Aashiqon ka kaafilaa
Posted on: February 19, 2016
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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.
Forgotten Melodies of the 1940s – 11
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SASSI PUNNU (1946) was produced under the banner of Vaswani Art Productions and was directed by J P Advani. The starcast included Jairaj, Geeta Nizami, E Billimoria, Bibbo, Gope, Yashodara Katju, Narbada Shankar etc. There were 10 songs in the film, all penned by I C Kapoor which were set to music by Pandit Gobindram.
The film is based on the folk story of Sassi-Punnu, one of the 7 tragic stories from Sindh. Since the VCD/DVD of the film is not available online to know as to how the story was cinematically presented, I had to rely on the folk story of Sassi-Punnu available online. There are some variations in the story, probably arising out of the local myths. So I have condensed the story to highlight only the main events.
Sassi was the daughter of the King of Bhambore (located in the present day Sind province of Pakistan). Astrologers had predicted that she was born with a curse which would eventually destroy the kingdom of Bhambore. So King ordered that the the child should be put in a casket and thrown in the Sindhu river. Instead of getting a watery grave, the child in the box was picked up by a washerman from the river. Taking it as a gift from the God, the washerman adopted the child.
Sassi grew up into a beautiful girl. Since Bhambore was located on an ancient trade route, many caravans would pass through it and the stories of the beautiful Sassi would get passed on by words of mouth. Punnu, the prince of Makarna (in the present day Balochistan in Pakistan), got to know about Sassi and decided to travel to Bhambore to see her for himself. Both fell in love with each other. When Punnu went to the washerman with a proposal to marry Sassi, he refused as Punnu was not from his caste. However, later on he gave his consent when he came to know that Punnu was from a royal family. They got married.
Now it was the turn of Punnu’s father to reject the marriage as Sassi was not from the royal family if one goes by her adopted father’s vocation. He sent his other sons to Bhambore to bring back Punnu to Makarna. His brothers planned a ploy of celebrating Punnu’s marriage and made him drink to get sufficiently intoxicated. They carried him on a camel and returned to Makarna.
When Sassi came to know as to how Punnu was deceived by his brothers, she could not overcome the grief of separation. She walked barefoot many days crossing the desert to reach Makarna. On the way, she felt thirsty and asked for some water from a passing shepherd. He gave her water but got attracted to her. Watching his dirty intention, Sassi ran away from him prayed to God for a hiding place to save her. God heard her prayer. The valley split into two burying her in it.
When Punnu regained consciousness at Makarna, he ran towards Bhambore, calling for his beloved Sassi. On the way, he met the same shepherd who narrated him as to what happened to Sassi. Hearing the story, Punnu prayed to God to take him back to Sassi. God heard his prayer. the valley again split burying Punnu alongside Sassi.
It is interesting to note in the story that Sassi as a child was intended to die in a watery grave by her father but survived the death. What an irony! She had to die in a desert because of the circumstances emanating from her father-in-law’s opposition to Punnu’s marriage with her.
I am presenting the first of the 10 songs from the film SASSI PUNNU (1946) to appear in the Blog. The song is ‘aashiqon ka kaafila ye aashiqon ka kaafila’. It is a duet sung by Mohammed Rafi and G M Durrani with chorus.
Incidentally, the song under discussion is one of the 6 songs Mohammed Rafi has sung with G M Durrani as duets ( some with chorus), listed below based on the information taken from http://www.myswar.com. Out of 6 such songs, with the song under discussion, 5 songs would have been covered in the Blog. With this, only the song No.6 remains to be covered in the Blog, the song clip of which has eluded me.
| S N | Film | Song | Lyricist | Music Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Village Girl (1945) | Aji dil hai qaaboo mein to | Wali Sahab | Shyam Sundar |
| 2 | Sassi Punnu (1946) | Aashiqon ka kaafila | I C Kapoor | Pt. Govindram |
| 3 | Anand Bhawan (1953) | Wo jo aa rahi hai ghar mein | Raja Mehdi Ali Khan | Vasant Desai |
| 4 | Musaafirkhana (1955) | Kuchh aankh mili kuchh paisa mila | Majrooh Sultanpuri | O P Nayyar |
| 5 | Ham Sab Chor Hain (1956) | Hamko hanste dekh zamaana jalta hai | Majrooh Sultanpuri | O P Nayyar |
| 6 | Tarzan Mera Saathi (1974) | O balle balle sardar ji di gal suno | N A | Shankar-Jaikishan |
Since only the audio clip of the song under discussion is available, it is difficult to know as to how the song was picturised. My guess is that on the basis of the lyrics, the song may have been picturised on Jairaj (probably in the role of Punnu) and another actor while traveling with a caravan of camels from Makarna to Bhambore to meet Sassi (probably played by Geeta Nizami) through the desert.
