Bollywood Backstage: Memories, Melodies, and Magic Moments

The past few weeks at work have been a whirlwind of high energy and anticipation. We were all gearing up for the SCREENXX Summit and Awards, held on November 13th in Mumbai. It was a flurry of activity—entries streaming in, juries deliberating, final results being tallied, trophies polished, agenda locked, invitations sent out, and registrations in full swing. The most thrilling part? The big question: Which celebrities would actually make it for the night?

As the day approached, the buzz was palpable. Would the stars align (quite literally) and grace us with their presence? It felt like the entire team was holding its breath.

After a long day of planning, I’d unwind at home, instinctively reaching for my phone. And as if by some magical algorithm (or maybe Big Brother keeping tabs on my Bollywood mood), my social media feed served me snippets from series like Panchayat and Very Parivarik. It was like the universe was playing along, providing the perfect dose of entertainment just when I needed it.

The event turned out to be a roaring success! Stars from the small screen dazzled the audience, receiving a raucous cheer as if it were the climax of a blockbuster. Though I haven’t been following Hindi OTT shows as religiously lately, and it’s been a while since I binge-watched a series, the collective excitement was contagious. The presence of yesteryear celebrities, like Chunky Panday, brought back a flood of memories from simpler times.

Bollywood Nostalgia: Growing Up in the Golden Era

Growing up in the 80s in Mumbai, it was impossible to escape the Bollywood wave. At just 5 or 6 years old, I remember the thrill of watching the youngest Kapoor brother, Rajiv Kapoor, playing cricket on our school field. The odd walk through Union Park in Chembur had us trying to spot Om Prakash, the veteran actor as we passed by his bungalow there.

Sundays were special days indeed. The roads were clear as families indulged in the Sunday evening ritual watching that long-awaited movie on TV. Subsequently that moved moved to Saturdays and the regional treat took over the Sunday. On weeknights, the entire family would huddle around the TV to watch Chitrahaar and Chhayageet, eagerly waiting for our favourite songs. The introduction of colour TV during the 1982 Asian Games marked a turning point. Suddenly, watching TV felt like a whole new experience. We spent dinner time not around the table, but seated on the sofa in front of the TV and keenly kept track of the developments on screen as we followed the serials like 'Hum Log' and later 'Buniyaad'. Also the comedy treats like 'Hum Paanch' and many others.

Summer and Diwali holidays often meant marathon movie sessions at a neighbour’s place. They would rent the movies by the dozen and their living room was a mini-theatre. We didn’t mind sitting on the floor and at times non-stop commentary from the lady of the house who was an absolute movie buff. When we got our own video player, we made the most of it to watch a good mix of Hindi blockbusters as well as English treats.

Flashback to 1988: The Era of QSQT

One movie that stands out vividly in my memory is Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (QSQT), released in 1988. The film introduced us to the original chocolate hero, Aamir Khan, who stole everyone’s heart with his captivating performance. But what truly won me over was the music. The peppy, rock-and-roll rhythm of “Papa Kehte Hain”, featuring a cameo by dance maestro J J Rodriguez, is still one of my favorite songs—to listen to, to play, and even to sing. It’s a classic that never gets old. This was one of the early songs I learned to play on the keyboard. Give it a listen here.

Sunil Pinto · Papa Kehte Hain

Recently, on a quiet evening at home with my lovely wife, we found ourselves reminiscing about this film. I started playing another beautiful love song from the movie, and she spontaneously joined in. Here’s our rendition of “Gazab Ka Ye Din”—a timeless melody that still gives us goosebumps.Listen here

Sunil Pinto · Gazab ka hai din.m4a

We’d love to hear your feedback on this rendition. There are a few more covers in the pipeline, and we can’t wait to share them with you soon. Stay tuned for more musical nostalgia!

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Father's Day 2024

On Father's Day today, I decided to put together a little tribute to Dad.... since he (and his siblings) inspired the music in me. 

I Believe sung my Elvis and many others was a song I recall Dad singing from my very early years. One of my sisters actually had him sing it at her nuptials. 

Ten years ago, when I returned to Mumbai, I stepped up to lead the singing at Mass. The first day that I went up, some of the priests of the parish actually thought  that Dad was back from New Zealand - since we have very similar voices. Over the years that he served the parish in the music ministry, a favourite  hymn of his was this Don Moen spiritual - God Will Make A Way. 

What do/ will you remember your Dad by?

The Wedding Season 2021

 The Wedding Season has begun!!!

