Movie Details of Silsila
Music: Shiv-Hari
Label: Saregama HMV
Director: Yash Chopra
Yash Chopra's 1981 film saw four debutants in the musical department, three of whom were already established elsewhere. Flautist Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and santoor maestro Pt. Shivkumar Sharma had already made their mark in the classical world and had even collaborated on a landmark classical album titled Call of the Valley.
Debuting as Shiv-Hari here, the duo would go on to compose 7 more Bollywood soundtracks, 6 of those with Chopra. And Javed Akhtar, after having co-written some of the biggest blockbusters in Bollywood the previous decade alongside Salim Khan, started his inning as lyricist with Silsila. The fourth debut was that of lyricist Hasan Kamal, who went on to attain more fame and glory with his subsequent movies.
It is remarkable how Shiv-Hari, in their film composing stint, managed to adopt the mainstream sound that largely belied their classical mastery. Silsila did have its share of classical flavoured tracks though, mainly in the composers' chandrakauns-based reimagination of the Meera bhajan Jo Tum Todo Piya.
Best Song of Silsila: Lata Mangeshkar's version of Neela Aasmaan So Gaya that manages to add a touch of melancholy while retaining the original placid melody.
The Silsila Playlist:
Listen to the entire album of Silsila here:
(With contributions by Praveen VR, co-founder of musicaloud.com; Information partly sourced from myswar.com)