Month: January 2022

Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music : Volume X – January 2022 edition

Welcome to January 2022 edition of Xth Volume of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

We celebrated 73rd Republic Day this month.

We now move on to the other tributes and celebrations for the month –

SoY celebrates the New Year with Romancing the Rogue or Songs of Beiman Balma

Main Kya Janoo Kya Jadoo Hai – Remembering K L Saigal – “आप सुन रहे है कार्यक्रम, पुरानी फिल्मों के गीत। पेश है आज का आख़री गीत के एल सैगल की आवाज में।” – The announcer on Radio Ceylon would announce it at around 07.57 am daily. It’s been a custom for more than 50 years, to end the program with a song sung by Saigal. Many people consider it as a real start of the day.

Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar was first Indian film to win at Cannes 75 years ago but we bet you have never seen it – Sampada Sharma – On the filmmaker’s birth anniversary, here’s revisiting the film.

Diya Jalakar Aap Bujhaya – Remembering K Datta, born as Datta Korgaonkar alias D P Korgaonkar (as he was credited for Marathi films) was a popular composer of the late 30s and early 40s.

Dev Anand-Vyjanthimala’s Jewel Thief remains one of Hindi cinema’s tautest thrillers, even 55 years after it was made — Sampada Sharma – On Vijay Anand’s birth anniversary, revisiting the 1967 film Jewel Thief, which is often overshadowed by his more successful film Guide.

Happy Brithday, Roshan Kumari! – She turned 84 on 24th December. Here is g=her dance scene in Mirza Ghalib that feels a little like a small dress rehearsal

Bhoola Nahi Dena Jee – Remembering Nashad – He started as Shaukat Dehlavi. At times he called himself Shaukat Haideri. He also composed under the names Shaukat Ali, Shaukat Hussein to finally settle for the name, Nashad.

‘Mard hoti toh collector hoti’ — Basu Chatterjee’s Apne Paraye is a study in family dynamics – On Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 84th death anniversary, Unnati Sharma revisits Basu Chatterjee’s 1980 movie ‘Apne Paraye’ based on the novel ‘Nishkriti’.

सुमनताईंची मराठी गाणी is quick 5-songs list, expected to be taken up more exhaustively during the next year.

Shailendra Sharma @ Golden Era of Bollywood has posted following memorial tribute posts:

In the series of articles on Sahir’s Songs of Romance, commemorating Sahir Ludhianvi’s birth centenary,  we now take up Sahir Ludhianvi’s Eight-film association with Roshan.

January 2022 episode of Fading Memories, Unforgettable Songs takes up Jaidev: Brilliant, But Underrated, Composer: Songs from  ‘parallel cinema’ films 1974 – 1975. Till now, we have covered, the years

In 2018, we listened to his songs from the most successful films phase of 1955 to 1963.

In 2019, we listened to his more remembered songs from his less remembered films for 1964 to 1970,

in 2020, we listened to highly appreciated songs from the films that did not succeed in 1971, and

In 2021, we recalled the songs that have faded out because the films flopped in 1972-1973

Here is a photograph of Dr. Shimram Lagoo on his  birth anniversary (17th December) posted on BollywooDirect:

We now move on to posts on other subjects –

Songs of Gratitude – the words used generally to express the gratitude are shukriya (शुक्रिया) and meherbani (मेहरबानी).

Double Role films of Dharmendra – He has played double roles in fourteen films- thirteen Hindi films and one Punjabi film and one triple role as well.

Umad Ghumad Kar Aayi Re Ghata – Euphoric Celebration of Rains – Shirish Waghmode deconstructs this beautiful song written by Pt Bharat Vyas.

Ten of my favourite devotional songs, which are very specifically about a devotee addressing a deity or a higher power in a spirit of devotion, but consists of spewing anger.. Included here are all forms of devotion. Excluded are the songs which use the Radha-and-Krishna theme where the devotion is tempered by romantic love

Enakshi Rama Rau and Mohan Bhavnani were partners in life and work – Anu Kumar – Their lives were intertwined with the early years of documentary and cinema in India.

Enakshi and Mohan Bhavnani after their wedding on February 6, 1931. Courtesy Bhavnani Family Archives.

Also read: Restored classic ‘Shiraz’ is as timeless as the Taj Mahal monument that inspired it

Romancing the Jaadugar Balma having met with anaari, pardesi, ajanabi, and beimaan balmas

Yash Chopra tackled Partition and Hindu fundamentalism in Dharmputra, long before Garm Hava – Unnati Sharma – Romantic heartthrob Shashi Kapoor and King of Romance Yash Chopra’s first collaboration in 1961 sensitively handled Hindu-Muslim differences and religious bigotry.

