Archive for the ‘Reba Muhuri Solo Songs’ Category
Mohey Laagi Lagan Guru Charanan Ki
Posted on: June 19, 2020
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusaist 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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Blog Day : |
4354 | Post No. : | 15670 | Movie Count : |
4316 |
Hindi Songs in Bangla Film – 30
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In my last article, I had covered a fictional character, ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’, created by the writer Sharadindhu Bandopadhyay on which TV serials and films have been made. While writing the article, I recalled that Satyajit Roy has written stories on his fictional character, ‘Feluda’ who is also a detective and investigator. He had directed two Bangla feature films based on ‘Feluda’ stories – ‘Sonar Kella’ (1974) and ‘Joy Baba Felunath’ (1979). It will be interesting to note as to how these two detective characters differ in their style of investigations which I will come to it later.
Satyajit Ray had once said that he made a living by writing children’s stories and from their publications rather than earning from his films. His stories of ‘Feluda’ were first published in children’s magazine ‘Sandesh’ and later published as books. He had said that since his childhood, he was hooked to stories of Sherlock Holmes and inspired him to write the Indianised version of Sherlock Holmes- both culturally and temperamentally. Satyajit Roy wrote 35 stories of Feluda which were published between 1965 and 1995.
In all the Feluda stories, there are some characters who are part of almost all the stories. Detective and investigator, Feluda (real name: Prodosh Chandra Mitter) is the Indian equivalent of Sherlock Holmes. Feluda’s cousin, Topshe (real name: Tapas Ranjan Mitra) is equivalent of Dr Watson. Feluda’s friend Jatayu (real name: Lalmohan Ganguly) is a writer of crime thrillers who has often been depicted as a comical character. In addition, there are characters like Maganlal Meghraj, a villain who is an important part in some of the Feluda stories.
I have watched most of Byomkesh Bakshi’s stories on T V serials. So, I have fairly good idea as to how the main characters of Byomkesh and his assistant, Ajit have been depicted on screen. But in regards to Feluda stories, my only exposure is Satyajit Roy’s two films mentioned above. Based on these sources and also reading summaries of few other stories, the some comparison between two detective stories of Byomkesh Bakshi and Feluda is attempted.
- Feluda stories are targeted towards children and teenagers though even the adults may also like. The investigations mostly centre around thefts of manuscripts, antique, artifacts items, kidnapping etc. Byomkesh stories are at a higher level of intelligence in solving cases and therefore meant for adults. The investigations are mainly related to murders arising out of property disputes, greed, revenge, adultery etc. Hence, there will be at least one or more female characters in the story. In Feluda stories, female characters hardly find place.
- Feluda is a tall, handsome and athletic person. He is a bachelor. He carries weapons with him and will not be averse to using strong arm methods. Byomkesh Bakshi is a bespectacled dhoti-clad detective and investigator who likes to be called as ‘Satyanweshi’ (Truth-seekar). He is a married man. He rarely uses weapons or resorts to violent methods during his investigation.
- Most of Feluda stories are set outside Kolkata as he is a travel buff. Byomkesh gets most of the cases of investigation in around Kolkata.
- Feluda is accompanied in his work by his cousin, Thopse, a teenager who helps in recording the events during the investigations. The other accomplish is a writer of detective stories with his penname, Jatayu. He is more into bringing comical reliefs with his jokes gone wrong and with some silly questions. Byomkesh is acccompanied by his wife, Satyabati and Ajit who is also a writer.
Of the two Feluda films which Satyajit Ray directed, I gave preference for ‘Joy Baba Felunath (1979) which was available with English sub-titles. The gist of the story is as under:
Feluda (Saumitra Chatterjee) along with his cousin, Thopse (Siddharth Chatterjee) and the writer-friend, Jatayu (Santosh Dutta) are on a visit to Varanasi for a holiday. While on a stroll to ghats of Varanasi along with the hotel manager, they meet Ambika Ghoshal who is introduced by the hotel manager to Feluda. Ghoshal revealed that the antique idol of Ganesh has been stolen and his father does not want to report the theft to police as he has no faith in police investigation. Feluda agrees to investigate the matter to solve the case.
