Songless Hindi Films

When we set out to build MySwar as a comprehensive catalog for music from Hindi films, we didn’t pay a lot of attention to films that didn’t have any songs. This became apparent during the discussion on Twitter, that followed when we published this trivia:

Thanks to the “demands” of a few music lovers (!), we decided to give a shot at listing all Hindi films without any songs. For now, this blog post will serve as the repository for this list. These films are catalogued on MySwar as well but not highlighted in any of the listings. This list is not perfect – some of these films may not truly belong here and we may be missing some. For example, Pushpak was a silent film and others like The Perfect Murder and Parzania are not Hindi films. If you know of any film that we should add to this list, let us know in the comments section.

Anyway, here goes:

  1. Naujawan (1937) – MUSIC: Master Mohammed
  2. Munna (1954) – MUSIC: Anil Biswas
  3. Kanoon (1960) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salil Chowdhury
  4. Bhuvan Shome (1969) – MUSIC: Vijay Raghava Rao
  5. Ittefaq (1969) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salil Chowdhury
  6. Rakhi Rakhi (1969) – BACKGROUND SCORE: B.M. Chandavarkar
  7. Sara Akash (1969) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salil Chowdhury
  8. Uski Roti (1970) – SANTOOR: Ratan Lal
  9. Aashaadh Ka Ek Din (1971) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Jaidev
  10. Maya Darpan (1972) – MUSIC: Bhaskar Chandavarkar.
  11. 27 Down (1973) – MUSIC: Bhuban Hari (Bhubaneshwar Misra and Hariprasad Chaurasia)
  12. Achanak (1973) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Vasant Desai
  13. Duvidha (1973) – FOLK MUSICIANS: Ramzan Hammu, Saki Khan, Latif.
  14. Ankur (1974) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Vanraj Bhatia
  15. Mrigayaa (1976) – MUSIC: Salil Chowdhury.
  16. Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan (1978) – MUSIC: Bhaskar Chandavarkar
  17. Chirutha (1980) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salil Chowdhury
  18. Satah Se Uthta Aadmi (1980) – MUSIC: Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar
  19. Plot No. 5 (1981) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salil Chowdhury
  20. Sadgati (1981) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Satyajit Ray
  21. Sazaye Maut (1981) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  22. Shodh (1981) – MUSIC: Shantanu Mohapatra
  23. Ardh Satya (1983) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Ajit Verman
  24. Godam (1984) – MUSIC: Dilip Chitre
  25. Holi (1984) – MUSIC: Rajat Dholakia
  26. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1984) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Vanraj Bhatia, ASSISTANT: Kersi Lord
  27. Kanoon Kya Karega (1984) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salil Chowdhury
  28. Khandhar (1984) – MUSIC: Bhaskar Chandavarkar
  29. Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho (1984) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Vanraj Bhatia
  30. Party (1984) – No information
  31. Aghaat (1985) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  32. Andhi Gali (1985) – MUSIC: Buddhadev Dasgupta
  33. Damul (1985) – MUSIC: Pt. Raghunath Seth.
  34. Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Basu Chakraborty
  35. Genesis (1986) – MUSIC: Pandit Ravi Shankar
  36. Maati Manas (1986) – BACKGROUND SCORE: T.R. Mahalingam
  37. Massey Sahib (1986) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  38. New Delhi Times (1986) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Vanraj Bhatia
  39. Rao Saheb (1986) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Bhaskar Chandavarkar
  40. Zevar (1986) – MUSIC: Salil Chowdhury
  41. Pestonjee (1987) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  42. Pushpak (1981) – BACKGROUND SCORE: L. Vaidyanathan
  43. Andhaa Yudh (1988) – MUSIC BY: Ajit Varman
  44. Salaam Bombay (1988) – MUSIC: L. Subramaniam
  45. Susman (1988) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Vanraj Bhatia
  46. The Perfect Murder (1988) – MUSIC: Richard Robbins
  47. Raakh (1989) – MUSIC: Ranjit Barot
  48. Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989) – MUSIC: Sharang Dev
  49. Ek Din Achanak (1990) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Jyotishka Dasgupta
  50. Kamla Ki Maut (1990) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salil Chowdhury
  51. Naya Zamana Nai Kranti (1990) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Navin Sharma
  52. Nazar (1990) – MUSIC: Vikram Joglekar, D Wood
  53. Dharavi (1991) – MUSIC: Rajat Dholakia
  54. Diksha (1991) – MUSIC: Mohinderjit Singh
  55. Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  56. Ek Ghar (1991) – MUSIC: L. Vaidyanathan
  57. Kasba (1991) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  58. Antarnaad (1992) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  59. Purush (1992) – BACKGROUND MUSIC: Milind Chitnavis, Tushar Bhatia
  60. Raat (1992) – MUSIC BY: Mani Sharma
  61. Sardar (1993) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  62. Woh Chhokri (1993) – MUSIC: Sapan Jagmohan
  63. Aranyak (1994) – No information
  64. Tarpan (1994) – MUSIC: Rajat Dholakia
  65. Drohkaal (1995) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia, Anjan Biswas, Sunil Kaushik, Taufiq Qureshi
  66. Naseem (1995) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  67. Jaya Ganga (1996) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  68. The Making Of The Mahatma (1996) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  69. Char Adhyay (1997) – MUSIC: Vanraj Bhatia
  70. Rui Ka Bojh (1997) – MUSIC: K. Narayan
  71. Hyderabad Blues (1998) – MUSIC: Dr. Bunty
  72. Kairee (2000) – MUSIC: Bhaskar Chandavarkar
  73. Chandni Bar (2001) – BACKGROUND MUSIC: Raju Singh
  74. Ek Chhoti Si Love Story (2002) – MUSIC SCORE: Arvind Nirmal
  75. Kali Salwar (2002) – MUSIC: Ved Nair
  76. Chokher Bali (2003) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Debojyoti Mishra
  77. Ek Din 24 Ghante (2003) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Sanjay Chakravarthy
  78. Hawa (2003) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Surendra Singh Sodhi
  79. Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salim – Sulaiman
  80. Hum Kaun Hain (2004) – MUSIC: Sanjoy Chowdhury
  81. Vaastu Shastra (2004) – MUSIC: Amar Mohile
  82. 15 Park Avenue (2005) – MUSIC: Jyotishka Dasgupta
  83. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005) – MUSIC: Bappi Lahiri
  84. Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women (2005) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salim – Sulaiman
  85. Naina (2005) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Salim – Sulaiman
  86. Being Cyrus (2006) – MUSIC: Salim – Sulaiman
  87. Gafla (2006) – MUSIC: Kartik Shah
  88. Parzania (2007) – MUSIC: Zakir Hussai, Taufiq Qureshi
  89. The Pool (2007) – MUSIC: Didier Leplae, Joe Wong.
  90. Phoonk (2008) – MUSIC: Bapi – Tutul
  91. Shoot On Sight (2008) – MUSIC: John Altman
  92. Blue Oranges (2009) – MUSIC: Ajay Panchal
  93. Siddharth – The Prisoner (2009) – MUSIC: Sagar Desai
  94. The President Is Coming (2009) – MUSIC: Siddhartha Khosla (Goldspot)
  95. Harud (2010)
  96. Pairon Talle (2010)
  97. Phoonk 2 (2010) – BACKGROUND SCORE: Dharmaraj Bhatt, Rahul Pandirkar
  98. Rokkk (2010)
  99. The Waiting Room (2010)
  100. Dhobi Ghat (2011) – MUSIC: Gustavo Santaolalla
  101. Kshay (2011) – MUSIC: Siddharth Bhatia, Karan Gour
  102. Gangoobai (2013) – MUSIC: Ved Nair
  103. Horror Story (2013)
  104. The Lunchbox (2013) – MUSIC: Max Richter

