Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs

This article is written by Sudhir, 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.

This is the 17,900th song on our blog.

Pray, what may be the most dear thing in this life?

Something that will never grow old, or stale. Something that will never be lost in life. Something that will only grow fonder with the passage of time. What is that thing?

Memories of Happiness. The most wonderful possession a person can have. The most valuable treasure that will last a lifetime. A treasure that will never diminish. It will only grow with the passage of time. For all the happy moments we experience and we relish, as the moments pass, they become memories. To stay in our treasure chest of memory cells, forever. To be visited and revisited over passing years, the thoughts of the happy times that are in the past now, bring back smile to the lips, a twinkle in the eyes, a fond quickening of the heart beats, as these happy memories flash on our mind’s screen, as and when.

These Memories of Happiness get created when one passes through unforgettable moments of happiness. Especially moments those are enjoyed with people who are near and dear to the heart – dearly loved ones, family and friends. And this basket of Happiness Memories keeps on filling up more and more.

Sometimes rare events happen in life that bring more happiness to the mind. About six weeks ago, I was part of a gathering of very dear friends. It was a rare and opportune get together. And I came away from this meeting with my arms and mind loaded with more Memories of Happiness that I felt I could accommodate in my memory banks. But these memory banks are unconditionally expandable. They create more space to store, the more we bring in to store.

The moments were rare, the gathering was joyful and the memories of that day are divine – well, almost. The occasion was the get together of the Bandwagoneers of the ASAD blog. Many travelled long distances to be present, to participate and to share. All of us keep in touch on a fairly regular, almost daily basis otherwise. But actual face meetings, where one can see and touch and hear the sound live – such occasions have been very rare. For one reason that the entire team is so spread out across the nation that it is not easily feasible to make such meetings happen.

But make it happen this time, we did. It seems that with the passage of time, our options and opportunities to travel are actually becoming more and more limited. I remember Atul ji used to visit Delhi, if not frequently, but often, for his work at the Railways Ministry in Delhi. Likewise, Mahesh ji has earlier traveled to Delhi on work a couple of times. I remember pre-pandemic days when Bakhshish ji and I would be visiting Bombay at least twice a year or so. Some things changed with the pandemic. The necessity to telecommute brought in rapid advancement in networking, and the connectivity requirements brought in many a software that support virtual meetings and conferencing across geographies. The communication patterns changed and transitioned so much that the need for humans to travel out physically has been reduced. And this physical transformation also fuelled a mental transformation, wherein starting from professional work and permeating into personal lives also, people have started preferring remote conferencing.

Ah but, where the matters of heart are involved, where the friends and family need to converse, there is still this urge to be able to meet in person and have a face to face interaction.

And so it finally took shape and happened. For Bakhshish ji and myself, coming to Bombay is such a fulfilling and a rejuvenating experience. There is a large friend circle, and there is an interaction need that it seems only natural that we would like to visit there. Circumstances prohibited us from travelling for many years, but then the urge for meeting friends in person just grew over the past few months. Once we could firm up travel plans, after that the flow of events simply took shape and took over. It is just like one says – you resolve to get something done, and just that resolve makes so many things happen to facilitate desired endeavors and activities.

After a flurry of back and forth messages, going up and down, both on the networks and in terms of actual planning, we finally zeroed in on the schedule and venue. Information was shared with all concerned members of the bandwagon, and it was then just a go.

Friday, the 2^nd of June, the meeting time set at 11 am, and we were to converge at dear Arun ji’s place at Four Bungalows. Team members consented to join, and expectations were set up with eagerness. And the icing on the cake was the surprise arrival of some, that added so much more joy.

Bakhshsish ji and I were staying with Subhash Bhai at Matunga. Time to reach Arun ji’s place was 11 am. Subhash Bhai agreed to join us, and so we three travelled to Andheri and on to Versova. It was a kind of unstated decision that since Bakhshish Singh ji was accompanying us, our target to reach Arun ji’s place should be 12 noon. 😀  And so we arrived precisely at 12 noon, give or take a few minutes (as is chalta hai 😉 ).

As we rang the bell, with the expectation to see a round bespectacled face with a big smile, the opening turned into a huge pleasant surprise. We did see a bespectacled face welcoming us with a beaming smile, albeit this face belonged to Nalini ji. And that was the big happy surprise because in earlier communications, she had expressed inability to join and had declined the invite. And this big happy surprise set the ball rolling for the many hours of togetherness that followed.

