Sunbyanyname

Mainu tera shabaab lai baitha….
Lyricis: Shiv Kumar Batalvi
Singer: Asa Singh Mastana

Second song of the new series that we started day before yesterday. This too has lyrics by Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Thank you very much for the enthusiastic response to the first post.

Coincidentally, my first post in the series also had his poetry: ‘My Favourite Punjabi Songs – Song #1 – Ik Meri Akh Kashni‘ sung by the Nightingale of Punjab: Surinder Kaur.

Shiv Kumar Batalvi‘s life and poetry can be compared with Lily of May, short-lived but providing immense joys to all those who came in touch with either or both. He lived between 23 Jul 1938 and 06 May 1973. As I said in the first post, he and Lord Byron died before their 37th birthday.

Whereas, Lord Byron had a number of affairs including scandalous and licentious ones, Shiv Kumar’s poetry was driven by just two of them: Maina, a young girl that he met in Baijnath and Uma, Gurbakhsh Singh Preetlari’s daughter. Maina died and Shiv penned his elegy Maina for her. Uma left for the US and married someone else. Later Shiv Kumar too married Aruna and they have two children: Meharban and Puja.

When Uma Gurbakhsh gave birth to her first child, Shiv Kumar Batalvi penned his most poignant poem: ‘Main ek shikra yaar banaya’, which is rated as his most famous.

Mainu tera shabaab lai baitha is equally popular.

On the 14th of April, this year, we had the third annual meet of our music group ‘Yaad Kiya Dil Ne’ (Please read: ‘YKDN Live Fest In Kandaghat On Waltzing Numbers’). We had a ghazal and Sufi singer Pammi Hanspal with us. At the end of our Live Fest, he sang this song and we were all floored. That’s as much for Pammi’s singing skills as for the effect of the extraordinary lyrics penned by Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Here are all of us joining in for the rendition of this extraordinary Ghazal by Shiv Kumar Batalvi:

Of course, these are amateurish efforts. The ghazal is so popular even after 45 years of Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s demise that one can hear it at various gatherings. Everyone seems to know the lyrics.

Of course, my nostalgia goes back to hearing it from a great son of Punjab: Asa Singh Mastana though there are various versions of this ghazal including by one of the greatest ghazal singers: Jagjit Singh.

Asa Singh Mastana lived between 22 Aug 1927 and 23 May 1999. He made a name for himself on the All India Radio from 1940s onwards by singing Punjabi folk songs either by himself or in concert with Surinder Kaur and Kuldeep Manak. Some of his songs became so popular that these are hummed even today. One of my all time favourites is the tear-jerker: Jadon meri arthi uthha ke chalange. I shall be giving that to you as I go along. Another is: Mutiyare jaana door pya, which has flavour of a typical Punjabi wedding.

Another two favourites are the Heer and Jugni that he sang for the Hindi movie Heer. Yet another is Sarke sarke jaandiye mutiyare ni.

In 1985, he was honoured by the government of India by the award of Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award.

Now lets look at the beauty of the lyrics (Please do remember that this ghazal has been sung by many different singers and each has chosen some stanza or the other and his own sequence):

First in Punjabi transliterated:

Mainu tera shabab lai baitha,
Rang gora gulab lai baitha,
Mainu tera shabab lai baitha

Dil daa darr si kite naa lai baithe
Lai hee baitha janab lai baitha
Mainu tera shabab lai baitha

Kini beeti te kini baaki eh,
Mainu eho hisaab lai baitha,
Mainu tera shabab lai baitha

Shiv nu ikk gham te hee bharosa si
Gham toh kora jawaab lai baitha
Mainu tera shabab lai baitha

Wel jad vi mili hai farza taun,
Tere mukh di kitaab lai baitha,
Mainu tera shabab lai baitha

Mainu jad vi tusi ho yaad aye,
Din dihaade sharab lai baitha,
Mainu tera shabab lai baitha

Changa hunda je sawaal na poochda,
Mainu tera jawaab lai baitha,
Mainu tera shabab lai baitha

And now the translation by me:

