For the SoY regulars, the title of this post may come as a surprise, because DP Rangan has already written an exhaustive post on songs on stars. That was about stars in the sky (i.e. तारे/सितारे). However, there are another kind of stars around whom the Film world revolves. They have names like you and me, but when they become too big, they acquire special monikers like ‘the Great Trinity’, ‘the Dream Girl’, ‘the Big B’, ‘the Jumping Jack’, ‘the Phenomenon’, ‘the Three Khans’  and so on. From the media we know that they inhabit the terra firma, but for common folks like us, they are really the ‘Stars from Another Sky’.

Bollywood acknowledges itself and its stars in several self-referential ways. Some self-referential parodies were mentioned in the discussion on my posts on parody songs. Another common form is in films about film-making, such as Kagaz Ke Phool, Bhumika, Rangeela, Guddi etc. There must be dozens of such films. Hollywood, too, has its share of such films, such as Singing in the Rain. Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West has acquired a cult status for its stylised references to classic Westerns, such as High Noon for the opening scene of three outlaws waiting at the station for the fourth coming by the train, to the scene of massacre from Shane (and, of course, Sholay’s family massacre scene draws from these sources), to several other well-recognised references.

Guddi reminds me of a very sweet reference by a star for another star. The adolescent character of Jaya Bhaduri, Guddi, is besotted with the film star Dharmendra. The family seeks his help to cure her of this obsession. Dharmendra playing himself in the film says with a shy smile, ‘but I thought the youngsters today adore Rajesh Khanna’. I remember in an old film, the character of Raj Kapoor was mobbed by the crowd, ‘you look like Raj Kapoor’. There are many films in which the film stars pass by the posters of some famous blockbusters, including their own.

But the most delightful self-referential film is Om Shanti Om (2007). The film starts with the scene of picturization of the rockstar Rishi Kapoor’s stage song ‘Om Shanti Om’ in Karz. You see the director Subhash Ghai giving his thumbs up. In the audience there is a motley crowd of hangers on, including a film-crazy aspiring actor Shahrukh Khan. Among other clichés and references are an over-the-top filmi mother Kiron Kher; the heroine caught in fire on the sets being rescued by the ‘hero’ a la Sunil Dutt-Nargis on the sets of Mother India. However, in OSO the wimpy hero is too scared on the sets, forcing the outsider extra Shahrukh Khan to jump in to rescue his ‘heartthrob’ Deepika Padukone, the heroine of the film under production. Later, there is a parade of top film stars at the Filmfare Award function with many of them enacting little scenes of jealousy, pettiness and hypocrisy which had been gossiped in the media; and Madhumati-inspired climax to nail the villain Arjun Rampal. Farah Khan-Shahrukh Khan create a breezy and smart entertainment. In a recent film. a puny actor was mocked for behaving like Sunny Deol. There are a large number of such references in films.

Less known are film songs which refer to the stars. The names mentioned in these songs are a barometer of their standing in the film world. Such songs have been composed from the very early days. Let me present some songs of stars.

I start with three clips from Om Shanti Om which I greatly admire for its clever referencing.

1. Om shanti Om from Karz in the film Om Shanti Om (2007)

Subhash Ghai directing the picturisation of the song, a film-crazy youngster Shahrukh Khan with ambitions of becoming a star in the crowd, his imagining himself in place of Rishi Kapoor on the stage dancing and singing – this is  a great use of technology to create several identifiable references.

2. Funny Filmfare Award function from Om Shanti Om

And here is the spoof of a Filmfare Award function with dozens of real stars playing themselves and mercilessly mocking themselves using all the media gossip about them. You also have Karan Johar cracking some PJs as the anchor of the show. By now, the extra-Shahrukh Khan has been reborn as the arrogant and pompous superstar Om Kapoor.

3. Bas deewanagi deewanagi deewanagi hai by Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan and Rahul Saxena from Om Shanti Om (2007), lyrics Javed Akhtar, music Vishal-Shekhar

And, at the end of the ‘Award Function’ all the real stars dance with the new star Om Kapoor (Shahrukh Khan). You can count about thirty film stars making special-appearances in the song. This song itself was a tribute to the song John Johnny Janardan from Naseeb (1981).

Om Shanti Om had a parade of film stars and other film personalities – totalling over 50 – in cameos and special appearances playing themselves. Now I come to some songs which contained the names of the famous stars, though not picturised on them.

4. Tujhe Bibbo kahun ya Sulochana by Mirza Musharraf and Kamla from Gharib Ke Laal (1939), lyrics Rafi Kashmiri and Kaabil, music Sageer Asif

You might recall from my series on Anil Biswas that Bibbo was one of his favourite actor-singers in the 1930s and 40s. The lyrics of this song almost entirely consists of film stars’ names. There are over two dozen of them giving us a Who’s Who of the era: Bibbo, Sulochana, Uma Shashi, Jamuna, Motilal, Bilimoria, KL Saigal, Jahanara Kajjan, Shanta Kumari, Ratan Bai, Mehtab, Kanan Devi, Jaddan Bai, Gauhar, Sabita, Devika Rani, Durga Khote, Zubeida, Ghouri, Dixit, Charlie, Surendra, Wasti, Kumar and Rafiq Ghazanavi. In a unique telepathy N Venkataraman posted this song in his comment on parody songs a few days back.

