More naina saawan bhaadon
Posted on: February 27, 2013
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Many poet-saints were born across India between the 14th to 16th centuries. I recallthe names of a few of them mainly because films were made on their lives. They were Guru Nanak, Sant Kabeer, Sant Gyaneshwar, Sant Tukaram, Narsinh Mehta, Chandidas, Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Arunagirinathar, Appiah Dikshitar etc. These saints wrote poems in praise of Gods. Some of them even composed music for their poems. In eastern India, there was a poet-saint Vidyapati Thakur (also known as Maithili Kavi Kokil or simply Vidyapati) who was born in the 15th century in Madhubani, Bihar. He wrote poems in Maithili dialect in praise of Lord Shiva but also wrote love lore on Radha-Krishna in keeping with the popularity of Lord Krishna in this region. Over a period of time, his poems and love lore spread across whole of eastern India. His influence over Bengal was so much that at one point of time, many including me thought that he was a poet-saint belonging to Bengal.
I have no idea whether any film was made on the life of Vidyapati during the silent era. If not, then the earliest film on his life was ‘Vidyapati’ (1937)which was produced by New Theatres. I was not aware of any subsequent film on him. However, during the course of browsing for the filmography of music director V Balsara, I came across a film by the same name released in 1964 for which he was the music director. On further scrutiny, I came to know that this film was made in Maithili dialect. I could locate only three songs on YT of which I was familiar with two popular songs thanks to Vivid Bharati in the 60s –(1) ‘more nainaa saawan bhaadon’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar and (2)’chaatur Radha gori sakhi re’ by Mohammed Rafi.
I have chosen for discussion ‘ more nainaa saawan bhaadon’ from the film VIDYAPATI (1964) written by Prahlad Sharma and set to music by V Balsara. The film was produced under the banner of Chitra Vihar and directed by Prahlad Sharma. The star cast included Bharat Bhushan, Simi, Kanwaljit, Nazima, Murad, Bipin Gupta etc. Fortunately, video of this song is available but quality is not so good to watch and listen though I can make out that it is picturised on Simi. The song is beautifully rendered by Lata Mangeshkar though there is nothing much to say about its picturisation. When I used to hear this song on the radio, I was under the impression that it was a haunting song. But after watching the video, it does not seem to be so. This song reminds me of a similarly worded first line of the mukhda of a very popular song “mere nainaa saawan bhaadon” from the film ‘Mehbooba’ (1976).
Video (full song) :
Audio( song without the last stanza)
Song-More nainaa saawan bhaadon (Vidyapati)(1964) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Prahlad Sharma, MD-V Balsara
Lyrics(Based on Video Clip)
more nainaa saawan bhaadon
tori reh reh yaad sataaye
baalam kit jaaun re
main to ro ro kar mar jaaun re
more nainaa saawan bhaadon
o o o o
aayi ras ki bhari phuhaaren
mori bheeg rahi re ankhiyaan
aayi ras ki bhari phuhaaren
mori bheeg rahi re ankhiyaan
it rimjhim mein saanwariyaa
mori sulag rahi re bagiyaa
mori sulag rahi re bagiyaa
main to preet kiye pachhtaayi re
moraa dard na jaane koi
baalam kit jaaun re
main to ro ro kar mar jaaun re
more nainaa saawan bhaadon
o o o o
main to pawan jhakore doli
ban jungle ki hiraniyaa
main to pawan jhakore doli
ban jungle ki hiraniyaa
kahaan chhup gayaa re moraa chandaa
kit gayi re haay chaandaniyaa
kit gayi re haay chaandaniyaa
arrey moti chugti hansi
ab chug rahi re angaarey
baalam kit jaaun re
main to ro ro kar mar jaaun re
more nainaa saawan bhaadon
o o o o
main to laakh laakh hi udaasi(?)
jiyaa bhar na saki ye ankhiyaan
main to laakh laakh hi udaasi(?)
jiyaa bhar na saki ye ankhiyaan
arry kis ki bani joganiyaan
mose poochh rahi re sakhiyaan
mose poochh rahi re sakhiyaan
tora naam kahoon to badnaami
chupchaap raha nahi jaaye
baalam kit jaaun re
main to ro ro kar mar jaaun re
more nainaa saawan bhaadon
o o o
13 Responses to "More naina saawan bhaadon"
February 27, 2013 at 11:07 am
Immensely liked the song, thank you very Sadanandji and Atulji.
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February 27, 2013 at 11:28 am
Kamath ji,
Thanks for posting this song.
Vidyapati is a great folklore in Bihar.The songs written by Vidyapati are sung by the womenfolk in various funcions,though in a slightly unoriginal
lyrics.
When I used to visit the interiors of Bihar,I happened to hear these songs in the 70s,so they are etched on my mind with their typical tunes.
One more point. The Director of this film was Pralhad Sharma.As per his own statement,as mentioned by Harmandir Hamraz ji,in HFGK itself,this film was made in Hindi,but all the songs were in Maithili language(NOT
BHOJPURI).
