1998 – My Favourites

It’s been one year since my last post on the yearly review of the songs of the 90s. The 1997 list was published last August. So this month I was keen to publish the next post in the series.

I was studying in the second year of MBBS. Life was still quite simple and easy. I was a localite, and was using public transport facilities for the college. The subjects of the second year were quite interesting and I took an instant liking in Pathology and Microbiology. After college, I used to get back home and enjoy my favourite television serials. Daily soaps were not yet popular and usually the episodes were aired on a weekly basis. I still remember Saaya and Saans as one of the most popular serials on television in 1998. The internet was opened to the general public in 1995. But it wasn’t a usual affair at all. If I remember correctly, there were just a few net cafes in my town. I of course had no email account as it wasn’t a necessity at all. Anyways, I digress as usual! Let’s turn to the topic.

Prominent debuts of the year –
Preity Zinta in Dil Se
Namrata Shirodkar in Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai
Neha in Kareeb
Fardeen Khan and Meghana Kothari in Prem Aggan
Jyothika in Doli Saja Ke Rakhna
Marc Robinson in Bada Din
Samir Soni in China Gate
Nagesh Kukunoor in Hyderabad Blues
Joy Sengupta and Nandita Das in Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa

Popular composers, playback singers and lyricists of the year –
Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Abhijit, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhna Sargam, Hariharan and Sukhwinder Singh were the usual suspects. Sapna Awasthi was a popular name after Pardesi Pardesi Jana Nahin from Raja Hindustani (1996). She had another hit in 1998 with Chhaiya Chhaiya from Dil Se. Jaspinder Narula, Sanjivani Bhalande, and Kamaal Khan were also among the fresh new voices of Bollywood. Sonu Nigam was also slowly gaining popularity. The Mangeshkar sisters were still active in playback, but at a slower pace . Still, some of their songs were chartbusters of the year.
Sameer was holding his place in Bollywood, though he had a tough competition from Javed Akhtar. The latter has a maximum share on my list. Veteran lyricists Gulzar and Anand Bakshi also had their share in the year and Gulzar received nominations at the Filmfare awards.
The most frequently mentioned composer today on the list is the duo, Jatin Lalit. They had a good number of releases in 1998 and the majority were very popular. They lost the Filmfare award for the best composer to A R Rahman, whose score for Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se became roaringly popular. Anu Malik was also successful with Kareeb and Soldier. The year also saw Zakir Hussain composing for Sai Paranjape’s Saaz. Though he shared the responsibility with Yashwant Dev, Bhupen Hazarika and Raj Kamal, he was the chief music director. Mahesh Bhatt’s Zakhm had songs by M M Kreem, who wasn’t a frequent composer for Hindi films, though was always appreciated for his songs.

It’s time for the overview of the important and popular films of the year that couldn’t make it to the final song list.
I’ll start with David Dhawan’s films, Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan and Gharwali Baharwali.

The former was among top ten grossers of the year and Madhuri Dixit appeared in a cameo with the song, Makhna. It was quite popular. The latter had Anil Kapoor, Ravina Tandon and Rambha and except the title song, I don’t remember much about it.
The on screen chemistry and off screen relationship between Akshay Kumar and Ravina Tandon was a hot topic of Bollywood and shared the screen in three films, Angaaray, Barood and Keemat. None of the films could create magic at the Box office.
Ravina Tandon had a few other releases in 1998 too.
Rajkumar Santoshi’s China Gate was based on Seven Samurai and had a big budget.

The film wasn’t much acclaimed except for the item song, Chhamma Chhamma, which was picturised on Urmila Matondkar. The song was a chartbuster and perhaps one of the main reasons for its success. The film received the best dialogue Filmfare award.
One more of Urmila Matondkar’s films with Ram Gopal Varma, Satya was also released in 1998.