Entering the apartment, we found practically all expected attendees to be present. There was a lot of cheer and handshakes and hugs and back thumping all around. It is always such a pleasure to meet Arun ji, for a there is a special feeling in my heart for him. When I meet him, I am always so comforted to see his smiling face and smiling eyes above the thick bushy moustache that I immediately have to hug him. So after the joyful Nalini ji surprise to start with, I had the hug time with Arun ji, and then we proceed into the apartment.

Folks that were already present – Sadnand ji, Nitin ji, Avinash ji. And Satish ji. It is always such a pleasure to meet Sadanand ji with a big smile on his face, always ready with a crack to make you laugh. Nitin ji is a dear person to meet as always. And then the first time face meeting with Avinash ji. Avinash ji was supposed to have joined one of our earliest gangouts in Bombay, but inclement weather kept him confined that time, and he could not travel. But make it he did, this time. In fact he had arrived the previous evening and had stayed with Arun ji.

I mentioned these three bandwagoneers together, for the reason that all three have faces that are almost spherical with partial balding already taking roots on the pate. And then I come to Satish ji. Dear dear Satish ji, a person that I have been so eagerly looking forward to meet. In fact, I was also very much wanting to and almost half expecting to see Pradeep Shetty ji also. Ah but yes, he did make a virtual appearance later in the proceedings. I will come to that.

There is a special bonding I feel with these two gentlemen, whom I have not met in person before. But both are very special for me, in that there is a daily very special greetings exchange with these two very early in the mornings. The timing and connect is so synchronized and so definite like the sunrise itself, that at some earlier time, I mistakenly addressed them by the other person’s name. well, it has not happened now of late. And so, yes, meeting with Satish ji was such a special thing for me that day.

The quorum is always complete with the arrival of Bakhshish Singh ji (for obvious reasons) no matter how many are present or will join. And so we settled down and the conversations flowed. We were gathered that day with an absence of any agenda – a conscious decision that Arun ji had discussed earlier. And so we were there, and waiting now for the other expected joinees.

We were waiting for three very special people to come. The most important – Atul ji, our fearless leader. He had informed earlier that his flight was being rescheduled by the airline and he was expected almost an hour or so later than his earlier communicated schedule. So he was the next to arrive, reaching directly from the airport.

Another person who has a very special place in my heart. All for the manner in which he manages all the activities of the blog. Seems to completely indefatigable and tireless, with such an unfaltering focus on the continued success of the blog. And the self evident performance is there for all to see. In an age and time of continuing transformations of activities and fortunes of online endeavors, ASAD stands out as a bright beacon that I daresay, is an envy of many other bloggers. We shall soon be celebrating the 15^th anniversary of sustained activity, which could well be a celebrated record in comparison to similar online efforts. And we continue to merrily chug along and keep conquering newer and higher milestones. All the due credit goes to Atul ji and his tireless stewardship of this musical bandwagon. It is an honor to be associated with him and this blog.

Personally, I had a agenda of my own, to address two items related to the blog. But for that I needed to have a go ahead from Atul ji. So as soon as he came in, and after the meetings and greetings, I requested a separate five minutes from him, and we conversed in the adjoining room. I explained to him what was on my mind, and he readily agreed. I said want to talk about this with the group, with his permission, and he said yes once again. I will mention these items little later in this write up.

Now we were waiting for Peevesie and Peevesie’s Hubby. In real life, it is Vaidehi and Ishan. Vaidehi had been in communication with her mom since morning. They were both attending some important work related discussions, and had promised to join after that. Only that their timing kept on getting delayed. Then Arun ji suggested that we should take lunch, and they can join as soon as they arrive. As usual, I was requested to begin and to continue holding the fort (I mean the plate) till their arrival and so give them company too. A matter after my own heart so I readily accepted the honor.

So the lunch was served. Arun ji mentioned the great help that had been provided by Nalini ji, in sorting out the menu, and Avinash ji, in helping to manage the logistics. Due to other family commitments that were in conflict that day, the Event Management Company of Arun ji’s daughters, was not able to participate. But nonetheless, the lunch arrangement was well planned, well laid out and a roaring success. I can definitely say that from my perspective. 😀  The innovative idea of Nalini ji to suggest and make arrangement for Aam Ras, was a definite high point of the lunch.

And so the lunch proceedings happened. I held on to my plate and after some wait, the expected film couple arrived. The first order of the agenda after their arrival and intros and greetings, was to briefly celebrate Arun ji’s upcoming birthday, which was then just a week or so ahead. Vaidehi had brought a little gift and flowers, and we all sang the Happy Birthday song for the birthday boy.

Lunch proceedings continued with yours truly holding the fort and giving company to the newest addition to the gathering.

