Archive for the ‘Songs of 2000s (2001 to 2010)’ Category
Kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
Posted on: May 20, 2023
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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Blog Day : |
5419 | Post No. : | 17773 | Movie Count : |
4759 |
‘Yuva’ (2004) was produced by Mani Ratnam and G Srinivasan under the banner of Madras Talkies and was directed by Mani Ratnam. The film was simultaneously shot in Tamil as ‘Aaytha Ezhuthu’ (2004) with a different cast. The film was loosely based on the life story of George Reddy, a student leader who was a gold medalist in his post-graduation in Nuclear Physics from Osmania University, Hyderabad. He died young at the age of 25 by a stab wound in his college campus.
The screenplay was written by Mani Ratnam in Tamil which was translated in English and handed over to Anurag Kashyap to write dialogues in Hindi. According to Anurag Kashyap, Mani Ratnam gave him a free hand to write dialogues in Hindi keeping in mind that the language used in the dialogues was spoken Hindi of local dialect from UP/Bihar and the story was based in Kolkata.
I watched the film on an OTT platform about a month back. The film is about three main characters from different classes of society. The first character is Michael Mukherjee (Ajay Devgan), a college student doing his PhD. He has got a scholarship for going abroad and his future seems bright. However, he is not interested in going abroad as he is actively involved in local politics. He projects himself as a socially conscious youth leader who wants to bring about changes in the lives of the people for their betterment. He is keeping himself ready to stand in the election against Prosenjit Chatterjee (Om Puri), a corrupt politician. Michael is in love with Radhika (Esha Deol), a teacher.
The second character is Lallan Singh (Abhishek Bachchan), a migrant from Bihar who has come up the hard way in Kolkata. He is a hot-headed goon, an extortionist and a murderer. By this very nature, Lallan Singh is in demand in the games of politics. He works for Prosenjit Chatterjee as his henchman. He terrorises the college students who are the supporters of Michael. He is married to a Bengali girl, Sashi Biswas (Rani Mukerji) with whom he has ‘blow hot blow cold’ relationship. She tries to reform Lallan Singh but in vain.
The third character is Arjun Balachandran (Vivek Oberoi), son of a bureaucrat and a student who is doing his final mechanical engineering. He has planned everything in his life to be materialistic and opportunistic. He wishes to go for higher studies abroad and settle there to earn lots of money. All he wants is to have lots of fun filled life. He has bumped into a girl Meera (Kareena Kapoor) with whom he is in love.
In the film, the story of all the three characters runs parallel without any connection with each other. However, a murder attempt on Michael by Lallan Singh on the Howrah Bridge under the instructions from the politician, Prosenjit Chatterjee brings all the three characters together. From this incident onwards, the lives of all the three characters change. Michael now wants to fight the election against Prosenjit Chatterjee. Arjun abandons his plan to go to US to settle down there. Instead, he also joins with Michael to fight the election. Now it is the fights between Michael and Arjun versus Prosenjit Chatterjee and Lallan Singh. Finally, Michael Mukherjee and Arjun win the election. Both Michael and Arjun get married to their girlfriends. Lallan Singh is prosecuted for spate of murders and gets imprisonment for life while his wife, Sashi goes back to her parents’ house.
‘Yuva’ (2004) has six songs, all written by Mehboob Kotwal and set to music by A R Rahman. I am presenting the first song, ‘kabhi neem neem kabhi sahad sahad’ from the film to appear on the Blog. The song is rendered by Madhushree (Sujata Bhattacharya) and A R Rahman. The song is picturised on Rani Mukerji and Abhishek Bachchan.
The song starts and ends with humming to give a folk touch to it. Through song, Rani Mukerji describes the nature of her husband as sometimes rugged and sometimes very soft in nature. She compares his nature as bitter as neem leaves and as sweet as honey.
This is my most favourite song from the film for its melody, lyrics, raw romance and above all the A R Rahman’s interlude rendering on which both Abhishek Bachchan’s dance and Rani Mukerji’s expressions are mind blowing. I hear only two musical instruments – Ghatam and Ghunghroo (hand bells) in the background when the song starts with humming and up to the mukhda part. The soft play of Ghatam and Ghunghroo creates the necessary atmosphere when Abhishek Bachchan is walking in the rain-showers, carrying Rani Mukerji. In the later part of the songs, percussions have been mainly used. Another feature of this song is that Madhushree pronounces ‘sandhya’ as ‘shondha’ and ‘bairagi’ as ‘boiragi’ in keeping with the role of Rani Mukerji as a Bengali wife.
This song is unforgettable even after 19 years have passed since the release of the film in May 2004.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad (Yuva)(2004) Singers-Madhushree, A R Rahman, Lyrics-Mehboob Kotwal, MD-A R Rahman
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip)
humm humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm
humm humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm
huun huun hunn huun huun
humm humm humma
humma humm
neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
mora piya
mora piya
mora piya..aa hoo
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya..aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya re
lajja se mare re ye jiya
shondha ki ye laali mukh chamkaaye
sondhi sondhi khushboo mann behkaaye
zulfon ki raina phir kyun na chhaaye
ho chaand sitaare
dekhenge saare
chaand sitaare
dekhenge saare
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
mora piya
mora piya
mora piya…aa oo
ho o o o o o o o……o
aa hi aa hi aa he o o o o o
aa o o o aa o o o aa o o o
aa ho o o o o o o o o o
aa he hi he hi he he ha ha ha ha
ha hi ha hi ha hi o
ha ha ha ha ha
aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi
aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi aa hi
ho hi aa ho hi aa ho hi aaa
o hi o o o ho hi aa
ho hi ho hi ho hi ho o aa
ho hi ho hi ho hi ho o aa
ho hi ho hi ho hi aa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
boiraagi mann tera hai saheb ji
mere seene mein hai qaid wo ab ji
preet ki rakho laaj ae mere rab ji
o ruswa huyi to
duniya hansi to
ruswa huyi to
duniya hansi to
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya..aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad
kabhi narm narm kabhi sakht sakht
mora piya
mora piya
mora piya
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
nazaron ke teer mein basa hai pyaar
jab bhi chala hai wo dil ke paar
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya..aa
lajja se mare re ye jiya
piya re
lajja se mare re ye jiya
humm humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm humma
humma humm
huun huun hunn huun huun
humm humm humma
humma humm
This article is written by nahm, 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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Blog Day : |
5403 | Post No. : | 17729 |
A R Rahman – The Musician of 21st Century – 6
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This is post number 06 in the series. As musicians go, ARR is a complete package. He is also much more than a musician, has proved to be media savvy as well as a successful businessperson. He is the first of Indian film music directors to own his music. Previously all film music was owned by films producers/distributors or the music companies, who released records/cassettes/discs etc. The same system prevails in the industry. Only ARR is one who is different. In this regard too ARR is a trend setter. Lata Mangeshkar could think of only royalty and here we have a 90’s kid on the block, who aimed to own the world, at least his portion of it.
hum mehnatkash iss duniya se
jab apna hissa mangenge
ik baag nahin, ek khet nahin
ham saari duniyaa maangenge
There may be others who are following the same path, I don’t know. His growth in all the above, has been exponential and blessed. Some of the singers introduced by ARR have also matured and achieved great heights in their singing career.
The song I am presenting this time is from the film ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ (2002) which surfaced in the memory while doing the earlier post of the same song from the 1963 film ‘Shaheed Bhagat Singh’ – “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamaare Dil Mein Hai“.
In fact, I am a big fan of the other song of this film (already posted), sung by Sonu Nigam – “Mera Rang De Basanti Chola”. The song has the same famous shair and a another shair in the mukhda, with new stanza’s written by Samir. “Mera Rang De Basanti Chola” is a folk song now, but “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamaare Dil Mein Hai” is well on its way to becoming a folk tradition.
That rendition of the folk song is special, the century old Hindi film industry has used these two songs multiple times.The particular strength of folk song is that it intrinsically belongs to its people. The music unites communities, entertains them, and documents their loves, losses, and struggles. It’s a genre that has long been used to stir passions, swell pride, and resist injustice and oppression. Little wonder, then, that colonialists and dictators the world over have routinely sought to curtail, or even extinguish, the traditional music of the land. Folk music supply’s identity and hope, in the extraordinarily intimate tradition of singing and performing.
The following two songs from this film are already posted in the blog:
Desh mere desh mere meri jaan hai tu (The Legend of Bhagat Singh)
Mera rang de basanti chola (The Legend of Bhagat Singh)
The complete package, ARR is again creative with this composed and sung multiple times revolutionary ghazal, with the nationalistic flavour. And he comes up trump, which has been almost ignored by the jurist while awarding. Poetry and music have great potential for rousing passions of a people. And if it is AR Rehman composing it, it takes the revolution in the inner or outer spheres, whichever way you want to look at it.
Its high time, 6 songs into the series, and I must look for a qawwaali to post next in this series. Oh..… my favourite is “Daraarien Daraarien Hain Maathe Pe Maula” named “Arziyaan Saari Main Maathe Pe Like Ke Laaya Hoon” from Delhi – 6 is posted. So what! there are many more, qawwali-fusion compositions by AR Rehman. Readers may like to suggest this genre songs which they want to see posted in the blog. Another mention-able qawwaali fusion is “Kun Fayaa Kun”, which people tell me is the new “CULT SONG” of the millennium. I have not thought anything to be the “Cult song” beyond “Dum Maaro Dum“. My son assures me that “Kun Fayaa Kun” is the cult song of the new generation, for all time and all occasions. This is a landmark achievement of AR Rehman, to top the traditional qawwaali that has ruled the field for centuries in the sub-continent. Not a mean achievement at all, to surpass the coke studio fusion of “Tajdaar-e-Haram” by Atif Aslam, in the 21st century. More on ARR fusion and fusion qawwaali in the next post.
Filhaal, let us hear, and appreciate the first non – Rafi , “Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna” appearing in the blog, by Sonu Nigam and Hariharan.
