O pagle der na hogi palchhin ki
Posted on: July 27, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
In the late 60s, there was a time when I would watch one Hindi film almost every week-end in the theatre. The one aspect of the films which used to irritate me at that time was actors suddenly going into singing mode thus interrupting, like a speed breaker on the highway, the smooth flow of the narration. Some people would even walk out of the theatre as soon as the song started on the screen and come back only after the end of the song. Of course the audience would not do that when a song is melodious and well picturised.
In those days, I had watched a few famous Hollywood movies. Barring one ( The Sound of Music), none of them had any songs. That led me to put a question mark on the appropriateness of songs in our films. Apparently, with this kind of a mindset,I could not enjoy the films and eventually, I almost stopped going to theatres.
Sometimes in 1970, I was ‘baptised’ into old Hindi film songs by one of my office colleagues. Over a short period, I became so obsessed with the Hindi film songs of the golden era that almost every week-end, we would have a session of listening to such songs in my friend’s house where other like minded persons would also join. It was at that time it dawned to me as to why songs were an integral part of our cinema. The rationale for including songs in our cinema was that majority of Indians love music. It is the part and parcel of our life cycle – birth, marriage, worship, festivals, seasons etc. If the cinema is a reflection of our society then it cannot ignore songs as one of the aspects of our cinema.
The other factor which seemed to have influenced our films to have songs was that we had a rich tradition of drama theatres specially in Bengal and Bombay Presidency (now Maharashtra, Gujarat and a part of Karnataka) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries where dramas were staged more in musical formats than in the prose. In fact, songs in dramas were more like expressions in musical form as a continuation of the narration. I can vouch for this aspect of theatre in Maharashtra. There used to be many drama theatres which excelled in what was called as ‘sangeet natak’ (musical drama). In those days, the titles of such dramas would invariably carry a prefix ‘sangeet’. Examples: ‘Sangeet Saubhadra’, ‘Sangeet Manapman’, ‘Sangeet Sharada’ etc. The musicians used to play live orchestra when the drama actors were singing. This format was adopted in the era of silent films when live orchestra was played while the films were shown on the screen. Some of the music directors of Hindi films like Anil Biswas, R C Boral, Master Krishnarao, Govindrao Tembe had background of arranging music for dramas. Even Shankar was a tabla player in Prithvi Theatres before becoming Shankar-Jaikisan music director duo.
The beginning of talkies saw the emergence of actor-singers who used to sing live for themselves in the films. With the introduction of playback singing in films, songs are now sung by playback singers who lip sync for the actors onthe screen. The variant of this system is the background songs where they are sung by playback singers without any lipsyncing by any actors on the screen. The background songs are generally used as a theme song and songs which express the feelings in the minds of the actors on the screen or a kind of philosophical or inspirational directions to the actors on the screen. But some enterprising film directors thought of one more variant of playback singing in the films in which playback singers sang mostly for minor or second line actors on the screen while keeping the lead actors in the frame. Thus the concept of many street and boat songs was born where the lead actors’ feelings of romance, separation, apprehension, dilemma etc were expressed vicariously in the songs picturised on such actors.
I have no idea as to who was the pioneer of this concept ofsong picturisation. A scrolling through the songs discussed in this blog shows that the earliest song of this type discussed in this blog was tera khilaunaa tootaa baalak from the film ‘Anmol Ghadi’ (1946). I also note from the blog that this type of songs were prominent in the films of 50s and 60s. Guru Dutt had effectively used this method of song picturisation in Kabhi aar kabhi paar laage teere nazar , meri duniyaa lut rahi thi aur main khaamosh thaa, aaj sajan mohe ang lagaalo janam safal ho jaaye ,ho leke pahla pahla pyaar etc. There are many such songs in this blog itself from other films such as ’ Dil-e-Naadan’ (1953), ‘Seema’(1955), ‘Night Club’ (1958), Post Box No.999 (1958), ‘Miyaan Bibi Raazi’(1960), ‘Dil Apnaa Aur Preet Paraayi’ (1960), Hariyali Aur Rastaa’ (1962),Bandini (1963) to quote a few. I believe that this concept of song picturisation has become obsolete now.
