Youtube Gems

Youtube rocks!

Ok, so you probably knew that. But I'm posting this coz I found a few old gems this weekend, songs and videos I'd thought I'd never see/hear again. Kripya checkout kariye:

1. 'Maar daala' by Nirmal Pandey. Nirmal Pandey sings, and behaves like - well - Nirmal Pandey. He surely realized he couldn't pull off anything romantic or serious, and he deserves credit for that. Highlight: the video stars a little-known model named Reema Lamba, who'd later become famous as Mallika Sherawat. In the video, she had to choose between Nirmal and Rahul Dev - two of the ugliest mofos alive. Poor girl.

2. 'Hawa hawa' by Hassan Jahangir. Check out the wannabe rock-star - complete with long hair, sunglasses and tight white pants, performing for an audience of some 40 aunties under a tent (looks like a village wedding shamiana). Truth be told - I still like the song.

3. 'Sawan mein lag gayee aag (original)' by Mika Singh. Who woulda thunk this idiotic-looking younger brother of Daler Mehndi, who whined with a nasal twang - long before Himes made 'nasal' the new 'cool' - would go on to achieve stardom through hits like 'Mauja hi mauja' and 'ae Ganpat'. His debut video is super-awesome. He carries a guitar, but you don't hear any guitar-track in the song. And do check out all the actors' expressions when the babe is introduced to the bad guy. Oscar-worthy I say!

4. 'Afreen' by Nusrat FAT-eh Ali Khan, featuring Lisa Ray. No explanation. Just swoon.

5. 'Farebi' by Biddu. Biddu has done some great work, particularly with Nazia Hassan. But WTF was he thinking when he chose to debut in India as a pro-artiste with this trash? The lyrics are the antithesis of subtlety. And Biddu makes a complete a$$ of himself with the heavily-accented intro (he hisses 'dosss', trying to say 'dost'). Sad.

6. 'Sanam mere sanam' from Hum. I still remember - the local video library had made 20 copies of this movie when it released, and I still couldn't get one for a whole week. Check out the 'romantic' song featuring Govinda and Shilpa Shirodkar. The 80's and early 90's are such an embarassment today.

7. 'Bolo tara ra ra' by Daler Mehndi. Screw all the travel agency contrversies. If you don't think Mehndi is a vocal genius, please listen again to the title track of 'Rang de basanti' right NOW. He started with the hyper-linked video. Before he settled on the banded turban and sherwani, he experimented with bandanas, gold-chains and v-necked shirts!

8. 'Nari narein' by Hisham Abbas. OK, we have the cute Cadbury-ad girl (now TV star, I think). We have the Taj Mahal. And Arabic guy. Why did 'desert rose' work and not this, I wonder :)

9. 'It's my life' by Dr Alban. You didn't - sometime in your childhood - dance to this and think it was the coolest thing to do? Liar, liar - pants on fire.

10. 'Oova oova' by Anaida. Literally translated 'My heart says oova oova, my body tumbles oova oova...' U-hh... WHAT?! This woman had multiple successful albums.

11. 'Deewane to deewane hain' by Shweta Shetty. Ok, I've been seeking an answer to this for more than a decade now. Abbe bhainge bhi ho, koi bhi is saali ke deewane kaise ho sakte hain?

12. 'Nigodi kaisi jawani hai' by Ila Arun. Funny today, but absolutely scandalous when it released.

13. 'Tu' by Sanjay Maroo. No one even noticed this, even when there were less than a dozen cable TV channels. But I have to confess - I loved it. The guy sang, composed music and even played the drums himself. The video's fairly slick for the times. Talent, I say. Unlucky chap.

14. 'Dreamcatcher' by Mehnaz. Mehnaz was one of the few real talents, lost in the age of 'Indipop' amidst the crowd of no-gooders like Tania - whose only claim to fame was - she was bangin Kishen Kumar. Kishen Kumar, people? Younger brother of Gulshan Kumar, the T-Series emperor... don't try to remember a face, you never saw it. He was all eyebrows.

Finally, this is unrelated, but chakitout

Contributions welcome in the comments section :)