This is a Random Album Generator.
One album a day.
From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Shalimar

Rahul Dev Burman

1978

Shalimar

Album Summary

Shalimar (Hindi : शालीमार) is a 1978 Bollywood film, written and directed by Krishna Shah. The movie starred Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Shammi Kapoor, Prem Nath and Aruna Irani. English actor Rex Harrison and American actors John Saxon and Sylvia Miles appear in supporting roles in their first and only Bollywood film. Jayamalini does a dance number in the film. This was the last time that Mohammed Rafi's voice was picturized on Shammi Kapoor. Its English version is known as Raiders of the Sacred Stone. Rex Harrison's voice was dubbed by Kader Khan. The plot is inspired by the novel The Vulture is a Patient Bird by James Hadley Chase.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.62

Votes

5169

Genres

  • World
Reviews
Like a review? Give it a thumb up to help us display relevant reviews!
Sort by: Top Date
View Author
Fri May 27 2022
4

Shit like this on the list is both refreshing and infuriating. Refreshing because it is good, fun, interesting, and also not something I would regularly be exposed to! It's why I started this project and keeps me coming back. It's infuriating because the fact that it is included here means that Robert Dimery, the original author of the 1001 albums list is aware that music like this exists. He's clearly aware that there is an entire world of music out there. SO WHY HAVE I LISTENED TO 200 80s BRITISH NEW WAVE ALBUMS AND 200 SCOTTISH ROCK ALBUMS FROM THE 90S??!!?

👍
View Author
Wed Jan 26 2022
3

I did like this album, but I wonder how familiar the author of 1001 albums is with Indian music and whether they would have selected this movie soundtrack if they had the same breadth of familiarity that they obviously have with american & english music.

👍
View Author
Sun Nov 28 2021
5

Really good as far as movie soundtracks go!

👍
View Author
Thu Apr 14 2022
5

I'll take a lot more where that came from. What a bright spot! It seems to have an optimism that might have been more common a decade earlier, combined with that wonderful Indian sound that brings me right back to Jaipur.

👍
View Author
Thu Dec 02 2021
4

This was a funky listen! Also, indicative of how much of an afterthought world music is to this list. The original entry was "Shalimar/College Girl" because the list author had a bootleg album that threw two unrelated soundtracks together! 😆 "College Girl" is also worth checking out. The track "College Girl 'I Love You'" lifts a chunk of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" which is fun, and "Everybody Dance With Me" uses the riff from Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vita"... Fave track (on Shalimar) - "Countess Caper (Music)" - loved that Bollywood spaghetti western vibe! The opening track "Title Music" was also very atmospheric...

👍
View Author
Tue Nov 23 2021
3

i literally could only listen to two songs but they were nice !!!!!

👍
View Author
Tue Nov 23 2021
3

Interesting, I don't think I'd listen to it again but I enjoyed it.

👍
View Author
Mon Jan 03 2022
3

This was pretty fun to listen to but really just in a kitschy way. It's not very good.

👍
View Author
Sat Jul 16 2022
5

LET´S DO CHAHACHABURU

👍
View Author
Fri Sep 02 2022
5

j'adore, très riche musicalement

👍
View Author
Fri Nov 25 2022
5

This absolutely slapped

👍
View Author
Sun Jan 29 2023
5

Crazy but I’m totally into this. I’d have never thought I’d enjoy it so much. I’d definitely listen to this again.

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 22 2023
5

Id listen to this movie all day

👍
View Author
Sun Jan 09 2022
4

that was actually surprisingly impressive I’m not a big fan of indian music (or bollywood movies) but this actually had some really nice production overall I can overlook the parts of the album I found annoying for the quality of the overall music - 8/10

👍
View Author
Fri Jan 14 2022
4

I thought I wasn't going to like this, but the energy sold me. I couldn't get over how vibrant and melodic this was, even if the vocals were sometimes "not my style".

👍
View Author
Fri Feb 04 2022
4

4.1 + Colorful and varied. There's a quirky dance number with lots of instrumental layers ("One Two Cha Cha Cha"), a pretty love ballad ("Hum Bewafa Hargiz Na Thay") and some lush, cinematic instrumentals that tie in different musical influences (e.g. flamenco, Indian folk, big band jazz, funk...).

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 10 2022
4

Swag

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 10 2022
4

I personally prefer the instrumentals but it’s awesome that this is here at all. Go watch Kal Ho Naa Ho

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 10 2022
4

Banger 💥

👍
View Author
Fri Feb 18 2022
4

Che spasso! Mi sono proprio divertita, una ventata d'aria fresca.

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 24 2022
4

i watched many a bollywood movie in my youth, but not this one! so i went into this with high hopes, bias, and more bollywood knowledge than most people have. this album has a pure seventies bollywood vibe! i have fallen in love with the romantic theme, but the other instrumentals are just as good. this album really jumps around in genres, and it can get corny at times with the sampling of english songs, but that's what adds to this soundtrack's charm. a fun, joyous listen. it doesn't have to be taken seriously.

