REKHATOBER: Song of the Day: When Rekha's doppelganger gets cozy w/ Raj Babbar

Today's Song of the Day is one of my absolute favorites and a constant earworm of mine since the 80s. Agar Tum Na Hote was a strange and sad movie starring Rekha and Rajesh Khanna and Raj Babbar.

Rekha and Rajesh Khanna play a married couple and then their lives take a tragic turn with the birth of their daughter and Rekha passes away. In a complicated turn of events that can only happen in Bollywood, there is a Rekha-doppelganger out there in the world that falls in love with and marries photographer Raj Babbar. When he is hurt in an accident, Rekha 2.0 goes out to find a job and comes to work for Rajesh Khanna as a nanny for the little girl, who is completely scarred by growing up without a mother. Not knowing she is married, Rajesh Khanna falls for her, especially seeing how she manages to charm and turn around his daughter's behavior. Raj Babbar is trapped by his injury and his failure to provide for his wife and begins to doubt her fidelity. There's a lot of guilt and suffering and misunderstanding tossed around before they finally come to a conclusion.

I do remember this movie, and I found it incredibly sad. Rekha's acting was particularly good in this film, I mean it HAD to be if she was portraying someone in love with Raj Babbar (I mean, seriously!). But the best thing by far was the soundtrack. Most well-known is the title song "Humein aur jeene ki chaahat na hoti, Agar tum na hote ... Agar tum na hote" (gorgeous song!), but I also remember the random songs like "Kal to Sunday ki chutti" (in which Rekha lent her voice!), "Sach Hai Yeh Koi" (Rajesh Khanna's drunken song) and "Hum to hai Chui Mui" (a delightful song in which Rekha is dressed up to play a puppet in a stage show).

My absolute favorite was the very sensual, sweet, melodic number "Dheere Dheere Zara Zara" sung by Asha Bhosle. This song really draws you in with the stirring guitar work by Ramesh Iyer -- the chord progression in particular really gets me. It's an unusual tune, something haunting and beautiful that is truly a work of art by R.D. Burman (my all-time favorite Music Director). Together with the tropical, palm-tree dotted setting, the bonfire on the beach, Asha-ji's crooning (as only she can do) and Rekha's stunning expressions, this song has stuck in my mind for MANY years and is probably the source of my burning desire to have a romantic bonfire on the beach.

I definitely wanted to share it for Rekhalicious October, especially today being the final day, because it is probably my all-time favorite Rekha song and I think she's incredible in it!

Let me know what you think!

REKHALICIOUS OCTOBER: Queen of the Mujra Dance!

Mujra Dance is a style that stems from the courtesan dancers of the Mughal Empire, who mixed poetry, music and motion together to entertain wealthy nawabs and their guests. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Rekha is the ultimate Queen of the Mujra Dance in hindi films. Many actresses have attempted it (No, Rani Mukherjee, No. And poor, tragic Smita Patil too), and some have done a great (Hema Malini, Aishwariya Rai) or brilliant (Madhuri Dixit) job of it. But no one was ever able to do it with the finesse, the ease, the grace, the majesty and the seductiveness of Rekha.

Umrao Jaan always comes to mind first when you think of Rekha and dance ... and then of course Salaam-E-Ishq from Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. But there are MANY, MANY more fabulous numbers in this style by Rekha, so she easily wins the crown from me.

Here is a playlist of 20 of her beautiful Mujra numbers from films, not in any particular order but just as I found them on YouTube - she is absolutely exquisite!



Song List

1. Idhar Bhi Bijli - Kasam Suhag Ki
2. Bhool Bhulaiyya - Amiri Ghareebi
3. Mere Ghungroo Mujhe Dedo - Maati Maange Khoon
4. Jaan-e-Mohabbat - Yatra
5. Salaam-E-Ishq - Muqaddar Ka Sikandar
6. Jaana Jaldi Kya Hai - Deedar-E-Yaar
7. Marne Ka Ghum Nahin - Deedar-E-Yaar
8. Chup Ja Chand - Maati Maange Khoon
9. Lo Sahib Phir Bhool Gayi - Maati Maange Khoon
10. Pyar Ke Rang Se - Kasme Vaade
11. Jao Ji Karoon Na Jhooti Batiya - Yatra
12. Dil Cheez Kya Hai - Umrao Jaan
13. In Aankhon Ki Masti - Umrao Jaan
14. Yeh Kya Jage Hai Doston - Umrao Jaan
15. Mein Hoon Dulhan - Jaal
16. Beechwale Saiyaan - Sazaa (a must see!!)
17. Tum Nahin Yahan - Karmayogi
18. Kisi Bazaar Se - Maang Bharo Sajna
19. Kitna Hai Khubsoorat - Daasi
20. Rekha performs LIVE at the 1997 Filmfare Awards

Enjoy more REKHALICIOUS OCTOBER goodness at this link. And please do let me know if there's any other fabulous mujra numbers by Rekha that I've missed!