Gulzar on Bimal Roy, the director who ‘lived and breathed films’ – An excerpt from Actually … I Met Them: A Memoir by Gulzar translated from the Bengali by Maharghya Chakraborty- Penguin Random House India

Book Review: “Majrooh Sultanpuri: The Poet For All Reasons”

Majrooh Sultanpuri: The Poet For All Reasons By Manek Premchand

Here is the interview that Manek Premchand had with Silhouette Magazine’s Antara Nanda Mondal on the book Majrooh Sultanpuri: The Poet For All Reasons — ‘I Would Rate It As My Best Work,’ Says Manek Premchand

Raj Kapoor, passionate filmmaker and obsessive foodie – Elaborate meals, whatever the time of the day, went hand-in-hand with the creation of cinema.

Songs Praising Male Beauty – the solos and duets sung only by female playback singers

From Bollywood Rewind – Sampada Sharma – Indian Express’s weekly column:

In continuation to our tradition of ending the post with a few songs of Mohammad Rafi that are relevant to the topics covered in the present episode, we will listen to his  iconic patriotic songs from films:

Vatan Ki Raah Mein Vatan Ke Naujwan Shaheed Ho – Shaheed (1948) – duet version with Khan Mastana and a solo version – Lyrics: Raja Mahendi Ali Khan – Music: Ghulam Haider

Ab Koi Gulshan Na Ujade Ab Vatan Aazad Hai – Mujhe Jeene Do (1964) – Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi – Music: Jaidev

JahaN Daal Daal Pe Sone Ki ChidiyaN Karati Ho Basra – Sikandar-e-Azam (1965) – Lyrics: Rajendra Krishna – Musc: Hansraj Behl

Ae Watan Ae Watan Hum Ko Teri Qasam – Shaheed (1965) Lyrics and Music: Prem Dhawan

I look forward to your inputs to enrich the contents of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.

Disclaimer: This monthly series of posts is my best-effort-based compilation of posts on Hindi film songs that I normally visit regularly. As I record my sincere thanks to all the original creators of these posts, any other posts that I have nor covered herein shows my lack of awareness of existence of such posts and is by no means any disrespect to their work. The copyrights to the posts, images and video clips remain the properties of the original creators.

 

Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume Xth – January 2022 Edition

Welcome to January 2022 edition of the Xth volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the Xth volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is inspired from the editorial of the January 2022 special Issue of Prabuddha Bharata (The Awakened India) – Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

The intention is not to suggest that (quality (management) professionals ought to develop a philosophical approach to the practice of management. The purpose here is only to offer an altogether a different approach than the different  technological or management views with which we have been conditioned.

Digital technologies are shaping every sphere of human life. In his book, What technology wants? Kevin Kelly says that ten thousand years ago, humanity reached a turning point where our ability to modify the biosphere exceeded the planet’s ability to modify us. This threshold was the beginning of the Technium, which is said to be the accumulation of inventions that humans have created. We are now at a second inflection point, where the situation has reversed and the ability of the Technium to modify us exceeds our capacity to alter it.

It is in this continuously influenced world, the goal of the individual needs to be live कृतकृत्य, kṛtakṛtya – do what must be done – life. If put in different words, human pursuits, including the technological ones, ought to be able keep developing faculties of sustained acquisition of knowledge (or experience) that keeps life capable enough enables to differentiate what is real and what is non-real, what keeps our feet rooted to the world that is compassionate, with basic human ethical and spiritual values and what will keep us afloat in virtual world that may give us ephemeral comforts.

[The full editorial containing the details of the point of view, Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World, by Swami Vireshananda, can be read by clicking on the hyperlink.]

I plan to devote the entire next year’s Xth volume of Carnival of Quality Management   Articles and Blogs to present the key articles of this Prabuddha Bharata issue as the base to explore how can anyone in general, and quality professionals in particular, can lead a meaningful life in the world of information overload. However, anyone desirous of reading the complete January 2022 issue Prabuddha Bharata can access the same @ Read Online link or can purchase the single issue @ https://shop.advaitaashrama.org/product/prabuddha-bharata-jan-2022/ . The brief outline of the special issue is @ https://youtu.be/JpeWb69RneA

Some More readings on the subject:

We will continue with our regular sections in 2022 too.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on–

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems :

