Do deewaane shahar mein
Posted on: October 25, 2008
Here is a fantastic song from “Gharonda”. Neither the movie, nor the song were mainstream ones by the standards of 1977, but this song and this movie struck the right chords in the hearts of the audience.
This movie was a small budget movie in which the characters actually looked real life with real life problems. The characters in this movie for example were shown struggling to find a home of their own. Now for those who were brought up on the diet of mainstream Bollywood movies, it would hardly appear a problem. Every Bollywood character, however poor he may be, lived in a palatial house with a big staircase connecting the ground floor with the first floor, and here we find an entire movie devoted to the housing problem of urban dwellers !?
The singers are Bhupinder and Runa Laila. Bhupinder Singh was around in Hindi movie songs from 1960s, during whic time he sang a few songs as well as played guitar in several songs. Runa Laila, on the other hand was a Bangladeshi singer. Bollywood producers, who were so much “phoren” obsessed those days that even a Bangladeshi singer became a hot property for them. Runa Laila was much feted and celebrated in Bollywood circles. She sought , and got the blessings of Lata Mangeshkar. But that was only till Lata came to know the astronomical amounts that the movie makers were paying Runa Laila to sing her songs. Lata was not amused. She put her foot down, and thus threw cold water on the enthusiasm of the Bollywood producers.
Admittedly, Runa Laila sounded good, but that was because of novelty value. Personally I found her voice similar to Asha Bhonsle. And I agreed with Lata’s feelings about the issue. The Bollywood producers were unnecessarily going overboard about her, just because she was a “phoren” singer.
Gulzar, the writer of this awesome song, was of course the grandmaster of his art. And as I have repeatedly mentioned, he was at the peak of his prowess those days.
I, like many fans, wonder why Jaidev got so few movies as a music director, despite impeccable credentials. The reason was, he was unable to sell himself as a music director. But his music was heard in many more movies, even though he did not get the credit. For instance, Jaidev was the assistant of S D Burman, and many S D Burman songs were composed by him. Also, the “Laila Majnu” songs, which are credited to Madan Mohan, were composed by Jaidev, as Madan Mohan had died before composing the songs of this movie.
This song had so much background information behind it ? Phew ! Even I was not aware. Here is this song.
Song- Do deewane shahar mein (Gharonda) (1977) Singers- Runa Laila, Bhupinder Singh, Lyrics- Gulzar, MD- Jaidev
Lyrics
haaa
deewana
ek deewaanaa shahar mein
ek deewaanaa nahin, ek deewaani bhi
Hmm
do deewaane shahar mein
do deewaane shahar mein, raat mein ya dopahar mein
aab-o-daanaa
aab-o-daanaa dhoondhte hain ek aashiyaanaa dhoondhte hain
aab-o-daanaa dhoondhte hain ek aashiyaanaa dhoondhte hain
do deewaane shahar mein, raat mein ya dopahar mein
aab-o-daanaa dhoondhte hain ek aashiyaanaa dhoondhte hain
do deewaane
in bhoolbhulaiyya galiyon mein,apnaa bhi koyi ghar hoga
ambar pe khulegi khidki ya, khidki pe khula ambar hoga
in bhoolbhulaiyya galiyon mein,apnaa bhi koyi ghar hoga
ambar pe khulegi khidki ya, khidki pe khula ambar hoga
asmani rang ki ankhon mein
asamani yaa aasmani?
asmami rang ki aankhon mein
basne ka bahaana dhoondhte hain, dhoondhte hain
aab-o-daanaa dhoondhte hain ek aashiyaanaa dhoondhte hain
do deewaane shahar mein, raat mein ya dopahar mein
aab-o-daanaa dhoondhte hain ek aashiyaanaa dhoondhte hain
do deewaane
aaa ho
jab taare zameen par
taare, aur zameen par?
of course
jab taare zameen par chalte hain
hmm hmm
Aakaash zameen ho jaata hai
aa aa aa
us raat nahin phir ghar jaata, wo chaand yahin so jaata hai
jab taare zameen par chalte hain
aakaash zameen ho jaata hai
us raat nahin phir ghar jaata, wo chaand yahin so jaata hai
pal bhar ke liye
pal bhar ke liye
pal bhar ke liye in aankhon mein ham ek zamaana dhoondhte hain, dhoondhte hain
aab-o-daanaa dhoondhte hain ek aashiyaanaa dhoondhte hain
do deewaane shahar mein, raat mein ya dopahar mein
aab-o-daanaa dhoondhte hain ek aashiyaanaa dhoondhte hain
do deewaane
do deewaane
do deewaane
do deewaane
do deewaane
13 Responses to "Do deewaane shahar mein"
October 25, 2008 at 6:40 am
Blame yourself for that, Indyana. 
You triggered it by your farmaish.
October 26, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I love this song.
I have not seen the movie. And this is the first time I am seeing the picturisation.
I really enjoyed those Amol Palekar movies of the 70s. So down-to-earth they were. And so Mumbaiya. 
Btw, there must be something special in the soil of Bangladesh that makes its products superior to Indian products. We know that about their cricket also.
October 26, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I am sure Bollywood is missing out on many such quality products.
October 28, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Just some clarification on the singer Atul. It’s Bhupinder Singh (he’s Punjabi I think?) and not Bhupen Hazarika who is Assamese. Both are two of my favorite singers Here’s some information on Bhupinder Singh. Cheers.
http://www.the-south-asian.com/Bhupinder.htm
October 28, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Some more on Bhupinder Singh.
http://www.downmelodylane.com/bhupinder.html
October 29, 2008 at 10:27 am
Wow. Many songs that I considered to be sung by Bhupendra hazarika are sung by Bhupinder Singh ? Including the songs of “mausam” and “Haqeeqat” ? I think I will need time to recover from this jolt.
Thanks for this information, Suhans.
November 2, 2009 at 3:54 am
Atul..It is surprising that u have not posted the heart rendering song from this film..Ek Akela Is sheher mein…”. Hopefully you will do justice..
April 15, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Hey atul..surprised to see that “Ek Akela is Sheher mein” is missing!! Post it ASAP boss..
April 21, 2011 at 10:59 am
Love this song. in my opinion, this is the best hindi song ever. .melodious playful uplifting song with great context, and great lyrics, with great voices of bhupinder and runa laila. excellent movie and needless to say i am a fan of amol palekar. late 70s and early 80s rock..because of songs, movies, singers and actors like in this movie. If only i could travel back in time, i would go back to those afternoons listening to songs like these on man chahe geet..
October 25, 2008 at 6:07 am
Lovely song! Itni saari bhuli huee yaadein is blog mein phir se yaad aati hai! Shukriya!