The Sound of Nostalgia

An authoritative compilation of articles focusing on the Hindi film music of the Golden Era

- SATHYA SARAN

A ptly titled, this book is all about music. Collected from the archives of a Jaipur daily, where the chapters appeared as a column by Premchand, the book is a researcher's delight.

Information of various kinds links up to songs on a connected theme. For example, chapter two titled Welcomed with Arrows begins with a detailing of the tribal inhabitants of the North Sentinel Islands, a part of the Andaman Islands, where protected people still use bows and arrows. Written in 2019, it tells us how an American named John Chau was shot down by arrows when he persistently tried to enter the tribal colony. Leading from this incident, Premchand jumps to songs where teer and kaman or baan feature as instruments of Cupid's attack. A long list of songs starting from Shamshad Begum singing Nainon ke baan ki reet anokhi in 1941 for Khazanchi to 1967, where Mukesh sings inviting arrows to pierce his heart in Gunahon ka Devta.