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

This article is written by Raja, 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 sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Today (27 june 2017) is the birth anniversary of one of the most loved, and most popular, of composers that HFM has ever seen.

Anil Biswas, a legendary music composer himself, said of him that there has never been, and never will be, an allrounder quite like him. He was, according to Anil Biswas, the last of that era known for great composers.

His contemporaries, however competitive they were , had huge respect and admiration for him.

And generations of composers that followed him, practically revered him and even tried to copy his style.

There was even a film made as a tribute to him.

I am talking of course about the one and only RD Burman.

And the film was Jhankar Beats (2003).

The name RD Burman (or Pancham, as he was popularly called) was synonymous with much of the best Hindi film music produced in the 1970s/80s. Whether it was classical or rock-style or soft romantic music, his music stands out as some of the finest music ever produced in the industry.

It is often said that the golden period of HFM was the 1950s. Certainly by the mid-/late 60s, the soft melodies of the 50s had been replaced by louder music. There were exceptions of course (SD Burman’s compositions, for example) but films had changed, and music too had changed by the late 60s.

The 70s was a mixed decade where there was still a lot of loud music. But, in between, there was also some soft music, which stood out, separate from the rest.

Much of this came from RD Burman. And for that, we have to be very thankful to him – and of course to Gulzar, who wrote the lyrics, and directed many of the films, for which RD Burman composed music.

I distinctly remember the impact RD Burman made on the audience when I was a kid. In those days, I used to see one film every week in an open-air theater in our small town. It was on a Saturday evening – usually an old film. It could be 2-3 years, or even 20 years old. It was never the latest release.

Anyway, I was too young at that time to appreciate, or even know about, composition. I’d see names like Shankar Jaikishen, SD Burman, Ravi, Laxmikant Pyarelal on the screen – but they didn’t say much to me. They were just names – at that time.

But when the name RD Burman appeared, there would be a cheer from us. By “us”, I mean the younger crowd, the kids. The older folks obviously knew the others also well, but we kids somehow used to get excited when we saw RD’s name. 🙂

This was the early 70s – and by then RD’s career graph was really on the up. He’d had his big successes earlier (Teesri Manzil, Pyar Ka Mausam, Padosan, among others) and by the time “my time” came around, he was delivering hit after hit like Kati Patang, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Caravan, Amar Prem, Apna Desh, Mere Jeevan Saathi, to name just a few. Regardless of whether the film was a hit or not, RD’s music was invariably a hit.

RD worked with various lyricists but from what I can remember, top of head, he forged very successful partnerships with three of them – Anand Bakshi, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Gulzar.

With Anand Bakshi, who was probably the most prolific lyricist through the 70s and 80s, RD composed hit music for several films, like Kati Patang, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Amar Prem, Jawani Diwani, Apna Desh, Namak Haram and Aap Ki Kasam.

Majrooh continued with RD where he had left off with SD Burman. The Majrooh-RD partnership, especially for the Nasir Hussain banner produced a string of fabulous hits – Teesri Manzil, Baharon Ke Sapne (the film was a flop but songs were a hit), Pyar Ka Mausam, Caravan, Yaadon Ki Baaraat, Hum Kisise Kam Nahin…

RD’s partnership with Gulzar however took his music probably to a different level. It moved from being popular and even evergreen, to becoming different and special. I think (just my opinion!), that the RD-Gulzar partnership truly gave RD iconic status amongst later generations and today’s youth.

Some of that has to do with Gulzar himself becoming an icon for later generations. The combination created waves – Gulzar with his unique style of lyrics, and RD at his melodious best when composing to these lyrics.

It started with Parichay (1973). Not only did this film bring about an image change for the then “Jumping Jack” Jeetendra, it also heralded a new partnership of Gulzar with RD Burman.

Khushboo (1975), Aandhi (1975), Kitaab (1977), Kinara (1977), Ghar (1978), Naram Garam (1981), Namkeen (1982), Masoom (1983), Ijaazat (1987)…and many more that I haven’t mentiond here, followed after Parichay.

