This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

Presently, I am on a nostalgic journey of the 60s when I was blessed with listening to some popular non-filmy songs sung by the top playback singers and other singers of that time. In fact some of non-filmy songs of that time were as popular as Hindi film songs. Almost all top playback singers of that time like Talat Mehmood, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Mukesh, Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle had recorded non-filmy songs at one time or the other. If Hindi films songs have hidden gems which are being unearthed on this blog every day, there are also lesser known gems in non-filmy song segment which need to be brought to the notice of the readers of this blog for the sake of posterity.

The question that may come to the mind of most of us is why did these top playback singers take interest in recording non-filmy songs. The answers I guess, could be : (i) there comes a time when even top playback singers experience some lull in their playback singing career. Such slots open up the opportunity to experiment with non-filmy songs which gives them scope for experimentation reflecting their creativity; (ii) some time a singer may have fancy for the poems and ghazals of some well known poets. Singing such songs add to their popularity adding value to their playback singing career and (iii) the record companies themselves may take initiative to bring together well known singers and the music directors from the film industry to record the poems/ghazals of legendary poets and release them as the non-film song records as a part of their business models.

Mukesh was one of the top playback singers during 1950-75 who also took recourse to singing non-filmy songs. http://www.singermukesh.com has listed 109 non-filmy songs of Mukesh with details wherever available. Perhaps, there may be some more of such songs yet to be added to the list. His first non-filmy song was released in 1940 and the last one was in 1976 (Tulsi Ramayan Lanka Kaand). Most of his non-filmy songs were released during 1965-73, probably reflecting his relatively lean period of playback singing assignments in the films.

I have chosen one of the most popular non-filmy ghazals ‘tere labhon ke muqaabil gulaab kyaa hogaa’ (1965) sung by Mukesh. The ghazal was written by Shiv Kumar Saroj and set to music by Kishore Desai. The lyrics are simple but Mukesh’s rendition of each word of this ghazal in slow pace adds to the adulations implicit in the lyrics which would surely touch the hearts of the listeners. I understand from a couple of places YT that the composition of this ghazal is based on Raag Pahadi.

I had heard 5-6 non-filmy songs of Mukesh in the 60s. Now when I listen to these very songs on YT now, I get a feeling that Mukesh was singing the non-filmy songs in his natural voice more than his filmy songs.

PS-Now Sudhir jee has provided the translation of this song. So one can now appreciate this song even more knowledgeably.

Song-Tere labon ke muqaabil gulaab kyaa hoga (Mukesh NFS)(1965) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Shiv Kumar Saroj, MD-Kishore Desai

Lyrics

tere labon ke muqaabil
gulaab kyaa hogaa aa aa
tere labon ke muqaabil
gulaab kyaa hogaa
tu lajawaab hai
teraa jawaab kyaa hogaa
tere labon ke muqaabil

teri adaa pe fidaa
hamto kyaa zamaana hai
teri adaa pe fidaa hamto kyaa zamaana hai
nisaar tujh pe mere dil kaa ye khazaana hai
tere shabaab se badhkar shabaab kyaa hogaa
tere shabaab se badhkar shabaab kyaa hogaa
tere labon ke muqaabil

tum muskuraaye to jaati bahaar aa jaaye
tum muskuraaye to jaati bahaar aa jaaye
dil-e-beemaar ko dil se qaraar aa jaaye ae
tere karam kaa kisi se hisaab kyaa hogaa aa
tere karam kaa kisi se hisaab kyaa hogaa aa
tere labon ke muqaabil

—————————————-
Translation (Provided by Sudhir)
——————————————

tere labon ke

Ah, the softness of your gentle lips
Softer than even the petals of a rose

You are the one no one can measure up to
There is none who can compare with you

teri adaa pe fidaa hum to kyaa zamaana hai
nisaar tujh pe mere dil kaa ye khazaana hai
tere shabaab se badhkar shabaab kyaa hogaa

Not just me
Everyone is your ardent admirer
All the treasures of the heart
Are tendered as an offering unto you
Ah, this splendor of yours
There is none other
Endowed with such splendor

tu muskuraaye to jaati bahaar aa jaaye
dil-e-beemaar ko dil se qaraar aa jaaye ae
tere karam kaa kisi se hisaab kyaa hogaa aa

If you would smile
The departing spring would retrace, and return
Oh what comfort it would be
For this pining heart
The bounty of your favors, your grace
Alas, who could assess it

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

It is a tradition or convention in most of the schools that just before the start of the classes in the morning, students collectively sing a prayer. During my early school days – probably in 1952 or 1953, I remember, we used to sing a prayer ‘pitu maatu sahaayak swami sakhaa tum hi ek naath hamaare ho’. In the absence of public address system, the prayer used to be sung by 4-5 students from our class who had aptitude in singing and others in the class would sing with them in tandem.

Later on, when I was taking my son and daughter for the school, I used to listen to their school prayer which would be audible even from a distance because the school was using public address system installed in all the class rooms. The prayer once I heard was hamko man ki shakti denaa from ‘Guddi’ (1971). Just to check whether the tradition of singing prayer in the school is still in vogue, I asked my grand daughter about it. It appears from what she narrated me that prayers are now sung in the school in a more elaborate manner. Some students with aptitude for singing are selected and given a short musical training after which they would be leading the prayer in the auditorium of the school. All other students will join and sing with them. There are five different prayers for five days of the week, that too in different languages – Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi etc. This is indeed a good way of instilling the feeling of national integration in the students.

It was much later that I came to know that the prayer we were singing in our early school days was none other than the one sung by Mukesh which I have chosen for discussion. I could not find as to who wrote this bhajan. This may probably be a traditional bhajan that is being sung for centuries. The bhajan sung by Mukesh was composed by Naresh Bhattacharya. I find from the audio clip of one more singer that the bhajan had six stanzas in it as against four stanzas in Mukesh’s version. This was done probably to accommodate the bhajan within the disc space of 78 RPM gramophone record. Going by the traces of of K L Saigal singing style, my guess is that this song may have been recorded during the late 40s.

This prayer has a universal appeal. It has the ethical and moral undertone to instill value system especially in the young minds. I am sure this bhajan continues to be one of the prayers in many schools even now. I have noted from the internet that this bhajan is one of the approved prayers in The Doon School, Dehradun.

Incidentally, in ‘Shiv Parvati’ (1962), Mohammed Rafi sang a similar bhajan in which the mukhda was more or less retained but other verses were changed while retaining the underlying meaning of the verses as in the original. This bhajan is accredited to Prem Dhawan.

Song-Pitu maatu sahaayak swaami sakha (Mukesh NFS)(1950) Singer-Mukesh, MD-Naresh Bhattacharya

Lyrics

pitu maatu
pitu maatu sahaayak swaami sakhaa aaa
tum hi ek naath hamaare ho
pitu maatu sahaayak swaami sakhaa aaa
tum hi ek naath hamaare ho

jin ke kachhu aur aadhaar nahin
jinke tum hi rakhwaare ho
pitu maatu sahaayak swaami sakhaa aaa
tum hi ek naath hamaare ho

sab bhaanti sadaa sukh daayak ho
dukh durgun naashan haare ho
pratipaal karo o o
pratipaal karo sagre jag ko
o o o o o
atishay karunaa ur dhaare ho
pitu maatu sahaayak swaami sakhaa aaa
tum hi ek naath hamaare ho

shubh shaanti niketan prem niket
man mandir ke ae ujiyaare ho o o
is jeewan ke tum jeewan ho
in praanan ke tum pyaare ho
in praanan ke tum pyaare ho
tum to prabhu paaye pratap hari
kahike ke ab aur sahaare ho
pitu maatu sahaayak swaami sakhaa aaa
tum hi ek naath hamaare ho
pitu matu sahaayak swaami sakhaa aaa

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

In a book ‘Vedanta Treatise’ I have with me, four types of yogas have been prescribed for attainment of salvation. They are Bhakti (devotion), Gyaana (knowledge), Karma (activity) and Hata (compulsion). It is generally believed that devotion is the mother of all other yogas. Without devotion, all other yogas would be incomplete for attaining the objective. In this context, I recall an introduction by late C Rajagopalichari on a LP of M S Subbulaxmi’s immortal ‘Bhaj Govindam-Vishnu Shashtranamavali and I quote a part of it from the CD I have with me:

The way of devotion (bhakti) is not different from the way of knowledge (gyaana). When intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When wisdom is integrated with the life and issues out in action, it becomes devotion. If it does not get transformed into devotion, such knowledge is useless tinsel. To believe that gyaana and bhakti – knowledge and devotion, are different from each other is ignorance.

I find these remarks by late C Rajagopalachari very relevant in the modern times. In the context of family, social and career responsibilities are parts of ‘gyaana’ and ‘karma’ (knowledge and activity). How can ‘bhakt’i (devotion) be separated from them? We always use phrases like ‘he is devoted to his family’ and ‘he is devoted to his duties’ etc. To give an example, cricket is a part of ‘karma’ for Sachin Tendulkar. He is a diehard devotee (bhakt) of cricket. But unless he has gyaana (knowledge) of cricket, his devotion to it becomes half-hearted. Take for instance this blog itself. In my view, regulars of this blog are ‘bhaktas’ (devotees). They share their ‘gyaana’ (knowledge) of Hindi films and music ( sometime beyond that) as a part of their ‘karma’ (activity).

There is one unknown writer of a bhajan (devotional song) who, in his poetry, gives an impression that when one is totally submerged in devotion to Him, the knowledge is subservient to devotion. The bhajan is ‘sur ki gati main kya jaanu’ (1950). I have attempted below a gist of this bhajan with a rough English translation :

I do not know the tempo of the tune of my bhajan but I know how to sing a bhajan. I know that the bhajan I sing has a very deep meaning but how I could know the meaning when I only know how to utter Prabhu with misty eyes. Why should I sing in His praise when I know that He would not be unjust to his devotees? How can I know the answer to this when a simple man that I am, is crazily engrossed in love for Him.

In short, this bhajan reflects a devotee’s total surrender to God.

This popular bhajan is sung by Mukesh and set to music by Naresh Bhattacharya. Unfortunately I am unable to get the name of the writer of this soothing bhajan from any source in the websites. Somehow, I get an impression that the writer of this bhajan is the same person who wrote pitu maatu sahaayak swaami sakha. This bhajan like other traditional bhajans is rendered in slow tempo keeping the background and interlude music to the minimum. The whole idea is to understand the meaning of each word as bhajan progresses. After all traditional bhajans are sung more for the praise of God than showcasing the singers and musicians involved while singing them in any congregation.

Song-Sur ki gati main kyaa jaanoon (Mukesh NFS)(1950) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Unknown, MD-Naresh Bhattacharya

Lyrics

sur ki gati main kyaa jaanoon
ek bhajan karna jaanoon
sur ki gati main kyaa jaanoon
ek bhajan karna jaanoon

arth bhajan ka bhi ati gehraa
usko bhi main kyaa jaanoon
arth bhajan ka bhi ati gehraa
usko bhi main kyaa jaanoon
prabhu prabhu prabhu karna jaanoon
prabhu prabhu prabhu karna jaanoon
naina jal bharna jaanoon
sur ki gati main kyaa jaanoon

gun gaaye ae ae ae ae
gun gaaye prabhu nyaay na chhode
phir kyun tum gun gaate ho
phir kyun tum gun gaate ho
main bola main prem deewaana
main bola main prem deewaana
itni baaten kyaa jaanoon
sur ki gati main kyaa jaanoon
ek bhajan karna jaanoon
sur ki gati main kyaa jaanoon

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

For the past few days, I have been going through the poems of Amir Khusrau. Fortunately, most of his poems are available on the internet with English translation. His love poems, riddles, dohas (couplets in Hindwi), qawwalis etc are very absorbing. I feel, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the trigger for the first literary renaissance especially in northern India was witnessed during the time of Amir Khusrau. He was one among the first in elite class to propagate the use of an Indian vernacular language in his poems which he called Hindawi ( mix of Hindi and its subsidiary dialects). I am not sure but the development of Urdu language in later years may have come as a continuum from Hindwi language.

Hazrat Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), was the poet, the musician, the scholar of Persian, Arabic and Hindwi languages, a Sufi mystic, the originator of qawwalis, khayal and tarana style of music, the inventor of the split version of dholak called tabla and many more things to his credit. Born to a Turkish father and a rajput mother in Badaun (now in UP), he chose Persian as his main language for writing his poems. After his father’s death , Amir Khusrau and his mother shifted to Delhi. After a brief stint as a soldier, he served as a poet in the royal court of 7 kings including Allauddin Khilji and Mohammed Bin Tuglaq. During this period, he was greatly influenced by the teachings of Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya, a Sufi saint and became his disciple.

