Shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
Posted on: April 25, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
I do not know as to why I suddenly remembered Sanjeev Kumar (real name Haribhai Jariwala) today early in the morning when I was preparing for my morning walk. His anniversary dates were nowhere near and I have not seen any of his films and video clips for a long time. As it is, my ‘area of operations’ on YT are mainly confined to the watching/listening of video/audio clips pertaining to the period between 1940-1960, straying sometime up to late 60s and most of his his songs does not fit in to my preference. Probably, this was a reminder to me from Sanjeev Kumar donning a white suit and trouser in true suspense film style echoing “old man, have a peep at me too sometime”.
As I commenced my morning walk, a flash back of some of Sanjeev Kumar’s filmy career ran through my mind as if I was viewing a slide show of a photo album. It started with my college days when I used to see posters on railway platforms of film ‘Nishaan’ (1965) with Sanjeev Kumar in a sword fighting pose. I had also seen such posters of him of film ‘BAADAL (1966). The turning point in his filmy career came with the success of ‘Khilonaa (1970). The further success of his films like ‘Naya Din Nayi Raat’ (1974), ‘Aandhi (1975), Sholay (1975), Mausuam (1977), Trishul (1978) and so on put him at par with some of other lead actors of his time. I remember having seen him with Gulzar sometime in the late 70s at the boarding gate at Mumbai airport among crowds with not a trace of attitude or arrogance even though by that time he was a superstar. I felt honoured on that day to be travelling with two genius personalities of Hindi film industry on the same flight to Chennai.
Initially, those posters of his stunt films or rather B grade films dissuaded me from watching his films. ‘Jyoti (1969) was his first film that I watched in a theatre.It was a black and white movie with some unusual twist in the story line. But I was not impressed with his acting. Thereafter I saw 2-3 films of him and I do not even remember the names of those movies now. I saw ‘Aandhi’ (1975) only because there was some controversy relating to the role of Suchitra Sen with white strands of hair resembling that of Indira Gandhi and there was a talk of the film being banned from exhibition. Oh, what a revelation! Even though the central character of the film was portrayed by Suchitra Sen whose acting skill was beyond doubt, in my view, it was Sanjeev Kumar who stole the show. This film made me to change my opinion about Sanjeev Kumar as an actor. Subsequently,I saw a spate of his films and with every film, he scaled new heights in his filmy career and my admiration for him as an actor also grew.
Sanjeev Kumar neither had the romantic hero image of Rajesh Khanna nor the yahoo image of Shammi Kapoor or flamboyance of Dev Anand. But that did not matter to me as I regarded him as an actor of a different calibre who created a niche for himself in Hindi film industry without having a godfather. His expressions spoke much more than the dialogues and perhaps this may be one of the reasons that Gulzar cast him in his film ‘Koshish’ (1972). From his filmography, I have a strong feeling that for him cinema was more of a passion than the means of ‘getting rich quick’. I cannot think of any other actors of his time in the age group of 30s agreeing to the role of an old man in films like ‘Aandhi’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Mausam’. He was an actor for all seasons.
My words may not be sufficient to speak about the greatness of Sanjeev Kumar as an actor. All I can say is that in terms of calibre and fame, he was not less than a Sahir Ludhianvi among the actors of his time. Incidentally, there were a few similarities in the life cycles of both these legendry personalities. Both of them had difficult childhood, being brought up by their mothers. Both of them had childhood passion to work in the Hindi film industry. Both of them had failed love affairs and remained bachelors. Both of them left this world at an early age at the peak of their careers due to massive heart attacks.
After returning from my morning walk, I first opened my laptop to scout for some video clips of the songs picturised on Sanjeev Kumar. As usual, my search options were confined to his films released up to 1970. To my surprise, I came across a song from ‘INSAAF KA MANDIR (1969) which I am sure most of us would have heard one time or the other. Why I called this as a surprise was that this video clip had no caption of the song. It was sheer luck that I stumbled upon this lovely song.
The song ‘shaayar to nahin hoon lekin shayar ki nazar paayi hai’ is sung by the legendary Mohammed Rafi for a legendary actor Sanjeev Kumar on the lyrics of Naksh Layalpuri. The song is set to tune by Sapan-Jagmohan. The film was directed by B R Ishara. Sanjeev Kumar and Snehlata were in the lead roles with Aruna Irani, Nadira, Prithviraj Kapoor , Manmohan Krishna, Tarun Bose and Asit Sen in the supporting roles. It appears to be a party scene in which Sanjeev Kumar praises the beauty of Snehlata with Tarun Bose and Prithviraj Kapoor in the frame among others. Note how Mohammed Rafi has done some improvisation in the song rendition by pouncing in some places at the words ‘shaayar’ and ‘lekin’ in elongated tones. This has enhanced the beauty of the song.
