Ab to jagna hee hoga behnon ham ko mil ke
Posted by: Atul on: June 20, 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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wo tere pyaar ka gham, ek bahaana thhaa sanam
apni kismat hi kuchh aisi thhi ke dil toot gaya
While recording this song for ‘My Love’ (1970), Mukesh had told Daan Singh that people will remember this song for long after they are no more in this world. Mukesh’s prophecy has become true.
Remembering Daan Singh (belatedly) on his 12th Remembrance Day on June 18, 2023. A talented music director, Daan Singh’s musical career did not take off as per his talent due to sheer bad luck. He had done music direction for only 7 films during early 1960 to 2000 out of which his first 4 films remained either incomplete or unreleased. His 3 released film did not fare well at the box office despite having popular songs.
Daan Singh came to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1940s and assisted Khemchand Prakash beside becoming his disciple for about 2 years until the latter’s death. His first four assignments as a music director – ‘Ret Ki Ganga’ (UR), ‘Bhool Na Jaana’ (1965, UR), ‘Bahadur Shah Zafar’ (Unfinished), ‘Matlabi’ (Unfinished) either remained unfinished and did get released.
Daan Singh’s greatest setback in his musical career was when ‘Bhool Na Jaana’ (1965, UR) for which he put his best efforts to compose songs and was banking on the film’s success as according to him, the film was well conceived and made. The film’s story had a background of Indo-China war of 1962. Unfortunately, the film was not released presumably because the authorities did not wish to complicate the relations with China in the background of Indo-Pak war of 1965. Subsequently, Daan Singh’s two released film, ‘Toofaan’ (1969) and ‘My Love’ (1970) did not fare well on the box office despite their songs became popular.
Disillusioned with his musical career in Hindi films, in early 1970s, Daan Singh left Mumbai for his native city, Jaipur and joined AIR Jaipur as a music director. After a gap of nearly 3 decades, Daan Singh got an opportunity to compose songs for Jagmohan Mundra’s film ‘Bawandar’ (2000). But this film also got embroiled in controversies. As a result, the film got delayed in obtaining censor certificate for its release in India. Finally it got censor certificate in the later half of 2001 with ‘A’ Certificate. In the international circuit, the film was released in 2000 itself.
Daan Singh passed away on June 18, 2011, due to liver ailment at the age of 78.
‘Bawandar’ (2000) which was Daan Singh’s last Hindi film as a music director, was produced by Gaurang Doshi and Jagmohan Mundhra who also directed the film. The principal actors were Nandini Das, Raghuveer Yadav, Deepti Naval, Govind Namdeo, Laila Rouass, Rahul Khanna, Gulshan Grover, Yashpal Sharma, Lalit Tiwari, Ravi Jhankal, Lillete Dube, Mohan Bhandari, Anupam Shyam, Ashok Banthia, Shri Vallabh Vyas etc.
The film’s plot is based on a real story of Bhanwari Devi who was gang-raped by 2 men in Bhateri village near Jaipur. The details about this case are available on wikipedia. I have not been able to see the film fully as I found it distressing to watch. So, I have seen the film in snippets and that too skipping some portions. The name of the characters as well as the village where this incident happened was changed to avoid the legal issues. The film also took some cinematic liberties to make the plot dramatic.
The story of the film is introduced as a narration by a foreign journalist, Amy (Laila Rouass), who has read about Sanwari’s case in a newspaper. Amy with her friend-cum-interpreter Ravi (Rahul Khanna) visit Sanwari’s village to investigate the matter, five years after the gang-rape incident. Upon their arrival in Rajasthan, Amy and Ravi meet a rickshaw-puller named Sohan (Raghuvir Yadav) who happens to be Sanwari’s husband. He narrates the story to them. The story of the film is as under:
Sanwari (Nandita Das), a lower-caste woman lives with her husband, Sohan (Raghuvir Yadav), and two children in a village near Jaipur. One day, she sees a neighboring woman being mistreated by a man from the city’s upper caste. She speaks out in public about the incident. Shobha (Deepti Naval), a social worker, is impressed by Sanwari’s conviction and hires her as an assistant as the Indian government begins implementing a program to give greater rights and protection to Indian women.
Initially, Sanwari feels uncomfortable in her work as she is afraid of what the villagers would feel about her. However, she soon starts enjoying her work as a feminist activist. She becomes more outspoken against injustice done to women and against the caste system. This leads to enmity between her and many powerful men, mostly from the Gujjar caste. Sanwari and her family are boycotted by the local leaders. Sanwari persists with her efforts to educate the women folk in her village.
