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

This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

‘Bobby’ – a once in a life time sojourn. Smitten by this film, youngsters in any age will not be awed by any other drama of romance.

‘Bobby’ – the heart beat of a generation. Murmurs of that heartbeat continue to be alive decades after. Memories of that first love still makes the blood race through the veins, just as if that primal experience is still happening – for the first time.

‘Bobby’ – never before, and never after – was a story of adolescent love, ever presented with such an alluring composure, and such a charismatic style.

‘Bobby’ – open that page even today, and the freshness of fragrance of that first touch, that first embrace, that first kiss – under a row of Gulmohar trees in full bloom, still has the thump to pummel you off your feet. The ‘flame of the forest’ is ablaze with a riot of red. And so are the raging emotions within – not just the star crossed lovers on screen – it is me too, still floundering and floating in those seminal sensations of love – the moment frozen in time and age, forever. Check out the lover’s tryst at the swimming pool. Every other experience of passionate emotions pales into insignificance in the face of this compelling, electric attraction.

‘Bobby’ – the enduring Perfect Storm – nothing else comes close to capturing that first pubescent surge of hormones – the heart’s first introduction to the fascinating enthrallment of passion and love.

‘Bobby’ – the first steps into the adventures of delight, when the self desires to make space for another for the first time, savoring the first unfamiliar ecstasies of love.

‘Bobby’ – a film, a name, and a girl in a white frock with grey dots and a red piping – standing next to the entrance, near the golden statue of a maiden carrying a pot of water, quenching the thirst of many kinds; and the strains of music that play on that first sighting – “Jeena Yahaan Marna Yahaan, Is Ke Siwa Jaana Kahaan”. As always, the master of melodramatic presentation, RK chose this oh so appropriate music to play when this simple young girl made her first presence on the screen, and into the hearts of million young men – yes – Is Ke Siwa Jaana Kahaan. . .

I have written before about my many crushes on many a beauty of the silver screen. But this was / is the first time I really fell in love. Never heard of this girl before. Dimple Kapadia – no background in films, no links in the industry – and one day, she is just there, standing near the entrance, next to that golden statue. It was just a moment – and she took my heart away. That was just yesterday, but it seems as if an age has passed, and an entire life story of love has been played out. And yet, frozen in time, it still is 1973, and Bobby and me – forever.

As far as I can remember, no other film, no other director had, till that time, tried to tackle the subject of adolescent romance. Yes, there have been many films about childhood friendships that blossom out into love and romance when the protagonists are adults. College going students – yes, many films that have dealt with college romance. The one drawback of these tales was – the lead pair never did look like college students. Senior actors in their thirties, forties and even fifties, attempting to play romantic leads on a college campus. All is well till the movie plays, but once done, the memories remain of the oversize actors trying to fit into very young shoes.

Bobby was different. Bobby was homegrown fresh, young, as young can be. Dimple – all of sixteen years when she stepped into this role. Rishi, albeit not so young, was 21. But with his cupcake Johnson baby looks, he charmed his way into the hearts of a million girls. Take away all the aesthetics, and the story is as old as the ruins of Ranjeet Studios – boy from rich family meets girl from family not of the same social status, they fall in love, and the entire world around them crumbles down upon them. Coming all the way from days of Parsi theatre and silent cinema, this tale has been played over and over again, umpteen times.

And then, after seven decades or so, this tale once again exploded on to the screens, and ignited a whole generation of teenagers – a fire that has not been doused since then. It was not the melodrama that worked; it was, somewhat maybe, the music that worked; it was not the apparently artificial ambience of the Nath affluence – the rich side of the tussle; it was not the exaggerated and affected brash and boisterous Braganza who wears the same undersized suit to every formal scene in the film, (gosh, even the not so affluent have a proper dress sense), and the supporting roles – mother, nanny, friends, society girls, mild brained proposal for making a business alliance – in short, there was nothing in the film that was not done before, even by RK himself, nothing that was new for the cinema screen and for the audiences. What turned out to the winner was the lead pair – two unknown faces whose on screen chemistry tugged at the strings of the heart of the audience, and turned the rest of the oft repeated paraphernalia around them into a very convincing, charming, fascinating tale.

And between the two of them, Bobby comes up trumps to the histrionics of Raja. The film is Bobby, and Bobby all the way. Making innocence and glamour look oh so easy, the images in the mind are forever now – the coy and shy little girl in a frock, who is afraid to step into the lavish party, keeps standing at the entrance; the naïve and innocent little girl, telling about the ‘dhuk-dhuki’ in her heart when she see him; the troubled and broken lady, her heart asunder albeit from a misunderstood conversation, as she too looking on with pleading eyes, but unable to take a step towards him; the screaming pleading young woman, beseeching her grandmother not to lock her up, as Josef physically pulls her away and carries her upstairs at the behest of an agonized but very firm Mrs. Braganza. . . and many more. The images keep playing in the mind. And the film is all about this teen aged girl who is so intensely convinced about her love – you can see it in her face as she pleads with her grandmother – that she will die if separated from Raja; and sitting in the audience seats, one is so starkly convinced that she will, that there are tears streaming and the body muscles want to jump on to the screen and beat the hell out of Josef.

