Mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de
Posted on: January 27, 2023
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 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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Govind Nihalani joined Hindi film industry as a Cinematographer in 1974. In the initial period, he mainly worked with Shyam Benegal as a Cinematographer, both for his documentary and feature films. In 1980, he turned director and directed some socially relevant films such as ‘Aakrosh’ (1980), Vijeta (1982), ‘Ardha Satya’ (1983), ‘Aghaat’ (1985), ‘Drishti’ (1990), ‘Drohkaal’ (1994), ‘Hazaar Chauraasi Ki Maa’ (1998). Almost all his films, both as a Cinematographer and the Director were critically acclaimed.
With ‘Thakshak’ (1999), Govind Nihalani made his first attempt (and probably the last) in producing and directing a commercial genre of Hindi film, also called ‘the mainstream Bollywood’ film. In his interview held sometime in December 1999 which was published on the ‘Rediff On The Net’, Govind Nihalani revealed that Ajay Devgan was keen to work with him and he had a script ready to fit the role for him. Manmohan Shetty, who had produced some of Govind Nihalani offbeat films, was requesting him to make a film for the wider audience also. The eagerness of Ajay Devgan to work with him, getting Manmohan Shetty to finance the film and an opportunity to experiment with a different genre of film, prompted him to make ‘Thakshak’ (1999). Ajay Devgan and Tabu were the lead pair with Amrish Puri, Rahul Bose, Govind Namdev, Nethra Raghuraman, A K Hangal, Ravi Patwardhan, Uttara Baokar etc. in supporting roles.
As revealed by Govind Nihalani in a separate interview, producing and directing a commercial film was a new experience for him. His earlier films were made with a small budget, and he did not have the pressure of box office success. Hence, he made his earlier films without interference from any quarters. While making ‘Thakshak’, though he did not have any problem with his main actors, there were pressures from the distributors to make some changes in the script of the film with their own suggestions when they were shown the rushes of the film. That the film took 2 years to complete (as against his earlier films which he completed in less than one year) would indicate that he had to compromise on his script which Govind Nihalani had originally written.
I had not watched the film when it was released. In fact, I did not have any idea about the story of the film. The only thing I knew about the film at that time was a dance song picturised on Tabu which I liked and therefore had watched the song on TV music channels a few times. Sometime back, that dance song came back to my mind and I refreshed my memory by watching the video clip of the song. I liked the song so much that I marked in my mind to write an article on this song for the Blog. Subsequently, I also watched the film on You Tube.
‘Thakshak’ (1999) is a romantic crime thriller. The story of the film was in keeping with the socio-political situations in the country, particularly in Mumbai of Builders-Underworlds-politicians nexus. Ishaan (Ajay Devgan), is the son of Nahar Singh (Amrish Puri), the partner in the real estate business of Jodha Bhai (Ravi Patwardhan) who in reality is a gangster. Sunny (Rahul Bose), the grandson of Jodha Bhai and Ishaan are great friends. But their temperament is quite different. Sunny believes that the power flows from the barrel of a gun. Ishaan reminds him that that the one who thrives on the power of gun can also get killed by the same gun. The subtle temperament of Ishaan is further soften when he meets his lady love Suman (Tabu). The influence of Suman on Ishaan turns him to shed the violent life of the underworld to the decent life of a common man. But Ishaan is in dilemma as his oath of allegiance to Sunny to remain with him as his partner in crime and his conscious telling him to follow the life like a common man like his idealistic romantic partner, Suman. A further complications in these relationship – Ishaan and Sunny and Ishaan and Suman develops when Suman is the witness to the crime committed by Sunny in killing the owner of an old house to grab the plot where Ishaan is the partner in the crime. How the emerging situations themselves force Ishaan to come out of his moral obligations toward Sunny and follow the path of humanity is the finale of the film.
Now my 2 cents on the film. The story of a criminal trying to live a decent life like a common man has been tried in Hindi films many time. But in ‘Thakshak’, Govind Nihalani has given somewhat different treatment in that he has projected Ishaan caught in a moral dilemma of protecting his gangster friend, Sunny against whom his lady love, Suman has testified. The emotional upheaval Ishaan goes through has been well presented. All the three main actors – Ajay Devgan, Tabu and Rahul Bose have performed very well. However, the momentum of the story slows down due to 8 songs in the film most of which do not fit into the story of the film. Also, in my view, there was no need for the role of Nethra Raghuraman as a night club dancer on whom 2 songs have been picturised. I guess these are the additions which may have been suggested by the distributors. I feel that the story, screenplay, and dialogues with the exclusions of some songs and some unwarranted scenes would have turned the film into an absorbing thriller. Nonetheless, the film is interesting to watch at least once.
‘Thakshak’ (1999) has 8 songs, written by Mehboob (6) Sukhwinder Singh (1) and Sukhwinder Singh-Tejpal Kaur (1) which were set to music by A R Rahman. None of the songs has been represented on the Blog. I present the first song to appear on the Blog which is my most favourite song from the film. The song is ‘mujhe rang de range de mujhe rang de’ which is a semi-classical dance song. At the same time, the music composition sounds like that of a qawwali song.