Since most of those who established their rules in northern India came from Central Asian region where Arabic and Persian were the main languages, these became the official languages of what was known as Delhi Sultanate. Amir Khusrau started writing poems mainly in Persian. Later he also started writing poems in Hindwi. Those days, writing literary works in an Indian vernacular language was considered to be a disgrace by the elite classes who wrote and conversed in Persian only. It is to the credit of Amir Khusrau that he could withstand the pressure from the powerful elite classes in his royal court to write some of his poems in Hindwi. He says in one place that he is a ‘Hindustani Turk’ and he composes Hindwi verses with a fluency of running water. In another place, he says that he is a ‘tuti-e-Hind’ (Hindustani parrot) who always speaks the truth.

During this period, Sufism was taking root in northern India and to reach the wider net work of population for propagating Sufism, it was felt necessary to express the feelings in a local dialect rather than in Persian or Arabic which were confined only to elite classes. Some scholars studying Amir Khusrau believe that his Hindwi poems may have received the strong support from his mentor and guide Nizamuddin Awliya who was a saint and interested in spreading his teachings to a vast majority of the population. So this was a beginning of Amir Khusrau writing poems in Hindwi. He also wrote some poems mixing Persian and Hindwi verses. One of his best couplets which he uttered when he saw his mentor and guide Nizamuddin Awliya was no more, gives an idea about his preference of Hindwi language :
Gori sove sej par mukh par dare kes
Chal Khusrau ghar apne rain bhai chahun des

O handsome, you are sleeping on a nice bed covering your face with hairs.
It is time for Khusrau to walk to his house (metaphorically ‘to walk to another world’) when everywhere is darkness.

Six months after the death of his mentor, Amir Khusrau also left this world in 1325. But even after nearly 700 years, he is one of the most revered Sufi poets in the Indian sub-continent.

I have chosen for discussion one of the most popular non-filmy Sufi love songs ‘zehaal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful’ (C.1960) written by Amir Khusrau in an innovative way mixing Persian verses with Hindwi ( Brij bhasha dialect). The first and third lines of the first verse are in Persian while the second and fourth lines are in Brij bhasha (dialect). In the subsequent verses, the first two lines are in Persian followed by two lines in Brij bhasha. This popular song has been sung by many prominent singers like, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali, Abeeda Parveen, Chhaya Ganguli, Sabri Brothers etc. While some of them have sung in a qawwali style, some have sung in ghazal style. I have chosen the Mukesh-Sudha Malhotra version. In the first verse both of them sing Persian and Brij bhasa lines separately. In the remaining verses, Mukesh sings the Persian part and Sudha Malhotra the Brij bhasha part. The composer of this song is Murli Manohar Swarup.

Incidentally, Gulzar seems to have been inspired (rather impressed) by the beauty of these Persian-Brij Bhasha poem. I will not call it a plagiarism of Amir Khusrau’s poem by Gulzar as he used only first 3 words from this poem in a song zihaal-e-miskeen maqun ba ranjish from ‘Ghulaami’ (1985) reviewed by dear Sudhir. Rest of Gulzar’s lyrics of this song is different with somewhat different interpretation of love keeping the genre of the song more or less the same with that of Amir Khusrau’s poem under discussion.

By the way, in the audio clips of this poem of almost all other singers, the second line in Persian of the third verse has been sung as “hamesha giriyan be ishq aan meh” whereas in this version, it is sung as “ba maihr-e-ahan babust-o-mathir”. I could not find any explanation for this change.

Song-Zihaal e miskin makun taghaful (Mukesh NFS)(1960) Singers-Mukesh, Sudha Malhotra, Lyrics-Amir Khusro, MD-Murli Manohar Swaroop
Both

Lyrics

zehal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
zehal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
kitaab-e-hijran nadaram-e-jaan
na leho kaaye lagaaye chhatiyan
zehal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful

shabaan-e-hijraan daraaz chun zulf
wa rooz-e-waslat cho umr kotah
sakhi piyaa ko jo main na dekhoon
sakhi piyaa ko jo main na dekhoon
to kaise kaatoon andheri ratiyaan
zehal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful

choo shama sozaan choo zaraa hairaan
aan ann aan
aan aan
choo shama sozaan choo zaraa hairaan
ze maihr-e-ahan babust-o-mathir
na neend naina na ang chaina
na neend naina na ang chaina
na aap aaven na bhejen patiyaan
na aap aaven na bhejen patiyaan

bahaq-e roz-e-wisaal-e dilbar
ke daad maara fareb Khusrau
sapeet man ke duraaye raakhoon
sapeet man ke duraaye raakhoon
jo jaaye paaun piyaa ke khatiyaan
zehal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful
duraaye naina banaaye batiyaan
zehal-e-miskeen makun taghaaful

———————————————————–
English Translation (Source here)
———————————————————–
Do not overlook my misery
By blandishing your eyes and weaving tales, my patience has over-brimmed
O sweetheart, why do you not take me into your bosom?
(I feel ‘take me into your bosom’ meant ‘embrace me’)

Long like curls in the night of separation
Short like life on the day of our union
My dear, how I pass the dark dungeon (gloomy?) night
Without your face before.

Tossed and bewildered, like a flickering candle,
I roam about in the fire of love
Sleepless night, restless body
Neither comes she nor any message.

In honour of the day I meet my beloved
Who has lured me so long O’ Khushro
I shall keep my heart suppressed
If I ever get a chance to get to her trick (deception?)

We in this blog initially discussed just movie songs. Once I discussed a K L Saigal song and it turned out that it was a non film song (NFS). Several regulars of the blog then lobbied for the inclusion of NFS in the blog. And that is how NFS began to be discussed in the blog.

By now we have discussed some memorable NFS sung by as many as 32 singers. This includes greats of Hindi movie music as well as many singers who made their mark predominantly as singers of NFS.

All the NFS sung by K L Saigal (37 in numbers) figure in the blog. With time, we expect to be able to cover all or nearly all NFS from other singers too.

Mukesh is one singer who may become the next big name whose songs (both film as well as NFS) may get fully covered in the next couple of years seeing that as many as 563 MUkesh songs have already been discussed in the blog and less than 400 Mukesh songs now remain to be discussed.

Here is a nice NFS sung by Mukesh. This song is written by Kaif Irfani. Music is composed by Murli Manohar Swaroop.

The year of recording is not known to me. I request our knowledgeable readers to tell us when this song was recorded. For the time being I have assumed it to be a song of 1960.

Lyrics of this song were sent to me by Mahesh.
PS-I am informed that this song is of 1952 and it was composed by Mukesh himself.

Song-Jiyenge magar muskura na sakenge (Mukesh NFS)(1952) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Kaif Irfani, MD-Mukesh

Lyrics (Provided by Mahesh)

aaa aaa
aaa aaa
jiyenge magar
muskura na sakange ae ae ae
jiyenge magar
muskura na sakange
ke ab zindagi mein muhobbat nahin hai
muhobbat nahin hai
labon pe taraane ab aa na sakenge
labon pe taraane ab aa na sakenge
ke ab zindagi mein muhobbat nahin hai
muhobbat nahi hai

bahaaren chaman mein jab aaya karengi
nazaaron ki mehfil sajaaya karengi
bahaaren chaman mein jab aaya karengi
nazaaron ki mehfil sajaaya karengi
nazaare bhi hum ko hansa na sakenge
nazaare bhi hum ko hansa na sakenge
ke ab zindagi mein muhobbat nahin hai
muhobbat nahin hai

jawani jo laayegi saawan ki raaten
zamaana karega muhobbat ki baaten
jawaani jo laayegi saawan ki raaten
zamaana karega muhobbat ki baaten
magar hum ye saawan manaa na sakenge
magar hum ye saawan mana na sakenge
ke ab zindagi mein muhobbat nahin hai
muhobbat nahin hai
labon pe taraane ab aa na sakenge
ke ab zindagi mein muhobbat nahin hai
muhobbat nahin hai

This article is written by Bharat Upadhyay, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Mukesh is extensively covered by Shri Sudhir-ji in his ‘The voice of Mukesh’ series’. I will just include few bits from Wikipedia about his personal life.

” Mukesh was born in Delhi in a Mathur Kayastha family. His parents were Zorawar Chand Mathur, an engineer, and Chand Rani. He was the sixth in a family of ten children. The music teacher who came home to teach Mukesh’s sister, Sundar Pyari, found a pupil in Mukesh who would listen from the adjoining room. Mukesh left school after the 10th grade and worked briefly for the Department of Public Works. He experimented with voice recordings during his employment in Delhi and gradually developed his singing abilities.

His voice was first noticed by Motilal, a distant relative, when he sang at his sister’s wedding. Motilal took him to Mumbai and arranged for singing lessons by Pandit Jagannath Prasad. During this period Mukesh was offered a role in a Hindi film, Nirdosh (1941). His first song was “Dil Hi Bujha Hua Ho To” as an actor-singer for Nirdosh. He got his break as a playback singer for actor Motilal in 1945 with the film Pehli Nazar with music composed by Anil Biswas and lyrics written by Aah Sitapuri. That first song as a playback singer that made him famous was “Dil Jalta Hai To Jalne De”.

Mukesh was such a fan of singer K. L.Saigal that in his early years of playback singing he used to imitate his idol. In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song “Dil Jalta Hai…”, he remarked, “That’s strange, I don’t recall singing that song”.
Mukesh created his own singing style with the help of music director Naushad, who helped Mukesh to come out of his Saigal style and create his own style. Naushad gave him songs for the film Andaz. Initially Mukesh was the ghost voice of Dilip Kumar in this movie and Mohammed Rafi sang for Raj Kapoor. He delivered many Hits for Naushad in films like: Anokhi Ada (1948), Mela(1948), Andaz (1949). Other composers who used Mukesh voice for Dilip Kumar in Hit songs like Jeevan Sapna toot gaya were Anil Biswas in Anokha Pyar, Ye Mera Diwanapan hai, Shankar-Jaikishan in Yahudi and Mukesh’s Suhana Safar and Dil Tadap Tadap ke, Salil Choudhary in Madhumati. However later Dilip Kumar choose Rafi as his ghost voice and Mukesh became the ghost voice of Raj Kapoor.

Mukesh married Saral Trivedi Raichand alias Bachhiben in a temple in Kandiwali in 1946. They weathered the lean days and celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary on 22 July 1976. Mukesh died of a heart attack on 27 August 1976 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, where he had gone to perform in a concert with Lata-ji. The couple had five children – Rita, Nitin, Nalini (d. 1978), Mohnish (Taboo – nickname) and Namrata (Amrita). He is the grandfather of actor Neil Nitin Mukesh. “

There are very few songs by Mukesh based on classical ragas. This one from them, based on raga ‘Puriya Dhanashree’ is the fifth song in the series that I am presenting of songs from album ‘Varsha Ritu.’ Music again is by HMV staffer MD Murli Manohar Swarup. The lyrics describing the pain of separation of a ‘birahan’. (the parted one) is superbly displayed by the pathos in Mukesh voice.

Song-Koyaliya ud jaa (Mukesh NFS)(1969) Singer-Mukesh, MD-Murli Manohar Swaroop

Lyrics

koyaliya tere bol sune to
birhan ka khoye sukh chain
ek chhan jiya jale dukhdaayee
ek chhan bhar bhar aawat nain
koyaliya ud jaa aa aa
yahaan naahin bol
koyaliya ud jaa aa aa
yahaan naahin bol
koyaliya ud jaa aa aa

tere to ghanshyam hain chhaaye
mere hi ghanshyam na aaye
tere to ghanshyam hain chhaaye
mere hi ghanshyam na aaye
main hoon viyogin
main bairaagin
jaaye naa man mera dol
koyaliya ud jaa aa a
yanaan naahin bol
koyaliya ud jaa

boondon ke baan chalaaye saawan
jal se jal jal jaaye jeevan
boondon ke baan chalaaye saawan
jal se jal jal jaaye jeevan
main hoon viyogin
main bairaagin
ras mein vish mat ghol
koyaliya ud jaa aa aa
yahaan naahin bol
koyaliya ud jaa aa

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

There were a number of Urdu poets during the golden era of Hindi film music that also ran in the contest of attaining the prime slots as lyricists in Hindi films. By early 60s, most of them had either disappeared from the scene or they were marginalised. A few of them had migrated to Pakistan to try their luck there. The names of some of such lyricists who come to my mind are Nakshab, Anjum Philibiti, Zia Sarhadi, Behzad Lucknowi, Aziz Kashmiri, Shewan Rizvi, Noor Lucknowi, Khumar Barabankvi etc. Some of them were also script/screenplay writers at one time or the other.

Kaif Irfani was one of such unfortunate lyricists who, despite his association with Hindi film industry for over a decade could not make it to the category of a successful lyricist. He started his career as a lyricist in 1949 with films ‘Naach’ and ‘Jal Tarang’. His last released film was ‘Aawaara Ladki’ (1967). He wrote lyrics for about 50 films and worked with music directors such as Anil Biswas, Madan Mohan, Roshan, Husnlal-Bhagatram, Bulo C Rani, Hansraj Bahl, Vinod, Hemant Kumar, S D Batish etc. In his 50 odd films, except for ‘Sheroo’ (1957), he shared the assignment of writing lyrics with other lyricists.