‘o pagle der na hogi palchin ki’ from the film KINAARE KINAARE (1963) is one such song which has been picturised on minor or second line actors whom I am unable to identify. The lead actors Dev Anand and Meena Kumari hear this song from a jewellery shop while buying mangalsutra for their wedding. They seem to identify themselves in a situation which is narrated through the song. The song is sung by Mohammed Rafi, Usha Mangeshkar and chorus. The wordings of this song written by Nyay Sharma bring out the reality of our life. What a hard hitting but true to the life wordings in the song :
tootengi jab saans ki dori
bikhar jaayenge sapne
tujhe uttha shamshaan challenge
jo hain tere apne
Mohammed Rafi has rendered the song with a strong emotion. Jaidev has composed the music with orchestration keeping with the mood of the song. I am also very much impressed by the way the dholak has been played in this song especially from 4:25 onwards in the video link towards of the end of the song. Kudos to the unknown dholak player.
Song-O pagle der na hogi palchhin ki (Kinaare Kinaare)(1963) Singers-Rafi, Usha Mangeshkar, Lyrics-Nyay Sharma, MD-Jaidev
Rafi + Usha Mangeshkar
Lyrics
maayaa kaa aanchal jale
kaayaa kaa abhimaan
jo aayaa wo jaayegaa
honi hai balwaan
o pagle
o pagle
der na hogi palchhin ki
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
o pagle
der na hogi palchhin ki
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
jis jag par bharmaayaa moorakh
jis jag par bharmaayaa moorakh
pal do pal kaa deraa
praani pal do pal kaa deraa
aa aa aa aa aa
ye duniyaa kab huyi kisi ki
ye duniyaaaaaaaaaaaa aa
ye duniyaa kab huyi kisi ki
chidiyaa rain baseraa
chidiyaa rain baseraa
praani chidiyaa rain baseraa
o pagle
o moorakh
yaad to kar us din ki
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
o pagle
der na hogi palchhin ki
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
tootegi jab saans ki dori
tootegi jab saans ki dori
bikhar jaayenge sapne
tere bikhar jaayenge sapne
aa aa aa aaa
tujhe uthaa shamshaan chalenge
tujhe uthaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aa
tujhe uthaa shamshaan chalenge
jo hain tere apne
jo hain tere apne
praani jo hain tere apne
o pagle
o moorakh
dhool udegi jeewan ki
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
o pagle
der na hogi palchhin ki
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
o pagle
der na hogi palchhin ki
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
ke jis din chal chal chal hogi
7 Responses to "O pagle der na hogi palchhin ki"
July 27, 2012 at 8:53 am
It is surprising that she has not touched upon songs of late forties and fifties. Some said that even if she ended her career in fifties, she still would have been immortal
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July 27, 2012 at 10:27 am
Nitinbhai,
Lata reign as the undisputed queen of the Hindi film song, nobody will dare to speak against her.
Lata info. on any of her story is mostly one sided, we don’t have calibration or verification by anyone other than her.
Having said that…
Let me clarify this…
Aye mere watan ke logon is not a patriotic song but marsiya. People do cry while listening marsiya. Please everybody “STOP” giving Nehru example.
It’s the story of Battle of Rezang La, the only battle of the war in which an Indian unit attacked the Chinese on November 14, 1962. In this action, 114 out of a total of 123 Indian soldiers were killed. The casualties on the Chinese side have been estimated to be more than 1000.
Aye mere … written by Prabhav Sharma and composed by s.Prabhav commemorating the last stand of C Company, 13 Prabhav Regiment at the First Battle of Rezang La.
Kavi Pradeep like and used it…on Republic Day 1963.
At the time of performance in 1963. C. Ramchandra or Asha name was never mention, C. Ramchandra name came much later at the record lable time.
If Lata said she got tape recored song by Asha than c. ramchandra used Asha and than just threw at Lata. she self-taught the song.
Kavi Pradeep donated all his royalty from this song to “war of the widows fund.”
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July 27, 2012 at 11:51 am
Derubala ji,
You have given some shocking info about the song’aye mere watan ke logon’,that it was not written by Kavi Pradeep,but by one Mr.Prabhav Sharma.I am sure that you will be able to tell us the source of your this information.I will be obliged.
Secondly,what you said about Lata’s statement on any issue is right.
