M U S I C D I R E C T O R R A V I - HIS CHAUDHVIN KA CHAND.

The years 1960 and 1961 were years of great melody in  Hindi films with the release of highy successful, musically charged films like  Mughal-E- Azam, Barsaat ki Raat, Kohinoor , Chaudvin ka Chaand, Junglee, Gharana, Sasural,Hum Dono, Kala Bazar  and so on. The decades  of the 50s and the 60s were also the heydays of great music directors like S.D.Burman, Shankar Jaikishen, Naushad, O.P.Nayyar,  Roshan and so on whose songs were hitting the top of the chart  on the radio and figuring prominently  in the list of winners of the Filmfare Awards . In the early 60s two songs from two films used to be heard several times daily  on the radio be it the Radio Ceylon or Vividh Bharati of  AIR. Both the songs are by Muhammed Rafi, the title song ‘Chaudvin ka chaand ho’ from that film and ,‘ Husnewale tera jawab nahin’ from film Gharana. They were two of the top songs of the period  and both were composed by the redoubtable, but less celebrated, music director Ravi ( Ravi Shankar Sharma-March 1926 – March 2012).There are several common factors for the two songs; both were penned by Shakeel Badayuni winning  Filmfare awards for best lyricist for the songs in 1960 and 1961; the song Chaudvin ka chaand  won for Rafi the Filmfare Award for the best male singer  and the song  Husnewale  tera jawaabb nahin  won for Ravi the Filmfare Award for the best music director ; both are beautiful romantic melodies delightfully picturised on the pairs of Guru Dutt-Waheeda Rahman and Rajinder Kumar - Asha Parekh respectively ; the first is intense and the other  happy and  light hearted. Frequently heard on the radio and repeatedly featuring in the weekly Binaca Geetmala programs the two songs  were our favourites  eventhough  the top of the hit  position in the Binaca Geetmala program for the years 1960 and 1961 were won by Roshan’s  ‘Zindagi bhar nahin ‘ (Barsaat ki Raat) and S & J’s ‘Teri pyari pyari’ (Sasural) respectively.

Ravi’s  earlier films  like Vachan, Ek Saal, Dilli ka thug, Chirag Kahan Roshni kahan and so on also had several beautiful songs in them. Film Dilli ka thug had a few popular songs by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle like ‘ Yeh ratein yeh mausam nadi ka kinare’ (Kishore -Asha), Yeh bahar yeh shama(Asha) and  the hilarious, ‘C.A.T.,  CAT  Cat mane billie’ (Kishore). In Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan there is this children’s song ‘Tim tim karke tare...’. In Ek Saal there is this immortal ghazal of Talat Mahmood, ‘ Sub kuch luta ke hosh  mein aaye to kya hua’.  But it was Ckaudvin ka Chaand  which gave Ravi the well deserved recognition as a top music director of Hindi films. The song scene of the title song Chaudvin ka chaand showed how best even black and white photography (Cinematography- V.K.Murthy) can exploit the light and shade to glorify a scene.The film has a few other wonderful  songs like Rafi’s ‘Yeh Lucknow ki sar zameen’ and the Asha Bhosle – Shamshad Begum qawwali, ‘Sharma ke kyun pardanashin’ (two parts). The song ‘Husnewale tera jawwaab nahin’ from film Gharana still remains as one of the top romantic songs of Rafi.There was no looking back  thereafter for Ravi in the 60s and early 70s when he came out with  musical hits  for films after films like Khandan, Bharosa, Kajal, Gahra Daag, Pyar ka Saagar, China town,Do Badan, Ankhen, Waqt, Neeel Kamal, Tower House, Yeh raaste hai pyar ki, Aaj aur Kal  and many more.