Your young beauty has seized my senses
(Your) fair-rosy colour has seized me
Your young beauty has seized my senses

I feared for my heart that it shouldn’t be seized,
(But) It was seized, my dear Sir, it was,
(Your) young beauty has seized my senses

How much life is spent and how much remains
This calculation has seized me
Your young beauty has seized my senses

Shiv relied on just one sorrow
(That) Grief too has abandoned me
Your young beauty has seized my senses

Whenever I had free time from my duties,
I was seized by the book of your face,
Your young beauty has seized my senses

Whenever I have thought of you,
I took to drinking even during daytime,
Your young beauty has seized my senses

It would have been good if I hadn’t asked the question,
I was seized by your answer.
Your young beauty has seized my senses

Please enjoy Asa Singh Mastana sing the most popular ghazal of Shiv Singh Batalvi: Mainu tera shabab lai baitha:

https://youtu.be/SAUh28WCvpY

Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s love poems had all the melancholy about them that he faced in his life with unrequited love.

This one is very important since it talks about drinking in her gham (sorrow). All of us know that finally this gham and consequent drinking heavily into the wee hours of mornings that killed him.

He was the youngest recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award and he died young.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Please await the next song in this series.

Ik meri akh kashni duja raat de uneendre ne mareya…..
Lyrics: Shiv Batalvi
Composition and Music: K Pannalal
Singer: Surinder Kaur

Ladies and gentlemen, I am starting another series today titled: My Favourite Punjabi Songs.

Why Punjabi? Simple; it is my mother tongue (my mother passed away last year on the 9th of August). She was the biggest influence that I had on my thought process, the way I led my life, my emotions and my language. I was born in her parents’ house (it was called Pakkyan Waala since for a number of years it was the only brick and lime-mortar house in the village whilst others were thatched clay houses) in Village Urapur, District Jullunder (now spelled Jalandhar).

My mother married my father when she was only sixteen. However, so strong was the influence of her parents that the last words that she whispered before she went away last year were: Pitaji, Beeji main aa rahi haan (My father and mother, I am returning to you).

Similarly, even though she spent all her years with my father in Himachal wherein Hindi was more prevalent, she could never forget her Punjabi roots. The other day I read a joke that a Punjabi is a person who speaks any language in Punjabi. My mom for nearly seventy years after leaving Punjab, spoke Hindi in Punjabi. Taste this, for example; it is my mother’s instruction to the servant at home in what she believed is Hindi: “Bahadur, neeche kyaari se gande poot ka laao.”

Truly, whilst you can take a Punjabi out of Punjab but you can’t take Punjab out of him or her.

During my childhood and boyhood, I have listened to Punjabi songs on the radio, in movies that I went to with my parents, and during weddings and other parties. Ladies used to sing some of these songs (that I would give you) sitting around a dholaki with a lady playing the dholaki and another (sitting in front) rhythmically beating a metal spoon on the wooden body of the dholaki. Others would be dancing keekli or gidda.

My mom and her sisters would not just sing but dance too.

These songs that I shall be putting up here are not in any particular order or ranking. I am just giving them to you as I recall them.

Surinder Kaur and her sister Parkash Kaur were my late mother’s favourites. Whenever my mother traveled with us long-distance we listened to the two sisters frequently on cassettes; songs such as: Kala doriya, Lathhe di chaadar, Jutti kasuri, Bajre da sitta, Gori diya jhanjhra, Sarke sarke jaandiye, Chan ve ke shaunkan mele di, Chan kitha guzari aayi raat ve and Dachi waliya mor mohar ve.

Surinder Kaur was certainly the more popular and accomplished of the two sisters: Surinder and her elder (by ten years) sister Prakash. She was born on 25 Nov 1929 in Lahore (now in Pakistan). When Surinder was not yet 14 years old, the two sisters cut their first duet maavan ‘te dheean ral baithian on 31 Aug 1943 for HMV. After the Partition of India, the family moved to Ghaziabad, Delhi. When she was 19 years old she married Professor Joginder Singh Sodhi. He was to emerge as her greatest support who assisted her first to become a playback singer in Hindi films and later to follow her passion of Punjabi folk songs.