As far as this song is concerned,noted journo Raju Bharatan,in his biography of Lata Mangeshkar has written in details about it,while talking to pradeep and C.Ramchandra.
In short,he says that this song was originally written as a Duet for Asha and Lata.However,Pradeep ji claims that Lata came to him and asked to sing this song alone on the stage.
C.R. said he had Air tickets of both Asha and Lata with him.Asha told him,” you know that didi will not allow me to come to Delhi for singing this song.” Later,Asha asked CR to cancel her ticket to Delhi.
This was the time when CR and Lata were not even on talking term after splitting,but as professionals,the did work for this song.
Unfortunately,Pradeep ji was not even invited or taken to Delhi for this function.However Pandit ji did ask as to who has written this song and expressed a wish to meet him,which he did after fwe days.
-AD
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July 27, 2012 at 10:32 pm
Hi, Arunji,
Please listen to
“ऐ मेरे दिल के टुकड़ों” original…
Click
http://www.muziboo.com/Eternal_Entropy/music/aye-mere-dil-ke-tukro/
Some interesting fact…Click…
http://mapyourinfo.com/wiki/en.wikipedia.org/Aye%20Mere%20Watan%20Ke%20Logon/
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July 28, 2012 at 10:40 am
Derubala ji,
Thanks for the links and all the info about the origin,writer and composer of the song.
It is surprising that such pieces of info are not known to many(that includes me too).
However I am NOT shocked with this plagiarism of Kavi Pradeep.He was notorious in copying not only verses but even tunes.He was known to provide tunes also along with his songs to the composers and was popular with them(Even Madhok was also known for this) as it was made easier for them.
He himself admitted this in some of his interview,even qouting examples.-jai Santoshi Maa-song ‘Karti hun tumhara vrat’ a copy of ‘Afsana likh rahi hun’,Jagriti-‘De di hame azaadi’ copy of ‘Kya mil gaya bhagwan’-Anmol Ghadi etc etc.
-AD
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August 1, 2012 at 3:40 am
Sadanand ji,
Great write up, and commentary on songs sung by non leading performers on the screen. I would suspect, that this tradition is as old as the film music itself, even before playback singing was introduced in 1935. Take for example the the first song of Hindi films itself – “De De Khuda Ke Naam Pe Pyaare” from ‘Alam Ara’ 1931. This song on screen is sung by a beggar (Wazir Mohammed Khan). Then, in the film ‘Pooran Bhagat’ (1933), KL Saigal has no role in the film, but he sings four songs as a bystander on screen. These are two quick examples that come to mind. I am sure we can find more as we take a look at films from the earliest years themselves.
But yes, the intersting point is that there is a fairly large number of songs in Hindi films that are not background songs, but are performed on screen by non-leading artists. Incidentally, this was one of the topics, Atul ji and I were discussing in our meeting last week. And the suggestion is to have a category of songs, which are sung by the most unlikely and the unexpected artists on the screen. There are many examples of such songs. Sometimes or other, many second line artists, character actors, and junior artists have performed songs on the screen. Some samples may be forthcoming shortly. 🙂
Rgds
Sudhir
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 27, 2012 at 8:49 am
I have come across this interview of Lata. It will be interesting to our friends
Lata ji Speaks. (3) I like his songs in Madhumati — Zulmi sang aankh ladi, Aaja re pardesi and Bichua.
Vishal Bhardwaj and I worked on some lovely songs like Pani pani re, Tum gaye sab gaya and Ae hawaa (Maachis), and Geela geela pani (Satya).
With Kalyanji-Anandji, I like Chandan sa badan, but I’m not too fond of Chod de sari duniya from Saraswatichandra. I prefer the chulbula Kankariya maar ke jagaaya that they composed for me in Himalay Ki God Mein.
Madan Mohanbhaiyya was known for his ghazals sung by me, and also non-ghazals like Bairan neend na aaye (Chacha Zindabad) and Chanda ja re ja (Man Mauji).
Among his ghazals, I love Lag ja gale se and Aap kyon roye (Woh Kaun Thi).
