Holi phir se aa gayi re
Posted on: March 8, 2012
This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Greetings all friends and readers, for a wonderful and colorful festival of Holi today.
The title of this song says very aptly, ‘Holi Phir Se Aa Gayee Re’. It is once again, that time of the year – the weather is really starting to get warm in the sub continent. The cold winds from the north have given way to pleasant breezes of spring, and the time duration between the sunrise and the sunset is getting longer and longer. The colors of spring are just past their peak in the gardens, and today is the last day of the month of ‘Phalgun’ as per the Hindu calendar. Which means it is going to be a full moon tonight, and tomorrow starts the month of ‘Chaitra’.
One of the legends of this festival is connected with Prahlad, the son of the Asura King Hiranyakashipu. As is with the histories of these royal families in Hindu books, there is always a story behind the story, and yet another one behind it. Hiranyakashipu was a sworn enemy of Lord Vishnu, and the story behind that is the curse placed by the four Sanat Kumaras on Jai and Vijay, the two attendants of Lord Vishnu. They were condemned to three incarnations, to be born away and being away from their Lord and Master, and were cursed to spend these three lives steeped in deep hatred for Lord Vishnu. Hiranayaksh and Hiranyakashipu, the Asura Kings, was the first such incarnation for them. Hiranyakashipu had a deep seated enmity with Lord Vishnu, whereas his son, with the blessings of Muni Narad, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. This angered Hiranyakashipu, and he made many attempts to dissuade his son from the path of devotion, including attempts to having his own son killed, by various means.
One of the attempts to put Prahlad’s life to end, was to burn him to death. And the episode is narrated as follows. To ensure that Prahlad does not escape from the fire, or survives with injuries but does not die, it was decided that someone else should also be in the fire, holding him in place. Holika is the name of Hiranyakashipu’s sister. She possessed a blessing in form of a garment, something like a large shawl that could not be burnt in fire. It was decided that she would sit on the pyre wearing that shawl, and would hold Prahlad firmly in her lap. The fire would be lit and she would hold down the child till he would be fully consumed by flames. It was thus arranged and enacted, but of course, the Lord ordained otherwise. As soon as the wooden pyre caught fire, a strange blast of wind came. It unfurled the shawl from the being of Holika, and wrapped it around Prahlad. As a result the child survived the fire and but his aunt perished. This part of the legend connects with the tradition of lighting a bonfire, on the night before the full moon night of Phalgun, that is the day before the celebration of Holi. This tradition of bonfire on the occasion of Holi festival is prevalent in north India, and also in some other parts of the country.
Now, about the tradition of colors and water. This tradition is connected with the pastimes of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan. The month of Phalgun coincides with the spring season, and is deemed as the month of colors. As tradition describes, the last eight days of this month, from Phalgun Shukla Ashtmi – the eighth day of the cycle of waxing moon in this month, to Phalgun Purnima, the full moon day of this month, are termed as ‘Holashtak’ – the eight days of playing Holi. In Braj, the homeland of Lord Krishna and Radha Rani, the festival of Holi is celebrated for these eight days. The celebration of Holi is described in the Srimad Bhaagwad Puraan, and then subsequently, a number of poet saints have deliberated and written in detail about this festival, in form of bhajans and devotional songs.
For the followers of the music of Sajjad Hussain, this song here is one more of the rarest of rare treats. This song from ‘Tilasmi Duniya’ (1946) is another one of those lost melodies which have not been available for decades. Last year, while discussing some of the songs of this obscure and rare film from the 40s, a lot of information digging work was done by Arun ji, Atul ji, and myself, in an effort to find more about the film and its songs. Although we were able to pull together a lot of information about the circumstances around this film and its music, we were still not able to nail down the information relating to the lyricist(s) and the singing voices for some of the songs discussed from this film. We already have five songs from this film posted on this blog, and here is a rare sixth offering, adding to the list of compositions by this talented genius.
The film was produced under the banner of Jupiter Art Pictures, Bombay and directed by AM Khan. The listed star cast for this movie is Shiraaz, Sitara Devi, S Kulkarni, Sarla Devi, Rampyaari, Agha Peerjaan, Rafiq, Madhukar Gupte, Narmada Shankar, Mehndi Raja, Ansari. The following description is adapted from the information posted by Arun ji, our resident encyclopedia on old Hindi films and film music.
