Kya ye zindagi hai kaisi bebasi hai
Posted on: October 18, 2021
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, 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 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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‘Ye Gulistaan Hamaara’ (1972) was produced and directed by Atma Ram under the banner of Guru Dutt Films Combined. The star cast included Dev Anand and Sharmila Tagore in the lead roles supported by Pran, Iftikhar, Sujit Kumar, Johny Walker, Jaishree T, Lalita Pawar, Kanan Kaushal, Ramesh Deo, Raj Mehra, Keshav Rana, Janakidas etc.
The story is woven around a bridge which is being constructed over Dihing River in North-East India for a good connectivity. But the local tribals are oppose to it. They think that this is one way of imposing the slavery on the local tribes in the name of infrastructural development. This sentiment is exploited by some foreign agents who instigate the tribal chieftain to destroy the under-construction bridge. It is at this point, Dev Anand as an Intelligence Bureau Officer is sent to supervise the construction of the bridge without any hindrances.
How Dev Anand achieves the objective by overcoming the tribal opposition to construction of the bridge is the rest of the story that moves forward. If the film was to be made in English, it would have been apt to name the film as ‘The Bridge on the River Dihing’ on the lines of a well- known Hollywood film ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’.
The film’s outdoor shooting was done in Assam (near Digboi where a bridge was under construction), Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh. During the shooting of the film, the crew faced the hostile crowd led by the Naga Students Federation in Shillong. Some stone throwing incidences were also reported. The Naga students felt that it was a politically motivated film to insult the Naga tribal culture. Sharmila Tagore played the role of a Naga girl named ‘Sekrenyi’ which is the name of the holy festival of Angami Naga tribe. It is said that with the intervention of Bhupen Hazarika, the shooting of the film went on smoothly thereafter. The name of Sharmila Tagore’s character in the film was changed to ‘Soo Reni’.
In my younger days, I had read in the newspapers about the opposition of local tribals in laying the railway tracks in Meghalaya (Guwahati to Byrnihat). I understand that this line is yet to be operational. The same problem is faced for the railway track between Silchar and Imphal in Manipur. The main worry the local tribals is that good connectivity would lead to the influx of outsiders in their tribal belts threatening their own existence and culture. I feel that ‘Ye Gulistaan Hamaara’ (1972) was a ‘half-baked’ attempt to remove tribal population’s worries about the likely cultural dominance by the rest of India over the North-East’s tribal culture.
At the time of the release of the film, Naga Students Federation took out the protest march for banning the film on the ground of undermining the Naga tribal culture. They also felt that a couple of songs in the film sounded racial. In any case, they opposed the released of the film in Nagaland and Meghalaya. There were violent protests on the streets of Shillong. Finally, the film was released in 1973 after incorporating a notice in the film itself that ‘customs depicted in film, folk dances, dresses etc have no parallel with any of the tribes in Nagaland’. Some songs’ wordings were also changed to appease the protestors.
Initially, Danny Denzongpa was to perform the role of Dev Anand’s local associate in the film. S D Burman had already recorded a song in Danny voice along with Lata Mangeshkar. However, Johny Walker insisted with Atma Ram that he should also get a role in the film. Atma Ram agreed to take Johny Walker in place of Danny. However, Danny’s first song as a playback singer was retained which was picturised on Johny Walker. I personally feel that the role of a local person would have fitted well on Danny because of his facial feature. But at that time, Danny was a newcomer to protest. His consolation must have been the debut song he sang under the baton of S D Burman which was well appreciated.
‘Ye Gulistaan Hamaara’ (1972) had 7 songs of which six songs were written by Anand Bakshi. Six songs have been covered on the Blog, details of which areas under:
| Songs | Date of Posting | Singers |
|---|---|---|
| Gori gori gaaon ki gori re | 30/10/2008 | Kishore Kumar – Lata |
| Mera naam yaao mere paas aao | 17/01/2009 | Dany Denzongpa-Lata |
| Naina soyi soyi raina jaage jaage | 09/06/2013 | Lata Mangeshkar |
| Ho Tushima ri Tushima…aa gara toofaan | 31/10/2018 | Lata Mangeshkar |
| Hey suno meri baat chalo mere saath | 03/12/2020 | Kishore Kumar |
| Saare jahaan se achcha Hindostaan hamaara | 26/01/2021 | Sushma Shreshta and Kids -1, Chorus Version-2 |
I am presenting the 7th and the final song, ‘kya ye zindagi hai kaisi bebasi hai’ from the film which is rendered by Lata Mangeshkar, S D Burman and chorus. The song is written by Anand Bakshi. The song has its uniqueness in that when Lata Mengeshkar sings, the chorus voices parallelly sing some words which I am unable to decipher.
With this song, all the songs from the film ‘Ye Gulistaan Hamaara’ (1972) have been covered on the Blog.
Audio Clip:
Video Clip:
Song-Kya ye zindagi hai (Ye Gulsitaan Hamaara)(1972) Singers-Lata, S D Burman, Lyrics-Anand Bakshi, MD-S D Burman
Lyrics (Based on the Audio Clip):
kya ye zindagi hai
kaisi bebasi hai
bolo kyun khade ho gumsum
kya ye zindagi hai
kaisi bebasi hai
bolo kyun khade ho gumsum
ek baar mila de na
ek baar mila de na
sadiyon se yoon hi
sar pe dukhon kaa
bojha uthaaye
in parbaton pe
ham chal rahen hain
bhookhe nange pyaase
laao haath
laao haath
apne saath
laao haath apne saath
chalke dekho do kadam tum
kya ye zindagi hai
kaisi bebasi hai
bolo kyun khade ho gumsum
kitni hai doori ee
ham bade peechhe
tum bade aage
tumhen chhoo naa paaye
tumhen chhoo bhi len to
thukraaye jaayen
apna mel
nahin khel
apna mel
nahin khel
o baabu kahaan hum kahaan tum
kya ye zindagi hai
kaisi bebasi hai
bolo kyun khade ho gumsum
ek baar mila de na
ek baar mila de na
hamne ye maana
ham to bure hain
hamne ki buraayi
tum to bhale ho.o o
tumne hamaari
ki hai kya bhalaayi
samjhaao
sikhlaao
samjhaao
sikhlaao
gale se lagaa ke hamen tum
kya ye zindagi hai
kaisi bebasi hai
bolo kyun khade ho gumsum
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 6, 2022 at 5:12 pm
audio link:
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