Jheenee jheenee jhilmilaatee raat ho tum
Posted on: September 3, 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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During the last eight months or so, I have been writing articles for the Blog covering songs from films mostly released on or after 2000. In my view, the selected songs are melodious with good lyrics, yet underrated. These songs have, more or less the same vibes as that of the songs of the golden period of Hindi film music. It may be a mere coincidence, but I found that most of these songs are from films which are off the mainstream Hindi films.
In my quest for such songs, recently, I was led to a film, ‘Phir Kabhi’ (2009), the name I heard for the first time. I do not remember the advertisement of the film either on the newspapers or TV channels. The probable reason could be that the film was not released in the theatres. Instead, the producer and distributor of the film, UTV Motion Pictures decided to experiment with releasing the film for the first time in the history of Hindi films, directly on Home Video and Pay-Per-View DTH. The film’s director, V K Prakash, in an interview on the Times of India had said that he was unhappy about the film being not considered for theatrical release by the producer and distributor of the film.
‘Phir Kabhi’ (2009) was produced by Pradeep Guha and Ronnie Screwaala of UTV Motion Pictures and was directed by V K Prakash. The cast included Mithun Chakraborty and Dimple Kapadia in lead roles supported by Rati Agnihotri, Kitu Gidwani, Neha Jhulka, Gulshan Grover, Tinu Anand, Nishikant Dikshit, Sanjay Swarajya, Ushmey (Rimoh) Chakraborty, Gaurav Bajaj etc. Even though it was a low budget film, it had some big names like Nitin Desai as Art Director and Bhanu Athaiya as Costume Director. The film’s director, V K Prakash, who has been associated with ad films, switched over to directing feature films since 2000, mostly Malayalam films. But he had also directed Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil Films. He has also acted in many Malayalam films.
This was the first time that Mithun Chakraborty and his son Ushmey Chakraborty acted together in this film. However, they did not face each other in the film as Ushmey Chakraborty was doing the teen-aged Mithun Chakraborty’s role in the film.
I watched the film on Dailymotion where it is available in 4 parts with average quality. The film has the offbeat story of two high school teenage lovers who rekindle their romance at a school reunion party about four decades later when they are in their twilight years. The man has recently lost his wife whom he loved the most, and the woman had remained unmarried, living alone. Their loneliness and the renewed familiarity bring mutual affections and caring for each other. But their friendship is resented by man’s daughter-in-law who feels that this old-age relationship would have negative influence on her daughter. The details of the story are as under:
Hari Singh (Mithun Chakraborty) and his wife, Laxmi (Rati Agnihotri) stay with his working daughter-in-law, Divya (Kitu Gidwani) and the college-going teenage granddaughter, Sonia (Neha Jhulka). His son is employed in the USA. All the family members have been living in harmony with Hari and Laxmi completing their 40 years of married life. One day, Hari’s wife, Laxmi suddenly passes away, leaving Hari alone in the house most of the time. He has been used to depend on his wife for most of his requirements for which he misses her a lot.
One day, Hari receives a letter from his schoolmate, Ganga (Dimple Kapadia) in which she invites him to attend the school’s reunion party for which all the past classmates have been invited. This rekindles Hari’s teenage love interest in Ganga which got aborted as he could not defy his father’s dictate. In the reunion party, he meets his close friend, Jagmohan Chadha (Gulshan Grover) who is aware of Hari’s relationship with Ganga during their school days. He takes Hari to Ganga who is eager but shy to meet him. Hari comes to know that after their aborted relationship, she has remained unmarried. Both Hari and Ganga recall their schooldays rendezvous through some flashback scenes.
