Nirtat dhang
Posted by: Atul on: October 8, 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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In this article, I propose to discuss the last song from the film, ‘Chandan Kaa Palna’ (1967), to be covered on the Blog. The song is ‘niratata dhang’, a part of the ‘ashtapadi’ written and composed by Pandit Bindadin Maharaj (1830 – 1918), the doyen of the Lucknow Gharana of Kathak dance.
During his life time, Pandit Bindadin Maharaj had written and composed hundreds of poems on the theme of Krishna-Leela to suit Kathak dance propagated by him. Unfortunately, a significant part of his poems with compositions have been lost, probably due to the lack of interest on the part of his successors. The poems with their compositions which are now available are few (may be less than 50 in numbers in the public domain). The versality of Pandit Bindadin Maharaj even with his limited compositions that are available today can be judged by the varieties of genres he chose in his compositions such as Drupad, Khayal, Ashtapadi, Thumri, Dadra, Tappa, Hori, Bhajans etc. These compositions are now a part of the curriculum for the Kathak dancers of the present generations. And ‘niratata dhang’ is the most popular among them in Ashtapadi genre for getting trained in Kathak dance.
Ashtapadi literally means poem/song with eight stanzas/verses. The historical evolution of Ashtapadi and its technical aspects have been nicely presented in a detailed article by Rajashree Oak, the link of which has been given below. It is said that Ashtapadi in music came into prominence when Jayadeva wrote ‘Geet Govind’ in Ashtapadi. Jayadeva not only wrote but he also composed the Ashtapadi poems in classical raaga, taal and sang himself. Thereafter, many other poets like Maithily poet, Vidyapati, Chaitnya Mahaprabhu, Gujarati poet, Narsi Mehta used Ashtapadis following the tradition of Jayadeva. Pandit Bindadin Maharaj is stated to be the first who wrote and composed Ashtapadis specifically for Kathak dance. With Jayadeva and Pandit Bindadin Maharaj, Ashtapadis have been mainly associated with the praise of Lord Krishna and Krishna-Leela.
‘Niratata dhang’ means the style of dancing, ‘niratata’ a colloquial pronunciation for ‘Nritya’ (dance) and ‘dhang’ is ‘tarika’ (ways or styles). In this song, Pandit Bindadin Maharaj has attempted to visualize some main features of Kathak dance in the guise of Krishna-Leela. He also brings into limelight the natural beauty of Vrindavan on the banks of Yamuna River with fragrance breeze blowing all over the place. Coupled with the magnetic presence of Lord Krishna, Radha and other gopis become ecstatic. Bindadin prays to Lord Krishna to take him in His stride for, He is the saviour of the world.
I have already discussed the story of ‘Chandan Ka Palna’ (1967) in my article while covering one of the songs, ganga maiya paar laga de. Since the film has a heavy doses of melodrama, probably, roles of Mehmood as a Bengali classical music lover, Mumtaz as the daughter of Dhumal and Mehmood’s love interest and Dhumal as his competitor in music are introduced mainly to give some respite to the audience from melodrama. The song, ‘naratata dhang’ in the film which is picturised on Mehmood and Dhumal as dance competitors has to be seen not as a traditional kathak dance but a farcical presentation to suit the filmy situation.
The dance competition between Mehmood and Dhumal is to decide that the winner will be the music ‘Guru’ (teacher/guide) and the loser will be his ‘Shishya’ (disciple). The song is rendered by Mohammed Rafi and Manna Dey for Dhumal and Mehmood, respectively. Towards the end of the song, Mumtaz also joins in solo singing. The female singer singing for Mumtaz is unidentified. Eventually, Mehmood wins the music competition which paves the way for him to also win Mumtaz’s heart.
This dance in the film was composed and directed by Gopikrishna. For the song picturisation, he has used only 3 stanzas of the Ashtapadi. It is admirable that despite not being a trained dancer, Dhumal has performed a couple of Kathak dance movements very well. Mehmood had the basic training in dances thanks to his father, Mumtaz Ali who was a choreographer-dancer-actor in Bombay Talkies films of 1930s and early 40s. Their dance movements show that Gopikrishna has put them into rigorous training and rehearsals before the song was picturised.
HMV (now SAREGAMA) gives credit to Gopikrishna for the lyrics which is incorrect. It also gives credit to R D Burman as the music director for this song. As stated earlier, the song was a part of Ashtapadi written and composed by Pandit Bindadin Maharaj. The credit title of the film also give credit to Bindadin Maharaj for the song. So, the credit should go to Pandit Bindadin Maharaj for the lyrics and so also for the composition (tune) of the song. Probably, the percussion beats in the song as well as the part of the song rendered by an unidentified female singer may have been written by Gopikrishna. Also, the orchestration of the song must have been done by R D Burman.