Audio Clip:
Song-Aashiqon ka kaafilaa (Sassi Punnu)(1946) Singers-Rafi, G M Durrani, Lyrics-I C Kapoor, MD-Pt Govindram
Chorus
Lyrics
aashiqon ka kaafila
ye aashiqon ka kaafila
ye aashiqon ka kaafila
ye mastiyon se khelta
chalta jhoomta huaa
su e chaman hai jaa raha
su e chaman hai jaa raha
su e chaman hai jaa raha
su e chaman hai jaa raha
baadalon mein chaand hai
angdaayiaan si le raha
baadalon mein chaand hai
angdaayiaan si le raha
paighaam mastiyon ka hai
saare jahaan ko de raha aa
aa aa aa aa aaa
paighaam mastiyon ka hai
saare jahaan ko de raha
saare jahaan ko de raha
saare jahaan ko de raha
do din ki ye jawaaniyaan
do din ki ye kahaaniya aa
aa aa aa aa aaa
do din ki ye jawaaniyaan
do din ki ye kahaaniyaan aa
aa aa aa aa aaa
do din ki ye bahaar hai
wo sabko hai suna raha
do din ki ye bahaar hai
wo sabko hai suna raha
aashiqon ka kaafila
ye aashiqon ka kaafila
ye aashiqon ka kaafila
ye mastiyon se khelta
kisi ko dhoondhti hai nazar
ye dil kyun beqaraar hai
kisi ko dhoondhti hai nazar
ye dil kyun beqaraar hai
ye dil kyun beqaraar hai
ye dil kyun beqaraar hai
husn ke huzoor mein ye
ishq ki pukaar hai
husn ke huzoor mein ye
ishq ki pukaar hai
ye zindagi ke saaz pe
ae ae
ae ae ae ae
ye zindagi ke saaz pe
ye ras bhari aawaaz mein
adaa se aur naaz se
kaun gungunaa raha
adaa se aur naaz se
kaun gungunaa raha
aashiqon ka kaafila
ye aashiqon ka kaafila
ye aashiqon ka kaafila
ye mastiyon se khelta
uchhalta jhoomta hua
su e chaman hai jaa raha
su e chaman hai jaa raha
su e chaman hai jaa raha
6 Responses to "Aashiqon ka kaafilaa"
February 19, 2016 at 7:20 pm
Another song by Mohammed Rafi and G. M. Durrani of Tarzan Mera Saathi (1974)
Hamne Circus Me Naukri Kar Li
Along with Shankar, Jaikishan there was one Ken Jones in the credits
Now who is this guy Ken Jones?
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February 19, 2016 at 8:08 pm
‘Hamne circus mein naukari kar li’ was a Durrani solo first sung in ‘Lahore’ (1949). I was not sure if the song was re-used in ‘Tarzan Mera Saathi’ (1974) as a duet or solo. So I excluded from the list.
From the poster, it appears that ‘Tarzan Mera Saathi’ (1974) was a colloboration between MGM and Jaimini Dewan Productions. ‘Lahore’ (1949) was also produced under the banner of Jaimini Dewan Productions.
I have no idea about Ken Jones. Probably, he may have provided background music for the film.
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February 19, 2016 at 11:31 pm
The audio is not clear, but I will attempt to fill in the blanks in the lyrics,
– ‘chalta jhoomta hua su-e-chaman hai jaa raha’
– ‘ kis ko dhoondhtee hai nazar, ye dil kyun beqarar hai’
– ‘husn ke huzoor mein ye ishq ki pukaar hai’
– ‘ fazaa se’ should be ‘adaa se aur naaz se’
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February 20, 2016 at 3:01 am
Pratap ji,
Thanks for your efforts in deciphering the missing words.
For me, these make sense in the the lyrics.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 19, 2016 at 7:10 pm
resercher sadanandbhai,
aa film man mubarak begum nu gaayelu ‘damdam khayaal dilbar’ chhe?
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