The Bollywood Films Based on Cricket.

Cricket is the most popular sport in India. Cricket fans treat it as a religion and cricketers are treated as God. Despite the craze in cricket, the number of cricket-based movies in Bollywood has been quite limited. In fact, till 1983 there had been virtually no cricket-based Hindi movie except the Subodh Mukherji’s Love Marriage released in 1959, where Dev Anand played the role of a cricketer. It was an unconventional love story in which the heroine Mala Sinha falls in love with the hero Dev Anand during the cricket match. 
There have been cricketers who have worked — often as lead actors — in Bollywood movies. Salim Durrani, the popular allrounder of the 60s was the first cricketer who did the film "Charitra" as a hero opposite Praveen Babi (her debut film) in 1973.

                                                                  Allrounder 

After Love Marriage, it took 25 years when another film ( Allrounder 1984) on this subject came that is only to encash the popularity of Indian cricket due to winning the World Cup in 1983. The hero of the film was Kumar Gaurav and heroine was Rati Agnihotri. 


                                                            Awwal Number

The third cricket movie from Bollywood also involved Dev Anand (Awwal Number in 1994)— this time as the director, as well as an actor who played Vikram Singh aka Vicky —– an ex-Test cricketer, the National Chairman of Selectors, and also the Deputy Inspector General of the Police. Amir Khan who plays Sunny is selected by Dev Anand in the Indian Test team replacing his own brother Ranvir Singh aka Ronny (Aditya Pancholi) Ronny plots revenge against Sunny. This is where the movie just starts. Later there is a terrorist angle in it.

                                                                 Lagaan

Still from Lagaan

The 2001 film Lagaan was another film where a cricket match was organized between villagers and British officers to decide Lagaan to be collected or not.
There was everything a cricket movie needs, including cricket practice by floodlights, match-fixing, a cripple bowling leg-breaks, and even AK Hangal.

                                                                 Stumped 

Stumped is a 2003 Bollywood sport/drama film written and directed by Gaurav Pandey and produced by Raveena Tandon. On the backdrop of the World Cup, the movie displays the emotional turmoil the Major’s wife Reena (Raveena Tandon) goes through, and her lonely helplessness as the other residents of the Society concentrate on the cricket. The movie also features Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, and Yuvraj Singh sending out a social message.


                                                                     Iqbal

Iqbal is 2005 produced by Subhash Ghai, written and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor. A very well made film.The film received the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues. The story follows a cricket-obsessed deaf and mute boy from a remote Indian village as he aims to overcome difficulties to become a cricketer and fulfill his dream of playing for the Indian national cricket team.


                                                                   Hattrick

Hattrick is a 2007 Indian Hindi sport-drama film directed by Milan Luthria, starring Paresh Rawal, Rimi Sen, Kunal Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Danny Denzongpa.It is a tale of three sets o  is a 2007 Indian Hindi sport-drama film directed by Milan Luthria, starring Paresh Rawal, Rimi Sen, Kunal Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Danny Denzongpa.It is a tale of three sets of people — the first involving an ex-cricketer David Abraham (Danny Denzongpa) and the cynic Dr Satyajit Chavan, who opposes the idea of people watching cricket; Hemu Patel (Paresh Rawal), a wannabe English immigrant, Besides these there is a young  f people — the first involving an ex-cricketer David Abraham (Danny Denzongpa) and the cynic Dr Satyajit Chavan, who opposes the idea of people watching cricket; Hemu Patel (Paresh Rawal), a wannabe English immigrant, Besides these there is a young couple,Sarbajeet "Saby" Singh and Kashmira Singh they are about to marry.Sarabjeet Singh (Kunal Kapoor), an avid cricket-lover, and his wife Kashmira (Rimi Sen), who thinks cricket is a waste of time. Cricket eventually solves the problems in all these cases.

                                                                  Patiala House i

Patiala House is a 2011 sports drama film directed by Nikkhil Advani and starring Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Akshay Kumar and Anushka Sharma in the lead roles. The movie featured cricket stars like Shaun Tait, Kieron Pollard, Herschelle Gibbs, and Nasser Hussain, but the longest and the most important role was played by Andrew Symonds. Sanjay Manjrekar and Nikhil Chopra also acted as commentators, and for some reason, often commented in Hindi for an Australia-England ODI at Lord’s.


