Kaise sukh sove
Posted on: October 6, 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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There are some actors who have normally been identified with what is known as ‘middle of the road’ films. The big names among them are Amol Palekar, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Farooque Shaikh, Om Puri, Irfaan Khan, Deepti Naval, Paresh Rawal and Pankaj Kapoor. In the recent times, some more actors have joined this list which includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Pankaj Tripathi etc. One more name of the actor which I would like to include in this list is Sanjay Mishra who has come into prominence after 2013. I am a great admirer of Sanjay Mishra as an actor. I find him to be an ‘offbeat’ actor because his expressions, reactions, body movements and dialogue deliveries are unpredictable. As an actor, Sanjay Mishra gives a feel of a real character of one among us.
Happy birthday to the Darbhanga born Sanjay Mishra who has turned 60 today. An alumnus of the National School of Drama, Delhi, Sanjay Mishra started his acting career with a small role in ‘Oh Darling Ye Hai India (1995). Thereafter he has worked in a series of films, mostly in comic roles. He has also worked in Some TV serials, the prominent among them being ‘Chanakya’ (1991) and ‘Office Office’ (2000). Even after his first 10 years in Hindi films, Sanjay Mishra was frustrated with his career for doing the same type of side roles. His health problems coupled with the sudden death of his father sometime in 2007, made him disenchanted with his filmy career.
In his TV interview, Sanjay Mishra had said that after the funeral of his father, he shifted to Rishikesh. To earn for a living, he worked as a cook in a dhaba at Rishikesh. Rohit Shetty while planning his film, ‘All The Best’ (2009) had a role for Sanjay Mishra who has earlier worked with him in ‘Zameen’ (2003), ‘Golmaal’ (2006) and ‘Golmaal Returns’ (2008). When Rohit Shetty came to know that he has left the film industry and gone to Rishikesh, he visited Rishikesh and persuaded him to return to Mumbai for a role in his film, ‘All The Best’ (2009). The film became a turning point in Sanjay Mishra’s filmy career, and he started getting better and varied roles in the films.
Over a period of time, he has graduated in doing major character roles. I feel that he is one of the most underrated actors and deserved much more recognition than mere a comedian or a sidekick. I have watched his outstanding performance in films like ‘Phas Gaya Re Obama’ (2010), ‘Aankhon Dekhi’ (2014), ‘Dham Laga Ke Haisha’ (2015), ‘Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain’ (2018) etc. I have also heard of his doing varied roles in films like ‘Masaan’ (2015). ‘Kaamyaab’ (2020) and ‘Vadh’ (2022). Since 2013, Sanjay Mishra has been getting roles in the films which can be categorised as ‘middle of the road’ cinema.
‘Aankhon Dekhi’ (2014) is probably his first film in which he has a central character. This film was the second turning point in his acting career. In one of his TV interviews, Sanjay Mishra narrated as to how he got the role in this film. Rajat Kapoor, the director of the film and Sanjay Mishra were shooting together for a film in Delhi when Rajat Kapoor told him that he was writing a script keeping him in mind and he should meet him when they return to Mumbai. After few months, Rajat Kapoor called Sanjay Mishra and read out the script of the film he was going to direct. Since Rajat Kapoor did not get any response from Sanjay Mishra, the role was offered to Naseeruddin Shah who agreed to do the role. When he came to know that the role was specially written for Sanjay Mishra, Naseeruddin Shah persuaded him to accept the role as this film would become a milestone in his filmy career.
‘Aankhon Dekhi’ (2014) was produced by Manish Mundra under the banner of Mithya Talkies and Drishyam Films. The film was directed by Rajat Kapoor who also wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues. The main actors in the film were Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Rajat Kapoor, Brijendra Kala, Namit Das, Maya Sarao, Taranjit Kaur, Saurabh Shukla, Alka Chawla, Mahesh Sharma etc.
The gist of the story of the film is as under:
Bhau ji (Sanjay Mishra) in his 50s is the head of a lower middle class joint family who resides in old Delhi. The family members consist of his wife, Amma (Seema Bhargav), younger brother, Rishi Chacha (Rajat Kapoor), Chachi (Taranjit Kaur), daughter, Rita (Maya Sarao). Bauji works in a travel company for a livelihood.
