Saare jahaan se achcha Hindostaan hamaara
Posted on: January 26, 2021
This article is written by nahm, 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 other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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72nd Republic Day – 26/01/2021
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dekho kaheen barbaad na hove ye bageecha
dekho kaheen barbaad na hove ye bageecha
isko hriday ke khoon se Baapu ne hai seencha
rakkha hai ye chiraag shaheedon ne baal ke,
iss desh ko rakhna mere bachchon sambhaal ke
ham laaye hain toofaan se kishti nikaal ke
iss desh ko rakhna mere bachchon sambhaal ke
For the last 13-14 years, I have seen that always original soundtracks of patriotic songs are played on every national festival day morning for at least 2 hours in the flag hoisting ceremony held at the building, adjacent to mine. Every year I am hoping that these songs, some of them very old are being played in my building, but no, they are in the next building:-). Always it is the case of ‘dur ke dhol suhaane’ to express in the hindustani parlance.
I was not motivated enough to write a post for today, till I heard the above quoted Rafi song from the film Jaagriti (1954), in between the two flag hoisting ceremonies I attended this morning. Plus I remembered this rendition of ‘Tarana-e-hindi’ from Ye Gulistan hamaara(1972).
I am producing the complete ghazal by Dr. Allama Iqbal, which I had meant to do a post to commemorate another anniversary, but since today is the day of patriotic songs, here it is:
Saare jahaan se achchha hindostan hamaara
Ham bulbulen hain iss ki ye gulsitaan hamaara
Gurbat mein hon agar ham rehta hai dil watan mein
Samjho vahin hamen bhi dil ho jahaan hamaara
Parbat wo sab se oonchaa ham-saaya aasmaan ka
Wo santari hamaara wo paasbaan hamaaraa
Godi mein khelti hain iss ki hazaaron nadiyaan
Gulshan hai jin ke dam se rashk-e-jinaan hamaara
Aye aab-rud-e-ganga wo din hai yaad tujh ko
Utra tere kinaare jab kaarwaan hamaara
Mazhab nahin sikhaata aapas mein bair rakhnaa
Hindi hain ham watan hai hindostaan hamaara
Yunaan o misr o rumaa sab mit gaye jahaan se
Ab tak magar hai baaqi naam-o-nishaan hamaara
Kuchh baat hai ki hasti mit-ti nahin hamaari
Sadiyon rahaa hai dushman daur-e-zamaan hamaara
‘Iqbal’ koyi mahram apna nahin jahaan mein
Maalum kya kisi ko dard-e-nihaan hamaara
Ist, 3rd, 4th and 6th sha’ir of the above is so well known that there is no song in the world to compare in popularity. As poetical expression of national/regional pride also this is an international legend, and will be so till the civilization survives. Maybe someone down the line would have thought of saying it this simply, but Dr. Iqbal thought of it first. Such a quote, I don’t think would sound this natural and believable in any other language. Dr. Iqbal wrote this as a childrens song and named it ‘taraana-e-hindi”.
There are many things in our vast country that we can be proud of, but the idea of India is the core of it. This type of poetry was needed back then, in the British India, to awaken the national fervour and make people yearn for the possession of the wealth, natural resources and the artistic genius, this country possessed and still possesses.
Yunaan o Misr o Rumaa sab mit gaye jahaan se
Ab tak magar hai baaqi naam-o-nishaan hamaara
Yunaan is Greece, Misr is Egypt and Rumaa is Rome (meaning Roman Empire here).
Kuchh baat hai ki hasti mit-ti nahin hamaari
Sadiyon rahaa hai dushman daur-e-zamaan hamaara
Iqbal knew his stuff and what he was talking about and to whom he was saying it. He wrote the poem before the world wars and the British were yet to complete 50 years of total domination in this region. And some 40 years before the end of 2nd world war, which were to finally break the backbone of the British Empire. It was first published on 16th August 1904, in the weekly journal Ittehad (Unity).
I know that the roots of the idea of Pakistan or a separate nation for muslims was to stem from the ‘taraan-e-milli’ which Dr. Iqbal wrote as a sequel to ‘taraana-e-hindi’ as per some theorists. But what is supposed to happen to the core idea of India which was the cultural diversity the intellectual world still swears by, is the point to ponder. This was the pluralism Iqbal was talking about a whole concept, it was destined to end up like:
Iss dil ke tukde hazaar huye
Koyi yehaan gira koyi wahaan giraa
The fact of the matter is, the Britishers, were the foreigners who never wanted to amalgamate with this country and they had their masters back home, whose coffers they were sent to fill. They left only those places intact in their wake, which they could ensure would be ruled by the European races and their generation. With India and other vast colonies like Arab world, they did not succeed in doing it. Instead, they managed to ensure that they would leave them divided, so that they can never rise against the European powers, for generations to come. They did this with the help of vested interests in the Arab world and India. The lies may be multiple but the truth is always one. It is still a matter of conjecture, who played in whose hands and ended up losing the power of numbers, a fact which is amply demonstrated by the growth of China in our times.
