Great Soundtracks……Terrible Movies

The most common allegation about the Hindi film industry that people make is that its worst phase was from mid 1980s till the mid 1990s. Movies released during the late 1980s are in most people’s “Torture Series”. However, there are a lot of movies which had really exceptional music even though the movies were terrible.

Being born in 1981, the late 80s are almost a blurred memory. The only thing I remember is we used have a monthly movie time when dad used to hire a VCR and we were let to watch movies. That was the good part. The bad part was that out of 10 movies shown, 8 were Bengali movies of Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. Not that they weren’t great. They were and still are. But, we had seen them so many times that we got bored of them. Also, I don’t think anyone below 10 would really be interested watch those movies. What we (we being my cousin brother and I) waited eagerly was when were shown the non-Bengali stuff. It used to be mainly Chaplin/Laurel-Hardy/Tom and Jerry or the live action comic book movies like Superman/Batman etc… Once in while we were let to watch Hindi movies.

Even then I was too young to understand most Hindi movies. But, what I used to like about them is their soundtrack. Later in my late teens, I revisited most movies by getting their VHS tapes or VCDs. And most movies were indeed shocking.

Jeeva – 1986 – Raj Sippy – RD Burman – Sanjay Dutt/Mandakini

My most favorite song from the 1980s is ‘Roz Roz Aankhon Tale’.

I don’t remember anything about the movie from childhood other than loving the song. Later when I watched it again I almost felt like throwing up when that song played. Why? No offense but when I saw Mandakini lip syncing it, it was way too much for me to digest. Add to that the horrible movie. Did all the movies made that time had to be ‘Gaon ka chora’ returning as a dacait to take revenge? Well, what more can we expect from the famous Raj Sippy – creator of such wonderful movies as Loha (1987), Shehzaade (1989), Saugandh (1991), Mr. Bond (1992), Ikke Pe Ikka (1994), Paandav (1995) among others. The only film I remember liking is ‘Satte Pe Satta’. But, to his credit most his films did pretty well at the box office.

Jaanbaaz – 1986 – Feroz Khan – Kalyanji Anandji – Anil Kapoor/Feroz Khan/Dimple/Rekha

A film which had songs like “Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo”…“Har Kisi Ko Nahi Milta”…“Jaane Jana” among others.

I don’t even want to comment on the film as I had no idea what was going on. For me watching Rekha performing to ‘Pyaar Do Pyaar Lo’ with a group of dancers who seemed to be doing some kind of S&M on stage was painful enough.

I however loved watching Sridevi wearing chiffon sarees and dancing to ‘Har Kisi Ko’.

Vijay – 1988 – Yash Chopra – Shiv Hari – Rishi Kapoor/Anil Kapoor/Meenakshi/Kimi

One of the poorer works of Yash Chopra (but infinitely better than ‘Faasle’). But the movie had a pretty decent soundtrack. Songs like “Badal Pe Chalke Aa”…“Zindagi Har Janam”…“Meri Aankhen Hai” were moderate hits then.

The movie was like the song picturization itself. Watching Kimi Katkar in a Yash Chopra movie itself is a shock. Add to that Kimi’s dress and suddenly around 1:14 into the song Anil and Meenakshi pops out from nowhere. Damn scary!

Goonj – 1989 – Jalal Agha – Biddu – Kumar Gaurav/Juhi Chawla

I remember watching this movie when I was really young. The only thing I remember is the song “Saama Yeh Suhana”. It’s one of my favorite songs. The movie however definitely isn’t.

Everytime I watch the song, I cringe at the expression of the actor from 0.40 - 0.42. It’s worth treasuring.

It is surprising whenever I talk about this song, most people think of the song ‘Saama Hai Suhana Suhana’ sung by Kishore Kumar from the movie ‘Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani’. The co-incidence is that Jalal Agha featured in the song ‘Saama Hai Suhana Suhana’ while he was the director of ‘Goonj’. I wonder if he paid tribute to the song by keeping the same lyrics in his own movie.

