This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

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Rare Performances – Things Unique and Unexpected #6
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My timing is somewhat off-key these days. So much else is dragging my attention that I am missing to hit the dates, even though I have planned it in advance. With due apologies to Atul ji. 🙂 He is aware of at least two missed dates in this year, where the write ups are almost done, but could not be completed in time. Some of these dates are overdue so much that it does not make good sense to post them, rather better to wait for the next opportune moment.

Ah but with this song, the date of Baisaakhi festival is not too far gone, just yesterday. And so I am trying my hardest to get this write up to Atul ji at the earliest, hopefully within the hours of today. 🙂

A very happy Baisaakhi to all. This day, the first day of the month of Vaishaakh is celebrated with great delight all over India, especially in North India. The day represents the closing of the harvest season of the Rabi crop. The word Rabi is an Arabic word for spring. And hence the crop that is harvested in the March – April time is called the Rabi crop.

This day of Baisaakhi is especially significant for the followers of the Sikh faith. This is the auspicious day of the establishment of the Sikh Khalsa formally, in the year 1699. I have written about that earlier in some detail in the post about Guru Gobind Singh ji – “Mittar Pyaare Nu”.

The post is in celebration of Baisaakhi, but yes, I have another very significant topic to write about today. Presenting the next in the series of performances on the Hindi screen, that will take one by surprise. A performer, who is an out and out complete acting establishment in his own self. A person of such prolific command over this medium, an actor par excellence amongst the best of his peers. A towering giant from the arena of theatre, a playwright, an author, a stage performer of excellence with roots that are deep into Shakespeare, Brecht, Ibsen, Shaw, Simonov, and Gorky. A pioneer of the concept of actor-manager of the drama theatre, for whom the only other names that can probably be talked of in the same breath are Prithviraj Kapoor and. . . well, can’t think of another name. A powerhouse performer, who did never make any compromises with any of the performing arts he delved into, having made landmark contributions to the every aspect of the theatre and cinema. And along with that, continued being a teacher of English language in a school (yes, actually).

So before I proceed ahead with writing more about him, I welcome you to take a peek of a few seconds at the video clip (no glancing at details underneath), and take a good look at the sardar ji who is on stage, dancing a very hectic bhangra, and try to guess him out.

Ah yes, so maybe the amount of hints already listed above may have been a giveaway. Or maybe it is his eyes. One of the most recognizable eyes full of life, expressions and mischief.

So congratulations for those who could identify him. For the record, we have the maestro artist Utpal Dutt on the stage, doing a very lively dance that is very, very alien to his very, very native Bengali roots. And boy, if one did not know him well, one would be hard pressed to identify the actor behind the beard and the turban, carrying the very Punjabi North Indian persona with such élan.

The life of this performer reads like an encyclopedia in itself; complete with the streak of rebellion that put him opposite to certain political governments of a certain period, and he had to spend time in jail, in a free India, for expressing his views about how and what the politics was all about.

I remember I was a very tiny kid when I traveled with family to Calcutta. My dad was there on some official trip, and it being summer vacations, the family made plans to travel together. It must have been late 1960s – maybe 1967. We were met at the station by my father’s friends, and one of them picked me up in his arms and started talking to me about all the places in Calcutta he would take me to see. I was not even cognizant enough to understand all that he spoke, and the accent did help either. A few words stuck to my memory – Vicotria, Chowringhee, Planetarium, Garden, Kallol. Some of the words I could make out. Garden I understood (I would find out later that he was referring to the famous Botanical Gardens of Calcutta). Other names would slip, and then be reinforced in the subsequent days. But the word ‘Kallol’ stuck to my memory. Actually my father asked the question and his friend clarified – ‘You must come with us to see “Kallol”. It is the longest running play in the history of Bengali theatre’. In my tiny tot way I asked him what it was about. He started to explain something about stage and ships, and try hard as I did, I could not figure out how a ship of the sea could be inside a building in the city. And that was it, for then.

Later, many years later, as these topics would come up to me in other contexts, I would find out that ‘Kallol’ (the lapping sound of waves, close to ‘kilol’ in Hindi), is a play written by Utpal Dutt on the momentous event of the rebellion of the ratings and non-officer men of the Royal Indian Navy in 1946. That play was a source of so much controversy, since it attempted to lay bare the truth behind this event, and how it was made to fail by the very leaders of this country, who prided themselves to be the spearhead of the so called freedom movement against the British. The play put Utpal Dutt in the bad books of the then Congress government in Bengal.

