It's pouring love, Bollywood ishtyle

Rajnish Sharma / TNN / Jun 14, 2006, 21:40 IST

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Not just the sensex, even our very own Bollywood eagerly awaits the arrival of monsoon...

Not just the sensex, even our very own Bollywood eagerly awaits the arrival of monsoon, for the sheer inspiration filmmakers derive from the pelting rain and thunderous clouds.
Nowhere in the world does any season arrive with such fanfare, nor is any season awaited so eagerly and celebrated with such exuberance, as is the monsoon in India. All the sky becomes a stage for nature to play out its theatrics.
Without a doubt, monsoons – with or without Bollywood – hold a special significance for India, says ad film maker and lyricist Prasoon Joshi.
"If the rain is on time, the mood is good, it brings prosperity, it's harvest time. So naturally, all good things, including romance, are linked to it."

No wonder then that our mythology, classical music and folk traditions are replete with references to it. Be it Raga Malhar-based songs or jhula and kajri, they all celebrate the Krishna-Radha dalliance during saawan. And yes, this gushing joy finds a prominent place in our reel life as well.
In 1913, when Dada Saheb Phalke got an all-male cast dressed as women, to frolic around in water for the first Indian film Raja Harishchandra, he probably had no clue that he would be setting a trend which wouldn't even stop at Fanaa.

Though Phalke pioneered the 'wet sari' look, it was Raj Kapoor who took it to its sensuous climax. Padmini, Zeenat Aman and Mandakini – the showman drenched them all in rain or under the ubiquitous waterfall.
Citing the example of Hai hai yeh majboori from Manoj Kumar's Roti, Kapda aur Makaan, lyricist Sameer feels that these rain sequences give film directors a chance to (s)exploit the situation!
The passionate spark that the rains trigger in our Hindi movies makes classic western songs like Rain drops keep falling on my head from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or Madonna's Your love's coming down like rain (Erotica) seem tame in comparison.
Take for example Mr India's Katey nahi katthey yeh din ye raat, which has Sridevi setting the screen ablaze in a clinging blue sari. The heat generated in the rains is accentuated by her foreplay with an invisible and besotted Anil Kapoor.
High on the erotic element is Rimjhim gire saawan, sulag sulag jaye man from Manzil. There's no 'touchy-feely' and yet it evokes an intense feeling of longing as Amitabh Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee walk hand-in-hand along the Marine Drive soaking in Mumbai's first shower.
Madhubala, one of Bollywood's timeless beauties, plays the damsel in distress in Chalti ka Naam Gaadi, which gets Kishore Kumar, playing a car mechanic, crooning Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si.
1942 – A Love Story had a heady brew of melodies but Rimjhim rimjhim rumjhum rumjhum stands out for its sheer aesthetic splendour.
Amazing visuals of a verdant valley captured under a sheet of rain and lyrics like teen ki chhat par jab bajta hai jaltarang..' easily earn it a place among classics in the downpour genre.
Rains remind one of another celluloid magic moment: It was on a desolate dimly-lit platform of Halflong station in the North-East that love struck Shah Rukh Khan on a stormy winter night when the wind blew the shawl off Manisha Koirala's mesmeric face in Dil Se. Only, there was no song.
Director Kunal Kohli, however, has a different tune to sing —- he feels that the trend of rain songs has run out of steam.
"You might have noticed that during the last two years, besides Hum Tum and Fanaa, none of the movies had any rain songs. Item songs have long replaced these rain songs."
So is the inspiration from barsaat a complete wash out? The argument continues...
lucknow.times@timesgroup.com

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