This track waS below aVerage

The title track of Zamaana Deewana, which released in 1995, was awful.

It parodied a couple of popular commercials, namely Surf Ultra (whose tagline, “Dhoondhte Reh Jaaoge” was one of the lines of the song), and Lifebuoy (whose tagline, “Lifebuoy hai jahan tandurusti hai wahan” inspired the cringe-worthy line, “Sundar ladki hai jahan tandurusti hai wahan”.)

In fact, I think even the line, “Maine raag jo chheda mere raag ne jadoo kar diya” sounded familiar.

The song, which was penned by Sameer, was rendered by Sapna Mukherjee and Vinod Rathod.

It was composed by Nadeem-Shravan.

(Ud)It was gibberish, but rocKed

Being a lover of all forms of wordplay, I certainly believed that alliteration was used to good effect in Rabi Re Rali, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand what the phrase meant.

But by no means would it be incorrect to state that the song, from Yaarana, was a catchy number.

Its next line went, “Gulab ki kali” (which could be translated to rosebud).

(Ud)It was rendered by Kavita Krishnamurthy and Mr Narayan, who certainly rose to the occasion.

The song, which was penned by Maya Govind, was composed by Anu Malik.

Kavita nailed this inspired track

This blog contains posts on a couple of tracks from Yaarana, which released in 1995.

By no means would it be incorrect to state that Mera Piya Ghar Aaya was the more popular of those.

On listening to it, the listeners had the aural equivalent of a sense of deja vu, because it was the Indian version of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s song of the same name.

The track earned Kavita Krishnamurthy the Filmfare Award in the Best Female Playback category in 1996.

Maya Govind penned the song, which was penned by Anu Malik.

(Ud)It earned the listeners’ (Vi)nod

There were a couple of versions of Very Good Very Bad on the soundtrack of Trimurti.

Obviously, the blog contains a post on the male duet. (Ud)It was rendered by Mr Narayan and Vinod Rathod.

The other was an instrumental version.

Incidentally, both were six minutes and 23 seconds long.

The track, which was penned by Anand Bakshi, was a telling comment on the world we inhabit. It went, “Duniya re duniya very good very good, duniyawaale very bad very bad.”

Twenty-four years have flown since the Laxmikant-Pyarelal composition released, but it still holds true.

The SIngers definitely nailed (Ud)it

Bol Bol Bol was the longer of the two tracks from Trimurti (1995) on this blog – it was seven minutes and 55 seconds long.

There’s no two ways about the fact that if a playlist of songs from films directed by the late Mukul S Anand were made, this song would be on it.

That is because it was penned by Anand Bakshi and composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. And Subhash Ghai, who has a good ear for music, was the producer of the film.

The track was rendered by Ila Arun, Sudesh Bhosle and Udit Narayan. 

This track was ABsolutelY delightful

By no means would it be incorrect to state that the only thing memorable about Takkar, which released in 1995, was a romantic song titled Aankhon Mein Base Ho Tum (which could be translated to, “You have settled in my eyes”.)

The next three lines of the track, which was five minutes and 35 seconds long, would probably flatter quite a few ladies. They went, “Tumhe dil mein chhupa loonga. Jab chaahe tumhe dekhoon, aaina bana loonga”.

It was rendered by Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Alka Yagnik.

Maya Govind penned the track, which Anu Malik composed.

This Sanu solo surely rocked

While there’s no two ways about the fact that Jumma Chumma De De, from Hum, was the most popular number in the Chumma trilogy* on this blog, it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that Zeher Hai Ki Pyaar Hai Tera Chumma, from Sabse Bada Khiladi, was catchy.

Of the three songs from the film on this blog, it was the only solo – it was rendered by Kumar Sanu.

Dev Kohli penned the track, which was composed by Rajesh Roshan.

(*Note: The third song in the trilogy was Phenk Hawa Mein Ek Chumma from Ram Jaane.)

This (Sa)number was undoubtedly (Al)katchy

Of the three Hindi songs inspired by Mukkabla, Mukaala Mukabala, from Sabse Bada Khiladi, was the second best.

Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu rendered the song, which was five minutes and 21 seconds long.

By no means would it be incorrect to state that although it became popular, it didn’t do the song from Kadhalan justice.

However, it was only a tad worse than Muqabala Muqabala from Humse Hai Muqabala. And it was certainly better than O Jaaneman Chehra Tera from Raghuveer.

The track, which was penned by Dev Kohli, was composed by Rajesh Roshan.

ThiS(a)number (Al)kaught the listeners’ attention

Bholi Bhali Ladki, from Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), was five minutes and 35 seconds long.

The girl the track referred to may have been innocent, but the listeners weren’t.

Needless to say, its next two lines – “Khol tere dil ki pyaar waali khidki” (which can be translated to, “Open the love window of your heart” – didn’t go down well with the sanskaari listeners.

Of course, decrying the song on account of vulgarity was pointless, so Dev Kohli, who penned it, and Rajesh Roshan, the composer, got off scot-free.

Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu rendered it.

This duo had a BLaSt

I wrote this post on a Friday. But it wouldn’t have be incorrect to spell it Fryday, because this is a post on You Are My Chicken Fry, from Rock Dancer (1995).

With the advent of social media, the phrase food porn entered our lexicon, but there’s no two ways about the fact that this song, which Indeevar penned, that could’ve been described using it.

It wasn’t just composed, but also rendered by Bappi Lahiri, a firm believer in the idiom, “Ghar ki murgi dal barabar”.

