Haay re tere chanchal nainwa
Posted on: January 7, 2009
“Oonche log” (1965), not to be confused with “Oonche log” (1985) was an interesting movie which had no role for females. The supposed leading lady of the movie hardly had any role or dialogues in the movie. I cannot understand the reason behind such misogyny on the part of the makers of this movie.
The heroine ( supposedly) is as elusive in this movie as the Himalayan Yeti or the American bigfoot. Her existence in the movie is only confirmed indirectly, viz in the form of songs.
Take this song for example. This song is supposed to be sung by the leading lady ( who was a debutant called K R Vijaya, by the way) but it is not sung in the normal way, viz. in person. Her voice emanates out of a transistor radio that is gifted to Feroz Khan by Raj Kumar. How very convenient !
As soon as Feroz Khan unpacks the transistor and switches it on, it gets switched on instantly and this song “haay re tere chanchal nainwa” starts getting played.
Now, I have been an experienced transistor radio listener, and I can tell you that transistor radios needed batteries to work and a packaged transistor set would not come with batteries. They needed to be fitted in after the transistor was taken out of its packing. But no such technical nuances were seen to be followed in this movie.
Moreover, tuning the transistor and searching for the right station was a black art and it took considerable time and expertise. In this case, as soon as the transistor is taken out of its wrapping and switched on, it immediately starts playing the above mentioned song ! Now whom were the makers of this movie trying to fool ?
And the song coming out of the transistor was so crystal clear. To the best of my knowledge, FM radio was not in existence those days.
Well, let us come back to the song itself. The song “haay re tere chanchal nainwa” has that midas touch, that X factor that can make you hum along as you listen to this song from the very first time. And did I tell you that I was listening to this song for the very first time ? Yes, it has become a regular habit with me that I find myself listening to 40-50 year old songs for the first time in 2009.
Lata Mangeshkar’s voice, Majrooh’s lyrics and Chitragupta’s music has created this masterpiece, which is so nice to listen to. Just wonderful.
Video
Audio
Song-Haay re tere chanchal nainwa (Oonche Log) (1965) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Majrooh Sultanpuri, MD-Chitragupta
Lyrics
tere chanchal nainwa
kuchh baat karen ruk jaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
kuchh baat karen ruk jaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
khulke ye baaten kam karen
chupke hi chupke sitam karen
khulke ye baaten kam karen
chupke hi chupke sitam karen
bas dolen na kuchh bolen
palkon se muskaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
kuchh baat karen ruk jaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
uljhe ham se har baar dil
kuchh aisaa hai beqaraar dil
uljhe ham se har baar dil
kuchh aisaa hai beqaraar dil
kuchh tum bhi to samjhaao
ham kyaa-kyaa samjhaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
kuchh baat karen ruk jaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
ham to chaahat mein jal gaye
tum waadaa karke badal gaye
ham to chaahat mein jal gaye
tum waadaa karke badal gaye
ham kaise ji tum jaise
anjaane ban jaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
kuchh baat karen ruk jaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
kuchh baat karen ruk jaayen
haay re tere chanchal nainwaa
8 Responses to "Haay re tere chanchal nainwa"
January 7, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Lovely song…Some Lata songs have verve…like “Ajeeb dastaan hai ye”…and this one.
Really nice. I like it a lot.
And oh yes, I love your “transistor” comments. So Atul. 🙂
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May 5, 2009 at 3:20 pm
You are hilarious, Atul 🙂 I didn’t take the absence of women as a sexist or misogynistic thing…I think it was very purposeful, and there was a reason for it although I admit to not figuring out what that purpose was, really. Great songs!
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May 5, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Now I am beginning to wonder which the title of this movie was “Oonche log” viz “High class people”.
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April 19, 2011 at 10:40 am
Nice song. Would this qualify to be a Radio Song?
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January 8, 2012 at 8:35 am
One more “OMG how did we forget song”
Thanx for bringing it up
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 7, 2009 at 11:21 am
used to love this song..but had forgotten about it in recent times, thanks for posting!!!
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