My earliest reminiscence of rains on the large display screen is the sequence from Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali, the place the 2 siblings Apu and Durga get drenched within the rain earlier than going and taking shelter underneath the shade of a tree. The scene is performed out to the muted sound of the falling rain, the soulful stirrings of Ravi Shankar’s sitar quietly taking up. Because the music of the maestro took over the house of the meticulously framed display screen, I realised that I might at all times affiliate rain with music.
A number of years later, Rituparno Ghosh’s Titli: The First Monsoon Day, starring the mother-daughter duo of Aparna Sen and Konkona Sen Sharma, featured yet one more iconic music associated to rain. Penned by Ghosh himself, the music Megh Peoner Bag er Bhetor (Contained in the Bag of the Cloud Mailman), the lilting notes of music spoke of a fantasy cloud-messenger who carried letters of heartbreak. The music made full sense within the bigger context of the movie that was about two estranged lovers and their sudden assembly on a drive down the hills – closely impressed from the Sanskrit textual content of Meghdutam, the place an exiled yaksha is reminded of his lover on the sight of the primary monsoon laden clouds.
Whereas unconsciously monsoon grew to become related to these small markers of cultural forex at such an early age, it was solely later that my musical associations with the monsoons grew to become additional solidified with my entry into the panorama of Bollywood rain songs. The primary one, and the one that may at all times be the crowning jewel in any monsoon playlist, would be the monochromatic frames of Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua from Shree 420.
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Simply as Nargis walks away from an ever-affable Raj Kapoor, heavy downpour ensues. Raj Kapoor grabs the umbrella from the palms of Nargis and shelters the 2 of them beneath its ample shade. He then proceeds to kiss his woman love Nargis, and he or she like a real Bollywood coquette turns away her face. Cue for our hero, within the almost-baritone of Manna Dey to sing the above, asking that if there may be love, then what’s there to be petrified of? A hesitant Nargis, this time within the nightingale-like voice of Lata Mangeshkar replies, “Kehta hai dil rasta mushkil, maalum nahi hai kahaan manzil (the center says that the highway is hard, there isn’t a vacation spot in sight in any case).” The tight close-ups of each the actors give the viewer a way of being contained in the confining shade of the umbrella itself – a small world of momentary seduction and flirtation. All of the whereas, the rain continues to pour – however this isn’t an offended tempestuous downpour. As a substitute, it’s one that’s quietly stirring – welcoming even of the primary flush of romance that has now lastly blossomed between these two individuals.
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If this sequence captured rain as a propellent of romance, Raveena Tandon and Akshay Kumar’s scintillating quantity from Mohra established the identical as a web site for equivocal lust. Raveena, wearing a translucent yellow chiffon saree, will get completely drenched in water. As Akshay Kumar romances her, the rain proceeds to intensify the numerous curves of the heroine – turning the sequence into an unabashed show of feminine sexuality. If the hip thrusts weren’t suggestive sufficient, the lyrics additional intensify the metaphors of lust within the music by speaking about water that has the ability to strike hearth (paani ne aag lagayi).
However past the prohibitive pleasure of having fun with this Mohra piece, Bollywood stunned me but once more with one other music a couple of rain-drenched couple – however this time the scene was set for the union of estranged lovers. In Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, rain marked scene of Shah Rukh romancing Kajol within the gazebo, amplified the sub-textual sexual rigidity between the 2 actors manifold. With Kajol wearing a resplendent crimson and Khan in black, the 2 had been a deal with for sore eyes because the rain, and piano chords they danced to, now grew to become punctuated with the enjoyment of estranged lovers rekindling a romance they’d lengthy thought was lifeless.
However the rains haven’t at all times been about romance and love in Bollywood. With Ghanan Ghanan, from Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan, A. R. Rahman introduced again the aspect of the fantastic megh raag to songs concerning the rains – solely this time it was concerning the impact the monsoons had on surrounding fauna. The music completely mimicked the beats of thunder, with fast taals and an electrical sound observe that audaciously mixed the rusticity of the onset of the monsoons with a deep-seated poetic lyricism.
In a number of years, he adopted it up together with his different well-known rain music – Barso Re from Mani Ratnam’s Guru, which was primarily based on the megh malhar raag. Legend has it that Tansen’s rendition of the identical would truly trigger the clouds to bathe their rains – such was the ability of his rendition. Filmed totally on Aishwarya Rai Bachchan dancing with abandon within the rains – this sequence introduced again the youthful vivacity that poets have for years related to the monsoon. There was not any aspect of romance or lust on this sequence. As a substitute it performed on components of mischievousness and playful abandon – giving us a observe that we are going to keep in mind for ages to return. Wearing a deep shade of brown with only a trace of yellow – Aishwarya just about owned this music sequence for me.
However the crowning glory of encapsulating the true romantic character of the rains is maybe captured completely throughout two music sequences in Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met. Following the separation of Geet and Aditya, performed by a superb Kareena Kapoor Khan and Shahid Kapoor, we hear the soulful rendition of Aoge Jab Tum. This music, which talks concerning the possible arrival of an absentee beloved determine, guarantees that, in traditional Kalidas model, the rains will accompany the return of the beloved and the reunion of two estranged hearts. However this music is totally filmed on landscapes and characters – bereft of any trace of the rains.
We’re made to really feel the scorch of their separation and our auditory senses are made to yearn for the consolation of their union with the dampness of the rains. However when the couple does unite, in a fantasy sequence the lyrics speak concerning the centrality of the beloved within the lifetime of the heart-broken craving lover. However this time, the fantasy of the center is given wings by way of a literal visualisation of the 2 lovers dancing within the rains. There’s an abundance of pleasure on this sequence because the pent-up ache lastly reaches fruition within the flood gates of fantasy.
Regardless of all the cruel criticism we greater than usually topic our cinema business to, one should keep in mind the seminal function the business has had in shaping our personal perceptions of affection and lust by way of the metaphor of the rains – a trope that by way of its moments of separation and union by no means fails to appease the center on the times we want it probably the most.
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