He was joined behind the microphone by Shweta Shetty.

(Ud)It was the SAving grace

There were a couple of versions of the title track of Ram Jaane.

This blog contains the longer of those – it was seven minutes and 35 seconds long.

(Ud)It was rendered by Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam and Mr Narayan.

The other version, which was just a minute and a second long, was the sad version.

It was a Narayan solo.

Anand Bakshi, who penned it, wasn’t averse to occasional grammatical liberties, as was evidenced by the line, “Hum maut ko zindagi maanta hai” instead of, “Main maut ko zindagi maanta hoon”.

Anu Malik composed it.

It was truly ABAD number

Logic flew out of the window when Phenk Hawa Mein Ek Chumma was written, because its next line went, “Main catch kar loon”. This was what the phrase flying kiss meant.

And it wouldn’t be incorrect to state that the real shocker was that the song, from Ram Jaane (1995), was penned by Anand Bakshi.

There were a couple of songs from the film on this blog. And mercifully, this was the shorter of those – it was half-a-dozen minutes and 20 seconds long.

Anu Malik composed the song, which Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Anupama Deshpande rendered.

UNdoubtedlY, this inspired version rocked

It was purely a coincidence that both the Hindi songs inspired by Come September released in 1995.

But by no means would it be incorrect to state that Nazrein Mileen Dil Dhadka from Raja was better than Dole Dole Dil Dole from Baazi. Having said that, the latter wasn’t a bad track.

The former, which was five minutes and 32 seconds long, was penned by Sameer.

(Ud)It was rendered by Alka Yagnik and Mr Narayan, and was, in fact, the title track of the film (a line of the Nadeem-Shravan composition went, “Love You Raja”.)

(Ud)It didn’t lack chartbuster quAlitY

Ankhiyan Milaoon Kabhi was the longer of the two songs from Raja (1995) on this blog – it was six minutes and 16 seconds long.

There’s no two ways about the fact that it was also the catchier of the two.

Is it any wonder then that Nadeem-Shravan* and Alka Yagnik were nominated in the Best Music Director and Best Female Playback categories, respectively, at the Filmfare Awards in 1996?

The latter was joined behind the microphone by Udit Narayan.

Sameer penned the track.

(*Note: The film’s soundtrack earned the duo a special award in London.)

This track certAinlY wasn’t maJikal

In the 1990s, there was a short-lived muqabla between the songs inspired by Muqabala, the Hindi version of Mukkabla from Kadhalan.

And by no means would it be incorrect to state that the worst version of the track was O Jaaneman Chehra Tera, from Raghuveer, which released in 1995. 

While the listeners believed it made no ‘Sen’se to derive inspiration from A R Rahman’s 1994 composition and jump on the bandwagon, Dilip and Sameer clearly weren’t on the same page.

The track, which was penned by Sameer, was rendered by Alka Yagnik and Jolly Mukherjee.    

(Nal)Indeed, this track was khoobsurat

So accustomed have people become to calling it Aati Nahin – which is, indeed, an ode to the constipated – that they seem to have forgotten (or couldn’t care less about the fact) that the best-known song on the soundtrack of Prem (which released in 1995), was actually billed as Tum Khoobsurat Ho.

And by no means would it be incorrect to state that upon listening to it, people may be pleasantly surprised at how melodious the number, which was rendered by the little-known Nalin Dave, is.

It was penned by Anand Bakshi and composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

It was a MaJor disappointment

Question: Was there a song from a Shahrukh Khan-starrer that was inaner than Daddy Se Poochh Lena from Guddu?

Answer: Yes. And, as a matter of fact, it released the same year (1995). The track in question was Baap Re Baap, from O Darling! Yeh Hai India!

It was rendered by Shankar Mahadevan and Jaaved Jaffrey (who also played the anatagonist’s spoilt son).

Ketan Mehta, the film’s director and husband of Deepa Sahi, its leading lady, penned the song, which was actually a vocal duel between the aforementioned duo.

It was composed by Ranjit Barot.

Ms Yagnik’s version was underrated

If one were to list the underrated romantic numbers of the 1990s, he/she would be forgiven for omitting Tujhe Pyaar Karte Karte from Najaayaz.

This blog contains a post on the female version of the track, which was rendered by Alka Yagnik.

I was, of course, unaware of the fact that it had a male solo. It was S(on)ung by Nigam.

Rahat Indori penned the Anu Malik composition that had a line that went, “Aaoon jo apni zid pe, tujhe kya se kya bana doon.”

Well, Alka had her way, and the track became popular.

It wAS on people’s lips

By no means would it be incorrect to state that Lal Lal Honthon Pe was the catchiest song on the soundtrack of Najaayaz.

Of the three songs from the film on this blog, the shelf life of this song was the highest, and its recall value was the highest.

In fact, no '90s-themed party (or one where the playlist comprises chalu or foot-tapping songs from that decade) would be complete without this track, which was penned by Indeevar and composed by Anu Malik.

It was rendered by none other than Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu.

This track became fAIrly popular

Although it is unfair to compare every song sung by Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun with Choli Ke Peeche, it must be stated that Darwaja Khula Chhod Aayi would never be able to match its popularity.

However, it would be fair to state that the song from Najaayaz, which released in 1995, wasn’t a letdown.

Essentially banter between a couple of ladies that was set to music, it wasn’t a mere coincidence, but also appropriate, that the track was penned by two ladies, namely Maya Govind and Pushpa Verma.

It was composed by Anu Malik.