Songs That Tug At Your Emotions – Song #14

The fourteenth day of songs in this series.

And since we are finishing two weeks of the new – or not so new now – series, lets take stock of the songs that we have covered so far:

1. We kicked off the series with Talat Mahmood’s: Raat ne kyaa kyaa khwaab dikhaaye.
2. On the 2nd day we took up Manna Dey’s: Aye mere pyaare watan.
3. On the 3rd day we took up Kishore Kumar’s: Aa chal ke tujhe main le ke chalun.
4. On the 4th day we took up Mohammad Rafi’s: Main ye soch kar us ke dar se utha tha.
5. On the 5th day we took up Mukesh’s: Guzra zamaana bachpan ka.
6. On the 6th day we took up Hemant Kumar’s: Tum pukaar lo.
7. On the 7th day we took up Mahendra Kapoor’s: Chalo ek baar phir se.
8. On the 8th day we took up Lata Mangeshkar’s: Ai mere watan ke logo.
9. On the 9th day we took up Asha Bhosle’s: Tora man darpan kehlaaye.
10. On the 10th day we took up SD Burman’s: Sun mere bandhu re, sun mere mitwa.
11. On the 11th day we took up Suman Kalyanpur’s: Nigaahen na phero chale jayenge hum.
12. On the 12th day we took up Shamshad Begum’s: Mere piya gaye Rangoon.
13. On the 13th day we took up Geeta Dutt’s: Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam.

Even though all songs in the series are eminently suitable to tug at our emotions, this is very very special to me. And it is not so much because of the singer with whom I have been starting the description of every song that I have shared so far. This song is special because it is the first song in Hindi movies of my favourite lyricist and poet Shakeel Badayuni.

The other contemporary poets and lyricists wrote; but, I feel Shakeel never wrote anything. I feel Shakeel reeved flowers of various shades and hues in a garland and put them around stars and moon. I feel he chiseled words until he achieved perfection. I feel that being a natural poet and lyricist of Love, he had dard and aansu as his close partners who probably used to play hide-n-seek with him whenever he used to pick up his pen to write.

कैसे कोई लिखे जज़्बात शकील के अलफ़ाज़ में,
हर किसी को नहीं मिलते तार दर्द – ए – साज़ के I

इश्क़ मोहब्बत ग़म ओ आंसू उनके हम जुबां थे,
दिल को झंझोटते थे बेकस आवाज़ में I

सागर में गोताखोर जैसे मोती ढून्ढ लेता है,
वह भी तराश लेते थे हकीकत दिल – ए – राज़ में I

कभी जब वह फ़िज़ाएं और बहारें बयान करते थे,
एक बेक़रारी छुपी रहती थी हुसन – ए – नाज़ में I

कैसे कोई लिखे जज़्बात शकील के अलफ़ाज़ में,
मीलों का फ़र्क़ है सबके और उनके अंदाज़ में I

Shakeel Badayuni has been my favourite for a long time and the reason is that I resonate the emotions expressed in his songs, ghazals and nazams. On this blog, I started off with ‘The Best Of Old Hindi Songs – Rafi, Shakeel, Naushad And Dilip Kumar Together’ to relive the era that I grew up in. It was followed by ‘Immortal Songs Of Mughal-E-Azam’, the movie that is still making waves more than 57 years after it was first released. And then, I just kept writing about him, eg, ‘Shakeel Badayuni – The King Amongst Lyricists And Poets – Part I’, ‘Shakeel Badayuni – The King Amongst Lyricists And Poets – Part II’,  ‘Immortal Ghazals Of Shakeel Badayuni – Part I’, ‘Immortal Ghazals Of Shakeel Badayuni – Part II’, ‘Immortal Ghazals Of Shakeel Badayuni – Part III’, ‘Another Tribute To Shakeel Badayuni In The Month Of His Death Anniversary’, ‘Shakeel Badayuni – Countdown To His Bith Centenary 03 Aug 2016 – Part I’, ‘Shakeel Badayuni – Countdown To His Bith Centenary 03 Aug 2016 – Part II’, ‘Shakeel Badayuni – Countdown To His Bith Centenary 03 Aug 2016 – Part III’, ‘Shakeel Badayuni – Countdown To His Bith Centenary 03 Aug 2016 – Part IV’, ‘Shakeel Badayuni – Countdown To His Bith Centenary 03 Aug 2016 – Part V’, and ‘Shakeel Badayuni Birth Centenary 03 Aug 2016 – Part VI’. Besides these, Shakeel happens to be there in many other posts on songs on my blog.