The song is written by Sukhwinder Singh jointly with Tejpal Kaur and rendered by Asha Bhosle. There are some Punjabi words in the lyrics.
There is an interesting trivia as to how Sukhwinder Singh got to write this song as well as one more song for the film. He had come to ‘Chennai to meet A R Rahman for the first time. He was composing tunes for ‘Thakshak’ (1999). A R Rahman asked him whether he can write songs. Sukhwinder Singh promptly nodded and wrote the song under discussion. When Rahman asked him to pen one more song, Sukhwinder Singh told him that he has come to get some singing assignments from him. Rahman kept his promise and gave him to sing chal chhainyya chhainyya chhainyya chhainyya from ‘Dil Se’ (1998).[Source: The Asian Age, May 16, 2016].
While listening to this song, I felt that there is some spiritual feel in the opening lines of the songs as it is repeated several times. I remembered that Hazrat Amir Khusrow had written a Sufi Kalam, ‘mohe apne hi rang mein rang de’. This has become inspiration for some lyricists of Hindi films to include this spiritual element. One example is the song, o rangrez, tere rang dariya mein from ‘Bhaag Milka Bhaag’ (2013).
According to Sukaina Nagpal, the song was choreographed by her mother, Saroj Khan. [Source: Rediff interview appeared on July 3, 2020]. It is a 7+ minutes dance song picturised on Tabu who is not a trained dancer. Yet, she has performed the dance gracefully. The confidence of the Choreographer in the dancing ability of Tabu can be judged from the fact that she was covered in mid-shot frame to capture her hand gestures, expressions, and steps most of the time. Some of her shots were of longer durations, which is possible only when it is picturised on a trained dancer. Note Tabu’s expression and hand gestures at 5:36-5:42 in line with the lyrics. Probably, she must have toiled a lot during the rehearsals. All the supportive dancers did very well in synchronization of dancing steps as well as expressions and gestures. For example, watch 3:52 – 4:22 of the video clip. This is, in my view, one of the best dances choreographed by Saroj Khan in Hindi films.
I think after S D Burman, A R Rahman is one among the current music directors who is expert in picking the right playback singer suitable to his style of songs. In this film, he has used Hema Sardesai, Sujata Trivedi, and Alisha Chinoy among female playback singers for other songs. It is said that A R Rahman selects a playback singer only after he has composed the tune and the music for a song. His musical compositions decide the playback singer. For the song under discussion, he has used Asha Bhosle’s voice. And it turned out to be the right choice. Note how Asha Bhosle takes the octave leap from lower to higher pitch effortlessly. Towards the end of the song, her aalaaps are mesmerising. The song ends with Tabu going into a trance true of a Sufi singing.
Lastly, I must make a special mention of the flute interlude in the song from 2:58 to 3:34. I guess, it was played by Flautist, Naveen Kumar who has been continuously associated with A R Rahman since ‘Roja’ (1992) until he moved to Mumbai in 2003. Thereafter, Naveen Kumar played flute for A R Rahman, albeit occasionally.
I can watch the video clip of this song umpteen time because all those who are associated with song have done exceedingly well to make it a classic dance song.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de (Takshak)(1999) Singer-Asha Bhonsle, Sukhwinder Singh-Tejpal Kaur, MD-A R Rahman
Male chorus
Female chorus
Lyrics
Mujhe rang de…….ae
rang de
mujhe rang de rang de
mujhe rang de ae
mujhe rang de
rang de
mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de
ho o o o ho o
ho o o o ho o
ho o o o ho o
ho o o o ho o
mujhe rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
haan mujhe rang de mujhe rang de
mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de
haan rang de haan rang de
haan apni preet vich rang de
ho o o o ho o
ho o o o ho o
mujhe rang de mujhe rang de
mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de
haan rang de haan rang de
haan apni preet vich rang de
mujhe rang de mujhe rang de
mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de
haan rang de haan rang de
haan apni preet vich rang de
main ban ke savera jaag uthhi
main jaag uthhi…ee ee
main banke savera jaag uthhi
main jaag uthhi
jee jaag uthhi
main banke morni naach uthhi
main naach uthhi
channa naach uthhi
tere naina mere naina
mere nainon mein rang de
haan rang de haan rang de
haan apni preet vich rang de
ho o o o ho o
tere naina mere naina
mere nainon mein rang de
haan rang de haan rang de
mujhe apni preet vich rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de
rang de rang de mujhe
rang de rang de mujhe
rang de rang de mujhe
rang de
rang de
tere sapnon ke aangan mein chham chham chaloon
main chaloon main chaloon tere sang sang chaloon
aaja aaja ve aaja tu ban ke hawa
tere sadke jaawaan
tere vaare jaawaan
aaja aaja ve aaja tu banke hawa
tere sadke jaawan tere vaare jaawan
mujhe rang de mujhe rang de
mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de
haan rang de haan rang de
haan apni preet vich rang de
mujhe rang de mujhe rang de
mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de
haan rang de haan rang de
aa apni preet vich rang de
rang de……ae
rang de
[Sargam]
main bhi tanha hoon
tu bhi hai tanha kahin
main adhoori yahaan
tu adhoora kahin
ik aahat si hoti hai mujhko yahaan
tu kahaan hai kahaan hai kahaan hai kahaan
mujhe le chal tu
le chal tu
le chal wahaan…aan aan
jahaan tak aasmaan aasmaan aasmaan…aan aan
ho mohobbat ki duniya nasheman jahaan
mujhe le chal tu le chal tu le chal wahaan
ho mohobbat ki duniya nasheman jahaan
mujhe le chal tu le chal tu le chal wahaan
tu le chal wahaan
tu le chal wahaan
tu le chal wahaan
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
aa aa aa aaa aaaa
(rang de rang de)
aa aa aa aa aaaa
(rang de rang de mujhe rang de)
ae ae ae ae ae ae ae
(rang de rang de)
ae ae ae
(rang de rang de mujhe rang de)
ae ae ae ae ae ae
(rang de rang de)
rang de……….
