Mathematically speaking...

All said and done, it feels good to reach a milestone. The Hindi films of yesteryears used to celebrate Silver Jubilees, Golden Jubilees and even Platinum Jubilees. Till the time films started running for 5 years and later on the counting came to be done in crores earned, not weeks run.

For this musiblog, this is the 25th edition, so it can be considered equivalent to Silver Jubilee of Random Thinking. So, making today's edition more of a celebration, I thought it  fit  to explore  songs of hindi films, which are about  numbers,  which are arranged to have mathematical importance.

To a mathematically-inclined person, it would appear that the  Hindi film lyricists had  mathematics on their mind while writing these songs. Being an engineer, mathematics is my favourite subject, so it thrills me discover songs which represent a pattern.

So, here goes...

The earliest mathematics that a child learns is to count from 1 to 10...or more. The songs fitting the bill are many, but the most remarkable song , I think, is the Kaifi Azmi song in Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). The maths teacher writes the numerals on the blackboard, but instead of simply recounting them, she send across a poignant message to the budding minds. this is what education is supposed to achieve. The oneupmanship and the resultant loss of esteem is so beautifully captured through numbers.

 EK ne poochha,  tum ho kaun
us ne kaha mai sirf SIFAR,
 ek ne socha mai bhi kya
sabse chhota aur sab sach,
 mil gaye dono ho gaye DUS

The count-up-to-seven song was picturised on Johny walker in the unlikely voice of Kishore Kumar in Sanjog( 1971)  The occasion was an office picnic and the game of musical chairs for the ladies.A bespectacled Amitabh Bachchan and a tough-looking Mala Sinha made the cast of a film with a good concept, but indifferent presentation. The Anand Bakshi song, however, serves our purpose and thus, finds a place in today's blog.

 The most popular song in this sub-genre is , of course , was the Tezaab song by Madhuri "Mohini" Dixit. Ostensibly a counting of numbers, it is actually counting of dates of a month, so it goes up to 30, with all the trappings of a foot-tapping masala number. The Javed Akhtar song was a rage and  continues to regale the viewers with the latka-jhatkas ! 

The next lesson that the kids learn is ...you guessed it right, Tables or pahade.

 Generations and generations have struggled to memorise  the tables, so that they can spill it out when required. Most kids hate the mugging of tables. Without their heart and soul in them, ironically kids  are supposed to learn them "by heart" !

In Hindi films there have been many songs depicting tables, mostly of 2, being simplest and more suited lyrically. The first time the table of two was used in the film Dil Deke Dekho ( 1959). A thinly-disguised Shammi Kapoor and a Rock-and-Roll band combine with Majrooh Sultanpuri's "do ekkum do, do dooni chaar"  to recite musically the whole of "do ka pahada", upto 20. Though it was the least popular song of the album, it finds a place in this anthology.

Surprisingly, 40 years later, in a religious-mythological film called Jai Maa Vaishno Devi , there is a table of two, disguised as a bhajan, sung by Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik. It really amazes me how creative the  lyricists can get. This one was by Naqsh Lyallpuri.

The third instance of the "do ekkum do" refrain was in the 2003 film Darna Mana Hai, a collection of horror/suspense/macabre stories also had the table of Two, sung by children, thankfully. This Abbas Tyrewala creation is a more realistic song , but set in a dark mood film takes the fun out of the "pahada"

Next are the fractions which the children have to learn and figure out how much of the cake they'll get if it is divided between their friends. The iconic song in this category was none other than the Kalicharan ( 1976) ditty written by  Inderjeet Singh Tulsi and sung by a child with estranged parents on the stage in a school function.   Through the song, the incessant division  is indicated, leading to fractured houses, neighbourhoods and society at large.

So, the child grows up and encounters more difficult topics in Mathematics. Algebra, Geometry and Calculus. Normally, Hindi film lyricists do not venture to weave a song on such "difficult" areas. However, some of their songs can be interpreted to  reflect the mathematical concepts.

There have been songs on Geometry ( Lines being referred in songs such as "rekha or rekha, jabse tumhe dekha" or "rekhaon se maat khaa rahe ho") , Algebra ( Quadratic Equations  explained as "meri baat ke maane do, jo achcha lage wo apna lo, jo bura lage usey jaane do" ) and Calculus ( concept of Instantaneous value clarified as "pal bhar ke liye koi hamein pyar kar le").