After a washed out wedding season in 2020 and the first half of 2021, young couples are looking forward to better celebrations in the current season that is just starting.... thanks to the prospect of life returnng to normal - at least in India. In fact, this last Sunday, I witnessed not one, but TWO weddings in my local parish. With some of the regulations still in place, I was requested to provide music at the Church service for both these weddings. 

I couldn't help remember my teenage days, when I was part of this choir group that used to sing for weddings - mostly at Don Bosco's Shrine (Matunga) and Our Lady of Dolours Church (Wadala)... sometimes we got requests to sing at some other churches as well. I once landed for a wedding at Our Lady of Fatima Church Sewri and noticed many familiar faces.... turned out to be the wedding of one of our parishioners there.

Coming back to the music, a favorite song at the Entrance of the service was "The Wedding (Ave Maria)" - by Julie Rogers (1964)

And after the nuptials, a favorite would be "Song of Ruth (Wherever You Go)". The lyrics of this song are from the Bible - the book of Ruth 1: 16-17. In fact the song is not a dedication for marriage. 

The Book of Ruth opens with the death of Naomi's husband and their two sons in a foreign land. Naomi decides to head back home and tells the daughers in law to return to their maiden families. This song is Ruth's reply to Naomi. And rightly so, as the story goes on, Ruth returns to Bethlehem with Naomi and eventually remarries. She is listed as an important Biblical Woman - the great grandmother of King David. 

The song we sang for the current weddings was "But I Wish You Jesus" by Scott Wesley Brown 

 

And for the Finale - was a beautiful song from The Seekers - again from the 1960s - "I'll Never Find Another You". I really enjoyed playing this song which has been adopted by the Marriage Encounter Program as its anthem. The Program orients couples to prepare for marriage and after the wedding to strengthen their commitment. I've uploaded my rendition (cover) of the song on my YouTube Channel. Inviting you to subscribe if you like it. 

I hope you liked it.... If you are a musician, you may be able to benefit from another video I've posted for the song, with the chords of the song.... Do share your feedback. 

Thanks for reading the blog.... I hope you liked the music.

Getting back - Fathers Day and World Music Day 2020

I never realised that it has been such a long time since my last blogpost here. Thinking of getting back to it, today seemed to be a good day to start with the celebration of World Music Day and also Fathers Day in some parts of the world. 

This blog has been about sharing my experiences of growing up with music. And the credit for introducing me to the world of music right from my early years goes to my Dearest Dad. From the very earliest posts on this blog, I have paid rich tributes to Dad and his efforts in making us a musical family to reckon with. As we celebrate Father's Day today, it made sense to me to list down some of the Dad songs that have appealed to me over my lifetime.

During our growing up years, we participated in and attended many singing competitions in the locality. And this soulful dedication to a Dad was put up by many a guy about seven to eight years my senior. 

My dad was really proud of my musical pursuits in my teens and twenties - on radio, band and with instruments. Used to play this track by Boyzone regularly on FM in the late '90s. The original recording though is from Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) in 1970. This song is also recorded by Rod Stewart. 

Being a dad myself right now, I'm pleased to be able to pass on the wonderful gift of music that Dad nurtured in me and all my siblings. I'll sign off with a recent rendition of a song that won me a trophy at the age of seven and had my Dad absolutely thrilled. I performed this just last month on a video broadcast on the office network. This song has passed down with both my sons having sung it as well. 

Will be back with more musical updates right here. But for now, here's wishing all the dad's reading this post "Happy Fathers Day".

Fun with Maths

It's Exam time at home... My elder son currently doing his Prelims before his tenth standard board exams.... and the younger one in Grade Four. 

And as I opened up the Economic Times this morning, this article - Fun With Maths just jumped out at me....

Manjul Bhargava is the first person of Indian origin to have won the coveted Fields medal in Mathematics for this path-breaking work in Number Theory. This professor of Mathematics at Princeton University discusses various issues with the Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy.

When I asked the students of the MBA class I take about Mathematics the other day, only around 10% of them said they like it. Most of the others detested it. Years ago, I recall another MBA graduate in my office struggling with basic Arithmetic. Maths is an integral part of our everyday life. From waking up to the alarm clock... to train timings... to the price we pay for breakfast... it's all about Mathematics. We work with sheets and charts.... and get a salary at the end of the week or the month.... for which we need to know our numbers right... Yes indeed, That's Mathematics.

 

You liked that song by Tom Lehrer... we'll get him to give us a lesson a little later on. But first we'll do it very easy... ABC is as easy as One Two Three...