Due to its Maithili songs,in most places on Internet,this film is classified and mentioned as BHOJPURI. There are many Dialects in Bihar-like Magadhi,Maithili,Bhojpuri etc. people fail to understand the difference in these languages.Since Bhojpuri language is more popular and well known than the other dialects,anything other than Hindi,from Bihar is treated as Bhojpuri.(Only indianscreen site classifies this as a Hindi film.)
Maithili is the predominant language of Bramhins in Bihar and is spoken in the Madhubani surrounding districts.
I have not seen this edition of VIDYAPATI-1964,but I think it must be based on the same story.
I have given my detailed comments and synopsis of the film VIDYAPATI-1937 in this link-https://atulsongaday.me/2011/11/15/more-angnaa-me-aaye-aali/#comments
Those who are interested may please read that.
-AD
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February 27, 2013 at 11:53 am
Arunji,
I was just listening to this Rafi Saab’s song in Maithili from the same film and was curious and confused about this song in Hindi movie, but your comment/information at the perfect time cleared my doubts. Thank you Sir.
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February 27, 2013 at 11:48 am
Sadanandji,
Beautiful composition! Mehbooba-76 is also by Lataji. This is composed by Balsara, the other one by R D Burman. Both have done the best job to give justice to this piece. Truly speaking, now I like this one better than the Mehbooba one. I already have listened to this piece five times and here it goes for the sixth time and may be many more! Thank you so much.
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February 27, 2013 at 12:32 pm
I just read a trivia in ‘myswar.com’ about ‘mere naina saawan bhaadon’ (Mehbooba, 1976).
Kishore Kumar first refused to sing this song stating that it was a classical raaga based composition ( for which he was not comfortable). On R D Burman’s insistence, he relented with a condition that let this song be first sung by Lata Mangeshkar. After studying the Lata version song, Kishore Kumar sang his version.
I can say that both these songs from Vidyapati (1964) and Mehbooba (1976) are difficult compositions to render. If my impression is correct, it was Kishore’s version which became more popular than Lata version.
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February 27, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Yes, Sadanandji. I agree with you that for Mehbooba, KK version was popular than Lataji’s. (Thanks for the trivia) What I meant was between these two Lataji’s versions- one you posted and other one is Mehbooba, I liked the Vidyapati song/version better.
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May 2, 2016 at 6:10 pm
Sadannandji, like khyatiji, i liked the kishorda’s song. but i will 100% say after hearing lataji in Vidyapati. this is the best compare to kishorda.rightly kishorda said ‘ i should hear the first lata’ verson’it is very diffi.to sing like lataji.i rem.i had heard this song long long back.but could not find this verson of vidyapati afterword.but atlast mera khwahish puri ho gai. i think something like this song from film milap also at latajis best ‘ haaye jiya roe’ both are just superb, if we hear both it will be diff.for us to say who is the best. i think many of lataji’ s fans will agree with me. realy you have brough tears in my eyes.will yu believe at night 12’0clock i was hearing this song.not one for ten times i went on replaying.
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February 27, 2013 at 11:57 am
what is the meaning of word “bhaadon” ?
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February 27, 2013 at 12:04 pm
Sawan-Bhado means the Indian calender months of SHRAWAN AND BHADRAPAD,.These are the months of Rains.Hence this simili is used to denote that “my eyes are weaping like rains’.
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February 27, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Thank you Arun ji for the detailed meaning. I never thought that this bhado has got its origin in the word “bhadrapad maasa”
Bachpan se ye Bhado word mujhe sataa rahaa thaa. Ab jaake aapke dwaaraa sulajh gayaa
Thanks again
prakash
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February 27, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Dear Arun,
Thanks for correcting my presumption about the language of the film from Maithili to Hindi.
You are right in stating that there is a lot of confusion in identifying Bhojpuri and Maithili dialects. Fortunately, for me, having studied in Hindi medium school surrounded by schoolmates mostly from UP and Bihar, I could at least hear, if not fully understand, the difference in their dialects when they spoke to each other.
Parts of eastern UP, western Bihar and some southern districts of Nepal bordering eastern UP form the Bhojpuri speaking region. Maithili speaking region is located on the north-eastern part of Bihar and the southern part of Nepal close to Bihar border. During the British rule, the Maithili region was a part of Bengal Presidency. After the reorganisation of Bengal Presidency some time in mid-1850s, the Maithili speaking region was transferred to Bihar. Due to Bengal connection and also the fact that 4-5 Maithili speaking districts of Bihar border West Bengal, it is stated that this region is more close to Bengali culture than Bihari. Like Bengalis, rice and fish are the staple food of this region. Perhaps, this may be one of the reasons that there was an impression that Vidyapati belonged to Bengal.
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February 28, 2013 at 3:35 am
Both songs VIDYAPATI,and MEHBOOBA,are nice to listen and enjoy.
VIDYAPATI song has its charm of time,whenever I listen this song,I used to think that this song must be old, means song of early fifties.I came to know that this film VIDYAPATI was released in 1964,when I saw the film geetkosh by Hamraaz.
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February 27, 2013 at 10:40 am
Sadanand ji
Thanks for lyrics of my favourite song and the information related to it.
Prakash
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