Then there have been direct references to Mathematical  terms  in the lyrics ( "hindi mein algebra chhaan, VIP underwear baniyaan by Gulzar in his a aa e ee, masterji ki aa gayi chitthi in the film Kitaab, alpha-beta-gamma ka chhaalaa by Swanand Kirkire in his "saari umr hum, mar mar ke jee liye" in 3 Idiots, "digital mein sur hai tarasha" by P.K.Mishra in his 'telephone dhun mein'  in Hindustani and finally, "Fibonacci wala spiral"  by Priya Sariaya in her 'Beat pe booty' in The Flying Jatt !


When Anil Kapoor, in Ram Lakhan,  belted out the anthem of the con-men, One two ka Four, four two ka one, little did he ( or lyricist Anand Bakshi)  realise that what is being sung is actually a solution to the  expression  (5y-2x)/2


                                       f(x,y) = (5y-2x)/2

                                      f(1,2) ka 4
                                      f(4,2) ka 1

The lat word was,  however, spoken by none other than Manoj "Bharat"  Kumar when he proclaimed that the discovery of Zero is by India and no progress in the world would have been possible but for that Zero !

Here's hoping to roll out many more episodes of Random Thinking, with your encouragement and support.

Howzzat ?

The hysteria over cricket in our country for two weeks continuously has shadowed other newsworthy items. Thrown into the backseat are farmers' plight, unemployment scenario and increasing cost of living. Instead we have more cricket and it's analysis.
Well, so be it...

And the climax is today's Champion Trophy match between India and Pakistan.


Cricket and cricketers have their presence felt in Hindi films, too. While there have been some films involving cricket in the narrative, the more interesting are the instances when cricketers have been on-screen as actors.

 That is an act of real courage,even if they are shying away from the faster one !


So, today we check out on those cricketers ( real life ) who have been part of a hindi film. Alongwith this there will be a fair sprinkling of cricket facts for the die hard cricket fans. And the whole country spilling over with them  !


Technically speaking,  the first cricketers to have been seen on screen are Vinoo Mankad and Khadu Rangnekar. Not in flesh and blood, but in photographs adorning the wall of Mala Sinha, a cricket fan in the film Love Marriage ( 1959)!

The film depicts Dev Anand as a swashbuckling batsman who comes to Bombay from Jhansi and the maiden is bowled over by his charm and ...batting. This was the film having cricket mentioned in a song.

  Incidentally, the bat-and-ball had been mentioned in a song, one year earlier in the film Howrah Bridge, when Qamar Jalalabadi wrote 

मुहब्बत का हाथ जवानी का पल्ला
सुभान अल्लाह बाबू सुभान अल्लाह..

कही जा रही है सुनी जा रही है
निगाहों की बाज़ी लगी जा रही है
हो नदिया किनारे की लहरों पे गेंद-बल्ला
सुभान अल्लाह बाबू सुभान अल्लाह...

Subhan-allah !


But I am digressing  here...
Cricket in Hindi films is a separate subject that can be tackled  later on. The emphasis here is on real life cricketers to have appeared in Hindi films.

In the sixties, as the game got more popular with the masses, we saw Sir Frank Worrell playing a cameo in Around the World 1967 ( see my musiblog ) enacting a scene with Om Prakash. Om keeps on dropping names of famous people with wrong profession and our man keeps correcting him.

Frank Worrell was one of the 3Ws that Windies boasted of,  the other being Walcott and Weekes. He was knighted by the British Empire.
Interesting to note that the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) organises a blood donation camp every year on February; hundreds donate blood at the Eden Gardens on the day; CAB also calls it the Frank Worrell Day.
Worrell passed away of leukaemia at a mere 42.

The 60s, under Nawab Pataudi were spent in consolidating a team, the effect came to bear fruits in the 70s.India trounced England and West Indies in quick succession and made its presence felt. The only cricketer of the 60s who could have been a film hero was Abbas Ali Baig, a handsome young man then. He was  kissed by a girl on his way back to the pavilion not less than 13 times , evoking a comment from the startled commentator Vijay Merchant,
 " I wonder where all these enterprising young ladies were when I was scoring my hundreds and 200s "

One of the most dashing batsmen of these times was Salim Durrani. There were so many stories woven round Durrani at the time when there was no electronic media. it was said that he could hit a six "on demand", a knack which he had demonstrated more than once. He was a sluggish fielder, though, and there were rumours of his tiffs with the skipper Pataudi. His charisma must have drawn Bollywood to him and one fine morning Sportsweek, the only sports magazine had Durrani 's photo with Parveen Babi, teaching her how to hold a bat !

