Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

With the song of KAMINEY ''Raat Ke Dhai Baje'', Gulzar has shifted the notion of midnight as it exists in the Indian social system milieu. It indeed is an acknowledgment about the fact that the notion of midnight as it existed in the Indian lexicon has shifted, what with the working hours stretching to beyond 10.00 clock in the night. These minor nuances of societal change that Gulzar is able to bring about through his lyrics are what make him enduring and appealing across the generations. It is after all indeed the hour to trigger the idea of love among the couples and Gulzar has indeed with his song in KAMINEY in perspective.

The notion of night to indulge in love games in the Hindi film industry has been associated with the midnight. Some of the famous songs or the moments of Hindi film that underline the importance of the midnight before Gulzar pushed the bar through KAMINEY to take it to 2.30 a.m. include:

KAALA BAZAAR: The moment when Waheeda Rehman tells Dev Anand that she now has to go home as she is feeling sleepy as the time is nearing 12.00, Dev Anand bursts into ''Khoya Khoya Chand'', which is one of the most romantic songs shot in Black and white underlining the fact that romance starts kindling in a more luminous manner as the night reaches its apogee.

RAZIA SULTAN: This 1961 film when it was made for the first time had an interesting ode to night with the song ''Dhalti Jaaye raat, kahle dil ki baat'' and this song was filmed on Nirupa Roy and Jairaj, written by Anand Bakshi!

AN EVENING IN PARIS: Sharmila Tagore and Shammi Kapoor crooning in the night in the by-lanes of Paris ''singing '' Raat Ke humsafar thak ke ghar ko chale'', was also one of the songs that starts unfolding around the midnight and is underlining the fact that while the lovers are returning to their abode as the midnight is approaching it would be better if they still indulge in spread of passion.

CHARAS: The song ''Kal Ki Haseen Mulakat Ke liye'', is again one of the songs that eulogize the spirit of romance as it unfolds in the night and Dharmendra and Hema Malini serenading in the by-lanes of Europe when the world is slowly going to sleep is a romantic odyssey.

RAZIA SULTAN: When RAZIA SULTAN was again made by Kamal Amrohi once again he must have had to live with the legacy of ''Dhalti Jaaye raat'' and Kaifi Azmi came up with ' Choom Kar raat sulayegi to neend aayegi'', a lover waiting for her beloved to come silently in the midnight and flow her off her feat. The anticipation of the lover through the song is what had made it one of the great love songs of all times set in the midnight.

MAHAAN: The mischievous song sung by Kishore Kumar and enacted on Big B and Zeenat Aman with the lyrics '' Aadhi Raat Ho chuki tu aadhi baat kar le'', is one of the unsung songs of the Indian cinema that underline the value of time in developing affections between the lovers.

TEZAAB: If Nitin Mukesh really came into reckoning once again it was through this song of TEZAAB ''so gaya yeh jahan'', is a song that unfolds around the midnight and it provides the existentialist dilemma that youth on the wrong side of the law faces, and for him to have a feel of the world the midnight is the time only when they can venture out.

So, midnight indeed is the time when the romance comes out in its element. How would it be interpreted after Gulzar has shifted the bar of midnight from 12.00 to 2.30 a.m. after KAMINEY would be interesting to watch!