Kuhu kuhu koyaliya bulaaye re
Posted on: July 2, 2014
This article is written by Pamir Harvey, 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.
June 30th is the date of the publication of Saratchandra Chaterjee’s famous novel Devdas. It was published in 1917, thus we celebrated its 97th birthday on 30 june this year (2014). Devdas has, like no other novel before it or after, captured the imagination of film-makers in India. According to Wikipedia, there have been 16 films based on this story. Two of them have been made in Pakistan and Bangladesh each.
The story itself holds no big fascination for me personally. The fact that each of this film has become a big hit is mind-boggling. I think, I don’t have to give the synopsis of the story. The story itself is well-known.
The song presented here was conceived for Gulzar’s Devdas, which unfortunately got shelved. Some photos of the sets and stills from the movie are circulating in internet. Gulzar started this project in the late 70s and had given the title role to Dharmendra, who had firmly established himself till then as the action hero. The audiences had forgotten his soft roles of the 60s in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films. Wonder what made Gulzar gave this role to him and not to his favourite Sanjeev Kumar. Maybe it was the fact that he could see none other than Hema Malini as Paro and she wouldn’t work with Sanjeev Kumar, because of earlier differences. The plum role (according to me) of Chandramukhi was to be enacted by another Gulzar favourite Sharmila Tagore.
Gulzar’s association with Devdas goes a long time back. One of the first Devdas film was directed by P. C. Barua. Bimal Roy was his assistant then, who in turn made the famous film with Dilip Kumar in 1955. Sometime in the 80s, I read in a film magazine that Gulzar assisted him then. As far as I know Gulzar is not credited in the titles and according to my information, Gulzar came in contact with Bimal Roy in the late 50s. It is nevertheless possible that I’m mistaken and he did assist Bimal Roy while making Devdas and as quite often in those times his name didn’t appear in the titles. The tune of the song is attributed to R. D. Burman, he improvised the tune of a song sung by his father, S. D. Burman whose tune was created by Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Song-ku hu ku hu koyaliyaa bulaaye re (Devdas)(shelved)(1980), Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Gulzar, MD-R D Burman
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa
ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu
koyaliyaa
koyaliyaa
bulaaye re
ambuaa taley
ambuaa taley
ambuaa taley
ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu
koyaliyaa aa
bulaaye re
koyaliyaa
ambuaa taley
ambuaa taley
ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu
koyaliyaa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
kaali kalooti muyi
saavan ki pyaasi
saavan ki ee
pyaasi muyi
kaali kalooti muyi
saavan ki pyaasi
aangan ko tarse
ghar ke
ye banwaasi
boley boley
boley boley
boley
baagon mein ae
ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu
koyaliyaa
koyaliyaa
bulaaye re
ambuaa taley
ambuaa taley
ambuaa taley
ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu
koyaliyaa aa
sarauli se meethhaa more
piyaa ka bulawwaa
sarauli se meethhaa more
piyaa ka bulawwaa
mehake jiyaa me jaise
jangal mein mahuwaa
boley boley
boley boley
boley
baagon mein
ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu
koyaliyaa koyaliyaa
bulaaye re
ambuaa taley
ambuaa taley
ambuaa taley
ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu ku hu
koyaliyaa
16 Responses to "Kuhu kuhu koyaliya bulaaye re"
July 2, 2014 at 9:24 pm
Hema would have been better as Chandramukhi, as she can dance. But anyway, its all wishful thinking as the movie was shelved.
Thanks for the lovely song Harv.
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July 3, 2014 at 3:13 pm
I think Hema would have suited the role of Paro, but more than ehr I think a young Rakhee would have done that role justice. Amitabh as Devdas would have been a coup and Rekha as Chandramukhi. But that would have been repeating the Muqaddar Ka Sikandar cast. 🙂
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July 5, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Yes. And Vinod Khanna as that friend, who introduces Devdas to drink.
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July 6, 2014 at 2:34 pm
Vinod Khanna being an old Gulzar favourite would have fit in. But he is too gorgeous for such a small role.
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July 6, 2014 at 8:03 pm
Just to gather together all the faithfuls 🙂 He is GORGEOUS.
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July 2, 2014 at 9:40 pm
Some movies should be left untouched. Devdas for example. It is unthinkable to see Devdas in colour. Can Jackie replace Motilal? Can Madhuri, Aishwaya and SRK replace Vyjantimala, Suchitra and Dilip Kumar. NO.
Nowadays it is happening with Saraswatichandra in TV serial. In both cases the culprit is Bhansali. He should be banned from twisting movies and history
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July 3, 2014 at 3:17 pm
I understand your anger, Nitin!
Mr. Bhansali’s Devdas makes me wince.
Nevertheless artistes should have the freedom to interpret stories in their own manner. And every interpretation makes the old classic available to new audience. With all the critic due to Mr. Bhansali, one can’t deny the fact that he made Devdas accesible to a whole new generation. And even if 0.05% of the people who watched said, “Oh, if the movie is so nice, the original must be much better. I’ve to read it. ” Then it is a good thing for literature.
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July 3, 2014 at 8:20 am
Nitin Bhai,
Why so much anger on poor Sanjay Leela Bhansali? It is efforts like these that make us appreciate Bimal Roy more.
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July 3, 2014 at 9:37 pm
Thanks for introducing this one. Was not aware of this shelved movie.
Nice song.. enjoyed a lot !
and once again a big Welcome to resume in ‘style’ with a Gulzar-Pancham song 🙂
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July 6, 2014 at 4:33 pm
Enjoyed the song. Thanks a lot.
Wikipedia mentions 16 films based on this story. There is a 17th version too. Besides the versions in Bengali, Hindi and Assamese, there was a Tamil version produced by New Theatres in 1936. P V Rao acted in the role of Devdas and G B Rajayee played the role of Paro. Interestingly K L Saigal sang two Tamil songs for this version.
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May 11, 2015 at 3:13 pm
Venkataramanji thank you!
Yeah, when I saw the list on Wikipedia, I was really astonished, that such a story could have so many films made on it. Just because the story is not to my liking, that others should not like it. Diversity in tastes makes the world such a beautiful place to live in.
I didn’t know that Saigal sang in Tamil as well. Thanks for that gem of info!
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 2, 2014 at 7:50 pm
I listened to the song again, it is not karoli but sarauli. Sarauli is a variety of mango.
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