During the course of his investigations, he visits Ghoshal family house and meets the father of Ambika Ghoshal He finds him and Ambika Ghoshal’s minor son interested in reading detective stories. He also meets Bikash (Biplab Chatterjee), a member of Ghoshal family but no relation to them. He also comes to know that Maganlal Meghraj (Utpal Dutt) who had visited Ghoshal on the previous day to buy the antique Ganesh idol but Ghoshal had refused to sell. Maganlal is actually a trader in antique items and artefacts and the Machhlibaba, the fake sadhu is a front for him in his illicit business. So, Maganlal is the first suspects.
But there are others in the Ghoshal family who could also be suspects. Ambika Ghoshal was in debt as his business was down. He has, therefore, some motivation to sell the Ganesh idol to raise the money. Bikash had planned to go back to his native place as he did not like to stay with Ghoshal family for long doing house-hold chores. However, he did not have money to quit Ghoshal family. Lastly, Feluda meets the aged Shashibabu, an Durga idol maker who is making the idol of Durga in Ghoshal house for the ensuing Durga Pooja.
Feluda suspects the role of Bikash in Ganesh idol theft especially when he is suddenly planned to visit his native place. Feluda confronts Bikash by taking him at gun-point to a secluded place where he spills the beans. Feluda had already kept the police informed who takes him to the custody.
The fact of the case was that while painting the Durga idol, Shahsibabu finds a Ganesh idol falling from the mouth of the tiger’s idol. He takes the idol to Bikash fearing that he would be branded a thief. Bikash comforts him and assure him that he would handle the issue. But instead of handing over the Ganesh idol to Ghoshal family, he sells it to Maganlal for partly sum. Since Shashibabu knows that Ganesh idol has been found, Maganlal gets him killed.
Now it is the turn of Maganlal who has to be caught red-handed. For this, Feluda disguises himself as Machhlibaba and sits on the ghat along with his devotees. As expected, Maganlal comes with the Ganesh idol in the guise of a gift to Machhlibaba and hands over to him. The police team was already watching from the nearby place. He is caught red-handed with the Ganesh idol. He gets arrested. The case is solved. At the outset, there is not much suspense in the story as Maganlal was a suspect from the very beginning.
There is, however, a twist in the story, not about the suspects, but about the end of the story. When Maganlal had visited Ambika Ghoshal for buying the Ganesh idol, he has given him a friendly banter with a tone of a threat that he would have the idol even if Ghoshal does not sell him. This was heard by Ambika Ghoshal’s minor son. So, he reports the matter to his grandfather who asks him as to what he would do under such a circumstance since he is an avid reader of detective stories. The grandson says that he would keep the Ganesh idol in the mouth of the idol of Tiger which Shashibabu is painting. So, in reality, in the beginning, there was no theft of Ganesh idol but it has been safely kept in the mouth of a tiger idol.
There is a further twist in the story. When Feluda is handing over the recovered Ganesh idol, he reveals to the grandfather that the Ganesh idol is a fake one and it will not fetch even 1000 rupees. So where is the real antique Ganesh idol? The grandfather keeps mum. Feluda gives the answer that he knows from his source that the real antique Ganesh idol has been kept in the safe deposit locker of a bank by the grandfather.
Even though this film is a suspense thriller, as is the case with all other films of Satyajit Ray, the film is an audio-visual treat. He has a penchant for details around the scenes of the shooting and creating the period atmosphere. For example, when Feluda visits to meet the father of Ambika Ghoshal, in the background, an old record player is playing a thumri of Kesarbai Kerkar. “Kaahe Ko Daari” (1936). On the second time, a ghazal, “Pee Ke Hum Tum Chale” (1909) sung by Zohrabai Agrewali is played in the background.
