Mavrix

Category: Music

  • Sahir Ludhianvi – Hindi Film’s Poet Lyricist

    [This post originally appeared here.] Sahir Ludhianvi was a poet among Hindi film lyricists. Recognizing his genius, the Hindi film industry gave him the leeway not many lyricists enjoyed. Filmmakers found ways to make his lyrics work in their films instead of imposing their ideas on him. One example of his uncompromising outlook is the…

  • R.C. Boral – The Father of Indian Film Music

    [This post originally appeared here.] Rai Chand Boral, along with Pankaj Mullick, was one of the pioneers of Hindi film music. The duo started their careers together, directing live music for the Bengali silent film “Chorekanta” (1931). Their first talkie together was “Dena Paona” (1931). They were the first music director duo of the film…

  • The Best Kishore Kumar Songs for Amitabh Bachchan

    [This post originally appeared here.] In the early 1970s, two Hindi film artists came to the fore – Kishore Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan – and ruled Bollywood for the next two decades. They were a mismatched pair. While Amitabh Bachchan was rookie, Kishore had been around for more than two decades. Both were struggling with their…

  • The Best Duets of Lata Mangeshkar

    [This post originally appeared here.] From 1945 to now, Lata Mangeshkar‘s career has clocked more than 70 years and more than 5000 songs. Such is her impact in the Hindi film industry and so deep is her discography that it’s very likely that almost every post in this series has one or more songs by her. Given that there…

  • MySwar References

    One of the things we love on MySwar is the trivia – the story behind the music and the musicians. We source the trivia from books we read and from the World Wide Web. While we stored these source references, we didn’t have a way to show them to our users. Not anymore. We just…

  • The Best of Hasrat Jaipuri

    [This post originally appeared here.] Starting with “Barsaat” (1949), Raj Kapoor’s team consisting of music directors Shankar – Jaikishan and lyricists Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri churned out popular scores film after film for over two decades. Unlike Laxmikant – Pyarelal, who had a clear demarcation of responsibilities, both Shankar and Jaikishan composed tunes. A widely…

  • Asha Bhosle: The Ageless Bollywood Diva

    [This post originally appeared here.] Asha Bhosle started her Hindi film career in 1948 and unlike many of her peers who’ve hung up their boots, she continues to work and travels the world giving concerts. Asha Bhosle’s best songs came under the baton of two men – O.P. Nayyar and R.D. Burman. Long posts could be…

  • Laxmikant – Pyarelal: Hindi Film Industry’s Most Prolific Music Directors

    [This post originally appeared here.] Laxmikant – Pyarelal are easily the most prolific of Hindi film music directors. Their career spanned almost four decades, during which they worked for around 500 films and composed 2500+ songs. Other than the quality of their music, they owed their long careers to their relationships in the industry, their…

  • Tonga Songs In Hindi Films

    [This post originally appeared here.] The key feature of the Hindi film tonga song was a rhythm that evoked the clip-clop of a horse pulling a carriage. Although he didn’t invent the tonga rhythm, O.P. Nayyar was probably the most skilled at it. He dominated a crowd-sourced tonga song playlist I put together some time…

  • Patriotic Songs In Hindi Films Before Independence

    [This post originally appeared here.] Patriotism has always been an important theme in Hindi films. Films like Anand Math (1952), Haqeeqat (1964), Shaheed (1965), Upkar (1967), Kranti (1981), Prahaar (1991), Border (1997), The Legend Of Bhagat Singh (2002), Swades (2004) and Rang De Basanti (2006) had strong patriotic themes. There are many film songs capable…