Each film with memorable, meaningful songs. Mostly soft melodies, just beautifully composed. I used to have a cassette with songs of Aandhi and Ghar on the two sides. It used to play non-stop in my car – I never once got bored. 🙂

Towards the mid- /end of the 80s, RD’s career took a dip. Saagar (1985) is probably the last big hit I remember. The films he composed thereafter, often didn’t do well. Even his music didn’t catch the public’s attention like it used to. There was the odd film like Ijaazat (1987) for which his music was appreciated – but the film was not a commercial success.

Bappi Lahiri and Laxmikant Pyarelal were going strong – but RD seemed to be in decline. Producers/directors even began deserting him. RD confessed to suffering from a severe loss of confidence around this time. Imagine, RD Burman, suffering from insecurity! It happens to the greatest too.

And then, when it looked like it was over for him, he rose again like a phoenix from the ashes with a memorable and very popular score for 1942 A Love Story (1994). It felt like the RD of old, that touch still seemed to be very much there.

And then tragedy!

Just when it should have been a revival in his career, RD could not live to enjoy it. In fact, he did not even live to enjoy the musical success of 1942 A Love Story. On the 4th of January 1994, RD passed away – leaving behind millions of stunned fans, absolutely heart-broken. For everyone, RD was still young – with a lot to offer. It felt cruel for him to be snatched away from us.

But RD has also left behind with us his legacy of music. And that treasure will remain with us for ever.

Today, on his birth anniversary, we thank him from the bottom of our hearts for what he’s given us. I know that my childhood would have been much poorer without music in it – and much of that music came from his baton.

Now, onto the song for today.

It is from a 1993 film, Gurudev – so it must be considered among the last few films for which RD composed music.

To be honest, I had never heard of this film (or this song), till it was brought to my notice by Peevisie’s Mom sometime ago.

But that shouldn’t be surprising – after the early 80s, I completely lost track of films for a while. (I consider Himmatwala (1983) as the cut-off film).

There were plenty of films in the 80s thereafter, with newcomers like Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Sunny Deol, Govinda and established actors like Mithun, Rishi Kapoor, even Amitabh Bachchan – but almost all of them draw a complete blank for me. I’ve seen just a few of them since. This continued till probably the mid-90s when I began watching movies more regularly.

So Gurudev (1993), being from my black-out period, was a new name for me.

There’s a special reason Peevisie’s Mom brought this song to my notice. She wanted me to do the write-up for it, because it has scenes from Holland. 🙂 So she sent me a mail, with the lyrics in English. And a brief write-up about the situation leading to the song, as follows:

“Sridevi has just managed to smuggle Rishi Kapoor out from a hospital. She gets him drunk and dresses him as a ward boy and herself in lots of bandage; sits on a wheelchair and the way she navigates through the hospital is decently comic. they board a train and then this song happens.”

Soon after, Avinashji also sent me a mail, requesting me to write this up. This song had been kept ready by him a long time ago and he was planning on writing a post on it himself. But he had not done so yet. It’s a song he is fond of.

Avinashji also sent lyrics, not just in English, but also in Devanagari, prepared by his daughter, Ashwini.

This is Avinashji’s input for the song, as given in his mail to me:

“This is from the film GURUDEV -1993 directed by Late Shri Vinod Mehra. Music for this film is composed by RD Burman and lyrics are by Majrooh ji.
Here is what wiki says about this film –
Gurudev is a 1993 Bollywood film directed by the late actor Vinod Mehra. The film was left incomplete after Vinod Mehra’s death in 1990 but was later completed by director Raj Sippy and released three years later.
The film stars Rishi Kapoor as Guru and Anil Kapoor as Dev. Sridevi plays a double role as Sonia and Priya who are Guru and Dev’s love interests respectively. Pran, Kader Khan, Laxmikant Berde and Kiran Kumar also appear in supporting roles.”

