‘Title’ Role

In the ‘60s,Shammi Kapoor had the quirky habit of generating titles from hit songs of his films – like Kashmir Ki Kali (from the song in Junglee) and Jawan Mohabbat (from his hit song in Jaanwar). But till the ‘70s and even largely the much-maligned ‘80s,the trend was to have a chartbuster title-song rather than generate film names from the past hits. The few ‘80s examples had only one hit,Meri Awaaz Suno,an apt title for the political drama,coined from Madan Mohan-Rafi’s classic from Naunihal. Producer Nitin Manmohan tried to cash in on Zeenat Aman’s chartbuster Aap jaisa koi for his Zeenat-with-four-heroes subject Baat Ban Jaaye,but it did not work. Neither did Rajnikanth’s triple act as John Jani Janardhan (the Amitabh Bachchan hit from Naseeb),Ravi Tandon cashing in on his Khel Khel Mein hit Ek Main Aur Ek Tu and finally,two modest films trying out Sargam’s Hum To Chale Pardes and Parbat Ke Us Paar.

The perfect fit

In the ‘90s,the cashing in obviously continued,but it was done a little more ingeniously in some cases. In the opening credits,Kirron Kher,who was not even in the cast,was acknowledged for suggesting the perfect title for Aditya Chopra’s debut film’s storyline,Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (from the Chor Machaye Shor super-hit song). Among the 20-odd films whose titles were derived from songs, Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat (Aah),Rani Mukerji’s first film,and Salman Khan’s first home production Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (Mughal-E-Azam) had titles that fitted,and one could excuse – at a gimmicky level – David Dhawan’s Eena Meena Deeka (Aasha). Mahesh Bhatt’s films Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (culled from Munimji) and Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi also fitted.

Designer titles

In the millennium,the successful films that have come in include Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (again a perfect title for the Shah Rukh Khan-Anushka Sharma film from the hit Laxmikant-Pyarelal song in Suhaag) and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti (the famous song associated with Bhagat Singh and heard first in the 1965 Shaheed) was also an apt title for this story on young nationalists.

In the millennium,a new trend began of enhancing the use of such titles by pushing the advantage,so to speak. Aa Dekhen Zara,the right title for a supernatural saga revolving a camera that can peak into the future,was not just named after the R.D.Burman hit from Rocky,but also had its remix video done. A sentimental angle was brought in when Kishore Kumar’s son Sumit Kumar sang for Rishi Kapoor’s son Ranbir Kapoor in Bachna Ae Haseeno,the title relevant for the younger Kapoor as a playboy from the senior’s Hum Kisise Kum Naheen hit. Using technology,Vishal-Shekhar mixed excerpts of the original song within the new song.

Rohan Sippy’s forthcoming cop-versus-drugs thriller is named Dum Maro Dum (from the Zeenat Aman hippie track from Hare Rama Hare Krishna). Dev Anand has granted permission for re-creating the song with a request that it be done respectfully.

Thanks to copyright hassles,Sonu Niigaam’s voice has replaced Mohammed Rafi’s in RDB’s re-treatment of Laxmikant-Pyarelal cult song in Yamla Pagla Deewana. Says Dharmendra,“The title is perfect as I am the Yamla,the shrewd and unscrupulous guy,Sunny’s the Pagla,obsessed with finding his long-lost father and brother,and Bobby’s the Deewana,the pampered brat!”

Ishqiya may be just a year old,but its song proved tpo be the perfect match for Madhur Bhandarkar’s first comedy,Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji about three men and their affairs of the heart.

Two other interesting uses of old hit songs as titles were in Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (Bobby) – where the hero and heroine just cannot express their feelings for each other till almost too late,and Koi…Mil Gaya (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) wherein the hero happens to find and befriend the alien Jadoo who transforms his life!

An ingenious twist to the femme fatale angle was given by Sriram Raghavan when he recycled a Karz hit as the title for his film Ek Hasina Thi. Interesting trivia,but the victim Hasina of this film,Urmila Matondkar,was to later play the negative character referred to in the Karz song in that film’s 2008 remake Karzzzz!

And Farah Khan’s use of Om Shanti Om was truly inventive. She set a part of the film in the ‘70s,had an opening sequence of the same song from Karz being filmed and labelled her three protagonists,Om,Shanti and Om! What’s more,she used the vendetta by reincarnation angle in her plotline,and got Rishi Kapoor and Subhash Ghai to feature in the opening sequences!

But the most amusing incident is of C-grade filmmaker Kanti Shah rapidly churning out a film called Sheila Ki Jawani and even completing it in the few interim weeks between the audio launch and the film release of Tees Maar Khan!

rajiv.vijayakar@expressindia.com