With
the advent of 70s India was changing. It was becoming more modern and
permissive - at least on surface. Zeenat Aman was the poster child of
this era.
Starting from her first movie Hulchul, she brought
in a kind of glamour, which Hindi movie heroines were not generally
known for. She was also one of the first heroines whom Indian male gaze
looked at with lust. Ajnabee, Qurbani, Pukar, The Great Gambler,
Dostana... the list is endless.
She was also one of the luckiest heroines - specially when it comes to Music.
Starting from Hulchul (a songless movie though), there were a number of
movies where Zeenat surely got her moves right - purely because the
music was by RD. If Hare Rama Hare Krishna catapulted her into a zone
which most of the newcomers can only dream of, movies like Yaadon Ki
Barat, Heera Panna, Ishk Ishk Ishk, Ajnabee, the Great Gambler ensured
her an everlasting presence in the memory of hindi music lovers.
On her birthday today, the song that I would love to showcase is from
Manoranjan - a movie that brought out the chutzpah Zeenat & RD's
combination was capable of.
The song is also very special because
it has three of the Mangeshkar sisters - Lata, Asha & Usha, singing
in tandem - and actually it becomes difficult to differentiate their
voices.
Another reason I love this song is about the inherent
positivity about the characters, which Hindi movies seldom showed. In
fact, never ever the Hindi movie have shown prostitutes with such
joie-de-vivre (except perhaps Utsav) - absolutely unapologetic of their
profession, as they mouth Anand Bakshi's lyrics while being rounded up
by the police:
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