90s Evergreen Bollywood & Indie Pop Songs

I’m that kid who grew up in the 90s. Okay, technically I am an oldie now, and not eligible to be called a kid anymore. But who cares, as long as you have a heart that refuses to understand numbers, especially the numbers related to age.

All the filmy DNAs that are present in me come from my mom. No, she’s not as filmy as I am. She’s a little more into music, from her era. Well, she can listen to all kinds of Bollywood music (except the shitty songs from today’s time and English songs). Tape recorders were a thing in that era. Remember how Anil Kapoor (Raj was his name in the movie, omg Raj is the guy I have a huge crush on) wanted a Walkman and Sri Devi (Kajal) wanted a big music player in the movie Judaai?

My mom, in a similar way, wanted one for her. The day she bought it, she loved her cassette player with radio (AM & FM) just like her own baby. She would always play it while she would cook in the kitchen. It was like her partner, her companion. She would mainly play FM, as cassettes were not affordable. She would listen to songs on FM and record them on old cassettes, she thought she didn’t like to listen to. In a way, she recycled things at home, such environmentalist, no?

In the morning, while she would prepare breakfast for everyone, she would turn on her radio. She is a tailor (like homemade, doesn’t take orders from outside). Her radio rested just above her sewing machine. I was tiny, so I loved the way I could fit in the pedal part of her sewing machine and would sit there for my morning breakfast, as from there, I could listen to songs being played on FM clearly. I say clearly because she would play songs at the lowest possible volume so that it wouldn't disturb other members in the family. She owned the kitchen, everything she had and loved was kept in the kitchen. Radio and her tailoring machine being two of the most important things in her life.

Through her, I got used to listening to songs in the morning. People pray to God in the morning. That cassette player was God for both of us. We listened to all the Bollywood songs on it. Both of us were not allowed to watch TV, because of the huge joint family we belonged to, we never had a chance to catch a remote in presence of all the elders. I wasn’t allowed to watch TV because I was a kid and all the elders thought if I start watching TV, it would spoil me and would distract me during my studies. However, I was allowed to watch Disney hour. Yaaaaayyyyy. And on Sundays, I was allowed to watch movies that would be aired on DD channel and that’s how I get my filminess from.

I remember the songs being played on radio. Songs like ‘Jaanu jaanu jaanu, tu mera jaanu jaanu jaanu’, that ‘sexy sexy sexy muje log bole’ which for having the word ‘sexy’ was later on changed to ‘baby baby baby muje log bole’, ‘ruk ruk ruk’, ‘mera mehboob aayega’, ‘tu cheez badi hai mast mast’ LOL. So we’ve had a baby even before Justin Bieber made it popular. Movies like ‘Saajan’, ‘Ashiqui’, ‘Criminal’, ‘Andaz Apna Apna’, ‘Sadak’, ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’, ‘Baazigar’, ‘Darr’, ‘Roja’, ‘Rangeela’ had songs that made us all hum in that era. Sadly, most of these have remixes today. But they cannot match the originals.

If I would have been in touch with Raj on today’s given date, and if at all we would have been “in love”, I would have definitely proposed him first, even with an introverted personality of mine. Because the little rebel in me thinks, why can’t a girl take the first step? I also would have proposed him with a cheesy song like ‘nazrein mili dil dhadka meri dhadkan ne kaha, LOVE YOU Raja *winkwink* (obviously, because Raj, Raja… get it, get it?), hoping for a reply like “Kiss me aaja” :P

Songs like ‘Tamma Tamma’, ‘Tumhe apnda bananeki’, ‘Humma Humma’ have been remixed for today’s generation, but the original ones still hold a special place in my heart. And the songs from the 90s era had some of the best lyrics. Sung by Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, and Udit Narayan. The famous singers whose voice could be heard in almost every song. No wonder, the way Ayushmann Khurrana played the character of a crazy Kumar Sanu fan in the movie ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’. I was equally crazy about their voices and made cassettes out of recording in the same way.

Besides these Bollywood songs, I also loved the pop songs from the 90s. When we listen to those pop songs from the 90s on YouTube, I like to scroll through comments. The way people say thumbs up if you’re listening to these songs in 2016, 2017 etc. That 90s pop songs era was the best era, childhood memories etc, bring a smile on my face. Songs like ‘Made in India’, ‘Deewane, Deewane toh Deewane hai’, ‘Dole Dole’, ‘Disco Deewane’ and others sang by Alisha Chinai, Shweta Shetty, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Sagarika (Shaan’s sister) were so popular.

I don’t know if anyone remembers the band ‘Models’, but I was also fond of them. Every time I would listen to that song of theirs ‘Bollywood’, I thought it was someplace far far away and I wished to go visit that place someday, too. I literally didn’t know what Bollywood was. Such innocence *Self-praising*. I would dream of playing the song ‘mehndi ki raat’ by them, on my marriage sangeet program. Marriage is something we as girls had to listen to from the time we could understand its meaning. At least that was it in my case. Since I belonged to a joint family and being the only girl child, I remember the way they used to excitedly talk about my marriage.

I’ve become so nostalgic now. I was only in 2^nd grade when I would listen to Lucky Ali’s ‘Oh Sanam’ and would get (I still get) goosebumps. I didn’t understand the lyrics back then, yet the song touched my heart. And trust me now I understand the meaning behind each sentence so well. Heartbreak has made me understand it in a better way.  It’ll always be my favorite song forever. All the pop songs have a special place in my heart, but this song, in fact, most songs by Lucky Ali, are my forever favorites.

I cannot forget to mention ‘Dhoom’ by ‘Euphoria’ in this list. That was another song that gave me goosebumps, I think I was in 2^nd or 3^rd grade when ‘Dhoom’ came. I had a crush on one of those guys, I’ll put up a picture of him. He was a guitarist in the Euphoria band and I am not sure which one is him. Not just the crush thing or the song, but I also remember their marketing trick. While Disney hour would get aired, during advertisements they would come up with just the word ‘dhoom’ and play a short tune from the song.

The famous ‘Daler Mehndi’ and his songs which would get played in almost every wedding sangeets held in the 90s. Such Energy his songs had (How his songs have turned into funny memes now). Other best ones from that era were ‘Colonial Cousins’, I am sure, like me, everyone from the 90s era confused them to being cousins in real life. Or was it only me? :/ I hope not!

Oh and Shankar Mahadevan's Breathless. The song that probably rose him to fame and was a talk of the town for a long period of time when people found out he sang the song in one breath. That’s one wonder. The song ends with a sigh of relief ‘phew’ that comes out from his mouth. Incredible that song was.

KK has to have special mentions as he defined the meaning of Friendship and Love through his song ‘Yaaron’, even before Shahrukh Khan described what is love in Kucch Kucch Hota Hai. (I can't just stop dragging movies in every post). And Jas Arora, Milind Soman became models that every girl went crazy over. Even Malaika Arora must have been a dream girl for every guy as well ever since she featured in the same song.

Can you relate to these songs as I do? Have you grown up in the 90s as well? Are these songs there in your playlist too, like they are in mine? I wish I could turn back time and watch myself singing these songs and dancing on their tunes as a kid.

P.S. I mentioned I didn’t understand what Lucky Ali’s songs lyrics meant, but still gave me goosebumps, in the same way, obviously, I didn’t know what crushing over someone meant. But then, watching movies did help me understand the term ‘pyaar’, ‘love’, ‘ishk’ etc, and I say I had a crush on this guy from Euphoria band now, back then, I thought I loved him, not being familiar with the term ‘crush’.  

His Name?