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'PYAR MEN MOHABBAT MEN' from 1981 Hindi film 'ROCKY' is iconic and unforgettable. Reena Roy and Sanjay Dutt are now elderly people. Here they both looked the best they ever did. R…
[Wait Up To 10 Seconds - Slow Bit-Chute Buffering]
'PYAR MEN MOHABBAT MEN' from 1981 Hindi film 'ROCKY' is iconic and unforgettable. Reena Roy and Sanjay Dutt are now elderly people. Here they both looked the best they ever did. Reena looks so theatrical and earnest in the role. Sanjay is fresh and young in his first film with an understanding of heartache and youth. It is strange to see these beautiful Hindi songs as Indian Cinema today seems unable to produce songs, singers, dances, picturisations or actors with the quality of 'Rocky' yet it was only 30 years ago?
MUJRA is shown in this song as it existed for centuries in the Northern Subcontinent. Courtesans would wear this flared skirt with trousers beneath with heavy make up and jewellery. They would offer comfort to men mostly through song, not necessarily prostitution.
The dance KATHAK is stylistically marked by bells on the ankles and foot stamping to the TABLA [Indian floor drums tuned (I)* & (V)**]. Spinning to flare the skirt and possibly enact aspects of SUFISM [a mystical way of religion - spinning to 'lose oneself and become energy' is a concept of SUFIS]. These courtesans, like Japanese Geisha, are Custodians of the Culture. They often keep ancient dances, poetry, music forms and instruments alive.
ORCHESTRATION
FORM [sections over time] is Western Pop Song: Intro 01 [VARIATION of chorus] + Intro 02 ALAAP [passage sung on vowels - this is done to add more GHAZAL effect] + Chorus (I)* + Bridge 01 with SITAR [Indian lute] + Verse (V)** + Chorus (I)* + Bridge 02 solo VIOLIN + Verse (V)** + Chorus (I)* + CODA* [end section][TABLA fill then chorus repeat].
* TONIC 'home' 'doh'/'sa' melody note area
** DOMINANT fifth 'soh'/'pa' melody note area
The lyrics are set like a GHAZAL [short lyrical poem in couplets - typical of MUJRA]. But this is done for effect as the FORM and ORCHESTRATION are heavily Western to fit the cinema media.
The PLAYBACK SINGER [a singer who records a track for an actor to mime to] voice has been heavily altered with electronic effect. The voice is mixed with a thick REVERB [electronic echo] as two tracks. So Asha's voice can be heard 'flat' to get the pronunciation of words but the REVERB track is shrouding the back end of the voice with heavy echo. The ALAAP is almost DOUBLE-TRACKED and the decision for REVERB + VOICE TRACK DOUBLING must have been made for TONE MASS [thicker tone]. In conclusion, on close analysis the vocal is very unnatural and could not be performed live so well.
The ORCHESTRATION is sophisticated. R.D. Burman had a way of blending Western Media with Indian song. However, some of this MUJRA seems to be PASTICHE [in the style of] with small touches of the Mughal Empire decorating this film song. The whole ORCHESTRATION is LAYERED. There are no chords as such, or HARMONY. The composition is LINEAR MONODIC [a tune composed from beginning to end as a line melody to be sung with drums and not chords or bass line].