They were paired in B.R.Ishara's Charitra ( 1973) , which bombed as soon as it was released. Grapevine had it that he was considered for the role in Pakeezah, which finally went to Raaj Kumar. 

Durrani remains one of the most talked about cricketers of his times, despite not being very successful statistically. Footage of Charitra is also not available readily. However, this Ramayana "doha" rendered in the film by Bappi Lahiri, the music director is a rare piece in the  must-listen category !

The 70s had a lot of cricketers appearing on the silver screen , as Indian audiences warmed up to their knights-in-pads. The era of 70s sowed the seeds of successful future of Indian cricket. While the 1971 tour was a one man show by  Sunil Gavaskar, all through the 70s, Indian cricketers showed flashes of brilliance and were able to displace hockey as the most talked about sport in the country. Incidentally there is an Indo-Pak hockey match also lined up today, but I bet no one will see it !
Gavaskar also got offers to act in films and he actually completed a film in Marathi called Savli Premachi (1980).

In Sunny Days, his autobiography he has stated how he was nearly switched at birth and had that happened, he would have been catching fish instead of chasing the heroine in the film !

By the time 80s came up, we had seen glorious wins and massive defeats. Gavaskar had been acknowledged as a world-class batsman and at the same time got the epithet of 'Snail' Gavaskar ( owing to his 36 runs in 174 balls in the Inaugural World Cup). India had resumed cricketing ties with Pakistan in 1978 after a hiatus of 17 years. The pace batteries of Windies and Aussies were equally terrifying and Sri Lanka were emerging as a force to reckon with .

In domestic cricket, the new hero was, of course Kapil Dev. The all rounder in the same class as Botham and Imran Khan  single-handedly got the country its first World Cup in 1983.

But Bollywood preferred the dashing Sandeep Patil to play a hero to Poonam Dhillon in Kabhi Ajnabi The ( 1985). Poonam Dhillon was probably the second heroine after Mala Sinha to be a cricket fan; she reads Sportsweek in the film !
In a scene, she brings her father to watch Sandeep (in the role of a cricketer in the film) playing  a match. He gets out on duck. She storms up to him and says, "No century, no marriage". Sandeep draws her close and in true Bollywood style says "No kiss, no century" !   

The film also had Ashok Mankad, as a friend of Poonam Dhillon. In order to give Patil moral support,  the following colleagues gave a cameo in opening scenes and party scenes in the film : Syed Kirmani, Sunil  Gavaskar ( his second film---and a third one was Maalamaal in 1988), Mohinder Amarnath ( who is the only cricketer to have been out for "handling the ball" and "obstructing the field"), Roger Binny,Kapil Dev ( whose match-winning 175 not out was the first century by an Indian in ODIs) , Gordon Greenidge, Madan Lal, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall, Balvinder Singh Sandhu, Ravi Shastri ( the batsman to have batted on all five days of a test match, part from Jaisimha)  and Srikkanth.

 

Before we touch the 90s, a story of one one cricketer -turned- film star needs to be told.  Yograj Singh was a one-test cap but his innings as an actor , mainly in Punjabi films, is a success story. He was awarded Lifetime Award for Punjabi films in 2012.Later on he acted in Hindi films too ( last seen playing coach to Milkha Singh in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag). Before taking up cricket seriously, he had acted in a few films getting bit roles. That makes him an actor-turned cricketer-turned actor. Now known as father of Yuvraj Singh, Yograj has been in a series of controversies all his life.

Proximity with Pakistan brings not only cricketers to our stadiums ( or stadia, if you prefer the puritan) , but also to our studios. Mohsin Khan, the stylish Pakistani batsman finds a place in the ensemble cast of Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Poonam Dhillon and Amrish Puri in Batwara 1989. For the record, he had completed about 15 films, so he  is not a one-off type of cricketer-actor. His parallel role with Aditya Pancholi in Saathi (1991) got him songs too, this one about dosti and dushmani--so ironic !