Part 1
Part 2
Song – Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamaare Dil Mein Hai (The Legend of Bhagat Singh) (2002) Singer – Sonu Nigam, Hariharan, Lyrics – Ram Prasad Bismil, Sameer, MD – AR Rahman
Chorus
Lyrics
Part 1
sarfaroshi ki tamanna aa
ab hama..are dil mein hai ea ea
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa aa
baazu-e ea-qaatil mein hai ea
sarfaroshi ki tamanna aa
ab hamaare dil mein hai ea ea
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa
baazu-e ea-qaatil mein hai ea ea
waqt aane pe bataa denge
tujhe ae aasmaan
kya bataaye ham junoon e ea ea
shauq kis manzil mein hai ea ea
sarfaroshi ki tamanna aa
ab hamaare dil mein hai ea ea
sarfaroshi ki ee tamanna aa
doriyaan ummeed ki na
aaj ham se chhoot jaayen
milke dekha hai jinhen woh
sapne bhi na roothh jaayen
hausle woh hausle kya
jo sitam se toot jaayen
hausle woh hausle kya
jo sitam se toot jaayen
sarfaroshi ki tamanna aa
ab hamaare dil mein hai ea ea
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa
baazu-e ea-qaatil mein hai ea
tere sone roop ko ham
ik nayi bahaar denge
apne hi lahu se teraa
rang ham nikhaar denge
des mere des tujh pe
zindagi bhi waar denge
des mere des tujh pe
zindagi bhi waar denge
sarfaroshi ki tamanna aa
ab hamaare dil mein hai ea ea
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa
baazu-e ea-qaatil mein hai ea
aaa aaaaaa
aaaaa aaaaa
aaaaa aaaaa
aaaa aaaa
aaaaaa aaaaa
aaaaaaaaa
aaaaaa aaaaaa
aaaaaa
khushboo ban ke mehka karenge
ham lehlahaati har faslon mein
saans ban ke ham gungunaayenge
aane waali har naslon mein
khushboo ban ke mehka karenge
ham lehlahaati har faslon mein
saans ban ke ham gungunaayenge
aane waali har naslon mein
aane waali aane waali
naslon mein ea ea
sarfaroshi ki tamanna aa
ab hamaare dil mein hai ea
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa
baazu-e ea-qaatil mein hai ea
waqt aane pe bata denge
tujhe ae aasmaan
kya bataaye ham junoon e ea ea
shauq kis manzil mein hai ea ea
Part 2
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa baazu-e-qaatil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa baazu-e-qaatil mein hai
dekh saktaa to tu bhi dekh le ae aasmaan
hausla yeh dekh ke qaatil badi mushkil mein hai
apne hi lahu se ham likhenge apni daastaan
zaalimon se chheen lenge yeh zameen yeh aasmaan aa aan
apne hi lahu se ham likhenge apni daastaan
zaalimon se chheen lenge yeh zameen yeh aasmaan aa
sar phire jawan ham to maut se bhi na daren
aanch aaye desh pe yeh kyun gawaara ham karen ea en
mulk pe qurbaan hon yeh aarzoo dil dil mein hai ea ea
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
dekhnaa hai zor kitna aa baazu-e-qaatil mein hai ea
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
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भाग १
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना॰ ॰ ॰
अब हमा॰॰आरे दिल में है ऐ ऐ
देखना है ज़ोर कितना॰॰आ॰॰आ
बाज़ू ए क़ातिल में है ऐ
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना॰ ॰ ॰
अब हमारे दिल में है ऐ ऐ
देखना है ज़ोर कितना॰॰आ॰॰आ
बाज़ू ए क़ातिल में है ऐ
वक़्त आने पे बता देंगे
तुझे ए आसमां
क्या बताएं हम जूनून ए ए
शौक किस मंज़िल में है ए
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना
अब हमारे दिल में है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना
डोरियाँ उम्मीद की ना
आज हमसे छूट जाएँ
मिलके देखा है जिन्हें वो
सपनें भी ना रूठ जाएँ
हौसले वो हौसले क्या
जो सितम से टूट जाएँ
हौसले वो हौसले क्या
जो सितम से टूट जाएँ
वक़्त आने पे बता देंगे
तुझे ए आसमां
क्या बताएं हम जूनून ए ए
शौक किस मंज़िल में है ए
तेरे सोने रूप को हम
इक नई बहार देंगे
अपने ही लहू से तेरा
रंग हम निखार देंगे
देस मेरे देस तुझ पे
ज़िंदगी भी वार देंगे
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना॰ ॰ ॰
अब हमारे दिल में है ऐ ऐ
देखना है ज़ोर कितना॰॰आ॰॰आ
बाज़ू ए क़ातिल में है ऐ
आ आssss
आsss आsss
आsss आsss
आss आss
आssss आsss
आssssssss
आsssss आsssss
आssss
खुशबू बन के महका करेंगे
हम लहलहाती फसलों में
सांस बन के हम गुनगुनायेंगे
आने वाली हर नस्लों में
खुशबू बन के महका करेंगे
हम लहलहाती फसलों में
सांस बन के हम गुनगुनायेंगे
आने वाली हर नस्लों में
आने वाली आने वाली
नस्लों में ए ए
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना
अब हमारे दिल में है
देखना है ज़ोर कितना
बाज़ू ए क़ातिल में है
वक़्त आने पे बता देंगे
तुझे ए आसमां
क्या बताएं हम जूनून ए
शौक किस मंज़िल में है
भाग २
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ू ए क़ातिल में है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ू ए क़ातिल में है
देख सकता है तो तू भी देख ले ए आसमान
हौसला ये देख के क़ातिल बड़ी मुश्किल में है
अपने ही लहू से हम लिखेंगे अपने दास्तां
ज़ालिमों से छीन लेंगे ये ज़मीं ये आसमां
अपने ही लहू से हम लिखेंगे अपने दास्तां
ज़ालिमों से छीन लेंगे ये ज़मीं ये आसमां
सर फिरे जवान हम तो मौत से भी ना डरें
आंच आए देश पे ये क्यों गवारा हम करें
मुल्क पे क़ुरबान हों ये आरज़ू दिल दिल में है ए
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ू ए क़ातिल में है
Wo Ladki Hai Kahaan
Posted on: April 25, 2023
- In: "Dream of Wide Awake Eyes" | "Searching for Beloved" Song | "Searching for something" song | Dance song | Devnagri script lyrics by Sudhir | Duet | expression of love | Feelings of heart | Group Dance | Guest posts | Happy song | joie de vivre | Kavitha Krishnamurthy Songs | Love song | Lover's tête-à-tête | Lyrics contributed by readers | Post by Sudhir | Shaan - Kavita Krishnamurthy Duet | Shaan Songs | Songs of 2000s (2001 to 2010) | Songs of 2001 | Yearwise breakup of songs
- 7 Comments
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.
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Blog Day : |
5394 | Post No. : | 17699 |
It really has been a while– I do not follow the current Hindi films scene on a regular basis. I think this started in mid 1980s. One factor was that my life became quite mobile as far as my work situation was concerned. Moving to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1987, then on to US in 1988, back in Delhi 1996, change of workplace two times, and then back again in the US in 2000. Back in Delhi 2009/10, and then more ongoing travel albeit shorter and less frequent.
There are two more factors that I can think of. My deep interest in Hindi films and film music has been with me since I was a student of 3rd/4th grade school. A big chunk of my memory is full of many items starting from that period. However, as we get on to 1980s, and beyond the mid 1980s, the flavors of music in films were changing. For good or bad, I do not make this judgment, but it became different from the likeable and favorite stock stored in me. And so the interest started to wane somewhat. 1980s was also a period of significant transition and churn in terms of the artists and persona who had molded my interest and my love for this art form. Many left us, and many others were sidelined, for reasons I once again do not want to make a judgment on. Bottom line was that the music that was being created in the industry was holding less and less attraction and interest for me.
No, this is not a blanket dismissal of everything that has happened in the industry since mid 1980s. Just that there were progressively lesser artifacts that would catch my attention, and get added to my list of favorites in the memory stores.
Another factor that started becoming more prominent in life relates to the advent of the internet in the 1990s. Being in the IT industry, we were always at the forefront of the changes that were being brought in technology. Email appeared, messaging appeared, and network connectivity in some limited manner became available. Working in IT companies, I was always connected to whatever was the extent of the online net availability. Public networks and home connectivity was still a few years ahead, but from the offices, we had the luxury of being able to access whatever online resources were available then.
I remember I was on an assignment in San Dimas, close to LA in California. While browsing the internet from my office I stumbled upon a web site that had been put up by a gentleman named Amarjeet Singh Anand, who lived in San Fernando, further south from where I was. I discovered a gold mine – songs that were heard on radio in the 60s and 70s, and then never heard of again. The recordings were very low bit rate – the networks could not support high volumes. But I latched on to this website, and my entire weekends were spent in office, dedicated to downloading everything I could. The websites were not restricted, the concept and ability to download was not well known, and the office networks also did not have any controls as yet. Once having figured out the download capability, it was a trip into a wonderland of music of the years gone by, the music that was burnt onto the hard drives in my memory.
Then started this new phase of my passion for this music. Now the trip became to collect Hindi film songs in digital form. As time progressed, more and more online resources were discovered. Also one started getting introduced to more people who were doing such collections – the network grew and so did the collections by exchange and sharing.
And so, the interest in the current Hindi cinema and its music never really took any roots inside. The search still continues. This activity brought me in contact with many more like minded collectors, archivists and film history buffs. Geet Kosh came into life and a lot changed after that. And then Atul ji stepped into my life through Atul-Song-A-Day. And of course, the things in life were never the same again.
So in the current times, viewing of films and listening to music is more as per recommendations from friends and family members. I continue to read enough news to keep abreast of the current happenings in Hindi cinema, but only rarely do I get motivated to see any films of the new crop.
But that does not mean that my contact with current cinema is zero. As I said, based on recommendations I do keep in touch. The film ‘Dil Chaahta Hai’ (2001) – I had heard good things about this film. A maiden production effort by Farhan Akhtar ; a story revolving around the lives of three very close friends, and their fortunes in personal relationships.
I was based in San Jose at that time. I think I got to see this film probably in 2003 or 2004. A junior Indian colleague at work coaxed me to see this film. He expressed surprise that I had not seen this film. He promptly made a DVD disc for me, to view at leisure.
In many ways, it was a first introduction to many an actor from the newer generation. It was the first time to find out that Farhan Akhtar is the son of Javed Akhtar (from his earlier marriage with Honey Irani). Also the first time to be introduced to the lyrics from the pen of Javed Akhtar. Also to know that the tradition of duo and trio music directors in Hindi cinema is still alive with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. And to be introduced to the new crop of actors – Aamir, Priety, Saif, Akshay (Khanna), Sonali et al. And to find out to my dismay that my sweet little Bobby, the heartthrob of my college days, had actually aged.
The film is about love, about different flavors of it. That different people view it differently, treat it differently, have different interpretations and expectations. The fundamental message being that each person has a different opinion of love, and it is a great fortune to meet someone who has the similar view in life. Yes, truly a great fortune. Having been fed on primarily happy ending fairy tales that I had been viewing since childhood, the mindset of the child within was that there is always a smooth ride and a happy outcome of a love story. No, not that I have not viewed films at variance with this view, but still. After a gap of having kept distance from Hindi films, ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ was a wonderful refresher course in looking at filmy love stories once again.
I liked the film at first viewing itself. And also the music and songs. A learning for me that yes, music can be refreshing coming from artists whose names I had never heard before, and names that did not inspire any confidence. And yet, this film and its music entered my list of favorites. And that too, post 2000.
Four songs of this film are already on the blog. I present today a lilting exchange between the girl-boy pair in their effort to find the perfect match in life. There is a certain old world charm and a slowly sinking in surrealism in the presentation of this song. Sameer (role played by Saif Ali Khan) and Pooja (role played by Sonali Kulkarni) are friends who go to see a film. The magic happens in the cinema hall, and we come face to face with another “dream of wide awake eyes” experience. Immersed in the music, both Sameer and Pooja fancy themselves to be the protagonists on the screen. The love song being played is “dreamed” of as being enacted by them. There is disbelief at first, which is then followed by a disarming acceptance of a shared experience that brings to surface realizations that they have probably been nurturing inside.
And the surrealism comes to a sharp pitch at the end of the song sequence, when the entire audience inside the hall joins the love birds in chorus, acknowledging the presence of an “Aha” moment amidst them. A cute presentation. The song picturization, the dress up, the dance steps all are an enlivening throwback on the earlier decades of Hindi cinema.