Audio
Video
Song-Shaayar to nahin hoon lekin (Insaaf Ka Mandir)(1969) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Naqsh Llayalpuri, MD-Sapan Jagmohan
Lyrics
shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
shaayar ki nazar paayi hai
wo baat kahe detaa hoon
jo baat nazar aayee hai
shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
saawan tere roop ki masti
baadal teri zulf ka saayaa
tere honthon ki muskaane
phoolon ka hai sarmaaya
ye chaand ka ghatna badhnaa
teri hi to angadayee hai
wo baat kahe detaa hoon
jo baat nazaar aayee hai
shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
tere bol hain meethe naghme
khamoshi rangeen fasaana
jaagi jagi si palkon mein
khwaab hai koi deewaane teri
zanjeer si pehnaayee hai
wo baat kahe detaa hoon
jo baat nazar aayee hai
shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
chehraa jaise noor ka dariyaa
aanchal hai ik behtaa dhara
aaj meri nazron mein jaise
zannat ka hai nazaara
kyaa husn mila hai tujhko
kyaa toone adaa paayi hai
wo baat kahe detaa hoon
jo baat nazar aayee hai
shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
shaayar ki nazar paayi hai
wo baat kahe detaa hoon
jo baat nazar aayee hai
shaayar to nahin hoon lekin
4 Responses to "Shaayar to nahin hoon lekin"
April 25, 2012 at 4:11 pm
The early Sanjeev Kumar films had amazing songs! Who can forget “Haye! Tabassum tera, dhoop khil gayi raat me, ya bijli giri barsaat me…” from ‘Nishaan’, sung by Rafi (it was a ‘do pehlu vala geet’ also sung by Asha Bhosale) and that exquisite ghazal “Tumhari zulf ke saaye me shaam kar loonga…” from ‘Naunihal’
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April 25, 2012 at 5:25 pm
In Sangharsh, Sanjeev was pitted against Dilip Kumar. Sanjeev ne uski chhutti kar dee. Even Dilip Kumar acknowledged his acting prowess. Reasons are not far to seek; he was a product from the theatre(THE ATRE) where there are no rehearsals during the play. His mastery was in his dialogue delivery. Even till date he is mimic artistes favourite subject. Thank God his Hindi diction was impeccable(No Gujarati accent or intonations even though he was from Suratt stress on T which is the way Suratis speak).
His career graph soared to dizzy heights (who can forget Naya Din Nayi Raat and his 9 roles) but alas it was too good to last. Alcoholism proved to be the bane. It made him bloated. Otherwise he would have lived till even today happily married with children from Sulakshna Pandit or Hema Malini
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April 25, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Do any one of us have HATHWAY (service provider) as Cable Operator. I am having it since 4/5 years now. One of the channels(No. 124) is known as Black & White which beams 4/5 black & white films daily interspersed with B&W songs. It is a 24 hour channel bereft of ads. The great thing is that the channel 124 is common to all the cities in India where it is operating. We can mobile our friends and inform him about the song/film and enjoy it together. So switch over to the above and enjoy the songs and film of yore and visit the lane of nostalgia. ENJOY
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 25, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Ahhaa, Songs from Insaaf Ka Mandir,
this seems to me my type of song.
Nadira ji in one of her interviews through radio station, spoke proudly about her acting in this movie.She is not very sure that the prints of this movie existed.
Where is SNEHALATA nowadays??
Long ago,somewhere I have read her daughter is preparing herself to debut in Hindi Movies,then I lost track of her existence, Once they are out of limelight it is very difficult to find any news of yesteryear actors.
Arunji HELP!!
Lastly I spotted Snehalata in Moushumi starrer NAATAK
Immortal song from Khamoshi “hamne dekhi hai, unn aankhon ki mehkthi khushboo”lip synced by her.
She married producer SOHANLAL KANWAR(who produced movies like sanyasi,Beimaan,Paapi pet ka sawal hai, Pehchaan,Natak,Atmaram,Dhanwan)
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