Aaj kal aisaa lagtaa hai…ik aadhi kahaani hai
Posted on: January 31, 2024
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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‘Nazar Andaaz’ (2022) is produced by T Series and Kathputli Productions and is directed by the debutant Vikrant Deshmukh. The main cast includes Kumud Mishra in a protagonist’s role of a visually impaired person with Divya Dutta and Abhishek Banerjee. Rajeshwari Sachdev makes a special appearance in the film. The outdoor shooting of the film took place in Mumbai and in Kutch (Gujarat). The film was released on October 7, 2022, in a very limited theatres without any marketing. In Mumbai, the film was released in two theatres only and that too the single show. Because of this, the film went largely unnoticed. After a month or so, the film was released on the OTT platforms. I watched the film on the OTT platform.
I was hesitant to watch the film after knowing that it was about a visually impaired man. It is distressing to watch the hard and the struggling life a visually impaired person. But a song of this film compelled me to watch this film. I was pleasantly surprised that the visually impaired man in the film was a ‘happy go lucky’ person who was smart, humourous and romantic. His life’s motto was ‘zindagi khoobsoorat hai, farak sirf nazariye kaa hai’ (Life is beautiful, the only difference is how you look at it). It is an off-beat film of light comedy genre with a message. The film’s story is as under:
Sudhir (Kumud Mishra) is a middle-aged visually impaired person since his birth. He has been brought up by an artist who after his death has bequeathed all his wealth to Sudhir who now lives in a comfortable house in Mumbai. His housemaid, Bhavani (Divya Dutta) had come to him for work after running away from her home in Haryana because of the ill-treatment from her stepmother. Sudhir thinks that she is cooking food for him as per his choice. The fact is that she orders food on-line for delivery at home.
One day, Sudhir rescues a petty thief (Abhijit Banerjee) from the crowd when he is caught stealing a mobile phone. He brings the thief to his home and gives him a job and shelter in his house on the assurance that he gives up thievish work. Since the thief does not have any fixed name, Sudhir gives him a new name, Ali. Both Bhavani and Ali treat themselves as competitor and try their best to outsmart each other. The reason is that both have set their eyes on Sudhir’s wealth after they secretly overhear his talks with a lawyer to prepared a Will with two names as beneficiaries. Since, Sudhir has no one as successor to his wealth, Bhavani and Ali think that they are the two whose names would be in the Will.
Sudhir plans a visit to Mandvi to recall his childhood days. Bhavani and Ali join him. After check-in a hotel, Sudhir takes Bhavani and Ali to his friend, Mohan’s house. Mohini (Rajeshwari Sachdev), his crush in his childhood, opens the door and is shocked to find Sudhir who is visiting after decades. Mohan also comes out and welcomes the visitors. Mohini prepares Khandvi, a Gujarati snack which is the favourite of Sudhir and serves him and his friends. In the evening, all the three visit a river front and enjoy the evening. After Bhavani and Ali have left for a walk, Sudhir sits alone as he is not in a mood to walk, At that time, Mohini visits him and angrily asks him as to why he had left her without a trace for so many years. He could have taken her also with him. Sudhir tells her that there is a difference between giving a company to one antoher and spending a whole life with one another.
The next day, Sudhir takes Bhavani and Ali to his house which is now in shambles. He tells them that from the childhood, he wanted to run but could not run even a few feet. Thereafter, they visit beach, take camel rides and even take plunge in the sea. Sudhir says that he is very happy that whatever he wanted to do in his life has been fulfilled. Ali says that he has to do one more thing. In the evening, they take him to Rann of Kutch where he can run to fulfil his desire. They walk on the Rann of Kutch and both of them tell Sudhir to run as much as he wants as there is no one except the three of them. He happily starts running, enjoying for the first time that he has run so much. However, after some time, he falls down. Both Ali and Bhavani rush towards Sudhir and tries to make him sit but in vain as he has died of heart attack. Both pleads to Sudhir to wake up. They do not want any wealth from him but want to see him as a simple Sudhir Bhai.
Both Bhavani and Ali return to Mumbai. Sudhir’s lawyer takes them in his car and reads Sudhir’s Will while proceeding to their destination. Sudhir says in the Will that he has brought both Bhavani and Ali to his house with a well-thought purpose. He has observed them in close quarter in his journey. Whatever the world may say about them, he has come to the conclusion that both have skills, abilities and humanity. So, he has given them an opportunity to serve the visually impaired children by bequeathing his wealth and property to a blind school. He has requested Bhavani and Ali to look after them in the same way as they have looked after him. The film ends with both of them hugging the visually impaired children with moist eyes signifying that Bhavani and Ali would fulfill his desire.