The film is now regarded as a cult movie. The film was commercially successful. It was a turning point in Manoj Bajpai’s career. He was awarded the best supporting actor National award for his excellent and realistic portrayal of Bhiku Mhatre. He along with Shefali Shah received critics Filmfare awards for the best actor and actress respectively. The critics award for the best director was also awarded to Ram Gopal Varma. In addition, the film received three more Filmfare technical awards, best background score, best editing and best sound. The song, Sapne Mein Milti Hain by Asha Bhosle and Suresh Wadkar was popular.
The original Malayalam movie, Chhota Chetan was re-released with additional scenes of Urmila Matondkar and a few songs. I had watched the original movie, so I gave it a skip.

Veteran director, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s last direction was for Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla starrer, Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kate.

The film wasn’t appreciated and was a box office failure. But the songs were good and I still remember the melodious, Dil Yeh Dil Darne Laga Hai.

The film, Kabhi Na Kabhi was finally released in 1998 after taking about 4 years in the making.

It was Priyadarshan’s next release after the successful film, Virasat in 1997. But Kabhi Na Kabhi was a box office failure, though a couple of songs were popular during the release. Asha Bhosle’s Mere Dil Ka Woh Shahzada was very much popular. Kumar Sanu’s only song for Rahman, Mil Gayi Mil Gayi Woh Manzile was also a part of the movie.

Priyadarshan’s another movie, Saat Rang Ke Sapne, starring Juhi Chawla and Arvind Swamy had a similar fate.

It was a ABCL venture. The movie is perhaps remembered occasionally for a couple of songs, that’s it!
Dev Anand’s Main Solah Baras Ki was also released in the year. It was an obvious box office failure.
Handsome hunk Fardeen Khan made his debut opposite Meghana Kothari in his father’s home production, Prem Aggan.

The film fetched him best promising debut Filmfare award, but the film couldn’t survive at the Box office. However, I can still remember one of the songs, Khate Hain Qasam.
Dilip Kumar’s last screen appearance was for the film, Qila. He played a double role. The film wasn’t successful.
It’s customary to add offbeat films or parallel cinema at the end of the overview. This time I’ve three films to mention. Train to Pakistan, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa and Hyderabad Blues. Train to Pakistan was directed by Pamela Rooks and based on Khushwant Singh’s novel by the same name. It was based on the sensitive issue of the partition. It was finally released in the theatres as well as on Star Plus in 1998. Nirmal Pandey, Divya Datta, Smriti Mishra, Mohan agashe and Rajit Kapoor featured in the movie. All are related to parallel cinema. The film was also shown in various international film festivals where it received critical acclaim.
Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa was based on a novel by Mahasweta Devi and marked the comeback of Jaya Bhaduri. It was directed by Govind Nihlani. The film credits mention Nandita Das as an introducing actress. The film revolves around a simple family which is devastated after the death of the young son and his mother goes deep in the history to discover her son’s association with naxalites.
Hyderabad Blues was the acting and directorial debut of Nagesh Kukunoor and was a small budget film. But it was successful commercially.

After a prolonged introduction, let’s go through the song list at once. My favourite songs from the Hindi films in 1998.

1. Chori Chori Jab Nazrein Mili – Kareeb (1998) Kumar Sanu & Sanjeevani / Anu Malik – Rahat Indori
The song had earlier featured on the ‘whistle song’ list on the blog. The song has a beautiful whistling in the prelude. The song and the debutante Neha both were popular. All the songs in the movie were very popular. The film however didn’t perform well at the box office. Sanjeevani Bhelande entered Bollywood with the film and did fairly well in the songs. She however couldn’t get popularity in Hindi films.