Before she died on 14th June 2006, she not only recorded more than 2000 songs but also promoted Punjabi culture and folk songs. Some of her duets have been sung with other great singers of Punjab: Asa Singh Mastana,  Karnail Gill, Harcharan Grewal, Rangila Jatt, and Didar Sandhu.

She was a song-writer herself. In addition, she sang songs penned by Bulleh Shah, Nand Lal Noorpuri, Amrita Pritam, Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi.

On her death, the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, described her as the Nightingale of Punjab.

A few months before she died, she was awarded the fourth highest civilian honour by government of India: the Padma Shri. However, she was taken aback to know that the recommendation for the same had gone from Haryana (because she had settled in Panchkula) and not from Punjab, the state whose culture and folk-music she relentlessly promoted for more than five decades.

Shiv Kumar Batalvi, as I have written elsewhere, had many things in common with the English poet Lord Byron except that whilst the latter was of aristocracy, Shiv died in penury. Otherwise, the description of beauty, sadnesses and melancholy are the same. Both died before reaching the age of 37 years. Shiv Kumar Batalvi lived between 23 July 1936 and 6 May 1973.

Shiv was born on 23 Jul 1936 in village Bara Pind Lohtian, Shakargarh Tehsil, Sialkot District (now in Pakistan). He is called Batalvi, because at the Partition’s time, when he was only 11 years old, his family moved to Batala in Punjab.

His first anthology of poems was published in 1960, titled Piran da Paraga (The Scarf of Sorrows). He became the youngest recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1967, for his magnum opus, a verse play Loona (1965).

Many of his poems are love poems of parting. For example, he fell in love with a girl called Maina who died. He wrote an elegy called Maina. Similarly, he was in love with Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari’s daughter. When she married someone else, he wrote his famous love poem ‘Main ek shikra yaar banaya’. In 1967 he married Aruna, a girl from his own Brahmin caste.

After Shiv returned from his visit to England in Sep 1972 his health deteriorated and he finally died on 6th May 1973. He was brought to PGI Hospital Chandigarh. But, he walked away from the hospital saying he didn’t like dying in a hospital.

Shiv Kumar Batalvi, in his short life earned the distinction of being one of the most famous poets of Punjab and yet on his 45th death anniversary this year, he was virtually neglected by the Punjab government and dignitaries.

Very little is known about the Composer K Pannalal. I picked this up from the You Tube:

“Pannalal Kathak….later called K Pannalal was  one of the early composers and singers of AIR who excelled in classical mould……. It was an era when film composers Ravi, Roshan, OP Nayyar, Dan Singh were employees of All India Radio  ….. Most in the new generation might not even know that it was AIR that moulded artists who later became big names in the Hindi film industry….. K Pannalal, though passed away long back in 1975, has left behind his traditions to his family….. and notable amongst them is his son-in-law, the acknowledged Ghazal singer, Chandan Das….. A treat to watch this along with other radio singers like Trilok Kapoor, Pushpa Hans, Mahinder Pal, Pramilla Das seen in the brief excerpts ….. Enjoy this rare Doordarshan recording.”

Lets look at the lyrics of the song and their translation:

Ni ek meri akh kashni
Ni ek meri akh kashni
Dooja raat deyo neend re ne maariya
Ni sheeshe ‘ch tarerr pai gai (x2)

Vaal vandi ne deyaan jadon mareya
Vaal vandi ne deyaan jadon mareya
Ni ik meri akh kashni

Ik meri sass ni buri
Bherri roi de kikkar to kali
Haaye bherri roi de kikkar to kali
Ni aandhe jaandhe taane maar di
Ni aandhe jaandhe taane maar di
Ni mein usdha kuch vi vigaadhiya
Ni ik meri akh kaashni
Ni ik meri akh kaashni