After a long time, I get to watch a realistic film which is absorbing thanks to its tight screenplay and dialogues which, at times, are witty, philosophical and motivational. All the four main actors – Kumud Mishra, Divya Dutta, Abhishek Banerjee and Rajeshwari Sachdev have given their best performances in the film. But top credit goes to Kumud Mishra who, in the role of a visually impaired Sudhir, has given a brilliant and heart-touching performance. That Sudhir’s face lingered in my mind for quite a long time after I finished watching film is the testimony of his realistic performance. In my view, Kumud Mishra role was worthy of a National Film Award.
The film is also a feather in the cap of the debutant director, Vikrant Deshmukh who has well-handled a sensitive story written by him jointly with Laxman Utekar. The last about 15 minutes of the film covering pre-climax and climax scenes are heart-touching. Unfortunately, the film flopped and it has almost become an ‘obscure film’ within a year of its release.
The icing on the cake is that all the six songs in the film are very melodious and to my liking. Kudos to the lyricist, Raj Shekhar and the music director, Vishal Mishra for composing one of the finest albums of the recent films.
I am presenting the first song from the film whose audio clips were released as two songs with the same tune and different lyrics. The song is ‘aaj kal aisaa lagtaa hai’/’ikk aadhi kahaani thhee’, rendered by Parampara Tandon/Jubin Nautiyal. The songs are written by Raj Shekhar which are set to music by Vishal Mishra.
In the film, only one stanza each of both the songs have been picturised and appear one after another. The video clips of both these songs released by T Series contain the actual song picturisation of the first stanza with additional stanzas of the songs being covered by video montages from the film relevant to the songs.
There is an interesting background to this song. Mohini (Rajehswari Sachdev) meets Sudhir who is sitting at the river front, and angrily asks Sudhir (Kumud Mishra) as to why he had suddenly left his house for Mumbai leaving her alone. Sudhir replies ‘ek doosre kaa saath dena aur ek doosre ke saath zindagi bhar bitaanaa, donon mein farq hotaa hai‘. In other words, Sudhir felt about their relationwhip what Sahir Ludhianvi had said – ‘wo afsaana jise anjaam tak laanaa na ho mumkin, usse ikk khoobsoorat mod de kar chhodnas achchaa‘. Just to divert the subject, Sudhir remembers that Mohini used to sing in her childhood and asks her whether she still sings. She responds by singing this song after which she goes back home. Sudhir, now alone, continues singing the song in the same tune. This is a piognant song highlighting the status of their short-lived romance. But they console themselves because ‘tum kabhi mere thhe bas ye bhi gawaaraa hai‘ (gawaaraa=acceptable).
The piognancy in the lyrics of Raj Shekhar in the song have been well captured by the singers, Prampara Tandon and Jubin Nautiyal with the soft piano orchestration. I am happy that in the current styles of Hindi film music in vogue, songs like the one under discussion also find place in Hindi films.
Female Version
Video Clip:
Male Version
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Aaj kal aisa lagta hai..ik aadhhi khaani thhi (Nazar Andaaz)(2022) Singer-Parampara Tandon/ Jubin Nautiyal, Lyrics-Raj Shekhar, MD-Vishal Mishra
——————————–
Lyrics – Female Version:
——————————-
aaj kal aisa lagtaa hai
thhodaa zaadaa sanwarte hain
aisa lagtaa hai aangan mein
chaand taare utarte hain
chaand taare utarte hain
kyaa inhen jaadoo se tumne hi utaaraa hai
kyun meri aankhon mein teraa hi nazaaraa hai
kyaa inhen jaadoo se tumne hi utaaraa hai
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm nazaaraa hai
mann ki daraazon mein
khat likhe kitne
khat maine kyon phir se
yaadon ki shaakhon mein
dard ke kitne gul khile
kyun phir se
phir milenge hum pehle se
baat ye naa zaroori hai
aadhe aadhe rahen hum par
na kahaani adhoori hai
na kahaani adhoori hai
tum kabhi mere thhe
bas ye bhi gawaaraa hai
aa tujhe dil ne bade dil se pukaaraa hai
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm
———————————-
Lyrics – Male Version:
———————————-
ik aadhi kahaani thhee
jo milke sunaani thhee
hamen milna thhaa fursat mein
hasrat ye puraani thhee
hasrat ye puraani thhee
aa tujhe dil ne bade dil se pukaaraa hai
tu meri sooni si aankhon kaa nazaaraa hai
aa tujhe dil ne bade dil se pukaaraa hai
tu meri sooni si aankhon kaa nazaaraa hai
mann ki daraazon mein…
adh-likhe kitne khat miley
kyun phir se
yaadon ki shaakhon pe…
dard ke kitne gul khiley
kyun phir se
phir milenge hum pehle se
baat ye naa zaroori hai
aadhe aadhe rahen hum par
na kahaani adhoori hai
na kahaani adhoori hai
tum kabhi mere thhe
bas ye bhi gawaaraa hai
aa tujhe dil ne bade dil se pukaaraa hai..
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm
ha aa aaa
ik aadhi kahaani thhee
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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