Oh Bobby, Bobby, Bobby – she pulled up a storm, and then – she just walked away. In a manner of speaking, it is good that she did. The legend and the aura of Bobby remained constant, unremitting . . . verily to become perpetual. The Dimple that we see from a decade later is a very different avatar. The memories, the marvel, the legend of Bobby, has remained intact. Nobody could quite portray the coy innocence and purity of heart, as we see Bobby on the screen and in the dreams. And that is very well for me – it is 1973, and Bobby, forever.

I am both sad and glad to get the opportunity for announcing the Yippeee-dom status for this film. After a 10 years travel, finally all the songs of this film are now present on the blog. 🙂  And sad, because we won’t be discussing this Bobby again in any future post. 😦

Eight songs, eight wonderful songs keeping alive the RK tradition for the best in music. The songs created quite a ripple when released, and over the decades, have remained popular with every new generation of teenagers, who simply love the ideas of simple thoughts as in “Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai” and “Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Hon”. 🙂 The seven songs posted earlier happened in the following sequence.

A journey that started 10 years ago, culminates today, with the posting of this fabulous and scintillating party song that carries many layers of silent conversations within itself. We are more than two third of the way into the movie. Nath and Braganza have fallen out big time, with the belligerent Braganza promising all sorts of consequences if Nath’s son is seen anywhere close to his daughter. Bobby is sent off to Goa – a la “Akhiyon Ko Rahne De Akhiyon Ke Aas Paas“. Raja is confined and under watch. New Year eve is nigh. The business driven Nath makes a business driven decision to announce the engagement of his son with the daughter of Mr. Sharma, one of his business associates. No matter that the lady chosen is somewhat retarded, and much below her actual age in mental capacity. Not being able to rebel and speak his mind, unable to confront his father, Raja is in a deadly dilemma about his life.

The party happens. The song happens. And Raja gets the answer for his life. As I said, the song has multiple layers of silent conversations happening. The party and the celebration is one. The parents are agog with delight of having struck two birds with one stone – made a major business gain, and tied down a wayward son into household chains. The joy of Nikki (Farida Jalal) is on a different high – she is getting married into another rich family. Then the song and the performance itself – that speaks of the travesty of love and lovers. Woe becomes he who is wretched enough to be entangled in a snare of love.

And there is the mind of Raja – bewildered, afraid, not believing what is going on around him. His insides are in a shamble, his heart is in agony, and all his parents can think of is an alliance for him, and a grand new year party. A look at him, his lost expressions in the midst of so much dance and revelry. And one is reminded of another RK song –

dhakke pe dhakka, reley pe relaa
hai bheed itni, par dil akela
par dil akela

And the scenario takes you back across two decades of musical and cinematic articulation – the troubled expressions of the face of Raja feeling hopelessly lost amidst the ongoing celebration, threading back to the joker singing at the Bombay carnival (‘Mera Naam Joker’, 1970), leading you back one more layer, to the bumbling hobo, new to the big town, and completely lost in its hustle bustle (‘Shri 420’, 1955). When I see that image, that look on Rishi Kapoor’s face during this party song, my mind goes back these two steps to more of RK’s wonder illustrations.

And then, we have this covert conversation happening between the dancer and the teenager with a troubled mind. The dancer is singing for him, without him realizing it so, at the beginning. In the first stanza, the dancer explains to Raja, the vagaries of love one has to endure. Falling in love does not mean just losing your heart to someone – actually one loses everything in life, one’s entire world and even one’s happiness. Then the dancer goes on to explain the time of adolescence – and this one line in this song is so intensely killing –

ye ek saal
bachpan aur jawaani ke beech ka
bada bura hota hai

And in this one liner, the lyricist has said everything that one needs to be said for the agonies of coming of age. This time of transition and hormonal changes bring in awarenesses that didn’t exist in the mind before. And these awarenesses are confusing, troubling and at times frightening. The call of the dancer’s voice now catches Raja’s attention – who realizes that this song is being sung for him. And in the second stanza, the dancer now reveals an answer. The seed is planted, the way is shown, and the contemplation of an elopement is initiated –

bacha ke aa..aankh
panchhi pinjra le ke ud jaaye to. . .

Lovely choreography here. For a moment, Raja is encircled by other dancers with frightening masks, as if he is caged inside a prison of fear, and the next instant, the dancer is floating away like a bird flying. And the words for the second stanza commence. Just pause and watch again this small magical interlude segment.