And not that he wasn’t already there. Utpal Dutt was a Marxist. He was a young man when the IPTA movement struck its roots in the early 1940s, especially in Bengal, and he was one of its founding members. As a teenager, he was verily drawn to English literature and to Shakespeare in particular. Impressed by his powerful portrayal in the king’s lead role in the play ‘Richard III’, Geoffrey Kendall hired him into his touring theatrical company ‘Shakespearana’. Regulars and knowledgeable readers will recall the film ‘Shakespearwala’ (1965) by James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. The story is based on the real life chronicles of the real life company ‘Shakespearana’, with many real life members of the actual company participating in the film, including the Kendall family and Utpal Dutt.

In 1948, he formed the Brecht Society, under the leadership of Satyajit Ray. The society took on the discussion of Brecht’s philosophy of the theatre, its interaction with the audience – the concept of what Brecht called the ‘Epic Theatre’, wherein the audience is involved as a co author of the play.

Utpal Dutt wrote and developed many such plays, in accordance with the concept of ‘Epic Theatre’, and then he went on to reject this philosophy as impractical for the Indian context.

His influence in IPTA and the theatre movement in Bengal steadily grew. In 1949, when Geoffrey Kendall took a sabbatical, traveling to UK for a couple of years, Utpal Dutt formed his first theatrical venture – The Little Theater Group. At this same time, he turned into some very serious writing and translation work. He translated many Shakespearean and Russian classical works into Bengali. In 1954 began the phase when he started to produce scathingly controversial theatre with leftist overtones and critical of the then current governments in the state and the center. In 1957, he would stage Maxim Gorky’s ‘Lower Depths’ in Bangla (earlier produced as the film ‘Neecha Nagar’ by Chetan Anand in 1946). In 1959 came the extremely controversial play ‘Angaar’, based on the exploited lives of the miners and laborers in the coal mines of Bihar and Bengal.

His forays into the films had already started in parallel. In 1950, he was convinced by filmmaker Madhu Bose to play the lead role in the film ‘Michael Madhusudan’, based on the life of the revolutionary poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt. That launched his career in films. But his involvement with the theatre continued and continued to grow. He would initiate experimentation in traveling theatre and street theatre. He took the theme of communism to the people through his street theatre. In a manner of speaking, his theatre has been one of the leading influencer of the people of Bengal, paving way for decades of communist rule in that state. His street plays of the early 1960s created upheavals of popular opinion, and when ‘Kallol’ opened to public performances in 1965, the government placed him in preventive custody, fearing that his words and public appearances may flame popular revolt against the Congress government in the state.

In 1968, he pioneered the new concept of documentary drama. His play–‘Manusher Adhikaare’ (Of Peeople’s Rights) was the first in this genre.

This was also the time when he focused more on street theatre, ‘poster’ plays and the ‘Jaatra’ or the traveling theatre, in an effort to bring this medium right to the door step of the common man across all of rural Bengal. The political dramas of his ‘Jaatra’ movement till today form a lasting legacy. As one reads about his tireless work as an author, a playwright, a theatre influencer and above all a thinker who conceptualized a whole new set of genres in the popular theatre space, one is really surprised to come face to face with the real persona behind the bumbling Bhuvan Shome of ‘Bhuvan Shome’ (1969) and the pedantic Bhawani Shankar of ‘Gol Maal’ (1979).

Truly a far cry from in terms of what the real person was behind these characters. Or maybe that is the strength of his personality that his presence would bring to life, any and all characters, as was demanded by the script – a quality of a master who is completely at home at his desk, on the stage and in front of the camera. Truly a set of credentials and accomplishments that probably cannot be boasted about by any other personality in the performing arts in the sub continent. It is very interesting to note that the recent Amitabh Bachchan starrer, ‘The Last Lear’, is based on an earlier play ‘Aajker Shahjahan’, written by Utpal Dutt. In all, he has written twenty-two full-length plays, fifteen poster plays, nineteen Jatra scripts. He has directed more than sixty productions and has acted in thousands of shows on the stage. Apart from this, he has written some serious studies on Shakespeare, Girish Ghosh, Stanislavsky, Brecht, and the revolutionary theatre.

From this mini capsule emerges a new Utpal Dutt, and suddenly one sees the Bhawani Shankar in a completely new light. And after this, one may not be very surprised to see the performance in this clip, where he plays the role of Balbir Singh, a disabled army man, whose zest for life and penchant for justice has not weakened even after he has lost one of his limbs. He struts and dances on the stage with one artificial leg. And in the course of on stage action, when that artificial prosthetic comes off, and he falls down, he forbids anyone to help him. On the strength of his arms he pulls himself towards the fallen limb, the resolve showing on his brow, to never give up. Eventually he is able to put it on and stand up himself. That minute and a half interlude in the song is a telling portrayal, including the growl when he says “ae, haath naa laa” (hey there, don’t touch it).

A wonderful performance and likely an only one for him doing a Punjabi bhangra. Merits to be included in this series of unique and unexpected performances.