  • Leadership Traits – The key to successful leadership in today’s environment is influence, not authority – Most people might agree that leadership is the ability to induce people to do, willingly and well, what someone wants and expects them to do. Certain traits seem to be inherent in most effective leaders.
  1. Integrity: Integrity is more than being trustworthy and honest. A person with integrity is someone ethical with high morals and principles, in what he says and what he does, even under the most trying circumstances.
  2. Trustworthy: Effective leaders are honest in their dealings with people. They can be counted on to follow through on their commitments every time. Their word is their bond.
  3. Professional character: They treat people with courtesy and dignity. They realize a person’s worth is not related to position. Effective leaders take time to care about people.
  4. Fairness: …fair rules, fair tasks, fair competition, fair discipline, etc.
  5. Tactful: It is almost impossible to obtain willingly positive responses from people if their leaders “rub them the wrong way” unnecessarily.
  6. Persistence: Leaders must stay with problems and situations because, to evoke the desired response from people.
  7. Consistency: Good leaders have a proper balance of mental, emotional, and physical characteristics so people can adapt to their leadership style.
  8. Show Interest: Effective leaders have a sincere interest in people…. interest in their problems, progress, hopes, ideas, likes and dislikes. Effective leaders know that people tend to be drawn to, and respond to, those who demonstrate an interest in them.
  9. Lead by Example: Leaders need to set the example for others to model.
  10. Communication: Communication skills enable a leader to connect with others to build and maintain healthy relationships.
  11. Positive: Coming in every day with a positive attitude, a “can do” spirit gives people confidence in the leader, the organization and work being performed.
  12. Gratitude: Effective leaders demonstrate loudly and often to those who give of themselves to support the group’s success.
  13. Accountable: Effective leaders take full accountability when their team fails regardless of where mistakes were made or whose performance was lacking.
  14. Desire: To have “courage” they need to have confidence that is gained by being fully prepared. Being fully prepared comes from desire, commitment, and hard work, most often when no one else is around.

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

  1. Reduces time and energy
  2. Saves money in long run.
  3. Accuracy
  4. Improved production workflow.
  5. Reduces waste.

[Editorial Note: This is the classic conditioned outlook of technologically and managerially conditioned thought process. We plan to explore why and what of ways of broad basing this outlook in the year 2022.]

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

1966 to 1971 – Those Anecdotal Five Years …. – The First Year -1 – Dazzling . . ..!?

At the very outset, I would like to submit that I have planned to include a wider view of the experience of studying the engineering degree course, by inviting views of some friends who were senior to us at LD – even though they happened to be in the ‘old’ course of three-year studies for earning an engineering degree. As such, these memoirs will be not simply recounting our memories but also will be retrospectively reflective as well – with that proverbial a pinch of salt that would make the nostalgia a bit tasteful, and meaningful, as well!

When I started recollecting the memories of the First Year of our five-year graduate engineering course @ LD College of Engineering, I thought that looking at it from so far-off (time) reference point, I should be able to see it in a clearer perspective than I indeed did see it then, from the very-close reference point of the present that we were actually living in. But as I try to put down more and more memories of that year here, do I see such a difference? When I started putting down my memories of events of the first year, I perceive that some events ought to have dazzled us or confused us or frightened us. Some of those events certainly were pleasantly interesting, whether direction-orienting or direction-determining or not, at least, then.

As such, I plan to organize these reminiscences of our first year in the three-part posts. Grouping them under the titles of these experiences that living those events that we felt or should have felt.

Dazzling . . ..!?

The very first thing that was ‘new’ to us was the semester system. However, our initial understanding that instead of five annual examinations, to be conducted by (Gujarat) University, we will now have ten examinations. I think we all accepted that ‘fact’ ‘as is’, since we did not have any reasons to think beyond that.

We also knew that we have entered a new field of studies. So, the titles of subjects, in our first semester timetable like Engineering drawing -1 or Workshops or Strength of materials – 1 etc. also we accepted ‘as is’, perhaps subconsciously knowing that we will have to cross many such ‘new’ bridges, so be it.  However, seeing the familiar nouns like Mathematics, Chemistry, with the prefix ‘Engineering’ also did not cause any crease of curiosity on almost anyone of us.  Possibly because, we, all, have been trained well to learn new ‘what’ and ‘how’. without ever thinking why we need to learn that ‘what’ and ‘how’. [In fact, I was to understand and appreciate the importance of ‘why’ almost two decades later, when I had to address the mechanism to assess the effectiveness of the training as part of the portfolio of ISO 9001 related activities.]

In the retrospect, it seems to me that in the natural course of development, a child gets conditioned to learn ‘what’ and ‘how of new things without questioning the ‘why’. However, during the schooling phase, if our education system had instilled the faculty of ‘why’ things are they were and then learn ‘what’ and how’ of it, then perhaps the questions that these issues would have raised in our mind or the answers that we may have got should have been of the dazzling magnitude.

I do not remember whether there were any discussions on such issues among the then first-year batchmates, primarily perhaps because getting to know ‘new’ mates had occupied all the space of our collective minds.