One day, Sanwari finds that a child marriage is taking place in her village in a Gujjar family. She opposes the marriage. Fed up with her constant feminist activities, the Gujjar family decides to take revenge against Sanwari. Five men from the family severely beat-up Sohan and gang-rape Sanwari. Devastated by the incident, Sanwari and Sohan decide to lodge FIR in the police station, But the police inspector refuses to lodge a FIR until he gets a medical report. The doctor will not issue a medical report until he gets Court Order. Sohan and Sanwari, with Shobha’s help go through these processes and their FIR is finally accepted. By this time, more than 24 hours have passed after the rape incidence which is crucial for the medical evidence. When the local leadership refuses to bring Sanwari’s attackers to justice, they bring the crime to the attention of the national media, leading people across the country to demand justice for Sanwari.
Despite huge hue and cry in the media, culprits are not arrested and continue to wander around in the village boasting about themselves. With Sanwari’s case getting nation-wide attention, the case is entrusted to CBI. The culprits are arrested and tried in Court. With the backing of a local MLA, Dhanraj Meena (Govind Namdeo), a lawyer is hired with the instructions that culprits are to be sheltered. At every date of hearing in the lower court, judges are transferred. The prosecuting lawyer who is from the upper caste is under pressure from the Gujjar community. Faced with a non-cooperative police force and maneuvered judicial system, Sanwari faces enormous obstacles in getting justice where the caste, influence, and money rather than the rule of law appears to have an upper hand.
Finally, after much delay, the lower court acquits all the rape accused due to lack of evidence. There is a feeling that the evidence have been deliberately tempered with as the medical checkup of Sanwari was not done within 24 hours from the happening of the rape incidence. The court judgement is resented by the women’s organisations from all over India. Under pressure, Rajasthan Government files an appeal against the judgement in the High Court. It is over 5 years, but High Court has yet to give a date for hearing.
The film ends with the acquitted accused being feted by local MLA, Dhanraj Meena and a huge crowd from the neighboring villages which include a large gathering of women. Sanwari and her husband Sohan continue to work towards the betterment of women in the village.
7 songs for the film were written by Hariram Acharya which were composed (set to tune) by Daan Singh with music arranged under the supervision of Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
Aa a tribute to Daan Singh, I have selected one of the 7 songs from ‘Bawandar’ (2000) which is a Rajasthani folk-based song. The song is ‘ab to jaagna hi hoga baheno hamko mil kar’ which is rendered by Mahalaxmi Iyer and Chorus. The song is written by Rajasthani poet, Hariram Acharya.
[Editor Note: Incidentally, Hariram Acharya also wrote four of the seven songs for the unreleased film ‘Bhool Na Jaana’ (c1965) three decades earlier.]
The song is picturised on Nandita Das and runs in the film towards the end when the closing credit titles are displayed. From the lyrics of the song, it appears to be picturised on Nandita Das with other women from the village, motivating the women to fight injustice to them unitedly. The song also advocates for an effective law to get timely justice to them. The song ends with the optimism that there may be delay in getting justice but ultimately truth will prevail. भगवान के घर देर है,अंधेर नहीं|
Audio Clip:
Song-Ab to jagna hi hoga behnon ham ko mil ke (Bawandar)(2000) Singer-Mahalaxmi Iyer, Lyrics-Hariram Acharya, MD-Daan Singh
Chorus
Mahalaxmi Iyer + Chorus
Lyrics
hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm
ab to jagna hi hoga behnon hamko mil ke
ab to jagna hi hoga behnon hamko mil ke
hamko mil ke saathinon sabko mil ke haan
hamko mil ke saathinon sabko mil ke
aage badhna hi hoga behnon sabko mil ke
aage badhna hi hoga behnon sabko mil ke
doob maren wo laaj lutere
naari sar kyun jhukaaye
doob maren wo laaj lutere
(aa aa aa aa )
naari sar kyun jhukaaye
wo kaanoon banaaye jo behnon ko nyaay dilaaye ho…oo
wo kaanoon banaaye jo behnon ko nyaay dilaaye
ab to jagna hi hoga behnon hamko mil ke
ab to jagna hi hoga behnon hamko mil ke
der bhale andher nahin hai
ik din nyaay milega
der bhale andher nahin hai
(aa aa aa aa aa)
ik din nyaay milega
ghor zulm ki raat dhalegi
sach ka surya ugega
ghor zulm ki raat dhalegi
sach ka surya ugega
ab to jagna hi hoga behnon hamko mil ke
ab to jagna hi hoga behnon hamko mil ke
hamko mil ke saathinon sabko mil ke ho
hamko mil ke saathinon sabko mil ke
aage badhna hi hoga behnon sabko mil ke
ab to jagna hi hoga behnon hamko mil ke
aage badhna hi hoga behnon sabko mil ke
2 Responses to "Ab to jagna hee hoga behnon ham ko mil ke"
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
June 21, 2023 at 2:46 pm
Thanks for writing of Daan Singh. Yes he was talented. I had noted his songs in ‘My love’. The song of the post is good to listen to.
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June 21, 2023 at 6:26 pm
Thank you.
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