The music of film Khandan (Sunil Dutt- Nutan)brought for Ravi the Filmfare award for best music director in 1965; the song ‘Tuhmi meri mandir’, one of the noted bhajans of Lata, brought  her the Filmfare award for best female playback singer and the best lyricist award for Rajinder Kishen.  The Guru Dutt – Asha Parekh starrer Bharosa  had a  beautiful song by Rafi, ‘Is bhare duniya mein’ and a duet, ‘Aap ki mulakat  bas itni’ by Lata and the then new singer Mahendra Kapoor.For Ravi, Asha  remained his favourite female voice with songs like the bhajan, ‘Tora man darpan’ and the semiclassical number, ‘Chhun chhun gungharu bole’ both from  film Kaajal( Dharmendra-Hema Malini),the  ‘Jab chali tandi hawa’number from film Do Baaden (Asha Parekh- Manoj Kumar),  the songs ‘ Chehre pe khushi chha jaati hai’ and ‘the haunting ‘Aage bhi jane na  tu’ from the star studded film Waqt (Raj Kumar, Sadhana,Sashi Kapur, Sharmila Tagore, SunilDutt, Rahman and Balraj Sahni) and many more from other films.But it is also a fact that some of the best songs of Ravi in female voice were also by Lata like, e.g., the melodious ‘Lo aagayi unki yaad’ from Do Baadan,’Lagi na mora jiya’ from film Gunghat,’ Ai mere dil-e-naadan’ from Tower House, ‘Milti hai zindagi’ from  Ankhen and so on. In Yeh raaste hai payarki’, a film based on a real life story and in which Ashoj Kumar gave a memorable performance as the defence lawyer, there is  the title song, ‘yeh raaste hai pyar ki’ by Asha and a duet of  Asha with Rafi,’ Yeh kahmoshiyan yeh Tanhaniyan’ boh very popular and frequently heard on the radio those days but sadly missing nowadays. This applies to the rare songs of Mukesh for Ravi in film Pyar ka Saagar, e.g. ‘the duets with Asha,‘Vafaa jin se ke bewafa ho gaye’and the grief filled ‘Pyar ka saagar dekha hai’. That reminds me of the songs of Mukesh for Raj kapur in film Nazrana, especially the beautiful inter active duet with Lata,‘Bikhrake zulfein chaman mein' and the sad Mukesh solo,‘Ek woh bhi Diwali thi.

Film Gumrah( Sunil Dutt-Mala Sinha) marks the beginning of a long and fruitful association of Ravi with singer Mahendra Kapoor . In fact it was Ravi  who lifted the singer, reeling under the shadow of a Rafi at his peak,  to the centre stage with this film. In fact there was no song for Rafi in this film and the three solos rendered by Mahendra Kap oor, viz., ‘Aap aayen’, ‘Aa bhi ja’ and Chalo ek bar’ earned for him an identity of his own and listeners  could  connect to his voice and style separate from that of Rafi. The songs were super hits on the radio and Mahendra kapoor won the Filmfare Award for the best male playback singer for the song ‘Chalo ek baar’. The duet, ‘aaja aaja re’ with Asha also was hugely popular. Film Gumraah was followed by Waqt in which  Mahendra Kapoor had three duets with Asha the top being ,’Maine ek khwab sa dekha hai’ and, ’Din hain bahar ke ‘ a close second. Of course the most popular song of the film  is by Rafi,viz., ‘Waqt se din aur raat’  followed closely by the evergreen Manna Dey hit, ‘Ae mere Zohra Jabeen’.

The success of the team of Ravi-Sahir Ludianvi(lyrics) and Mahendra Kapoor  in film Gumraah and Waqt was repeated in the super hit film Hamraaz(Sunil Dutt-Vimi- Raaj Kumar). In fact it was Mahendra Kapoor all the way in this film with four super hit solos including , ‘ Yeh  neele gagan ke tale’ which won him the Filmfare Award for the best male playback singer for 1967. The song ‘Na moonh chupake jiyo’ and ‘Tum agar saath dene ka wada karo’ were also super hits along with the high pitched,  melodious ‘Kisi pather ke murat se’. These songs were  a fitting reply to the critics, many of them perhaps motivated, who sidelined Mahendra Kapoor  as a singer who adopted Rafi’s style. The singer’s own style was, of course, obvious  to the discerning listeners.

There are two films the music of which showed Ravi’s talent and range in different types  of music. One is film China Town, (1962-Shammi Kapoor-Shakila) in which all the songs were by Rafi and Asha. The film offered ample scope for dance songs, Rock-n-roll and club dance songs etc. and Ravi showed that he could do justice to the need. Though the film was not a huge hit  the songs were very popular , the ‘Bar bar dekho ‘ in particular, with Rafi sizzling.  The songs ‘Yumma yumma yumma’ and the title song ‘China town’ shows Asha in her elements . The duets of Rafi and Asha, ‘Bada quatil hai’ and ‘Humse na poochho’, were also pleasing. Ravi with these vibrant foot tapping songs showed that he can give even O.P. Nayyar  a run for his money as far rhythm is concerned.