Ik meri nandh buri bherri ser karanh nu jaave
Ik meri nandh buri bherri ser karanh nu jaave
Ni dooroh toh oh ainjh lagdhi
Haaye ni dooroh toh oh ainjh lagdhi
Jeeve majni matakdhi aave
Ni ik meri akh kashni

Ik mera kanth ni jeeve
Ik mera kanth ni jeeve
Raat chandhani teh doodh da katora
Ni eko gal maadhi usdhi
Haaye ni eko gal maadhi usdhi
Layi lagni oh maa ne vigaadhiya
Ni ik meri akh kashni
Ni ik meri akh kashni
Dooja raat deyo neend re ne maariya
Ni sheeshe ‘ch tarerr pai gai
Haaye sheeshe ‘ch tarerr pai gai

The thirty-third song in this series.

Ye kaisi ajab dastaan ho gayi hai….

Today is Singer – Actress Suraiya‘s Birth Anniversary. This is a song that was sung by her for herself as Shehzadi Tehmina in the 1967 Vishram Bedekar movie Rustom Sohrab that starred Prithviraj Kapoor as the epic Persian hero Rustom and Prem Nath as his son Sohrab.

Let me tell you, at the outset itself, as to why this song tugs at our emotions.

To understand that, you have to know the story of Rustom and Sohrab as written by poet Ferdowsi in Shahnameh, a 10th century Persian epic.

In Sistan, Iran (Persia) Rustom was a hero in the army of King Kaykavous. Once he enters the neighbouring kingdom of Samangan, looking for his lost horse. Rustom is treated as the guest of the king of Samangan. Whilst he is there, princess Tahmina, knowing his heroic deeds, falls in love with him. She goes to his room at night (the scene of this song), and asks him to make her the mother of his child. In return, she promises to return his lost horse.

Rustom accepts and she gives birth to a boy who grows to become Sohrab. At this stage, war is about to break out between Persia and Turan. Sohrab has emerged as the best fighter of Turan, in the image of his father Rustom. In the Turan army, no one is ready to fight with Rustom of Persia, knowing his reputation. So Sohrab is sent to wrestle with Rustom. Father and son cannot recognise each other since they never met. They fight like there is no tomorrow.

After exhaustive wrestling, Rustom finally manages to break Sohrab’s back and then kills him by stabbing. Whilst dying Sohrab tells Rustom that his father would avenge his death and then only the identity of Sohrab is revealed to Rustom when Sohrab shows him the neckless Rustom gave to Tahmina to give to their son. As soon as Tahmina hears of her son Sohrab’s death, she burns Rustom’s house. And then she dies.

Hence, the song is actually the most important song in the movie. It enables Rustom and Tahmina’s son to be born, which finally leads to the epic tragedy.

To whom should I give the credit for the keystone song of the movie?

Let me start with Qamar Jalalabadi, the lyricist. He had to pen a song in which a woman expresses herself, with the normal shyness and chastity of a woman, to a man she is in awe of, to give her his child, at their first tryst itself. He does it so well that it leaves you gaping. Taste this: Illahi, ye toofaan hai kis bala ka, ke haathon se chhoota hai daaman heya ka (My God, what kind of typhoon (passion) is this that I have to discard my modesty?)

But then, Qamar (Moon) was a great lyricist indeed. He was born as Om Prakash Bhandari on 09 Mar 1917, in the town of Jalalabad, near Amritsar in Punjab. To become a lyricist in Hindi movies he arrived in Pune in 1940s (he had started writing Urdu poetry at the age of seven). He wrote his first lyrics for the Pancholi Pictures movie Zamindar in which his song Duniya mein gareebon ko araam nahin milta, sung by Shamshad Begum became quite famous. You would recall his 1958 movie Howrah Bridge songs that sky-rocketed his career particularly Aaiye mehrabaan baithiye jaane jaan and Mera naam Chin Chin chu.

