Songs that end a film: Ten Favourites

Many years ago, I had done a post of credits songs: songs that appear at the beginning of a film, playing as the credits roll. Not just music, not just a verse or two, but a full-fledged song, often (as in the case of Garjat barsat saawan aayo re or Rangeen bahaaron se hai gulzaar Chinatown, to give just two examples) songs that were there only through the credits; they didn’t appear otherwise in the film.

Some readers suggested it might be interesting to find songs that did the opposite. Songs that ended a film, but were complete in themselves. Not (as is common in a lot of films) a verse or a refrain from an-already-heard song that is reprised at the end. Not like the hit love song of which the refrain is played again while the happy couple, now married, go off into the sunset.

No. These are songs which appear only at the end of the film. Not necessarily at the climax: Yeh mahalon yeh takhton yeh taajon ki duniya comes near the end, but there are several scenes beyond that. But songs which actually end the film.

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Metropolitan Cities in India: Ten Songs

Some months back, I published a song list on songs that mention a city/town, Tier 2 or below, in India: Bikaner, Bareilly, Nainital, Agra… and when I was going over that list, it struck me that there were also songs that focussed on India’s metropolises, the Tier 1 cities. India has six metropolitan cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and every now and then, they find a mention in a song. Bombay, by virtue of being the hub of the Hindi film industry, probably leads the pack when it comes to metro city songs; but there are others too (though I must admit I haven’t found any songs, at least from old films, that mention Bengaluru/Bangalore).

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