2. Tum Paas Aaye Yoon Muskuraye – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) Udit Narayan & Alka Yagnik / Jatin Lalit – Sameer
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was Karan Johar’s directorial debut and he was successful too. He had assisted Aditya Chopra in DDLJ and had made up his mind to direct Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan for his directorial debut. The film was well received and was a super hit at the box office. All the songs of the movie were popular too. Alka Yagnik received the best female playback singer National award for the title track of the movie and she deserved it. She sang for Kajol and Rani Mukherjee both and yet she managed to change her voice subtly for the two. Kajol’s portrayal of Anjali was superb. She was at her best while playing tom boyish Anjali in her college days and also while playing a mature Anjali in the later half of the film. Salman Khan and Rani Mukherjee had small roles. The part of the film depicting the college days was really enjoyable, though it was definitely unrealistic. In all, the film was good and was the one to get the maximum nominations at the Filmfare awards. The title track is my absolute favourite and hence I chose it in spite of the other popular songs.

3. Aye Ajnabi Tu Bhi Kabhi – Dil Se (1998) Udit Narayan & Mahalaxmi Iyer / A R Rahman – Gulzar
The film by Mani Ratnam was an average success in India though it was a superhit film in overseas countries. The film was critically acclaimed and the performances by the lead pair were appreciated. The film won six Filmfare awards including Preity Zinta’s best debutant award, and the best cinematography and choreography awards. The film grabbed all the music awards including the best music director, the best lyricist and the best male playback singer. Lata Mangeshkar sang for A R Rahman for the first time and the song, Jiya Jale Jaan Jale was picturised on Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan. The train song, Chhaiya Chhaiya by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi was a megahit and also helped Malaika Arora gain tremendous popularity across the country. It was difficult to choose the song for today’s list. I finally went for the one which I like the most.

4. Gali Mein Aaj Chand Nikla – Zakhm (1998) Alka Yagnik / M M Kreem – Anand Bakshi
Zakhm was directed by Mahesh Bhatt under the banner of Pooja Bhatt productions. It portrayed a sensitive story of a mother and her two children. Ajay Devgan played the elder son and his performance was acclaimed by critics. It fetched him the best actor National award as well as Screen award in the same category. The song is so wonderfully sung by Alka Yagnik. It has almost become an identity of the film, which is remembered mainly for the song.

5. Jab Kisi Ki Taraf Dil – Pyar To Hona Hi Tha (1998) Kumar Sanu / Jatin Lalit – Vinod Mahendra
The film was a surprise for me. I was a bit presumptuous about it but I liked it instantly even though it’s a copy of foreign film. The off screen relationship between Kajol and Ajay Devgan was the talk of the town and their onscreen chemistry was superb in this film. The film had been adapted for the Indian audience and the situations for songs in the movie also appeared quite natural. Asha Bhosle sang a couple of songs for the movie and we can experience the energy in her rendition in the catchy song, Aashiq Hoon Main Jaan e Jigar. The highlight song of the movie was however the credits song which was incidentally the title track of the movie. It was sung by Remo D’Souza and Jaspinder Narula. The latter was awarded the best female playback singer at the Filmfare awards. The journey of Sanjana and Ajay from being strangers to getting attracted to each other and finally falling in love was very cutely and convincingly portrayed in the movie. And so the title Pyar To Hona Hi Tha (Love was to happen) appeared quite apt. Both the lead actors did an excellent job, so did the supporting cast. The film was among the top ten hits of the year.

6. Jaadu Hai Tera Hi Jaadu – Ghulam (1998) Alka Yagnik & Kumar Sanu / Jatin Lalit – Sameer
Ghulam was a box office hit and the railway track stunt scene was awarded as scene of the year by Filmfare. Amir Khan played a rough and tough character and was nominated for the best actor’s category. He also attempted singing and his duet with Alka Yagnik, Aati Kya Khandala, was popular. But I’m more fond of the other songs of the movie. The supporting characters were also acclaimed by the audience.