Some of my favourite songs of Qamar Jalalabadi are: Chhaliya mera naam chhalna mera kaam, Chhota sa baalma, Dam dam digha digha mausam bigha bigha, Dekh ke teri nazar beqraar ho gaye, Deewano se mat puuchho, Din hai suhaana aaj pehli tareeq hai (That used to be played on Radio Ceylone on first of ewvery month), Ik dil ke tukade hazaar huye, Ik pardesi mera dil le gaya, Jab raat nahin katati, Main bewafa nahin huun tere pyaar ki kasam, Main soya akhiyan meeche, Main to ek khwaab hoon, Mere tuute huye dil se koi to aaj ye puuchhe, O duur jaane waale wada na bhool jaana (Suraiya in Pyaar ki Jeet 1948), Phir aane laga yaad wohi pyaar ka mausam, Phir tumhaari yaad aayi hai sanam, Piya piya na laage mora jiya, Rafta rafta woh hamare dil ke armaan ho gaye, Teri raahon mein khade hain dil thaam ke, Tum ruuthh ke mat jaana, Tumhin mere meet ho tumhin meri preet ho, Tu hai mera prem devta, and Ye kaisi ajab daastan ho gayi hai. I also like him due to his secularism in that he would quote from Bhagwad Geeta and Bible as much as he did from Koran.

Naturally, considerable credit goes to Suraiya for singing the song and then enacting it. For both, she has done very well.

Suraiya died on 31 Jan 2004, at the age of nearly 75 years, a spinster. And it is not that she didn’t want to get married. Her love affair with actor Dev Anand started with working together for the 1948 movie Vidya. Their love affair, one of the most intense love-affairs in the history of Hindi films, lasted for three years. In those three years, she willingly let go of singing many a song in her movies to Lata Mangeshkar so that she could spend more time with Dev Anand. The two of them were paired in seven films together; Vidya (1948), Jeet (1949), Shair (1949), Afsar (1950), Nili (1950), Do Sitare (1951) and Sanam (1951), all of which were successful at the box office. In all these movies’ credits, her name was shown before Dev Anand’s since she was a bigger star than him. The movie Vidya had a popular song: Kinaare kinaare chale jayenge. During the shooting of the song in the river, her boat capsized. And who do you think rescued her? Well, Dev Anand did and it was a story in the making in real life as well as in reel life. By the time they came to their fourth movie Afsar, they were so much in love that Dev Anand proposed to her with a diamond ring that cost all of Rupees 3000, a huge sum during those days. Her maternal grandmother, who didn’t like the alliance, threw the ring into the sea.

During the shooting of Rana Pratap’s film Jeet, both Dev Anand and Suraiya, with the help of the film cast and crew, namely Durga Khote (actress), Dwarka Divecha (cinematographer) and others, had made plans for marriage in a temple, and elopement, but at the last-minute, an assistant director, jealous of their marriage, informed Suraiya’s grandmother, who dragged her home from the scene. Speaking to journalist Sheila Vesuna, Suraiya said: “Eventually, my grandmother succeeded in separating us. Dev was deeply hurt and offended by my lack of courage. But I was afraid for him. In retrospect, I don’t think anything would have happened if I’d been bold enough. But I was terrified of my grandmother. And was heartbroken. But time is the greatest healer.”