The other film which tested Ravi’s talent is the 1982 film Nikaah with Raj Babbar, Deepak Parashar and Salma Agha in the lead.  All the songs of the film were Ghazal based ones as demanded by the theme  and all of them were rendered by Mahendra kapoor and the leading lady Salma Agha herself.The ghazals were appreciated by the discerning listeners and it was Salma Agha who got the Filmfare award for the best playback singer of the year for her song ‘Dil ke armaan ansuon mein bah gaye’, the special nasal timbre of her voice helping her to do justice to the composition. This is true in the case of ‘Fiza bhi hai jawab bhi (in two parts) also. Mahendra kapoor shows his range in the ghazal,  ‘Bete hue lamhon ki kasak saath to hogi’ and also in the duet with Salma, ‘Dil ki yeh arzoo thi’ with  clear, emphatic delivery of words. The qawwali,’ Chehra chhupa liya hai kisi ne nagar  mein’  by Kapoor, Asha and Salma is an added attraction.  The LP album of the film also contains Ghulam Ali’s famous composition ‘Chupke chupke raat din’ making it a collectors’ item.

Music director Ravi who was very busy in Hindi film music till the early years of the 70s   was seen less and less thereafter and during the 80s and 90s became very busy in Malayalam films  especially in association with director Hariharan and poet/lyricist O.N.V. Kurup  and came out with award winning music in  films like Panchagni, Nakhashatangal, Sargam ,Vaisali, Parinayam, Srukretam, Ghazal and so on. He won National award for best music Director  for films  Parinayam and Sukrutam and Kerala State Award for  Nakhakshatangal and  Sargam. Singer K.S.Chitra won her third National Award for the song ‘Indupushpam choodi’ from film Vaisali.

 Though Ravi came back into  Hindi film music strongly with Nikaah in 1982, he was unable to weave his former magic as by then the trend had changed with the ascendancy of Kishore Kumar, Lakshmikant Pyarelal and so on  and  had to remain content with working in Malayalam films with Mayookham(2005) being his last Malayalam film. Music Director Ravi, Known as Bombay Ravi in Malayalam film world continues to be remembered and respected in Kerala as a king of melodies.

Tail piece:-There was a successful Palmolive ad featuring Kapil Dev and the jingle ‘ Pamolive da jawab nahin’ seemed to have been inspired by the Gharana song,’Husnewale tera jawab nahin’.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9uo-7_aeE

FILM HONG KONG AND THIS AND THAT.

Collectors of gramophone records of Hindi films find it extremely difficult to get the records of composer O.P.Nayyar . What we get are mostly overused ones with a lot of scratches. Recently I could get a LP record, in fairly good condition, of film HONGKONG(1962),starring Ashok Kumar, B.Saroja Devi,K.N.Singh and Helan for which music was composed by O.P. Nayyar. The film got the attention of film goers because of the presence of Ashok Kumar, the leading southern artist B. Saroja Devi and the music of O.P. Nayyar.  Dance music and dance scenes were popular  those days and the music of the film catered to this trend.  The song, ‘Honolulu’ and ‘Kenya Uganda Tanganika’, ‘Hong Kong China meena’ and ‘Muhabbat karne wale muft mein’ by Asha Bhosle are catchy numbers of the film. In fact out of the eight songs  seven are by Asha and the eighth a duet with Rafi. Though one of  the lesser known albums of O.P. Nayyar,  Hong Kong has still a  place of its own on the shelf of the collector.

 

In fact the LP record of Hongkong  is a duel album as on one side of it is the music of film  SINGAPORE (1960) starring Shammi Kapur and the Southern leading lady Padmini . The film, shot in part in Singapore, with the story about a treasure hunt was a big hit . Beautiful music by Shankar jaikishen was an added attraction. The most popular songs of the film were the rare Mukesh song for Shammi Kapur, ‘ Yeh shahar bada albela’ and the typical Helen song, ‘Dekhoji dekho’by Lata. The song ‘Rassa sayung re’ in Malay language  by Lata was also very popular on the campus.

