Angrezi mein kehte hain ki....

The recent announcement of English proposed to  be taught in vernaculur schools from Nursery ( hitherto, teaching English as a language is commened from 6th standard in these schools) are indicative of changes that are in the offing. Change is perhaps the only Constant  a in life.

 Takes me back to the days when I first heard an English song in a Hindi film! What a mind-boggling change it was !

The year was 1975 and I had entered into my teens. For an avid listener of hindi film music from the days when I had learnt to turn the knobs of radio, this turned out  to be  a watershed year. The indications were felt in the vast repertoire of hindi films and its music that year. Amongst many other happenings that year, the “mod”, as in ‘is mod se jaate hain…’ was  the event which exploded into a full-blown hysteria.

It  was a song, completely in English language in a hindi film !

The film was Julie and the song was written by Harendranath Chattopadhyaya (  a multi talented personality —- an Indian English poet, a dramatist, an actor, a musician and a member of the first Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency) and composed by a rookie Rajesh Roshan ( albeit, backed by an illustrious lineage in Roshan, the qawwali-specialist music director of yesteryears).The song was sung by Preeti Sagar, an unknown singer. The song was a product of the story-line of the film ( an anglo-indian train driver’s daughter falling in love with an orthodox hindu family’s son) and was ahead of its times.

The effect was , to say the least, electric. Hitherto we had a few phrases of English thrown in , here and there.  While ‘Pretty pretty priya’ in Priya (1970) could not go beyond the mukhda, ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ ( Poorab aur Pashchim 1971) was written with a deliberate contempt for the English song. At long last we had an English song, for which we had to wait till it popped out from Vividh Bharti, which was rare. Binaca Geetmala, the hit parade those days, on the other hand , was a different story. The song made waves and could be heard amidst a lot of crackling and static on the short wave channel. It ended up at the 19th paaydaan in the Annual Programme that year.

The complete English song appeared to be an event, unparalleled till then.

But, was it really the first ever English song in a Hindi film? Some research revealed that the facts are astonishing, to say the least. The advent of English song in hindi films is almost as old as the talkies themselves! 

For the proof, read on…

The year: 1933, only two years after Alam Ara. The song :”Now the moon, her light has shed”, sung by none other than Devika Rani and composed by Ernst Broadhurst and Roy Douglas for the film Karma. A  path-breaking event, showing that the elite in those days were more British than the British themselves.

Barely, four years later, another effort was made , this time by Shanta Apte , reciting Longfellow’s poem ‘Song of life’ for the film Duniya na mane. As you listen to the song, you realise that  poetry and music are woven together so adroitly and the singing is exquisite.

The period from the 50s to mid 60s is regarded as Golden Period of hindi film music and there was hardly anyone who would commit sacrilege by attempting the use of English wholly, though there were numerous cases of a line or two in English. Remember the songs Jaapaan love in Tokyo or Dekho (5 times) .. An evening in Paris?



Cut to 1964. Raj kapoor , the great showman included a foreign language song " I love you"  in Sangam. Picturised on the Swiss Alps, skiing down the gradient, the Vivian Lobo song was again an attempt to brush shoulders with the international community. It is another matter that it got submerged in the “ye mera prem patra padh kar” and “ dost dost na raha” competition.

There were a few attempts to have song written with more English than a few phrases. In fact, there was a song with the mukhda wholly in English, but lyricist Rajinder Krishan reverted to Hindi in the Antara. The song was Night is lovely, dark and cool from the film Pyar ka Sapna (1969).

In 1970, Raj Kapoor again did the unbelievable. His magnum opus Mera Naam Joker had a public school setting in the first of its three parts and the English song “Wish me luck” was an integral part of the ‘growing up’ years of the character Raju ( played by a plump Rishi Kapoor) . The sons of three legends made their first appearances: Rishi Kapoor, singer Nitin Mukesh and lyricist Shaily Shailendra. Nitin, who is among the singers of the English song, ‘Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye…’ becomes the first singer-son to become a playback singer. Interestingly, it is his father’s voice Mukesh himself who becomes Rishi’s first-ever playback singer with ‘Teetar ke do aage teetar…’( another bit of trivia, which you’ll find a lot on this blog!

And so we come to the song which  started the digging up, in the first place. Easily the most famous English song in a Hindi film, the picturisation is perfect and Preeti Sagar’s voice, so fresh, still makes the hearts beat !

Ironically, in the same year, the beginning of the end of melody had been initiated. The reference is to the two R.D. Burman scores in  two big blockbusters, but it was Salim-Javed, who stole  his thunder when Universal Music (then called Polydor) released the LPs of the dialogues of Sholay and Deewaar  and they outsold the music. Deewaar had the next English song, “ I’m falling in love with a stranger”, sung by Ursula Vaz .

But as I said,  the later years saw music getting  sidelined in favour of action and dialogues. Obviously, it was difficult for music directors to experiment with English lyrics when even Hindi lyrics were going “gapuchi gapuchi  gum gum”!

One of the last  songs to be featured in the list of English songs is the English version of ‘aap jaisa koi’ from Qurbani in 1980, sung by Sharon Prabhakar.  Incidentally, Mohd. Rafi had, years ago, sung an English song to the tune of Baharon phool barsao! The song was inexplicably titled The She I love... :)

By 80s, the disco fever had gripped the nation, thanks to Nazia Hasan and Bappi da ( forcing The Nightingale to sing Disco 82 in Khuddar!)

By this time ABBA and Boney M were on Indian circuit  and copies of such bands with hindi lyrics were getting popular. The interest of young generation was shifting to English songs by Foreign bands.

A quiet burial for the English song in Hindi films was  inevitable.

The late 80s and 90s were not the best of years, musically, and it was difficult for a music director to squeeze a wholly  English song. However honourable attempts include Dil Chahta Hai (2001) opera and songs of Marigold (2007), more of an English film than Hindi. Also, a mention must be made of Dhoom (2004) song which, save for Dhoom macha le, was in English. The 2010 film Kites,however has a song wholly in English titled Fire.

Changes will continue to happen, whether for good or bad. Hats off to those who attempt to change the landscape by their actions, not merely by words. Except when they are in English and in Hindi films.