Mukh se na boloon ankhiyaan na kholoon
Posted on: May 8, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
During my four decades of sojourn with old Hindi films songs, I have come across many admirers of such songs among my friends, office colleagues and also within my family circle. There were categories of admirers in terms of period songs, fans of some singers, lyricists. music directors etc. There was one more category of admirers who outscored other categories in terms of numbers. Members of this group, while being admirers of popular old Hindi film songs of golden era, were by and large ignorant of other details of the songs especially names of music directors and lyricists. I also noted that out of these details, they were least interested in knowing the names of lyricists.
One of my close friends who is an admirer of old Hindi film songs and has a collection of over 500 songs in mp3 format, candidly told me that while he enjoyed listening to old Hindi songs, he was least interested in knowing about the names of lyricists and music directors. Whenever he comes across a new song which he likes, his first query would be about the singer. For him, the name of the film was not important except for the limited purpose of associating the songs to the films. Recently I asked my daughter who is also one among the admirers of many popular old Hindi film songs of the golden era whether she knows the details of the songs which she likes. She said that she just wanted to enjoy listening to these songs and other details about the songs were immaterial to her. Her argument was that when we relish a nice dinner in a restaurant, we normally do not ask who prepared the dish. Our main aim is to enjoy the food in the same way we enjoy listening to the songs. Of course, I countered her argument by saying that a connoisseur of food would definitely enquire of the name of the cook in the same way as a ‘connoisseur’ of old Hindi film songs would like to know the details of a song he liked.
I was also under the same category during my teen days but with a slight difference. For most of the popular songs, I was having fairly good knowledge of the names of the singers and films to which these songs belonged. But I do not recall that I had ever known the names of the music directors and lyricists for any such songs. But in general, I was aware of the prominent music directors of that period -Shanker-Jaikishan, Naushad, C Ramchandra, Roshan, Madan Mohan and among lyricists Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shakeel Badyauni, Majrooh Sultanpuri,Sahir Ludhianvi. But when it came to identifying them with the songs, I would draw a blank.
I continued to remain in this category of music lovers until around 1971 when I came into the contact with my two office colleagues who were admirers of old Hindi film songs and were deep into the collection of gramophone records of such songs. Assuming that I had fairly good knowledge about old Hindi film songs, one of them invited me to his residence along with a few like minded persons to listen to some rare songs and discuss them. He had a vast collection of songs in 78 RPM records which to my guess were more than 1000 in numbers. All these records were stacked alphabetically in a wooden cupboard having a large number of drawers. We would generally listen to about 15-16 songs which were played in his Gerrad record changer.
We used to meet every week-end in that friend’s house to listen to some more rare songs and discuss them. I was only a passive listener to the discussions as I had no in depth knowledge about those songs. It was in such gatherings that I first heard the names of Anil Biswas, Shyam Sunder, Ghulam Haider, Khemchand Prakash and many contemporary music directors and the songs composed by them. My knowledge about old Hindi fils songs was miniscule in front of my friends. [It is still minuscule as compared with some regulars of this blog]. I realised that behind the facade of popular old Hindi film songs, there were many rare gems which I had missed all these years. During this period, I too got interested in the nuances of these songs in terms of their compositions and lyrics and also the different styles of singers. From that time onwards, I made it a point to know about all the details pertaining to the songs. I became more interested in acquiring the gramophone records of rare gems of old Hindi film songs rather than the popular ones.
With the advent of internet, it became easy to search for rare and unique songs and by now it has become my passion. During one of such searches, I came across yet another rare gem which I had not heard so far. The song is ‘mukh se na boloon ankhiyaan na kholoon’ from the film JALIANWAALA BAAGKI JYOTI (1953). The song was sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mehmood on the lyrics of Uddav Kumar and under th emusic direction of Anil Biswas. The film was produced under the banner of Famous Pictures and directed by R S Chaudhary. The starcast included Karan Dewan, Roopmala, Jagdish Sethi, Achala Sachdev, Kamlesh Kumari etc. The song appears to be a mix of folk and classical music. An important feature of this song is that while Lata sings in a fast paced and in aggressive tone, Talat Mehmood sings his part in a subdued way. But the undertone of the song is that of subtle teasing.
I like the composition of the song which I feel is a bit complex. In this song, Anil Biswas has brought out how an element of teasing and naughtiness can be built into a song both in aggressive and subdued stances. Lata Mangeshkar’s voice in this song is slightly different from what we are normally used to listen of that period. She seems to have modulated her voice to reflect teasing and naughtiness in the song.