I have no idea about the profile of Kaif Irfani. But after listening to many of his songs covered in this blog, I can safely assume that he was a poet of repute who came to Bombay to try his luck in Hindi films. Most of his songs were sheer poetry which were melodiously sung and composed by the concerned singers and music directors, respectively. Take for instance:

ek main hoon ek meri beqasi ki shaam hai(Taraana)(1951), Singer-Talat, MD-Anil Biswas

raaste pe ham khade hain dil e beqaraar le kar(Rajput)(1951), Singer-Suraiyya, MD-Hansraj Bahl

yahi bahaar hai duniyaa ko bhool jaane ki (Raag Rang)(1952) , Singer-Lata, MD-Roshan

ae ishq mujhe aur to yaad nahin hai (Daana Paani)(1953), Singer-Begum Akhtar, MD-Madan Mohan

ise na aur lootiye ye dil bahut gareeb hai (Gul Sanobar) (1953), Singer-Lata, MD-Bulo C Rani

kise yaad rakhoon kise bhool jaaun (Anuraag)(1956) Singer– Mukesh, MD-Mukesh

o maati ke putley itna na kar gumaan (Sheroo) (1957) Singer-Rafi, MD-Madan Mohan

As happened with many artists who came to Bombay (Mumbai) to work in Hindi film industry but could not reach the upper slots in term of success, Kaif Irfani was no exception. In Hindi film industry, one requires more of luck than a talent to become a successful artist. Luck was not in favour of this talented lyricist. Most of the films with which he was associated as lyricist did not fare well in the box office. Furthermore, he did not get opportunity to work with the then successful music directors like Naushad, S D Burman, C Ramchandra, Shankar-Jaikishan and O P Nayyar.

Interestingly, Mukesh took Kaif Irfani to write songs for his home productions ‘Malhar’ (1951) and ‘Anuraag’ (1956). It is observed from singermukesh.com that Kaif Irfani also wrote two NFS which were composed and sung by Mukesh. One such NFS jiyenge magar muskura na sakenge has already been discussed in the blog. Here is the second one ‘do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen (1952). The year of release of this song has not been indicated but going by the style of the first song referred to above and Kaif Irfani-Mukesh combination, I guess, this song was also released in 1952. A feature of this song is that Mukesh has sung antaras of the song almost as recitals followed by singing the refrain multiple times to emphasis on zulmi nainaa (oppressive eyes/glances). The voice of Mukesh is that of his late 40’s/early 50s style and I like it immensely.

Enjoy this song of eternal popularity.

Song-Do zulmi naina hampe zulam karen (Mukesh NFS)(1952) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Kaif Irfani, MD-Mukesh

Lyrics

aaa
aaa aa aaa
aa aaa
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen

ye kab tak ??? hai apne nazar mila ne ka aa
kisi se dil na lagaate to dil mein kyun jalte
aaa aaa aaa
bhala ye dard kaleje mein apne kyun uthhta aa
nazar ek teer hamaare jigar pe kyun chalte
aaa aaa aaa
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina
haay
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina ham pe zulam karen

badi khushi se lagaaya thha un se dil hamne ae
badi khushi…eee ee ee eee
badi khushi se lagaaya thha un se dil hamne ae
magar naseeb to dekho ke unko paa na sake
aaa aaa aaa
qaraar dil se gaya aaa
aaa aaa aa aaa
aur neend aakhon se ae
huaa wo haal hamaara
ke ham suna na sake
aaa aaa aaa
do zulmi naina
ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina
ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina
haaye
do zulmi naina
ham pe zulam karen
do zulmi naina
ham pe zulam karen

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Legendary singer Mukesh was born in Delhi, on July 22, 1923 in a middle class family consisting of 10 children. Mukesh was the sixth of the siblings. The lure of films always appealed to Mukesh and as such he was less interested in studies. After his matriculation in a municipal school he was able to get a job of assistant surveyor in Delhi’s department of public works through his father. However, after just seven months of service, Mukesh ran away to Mumbai to become another KL Saigal whose adherent fan he had been all along. Even in school, Mukesh was known as “junior saigal” and the lunch breaks often involved the young Mukesh rendering his favourite Saigal numbers to his peers amongst whom Roshan Lal would be one on the harmonium.

Before landing in Mumbai, Mukesh had secretly recorded 6 private songs in Delhi in 1940. In Mumbai, his relative, a well-known actor at that time, Motilal, arranged for his stay. Motilal was already impressed with the young man’s voice, when he had heard him sing at his elder sister’s wedding. Motilal even engaged Pandit Jagannath Prasad to train the young singer.

The film career of Mukesh began with the film Nirdosh (1940) in he which he acted opposite Nalini Jaywant. Naturally, he singing also started with this film in which he had one ghazal penned by Neelkanth Tiwari and 2 duets with Nalini Jaywant. The music director of the film was Ashok Ghosh.

From 1940-45, Mukesh experimented himself with a variety of roles, but without much success. In 1945, with Pheli Nazar, he appeared on the center-stage by giving playback for the unforgettable “dil jalta hai tho jalne do” aptly for Motilal himself. In this song, Mukesh heavily copied his idol Saigal. Bets were placed all over the country as to who the actual singer was and to the extent that Saigal himself is said to have commented “but I don’t remember singing this song”. This all-time great song was composed by Anil Biswas who along with Naushad was instrumental in shaping the singing career of Mukesh in his early years.

The phenomenal success of the song once again started a burning desire by Mukesh to follow the footsteps of saigal in becoming an “actor-singer” a disastrous decision which almost cost Mukesh his career. Today, many know Mukesh only as a great singer. Sudhir ji in his “The Voice of Mukesh” series has amply covered many songs of the 40’s. The series also covers with detailed explanations of most of the films in which Mukesh took up other roles. The table below enlists the other roles Mukesh donned before he took up only playback singing seriously.

The making of Mashooqa proved to be very ruinous for Mukesh as he had signed a contract that he would not be singing for any other production house or actor. Music directors in particular started avoiding Mukesh and to make matters worse, the release of the film got delayed. Anuraag with manifold roles by Mukesh also boomeranged at the box-office.

It was only with the great support from Shanker Jaikishan and Salil Choudhary for Yahudi and Madhumati respectively, that things started looking brighter for Mukesh from 1958. There was no looking back and the following year in 1959, Mukesh went on to become the first ever male singer to win the filmfare award for Best Playback singer for Anari. He received this award from his fan and president of Egypt Al Nasir.

Mukesh received 4 filmfare awards, 1 National Award in 1974 and 3 Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards apart from others.
Starting from 1940 to 1976, in a career spanning 36 years, Mukesh sang less than a thousand hindi film songs. The figure could reach about 1100 or so if we include all his regional and non-film songs, ghazals etc. Mukesh was one of the few singers whose non film songs were as popular as his filmi songs.

Remembering this great singer on his 38th death anniversary (27th August 1976), I bring to the music lovers a very famous NFS. The lyrics are penned by Indivar and the music is scored by Kishore Desai

Song-Mil na saka dil ko agar pyaar tumhaara (Mukesh NFS)(1970) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Indeewar, MD-Kishore Desai

Lyrics

mil naa sakaa dil ko

mil naa sakaa dil ko
agar pyaar tumhaara
aana padega mujhko duniya mein dubaara
mil naa sakaa dil ko

gaal par gulaab ke shabnam hai zindagi
pyaar ke liye to bahut kam hai zindagi
udti hui is umr ko ek teraa sahaara
aana padega mujhko duniya mein dubaara
mil naa sakaa dil ko

apni ye chhoti si mulaaqaat bahut hai
jitni der tera miley saath bahut hai
bas ek jhalak ek nazar ek ishaara
aana padega mujhko duniya mein dubaara
mil naa sakaa dil ko
agar pyaar tumhaara
aana padega mujhko duniyaa mein dubaara
aana padega mujhko duniyaa mein dubaara
aana padega mujhko

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Considerable effort of musicians and music arrangers, besides the sound recordist, goes into the creation of any song that finally result in the song ending up becoming hummable for public at large. Some of the great musicians and arrangers who worked ‘behind the curtain’ in creating these songs were Antony Gonsalves, Antanio Vaz (Chic Chocolate), Sebastian D’souza, Frank Fernand, Enoch Daniels, Van Shipley, Manohari Singh, Kersi Lord, Maruti Rao Keer among many others.

One name among the musicians and music arrangers which I came to know while discussing tere labon ke muqaabil gulaab kya hoga in an article for the Blog, was Kishore Desai.

Kishore Desai (b.1937) belongs to a traditional Gujarati family of industrialists originally belonging to Bhavnagar in Gujarat who made Bombay (Mumbai) as their base. His grandfather, a textile mill owner, was against the young Kishore pursuing his passion for music. But his father, Jawaharlal Desai encouraged him to learn Hindustani classical music. At the age of 9, Kishore Desai was enrolled at Professor Deodhar’s School of Indian Music where he completed the basic syllabus of Hindustani classical music and learnt playing harmonium and mandolin.

At the instance of Jayanand Khira, an industrialist and a close friend of his father, Kishore Desai at 14, became the gundabandh disciple of vocalist Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan of Agra Gharana. Since his grandfather was against learning music, his vocal training was arranged at Khira Bhavan at Chowpaty. Afterwards, his father took him to Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the renowned Sarod player for learning Sarod. However, Ali Akbar Khan being very busy with his own performances all over India, after few months, Kishore Desai started learning Sarod from Ustad Bahadur Khan, a cousin of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Kishore Desai got attracted towards Hindi film music when he joined his close friend Kalyanji’s orchestra as a mandolin player. He got his first break as a musician with S D Batish who was the music director for ‘Badi Bahu’ (1952). He played mandolin for the song chumak chumak mora baaje ghungharwa. His second film was with Anil Biswas where he played mandolin for just one song in ‘Heer’ (1954). In fact, Anil Biswas wanted him to join as his assistant after he found that he had the background of Hindustani classical music. Anil Biswas also found him to be a good Mandolin player at a musical competition where he was one of the judges for the competition. However, Kishore Desai had to reluctantly decline the offer as he was preparing for his matriculation examination.

In one of the shows, Shankar (of Shankar-Jaikishan duo) was very much impressed by Kishore Desai playing aawaara hoon on his mandolin. He asked Kishore to join him as musician. His first film with Shankar-Jaikishan was ‘Basant Bahar’ (1955). He continued to be associated with SJ until their last film. His reputation as a mandolin and sarod player of repute reached other music directors by word of mouth. He became assistant music director and music arrangers to C Ramchandra from the film ‘Bahurani’ until his last film and to Roshan from the film ‘Soorat and Seerat’ till his last film.

Since Kishore Desai, Laxmikant and Kalyanji had worked together as musicians for many songs, it was natural that he became the first choice as a mandolin player for Kalyanji Anandji and Laxmikant Pyarelal when they became music directors. He was associated with them until their last films. In addition, he closely worked with music directors such as Naushad, S D Burman, Madan Mohan, Chitragupta, Khayyam, Sardar Malik, Jaidev, Ravi, Salil Chowdhury, Hemant Kumar, R D Burman, Ravindra Jain etc.

I was very much impressed with the profile of Kishore Desai. An opportunity to meet him personally came when Shri Bharat Upadhyay told me that Kishore Desai would attend Mumbai Gangout meet up on December 21, 2014. Unfortunately, on the morning of the meeting, Kishore Desai’s wife left for her heavenly abode after a brief illness. After a week, Bharat Upadhyay, Nitin Shah and I visited Kishore Desai’s residence in Borivali (West) to personally offer our condolences.

Considering the sombre occasion, we had decided not to discuss about Hindi film music with him. After offering our condolences, we set in his living room. I could not recognise him from the photographs of his younger days hanging on the walls of his living room. He looked quite handsome and a bit stout during his younger days. With a man who had spent over 5 decades with Hindi film industry as ‘A’ Grade musician, arranger and assistant to music directors and with walls of his living room full of photographs with various film celebrities and other dignitaries, neither we nor Kishore Desai could avoid the topic of Hindi film music.

The trigger for the music related talk started when we asked Kishore Desai about his picture with Y B Chavan, the Union Defence Minister during 1962-65. He said that the photograph was taken during a musical concert held in Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi in January 1963 in which Lata Mangeshkar sang the song ae mere watan ke logo in the midst of Jawaharlal Nehru and other dignitaries. It was a proud moment for Kishore Desai that being Assistant to C Ramchandra, he was closely associated with the orchestration and rehearsals of the song. He distinctly remember that when Lata sang the last stanza of this song beginning with jab ant samay aaya to keh gay eke ab marte hain, it brought tears in the eyes of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Kishore Desai played mandolin in his first film ‘Bahu Beti’ (1952). He recalls that he was a boy of 14 years. So during the recording of the song, Sharmaji (probably he meant B N Sharma, Sound Recordist) had to arrange for a high chair with stairs so that he could climb and sit on a higher level to facilitate the sound of mandolin reaching the single microphone used in those days.

