#78 Don: Top 100 Bollywood Albums

Music: Kalyanji-Anandji

Lyrics: Anjaan, Indeevar

Label: Saregama HMV 

Director: Chandra Barot 

Bombay the Hard Way: Guns, Cars and Sitars was a 1998 project by American producer Dan the Automator, where he picked up some of composers Kalyanji Anandji's background cues from the 70s – mostly from the thriller movies, as the title indicates – and gave them a mod makeover. It is a testimony to the quality of their compositions that the album's appeal derives almost entirely from K-A's originals, rather than Dan's additions to them. And the best work from the composers during this period happened in Don, not just for the theme tune featured in Dan's album that to date remains one of the most iconic theme tunes in Bollywood ever (and yet was never part of the soundtrack), but also for its songs which, aside of extolling Bachchan's Don, also paid tribute to the city of Bombay and set the stage for a remarkable onscreen performance by Helen.

Best Song Of Don: Yeh Mera Dil was as much a winner for Helen's shimmies as it was for Asha Bhonsle's flawless rendition and Kalyanji Anandji's trippy funk-based arrangement. Interestingly the song won the duo a BMI award years later when the American group Black Eyed Peas sampled the prelude of the song (and sections from K-A's Apradh song Aye Naujawan) in their 2005 track Don't Phunk With My Heart.

1. Main Hoon Don (Singer: Kishore Kumar | Lyrics: Anjaan)

2. Yeh Hai Bombay Nagaria (Singer: Kishore Kumar | Lyrics: Anjaan)

3. Khaike Pan Banaraswala (Singer: Kishore Kumar | Lyrics: Anjaan)

4. Jiska Mujhe Tha Intezar (Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar | Lyrics: Anjaan)

5. Yeh Mera Dil (Singer: Asha Bhosle | Lyrics: Indeevar)

Listen to the entire playlist of Don: 

(With contributions by Praveen VR, co-founder of musicaloud.com)

#79 QAYAMAT SE QAYAMAT TAK: TOP 100 BOLLYWOOD ALBUMS