30 Years Later: My Favorite Song of all Time

Well, I have been wanting to talk about this song for a while, and May 22, 2022, is its 30th anniversary. So I think it is time to give a few words about Pehla Nasha (The First Glance), my favorite song of all time.

Song: Pehla Nasha

Singers: Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam

Composers: Jatin-Lalit

Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Given the amount of time I dedicate to music, this is a dramatic statement, and I know that I change my mind constantly, but no song has ever affected me quite like Pehla Nasha. It is a legendary song that everyone should hear.

At the onset, it makes no sense for this song to be the greatest of all time. It comes from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, a fun, if unremarkable Bollywood musical from the early '90s. The song is somewhat unremarkably treated by the film directors, with a slow-motion video accompanying it that truly does not do the song justice, even cutting out the first few seconds on YouTube. The rest of the film's songs are fine, but nothing really special. Despite all that, Pehla Nasha is a favorite and a cult classic within India, and for good reason, the song is perfect.

I don't say that easily, most of my 10/10 songs are at least partially flawed. Pehla Nasha is not so, I genuinely cannot think of an error within the song. For nearly five minutes, we get some of the most engaging music ever created. I earnestly don't even know where to start writing about this song, but I will try the best I can.

First, let us look at the cultural context around Pehla Nasha's release. The '80s saw Bollywood losing influence over India's listening habits to Indipop, with rage-induced dance music being the trend of the time. There were more melodic moments, but they were aimed at a generation seeking challenges. In the late '80s, things begin to change, and a new generation rose, driven by optimism and hope. This new generation's aspirations would eventually be cut short by a few rocky events, but from the late '80s and early '90s, Bollywood altered its music for this sound.

It was quite a natural change, however. From the late '40s to the late '80s, Bollywood's musical talents were largely the same. Don't get me wrong, I love that generation's singers such as Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, and Asha Bhosle, as well as the composers SD Burman, RD Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, and more. However, many of them had passed away, and others decreased in influence (the exception being Lata Mangeshkar, who would still remain a dominant force for years), and a new generation came in, with a new T-Series being the voice of the new generation.

The film that brought the major change was 1988's Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, a movie directed by Nasir Hussain, debuting his nephew, the now-omnipresent Aamir Khan, while relying on his longtime lyricist friend Majrooh Sultanpuri and newcomer music team Anand-Miland for the music. They called in young blood singers Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan to sing the songs. The end result is a revolutionary album that has only improved with time. Songs like Ae Mere Humsafar were the template for what was to come, with pop-based melodies, nostalgic tunes, and orchestral instrumentation.

Four years later, Nasir Hussain returned with a new movie, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, this time with a slightly altered musical team. While Majrooh Sultanpuri was still the lyricist, Jatin-Lalit came in as the composers. Additionally, along with the previous singers, some new talents were brought in. Pehla Nasha is a duet between Udit Narayan and the then-popular Sadhana Sargam. This is two singers at the top of their game, working with a lyricist and composition team at the top of their game. In many ways, the voice of the youth of the nation came through this song.

Now, let us finally analyze the song, second by second, using TheBiasList's breaking down the song format!

0:00 - 0:25: Simply put, the greatest opening of any song, ever. The simple piano melody here is nostalgic and dreamy. I love how at 0:21 it starts a descending melody.

0:25 - 0:45: Sadhana Sargam opens with a refrain that is never again repeated throughout the entire track. She speaks about how she can sense love, though it is never stated. We initially get some small keyboard synths from the '80s, with a natural and melodic sound. At 0:40, we get an acoustic guitar that continues for a little longer than Sadhana. I love how you can tell it is a real guitar, it feels natural, breathing, and organic.

0:46 - 0:59: We get a few punching drums before the piano from the song's intro returns with an entirely new melody. The drums and bass play so nicely along with the piano, the texture here is immaculate.

0:59 - 1:11: One thing I love about this song is how it makes the most of small changes. The guitar returns, playing call and response with the piano, which continues on its own too. Notice that incredible hi-hat at 1:10, it works perfectly within the scope of the song.

1:12 - 1:43: We get the chorus, the greatest chorus in pop history. I could write an essay about everything good within this chorus, I really can.

Udit Narayan opens, with a Tabla joining the drum sense. His melody is a major pentatomic, meaning there are all only five notes he uses to sing. Nothing here is groundbreaking, but the melody surges and dreams. It feels like both a new beginning and an emotional farewell. It is perfect. Udit Narayan sounds young, tugging at your heartstrings when asking his love what should he do. Udit may not be the most technical vocalist here, but I earnestly don't know any singer (minus a young Mohammad Rafi) who could succeed in a youthful segment like this. Udit sings about first love, his questions and his emotions. This could seem superficial, but Majrooh Sultanpuri by this point was an expert in extrapolating the emotions of first love, and we see that in the lyrics here.