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 24 2022
4

Ich bin ein bisschen überrascht, dass ichs so mochte.

👍
View Author
Thu Mar 31 2022
4

It's nothing something I would listen to over and over again, but that is just because of my own cultural and generation biases.

👍
View Author
Fri Apr 08 2022
4

Me encantó, la pasé re bien.

👍
View Author
Mon Apr 11 2022
4

A scintillating and engaging soundtrack.

👍
View Author
Thu Apr 14 2022
4

I can go for this. He's like the Mancini of Bollywood. I genuinely enjoy these types of 60s and 70s soundtracks. Super entertaining. Love the blending of so many genres.

👍
View Author
Sun May 15 2022
4

Absolute joy. How does it rate in the grand scheme of things? No idea. But loved it!

👍
View Author
Fri May 27 2022
4

This was fun Bollywood action, let’s watch this movie

👍
View Author
Wed Aug 03 2022
4

Very interesting fusion on some of the songs, and some just generally fun ones.

👍
View Author
Sun Aug 07 2022
4

I really had low expectations going into this album, but a couple of songs in, I was already hooked. The instrumentals are just out of this world and very unique, which I suppose makes sense since this was a movie. Wish I could have understood what was being sung, but it was entertaining even though I couldn't.

👍
View Author
Thu Aug 18 2022
4

Really cool instruments and groovy vibe. Never have heard of this before, but iti was really good.

👍
View Author
Fri Aug 26 2022
4

Something fun and different, exactly what I signed up for

👍
View Author
Fri Sep 02 2022
4

It all sounds like a set of poorly-recorded random Indian pop music, but I liked it!

👍
View Author
Sun Oct 09 2022
4

quite interesting and I have not really expected this 7/10

👍
View Author
Fri Oct 21 2022
4

When this record came up, I prejudged it as another Ravi Shankar-esque album before even hearing the first note... and then I forgot about it. Going back to see the albums I missed I put this one and whoa... it's wonderfully eclectic and awesome. It's a mix of Morricone-esque numbers, with Indian instruments, quite a lot of good tongue in cheek, some bossa nova - it's a delight from start to finish. Looking back I feel like an ass for missing out on this.

👍
View Author
Wed Nov 02 2022
4

I couldn't find this album anywhere.

👍
View Author
Wed Dec 21 2022
4

I’m glad this album was included but it really draws attention to the fact that Indian music is not well represented on this list. The album itself clearly has taken its direction from western music and has a bit of a classic 60s movie soundtrack sound with some really lovely Bollywood and Indian Classical motifs front and center. I wish I knew enough to really be able to understand this better.

👍
View Author
Fri Dec 30 2022
4

Did not understand a word in this album yet it was still soo beautiful.

👍
View Author
Sun Jan 08 2023
4

Excellent! Never heard it before and now in the heavy rotation list!

👍
View Author
Sun Feb 05 2023
4

Fun and interesting and still a pretty chilled thing to have on in the background. I can't say it was particularly my thing but there were a couple of songs I did quite like. Not sure if I'll come back to it any time soon but I'm certainly intrigued about the movie. Favourite: One Two Cha Cha Cha

👍
View Author
Fri Feb 10 2023
4

Loved loved loved the opening three tracks. So good - Indisco. It gets a bit more rote after that but is still a solid Bollywood soundtrack.

👍
View Author
Fri Feb 10 2023
4

A delight with a mix of styles and lots of pleasing melodies and hooks and riffs, though, even as an Indophile, one's not totally clear as to just what to make of it. One's glad to have heard. Definitely worthy.

👍
View Author
Thu Mar 09 2023
4

Only half of this is actually available on Stupify, and I couldn't very easily find an alternative source for the full release, but based on what I heard I can comfortably give this a 4/5 I very very much enjoyed it. I really need to dig into more Bollywood stuff, as I absolutely love a lot of what I've heard but I also really don't know shit!

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 22 2023
4

This was way better than I was expecting

👍
View Author
Fri Mar 24 2023
4

I was not expecting this to contain so many bangers

👍
View Author
Wed Mar 29 2023
4

Better than I expected. I loved the general vibe and nodded my head more than once.

👍
View Author
Tue Nov 23 2021
3

Is that Mark Ruffalo on the cover?

👍
View Author
Tue Nov 30 2021
3

No se puede escuchar en Spotify

👍
View Author
Fri Dec 24 2021
3

Grappig , beetje 70 s rock met dan wat Indische elementen

👍
View Author
Thu Jan 06 2022
3

Hurrrr

👍
View Author
Thu Jan 06 2022
3

A little strange, but made me smile

👍
View Author
Thu Jan 06 2022
3

Almost 4

👍
View Author
Thu Jan 20 2022
3

This is awesome! You never know what you're going to get listening to the soundtrack for a film you've never seen. It's a widely diverse soundtrack. Lots of swelling instrumentation. A surprisingly fun listen!