Bauji’s teenage daughter, Rita has been in love with a neighbouring boy, Ajju (Namita Das) of the questionable character. When her relationship becomes known to the family, the hell breaks out. Rita is locked in a room and the family members confront the boy. But Bauji finds him to be a nice boy. This incidence makes Bauji to take a decision that from now onwards, he would follow the maxim, ‘seeing is believing’ (aankhon dekhi).As the time passes, Bauji’s newly acquired way of life reaches to an absurd level. He stops worshipping God and treat the God’s offering (prasad) as sweet. He goes to a Zoo just to confirm whether a tiger roars. In his travel company, he refuses to book a ticket for Amsterdam as he cannot say something positive about the place as he has not seen it. Apparently, he has to leave his job. He joins a gambling den as an employee and earns salary and commission.
But for his coterie of friends, Bauji is like their guide as they are impressed with his intellectual talks, and they believe in him whatever he says. This makes Bauji uncomfortable as he believes in ‘seeing is believing’ and they should not blindly follow him. But for his family, his fad and working in a gambling den are nuisance. His impression among them is that of a lunatic person. His brother, Rishi and his family shift to a new house rather than to face the embracement because of Bauji’s new fad and work.
The separation of his brother from the joint family shocks Bauji’s to such an extent that his health deteriorates. After recovering from his illness, Bauji takes up another fad of ‘maun vrat’ (vow of silence). He communicates with his family and friends in sign language only. He approves his daughter Rita’s marriage with Ajju during which his separated brother and his family join the marriage ceremony. Having fulfilled everything in his life, he takes his wife for a vacation during which he plunges into death in a valley while trying to fly like a bird (I think, there is some symbolism in this act).
Rajat Kapoor has to be complimented for making a realistic film depicting the life of a lower-middle class joint family of Old Delhi. The entire set up of the family and their neighbours looks so real that the audience will get a feeling that they are the part of the proceedings. I have seen Sanjay Mishra mostly in comic roles. This is the first time I became aware of his histrionic of a serious role in which he gave excellent performance as the head of a joint family, a whimsical husband, a concerned father, a bossing brother, and a loving friend to his neighbourhood. He has been well supported by Seema Pahwa in the role of his nagging wife.
Sanjay Mishra won his first Filmfare Critics’ Award for the Best Actor for his performance in ‘Aankhon Dekhi’ (2014). After the release of this film, Sanjay Mishra seems to have become one of the actors in demand for his interviews both by press and TV channels. Since then, he has been mostly getting roles in one of the main characters in the films.
The film has 6 songs, 5 of which were written by Varun Grover and were set to music by Sagar Desai. The remaining one is a traditional Khayal. The songs I am presenting the first song, a Chhota Khayal bandish, ‘kaise sukh sove shaam murat’ from the film to appear on the Blog. The song is rendered by Hindustani classical vocalist, Ronkini Gupta who makes her debut in Hindi films with this classical bandish.
This Chhota Khayal is played in the background when Bau ji (Sanjay Mishra) who is on a ‘maun vrat’, gives the approval to his daughter, Rita (Maya Sarao) in sign language for the marriage with her boyfriend, Ajju. She immediately leaves to meet Ajju at his house to give him the good news.
Ronkini Gupta is a trained Hindustani classical vocalist who is known for her elaborate Khayal singing. She was the winner of ‘Zee TV’s ‘SAREGAMAPA’ World Series reality show in 2004. She occasionally sings for Hindi films.
Ustad Naimat Khan ‘Sadarang’ (1670-1748), who served in the court of Mughal emperor, Muhammed Shah ‘Rangeela’, had written and composed this bandish of 4 lines for singing as Bada Khayal. However, in the film, Ronkini Gupta has rendered it as Chhota Khayal, reducing it to two-line bandish in Raag Bihaag.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Kaise sukh sove shaam murat (Aankhon Dekhi)(2014) Singer-Ronkini Gupta, Lyrics-Ustaad Naimat Khan Sadarang, MD-Ustad Naimat Khan Sadarang
Lyrics (based on audio clip):
kaise sukh sove
shaaaam moorat
chit chaaaadhi
chit chaadhi
shaam moorat chita chaadhi…
chaaadhi ee ee ee
sukh sove
sukh
sukh
sukh……
sukh sove……
kaise neenadari
neendariya aa
shaam chit chaadhi
kaise sukh sove
shaam…..
shaam…..
moora…..aa aa at
chit chaadhi
shaam……
shaam…….
moarat chit chaadhi….
chit chaadhi shaam moorat
kaise
kaise sukh sove
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 6, 2023 at 11:39 pm
Sadanand Ji,
I am wondering how I missed watching this film. I have a sealed DVD in my library. Thanks for your wonderful post presenting us a beautiful Chhota Khayal, “Kaise sukh sove shaam murat” by Ronkini Gupta.
Thanks Sir.
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October 7, 2023 at 5:22 pm
Thanks Gandhi ji.
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