Let`s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. You probably sung this to the tune of one of the most iconic songs — Do-Re-Mi — from your childhood.
The Sound of Music (1965), arguably, is responsible for teaching us Do-Re-Mi, the Western music equivalent of Sa-Re-Ga.
It has been 60 years, but the movie holds our hearts just like it did the very first time. Whether you were a preteen or 16 going on 17, there was a song for every age. The music was probably what still takes people back to a film they first watched in childhood. “I still go back to the songs, especially My Favourite Things. If I’m not wrong, it was trending on Instagram too at some point, but I think not everyone knew where it came from,” says Anushka Sawarkar, a German trainer and content writer.
Julie Andrews (centre) with the cast who played the von Trapp children, during The Sound of Music’s 40th anniversary reunion in 2005 in New York City. Pic/Getty Images
Originating from Maria von Trapp’s biography about her family of musicians who fled Austria under Nazi rule for America, The Sound of Music Broadway musical, was adapted into the film by director Robert Wise in 1965.
It won multiple Academy awards, sweeping the world, and saw partial adaptations in Indian cinema as well — Minnaram (1994) in Malayalam, Parichay (1972) in Hindi, Jay Jayanti (1971) in Bengali, and Shanthi Nilayam (1969) in Tamil. In 2023, the film Music School bought rights to three songs from The Sound of Music: Do Re Mi, So Long Farewell and Sixteen Going on Seventeen. They were rearranged to suit Indian audiences by composer Ilaiyaraaja with the support of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
(From Left) Ekta Bakhle, Anushka Sawarkar, Noel Mathew, Vanita Visvanath and Aakanksha Singh Devi
For many in India, their first encounter with the film was with family. Aakanksha Singh Devi, a content professional, says, “It’s a very lively film, and out of the seven kids, you could relate to each one at least once. It was a film that was relatable till you were 15 or 16.”
Ekta Bakhle, a pet nutritionist and entrepreneur, first saw it in Class 2 when her aunt lent her a CD of the film, and she fell in love with it. “I was too young to understand the war and why they had to flee, but I loved the songs,” she says, admitting that she may have watched the film in its entirety almost 150 times.
Anshul Joshi
Many, like Anshul Joshi, an AI filmmaker, watched it in school at least once every year. “The music is what I remember the most,” he says, “Every song was a banger. Some were playful, some serious. You have to listen to the songs to know why it’s great.” Joshi shares that when the Broadway musical made its Indian debut in 2023 at The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai, he watched it four times.
Bakhle travelled to Mumbai from Pune to watch the Broadway show at NMACC. “I went alone; I had saved up for the ticket and watching it gave me goosebumps,” she says, adding that she had written her version of My Favourite Things for a school assignment. And, she and her cousins came up with another version of the song for their grandfather’s 75th birthday.
If you grew up in the ’80s and ’90s and attended a convent school, chances are you performed one of the songs on stage. “I have vivid memories… We performed it for our annual day in Class 4,” says Vanita Visvanath, a content writer.
Sawarkar believes it’s the songs that truly made the film stick. “There’s a certain innocence to them,” she says, adding that the lyrics played a part in teaching her English vocabulary in her early years.
The iconic numbers are relevant today, too. You could sing Do-Re-Mi anytime to introduce someone to Western music notes, tease a niece with Sixteen Going on Seventeen, hum Edelweiss if you are feeling particularly patriotic, or count your favourite things on a bad day. “I love Favourite Things. You know how they say, look for glimmers, not triggers in your day — This song is a personification of that. It’s a good reminder; I love listening to it,” says Visvanath.
Beloved as the film’s songs are, the other aspects of the film are nothing short of brilliant, too. Noel Mathew, an advertising professional, who re-watched the film recently, adds, “The story is good, the writing is brilliant, the performances are lovely… More than anything, it’s nostalgia, it’s a piece of childhood.”
Mathew is one of the fans we spoke to, who took the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg to the locations where the film was shot. Speaking of her experience of the tour, Singh Devi says, “It’s a bus ride with people who enjoy the music. Everyone sings along, and it’s lovely.”
Joshi opted for the cycle tour instead, to the different locations.
Special screenings of the film and other events are planned to celebrate the film’s 60th anniversary in Salzburg, while in Germany, screenings are between September 20-23. Visvanath says, “My sister lives in Germany, and she’s going. I have never seen it in the theatre, so I’m hoping they re-release the film in India too.”