                                                        Ferrari ki Sawari 

Ferrari ki Sawari (2012), written and directed by Rajesh Mapuskar, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It stars Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Ritvik Sahore in the lead roles. The story says the young Kayo (Ritwik Sahore) gets selected for a camp at Lord’s,  but his father Rusy doesn't have enough money. To fulfill his son's dream of playing at the Lord's Cricket Ground,Rusi (Sharman Joshi) is coaxed into a unique plan — to steal Sachin Tendulkar’s Ferrari and get the required one-and-a-half lakh rupees. Rusi’s father Debu (Boman Irani), an ex-cricketer, also joins in the mission

                                                                    Azhar

Azhar is a 2016 Indian Hindi biographical sports drama film directed by Tony D'Souza. The story is written by Rajat Arora and is inspired by the life of Indian cricketer and former national team captain Mohammad Azharuddin. The film is produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor

                                                M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story 

M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story is 2016, biographical sports film written and directed by Neeraj Pandey. It is based on the life of former Test, ODI and T20I captain of the Indian national cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The film stars Sushant Singh Rajput as Dhoni, along with Disha Patani, Kiara Advani, and Anupam Kher. 

Sachin: A Billion Dreams  2017, The film is a documentary on the life of Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. It captures Tendulkar's cricket and personal life in substantial detail. The movie had "everything" to make its audience "nostalgic".The music is composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil,

Cricket Songs of Bollywood

Song of Love Marriage 1959

Song of Awwal Number 1990

Song of Stumped 2003

Song of  Iqbal 2005

Song of Hattrick (2007) 

Song of  Patiala House 2011

Song of  Ferrari ki Sawari 2012

Song of M.S. Dhoni the untold story 2016

Song of  Azhar 2016

Song of Sachin: A Billion Dreams 2017 

Bollywood songs that are about Bungalow or Ghar(House)

Yesterday I wrote a blog on bungalows of Film stars which was very well appreciated by the readers (more than 2000 visitors visited the blog in one day), this gave me a thought of writing a blog featuring songs that are about Bungalow or Ghar(House)  
The most popular "Bungalow" song was K L Saigal's "Ek Bangla Bane Nyara" and the most popular "Ghar" song is "Ek Ghar Banonga Tere Ghar Ke Samne" There are many more songs in Bollywood on this theme. I have selected a few of these great songs.
The first song in my list is the immortal K L Saigal's Ek Bangla Bane Nyara from the film President [1937]. This song was written by Kidar Sharma and composed by R C Boral and Pankaj Mullik.

Song of President [1937].    ( Audio only)

The next iconic Bungalow song is from the 1958 film Kaala Pani. It was written by Mazrooh Sultanpuri and composed by S D Burman, picturized on Nalini Jaywant and the playback given by Asha Bhosle. This remains one of the most popular and beautiful Mujra-songs ever. 

Song of Kaala Bazar[1958].

Next Bungalow song is from the 1972 film Samadhi picturized on Asha Parekh, written by Mazrooh Sultanpuri and composed by R D Burman. This song was remixed as "Kaanta Laga" for the T-Series album DJ Doll.

Song of Samadhi 1972

Another hit Bungalow song was "dariya kinare ek bangalo" from  Sabse Bada Rupaiya [1976]sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar written by Mazrooh Sultanpuri and Basu Manohri, assistant of R D Burman.

Song of Sabse Bada Rupaiya 1976

 This song dreaming of a Bungalow along with a car with a boyfriend to envy the people. The song was written by Shaily Shailendra, the son of the great lyricist Shailendra and composed by Bappi Lahiri

Song of Aap Ki Khatir 1977

Let us look into this hit song from the 1968 film "Kismet" sung by Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum, written by H S Bihari and composed by O P Nayyar, picturized on Babita and Biswajeet

Song of Kismat 1968

Now I look into the song on Ghar or house, the first great song comes in our mind is " Ek Ghar Banaonga Tere Ghar Ke Samne" beautifully picturized on Dev Anand and Nutan. This song was written by Hasrat Jaipuri, composed by S D Burman  and beautifully sung by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar

Song of Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963)    

Enjoy this Hit song from the 1954 movie Naukri starring Kishore Kumar, Sheela Ramani, This song was written by Shailendra composed by Salil Chowdhary picturized on Kishore Kumar singing in his own voice.