👍
View Author
Sun Jan 23 2022
3

Cracking mix of modern and classical tracks.

👍
View Author
Thu Jan 27 2022
3

This album was one of the more unique ones on this list and overall I enjoyed it. It is hard to properly rate when this is such an unfamiliar type of music to me. No recognized songs

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 03 2022
3

While I still appreciate getting albums like this, this is the first one I didn't enjoy very much. The last few songs were pretty good but the rest were more annoying than anything.

👍
View Author
Mon Feb 07 2022
3

intresting. worth a re listen

👍
View Author
Fri Feb 11 2022
3

Odd, but not bad

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 17 2022
3

If you're wondering where the '90s exotica thing borrowed heavily from, then this is your album.

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 17 2022
3

A pleasant surprise, not what I expected based on the album cover. It's a lot less Bollywood-sounding than it looks. The title music sounds like something from a 70s Hollywood thriller and other instrumentals have shades of Morricone western soundtracks. The film sounds pretty good as well.

👍
View Author
Thu Feb 24 2022
3

This is super interesting - there's multiple genres in these tunes. I actually enjoyed listening to this while I worked.

👍
View Author
Fri Feb 25 2022
3

I was a bit worried when I heard the opening bars using a time signature that made zero sense to my ears, that I was in for a long 40mins. But this turned into a pretty fun mixture of of East meets West and absolutely everything in between. No chance I’ll come back and listen again though.

👍
View Author
Mon Mar 14 2022
3

Shalimar was new music for me and I've never heard of Rahul Dev Burman. "One Two Cha Cha" was my least favorite track. Perhaps there was one other track that I was ready to have it finish sooner. I liked listening to something new and from a different culture. At this moment I'm not feeling like I should go check out the movie any time soon, but that could change.

👍
View Author
Sun Mar 27 2022
3

What a completely seemingly random assortment of musical styles. No idea what this film could be about. An interesting listen but I'll probably never listen again.

👍
View Author
Sat Apr 02 2022
3

This clearly ain’t my usual bag, but this ain’t all that bad… defo listenable!

👍
View Author
Wed Apr 06 2022
3

Was pleasantly surprised. It was a very solid listen, with some decent production.

👍
View Author
Thu Apr 14 2022
3

I'm assuming this is iconic due to reasons I am not familiar with. It's... ok?

👍
View Author
Fri Apr 15 2022
3

First Bollywood soundtrack I have listened to all the way through. Really enjoyed it, found the wee references to "western" music sprinkled throughout very interesting. Hard to pick a favourite track, other than to mention that "one two cha cha cha" is probably the most immediate

👍
View Author
Wed Apr 20 2022
3

“I don’t quite know how I feel” - Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

👍
View Author
Fri May 20 2022
3

05/19/2022 Actually pretty killer. Lots of it sounds like a 70's action soundtrack.

👍
View Author
Thu May 26 2022
3

Strange one

👍
View Author
Thu Jun 02 2022
3

India. Bollywood

👍
View Author
Sun Jun 05 2022
3

As far as soundtracks to movies I've never seen go, this isn't too bad.

👍
View Author
Fri Jun 10 2022
3

I haven't seen this movie, but this sound track paints a picture of both the content and the time frame it comes from. Not my kinda music, but good listen anyway.

👍
View Author
Sun Jun 12 2022
3

Wasn’t sure when I first seen this album, but was enjoyable and glad Iv listened to it, probably deserves to be on the list.

👍
View Author
Mon Jun 13 2022
3

Curiosa descoberta. Banda sonora de Bollywood plena d'influències de tot tipus, incloent occidentals. Música diferent a la qual estem acostumats a Europa, i molt consistent

👍
View Author
Wed Jun 15 2022
3

I've already said my piece about how soundtracks shouldn't be on this list. But, I still really enjoyed this music. It was a mix of cultures, styles, genres, and even eras that somehow worked together. I almost want to see the movie now.

👍
View Author
Fri Jul 08 2022
3

R. D. Burman is a behemoth of a workhorse within the Bollywood industry. Between his start in 1966 to his final film in 1987 (a mere 7 years before his death), Burman would have release 331 film scores. Shalimar is just one piece of his long legacy. Almost coming full circle, the characteristics of South Asian music that influenced psychedelic music are now giving a psychedelic edge to this soundtrack. Shalimar was apparently slated for crossover appeal to America, allowing Bollywood to break out and garner worldwide success. Too bad it was anything but. Given the 70's track record of soundtracks tinged with psychedelia (see: Shaft in 1971, Superfly in 1972), it makes sense for this soundtrack to follow relatively close behind. As far as soundtracks go, this one is fine. I don't know much about Bollywood nor do I find it particularly captivating, so the appeal of this soundtrack is sadly limiting.