The British did not just divide the real idea of India, they divided the natural and human resources of the region, whom they tried to achieve control of, for more than 2 centuries, only to relinquish the full control within 100 years of gaining it. These facts and the time lines tell their own story. ‘Break the powers you can’t control” was the name of the game.
I feel this story is yet to be told in its full inglorious detail. Because even if it is late, the truth can never be suppressed forever. And we are living the era of ‘True lies’ by our own admission.
Here is the song to commemorate the Republic day 2021. Composition is credited to SDB and Pandit Ravi Shankar in the films soundtrack and singers are Sushma Shrestha and various artists. The full rendition is in chorus, as it befits the composition.
Video – 1
Video – 2
Song-Saare jahaan se achcha Hindostan hamaara (Ye Gulistaan Hamaara)(1972) Singers-Sushma Shreshtha, Lyrics-Allama Iqbal, MD-S D Burman
Lyrics
Saare jahaan se achchha
hindostaan hamaara
aa aaa
saare jahaan se achchha
hindostaan hamaara
ham bulbulen hain iss ki
ye gulsitaan hamaara hamaara
saare jahaan se achchha
gurbat mein hon agar ham mm
rehtaa hai dil watan mein
samjho wahin hamen bhi
dil ho jahaan hamaara hamaara aa
saare jahaan se achchha
parvat wo sab se oonchaa
ham-saaya aasmaan ka
wo santari hamaara aa
wo paasbaan hamaara hamaaraa aa
saare jahaan se achchha
mazhab nahin sikhaata
aapas mein bair rakhnaa
hindi hain ham
hindi hain ham
hindi hain ham
watan hai ea
hindostaan hamaara hamaaraa
saare jahaan se achchha
saare jahaan se achchha
hindostaan hamaara
ham bulbulen hain iss ki
ye gulsitaan hamaara hamaara
saare jahaan se achchha
hindostaan hamaara
ham bulbulen hain iss ki
ye gulsitaan hamaara hamaara
saare jahaan se achchha (aa aa aa aa)
hindostaan hamaara(aa aa aa aa)
ham bulbulen hain iss ki(aa aa aa aa)
ye gulsitaan hamaara hamaara(aa aa aa aa)
4 Responses to "Saare jahaan se achcha Hindostaan hamaara"
October 17, 2021 at 6:38 pm
The song has two versions – Version-1 is a chorus song which is played during the title display. Version-2 was a rendition by Sushma Shreshta with kids. However, Sushma Shreshtha version was not included in the final print of the film. Instead, a part of the Version-1 song was used in the picturisation local children sing accompanying Dev Anand.
The audio clip of the combined version:
Video Clip (Version-1) – Title song:
Video Clip (Version-2, Chorus):
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October 17, 2021 at 7:43 pm
There is a history as to how Sushma Shreshta got to sing ‘saare jahaan se achcha Hindostan hamaara’ for this film as revealed by her in an interview:
After the sudden death of music director, Bhola Shreshta who was also assisting S D Burman, Sushma Shreshta was called by S D Burman to visit his house. When Burmanda saw her, he started crying like a child. The reason was that apart from his closeness with Bhola Shreshta, Burmanda had promised him that he would give chance to his daughter, Sushma Shreshta to sing under his baton. He was sorry that he could not fulfil his promise during Bhola Shreshta’s life time.
At this point of time, S D Burman was composing songs for ‘Ye Gulistaan Hamaara’. He requested Dev Anand to include a scene in which a girl is singing with other kids the song ‘saare jahaan se achcha….’ for which he would get the song sung by Sushma. Dev Anand could not say no to him. Accordingly, Burmanda recorded the song. This song was not picturised in a way as desired by Burmanda but pictuirsed as a chorus song taking a part of the song used as a title song. However, Sushma’s version of the song was included in the EP records of the songs of the film.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 27, 2021 at 8:42 am
This is THE post that this song needed.
All thoughts are nicely expressed.
Does this post also Yyippeeee this movie?
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January 27, 2021 at 12:39 pm
Not yet. One more to go, as per listing on myswar.com. which is total 8 songs, with two versions of ‘Saare jahan se achchha’.
When I thought of writing a post for this song yesterday morning, I was not expecting this to get done and posted. Thanks to Atul ji, that it got here on the blog.
Thank you for your encouraging comment.
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