Kishore Desai worked with almost all the regular music directors of the golden era. He said that during this period, he was attending on an average 3 to 4 song rehearsals/ recordings per day. He had no idea as to how many Hindi film songs he was associated with as a musician, arranger and assistant to music directors. But surely the number would be in multiples of thousands. A few of the popular songs of the golden period of Hindi film songs in which he played mandolin/sarod are as under:

When we asked as to his experiences of working with Sajjad Hussain and O P Nayyar, he said that he had respectfully declined their offer to join them as a musician. Regarding Sajjad Hussain, being himself an ace mandolin player, Kishore Desai regarded Sajjad Hussain like his teacher. I personally feel that Kishore Desai avoided working with both the music directors knowing very well of their temperaments. He, however, said that he had a good personal relationship with both the music directors. By the way, a boy named Mustafa Sajjad, was put under the guidance of Kishore Desai by C Ramchandra as a musician playing Mandolin. The boy was the eldest son of Sajjad Hussain who had learnt playing Mandolin from his father. Today, Mustafa Sajjad is a top grade musician and arranger in Hindi film industry. He has been giving solo performances on his mandolin in India and abroad.

We were curious to know as to why he did not compose music for any Hindi film. Kishore Desai revealed that it was his sheer bad luck that three Hindi films he signed as music director in early 6Os were either shelved halfway or did not take off. The name of the films he gave was ‘Abdulla e Bagdad’, ‘Zindagi ki Raahen’ and ‘Omar Khayyam’, the last one was to be made under the banner of Gurudutt Films. The first two films was shelved halfway and the third film did not even take off as shortly after agreeing to sign him as music director, Gurudutt was no more. However, he had composed some NFSs sung by Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Kavi Pradeep, Kamal Barot and Mohammed Rafi (Gujarati NFS).

We had gone to Kishore Desai‘s house just to offer our condolences and take leave of him after about 3O minutes. But the discussion on his musical journey kept us engrossed to such an extent that it dawned to us that we had already spent nearly 2 hours. So it was time for us to take leave of him. In any case, he was expecting Nimmi and her family any time. We all felt that the two hours we spent with him was more than worthwhile when he told us that our visit had lessened his pain of bereavement.

During our interaction with him for nearly two hours, I found Kishore Desai to be an extremely talented person in his field. The fact that music directors like Sajjad Hussain and O P Nayyar who were known to be perfectionist and hard task masters, visited his house to convince him to work for them and Anil Biswas asking him to become his Assistant at the age of 16, bears testimony to his talent. He is the recipient of Dadashaeb Phalke Life Time Achievement Award for his contributions to Hindi film music as an instrumentalist.

This extremely talented person is also an extremely humble person as was evident from his talks. He underplayed his role as a musician, arranger and assistant to music directors during his talk with us and gave entire credit to the music directors with whom he worked. At no time he gave any indication of his compositions being used by music directors for whom he worked. He was modest in saying that whatever support he gave to music directors was like extending a helping hand. Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, C Ramchandra, Roshan, Shanker and Jaikishan were like demi gods for him while music directors like Kalyanji, Ravi, Laxmikant, R D Burman, Mukesh were his buddies with whom he could take a bit of liberties. He said that he has hundreds of interesting anecdotes of his musical journey which will require another day.

Kishore Desai is now 77 and has retired from the film industry during the last ten years. He says that he still gets a few offers from the music directors as well as for some musical shows to play mandolin and sarod which he declines. The only exception he has made is for Lata Mangeshkar for whom he continues to play the musical instruments. He gets invites from musical associations all over India for his solo performances which he accepts subject to his convenience. He continues to do his daily practice of Mandolin and Sarod. He is bestowed with a spiritual bend of mind. He is also a yoga freak.

As a tribute to Kishore Desai, I present one of his NFSs, bahaaron se keh do mere ghar na aayen (1965) composed by him and sung by Mukesh. The lyrics are written by Shiv Kumar Saroj.

[Note : Kishore Desai’s profile is based on his interview which appeared in Asian Weekly, September 27, 2010 issue. The rest of the information is based on the interactions which we had with him on December 28, 2014. I am thankful to Bharat Upadhyay for providing inputs for refreshing my memory]

song-Bahaaron se keh do mere ghar na aayen (Mukesh NFS)(1965) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Shiv Kumar Saroj, MD-Kishore Desai

Lyrics

bahaaron se keh do mere ghar na aayen
zamaana hai unka unhi ko hansaayen ae
bahaaron se keh do mere ghar na aayen

lagi aag dil mein
barastaa hai paani
lagi aag dil mein
barastaa hai paani
dil e ghamzada ki ajab hai kahaani
wohi jab nahin hai to kisko sunaayen
wohi jab nahin hai to kisko sunaayen
bahaaron se keh do mere ghar na aayen

wo chehra sunehra wo chaandi ki baahein
wo chehra sunehra wo chaandi ki baahein
sabhi kuchh wohi hai
nahin wo nigaahen
ke badla jo mausam to badli adaayen
ke badla jo mausam to badli adaayen
bahaaron se keh do mere ghar na aayen

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Troika of the latest century singers – Mukesh, Rafi and Kishore – 1. Mukesh
——————————————————————————-

Sometime in the middle of April 2015, I had sent two write-ups to Atul ji and coincidentally, both these write-ups were on the songs sung by Mukesh. Atul ji sent me a reply saying that for the time being, he was avoiding posting songs of Mukesh as also of Rafi who are on their way to hitting centuries of their songs in the Blog. So he reckoned that my write ups on Mukesh’s songs may have to be held back for a few days. It was apparent that articles for the special events had already been planned.

A click on ‘Some stats’ page of the Blog revealed that while Mukesh was close to attaining his 700th song, Mohammed Rafi was only one short of his 2400th song in the Blog. A further glance on this page revealed that Kishore Kumar too was also very close to hitting his 900th song. So it was rare ‘celestial’ event like that of conjunction of planets Jupiter, Venus and Mars in the triangle shape which is expected on October 28, 2015. And all the three playback singers are nothing less than celestial stars along with Talat Mehmood and Manna Dey. There was an inner urge in me to pay tributes to the troika of playback singers on this unique conjunction of century songs. A thought tickled in my mind. What if I was to select special songs for the troika of playback singers on the occasion?

My immediate reference point was the list of my favourite songs which I have created on YT. While I had no difficulties in choosing a song each of Mukesh and Mohammed Rafi, unfortunately, I had no songs of Kishore Kumar in the list as almost all of my favourites songs of Kishore Kumar have already been covered in the Blog. And I have a habit of deleting songs from the list of my favourite songs once they are covered in the Blog. At last, I could get a rare song of Kishore Kumar of my liking after a long search on YT.

I propose to write a three part short articles on the occasion of the completion of century songs of Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar in that order. In this write up, I present a non-filmy song ‘roothi huyi taqdeer ko ab kaise manaaun’(1949) sung by Mukesh under the music direction of V A Balsara. The lyrics are penned by Madhukar Rajasthani. I could not get the year in which the NFS was recorded. However, I find on http://www.singermukesh.com that music director V A Balsara had recorded three NFS of Mukesh in 1949. With the style of Mukesh’s singing which is evident in the NFS under discussion, one can presume that this NFS too was recorded in 1949.

This song reminds me of ‘roothi huyi taqdeer’ for Mukesh who, in his jest to become a singer-actor, neglected his playback singing career in favour of acting. In the event, he lost out on both counts in the 50s. His mentor Anil Biswas left the film industry in the early 60s and Naushad preferred Mohammed Rafi over him. It was really his hard work which made possible for him to reclaim some of his lost ground in Hindi film industry in the 60s and early 70s.

Song-Roothhi huyi taqdeer ko ab kaise manaaun (Mukesh NFS)(1949) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Madhukar Rajasthani, MD-V A Balsara

Lyrics

roothi huyi taqdeer ko ab kaise manaaun
ab kaise manaaun
tootha huwa sitaar hai ab kaise bajaaun
ab kaise bajaaun

kismat se miley hain ye mujhe do nazraane ae ae
ae ae ae
khaane ko mili thokar
peene ko miley aansoo
gham aur museebat se sada yaari nibhaaun
nibhaaun
ab kaise manaaun

ujdi huyi nagri hai meri toota huwa hai dil
haay toota huwa hai dil
keh rahi hai mujhko meri alvida bahaaren aen aen
keh rahi hai mujhko meri alvida bahaaren
poochha jo unse maine ab kaise bataaun
ab kaise manaaun
roothi huyi taqdeer ko ab kaise manaaun
ab kaise manaaun

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Mukesh and his Composers – 4
——————————–
This beautiful Thursday morning let us listen to a bhajan by Mukesh in praise of Shirdi Sai Baba.

The philanthropic and humanitarian deeds of Mukesh are well known and documented. No article on Mukesh is complete without a mention of these activities during his life time. Distribution of blankets to the poor in winter, insistence to share the same boarding as that of his music arrangers during out-station concerts, performing shows for children and neighbours without charging any fees etc are few of the many examples. Also, being the senior-most among many of his contemporaries, he was often a peace maker amongst various disputes that arose in the film fraternity amongst artists. He was often called a noble soul for all these reasons.

His visit to the temple town of Shirdi in Nashik district is well known where he helped his fan who was a poor auto driver. This incident was about an auto driver who recognised Mukesh and refused to take any money for the travel that Mukesh performed in his vehicle. The driver also insisted on escorting Mukesh in and around Shirdi to take him to other places of interest. During conversations Mukesh learnt that the auto driver did not own the vehicle and had to surrender his earnings for the day to the actual owner on whose payroll he was. This left very little for the driver to support his family and to send his children to school. Mukesh on learning this went to Mumbai and came back to Shirdi with enough money to help buy a brand new auto for his new found fan. He also made it a point to support the cause of the auto-driver’s children education for many years.

The personal life of Mukesh is full of many such incidents and humanitarian works.

To continue with the series on “Mukesh and his composers” we shall today deal with his association with C. Ramchandra. Actually, there is not much to discuss as there are only three film songs that C Ramchandra composed for Mukesh. One is an outstanding duet on Motilal which Sudhir ji discussed recently. The other two are solo songs from Sharda and Wahan ke Log pictured on Raj Kapoor and Pradeep Kumar respectively. C Ramchandra who was an accomplished singer himself, never felt the need for Mukesh. And, even when Mukesh was sought for the odd occasion, it must have been on the demand of the hero himself.

All the three film songs sung by Mukesh for C Ramchandra are already posted on the blog. So what am I doing with this post on the combo ?
Well, it so happens that Mukesh also sang a solitary NFS, a non film bhajan to be precise, for C Ramchandra. And, incidently this beautiful bhajan happens to be on Sai Baba and hence the incident at Shirdi was referred above in the post.

Before we listen to the bhajan itself, here is the table of the short collaboration of the combo.

*

In the next post we shall discuss the songs of Mukesh for Khaiyyam.

Song-Shirdi ke sai baba teri duhaai baaba (Mukesh NFS)(1960) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Bharat Vyas, MD-C Ramchandra

Lyrics

o o o
o o o
Shirdi ke Sai baba,
teri duhaai baaba
Teri sharan hum aa gaye
O sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye
Shirdi ke Sai baaba
teri duhaai baaba
Teri sharan hum aa gaye
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye

Na koi ooncha
na koi neecha
tere iss darbaar mein
na koi ooncha na koi neecha
tere iss darbaar mein
jo bhi aaye
sab kuchh paaye
tere nirmal pyaar mein
Ho manmohak moorat waale
Ho manmohak moorat waale
Tum sabse ho niraale ae
Deendayaalu humen bhaa gaye
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye

Na maangen hum heere moti
na chaandi na sona
Na maangen hum heere moti
na chaandi na sona
Humen tumhaari kripa chaahiye
aur hriday ka kona
Hum ko haath daya ka dena
Hum ko haath daya ka dena
Apni chhaaya mein lena aa
Leela tumhaari hum ga gaye
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye.
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye
O Sai hum to
janm janm ka phal pa gaye

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Mukesh and his Composers – 5a
—————————————-

In my last post on Mukesh’s birth anniversary(sab thhaath pada rah jaavega), we saw his association with Khaiyyam in terms of his “film songs”. I had said that I would come back with his NFS for the composer sometime later. Though I was cognizant about most of the NFS, I was not very sure of the complete list and hence restricted myself to the film songs. When I wrote that post, I too was not aware that “sometime later” would mean the very next post, that’s this one.

Harish Raghuvanshi ji the compiler of “Mukesh Geetkosh” (1985) sent a mail to Arunkumar sir, to be forwarded to self, with the details of the NFS of Mukesh for Khaiyyam. Details received from such an eminent and authoritative personality ought to be included and presented before I proceed with other composers. Harish ji’s mail was sent on 22nd July itself, but because of my preoccupations (honestly, it includes lethargy) this post got delayed for two weeks.

I thank both Harish ji and Arunkumar Sir for the details and the help extended.

As enlisted below in the table, Mukesh also sang eight (8) NFS and two (2) songs in an incomplete film “Hum ek hain” under Khaiyyam.

