Kat gayee umr meree to mujhe pataa ye chalaa
Posted on: November 3, 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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kat gayi umr meri to mujhe pataa ye chalaa
zindagi sirf kati hai isse jiyaa hi kahaan
This is the sum and substance of a film which I propose to take up for discussion in this article.
There comes a time in every person’s life when the thought of death becomes scary especially for those who have unsatiable ambitions and desires. Taking this unusual theme, a bunch of new film makers took upon themselves of making a film, ‘Asambhava’ (1985). I came to know about this film very recently when I stumbled upon the abovementioned song from the film. Fortunately, the film is available for viewing on one of the video sharing platforms.
‘Asambhava’ (1985) was produced by Usha Jain and Vimal Pandey and was directed by Jagdish Bannerjee. Saeed Jaffrey had a lead role in the film with the supporting cast of Rohini Hattangadi, Rameshwari, Pravin Sharma, Bal Jog, Manmohan Krishna, Asit Sen, Pradeep Bhide, Vandana Shastri etc. The film’s story was written by the famous Marathi writer and playwright, Sha. Na. Navare (Shankar Narayan Navare). The film’s songs were released in December 1984 on EP with record No.7EPE.7882. The film was certified by the Censor Board on August 30, 1985.
It was the debutant and the only film for Usha Jain and Vimal Pandey as producers, Jagdish Bannerjee as director, Binoy Hasib as music director and Vishwanath Sachdev as lyricist. I am familiar with the last name as I have often seen him on Doordarshan on talk shows as an anchor and panelist besides being a writer.
Vishwanath Sachdev has been associated with the Times of India from 1967, first as a journalist and afterwards as editor of Hindi Magazine, ‘Dharmayug’. He retired as the Chief Editor of ‘Navbharat Times’ in 2005. Since then, he has been the editor of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s publication, ‘Navneet’. His TV series, ‘Sach Ki Parchhaain’ on Doordarshan and ‘Aazaadi Kaa Ardhashataabdi’ on Star TV were very popular. Sometime in 2000, Doordarshan was conducting interviews of popular Bollywood actors on its programme, ‘Hello DD’. When Dev Anand was to be interviewed, he requested Doordarshan for Vishwanath Sachdev to conduct his interview. Vishwanath Sachdev has written many articles, both in Hindi and English on the socio-political issues. He has also published many books. His association with a sole Hindi film as a lyricist was a surprising one.
The film’s story is set out below:
Ambika Prasad Mishra (Saeed Jaffrey) is in the verge of retirement from his service. He stays with his wife, Shanti (Rohini Hattangadi) and a son, Veni Prasad (Praveen Sharma) who is doing his MBBS. Karve (Manmohan Krishna) is his close friend who is his neighbour.
One day while sitting on a chair in his house, Ambika Prasad sees an old man who introduces himself as Death (Bal Jog) implying himself to be Yamdoot and has come to take him as his time on the earth is over. Ambika Prasad pleads with Yamdoot that he has just now retired and he wishes to construct a house for the family and also to see that his son completes MBBS. So, he asks Yamdoot for granting some grace period to complete his wish-list. Yamdoot grants him the grace period of 3 years under the condition that he would have to take the life of one of his close friends, Karve who has 3 years of life remaining. Ambika Prasad agrees for this substitution consoling himself that Karve had told him the other day that he has no more desire to live. Yamdoot disappears not before telling Ambika Prasad that he would return exactly after 3 years to take away his life from the earth.
Soon, Ambika Prasad learns that Karve is no more which makes him to believe that his meeting with Yamdoot was real and he has only 3 years to fulfill his wishes. During this period, he hastens the process of constructing a house with his provident fund money and also starts working to augment his financial condition. His son, Veni completes his MBBS and gets a job at the hospital where Suparna (Rameshwari) is his colleague. They fall in love and get married. The family of Ambika Prasad now shifts to their new house.
When everything is going in Ambika Prasad’s life as per his wishes, his grace period of three years is coming to an end. Death is about to knock on his door. Yamdoot appears before him on the expected day to take him away from the earth. Ambika Prasad requests him to give additional grace period of one year to let him enjoy the marriage of his son who has just got married and to stay in his new house. Yamdoot points out that during the additional three years of life, he had added additional sins to his credit. After a strong plea by Ambika Prasad, Yamdoot reluctantly agrees to give him one additional year of grace period but warns him that he is getting the life out of a dreaded dacoit who is destined to kill an innocent victim by mistake and the dacoit’s death is also not in a good way after one year. So, he should be prepared to die as dacoit. Ambika Prasad agrees as for him, getting an additional year of life is more important even if he lives on dacoit borrowed life.