The third stanza of this song appears separately and a little later in the film (and is inserted as Part II in the lyrics below). Raja has run away from home, reached the place in Goa where Bobby is confined with her grandmother. He pleads to be allowed to meet, and to be permitted to be married. Grandma locks him up also, and sends message to Bombay. In the night, Raja manages to escape, gets in to Bobby’s room, and now they both flee on the mobike. The third stanza plays now. The burden of this stanza says that this incurable malady of love is under no one’s control, no matter how formidable a learned person (jogi – one who can control the senses and the mind) or how skilled a snake charmer might one be. A snake charmer is supposed to have power to control any snake. The lyrics say that the serpents of love are not even in their control.

The words in the song, the choreography, the covert exchanges happening between the dancer and the teenager – oh so well designed and executed. There is another layer of conversation that gets revealed. Just watch the expressions and try to visualize the mind of the young man as the song progresses. He is troubled, he is lost, he is incensed by the apparent sarcasm that the dancer is singing. And then he catches on. The message of being trapped “Ae. . .  Phansaa” transforms from his original thoughts that he played the game of hearts and lost and got trapped in this pining pain of love. But when Nikki joins the party, and the dancer points out yet once again “Ae. . .  Phansaa” he realizes – not earlier as he was thinking, but the entrapment is happening now, with the new proposed alliance for him. One begins to see a glimmer of understanding dawn in his eyes and his expressions. He is now listening more carefully. And when the second stanza is in progress, one can clearly make out that now he is fully in sync with the dancer, and her words, and the covert messages that she is communicating. And when the words for flying away with the pinjra are aired, the young man is all attention, slowly one feels the mind moving towards a new resolve, a new plan. At the end of this stanza, there is a very brief, but very meaningful pause, a wink, and a twist smile – almost as if saying – ‘Go’. In the film, the next thing we see is the mother, with letter in her hand, announcing with a scream that her son has run away – and the party has not yet ended. And the next thing we see is the young man and the vroooom of the Rajdoot GTS bike.

And I would like to talk about the dancer now, saving that for the last. In my mind, probably the best dance performance by Aruna Irani, across her career. The music is very fast paced, the movements are very energetic, and true to the RK traditions, the woman in her is so vividly and so sensitively, and sensuously presented. It is such a treat to watch this performance. I have lost the count of times that I have replayed this video in the past couple of days as I work to complete this write up. A superlative performance indeed, by her. Her expressions exhibit how much she is enjoying this herself. And very clearly, she is giving everything to this song. The sequences of steps, the movements – wonderfully choreographed and so expressively delivered by her.

The film credits do not include the name of the dance director, but after some digging, I am able to locate the name. The dance director in this film is Sohanlal, of Madras (now Chennai). It is tons of years ago, but I remember having met him in Madras. There was a brief period of time when I was in Madras on a job assignment. And one of my aunts, who stayed in Madras – her family was a tenant in the bungalow of Sohanlal, somewhere in Adyar area. I used to visit my aunt’s family almost on a weekly basis. And on a couple of occasions I even sat in the studio where Sohanlal ji was instructing students for practice.

Back to Aruna Irani. She has a brief but a significant role in the film. The misunderstanding that is caused between the young lovers, inadvertently, she is in the middle of it. In all her scenes, she looks so extremely charming and ravishing. And always on the dot with her presence and dialogue delivery.  A short and a very sweet performance. Of course with this dance as her best one that I can remember.

And so, the last of Bobby songs is now posted. We announce the addition of this film to the list of Yippeee’d films on our blog. Maybe, I won’t be writing any more about this film. But that is not to say that I do not have more to say about the film, and about Bobby – my first love. That is going to remain with me forever. Yes, it is 1973. . . forever.

The film is a benchmark for stories of young romance, that have been told, and as well for the stories that still have to be told. But the legend of ‘Bobby’ will endure.

The songs that have given idioms that have crept into the language of this subcontinent, be it “. . . pyaar mein sauda nahin”, or “. . . par pyaar bhara dil kabhi na todo, is dil mein dilbar rehta”, or even the simple expression that says “. . . mujhe kuchh kehna hai”. And yes, the ice breaker as one attempts to attract the attention of a lady – “main shaayar to nahin. . .”.

And thus I close this post with the reiteration – an expression for all who are always young in the heart. . .

“If you ever have been in love, this film is for you. . .”

