Main maachis ki teeli
Posted on: July 25, 2014
This article is written by Raja, 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.
Today, the 25th of July 2014, is the 18th death anniversary of GS Kohli.
I realized this only when I read Sudhirji’s write-up about him a few hours ago.
Somehow, I felt like paying him a tribute myself on this occasion – so here is my humble tribute to him.
As we know, the name of GS Kohli does not have the recall that names like SD Burman, OP Nayyar, Naushad etc have. And that’s understandable. These composers acquired legendary status over their career, with a string of extremely popular and high-quality musical scores. They fully deserve all the adulation and recognition they have received for their work.
And yet, we have the likes of GS Kohli, S Mohinder, Ganesh, Ramlal, C.Arjun and others who have, in their own ways, left a mark, albeit on a less noticeable scale, in the world of Hindi film music. Yes, their tunes might be few in number, or less heard, but even amongst those tunes, there is often that one that makes you go “ah, lovely!”. Maybe a tune that gets you foot-tapping. Or one that goes straight to your heart.
Whether it is Ramlal’s “pankh hoti to ud aati re”, “tum to pyar ho” or “taqdeer ka fasaana” (Sehra) or S Mohinder’s “guzra hua zamana” (Shirin Farhad), whether it is Ganesh’s “hum tere bin jee na sakenge sanam” (Thakur Jarnail Singh) or C.Arjun’s “paas baitho tabeeyat behel jaayegi” (Punar Milan), each of these is a melody that is hummed even today, 50 years after these songs were made. And they sound just as pleasant to the ear today, as they must have, all those years ago.
These are evergreen songs that will hopefully never be forgotten.
And, just like the songs, their creators too must never be forgotten.
And that is one thing this blog is good at. Here, we always try to pay tribute to creators of yesteryear music, even if they might not have received adulation or fame in their careers. That is the least we can do for them.
With this in mind, I am writing this piece as a tribute to GS Kohli.
I first heard of GS Kohli when I first heard a song of Shikari (1963). I must have been about 10-11 then. It was an afternoon AIR programme (12.30 – 1.00 p.m, I think). It was the famous song “tumko piya dil diya itni naaz se”. I fell in love with the song, the moment I heard it. It was such a foot-tapping song.
After the song was played, the announcer mentioned the music director as GS Kohli. I was very surprised. I’d never heard the name before. I was expecting it to be one of the famous ones like Shankar Jaikishen or SD Burman.
From that moment, the name of GS Kohli got stuck in my head. And that song “tumko piya dil diya” became one of my favourites. To this day, it is one of my favourites. I have listened to it a zillion times – and I still never tire of listening to it.
I am not alone. The popularity of this song can be gauged by the fact that it has not only been remixed but there are also many rip-offs / versions of it. That itself speaks of the hold it has on people of all generations.
Although AIR did play that song every now and then even in those days (thanks to farmaishes), it wasn’t as often as I’d have liked. We didn’t have internet in those days – and access to music, other than radio, was somewhat restricted in my environment then. We did have a tape recorder (National) but had only a few cassettes. So for me, it was either radio or nothing.
When I got access to the net and to youtube, one of the first songs I hunted down was this one. I was thrilled, as ever, to listen to it. And now I could listen to it, to my heart’s content. And even see the video – something I had never been able to do earlier.
I also realized that another song I liked a lot – a Rafisaab-Lata duet, “agar main poochhoon jawaab doge” – is also from this film, and a GS Kohli composition. My respect for him only went up after realizing this. It is a gem of a song in its own right, even if overshadowed by “tumko piya”.
Both these songs have given me so much listening pleasure, I cannot describe it.
A few years ago, it so happened that I ended up subtitling Shikari (1963). It was a film I wanted to see anyway, if only for these two songs. It is a typical B-film, but as with many B-films, the music is anything but B-quality. And it’s not just these two songs. I discovered another lovely song – “baaje ghunghroo chham chham”. And this movie also has “chaman ke phool”. That’s a lot of quality in one film.