Well, the number 'three' reminds me of this song, a song my uncle Denzil used to sing... back in the day, Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris). 

That version did not have my favorite verse of the song.... the one about counting.... on fingers and toes...

Are you ready for the Maths lesson with Tom Lehrer.... on the New Math...

Didn't that song make Maths fun.... 

I put some thought into it... and recalled that I knew to read the time at age 5.... I learnt my tables in regular school.... and in class VI when I opened up a chapter on Bills and Receipts, I instead said Rec-i-pes, and had the entire class burst into laughter.... I was fairly good at Maths through school... though I slipped up when it came to Maths in college.... My Stats teacher in First Year B.Com was quite a terror and predicted based on past experience that more than half the class would end up struggling to Pass. I put my head down to it, and did extremely well. In B=School, I was actually coaching some of my weaker batchmates on Statistics... which made me one of my closest friends in the batch, that I'm still in active contact with. Working in data has been an absolute treat and the current trend of analytics absolutely amazes me.... 

I could go on and on.... which my stories on numbers.... but I'd rather just leave you with this song on advice for life... a sure formula to get the maximum out of life.... 

Acc-en-tu-ate the Positive. 

P.S. I've got another post on this blog on Maths... in fact the very first one.... Check out Music and Math

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019

Another year has gone by... 2018 and what a year it was.... Lots of work, opportunities, music, events.... but a lot less blogging. 

2018 for me took me to a lot of new places. While ten years ago (2008) was the year I did the most international trips (from Dubai to London, US and Canada), 2018 was a year of a different kind of journeys... My travel in 2018 was all within India and related to work and learning. During this year I visited Gurgaon, the foothills of the Himalayas (in Dehradun) and the serenity of the Gandhi ashram along the banks of the Sabarmati river (in Ahmedabad). While the first trip was part of an official assignment, the latter two trips were related to sharing knowledge and education - the first at UPES (University of Petroleum and Energy Services) and the more recent to MICA - The School of Ideas. Before we take off on the year 2019, let's take a little Sentimental Journey.

That song first released in the year 1944 (that's 75 years ago)... That's a year during World War II. And while there was death looming all over, the year also saw births of some really famous people. Among them Erno Rubik (inventor of the Rubik cube), officials like Ban Ki-moon (former Secretary-General of the United Nations), Rudy Giuliani (former Mayor of New York city). But before them all, on the first day of the year, in the little town of Mangalore was born a wonderful teacher of Maths and Science (who spent over 25 years in St. Anthony's Girls High School Chembur), but a great teacher on the values of life to her six children (me and my siblings). 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY

Living in my childhood home at present, everyday I come across someone or the other who has been touched by my mum. Last week I was traveling by bus to work and happened to meet another student. The previous week one of her superstar students conveyed their regards to my mum to my wife when she visited an event organised by the alumni. 

Over the past 250+ posts on this blog, I've made a few honorable mentions of my mum. Thought it would be a good idea to recount these on this special day. 

Music and Math (2015)

Was a casual afternoon, and I had to put together a short article as part of an exercise at the Digital Marketing class I was taking. Bang! out of nowhere came this post on Music and Math.

My Radio Days (and Nights) - Remembering Saturday Date (2018)

During my days as a Radio Jockey on All India Radio, my best constructive critic was none other than my dear Mummy. Though not an authority in music, she shared some interesting inputs to help me improve my clarity and diction on the show... and across life. Now 30 years later we've had an interesting reversal of roles.... While I've spent a fair amount of time teaching (what she did for over 25 years), while she had her moment in the sun as a guest on Susegad Danpaar on 104.6 FM

Earlier today, my siblings in Auckland got together to celebrate her birthday with some of her new friends in the land where she now resides... Saw some glimpses of the get together, a celebration of her seventy five fantastic years. Saw some glimpses of the party including some of the toasts raised by my siblings, paying tribute to her commitment and dedication over the years to give us the very best. 

We thank the Lord for our Mummy, who truly called the shots to make our family and each of us - her children - what we are today. of my Pistol Packing Mama. 

THANKS MUMMY FOR BEING YOU

WISHING YOUR MANY MORE YEARS OF HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

November

Woah! it's already November.... I heard the Calendar Song after ages - it used to be a regular on Saturday Date in the late ' 70s and early '80s. 

In the nineties, when satellite TV invaded all of our households, this November song was on everyone's lips.... November Rain.

While Mumbai recorded it's hottest ever November day yesterday, the Met Department has forecast some November Rain next week.... Let's wait and see... 

Do you know of any 'November Songs'? Share them in the comments....