As one year of additional life span is coming to an end, there is no end to Ambika Prasad’s desires to live more as he has just become the grandfather. He would like to watch his grandson growing and spend time with him. Also, his son has has started his indepdent practice by opening a clinic. Having a dacoit’s life in him, Ambika Prasad’s mind is working on how to deceive Yamdoot when he returns on the expected date. On the expected day, while a party is going on the ground floor of his house on the occasion of his son’s first wedding anniversary on a cold December night, Ambika Prasad goes to the first floor waiting for Yamdoot with a butcher’s knife. He finds a person wrap in a shawl sitting. Assuming to be Yamdoot, Ambika Prasad fatally stabs the person.
Soon Yamdoot appears and reminds Ambika Prasad that he cannot kill him as he is immortal. Yamdoot points out that despite giving him two grace periods of life, his desires have increased and so also the sins to such an extent that he has become a killer. The end of the film is an anti-climax which I will not disclose. Suffice to say this much that Ambika Prasad made Yamdoot’s work easier.
In the film, the role played by Bal Jog is implied as ‘Yamdoot’ as nowhere in the film, he has been identified as such. But his role is that of an imaginary person representing Death.
The film’s story is unusual so also the role of Saeed Jaffrey who has his presence almost in entire film. Probably, he had his first lead role in this film among his other Hindi films. Except him, none of the other actors in the film has much scope to show their performances. I will put this film in the category of the ‘middle of the road’ cinema, meant mainly for the niche audience. The film could have been made more crisp and interesting if the screenplay writer could have avoided some of the unnecessary details like Ambika Prasad looking for a job after his retirement and going for a drinking session with his friends who take him to a kothi as part of his sins during his extended life. The film lacks in technical front but it understable as it is a low budget film. Nonetheless, the film is far superior than the usual rut of many Bollywood films of that time.
‘Asambhava’ (1985) had four songs written by Vishwanath Sachdev (2) and Shyam Anuragi (2). All four songs were set to music by Binoy Hasib. I am presenting the first song, ‘zindagi sirf kati hai isse jiyaa hi kahaan’ from the film to appear on the Blog. The song is written by Vishwanath Sachdev and rendered by Bhupinder Singh. It is a background song in which Saeed Jaffrey on ‘D’ day of his life is in contemplation as to how he has spent his extended life yet he has many wishes to be fulfilled when the Yamdoot will come to take him away from this world.
Audio Clip (Full song):
Video Clip (Partial song):
Song-Kat gayee umr meree to mujhe pataa ye chalaa (Asambhava)(1985) Singer-Bhupinder Singh, Lyrics-Vishwanath Sachdev, MD-Binoy Haseeb
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip):
kat gayee umr meree to
mujhe pataa ye chalaa
kat gayi umr meree to
mujhe pataa ye chalaa
zindagee sirf katee hai
isey jiyaa hee kahaan
zindagee sirf katee hai
isey jiyaa hee kahaan
kat gayee umr meree to
mujhe pataa ye chalaa
kab huyee bhor kahaan
aur kahaan shaam dhalee
kho gaye geet
meree saanson mein bas peer palee
aas lekar jo chalaa
saara safar kaat liyaa
pyaas pyaasee hee rahee hai
isey piyaa hee kahaan
zindagee sirf katee hai
isey jiyaa hee kahaan
kat gayee umr meree to
mujhe pataa ye chalaa
aaj phir pyaas ko
peene kee talab jaagee hai
maut ko aankh dikhaane
kee talab jaagee hai
zindagee kahte kise
jee ke main dikhaa doongaa
haathh mein jo bhee likhaa hai
usey mitaa doongaa
usey mitaa doongaa
usey mitaa doongaa
usey mitaa doongaa
3 Responses to "Kat gayee umr meree to mujhe pataa ye chalaa"
November 3, 2024 at 11:01 am
I missed to write in my first comment….
Thanks a lot for the information about Vishwanath Sachdev the writer of this song.
regards,
avinash
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 3, 2024 at 10:55 am
All Bhupinder Singh songs are most welcome 🙂 Thanks for this post and details about this movie. I had marked this song and this movie recently during my regular search for Bhupinder Singh songs. 🙂 After reading the story of this movie given above, I feel that I have read it earlier somewhere. Thanks a lot for this post Sir jee. I have three more Bhupinder Singh songs from similar type (middle of the road) of movies, which I guess could be coming from you 🙂
Like this post and this song a lot. Thanks again !!!
regards,
avinash
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November 3, 2024 at 11:19 am
Avinash ji,
Thanks for your comments.
As of now, I have no songs of Bhupinder Singh in my list for writing the articles.
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