Still active and still in the saddle, Utpal Dutt passed away on 19th August, 1993, after a massive heart attack. A national award for best actor in 1970, for the film ‘Bhuvan Shome’, and three Filmfare awards for the best comedian. It is not a wonder that we do not know much about the true Utpal Dutt. For that, we will have to delve back to Bengali cinema and to his theatre and writings. A larger than life presence, a once in an era personality, and a pioneer who has not been equaled or even imitated. One would be hard pressed to believe his antecedents and achievements, as he sits in the boss’s chair and pontificates on the virtues of the moustache on a man’s face (‘Gol Maal’, 1979) or plays the proverbial fiddle in his efforts to woo Kusum (Swaroop Sampat), a girl of the age of his daughter (‘Naram Garam’, 1981).

But then maybe, that is the victory of the performer over the audience – he would spin a tale and pull wool over your eyes, and then be backstage laughing at the gullibility of everyone, from the front row to the back to the balcony. Here was a great thinker and mover of minds, whose power to communicate with the people through the theatre, changed the fortunes of an entire state (I refer to the political shift from Congress to Marxists in Bengal), who would make you laugh and clap as he wore a disguise of twigs and plumes to hunt the birds (‘Bhuvan Shome’), or vehemently argue with a police officer (Om Prakash), calling him a ‘foolish officer’ (‘Gol Maal’). And even in that deception, he ends up creating lasting icons that are absolutely impossible to erase from the memory. I am very sure he is out there, having a good laugh, at all of us.

Some quick demographics. The film is ‘Imaan Dharam’ from 1977, the era when the multi starrers ruled the roost. That will be confirmed by a quick look at the list of actors. Anybody who is anybody in the industry (at that time) is listed here. Well, almost :). Sample this – Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, Aparna Sen, Helen, Baby Rani, Prem Chopra, Om Shivpuri, Shreeram Lagu, Utpal Dutt, A K Hangal, Amrish Puri, Shetty, Sudhir, Mohan Sherry, Amarnath, Deepak, C S Dubey, Raj Kishore, R C Chopra, Prakash Thapa, Mak Mohan, Kamaldeep, Jagdish Raj, Kumud Tripathi, Pinchoo Kapoor, Chandu, Dhanna, Nazir Kashmiri, Pandit Rammurthi Chaturvedi, Bihari, Satyen Kappu, Sajjan.

The producer banner is Suchitra and the film is directed by Desh Mukherjee. Songs are penned by Anand Bakshi and the music composition is Laxminkant Pyaarelal. Can be summed up as an out and out multi starrer blockbuster of its era.

A very interesting foot note to this song. The year is 1977, and Mukesh has left the mortal world about a year earlier. This song, a duet with the voices of Moahmmed Rafi and Mukesh must have been recorded in early 1976. Also, the year 1977 carries the film ‘Dharamveer’ in which there are another two duets of these timeless voices. Most likely these songs are the last songs ever recorded together by them. In subsequent years, more songs have appeared, but none of them is a pure duet like this one, or the two in ‘Dharamveer’.

As the closing note, some words from the lyrics that are typical Punjabi language, are translated below.

‘raakhi’ = protection (variant of ‘raksha’)

‘kabaddi’ = a team game that involves both strength, guile and cleverness and above all, very powerful lungs

‘addi’ = ankle

‘kaudi kaudi’ = a continuous sound that the attacking player is supposed to make, to show that he is not breathing while he is in the opposite camp

‘pind’ = village

‘laam’ = front, war zone

Listen and enjoy.

Audio

Video (Full

Song-O jatta aayi vaishaakhi (IMaan Dharam)(1977) Singers-Rafi, Mukesh, Lyrics-Anand Bakshi, MD-Laxmikant Pyarelal
Chorus
Utpal Dutt,

Lyrics

oye hoye. . . .
lo ji
fauji
mauj mein
aa gayaa pehen ke
vardi khaakee. . .
daal bhaangraa
nach mere saathi. . .
chhod ke ye baisaakhi
jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi. . . .

lo ji
fauji
mauj mein
aa gayaa pehen ke
vardi khaakee. . .
daal bhaangraa
nach mere saathi. . .
chhod ke ye baisaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi. . . .

sabse kehte hain ye ghaayal haath
ye tooti taangen
hum de sakte hain jaane
hum kya logon se maangen
hum kyun logon se maangen
jo auron pe mar sakte hain
wo apni madad kar sakte hain
tum hum pe mat ehsaan karo
ye dhan daulat naa daan karo
hum to naukar sarkaar ke hain
bas bhookhe aapke pyaar ke hain
hum mein koi laachaar naheen
hum aashiq hain beemaar nahin
sab bhaashan iske baad karo
pehle us din ko yaad karo
jab jang chhidee baarood phate
sab apne gharon mein soye rahe
hum jaa. . ke khade rahe sarhad pe
karte sab ki raakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
ho jattaa aayee vasaakhi. . . .