In the above table, song no 4 and 6 are attributed to Ghalib, while all the remaining songs have been written by Jaan Nisaar Akhtar. A very interesting thing to be noted in the table is the last song which Mukesh has sung with Jagjit Kaur. To the best of my knowledge, it’s the only duet sung by the duo. I was not very successful in tracing these two songs. I vaguely remember hearing the duet sometime back and it seems it has not been sung together as a duet. However I am not at all sure of this. Hope these two unreleased songs surface somewhere in the near future.

Another interesting point to be noted is that none of the above 10 NFS are featured on the blog. So I had ample scope and all the liberty to choose any song for this post. In view of most songs of Mukesh already being posted on the blog, this opportunity and occurrence is quite a rarity.

I have selected the 4th NFS in the table above, a Ghalib ghazal which flows fluently with the clear dictation in the voice of Mukesh. I also happened to stumble upon a very good website (here it is). It has the lyrics in Hindi, English and Urdu. Some noble soul has taken all the trouble to explaining each and every word of the ghazal, which can be found by just clicking on the word on the web page.

So here is the first NFS of the combo of Mukesh and Khaiyyam on the blog.

In the next post, we shall go through the association of Mukesh with composer Jaidev.

Song-Na hui gar mere marne se tasalli na sahi (Mukesh NFS)(1960) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Ghalib, MD-Khaiyyam

Lyrics

Na hui gar mere marne se tasalli na sahi
Imtihaan aur bhi baaqi ho to ye bhi na sahi
Imtihaan aur bhi baaqi ho to ye bhi na sahi

Khaar-khaar-e alam-e hasrat-e deedaar to hai ae ae ae ae
Shouq gul-cheen-e gulistaan-e-tasalli na sahi
Shouq gul-cheen-e gulistaan-e-tasalli na sahi

Ek hangaame pe moukoof hai ghar ki raunaq a a a
Nauha-e-gham hi sahi,
naghma-e shaadi na sahi
Nauha-e-gham hi sahi
naghma-e shaadi na sahi

Na sataaish ki tamanna aa aa
na sile ki parvaah aaa aaa aaa
Gar nahin hain mere ashaar mein maani na sahi
Gar nahin hain mere ashaar mein maani na sahi
Na hui gar mere marne se tasalli na sahi

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Mukesh and his Composers – 8
————————————–
It was on 27th August 1976 in faraway Detroit city of US that Mukesh breathed his last after suffering a massive heart attack. He was there with Lata Mangeshkar and his son Nitin Mukesh for live performances in a few US cities. It was the 7th or 8th out of 10 performances to be performed.

A career which started in 1940 with acting-singing soon settled and rightly so for playback only. In a career spanning 36 years, Mukesh sang less than a 1000 songs. However each one of these songs is a gem, in its own right.

In my post last year Mil Na saka dil ko agar pyaar tumhaare on the same date, we had seen the various roles donned by Mukesh before he finally took up play back singing alone seriously. The last entry of the table in the post was about the film titled “Anuraag” released in 1956. In this movie Mukesh was the Actor, Singer, Music Director and Producer.

Continuing this series on “Mukesh and his Composers”, we shall have a look at all the songs that Mukesh sang and composed himself. Anuraag was in fact the first and last film that he composed for. Apart from two solos on himself, he also accommodated Shamshad Begam, Lata Mangeshkar, and Manna Dey etc for playback in this film.

Mukesh is one of the few singers whose NFS are as famous as his film songs. In the NFS category he composed five of his songs himself. Below is the table of the film and NFS he sang and composed himself.

In compiling the table, it goes without saying that I again received prompt help from Shri Harish ji who was also kind enough to share the lyrics in Hindi of today’s song. I was unaware that the last song on Pandit Nehru was also composed by Mukesh.

Paying tributes to the legend on the 39th year of his passing away, I present here one of Mukesh’s NFS written by Zafar and well, composed by himself.

Song-Diya apni khudi ko jo hamne mita (Mukesh NFS)(1960) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Zafar, MD-Mukesh

Lyrics

Diya apni khudi ko jo hamne mita
wo jo parda sa beech mein thha na raha
raha parde mein ab wo na parda nasheen
koi doosra uske siwa na raha
raha parde mein ab wo na parda nasheen
koi doosra uske siwa na raha
diya apni khudi ko jo hamne mita

na thhi haal ki jab hamen apne khabar
rahe dekhte auron ke aib o hunar
na thhi haal ki jab hamen apne khabar
rahe dekhte auron ke aib o hunar
padi apni buraaiyon per jo nazar
to nigaah mein koi bura na raha
padi apni buraaiyon per jo nazar
to nigaah mein koi bura na raha
diya apni khudi ko jo hamne mita

zafar aadmi usko na jaaniyega
zafar aadmi usko na jaaniyega
ho wo kaisa hi saahab e paimozkaar
jise aish mein yaad e khuda na rahi
jise taish mein khauf e khuda na raha
jise aish mein yaad e khuda na rahi
jise taish mein khauf e khuda na raha
diya apni khudi ko jo hamne mita

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Mukesh and his Composers – 11
————————————-
Remembering Ravindra Jain on his birth anniversary today 28th February. Last year on 9th October he passed away from multiple organ failure in a Mumbai hospital at the age of 71. So this will his first birth anniversary without his physical presence in this world.

Born blind, Ravindra Jain has been one of the leading examples and a role model for visually challenged people. In fact he is a huge inspiration to the whole of mankind for what one can achieve in life, disabilities notwithstanding. His accomplishments in life are too many to list.

Starting his career as a composer, lyricist and a singer in the early 70’s he went on to score hits for many a films in his career. In fact many of the films in which he composed and wrote lyrics are remembered to date only for their melodious songs and music. He was also instrumental in shaping the careers of many singers. Hemlata and Yesudas’s singing career can never be complete without an elaborate reference to Ravindra Jain. He also composed for several movies of other languages. Many devotional movies invariably bore the stamp of his compositions.

Associations with RK Films and Rajshri productions are too well known.
Apart from all of the above, his is too well known for giving music to numerous TV serials, notably Ramayan, Luv Kush, Shree Krishna, Alif Laila and a host of others.

Reiterating what I have written above that his accomplishments are too many to enlist, I would refer readers to his wiki-page wherein many details are mentioned including his association with many well known singers.

Continuing my series on Mukesh and his Composers after a long hiatus, I present here the songs sung by Mukesh under the composition of Ravindra Jain. There are 4 NF Bhajans and a few filmi songs. In this post we shall cover the four NF bhajans that Mukesh sang for him. Of course only one bhajan will be presented in this post, but here is the table of the short list of four.

No, the above table is not devoid of more columns as all the NF bhajans are written as well as composed by Ravindra Jain himself. Surprisingly, none of them have featured on the blog. So it was a matter of abundance for me to choose and I go by the first in the list.
The bhajans of Mukesh in praise of Lord Ram are very well known. The total allegiance and ardor with which he sang them is very much evident. The above list was again confirmed to me by Shri Harish Raghuwanshi ji for its completeness and I thank him for the same.
In the next post, I will try to cover the film songs that Mukesh sang for Ravindra Jain and also tire the readers with the reasons for the long break I had taken in posting this next song of the series.

Song-Prabhu ka naam japo man mere (Mukesh NFS)(1975) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-Ravindra Jain, MD-Ravindra Jain

Lyrics

prabhu ka naam japo mann mere
prabhu ka naam japo mann mere
door kare wohi sankat tere
door kare wohi sankat tere
hare Ram hare Ram
Ram Ram hare hare
hare Krishna hare Krishna
Kishna Krishna hare hare
prabhu ka naam japo mann mere

jeevan rain basera hai
kya tera kya mera hai
yeh, jeevan rain basera hai
kya tera kya mera hai
kyun naino se neer jhare re
door kare wohi sankat tere
hare Ram hare Ram
Ram Ram hare hare
hare Krishna hare Krishna
Kishna Krishna hare hare
prabhu ka naam japo mann mere

pinjra jab khul jaataa hai
paanchi kab ruk paata hai
yeh, pinjra jab khul jaataa hai
paanchi kab ruk paata hai
kyun iska afsos kare re
door kare wohi sankat tere
hare Ram hare Ram
Ram Ram hare hare
hare Krishna hare Krishna
Kishna Krishna hare hare
prabhu ka naam
prabhu ka naam
prabhu ka naam japo mann mere

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

Most of us are aware that a ghazal is a series of couplets (she’rs), each one being independent of others. In fact each she’r is a poem by itself. So theoretically, she’rs written by different poets (shaayars) can be woven to make it a ghazal. This is easier said than done as there are other parameters to make it a traditional ghazal. Normally, there are five essential aspects of a traditional ghazal. They are

1. Matla – the first she’r of a ghazal in which the mood of the ghazal can be gauged. In fact a ghazal is known by its ‘matla’. In some rare cases, a ghazal may have two ‘matlas’.

2. Beher – the length and meter of the she’rs. Both the lines of a she’r and all the she’rs of the ghazal must be of the same ‘beher’. There are said to be 19 types of ‘beher’ used in a she’r. But the sake of simplicity, they are broadly categorised as ‘small’, ‘medium’ and ‘large’ depending upon the first line (misra) of the ‘matla’ (the first she’r of a ghazal).

3. Radif – The second line of all the she’rs forming the part of a ghazal must end with the same word. The repeating word is called ‘radif’. There is also one more proviso that both the lines of ‘matla’ she’r must end with the same radif.

4. Kaafiya (or Qaafiya) is the rhythmic pattern of a word preceding ‘radif’. It is a common sounding word for example like ‘gaana, khaana, jaana etc.

5. Maqta – The last she’r of a ghazal in which the shaayar usually uses his pen name like Ghalib, Jigar, Firaq etc. But using pen name is an option.

Some of these parameters may not be present in the modern ghazal. In fact, I have gone thorugh some ghazals written by Firaq Ghorakhpuri which did not have ‘kaafiya’ at all. In a few cases I have observed that he had not used ‘radif’ in a strict sense.

These parameters of a traditional ghazal have been discussed on a couple of websites of Urdu poetry/shaayari. I made it readily available in this article with some short explanations in the context of a non-filmy ghazal I have chosen for discussion. It is a ‘2-in-1’ ghazal in a sense that ghazal of two great shaayars have been clubbed to make it one ghazal. The two ghazals are ‘wo jo roothen to manaana chaahiye’ and ‘chaahiye achchon ko jitnaa chaahiye’ written by Jigar Moradabadi and Mirza Ghalib and sung by Mukesh and Talat Mehmood respectively. In this composite ghazal, ‘matlas’ and ‘maqtas’ of both these ghazals and two she’rs each of the ghazals have been retained. Both Mukesh and Talat Mehmood sing their respective part of the ghazal alternatively. Going by the parameters of a traditional ghazal, the ‘matla’ of this composite ghazal becomes the name of the ghazal. So it is ‘wo jo roothen to manaanaa chaahiye’ (1969) which becomes the title of the ghazal. The composite ghazal ends with ‘maqta’ of Ghalib’s ghazal but the shaayar has not used his pen name. The composite ghazal is composed by Murli Manohar Swaroop.

The highlights of this composite ghazal are that they are more or less in the same ‘behers’ (meters), in the same ‘radif’ ( repeating last word, e.g., ‘chaahiye’ in the ghazal), have same ‘radif’ in both the lines of ‘matlas’ and ‘kaafiyas’ are more or less similar sounding (i.e., ‘aa’). Whosoever thought of the idea of clubbing two ghazals into one without much disturbing the parameters of a traditional ghazal must have done a lot of home work. I wish the idea could have been extended into 3-in-1 ghazal by including one more ghazal for Mohammed Rafi

I understand that this ghazal was a part of another set of duets sung by Mukesh and Talat Mehmood in an Extended Play (EP) brought out by HMV in 1969.

Enjoy the ghazal of two great shaayars by two great singers.

Song-Wo jo roothen to manaanaa chaahiye (Mukesh Talat Mehmood NFS)(1969) Singers-Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Lyrics-Jigar Muradabadi/ Mirza Ghalib, MD-Murli Manohar Swaroop

Lyrics

wo jo roothen to manaanaa chaahiye ae ae
wo jo roothen to manaanaa chaahiye ae ae
zindagi se rooth jaanaa chaahiye ae ae
zindagi se rooth jaanaa chaahiye

chaahiye achchhon ko jitnaa chaahiye
chaahiye achchhon ko jitnaa chaahiye
ye agar chaahen to phir kyaa chaahiye
ye agar chaahen to phir kyaa chaahiye ae

hain inhi dhokhon se dil ki zindagi
hain inhi dhokhon se dil ki zindagi
jo haseen dhokha to khaanaa chaahiye ae
jo haseen dhokha to khaanaa chaahiye

dosti kaa pardah hai begaangi
aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
dosti kaa pardah hai begaangi
munh chhupaanaa ham se chhodaa chaahiye
munh chhupaanaa ham se chhodaa chaahiye ae

lazzatein hain dushman-e-auj-e-kamaal
aa aa aaa
lazzatein hain dushman-e-auj-e-kamaal
kulfaton se jee lagaanaa chaahiye ae
kulfaton se jee lagaanaa chaahiye ae ae

aaa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
munhasir marne pe ho jis ki umeed
munhasir marne pe ho jis ki umeed
naa umeedee uss ki dekhaa chaahiye
naa umeedee uss ki dekhaa chaahiye

un se milne ko to kyaa kahiye Jigar
un se milne ko to kyaa kahiye Jigar
khud se milne ko zamaanaa chaahiye ae
wo jo roothen to manaanaa chaahiye

gaafil in mahtalaton(?) ke waaste
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
gaafil in mahtalaton(?) ke waaste
chaahne waalaa bhi achchhaa chaahiye
chaahiye
achhon ki jitnaa chaahiye ae ae

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Welcome to all readers to the 126th century on the blog. Yes, we now have 12,600 songs on board with this post.