Now, Hindi films picturised in Switzerland are very common. The scenic beauty often takes one’s breath away, so even if there’s nothing else in the film, at least the audience is treated to some spectacular scenery. Some may think, “kuchh to paisa vasool” hua.

But Holland? Not many film-makers have it on their list. There was Silsila (1981) of course. Barood (1976) had “dil kaanton mein”. On checking, I found out that Prem Rog (1982) had “bhanwre ne khilaaya phool”, The Gentleman (1994) had “hum apne gham ko”, Hello Brother (1999) had “teri chunariya”, Hum Tum (2004) had “ladki kyon na jaane kyon” and Aparichit/Anniyan (2005) had “kumaari”.

And I distinctly remember a 1990s song with Kinderdijk in the background. Kinderdijk is a place in Holland with a number of windmills, in a row. I can’t remember the film now – can anyone identify it?

More recently there was Queen (2014), with Kangana Ranaut.

There must be some others too.

One can hardly blame directors if they give Holland a pass. Sure, it’s a pretty country in its own way – green, windmills and all. And a lot of canals. But it’s nowhere close to being as scenic as Switzerland or Austria.

In general, Holland is a very flat country, with just a very few, undulating hills (more like hillocks) in the south of the country. Otherwise, the landscape is just flat,much of the land even low-lying, with constant threat of water. I used to joke with my Dutch friends “the highest point in this country is the pavement” 🙂

What has always amazed me is that for a densely populated country, Holland has managed to plan its landmass so well that it has not compromised on nature, while still supporting its land needs for housing, commercial establishments and public amenities. Of course it helps that the land is largely flat and therefore usable. But then, again, building very high-rise buildings (like skyscrapers) isn’t feasible.

It might surprise many (it did surprise me for sure when I read of it first!) that on records, Holland is even more densely populated than India. Check out this list https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density!).

Of course much of India’s land is not usable at all, so while this might be technically accurate, it is not a true reflection of the reality, especially with regard to overcrowded cities.

Coming to the song. Yes, the song is shot with Holland scenes – most notably Madurodam in Den Haag (The Hague) and De Efteling, an attraction/amusement park in the south of the country, close to Tilburg and not far from the Belgium border.

Madurodam is a miniature park, with miniatures of various attractions of Holland. In one place, one can get an excellent visual idea of the country in a nutshell. Monuments, airport, runways, waterways, various industries and other interesting sights are displayed. It is hard to describe the place in writing – but one can comfortably spend 3 hours there without getting bored. The meticulousness with which each miniature has been prepared, the attention to detail – that is really commendable. One can actually learn a lot there – at least that’s what I’ve felt everytime I’ve visited. (I’ve been there many times with various guests – it has rained every single time. :-)).

I think there might be a similar miniature park in Delhi too? At least it was planned some years ago, if I’m not mistaken. There’s a European miniature park in Brussels, with miniatures from various places in Europe. But I feel Madurodam is much better.

De Efteling is an attraction park, largely for kids. Sort of a Disneyland but with different types of attractions, many of them water-based. The rollercoasters we see here are from De Efteling.

There might be other places too – but these are the two obvious ones in the song. It’s nice to see Holland scenes in a song, so I must thank Peevisie’s Mom for bringing this song to my notice.

I must also thank Avinashji and Ashwini for providing the lyrics in English and Devanagari. I had got English lyrics from Peevisie’s Mom too, but for this purpose I’ve used Avinashji’s version of lyrics. I hope Peevisie’s Mom won’t mind. 🙂

(She normally doesn’t read my long posts so maybe she won’t see this at all. 🙂 ).

By coincidence, India’s PM, Mr. Narendra Modi is also in Holland on this date, so it is opportune that we have a Holland-based song on our blog on the occasion. I assure you, it was unplanned – it’s purely serendipitous. 🙂

I now leave you with the song – and the scenes. I hope you enjoy them.

