I am a fan of relatively old Bollywood music. When I say relatively old I mean from the late 80s to the late 90s/ early 2000s.

I am not such a big fan of the films of that era, today. I was a big fan of those films, at that time. Why the change now? It seems those films were lacking way too much in creativity, and were way too cheesy, compared to many films of today. Of course there were exceptions but the general trend was what I just described.

And yet today I miss so many of the facets/ nuances of these films:

1) The oft-repeated love story, only with small twists in the script, in each movie.

2) The cheesy dialogues, and the cheesier romantic scenes.

3) The actors dancing in parks, on streets, in gardens, on top of buildings, anywhere..

4) 8-10 songs per movie (and 14 like in the case of Hum Aapke Hain Koun).

5) Movies lasting over 165 minutes, sometimes over 200 minutes.

6) First the depressed/ angry heroes (late 80s - early 90s) and then gentle and kind heroes (mid and late 90s).

7) The fact that heroines had little work except being the girls the heroes chased around.

8) The fact that a "hit" movie ran to packed theatres for 3 months, a "superhit" ran to packed theatres for 6 months and a "blockbuster" for a year or more. Today a movie that lasts 3 months is hailed as "one of the biggest hits of all time". Duh.

9) This one I really feel bad about - the fact that actors and actresses of that era had so much more natural or cultivated ability, so much more screen presence and seemed so much more real than those of today.
Yes, this last one is really true in my opinion - what the artistes of today cannot convey through sensational dialogues or dramatic sequences, the artistes of that era could convey through mere expressions.

And of course I miss the melodious music. From Tezaab (1988), all the way to Mohabbatein (2000). The songs of those times weren't just songs; they were musicals. The ample use of instruments coupled with the epic melodies made for some really wonderful music.

I remember how deeply the characters were brought out in Tezaab. Each character from Anil Kapoor's to Madhuri's to Chunky Pandey's to Anupam Kher's to Suresh Oberoi's was very well constructed and almost each character served a purpose in the movie. The film was great because of its characters and of course, its music.

I remember the music of Saajan (1991). It was in my opinion one of the most melodious albums that I have known. Then I remember Divya Bharti in Deewana (1993), and the fact that most of the movie's songs were excellent. I remember loving SRK's role in Baazigar (1993), as the crazy yet calculated anti-hero, and understanding the fact that Darr was his film, and not Sunny Deol's, even though he played a psychotic villian.

I remember Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan in Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994), a movie that lacked good direction and was full of the nonsense that is a North Indian marriage. And yet the movie was superbly carried by Madhuri and Salman and its music. Some of the scenes in the movie are so entrenched in my memory that I will not forget them even when I go senile in old age.

DDLJ was a movie I intially ignored and yet it provided the defining image of 90s Bollywood - the image of SRK and Kajol hugging in a lush green field - one for the ages.

I could go on describing, but I wish to cut it short. Suffice to say that I thorougly enjoyed the songs of now-cheesy and outdated films like Dil To Pagal hai ('97) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai ('98).

And then came Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000) and Hrithik, and he was awesome on debut. I remember how the kids went crazy over his Ek Pal Ka Jeena dance, his hunk like looks and his height, how the movie ran to packed theatres for months and then for a year, and how people boasted about having watched the movie some 20 times, 40 times, 60 times. (I have myself watched it 18 times and I dunno why, it was not THAT good!).

But most of all I miss the fact that many of us had long memories in those days. Our favourite songs and our favourite movies lasted months, even years, in our minds, and we cherished it when we were able to watch these movies, however cheesy they may seem now.

The internet age has undermined the significance of durability in many ways, and yet I might be speaking like an outdated idiot, or a fool, because 30 years later, the internet age of today might seem like a slow, boring, outdated time to those that come after us.

But that old era will never be forgotten, at least by me.