Phhir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki
Posted on: August 25, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
If one asks old Hindi film song buffs about the song “ek chameli ke mandwe tale from ‘Cha Cha Cha’ (1964), almost all of them would say that the song was sung by Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhonsle. Most of them would even know the name of the film and that the song was composed by Iqbal Qureshi. Those who have watched the movie or video clip of this song, all of them would remember that the song was picturised on a modest looking Helen and Chandrashekhar. But very few would know as to who wrote the song.
I was one among the old Hindi film buffs who until I retired from the service in 2006 did not know the name of the lyricist. It was only when researching on old Hindi films songs I came to know that thesong was written by Makhdoom Mohiuddin. I had never heard his name in the context of film lyricist. It was only when I came across a couple of more songs from the films like ‘Gaman’ (1979) and ‘Baazaar’ (1982) that I became inquisitive about Makhdoom Mohiuddin. The profile given below is culled outfrom various sources on the websites including Ali Sardar Jafri’s T V Serial ‘Kahkashan’ on Makhdoom Mohiuddin. What an interesting profile!
Abu Sayeed Mohammed Makhdoom Mohiuddin Huzri (04/02/1908 – 25/08/1969), was a Marxist and a revolutionary Urdu poet who was born in a village in Medak district of erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad. After completion of his Master’s degree from Osmania Univeristy in 1936, he joined as a lecturer of Urdu language in City College Hyderabad. In 1941, he resigned from the college job and became a full time member of Communist Party of India. He was selected as the President of All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress and headed unions representing the workers of Vazir Sultan Tobacco and other factories around Hyderabad. He also got involved with ‘Free India’ movement and went underground along with Raj Bahadur Gaur to escape arrest for observing anti-repression day.
During 1946-50, he and Raj Bahadur Gaur led the famous Telengana rebellion against the Nizam of erstwhile state of Hyderabad for the abolition of zamindari system. He was arrested in 1951 for inciting the armed rebellion of peasants and was jailed. After his release from the jail in 1952, he contested the first general election from Hyderabad but lost. But soon he won a by-election. Incidentally, his companion, Raj Bahadur Gaur stayed in a lower middle class locality of Hyderabad and named his modest house as ‘Ek Chameli Ka Mandva’, the popular verse penned by Makhdoom. In 1958, he was elected to the National Council of Communist Party of India and continued to be a member until his death August 25, 1969. He was given Sahitya Akademi Award in 1969 for his Urdu poems ‘Bisat-e-Raqs’.
I was curious to know how Makhdoom found time to write Urdu poetry and shers when he was busy as a full time trade union and party activist. Since he was mostly based in Hyderabad, he became a part of the literary circle and regularly participated in mushairas. He also wrote songs for stage shows and dramas. In so far as Hindi film industry was concerned, I guess he did not specifically write songs for the films in which his name was accredited as a lyricist but some of his already published ghazals were used for the songs in the films ‘Usne Kaha Thha’ (1960), ‘Cha Cha Cha’ (1964), ‘Gaman”(1979) and ‘Baazaar’ (1982).
On the occasion of the death anniversary of Makhdoom Mohiuddin on August 25th, I have chosen one of his ghazals ‘phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki’ penned by him which was used in the film BAAZAAR (1982). The ghazal is sung as a duet song by Talat Aziz and Lata Mangeshkar and set to music by Khayyam. The film was produced under the banner of New Wave Producers and directed by Sagar Sarhadi. The star cast included Smita Patil, Farouque Sheikh, Naseeruddin Shah, Supriya Pathak, Bharat Kapoor, Shaukat Azmi etc. This ghazal and also his other song ‘ek chameli ke mandve tale’ show that even though Makhdoom was tagged as a revolutionary poet, he was equally at ease in writing light romantic ghazals. Just note how many times the poet ha sused the word ‘phool’ and ‘phoolon’ in this ghazal.
The ghazal is picturised on Faroque Sheikh and Supriya Pathak. While video clip has one less couplet, the audio clip has the complete ghazal.
Video
Audio
Song-Phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki (Baazaar)(1982) Singers-Talat Aziz,Lata, Lyrics-Makhdoom Mohiuddin, MD-Khayyam
Talat Aziz + Lata
Lyrics ( on the basis of audio clip):
phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki ee
phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki ee
raat hai yaa baaraat phoolon ki ee
raat hai yaa baaraat phoolon ki
phool ke haar phool ke gajre ae
phool ke haar phool ke gajre ae
shaam phoolon ki raat phoolon ki ee
shaam phoolon ki raat phoolon ki ee
phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki
aapkaa saath saath phoolon ka aa
aapkaa saath saath phoolon ka aa
aapki baat baat phoolon ki ee
aapki baat baat phoolon ki ee
phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki
phool khilte rahenge duniyaa mein aen
phool khilte rahenge duniyaa mein aen
roz niklegi baat phoolon ki ee
roz niklegi baat phoolon ki ee
phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki
nazren milti hain jaam milte hain aen
nazaren milti hain jaam milte hain aen
mil rahi hai hayaat phoolon ki ee
mil rahi hai hayaat phoolon ki ee
phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki
ye mehakti huyi ghazal makhdoom
ye mehakti huyi ghazal makhdoom
jaise sehraa mein raat phoolon ki ee
jaise sehraa mein raat phoolon ki ee
phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki ee
raat hai yaa baarat phoolon ki
8 Responses to "Phhir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki"
2 | Ava Suri
August 25, 2012 at 8:42 pm
I knew that Makhdoom Moinuddin was an urdu poet, but not much else. And I did not know he is the one who wrote, Ek Chameli ke mandve tale.
This is a lot of information.
Thanks!
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August 26, 2012 at 8:36 am
Ava ji,
He is MOHIUDDIN and NOT Moinuddin.
-AD
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August 25, 2012 at 11:59 pm
the hyderabadi urdu dialect is charming and so pleasant to my ears -its like an auditory ambush in sweet dissent almost –
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August 26, 2012 at 10:13 am
Very true.Being from Hyderabad myself,I agree with you 100%
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June 6, 2016 at 11:59 pm
What a beautiful song. And sone pe suhaga is to look at Supriya Pathak.. what a beauty. Even Farooq Sheikh looks so young and handsome. Even though it was a sad movie.. it had very nice characters in it.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
August 25, 2012 at 3:00 pm
One of the most authentic source of information about Makhdoom Mohiuddin (and not Mohinuddin) is this blog itself. Our very own inhouse encyclopaedia Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh was a neighbour of Makhdoom Mohinuddin and he had given some interesting information about him in a comment to this post
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August 25, 2012 at 3:04 pm
oh! I missed it.
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