Wednesday 21 November 2007

Rahul Dev Burman: Sholay (1975)

Sholay

Right... the one that apparently injured some sad sorry sod and consequently (stupidly) had me a bit paranoid a few months ago, the one liable to get me unwanted visits from Indian gangsters. The one Bollywood record everyone's heard of and a lot of people seem to want. So let's get it over with. (Besides, the cover scan's been on the Flickr gallery for ages now, without me having posted the album.)

I'm not actually a big fan of 'Sholay' [review] [2] [3]; not enough great stuff on it to justify it's 'all-time classic' status. I reckon the soundtrack's reputation is exaggerated due to the film's enormous popularity... though I suspect a lot of you will disagree with that sentiment.

The title music's quite good, and I love 'Aa Jab Tak Hai Jaan', but that's it really... the obvious choices (ie. the hits) leave me cold. 'Yeh Dosti' sounds too ordinary, and 'Mehbooba Mehbooba' is ruined for me by the annoying voice; RD Burman is pretty much a genius, but leave out the singing!

With the risk of sounding like an elitist twat then; one for the masses, not so much for me.

Track listing:
1. Kishore Kumar & Manna Dey: Yeh Dosti (Happy)
2. Kishore Kumar: Koi Haseena
3. Lata Mangeshkar & Kishore Kumar: Holi Ke Din
4. Kishore Kumar: Yeh Dosti (Sad)
5. Title Music
6. Rahul Dev Burman: Mehbooba Mehbooba
7. Lata Mangeshkar: Aa Jab Tak Hai Jaan
8. Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Bhupendra & Anand Bakshi: Chand Sa Kai Chehra

11 comments:

  1. http://lix.in/2ff9ab

    (and I'm not really elitist)
    :-)

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  2. Really? You don't like RD Burman's voice? Awww...

    What got me about "Sholay" is that for all its monumental running time (what is it, about 25 hours long?) there are darn few songs in it. There's the title track, and the second number is that suspiciously gay "buddy" number while the two leads are on motorcycles. For me, "Mehbooba Mehbooba" is the strongest number, and of course Burman also recorded that excellent version live in London.

    Kudos on finally putting up "Sholay"! Let the chips fall where they may... even if they're bone chips.

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  3. The thing about RD's voice is it's (seemingly, and to my ears) feigned comical quality... which can work as an added effect (tracks on 'Hum Kisise' and 'Apna Desh' spring to mind), but not singing an entire song. I find it too grating. I'd have really liked the Mehbooba song if it wasn't for that I think...
    PC x

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  4. Just ran across your blog - great taste in music! Being a Kishore fanatic I like this soundtrack & think the strongest tracks actually are two you didn't discuss. 'Holi Ki Din' is just full of incredible energy and is a great song overall. And 'Chand Sa Kai Chehra' is just a fantastic Quwalli that never made it into the movie - have looked near & far trying to find out when it would have been put in the movie & why it never did.

    Anyway, I have a blog dedicated to Bollywood music as well at docbollywood.com - come check it out and keep up the good work!

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  5. Mehbooba O Mehbooba is a straight copy of Demis Roussos song. Check this out - http://www.bhangad.com/1/post/2007/07/lord-save-the-hindi-film-industry.html

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  6. There's a whole web site dedicated to plagiarism in Bollywood scores, here:
    http://www.itwofs.com/
    PC x

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  7. Really? Incredible! Thanks for adding that info!

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  8. a friend in India recently sent me a 3 x LP version of this soundtrack, complete with a Sholay boardgame! Haven't had a chance to listen to it all yet, but will let you know if there's any extra gold ;) Thanks for such a superb blog by the way!

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  9. I'm guessing one of the 3 LPs is dialogue...?

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