The instrumentation here, however, is king. I love the perlocating, breathing percussion. From the hi-hats to the tabla beats, there is something so organic about the instrumentation here that no song has been able to repeat. After Udit sings the first phrase of the chorus, we get the soft, synth instrumentation, it feels real and natural in the context. Soon, the instrumentation grows as the acoustic guitar comes back with a fresh and airy melody, while the piano plays subtly assists. At the same time, a strings orchestra comes and reaches for the sky. The dynamic between all these instruments is so natural that it is easy to miss, but it is genius nonetheless.

1:44 - 2:05: Before giving us a verse, Jatin-Lalit give us an instrumental breakdown. The perfect percussion continues but in a more laidback form. The piano takes centerstage here, with a melody for the ages. It perfectly allows the listener to take in what the song has given us already.

2:06 - 2:43: Two minutes into the song, we get our first verse. The wait is certainly worth it though. Most verses in pop are subservient to the chorus, but the dreamy verses of Pehla Nasha equal the chorus. I think it is safe to call them the best verses in pop history.

Udit Narayan's singing here is initially calm for the first thirty seconds, with a dreamy sense of wonder, unmatched in the world. The melody is perfect, but the instrumental interludes thrive once again. In a way, they are similar to IU's Good Day, in their widescale ambition. Over here, however, the instrumentation is much calmer. We get a flute singing for the first call-and-response, followed by the surging strings orchestra, leading to a repeat of the verse's line, just with surging strings, making you feel like you are floating on the clouds.

The final refrain of the verse is basically perfect. It surges as if the sky and Earth were meeting together after ages, as suggested by the lyrics. The melody refuses to play a linear game here, jumping from note to note, with the strings reaching their peak with the guitar assisting. This is so incredible it genuinely has brought me to tears before.

2:44 - 3:17: The greatest chorus of all time returns. I don't have much to add on it right here, but it is basically perfect and needed no changes. The additional musical context of the verse also helps the chorus shine even more. I have no idea how, but each repetition of the chorus feels more conclusive, more declarative than the previous.

3:18 - 3:39: The greatest instrumental interlude ever. The percussion takes backstage, and the violins settle to assist, as a saxophone comes, with a dreamy and romantic melody. There is no overt cheese here, just instrumental wonder. If one listens carefully, one could notice City Pop elements within Pehla Nasha's soundscape. There are saxophones, groovy production, and a laidback melody. The thing is, it does not feel quite "city", even if inspired by that sound. I would call Pehla Nasha "field pop", bursting through the open fields of wheat and flowers, with an open sky with all the stars or the smiling sun rising within your line of sight. After a brief but melodic violin segment, we are on to the next verse.

3:40 - 4:18: We get the song's second verse by the time most songs would call it quits. The melody and instrumentation are the same as the first, but Sadhana Sargam sings this one. She was twenty-four at the time of singing this song, and she provides some youthful energy no one else could embed in a track like this. After her introductory lines, this is her first stanza in the song, and well worth the wait. Like Udit, Sadhana was never the most technical singer but could bring a song to life, and she does so perfectly through the verse here. I love the little touches she provides. I love that little flourish at 4:03, which Udit tackled in a slightly more straightforward manner. While Udit bursts with passion in his singing, Sadhana is more nostalgic, and I love how well they play off each other, even if their voices don't meet.

4:19 - 4:43: The chorus returns, this time sung by Sadhana. As with the verse, she provides a slightly more nostalgic and mellow performance, even taking it a notch down from her verse. The instrumentation mellows down with her, creating a subtle dreamy feel, while slowly fading away the song itself, like a dream you are finally waking up from. I love the Sadhana's little ad-libs from 4:36 onwards, melodic and floating up.

4:34 - 4:54: Sadhana's ad-libs flow right into the outro, where a flute repeats a dreamy melody, that goes down and up. It ends perfectly at the bottom, a satisfying awakening from a beautiful dream, a return home after a wonderful walk, a return to your home. It is so simple, yet so effective.

I feel reluctant to score Pehla Nasha, it is one of the few songs that genuinely transcends any rating I could give it. It is not a song, it is music in the best way possible. For the youth, it makes you look forward to the future while letting the old look back at their past. I can't say anything bad about it. I rarely say this, but I genuinely think Pehla Nasha is an experience, a song that one must hear before we go. It is essential, it is a showcasing of music at its very best.

Image Source: YouTube