[Mixtape] Spring in the Indian Subcontinent

Last year on Twitter, I decided to start a thread of songs that reminded me of spring: light, airy, joyous, hopeful. Sometimes filled with yearning. A simple premise, kick-started by an illegally converted video of Elo Ji Sanam from Andaz Apna Apna. It then grew to some 20 songs, followed by recommendations from a very enthusiastic and filmy janta of Twitterstan. Aap sabko meri salaam.

At the moment, we’re all spending the season of renewal and hope at home, but that doesn’t mean we have to forgo the pleasures of the season! To honour everyone’s contributions and bring a little bit of lightness and joy into our homes, I decided to compile a big YouTube and Spotify Playlist. Links will be provided at the end.

As a preview, here are 5 of my favourite springtime songs!

#1: Chandrullo Unde Kundalu (Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, 2005)

This is the first song I think of when I hear the koel birds start to sing. My love for Mallu cinematographers aside (thank you Venugopal sir), Chandrullo Unde is objectively gorgeous. It follows Trisha and her bestie, Archana Shastry on their playful journey across the lush hills of Araku Valley in the Eastern Ghats. The girls acting like crackhead children is a very 2005 touch and I am here for it. It’s basically pure joy in video format accompanied by Shankar Mahadevan’s earthy vocals. And the lyrics are magic. Reading this English translation will be one of the highlights of your day today, I promise.

#2: Boondon Se Baatein (Thakshak, 1999)

Thakshak gave us so many great songs, like Rang De (Tabu in her iconic golden lehenga doing a high-speed Old Bollywood-style courtesan dance), Dheem Ta Dare (please check out the Youtube comments section; it is hilarious), Khamosh Raat (Ajay Devgn fake-strumming a guitar near a swimming pool while fantasising about a warmly-lit Tabu), and even Jhumbalika—an airy Alisha Chinnai feature. 1999 was a wild year. In Boondon Se Baatein, you have Tabu talking to the rain and dancing in the middle of what looks like a pretty serious tropical storm. Every frame is gorgeous—I’m talking backlit water droplets and swirling sequences where Tabu’s pallu perfectly glides through the air. Thank you Qurat for reminding me of this song!

#3: Nazar Laaye (Raanjhanaa, 2013)

Eros is so rude for the jarring opening before all their videos. But let me explain why this song reminds me of walking along the seaside on a breezy spring night. It’s Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor doing that roundabout thing that only two people who have recently found out they have mutual feelings for each other do. In-between their supposed JNU activism work of course. The audience (Abhay Deol fans because who else watched Raanjhana) (except maybe Dhanush fans) is treated to sweetly filmed stolen glances, timid smiles, and intimate conversations. Newly blossoming romance and that. The springtimey-ness is especially palpable in the scenes shot at night.

#4: Cherathukal (Kumbalangi Nights)

You know those humid, slightly stuffy nights towards the end of spring when your windows are all open but there’s no wind? So you spend the whole night tossing and turning in your bed? This song encapsulates the still and silent atmosphere of balmy nights like these so perfectly that I’m blown away every time I see it. It actually paints a picture of both restlessness and repose—modes of sleep that aren’t actually that contradictory in spring, when we’re all juggling with new hopes and feelings, or old yearnings and anxieties. But the gentle lyrics swoop in with a balm to soothe our inner unquietness, and help mellow out this beautiful experience.

#5: A tie between Raat Hamari Toh (Parineeta) and Dekho Na (Swades)

Raat Hamari Toh starts with crickets chirping in the background as Swanand Kirkire sings: Ratiya, kaari kaari ratiya (The night is a deep, deep black). At some point in the middle, Chitra sings: Sanjha ki baati bhi koi bujha de aaj. Andhere se ji bharke karni hai baatein aaj (Can someone douse the lamps of the evening? Today I want to talk with the darkness till my heart’s content). Very evocative but also emo lyrics. Definitely a song for when you’ve messed up big time and are preparing for a lifetime of regret.

On the contrary, Dekho Na begins with Mohan (this is the finest Shahrukh has looked in his career by the way) flashing the headlights of his minivan on Geeta after she steps out to uh, survey some trees at night. As all this is happening, Alka Yagnik softly sings: Suno zara, suno zara, geet khamoshi ka (Listen, just listen to the song of silence). 

Personally, I find it SUCH a romantic song even though all Mohan and Geeta do is look at each other, stand next to each other, and in one particularly racy scene, hold hands. Basically just two people quietly enjoying each other’s company. It’s soft, it’s giddy and both actors’ expressions are on point. Sounds kind of old school but there’s something so fresh and rejeuvenating about the quiet and understated nature of the video.

I also find it romantic because the line Raat ne li angdai. Anhoni baat hai hoti, bikhre hai jaise moti chunta hoon main (The night has taken a stretch and yawned. Some extraordinary conversations happen and, like scattered pearls, I pick them up) is mad gorgeous and also something I hope we’ve all experienced at least once in our lifetime.

To listen to all this and more, here are the links to the Youtube and Spotify Playlists!

Youtube

Spotify

*PS: these playlists are living, breathing beings now so if you have any recs you’d like to see up there, please let me know in the comments or anywhere else you can find me!