An example is here via an interview he gave to Pritish Nandy, the famous journalist for the then famous magazine,  Illustrated weekly:

Pritish Nandy: I understand you are quitting Bombay and going away to Khandwa...
Kishore Kumar: Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone seeks to exploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here? Is anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on? I am determined to get out of this futile rat race and live as I've always wanted to. In my native Khandwa, the land of my forefathers. Who wants to die in this ugly city?                                                                                                                                                                PN: If you didn't like Bombay, why did you stay back? For fame? For money?
KK: I was conned into it. I only wanted to sing. Never to act. But somehow, thanks to peculiar circumstances, I was persuaded to act in the movies. I hated every moment of it and tried virtually every trick to get out of it. I muffed my lines, pretended to be crazy, shaved my head off, played difficult, began yodelling in the midst of tragic scenes, told Meena Kumari what I was supposed to tell Bina Rai in some other film - but they still wouldn't let me go. I screamed, ranted, went cuckoo. But who cared? They were just determined to make me a star.                                                                                                                                         PN: But you succeeded, after your fashion...
KK: Of course I did. I was the biggest draw after Dilip Kumar. There were so many films I was doing in those days that I had to run from one set to the other, changing on the way. Imagine me. My shirts flying off, my trousers falling off, my wig coming off while I'm running from one set to the other. Very often I would mix up my lines and look angry in a romantic scene or romantic in the midst of a fierce battle. It was terrible and I hated it. It evoked nightmares of school. Directors were like schoolteachers. Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. I dreaded it. That's why I would often escape.                                                                                                                                                                                                    PN: Is that why you prefer to be a loner?
  KK: Look, I don't smoke, drink or socialise. I never go to parties. If that makes me a loner, fine. I am happy this way. I go to work and I come back straight home. To watch my horror movies, play with my spooks, talk to my trees, sing. In this avaricious world, every creative person is bound to be lonely. How can you deny me that right?                                                                                                           He was acting as if he was crazy, but was very very intelligent, eccentric, you can say.                                                                                                                                      Both Latha and Asha used to say in some interviews that he used to cut jokes all the time and their voice used to get 'kharaash' with all the laughing, before recording the songs.  So they tried not to laugh, but Kishore would not let them stay sober!  Everybody who came across him loved him.  You can read more about him in the link and get alarmed or just laugh!  I feel like copy-pasting the whole interview but pushed myself to stop! I regret that he died very early in his life...he was just 58.                                                                                                                                   You can read about his career and other information in the wiki link I quoted in the beginning.  Now, let me write about my favourite songs of Kishore!                                                                                                                                     He is a good comedian, I said.  Have a look here in this song.  Suni Dutt also is here who was a famous hero of those days, but here, he is not 'visible' at all:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          He sang for Dev Anand in many movies.                                                                     Both Latha and Kishore's voices are superb here.                                                                                                                                                  and here!                                                                                                                                      He sang for Sanjay Dutt here                                                                                                                                    This is my favourite song.  Kishore is singing for his brother Ashok Kumar.  You can see Tanuja also (Kajol's mother!).  Music director is Kishore Kumar. I think he produced this movie. Here is the song.                                                                                                                                    This song is from 'Amar Prem'.   Rajesh Khanna's famous movie.  All the songs in this movie are good.  One sample is here:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          'Aradhana' was a hit movie of those days.  All the songs by music director, SD Burman in this movie, were famous.  One is here.                                                                                                                                    Kishore is singing for Amitabh here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         This song is from the famous movie, 'Julie'.  I love this song.                                                                                                                                                                               Kishore is singing for Amitabh in Shiv-Hari's music, for the film, 'Silsila'.  My favourite song. Again all the songs in this movie are hits.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Only Kishore and Amitabh can do justice to this song, 'paan banaras wala'!                                                                                                                                      Another masti song of Kishore, picturised on Randhir Kapoor and his wife Babita (Ranbir Kapoor's parents!) is here.  Lovely song.                                                                                                                                       This is a sad song, but a very good song.                                                                                                                                                                                                        This is  my most favourite song picturized on Amitabh. Kishore's voice is at its best! Such a deeeeep voice! Music is by Bappi Lahiri! Here it is!                                                                                                                        Let me conclude this post, reluctantly, with a happy song! Still so many of my favourite songs are there.  I might make another post with them.  He was not classically trained, but he was able to sing any type of songs.  He was a gifted person.  He is going to live in the hearts of all music lovers forever.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           P.S.: Please mention your favourites in the comment section!                                                                           How did I forget to add the songs of this movie, Aandhi?! All the songs are good.  It is here                                                   Another favourite song which should not have been left out! Enjoy this!