Some of my favourite songs of Singing – Star Suraiya are: Aap se pyaar hua jaata hai and Mast aankhon mein sharaarat kabhi aise to na thi (Shama 1961), Chahat ka bhulana mushkil hai (Khiladi 1950), Chale din ki duniya barbaad karke and Dil dhadake aankh mori phadke (Dard 1947, Shakeel Badayuni’s debut film), Dil-e-naadan tujhe hua kyaa hai, Rahiye ab aisi jagah, Aaah ko chahiye, Nuktacheen hai gham-e-dil, and Ye naa thi hamari kismat (Mirza Ghalib 1954), Hamen tum bhuul baithe ho and Kyaa cheez hai mohabbat koi mere dil se puuchhe (Shair 1949, another Shakeel Badayuni song), Ho ho ho chandini raat hai (Dak Bangla 1947), Holi khele Nandlala Birj mein (Maashooqa 1953), Il bewafa ki yaad ne tadapa ke maar daala (Char Din, 1949, Shakeel), Ik teri nazar ik meri nazar and Khushiyon ka zamaana beet gaya (Amar Kahani 1949), Jab se chale gaye hain wo zindagi zindagi nahin (Natak 1947), Jab tum hi nahin apne duniya hi begaani hai (Parwana 1947), Kaagaz ki meri naav aur duur kinaara hai (Do Dil 1947), Kinaare kinaare chale jaayenge (Vidya 1948), Man more hua matwaala and Nain deewane ik nahin maane (Afsar 1950), Mohabbat badha kar judaa ho gaye (Dastan 1950), Mujhe tumase mohabbat hai (Do Sitaare 1951), Nigaahen kyun milaayi thi agar youn chhod jaana tha (Lal Kunwar 1952), O duur jaanewaale (Pyaar Ki Jeet, 1948), Rahi matwaale tu chhed ik baar (Waris 1954), Raaton ki neend chheen li aankhon ke intezaar ne (Shokhiyan 1951), Tera khayal dil se bhuallaya na jaayega and Tuu mera chaand main teri chandini (Dillagi 1949, Shekeel), Tum man ki peedha kya samajho (Jeet 1949), Ye kaisi ajab dastaan ho gayi hai (Rustom Sohrab 1963), and Zara thehro main haal-e-dil suna luun (Inaam 1955).

Lets now talk about Sajjad Hussain, the composer of this song.

Sajjad Hussain is the one who gave us the popular Talat Mehmood number Ye hawa ye raat ye chandinio for the 1952 movie Sangdil starring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. It was such a beautiful composition that the maestro Madan Mohan shamelessly copied it in his Tujhe kya sunayun main dilruba in Aakhri Dao.

Sajjad Hussain was born in 1917 in the Sitamau, a village in Madhya Pradesh. His education in music started with his father when he was taught sitar as a child. Later, he learnt veena, violin, flute and piano. He also became an accomplished mandolin player. At the age of 20 years, he moved to Bombay to try to become a music director.

His first job was at Sohrab Modi’s Minerva Movietone at Rs. 30 a month. He later moved to the Wadia Movietone, working at Rs. 60 a month. During the next few years, he worked as an assistant to music composer Meer Saheb and Rafiq Ghaznavi, and as a contract player for Shaukat Hussain Rizvi.

Some of my favourite songs of Sajjad Hussain are: Phir tumhaari yaad aayi ai sanam, Ye hawa ye raat ye chandini, Vo raat din vo shaam ki guzari hui kahaniyan, Tujhe kya sunaayun main dilruba and Badnaam mohabbat kaun kare.

Before I give you the song, I want to, once again, bring out how our movie makers made movies on foreign themes in just independent India. We made movies, for example, on the plight of Jews, on Iraqis (particularly Baghdad), and on themes driven by Egypt, China, Burma and Japan.

Many a times, our music directors assimilated notes from these foreign locales. For example, the song that I have selected for you is based on a folk-tune of Afghanistan.

We were the best in portraying themes of humanism, international cross cultures and search for mutated identities of people affected by large-scale migration.

Please enjoy Suraiya sing for herself as Shehzadi Tahmina, a song penned by Qamar Jalalabadi and composed by Sajjad Hussain for the 1967 Vishram Bedekar movie Rustom Sohrab: Ye kaisi ajab dastaan ho gayi hai…….

(ये कैसी अजब दास्ताँ हो गई है
छुपाते छुपाते बयाँ हो गई है) – २
ये कैसी…

ये दिल का धड़कना, ये नज़रों का झुकना
जिगर में जलन सी ये साँसों का रुकना
ख़ुदा जाने क्या दास्ताँ हो गई है
छुपाते छुपाते बयाँ हो गई है
ये कैसी….

बुझा दो बुझा दो, बुझा दो सितारों की शम्में बुझा दो
छुपा दो छुपा दो, छुपा दो हसीं चाँद को भी छुपा दो
यहाँ रौशनी महमाँ हो गई है
आअ~
ये कैसी….

