'Shalimar'

This is an odd choice for the list. It’s a soundtrack to a Hindi film in 1978 called Shalimar. It starred what appears to be some of the more popular Hindi film stars of the day in addition to Rex Harrison.

Harrison plays a dying crime lord who challenges the best thieves in all the land to steal a precious gem, Shalimar. S.S. Kumar plays a low-level thief, who through a series of misunderstandings and identity theft is adopted into the inner sanctum of the criminal underworld.

I haven’t seen the film, but I can only assume Kumar succeeds in either stealing the diamond and/or bringing down Harrison’s dastardly crime syndicate and getting the girl. There’s always a girl.

It’s not a Bollywood film as I’ve learned only refers to films produced in Bombay (now Mumbai, but once the “Hollywood” of Indian cinema, hence the name). The soundtrack, however, is unique as it is a multi-layered collection of 1970s kitsch, traditional Indian instrumentation with a healthy splash of Western music.

Otherwise, I can’t see much of a reason why this soundtrack is on the 1,001 list. Outside of being "ultra stereophonic."