Most music connoisseurs consider the 50s and 60s as the golden era of music. All the music directors of this era were at the height of their creativity and prowess. The 70s saw a gradual decrease in melodic content with each passing year, due to the increase in crime oriented, dishum-dishum films leaving little scope for melody. The 80s saw plenty of techno and disco oriented music, with melodies a rarity. I paid very little attention to music during the 70s and 80s, but my interest perked up when I started hearing a number of romantic melodies from the 90s.
Music directors like Anu Malik, Nadeem-Shravan, Viju Shah and Jatin-Lalit deserve a lot of credit for creating a number of genuine, musical hits with pleasing, romantic melodies during these years. These songs are not high pitched, percussion heavy but are very soulful and 
pleasant. In many cases, the composers also used technology and instruments imaginatively to create attractive embellishments to the melodies.
While there were several romantic melodies from the 90s, this decade was also known for innumerable charges of plagiarism levelled against almost all music composers. Apart from copying western songs, composers like Anand-Milind also used South Indian hits extensively in their films. The song Dhak Dhak Karne Laga (Beta), a super hit song on Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor, is a straight copy of an Ilayaraja chartbuster from Telugu, Abba nee teeyani debba.
Some of the romantic melodies from the 90s were also breakthrough films for some composers and singers that enabled them to grab the limelight and rise to the top. Roja was a breakthrough film for A R Rahman and he had a number of notable films in the 90s – I will devote a separate post for this genius.
Here is a playlist of 20 romantic melodies from the 90s.
( A tip to enhance your listening pleasure: When listening to the songs in the playlist, if you want to browse further on this site or another one, open a new window for further browsing. The player will continue to play the songs in the current window while you are browsing)
Breakthrough melodies
Anu Malik who debuted in 1978 had a lackluster period in the 80s. Later, he started using more of western arrangements and orchestration and finally got a big breakthrough with Baazigar. Anul Malik must be credited with creating outstanding music despite the fact that this movie was all about deception, crime and murders. The title song Baazigar O Baazigar is a good example of romantic melodies from the 90s, with attractive orchestration and arrangements, especially the imaginative use of the violin.
Nadeem-Shravan also had a lackluster period prior to the release of their breakthrough movie Aashiqui in 1990. Apart from Nadeem-Shravan, this was also a breakthrough movie for Kumar Sanu and Anuradha Paudwal. For listeners who were groomed on Rafi and Kishore, there were a number of years of disappointment where many aspiring singers tried to sound like Rafi, but failed to make an impact on the listeners. Kumar Sanu came as a welcome relief during these times. The initial reaction to Kumar Sanu’s voice in Aashiqui was negative for a number of people, till the voice grew on them. Nazar ke saamne and Saanson ki zaroorat were two popular songs among many other popular songs from this movie.
Anuradha Paudwal, who got a big boost with Aashiqui competed briefly with Alka Yagnik for the top spot among female singers, but gradually faded out.
Viju Shah (son of Kalyanji, the elder brother in the famous Kalyanji-Anandji duo) had a 
major role to play in the music of Tridev in the late 80s. He was an arranger and musician for a number of music directors. Mohra was his breakthrough movie as a composer. Again, Viju Shah deserves a lot of credit for creating a blockbuster musical hit in a movie full of gory killings, revenge and deception. Subah se lekar shaam tak is a delightful romantic melody with pleasant arrangements.
Jatin-Lalit were popular even before Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. However, this movie can perhaps be considered as the ultimate of all breakthroughs, having smashed a number of records. Tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam became a benchmark among all the romantic melodies from the 90s.
Soulful melodies
The soft, crooning voice of Kumar Sanu was a perfect fit for many soulful and romantic melodies from the 90s. Do dil mil rahen hain from Pardes is a good example of a soulful melody with meaningful lyrics. The easy flowing Ek ladki ko dekha from 1942: Love story (R D Burman’s swan song) is one more feather in Kumar Sanu’s cap.
Na kajre ki dhaar also from Mohra, was a lovely melody in the voices of Pankaj Udhas and Sadhana Sargam. Interestingly, this song written by Indivar, was originally recorded as a Kalyanji-Anandji composition in Mukesh’s voice, but was never used in any film. I do not want take anything away from Pankaj Udhas or Sadhana Sargam, but I urge you to hear the original Mukesh song (click below). You will realize why Mukesh was loved by so many fans, mainly because of his crystal clear diction, emphasis on key words and his unique soulful rendition of any song.
Chupana bhi nahin aata from Baazigar and Pehla pehla pyar hai (Hum aapke hain kaun) are also soft, romantic and soulful melodies. Saajan also featured some soulful numbers from Nadeem-Shravan like Jiye to jiyen kaise and Mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai.
Embellished melodies
Jatin-Lalit came with a strong pedigree – they are nephews of Pandit Jasraj. Most of their songs are wonderful melodies with a strong classical and folk connection. In addition, they created several chartbusters using instruments and arrangements creatively to add attractive embellishments to the main melody.
Pehla Nasha (Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar) is a super hit song with lovely use of the piano. Another of their super hits, the title song of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai has a very attractive rhythm pattern with percussion instruments in the prelude that can also be heard in several places in the song. In a similar vein, they made superb use of guitar and percussion to create an attractive rhythm pattern in Jo haal dil ka (Sarfarosh).