This song once again further emboldens the firm belief that all it takes to make love and consent appear between the supposed love birds is three minutes (in this case five), i.e. the duration of a song. All that is in doubt is set right, all that is hidden beneath surprised appearances surfaces, the smiles come on, and the hand-in-hand arms entwined happy outcome is signaled at the end of the three minutes. Well, somethings will probably never change. And thankfully so. 😀
Getting close to time out and I must pause to make this post online. The century marker trumpet is just waiting behind me to tootle the announcement of the 177th century milestone. So without much further ado, take a listen to this song and then on to the milestone.
Happy listening.
Song – Wo Ladki Hai Kahaan (Dil Chaahta Hai) (2001) Singer – Shaan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Lyrics – Javed Akhtar, MD – Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy
Lyrics
jise dhoondhta hoon main har gali
jo kabhi mili mujhe hai nahin
mujhe jiske pyaar par ho yakeen
wo ladki hai kahaan
jise sirf mujhse hi pyaar ho
jo ye kehne ko bhi taiyaar ho
suno tum hi mere dildaar ho
wo ladki hai kahaan
jo tumhaare khwaabon mein hai basi
wo haseen murti pyaar ki
miliegi tumhen kabhi na kabhi
zara dekho yahan wahan
chalo dhoondhte hain hum tum kahin
wo pari wo hoor wo naazneen
jise dekho to kaho tum wahi
arey ye to hai yahaan
jaane kyon
khayaal aaya mujhe
ke wo ladki kahin tum to nahin..een
tum mein hain
wo saari khoobiyaan
hai jinko dhoondhta
main har kahin
tumhen dhokha lagta hai ho gaya
mujhe hai samajh liya jaane kya
na main hoon pari na hoon apsara
karo tum na ye gumaan
jise dhoondhta hoon main har gali
jo kabhi mili mujhe hai nahin
mujhe jiske pyaar par ho yakeen
wo ladki hai kahaan
maan lo
agar main ye kahoon
ke mere khwaabon mein
tum hi to ho..oo..oo
jaan lo
mera armaan hai
ke mere saath hi
ab tum raho..oo..oo
mujhe tumne kya ye samjha diya
mere dil ko kaise dadhka diya
mere tan badan ko pighla diya
wo sunaai daastaan..aan
jise dhoondhta hoon main har gali
jo kabhi mili mujhe hai nahin
mujhe jiske pyaar par ho yakeen
wo ladki hai kahaan
wo ladki hai yahaan
wo ladki hai kahaan
wo ladki hai yahaan
wo ladki hai kahaan
wo ladki hai yahaan
wo ladki hai kahaan
wo ladki hai yahaan
————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
————————————————
जिसे ढूँढता हूँ मैं हर गली
जो कभी मिली मुझे है नहीं
मुझे जिसके प्यार पर हो यकीं
वो लड़की है कहाँ
जिसे सिर्फ मुझसे ही प्यार हो
जो ये कहने को भी तैयार हो
सुनो तुम ही मेरे दिलदार हो
वो लड़की है कहाँ
जो तुम्हारे ख्वाबों में है बसी
वो हसीन मूर्ति प्यार की
मिलेगी तुम्हें कभी ना कभी
ज़रा देखो यहाँ वहाँ
चलो ढूंढते हैं हम तुम कहीं
वो परी वो हूर वो नाज़नीं
जिसे देखो तो कहो तुम वही
अरे ये तो है यहाँ
जाने क्यों
खयाल आया मुझे
के वो लड़की कहीं तुम तो नहीं॰॰ईं
तुम में हैं
वो सारी खूबियाँ
है जिनको ढूँढता
मैं हर कहीं
तुम्हें धोखा लगता है हो गया
मुझे है समझ लिया जाने क्या
ना मैं हूँ परी ना हूँ अप्सरा
करो तुम ना ये गुमाँ
जिसे ढूँढता हूँ मैं हर गली
जो कभी मिली मुझे है नहीं
मुझे जिसके प्यार पर हो यकीं
वो लड़की है कहाँ
मान लो
अगर मैं ये कहूँ
के मेरे ख्वाबों में
तुम ही तो हो॰॰ओ॰॰ओ
जान लो
ये मेरा अरमान है
के मेरे साथ ही
अब तुम रहो॰॰ओ॰॰ओ
मुझे तुमने क्या ये समझा दिया
मेरे दिल को कैसे धड़का दिया
मेरे तन बदन को पिघला दिया
वो सुनाई दास्तान॰॰आं
जिसे ढूँढता हूँ मैं हर गली
जो कभी मिली मुझे है नहीं
मुझे जिसके प्यार पर हो यकीं
वो लड़की है कहाँ
वो लड़की है यहाँ
वो लड़की है कहाँ
वो लड़की है यहाँ
वो लड़की है कहाँ
वो लड़की है यहाँ
वो लड़की है कहाँ
वो लड़की है यहाँ
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular 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 : |
5367 | Post No. : | 17601 | Movie Count : |
4732 |
I was not aware that there was film with the title ‘Rog’ (2005). Recently, I heard a song from the film for the first time and liked it. This led me to the film. I also found that there were couple of more songs which were also good to my ears. Box Office India report has categorized the film as ‘disaster’. That explains as to why this film was not much talked about. Even then, I watched this film mainly for the songs and for Irfan Khan.
‘Rog’ (2005) was produced by Pooja Bhatt and Sujit Kumar Singh and was directed by the debutante Himanshu Brahmbhatt who had earlier worked with Mahesh Bhatt as Assistant Director. The story and the screenplay was written by Mahesh Bhatt. The main cast included Irfan Khan, Himanshu Malik, Suhel Seth and Munish Makhija. In addition, it was the first film for Shyamoli Varma and Ilene Hamann, a South African model. The film is a ‘romantic’ murder mystery. It is almost a remake of an American film, ‘Laura’ (1944) which can be watched here. I did not find the acknowledgement for the same in the credit titles of ‘Rog’ (2005).
The gist of the story of ‘Rog’ (2005) is presented below:
Uday Singh Rathod (Irfan Khan), an insomniac detective is entrusted with investigating the murder of a high-profile model Maya (Ilene Hamann), with in a week’s time by the police commissioner. The preliminary investigation leads to three prime suspects – Harsh (Suhel Seth), a journalist and the mentor of Maya, Ali (Himanshu Malik) a wealthy playboy and Maya’s boyfriend, and Shyamoli (Shyamoli Varma), Ali’s partner. Each of them has got motives to kill Maya.
Rathod meets the first suspect, Harsh who offers him to facilitate in his investigation and takes him to Shyamoli and Ali. After he interrogates all the three suspects, Rathod visits Maya’s flat to gather further evidence. He see a portrait of Maya hanging on the wall. Rathod is mesmerised by beauty of Maya and falls in love with her portrait. He finds some letters and books which gives him some key information about Maya. Suddenly, the door of the flat gets opened by a key and a girl appears. Rathod is flabbergasted as the girl is Maya and she is alive.
Rathod starts interrogating her while admiring her beauty and the innocence in her replies. She tells him that she had gone on two days’ holiday before that night when murder purportedly took place. She had told both Harsh and Ali about her holiday plan which she preferred to spend alone. Rathod thinks that in all probability, Ali could have used duplicate key of Maya’s flat to spend a night with his new girlfriend in the flat. After interrogating Maya and Ali, he concludes that it was a different girl who got murdered. So, Rathod has to rework on his investigation. Before leaving the flat, he tells Maya not to leave the flat or contact anyone as she could be in trouble. He again interrogates Harsh and Ali to get some clues.
In the meanwhile, Maya flouts Rathod’s instruction and meets Ali which Rathod comes to know from her tapped phone. He goes to her house and brings her to the police station. In the interrogation room, he tells her that there is evidence to put her under arrest for the murder of the girl in her flat. The authorities wants at least someone to be arrested to show to their political bosses the progress in the investigation. But he tells her that he personally feels she is innocent. He suggests Maya to flee, and he would make all the arrangements. Maya refuses to leave. But his concern for her makes Maya to realize that for the first time, she has come across a man in her life who can be trusted. She goes back to her flat.
Next day, Rathod visits her flat to search for a gun which has been used for the murder and he gets it. Harsh, after knowing that Maya is alive, also visit her flat when he finds Maya in her bath-cum dressing room. He accuses her of neglecting him despite being her mentor, in favour of Ali. He tries to kill her by pointing gun at her. In shuffle between them, his gun falls. The sound of shuffle bring Rathod to the bathroom where Harsh now takes out his knife to stab Rathod. In the fight between Rathod and Harsh, Maya escapes to from the bathroom, comes back with a gun and kills Harsh to save Rathod. Maya and Rathod are united.
The film is supposed to be a suspense thriller. But sometime in the second half, the elements of suspense and thrills get diluted as the murdered girl returns to her house. The investigation goes into background as Rathod is more interested in insulating Maya from her potential killer due to now his romantic involvement with her. And it is not difficult to guess the killer of the girl who thought her to be Maya.
As for the performances of the actors, the film is a one-man show, that is Irfan Khan. Performances of the rest of the actors looks pale against him. One can watch this film only for the performance of Irfan Khan. MM Kreem’s compositions are good but only for listening and not for watching in the film. Ideally, the film of this genre should not have songs except snippets of one or two background songs.
The film has 7 songs – 5 of them are written by Nilesh Mishra and 1 by Sayeed Quadri. These are set to music by MM Kreem. In addition, there is a traditional Sufi Qawwaali song set to music by Gaudi. I am presenting the first song, “Maine Dil Se Kaha Dhoondh Laana Khushi” from the film to appear on the Blog. The song is written by Nilesh Mishra and is sung by KK (Krishnakumar Kunnath).
This songs is played in the film in the background with sleep deprived Irfan Khan shown in sombre mood. The song is played in the film on three different occasions. The video clip combines all the three situations in the film with three different antaras. The second antara in the video clip is not included in the audio clip. The 4th antara in the audio clip is not included in the video clip.
The orchestration of the song, mainly with the use of guitar, trumpet and violins has been kept soft in line with the poignant mood of the song.
