Maine poochha chaand se ke dekha hai kahin
Posted on: May 9, 2013
This article is written by nahm, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Since ‘chaudhvin ka chaand ho ya aaftaab ho’ from the film ‘ Chaudhvin ka chaand ‘, no one had really attempted to recreate the magic of it. The reason is obvious that it is a tough act to follow. The beauty of that song in black n white is not comparable to anything.
I have been blessed with this serendipity. I discovered while looking for desert songs not yet posted in the blog, that beautiful Solo song sung by Rafi Sahab in his last years, is not yet posted. Actually this is also a desert song in a way , because it is picturized in a tent with distinctly middle eastern decor. The song is ‘main ne poochhaa chaand se ke dekhaa hai kahin’ from ‘Abdullah’ (1980). The music director is Rahul Dev Burman and lyricist is Anand Bakshi. For sheer romanticism, this song is the only one which is coming a bit close to ‘chaudhvin ka chaand ho’. While ‘chaudhvin ka chaand ‘ has the advantage of being happening in the middle of the Golden era of Hindi Film Muisc, this one is like the pearl dropping in the ocean of romantic songs.
The songs comparing the beauty and serenity of the beloved to moon are numerous. Before any body points out, I am aware that ‘chaudhvin ka chaand’ is full moon, and the moon here is crescent. And it is correct and symbolic is the sense that the moon of the beauty of romance of hindi film music was no longer full. It was reducing and reduced to minutest crescent shape by 1980. If some people find this too much of conjecture on my part, so be it.
I did not mean to make this writeup a ‘revisitng chaudhvin ka chand’ sort of, so I will move on. However tempting it is to compare the serene elegance of Waheeda Rehman to the admittedly understated pastal make up of Zeenat Aman here, and the hesitant smiles of Guru Dutt to Sanjay Khan grinning from ear to ear.
This is a wedding night song picturized on Sanjay Khan and Zeenat Aman. Not that they are able to enhance the beauty of the song, but there is consciousness here that the least we can do is not spoil the song. And they are suceeding in not spoiling it for the audience.
None the less, I strongly recommend the audio version which has better sound quality.
Video :
Audio :
Song-Maine poochha chaand se ke dekhaa hai kahin (Abdullah)(1980) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Anand Bakshi, MD-R D Burman
Lyrics
maine poochha chaand se
ke dekhaa hai kahin
mere yaar sa haseen
chaand ne kahaa
chaandni ki qasam
nahin
nahin
nahin ea ea ea
main ne poochha chaand se
ke dekhaa hai kahin
mere yaar sa haseen
chaand ne kahaa
chaandni ki qasam
nahin
nahin
nahin ea ea ea
main ne poochha chaand se
maine yeh hijaab teraa dhoonda aa
har jagah shabaab teraa dhoonda
kaliyon se misaal teri poochhi
phoolon mein jawaab teraa dhoondaa
main ne poochha baagh se
falak ho ya zameen
aisa phool hai kahin
baagh ne kahaa
har kali ki qasam
nahin
nahin
nahin ea ea ea
main ne poochha chaand se ea
ho o o
chaal hai ke mauj ki rawaani ea
zulf hai ke raat ki kahaani
hont hain ke aayeene kanwal ke
aankh hai ke maiqadon ki raani
main ne poochha jaam se
falak ho ya zameen
aisi mai bhi hai kahin
jaam ne kahaa
maikashi ki qasam
nahin
nahin
nahin ea ea ea
main ne poochha chaand se
khoobsurati jo tu ne paayi ea
lut gayee khudaa ki bas khudaayi
mir ki ghazal kahoon tujhe main
ya kahoon khaiyyam ki rubaa’yi
main jo poochhoon shaa’yaron se
aisa dil nasheen koyi sha’ir hai kahin
shaa’yar kahe shaa’yiri ki qasam
nahin
nahin
nahin ea ea ea
main ne poochha chaand se
ke dekhaa hai kahin
mere yaar sa haseen
chaand ne kahaa
chaandni ki qasam
nahin
nahin
nahin ea ea ea
15 Responses to "Maine poochha chaand se ke dekha hai kahin"
May 10, 2013 at 7:21 am
‘Choudhvin Ka Chaand’ (1960) was a black & white film but the iconic song ‘chaudhvin ka chaand ho ya aaftaab ho’ was shot in colour. The picturisation of this song has set such a high standard that all other subsequent ‘chaand’ songs in similar situations look at least a shade below the standard. Even Rafi has set a high standard for himself in that song.
Comparison is unavoidable and the song under discussion is no exception.
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I think two songs were only coloured as an added attraction after the release of the film ‘Chaudhvin ka chand’ .
I agree that ‘chaudhvin ka chaand ho ya aaftaab ho’ has set incredibly high standard. Comparison is avoidable with everything else that came after that.
But ‘main ne poochha chaand se ‘ is also a refined product, all things considered.
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May 10, 2013 at 1:29 pm
As far as I remember, the film was released with the title song in colour. I can not say this emphatically because I saw this film after about 10 years from its release during Guru Dutt’s films retrospectives. At that time while the title song was in colour, I do not recall having seen any other song in colour.
I saw one of the comments on YT on the title song of this film where it was mentioned that Guru Dutt wanted to re shoot the entire film in colour but the financiers and distributors did not agree. So he compromised with only the title song in colour.
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October 10, 2019 at 10:32 pm
New video link :
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ACMD8MYE3yQ
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 10, 2013 at 4:36 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2P7RIdd9Yc
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