hey. .ey. .ey. .ey
hey
hey
hey
hey
hey
hey
hey
hey
o ho
o ho

[ae, haath naa laa]

gaaon mein jab melaa lagtaa
hoti khoob kabaddi
bade badon ko main giraa deta thha maar ke addi
kaudi kaudi kaudi kaudi kaudi kaudi kaudi
kabaddi
kabaddi
kabaddi
jab guzartaa main bazaaron se
sab jhaankte thhe chaubaaron se
ik kudi ishaare kardi si
wo meri chaal pe mardi si
wo reh gayi bas aahen bharti
pind chhod ke hum ho gaye bharti
dikhlaayen zor jawaani kaa aa
thha shauk hamen qurbaani kaa
hum jiye inhin ummeedon mein
ho apna naam shaheedon mein
jab laam lagi aaya maukaa
dushman ne diya badaa dhokha
dil ke badle paaon pe goli
maari thhi chaalaaki
haaye
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
ho jattaa aayee vasaakhi. . . .

o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
ho jattaa aayee vasaakhi. . . .
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi

aaj bhi teri chaal pe hum
qurbaan watan de sheraa
aaj bhi teri chaal pe hum
qurbaan watan de sheraa
hum bik jaayen
to bhi karz chukaa naa paayen tera
tu ne apna farz nibhaaya. . .
apna farz hai baaki,
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
ho jattaa aayee vasaakhi
ho jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi
o jattaa aayee vasaakhi

ho jattaa. . . .
(o jattaa aayee vasaakhi)
ho jattaa. . . .
(o jattaa aayee vasaakhi)
aayee visaakhi
(o jattaa aayee vasaakhi)
ho jattaa. . . .
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
————————————————
ओय होए ॰ ॰ ॰

लो जी
फौजी
मौज में
आ गया पहन के
वर्दी खाकी ॰ ईs
डाल भांगड़ा
नच मेरे साथी ॰ ईs
छोड़ के ये बैसाखी
जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss

लो जी
फौजी
मौज में
आ गया पहन के
वर्दी खाकी ॰ ईs
डाल भांगड़ा
नच मेरे साथी ॰ ईs
छोड़ के ये बैसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss

सबसे कहते हैं ये घायल हाथ
ये टूटी टांगें
हम दे सकते हैं जानें
हम क्या लोगों से मांगें
हम क्यूँ लोगों से मांगें
जो औरों पे मर सकते हैं
वो अपनी मदद कर सकते हैं
तुम हम पे मत एहसान करो
ये धन दौलत ना दान करो
हम तो नौकर सरकार के हैं
बस भूखे आपके प्यार के हैं
हम में कोई लाचार नहीं
हम आशिक हैं बीमार नहीं
सब भाषण इसके बाद करो
पहले उस दिन को याद करो
जब जंग छिड़ी बारूद फटे
सब अपने घरों में सोये रहे
हम जा॰ss॰के खड़े रहे सरहद पे
करते सब की राखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
हो जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss

हे ए ए ए ए
हे
हे
हे
हे
हे
हे
हे
हे
ओ हो
ओ हो

[ए ! हाथ ना ला]

गाँव में जब मेला लगता
होती खूब कबड्डी
बड़े बड़ों को मैं गिरा देता था मार के अडडी
कौडी कौडी कौडी कौडी कौडी कौडी कौडी
कबड्डी
कबड्डी
कबड्डी
जब गुज़रता मैं बाज़ारों से
सब झाँकते थे चौबारों से
ई कुड़ी इशारे करदी सी
वो मेरी चाल पे मरदी सी
वो रह गई बस आहें भर्ती
पिंड छोड़ के हम हो गए भर्ती
दिखलाएँ ज़ोर जवानी का
था शौक हमें कुर्बानी का
हम जिये इन्हीं उम्मीदों में
हो अपना नाम शहीदों में
जब लाम लगी आया मौका
दुश्मन ने दिया बड़ा धोखा
दिल के बदले पाओं पे गोली
मारी थी चालाकी
हाए
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
हो जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss

ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
हो जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी

आज भी तेरी चाल पे हम
कुर्बान वतन दे शेरा
आज भी तेरी चाल पे हम
कुर्बान वतन दे शेरा
हम बिक जाएँ
तो भी कर्ज़ चुका ना पाएँ तेरा
तूने अपना फर्ज़ निभाया ॰आss
अपना फर्ज़ है बाकी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
हो जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss
हो जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी
हो जट्टा आई वसाखी॰ ईss
ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी

हो जट्टा ॰ ॰आssss
(ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी)
हो जट्टा ॰ ॰आssss
(ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी)
आई वसाखी॰ ईss
(ओ जट्टा आई वसाखी)
हो जट्टा