Meri dilruba mere paas aa
Posted on: April 29, 2014
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When I wake up early in the morning and switch on the computer, the first page that I normally see is the google screen. On most of the days, it is the normal google screen, but on special occasions, we have some google doodles on them as well. I was pleasantly surprised today (29 april 2014) to find a google doodle on an Indian person and that too on an Indian person connected with music.
Google doodle as seen by India based internet user today carried a sketch of a tabla playing Ustad Alla Rakha Khan (29 april 1919-3 february 2000). The sketch is linked to wikipedia where Allarakha Khan’s accoplishments are listed. He gained his name and fame among music lovers of the west as the tabla accompanist of Sitarist Ravi Shankar. His tabla playing mesmerised western musicians. One of them, namely Micky Hart of the band “Grateful Dead” described him as “Einstein of rhythm”. Later, his son,ustaad Zakir Hussain also became a tabla player extraordinaire.
The wikipedia page is mostly silent about Ustad Allarakha Khan’s connections with Hindi movie music. We of course know very well that he had a decade long career as a music director in Hindi movies under the name of A R Qureshi.
So when I decided to discuss a song composed by him, all I needed to do was the go through the list of movies in the blog where he had composed music. Going through the list, I saw that he had composed music in movies like “Maa Baap”(1944), “Ghar”(1945), “Malika”(1947), “Sabak” (1950), “Bewafa”(1952), “Hatimtai Ki Beti” (1955), “Alladin Laila”(1957), “Sim Sim Marjeena” (1958) etc.
I recalled that I had discussed one “Malika” (1947) song only a couple of days back. I could have discussed this song today had I known about his birth anniversary, I told myself.
While looking at other songs of “Malika” (1947), I came across a song that is supposed to be sung by Rafi and Allauddin (?) as mentioned by the YT uploader. When I listened to the song, I found that much of the song was in the voice of the other singer viz Allauddin and Rafi’s voice was discernible only occasionally.
Only the audio of this song is available. myswar does not even mention the names of singers of this song, which means that HFGK too may not have contained the names of the singers of this song. When I looked at Rafi excel sheet, I found that this song does not even figure in the list of Rafi songs in that list. It does not mean that a “new” Rafi song has been discovered. There are cases of the opposite nature too where Rafi’s name has been erroneously mentioned as a singer in some songs in myswar, Rafi excel sheet etc. For example, “Khilaadi” (1950) song, Muhabbat mein nazar milte hi…Koi ye baat kya samjhe (Khilaadi) is described as a Rafi-Suraiyya duet by all including myswar, Rafi excel sheet etc whereas it is just a Suraiyya solo. Another example is Mast hokar zara jhoom le (Chandrakaanta), which is described by all sources as a Rafi Asha Bhonsle duet whereas it is just an Asha Bhonsle solo in reality. So I suppose that all these errors and omissions balance out in the long run leaving us with the same tally of songs as before.
Coming to this song from “Malika” (1947), I believe that I may have stumbled upon a rare gem. Only the audio of this song is available, but from the sounds of it, this song is one of the first instances of western instrumentation introduced in a Hindi movie song.
On searching further, I found that the audio of this song was uploaded by another person and he had in fact mentioned that this song was picturised on Alla-ud-Din and illyas Kashmiri. Seeing that most people have not even heard this names, we can assume that the uploader known what he is talking about. Here is an instance of a song where uploaders have more information about a song than is available through “official” sources.
I wonder if this Allauddin is the same as Alluddin Nawed whose voice is there in Saawan ke din aaye baalma (Kaajal)(1948). I request our knowledgeable readers to throw light on this matter.
Lyrics of this song were written by Tanveer Naqvi. Music is of course composed by A R Qureshi.
Song-Meri dilruba mere paas aa (Malika)(1947) Singers-Allauddin, Rafi, Lyrics-Tanveer Naqvi, MD-A R Qureshi
Meri dilruba
meri dilruba
haaye dilruba
ho dilruba aa
mere paas aa aa
meri dilruba aa
tere rukh pe khaal
tere bikhre baal
dhali saanche mein
ho teri chaal dhaal
teri har ada aa
meri dilruba
mere paas aa aa
meri dilruba
tere rukh pe khaal
tere bikhre baal
dhali saanche mein
ho teri chaal dhaal
teri har ada aa
meri dilruba
meri naazneen
meri mehjabeen
tu hai wo haseen
tu hai wo haseen
ke jahaan mein tujh sa koi nahin
ho zara muskura
zara muskura ke nazar mila
ho meri dilruba
meri gulbadan
meri gulbadan
teri saadgi mein hai baankpan
tere lab khule
tere lab khule
to khile chaman
tu chale to jhoom uthhe fizaa
meri dilruba
ho meri dilruba
2 Responses to "Meri dilruba mere paas aa"
April 29, 2014 at 10:48 am
Thanks Atul Sir for this nice post. I am very much familiar to Ustad Allah Rakkha Khan as a Tabla Maestro as well as A.R. Qureshi as a 40-50s music director but its a news for me that both the persons are same. Songs of Raj-Nargis starrer Bewafa (1952) in silken voice of Talat Mehmood Dil matwala lakh sambhala (Lata version also) and Tumko fursta ho meri jaan, Hatimtai ki beti (1955) Sooni sooni hai bahar (Asha), Kali kamli wale tumpe lakho salaam (Rafi/Asha) Alladin Laila (1957) Bijli si dil pe gir jaye (Sudha) And Daulat ke laalach mein (Rafi) are few timeless classics made him immortal for music lovers. Thanks Google to dedicate page to A R Sa’ab.Tributes
And a request, Sil will you plz linked Rafi Sa’ab Excel sheet.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
April 29, 2014 at 7:00 am
Our tributes to Ustad Alla Rakha Khan…!!!
Atul ji – nice post !
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