Raaten jagaa ke sapne sajaa ke
Posted on: May 2, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
During my school days, some Hindi films with English titles such as ’12’o Clock’, ‘Black Cat’, ‘Marine Drive’, ‘Gateway of India’, ‘Tower House’ were released between late 50s and early 60s. I used to wonder as to why Hindi films should have English titles. Perhaps, it was one of the ploys of the production houses to create some curiosity about these films among the prospective audience and lure them to theatres. I was also curious about these films but those days we would be permitted to see only a couple of films during summer and Diwali vacations and that too only one or two select films. I had no occasion to see these movies when they were released and I have no idea about their fate on the box office. Probably these films did not run for long time.
When I was deeply into collecting gramophone records of old Hindi film songs in the early 70s, I found that these films had very good songs – some of them actually qualified to be called gems but it was hard to find 78 RPM gramophone records of songs from these films. Although enhanced versions of some of the songs were available in LP records, I was averse to listening to them as they did not give me a feel of the original songs. After my retirement, I bought VCDs of these films for watching and to know the contexts of some of the beautiful songs in them.
About 3 years back, I watched the VCD of Marine Drive (1955). I was aware of only one song from this film ‘ab wo karam karen ke sitam’. When I heard one of the other songs viz. ‘raaten jagaa ke sapne sajaa ke’ sung by Asha Bhonsle, I felt that I had heard a song of similar tune many times but was not able to place it. With no clues whatsoever, it was a futile search on the internet. A few months passed and I completely forgot about this. One day while watching a programme on Marathi songs in one of Marathi Channels, I came across this song with similar tune that I was looking for. The song was “dhundit gaau mastit raahu” from a Marathi film ‘Bala Gaau Kashi Angaai’ (1977) which was sung by Mahendra Kapoor and Asha Bhonsle and MD was N Datta. This song was very popular and I had watched this song many times on Marathi Chhaya Geet. It must be a sort of record that a music director used his own composition in a different film after a gap of 22 years.
So here is the song that I mentioned above, sung by Asha Bhonsle from the film MARINE DRIVE (1955) and picturised on Bina Rai and Ajit. N Datta was the music director. There are two lyricists for this film – Sahir Ludhianvi and Qamar Jalalabadi. I am not able to find out which one of them had written this song. In my view, the style of the lyrics does not match with that of Sahir Ludhinvi. So provisionally, I am accrediting this song to Qamar Jalalabadi. I request our knowledgeable readers to point out the correct status.
PS-The lyrics are by Sahir, as informed by Mr Vijay Padalkar
After watching this video clip, viewers may be intrigued as to why Ajit is looking somewhat tense in this romantic song. The background to this song is that K N Singh in the role of a smuggler is in financial difficulties following a police raid on his boat brining the gold consignment at the shore of Marine Drive and the gold is confiscated. The financiers of gold smuggling are now demanding from him the return of money. So K N Singh devises a plan to get rich quick and return the money he owes to his financiers. K N Singh’ s brother ( Hari Shivdasani) is a rich mill owner with Bina Rai his only daughter who is heir to his wealth. K N Singh’s plan is that he would get rid of his brother and Ajit should take care of Bina Rai so that he becomes the natural successor to the wealth of his brother. In this song, Ajit is on an assignment to get rid of Bina Rai. He is seen ready to push her from the hillock at the end of second stanza of the song but Bina Rai looks back and he has to postpone his criminal intent. By the end of this heartfelt song of Bina Rai, Ajit has developed a liking for her. He is now in two minds whether to push Bina Rai from the hillock to be drowned in the river or defy K N Singh’s dictates by not executing his plan.
Audio
Video
Song-Raaten jagaa ke sapne sajaa ke (Marine Drive)(1955) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Sahir Ludhianvi, MD-N Datta
Lyrics
dil bhi mit jaaye to ulfat
dil se jaane ki nahin
zindagi teri amaanat
hai zamaane ki nahin
raaten jagaa ke
sapne sajaa ke
kaliyaan chunin hain tere haar ke liye
ho o
baithe bithaaye hamne to haaye
duniyaa lutaa di tere pyaar ke liye
ho o
raaten jagaa ke
sapne sajaa ke
kaliyaan chunin hain tere haar ke liye
jab se milaa hai teraa sahaaraa
chamkaa hai mere dil kaa sitaaraa
tu jo bhi de o humko gawaara
khushiyaan bhi pyaari gham bhi hai pyaara
ho o
chaahe banaa de chaahe mitaa de
ham hain nishaana tere waar ke liye
o o o
raaten jagaa ke sapne sajaa ke
kaliyaan chunin hain tere haar ke liye
o seedhe saade
o bhole bhaale
meraa jahaan hai tere hawaale
tu jis pe jaadu nazron ka daale
sambhlega kaise dil wo sambhaale
haay
saari umangen saari taraangen
machli huyi hain sarkaar ke liye
ho o
raaten jagaa ke sapne sajaa ke
kaliyaan chunin hain tere haar ke liye
jab se mili hain tujh se nigaahen
mehki huyi hain sapnon ki raahen
le le duaaen de de panaahen
bas mein nahin hain betaab baanhen
haay
dil bhi tera jaan bhi tera
dono bane hain dildaar ke liye
ho o
raaten jagaa ke
sapne sajaa ke
kaliyaan chunin hain tere haar ke liye
ho o
baithe bithaaye hamne to haaye
duniyaa luta di tere pyaar ke liye
ho o o
raaten jagaa ke
4 Responses to "Raaten jagaa ke sapne sajaa ke"
May 2, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Similar to Hemant Kumar, using Tum Pukar Lo (Khamoshi, 69) tune for Jeevan Ek Talash Hai (TV series Talaash) in late 80s.
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3 | Vijay Padalkar
May 4, 2012 at 8:05 am
The film ‘Marine Drive, has 8 songs ,2 written by Kamar Jalalabadi and 6 by Sahir ludhiyanavi. This song is penned by Sahir.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 2, 2012 at 8:26 am
The video link to the Marathi song referred to in my write up :
http://youtu.be/ZsTWbDCyUmQ
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