Kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad

Posted by: Atul on: May 20, 2023

In: expression of love | Feelings of heart | Guest posts | Post by Sadanand Kamath | Songs of 2000s (2001 to 2010) | Songs of 2004 | Yearwise breakup of songs
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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.

Blog Day :

5419

Post No. :

17773

Movie Count :

4759

‘Yuva’ (2004) was produced by Mani Ratnam and G Srinivasan under the banner of Madras Talkies and was directed by Mani Ratnam. The film was simultaneously shot in Tamil as ‘Aaytha Ezhuthu’ (2004) with a different cast. The film was loosely based on the life story of George Reddy, a student leader who was a gold medalist in his post-graduation in Nuclear Physics from Osmania University, Hyderabad. He died young at the age of 25 by a stab wound in his college campus.

The screenplay was written by Mani Ratnam in Tamil which was translated in English and handed over to Anurag Kashyap to write dialogues in Hindi. According to Anurag Kashyap, Mani Ratnam gave him a free hand to write dialogues in Hindi keeping in mind that the language used in the dialogues was spoken Hindi of local dialect from UP/Bihar and the story was based in Kolkata.

I watched the film on an OTT platform about a month back. The film is about three main characters from different classes of society. The first character is Michael Mukherjee (Ajay Devgan), a college student doing his PhD. He has got a scholarship for going abroad and his future seems bright. However, he is not interested in going abroad as he is actively involved in local politics. He projects himself as a socially conscious youth leader who wants to bring about changes in the lives of the people for their betterment. He is keeping himself ready to stand in the election against Prosenjit Chatterjee (Om Puri), a corrupt politician. Michael is in love with Radhika (Esha Deol), a teacher.

The second character is Lallan Singh (Abhishek Bachchan), a migrant from Bihar who has come up the hard way in Kolkata. He is a hot-headed goon, an extortionist and a murderer. By this very nature, Lallan Singh is in demand in the games of politics. He works for Prosenjit Chatterjee as his henchman. He terrorises the college students who are the supporters of Michael. He is married to a Bengali girl, Sashi Biswas (Rani Mukerji) with whom he has ‘blow hot blow cold’ relationship. She tries to reform Lallan Singh but in vain.

The third character is Arjun Balachandran (Vivek Oberoi), son of a bureaucrat and a student who is doing his final mechanical engineering. He has planned everything in his life to be materialistic and opportunistic. He wishes to go for higher studies abroad and settle there to earn lots of money. All he wants is to have lots of fun filled life. He has bumped into a girl Meera (Kareena Kapoor) with whom he is in love.

In the film, the story of all the three characters runs parallel without any connection with each other. However, a murder attempt on Michael by Lallan Singh on the Howrah Bridge under the instructions from the politician, Prosenjit Chatterjee brings all the three characters together. From this incident onwards, the lives of all the three characters change. Michael now wants to fight the election against Prosenjit Chatterjee. Arjun abandons his plan to go to US to settle down there. Instead, he also joins with Michael to fight the election. Now it is the fights between Michael and Arjun versus Prosenjit Chatterjee and Lallan Singh. Finally, Michael Mukherjee and Arjun win the election. Both Michael and Arjun get married to their girlfriends. Lallan Singh is prosecuted for spate of murders and gets imprisonment for life while his wife, Sashi goes back to her parents’ house.

‘Yuva’ (2004) has six songs, all written by Mehboob Kotwal and set to music by A R Rahman. I am presenting the first song, ‘kabhi neem neem kabhi sahad sahad’ from the film to appear on the Blog. The song is rendered by Madhushree (Sujata Bhattacharya) and A R Rahman. The song is picturised on Rani Mukerji and Abhishek Bachchan.

The song starts and ends with humming to give a folk touch to it. Through song, Rani Mukerji describes the nature of her husband as sometimes rugged and sometimes very soft in nature. She compares his nature as bitter as neem leaves and as sweet as honey.

This is my most favourite song from the film for its melody, lyrics, raw romance and above all the A R Rahman’s interlude rendering on which both Abhishek Bachchan’s dance and Rani Mukerji’s expressions are mind blowing. I hear only two musical instruments – Ghatam and Ghunghroo (hand bells) in the background when the song starts with humming and up to the mukhda part. The soft play of Ghatam and Ghunghroo creates the necessary atmosphere when Abhishek Bachchan is walking in the rain-showers, carrying Rani Mukerji. In the later part of the songs, percussions have been mainly used. Another feature of this song is that Madhushree pronounces ‘sandhya’ as ‘shondha’ and ‘bairagi’ as ‘boiragi’ in keeping with the role of Rani Mukerji as a Bengali wife.

This song is unforgettable even after 19 years have passed since the release of the film in May 2004.

Video Clip:

Audio Clip:

Song-Kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad (Yuva)(2004) Singers-Madhushree, A R Rahman, Lyrics-Mehboob Kotwal, MD-A R Rahman

Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip)

humm humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm
humm humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm
huun huun hunn huun huun
humm humm humma
humma humm

neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
mora piya
mora piya
mora piya..aa hoo
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya..aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya re
lajja se mare re ye jiya

shondha ki ye laali mukh chamkaaye
sondhi sondhi khushboo mann behkaaye
zulfon ki raina phir kyun na chhaaye
ho chaand sitaare
dekhenge saare
chaand sitaare
dekhenge saare
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
mora piya
mora piya
mora piya…aa oo

ho o o o o o o o……o
aa hi aa hi aa he o o o o o
aa o o o aa o o o aa o o o
aa ho o o o o o o o o o
aa he hi he hi he he ha ha ha ha
ha hi ha hi ha hi o
ha ha ha ha ha
aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi
aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi
ho hi aa ho hi aa ho hi aaa
o hi o o o ho hi aa
ho hi ho hi ho hi ho o aa
ho hi ho hi ho hi ho o aa
ho hi ho hi ho hi aa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

boiraagi mann tera hai saheb ji
mere seene mein hai qaid wo ab ji
preet ki rakho laaj ae mere rab ji
o ruswa huyi to
duniya hansi to
ruswa huyi to
duniya hansi to
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya..aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
mora piya
mora piya
mora piya
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya..aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya re
lajja se mare re ye jiya