The ghats and narrow lanes of Varanasi have been beautifully captured. Of all the main actors, I liked the performance Utpal Dutt the most. He has been projected as a ruthless trader who can go to any extent without having to use strong-arm tactics. His stern warning through his expressions and short dialogue delivery are enough to create fear of him.
‘Joy Baba Felunath’ (1979) has only two songs, one each of bhajans of Meera Bai and Soordas. I am presenting a Meera bhajan “Mohe Laagi Lagan Guru Charanan Ki”. The song is sung by Reba Muhuri which is set to music by Satyajit Ray.
Reba Muhuri (1930 – 15/05/2011) was Hindustani classical vocalist who was born in Krishnanagar in Nadia district of West Bengal. Her father, Amiyanath Sanyal was a musicologist from whom she learnt music during her childhood. At the age of 16, Reba got married to an army officer. But her musical journey continued. She was mainly trained by Badi Motibai in Banaras. She also got guidance from Siddheshwari Devi, Rasoolan Bai and Begum Akhtar. She specialised in Khayal, Thumri and Bhajan. She had given concerts in India and abroad.
The song picturization situation is that while strolling on the Varanasi ghats, Feluda and his two associates find a gathering of devotees where one of the devotees is singing while there are visitors taking blessing of Sadhu Machhlibaba who is in fact a conduit for Maganlal for smuggling antiques and artefacts out of India.
The audio clip contains the full bhajan while the bhajan on the video clip is interrupted by dialogues. Hence the continuity of the song on the video clip is lost.
It is better to listen to the audio clip to get a spiritual feelings.
Audio
Video
Song – Mohey Laagi Lagan Guru Charnan Ki (Joy Baba Felunath) (1979) Singer – Reba Muhuri, Lyrics – Meerabai, MD – Satyajit Ray
Lyrics
aa aa aa aaaaaa
aa aa aa aaaa
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
charan bina ab kachhu nahi bhaawe
charan bina ab kachhu nahi bhaawe
jag maaya sab sapanan ki
laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
bhav saagar sab sukh gayo hai……..ai…..ai
bhav saagar sab sukh gayo hain
fikar nahi mohe
fikar nahi mohe taranan ki
guru fikar nahi mohe taranan ki
guru fikar nahi mohe taranan ki
guru charanan ki
laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
meera ke prabhoooo…oo
meera ke prabhu giridhar naagar
meera ke prabhu giridhar naagar
giridhar naagar
meera ke prabhu giridhar naagar
aas wahi guru charanan ki
aas wahi guru charanan ki
laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
meera ke guroooooooo
giridha…r naagar
giridhar naagar
meera ke guru giridhar naagar
aas wahi guru charanan ki
aas wahi guru charanan ki
laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
mohe laa..gi lagan guru charanan ki
guru charanan ki
charanan ki
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Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
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आ आ आ आsssss
आ आ आ आss
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
चरण बिना अब कछु नहीं भावे
चरण बिना अब कछु नहीं भावे
जग माया सब सपनन की
ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
भव सागर सब सूख गयो है॰॰ए॰॰ए
भव सागर सब सूख गयो है
फिकर नहीं मोहे
फिकर नहीं मोहे तरणन की
गुरु फिकर नहीं मोहे तरणन की
गुरु फिकर नहीं मोहे तरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मीरा के प्रभु॰॰उ॰॰उ
मीरा के प्रभु गिरधर नागर
मीरा के प्रभु गिरधर नागर
गिरधर नागर
मीरा के प्रभु गिरधर नागर
आस वही गुरु चरणन की
आस वही गुरु चरणन की
ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मीरा के गुरु॰॰
गिरधर॰॰र नागर
गिरधर नागर
मीरा के गुरु गिरधर नागर
आस वही गुरु चरणन की
आस वही गुरु चरणन की
ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
मोहे ला॰॰गी लगन गुरु चरणन की
गुरु चरणन की
चरणन की
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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