Hum sewa corps ke jawaan sada chalen seena taan

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 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.

Mukesh and his Co-Singers –9
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Let me begin this post with a disclaimer to make it more interesting.

If you are reading this post, it means the editors have gratefully accepted my take on the subject and for the inclusion of this NFS in the above quoted series.

The series Mukesh and his co-singers had begun with Mukesh’s association with Rafi saab. Thereafter, I have covered a total of 4 each male and female co-singers. Amongst male singers apart from Rafi saab, Talat Mehmood, Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey have been covered.
A very important name missing amongst male singers was of course Mahendra Kapoor who not only has some good number of songs with Mukesh, but also had a close and friendly relationship with him. The obvious reason for the delay of this post was the fact that all of the known 12 songs in which they collaborated had already been covered on the blog.

So what do I have in store in this post? Well, when the words “rare” and “Mukesh” appear together anywhere, I take them quite seriously and one of the first thoughts that comes to my mind is if the same has been represented on the blog or if there is any scope for its immediate inclusion.
Thus, a couple of months back, when Zafar bhai of Delhi shared the NFS of the combo from his invaluable collection, I knew I had a chance of making this post.
Before we go into the details as to how this post came about, here is the table of songs with all details and the respective links on the blog. The duo has a dozen songs in which they sang together (triads, quartets and a quintet included) and which are quite familiar and remembered to this day. I shall run through them without much detailing.

Song No 1 in the table is probably only one of its kind, wherein all 4 singers name starts with the letter “M”.

2 again is a rare song with 5 great singers coming together for a quintet in a classic film.

3 is chirpy and hummable.

4 and 5 are under the composition of N Datta and incidentally both the songs are about our two metro cities.

6 is probably the most known song in the table.

7 is of course a patriotic song sung with much gusto.

8 is a known song, but what most people probably do not know is that the refrain “bhool jaa” is sung by Mahendra Kapoor where as Mukesh sings most of the song.
This was Mukesh’s association with Naushad after nearly two decades. Incidentally, it was my debut post of another series called Mukesh and his composers. That post was sans the table which became a regular feature in my posts later on. I am contemplating writing again on the combo as new information has come to my knowledge.

9 to 12 are quite familiar and readers can easily associate with them just by reading the name of the song.

13 is what this post is all about and so read on.

So, after having come across the posting by Zafar bhai, a quick search on the net and I came across
the following:-
==
The relevant text is as follows.
ASC CORPS SONG

In Oct 1975 the Corps song entitled ‘Seva Corps KeJawan’ was composed and recorded on a 45 RPM disc by HMV. The Corps song depicts in simple language the various facets of the Corps. Shri Sahir Ludhianvi composed the song; Shri Khayyam has scored the music and it is sung by late Mukesh, Mahendra Kapoor and others under the able direction of Shri Yash Chopra, the famous director.

From the picture of the disc that he has shared along with the audio, artists involved in the NFS; the singers, lyricist, composer and this case the director Yash Chopra are quite evident.

And now starts the story, which, as I write; am afraid has no definite answers or conclusions.

Even before the two famed voices start singing the NFS, the prelude composition unmistakably takes us back to the radio days program “Jaimala” on Vividh Bharathi. Yes, the popular signature tune of the program. It’s used once before the voices start singing and thrice at the end of the song. So was the signature tune of Jaimala program used from this particular composition of Khayyam saab or someone else had composed the tune earlier and Khayyam saab took the liberty of burrowing it for obvious reasons?

In this quest, apart from our editors, I sought help from our Avinash ji also. A good friend that he is, instead of helping me, he put up a bigger problem and that too with documentary proof. 

Apparently, the book Khayyam The Man – His Music, researched, compiled and edited by Vishwas Nerurkar and Bishwanath Chatterjee has a special mention of this NFS in the footnotes and states that Mukesh is not part of the song.

Well, on listening to the song, it is true that Mukesh’s voice is extremely difficult to identify as Mahendra Kapoor’s strong metallic voice overshadows and looms large in the entire song. However, with due regards to the authors of the book on Khayyam, I have the following to submit.

1. On keener listening at the start of the song, there is indeed a trace of Mukesh’s voice that can be heard separately. It lasts for a very short while though.

2. Again, there seems to be a difference when Mahendra Kapoor is singing in unison with Mukesh and the chorus is rendering its part in the song. I mean, evidently, there is one more voice with Mahendra Kapoor.

3. The official home page of the Indian Army under its section Corps Colour And Song clearly attributes the artists involved in the making of the song and Mukesh is very much mentioned.

4. The gramophone record disk clearly displays Mukesh’s name on it. In fact, Mukesh is printed before Mahendra Kapoor.

5. A few articles on the net which seem to have copied info from the army website invariably mention Mukesh.

6. There is photograph easily available on the net depicting the two singers. Though there were quite a few private concerts that the two participated, this particular snap because of the attire seems to be very much from the recording of the said NFS. Mukesh also has a book in his left hand and some notes can be seen. I wonder if the same can be deciphered to conclude the matter.

Harish Raghuwanshi’s latest edition of MGK also does not feature this NFS. In my brief interaction with him on email, I was given to understand that he did get this information a few years back but could not lay his hands on the audio. He as such has not ruled out Mukesh’s voice in the song.

So, there are two important aspects to be firmly decided.

1. If Khayyam saab was the original composer of the signature tune used in Jaimala program.
2. The undeniable and irrefutable fact of Mukesh being the co-singer with Mahendra Kapoor in view of the footnote in the book on Khayyam saab.

I leave it to the editors, readers and knowledgeable contributors to throw more light and perceptions on the above two points.

It was important to include a post on Mukesh’s collaboration with Mahendra Kapoor along with the table of songs and I am happy that I got an opportunity to do so with this NFS.

I take this opportunity to thank all the seva core jawans for the invaluable service that they are rendering to our country.

Further, today on 26 January 2023, while we celebrate our 74^th Republic Day, let us be thankful and express our sincere gratitude to all the soldiers of our armed forces for the supreme sacrifice they are making in keeping us safe.

Long live our motherland.

Jai Hind.

Youtube Link:

Song-Hum Sewa corps ke jawaan sada chalen seena taan (Patriotic NFS)(1975) Singers-Mukesh, Mahendra Kapoor, Lyrics-Sahir Ludhianvi, MD-Khayyam

Lyrics

hum
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan

sarhad sarhad pahunchaayen hum
fauzon ka saamaan
sarhad sarhad pahunchaayen hum
fauzon ka saamaan
apne jaan se pyaari samjhen
har sainik ki jaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan

parwat faanden nadiyaan cheeren
jungle daalen chhaan
parwat faanden nadiyaan cheeren
jungle daalen chhaan
mushqil se mushqil manzil ko
hum samjhen aasaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan

desh ki sewa fauz ki sewa
apna dharm imaan
desh ki sewa fauz ki sewa
apna dharm imaan
apni corps pe maan hai humko
apni corps mahaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan

desh ki sewa fauz ki sewa
apna dharm imaan
desh ki sewa fauz ki sewa
apna dharm imaan
apni corps pe maan hai humko
apni corps mahaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan
hamen rokne na paaye
koi aandhi ya toofaan
Sewa corps ke jawaan
sada chalen seena taan