Song of Naukri 1954

 This iconic song from Awara 1951 deserves a place on this list. In this song, the heroine welcomes home the long-lost lover who has strayed so far but has finally returned. The song was picturized on Nargis.

Sung by Lata, written by Shailendra and composed by Shankar Jaikishan

Song of Awara 1951

This philosophical song from Phir Subah Hogi, very well written by Sahir, composed by Khayyam, sung by Mukesh and picturized on Raj Kapoor.

Song of PHIR SUBAH HOGI 1958 

Watch the Hindi classic romantic song Jis Gali Mein Tera Ghar sung by Mukesh from the blockbuster Bollywood movie Kati Patang (1970), starring Rajesh Khanna & Asha Parekh. The music is composed by R.D Burman and written by Anand Bakshi The scenic Nainital lake, the only oar-powered boat of these love birds among colorful sailing yachts creates a bewitching effect.

Song of Kati Patang 1970

One more “ghar” song, which I think should be included in my list is the song from Kabhie Kabhie – “mere ghar aayi ek nanhi pari. This song was sung by Lata Mangeshkar written by Sahir and composed by Khayyam.Song was picturized on Waheeda Rehman.

Song of Kabhie Kabhie 1976

Another worth mentioning Ghar song was picturized on Deepti Naval and Farookh Shaikh in the 1982 film Saath Saath. Song was written by Javed Akhtar and sung by Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh.

Song of Saath Saath 1982

Mera Piya Ghar Aaya O Ram Ji" awesome item song picturized on Madhuri Dixit remains one of the best songs of her. Song was sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy from the 1995 film Yaarana. Written by Maya Govind and music by Anu Malik

Song of Yaarana 1995

Watch this melodious soothing romantic Ghar song "Jhilmil Sitarin Ka Aangan Hoga" from the 1970 movie Jeevan Mrityu picturized on Dharmendra & Rakhee. Sung by Lata and Rafi. The film went on to become a hit at the box office, including the song "Jhilmil Sitaron Ka Aangan Hoga".The song was written by Anand Bakshi composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal

Song of Jeevan Mrityu 1970

The last song of this blog is this super hit song  DEKHO MAINE

DEKHA HAI YE EK SAPNA from Love Story movie starring Kumar Gaurav, Vijeta Pandit,, released in 1981. The song is sung by Amit Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and music is given by R.D.Burman, written by Anand Bakshi

Song of Love Story 1981

Urdu Shayari in Bollywood Songs

Urdu Shayari is primarily a spoken art form and therefore more suited to theatrical and cinematic adaptation. In fact, when this Shayari was decorated with music, it made Urdu poetry accessible and entertaining to the masses. 
Urdu, from the very beginning, was the most important language of the talkies. Starting from the first Sound Film "Alam Ara" till the 8os Urdu Shayari was predominantly used in Hindi songs.
As Urdu was the lingua franca of artistic expression, Urdu poetry became indispensable to songwriters. Two of the earliest lyricists in Hindi cinema – Kidar Sharma and Dina Nath Madhok – perfectly symbolized this synergy between poetry and cinema. 
.The credit of the first song and the singer in a movie goes to Wazir Mohammad Khan who acted and sang this song De De Khuda Ke Naam Se De, it was in Urdu.

De De Khuda Ke Naam Se De from Alam Ara

In the 40s till Golden Era, the Urdu Shayari was at its prime. The Urdu poets of the era belonged to different parts of the country. Stalwarts like Jan Nisar Akhtar (father of Javed Akhtar), Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi (father of Shabana Azmi), Mazrooh Sultanpuri and Shakeel Badayuni, were either related or were close friends with each other.
 Almost all lyricists of that time had formal training in Urdu poetry and were well-versed with its various forms like ghazal, nazm, qawwali etc. Their careers began in mushairas 

Song of Dulari 1949

Song of Chaudhavin Ka Chand 1960

From romantic sonnets like Chaudhavin Ka Chand to songs of desperate misery like Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari, and qawwalis like Yeh Ishq Ishq Hai, this was truly the high noon of Urdu poetry in Bollywood. The philosophical song " Mein Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya" by Sahir Ludhianvi from the movie Hum Dono, exemplifies what a naturally poetic time this was for the Hindi cinema. 