In 1946,Sajjad Hussain Saab agreed to compose music for Tilasmi Duniya to help Altaf Hussain, a relative and a small time producer. The star cast of this film includes Shiraz as hero, Sitara Devi as heroine. Other names appearing this film are Sarla Devi, Sitaram Kulkarni, Madhukar Gupte, Ansari etc. The producer’s intentions were apparently not good. He had intentionally picked artistes who did not belong to grade A players and were needy at that time. Of the names listed, Sitara Devi was the only exception and was a well known name in those years. The film had 10 songs in all.
The film was released in December 1946. The imminent partition of the country was looming large on the horizon. In April 1947, Altaf Hussain did a disappearing act and ran away to Lahore. He took away all the prints of the film and related material. And with the exception of Sitara Devi, he absconded without paying anything to the other artists. Due to the paucity of funds, and also due to an ill intentioned mismanagement by Altaf Hussain, only three records for this film were made (i.e. six songs got recorded). Sajjaad Saab did not get any remuneration for his work, and had no money to pay his musicians. Apparently, three songs from this film were sold to another producer, and were reused in the film ‘Parshuram’ (1947). Sajjaad Saab had to do this for the sake of paying his assistants and musicians. It is said that this sad incident made Sajjaad Hussain Saab a very bitter man, a trait that is reflected in, and had a great negative consequences on his remaining career.
The singing voices are not identified. There is one male voice, and I am almost certain that there are at least two female voices. There are some lines sung by male and female chorus accompaniment. At two places in the song, I have added a (?), indicating that I am not confident that I have captured the correct word. I would request other readers to please help to confirm or correct the two words indicated.
The song has a peculiar disposition. It starts off as a song of fun and revelry, that also includes reference to the pastimes of Lord Krishna and Radha Rani. Then it transforms into a sound of sadness, as one of the female singers is expressing sorrow that her lover/husband is not with her for the celebration. And then there is a very surprise ending, as the last two lines of the song burst out will belligerence. A female voice is admonishing, almost scolding another person. When I encounter such situations in songs, it really makes me curious, and I want to somehow lay hands on the visual of this film to understand the situation of this song. Alas, but no trace of the video of this film anywhere yet.
Nonetheless, let us count our blessings, that the audio of the song at least is available now. This festival is a celebration that has a prominent status in Hindi films from across all decades. Enjoy this rare sound from more than six decades ago.
Song-Holi phir se aa gayee re (Tilasmi Duniya)(1946) Singers-Female voice, Male voice, Female chorus, Male chorus, Lyrics- MD-Sajjad Hussain
Lyrics
holi phir se
holi phir se aa gayee re
holi phir se aa gayee re
rang udaati dhoom machaati
rang udaati dhoom machaati
haaaa aaaaaa
holi phir se aa gayee re
holi phir se aa gayee re
ghar ghar saajan sajni mil kar
holi khelen jhoom jhoom kar
ghar ghar saajan sajni mil kar
holi khelen jhoom jhoom kar
rang nayaa chadaa gayee re
rang nayaa chadaa gayee re
holi phir se
holi phir se aa gayee re
holi phir se aa gayee re
bach kar rehnaa rajkumari
bach kar rehnaa rajkumari
haaan
bhari hui hai ye pichkaari
dil mein pyaar badhaa gayi re
dil mein pyaar badhaa gayi re
holi phir se
holi phir se aa gayee re
holi phir se aa gayee re
jamnaa ta’t pe
jamnaa ta’t pe radha ne
jamnaa ta’t pe
jamnaa ta’t pe radha ne
shyam se holi kheli thhi
jamnaa ta’t pe
beeti yaad dilaa gayi re
beeti yaad dilaa gayi re
holi phir se
holi phir se aa gayee re
haaye (?)
saari duniya
saari duniya rang udaaye
mere mann nikle haaye
saari duniya rang udaaye
mere mann nikle haaye
tu hi bataa main kheloon kis se
tu hi bataa main kheloon kis se
roothh gayaa
roothh gayaa jab tu hi mujh se
kuchh to bol patthar ki moorat
dekhta kyaa hai meri surat
kuchh to bol patthar ki moorat
dekhta kyaa hai meri surat
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 8, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Interesting song and narrative.
I heard the last two ? as:-
“kuchh to bol pathar ki moorat,
dekhat kya ho meri soorat”
-Pratap
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March 8, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Pratap ji,
Thanks for your message.
I heard the song again after reading your inputs. Your deciphering appears to be accurate.
Thanks again and regards
Sudhir
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