India, Sept. 21 -- Some years ago at a South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation (SAARC) writers conference in Delhi, we women writers from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives, were sitting together after rounds of a day-long conference of lectures and more. Relaxed and in a mood to have some fun together and rewind. However, language differences were coming in the way until one wise one from Nepal with a melodious voice, started singing a much-loved song golden era of Indian film music dating back to the year 1955, incidentally the year of this scribbler's birth too! Any guess what that song was? Well it was the unforgettable number with the protagonists none other than Nargis and Raj Kapoor walking through the Mumbai rain with a shared umbrella to an all time favourite romantic song: 'Pyar hua, Ikrar hua' lip-syncing to the immortal voices of Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar. Lo, in less than a minute all others joined the song singing their hearts out never mind what their hearts out. Not just that, two young writers from Bhutan even opened an umbrella and started dancing, emoting the emotions in gestures. Well the fun had begun and song after song and merry dance followed with all participating with abandon. Zahida Hina, a well known poet and fiction writer from Karachi, summed up the jubilation by saying: "No matter what the language they speak or write, the entire South Asia soulfully bonds with the Hindi film songs of yore". Move from the rain of Mumbai in the 50s to the bazaar of Bareilly in 1966 blockbuster suspense mystery directed by none other than the music lover and feisty film maker Raj Khosla, whose 100th anniversary is being celebrated this year. And we have the feisty Sadhna playing the street dancer with aplomb in the bazaar of Bareilly singing 'Jhumka gira re Bareli ke bazaar mein'. This song was to make history when a few years ago of years ago when the fallen jhumka rose again when the cinema magic when the Bareilly Development Authority turned the cinema magic into a spectacular memorial on NH 24 when it was installed pole a 14-foot tall installation came up raising a 200 kg brass and crafted in brass and copper by an artisan of Gurgaon at cost Rs.18 lakh. No film song had been celebrated thus ever before. The film song was written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, originally from Wazirabad, who had migrated to Mumbai and penned many memorable numbers. The 'mukhra' of this memorable song, however, comes from the folk music tradition and the provocative 'antaras' were created by Khan. In recent times the song was used again by Karan Johar in a modern version titled 'What Jhumka' in 'Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani' and picturised on Ranvir Singh and Alia Bhatt. Many are the stories about the origin of this song and there is even a group formed some four months ago on Facebook with the title of this all-time popular song! Some say that Khan and music was inspired by Teji Bachchan, mother of Amitabh Bachchan and wife of Hariwansh Rai Bachchan lovingly said to her husband at a party that she had lost her dangler by using the phrase and this inspired Khan and music director Madan Mohan to put this song together and immortalised it in the lilting voice of Asha Bhonsle. However, others say it was a folk song written in the kajri tradition and the first recording has been traced to the mid 1930s and is sung by a forgotten singer called Dulari Bai. But it is immortalised in the voice of Asha Bhosle in modern times. Yet another film song which continues to enjoy glory was sung in the 1961 for a war film called Hum Dono. This, of course, penned by poet Sahir Ludhianvi, was sung by Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi with great music by Jaidev. The cherry on the cake was the camera on debonair Dev Anand and the sensuous Sadhana. It made a never-before history when great musicians joined to sing it on December 24, 2024, in a tribute to the great voice of Rafi, when the man with a great voice would have turned 100. Hold your breath, these included celebrities like Amjad Ali Khan, Shubha Mud Shankar Mahadevan along with other top names from the classical and pop tradition. Well that is indeed a song sung true!...