Video
Audio
Song – Maine Dil Se Kaha Dhoondh Laana Khushi (Rog) (1996) Singer – KK, Lyrics – Nilesh Mishra, MD – MM Kreem
Lyrics
(Based on Audio Clip with Additional Stanza from Video Clip)
maine dil se kaha dhoond laana khushi
naasamajh laaya gham
to ye gham hi sahi
maine dil se kaha dhoond laana khushi
naasamajh laaya gham
to ye gham hi sahi
maine dil se kaha dhoond laana khushi
bechaara kahaan jaanta hai
khalish hai ye kya khala hai
shehar bhar ki khushi se
ye dard mera bhala hai
jashn ye raas naa aaye
maza to bas gham mein aaya hai
maine dil se kaha dhoond laana khushi
na samajh laaya gham
to ye gham hi sahi
(Additional Stanza from Video Clip)
khula hai iss raat mein jo
behakta noor uska
kabhi wo ek chehra ban ke
agar ho jaaye apna
yahi meri haqeeqat hai
magar ab tak hai to sapna
maine dil se kaha dhoondh laana khushi
na samjah laaya gham
to ye gham hi sahi
kabhi hai ishq ka ujaala
kabhi hai maut ka andhera
bataao kaun bhes hoga
main jogi banu ya lootera
kai chehre hain iss dil ke
na jaane kaun saa mera
maine dil se kaha dhoond laana khushi
na samajh laaya gham
to yeh gham hi sahi
hazaaron aise faasle thhe
jo tay karne chale thhe
raahen magar chal padi thhi
aur peeche hum reh gaye thhe
kadam do chaar chal paaye
kiye phere tere mann ke
maine dil se kaha dhoond laana khushi
na samajh laaya gham
to ye gham hi sahi
maine dil se kaha dhoond laana khushi
na samajh laaya gham
to yeh gham hi sahi
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
नासमझ लाया ग़म
तो ये ग़म ही सही
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
नासमझ लाया ग़म
तो ये ग़म ही सही
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
बेचारा कहाँ जानता है
ख़लिश है ये क्या खला है
शहर भर की खुशी से
ये दर्द मेरा भला है
जश्न ये रास ना आए
मज़ा तो बस ग़म में आया है
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
नासमझ लाया ग़म
तो ये ग़म ही सही
खुला है इस रात में जो
बहकता नूर उसका
कभी वो इक चेहरा बन के
अगर हो जाये अपना
यही मेरी हक़ीक़त है
मगर अब तक तो है सपना
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
नासमझ लाया ग़म
तो ये ग़म ही सही
कभी है ईशक़ का उजाला
कभी है मौत का अंधेरा
बताओ कौन भेस होगा
मैं जोगी बनूँ या लुटेरा
कई चेहरे हैं इस दिल के
ना जाने कौन सा मेरा
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
नासमझ लाया ग़म
तो ये ग़म ही सही
हजारों ऐसे फासले थे
जो तय करने चले थे
राहें मगर चल पड़ीं थीं
और पीछे हम रह गए थे
कदम दो चार चल पाये
किए फेरे तेरे मन के
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
नासमझ लाया ग़म
तो ये ग़म ही सही
मैंने दिल से कहा ढूंढ लाना खुशी
नासमझ लाया ग़म
तो ये ग़म ही सही
Badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
Posted on: March 20, 2023
This article is written by Peevesie’s mom, 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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Blog Day : |
5358 | Post No. : | 17573 | Movie Count : |
4724 |
Hullo Atuldom
Presenting
“Badi Mushkil Baba
Badi Mushkil
Gore gore gaalon pe hain
Kala kala til”
A song that I love to see. Why?!!
(1) Because of its choreography
(2) Because of the smiling ladies in the sequence.
(3) A visual treat.
I hope the followers of the blog will get the same pleasure from this song that I experience every time I see it. The song is from the Rajkumar Santoshi produced & directed “Lajja” (2001). The story of the film was woman-centric just like “Damini” (1993); the major difference between ‘Damini’ & ‘Lajja’ being that ‘Lajja’ had four female characters as its protagonist.
The film had a cast of highly talented, super versatile actors with Rekha, Madhuri Dixit, Mahima Chaudhry, Manisha Koirala (as the main ladies), Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, with Danny, Gulshan Grover, Suresh Oberoi, Razak Khan, Johnny Lever, Sharman Joshi, Tinnu Anand, Farida Jalal, Dina Pathak, Anjan Shrivastav, Beena, Govind Namdeo, Rohini Hattangadi etc in supporting roles. The film also had Sonali Bendre & Urmila Matondkar for a song sequence each. Also there were Viju Khote, Asrani, Jagdeep, Samir Soni, Jaya Bhattacharya in guest appearances. That is a very long list and most of the supporting actors have been given near-equal screen time.
The film was the story of Vaidehi (Manisha Koirala) who is a girl with conservative family values and undergoes a culture shock when she has to shift to the USA after marriage to Raghu (Jackie Shroff). The film then follows her journey after she leaves her husband and the USA; comes to India and encounters other ladies in similar or worse situations. The ladies Maithili (Mahima Chaudhry), Janki (Madhuri Dixit), and Rampyari (Rekha) are all shown to be coping with the good & bad happenings in their lives to the best of their abilitiies. Mathili & Rampyari have Raju (Anil Kapoor- a common thief) & Bhulwa (Ajay Devgan- a not-so-dreaded bandit) helping the ladies in their own way.
In spite of good performances by the cast, excellent songs, and being well-directed with a good second half the film was not a commercial success. It was felt by some critics that the film tried to pack in too many issues viz. dowry, computer education, female literacy, (only) females being accountable in society and female infanticide. But Rekha & Madhuri were nominated for best supporting actress at the 47th Filmfare awards and Ajay Devgan for best supporting actor.
The film had background score was by Ilaiyaraja and Anu Malik was the music director for the songs that were sung by Richa Sharma, Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal, Anuradha Sriram, K.K., Shubha Mudgal & Lata Mangeshkar. The songs were written by Sameer.
Today, Alka Yagnik, the playback singer of this song turns a year older. She was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in a Gujarati family. Herr mother was a Indian Classical music singer and Alka too beegan singing at a very young age. She came to Mumbai with her parents to try her luck & was advised by Kalyanji-Anandji as well as Laxmikant of Laxmi-Pyare duo to wait a few years for her voice to mature a bit more before taking up professional assignments. She was first heard in Rajshri Productions’ “Payal Ki Jhankaar” and followed it up with “Hotel”, “Itni Si Baat”, “Hamaari Bahu Alka” etc. She tasted real success with “Mere Angane Mein” from “Lawaaris” (1981). And, since then, she has her place in the music industry & is the voice for Madhuri Dixit, Manisha Koirala, Juhi Chawla etc. She has been a Judge on a few reality shows on various television channels.
Here is wishing her All the best and a life filled with music.
Song-Badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil (Lajja)(2001) Singer-Alka Yagnik, Lyrics-Sameer, MD-Anu Malik
Lyrics
ha aa
ha aa
kangna kangna kangna
haa aa
jhumka jhumka jhumka
haa aa
paayaliya paayaliya
haa aa
kangna kangna kangna
jhumka jhumka jhumka
paayaliya paayaliya
chhanak chhanak ke bole
chhanak chhanak ke bole
o o o o
badi mushqil baqba badi mushqil
gorey gorey gaalon pe hai kaala kaala til
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
til pe atak jaaye aashiko ka dil
zara bachke
rehna chhaliye
zara bachke
rehna chhaliye
meri ada bhi hai qaatil
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
gorey gorey gaalon pe hai kaala kaala til
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
til pe atak jaaye aashiqon ka dil
haa aa
koi kahe
ho mujhko chhamiya
koi kahe
mujhko nautanki
shehar shehar meri baaten
Mumbai ya Barabanki
sab kahen mujhe aake mil
aake mil baaba aake mil
meri ada bhi hai qaatil
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
gorey gorey gaalon pe hai kaala kaala til
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
til pe atak jaaye aashiqon ka dil
haa aa
haa aa
chal chalen in galiyon se
chalen
in rangraliyon se
loot na le pyaase bhanwre
khushbu mahki kaliyon se
ye nahin chaahat ke qaaabil
ye nahin chaahat ke qaabil
meri ada bhi hai qaatil
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
gorey gorey gaalon pe hai kaala kaala til
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
til pe atak jaaye aashiqon ka dil
zara bachke rehna chhaliye
jara bachke rehna chhaliye
meri ada bhi hai qaatil
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
gorey gorey gaalon pe hai kaala kaala til
badi mushqil baaba badi mushqil
til pe atak jaaye aashiqon ka dil
haa aa
haa aa
haa aa
Beedi jalaile
Posted on: March 20, 2023
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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Blog Day : |
5358 | Post No. : | 17571 | Movie Count : |
4723 |
Vishal Bhardwaj’s Trilogy of Shakespeare Play – 2: ‘Omkara’ (2006)
In this article, I am exploring the second film of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespeare trilogy, ‘Omkara’ (2006) which is based on ‘Othello’ (1603).
There is a trivia which was narrated by Vishal Bhardwaj in a TV interview about a couple of years back. At Goa International Film Festival, he met Naseeruddin Shah who enquired as to what he was currently doing. Vishal Bhardwaj said that he had just completed a script based on Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. Naseeruddin Shah retorted that ‘Othello’ was the weakest character in Shakespeare’s play and it will not work in Indian context. Vishal Bhardwaj gave him a copy of the script to read. Next day morning, Naseeruddin Shah came to Vishal Bhardwaj and said that he had read the script in the night and he would do the character of Bhaisaheb in the film. This shows the power of screenplay writing which makes a so-called weak Shakespeare play strong.
For ‘Maqbool’ (2004), Vishal Bhardwaj had to wait for nearly two years to get a producer/financier after the script was ready. But it was a smooth sailing for him in ‘Omkara’ (2006). He not only got a producer, he also got all the main actors as per his requirements. In ‘Omkara’ (2006), Vishal Bhardwaj has blended his artistic approach with commercial elements to avoid the repeat of the box office failure of ‘Maqbool’ (2004). His strategy worked and ‘Omkara’ (2006) fared very well on the box office front.
‘Omkara’ (2006) was produced by Kumar Mangat Pathak (Ajay Devgan’s Manager and the executive producer of most of Ajay Devgan Films) and was directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The cast included Ajay Devgan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles supported by Saif Ali Khan, Konkana Sen Sharma, Vivek Oberoi, Bipasha Basu (special appearance), Naseeruddin Shah, Deepak Dobriyal, Pankaj Tripathi, Kamal Tiwari etc. The Censor Board certified the film for Adult viewing (A).
In ‘Omkara’ (2006), Vilash Bhardwaj molded the story of ‘Othello’ (1603) with the rural backdrop of Uttar Pradesh where ‘Bahubalis’ played prominent role in the politics. A comparison of main characters in ‘Othello’ with that in the film, ‘Omkara’ (2006) is presented in a tabular format below:
| In Othello | In Omkara | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Othello is a dark-skinned Commander of the Venetian army in Venice. | Omi Shukla or Omkara (Ajay Devgan), the head of a criminal gang is the son of a Brahmin father and low-caste mother. | In both ‘Othello’ and ‘Omkara’, the race/caste is not the main reason for tragedy. It is the jealousy and revenge for which race/caste is discreetly used for instigation against Othello/Omkara. |
| Iago, a soldier, and Othello’s trusted adviser. | Ishwar ‘Langda’ Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan), a henchman of Omkara. | In ‘Othello’ Iago kills his wife, Emilia while in ‘Omkara’ Indu kills her husband, Langda. |
| Desdemona, the white-skinned wife of Othello who abducted her. | Dolly Mishra (Kareena Kapoor), the high caste fair-skin wife of Omkara who was abducted by him from the wedding venue. | – |
| Cassio, Othello’s white-skinned lieutenant in the army. | Keshav ‘Kesu Firangi’ Upadhayay (Vivek Oberoi), the trusted and a fair-skinned handsome aid of Omkara. | The reason for appointing Cassio as lieutenant is because of his courage while Kesu’s promotion as Bahubali is mainly because of his charming nature and vote drawing ability from the younger generation. |
| Emilia, wife of Iago and Attendant to Desdemona. | Indu Tyagi (Konkana Sen Sharma), wife of Langda and so-called sister of Omkara is a close companion of Dolly Mishra. | By making Indu, the so-called sister of Omkara, her character is more powerful in ‘Omkara’ than Emilia in ‘Othello’. |
| Roderigo, the lover of Desdemona. | Rajju (Deepak Dobriyal), the bridegroom who was to marry Dolly. | Rajju thinks that Langda will help him get back Dolly. But Langda is actually using him in his plan to take revenge against both Omkara and Kesu. |
| Brabantio, a senator of Venice and the father of Desdemona. | Raghunath Mishra (Kamal Tiwari), a lawyer and the father of Dolly. | – |
| Duke of Venice, the Administrator of Venice | Bhaisaheb (Naseeruddin Shah), a politician. | – |
| Bianca, a courtesan in Venice. | Billo (Bipasha Basu), a dancer and the mistress of Kesu. | – |
| Language used in the play is poetic. | Language used in the film is local dialect of Western UP. | In keeping with the setting of the story in rural UP. |
The gist of the film’s story is as under:
Omkara (Ajay Devgan) is the head of a criminal gang operating under the patronage of Bhaisahab (Naseeruddin Shah), a local politician. Langda Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan) and Kesu (Vivek Oberoi) are the close confidants of Omkara. The film opens with Langda attacking a marriage procession (baaraat). Dolly (Kareena Kapoor), the bride is kidnapped by Omkara before bridegroom, Rajju (Deepak Dobriyal) reaches the marriage venue.
