Jatt kudian ton darda maara….
Lyricis: Varma Malik
Composer: Hansraj Behl
Singer: Shamshad Begum, Mohammad Rafi
Third song of the new series that we started day before yesterday.
The two songs that I have given you so far are: Ik meri akh kashni (‘My Favourite Punjabi Songs – Song #1 – Ik Meri Akh Kashni‘) sung by the Nightingale of Punjab: Surinder Kaur; and Mainu tera shabaab lai baitha (‘My Favourite Punjabi Songs – Song #2 – Mainu Tera Shabaab Lai Baitha’).
This song is from the 1959 Punjabi movie Bhangra that was directed by Jugal Kishore and starred Sunder, Nishi and Manju.
All these Punjabi songs that I am giving you are nostalgic to me, Punjabi being my mother tongue. However, the songs of this movie are really very dear to me as I saw the movie with my parents and after all these years (59 to be exact), I can recall all the songs and most of the lyrics. During those days, if I would listen to a song on the radio just once I would remember the lyrics.
Have a look at the songs of the movie (many of you too would be filled with nostalgia):
- Rabb na kare ke meri akh fadke, uton wagda hai meenh chham chham.
- Batti baal ke banere utte rakhdi haan.
- Chitte dand hasno nahio rehnde.
- Jatt kudian on darda maara.
- Ambiaan de booteaan te (Rut hai milaapan wali chann mera door).
- Been na wajaeen mundia.
- Mull wikda sajjan mil jaave lai lanvan main jind vech ke.
The songs of this movie are nostalgic to me for one more reason. My family was in Mandi, Himachal. However, during our summer holidays we used to go to my maternal grandparents house in Village Urapur, Jullunder District, Punjab.
Very often in the evenings visiting song and drama groups would go from village to village performing. We used to sit on the ground in a circle around them munching pop-corn that would have been made from corn taken from the house to the Bhatti (where these would be roasted over hot-sand and the Bhatti owner would accept a handful of corn as his remuneration). This song was performed for us by a visiting theater group. Because of the popularity of the song and the acting skills of the actors of the drama company, everyone enjoyed it to the hilt.
Here is the story (Sunder is Sunder in the movie and Nishi is Banto):
Sunder, the son of the moneylender Kaude Shah, goes to a poor farmer, Bulaki, in the village of Rangpur to get money-with-interest back from him, but falls in love with his daughter Banto. A suspended Munshi of Kaude Shah, Mehnga Mall, also tries to get Banto; he steals Kaude Shah’s jewellery and reaches Rangpur. He gives the jewellery to Sunder for staying away from him and Banto. Sunder gives the jewellery to Bulaki to pay back his debt and so did the unconscious Bulaki, the truth comes out and Bulaki is charged for stealing jewellery. He explains that the jewellery was given to him by Sunder and so Sunder is arrested. Finally, Mehnga Mall confesses and Bulaki and Sunder go free. After a little protest Sunder’s father, Kaude Shah, agrees to Sunder and Banto’s marriage.
Not that it is required, but, let me tell you at this stage about the actress Nishi who lip-syncs the song to Sunder, the actor.
Nishi’s full name is Nishi Kohli. She acted in many Hindi movies with Dara Singh and then with co-stars Raj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, Bharat Bhushan, Helen, Ashok Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Madhubala, Mala Sinha, and Rajendra Kumar.
Her first movie was the 1955 Ramesh Saigal movie Railway Platform. Her last Hindi movie was the 1970 Ganwaar.
However, she made better name for herself in Punjabi movies wherein she emerged as the heart-throb of many. Bhangra was her first Punjabi film and then she went on to act in Banto, Main Jatti Punjab Di and finally in 1969 Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai wherein my favourite hymn: Mere sahib, mere sahib, sung by Asha Bhosle, is picturised on her.
Guess what? I still remember her role in Bhangra and when she lip-synced the sad numbers Mul wikda sahan mil jaawe lai lanva main jind vech ke, and Batti baal ke banere utte rakhdi haan, my heart went out to her. I was only six years old though.
I loved Sunder‘s acting too. He was the hero in many Punjabi movies and comedian and hero in many Hindi movies. He died on 05 Mar 1992 in Mumbai and was active from 1938 to 1980s.
Madari was his debut Punjabi movie in 1950 though he had acted in many Hindi movies before that. His memorable roles are in Do Lachhian, Vilayati Babu and Chann Pardesi.
Sunder watches Banto perform bhangra/giddha with another person in the song and then in the end he (Sunder) steps in to claim her for the first time, captivated by her beauty and her pleasing ways. This song is, therefore, important in the movie as Sunder expresses his interest in her. In the end, she responds in kind and tells him in a boli to disregard her earlier bolis and that she loved his ways.
This song is in the form of Boliyan. What exactly are Boliyan? Boliyan or Bolis are Punjabi couplets. These days these are written as lyrics but, during my boyhood days and before, these used to be passed from generation to generation; each generation adding some more.
Initially, as I remember, Boliyan used to be sung by women and some of them would break out in giddha, becoming much more energetic during the interludes. Here, these are performed in the form of bhangra (the name of the movie) with one boli by female and an answering one by him and vice-versa. The energetic interludes are not after every boli but after three or four boliyan, every time.
For me, these are very nostalgic as I have listened to my mother and her sisters singing Boliyan and dancing giddha. Also, in many Punjabi weddings that I have attended Jaago aayiyan boliyan is sung on the night before the wedding (the night of awakening and that’s why Jaago aayiyan).
Varma Malik, the lyricist, made a name for himself with the song Ek Tara Bole in the 1970 Manoj Kumar movie Yaadgaar.
He was born on 13 Apr 1925 in Ferozepur (now in Pakistan). He was an active freedom fighter during the British Raj. The composer of this song and other songs in the movie, Hansraj Behl, actually launched his career as a lyricist.