While listening to this album my mind strayed  towards a few films with titles of foreign locations/cities. Naming films like that was common to catch the imagination of viewers of the period fond of watching scenes from foreign locations and the films offered a rich feast of such scenes. Films Singapore and Hong Kong fell into this category. Two other films coming to mind are the Joy Mukherjee-Asha Parekh film LOVE IN TOKYO(1966) and the Shammi Kapur –Sharmila Tagore film AN EVENING IN PARIS(1967). Both films had lilting and rocking music by Shankar Jaikishen. The most popular song of the first film especially among college students  was  the sentiment filled ‘Sayonara’by Lata Mangeshkar. The semi classical number ‘Koi matwala’ by Lata was also a hit on the radio. Rafi’s  ‘Oh mere shahe -khuban (There is also a version by Lata)was a typical Rafi song. The fast and energetic Rafi number ‘Aaja re aa zara’ was a huge hit.  ‘Main tere pyar men’was also a very popular Manna Dey song.

The film AN EVENING IN PARIS  has the team of Shankar-jaikishen, Muhammed Rafi and Shammi Kapur at their sizzling best.The chemistry among this trio is as well acknowleged  and accepted by film lovers as the team of Dilip Kumar, Rafi and Naushad and/or Dev Anand,  S.D.Burman and Kishore Kumar.The fast paced and melodious title song, ‘An evening in Paris’ , the rollicking ‘ Akele akele kahan jaa rahe ho’ and ‘Aasman se aaya farista’prove the point. In fact Shammi Kapur was probably the best for song situations with his delightful antics and flexibility! Shankar-Jaikishen and O.P.Nayyar had exploited  this for  many of their songs.

That again reminds me about the Shammi kapur-Shakila- Helen film CHINA TOWN (1962) having a similar theme with  visuals of foreign locations. The film had outstanding music by Ravi. The song for Shammi Kapur’s club dance scene ‘Bar bar dekho’ was the most popular. The sweet and nostalgic title song ‘China town’ by Asha Bhosle for Helen remains as sweet as ever. There is also this song, ‘Yamma yamma yamma’ and the Rafi-Asha duet ‘Bada qatil hai’ both  typical of films in this genre like Singapore. The pleasant, breezy duet ‘Hamsena poochho hum’ by Rafi and Asha is an added attraction.

Sharda

The showman Raj Kapur’s  mega film AROUND THE WORLD(1967) with Raj Kapur  and Rajshree in the lead is another film coming to my mind.The picture was shot extensively on foreign locations including London, New York, Washington, Disneyland and so on offering a visual treat to the viewers. Music by Shankar jaikishen is another attraction of the film. The long title song  ‘Duniya ki zair kar lo.....around the world in 8 Dollars’ by Mukesh and the then new singer Sharda was very popular. Sharda ,had  made her debut  as a whiff of fresh air in the Hindi film playback scene for Shankar Jaikishen,in film SURAJ (1966) with the super hit song ‘Titli udi ud jo chale’ and ‘ Dekho mera dil machal gaya’. In Around the world she rendered  two more notable songs  like ‘Chale jaana zara thehro’ and ‘Jaane bhi de sanam’ . Sharda with a distinctly soft voice and style of crooning was  heard mainly  for Shankar Jaikishens’ films like Duniya, Gumnaam and so on and soon disappeared from the scene  in spite of the huge promise she showed in the beginning. It was said that  Shankar’s preference for her voice  led to the split of the great musical duo.

While typing these lines memories of two highly successful adventure films passed through my mind. One is PANIC IN BANKOK(1966) starring  Kevin Mathews and Robert Hossen. The other is THAT MAN IN ISTAMBUL(1965) starring Horst Bucholz and Sylvia Koscina. My record player is playing the sweet nostalgic song “Mere piya gaye Rangoon’ by Shamshad Begum in her inimitable voice along with Chitalkar from film PATANGA with music by C.Ramachandra.

HINDI FILM SONGS :NOSTALGIC GOLDEN OLDIES.