इलाही ये तूफ़ान है किस बला का
कि हाथों से छुटा है दामन हया का
(ख़ुदा की क़सम आज दिल कह रहा है) – २
कि लुट जाऊँ मैं नाम लेकर वफ़ा का
तमन्ना तड़प कर जवाँ हो गई है
आआ~
ये कैसी….
छुपाते छुपाते…..

I am primarily a lyrical man. Lyrics, for me, are the starting point of the emotional outlet of actors in old Hindi movies. This one has superb lyrics. I didn’t see the movie when I was a teenager but it still filled me with very strong emotions to hear this song. Suraiya’s singing and histrionics are remarkable to bring out the depth of emotions.

I am sure, for years to come, it would continue being a song that tugs at my emotions.

I hope you liked it too.

Please await the next song in the series.

The thirty-second song in this series.

Kabhi tanhayiyon mein youn hamari yaad aayegi….

I am sure this song is on everyone’s favourite list; all fans of old Hindi songs, that is. It is from the 1961 Kidar Sharma movie Hamari Yaad Aayegi. Kidar Sharma himself penned the lyrics of the song, Snehal Bhatkar composed it and Mubarak Begum sang it for Tanuja. Kidar Sharma’s son Ashok Sharma featured in the song and the film opposite Tanuja.

Lets start with knowing a little more about all the people involved in the making of this unforgettable song:

Kidar Nath Sharma was born on 12 April 1910 in Narowal, Punjab (now in Pakistan) in a poor family. The family was so poor that two of his brothers and one sister died early. Guro, his younger sister and Himmat Rai, his younger brother survived. He attended a school in Amritsar and then ran away from home to join films. He was unsuccessful and returned to Amritsar.

He joined college in Amritsar and there he formed a Dramatic Society. Interestingly, his love for drama gave him his first break in films. It so happened that the head of the local Temperance Movement saw one of his plays and asked him to produce a silent movie on the evils of alcohol. With the money earned from the silent movie he finished his MA (English) from Khalsa College, Amritsar (my late father’s college too).

He went to Calcutta, this time after seeing a 1933 movie Puran Bhagat (one of the earliest talkies) directed by Debaki Bose. After months of wait he could meet an unknown (that time) actor Prithviraj Kapoor. Rest is history. His first break came in 1935 as a Set-Painter and Actor in the movie Inquilab. He kept working as Actor and Assistant Manager until 1936 movie Krodepati, in which, for the first time, he penned lyrics of songs. For the 1936 Pramathesh Barua movie Devdas, with KL Saigal (who was the neighbour of Prithviraj Kapoor in Calcutta) in the title role, Kidar Sharma penned the lyrics and dialogues. He then took to story and screenplay writing too and wrote the story of his first movie Anath Ashram. His directorial debut was in the 1939 movie Dil Hi To Hai in which he penned the lyrics of the songs too.

Kidar Sharma launched the films career of both Madhubala and Raj Kapoor with the 1947 movie Neel Kamal (Please read: Incredible Nostalgia (I.N.) Songs – Part I), which he wrote, produced and directed. Bawre Nain, Jogan and Chitralekha are some more of his directorial ventures. He wrote the story of Kaajal too. He also launched the careers of Mala Sinha, Geeta Bali, Bharat Bhushan and Tanuja.

Hamari Yaad Aayegi was one of the movies in which the songs were penned by him. An outstanding poet, Sharma wrote some of the most memorable songs including Balam aayo baso more man mein, Dukh kay ab din beetat nahi (Devdas), Khayalon Mein Kisike, Teri Duniya Mein Dil Lagta Nahin (Bawre Nain), Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein Bhi (Hamari Yaad Aayegi) and Teri duniya mein dil lagta nahi. Kidar would continue to contribute as a lyricist and to write and direct films through the 1990s. Ironically, many Indian film critics and historians argued that he deserved the highest cinema award from the government of India but he died a day before he was to receive the Raj Kapoor Award, named in honour of the actor he helped make a success.

