Mard taangewaala main hoon mard taangewaala
Posted on: July 18, 2014
This article is written by Greta (Memsaab), a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a 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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Atul Song-A-Day 10K Song Milestone Celebrations – 36
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Not being a speaker of Hindi, I know that I miss a great deal of nuance in both song and storyline in not understanding the lyrics to Hindi film songs. I am sure that is the case here too, but all the same the picturization of this song is so packed with information that for once I don’t really feel that deprived. His trademark lack of subtlety is one of Manmohan Desai’s greatest gifts to non-Indian fans of Hindi cinema, as is his trademark lunacy to all of mankind. An abundance of both mark this song as one of my favorites.
Amitabh Bachchan is Raju, the “Mard Tangewala” of the song, plying his trade with faithful horse Badal and dog Moti along wide quiet gulmohar-lined streets. Here he is giving a ride to his (unknown to them both) mother Durga (Nirupa Roy), from whom he was separated as an infant and whom he has just rescued from the wealthy but bratty Ruby (Amrita Singh). Unaware of their relationship they may be, but Durga gives Raju some roti like a good mother should—and Raju shares it with his animals, even hand-feeding at some risk to himself the hard-working Badal like the good “parent” he is. Family is family!
Poor and “downtrodden” they may be too, but they are better off than Ruby, now frustrated by her overheating car engine as the tonga sails breezily past her. Durga’s meager bundle of belongings fall off the tonga, and clever Moti retrieves it all except for a photograph that falls out. Raju runs back to get it—it’s a picture, if he only knew it, of his also long-lost and presumed dead father Azad Singh (Dara Singh). Durga touches it reverently to her forehead and they proceed.
A throng of dancers in the street join in the tempo of Raju’s song and a mother accidentally drops the toddler she’s been carelessly holding (safety first, people!) from a first floor balcony into Raju’s lap as he passes below. The dancers cheer and Raju joins them with the little kid before returning him to his grateful mother and hopping back into his tonga as Badal pulls them away.
So even without the benefit of lyrics (or the rest of the film!), I have absorbed these facts:
-Poverty is no obstacle to happiness (but wealth might be)
-You should hold tight to your children lest they get lost, or fall off a balcony, although if you (and they) are lucky someone good will take care of them
-Despite her apparent misfortune, Durga is an Über-Maa and loyal wife (really who wouldn’t be, when he is/was Dara Singh?!)
-Raju and Badal and Moti are family even if some of them have four legs and a tail
-They are also Heroic and Helpful and worth rooting for
And at least for now, they are also happy and carefree. Of course, all that is about to change!
I am so pleased that Atul asked me to do a writeup for his approaching 10,000-song milestone. Thanks to him and this wonderful blog, I now think of songs like this as a “horse” song and a “tonga” song, with it’s clippity-clop rhythms evoking the sound of trotting hooves. Cheers to you and your loyal contributors and supporters, Atul, and I am pleased to be numbered among them. Family!
