Old Bollywood songs are gaining currency with yuppies

If you think old Bollywood tunes are dead and gone, making way for racy and raunchy music for Gen-X, think again! They are coming back with a vengeance. Music stores and the MP3 pirated CD scene are stormed with Bollywood oldie numbers.

It’s original


And, it’s not the remix variety but songs in their original avatar. And this music is gaining currency with youngsters who move on snazzy bikes with iPods glued to their ears.

Those romantic duets sung busily circling trees, holding hands, the mandatory drenching in the rain, or even making a dash on the slopes of Kashmir or Ooty — the current brood of youngsters may not have seen them on screen, but the songs have them hooked. Abhijit, a techie, was introduced to old numbers with Lata Mangeshkar’s Yeh shaam ki tanhaaiyan, aise mey tera gham while on a bus two years ago. Then on, he decided to explore the world of old Bollywood numbers.

Earlier songs were a perfect way to open your heart out to that someone special, says Mukund, a third year BA student.

“Nobody could sing love songs like Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi,” he says.

Humming a number from the film “Taj Mahal” — “Paanv choo lene do phoolonko inayat hogi” —Mukund says he had presented an MP3 player loaded with old love songs to his girlfriend who is a die hard Led Zeppelin buff.

One special song he had recorded in that was the “Agar mujhse mohabbat hai” which really moved his girl Asha.

He says: “It might take sometime for us to start a life together, but the feelings that I have expressed to her through those songs has made an impact. I am confident she has understood my mind and heart.”

The sad part is that the films with these songs are not in circulation anymore and videos of these songs are in great demand. There are very few clippings available, but they sell like hot cakes,.

At the same place, youngsters also come to load their iPods and pen drives with old songs.

Asha Bhonsle’s cabaret numbers are also in great demand.

But the best ever analysis of why youngsters swear by these numbers comes from Ragini Jalan.

She says there is happiness, love and passion, the pain of separation and heartbreak in Bollywood oldies.

Ragini says these Bollywood songs are so melodious, you would not get fed up with them ever.

You can hum the tune a million times and still love them.