Tag Archives: Na na na re na na haath na lagaana

Ten of my Favourite Suman Kalyanpur Songs

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In May, I posted a tribute to Asha Bhonsle, and Anu remarked that ‘with her passing, an era has ended’. A comment I agreed with, but to which blog reader Pratick Mukherjee replied by saying that we still have Suman Kalyanpur and Sudha Malhotra.

And sadly, we do not have Suman Kalyanpur any more: she passed away on May 31, 2026, at the age of 89. An immensely talented singer, and one who proved her worth in one song after the other, but who remains underrated, often unfairly compared to Lata Mangeshkar. Even though their voices, I think, were very similar—but Lata was a colossus no-one could really beat.

That, however, is a debate for elsewhere, and for another time. For now, I want to focus on Suman Kalyanpur, and to celebrate her work in ten songs. I had dithered over whether I should focus on ten duets or ten solos, and then decided to not restrict myself, because my favourite Suman Kalyanpur songs include both duets as well as solos.

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Helen and another Actress: Ten Dance Songs

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As part of the birthday celebrations of Helen (she turned 85 on November 21st, 2023), another post of Helen songs.

While Helen has shimmied to umpteen songs by herself (or with a band of male dancers in attendance), there are also a fair number of songs where Helen isn’t the only woman dancing. To celebrate my favourite dancer’s 85th birthday, I thought, it would be fun to come up with a list of song-and-dance sequences featuring Helen with another actress.

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Lockdown Lyrics: Songs for Covid-19 Times

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What a horrid year this has turned out to be (and we’re barely past the first quarter, even). First we had all that communal violence, and then—just as we were wondering how much worse it could get—we were side-swiped by … Continue reading →

Somewhat Cross-dressed Women ‘Romancing’ Women in Performances: Ten Songs

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The title of this post will probably require some explanation before I launch into the list itself.

Several years back, I did a post on female duets. Commenting on that, fellow blogger and blog reader Carla wondered about the rationale or thought behind songs like Reshmi salwar kurta jaali ka, where a dance performance featuring two women dancers has one woman dressed as a man, supposedly romancing the other (who’s dressed as a woman). I had no explanation to offer, and over the years, while I’ve mulled over this plenty of times, I’ve still not figured out why this became popular.

You know the type of song: there’s a fairly conventional love song, often teasing and playful, being sung—and the two people onscreen, while both women, are dressed as man and woman. The woman dressed as a man isn’t (unlike Geeta Bali in Rangeen Raatein), however, actually pretending to be a man: it’s very obvious that she is a woman, and that she’s supposed to be a woman (even the playback singer is a woman).

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Ten of my favourite female duets

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Hindi cinema has seesawed wildly when it comes to the depiction of women: on the one hand we’ve had films that glorify womanhood (even if it’s long-suffering, almost-always patient womanhood, as in Mother India); on the other, we’ve had appalling stuff like Suhaagan, which made no bones about telling women exactly where their loyalties lie.

But let’s lay aside the filmi angst and sacrifice for the time being, and celebrate International Women’s Day—with a list of female duets. While bromances have been so very popular with film makers, it seems rather surprising that the number of songs in which two men get together are relatively few. But put two (or, even better, more) women together, and—hey, presto—they burst into song.

Sai and Subbluaxmi in Aplam chaplam chaplai re

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