Only the audio clip is available but I guess that this song was picturised on Karan Dewan and Roopmala as a stage show.
All in all, this is a great composition which bears the seal of Anil Biswas.
Song-Mukh se na boloon ankhiyaan na kholoon (Jaalianwaala Baag Ki Jyoti)(1953) Singers-Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mehmood, Lyrics-Uddhav Kumar, MD-Anil Biswas
Lyrics
mukh se na boloon
ankhiyaan na kholoon
mukh se na boloon
mohey jo sataao balmaa
mohey jo sataao
main to gaari doongi
lapat jhapat mori ghoongharaali lat se
ulajh na natakhat palat palat ke
dekh na mohey
tore man mein kapat hai
chal hat chal hat
paas na aao
main to gaari doongi
mukh se na boloon
ankhiyaan na kholoon
mukh se na boloon
dil to hamaaraa
tere nainon kaa maaraa
tujh bin hogaa kaise guzaaraa
dil to hamaaraa
tere nainon kaa maaraa
tujh bin hogaa kaise guzaaraa
jiyaa na jalaao balmaa
jiyaa na jalaao
main to gaari doongi
preet langar
tu to aath pahar
more ghar ki dagar mein
thahar thahar
mo pe daale hai nazar
hai sabko khabhar
tu hai badaa besabar
jhooti baat na banaa
main to gaari doongi
mukh se na boloon
ankhiyaan na kholoon
mukh se na boloon
mukh na dikhaaun
tere dar pe naa aaun
jaake akele kahin aansoo bahaaun
mukh na dikhaaun
tere dar pe naa aaun
jaake akele kahin aansoo bahaaun
chhod ke jo jaao balmaa
chhod ke jo jaao
main to gaari doongi
haaye haaye re anaadi
more phuli phoolwari
tune ghar mein ujhadi
main to haari ??
khaaun kasam tihari
main to tujh se hoon haari
binti hamaari
mohey chhod ke na jaa
main to gaari doongi
mukh se na boloon
ankhiyaan na kholoon
mukh se na boloon
mohey jo sataao balmaa
mohey jo sataao
main to gaari doongi
4 Responses to "Mukh se na boloon ankhiyaan na kholoon"
May 8, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Sadanandji
I am yet to listen the song, But let me tell you that I always enjoy your writings.
Your experiences always linger in my thoughts, whenever I am walking towards my house after finishing my work(in the afternoons and late nights). I used to bring back all the lines which you have written into my thoughts and think of them very often.
Eventhough I have not expressed my views about your writings in the blog, I always read whatever you have written.
Thanks and lot`s of love
Prakash
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 8, 2012 at 4:45 am
Sadanandji,
What you have said is so true. I was in the category of someone who wanted to know the singer, film and MD. I never ever had any intention to know the lyricist. My cousin would tell me the name of the lyricist while we were watching Chhayageet/Chitrahaar on DD would also inform me name of the producer and director. But then after childhood days, slowly my “taste” of songs changed or I would say modified and my curiosity of knowing all the details about that song and then knowing all the “behind the curtain” story about the movie became my passion. But, after coming to US, I was cutoff from the hindi cinema. I got busy with my “homemaker” duty. Pata hi nahin chala ki kaise bees saal beet gaye. Now after “Bees Saal Ke Baad” I am trying to enjoy those days of my life again. Thanks to Atulji and all of you for providing us all this info through this blog. Nowadays, you can find so many things on net about the golden era of hindi cinema, lekin ye blog se jo santosh/anand mil raha hai is ki baat kuchh aur hi hai. Thanks to all of you.
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May 8, 2012 at 8:51 am
You are absolutely correct. As I said, I have been into learning about old Hindi films songs for four decades. But for early 70s when I was very active in this field, I had only passive interest thereafter. It is only after joining this blog that my interest in this filed got revived to become active again.
I cent percent agree with your comments about this blog. This blog is unique among those catering to old Hindi film songs. With more and more songs being discussed every day, I am sure, this blog has already become one of very few authentic reference points in regard to the old Hindi film songs.
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May 8, 2012 at 10:33 am
Hello Khyatiji,
I have been in the U.S. busy being a homemaker for the past twenty yrs too ( since 1991). Where are you based? I live in Glendale, Arizona and am originally from Bombay.
I would love to hear from you :-).
Salaam and duas,
Sameena
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