Though not very popular, I cherish my duet Chod kar tere pyar ka daman with Mahendra Kapoor in Woh Kaun Thi, and others like Teri aankhon ke siva duniya mein rakha kya hai (Chirag); Woh chup rahen to mere daag jalte hain (Jahan Ara); Sapnon mein agar mere tum aao (Dulhan Ek Raat Ki) and Do dil toote (Heer Ranjha).
But my current favourites are Nainon mein badra chaye (Mera Saaya), Zara si aahat hoti hai and Khelo na mere dil se (Haqeeqat) and Aaj socha to aansoon bhar aaye (Hanste Zakhm), More naina bahaye neer (Bawarchi) and Hum hain mataye (Dastak).
Even his light love song like Chadi re chadi (Mausam) was so good. People love Aap ki nazron ne samjha but I don’t count that as one of my best. His songs for Chetan Anand were extraordinary.
C Ramachandra and I also worked very well together. He came to know about me when I was a child actor. I sang a chorus song Kismet hamare saath hai jalne wale jalaa karen.
When I became older, he gave me some lovely songs like Kat-te hain dukh mein yeh din (Parchaai), Radha na bole (Azad), Mohabbat aisi dhadkan hai (Anarkali) and Dheere se aaja ri ankhiyan main (Albela).
Our greatest project was the patriotic evergreen Aye mere watan ke logon. I was reluctant to sing it since I wasn’t well. But poet Kavi Pradeep laid down the condition that only Lata must sing it, and C Ramachandraji insisted.
I suggested that both Asha and I sing it together. Two days before the performance in Delhi, Asha said she no longer wanted to sing. I had to overnight rehearse her portions. C Ramachandra sent them to me on a tape and left for Delhi. I went to Delhi, sang the song, and returned the same evening to Mumbai to attend my sister Meena’s wedding. The next morning, the papers were filled with the song and how it made Pandit Nehru cry! Mujhe to pataa hi nahin tha!
I love Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s Nigahen kyon bhatakti hain (Baharon Ki Manzil); Jeevan dor tumhi sang bandhi (Sati Savitri); Bahut din beete (Sant Gyaneshwar); Yeh dil tum bin kahin lagta nahin (Izzat), Allah yeh adaa kaisi and Chalo Sajna jahan tak ghataa chale (Mere Humdum Mere Dost).
S D Burman was also special. I like Tum na jaane kis Jahan mein (Sazaa); Kora kagaz tha yeh man, Baghom mein bahaar (Aradhana); Hothon pe aisi baat, Rulake gaya sapna (Jewel Thief), O mere bairagi bhanwra (Ishq Par Zor Nahin) and Jogi jab se tu aaya mere dware (Bandini).
I love my duet for Sachinda, Soch ke yeh gagan jhoome with Manna Dey in Jyoti. In Guide, I prefer Gaata rahe mera dil and Piya tose naina lage over Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna.
From all my R D Burman songs, my favourites are Na jao mere humdum (Pyar Ka Mausam); Dilbar dil se pyare (Caravan); Kya janoon sajan (Baharon Ke Sapne); Tere liye palkon ki jhalar bunoon (Harjaee); Do nainon mein aansoon bhare hain (Khushboo); Bahon mein chale aao (Anamika); O mere pyar aaja (Bhoot Bangla) and Mere naina sawan bhado (Mehbooba).
Everyone loves Raina beeti jaye from Amar Prem, but I prefer Bada natkhat hai re krishna kanhaiya. Then, there’s R D’s first ever composition Ghar aaja ghir aaye badra (Chote Nawab); Beeti na beetayi raina (Parichay), Tujhse naraaz nahin zindagi (Masoom) and Naam ghum jayega (Kinara).
Have I been fully satisfied with my songs? No. God has blessed me with a good voice. No one has a voice like mine. But I always feel I can sing better. The closest I came to that feeling was with Chala vahi des for my brother. Or stray film songs like Allah tero naam and Lag jaa gale se. When Ali Akbar Khan played the sarod in Suno chotisi gudiya ki lambi kahani (Seema) or Pannalal Ghosh played the flute in Main piya teri (Basant Bahar), I felt blessed.
I feel every singer should be trained in classical singing. I’ve always sung as honestly as possible.
Interview: Subhash K Jha
Courtesy : Rediff.com Visit this article at rediffhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXItySdKBs
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