It’s now customary to have a special post or a song on such occasions. The last one saw a bundle of century celebrations in a single post. This time however it will be different in the sense that the highlight will be on the song itself and its historic importance rather than other aspects.

A certain impending exam for accreditation of my qualification and experience is holding me back to write more frequently on the blog. But when I came across this discovery, I was tempted to ask Atul ji if I could have it as a century post. In fact the conceptualization of this post began a little before the 125th century post. But then its grand design and posting was already decided and hence I sought for the 126th century post slot for this song.

The name of Ashok Ghosh will forever be remembered for introducing this singer to the Indian cinema. He was the first composer to give a chance to a very young singer. It so happened that the singer was also introduced as the lead actor in the film with Nalini Jaywant. The year was 1941 and the singer as we all can easily guess is Mukesh. But were Nirdosh (1941) songs the first ever recordings of Mukesh? We will learn in a few moments.

I had begun my association with Sudhir ji by sending him a few newspaper articles and other information of Mukesh which I had collected through the years. This was before he had started his very productive and highly appreciable efforts of tracing, uploading and posting the first few dozens of Mukesh songs in the films through his series “The voice of Mukesh”. On receiving the info he had thanked me enough in his return mail. However, I now feel that I had sent a few drops of water to a person who owns an ocean of information.

Anyway, the relevance of my first interaction with him to this post is the withholding of one article for a very odd reason of the problem of scanning. The article was on a broadsheet of “Screen” a weekly magazine which used to appear in the form of a newspaper earlier. Then, I had found it difficult to scan because of its size, but with this post coming up, I had to send it across by some means as there was a very important piece of information in it which one usually does not come across in the hundreds of articles which have appeared over the years on Mukesh.

The said article is dated Sept 1st 2006 and is written by Sanjay R Pillai. It’s a short article with the title MUKESH MATTERS in huge font and a large photo of Mukesh occupying much of the space. I will be happy to share this article with anyone who wishes to read it. It has a few interesting statistics of his songs, acting career and a very important information.

We all know that composer Roshan and Mukesh were studying in the same school. Whether, they were class-mates is debatable as there is a wide difference of 6 years in age among the two. We also know that Mukesh was a popular singer in his school and the students always looked forward to hear him sing in the school functions. After his matriculation in 1939, Mukesh briefly worked in a Govt service and ran away to Mumbai in October 1940. His life and career after coming to Mumbai is well known and documented.

However there is a very interesting segment to his profession, interest and life before he came to Mumbai which I believe has not been covered or addressed in the blog so far. It is this segment that is the highlight of this century post.

The screen article referred above says that the singer had recorded six private songs in Delhi itself before he came to Mumbai. In fact the author goes ahead and names the six songs in the article. This obviously was known to me ever since I had the article in my possession but I was under the false impression that they were not available for hearing or released in any mode. When I came across one of the songs, the search led to another three and I decided that the songs very much deserved to be put up on the blog.

Some web-sites say that these private songs were recorded secretly by Mukesh. It’s quite a possibility because of the taboo of being associated with films and singing in those days.

What makes the six songs unique is that they pre-date the Nirdosh (1941) songs. So when one of the songs is taken up it becomes the oldest song of Mukesh to appear on the blog.

The table below enlists the very rare songs and their respective 78 rpm record numbers. All six songs are believed to have been recorded by Mukesh in Delhi in the year 1940 just before he came to Mumbai. Needless to say these details and the confirmation of the songs were accorded to me by Shri Harish Raghuwanshi ji, with whom I interacted a lot through mails. I thank him profusely for his help and guidance in presenting this post.

Of the above 6 songs, the first two bearing the record number N 14504 are difficult to find. However the remaining 4 are available. But I am sure that there are music enthusiasts out there possessing all the songs. If anyone has the songs from record number N 14504, I make an appeal for sharing them on the blog. Also, more knowledge readers can please extend additional information of all these 6 songs as the details are very sketchy.
I have taken up the 5th song for this post. On hearing the first few words of the song, the mind instantly recalls this iconic vintage era song by Pankaj Mullick from Kapal Kundala (1939). The sort of hurried rendering at the fag end of the original song is emulated in this version by Mukesh too.

Similarly the 4th song very much resembles yet another famous and timeless classic song of K L Saigal from Dushman (1939). It is interesting to note that these songs were sung by Mukesh in 1940 with both the films being released a year earlier.

I am not sure if there have been discussions in any of the past posts or comments regarding these six songs sung by Mukesh. However as I have said earlier, this song is the first among the six to be posted here. Authentic information regarding the composers and lyricists of the songs is not known. The only reliable information available is from Mukesh Geetkosh wherein the lyric writer of the present song is mentioned as L.A.Naazish Rizvi.

Irrespective of the sequence in which we take up the songs, what matters is the quality of the voice in the songs and the circumstances under which they were recorded by the famed singer. A voice which had no clue where it was headed and what popularity, recognition and legendary status it would attain over the next three and a half decades. Mukesh was no doubt groomed and encouraged by Anil Biswas, Naushad and other composers in his initial phase. However, years before he sang their songs, one can detect a promise and a legend in the making. Sincerity, sanctity, purity and total devotion to singing, the virtues of which made Mukesh a household name with millions of fans all over the world, is very much evident in the rendering.

So here is the young singer, all of 17 years of age, with his most primeval voice on the blog so far.

Song-Gokul nagri jaana (Mukesh NFS)(1940) Singer-Mukesh, Lyrics-L A Naazish Rizvi

Lyrics

gokul nagri jaana
haan aaaa aaa
gokul nagri jaana
shyaam bina sab hai ??
shyaam bina sab hai ??
maan ko hai behlaana
gokul nagari jaana
haan aaaa aaa
gokul nagri jaana

aankhen bichhaataa chaloon
neer bahaata chaloon oon
aankhen bichhaataa chaloon
neer bahaata chaloon oon
prem ka chamatkaar
prem ka chamatkaar
kuch to hai dikhaana aa aa
gokul nagri jaana
haan aaaa aaa
gokul nagri jaana

man kyun udaas hai
man kyun udaas hai
kaahe niraash hai
man kyun udaas hai
aisa vichaar kyun hai tujhe
aisa vichaar kyun hai tujhe
aaya sama suhaana aa aa
gokul nagri jaana
haan aaaa aaa
gokul nagri jaana

aasha ke phool khile
shyaam piya aan miley
aasha ke phool khiley
shyaam piya aan miley
kat gayi dukh ki raat
kat gayi dukh ki raat
geet aanand ke gaana
gokul nagri jaana
haan aaaa aaa
gokul nagri jaana

jaana mathura nagari jaana
jaana nand graam ko jaana
gokul nagri jaana
haan aaaa aaa
gokul nagri jaana

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

zamaanaa bade shauq se sun raha tha
hameen so gaye daastaan kehte kehte
hameen so gaye

Today is the remembrance day of legendary singer Mukesh. (23 July 1922 to 27 August 1976).

“Each word from his lips was a pearl. No one could sing the way Mukesh did, with the right diction, inflexion and intonation. His vocal timbre was out of this world.”

These are the words of composer Salil Choudhary in praise of the voice of Mukesh.

There are many die-hard fans of Mukesh and his tribe swears by him. To hear his voice, is to understand the world around us in its purest form. For his voice represents truth, purity, honesty and it was sung straight from the deepest portions of his heart. A soothing voice to the disheartened, God’s own voice in his bhajans, optimism in his patriotic songs, true love in romantic numbers, and moreover the voice of the greatest showman our country has ever seen, the voice of Mukesh will remain an inseparable chapter in the annals of HFM.

“Jaane Kahaan Gaye Wo Din” (‘Mera Naam Joker’, 1970) was sung as if a lifeless body was screeching for the injustices it had been subjected to. The more one hears this song in solitary confinements, the more one wonders how a playback singer could emulate the character with such authentic despondency.

“Dost Dost Na Raha” (‘Sangam’, 1964) portrays the entire film in 3 minutes. It’s the voice which gives potency to the emotional expressions of all the three characters involved.

Listen to “Ramaiyya Vastavaiya” (‘Shri 420’, 1955) and “Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya” (‘Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya’, 1966). The voice that appears late in the songs, makes one to sit up and take notice.

“Kisi Ki Muskuraahaton Pe Ho Nisar” (‘Anaari’, 1959) , “Haal e Dil Hamara” (‘Shriman Satyawadi’, 1960),  and “Chhodo Kal Ki Baaten Kal Ki Baat Puraani” (‘Hum Hindustani’, 1960) etc. brim with confidence and instil optimism in the minds of the listeners.

“Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaaye” (‘Anand’, 1970) explains the loneliness of the actor, even though the whole film is about his lively nature and knowing very well that it’s the dusk of his life.

It would not be an exaggeration to say for the film ‘Kabhi Kabhie’ (1976), the title song sung by Mukesh is what continues to remain in public memory after all these years.

OP Nayyar, who used Mukesh sparingly, just for less than half a dozen songs, reluctantly gave his only solo to the singer in ‘Sambandh’ (1969) for a background song during the rolling of titles. Today, what remains of the film is the song “Chal Akela, Chal Akela, Chal Akela”.

The list of such impeccable playback sounds rendered to the character’s portrayal on the screen is quite long and almost seems to be endless. Each song, a perfect gem, sung with utmost sincerity and humility.

Today, I bring to the music lovers, a NFS, again the voice articulating melancholy, the virtue for which Mukesh will remain unforgettable.

Translation (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————-

aabaad raho mere dil ko jalaane waale
tum shaad raho meri hasti mitaane waale

May you be and remain well settled
O the one who has burnt my heart to cinders
May you be ever cheerful and happy
O the one who has erased my very being and existence
[Notes: shaad = happy, cheerful;
hasti = being, existence]

aana kabhi turbat pe do aansoo bahaane ko
teere e nazar se khoon ke dariya bahaane waale

Pray that you may visit my grave sometime, some day
And shed just a drop of tear (for me)
O the one who has shed rivers of blood
With the arrows of glances
[Notes: turbat = grave, earth]

shama bhi jala dena mere mazaar pe tum
har dam hi aashiqon ke dil ko jalaane waale

May you light a lamp
When you come visiting my burial crypt
O the one who has always lit the fires
To burn the hearts of the admirers
[Notes: shamma = lamp, light
mazaar = tomb, masoleum
aashiq = lover, admirer]

Song – Aabaad Raho. . . Mere Dil Ko Jalaane Waale  (Mukesh – NFS) (1950) Singer – Mukesh, Lyrics – Madhukar Rajasthani, MD – V Balsara

Lyrics

aabaad raho o o o
aabaad raho o o o
mere dil ko jalaane waale ae
dil ko jalaane waale
tum shaad raho o o o
tum shaad raho o o o
meri hasti miṭaane waale
hasti miṭaane waale

aana kabhi turbat pe
do aansoo bahaane ko
o o o o o
aana kabhi turbat pe
do aansoo bahaane ko
o o o o o
teere e nazar se khoon ke
teere e nazar se khoon ke
o dariya bahaane waale ae
dariya bahaane waale

shamma bhi jala dena
mere mazaar pe tum
shama bhi jala dena
mere mazaar pe tum
har dam hi aashiqon ke
har dam hi aashiqon ke
o dil ko jalaane waale ae
dil ko jalaane waale
aabaad raho o o oo
aabaad raho oo
mere dil ko jalaane waale
dil ko jalaane waale
————————————–
Devnagri script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
—————————————
आबाद रहो ओ ओ
आबाद रहो ओ ओ
मेरे दिल को जलाने वाले
दिल को जलाने वाले
तुम शाद रहो ओ ओ
तुम शाद रहो ओ ओ
मेरी हस्ती मिटाने वाले
हस्ती मिटाने वाले

आना कभी तुरबत पे
दो आँसू बहाने को
ओ ओ ओ ओ
आना कभी तुरबत पे
दो आँसू बहाने को
ओ ओ ओ ओ
तीर ए नज़र से खूं के
तीर ए नज़र से खूं के
ओ दरिया बहाने वाले
दरिया बहाने वाले

शम्मा भी जला देना
मेरे मज़ार पे तुम
शम्मा भी जला देना
मेरे मज़ार पे तुम
हर दम ही आशिकों के
हर दम ही आशिकों के
ओ दिल को जलाने वाले
दिल को जलाने वाले

आबाद रहो ओ ओ
आबाद रहो ओ
मेरे दिल को जलाने वाले
दिल को जलाने वाले

This article is written by Bharat Upadhyay, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

ASAD 10th Anniversary Celebrations – 12
———————————————————————

For TEN year old ASAD, my hearty congratulations and happy B-Day to the Musically Singing Blog.

