Page 42 - Seniorstoday November 2021 Issue
P. 42
Once Upon A Time - Music
Making Memories
with Music & War
Music made for war films has created a deep and memorable impact,
writes Narendra Kusnur
In 1973, the title song of Chetan Anand’s film ‘Hoke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bhulaya Hoga’,
Hindustan Ki Kasam became an overnight sung by Bhupinder, Mohammed Rafi, Talat
radio hit. Sung by Mohammed Rafi and Mahmood and Manna Dey, and was filmed
Manna Dey, it was composed by Madan on Army jawans. Rafi’s ‘Kar Chale Hum Fida’
Mohan, with Kaifi Azmi writing, “Hindustan brought out the tragedy of war, and created
ki kasam, Hindustan ki kasam, Hindustan a huge impact with the lines, “Kar chale hum
ki kasam, na jhukenge, sar watan ka, har fida jaan-o-tan saathiyon, ab tumhare hawale
jawaan ki kasam.” watan saathiyon”. Both these songs again
Starring Raaj Kumar and Priya Rajvansh, featured the Madan Mohan-Kaifi Azmi team.
the film was set in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, While these were examples of popular war
and the song brought out the nationalistic songs in Hindi films, the truth is that overall,
fervour. Though the movie didn’t do well the number of such songs has been limited.
at the box-office, other songs like Lata To begin with, the number of war films is
Mangeshkar’s ‘Hai Tere Saath Meri Wafa’ low, probably because such films involved a
and Manna Dey’s ‘Har Taraf Ab Yehi Afsane larger scale and thus higher budgets. Besides
Hai’ had war references and shots, and were Chetan Anand, one director to specialise in
also popular. the genre was J P Dutta, with Border, LOC
Chetan Anand’s earlier film Haqeeqat (1964) Kargil and Paltan. Others have made one-off
was based on the Indo-China war of 1962, films. Secondly, in many of the war films, the
and had songs revolving around the subject. music often strayed away from the subject, as
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