Song-Mard taangewaala main hoon mard taangewaala (Mard)(1985) Singer-Md Aziz, Lyrics-Prayag Raj, Md-Anu Malik
Female Chorus
Male chorus
Unknown female voice
Lyrics
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
mard taangewaala
main hoon mard taangewaala
hey mard taangewaala
main hoon mard taangewaala
mujhe dushman kya maarega
mera dost hai uparwaala
mard taangewaala
o mard taangewaala
mujhe dushman kya maarega
mera dost hai uparwaala
patre ki hai motor car
jaanwar si nahin wafaadaar
ho patre ki hai motor car
jaanwar si nahin wafaadaar
ho khatam tel woh tod de dum
marte dum tak chale yeh tam-tam
arre kyun bhai baadal
kyun bhai moti
main sach kehta hoon
mard taangewaala
main hoon mard taangewaala
mujhe dushman kya maarega
mera dost hai uparwaala
mard taangewaala
main hoon mard taangewaala
mujhe dushman kya maarega
mera dost hai uparwaala
aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa
maa kyun pareshaan hai
aa aa aa aa
apni kismat pe hairaan hai
aa aa aa aa
maa kyun pareshaan hai
aa aa aa
haan apni kismat pe hairaan hai
aa aa aa aa
sukh toh do dil ki bahaar
naanak dukhiya sab sansaar (aa aa aa aa)
kyun bhai baadal
kyun bhai moti
main sach kehta hoon
mard taangewaala
main hoon mard taangewaala
mujhe dushman kya maarega
mera dost hai uparwaala
mard taangewaala
main hoon mard taangewaala
mujhe dushman kya maarega
mera dost hai uparwaala
mera munna
jaa ko raakhe saaiyaan
maar sake na koye
hey
jaa ko raakhe saaiyaan
maar sake na koye
arre jaa ko raakhe saaiyaan
maar sake na koye
arre baal na baaka kar sakega
jo jag bairi hoye
hoy hoy hoy hoy
ja ko raakhe saaiyaan
maar sake na koye
are baal na baanka kar sakega
jo jag bairi hoy
hoy hoy hoy hoy
ja ko raakhe saaiyaan
maar sake na koye hoy
ja ko raakhe saaiyaan
maar sake na koye
la la la la la
la la la la la la
la la la la
la la la la la la
la la la la la
la la la la la la
la la la la
la la la la la
la la la la la
la la la la la la
8 Responses to "Mard taangewaala main hoon mard taangewaala"
July 18, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Ah.. the ever evocative Greta the Great brings out exactly why Manmohan Desai was such a well beloved filmmaker. The classy movie goers may have looked down their noses at him, but the masses loved him and showered their meager earnings on him.
Among the lower stalls, no one raised their eyebrows at a tangewala calling himself Mard. They just whistled and clapped and enjoyed the endorphin rush they got out of seeing the movie. 😀
Lovely post, Greta. You are a rockstar!
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July 18, 2014 at 9:15 pm
Hullo Memsaab
Lovely post. Nice meeting u here.
And wonderful analysis of the Manmohan Desai’s magic
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July 18, 2014 at 11:06 pm
The post is a nice read. Having been a big fan of Amitabh Bachhan movies during growing up years, by 1985 we had given up on Manmohan Desai Masala movies. There were some movies by Prakash Mehra and others like Tinnu Anand’s Kaalia, which I remember seeing. I have seen ‘Ganga Jamuna Saraswati’ which came some time later.
I like the description of ‘ Gulmohar Tree lined street ‘ , fulll of orange/ red blooms.
My parents place or society is reached by such a tree lined street. One side was all gulmohar and other trees and Casuarina’s on the other side. The private street had different colours to show in all seasons.
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July 19, 2014 at 12:35 am
Thank for the lovely, well written post. Enjoyed reading the post and listening to the song.
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July 19, 2014 at 4:07 pm
Ah, great to see a post from Greta! Since she doesn’t post much on her blog anymore, it’s been a while since we’ve got a chance to enjoy her writing.
Clearly the quality is very much intact – the sense of humour, the play with words, the eye for detail. And the love that goes into her writing, especially when it has anything to do with anipals. 🙂
Thanks for this post, Greta. A wonderful addition to what is now already a fantastic bouquet of 10K celebratory posts. 🙂
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July 19, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Rajaji, you have summed it up all! Nothing more to say 😀
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July 20, 2014 at 6:57 pm
Manmohan Desai is so easy to love, na? Atul is astute enough to realize that he needed to give me an easy one! Hugs to you all 🙂
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 18, 2014 at 7:20 pm
Congratulations Greta ji on this very special occassion!
heartiest welcome!
Enjoyed the post 🙂 and liked the happiness,safety, fortune, family,heroic, helpful and change aspects with its cinematic aspects 🙂
thanks!
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