What an outstanding coincidence it is that Shakeel Badayuni’s first song in the movies should be for a movie titled Dard? No one knew ‘Dard’ better than him; eg, इस दर्द की मारी दुनिया में, मुझसा भी कोई मजबूर न हो; जिस तरह ख़ुशी से दूर हूँ मैं, यूँ कोई ख़ुशी से दूर न हो (1949 movie Paras), and हम नहीं वो जो ग़म-ए-इश्क़ से घबरा जाएँ, हो के मायूस ज़ुबाँ पर कोई शिकवा लाएँ; चाहे कितना ही बढ़े दर्द-ए-जिगर, अपने होंठों को सिए जाएँगे I तुम हमें प्यार करो या न करो, हम तुम्हें प्यार किए जाएँगे (1964 movie Kaise Kahoon). Even though Uma Devi (later comedian Tun Tun) sang the song as a woman, if one changes the song into a male song, it would be very much like Shakeel writing for himself.

Naushad Ali, the composer, was the guide and mentor of Shakeel Badayuni. Naushad gave Shakeel a break in AR Kardar’s 1947 movie Dard thereby ending days of destitution for the latter and his large family. This fact was never lost on Shakeel. Even though Shakeel worked for many other composers such as Ravi (two of his three Filmfare Awards) and Hemant Kumar (the third Filmfare Award for Kahin deep jale kahin dil), he owed his unshakeable loyalty to Naushad. The duo was together for more number of years and movies than any other duo in Hindi movies and together they produced outstanding music. In his dying days, when Shakeel was suffering from tuberculosis, Naushad paid him ten times his fees. This was because Naushad would be tilted more in favour of values than money. One incident that comes to mind is when K Asif desperately wanted Naushad to create music for his Mughal-e-Azam and approached him with a suitcase full of money. Naushad was so annoyed with it that he threw the suitcase and K Asif out of his house. K Asif later apologised and that’s how Naushad worked for him. Surprisingly, whilst everyone loves Naushad’s music even now, he received only one Filmfare Award (for 1954 movie Bauju Bawra). In 1981, however, the highest award in Indian Cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was conferred on him.

The songs of Baiju Bawra, put together by Shakeel and Naushad Ali are some of the most memorable songs in the Hindi movies. Both, ‘Man tadpat Hari darshan ko aaj’ (Raag Malkauns, Tal Tintal), and ‘O duniya ke rakhwale’ (Raag Darbari Kanada, Tal Kaherava) are amongst the best bhajans and best raaga based songs in Hindi movies. Naushad Ali is credited with bringing in raaga based songs in the movies and Shakeel supported him eminently in many of these.

Similarly, the songs of Mughal-e-Azam are so popular even after 57 years of the movie’s release. Recently, a Shapoorji Pallonji stage production, directed by Feroz Abbas Khan made big news with the original songs and dances from the movie. During the time when Khan was putting together the stage-play, Akademi did a tribute to the production in the making. Here is one of the dances:

Lets talk a little about the singer Uma Devi now. As with many singers of that era, she knocked at the door of Naushad Ali to be given a chance to sing in the movies. He listened to her and immediately signed her up. She made her debut as a solo playback singer in Nazir’s Wamiq Azra (1946). However, soon she had signed a contract with director AR Kardar and that’s how she sang for his 1947 movie Dard. So successful was this song – Afsana likh rahi hoon – for her that a gentleman from Delhi approached her and got married to her solely on the basis of this song. They had two daughters and two sons. This man whom she called Mohan died in 1992.

She had a very sucessful singing career until singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle arrived on the scene. And then her career went into tail spin because she had a limited vocal range. Naushad Ali then suggested to her to take up acting because of her bubbly nature. She thus emerged as Hindi movies first comedienne. It was her fervent desire that she should act in her first movie with Dilip Kumar. Naushad Ali made that too posible for her and the first movie that she acted as a comedienne was the 1950 Dilip Kumar starrer Babul.