The lion’s share of the congratulations for this celebration goes to Atul ji, for starting and sustaining this blog, and words cannot describe our gratitude for that. The blog has also brought together many music lovers and I have found some real ‘gems’ of friends in them. Atul ji, thanks again for that too.

I wish to celebrate with the members who like real GOOD Music with this RARE jugalbandi of Talat Mehmood and Mukesh.  It is an NFS Gazals and is one a rare set which are classified as ‘ham-radeef ghazalein‘​; which means a pair of ghazals in which a phrase of couple or more words at the end of each she’er is the same, even in when the ghazals are written by different sha’ayars.

I strongly believe – “Hain Sab Se Madhur Wo Geet Jinhen Hum Dard Ke Sur Mein Gaate Hain“. And so I have included these two ham-radeef ghazals, in this celebration series.  Some members may classify such songs as ‘melancholy‘. (By the way I hate to describe a song by that word. I prefer to call them ‘full of pathos’, instead).  As my personal choice, I enjoy and prefer them to ‘chaalu’ songs.  Recently Arunbhai mentioned on Facebook – “When you are happy, you enjoy the music. But, when you are sad, you understand the lyrics.” Since this is lyrics emphasising presentation, I am justified to present it for an Event Celebration.

Coming back to the ‘ham-radeef‘ ghazals presented today. It is from a really rare album bearing same name from Saregama (or was it ‘HMV’ and then ‘RPG’ as it was called in different periods of time). Great, but less heard music director Murli Manohar Swaroop not only searched out the ‘similar ending words’ ghazals, but also gave melodious and appropriate  tunes to them. The extended play record (called EP, for the knowledge of younger generations) contains four pairs of such ‘ham-radeef’ ghazals.

On this EP, three such pairs are by Talat and Mukesh and one is by Talat and CH Atma. Shri Sadanand Kamath from our group has already presented one Talat-Mukesh ‘ham-radeef‘ pair of ghazals on our musical blog. This is the second one out of those four and ‘Prabhu krupa’ permitting, I shall present them, unless someone beats me in the race.

As you can see, the lyrics have all the she’ers ending with the words “kyun ho“. That is the beauty of ‘Ham-Radeef’ ghazals. Two poets, Ghalib and Daagh Dehlavi, in different time period have written them. Two sweetest voices of OUR music world,  Talat Mehmood and Mukesh have rendered them in different tunes. I call it nothing less than the marvel of the composer Murli Manohar Swaroop.

Meanings and Translation (Provided by Sudhir)
————————————————————

kisi ko de ke dil koi nawah-sanj-e-fughaan kyun ho
na ho jab dil hi seene mein to phir munh mein zubaan kyun ho

nawah = lamentations, poems on tragedy of karbala
sanj- = serious, sad, gloomy, depressed; as in sanjeedah / संजीदा
fughaan = lamentations, cry of distress

Once the heart is given to someone else
Why then lament with regret and distress
For, when the heart is given over, and is not in your bosom
How then there be a tongue in your mouth
[The poet is emphasizing that when the heart is given to someone else, then we have lost the right to complain or be regretful. We gave over our heart by our own sweet will. Then where arises the question to be distressed, or to raise a voice of complain.]

jo dil qaaboo mein ho to koi ruswaa e jahaan kyun ho
khalish kyun ho, tapish kyun ho, qalaq kyun ho, fughaan kyun ho

qaaboo = in control; in possession
ruswaa = infamous, disgraced, having a bad reputation
ruswaa e jahaan = having a bad reputation in the society, amongst ones social circle
khalish = irritation, enmity, antagonism
tapish = heat, burning, agitation
qalaq = rgret, pain
fughaan = lamentations, cry of distress

If heart is safe within our own posession
There is no fear of being disgraced, disreputed within one’s social circle
There will be no irritation, no agitation, no regrets, no cries of distress

wafaa kaisi kahaan ka ishq jab sar phodna thehra
to phir ae sangdil tera hi sang e aastan kyun ho

wafaa = faithfulness, keeping a promise
sangdil = person with a heart of stone
sang = stone
aastan = abode, threshold (in context of an entrance), दर, दरवाज़ा
sang e aastan = stone step at entrance; an abode made of stone

What be that love, and what good being faithful to such love
If love means breaking one’s head against stone
And if love does mean breaking one’s head against stone
Then why, O stone hearted one
Be that stone of your abode, of the entrance where you be
[The poet’s indication is towards the heart of the person, which is itself being compared to stone; for the heart is where one’s living force is; where one lives.]

bahut niklenge roz e hashr tere jaur ke kwaahaan
sitam ka hausalah duniya mein shart e imtihaan kyun ho

roz = day
hashr = final outcome, the final judgement
roz e hashr = the Day of Judgment; qayaamat; End of the World
jaur = tyranny, oppression, evil deeds
khwaahaan = wishes, desires
sitam = tyranny, injustice
hausalah = courage, capacity
shart = condition
imtihaan = trial, test

On the Day of Judgment
All the mis-deeds and offences of injustice
That you desired, will be exposed
Why then your courage for being cruel and merciless
Be a condition for your trials (today)
[The poet lays his faith on the final Day of Judgment, that an evil doers deeds will be exposed and dealt with accordingly, so why the courage and the capacity of an evil doer to torment and persecute others be a matter of examination today.]

qafas mein mujhse roodaad e chaman kehte na darr humdum
giri hai jis pe kal bijli wo mera aashiaan kyun ho

qafas = cage, place of confinement
roodaad = narrative, story
chaman = garden
roodaad e chaman = a story about (my) garden
aashiaan = abode, nest, home

O my beloved
(I am in (your) imprisonment (confinement))
Fear not narrating to me the description of my garden
Even if that be my nest
The nest that was struck by lightning yesterday

unhen go ranjish e beja hai lekin hai to hum se hai
mohabbat gar na ho baaham shikaayat darmiyaan kyun ho

go = although
ranjish = complaint, unpleasantness
beja = unjustified, unfair
baaham= together, alongwith
shikaayat = complaint, grievance
darmiyaan = middle, in between

My beloved has unfair unjustified complaints of me
But then these complaints are to me and no one else
For complaints only come along with love
[The poet is expressing that because love is, therefore complaints are. One does not complain to them with whom there is no relation of love.]

nikaala chaahta hai kaam kya taanon se tu ghalib
tere be-mehr kehne se wo tujh par mehrbaan kyun ho

taanah (taanon) = taunt, sarcasm
be-mehr = heartless, one without compassion

If you think that by being sarcastic
You will be able to obtain any advantage for yourself
Whyfore will you be showered with favors and love
Just be calling someone heartless and without compassion

jigar se kam naheen ae chaarahgar daagh e jigar mujh ko
jo paidaa kee ho mar mar ke wo daulat raa’egaan kyon ho

chaarahgar = healer, curer
daagh = wounds, blisters
raa’egaan = useless, waste

O my healer, my curer
The blisters on my heart
Are as dear to me, as is my heart itself
It is a treasure I have accumulated
With great pain and sacrifices
Why then this treasure may allowed to be wasted in vain

Song: Kisi Ko Deke Dil Koi / Jo Dil Kaaboo Mein Ho (NFS) Singers: Talat Mehmood / Mukesh, Lyrics: Ghalib / Daagh Dehlavi, Music: Murli Manohar Swaroop

Lyrics

kisi ko de ke dil koi nawah-sanj-e-fughaan kyun ho
na ho jab dil hi seene mein to phir munh mein zubaan kyun ho
kisi ko de ke dil koi

jo dil qaaboo mein ho to koi ruswaa e jahaan kyun ho
khalish kyun ho, tapish kyun ho, qalaq kyun ho, fughaan kyun ho
khalish kyun ho, tapish kyun ho

wafaa kaisi kahaan ka ishq jab sar phodna thehra
to phir ae sangdil tera hi sang e aastan kyun ho
kisi ko de ke dil koi

haa..aan
bahut niklenge roz e hashr tere jaur ke khwaahaan
haa..aan
bahut niklenge roz e hashr tere jaur ke khwaahaan
sitam ka hausalah duniya mein shart e imtihaan kyun ho
khalish kyun ho, tapish kyun ho

qafas mein..ein..ein
haan
qafas mein mujhse roodaad e chaman kehte na darr humdum
giri hai jis pe kal bijli wo mera aashiaan kyun ho
kisi ko de ke dil koi

unhen go ranjish e beja hai lekin hai to hum se hai
unhen go ranjish e beja hai lekin hai to hum se hai
mohabbat gar na ho baaham shikaayat darmiyaan kyun ho
khalish kyun ho, tapish kyun ho

haan..aan..aan..aan
nikaala chaahta hai kaam kya taanon se tu ghalib
haan..aan..aan..aan
tere be-mehr kehne se wo tujh par mehrbaan kyun ho
kisi ko de ke dil koi

aan..aan..aan
jigar se kam naheen ae chaarahgar daagh e jigar mujh ko
jigar se kam naheen ae chaarahgar daagh e jigar mujh ko
jo paidaa kee ho mar mar ke wo daulat raa’egaan kyon ho
jo paidaa kee ho mar mar ke wo daulat raa’egaan kyon ho
khalish kyun ho, tapish kyun ho

———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————

किसी को दे के दिल कोई नौवा-संज ए फुगां क्यों हो
ना हो जब दिल ही सीने में तो फिर मुंह में ज़ुबान क्यों हो
किसी को दे के दिल कोई

जो दिल क़ाबू में हो तो कोई रुसवा ए जहां क्यों हो
ख़लिश क्यों हो तपिश क्यों हो क़लक़ क्यों हो फुगां क्यों हो
ख़लिश क्यों हो तपिश क्यों हो

वफा कैसी कहाँ का इश्क़ जब सर फोड़ना ठहरा
तो फिर ए संगदिल तेरा ही संग ए आस्तां क्यों हो
किसी को दे के दिल कोई

हाँ॰॰आँ॰॰आँ
बहुत निकलेंगे रोज़ ए हश्र तेरे जौर के ख्वाहाँ
हाँ॰॰आँ
बहुत निकलेंगे रोज़ ए हश्र तेरे जौर के ख्वाहाँ
सितम का हौसला दुनिया में शर्त ए इम्तिहान क्यों हो
ख़लिश क्यों हो तपिश क्यों हो

क़फ़स में॰॰एं॰॰एं
हाँ
क़फ़स में मुझसे रूदाद ए चमन कहते ना डर हमदम
गिरी है जिस पे कल बिजली वो मेरा आशियाँ क्यों हो
किसी को दे के दिल कोई

उन्हें गो रंजिश ए बेजा है लेकिन है तो हमसे है
उन्हें गो रंजिश ए बेजा है लेकिन है तो हमसे है
मोहब्बत गर ना हो बाहम शिकायत दरमियाँ क्यों हो
ख़लिश क्यों हो तपिश क्यों हो

हाँ॰॰आँ॰॰आँ॰॰आँ॰॰आँ
निकाला चाहता है काम क्या तानों से तू ग़ालिब
हाँ॰॰आँ॰॰आँ॰॰आँ
तेरे बे-महर कहने से वो तुझ पर महरबान क्यों हो
किसी को दे के दिल कोई

॰॰आँ॰॰आँ॰॰आँ
जिगर से कम नहीं हैं चारगर दाग़ ए जिगर मुझको
जिगर से कम नहीं हैं चारगर दाग़ ए जिगर मुझको
जो पैदा की है मर मर के वो दौलत रा’एगां क्यों हो
जो पैदा की है मर मर के वो दौलत रा’एगां क्यों हो
ख़लिश क्यों हो तपिश क्यों हो

This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today, May 27, 2020 is the 56^th Remembrance Day of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. I also remember this day for two other reasons. First, it was the day when my SSC result was out in the morning and second, I had to attend my maternal uncle’s marriage. That day was almost like current lockdown situation except that the trains were running and we could go out. A pall of gloom was visible on almost every one’s faces I met at the marriage. The question in their mind was ‘After Nehru, Who?

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was a visionary and the architect of modern India. For a newly independent country, charting of a growth path was necessary. The policies were directed towards creating infrastructure facilities like construction of major dams, power plants and setting up of heavy industries like steel plants, engineering and chemicals. Higher educational institutes like Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) and other scientific institutes like All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMs) were set up. He was also the architect of non-alignment movement during the cold-war years.

There were also brickbats for Pandit Nehru’s policies. His handling of Kashmir issue in 1948 and his China policies were highly criticised. Also, the food crisis in the 1960s were blamed for not giving importance to the agricultural sector in the Five-year plans. The foremost critics of Nehruvian policies in those days were Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia of Socialist Party, Hem Barua, H V Kamath and Barrister Nath Pai of Praja Socialist Party, Balraj Madhok of Jan Sangh and Hiren Mukherjee of Communist Party of India. Despite their relatively much lower number of seats in the parliaments, they were forces to reckon with as the leaders from the opposition parties.

