"Down Melody Lane" written by Raju Bharatan a music writer is a kind of autobiography of Indian Hindi playback film music from mid 50s to mid 80s. Raju is a lucky chap who has had a ringside view of all the music directors, composers &singers from the late 40s onwards and on intimate terms with most of them. He has sat with, talked to, listened to compositions, the recordings, the practice sessions and in turn the music idols have disclosed much details to Raju in the process. This book looks at the music rivalries, jealousies, camps, but also gives an insight into the most happening events surrounding the hindi film music during this era which was undoubtedly the golden era of music. The narrative is quite horrible, but in the end it is a most satisfying book because then you are reading about your idols like Naushad, C. Ramachandra, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman, Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mahendra Kapoor, Mukesh etc. etc.