GS Kohli was more than just Shikari (1963) though. He has composed some pleasing songs for Namaste ji (1965) too. And Mr.India (1961) has the fairly well-known Rafisaab number “mat poochh mera hai kaun watan”.
The song for today is also from Mr.India (1961). It is a cheerful, delightful Geeta Dutt number. (When I say cheerful Geeta Dutt number, do I even need to say “delightful”? Is there any cheerful Geeta Dutt number that is NOT delightful?)
I haven’t seen the film, so I’m afraid I cannot add anything about the picturisation or situation. The film stars Geeta Bali, Kamaljeet (probably better known as Waheeda Rehman’s husband), Helen and IS Johar, amongst others. Maybe one of our knowledgeable readers can tell us more about the picturisation of this song.
If you listen to the song, you might get a slight “tumko piya” feel. Or maybe I am imagining it. In any case, this film was made before Shikari, so maybe GS Kohli (who was assistant to OP Nayyar before embarking on his own) had that zing anyway but it got noticed most with Shikari.
In any case, I will leave you with the song and let you judge for yourself. Enjoy the song. I know I did.
Thank you, GS Kohli saab for your contribution to Hindi film music.
Song-Main maachis ki teeli (Mr India)(1961) Singer-Geeta Dutt, Lyrics-Jaan Nisaar Akhtar, MD-G S Kohli
Lyrics
Main maachis ki teeli
main maachis ki teeli
chamkeeli
bhadkeeli
maine usey
phoonk diya
jisne meri nazar se pee li
main maachis ki teeli
chamkeeli
bhadkeeli
maine usey
phoonk diya
jisne meri nazar se pee li
main maachis ki teeli
main kya jaanoon re
main kya jaanoon re
sharmaana ghabraana
maine seekha jee
Lehraana
bal khaana
baat meri
kitni haseen
haaye
baat meri
kitni haseen
ho jaise koi kali chatkeeli
main maachis ki teeli
main maachis ki teeli
chamkeeli
bhadkeeli
maine usey
phoonk diya
jisne meri nazar se pee li
main maachis ki teeli
sab kuchh aata hai
sab kuchh aata hai
tadpaana
tarsaana
chalte chalte ji
mud jaana
muskaana
dekh zaraa
meri adaa
haaye
dekh zaraa
meri adaa
O meri chaal badi lachkeeli
main maachis ki teeli
main maachis ki teeli
chamkeeli
bhadkeeli
maine usey
phoonk diya
jisne meri nazar se pee li
main maachis ki teeli
mere aage na
mere aage na
ithlaana
itraana
jaake auron ko
Lalchaana
Lapkaana
main to kabhi
bhool ke bhi
haaye
main to kabhi
bhool ke bhi
ho teri dor na chhodoon dhheeli
main maachis ki teeli
main maachis ki teeli
chamkeeli
bhadkeeli
maine usey
phoonk diya
jisne meri nazar se pee li
main maachis ki teeli
chamkeeli
bhadkeeli
maine usey
phoonk diya
jisne meri nazar se pee li
main maachis ki teeli
5 Responses to "Main maachis ki teeli"
July 25, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Lambe Haath-60; Faulad-63; Char Darvesh-64; The Adventures of Robinhood-65; Do Matwale-66; Naujawan-66; Sangdil-67; Jung Aur Aman-68; Gunda-69; Jaalsaaz-69;
Such talented MD and only 13 films. Shame
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July 25, 2014 at 1:20 pm
Thanks for posting this, Atul.
I just realised there is a small typo. I have, by mistake, said the film stars Geeta Dutt instead of Geeta Bali. Could you please correct this? Thanks.
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July 25, 2014 at 2:56 pm
Rajaji,
Thanks for the song and post. Enjoyed both.
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July 25, 2014 at 7:54 pm
Thank you, Raja, for the song and write-up on G S Kohli
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 25, 2014 at 9:11 am
Our Tributes to Shri.G.S.Kohli ji and rememberance on his anniversary.
Thank you Raja Saab for this post.
Most of the songs as mentioned in the post are in my collection and i like them very much. Specially, agar main poochoon & chaman ke phool bhi tujhko…
Thanks!
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