I remember in my teen that during the parliament sessions that the newspapers will carry front-page news of the criticism of Government’s policies by one or more of the names of the leaders I mentioned above. Some of these names may not ring bell to the new generations. Most of them were good orators. It was the charismatic presence of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who aptly handled heated debate upholding the democratic norms in the parliament.

After the General Election of 1957, one more strong critic of Pandit Nehru’s policies entered the Lok Sabha. He was 33-year old Atal Bihari Vajpayee of Jan Sangh. There used to be heated arguments between the young Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pandit Nehru in Lok Sabha. One of the anecdotes which Atal Bihari Vajpayee revealed during a ‘no confidence’ motion against his Government in 1996, proves that despite serious differences, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s admired Atal ji’s performance in the Lok Sabha. Let us read in Vajpayee’s own words which he spoke in Hindi (translated by me in English):

Once during the heated debate in the Lok Sabha, I told Nehru ji that he had a mixed personality in which he was both Churchill and Chamberlain (former prime ministers of the U K – first was supposed to be hawkish and the second dovish in crisis management). Nehru ji did not get angry. In the evening, I attended at a function organised for a visiting foreign dignitary. At the venue, Nehru ji saw me and called at his place to complement me for my rousing speech of that day in the Lok Sabha. He took me to one of the foreign dignitaries and introduced me by saying ‘he is a young leader from the opposition who always criticises me, but I see in him a great future’.

And what a great statesman Atal Bihari was as well. In 1977, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Foreign Minister, he came to South Block to take charge of his ministry. While walking in the lobby of his office, he noticed that Nehru ji’s portrait was missing from the wall. He called his officials and asked them as to what happened to the portrait. There was no answer. After some time, he found that Nehru ji’ portrait was back in its place. Both these anecdotes indicate the greatness of both these leaders and their relationship in which there was no malice despite serious political differences.

Some of the IPTA members belonging to Hindi film fraternity were also the critics of the Nehruvian policies. Majrooh Sultanpuri in 1948 wrote a poem calling Pandit Nahru a stooge of Hitler and the slave of the Commonwealth for which he was arrested in 1949 by the then Chief Minister of Bombay State, Morarji Desai. Sahir Ludhianvi’s satirical song, cheen o arab hamaara hindustaan hamaara had an implicit criticism of the Government’s policies for widening the gap between ‘haves’ and ‘haves not’.

Shailendra was also the critics of Nehru. He had written a sarcastic poem on Nehru’s visit to the UK in June 1953 to attend the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth. In today’s scenario, probably, Shailendra would have become a persona non grata in South Block. But with Pandit Nehru, it was different. The following anecdote which I read on the facebook page of Dinesh Shankar Shailendra, the youngest son of Shailendra, throws some light which indicates that Pandit Nehru had no malice towards his critics.

Sometime after the Chinese aggression in October 1962, Pandit Nehru invited some members of Indian Film Industry to Delhi to personally thank them for doing programmes for the Indian Army to boost their moral and also raise funds. Raj Kapoor with his core team comprising Shankar-Jaikishan, Mukesh, Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra were also the guests. All the guests were waiting at the venue but Nehru ji got delayed. A bored Shailendra told Raj Kapoor that he was tired of waiting and would like to go back to his hotel room. He also said that there were so many important guests and he would not be missed. Raj Kapoor agreed.

After some time, Pandit Nehru arrived and personally met all his guests. While talking to Raj Kapoor, Pandit Nehru suddenly asked ‘Where is Shailendra? – the man who wrote hothon pe sachchaayi rehti hai, jis desh mein ganga behti hai. Raj Kapoor was in a quandary. He immediately sent Shankar to bring Shailendra from his hotel room which he did. A relieved Raj Kapoor proudly introduced Shailendra to Pandit Nehru who insisted getting photographed exclusively with Shailendra. Nehru ji told Shailendra that he would personally sign the picture and send it to him which he did.

It was, therefore, no surprise that the finest tributes to Pandit Nehru following his death on May 27, 1964 came from his critics. After reading them, I feel that they have all come from the bottom of their hearts and also out of immense respect for him. Kaifi Azmi wrote a heart-felt song, meri aawaaz suno, pyaar ka raag suno for ‘Naunihaal’ (1967). He also wrote a nazm, Nehru in 1964. Sahir Ludhianvi wrote a nazm, Jawaharlal Nehru soon after the death of Pandit Nehru.

Pandit Nehru was a great admirer of Hindi and Urdu poetry. He was a fan of poets like Josh Malihabadi, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala and Harivanshrai Bachchan with whom he used to interact with them on poetry. There are anecdotes on Pandit Nehru’s friendship with these poets which also reveal that Pandit Nehru took criticism from his friends without malice towards them.

Pandit Nehru was instrumental in setting up of Children’s Film Society of India in 1955. He had invited Kidar Sharma to direct the first film for the children, ‘Jaldeep’ (1956). The film won the award of the best film under children’s film category at Cannes Film Festival in 1957. For the next children’s film, ‘Bachhon Se Baaten’ (1957), Kidar Sharma requested Nehru ji as a part of the film. One can say that Pandit Nehru acted in a film where he was the main actor. [Source: Kidar Sharma’s autobiography, ‘One And Lonely Kidar Sharma’ (2002)].

Shailendra wrote a non-film song as a tribute to Jawaharlal Nehru. On the occasion of the 56th Remembrance Day of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, I am presenting the same non-film song ‘phool khilega baaghon mein’ (1964) which is rendered by Mukesh. The song is set to music by Shankar-Jaikishan.

Audio Clip:

Song-Phool khilega baaghon mein jab tak ghulaab hai pyaara (Mukesh NFS)(1964) Singer-Mukesh, Unknown voie, Lyrics-Shailendra, MD-Shankar Jaikishan
Chorus
Chorus + Mukesh

Lyrics

Chacha Nehru
amar rahen
Chacha Nehru
amar rahen
Chacha Nehru
amar rahen

phool khilega baaghon mein
jab tak gulaab kaa pyaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par
Nehru naam tumhaara
jab tak hai iss jag mein
chanda suraj kaa ujiyaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara

humko hai dukh humne kho daala apna humjholi
jiske saath deewaali thhi uske sang khelen holi
kaun bada ab hum jaise ban ke khilwaad karega
pyaar karega jhagdega jhoothi taqraar karega
khilega jag ke aangan mein
jab tak bachpan pyaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara

kaun manga kar dega humko bhaalu haathi cheete
bachpan ke din apne to bachpan se pehle beete
kaun hamen chitti likhega pyaar bhari bhaasha mein
haay tumhen bhi hum likh paate kaash aur tum jeete
jab tak bachche muskaayenge youn nirmal jaldhaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara

wo muskaan hamaare jaisi hriday jeetne waali
wo gussa jo sheetal hai jaise barkha matwaali
wo ghudki jo sikhlaati hai sabak yaad kar lena
wo baaten jaise bikhraaye phool phool ki daali
yaad aayengi jab tak dukh mein degi yaad sahaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara

phool khilega baaghon mein jab tak gulaab ka pyaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara
chale gaye ho lekin lagta hai tum yahin chhupe ho
jaise hum bachchon se aankh micholi khel rahe ho
bagiyaa ke phoolon mein bikhri hai muskaan tumhaari
nadiyon ke sang chalte ho parvat ke saath khade ho
jab tak baaki hai duniya mein jo kuchh bhi hai pyaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara

kabhi na bhoolenge hum tumne itna pyaar diya hai
kabhi na murjhaayega tumne jo gulzaar diya hai
hamen tumhaari yaadon ki saugandh ke hum bachche bhi
yogya banenge uske tumne jo sansaar diya hai
jab tak mehnat ke haathon jaayega vishwa sanwaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara

hum sachche insaan banen
hum dost banen vishwaasi
hum chaahe jo hon pahle hon achchhe Bharatwaasi
kabhi na ho ab jung zameen par
desh rahen sab mil kar
jung ek hi ho duniya mein
bhookh rog aur dukh par
jab tak bahti hai is duniya mein Ganga ki dhaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par chaacha naam tumhaara
phool khilega baaghon mein
jab tak gulaab kaa pyaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par
chaacha naam tumhaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par
chaacha naam tumhaara
tab tak zinda hai dharti par
chaacha naam tumhaara

This article is written by Mahesh Mamadapur, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

ना कजरे की धार
ना मोतियों के हार
ना कोई किया सिंगार 
फिर भी कितनी सुंदर हो
तुम कितनी सुन्दर हो

Yes, this song is from film ‘Mohra’ (1994). Ah but I am not bringing on the film version of the song.

This very song was earlier and originally sung by Mukesh in his inimitable voice in the sixties. The film for which he had sang never reached proper production stages. The song has since remained and gets counted amongst the many NFS that he sang. There are almost no details available about Mukesh version and hence this post will be quite short and devoid of any tables, histograms etc.

But then, I do not want to make the post too short either and so let me write something about the 1994 film which I have never seen. I am told it had a rather unexpected climax and so pondering if I should watch only the ending.

I consider myself qualified to write about the 1994 film as it is yet to make its debut on the blog which is quite surprising. There is a well-established wiki page of the movie on the net and I request interested readers to visit it for much of the details.

One of the apparent reasons as to why the song sung by Mukesh was included in the film could be probably because Viju Shah the music director of the film is the son of music director Kalyanji Virji Shah of composer duo Kalyanji Anandji. The lyric writer obviously remained Indeewar.

The film has 3-4 versions of the song sung by Pankaj Udhas and Sandhana Sargam.  All these years, I was under the impression that at least the romantic version was picturised on Raveena Tandon but it does not seem to be.

And, with such poor knowledge of “new films”, I am happy I seldom venture into this rather unfamiliar territory. I am sure more knowledgeable contributors will take up the film song and write in detail about the many versions.

As usual, I reached out to Shri Harish Raghuwanshi ji, the Surat based complier of Mukesh Geetkosh to see if I could get more details about the Mukesh version. He gave several leads such as searching the register where song was to be recorded, contacting any of the Kalyanji-Anandji’s orchestra team etc. He has also written to me stating that he has contacted Anandji, Indeewar, Mohnish Behl etc to get some leads but to no avail. All he remembers is the film being about Navagraha. I thank him for the continuous support and help I receive.

All these efforts of tracing the film that never took off being quite an ordeal, I decided to go ahead and represent this post on the blog. What is more important is that the complete song sung by Mukesh is available on several platforms and is a treat to listen.

Song – Na Kajre Ki Dhaar, Na Motiyon Ke Haar  (NFS-Mukesh) (1960s) Singer – Mukesh, Lyrics – Indiwar, MD – Kalyanji Anandji

Lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)

na kajre ki dhaar
na motiyon ke haar
na koi kiya singaar
phir bhi kitni sunder ho
tum kitni sunder ho

na kajre ki dhaar
na motiyon ke haar
na koi kiya singaar
phir bhi kitni sunder ho
tum kitni sunder ho

tu taazgi phoolon ki
kya saadgi ka kehna
tu taazgi phoolon ki
kya saadgi ka kehna
singaar tera yauwan
yauwan hi tera gehna
teri soorat jaise moorat
main dekhoon baar baar
na kajre ki dhaar
na motiyon ke haar
na koi kiya singaar
phir bhi kitni sunder ho
tum kitni sunder ho

tera ang sachcha sona
muskaan sachche moti
tera ang sachcha sona
muskaan sachche moti
tere honth hain madhushala
tu roop ki hai jyoti
ude khushboo jab chale tu
boley to bajey sitaar
na kajre ki dhaar
na motiyon ke haar
na koi kiya singaar
phir bhi kitni sunder ho
tum kitni sunder ho

———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————

ना कजरे की धार
ना मोतियों के हार
ना कोई किया सिंगार
फिर भी कितनी सुंदर हो
तुम कितनी सुंदर हो

ना कजरे की धार
ना मोतियों के हार
ना कोई किया सिंगार
फिर भी कितनी सुंदर हो
तुम कितनी सुंदर हो

तू ताज़गी फूलों की
क्या सादगी का कहना
तू ताज़गी फूलों की
क्या सादगी का कहना
सिंगार तेरा यौवन
यौवन ही तेरा गहना
तेरी सूरत जैसे मूरत
मैं देखूँ बार बार
ना कजरे की धार
ना मोतियों के हार
ना कोई किया सिंगार
फिर भी कितनी सुंदर हो
तुम कितनी सुंदर हो

तेरा अंग सच्चा सोना
मुस्कान सच्चे मोती
तेरा अंग सच्चा सोना
मुस्कान सच्चे मोती
तेरे होंठ हैं मधुशाला
तू रूप की है ज्योति
उड़े खुशबू जब चले तू
बोले तो बजे सितार
ना कजरे की धार
ना मोतियों के हार
ना कोई किया सिंगार
फिर भी कितनी सुंदर हो
तुम कितनी सुंदर हो