Song-Jaipur se nikli gaadi Dilli chale halle halle(Gurudev)(1983) Singers-Shailendra Singh, Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Majrooh Sultanpuri, MD-R D Burman
Both

Lyrics(Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)

Hey
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Chhori ka dil chhore sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Chhori ka dil chhore sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle
Pehle hota hai kuchh kuchh
Phir ho jaata hai sab kuchh
Main to rakh doonga dil nikaal ke
Ho ho
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Chhore ka dil chhori sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Chhore ka dil chhori sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle
Pehle hota hai kuchh kuchh
Phir ho jaata hai sab kuchh
Saiyaan ji phir bhi dekh bhaal ke
O o
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Chhori ka dil chhore sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle

Oye jab meri ulfat ki patri
Mil gayi tere dil se
Armaanon ki gaadi phir daudaayein
Donon mil ke
Hoye jab se dhun tujhse milne ki
Dil mein mere samaayee
Maine bhi ab jo ho so ho
Jhandi hari dikhaee
Ye teri marzee hai to phir
Ye teri mazjee hai to phir
Dekh main kya kya kartaa hoon re
Halle halle
Halle halle
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Chhore ka dil chhori sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle

hoy kya chaahoon sau sau bal khaaye
Kabse karoon ishaara
Jaan sake to jaan le
Main na karne ki dobaara
Ye kehna hai to phir ab
Mujhko bhi hai aazaadi
Tere sang kheloon ulfat ki
Chaahe jitni baazi
Khel ja mere ang lipat ke
Haay
Khel ja mere ang lipat ke
Door se kaahe ankhiyaan maare
Halle halle
Halle halle
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Dhi dhin tanak dhin
Chhore ka dil chhori sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Dhi dhin tinak dhin
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Chhore ka dil chhori sang
Dhak dhak bole halle halle
Pehle hota hai kuchh kuchh
Phir ho jaata hai sab kuchh
Main to rakh doonga dil nikaal ke
Ho ho
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle
Jaipur se nikli gaadi
Dilli chale halle halle

——————————————————
(Lyrics in Devnagri Script by Ashwini Scrapwala)
——————————————————
हे
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
छोरी का दिल छोरे संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
छोरी का दिल छोरे संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले
पहले होता है कुछ कुछ
फिर हो जाता है सब कुछ
मैं तो रख दूंगा दिल निकाल के
हो हो
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
छोरे का दिल छोरी संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
छोरे का दिल छोरी संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले
पहले होता है कुछ कुछ
फिर हो जाता सब कुछ
सैयां जी फिर भी देख भाल के
ओ ओ
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
छोरी का दिल छोरे संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले

ओये जब मेरी उल्फत की पटरी
मिल गयी तेरे दिल से
अरमानों की गाडी फिर दौडाएं
दोनों मिलके
होए जब से धुन तुझसे मिलने की
दिल में मेरे समाई
मैं भी अब जो हो सो हो
झंडी हरी दिखाई
ये तेरी मर्जी है तो फिर
ये तेरी मर्जी है तो फिर
देख मैं क्या क्या करता हूँ रे
हल्ले हल्ले
हल्ले हल्ले
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
छोरे का दिल छोरी संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले

ओ क्या चाहूँ सौ सौ बल खाए
कबसे करून इशारा
जान सके तो जान ले
मैं न करने की दुबारा
ये कहना है तो फिर अब
मुझको भी है आज़ादी
तेरे संग खेलूँ उल्फत की
चाहे जितनी बाज़ी
खेल जा मेरे अंग लिपट के
हाय
खेल जा मेरे अंग लिपट के
दूर से काहे अँखियाँ मारे
हल्ले हल्ले
हल्ले हल्ले
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
छोरे का दिल छोरी संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
धी धिन तनक धिन
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले
छोरे का दिल छोरी संग
धक् धक् बोले हल्ले हल्ले
पहले होता है कुछ कुछ
फिर हो जाता सब कुछ
मैं तो रख दूंगा दिल निकाल के
हो हो
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली छले हल्ले हल्ले
जयपुर से निकली गाडी
दिल्ली चले हल्ले हल्ले