In 1999-2000, the cricketer-hero  interface increased, so does the sledging- betting- fixing  episodes and all of a sudden you didn't know whom to believe. The real life villains (cricketers)  are  reel life heroes or is it the other way round.  Big money and big trouble come together. Amidst all this, we had a few cricketers getting  projects in tinsel town.

In the new decade two cricketers stole the show in showbiz. Ajay Jadeja ( one of the cricketers charged for match-fixing) and Salil Ankola were the new crop of hero material cricketers. Ajay acted in a couple of  films and Salil in TV serials, as the satellite TV started to become popular in the country.

Since then, we have had many cricketers play  roles in films , such as Harbhajan Singh ( Mujhe Shadi Karogi) , Brett Lee ( UNIndian) and in Annarth,  Vinod Kambli ( whose test average of 54.20 is better than Sachin's 53.78) and Navjot Sidhu ( in Punjabi films). There might be many others who have done bit roles in recent years.

But it will be in the fitness of things to conclude with the latest film Sachin: A Billion Dreams  ( 2017), an autobiographical  film having Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( whose autobiographical film had Sushant Singh Rajput playing him) and Virender Sehwag, whose highest scores in T20, ODIs and Tests are 119,219 and 319 ! 

Coming back to the Indo-Pak match today, I am reminded of three players who played for both countries. They are Amir Elahi, Gul Mohammad and Abdul Hafeez Kardar.

And that reminds me of a fact that will certainly have you stumped.

One of the most interesting facts about Sachin: The first country he played for,  was none other than...Pakistan !

 In 1987, two years before his debut, he came on field as a substitute player for Pakistan when they were touring India  !

Howzzat ?

आप कहें और हम ना आएं....

The recent One Day International  between India and Pakistan attracted enough eyeballs to make the streets of Mumbai go empty, as posted by a friend on Facebook. Despite the strained relations between the two countries, the interest in the match was unparallelled.

Or was it due to the recent bad blood, which triggered the wave to watch the most fiercely contested sports event of the world?

Some time back, the cultural arena bore the brunt of the uncertain relations between the neighbours, leading to Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) banning Pakistani artistes and technicians  in Indian films. This  had been highlighted in the media, both electronic and print.

Still, in some areas, we choose to interact with Pakistanis.

This reminded me of the instances when the India film artistes contributed to the Pakistani film industry, after 1947, notwithstanding the three wars that took place between the countries.

Partition saw to it that some Indian film artistes move to Pakistan for good, for example Noor Jahan.  Some more  migrated a few years after Independence like composer Nashad who had a good innings in India and later  went to Pakistan had an equally successful stint there.There were also cases where those who had gone returned back !

Nasir Khan was one such actor. Brother of Dilip Kumar, he had acted in Shehnai made in 1947. At the time of Independence, he was in the newly- formed Pakistan. Before returning back to India in 1950, he acted in two Pakistani films, Teri Yaad and Shahida. Since Teri Yaad was th first film released there, became the first hero of Pakistan !
The heroine was Asha Poslay ( yes , the name rhymes with Asha Bhonsle, but no relative of her)


Since both the films flopped, Nasir Khan returned to India and continued to act, but with much less success than his talented brother , thespian Dilip Kumar. Interestingly, the two films were released in India also and were declared hits !!

In 1956, a Pakistani producer J.C.Anand ( Juhi Chawla is his sister-n-law's daughter) , one of the few Hindu film-makers who remained in Karachi after the Partition, invited Indian  Director Roop K Shoey ( of the Ek Thi Ladki-lara lappa lara lappa song fame )  to direct  a Pakistani film called Miss 56. While there were no Indian actors ( except Meena Shorey, the wife of the director) , there was one song sung by Geeta Dutt in her characteristic style. The film was written by I.S.Johar.  The cast of the film may have been Pakistanis but the lyricist and composer were also Indian. D.N.Madhok wrote the songs and Vinod ( Eric Roberts) set the songs to melody, making this a truly Indo-Pak venture. The film relied on the comic timing of Meena Shorey and was declared a hit. She was encouraged by the response and  refused to return to India.
Roop.K.Shorey came back alone, after the film was released.

