Dahar mein naqsh e wafaa
Posted on: March 7, 2013
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath,a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
The year was 1947. Dilip Kumar, Anil Biswas and Lata Mangeshkar were travelling in a suburban local train to Malad where Filmistan Studio was located. During the journey, Anil Biswas introduced Lata Mangeshkar as a Maharashtrian girl who would be the singing star of tomorrow. Those days most of the Hindi film songs used to have more Urdu words than Hindi. Dilip Kumar retorted sarcastically. ‘A Maharashtrian? Her Urdu would not do justice to the song. My ears would tingle in shame’. These words stung Lata Mangeshkar so much that in the following morning, she started learning Urdu from an Urdu tutor just to prove Dilip Kumar wrong. This incident was revealed by Lata Mangeshkar in a private function at Dilip Kumar’s residence some time in 1970. Dilip Kumar in his characteristic style, replied that Lata Mangeshkar’s pronunciations and diction both in Hindi and Urdu are so clear and correct that now his ears tingle in shame for those remarks he made in 1947.
Much water has flown down in the Ganges since then. Under Madan Mohan’s baton, she sang many immortal ghazals. Sometime in late 50s and early 60s, she sang a few non-filmy ghazals as well which were composed by Faiyyaz Shaukat, a new name for me. In the 70s when ghazals almost vanished from the Hindi films, Lata Mangeshkar rendered a few more non-filmy ghazals which were composed by her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar and K Mahavir. In the later years, she collaborated with Jagjit Singh for the ghazal album ‘Sajda’ and later once again with her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar for singing Ghalib’s ghazals. Lata Mangeshkar has now sung in all the major regional languages without any adverse comments on her pronunciations or diction.
I have chosen for discussion a ghazal ‘daher mein naqsh-e-wafaa wajah-e-tasalli na huaa’ (1961). The ghazal was written by Mirza Gahlib and composed by Faiyyaz Shaukat. One can say that this ghazal rendition by Lata Mangeshkar is another proof of her impeccable Urdu diction. This composition gives me a feeling of Madan Mohan touch but this does not dilute the efforts of Faiyyaz Shaukat who composed it in keeping with the lamenting mood of the ghazal.
A heart touching ghazal indeed.
Song-Daher mein naqsh e wafaa wajah e tasalli na huaa (Lata NFS)(1961) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Mirza Ghalib, MD-Faiyyaz Shaukat
Lyrics
daher mein naqsh-e-wafaa aa
daher mein naqsh-e-wafaa wajah-e-tasalli na huaa aa
hai ye wo lafz jo o
hai ye wo lafz jo sharminda-e-maani na huaa aa
daher mein naqsh-e-wafaa
maine chaaha thha ke ando-e-wafaa se chhootun
maine chaaha thha ke ando-e-wafaa se chhootun
wo sitamgar mere ae
wo sitamgar mere marne pe bhi raazi na huaa aa
daher mein naqsh-e-wafaa
hoon tere waada na karne pe bhi raazi thhe kabhi
hoon tere waada na karne pe bhi raazi thhe kabhi ee
gosh minnat kash-e ae
gosh minnat kash-e-gulbaang-e tasalli na huaa aa
daher mein naqsh-e-wafaa
kis se mahroomi-e-kismat ki shikaayat keeje ae
kis se mahroomi-e-kismat ki shikaayat keeje ae
hamne chaaha thhaa ke ae
hamne chaaha thhaa ke mar jaayen so wo bhi na huaa
daher mein naqsh-e-wafaa
5 Responses to "Dahar mein naqsh e wafaa"
March 7, 2013 at 12:22 pm
The incident of Lata and Dilipkumar reminds of a song rendered by Lata in Kannada. The song is from the movie Sangolli Rayanna. Movie itself is based on the life story of a freedom fighter called Rayanna from a place called Sangolli. She has sung a song “bellane belagayithu”. Pronounciation is terrible. Apart from the first line, you cannot understand a single line. But she has sung it sweetly and thinking from the PoV that she has sung only one song in Kannada, it is impractical to expect her to have mastered pronounciation. One trivia about the song – it is based in the same tune as “jyothi kalash chalake”, the iconic song sung by her only.
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March 7, 2013 at 1:33 pm
Lata`s Kannad movie solo
1967 “Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna”
Music:Lakshman Berlekar
Picturised on Kamini Kadam
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March 7, 2013 at 8:22 pm
What a beautiful ghazal. The anecdote that accompanies it is just as beautiful 🙂 What a great person Dilip Kumar was to admit his mistake so readily.
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March 7, 2013 at 8:35 pm
Agree…..it is not easy to take back words even in private……it does take a big heart to accept one’s mistake in public glare!
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 7, 2013 at 8:01 am
Magnificent!!!!
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