👍
View Author
Thu Jul 21 2022
3

couldn’t really understand it, but it didn’t sound bad!! :))

👍
View Author
Fri Jul 22 2022
3

Best Indian James Bond soundtrack I've ever listened to most of

👍
View Author
Mon Jul 25 2022
3

Fun, a little jazzy, a little spicy, a little trippy, frequently elegant. Makes me curious to see the film. Fave Songs: Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai, Naag Devta, Romantic Theme, Mera Pyaar Shalimar, Title Music (Shalimar)

👍
View Author
Wed Aug 17 2022
3

Definitely interesting.

👍
View Author
Fri Sep 02 2022
3

¡Saquen el curry! Me pasa con estos discos que es muy difícil saber qué tanto valen la pena. No sé nada de esa música entonces tengo pocos parámetros: si solo pienso en mi gusto personal, podría salir muy bajo, pero tampoco creo que valga ponerle 5 estrellas porque es el disco más relevante en su nicho musical específico. Tomando eso en cuenta, creo que este disco no es desagradable, al contrario, es un fondo musical muy chido, aunque no sé en qué momento podría escucharlo de nuevo. Así que en balance, le alcanza para 3 estrellas.

👍
View Author
Fri Sep 02 2022
3

The title track, 'Title Music (Shalimar)', is great! When I heard that I was stoked for the album to come. From there, it was a pretty even split though. Tracks like 'Countess' Caper', 'Naag Devta', and 'Baby Let's Dance Together' kept the same vibe going, while the rest either made me want to rip my headphones off or just kind of bored me. Perhaps if most of the tracks didn't sound like a one-track dub off of an old television speaker, there would've been more to enjoy. In any case, I'm really happy to see more international representation on the list and I'll definitely be adding 'Title Music' to my playlist.

👍
View Author
Sun Sep 11 2022
3

I refuse to review this album because it is a fucking travesty that the 1,001 albums generator has continued during such a tragic week. RIP week 7 of the 2022-2023 Premier League season. Long live week 8 of the 2022-2023 Premier League season (and Godspeed to those rearranging week 7).

👍
View Author
Thu Sep 15 2022
3

Reminds me why I'll always melt for belly dancers.

👍
View Author
Wed Sep 28 2022
3

Sounds like the soundtrack to a cheesy Bollywood movie. Oh wait, it is a soundtrack to a cheesy Bollywood movie. It's okay, but not quite sure why it's on this list. 3 stars.

👍
View Author
Wed Oct 05 2022
3

Bollywood rocks. It is Bollywood right? Very sprightly. A nice change from The Smiths albums that have been popping up on an all too regular basis. .2% of the best 1000 albums ever recorded were by The Smiths. Unto me render a break.

👍
View Author
Thu Oct 06 2022
3

Less high energy than I expected, but a pleasant background listen. 3.5

👍
View Author
Fri Oct 07 2022
3

Title Music opens with a stuttering rhythm, one of the more unusual Indian musical ideas I've heard. The rest of the score is fun; It seems to be a wide survey, integrating jazz interestingly and featuring a variety of vocalists and moods.

👍
View Author
Fri Oct 07 2022
3

Interesting listen - but never again.

👍
View Author
Fri Oct 14 2022
3

Not my bag. I'm not wild about the vocalizations in eastern music. I recognize, however, the talent to do it, I just don't enjoy listening to it.

👍
View Author
Fri Oct 14 2022
3

I don’t know about this one. It’s cool to hear music from around the world, as this is, but I don’t really grasp why this particular soundtrack was selected to the list. It was fine, with some enjoyable tracks, but if it’s more than that I can’t tell. Naag Devta stands out as a pretty righteous sounding tune with compelling harmonies.

👍
View Author
Wed Nov 02 2022
3

This seemed like kind of a goof mostly, it didn’t really scan for me as something to sit down and just listen to as an album. I did kind of want to join in a big crazy costume dance number.

👍
View Author
Thu Nov 03 2022
3

It's like Bond-esque funk, met a spaghetti western in India and decided to stay.

👍
View Author
Sun Nov 06 2022
3

Enjoyable album from the start until the end, solid and interesting tracks overall.

👍
View Author
Wed Nov 23 2022
3

Entertaining for what it is

👍
View Author
Mon Dec 12 2022
3

Surprisingly good

👍
View Author
Fri Dec 23 2022
3

Obviously art but I wouldn't listen to it regularly.

👍
View Author
Sun Dec 25 2022
3

3/5. A fairly enjoyable soundtrack with fun instrumentation. The hits are the vocal tracks though.

👍
Load more reviews