Interesting information about some of these films:

  • When Naujawan (1937) was released, there was a bit of a backlash and the producers of the film were accused of cheating audiences by not including songs.
  • Rajat Dholakia won the National Film Award for Music Direction for the film Dharavi (1991) – a rare instance of a film with no songs winning a National Film Award for music.
  • Holi did have this song – “Na Koi” – but this film has been included in the songless list since the song is really part of the film and does not have characteristics of a typical, recorded song. Amir Khan, Ashutosh Gowrikar and other actors can be seen in this song.

[Update : Removed “Current” (1991)  from the list. Per @kaurvaki, it had this song – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTjyP6QxpE.]

[Update: Added The Pool, via Ronak Sanghvi.]

[Update: Based on inputs from @p1j – Added Naujawan and Munna. Removed Ek Haseena Thi, Paroma, Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda and Sanshodhan. They have one or more songs. Songs will be identified and added on MySwar.]

[Update: Numbered. Add interesting info.]

[Update: Added Holi (1984) and Raat (1992) based on input by @FagunB. Added interesting info about Holi.]

[Update: Added Andhaa Yudh (1988) and Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) based on input by @FagunB.]

[Update: Added The Lunchbox (2013).]

[Update: Added hyperlinks to MySwar. Added Damul (1985). Also added a number of other albums based on input from @abhisek_s, @singh_dr@hims_negi, @mpmainka.]

6 thoughts on “Songless Hindi Films

  1. Ajay Purohit

    Didn’t know a simple request could result in such a mammoth effort & an unbelievable list of #SonglessFilms ! Truly musical – *Claps*

  2. Fagun

    I guess, Shyam Benegal’s Movie Trikaal did not have any song (not sure, though!) and yes, surely missed out on Ram Gopal Varma’s Spine-chilling Horror flick Raat. Movie called Holi directed by Ketan Mehta, starring Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Amol Gupte (at their young age)

    1. Param Post author

      Trikaal did have songs – Remo Fernandes was credited as “specially” composing these songs. I was able to trace one of these songs called “Panch Vorsam”. Check it out – it’s a really cool Konkani song sung by Alisha Chinai with Remo’s back-up vocals. Starts off extremely mellow and ends as a Byla song. I have added Holi and Raat in the list.

  3. Fagun

    Again, there were few names popped up lately
    Ab tak chhappan, Andha Yudh, Disha and Diksha (Hindi version of Kannada classical Ghatashraadhdha)

    1. Param Post author

      Added Andhaa Yudh and Ab Tak Chhappan. Disha had songs – title credits in the film listed singer credits but I’m unable to locate the songs. Diksha was already listed.

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