7. Aawaz Do Hum Ko – Dushman (1998) Lata Mangeshkar & Udit Narayan / Uttam Singh – Anand Bakshi
The film had Kajol in a double role and the directorial debut of Tanuja Chandra was praised too. It was a remake of a Hollywood movie. Still Kajol’s portrayal of twin sisters deserved applause. Ashutosh Rana came into limelight because of his excellent performance in a villainous role and was rightly awarded the best performance in a negative role Filmfare award. After Dil To Pagal Hai, composer Uttam Singh had a brief second innings which was partially successful. Both the romantic numbers of the film were melodious and popular.

8. And we’ve a tie at the position. Very rarely I had to choose a couple of songs from a single movie to offer full justice to the movie. Sai Paranjape’s Saaz was a good movie and had a mixed bunch of songs from different genres. Devki Pandit sang for Aruna Irani, while Kavita Krishnamurthy sang for Shabana Azmi. And both of them had their career best songs for the movie. The movie had four music directors as I have already highlighted in the prologue. I however found myself choosing songs composed by Zakir Hussain. But Badal Ghumad Badh Aaye by Yashwant Dev and Badal Chandi Barsaye by Bhupen Hazarika are equally excellent and my favourites. In fact it was really difficult to choose just one song. I had faced a similar dilemma choosing songs from Sardari Begum, composed by Vanraj Bhatia. I ended up choosing a couple of songs on that occasion too.

A. Phir Bhor Bhayi Jaga Madhuban – Saaz (1998) Devki Pandit / Zakir Hussain – Javed Akhtar
The song follows the Raag, Gorakh Kalyan and is sung excellently by Devki Pandit. A few of the clips from Sangdil featuring Madhubala and Dilip Kumar appear in the song. The song is very soothing to the ears and soul. The video of the song however has a shorter version of the song. Here’s a link for the full audio version. (https://youtu.be/393akT8va8I)

B. Raat Dhalne Lagi – Saaz (1998) Kavita Krishnamurthy / Zakir Hussain – Javed Akhtar
It was again difficult to select the best from Kavita Krishnamurthy’s solos from the movie. While I was more inclined to the jazzy, Kya Tum Ne Hai Keh Diya I finally chose this soulful song that has a heart touching rendition by Kavita.

9. Madhosh Dil Ki Dhadkan – Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai (1998) Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu / Jatin Lalit – Anand Bakshi
I must confess, I didn’t watch the movie during its initial release. But I used to like the majority of the songs from the movie, thanks to Jatin Lalit for the wonderful melodies! The composer duo opted for Lata Mangeshkar, who rendered the songs beautifully. In addition, Chal Pyar Karegi was sung by Alka Yagnik and Sonu Nigam. After DDLJ, Jatin Lalit tended to use the same tunes with minor changes. Also the influence of R D Burman was also quite evident in the songs of this movie. Nevertheless this song creates a perfect aura of romance. It’s just so melodious.

10. Poshida Poshida – Wajood (1998) Udit Narayan & Kavita Krishnamurthy / Anu Malik – Javed Akhtar
I don’t know how many of you actually remember this song! But it was and still is my favourite. The film had a good theme and good performances by Madhuri Dixit and Nana Patekar, but it wasn’t a hit at the box office. The song had been popular then, but I doubt if anyone remembers it. Nevertheless this catchy number always reminds me of this film which I watched with one of my school friends. I wonder now if he (my friend) still remembers this film!

11. Na Koi Tera Yahan – Bada Din (1998) Kavita Krishnamurthy & Abhijit / Jatin Lalit – Javed Akhtar
I had nearly forgotten this film and its songs. And while I was going through the list of films, I was stuck. I could remember Marc Robinson and yes! I instantly remembered ‘Meri Aankhon Mein Tum Ho’. But then I went through the entire album and the song that remained with me was this one. It is picturised on Shabana Azmi and Marc Robinson. And I must say, Shabana Azmi does steal the show. Not to forget, the good tune to the good lyrics and impressive rendition.