I have also given the video link of the traditional Kathak dance presentation of ‘niratata dhang’ covering the full ‘Ashtapadi’ by the kathak dance troupe led by Shambhavi Dandekar. This is just to give the readers the contrast between a spiritual feel of the traditional kathak dance performance versus the farcical presentation in the song under discussion.
Acknowledgements:
——————–
Compositions of Maharaj Bindadin by Nirmala Joshi.
Deconstructing Ashtapadi by Rajashree Oak.
Video link of the traditional kathak dance performance of ‘Niratat Dhang’:
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Nirtat dhang (Chandan Ka Palna)(1967) Singers-Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Unidentified Female Voice, Lyrics-Pt Bindadin Maharaj, MD-Pt Bindadin Maharaj
Rafi+Manna Dey
Lyrics
aaa aaaa aaa
aaa aaa aaaa
aaaaaa aa
aaa aaa aaaa
niratata dhang
ae ae ae ae
niratata dhang
ae
o tititi kota kota
kotri
girigirikota
ghirkotaghirkota
dhaam e
bhavmo
niratata dhang
ae ae ae
niratata dhang
a a ae
nirtat dhang
bahe pawan mand sugandh sheetal
bansi vat tat nikat Yamuna
bahe pawan a a
aa aa aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa
bahe pawan mand sugandh sheetal
bansi vat tat nikat Yamuna
vrindavan ki kunj galin mein
vrindavan ki kunj galin mein
raadhe gopi umang
niratata dhang
ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae
niratata
haan
vrishbhanu nandani paap khandani
koti ravisham bhooshan chamke….ae
ae ae ae ae
ae ae ae ae
chamke bhushan ravisham
koti koti ravisham bhushan chamke
joree ko shaadi jodito monishe
joree ko shaadi jodito monishe
choli ang sohen
haay haay haay
choli ang sohe
haay
choli ang sohe
haay
choli ang sohe tang
niratata dhang…..an an ang
niratata dhang
tum naath bin mohe kaun ubaare
kaun ubaare
kaun ubaare
kaun kaun
kaun ap jogi pati taare
Bindadin pe kripa karo prabhu
Bindadin pe kripa karo prabhu
vyaape dukh nahin ang
niratata dhang
niratata dhang
niratata
nadhindhinna
nadhindhinna
nadhintinna
nadhindhinna
nadhindhinna
nadhindhinna
nadhintinna
nadhindhinna
dhaginadhin
tatakathakkathak
dhakdandhakdankatak
katkat
dhakatkatkatkat
dhakdandhakdandha
nageetak
na takjhan
janaktaktho
tarkittak
tarkittha
tarkittha
dhika
daamdadaam
takraam
taktaktaktak
takdiktaktak
taktataktatakta
taktataktatakta
taktataktatakta
taa
chham chham chham chham chamkat
nai tattai
tattai
dhiridhiritak
dhiridhiritak
tumkitighige
dhin
degedhin
chhaal dhal chhavi nyaari
de de taari
waari
waari
tat baajat pag nupur jhankaari
baajat pag nupur jhankaari
baajat pag nupur jhankaari
nirakata nand nandan
chhum chhanan
ta chum ta chum
takdhigadhikdhik ta
liye rang sab sakha sang
mann mein umang
gati tribhangta
khelat brij mein
lat lapat jhapat Radha
Lalita Chandravali
diyo bor rang gor sar bor
Banwari main haari
jaa jaa re
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
October 12, 2024 at 9:04 pm
Sadanand ji,
Thank you for sharing such an insightful post.
I must admit, I never truly grasped the depth of this composition or the Kathak nuances, especially with comedians like Mehmood and Dhumal performing. After reading your post, I rewatched the song and was able to appreciate its brilliance – the intricate choreography, the classical base, and the performances. It’s fascinating how Gopi Krishna skilfully merged classical dance with humour.
At a young age, during its first viewing in the cinema, I didn’t see its true value, but now I can see the depth and artistry in this unique presentation.
Truly a gem!
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October 13, 2024 at 9:25 am
Gandhi Vadlapatla ji,
Thank you for your appreciation.
My assessment of this song was the same as yours when I first watched it few years back. But after watching the traditional kathak dance of this ashtapadhi, I once again watched the song and realised that afterall, Dhumal and Mehmood have given the dance performances better than what was expected from them and considering the demand of the screenplay.
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