Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (Editor). Why Do the Classic Film Songs of filmmakers such as Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Chetan Anand, V. Shantaram, B.R. Chopra, still move and inspire us?, 21 July 2026 | In-house Video | 00883635

Deconstructing the Film Song — 16 iconic songs from the golden age of Indian cinema, and the filmmakers - Chetan Anand, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, V. Shantaram and B.R. Chopra - lyricists. Why do the classic film songs stay with us for a lifetime? As Neville Tuli frames it in this Introduction, these songs have shaped our country, our people, and the world — and this series integrates the film song within the Modern and Contemporary India Studies academic framework for the first time. Across the sessions, nine distinguished panelists — scholars, practitioners and lovers of the Hindi film song — unpack how lyric, melody, performance, lighting and image fuse into something larger than entertainment: songs of heartbreak and joy, songs inspiring patriotism and with a moral core, songs with an emotional and spiritual energy, connecting to every human being who is part of India. From Shailendra's reflection on ideas of community, love, and belonging in Raj Kapoor’s films and Kaifi Azmi’s lyrics shaping ideas of romance and nationalism in Chetan Anand’s films, to Sahir Ludhianvi evoking the artist’s disillusionment in Guru Dutt’s cinema, and the changing pulse of the nation captured in the cinema of BR Chopra and V Shantaram; every song is examined as being an integral part of the film, pulsating in public memory long after the screen life, so nurturing the idea, energy and pulse of India. This reel is the introduction to 'A Musical Glue for Nation-Building: Deconstructing the Film Song', presented by the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (T.R.I.S.) at the 7th Self-Discovery via Rediscovering India Festival.