Another smile gone...

When I mentioned to Papa that Joy Mukherjee was my favorite actor, he asked me why. I told him that I liked the way he looked: truthful, with a genuine smile. I was very young then. Papa explained to me that being a hero was not just about looks. Over time I understood what acting was all about. But I dread going to the theatre these days to watch one of the insane new Hindi movies. Barring very few, what are the actors of today about, if not looks and lineage? I still feel Joy Mukherjee had his charm. Listening to "Geetmala Ki Chhaon Mein", the excellent roundup of Hindi film music and anecdotes, right out of ameen Sayani's mouth- I learnt how most of Joy Mukherjee's movies were made by his in house production: Filmalaya using a set formula wherein the songs and music were decided upon first and the story crafted later on to fill the gap between the songs. No wonder we were bored with the sunday evening classics back in the Doordarshan days!

But the songs from Joy's movies were real joys indeed. In recent times I rediscovered the song "Alif-zabar-aa..." a fun song that teaches the full Urdu alphabet easily. It was from the movie "Love in Shimla" which, if my memory serves me right, the first hindi film for Sadhna. (Another related trivia: Sadhna's first appearance in Hindi movies was as one of the Chorus girls in the legendary 'Shree 420' song "Eechak dana, beechak dana..."). She was later to appear with Joy Mukherjee in another super-hit-song-studded: 'Ek Musafir Ek Haseena'. Two songs from the movie: "Aap yu hi agar, humse milte rahe..." and "Bahot shukriya, badi meharbani, meri zindagi mein huzoor aap aaye..." are amongst those closest to my heart... mostly due to Sadhna's natural dance and Joy's disarming smile.

As my humble tribute, I recorded "Lakhon hain nigah mein..." on my harmonica. As usual, it sounds too mechanical and the second stanza is a bit messed up, but hey- better than nothing, right? This song is what captures the essence of Joy Mukherjee as he meant to me.

Like the balloons that rise at the end of the song (I am sure one can find the right videos on youtube), I hope Joy would be high up, lighting the skies with his beautiful smile.