Haseen chaand sitaaron ka waastaa aajaa
Posted on: March 31, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
I was not aware of the film MERA SALAAM (1957) until few days back when I came across while searching for some songs on a website. This was a period film produced under the banner of Sushil Pictures and directed by Harbans. Bharat Bhushan and Bina Rai were in the lead roles with Veena, K N Singh, Gope, Durga Khote, Nishi, Cuckoo in supporting roles. The film had some lovely songs which were written by Sheven Rizvi and set to music by Hafeez Khan. Some of the song’s orchestration appear to be somewhat different than what is normally heard in the songs of that period. For example, the song ‘husn kehte hain mujhe’ probably depicting a mushaira competition between Bharat Bhushan and Bina Rai is rendered without the use of any musical instrument. Then, it has a nasheed ( Islamic devotional song) ‘madinewale se mera salam keh dena’ sung by Mohammed Rafi, Bande Hasan and others, the composition of which, in my view comes close to the qawwali style.
I came to know about the music director Hafeez Khan for the first time in this blog. A google search on him yielded some very interesting information. Hafeez Khan was the son of the great sitar and surbahar player Ustad Wahid Khan and the grandson of Ustad Imdad Khan of Etawah Gharana. He was the first cousin of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan. Hafeez Khan and his younger brother Aziz Khan received Hindustani classical music training including sitar and surbahar from their uncle Ustaad Inayat Khan. However, both of them left the training half way to join the Hindi film industry, Hafeez Khan as a singer and later as music director and Aziz Khan as music director. As a playback singer, Hafeez Khan was known by his pseudonym ‘Khan Mastana’, a nick name given to him by music director Meer Sahib [They were music directors in ZEENAT (1945)]. In some places, he was referred to as Hafeez Khan Mastana. His younger brother Aziz Khan gave music to some Hindi films under the name of Aziz Hindi. A detailed family history of Hafeez Khan is available here .
The song under discussion from this film is ‘haseen chaand sitaaron kaa waastaa aa jaa’ sung by Asha Bhonsle and Talat Mehmood. This song is composed on a slow tempo and does not have musical interludes between stanzas. Even the use of musical instruments during the singing is minimal. When I first heard this song a few days back, the tune looked familiar to me but I was certain that I had not heard this song. Now I know why the tune of this song looks familiar. Listen to ‘jiyo to aise jiyo jaise sab tumharaa hai’ from ‘Bahu Beti (1965).
Only the audio clip of this song is available. Since I have not seen this film, I can only do some guess as to how this song may have been picturised. The lyrics gives me an impression that the song is picturised on Bharat Bhushan and Bina Rai separately. While Bina Rai may be standing in one of the ‘jharokha’ type balconies ( being a period film) of her house facing the rising moon, Bharat Bhushan may be away from her somewhere in the open under the moon lit sky. Those who had seen this film can share as to how much I am close to or away from the reality.
Song-Haseen chaand sitaaron kaa waastaa aa jaa (Mera Salaam)(1957) Singers-Asha Bhonsle, Talat Mehmood, Lyrics-Shewan Rizvi, MD-Hafeez Khan
Lyrics
haseen chaand sitaaron kaa waastaa aa jaa
dhadkate dil ke ishaaron kaa waastaa aa jaa
haseen chaand
mujhe pukaarne waale main kaash aa saktaa
jhukaataa sar tere kadamon mein gar jhukaa saktaa
tere bagair gulistaan hai meraa veeraanaa
bahaar leke bahaaron kaa waastaa aa jaa
haseen chaand
tujhe talaash bahaaron ki phir nahin hoti
jigar ke daag agar tujhko main dikhaa saktaa
phir to ek baar mohabbat ki aabroo rakh le
gareeb dil ki pukaaron kaa waastaa aa jaa
haseen chaand
na tu pukaartaa mujhko
na main tadap jaataa
naseeb bichade huye dil agar milaa saktaa
naseeb rooth gayaa hai to rooth jaane de
magar naseeb ke maaron kaa waastaa aa jaa
haseen chaand sitaaron kaa waastaa aa jaa
haseen chaand
2 Responses to "Haseen chaand sitaaron ka waastaa aajaa"
March 28, 2019 at 2:45 pm
Sadanandji, I remember listening to this song on radio often. It is a very beautiful number. I like the way you have imagined the actors singing it.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 31, 2012 at 4:48 am
Sadanand ji,
A lovely revival – and a memorable melody.
Thanks for this post.
Rgds
Sudhir
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