I recalled one of Kishore Kumar's tipsy songs today and before I knew it, I was captivated and ended up replaying 'Main sharab pee raha hoon' over and over. I guess that when I watched it about a decade ago, I was too young to appreciate the nuances of this song.
There are billions of happy melodies, millions of sad & touching tunes, many unconventional numbers, but what this one made me realize is that there are very few 'wholesome' songs. For a song to be wholesome, the tune need not be catchy, the lyrics need not be brilliant, the singer need not flaunt his classical prowess by stressing on the higher notes, the actor need not take it entirely upon himself to deliver the message & the dancer need not do some outrageous & difficult moves.
A song earns wholesomeness when all these aspects, regardless of whether they are perfect or not, flow in naturally to create a magical audio-visual treat. Magical enough to make you feel that it really is the actor who's singing, the dancer is grooving to it of her own accord, and last but not the least, even if the language were alien to you, you understand the gist & the mood of the song barely from the tune & how the singer puts the emotions across.
In this perspective, I felt that 'main sharaab pee raha hoon' is a wholesome song. A very well-blended cocktail of simple lyrics, unusual tune, Kishore Kumar's soothing voice & variations stepping snugly into Dev Anand's shoes, Dev Anand letting it kick in with equal ease and lastly, Bindu's subtle & simple yet killer moves. A sharaab so fine that it just flows in wonderfully as a whole package, making you lose yourself in it and forget bothering about what it's made up of.
There are billions of happy melodies, millions of sad & touching tunes, many unconventional numbers, but what this one made me realize is that there are very few 'wholesome' songs. For a song to be wholesome, the tune need not be catchy, the lyrics need not be brilliant, the singer need not flaunt his classical prowess by stressing on the higher notes, the actor need not take it entirely upon himself to deliver the message & the dancer need not do some outrageous & difficult moves.
A song earns wholesomeness when all these aspects, regardless of whether they are perfect or not, flow in naturally to create a magical audio-visual treat. Magical enough to make you feel that it really is the actor who's singing, the dancer is grooving to it of her own accord, and last but not the least, even if the language were alien to you, you understand the gist & the mood of the song barely from the tune & how the singer puts the emotions across.
In this perspective, I felt that 'main sharaab pee raha hoon' is a wholesome song. A very well-blended cocktail of simple lyrics, unusual tune, Kishore Kumar's soothing voice & variations stepping snugly into Dev Anand's shoes, Dev Anand letting it kick in with equal ease and lastly, Bindu's subtle & simple yet killer moves. A sharaab so fine that it just flows in wonderfully as a whole package, making you lose yourself in it and forget bothering about what it's made up of.
