"India mein sirf teen cheezein chalti hai - Cricket, Bollywood aur Shaadi."
- A dialogue from 'Dil toh Bachcha hai ji'.
Like everyone, Sundays occupy a very significant place in my life too. I can distinctly recall the subdued desperation with which I used to wait for this first day of the week to arrive. Sundays for me meant two things - Chandrakanta and Superhit Muqabala. Yes, my life on Sundays completely depended on these two weekly shows. And I strongly believe, many others will agree with me on this.
I may not admit this in public, but both of us (me and my sister - another admirer of Chandrakanta and Superhit Muqabala) used to cry secretly whenever electricity went off during airing of any of these two shows. God!! One can't even imagine the extent to which we hated city's electricity department for such bloopers. We in fact, envied every house in the locality that had generator. Mind you, it was early-mid 90s I am talking about, when owning a Genset unit was a rare thing. Even our sweet Mom's special food items (Rajma-Chawal, Chhole Chawal) didn't help much then. Our devotion to both these serials went to the extent that we prayed to God everytime electricity went off during their airtime.
While my sister was more fond of Chandrakanta (it was typical Mills And Boon romance with some magic and action thrown in), I was more drawn to Superhit Muqabala. For a young boy from a North-Indian middle class family, Superhit Muqabala was my getaway to land of dreams. It was the era when formula-based films were excelling at Box Office and music was integral part of it. For elders, cheesy and bawdy lyrics were corrupting the young minds. But in my case, it was otherwise. For every lafanga in every nook n' corner of the city, songs like 'Tu cheez badi hai mast-mast' and 'Tirchi topi wale' became the assault weapons on helpless, nubile girls. Quite correctly, they were 'Damsels in Distress'. If I remember correctly, these songs were even banned in some parts of the country.
Talking of banned songs, who can forget the ravishing Karishma Kapoor gyrating to the tunes of 'sexy sexy mujhe log bole' from the film Khuddar. Another song belonging to same category that comes straight to mind is Madhuri Dixit's 'Choli ke peeche kya hai' from Khalnayak. Of the two, I liked the former more since it had more peppy beats. Unfortunately, the song became an instant hit and soon courted controversy for having obscene lyrics. Thanks to furore among public (the so-called caretakers of Indian culture), the lyrics were immediately changed to 'baby baby mujhe log bole'. The music was same and so were the singers and music director but it lacked the magic which previous version had. Even producers of Superhit Muqabala chose to air the song with revised lyrics. Damn it!!
But some of the songs that did exceedingly well on Superhit Muqabala charts were 'Churaake dil mera' (Main Khiladi tu Anadi), 'Ye Kaali Kaali Aankhen' (Baazigar) and 'Made in India' (Alisha Chenoy). People who know me, laugh their hearts out when I tell them that I even tried to ape the steps of Prabhu Deva dancing to 'Urvashi Urvashi' and 'Muqabala' (title song of the film - Humse Hai Muqabla). But despite being criticized for one reason or the other, all these songs were unique in their own way. In fact, most of these songs went on to achieve cult status only because of Superhit Muqabla on DD.
Many people believe in 90s Indian music industry touched its all time low. Largely, they are right too. But despite all of this, the music created during these times hold a special place in my heart. And so does Superhit Muqabla.
wow wow.. its a delight to read u ankit. I so agree with u when u say these two progams were magic on air. they simply were. But i had a grudge for superhit muqabla... it had more of baba sehgal blabbering and less of songs .. the moment u get into the beats and feel the rythm .. its gone and the ganja back with his rap..
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