सपने में मिलती है ...

The recent brouhaha over the yet-to-release film on a Rajput queen over supposedly a dream sequence between the actors who are real-life lovers is threatening to usurp all headlines. Even without the release of the film, its popularity ( or notoriety , perhaps ?) is going north very rapidly. 

Only when and if the film is released, one will know if , indeed , there was a fantasy scene/song or not. 

Till that happens, it is a good time to remember the Dream Sequences picturised in Hindi cinema down the years. There have been umpteen songs in dreams of characters on the screen.The songs are of all genres: romance, comedy and pathos and this has to be seen to be believed , literally !  

It is generally felt that the Awara ( 1954) twin song in a dream sequence was the first one to hit the screens. However, there have been earlier such sequences also, as the research reveals. 

Raj Kapoor and Nargis did have the first dream duet of Hindi film, but it was for the film Jaan Pehchaan ( 1950), sung by Talat Mehmood and Geeta Dutt. The song depicts them in a  glittering, out-of-the-world setting to sing how much they love each other !

Then there was the song from the film  Albela ( 1951). With this film, Bhagwan single-handedly gave established banners producing ambitious projects such as Awara, Baazi and Deedar,  a run for their money, thanks to the foot-tapping music of the film by C.Ramchandra. The song having a dream sequence was picturised on Bhagwan and Geeta Bali fantasising that there is a big room with windows on the position of clock, hence the lyrics.

The Awara picturisation is , obviously, is a masterpiece, a twin song etched forever in the memories of those who have watched it. The song shows why Raj Kapoor  was called The Showman.
The two-song, three act sequence is a depiction of Earth, Hell and Heaven through symbolic representation. Columns joined by a sloping cornice for Earth, a raging monster with pointed ers for Hell and a towering Shiva statue for heaven.  While "tere bina aag ye chandni represents Earth, ' mujhko ye narak na chaahiye...mujhko chaahiye bahaar' indicates Hell and the second song, with its mellifluous notes and the ghar aaya mera pardesi represents Heaven.  The visuals, the choreography and the expressions are all in sync with the "Earth-Hell-Heaven triptych. The sequence is a metaphor of life.
 The song is something to be experienced !

The Fifties had a few other gems too. The slow waltz-like song from Parchhaeen ( 1952), featuring V.Shantaram and Sandhya was a song of this category. The song from Aji Bas Shukriya ( 1958) showed Johny Walker and Geeta bali dreaming of a big house and praying to God to give it to them. Raj Tilak ( 1958) showed  Gemini Ganesan being spell bound by Vyjantimala's dance in a fantasy song.  

The film Durgesh Nandini ( 1956) had this  beautiful 'fantasy' song featuring Pradeep Kumar and Bina rai , Kahaan le chalo ho, bataa do musafir.., remembered to this date.

 One of the most hilarious situations was conceived in the film Jaagte Raho, in which an inebriated Motilal fantasises about a young lady on seeing the impoverished Raj Kapoor and lo and behold...there is  Sumitra Devi dancing and beckoning him, singing and dancing !

The mention of   1950s can not be completed without the Pyaasa ( 1957)  dream sequence which transforms a radical  poet to a suited-booted gentleman with a lovely lady in his arms. Guru Dutt had the knack of picturising songs in a manner that the art component of his work was beautifully complemented with the commercially viable elements.

The Sixties started with a different kind of dream song in the film Pyase Panchhi ( 1961). Mehmood is on stage with a co-actor , but just as he sees her, he dreams of the his lady love Ameeta and the two sing a duet. The audience sees an extra but for Mehmood , it is none other than Ameeta !
Dil Tera Deewana ( 1962) had Shammi Kapoor imagining himself to be with Mala Sinha singing Jaane wafa jaane jahaan, but nothing extra-ordinary. Similarly , in Aao Pyar karein ( 1964), Joy Mukherji dreams he is Romeo and Anthony to saira's Juliet and Cleopetra.

In 1963, Ragini and Shashi Kapoor think of themselves as Queeen and King amidst giant- sized musical instruments to sing Tera naam, mera naam, indicating it to be a fantasy.

Till the early 60s, the directors used to convey the concepts through dream/fantasy sequences and by use of elaborate sets, managed to awe the audience, keeping in mind that the song/dance routine is in sync with the picturisation. 

The song which was an exceptional dream sequence was in Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne ( 1964) , the V.Shantaram magnum opus in which Rajshri and Jeetendra are in an ethereal world. 

One of the most poignant songs was the Dak Ghar ( 1966) song in which a terminally-ill child, confined to his room, played by Master Sachin,  imagines that he is roaming around the world in a dream song !

The comedy angles of dream sequences were taken forward by I.S.Johar in his films Johar Mehmood in Goa ( 1965) and Johar in Bombay ( 1967). While the Teen Bahuraaniyaan ( 1968)  song featuring Rajendranath and Shashikala was of the comedy/romance type.

