My blog Spoken Word: Jugalbandi of Words and Art was about my journey discovering this beautiful art form, a confluence of poetry, storytelling & music.
I shared an English playlist with you and promised a Hindi one too.
Here are the gems I found: Playlist
- 4 beautiful poems written by Javed Akhtar recited by Farhan Akhtar in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
- Apne Hone Par Mujhko Yaqeen Aa Gaya | Yeh Jaane Kaisa Raaz Hai | Dil Aakhir Tu Kyun Rota Hai | Toh Zinda Ho Tu
- An all-time favorite from a movie which is poetry in motion, Rituparno Ghosh’s Raincoat. The movie is an adaptation of O’ Henry’s short story “The Gift of Magi“. Enjoy the recitation in Gulzar’s baritone and Shubha Mudgal’s voice in Piya tora kaisa abhiman.
- Calling Amitabh Bachchan fans. Silsila scores high on music and poetry. Yeh Kahaan aa gaye hum has Amitabh Bachchan’s monologues and Lata Mangeshkar singing to Javed Akhtar’s lyrics.
- Jab Tak Hai Jaan, the last of legend Yash Raj Chopra’s direction opens with a poetry penned by his son Aditya Chopra, delivered by Shahrukh Khan to the background score of A.R. Rahman.
- Sanjay Gupta paired a Gulzar’s poem to each of his stories in the movie Dus Kahaniyan. Soliloquized by Nana Patekar-Tere utare hue din, Naseeruddin Shah-Der Aayad | Poore ka poora aakash, Dia Mirza-Khudkhushi, Sanjay Dutt-Chaal Chal, Amrita Singh-Raat Tamir Kaarien, Anupam Kher-Bauchar, Sudhanshu Pande-Tallaq, Neha Dhupia-Hatak and Manoj Bajpai-Khali Samunder | Taalash | Chaal Chal to a background score by, wait for it, Bappi Lahiri.
- Madhushala the epic metaphorical writing by Harivansh Rai Bachchan sung by Manna Dey.
- Mirza Ghalib is the “God” of this art form and one can’t attempt to recount his works.
- This one dates back to the days of Doordarshan, Ek Anek Aur Ekta , an animation by Film Division of India narrated a story on unity, sung by Sadhna Sargam at 5!
- A powerful description by Gulzar in Aastha: Pyaar wo beej hai.
- The trailers of Dhoom 3 were abuzz with Aamir Khan reciting Bande hain hum uske written by Aditya Chopra.
- Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna by Ram Prasad Bismil is an ode to young freedom fighters of Indian Independence Movement.
All of this needn’t be serious and romantic. The genre lends itself to comedy and in my humble opinion rapping should qualify too. So here are some of the unconventional ones.
- Ek Rahen Eer by Amitabh Bachchan
- I am Mumbhai by Javed Jaffery in Bombay Boys
- Thanda Thanda Pani by Baba Sehgal
- Khat: Emotionalfulls
…and many more Here
With your suggestions this list could only get better. Do drop in a comment if you enjoyed discovering some of these tracks and share the ones you love.
Curio-Cities by Dilpreeta Vasudeva 