Audio

Video – (Part I – Party Scene)

Video – (Part II – On The Road)

Song – Us Ka Chhoota Ghar Baar Sansaar (Bobby) (1973) Singer – Lata Mangeshkar, Lyrics – Anand Bakshi, MD – Laxmikant Pyaarelal

Lyrics

(Part I)

ae..ae..ae..ae..ae. . . phasaa. . .

mmmmmmm mmmmmmm
arey arey arey

uska chhoota ghar baar sansaar
jo kar ke pyaar yaar kisi ke dil mein basaa
basaa
basaa. . .
ae..ae..ae..ae..ae. . . phasaa. . .

uska chhoota ghar baar sansaar
jo kar ke pyaar yaar kisi ke dil mein basaa
basaa
basaa. . .
ae..
ae..
ae..
phasaa. . .

laa laalaaa laa raa laa
laalala laalala laalala laalala

ye ek saal
bachpan aur jawaani ke beech ka
bada bura hota hai
ye ek saal
naujawaanon ka
nadaanon ka
deewaanon ka
ye ek saal
bachpan aur jawaani ke beech ka
bada bura hota hai
aashiq ka ho gaya naam badnaam
hua anjaam
subah sham zamaana hansa
hansa
hansa
ha ha ha ha ha ha
ae..ae..ae..ae..ae. . . phasaa. . .
uska chhoota ghar baar sansaar
jo kar ke pyaar yaar kisi ke dil mein basaa
basaa
basaa. . .
ae..
ae..
ae..
ae. . . phasaa. . .

bacha ke aa..aankh
panchhi pinjra le ke ud jaaye to
shaayad jaan bach jaaye
bacha ke aa..aankh
kisi jharokhe se
kisi mauke se
kabhi dhokhe se
bacha ke aa..aankh
panchhi pinjra le ke ud jaaye to
shaayad jaan bach jaaye
jeena hua dushwaar dildaar
ke laga aar paar teer kisi ne kasaa
kasaa
kasaa. . .
ae..
ae..
ae..
ae. . . phasaa. . .

uska chhoota ghar baar sansaar
jo kar ke pyaar yaar kisi ke dil mein basaa
basaa
basaa. . .
ae. . . phasaa. . .

(Part II)
ye prem rog
bade bade jogi saperon se bas mein nahin
hota hai
ye prem rog. . .
pyaar karte hain
log marte hain
kahaan darte hain
ye prem rog
bade bade jogi saperon se bas mein nahin
hota hai
us ne liya bairaag
jag se bhaag
ke lagi aag
naaginon ne jise dasaa
dasaa
dasaa
ha ha ha ha ha

———————————————————-
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————-

(भाग १)

ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰ ॰ ॰
फंसा॰ ॰ ॰

म्ममममम म्ममममम
अरे अरे अरे

उसका छूटा घर बार संसार
जो करके प्यार यार किसी के दिल में बसा
बसा
बसा॰ ॰ ॰
ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰ ॰ ॰ फंसा॰ ॰ ॰

उसका छूटा घर बार संसार
जो करके प्यार यार किसी के दिल में बसा
बसा
बसा॰ ॰ ॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
फसा॰ ॰ ॰

ला लाला ला रा ला
लालाला लालाला लालाला लालाला

ये एक साल
बचपन और जवानी के बीच का
बड़ा बुरा होता है
ये एक साल
नौजवानों का
नादानों का
दीवानों का
ये एक साल
बचपन और जवानी के बीच का
बड़ा बुरा होता है
आशिक का हो गया नाम बदनाम
हुआ अंजाम
सुबह शाम ज़माना हंसा
हंसा
हंसा
हा हा हा हा हा हा
ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰॰ए॰ ॰ ॰ फंसा॰ ॰ ॰
उसका छूटा घर बार संसार
जो करके प्यार यार किसी के दिल में बसा
बसा
बसा॰ ॰ ॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
ए॰ ॰ ॰ फंसा॰ ॰ ॰

बचा के आ॰॰आँख
पंछी पिंजरा ले के उड़ जाये तो
शायद जान बच जाये
बचा के आ॰॰आँख
किसी झरोखे से
किसी मौके से
कभी धोखे से
बचा के आ॰॰आँख
पंछी पिंजरा ले के उड़ जाये तो
शायद जान बच जाये
जीना हुआ दुश्वार दिलदार
के लगा आर पार तीर किसी ने कसा
कसा
कसा॰ ॰ ॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
ए॰॰
ए॰ ॰ ॰ फंसा॰ ॰ ॰
उसका छूटा घर बार संसार
जो करके प्यार यार किसी के दिल में बसा
बसा
बसा॰ ॰ ॰
ए॰ ॰ ॰ फंसा॰ ॰ ॰

(भाग २)

ये प्रेम रोग
बड़े बड़े जोगी सपेरों से बस में नहीं
होता है
ये प्रेम रोग॰ ॰ ॰
प्रेम करते हैं
लोग मरते हैं
कहाँ डरते हैं
ये प्रेम रोग
बड़े बड़े जोगी सपेरों से बस में नहीं
होता है
उसने लिया बैराग
जग से भाग
के लगी आग
नागिनों ने जिसे डसा
डसा
डसा
हा हा हा हा हा हा