A movie so successful, so famous that its known only by its acronym, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is iconic in the minds of Hindi film viewers. I was reminded of this film when I was browsing through my music collection looking for my children’s favourite albums before going on a recent road trip. Oddly, even though I remember enjoying the film, I almost never play its music. So didn’t I like it in truth? Curious, I decided to re-watch the film.
After seeing it I am still trying to pinpoint the reason for this movie’s phenomenal success. A variation of a formulaic story, it has a good cast, good looking leads, decent music, great locales, some comedy, some romance, some drama, some patriotism, some dancing, some villainy and a handful of magic stardust which make this a truly watchable film.
The music by Jatin-Lalit duo is catchy but I wouldn’t classify it as extraordinary. Anand Bakshi’s lyrics are very apt but are they poetry? I’m not sure. What I like is how perfectly placed the songs are in the film, a song for every step as the story unfolds!
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Meet The Girl Song = Mere Khwabon Mein – Lata Mangeshkar. I think Lata’s voice sounds too old for Kajol. But the melody is lovely and the lyrics are apt.
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The Teasing Song = Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane – Udit Narayan. Boy decides to bait girl to get her attention. The song didn’t appeal to me. I also cringed when Shah Rukh jumps on the piano and plays with his shoes..really!!
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The Girl Loosens Up Song = Zara Sa Jhoom Le – Asha Bhonsle, Abhijeet. Now this is a lovely little song with a great melody and fun lyrics. I really enjoyed both the song and leads’ antics. Kajol is in her element in situations like this, she lights up the screen. I am a fan! And as for the singing, this is a song made for Asha and Abhijeet keeps up impressively with his senior colleague.
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Love Realisation Song = Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko – Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan. I don’t think the prelude and the main song go well together at all. Lata’s voice is just too old for Kajol but Udit Narayan sounds really good. For me this doesn’t work. I liked the picturisation though.
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The Declaration Song = Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam – Lata Mangeshkar, Kumar Sanu. This is a lovely song but if only it had been sung by a young Lata and Kishore!! It would have been so perfect!! As it is, I like it well enough but Kumar Sanu tries to hard to be Kishore and Lata…well you know my complaints.
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The Wedding Dance Song = Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna – Lata Mangeshkar, Udit Narayan. Lata’s voice sounds better in this, still……why don’t people retire in time? The song however is excellent and Udit Narayan is wonderful. I really like the lyrics too. Shah Rukh’s dancing is fun and I fell big time for this song on screen. I can clearly see why Shah Rukh climbed the ladder to King Khan status – the man has oodles of charm! Memorable Moment: Achala Sachdev’s smile towards the end when Amrish Puri sings O Mere Zohra Jabeen.
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The Nostalgia Song = Ghar Aaja Pardesi – Manpreet Singh, Pamela Chopra. They play it often throughout the movie and by the end I quite liked it.
You can listen to the whole album here.
Today I present Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna, my favourite from this album.
Music To My Ears 