After the reunion event is over, both of them exchanges letters. Hari often visits Ganga’s house for which he has to travel on the bus or take a scooter ride with Kanhaiya (Tinnu Anand). Over a period of time, they become affectionate and caring to each other. Kanhaiya, at first, disapproves this old age ‘romance’ and put blame on the ‘saas-bahu’ types of TV Serials. Later, he reconciles to Hari’s relationship with Ganga. Sonia, Hari’s granddaughter also gets to know about exchange of letters between her Daadu and Ganga, but she is ok with it because the letters are more of affections and caring for each other rather than the love letters that were exchanged as teenagers. Sonia herself is in a relationship with her boyfriend which she has shared with her Daadu as both are close to each other. She does not let out her Daadu’s friendship with Ganga to her mother.
Hari’s daughter-in-law accidentally comes to know about the exchange of letters between her father-in-law and Ganga and also his periodic visits to Ganga’s house. She politely tells him that the society will not like his ‘romance’ at this old age and it would have a bad influence on her daughter. Hari, after giving some thoughts over her observations, assures her that hence forward, he would not write any letter to Ganga, nor would he receive letters from her. He would also stop visiting Ganga’s place forthwith.
Hari is restless as he feels that he has once again let down Ganga in her old age. His uneasiness prompts Divya to call her husband who is in the USA to make an urgent trip to India. He comes to India and after discussion with his wife, they decide that they would have no objection to his father’s friendship with Ganga but not before meeting Ganga in her house to assess the situation. Sonia forces her Daadu to accompany them also.
Ganga on the other hand is upset that Hari who had succumbed to his father’s pressure not to go ahead with the relationship in their younger time, has once again succumbed to the family pressure. She leaves the place to settle in an ashram to take care of its inmates. She proceeds to railway station to take a train for her new destination. In the nick of the time, Hari and his family reach the station. But the train has already started moving. In keeping with his timid nature, Hari is in two minds whether to board the slow-moving train or not to meet Ganga. His family members and his friend, Jagannath force him to go ahead. Film ends with Hari boarding the slow-moving train and meeting Ganga.
Hats off to writer, M Sindhuraj for presenting a subtle heart-warming story. All the main characters have harmonious relationships, yet they are not presented as superhuman beings. There are minor faults and weaknesses in them. But those are part of any human relationship. The entire film is a showcase of positivity from beginning to end.
I was not a great admirer of Mithun Chakraborty for working in his brand of films. I always used to feel what a fall for him from winning the National Film Award for the best actor in his maiden film, ‘Mrigayaa’ (1976) to the roles in the likes of disco dancer, and fighter. He came back to his intense performances in films like ‘Swami Vivekanand’ (1998) and ‘Guru’ (2007). But above all, in the film under discussion, Mithun Chakraborty has given one of his best performances. All other main actors like Dimple Kapadia, Rati Agnihotri, Neha Jhulka and Gulshan Grover have also given the excellent performances in the film.
After watching the film, I felt that UTV Motion Pictures have erred in their judgement in not releasing the film in the theatres especially when the film had received positive responses at the International Film Festivals in Kolkata and Cochin. The film got awards for the Best Narrative Feature, the Best Director, the Best Feature Screenplay, the Best Original Score, the Best Production Design, and the Best Costume Design at the Los Angeles Reel Awards.
The film had 4 songs, all written by Ajay Jhingran which have been set to music by Shantanu Moitra. I am presenting the first song from the film, ‘jheeni jheeni jhilmilaati raat ho tum’ to appear on the Blog. The song is rendered by Bhupinder Singh and Hamsika Iyer and is picturised on Mithun Chakraborty and Neha Jhulka (Sonia) in the role of grandfather and granddaughter respectively.
The background to the song is that Sonia in her birthday party, has arguments with her boyfriend. In a huff, she walks out of the birthday party and returns home in an agitated mood. She reveals to her grandfather as to what happened in the birthday party. The grandfather takes her hand and starts dancing with her to cheer up as if she is dancing with her boyfriend.
