Ghar tera apna ghar laage
Posted on: January 31, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Janaury 31st is the death anniversary of Suraiyya who was India’s greatest female singer-actor of the post-partition period. While reading her profile and biography, I felt that her life had twists and tales worthy of making a full length feature film. For instance, her romantic involvement with Dev Anand, a dominating maternal grandmother who, apart from deciding her filmy career, played a spoilsport in her romantic relationship and finally her decision to quit films to live a life of seclusion, can be some of the ingredients for a cinematic presentation. Suraiyya’s life cycle can best be described in some of her own renditions like Laayi khushi ki duniya (Vidya) , Tere nainon ne chori kiyaa mera chhota sa jiya pardesiya (Pyaar ki jeet) and Raste pe ham khade hain dil e beqaraar le kar (Rajput) to Ye kaisi ajab daastaan ho gayi hai(Rustam Sohrab)(1963) and finally to Rahiye ab aisi jagah chal kar jahan koi naa ho (Mirza Ghalib) .
Suraiyya created a niche for herself as an actor-singer when her competitors like Noor Jehaan, Rajkumari, Kanan Devi and Amirbai Karnataki were well established. Surraiya’s high points in her filmy career were during 1948-50 when her films Pyaar Ki Jeet (1948),Dillagi (1949) and Badi Bahen(1949) became super hits. There was, however, some lull in her career until 1954 when she bounced back with Mirza Ghalib and Waaris. With the availability of successful playback singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Geeta Dutt and film makers preferring actor-dancers like Vyjayanti Mala,Padmini and Waheeda Rehman, Suraiyya’s filmy career as actor-singer was on a declining trajectory and she seemed to have read this trend well in advance to quit acting and singing at the prime of her career.
After reading her biography, my own conjecture is that living the rest of her life on her own terms could be one more reason to quit her filmy career which was not possible with her maternal grandmother being the deciding authority on that part of her life.
Like K L Saigal, Suraiyya did not have a formal training in classical music. But both had charismatic ways of singing which touched the souls of most listeners.
Though many singers, like K L Saigal, Begum Akhtar had rendered Mirza Ghalib’s ghazals, it was Suraiyya’s singing of some of his ghazals in the film Mirza Ghalib that brought Mirza Ghalib to the notice of the masses. No doubt, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, complimented her by saying that “tumne Mirza Ghalib ki rooh ko zindaa kar diyaa” ( you have put life into the soul of Mirza Ghalib).
It was an irony that Suraiyya who sang innumerable songs to keep her memory alive for the new generation, died unsung and immediately after her death she was in news for wrong reason – mostly for the flat she owned in Krishna Mahal at Marine Drive!
On the occasion of Suraiyya’s death anniversary, I have chosen a lesser known duet song, ghartera apna ghar laagey from film WAARIS (1954) sung by her with actor-singer Talat Mehmood, for discussion. This is one of her romantic ‘feel good’ songs which she has rendered in her ‘reel’ life but unfortunately missed in her real life. The song was written by Qamar Jalalabadi and composed by Anil Biswas. The song is picturised in a small room , probably kitchen, limiting the camera to close-ups and medium shots. But this monotony is broken by the sincerity in expressions of love coupled with shyness depicted by Suraiyya while picturisation.
Song-Ghar tera apna ghar laagey (Waaris)(1954) Singers-Suraiyya, Talat Mehmood, Lyrics-Qamar Jalalabadi, MD-Anil Biswas
Suraiyya + Talat Mehmood =Fuchsia
Lyrics
ghar tera apna ghar laagey
jaaye kahaan man iske aagey
jaaye kahaan
miley man ki dagar se teri gully
miley man ki dagar se teri gully
jaise musaafir paaye watan mein
chain hai waisa tere nayan mein
jaise musaafir paaye watan mein
chain hai waisa tere nayan mein
chain hai waisa tere nayan mein
naina dhoondhe rain basera
keh do ki haan yahi dwaar hai tera
keh do ki haan yahi dwaar hai tera
naina dhoondhe rain basera
keh do ki haan yahi dwaar hai tera
kee do ki haan
mili man ki dagar se teri galli
mili man ki dagar se teri galli
haathon mein jo haath hain tere
jaise manzil saath hai mere
haathon mein jo haath hain tere
jaise manzil saath hai mere
jaise manzil saath hai mere
raahen teri gally jab se aaye
aake yahaan nit man yahi gaaye
aake yahaan nit man yahii gaaye
raahen teri gally jab se aaye
aake yahaan nit man yahi gaaye
aake yahaan
mili man ki dagar se teri galli
mili man ki dagar se teri galli
ghar tera apna ghar laagey
jaaye kahaan man iske aagey
jaaye kahaan
mili man ki dagar se teri galli
mili man ki dagar se teri galli
4 Responses to "Ghar tera apna ghar laage"
January 31, 2012 at 11:18 am
Kamath ji,
Wah,Wah, kya baat hai.
You have depicted the various stages(emotional,that is) in Suraiya’s life with her own sung songs in a very apt and exact way.Well done indeed.
Mogambo khush huwa !
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August 6, 2014 at 2:37 pm
What a beautiful song. Feel really sorry for Suraiya.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 31, 2012 at 9:11 am
Suraiya is just unbeatable—-and unforgettable! I love her songs like, “Tere naino ne chori kiya…”, “Dooooor papiha bola, raat aadhi reh gayi..”, “Papi papiha re, pee pee na bhol…”. In ‘Mirza Ghalib’ she held her own against Talat in that beautiful duet, “Dil-e-nadaan tujhe huva kya hai…”. And who can ever forget that soulful, sad, ” Rahiye ab aisi jagah, chalkar jahan koyi na ho…” Wah! Suraiya!
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