Ye kyaa zindagi hai
Posted on: March 31, 2012
This article is written by Pradeep Raghunathan, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a new contributor to this blog.
There is one day of the year that most of us Indian’s are not very happy about, and that date is today, 31st March, when we need to make sure we have filed our tax returns and submitted it. For some reason, you find every one in India very busy during the month of March, as they are busy collecting documents and filing their taxes. Coming to think of it, even the IPL waits for this March madness to complete before it starts on the 4th of Apr :).
What are the feelings one has during this day? It is that of melancholy, sadness, pathos.. a song that describes this is from the movie Kohinoor (1960).. Yeh Kya Zindagi Hai.. sung by Lata Mangeshkar.
Before the song starts we have the heroine, Meena Kumari expressing her sorrow of having arrested her beloved, Dilip Kumar with the following lines..
zakhmon se kalejaa choor huaa
hadh ho gai gham mein naalon kii
kyaa yoonhi tabaahi hoti hai
duniyaa mein mohabbat-waalon ki
For the lay man, we could just replace “mohabbat waalon” above with “kardaataon” ki.
The lyrics of the song are simple and yet hit you hard with its reality. Lyrics were penned by Shakeel Badayuni, who has gone ahead and penned not just one or two but TEN lovely songs for this movie. I am assuming there are only 2 songs which have not been posted on this blog so far, this being one, and then there is the lovely song “Zara Mann Ki Kiwadiya Khol”, sung by Mohd Rafi (this song reminds me of “Piya Aiso Jiya Mein” sung by Geeta Dutt from Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, for the use of the word Kiwadiya, something very poetic and nice about the word don’t you think?)
The reason I requested Atul to post this song today is because when all of us are in such sadness today, who better to share it with than the tragedy queen herself, yes Meena Kumari. Today, 31st March 1972, 40 years back is when Meena Kumari left this world and the song shows her angst at life. I salute you O tragedy queen to have entertained us for so many years. May your soul rest in peace and in our hearts forever.
On a side note, I feel Lata’s voice suited Meena Kumari very well, as I always felt if she was to sing in real life, she would have sung with a sharp voice :).
Audio
Video
Song-Yeh Kya Zindagi Hai (Kohinoor) (1960) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Shakeel Badayuni, MD-Naushad
BEFORE THE SONG BEGINS..
zakhmon se khalejaa choor huaa
hadh ho gaii gham men naalon ki
kyaa yoonhi tabaahi hoti hai
duniyaa mein mohabbat-waalon kii
Lyrics
ye kyaa zindagi hai,
ye kaisaa jahaan hai
ye kyaa zindagi hai,
ye kaisaa jahaan hai
jidhar dekhiye zulm ki daastaan hai
ye kyaa zindagi hai,
ye kaisaa jahaan hai
kahin hai kafas mein kisi kaa baseraa
kahin hai nigaahon mein gham kaa andheraa
kahin dil ko lutataa huaa kaarvaan hai
jidhar dekhiye zulm ki daastaan hai
ye kyaa zindagi hai,
ye kaisaa jahaan hai
yahaan aadmi aadmi kaa hai dushman
yahaan chaak insaaniyat kaa hai daaman
mohabbat kaa ujdaa huaa aashiyaan hai
jidhar dekhiye zulm ki daastaan hai
ye kyaa zindagi hai,
ye kaisaa jahaan hai
ye beraham duniyaa samajh mein na aaye
yahaan kar rahe hain sitamgar khudaai
na jaane tu ai duniyaawaale kahaan hai
jidhar dekhiye zulm ki daastaan hai
ye kyaa zindagi hai,
ye kaisaa jahaan hai
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 2, 2014 at 4:12 pm
a very Happy birthday to you Pradeepji
LikeLike