Waqt se din aur raat
Posted on: March 9, 2012
“Waqt” (1965) was a movie that like most B R Chopra movies rewrote the rules of the game. This movie was a multistarrer movie at a time when this term was not even coined. This term as well as the concept would be made use of in Hindi movies ten years later in “Sholay” (1975) and other movies.
“Waqt” (1965) was also a fore runner of movies where family members would get separated , and grow up under different circumstances, only to reunite at the last reel. That way, Manmohan Desai of 1970s used “Waqt” (1965) as a template for his movies of 1970s, viz in “Amar Akbar Anthony” (1977).
The music of “Waqt” (1965) played an important role in the success of the movie. What stunning songs this movie had ! All timeless classic ! The club song Aage bhi jaane na tu to this day remains a defining club song of all times. The song Ae meri zohra jabeen ensured that middle aged men singing praises of their spouse in get togethers became socially acceptable among Indians. And then there were lots of other great romantic songs for those supposedly at the right age for singing them. Look at the songs viz. Chehre pe khushi chhaa jaati hai , Din hain bahaar ke tere mere iqraar ke , Ham jab simat ke aap ki baanhon mein aa gaye and Kaun aayaa ki nigaahon mein chamak jaag uthi .
How can one movie have so many great songs in it. It is possible if the music director is Ravi, a creator of iconic songs. He could create iconic songs touching all aspects of Human life, and he has in fact created lots and lots of such songs that have become parts of Indian lives, even though people may not be aware that Ravi is the creator of those songs.
Coming back to “Waqt” (1965), one can notice that the above mentioned songs had the voices of Mahendra Kapoor, Manna Dey, Asha Bhonsle etc, but the name of Rafi, the undisputed king among male playback singers of the time was missing. Lots of discussion has taken place on this topic here and elsewhere. Suffice it to say that B R Chopra, the producer had decided that Mahendra Kapoor needed to be the male playback singer of choice in the movies of his banner. And since Ravi was the music director of all these B R Chopra movies, he used Mahendra Kapoor’s voice in these movies.
But Rafi’s voice still managed to find a place in “Waqt”(1965). “Waqt” (1965) had a title song cum theme song which gets played when an earthquake destroys everything and Balraj Sahni, the partiarch of the family loses all his property and gets separated from his familiy members. This song gets played in the background.
Apparently , Ravi managed to convince B R Chopra to let him use Rafi’s voice for this song. And indeed this song is a rare occasion when one can listen to Rafi’s voice in a B R Chopra movie.
Sahir Ludhianvi , in a few words canveys the message crisply and coherently. Time is the almighty, the all conqueror. Human kind and others are insignificant specks in the grand scheme of things governed by time. People better realise this fact, before they find themslves consigned to the dustbin of time.
This song, yet another timeless song created by Ravi, is a tribute to the great music director who bowed down to the dictates of time on 7th march 2012, but not before making the most of his time in this world and leaving us with lots and lots of great timeless creations. We salute his genius . His songs will always remain with us and they will continue to enthrall us as they have always done since their creation.
Lyrics of this song were sent to me by Khyati Bhatt.
PS-This song is a tribute not only to Ravi, but also to Sahir Ludhianvi and Rafi. This song incidentally is the 1400th song of Rafi in this blog.
Audio
Video
Song-Waqt se din aur raat (Waqt)(1965) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Sahir Ludhianvi, MD-Ravi
Lyrics(Provided by Khyati Bhatt)
kal jahaan basti thhin khushiyan
aaj hai maatam wahaan
waqt laaya thha bahaaren
waqt laaya hai khizaan
waqt se din aur raat
waqt se kal aur aaj
waqt ki har shai ghulam
waqt ka har shai pe raaj
waqt se din aur raat
waqt se kal aur aaj
waqt ki har shai ghulam
waqt ka har shai pe raaj
waqt ki gardish se hai
chaand taaron ka nizaam
waqt ki gardish se hai
chaand taaron ka nizaam
waqt ki thhokar mein hai
kya hukoomat kya samaaj
kya hukoomat kya samaaj
waqt se din aur raat
waqt se kal aur aaj
waqt ki har shai ghulam
waqt ka har shai pe raaj
waqt ki paaband hai
aati jaati raunaqen
waqt ki paaband hai
aati jaati raunaqen
waqt hai phoolon ki sej
waqt hai kaanton ka taaj
waqt hai kaanton ka taaj
waqt se din aur raat
waqt se kal aur aaj
waqt ki har shai ghulam
waqt ka har shai pe raaj
aadmi ko chaahiye
waqt se darkar rahe
aadmi ko chaahiye
waqt se darkar rahe
kaun jaane kis ghadi
waqt ka badley mizaaj
waqt ka badle mizaaj
waqt se din aur raat
waqt se kal aur aaj
waqt ki har shai ghulam
waqt ka har shai pe raaj
2 Responses to "Waqt se din aur raat"
March 9, 2012 at 10:41 am
Lovely write-up, Atul.
Waqt was indeed a movie which had it all. It was a stylishly-made movie too, directed by Yash Chopra, not by his older brother.
Love all the songs of the movie. This song is often forgotten because of the other famous songs in the movie, happy songs that they are and picturised on the stars – but this is a very good song in its own right and fully deserves to be known.
Glad to know that this is Rafi saab’s 1400th here. And this song, what with its meaning about the power of time, is a good choice for a tribute to Ravi, Sahir and Rafi saab – all of whom have now passed away as is natural with time. But they will all remain (or at least should remain) for posterity for their contribution to poetry and music. Your blog is an effort in this direction!
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 9, 2012 at 9:09 am
Excellent lyrics set to excellent tune sung excellently by Rafi. We tend to ignore the background songs in our favorites lists, but they were very effective for the filmmakers because they could convey the emotion at hand and also allow the filmmaker to present a montage of images that pushed the story forward.
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