Raghunath Mishra (Kamal Tiwari), Dolly’s father and a lawyer with his men rushes to Omkara’s house and asks him to handover his daughter. Omkara, however, claims that Dolly chose him rather than Rajju. The matter goes to Bhaisahab where Dolly tell her father that she willingly eloped with Omkara. Raghunath Mishra feels betrayed by his daughter and leaves by telling Omkara that a daughter who betrays her father can betray him also. Dolly stays with Omkara.
In an election, Bhaisahab is a candidate. Omkara’s gang arranges a video of a sex scandal of Bhaisaheb’s political opponent resulting in his reputation getting tarnished. Bhaisaheb wins the election. In token of his appreciation, Bhaisaheb selects Omkara as a candidate for a local election. In order to canvas for his election, Omkara makes Kesu as his Bahubali over the claim of Langda who is senior to him. This sows the seeds of anger and jealousy in Langda who secretly plans to get revenge on both Omkara and Kesu.
The gang celebrates the election victory with a nautanki performance by Billo (Bipasha Basu), the dancer who is the mistress of Kesu. Seeing this opportunity, Langda pressurises Kesu to drink and a drunk Kesu gets instigated by the cigarette smoke emanating from Rajju’s mouth affecting Billo. A brawl between Kesu and Rajju takes place injuring Kesu. The matter goes to Omkara who is enraged by Kesu’s behaviour. Omkara punishes Kesu by sidelining him from important assignments.
To restore his position in the gang, Kesu approaches Langda for a way out. He suggests to Kesu to approach Dolly who can plead with Omkara to pardon him. Dolly agrees to put a word to Omkara provided he teaches her an English song. Kesu starts visiting Dolly and spends time with her for rehearsing an English song. Once, Omkara sees Kesu coming out of Dolly’s room and asks Langda about this. Langda, using this opportunity create suspicion in the mind of Omkara suggesting an affair between Kesu and Dolly. As a proof, a ‘kamarbandh’ jewellery gifted by Omkara to Dolly is found with Billo which was given to her by Kesu. In fact this was clandestinely managed by Langda through Indu. Suspicion overtakes rationale in the minds of Omkara. He assigns Langda to kill Kesu.
On the first night of his marriage, Omkara confronts Dolly of her ‘infidelity.’ In uncontrolled anger, he kills Dolly by suffocating her with a pillow. Indu enters the room and see the dead body of Dolly when she finds kamarbandh jewellery. She admits that she has taken it from Dolly’s room and handed it over to Langda. A realization comes to their minds that Langda has given it to Kesu to create the suspicion in the mind of Omkara. Angered by Langda’s conspiracy, Indu slashes Langda’s throat with a sickle resulting in his death. A seriously injured Kesu returns when he watches Omkara killing himself with his revolver out of guilt.
The film had 5 songs written by Gulzar and set to music by Vishal Bhardwaj. I present the first song ‘beedi jalaile jigar se piya’ to appear on the Blog. The song is picturised on Bipasha Basu, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi, and Deepak Dobriyal with a large crowd. It is a nautanki song in celebration of the election win. The song is choreographed by Ganesh Acharya. The song starts with a prelude of scat (wordless vocables) singing by Sunidhi Chauhan and Sukhwinder Singh.
I have watched the video clip of the songs many times since the release of the film. I thought the song to be an item number. When I watched the full film, I realised that this song was an essential part of the film. Gulzar saab’s lyrics are raunchy which is understandable as it is for a nautanki song.
Gulzar Saab, at the launch of the music album of the film, had said that his lyrics of the song reflected the feudal system that prevailed in UP. When I started interpreting the song with Gulzar Saab’s statement, the line, ‘dhuaan na nikaari o lab se piya ye duniya badi jhaag hai’ I felt as if a serf (or a peasant) telling his other colleagues to keep their mouth shut in front of a powerful feudal lord. Similarly, the line in the song ‘na kasoor, na fatoor bina zuram ke hazoor mar gaye’ apart from the raunchiness, also give the impression of a powerful feudal lord sitting in front of a pleading serf. Likewise, the line in the song, ‘aisa kaate ke daant kaa nisaan chhod de’ though sounds erotic, it can also be visualised with a feudal lord sitting with his German Shepherd dog who let loose his dog to bite a serf as a part of the punishment. Such thing used to happen under zamindari system.
I do not know whether Gulzar had considered in his lyrics feelings of Langda after he was overlooked by Omkara for promotion as Bahubali in favour of Kesu. But at some places in the song, lyrics give such an impression. For instance, the line ‘naa kasoor naa fatoor bina zuram ke hazoor mar gaye’ gives an inner feeling of Langda that he has been denied promotion by huzoor (in this case, Omkara) without his fault.
As per the audio album, the song under discussion is rendered by Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nachiketa Chakraborty and Clinton Carejo. However, I did not find the voice of Clinton Carejo in the song. Probably, he may have rendered some occasional chants in the background of the song and also a line or two in the prelude. The chanting by the crowd in western concerts is mainly by the fans of the performers. Vishal Bhardwaj has added this element in this nautanki song to give such a feel.
The raunchy lyrics with Urdu and local dialects, the bawdy dances, the elements of folk music in orchestration, the chants in the background from the crowd and the lighting effects give a feel of a real nautanki performance in a rural setting in modern India.
This song also represents as to how far the nautanki folk music has progressed from the harmonium, sarangi/clarinet, dholak with sitting crowd under petromax light as in paan khaaye sainyya hamaaro in ‘Teesri Kasam’ (1966) to the digital music with chanting by the standing crowd under electric lights.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song-Beedi jalaile (Omkara)(2006) Singers-Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nachiketa Chakraborty, Lyrics-Gulzar, MD-Vishal Bhardwaj
Sunidhi and Sukhwinder, Male Chorus, Unknown voices
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip):
[scat singing]
[scat singing]
ae ae ae ae ae ae ae
naa gil..aaf
naa lih..aaf
naa gilaaf naa lihaaf
thandi hawa bhi khilaaf
sasuri..ee
naa gilaaf naa lihaaf
thandi hawa bhi khilaaf
sasuri..ee
o itni sardi hai kisi kaa lihaaf laile..ae..ae..ae
o jaa padosi ke chulhe se aag laile..ae
o jaa padosi ke chulhe se aag laile..ae..ae
haan beedi jalaile….e
jigar se piya..aa
jigar ma badi aag hai
[scat singing]
beedi jalaile jigar se piya
jigar ma badi aag hai
[scat singing]
dhuaan na nikaari o lab se piya aa aaaa
(scat singing)
dhuaan na nikaari o lab se piya
ye duniya badi ghaaghh hai
o beedi jalaile jigar se piya
jigar ma badi aag hai
naa gilaaf naa lihaaf
thandi hawa bhi khilaaf
sasuri..ee
o itni sardi hai kisi ka lihaaf laile
o jaa padosi ke chulhe se aag laile
jaa padosi ke chulhe se aag laile
ae ae ae
(ai ai ai ai
naa kasoo….r
naa fatoo…..r
naa kasoor naa fatoor
bina zuram ke hazoor
mar gaye
o mar gaye
(o aise ik din dupehri bulaayi liyo re
baandh ghoongroo kachehri lagaayi liyo re
bulaayi liyo re
bulaayi liyo re dupehri
(lagaayi liyo re
lagaayai liyo re kachehri
angeethi chadhhaile..ae
(chants)
jigar se piya
(chants)
jigar ma badi aag hai
(ai ai ai ai ai)
beedi jalaile jigar se piya
jigar ma badi aag hai…ai
(ai ai ai ai)
o o o o
naa to chakkuon ki dh..aar
ho naa daraanti naa kat..aar
naa to chakkuon ki dhaar
naa daraanti naa kataar
aisa kaate ke daant kaa nisaan chhod de
ke kataayi to koi bhi kisaan chhod de
o aise
zaalim kaa chhod de
makaan chhod de re billo
zaalim kaa chhod de
makaan chhod de re
aise zaalim kaa
o aise zaalim kaa
aise zaalim kaa chhod de
makaan chhod de
naa bulaaya..aa
naa bataaya..aa
naa bulaaya naa bataaya
maa ne neend se jagaaya haay re…ae
aise chaunkele haath mein naseeb aa gaya..aa aa aa
wo elaaichi khilaai ke kareeb aa gaya..aa aa aaa
(scat singing)
koyla jalaayile
(chants)
jigar se piya..aa
(chants)
jigar ma
aag hai
[chants]
itni sardi hai kisika lihaaf laile..ae..ae..ae
(chants)
o jaa padosi
o jaa padosi
jaa jaa padosi
o jaa padosi ke chulhe se aag laile
——————————-
Meaning of some words used in the lyrics
————————————
Gilaaf=Protective cover, Jacket
Lihaaf=Blanket, Quilt
Fatoor (Fitoor)= Obsession
Daraanti=Sickle
Chaunkele=Startled, Coward, Timid
Jhin min jhini
Posted on: March 16, 2023
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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Blog Day : |
5354 | Post No. : | 17558 | Movie Count : |
4719 |
Vishal Bhardwaj’s Trilogy of Shakespeare plays – 1: ‘Maqbool’ (2004).
Williams Shakespeare’s plays have been very popular with the Indian theatres since the theatre movement started sometime in the later 18th century. It was in the late 19th century that some of the famous Shakespeare’s plays were adapted in the Indian theatres in Hindi, Urdu and other prominent regional languages like Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil etc. The plays were molded into Indian socio-economic and political background. With the advent of silent films in India in 1913 and later the sound films from 1931, the film producers also adapted some of the popular Shakespeare’s plays for their films.
The earliest Hindi sound film based on Shakespeare play was ‘Hathili Dulhan’ (1932) which was adapted from a comedy play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. Some other Hindi sound films adapted from Shakespeare plays (mentioned in the brackets) included ‘Kaafir-e-Ishq’, 1936 (Anthony and Cleopatra), ‘Jwala’. 1938 (Macbeth), ‘Pak Daman’, 1940 (Measure for Measure), ‘Aan’, 1952 (Taming of the Shrew), ‘Hamlet’. 1954 (Hamlet), ‘Do Dooni Chaar’, 1968 (The Comedy of Errors), ‘Angoor’, 1982 (The Comedy of Errors), ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, 1988 (Romeo & Juliet) and many more. About 40 Hindi films released between 1932 and 2014, based on Shakespeare plays have been listed here. This list is not exhaustive.