The next artiste to have acted in a Pakistani film was Shiela Ramani, a Miss India in the 50s.
Shiela was the original "urban modern heroine" well before the likes of Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi , who are credited with establishing  the stereotype. She had  debuted in 1953 with V.Shantaram's Teen Batti Char Rasta. Best known for being Dev Anand's leading in Funtoosh and a song of Taxi Driver   ( dil se mila ke dil pyar keejiye), she oozed spunk and sexuality. In 1959, she went to Karachi on the request of her uncle and acted in a film called Anokhi.

If you want to see the video of the song, with some dialogues as bonus, go to the link below:


 gaadi-ko-chalana-babu_music



Year 1959 also saw a Pakistani punjabi  film Kartar Singh getting released, based on Partition and the horrors connected with the event. Amrita Preetam's  Ajj akhan waris shah nu was included in the film, which is considered one of the most popular films of Pakistan. Amrita Pritam had been in Lahore before Partition and had relocated to India. However, by that time, more than half a dozen of her anthologies were already published and she was a name to reckon with. She was a leader of progressive writers' movement and was critical of the British rule.

The singers of Indian films continued to get film from Pakistan, despite the lack of Indian actors in Pakistan. Hemant Kumar and Sandhya Mukherji sang songs in the 1960 Pakistani film Humsafar.
Hemant Kumar  was a respected name in Rabindra Sangeet and made his mark in the 50s as a singer more than as a music director. After the release of Nagin 1954, he shot to the top of the popularity as a composer. By the end of 50s, he was contemplating  production of his own films and he did do that. However, in 1960 , he got a chance to sing in Humsafar and here is the song.

Ace singer Talat Mehmood,  had started off as Tapan Kumar, a pseudonym for the Calcutta bhadralok. He  later on sang in his own name in films of 40s and 50s. He nurtured ambitions of being an on-screen  star and this left his singing  at a second place. This resulted in him losing his place as the top singing sensation. By the time 60s dawned, Mohd. Rafi had become numero uno in male singing in Hindi films. Talat kept on singing in Hindi film till late 60s and early 70s.  sang a couple of songs in Pakistani film Charagh Jalta Raha in 1962.

One wonders whether Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd. Rafi, two of the most popular singers in that period ever got a chance to sing in a Pakistani film. No evidence found , but Lata's Chhalia (1960) number ( probably the one copied from Ron Goodwin's Desert Hero of 1959) was a part of Pakistani film Jaadoogar ( 1961). As far as Rafi is considered I drew a blank. However, it will be a delight to get corrected on this.

After the 1965 war, Indian films were banned in Pakistan. The trickling of Indian artistes stopped completely. The domestic artistes were easier to contract and they were changing the face of film industry. The industry prospered in the period of 1965 to 1979, with many superhit movies being made. Film stars of Pakistan began to get noticed in this period, some of whom later on acted in Indian films. We leave that story for another day, though.

In the 60s, there were other Indian artiste too, engaging in one-off projects in Pakistan. S.D.Baatish (Eid) , Majrooh Sultanpuri ( Aadmi), C.H.Atma ( Laakhon Fasaane) and G.M.Durrani ( Rahguzar), to name  few.

The 70s and 80s were decades of  least interaction of Indian artistes with Pakistani film industry. The film enterprise in Pakistan was also going through turbulent times.After Gen.Zia-ul-Haq took over the reigns of Pakistan in 1977, restrictions on film industry increased in name of Islamisation. As a result, the industry lost its vantage position in the 80s and was not able to recover till late 90s.

The next film in which we saw an Indian artiste performing was and the singer was....Asha Bhonsle. The film is Sargam ( 1995) and this song became the highlight of the film. Asha Bhonsle has been one of the most versatile singers, therefore it was not surprising that the Pakistani audiences were bowled over by hr singing.

From 2000 onwards, there was a resurgence of Pakistani film industry and despite Kargil happening a few years earlier, the Indian film artistes were finding projects in Pakistan to showcase their talents.

Kiron Kher, presently a Member of Parliament became the second actress after Shiela Ramani to star in a Pakistani film. The film was Khamosh Paani (2003).The film won an award in the Lokarno Film Festival but never got a release in Pakistan.