A  couple of days back I was listening to Vividh Bharati on my old radio a bit late at night when suddenly a long lost song from  AMAR DEEP, a Dev Aanand-Vyjayanthimala film of1958, came through like a whiff of fresh air in the sultry room. The song is the duet, ‘Dekh haemin aawas dena’, by Rafi and Aasha, tuned by C.Ramachandra. The song was a very popular one in the late 50s and the early 60s when not a day passed without hearing this song at least once  on Vividh Bharati or Radio Ceylon on their listeners’ request programs. Though the film itself had not won the limelight the songs of the film , especially ‘Dekh hamein’ and ‘Man ke bawra panchi’ had topped the popularity charts  for a long time. What made the song, dekh haemin, linger in the hearts of the listeners was the way the two singers apparently tried to excel each other to make it captivating. It was a refreshing experience to hear the song again on the radio after several years..In fact the night appeared to be special as several of those nostalgic songs like ‘So gaya saara zamana , neend quum aathi nahi’(Lata) from film Miss Mary and the  ‘Oohh neeend na mujhko aaye, dil mera kabraye’(Hemant Kumar-Lata) from film Post Box 999 and  a few others were also heard caressing me to sleep  as a contented listener.

Listening to these songs again on my old radio  my mind went back to several of those very popular old songs which had given us enormous pleasure in our younger days and which continues to do so even now whenever they are heard over the radio or the TV. An interesting feature of these songs is the fact that people still remember them even though many of the  films were not very popular and successful at the box office . In fact even now  people identify the films by the songs and many of these films  had only one or two songs, so enchanting and evoking nostalgia, that  keep the films still in peoples’ mind. It is sad that many such songs are not heard nowadays except  sometimes on Vividhbharati and Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corpn on SW.

On a quick mental scan one such song coming to my mind is the beautiful composition by S.N.Tripati from film RAANI ROOPOMATI. It is a Mukesh number, ‘Aah laut ke aaja mere meet ’penned by Bharat Vyas. I stiil remember hearing the song from the local theatre over the loud speaker for months even after the film had vanished from memory. The grief filled voice of Mukesh is all there to be  absorbed by the discerning listener. One should also hear one of the most beautiful duets of all time ,’Zara saamne to  aavo chhaliye, chup chup chalne mein’ composed by S.N Tripati  for the film JANAM JANAM KE PHERE, to realize how great, but how much underrated a composer he was!

The name of music directors, Shankar-Jaikishen, was  always synonymous with box- office success as most of the films for which they had composed music were huge hits. There were two films, AMRAPALI and  SASURAL  which did not get much critical acclaim at that time but there was one song in  each which had caught the hearts of the listeners. The song, ‘Jao re jogi tum jago re’ by Lata, from Amrapali,  picturised on Vyjayantimala is one such song though rarely heard nowadays. The song is a great example of Shankar-Jaikishans’ mastery over semiclassical compositions. The song, ‘Teri pyari pyari surat ko’ from film Sasural was hugely popular especially  among  college students and it used to be the song in the functions of college art societies. Rafi imparting the youthful exuberance and romance contributed much to the success of the song. No wonder Rafi got the Filmfare Award for the best male singer for the song in 1962 and it was the number one song in the Binaca Geetmala program for the year. The film is remembered even today only for this song. There is yet another Shankar-Jaikishen song,.  from the DevAanand-Mala Sinha film LOVE MARRIAGE, a beautiful duet of Rafi and Lata, ‘Dheere Dheere chal, Chand gagan mein’. This was a very popular song  repeatedly heard over Vividh bharati those days on listeners’ requests.

Another song from a Dev Aanand –Mala Sinha starrer ,MAYA, is the one by the velvet voiced singer from Bengal, Dwijen Mukherjee, ‘Yeh dil kahan teri manzil’. There are two versions of this song in which Lata also had rendered a portion. The beautiful composition by Salil Choudhury was a great melodious hit . But, somehow, the song did not linger long probably for the overwhelming success of  the Rafi-Lata duet,’Tasveer tere dil mein’ from the same film. The gifted singer in the Subir Sen-Hemant Kumar mould who could have become a MannaDey, Talat or Hemant Kumar, did not get many chances in Hindi film music, a big loss  for  listeners. To many, the film MAYA  instantly brings Dwijen Mukherji’s song to mind.

That reminds me of another song, a rare Mukesh-Rafi duet, ‘Badi door se aaye hain, pyar ka tofa layi hain’, composed by Kalyanji Aanandji for the film SAMJAUTA . In fact Rafi used to begin his stage programs especially abroad by first singing this song to the utter delight of expatriate Indians. The feeling  which Rafi  imparted  to this song in a couple of  stage programs I was fortunate to attend is still fresh in memory; a  song which could take  the audience with the singer throughout but  rarely heard nowadays.