Jatin-Lalit also created a song with pleasant use of saxophone and chorus in Meri duniya hai (Vaastav).
Nadeem-Shravan were known for their use of the same repetitive rhythm pattern and not for imaginative use of instruments or arrangements. However, Tumhe apna banane ki kasam (Sadak) features pleasant use of guitar. Two songs from Deewana also feature attractive, fast paced arrangements – Aisi Deewangi and Sochenge tumhe pyaar. Sochenge tumhe pyaar has lovely sitar and flute embellishments. Incidentally, Aisi deewangi is based on a Rajan-Nagendra superhit song in Telugu, Merupula Raali.
Uttam Singh, for some strange reason, did not have many Hindi films to his credit, despite creating the blockbuster songs in Dil to Paagal hai. Arre re Arre ye is a lovely song with interesting arrangements including the beautiful sound of the whistle.
Lengthy melodies
As mentioned earlier, Anu Malik made the transition to western instruments and arrangements and shot to popularity. Some of his songs were melodious and endearing, but it appears that he carried his enthusiasm for arrangements too far and created lengthy songs with long preludes and interludes. In some cases, the antras are longer than usual and occassionally, he repeats the same lines over and over again. All his songs in Border vary from 7 minutes to 10 minutes in length!
Consider the soft and soothing song Raah mein unki (Vijaypath). Apart from the lengthy prelude and antras, he also literally translates the lyrics about rain into the sounds of the rain. Churake dil mera (Main Khiladi Tu Anari) is an attractive song that has lengthy antras and for good measure, Anu Malik also added a lengthy ending.
The 90s were pleasant with a number of musical hits created by talented composers. They dared to swim against the tide and brought melody back into film music. Hats off to the composers, lyricists and singers who created these romantic melodies from the 90s.
Evergreen Indian film music 
Ravi, I commend you for managing to mine a few listenable numbers from the 90s. Nadeem-Shravan, as far as I was concerned, were the pits, even if the songs of Aashiqui were better than what had come before and were relatively popular. Jatin Lalit are the duo whom I liked the most – they had some lovely songs to their credit. Pehla nasha remains one of my all-time favourites.
Anand-Milind also started out well, but then lost their way in the cacophony that ensued. 😦
Thanks Anu……I really liked the 20 songs from the 90s that I added in the playlist. Yes, I also like Jatin-Lalit a lot. It is a pity they broke up. Did you like Nadeem-Shravan in Saajan?
No, the songs of Saajan gave me a headache. 🙂
But there are other 90s songs I liked – Ghoonghat ki aad mein dilbhar ka from Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke which is a Nadeem-Shravan tune; almost all the songs of 1942 A Love Story, my favourites being Ye safar bahut hi kathin magar and Ek ladki ko dekha toh; the songs of Yes Boss, especially Choodi baji hai and Ek din aap yun; all the songs of Dil se but especially Ae ajnabi tu bhi kabhi; Chhai chhappa chal, chhapake chal from Hu Tu Tu, and Dekha teri mast nigaahon mein from Khiladi.
I’m sure if I think hard enough, I can scrounge up some more melodies that I really loved. 🙂
Ravi,
A very nice compilation. My top favourite from the list is Do dil mil raahein hain magar chupke chupke. I didn’t find the title song of Ashiqui in your list. One problem of the post-Golden period was the demise of real instruments played by real musicians. Electronic sounds mady many ‘romantic’ songs too sound loud.
AK
Thanks AK. I liked all the songs from movies like Aashiqui and Saajan, but I restricted myself to list one or two from each movie. Yes, sadly the demise of live orchestra killed melody and creativity. I have heard some of the golden era composers say that the techno stuff killed creativity. I hope you enjoyed the unreleased version of Mukesh singing Na kajre ki dhaar (that was subsequently remade by Kalyanji’s son Viju Shah in Mohra). The clarity in Mukesh’s diction and his unique style of rendition really made him stand out.
I’ll admit I read the title of this post, and went a bit wide-eyed. Then a little reflection followed, and I had to concede that yes, the 90s were a definite improvement from the 80s. And that there were really a good number of songs that were pretty melodious. I especially love Do dil mil rahe hain and Ek ladki ko dekha from your list.
Other songs (romantic ones, not other moods) from the decade that I like are Kehna hi kya (Bombay), Pyaar ko ho jaane do (Dushman), Jaana suno hum tumpe marte hain (Khamoshi) and Ek din aap yoon humko mil jaayenge (Yes Boss).
Thanks Madhu. Glad you found some time to go through the post. In my view, the golden era (50s and 60s) was the best in terms of quality of songs or melody. All the music composers were at their best in the 50s and 60s. Relatively speaking, the 90s had some melodious songs, especially when we compare with the disco-techno stuff from the 80s.
I agree: the 50s and 60s were the peak. There are so many films from that era that are pretty much worthless without their music; so many which are pushed up many notches by the music. And I don’t think I’ve ever come across one film from the 50s or 60s where the music was outright bad. A lot may be forgettable, but it rarely really pained one to listen to it.
To be frank the caliber of songs of eighties and nineties cannot match those of fifties ,sixties and seventies .
True KB…..the 50s and 60s were the best, in my view.