REKHALICIOUS OCTOBER! - My favorite Rekha songs!

So it's time to celebrate REKHALICIOUS OCTOBER (thanks to Sujoy from One Knight Stands)- or Rekhatober as we've been calling it on Twitter! And I can't praise this lovely lady enough. She is one of the few Bollywood stars I actually had the opportunity to meet, back when she came in concert to Detroit in 1982 (she was the headliner, Anil Kapoor and Meenakshi Seshadhri were her opening acts). A photographer found out my then 7 year old sister Anjali was Rekha's biggest little fan. Anj had been performing Rekha's "Dil Cheez Kya Hai" at various community events for the past year and the photographer recognized her and took us to meet her. I tell a bit more about this story in my Sridevipalooza preview post. The highlight was definitely getting to dance the Alarippu (Bharatanatyam dance) for her, and she was so excited she jumped right up and posed in Alarippu position with us for a picture (I have no idea where this picture is today).

I was only 5 at the time, so my memory of this experience is limited, but I DO remember her being incredibly effusive, sweet and hyper. She was very excited that two little girls in paavadai-chokka (South Indian style skirt/dress) were there to see her, and seemed really eager to speak Tamil with us. I was totally charmed by her, and no matter what she does, I always feel a fondness for her based on this experience.

I'm not terribly on top of Rekha's filmography - there's definitely a huge chunk of her early movies as well as the mid-to-late 80s and 90s movies that I missed. Well, I can't totally say I MISSED them (cough cough, Madame X).

Anyway, Rekha is most certainly the queen of the Movie Mujra dances, but those aren't the only songs of hers that I love! As I was trying to think of and narrow down all my favorites, I created a YouTube playlist of MY FAVORITE REKHA SONGS - I was unable to locate a few of my favorites, like "Jaane De Gaadi Tere" from Aanchal, "Gokul Ke Galiyon" from Raaste Pyar Ke or the female version of "Mata Saraswati" from Alaap, and some movies had MULTIPLE favorites, like Khubsoorat (not included: "Sun Sun Sun Didi" and "Saare Niyam Tod Do"), Mr. Natwarlal ("Tauba Tauba"), Silsila ("Dekha Ek Khwab", "Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum" and "Nila Aasmaan") and Agar Tum Na Hote ("Hum To Hai Chui Mui" and the title song). Still other movies starred Rekha but the best songs were given to other co-stars (like Faasle and Baseraa).

But I did identify 15 songs that I always think of when I think of Rekha, and here they are!



Detailed Listing of Songs:
 
1. Ghum Hai Kisi Ki Pyar Mein - Raampur Ka Lakshman (1972)

2. Dil Machal Raha Hai - Khalifaa (1976)

3. Tere Bina Jiya Jayen Na - Ghar (1978)

4. Kahe Manva Naache - Alaap (1977)

5. Salaam-E-Ishq - Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)

6. Pardesiya - Mr. Natwarlal (1979)

7. O Sheronwali - Suhaag (1979)

8. Piya Bawri - Khubsoorat (1980)

9. In Aankhon Ki Masti - Umrao Jaan (1981)

10. Yeh Ladki Hai Ya Shola - Silsila (1981)

11. Dheere Dheere - Agar Tum Na Hote (1983)

12. Ankhiyon Mein - Nishaan (1983)

13. Man Kyun Behka - Utsav (1984)

14. Pyar Do Pyar Lo - Janbaaz (1986)

15. Maine Tujhe Khat Likha - Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai (1990)

Hope you enjoy! Now that I mentioned it, I think I AM going to have to compile Rekha's Mujra dances into a mother list. Will try to do that when I return home from vacay (this is my rushed vacay post for Rekhatober!).

Have a Rekhalicious day!