The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Bollywood

Bollywood rode high in the 60s and 70s. Playback singers were the stars of their day and musical directors had serious resources at their disposal. The big names of Bollywood’s golden age – singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi and composing duos like Laxmikant & Pyarelal and Kalyanji & Anandji – all feature on this collection. A bonus disc of music by the composer RD Burman makes for two hours of breathless music in all.

In their pursuit of commercial success, Bollywood films had always taken on and Indian-ised Western styles, but the hippy movement was itself already the lovechild of the East and West. Psychedelia, when it arrived in Bollywood, was gloriously overblown and this collection captures the uninhibited innovation of composers and demonstrates the scope of studio orchestras. The pace is frantic, with thundering percussion, roaring guitars, synthesizers and blaring brass. There are two tracks from the 1971 film Hare Rama Hare Krishna, which actually dealt with the subject of hippiedom. Other big dance hits of the day include a sitar-led tune sung by Asha Bhosle, made famous recently by a Black Eyed Peas sample, and the all-time Bollywood classic ‘Jaan Pehechaan Ho, sung by Mohammed Rafi.