Hansraj Behl was born on 19 Nov 1916 in Ambala (then in Punjab). He received his early education in music from Pandit Chunnilal.
He opened a music school in Lahore and recorded a few songs for HMV. In 1944, he traveled to Bombay to seek a career in movies. He managed to make his debut as a composer with Pujari, (1946), directed by Ardeshir Irani. Noted playback singer Asha Bhosle made her Hindi film debut when she sang the song Saawan aaya for Hansraj Behl’s film Chunariya (1948).
In 1964 he gave music for hit Punjabi film by Padam Prakash Maheshwary titled Satluj De Kandhe, starring Balraj Sahni, Nishi, Wasti, and Mirza Musharraf. The patriotic hit, ‘Jahan Daal Daal Pe Sone Ki Chidiya Karti Hai Basera’ sung by Mohammed Rafi in the film Sikandar-e-Aazam (1965), starring Prithviraj Kapoor was one of his last memorable numbers.
I think in the movie Bhangra, he really excelled as the movie has a very good mix of fast dance numbers, slow romantic numbers and sad numbers. All songs became popular.
No lyrics of the song are available on the net. I have written them down both from my recollection and after listening to the song.
Please enjoy Shamshad Begum and Mohammad Rafi sing on the lyrics of Verma Malik and composition of Hansraj Behl, a song in the form of Boliyan in the 1958 Jugal Kishore movie Bhangra starring Sunder and Nishi: Jatt kudiyan to darda maara……..(F is for Female and M for Male)
F: Jatt kudiyan ton darda maara
Ke mode’ ute daang rakhda – 2
(Jatt, afraid of the girls,
Keeps a stick on his shoulder)
M: Othe daang na kise’ di chaldi
Ke jithe chale teer akh da – 2
(There no stick would be effective
Where the arrow of the eyes shoots)
F: Kaanu muchh nu maroden denven,
kehda tera saag todeya?
(Why are you twirling your moustache,
As I have I have picked your saag?)
M: Saara khet hawaale tere,
Ni asan tainu kadon modeya?
(The whole field (of crop) is yours
When have I stopped you?
F: Ve main haan pandran murebbeya waali,
Kachehri wich mile kursi
( I have 15 murabba of land in my name (One murabba = 25 acres)
I get a seat in a court.
M: Mainu bin tankha vich kudiye
Murebbeyan te rakh munshi
(You can keep me without pay
As a Munshi (clerk) in your lands)
M: Teri hasiyan chalan te chadiyan
Ki ik waar has ke vikha
(Your laughter can send one high,
Just once show your laughter)
F: Putt hatt da bada tut bhaida,
Hasdi de dand ginada
(As a Jatt’s son, you are naughty,
You count my teeth when I laugh)
M: Kithe wajadi patal wang kajadi,
Ni kaali daang meri soniye
(It bangs with the sound of metal,
My black stick, O beautiful)
F: Laddu vandadi gali te vich niklan
Ve shaala teri daang tut paye
(I’d walk through the street distributing laddus,
If sometime your stick would break)
M: Teri dhaun surahi wargi
Ki chak na tu tin matke
(Your neck is like a surahi
You shouldn’t balance three pitchers over it)
F: Hath laayin na beganiyan mundeyan,
Ke gal kar pare hat ke
(Don’t touch (me) you stranger boy,
Talk to me (only) from a distance.
M: Teri gutt gitteyan te wajadi,
Ke hauli hauli nach kudiye
(Your braids fall up to your knees,
You should dance very very slowly)
F: Kale naag de vaangan dang maare
Ke ede kolon wach mundeya
(It would bite like a black snake,
You should protect yourself, boy)
M: Tainu chand di main sait karaanva,
Ke Roos de rocket te
(I would take you for a moon-walk
On a Russian rocket)
F: Othe jaake main charkhi chalanvan
Ke jithe tera hal wagde
(There I would work on the spinning wheel
Where you plough the lands)
M: Saare pind wich chaanan tera,
Ke maan diye mombatiye
(Whole village is lit with your light,
You are your mom’s candle)
At this stage Sunder (who was a spectator so far) comes dancing in:
Sunder: Tainu lai jaanwan Kashmir,
Je tu ban jaayen meri Heer,
Paanvan sone di zanjeer
Ni tu bindiye…..
(I’d take you to Kashmir,
If you agree to become my Heer,
I’d give you a gold chain (for your neck)
You are like a bindi.
Nishi suddenly becoming aware of his presence. This is her first reaction
Nishi: Tere naal kadin na jaawan,
Tere bapu nu bulwaawan,
Ohnu jaa fariyaadan laanvan,
Jatt vairya -2
(I’ll never go with you,
I’d call your father,
I’d go there and pray to him (to keep you away)
My enemy Jatt
Sunder: Koi mere pind da raah
beshak bapu kol tu jaa
Nahin hai bapu di parwah
Ni tu bindiye
(You can find the path to my village,
Even if you go to my father,
I don’t care for my father
You are like a bindi
Nishi: Main taan ainvin kardi saan,
Mere dil wich teri thaan,
Aaja phad lai meri baanh
Mere makhna, mere sajna
(I was just like that saying it,
In my heart there is place for you,
Come and hold my arm
My dearest, my lover)
https://youtu.be/xFLXRH9828U
The song, in the form of Boliyan, is not just in Punjabi but, it also has the flavour of Punjab that was there in its villages; where men and women broke into bhangra and giddha; where love stories began and ended with songs.
In this case, since the name of the movie was Bhangra, this song had the beginning of the love between Sunder and Banto, he having gone there to collect money with interest from Banto’s father.
I hope you too enjoyed it.
Please await the next song in this series.