Once we settled down after lunch, and with permission from Atul ji, I asked for attention of the gathering for my agenda items. The first item was presenting two hard disks to the group, one to Atul ji, and one to Arun ji to keep as a sharing item with folks in Bombay. I explained to the gathering about the contents of these disks. Our blog had recently complete 17,800 posts. The hard disks contained ALL the 18,000 plus songs that have been posted on our blog since initiation. The songs are arranged in three ways – serially by post number, by film name, and by year and film name, for ease of access. This collection is important since the on the blog, all the songs may not be always available, as the online links keep on changing over time.

Then I proceeded to talk about my second agenda item. This was concerned with some feedback about the blog that I had received and I wanted to share with all group members. So I told the gathered members, the background and the details.

Earlier in the year, in the month of February, an exhibition had been arranged in Delhi by a friend, Ravikant ji. Ravikant ji is an Associate Professor at CSDS (Center for Study of Developing Societies) in Delhi. His main area of research interest is art and culture, which includes films and music. In Delhi, we are actively associated in working together in this area. He had organized an exhibition in February (21-28) titled ‘Intermediations’. The focus of this exhibition was the interplay of the film medium with the print medium and the broadcast medium. The tag line for this exhibition was ‘Panna, Parda, Baaja’, referring to print media, cinema and radio. The main theme of this exhibition was archiving. Every day in the afternoon/evening we had talks and panel discussions. I too was invited to be on the panel on one of the days. And I had talked about the archiving of Hindi film music from the perspective of our blog. I had described how our blog was set up, how it is sustained, and what are our singular achievements. I specifically mentioned how Atul ji set up this activity, and the manner in which it is being sustained. I also told the audience about Arun ji, about his notebooks, and his continued effort to research and gather information related to people and films. All this in recognition the archiving objective of this major entertainment media in our country.

Ravikant ji had insisted that I should attend all sessions. One significant outcome of this interaction was that I met with a lot of people for the first time. People who are managing other blogs and archives, people who are writers and research workers in related fields, people who are anchors and presenters on AIR and other music shows etc. It was very exhilarating experience to be able to meet so many likeminded people all at once.

And the fun part of my introductions with these people – no one knew me of course, by name. But when I mentioned that I am associated with AtulSongADay blog, my goodness, their reactions were unbelievable. Most people knew of our blog. Most people continuously use our blog as a reference archive. Most people are in awe about the manner in which this blog is scaling newer and newer heights. Everyone greatly praised our effort, especially our team work once I mentioned that this is a group working together. People were not familiar with specific names, but some people did mention both Atul ji and Arun ji by name.

So this was a very uplifting and satisfying experience for me. But then, there was also some feedback that some friends mentioned. Number one – that it appeared that we were posting more to capture some number milestone, at the cost of content of the posts. And number two – that of late, the readers find very little discussion about the songs themselves. I expressed this feedback and the sentiment to the present group members and there was a brief discussion on this topic.

I think these are important inputs for all of us. It seems that the people who are visiting the blog are looking for more content, that simply getting the demographic info about the song and the film. I found it important enough to bring this feedback with me to this gathering of our group. I had first mentioned this to Atul ji in my brief one-on-one conversation with him, and then with his approval I shared with the rest of the team.

All this while, as the birthday song was being sung, as the hard disk was being presented, as the conversations were in progress, a lot of photographs were taken of the day’s proceedings. Especially Ishan, who is an expert with camera, captured a lot of images. As did many of us with our phone cameras.

As the afternoon moved on, Vaidehi and Ishan excused themselves and took leave, as they had more meetings to attend related to their work. It is such a pleasure always to meet the youngest member of the group. And this time, it was in accompaniment with interest earned – the latest addition in form of Ishan. A thorough gentleman and a very friendly person – it was a real pleasure to be introduced to him. Goodbyes were made with Vaidehi promising to return to the return to blog with more of her pen(wo)manship.

Shortly thereafter Satish ji announced that it was time for his flight and that his cab was arriving in a few minutes. There were more handshakes and hugs as he stood up to depart. A quiet person, with such a pleasant smile and an affable presence, it seems so comforting to be in his company. I hope that we plan to meet again very soon.

Then Atul ji announced that his flight time was at hand, and that his daughter had booked a cab for him to go to the airport. So with due goodbyes and handshakes etc. Atul ji departed for the airport. A wonderful day of meeting great friends was now coming to a close. The remaining group members, we talked for some more time. As these conversations were going on, a video phone call came. It was Mahesh ji calling in to connect into the group, and with him, Pradeep Shetty ji also was there. I have mentioned earlier about wanting to meet Pradeep ji. And so this call was a heaven sent answer to my thoughts. The network was creating difficulty but still we were able to exchange greetings and have a live conversation – one step further from exchanging morning greetings.