Song of Hum Dono 1961

The advent of parallel cinema, commonly called “art films”, further gave opportunities to traditional poets such as Shahryar, who wrote the lyrics for Umrao Jaan and Gaman. Independent artists like Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Salma Agha also wrote tunes for famous Urdu ghazals. Many of these were used in movie soundtracks and gave us classics like Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho and Chupke Chupke Raat Din.

Song of Taj Mahal 1963

Song of Sadhana 1958

Song of Kala Paani 1958

Song of Kaghaz Ke Phool 1959

Song of Gumrah 1963

Song of Sangam 1964

Song of Safar 1970

The Changing Trend of Holi Songs in Bollywood

Since the release of Amitabh Bachchan's "Silsila" in the early eighties, no Holi celebration in India reached a crescendo without "Rang Barse" being sung and danced to.
If we look into the history of Holi songs in Bollywood, we have seen a gradual but marked change in the style of music and picturization. 
The first Holi song was seen in the 1940 film" Holi" written by D N Madhok and composed by Khemchand Prakash was sung by Sitara Devi. Another film "Aurat".released in the same year had two Holi songs in that film composed by Anil Biswas. This film was made by Mehboob Khan. It was remade after 20 years into the iconic Mother India. Both films had Holi songs 
In the 50s many films had Holi songs. Those days the trend was derived from lord Krishna’s days in the Brij region of northern India where he is said to have indulged in sensuous frolicking with his consort Radha and other belles (Gopikas) of his village. 
These songs were essentially folk music. And that too mostly Gujarati and Rajasthani folk music. Since then the music, the mood, the style kept on changing every decade.
The Holi Songs of the 1940s
Sung by Sitara Devi, Amritlal ,Composed by Khemchand Prakash

Song of Holi 1940

Aaj Holi Khelenge Saajan Ke 

Song of Aurat 1940

Jamuna Tat Shyam Kheln Holi

Song of Aurat 1940

Here is a rare Holi song of the lesser-known film Tilasmi Duniya released in 1946. The singing voices are not identified. There is one male voice and a female voice. It starts off as a song of fun and revelry, which also includes reference to the pastimes of Lord Krishna and Radha Rani. The music was given by Sajjad Hussain, this song here is one more of the rarest of rare treats. 

Song of ‘Tilasmi Duniya’ (1946)

Another rare gem is being presented from the 1947 film  ‘Renuka’. the voices belong to Zohrabai, Sardar Malik himself

 

Song of Renuka (1947) 

Holi Songs of the 1950s

Song of Jogan (1950)

Song of Rahi (1953)

Song of Aan (1953)

By the mid-50s romance was visible on Holi Songs

In the 1956 film Durgesh Nandini A romantic Holi song composed by Hemant Kumar and picturized on the elegant Bina Rai and the princely Pradeep Kumar. 

Song of Durgesh Nandini 1956

Song of Mother India (1958)

Song of Navrang (1959)

Song of Kohinoor (1960)

This song from the critically acclaimed Godaan is an unconventional Holi song rooted in the folk music of rural India, composed by the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. 

Song of Godaan (1963)

Song of Do Dil (1965)

From the 50s,60s trend of Nandlal and Krishan now in 70s we see the fun-filled song and teasing each other

Song of Kati Patang (1970)

Song of Paraya Dhan (1971)

Song of Sholay (1975)

This fun Holi song from the Basu Chatterji directed romantic comedy Dillagi is unusual as compared to the typical lively and exuberant Holi songs of Bollywood, which have scores of people dancing in tandem with the lead actors. 

Song of Dillagi (1978)

In the80s 90 we see  flirtatious songs like Rang Barse or  fun and fear song Ang Se Ang Lagana from Darr

Song of Silsila 1981

Song of Darr 1993

In the new millennium, the Holi songs became power-packed, rigorous dance sequences Peppy music became the new flavor.

Song of Waqt (2005)

Song of Action Replay(2010)

Song of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)