12. Tera Rang Balle Balle – Soldier (1998) Sonu Nigam & Jaspinder Narula / Anu Malik – Sameer
The film mainly became popular for its action sequences and songs. It aptly won the Filmfare award for best action. The songs were hugely popular. Preity Zinta after her small role in Dil Se was seen as a lead character in the movie. Her dimple and cute, pretty face made her popular overnight. The film had good songs and were hugely popular. Jaspinder Narula’s unconventional voice once again proved magical in this duet with Sonu Nigam. The unmistakable Punjabi flavour of the song makes it even more appealing.

13. Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam – Duplicate (1998) Udit Narayan & Alka Yagnik/ Anu Malik – Javed Akhtar
Duplicate featured Shah Rukh Khan in a double role. Juhi Chawla and Sonali Bendre were the female leads. The film was a hit and the songs too became popular. Shah Rukh Khan succeeded in portraying two poles apart characters. The song became an instant hit.

14. Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare – Dulhe Raja (1998) Sonu Nigam & Jaspinder Narula / Anand Milind – Sameer
I must confess I haven’t watched the majority of Govinda films of the 90s including this one. But I like the song a lot. It’s so catchy and has such a peppy rhythm.

15. O O Jane Jana – Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya (1998) Kamaal Khan / Jatin Lalit – Sameer
Songs from this film are not my great favourites, but are nice and the film was quite enjoyable. Himesh Reshmiya debuted with a song from the movie. The song was very popular and so were Salman Khan’s dance steps. If I remember correctly, Salman’s body building and its vigorous promotion with this film. Sohail Khan’s first film as a director was Auzaar (1997). He produced, directed and wrote Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya and was nominated for best film and best director at 44th Filmfare awards.

16. Kehta Hai Pal Pal Tumse – Major Saab (1998) Udit Narayan & Anuradha Paudwal / Anand Raj Anand – Anand Raj Anand
Major Saab was among the top ten hits of the year. The movie is perhaps remembered today just for its songs. The songs were composed by Anand Raj Anand, but the most popular song, picturised on Amitabh Bachchan was composed by Adesh Shrivastav. It was sung by Sudesh Bhosle, who perfectly imitated Amitabh’s voice. In addition, a couple of songs were popular too. Ajay Devgan had a short hairstyle in the movie which was in contrast with his earlier films. Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Sonali Bendre and Nafisa Ali all were acclaimed for their performances.

17. Qissa Hum Likhenge Dil e Beqaraar Ka – Doli Saja Ke Rakhna (1998) / Anuradha Paudwal & M G Sreekumar / A R Rahman – Mehboob
Doli Saja Ke Rakhna was not commercially successful, but it was a good movie. It was inspired by a Malayalam movie, Aniyathipraavu. Naghma’s younger sister, Jyothika debuted with the movie. The songs composed by A R Rahman were very popular, including the fishermen song, Chal Kheva Re Kheva. The romantic song was very popular and it’s indeed very melodious. The duet, ‘Bol Sajni Mori Sajni’ by Sonu Nigam and Kavita Krishnamurthy was very melodious too.

18. Tere Pyar Mein – Zor (1998) Shankar Mahadevan & Hema Sardesai / Agosh (band) – Anand Bakshi
After Sushmita Sen’s debut film Dastak, she had the film, Zor with sunny Deol in 1998. This was of course an action movie. I haven’t watched the movie but I used to like a couple of songs. Hema Sardesai was an upcoming playback singer then, and she had a couple of songs in the movie. Agosh is a musical band formed by the trio R. Anandh, Gopal Rao and Shaleen Sharma. Their first movie in Bollywood was Santosh Sivan’s film Zor. The song ‘Main Kudi Anjani Hoon’ was well appreciated. Earlier they had composed for Malayalam and Tamil movies.

Please add your favourite from the 1998 films.

Disclaimer –
Mehfil Mein Meri, claims no credit for any image, screenshots or songs posted on this site. Images on this blog are posted to make the text interesting. The images and screenshots are the copyright of their original owners. The song links are shared from YouTube, only for the listening convenience of music lovers. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.