(rang de rang de mujhe rang de)
de……….ae
(rang de rang de)
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
(ho o o o ho o)
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
(ho o o o ho o)
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
rang de rang de
rang de rang de mujhe rang de
6 Responses to "Mujhe rang de rang de mujhe rang de"
January 29, 2023 at 1:23 pm
“Arey baap re !!!, ‘Waah, waah’ was my first reaction when I read the title of the post in mail notification of this post and the author’s name ‘ Post by Sadanand Kamathi ji’.
Second ‘spontaneous’ reaction was ‘ham to pehle se hi is rang mein rangen huye hain’ (because Tabu being one of my favorite actresses and the liking for this song I had).
Now, after reading this post, after a long wait 🙂 today and watching this song with the details mentioned in this post, this is what I have to say – Many thanks for this post. Enjoyed the post thoroughly (like all your posts). Thanks for writing about Govind Nihalani ji.
I remember, I was staying at Bareilly then when this movie was released. But I had never watched it since then. Though this song was very much played on TV in the promos of the movie (I think) and/or TV programs and I like this song very much.
Thanks again,
Looking forward for the two more posts on ‘colours’ (fusion, I mean 🙂 )
Regards,
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January 30, 2023 at 8:13 pm
This is a favourite song of mine from that period.
“Note how Asha Bhosle takes the octave leap from lower to higher pitch effortlessly. Towards the end of the song, her aalaaps are mesmerising.”
I completely agree – it is Asha Bhonsle all the way.
And Tabu’s dance due to Saroj Khan’s choreography – too good. This was the time when whatever Saroj Khan did with Madhuri Dixit became an instant hit. Looking closely into this dance we can see that Saroj ji must have had Madhuri in her mind when she composed the steps and Tabu pulled it off superbly. Because Tabu’s calibre as an actress is on another level. She has an effortless style in acting.
Thank You Sadanandji for bringing it with this excellent post that pointed towards the flautist, nuances of the singing, dance etc.
And did you notice the decor of the stage.
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January 31, 2023 at 9:15 am
Peevesie’s Mom,
Thank you for your appreciation.
I did notice the stage decoration created for the dance but did not examine in the same way as I examined the dance and the song. Now that you have asked me, I had a relook at the stage decorations.
The decoration behind the main supporting dancers with Tabu is the replica of the main entrance of a Fort which has ‘sun’ as emblem on the top. This means it is a replica of a fort belonging to a Suryavanshi king in Rajasthan. The frescoes displayed on the ‘walls of the fort’ are typical of forts and palaces in Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. There is a replica, probably of a tomb. Then there are decorations of ‘marble grills’. Overall, the decorations are in keeping with a Sufi song.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 28, 2023 at 1:05 pm
Thanks for the reminder and post of this song. This is a well known song of that period, and I remember it . I usually like the ‘Rang’ related song. I am doing a series on ARR, but my posts are very basic and superficial, as I have next to zero knowledge about music instruments. And ARR is a master fusionist of vocal and the instrumental.
I am sure, you know Amir Khusro’s “aaj rang hai” in the film “Junoon”. I believe it is a “Holi” Sufiana qawwali.
Thanks and regard.
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January 28, 2023 at 5:35 pm
Nahm ji,
Thanks for going through the write-up.
I have two more write-ups in the pipeline on fusion songs (semi-classical/folk/Sufi melodies blended with pop orchestration). Coincidentally, both are under the music direction of A R Rahman.
Yes, I had watched the video of ‘Aaj rang hai’ from ‘Junoon’ (1978) long time back. I watched once again just now to check whether it is a ‘holi’ song or not. In my view, it is a ‘Rangreza’ (dyer) type of song. Amir Khusro sees rang (glow) around his Pir (Nizamuddin Aulia) and plead his Pir to immerse him in his rang (glow). I think, it is leading to the Sufi philosophy of unison.
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