5. Choodiyan le le gori by Mohammad Rafi from Paapi (1953), lyrics Raja Mehadi Ali Khan, music S Mohinder

Raj Kapoor is the perfect bangle-seller who charms the girls that his choodis will make them look like Nargis, Meena Kumari and Geeta Bali

6. Khush hai hai zamana aaj pahli taarikh hai by Kishore Kumar from Pahli Taarikh (1954), lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi, music Sudhir Phadke

This iconic song, played on Vividh Bharati on the first day of every month without fail, refers to the names of Agha, Bhagwan, Kishore Kumar, Nimmi, Geeta Bali, Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. Kishore Kumar had this penchant for self-referencing from very early in his career. He would do it more confidently later as we have seen in the embedded parody in the song Gunijano re bhaktajano (Aansoo Aur Muskan, 1970).

7. Dil ke hum shahzade hain surat bhale mawali ki by Hemant Kumar from Lalten (1956), lyrics Kaif Irfani, music Hemant Kumar

Hemant Kumar singing a mawali song is quite unusual. This chap has empty pockets but he keeps the photo of Geeta Bali.

8. Sach kahta hai Johnny Walkar from Aji Bas Shukriya (1958), lyrics Farooq Kaiser, music Roshan

In this song Geeta Bali refers to Johnny Walker who is present in the scene.

9. O data O data de humko bhi ek pyara bangala by Rafi and Asha Bhosle from Aji Bas Shuktiya (1958), lyrics Prem Dhawan, music Roshan

In this song from the same film, the actors ask God for a nice bungalow which would make Meena Kumari, Geeta Bali and Dev Anand die of envy.

10. Tin kanastar peet peet kar gala phadkar chillana by Rafi from Love Marriage (1959), lyrics Shailendra, music Shankar Jaikishan

Dev Anand sings a rare didactic song which Manoj Kumar a.k.a Bharat would specialize in later years. He slams the cacophony which goes for music and eulogises Tansen, Baiju Bawra and Saigal.

11. Ghoom ke aya hun main bandhu Roos, Cheen, England….bajewala Patiyalewala by Rafi and Asha Bhosle from Basant (1960), lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi, music OP Nayyar

You would not find a more big-mouthed and boastful bajewala than Johnny Walker who has come back after travelling to Russia, China and England, to give joy to Indians. Raj Kapoor had played dhol in his band; Rafi and Asha Bhosle loved his band; and he mentored (SD) Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, OP Nayyar and Naushad. You would not miss the self-reference to Rafi and Asha Bhosle who sang the duet, and OP Nayyar who gave the music.

12. Are haan dildaar by Manna Dey and Shamshad Begum from Bewaqoof (1960), lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri, music SD Burman

IS Johar and the lady in a sticky situation behind the radio start singing, filling in the names of film stars:

Jamuna
Suchitra Sen
Kanan Devi
Uttam Kumar
Bhanumati
Padmini
Ragini
Shivaji Ganesan
Gemini
Vasan
Chettiar.

13. Raj Kapoor si nili aankhein Dev Anand ki chaal by Mohammad Rafi and Hemlata from Ma Aur Mamta (1970), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Laxmikant-Pyarelal

Jeetendra and Mumtaz are sitting with their gaggle of friends and exchanging what they desire in their life partner. The comic sidekicks have some exaggerated ideas of what they want. The girl wants in her man Raj Kapoor’s blue eyes, Dev Anand’s gait, Dharmendra’s macho and Dilip Kumar’s hair. She also wants the man to be dandy like Sanjay and shy like Shashi Kapoor. He should be shokh like Rajendra Kumar and baanka like Sunil Dutt. This is some list, but the guy is no less starry-eyed: his girl should have waist of Helen, eyes of Padmini, cheeks of Vimi, style of Asha Parekh, playfulness of Sadhna, height of Nutan and coquettishness of Sharmila Tagore. If you thought this was over-the-top, he also wants in his girl the best attributes of Babita, Nanda, Waheeda Rahman, Leena Chandravarkar and Hema Malini. The lead actors give a surprisingly serious turn. Mumtaz does not care for bungalow and car; she wants her man to be a patriot and a brave person like Subhash Bose and Bhagat Singh. Jeetendra is not far behind; he wants his girl to be like Chaand Bibi and Jhansi Ki Rani.

Note: ‘Stars from Another Sky’ (the expression used in the first paragraph) is the name of a collection of memoirs of Manto about his close friends from the film world. Saadat Hasan Manto, besides being a celebrated Urdu writer, had quite an illustrious career in films as a story and screenplay writer.