Dongri nights

Raj Kapoor in Guru Dutt’s “Main Nashe Mein Hoon” (1959)

Gloriously out-of-sync clip from Guru Dutt’s classic 1959 movie starring Raj Kapoor. The great man is so drunk that he can’t keep in time with his own lips. The playback singer is Mukesh and the song by Shankar-Jaikishan. Bhalu heard this playing incessantly in the Dongri bazaars during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. A companion piece widely played during the same period is the beautiful Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai, next on our playlist.

Rajesh Khanna and Asha Parekh in “Kati Patang” (1970)

Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai has absolutely no business being here, because it makes no appearance in The Death of Mr Love, but it is an old favourite and I couldn’t resist adding it. Another drunk song, it’s certainly one that Bhalu would have known as it was everywhere during his Dongri period.