In 2007, a remake of God father in Pakistan saw Vinod Khanna . The film had a host of Indian actors such as Arbaaz Khan, Hrishita Bhatt, Kim Sharma, Amrita Arora, Preeti Jhangiani and Nafisa Ali

In the same year Naseeruddin Shah enacted a role in the acclaimed Pakistani film Khuda Key Liye

Nandita Das played a key role in Ramchandra Pakistani in 2008 The film was based on a true story of a boy who inadvertently crosses the border between Pakistan and India.  

Hindi film singers also got a lot of chance in 2000 onwards to sing in various Pakistani films. Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Ankit Tiwari and Harshdeep Kaur are some singers who got to perform in these years.

In 2011, Johny lever played a role in Love Mein Gumm.

Naseeruddin Shah had another go, this time in the film Zinda Bhaag 2013.

In 2014, Aslam Bhatti, the producer of  Godfather, made Sultanat another multistarrer packed with Hindi film and TV stars such as Govind Namdeo, Shweta Tiwari, Akashdeep Sehgal, Achint Kaur and Chetan Hansraj

Whether the cross-over effect shall continue or not is not certain, but the rare appearances and contribution that Indian artistes have made is still remembered by the Pakistani audiences.

Leaving you with a Rekha Bharadwaj song from the 2015 Pakistani film Bin Roye ...
मन विच माही बसदा  !

पंछी बनूँ, उड़ती फिरूँ मस्त गगन में

The imminent disinvestment of Air India made headlines this week, outlining the agenda of the ruling disposition. The organisation has served the country well and was poised to reach greater heights, notwithstanding the legacy issues, of which it is plagued with. While it may be a sound business decision, the folding up of Maharaja, the national carrier seems to be a loss of sorts, even to people like me who rarely travel by air. 

While Hindi films songs have been shot on most  modes of transport,  songs shot while the characters are  in air is a relatively rare category . Still, some searching revealed that a large  number of songs fit the theme.

 So, here's a light-hearted  take on the phenomenon of Songs sung in Air.

The earliest song I could get hold of,  is from a comedy film Bewaqoof ( 1960). Kishore Kumar is at his hilarious best in the film !
Kishore tries to speak Italian and hops on a car with Mala Sinha and later a sequence  shows singing in a helicopter. Shot as a dream sequence condones a lot of stuff. The shots of helicopter are taken separately and the actors singing the song are separate cuts. Still, a lot of imaginative ideas must have been  going on in the director's mind to have conceived the song.
The first instance of Italian Job in Hindi films !

The next song is again featuring Kishore, this time on a flying car with Kumkum. The film is Mr.X in Bombay, an "invisible man" story,  This is  no time to think about the engineering aspects or logic: just listen to the melody ( Incidentally, the tune was lifted for the Baazigar song 'Ae mere hamsafar' ).  The narrative mentions a scientist having a potion for making people invisible and probably the car must also have been running on anti-gravity fuel !

The helicopter makes a comeback in 1967, with Shammi Kapoor hanging precariously and serenading a water-surfing Sharmila in An Evening in Paris. The song was a rage is the most well-known of the songs featuring  air-borne protagonists, though the picturisation in air is partial.  It beats me how a person can maintain the 'sur ' and 'taal' in the song while hanging from a helicopter going up and down. Well, in Indian films, the hero is a superman , so he can do things perfectly.

The year 1967 also saw the release of a truly international Hindi  film called "Around the World". Raj Kapoor has the onerous task of going around the world in 8 dollars ( the dollar-rupee rate being Rs.7.50 p that year ). The song gives an aerial view of the whole world , so it is recommended to watch this song on a large screen in HD and save your multiple trips to various parts of the world. Rajshree was the heroine and there was a  cameo by Sir Frank Worrell, when Raj touched West Indies, now called WINDIES, officially. The theme of foreign cricketers' tryst with Bollywood is a separate one. Watch this space !

The seventies saw a flurry of songs shot wholly or partly in aeroplanes. 

The first of such songs was from the film Jugnu and had the hero Dharmendra chasing heroine Hema Malini in air. So, the chase and tease sequence is taken at a higher level, pun intended !
 There is an airplane with hero chasing the heroine, who is with villain Prem Chopra in a helicopter. The funny thing is that Hema is able to listen to the song ( through her headphones?) and also responds at time, calling him "Idiot" !
The shots in the plane are at camera level and all shot at one go. The editor's task is more difficult, clipping the right shots and adding them , so as to make the song appear to be one smooth sequence.