The 1961 Kidar Sharma movie Hamari Yaad Aayegi was the debut movie of Tanuja as a heroine though she had earlier acted as a child artiste in Chhabili that was produced and directed by her mother Shobana Samarth. Kidar Sharma made his son Ashok Sharma play a young man Ashok, newly relocated to a city, staying in rented accommodation owned by a young widow. He befriends an orphan girl Manorama (Tanuja) and her brother Bulva. The story follows the heartbreak Manorama causes Ashok due to her love for money. He dies without getting her love.

This song was the zenith in the career of Music Director Snehal Bhatkar (real name Vasudev Gangaram Bhatkar), who gave us music for several Hindi and Marathi movies. Kidar Sharma had launched his career in 1947 Neel Kamal, which, I have already told you, was the debut movie of Madhubala and Raj Kapoor. To avoid any breach in contract while officially working for HMV, he adopted various pseudonyms as a composer. These included “B. Vasudev” and “Snehal” but another choice, “Snehal Bhatkar”, became fixed. The name was derived from that of his then newly-born daughter, Snehlata.

Some other memorable songs of Snehal Bhatkar are: Lehron pe lehar ulfat hai jawan (sung by Hemant Kumar and Nutan for Chhabili), and Kisne ye kisne chhede taar mere dil ki sitaar ke.

Snehal tried to get Lata Mangeshakr to sing this song but she was “busy”. He finally could get Mubarak Begum to sing it and it became the most popular song sung by her. Here are the other songs of the movie:

Finally, a word about Mubarak Begum. Mubarak Begum was born in the year 1935/36 in Sujangarh, Churu Dirtric, Rajasthan. She started her career on the All India Radio with light music recitals. Nashad (not Naushad) gave her a break as Playback Singer in 1949 movie Aiye, produced and directed by Yakub. Her first ever song was Mohe Aane Lagi Angrayi, Aja Aja Balam for the same film. She has sung 178 songs in 115 movies. Some of her popular songs are: Mujh ko Apne Gale Lagalo, Aye Mere Hamrahi (Hamrahi, 1963), Neend Ud Jaaye Teri, Chain se Sone Wale (Juaari, 1968), Woh na aayenge palat kar (Devdas, 1955), Hum haal-e-dil sunayenghe, sunyay ke na sunyay (Madhumati, 1958), Wada humse kiya, dil kisi ko diya, (Saraswatichandra, 1968), Be-murawwat bewafa begana-e dil aap hain (Susheela, 1966), Ae dil bataa hum kahan aa gaye, (Khooni Khazana, 1965), Kuchh Ajnabi se aap hain (Shagun, 1964), Ayji ayji yaad rakhna sanam (Daku Mansoor), Shama Gul Karke Na Jao Yun (Arab Ka Sitara, 1961), Sanwariya teri yaad men ro ro marenge hum (Ramu Toh Deewana Hai, 1980), Humein Dum Daike, Sautan Ghar Jana (Yeh Dil Kisko Doon, 1963), and Yeh moonh aur masoor ki daal with Sharda (Around The World, 1967).

Please enjoy Mubarak Begum sing a composition of Snehal Bhatkar on the lyrics of Kidar Sharma in the 1961 Kidar Sharma movie Hamari Yaad Aayegi, a movie that starred Tanuja in her debut role and Kidar’s son Ashok with her: Kabhi tanhayiyon mein youn hamari yaad aayegi….

हमारी याद आएगी
अंधेरे छा रहे होंगे
के बिजली कौंध जाएगी
कभी तनहाइयों में यूँ…

ये बिजली राख कर जएगी तेरे प्यार की दुनिया – २
ना फिर तू जी सकेगा और, ना तुझको मौत आएगी
कभी तनहाइयों में यूँ…

It is a very short song and yet, it fascinates you like Lily of May. Its pull lies in its deep melancholy, almost bordering on being enigmatic. That’s the effect of all three: the composition, the lyrics and the vocals.

In any case, because of how we are made as human beings, most Yaad songs tend to send us in another world. This happens to be amongst the best of Yaad songs. Every time I listen to it, I am hit by pangs of melancholy.

I hope you liked it too.

Please stay tuned for my next song.