Shakespeare’s plays were also adapted into some Hindi films made in the 2000s. Of these, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespeare trilogy, ‘Maqbool’ 2004 (Macbeth), ‘Omkara’ 2006 (Othello) and ‘Haider’ 2014 (Hamlet) are regarded as the best adaptation. These three films have received high critical acclaim. There are many published research papers on his trilogy on national and international forums, besides a PhD thesis on his trilogy by Dr Fatimah Javed. The uniqueness in Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptations is that he has brought out the relevance of Shakespeare’s plays in the contemporary Indian socio-political background.
I intend to write one article each for these three films listed above. In this article, I will take up ‘Maqbool’ (2004), the first film in Vishal Bhardwaj’s trilogy of Shakespeare’s tragedy plays. The film was produced jointly by Vishal Bhardwaj and Bobby Bedi and was directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film has a strong cast which includes Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Piyush Mishra, Deepak Dobriyal, Ankur Vikal, Ajay Gehi, Vivek Mushran, Rakesh Pandit, Shammi Narang, Masumeh Makhija, Mohini Mathur, Shweta Menon etc. Vishal Bhardwaj shifts the centre of struggle for power from the court of King Duncan of Scotland in ‘Macbeth’ to Mumbai’s Mafia Don, Jahangir (Abba) Khan’s house.
Probably, it may be for first time in the history of Hindi films that the screenplay of a film was published with English translation in a book form – ‘Maqbool: The Original Screenplay (with English Translation) by Vishal Bhardwaj and Abbas Tyrewala (2014)’. In this book, the rationale for some changes in the main characters of ‘Macbeth’ in ‘Maqbool’ (2004) have been spelt out. I thought, it was better to present these changes in a tabular form for easy understanding:
| In ‘Macbeth’ | In ‘Maqbool’ | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| King Duncan of Scotland | Mafia Don Abbaji (Pankaj Kapur) of Mumbai underworld. | – |
| Macbeth, the General, who is the distant cousin of King Duncan | Maqbool (Irrfan Khan), the foster son and the right-hand man of Abbaji. | – |
| Lady Macbeth (wife of Macbeth) | Nimmi (Tabu) the mistress of Abbaji who is in illicit relationship with Maqbool. | There is a marked departure from the original characters just to give one more reason for Nimmi to instigate Maqbool to kill Abbaji, so that she becomes the legitimate wife of Maqbool. For him also, this becomes an additional motive to kill Abbaji, apart from becoming a mafia don. |
| Three Witches | Purohit (Naseeruddin Shah) and ‘Pandit (Om Puri) are cops who predict the rise of Maqbool as a Don as per the horoscope drawn by Pandit. | It was felt that after about 500 years from the staging of ‘Macbeth’, the witches with their prophecies and supernatural powers may not be believable for the current generation. In mafia world, cops fit well in place of witches. Additionally, one of the cops was shown as an astrologer who also makes predictions. |
| Braquo, the close friend of Macbeth | Kaka (Piyush Mishra), a close friend of Maqbool. | – |
| Fleance, Banquo’s son who is projected by witches to be the future king of Scotland | Guddu (Ajay Gehi), the son of Kaka. | From the end scene of the film, it can be inferred from the action of Guddu and his wife Sameera who takes the custody of Nimmi’s son that he may become the future Mafia Don of Mumbai. |
The gist of the story of the film is as under:
After the killing of the Lalji, right-hand man of mafia don Abbaji (Pankaj Kapur), by a rival gang, Maqbool (Irrfan Khan), the foster son of Abbaji becomes the de facto his right-hand man. He is also made in-charge of the Abbaji’s connection with Bollywood films. Abbaji has absolute faith in Maqbool and this is demonstrated in the film on a number of occasions. Nimmi (Tabu), the mistress of Abbaji who is half his age is not happy with her status. She and Maqbool are passionate about each other and are in illicit relationship.
Purohit (Naseeruddin Shah) and Pandit (Om Puri) are the corrupt cops who are on the payroll of Abbaji. Pandit is also an astrologer who had predicted the death of Abbaji’s right-hand man. Now, he predicts that Maqbool would be the future mafia don of Mumbai. His oft repeated dialogue in the film is that there should be balance of power in the universe. Fire should be afraid of water.
Nimmi sees a possibility of both of being sidelined after the marriage of Sameera (Mausami Makhija), daughter of Abbaji with Guddu (Ajay Gehi), the son of Kaka (Piyush Mishra), the close associate of both Abbaji and Maqbool. She instigates Maqbool by saying that he would remain like a loyal dog in the don’s hierarchy, if he does not kill Abbaji and grab the power to be a mafia don. Maqbool is caught between his loyalty to Abbaji and his love for Nimmi. Finally, his love for Nimmi wins over the loyalty to Abbaji. Maqbool kills Abbaji in his bedroom in sleep.
Maqbool thinks that with Abbaji out of his way, the next man has to be his close friend, Kakaji who suspects Maqbool in killing Abbaji. To whom the power will pass – Guddu, the son-in-law or Maqbool, the foster son. So, Kakaji becomes his number one enemy in his succession. Maqbool gets him killed while his son, Guddu narrowly escapes death. With almost whole gang turning against him now, Maqbool has to handle his enemies, within and outside his gang single handedly. He has no help from Nimmi as she, beside her pregnancy, has lost her balance of mind.
After the killing of Abbaji, Maqbool suffers from guilt conscious which has affected him in taking a balanced view of his problem. He starts thinking that all are his enemies, and they need to be eliminated. His guilt consciousness makes him devote more time to saving the baby in Nimmi’s womb than his safety. He takes Nimmi to hospital for delivery. With the arrival of cops surrounding the hospital, Maqbool runs away. He comes back to hospital the next day to meet Nimmi and the newly born son when he sees Guddu in the hospital. Maqbool takes out his gun to shoot him. But before that he finds the newly born son has been handed over to Guddu and his wife Sameera by the hospital authority. He comes to know from a hospital staff that Nimmi has died, and Guddu and his wife has taken the custody of the newly born son. His grim face turns into a happy one as he sees that there is someone to look after the newly born son. Maqbool throws his gun and walks out of the hospital in a happy state of mind only to be shot dead by Boti (Ankur Vikal), a member of a rival gang who has recently joined Abbaji’s gang.
I watched this movie for the first time before writing this article and regretted not having watched this film on the big screen. It is a fantastic film, more of human relation story than the underworld. I do not think that any one among the actors can replace Pankaj Kapur in the role of Mumbai’s mafia don, Abbaji. Irrfan Khan in the role of Maqbool has portrayed his character in such a way that at the end of the film, despite his wrongdoings, the audience would feel sorry for him. Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri in the comparatively smaller role of corrupt cops are very good in their satirical punches. All other actors, some with minor roles, performed very well. This film also proves that cinema is the director’s medium.
As per Box Office report, despite the high critical acclaim, the film was not commercially successful. Probably the use of techniques like imagery, expressions, and body language in the film was beyond the understanding of the general cine audience. There is nothing for the front benchers and the film lovers from the mofussil region of India, like titillating dances they would expect in a mafia den. Even six murders are shown in the film in a subtle way without much of fight scenes. I think, Vishal Bhardwaj knew beforehand that the film was meant for the niche audience. He did not charge any fee as a screenplay writer, director and the music director for the film (as per the preface of the book referred to above).
There are 5 songs in the film, all written by Gulzar and set to music by Vishal Bhardwaj. I have found only 3 songs which appeared in the film. However, ‘excluded’ songs are available on audio albums. I am presenting the first song from the film ‘jhin min jhin min jhini’ to appear on the Blog. The song is sung by Sadhana Sargam, Anuradha Sriram, Ustad Sultan Khan, Rakesh Pandit and chorus.
The background of the song is that Ajay Gehi (Guddu), son of Kaka (Piyush Mishra) who is a close associate of Abbaji (Pankaj Kapur) is to get married to Sameera (Mausami Makhija), daughter of Abbaji. The song is played on the eve of the engagement ceremony. The song is prominently picturised on Tabu and Mausami Makhija as a part of sangeet ceremony for females.
In the soundtrack of the film, the prelude of the song is a couplet (doha) of Amir Khusro recited by a dancer (Shwetha Menon) which is not included in the song on the audio album. The song is interspersed by Sufi Qawwali which is again picturised on Shwetha Menon as a part of her mujra dance for the males during which Pankaj Kapur, Irrfan Khan, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Piyush Mishra, Shammi Narang etc can also be seen.
While the song is being played, the camera captures some other details such as conversation between Irrfan Khan and Om Puri, the conversation between Tabu and Irrfan Khan and Tabu’s expression on the dance between Pankaj Kapur and Shwetha Menon whom Tabu thinks as the potential mistress of Abbaji.
Video Clip:
Audio Clip:
Song- Jhin min jhini (Maqbool)(2004) Singers-Sadhana Sargam, Anuradha Sriram, Ustad Sultan Khan, Rakesh Pandit, Lyrics-Gulzar, MD-Vishal Bhardwaj
Female Chorus,
Male Chorus,
Sadhana Sargam and Anuradha Sriram,
Ustad Sultan Khan and Rakesh Pandit
Lyrics:(The opening doha from Video Clip)
aa aa aa aa aaa
Khusro rain suhaag ki
jaagi pi ke sang
tan mero mann piu ko
dono bhaye ek rang
[Tabla Theka]
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhin min jhini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhin min jhini
seedhi saadhi baaten
baaten bholi bhaali
billo meri aankhon ki kamini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhin min jhini
jaaun
na jaaun
jaaun na jaaun piya ki gali
range paaon pakdi gayi jo chali..ee
chikne chikne aangan hain
sainyaan ke ghar ke
main chalna bhool gayi re
sainyaan se dar ke
pagli kar dini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhin min jhini
seedhi saadhi baaten
baaten bholi bhaali
billo meri aankhon ki kamini
jaaun
na jaaun jaaun piya ki gali
range paaon pakdi gayi jo chali..ee..eeee
aaj rang hai
aye maa rang hai re…ae…ae
(ae ae ae ae ae ae)
aaj rang hai
aye maa rang hai re…ae…ae
mere mehboobi ke ghar
rang hai re …ee
desi bidesi mein dhoondhe phiri hoon ho to
jab dekhu more sang hai ri
aaj rang hai
aaj rang hai…ai…ai
aaj rang hai
(rang hai)
aye maa rangi hai
mere mehboob ke ghar rang hai ri
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhin min jhini
seedhi saadhi baaten
baaten bholi bhaali
billo meri aankhno ki kamini
henna mein chhupa ke
jiya rakh diya..aa
hatheli pe jal tu diya rakh diya
roshan roshan pairon se
khud hi sharmaaun
main iss pag uss pag doloon
jaaun na jaaun
pagli kar dini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhini
jhin min jhin min jhini
seedhi saadhi baaten
baaten bholi bhaali
billo meri aankhon ki kamini
jaaun
na jaaun piya ki gali
range paaon pakadi gayi jo chali
chikne chikne aangan hai
saiyaan ke ghar ke
main chalna bhool gayi re
saiyaan se dar ke
pagli kar dini
o o o o o o…..ooo
aa aa aa aa aaa
aa aa aa aa aaa
more..ae ae piri paayo
(piri paayo)
more..ae ae piri paayo
nizamuddin auliya
qutubuddin auliya
karimuddin auliya
allahuddin auliya
naseeruddin auliya
aa aa aa aa aaa
Allah ka pyaara wo to
jag ujiyaara wo to
jag ujiyaara
aaj rang hai
aye maa rang hai ri..ee
mere mahboob ke ghar rang hai ri
Kyun aaj kal aksar kahin
Posted on: March 10, 2023
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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Blog Day : |
5348 | Post No. : | 17536 | Movie Count : |
4718 |
Recently, I watched the film, ‘7½ Phere’ (2005) on one of the video sharing platforms mainly for two reasons – the catchy title of the film and an interesting combination of Juhi Chawla and Irrfan Khan in the lead roles. The short description of the film by the uploader states that a TV channel decides to go for the reality show of a live wedding in Indian family. The task is given to a first time director who selects a joint family in Mumbai for the same. The director gets into some problems with the senior members of the family who deny the live shooting of the family wedding. The director, with maiden project in jeopardy, gets into a deal with a member of a bride’s family to secretly shoot the wedding functions resulting in a chain of hilarious events.
