Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (Power of songs) that was published in Newsband

Power of songs

Songs play an important role in an individual’s life. It gives an idea as to which culture a person belongs to. There are songs belonging to different genre. A certain song suits a certain mood of an individual. Songs have been made to suit all the moods. There are many Bollywood songs, in fact, that have swayed millions of people, provided succour to the suffering soul, and sometimes even transcended national boundaries.

Some people are of the opinion that songs are preferred by only emotional people. But that is not the case. There are many great thinkers too who fell in love with songs. They found songs as food for thought and philosophical expressions. Many Bollywood songs are thought provoking and have deep philosophical insights.

In one of the past films, Dev Anand had crooned “main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya” (I remain committed to life, I continue to cast my worries aside; Hum Dono: 1961). This song is loved by even the present generation. They not only love the tune of the song but also its meaning. The song creates a courageous feeling in the heart of the crooner.

Great Dilip Kumar and versatile Shammi Kapoor together had crooned the number “hathon ki chand lakeeron ka, sab khel hai bas taqdeeron ka” (life plays itself out through destiny foretold in the few lines on our palms; Vidhata: 1982). This number was another masterpiece penned by a brilliant song writer.

Thus songs are expressions of an array of human emotions that make our life bearable. Many songs based on philosophical themes prove to be our repositories of popular wisdom.

Some songs talk about the complex realities of life in a most lucid manner.  They are a formidable cultural heritage to have. Awareness of this heritage makes us love life and world. The songs not only appeal to our emotions but also make us undergo intellectual experience which we can always cherish.

Some Hindi film songs addressed to the lady love like 'Tumhari zulf ke saaye mein shaam kar loonga....' or 'Aap ki aankhon mein kuchh mahke hue se raaz hain, aap se bhi khoobsoorat aap ke andaaz hain' are beautiful words. And there are thousands of such lovely love lyrics which help lovers to express their sentiments. Thus songs form a big part of our lives.