Down Memory Lane. Review on Yaadon Ki Baaraat

First things first, this is not a review on the movie Yaadon ki Baraat, but the music and songs of the movie. It?s quite unfortunate that MS doesn?t have a category for music albums of old movies, and all the music albums are of the current movies, most of which are not worth listening to.

Anyway as far as the movie is concerned it?s a typical lost and found story dealing with 3 brothers( Dharmendra, Vijay Arora, Tariq) getting separated in childhood, thanks to the bad villain(Ajit). Dharam paaji becomes a criminal(he has the meatiest role), Vijay Arora works as a waiter in a star hotel and falls for rich snooty heroine(Zeenat Aman) while Tariq is a singer in the same night club. And like in any typical Bollywood movie the brothers re unite at the end, and give the villain his just dues.

But the highlight of the movie is it?s songs and their picturizations. You can find racy, sentimental and romantic songs in the same track. Nasir Hussain once confessed that he had one story with him and he would just remake it again and again. But he had a great music composer with him called R.D.Burman who made sure that we would not hear the same tunes again and again. R.D and Naseer had earlier given number of superhits together like Caravan, Teesri Manzil, Pyaar Ka Mausam and Baharon Ke Sapne. But Yadoon ki Baraat remains the zenith of their collabaration followed by Hum Kisise Kum Nahin. Most of Nasir Hussain?s movies were typical bubble gum-candy floss entertainers, and R.D.?s music perfectly suited the mood of those movies. Sadly after HKKN, the other RD-Nasir movies like Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai, Zabardast and Manzil Manzil just didn?t come up to the mark and were pretty mediocre, save a couple of songs. Anyway here are the songs of this movie

1. Title Song: There are 2 versions of this song one sung by Lata and the other one sung by Kishore-Rafi. The Lata version of the song is sung at the beginning of the movie signifying the happy family before tragedy strikes them. The Kishore-Rafi version is sung in the climax. In fact this song re unites the estranged brothers together. Quite a good one, but wouldn?t put it in the great category. But after this movie I guess, every other movie of the 70?s and 80?s used this technique of a family song to reunite the lost brothers. By the way Aamir Khan was one of the child artistes in the first version of the song.

2. Lekar Hum Diwana Dil:Awesome! That is the only word I can use to describe this song. The music, the lyrics, the choreography and the picturization make this song unforgettable. The song is picturized on Tariq (who also happens to be Aamir Khan?s uncle) and Neetu Singh, and is a club song. The song is sung in the background of a robbery being committed by good ole Dharam paaji for his bad boss Ajit. So if you observe the musical interludes in the song, it sorts of builds up a rhythm, building into a crescendo and reaches a high peak, after which there is a pause. And then you have the slow drum beats taking over. Some of RD?s best songs have the habit of grabbing you and forcing you to take part in it. This song belongs to this category. Listen to this and after some time you would find it difficult to prevent yourself from humming this song and tapping your foot. Kishore and Asha are in full flow here.

3. Chura Liya Hain : This song has been aired countless number of times and of course has been mutilated in countless remixes( RD must be turning over in his grave at what the people are doing to his songs nowadays). But if you have to savor this song, you have to listen to the original song. Its beautifully sweet and romantic. The song starts off with a slow guitar strumming(RD?s trademark, this piece of music has been used in countless TV countdowns). Asha picks up the song slowly and brings it up to a higher pitch. If you listen to the antaras of this song, you can observe that they start at a normal pitch, touch a very high level and subside to a very low. Both Asha and Rafi excel in giving a superb modulation for this song. And great lyrics by Majrooh here. Where Lekar Hum makes you feel completely restless and get going, Chura Liya is soothing and romantic. Hats off RD for composing two such different songs. The highlight of the song is Zeenat?s seductive movements in the movie, but the hero, Vijay Arora is absolutely blank faced. This is one reason, I prefer to hear this song, rather than watch it.

4. Aap Ki Kamre Mein: I think this is the first duet in the movie after the title song. Quite a nice, romantic and peppy number. The song is picturized on Vijay Arora, Zeenat and Tariq in the club. It?s a typical tu tu main main type of song.

5. Oh Meri Soni: Another nice song in the movie. Pretty breezy and romantic. Picturized on Vijay Arora and Zeenat Aman, its those typical hero woos heroine-heroine rejects-heroine runs into hero?s arms. Kishore da excelled at these sort of numbers and he is in full elements out here, with Asha giving him good company as usual. Matter of fact if you observe most of the songs in Nasir Hussain?s movies, Rafi usually got all the soulful numbers like Kya Hua Tera Wada(HKKN), Chura Liya Hain(YKB), Poocho Na Yaar Kya Hua(Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai), Chand Mera Dil(HKKN), while Kishore got to sing all the peppy,mischevious numbers like this song, Hum ko to Yaara Teri Yaari(HKKN), Bachana Ei Haseeno(HKKN).

So all my fellow MS izens, if you are a lover of good music and good songs, please go get this album today and make it part of your collection. In fact I would be reviewing some more RD?s hit albums soon.