Evening was closing in, and we decided to call it a day. There still is so much to talk about and share. Music has this effect on people, and that is the glue that keeps this group together. And the heart expressed the desire that these meetings should happen more often. There already has been a big gap due to other circumstances.

It was a wonderful day of meeting so many good friends all under one roof. As we were doing the good byes for the day, my mind working over the day’s happy proceedings, coined the a new realization. That we were departing from Arun ji’s home with a wonderful ton of Memories – of Happiness. Gosh, what a memorable day it had been, spent in the company of so many dear friends one continuously communicates with on a daily basis, and today it was as if an assembly designed and crafted in heavens.

And these memories are now forever tucked into our mind’s storage, to be revisited as and when the mind felt it to be. A day that will never be forgotten. Rather to put it straight – a day that is forever now one of my most wonderful Memories of Happiness.

The song I present today is from the 1966 film ‘Biwi Aur Makaan’. The lyrics are by Gulzar and music is from the mind of Hemant Kumar. The singing voices are those of Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Balbir and Ghulam Mohammed. On screen, the song is picturized on a group of ‘जिगरी दोस्त’ whose motto is ‘all for one, and one for all’. The group consists of Mehmood, Biswajit, Keshto Mukherjee, Ashish Kumar and Ajit Chatterji. The story line deals with the problem of young unmarried men trying to get rental accommodation in a world where the landlords prfer to rent out premises to married couples only. The outcome of the scheming brain of Pande (Mehmood) is a hilarious set of events that involves an artificial gender change for two of the men.

The film is produced under the banner of Geetanjali Films Bombay and is directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. This song tells of the wonderful value of friendship – that there are no obligations between true friends. A ha, a topic that I want to write about more in detail, but I think I should stop and not test the patience of readers any more.

A wonderful ode to friendship – the kind of friendship and camaraderie that is existing among the member of our musical bandwagon.

This song, and this write up – dedicated to our entire group – with everlasting Memories of Happiness.

Amen

Video (Somewhat shorter in beginning)

Audio

Song – Jab Dosti Hoti Hai To Dosti Hoti Hai  (Biwi Aur Makaan) (1966) Singer – Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Balbir, Ghulam Mohammed, Lyrics – Gulzar, MD – Hemant Kumar

Lyrics
(Based on Audio)

yaar kisan ye to hadd ho gayi
yaaron ki to gat ho gayi
sirf ehsaan hi baaki reh gaye
dosti yaari radd ho gayi
pyaar mein duniyadarri kaisi
muft ki cheez nagad ho gayi
chhee chhee yaar ki ye pehchaan
dosti mein kaisa ehsaan
jab dosti hoti hai to . . . .(deep breath)

ehsaa..aan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai
to dosti hoti hai
aur doston mein koi
ehsaan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai
jab dosti hoti hai
to dosti hoti hai
aur doston mein koi
ehsaan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai

arey jal bin tadpat machhli jaise
nal bin tadpat paani
jal bin tadpat machhli jaise
nal bin tadpat paani
kya.. kya
kya.. kya.. kya.. kya
kya.. kya
jal bin tarpat machhli jaise
nal bin tarpat paani
ho o
jal bin tarpat machhli jaise
nal bin tarpat paani
aur haath paani bina chalte. . .
ashnaa..aan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai
to dosti hoti hai
aur doston mein koi
ehsaan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai

ye paanchon ki panchaayat
jo soche sahi hoga
hum pandav hain bharat ke
jo keh den wahi hoga
ye paanchon ki panchaayat
jo soche sahi hoga
hum pandav hain bharat ke
jo keh den wahi hoga
oy jam ke ek jamaa doo..oo..oon
doodh ka dahi hoga
to doodh ka dahi hoga
mera kya prabhu kehat hai peeda
jeevan kaaj karam kashteera
bhai mera kya prabhu kehat hai peeda
jeevan kaaj karam kashteera
aur haath kasht bina ye jeevan. . .
asaa..aa..aan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai
to dosti hoti hai
aur doston mein koi
ehsaan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai

ungli se ungli ka jab tak jod salaamat
saath salaamat
chhoti aur badi hai to kya
paanchon hain to haath salaamat
ek ek ke hain paanch muqaddar
taqleef hotey ghabraana mat
saaje jod jawaani bachpan
paanch se paanch miley to pachpan
paanchon saath hain to. . . (deep breath)
nuksaa..aa..aan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai
to dosti hoti hai
aur doston mein koi
ehsaan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai
jab dosti hoti hai
to dosti hoti hai
aur doston mein koi
ehsaan nahin hota
jab dosti hoti hai