                                        

Prem Nagar in 1974 showed a real plane ( or is it a set in studio ? ) with Hema Malini as an indulgent air hostess, with  an inebriated Rajesh Khanna as a passenger,  reciting Faani Badayuni's philosophical poetry ! Interestingly, the passengers, mostly female, are also wanting him to continue. The unruly passengers must have been there on planes ever since the commencement of commercial operations.
However, it is better than beating an official with chappals, I say !  

Amongst the different ways that someone can be in the air ( apart from being in seventh heaven ) is para-gliding. It is the enterprising spirit of Hindi film-makers that this find a place in the anthology. Rishi Kapoor and Shoma Anand sing a song while up in the air : a song whose lyrics are reflective of Stockholm Syndrome ( see my musiblog  on the subject  at  http://amitabhn-randomthinking.blogspot.in/2017/05/blog-post_19.html).

The director had enough of para-gliding by end of  one and a half minutes and the remaining song is completed on Mother Earth.

In the same year we had a fantasy film Bundulbaaz , directed by Shammi Kapoor ( of the hanging-from-the-helicopter fame), having Rajesh Khanna ( of the drunk-poetry recital -in-plane fame) and Sulakshana Pandit. Kapoor plays a genie who has to fulfill the wishes of his Kaka, sorry Aaka ....

It seems that due to the flying carpet being out of stock, Shammi, the Genie uses his palm to give Kaka and Sulakshana a ride in air as they belt out the song Bemausam bahaar ke din kaise aaye, expressing their bewilderment at the choice of the Genie's palm !

Long before the Genies in the bottles, in our pious land there was a deity who used the aerial route across the sea to convey important message  to  a lady separated from her husband due to abduction.  Yes, I am referring to Hanuman.
How can this write up be complete without a flying image of Hanuman !
 In 1976, in the film Bajrangbali ( till that time religious films still used to be made ), we have Hanuman flying off to a mission and a song is dedicated to him.
Bol Siyavar Ramchaandra ki jai , pawan-sut Hanooman ki jai

In 1977, we had Kaka again ( I wonder if this has something to do with me being his Superfan !) , this time with Zeenat Aman professing his love amidst the clouds and in a two-seater. Not satisfied with the two-seater, later on they switch to para-gliding.
 Thus came about the expression "प्यार की नयी ऊंचाइयां छू लीं " 

Cut to 1985 and in the film Saaheb, we have Anil Kapoor and Amrita Singh taking   all modes of transportation in one song.First a boat and then the train and finally aboard an empty  Indian Airlines flight ! Amrita Singh becomes the air hostess,giving the deprived masses a   "feel" of air  journey. The vicarious pleasure that Hindi cinema gives to its viewers is indeed, a yeoman service.

 The 90s had films bordering on flights but with no songs in air. Shahrukh Khan stalked air hostess Madhuri Dixit in Anjaam, but the song  Badi mushkil hai...was shot in the airport premises. In Border, while Jackie Shroff played the Air Force commander, Sunny on the field kept singing the clarion call song. Actually for the song in air either you have to be the crew or the passenger.

The 2006 film Vivah had a song and dance sequence inside a commercial flight, an indication of the options of shooting locations available with producers. Shahid Kapoor also helps the air hostess  Amrita Rao in  serving tea and snacks to the passengers. A few more such songs and this would also become as  commonplace as the running round the  tree location.

The easiest way to be in air is to know how to fly on your own. While the Gods and Genies and Superman had inherent powers to do this, it took  some time to have these powers bestowed on our superhero,The Flying Jatt. Released in 2016 , the film is about an Indian Superhero who likes to sing while flying.
If you know how to fly, sky is the limit !

The same year, a very different film was released in which it is asserted that the Wright brothers were preceded by  our own Hindustani deekra , inventor of the first unmanned aircraft !
He was the real Hawaizada. Played  by Ayushman Khurana, the  uncredited inventor  did sing a song while on his maiden flight.

One of the more sensitive films made on the background of flying was Neerja (2016) , based on the short but great life of air hostess Neerja Bhanot. In one of the poignant moments in the film, Sonam Kapoor remembers her mother during a flight.

 Leaving you with the beautiful song. Ciao