After watching the film, a thought came to my mind as to how this interesting concept would have been handled by directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee. The reason is that both these directors handled in their films, the subject of human relationships in a joint family set-up by maintaining a right balance between emotions and comical situations. This, I felt, was missing in the film. Let me further explore the film in detail.
‘7½ Phere’ (2005) had Juhi Chawla and Irrfan Khan in the lead roles, supported by Chahat Khanna, Ajay Gehi (special appearance), Anang Desai, Neena Kulkarni, Shri Vallabh Vyas, Manini De, Manish Chaudhari, Manoj Pahwa, Madhavi Chopra, Ninad Kamat, Salima Raza, Jyotsana Karyekar etc. The film was directed by the debutant, Isshaan Trivedi. The gist of the story is as under:
A TV Channel is planning a new reality show of 13 episodes of the traditional wedding ceremony in an Indian household. Asmi Ganatra (Juhi Chawla) has been entrusted with making the reality show as a debutant director. However, it being not a marriage season, with great difficulty, she is able to find a large joint family of Joshi in which a pre-wedding arrangements of Priya (Chahat Khanna), one of the grand daughters of Joshi patriarch is in progress. However, the elders in the family decline to allow the live shooting of the wedding rituals for TV reality show to maintain the privacy of the family, despite the offer of the TV Channel to bear the entire cost of marriage. With her career at stake, Asmi, the ambitious director who dreams of directing films under big banners after her success in TV Channel reality shows, is ready to do anything to get the reality show project on course.
Manoj Joshi (Irrfan Khan) is the youngest son of the Joshi patriarch who is a college dropout and unemployed. Because of this, he is still unmarried and the underdog of the family. Ever since Asmi has visited Joshi household, Manoj has developed a crush on her which Asmi has observed with her restrained reactions mainly because he is one of the members of the Joshi family. She decides to take Manoj into confidence to plant hidden cameras all over the places in the house with handsome monetary reward. He agrees to do the job provided he is also included in their team in monitoring the visuals in a mobile vehicle parked outside the compound of Joshi’s house just to ensure the privacy of the family. Asmi reluctantly agrees to his demand.
The hidden cameras bring out some of family’s secrets including that of Manoj’s elder brothers. The eldest brother is fond of reading porn materials. The next one has extra-marital relationship for which there are fights with his wife. The third one tries to molest the maid for which he gets a slap not only from the maid but also from his wife. Then there is subtle indication of a lesbian relationship between two teenage girls of the family. While the TV Channel crew are happy about these secrets because these would earn the reality show a higher TRPs, Manoj is not happy with these developments.
Both Asmi and Manoj get worried for different reasons when they come to know through hidden cameras that the bride, Priya has secretly met her boy friend in her room and is planning to elope with him a day before her wedding ceremony. This is not the good news for TV Channel whose reality show is about a traditional wedding. If bride really elopes, the shooting for the reality show would not be completed. Asmi requests Manoj to somehow convince Priya not to run away on her wedding day or prevent her from meeting her boyfriend. On the other hand, Manoj is bent upon helping his niece to run away a day before her wedding day and get married to her boyfriend. Ultimately, the wedding takes place as schedule with the groom selected by her parent and thus the shooting the wedding reality show gets completed. Asmi is happy with her shoot. She had come to shoot ‘saat phere’ but in the bargain she got more than ‘saat phere’ that is 7½ phere for her maiden reality show.
After previewing all the video shots on the monitors in the editing room, Asmi is in two minds about the video clips of family secrets. After some thoughts, she decides to destroy the tapes of the shooting of the family secrets to the surprise of the other crew members who tries to prevent her from destroying the tapes. But she successfully destroys tapes and tell the crew members that they have got what they wanted – the live wedding rituals. She also tell them that her sane mind advised her not to expose the family secrets to the public for the sake of TRPs which can destroy the family life of the newlywed couple as also the relations between two families. Obviously, Asmi is fired from the TV Channel.
The film ends with Manoj offering to take Asmi to a Coffee shop. She tells him that he has been flirting with her all the time during the shooting. She now reveals to him smilingly that she is already married.
After watching the film, I felt that an interesting contemporary topic which could have been crisply presented in the film has been wasted by a weak screenplay and direction. The film’s screenplay should have proceeded like a drive on an ‘expressway’ at a higher speed. However, ‘speed breakers’ by way of some unnecessary sub-plots have made the film to drag at the cost of cohesiveness of the plot. For examples, there was no need to show a police raid on TV crew’s monitoring vehicle in a comical way on the pretext that some terrorists are hiding in the vehicle. Also, there was no need to give more exposure joint family members than necessary in the film. That did not add to the value to the film as most of them were average performers in the film. Their so-called loud comic dialogues did not made me laugh. This, to some extent, resulted in the underutilisation of the lead roles of Juhi Chawla and Irrfan Khan.
The only strong point about the film is the good chemistry between Juhi Chawla and Irrfan Khan in their very first film together, which has resulted in their excellent performances. Both of them have challenging roles in the film. Juhi Chawla has to exploit Irrfan Khan’s infatuation with her by controlling her anger on him to get her work done. Irrfan Khan on the other hand has to show outwardly that her occasional insult to him does not bother him. In this way, both are trying to achieve what is on their minds.
‘7½ Phere’ (2005) has effectively 3 songs written by Subrat Sinha (2) and Manrel Gaekwad (1). All these songs are set to music by Shantanu Moitra. In addition, there are 5 more songs listed in the film’s albums, of which 4 are from other films, ‘Don’ (1978), ‘Jaanbaaz’ (1986), ‘Dil Se’ (1998), and one from a non-film album. I did not find any of these songs in the film’s DVD. Probably they got deleted from the DVD.
I am presenting the first song from the film, ‘kyun aajkal aksar kahin udd jaata hai ye mann mera’ to appear on the Blog. The song is written by Subrat Sinha and is rendered by Antara Chowdhury (daughter of Salil Chowdhury) to the tune composed by Shantanu Moitra.
The background of the song is that Chahat Khanna is in her pre-wedding trance of happiness with anxiety. She is happy that she has planned to runway with her boyfriend on her wedding day to get married with him as per her choice. Her anxiety stems from what will be in store for her in her new house. Her movements of the pre-wedding rituals are captured by secret cameras from various angles. At that time, Juhi Chawla, while watching on her monitors, gets an idea to mix these shots with a pre-wedding song. That’s when the song gets played in the background.
The video clip does not include the second antara of the song while the audio clip include the full song. I liked this song for its lyrics and melody. The interludes orchestration brings out what the psychologists would call the ‘happiness anxiety’ inherent in the song.
Audio Clip:
Video Clip:
Song-Kyun aajkal aksar kahin (7½ Phere)(2005) Singer-Antara Chaudhary, Lyrics-Subrat Sinha, MD-Shantanu Moitra
Lyrics (Based on Audio Clip)
kyun aajkal aksar kahin
udd jaata hai ye mann mera
kyun aajkal aksar kahin
udd jaata hai ye mann mera
mujhe chhod kar wo kiske ghar
udd jaata hai ye mann mera
din kaise guzre jab ye pata ho
din kaise guzre jab ye pata ho
aane hi waali hai sapnon ki manzil
manzil pe koi apna milega..aa
manzil pe koi apna milega
tanha yoon phir to rahega nahin dil
pahle se hi paane ko wo
manzil chala ye mann mera
kyun aajkal aksar kahin
ud jaata hai ye mann mera
hmmm
mujhe chhod kar wo kiske ghar
udd jaata hai ye mann mera
ho o o o
chhootega aangan apne sabhi ye
chhootega aangan apne sabhi ye
kehte hain ham ho jayenge paraaye
itni khushi si kyun sab ko hai phir
itni khushi si kyun sab ko hai phir
mann mein sada ye hamen samjhaaye
uljhan meri dekhen magar
kuchh na kare ye mann mera
kyun aajkal aksar kahin
udd jaata hai ye mann mera
hmmm
mujhe chhod kar wo kiske ghar
udd jaata hai ye mann mera
kyun aajkal aksar kahin
udd jaata hai ye mann mera
mujhe chhod kar wo kiske ghar
uda jaata hai ye mann mera
la la la la
la la la la
la la la la
la la la la
hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm
la la a la
la la la la
la la la la
la la la la
Khumaari chadh ke utar gayi
Posted on: March 9, 2023
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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Blog Day : |
5347 | Post No. : | 17535 |
Today (9 march 2023) early morning, the first WhatsApp message I read in my family group was about producer-director-writer-actor Satish Kaushik who breath his last on the way to a hospital in Delhi early morning following a heart attack. His funeral is likely to take place in Mumbai later in the day. Next month, he would have completed 67 years, an age when many actors have rediscovered themselves in film industries. I felt very sorry that one of the few genial faces of the Hindi film industry and an actor who regaled us through his unique style of acting and dialogue delivery was no more with us. For now, only his films will keep his memory live.
Satish Kaushik (13/04/1956 – 09/03/2023) belonged to Haryana and was trained at the National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi. He followed it with the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). I have observed through photographs that Satish Kaushik was very close to his alumni from NSD like Anupam Kher, Pankaj Kapoor, Sudhir Mishra, Neena Gupta etc.
Off hand, I think I had watched him for the first time on the screen in ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’ (1983). Later, I watched him in ‘Maasoom’ (1983), ‘Mr India’ (1987) and some more films. I have also seen some films of him with Govinda which I have enjoyed in their joint performances due to his great timing of dialogues. Probably, I watched him for the last time on OTT platform in ‘Tehzeeb’ (2003). Besides the films, I have watched him in some episodes of TV serials like ‘Ye Jo Hai Zindagi’, and ‘Katha Sagar’. He must have acted in more than 100 films in his lifetime. Whether films or TV serials, he made his presence felt to the audience.
Satish Kaushik also directed about 15 Hindi film beginning with ‘Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja’ (1993) and produced about 6 films. He was also active in Hindi theatre.
As a tribute to the departed soul, I am presenting a song from his film, Umar’ (2006) which is picturised on him as a background song. The song is ‘Khumari chadh ke utar gayi’ which is rendered by Jagjit Singh. The song is written by Shaily Shailendra and is set to music by Shamir Tandon.