Enjoy the ‘feel good’ song.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Jheenee jheenee jhilmilaatee raat ho tum (Phir Kabhi)(2009) Singers-Bhupinder Singh, Hamsika Iyer, Lyrics-Ajay Jhingran, MD-Shantanu Moitra
Both
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip)
jheeni jheeni jhilmilaati raat ho tum
kori kori anchhuyi si paat ho tum
gungunaati suhaani baat ho tum
kaho na
kaho na saath ho tum
chhan chhananan chhan chhananan chhan chhananan
chhan chhan hey daadu
kal kal kal chhal chhal chhal
pal pal pal behta hai jaadoo
hmm
uchhale hai machale hainudta hai mann…
mera hai mera hai mera gagan
la la la la la la la la la
la la laa
aa aa aa
haa haa haa haa aa
la la laa
dil mera dil tera dil ek hai
tu hi to hai meri jaan
main tera thha
tera hoon har janam
tu hi to hai mera jahaan
chamchamaati aankhein meri hain darpan tera
aa haa aa
chulbuli si baatein laayi hain bachpan tera
chhan chhananan chhan chhananan chhan chhananan
chhan chhan hey daadu
kal kal kal chhal chhal chhal
pal pal pal behta hai jaadoo
uchhle hai machale hai udta hai mann…
mera hai mera hai mera gagan
hmm aa aa aaa
hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm
la la la laa…
ha aa aa aa
ha aa aa aa aa aa aa
la la laa…
ha aa aa aa aa aa aa
la la laa…
kal thha ye pal
kho na jaaye kahin
aa chhaan le narmiyaan…
din saare chhin jaaten hain ek din
rah jaaten hain mithe nishaan
khoyi khoyi jaagi soyi hai ye chaandni
halke halke chhalke dil se preet raagini
chhan chhananan chhan chhananan chhan chhananan
chhan chhan hey daadu
kal kal kal chhal chhal chhal
pal pal pal behta hai jaadoo
uchhle hai machale hai udta hai mann…
mera hai mera hai mera gagan
chhan chhananan chhan chhananan chhan chhananan
chhan chhan hey daadu
chhan chhan hey daadu
kal kal kal chhal chhal chhal
pal pal pal behta hai jaadoo
behta hai jaadoo
uchhale hai machale hai udta hai mann
mera hai mera hai mera gagan
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
September 3, 2023 at 4:51 pm
Reading this post made me realize that it is on the lines of “Pyaar Mein Twist” which came in 2005. Details about that movie is here in this post https://atulsongaday.me/2019/10/28/khullam-khulla-pyaar-karenge-hum-dono-2/ by Sudhirji.
The minor deviation in the stories is in “Pyaar Mein Twist” Rishi Kapoor & Dimple are having full-fledged families.
Isn’t is a record of sorts that Dimple has acted in 2 films with nearly same stories
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September 3, 2023 at 7:23 pm
Peevesie’s Mom,
Yes. The basic theme of the story in both the films are same – romantic relationship of man and woman in their later years when their families are well settled.
However, there are few major difference in the treatment of the story.
While ‘Pyaar Mein Twist’ (2005) is a romantic comedy, the film under discussion is a heart-warming family drama.
In ‘Phir Kabhi’ (2009), the romantic relationship which develops as teenagers but aborted under family pressure, gets rekindled during their twilights of life. Their old aged relationship come more out of affections and care for each other than the romance. Both of them seek companionship rather than getting married.
Somewhere in the back of the mind, Mithun Chakraborty has a guilty conscious that out of his timidness, he left Dimple Kapadia in lurch because of which she remained unmarried and now living alone. He feels that it is his responsibility to take care of her who has no one to look after.
Lastly, during their married life, Mithun Chakraborty has made known to his wife about his affairs with Dimple Kapadia in their teens. His old age relationship with Dimple Kapadia is known to his granddaughter and she supports him.
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September 3, 2023 at 7:59 pm
Yes. The story is same but different. Just like “Khatta Meetha” (1978) & “Humaare tumhaare” (1979) were different but same.
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