Yaara Dildara – 1991 – Mirza Brothers – Jatin Lalit – Aasif Sheikh/Ruchika Pandey

The horrible movie had couple of huge hits, “Bin Tere Sanam” and “Tum Hi Humari Manzil”.

“Bin Tere Sanam” was a big hit then but even a bigger hit now thanks to the remix version. The other song that was really popular is “Tum Hi Humari Manzil”. I do not recall much of the movie other than that I couldn’t finish watching it as it was so bad.

I know Aasif Sheikh did lots of movies after that as a character actor. But I have no idea about the actress. Probably her first and last movie.

Drohi – 1992 – Ram Gopal Varma – RD Burman – Nagarjuna/Urmila

One of the most under-rated soundtracks of RD Burman and also of the 90s. The best song obviously is beautiful “Tum Jo Mile To” sung by Suresh Wadkar.

Not only this song, “Dooba Dooba Nashe Mein” sung by Asha Bhonsle is also a very interesting composition. This movie forms the base for the now cult classic “Satya”. Drohi is almost frame to frame similar to Satya. Yet this doesn’t even come near to Satya.

Mashooq – 1992 – Mirza Brothers – Shyam Surender – Ayub Khan/Ayesha Julka

The Mirza Brothers were back after the disaster of Yaara Dildara to create another disaster, Mashooq. But like in Yaara Dildara, this movie also had a great soundtrack.

Couple of songs were huge hits. “Deewana Dil Dhoonde” and “Kaun Ho Tum”.

The other songs, “Yeh Dhadkan Mere Dil Ki”…“Tum Dil To” were also decent enough. Wish the movie was half as decent as the soundtrack.

Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi – 1993 – Mahesh Bhatt – Annu Malik – Rahul Roy/Pooja Bhatt

Probably Annu Malik’s best compositions ever as a complete album. I don’t recall a single song that was even average - forget bad. From “Tere Dar Par Sanam”…“Baadlon Mein Chuup”… “Aane Wala Kal”…“Dil Deta Hai”…Dil Mein Sanam” to my personal favorite “Shairana Si Hai” – every single song is a gem.

Sadly, the movie didn’t even get a theatrical release. It was probably the first movie ever to premiere on TV (Zee TV if I recall correctly). Even then, the movie was horrible to say the least.

Imtihaan – 1994 – Harry Baweja – Annu Malik – Sunny Deol/Raveena/Saif

Two movies released around the same time. One was Deewana starring Rishi Kapoor and Shah Rukh, while the other was Imtihaan. Both had literally the same plot. One was a smash hit, the other flop. Imtihaan was the later and deservingly so. However, the soundtrack of the movie was actually great. It had some of the best songs of 1994.

The soundtrack consists of great songs such as “Is Tarah Aashiqui Ka”…“Chaha To Bahut”…“Do Baate Ho Sakti” among others.

The Gentleman – 1994 – Mahesh Bhatt – AR Rahman/Annu Malik – Chiranjeevi/Juhi Chawla

How can there be any list about soundtracks without the mention of Rahman. So here it is, Mahesh Bhatt’s disaster ‘The Gentleman’. The funny thing with this movie is although the music of three of the biggest hits of the soundtrack is given by AR Rahman, he only gets a ‘thank you’ note at the beginning and Annu Malik’s name is mentioned in the credits.

“Roop Suhana Lagta Hai” and “Chika Bika” were huge hits. The picturization of ‘Chika Bika’ wasn’t even close to that of the original by Prabhu Deva. The movie was again the same modern day Robin Hood story. I don’t recall a single good movie Mahesh Bhatt made from 1994 to 1999 with the exception of Zakhm.

The above list includes 10 terrible movies with great soundtracks. Wish the directors worked half as hard on the screenplays as the music composers did towards their music.

Footnote:

I am focusing only on movies which had great soundtracks but were terrible movies and also flop at the box office. There are a lot of horrible movies with good music which were successful at the box office. Since they were successful, it means certain segment of people appreciated them. So, I am not taking them into consideration.