Main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
Posted on: September 28, 2010
When I was a young kid, I did not like old songs, especially those sung by K L Saigal. With time,as I became more mature (?), I began to tolerate, and subsequently began to appreciate K L Saigal.
By now, I have realised that Saigal was a pioneer who contribution in development of Hindi movie music was immense. In fact, he is a legend for those whom we consider legends. Yes, Lata considers him her idol, and it is one of her great regrets in life that she could not meet him in his life time.
By listening to K L Saigal songs, he has somehow got typecast in public mind as a singer of sad songs, but that is not the full picture. A few of his better known songs could be sad songs and drunkard songs, but he has also sung songs of other genre. And he was a very good singer of semi classical songs too. And those days, orchestra used to be spartan and so the singer was on his own and he needed to carry the song on the strength of his or her voice. And K L Saigal had a fantastic voice.
I have so far posted 26 songs of K L Saigal in this blog. I would like to post as many K L Saigal songs in this blog as I am able to locate. His voice has a rare soothing quality that has a calming effect on the nerves. And then, watching him singing a song is like watching the making of history before our eyes.
Here is a song from “Lagan” (1941). It is a less known song for me. The song shows K L Saigal, in his fancy bathrobe, singing this song. He sings this song almost without any orchestra, and still he makes it sound so musical.
The picturisation shows a lady who is waiting patiently for Saigal to stop singing and to take notice of her. She is Kanan Bala, another pioneer of Hindi movie singing. In fact, there are many who would have liked her to join K L Saigal in singing this song.
Aarzoo Lucknowi is the lyricist and he has used shuddh Hindi words in this song, which is such a refreshing change from Urdu heavy words thathave traditionally been the norm in Hindi movie songs.
R C Boral is the music director.
This wonderful song is a gem that I cannot have enough of. Here is this song for the listening and viewing pleasure of the readers of this blog.
Song-Main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa (Lagan) (1941) Singer-K L Saigal,Lyrics-Aarzoo Lucknowi, MD-R C Boral
Lyrics
main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
main jaage bhaag sulaa doongaa
main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
jisne jeewan sukh chheenaa hai
wo jeewan hee mitaa doongaa
jisne jeewan sukh chheenaa hai
wo jeewan hee mitaa doongaa
sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
main jaage bhaag sulaa doongaa
main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
doodh kaa doodh aur paani kaa paani
dekhoge to dikhaa doongaa
doodh kaa doodh aur paani kaa paani
dekhoge to dikhaa doongaa
jhoothaa mandar tod-phod ke
sachchaa mahal banaa doongaa
jhoothaa mandar tod-phod ke
sachchaa mahal banaa doongaa
main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
main jaage bhaag sulaa doongaa
main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
karm-heen anyaayi kripaa ko
dekh-dekh jee jaltaa hai
karm-heen anyaayi kripaa ko
dekh-dekh jee jaltaa hai
atyaachaari nyaay dikhaa kar
jaltaa kamal bujhaa doongaa
atyaachaari nyaay dikhaa kar
jaltaa kamal bujhaa doongaa
sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
main jaage bhaag sulaa doongaa
main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa
6 Responses to "Main sote bhaag jagaa doongaa"
September 29, 2010 at 10:34 am
Wow! What a voice! Have always been impressed by Saigal saab though I am hearing this song for the first time.
Btw, I checked your stats and I find you have Kanan Bala and Kanan Devi mentioned as separate persons. But they are one and the same, aren’t they? According to wiki, she changed her name from Kanan Bala to Kanan Devi.
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September 29, 2010 at 11:04 am
I was also wondering whether they were the same. I will now change the stats.
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November 16, 2014 at 9:18 pm
@ Atul ji – many thanks for this post !!
yes, like most of all of us, I remember to hear the last song in Saigal Saab’s voice at the end of this program ‘puraani filmon ke geet’ on Radio Ceylon or SLBC. The one I like then was ‘ek bangla bane nyaara’ and began to like this more when I saw ‘Do Raaste-1969’ wherein it is played in the background.
Got to watch ‘Devdas-1935’ on Doordarshan in 1991-92. I like ‘Baalam aaye bason more man mein’ and other songs of this movie. One of my colleagues Father was a great fan of Saigal Saab and he had got recorded all his song from the ‘recording center’ I used to visit regularly.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 28, 2010 at 10:09 am
I must have been mature at a tender age too then 😀
Always loved Saigal songs. His do naina, jab dil hi toot gaya, chhupo na chhupo naa.. Too many gems to list here. And to think that he died at the young age that he did.
His used to be the last song on Radio Ceylon’s Purani philmon ka sangeet 7:30 – 8. To this day, when I hear a Saigal song, I feel it is about to be 8 am…
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September 28, 2010 at 3:55 pm
his songs are still the last song on “Bhoole Bisre Geet” of “Vividh Bharathi” which airs from 7to 7.30a.m
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September 28, 2010 at 4:21 pm
You mean to say that Vividh Bharati now have started following the tradition of Radio Ceylon (SLBC) ? In Radio Ceylon “Puraani filmon ke geet” (7-30 to 8-00 AM), K L Saigal’s song used to be the last song. I am informed that SLBC too is still around.
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