Log mujhko khush samajhte hain
Posted on: August 6, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
I was aware of Behzad Lucknowi as a lyricist for the films mainly of the 40s. I found that he suddenly vanished from Hindi film industry after he wrote lyrics for a few songs in films released in 1951. Last week, I accidentally came across an audio clip of a ghazal sung by none other than Ghulam Haider from the film ‘Zamindar’(1942). This beautiful ghazal was written by Behzad Lucknowi. I was so touched by this poignant ghazal that I started looking for his other songs penned by him for Hindi films. Two songs among a few already covered in this blog were very familiar to me but I was not aware that those two songs were written by Behzad Lucknowi. Those two songs were : zindaa huun is tarah kigham-e-zindagi nahin, tumhaare bulaane ko ji chaahataa hai. After listening to these songs and the ghazal from the film referred to above, there was an urge in me to know more about Behzad Lucknowi. As it turned out, he was an interesting personality.
As often happens in respect of some lesser known personalities of our Hindi film industry especially those who were associated with it in the 30s and 40s, the background information on Behzad Lucknowi was scanty on the internet. There is a confusion about his year of birth which has been mentioned as 1895, 1900 and 1901. I have attempted a short profile of him based on whatever information I could gather from various sources on the internet.
Behzad Lucknowi (real name Sardar Ahmed Khan) was born in Lucknow. His father Sajjad Hussain was a poet and a religiously inclined person. His father’s traits came to Behzad Lucknowi from the childhood. He started writing poetry at the age of 9. He did his early education from Calcutta (Kolkatta) and did higher education from Aligarh. In addition to Urdu and Hindi, he had good command over Arabic, Persian, English, Bengali and French languages. He started his career as a Train Ticket Inspector. However, he soon left the railway service due to some cardiac problem which used to make him unconscious many a times.
It is said that due to his cardiac problem, he was mentally disturbed. Some times he would tear off his clothes and would go into a trance during which time some new urdu couplets would occur to him. However, due to proper care from his spiritual guide, he overcame these problems and he became normal. He soon resumed writing Urdu ghazals and participated in many mushairas, some of which were of all India level. In 1940, he moved to Lahore to join the film industry as a lyricist. After a couple of years in Lahore, he shifted to Bombay (Mumbai) and wrote songs for many films.
The spiritual bent of mind made him to give up Hindi film industry some time in 1950. Probably, in order to be away from the Hindi film industry and a sense of feeling at that time that there may not be much scope for Urdu poetry in India, he migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi to concentrate mainly on writing and singing Naat (poetry in praise of Prophet Mohammed) for the rest of his life. I got to know from one video clip that he was seen in trance in his house while singing a naat composed by him. He passed away on October 10, 1974 in Karachi. The fact that after his death, a big mosque was constructed by the side of his mazaar (tomb) in Karachi bears testimony that Behzad Lucknowi (later known as Hazrat Behzad Lucknowi) was regarded as no less than a saint.
One of his non-filmy ghazals ‘deewaanaa banaanaa hai to deewaana banaa de, varnaa kahin taqdeer tamaashaa na banaa de’ has been sung by many singers of the sub-continent including Begum Akhtar. Another of his popular ghazal ‘ ajazbaa-e-dil gar main chhoon har cheez muqabil aa jaaye’ has also been sung by many singers. Kavita Krishnamurthy sang it for the film ‘In Custody’ (1994). That ghazal is here.
The song for discussion is a rare ghazal of Behzad Lucknowi ‘log mujhko khush samajhate hain magar main gham mein hoon’ from Pancholi’s blockbuster film ZAMINDAR (1942). The ghazal is sung by Ghulam Haider who also composed it.
Only audio clip of this song is available. But for this type of ghazal,the audio clip is all that one needs to go into a ghazal trance.
Song-Log mujh ko khush samajhte hain (Zameendaar)(1942) Singer-Ghulam Haider, Lyrics-Behzad Lucknowi, MD-Ghulam Haider
Lyrics
log mujhko khush samajhte hain
magar main gham mein hoon
jisko koi paa nahi saktaa hai
us aalam main hoon
mujhko kismat se mili hai
kaisee ye thhi zindagi
mujhko kismat se mili hai
kaisee ye thhi zindagi
main hi naghmen gaa rahaa thhaa
aur main hi maatam mein hoon
main hi naghmen gaa rahaa thhaa
aur main hi maatam mein hoon
sabr ka to phal milaa hai
shukr kaa bhi phal miley
sabr ka to phal milaa hai
shukr kaa bhi phal miley
tu ne jo aalam diyaa hai
main usi aalam main hoon
tu ne jo aalam diyaa hai
main usi aalam mein hoon
phool se lekin bahaaron se
bahut hoon door door
phool se lekin bahaaron se
bahut hoon door door
koi mujhko ye bataayen
kaun se mausam mein hoon
koi mujhko ye bataayen
kaun se mausam mein hoon
log mujhko khush samajhte hain
magar main gham mein hoon
jisko koi paa nahi saktaa hai
us aalam mein hoon
3 Responses to "Log mujhko khush samajhte hain"
August 6, 2012 at 10:38 am
Kamath ji,
Once again,like always,you have given us a treat indeed.
Wahzaad lucknowi(anglicised name Behzad Lucknowi)’s contribution to Hindi films was around only 60 songs,but what quality !
Some other gems from him are-‘Kahe koyal shor machaye re-Aag,Mere liye woh gam e intezar chhod gaye-Anokha Pyar,Jise dil me basana chaha tha-Adaa,meghraj aaye-Roti etc.
He wrote for-Aag,roti,Zamindar,Matwala shayar Ramjoshi,Anokha Pyar,Laadli,Nisbat,Sheesh mahal,Adaa,Andhon ki duniya,Khel,Wafaa,poonji,jadui Ratan,Gharana,The last Message,Pagle,Dhanwan and pyar ki baten(1951).
-AD
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August 6, 2012 at 6:57 am
Thanks for the post,Sadanand Ji,
Loved the ghazal immensely.
K S Shenoy
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