In 1969, Jeetendra featured in two dream sequences ( probably he has the record of being in most dream sequences, an indication of his acting calibre !), one in the film Anmol Moti, with Babita  and the other in Jigri Dost. The picturisation of the Anmol Moti ( 1969) song was better with a beautiful Asha Bhonsle solo to go with it.

 The Jeetenda-Mumtaz song was more popular, though.

That song was Raat suhaani jaag rahi hai, in which after a nightmarish beginning ,Jeetendra drops to the dreamland to find Mumtaz in a water-logged area ( the director's hint at wet dreams !). The picturisation mars the melody completely, regretfully.

                                  

So, on to the Seventies. The picturisation of the song had started to decline in 60s, as stated earlier.The quality of film makers had changed and conception of dream sequences was not everyone's cup of tea.
Three songs come to mind immediately, as we recollect the songs of early 70s. 

In the film Ishq par Zor Nahin ( 1970) , a beautiful song on Sadhana and Dharmendra was picturised as if they were finding themselves a dream. Apart from studio-made "natural" tress and mountains there was nothing in pictuisation. In fact, the song was much better in audio.

Mehmood and had a catwalk in the heaven, it appeared while singing Jogi O Jogi (a great composition  wasted in the situation, I feel ) in Lakhon Mein Ek, a 1971 release.  The same year, there was a Biswajit-Leena Chandavarkar song in Main Sundar Hoon, the only collaboration of Shankar Jaikishan with Anand Bakshi. The songs were cheesy, yet popular. yes, the public tastes were-a-changing, too.

The unique song was , however, in Dhadkan ( 1972 ) where director Devendra Goel imagined how advertisements could be picturised, by making a medley of such jingles in a visual forms in the dreams of Sanjay Khan. have a look at the  pioneering effort !

  Jeetendra made a comeback in a double power in Bidaii 1974 and Dildaar ( later in 1977). Both songs depicted the lead pair as royalty, ( Knave and Queen of Hearts, if you please) a theme    already done to death. The visuals are out of card board sets and the romedy was firmly entrenched by now: no more soft romantic swaying on clouds. The lyrics and music also took a nosedive and sitting through the dream sequences became a nightmare for the audiences !

The dream sequence which was a delight without having glaring colours and blazing lights was the middle-of-the-road cinema's version of a dream sequence in Chhoti Si Baat ( 1976).  A middle class hero will copy the larger than life star in his fantasy, as was shown in the song featuring Amol Palekar ( as Dharmendra ) and Vidya Sinha ( as Hema Malini ) !

The same year, i.e.1976, Shammi kapoor directed a fantasy film with himself as Genie and Rajesh Khanna and Sulakshana Pandit as the beneficiaries  of his supreme powers. The film had a couple of fantasy songs, none being fantastic. However, the Rafi- Lata song (Naghma hamara  )was a tad better than the Kishore -Lata competing song, Bemausam Bahaar ke. 

Hera Pheri ( 1976) had a dream song Mujhe pyar mein khat  on Sulakshana pandit and Vinod Khanna making it a normal romantic song, just in imagination. Dildaar in 1977 again had Jeetendra, this time with , playing King/Queen  and riding buggy in Main raja tu rani, the lyrics not leaving anything to imagination. Other directors were also contributing in decline of the quality of songs of this genre. Agar ( 1977) shows Amol Palekar imagining his wife Zarina Wahab romancing Vijayendra and this is in form of a song. In Dream Girl, Hema imagines the third-world kids touring Disneyland in their imagination !

However, in the period film Laila Majnu, one year earlier, a beautiful dream sequence was shown with Rishi and Ranjeeta, having good music ( Madan Mohan) and fine visuals 

Golmaal in 1979 had a comic song sapne mein dekha sapna , which was fine as the film was an out and out comedy. Similarly  1980 film Khoobsoorat's Kayda tod ke dekho ek din was acceptable, as it was just a spoof all round. Chashme Baddoor (1981) had comic dream/fantasy songs as Rakesh Bedi gives his own parodies of old songs, with Deepti naval as his lady-love , in his imagination !

The charm of dream sequences was waning off and director were using them for skin show   to entice audiences to the empty halls in 80s. many films had so-called dream sequences which were an excuse for showing anything that could not fit in the storyline. 

Sargam had a number of duets, though the female character was mute and therefore, they have be termed as imagined or dreamt sequences, another manifestation of the category. Saaheb ( 1985)  had a  song in which Anil Kapoor and Amrita Singh discover themselves was refreshing , to an extent. Meenakshi Seshadri and Anil Kapoor had one such song in Meri Jung ( 1985).  Mera Jawab, released  same year,  had Jackie Shroff in a dream sequence, but the sour icing on the rotting cake was the flashback through the eyes  of Jackie Shroff's pet dog in Teri Meharbaaniyaan ( 1986). 

With the fine genre of dream sequences touching its nadir, I shudder to document the sequences which followed these abominable stunts, though there have been many.

I think we'll leave it here !