The movie from where I have taken this song is the 1947 Abdul Rashid Kardar movie: Dard that starred Munnawar Sultana, Suraiya, Nusrat and Husn Bano. Munnawar Sultana’s name in the movie was Suraiya and Suraiya’s name was Hamida. Munnawar Sultana (a nawab’s daughter) and Suraiya (a poor village girl) both were in love with Nusrat who played Dr Iqbal. Shakeel Badayuni and Naushad created the following songs in the movie:

 

1	“Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon”	Uma Devi
2	“Aaj Machi Hai Dhum”	Uma Devi
3	“Yeh Kaun Chala Yeh Kaun Chala”	Uma Devi
4	“Betaab Hai Dil Dard-E-Mohabbat Ke Asar Se”	Uma Devi, Suraiya
5	“Beech Bhanvar Men Aan Phansa Hai”	Suraiya
6	“Dil Dhadke Aankh Meri Phadke”	Suraiya
7	“Hum Thay Tumhare Tum Thay Humare”	Suraiya
8	“Chale Dil Ki Duniya Barbaad Kar Ke”	Suraiya
9	“Yeh Afsana Nahin Zalim Mere Dil Ki Haqeeqat Hai”	Shamshad Begum
10	“Ham Dard Kaa Afsana Duniya Ko Suna Denge”	Shamshad Begum

Before we actually take up the song, a word about Abdul Rashid Kardar. He was the pioneer in establishing film industry in Bhati Gate, Lahore (later Pakistan). In 1924, the first silent film (11 years after Dadasaheb Phalke made his first silent movie: Raja Harishchandra), The Daughters of Today was released in Lahore at a time when the city only had nine operational cinema houses. Most of the films shown in theatres in Lahore were either made in Bombay or Calcutta, besides ones made in Hollywood or London. The Daughters of Today was the brain-child of GK Mehta, a former officer with the North-Western Railway, who had imported a camera into the country for this very project from London. He asked Kardar to assist him as an assistant director on the project and ended up giving Kardar his début role in his film as an actor. Muhammad Ismail, his friend and fellow calligraphist, accompanied Kardar in the making of the film. Kardar shifted to Calcutta in 1930 and after working in various production houses, he made his own Kardar Studios in 1940 (he shifted to Bombay in 1937) and started making films under the banner Kardar Productions. His 1946 film Shahjehan starred KL Saigal and the songs were by Majrooh (debut movie) and Naushad Ali. He worked with Naushad in a number of movies including the unforgettable Dil Diya Dard Liya starring Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman and Pran.

Please enjoy Uma Devi sing: Afsana likh rahi hoon dil-e-beqraar ka….

अफ़सान लिख रही हूँ (२) दिल-ए-बेक़रार का
आँखोँ में रंग भर के तेरे इंतज़ार का
अफ़साना लिख रही हूँ

जब तू नहीं तो कुछ भी नहीं है बहार में
नहीं है बहार में
जी चाहता है मूँह भी
जी चाहता है मूँह भी न देखूँ बहार का
आँखोँ में रन्ग भर के तेरे इंतज़ार का
अफ़साना लिख रही हूँ

हासिल हैं यूँ तो मुझको ज़माने की दौलतें
ज़माने की दौलतें
लेकिन नसीब लाई
लेकिन नसीब लाई हूँ इक सोग़वार का
आँखोँ में रन्ग भर के तेरे इंतज़ार का
अफ़साना लिख रही हूँ

आजा कि अब तो आँख में आँसू भी आ गये
आँसू भी आ गये
साग़र छलक उठा
साग़र छलक उठा मेरे सब्र-ओ-क़रार का
आँखोँ में रन्ग भर के तेरे इंतज़ार का
अफ़साना लिख रही हूँ
(सोग़वार (Saugawar) is the opposite of Khushgawar)

When you are in love, which is the moment that you cherish most? Naturally, when you first saw your love, felt those vibrations coming from her/him to you, when your heart said yes, he or she is the one for me. Similarly, if you are in love with Shakeel’s poetry and lyrics, the way I am, you would cherish his first song in the movies. It has everything that makes you go back in time and freeze that moment when greatness, like a sprout, was just being born.

I hope you enjoyed it too.

Please await tomorrow’s song.