There are two songs by composer Ravi which had outlived the memory of the films. One is the lovely song by Rafi, ’Husnewale tera jawab nahin’ from film GHARANA a top of the chart song in the Binaca Geetmala  program and a song which gave Ravi the Filmfare award for the best music director in 1961. The other  song is one in which Ravi showed he is not behind anybody as far as rhythm is concerned. Yes, it is the Rafi song from the 1962   film CHINA TOWN , a Shammi Kapur- Shakila starrer, ‘Bar bar dekho, hazar bar dekho’ a highly popular song but slowly being pushed into oblivion in the rush of fast paced rocky numbers churned out these days. But for old enthusiasts the charm of ‘bar bar dekho’ never fades.

Music directors, Laxmikant-Pyarelal  burst into the Hindi film music scene with outstanding compositions in film PARASMANI and went on to become the number one in the field with Raj Kapur opting for them, in place of  their regular composers  Shankar-Jaikishen, with the film BOBBY. But there is one composition from their early film MR.X IN BOMBAY , a  suspense thriller with Kishor Kumar in the lead, viz., the Kishor Kumar song in two parts,’Mere mehboob  qayamat hogi’. It is a haunting melody superbly rendered in a voice that gelled with the mood of the song. Nobody talks about this film nowadays  but there are music lovers who still remember and listen to this song.

Film AKHRI KHAT was an off beat film telling the story of a child left alone in a city and there is a hauntingly melodious song  by Lata, ‘Baharon mera jeevan bhi sawaro’,. The tune composed by the great Khayyam and with Lata at her singing best made this song  memorable. It was a song frequently heard over the radio , a favourite in the listeners’ request programs. The LP record of the film is special as its Side 2 presents pieces from the beautiful background score of Khayyam.

There are a large number of such songs flashing through my mind but I will stop with mentioning one or two more. One, though may fall in the ancient category, is from film BADI BAHEN. The song composed by Husnlal Bhagatram,  ‘Chup chup khade ho, by Lata andPremlata, was our favourite song as children and was  heard over the gramophone during marriage functions. I still remember  several popular parodys of this song in Malayalam. There is also Talat Mahmood’s song  from film ASHIANA, the first major break the singer got from composer Madan Mohan. The trembling voice of the singer was at its best in this song ,’Mera qarar leja’. Alas ! This song nowadays is not heard even on special programs on Talat Mahmood or Madan Mohan.  

There is another film, BOMBAI KA BABU, a Dev Aanand- Suchitra Sen starrer,which had several outstanding songs composed by S.D. Burman.The film did not succeed in spite of the songs and the refreshing and one of the rare appearance of Suchitra Sen in Hindi films.The song, Chalri sajni ab kaya' by Mukesh, 'Saathi na koyi manzil' by Rafi and 'Dekhne mein bola hai' by Asha were great songs. But the Rafi -Asha duet, 'Deewana Mastana hua dil' is one of the best ever and an example as to how a song should be rendered to the mood of the situation. The voice of Rafi was at its best.

It is sad that many  such songs of the 50s,60s and 70s are slowly but surely being pushed into oblivion  as the young generation has no chance to hear them unless they make conscious effort to search for them. CDs and MP3 discs containing the beautiful songs of the past are easily available in music stores. Old songs are also available even now on Vividhbharat in their programs like Manoranjan etc and at night from 10PM onwards in their Chhaya Geet and listeners’ request programs.  Vividhbharati  still give the names of the film, the singer, music director,and the lyricist before or after each song which is always a delight. An encouraging development is that one or two English news channels are running special programs  based on Hindi film stars, singers, music directors etc. to the delight of  lovers of old Hindi film songs. Even in one of our Regional channels a beautiful program titled RAAG RANG on old Hindi film songs is shown.But with dwindling awareness, changing tastes and the overwhelming  presence of fast paced music of the ‘kolavery’ age such golden oldies are on a losing track.

Tail piece:(heard from a friend)Mahe is a place famous for its liquor shops and bars,  a legacy of its former French rulers. Crossing the Mahe bridge and passing through the streets lined with bars, the song ‘Bar bar dekho, hazar bar dekho’ came through the hired car’s music player!