Audio Clip:
Video Clip:
Song-Khumaari chadh ke utar gayi (Umar)(2006) Singer-Jagjit Singh, Lyrics-Shaily Shailendra, MD-Shamir Tandon
Lyrics (based on Audio Clip)
khumaari chadh ke utar gayi
zindagi yoon hi guzar gayi
khumaari chadh ke utar gayi
zindagi yoon hi guzar gayi
kabhi sote sote kabhi jaagte
khwaabon ke peechhe youn hi bhaagte
apni to saari umar gayi
apni to saari umar gayi
khumari chadh ke utar gayi
zindagi yoon hi guzar gayi
rangeen bahaaron ki khwaahish rahi
haath magar kuchh aaya nahin
rangeen bahaaron ki khwaahish rahi
haath magar kuchh aaya nahin
kehne ko apne thhe saathhi kayi
saathh kisi ne nibhaaya nahin
koi bhi hamsafar nahin
koi bhi hamsafar nahin
kho gayi har dagar kahin
kabhi sote sote kabhi jaagte
khwaabon ke peechhe yoon hi bhaagte
apni to saari umar gayi
apni to saari umar gayi
khumaari chadh ke utar gayi
zindagi yoon hi guzar gayi
logon ko aksar dekha hai
ghar ke liye rote huye
logon ko aksar dekha hai
ghar ke liye rote huye
ham to magar beghar hi rahe
gharwaalon ke hote huye
gharwaalon ke hote huye
aaya apna nazar nahin
aaya apna nazar nahin
apni jahaan tak nazar gayi
kabhi sote sote kabhi jaagte
khwaabon ke peechhe yoon hi bhaagte
apni to saari umar gayi
apni to saari umar gayi
khumaari chadh ke utar gayi
zindagi youn hi guzar gayi
pehle to ham sun lete thhe
shor mein bhi shehnaaiyaan
pehle to ham sun lete thhe
shor mein bhi shehnaaiyaan
ab to hamko lagti hai
bheed mein bhi tanhaaiyaan
jeene ki hasrat kidhar gayi
jeene ki hasrat kidhar gayi
dil ki kali bikhar gayi
kabhi sote sote kabhi jaagte
khwaabon ke peechhe yoon hi bhaagte
apni to saari umar gayi
apni toh saari umar gayi
khumaari chadh ke utar gayi
zindagi yoon hi guzar gayi
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm
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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Blog Day : |
5340 | Post No. : | 17510 | Movie Count : |
4711 |
Madhur Bhandarkar, the four-time National Film Award winner, is known to make films on some unusual issues. Some of his films’ titles like ‘Chandni Bar’ (2001), ‘Satta’ (2003), ‘Page-3’ (2005), ‘Corporate’ (2006), ‘Traffic Signal’ (2007), ‘Fashion’ (2008), ‘Heroine’ (2012), ‘Calendar Girls’ (2015) are indicative of the diverse and unusual subjects he has covered in his films. He does not think that his films are exposes but they show what is happening in society without passing value judgement. Usually, he makes films with one or two well-known actors. Rest of actors are usually from the theatre/TV background. Songs in his films are not a priority. Most of the issues he takes up in his film is Mumbai-based.
With this background of his film making, I thought that Madhur Bhandarkar may have come from theatrical background or from FTII. But surfing on the internet including the Radio/T V interviews, for his profile revealed that he came from a humble background, and he had no theatre or filmy experiences. His is one of rags to riches stories.
Madhur Bhandarkar was born in a middle-class Gowd Saraswat Brahmin family staying in Khar in Mumbai suburb. He was a school dropout due to financial reasons. At the age of 16, he started the business of renting film video cassette in his neighboring areas which included all types of his customers – hutment dwellers, politicians, fashion and corporate world, film actors and directors, bar girls, people connected with gangsters and many more category. He himself used to watch many Hindi films which led to developing his interest in filmmaking. He has said in an interview that he is the encyclopedia of Hindi films released between 1970-80 during which period, he watched films in all the theatres located between Colaba and Virar.
After the advent of cable TV, the business of renting film video cassette no longer became profitable. Madhur Bhandarkar, probably through the networking with his customers connected with Hindi film industry, got entry into film industry as assistant to some ‘B’ grade film directors. He graduated to become the Assistant Director to Ram Gopal Varma while he was making ‘Rangeela’ (1995). In this film, Madhur Bhandarkar did a cameo role of Assistant Director. He worked with Ram Gopal Varma for 4 years before venturing into an independent director. While he wanted to make issue-based films, no producer/financier was willing to support him in his maiden film. So, perforce, he had to make his first directorial venture, ‘Trishakti’ (1999), a pure masala film which miserably failed at the box office.
With the failure of ‘Trishakti’ (1999), Madhur Bhandarkar took an issue-based subject for his second film, ‘Chandni Bar’ (2001). However, as it often happens in Hindi film industry, it is difficult to get a producer or a financier for a film with a realistic story. It was only when Tabu agreed to do the film, R Mohan, a Malayalam film producer came forward to produce the film. This film not only became a box office success, but it also got 4 National Film Award for Best Film covering other social issues, best actress for Tabu, best supporting actor for Atul Kulkarni and Best supporting actress for Ananya Khare.
Madhur Bhandarkar made some more issue-based films like ‘Satta’ (2003) – a political drama, ‘Page 3’ (2005) – on the life of a journalist vis-à-vis the business interest of the newspapers, ‘Corporate’ (2006) – on corporate war between two powerful industrialists, ‘Traffic Signal’ (2007) – the life around traffic signals in Mumbai, ‘Fashion’ (2008) – on fashion industry, ‘Heroine’ (2012) – on a career path of a heroine from superstar to a decline, ‘Calendar Girls’ (2015) – the jumping platform from pin-up girls to dreaming about stardoms, etc. However, from 2008 onwards, his films did not fare well on box office though the films were critically acclaimed. Madhur Bhandarkar co-produced along with Gaurang Jalan, his first Bengali film, ‘Avijatrik’ (2021) which was directed by Subhrajit Mitra. The film won the National Film Award for the Best Feature Film in Bengali.
Following the critically acclaimed, commercially successful and strong woman-oriented film, ‘Chandni Bar’ (1999), Madhur Bhandarkar’s next film was about an independent woman who had a strong dislike for politicians. But the circumstances made her to take plunge in the world of murky politics in order to survive in the midst of a political family. The film is a lesser known, ‘Satta’ (सत्ता, 2003). The film’s cast included Raveena Tandon, Atul Kulkarni, Govind Namdev, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Manoj Joshi, Anju Mahendru, Abhay Bhargva, Abhijit Lahiri, Amardeep Jha etc. The gist of the film’s story is as under:
Anuradha Sehgal (Raveena Tandon) is a daughter of a Delhi-based divorced parent who is independent minded and fun-loving girl. She shifts to Mumbai on a job and meets a debonaire, Vivek Chauhan (Sameer Dharmadhikari), son of a leading politician, Mahendra Chauhan (Shri Vallabh Vyas). They fall in love and get married. Anuradha shifts to her husband’s place in Mumbai. Within few days, she discovers the true nature of Vivek who is a spoilt brat, a drunkard, and a womaniser. In the house also, there are restrictions on women on free conversations when men are discussing some matters. Mahendra is planning to make his son, Vivek stand for state assembly election and make him the potential candidate for the Chief Minister.
One day while in the bar, Vivek kills a bar girl for not serving him drink (probably a la Jessica Lal murder case) for which he is imprisoned. This put Mahendra’s plan in jeopardy as Vivek will not get ticket for contesting election. Other party functionaries suggest Mahendra Chauhan that his daughter-in-law, Anuradha should context the election in place of Vivek.Under pressure to contest election, Anuradha wins the election and become MLA. Her father-in-law assings his close confident, Yeshwant Varde (Atul Kulkarni) to Anuradha to guide her in the survival games of politics. Gradually, Anuradha learns of ropes of political games and transforms herself from homely woman into a strong political leader. She introduces reforms to change the complex of party politics in which there is no place for double standard politicians.
After facing some obstacles, like floating the news of her suspected ‘affairs’ with Yeshwant from the opponents of her own partymen, Anuradha is successful in cleansing the system of nexus between politicians, businessmen, underworld, and the policemen. She becomes the kingmaker of her party by playing the same crooked games of politics which were hitherto played by her adversaries. She chooses Anna Saheb Joshi (Hemendra Bhatia), a veteran of the party with a clean image and honesty to be the Chief Minister who believes that ‘satta’ (power) is an opportunity to bring a positive changes in the standard of living of the people.
I had watched Raveena Tandon in her glamourous roles in the mainstream Hindi films. It is the first time that I have watched her in the powerful role of Anuradha. She has truly justified the faith reposed by the director by giving her the best performance in the film. Performances from other main actors have also very good.
‘Satta’ (2003) had six songs (including a multi-version song) written by Javed Akhtar and set to music by Raju Singh. I was not even aware that there were songs in this film until I watched the film recently. Of the 5 songs of the film, I liked only the multiple version song which I am presenting here. The song is ‘gungunaati hai geet gaati hai zindagi’. The song is rendered by Asha Bhosle and Sonu Nigam separately as a solo song on the same lyrics. Asha Bhosle version is a background song picturised on Raveena Tandon and Atul Kulkarni. I could not locate in the film as to where Sonu Nigam version of the song got picturised. I suspect that Sonu Nigam version of the song may have got deleted in the DVD.
The song starts with a beautiful prelude of interplay of piano and flute. Asha Bhosle sings the song with ‘harkat’ on some words which is more noticeable in audio clip than on video clip as latter’s sound quality is not so good. Sonu Nigam’s rendition is also very good.
I have listened to both the versions of the songs many times during the last one week. And each time I listen to this song I get reminded of R D Burman especially in antaras.
Video Clip (Asha Bhosle version):
Audio Clip: (Asha Bhosle version):
Audio Clip (Sonu Nigam version):
Song-Gungunaati hai geet gaati hai zindagi (Satta)(2003) Singer- Asha Bhonsle/ Sonu Nigam, Lyrics-Javed Akhtar, MD-Raju Singh
Lyrics
gungunaati hai
geet gaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
muskuraati hai
khilkhilaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
dil mein ab jaise
kaliyaan si khilti hain
dil mein ab jaise
kaliyaan si khilti hain
gul khilaati hai
mehke jaati hai
zindagi ee ee
tum jo aaye to
gungunaati hai
geet gaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
muskuraati hai
khilkhilaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
bechain ik lahar thhi
ab usse
mil gaye hain
kinaare
ho
bechain ik lahar thhi
ab usse
mil gaye hain
kinaare
betaab ik nazar thhi
ab usse
mil gaye hain
nazaare
dil mein ab jaise
tasveeren banti hain
dil mein ab jaise
tasveeren banti hain
gudgudaati hai
chhed jaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
gungunaati hai
geet gaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
paaya jo dil ne tumko
zindagi ee
har khushi paa gayi hai
paaya jo dil ne tumko
zindagi
har khushi paa gayi hai
mere humsafar ho tum jo
raah mein
raushni chhaa gayi hai
dil mein ab jaise
kirne si chhanti hain
dil mein ab jaise
kirnen si chhanti hain
jhilmilaati hai
jagmagaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
gungunaati hai
geet gaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
muskuraati hai
khilkhilaati hai
zindagi..ee
tum jo aaye to
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
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