I will correlate this abstract looking thought with my personal example. At my personal level, I had had serial experiences of dealing with (totally) new environments that perhaps had conditioned my auto-adjustment system to get activated to adapt to any new situation. My first major face-off with ‘new’ environment was when I entered Virani Highschool, midway during an academic year in the 5th standard. Landing into Rajkot from Bhuj itself was a major change, both in terms of the first ever exposure to the ‘outside’ world and in terms of a totally new social culture. Then two and half years later, we again shifted to Ahmedabad, again leading to getting acquainted to life in a major city, that too in a new social milieu. Two more years later, we shifted the residence from a government colony located in a predominantly blue-collared working-class area in East Ahmedabad to a government colony in a middle-upper middle class solely residential area in West Ahmedabad. And then, I was required to study my Pre-Science course by staying at a hostel in Vallabh Vidyanagar, Anand. On the whole each of the change certainly had helped my overall development, one of which my auto-conditioning to adapt to a change. Of course, its should be certainly noted here that all these changes were because of factors beyond our control, and hence we had no reason, to ask ‘why’.

However, the entire batch of first year would not have had similar conditioning. By and large, everyone had as normal upbringing that every child gets through the adolescence. Therefore, more logically, lack of feeling any major surprise at the new academic environment can better be attributed to the possibility that we were (unconsciously) ready to tread a new path that would lead us to the engineering degree now that we had finally made it to the course. [The basic role of the first few days of first year was to induct us to the course that we become aware of what was in the store in the future and how does the course design is going to help us meet those challenges, and how the first year was going to provide that base. However, whether we did expect that we should have known such aspects or whether we were given to understand these issues or whether we could appreciate such issues is not relevant to the context of the present memoirs.]

Apart from the academics, one aspect that surprisingly did not apparently did not seem to have made significant impact on my (and so with most of the other students) was the vast, sparsely populated, but very-well laid out, campus of LD with imposing buildings, as it was then.

It seems it would be good idea to look at what feelings the students who had joined old – a three-year duration – course where one joined the engineering degree course after completing F.Y. B. Sc (or inter-science as it was known earlier. And see if they had had any other types of experiences in the first year that still remain fresh in their memories now.

Please permit me to take a pause at this juncture and regroup my recollections……Till such time that we meet again next month, I would request my LDCE71M batch-mates to share their recollection on the subject.

Continued till the next episode ….

The Eponymous Principles of Management : The Murphy’s Law and Its Variants – Murphy’s Law – An Overview

We keep hearing, ‘why this thing has to always happen with me?’. Or every time you go to refill your favorite dish from buffet spread, you will find that the source vessel itself requires a refill. Or when you are in hurry to reach somewhere, you will face all signals just turn ‘red’ as you approach traffic junction. The most striking phenomenon is the third wave of Covid-19, which everyone expected it will, and indeed is now rampant globally.

In the management parlance such inevitable (looking or real) events are known to be governed by what is very widely known epigram Murphy’s Law, which states that “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

K.anh.eya.191, CC BY-SA 4.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt; via Wikimedia Commons

As it happens with most of the epigrams, the real source of origin always remains hidden behind several anecdotal stories. One such, widely accepted, story of origin of Murphy’s Law is -:

‘Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will”) was born at (American) Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 at North Base.

‘It was named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy, an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981, (a project) designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash.

One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, he cursed the technician responsible and said, “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.”

The contractor’s project manager kept a list of “laws” and added this one, which he called Murphy’s Law.

‘Actually, what he did was take an old law that had been around for years in a more basic form and give it a name.

‘Shortly afterwards, the Air Force doctor (Dr. John Paul Stapp[1]) who rode a sled on the deceleration track to a stop, pulling 40 Gs, gave a press conference. He said that their good safety record on the project was due to a firm belief in Murphy’s Law and in the necessity to try and circumvent it.

‘Aerospace manufacturers picked it up and used it widely in their ads during the next few months, and soon it was being quoted in many news and magazine articles. THE Murphy’s Law was born.[2]

It is also noted that the correct, original Murphy’s Law reads: “If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.” The law seems to have so universal appeal that before too many years had gone by, all kinds of variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing or adding a phrase here a phrase there. as they went. Most of these are variants on “Anything that can go wrong, will” which is a shortened version of Finagle’s Law[3].

And here is another interesting twist to the tale: “It’s supposed to be, ‘If it can happen, it will,’” a former Edwards engineer told Spark. “Not ‘Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.’” In a radio interview in the early 1980s[4], Murphy insisted he had in fact meant it in the former, more motivating sense.[5]

The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy’s Law acting on itself! Author Arthur Bloch has compiled several books full of corollaries to Murphy’s law and variations thereof. The first of these was Murphy’s law and other reasons why things go wrong!

The academic and scientific community have had their say on the law –

According to Richard Dawkins, so-called laws like Murphy’s law and Sod’s law are nonsense because they require inanimate objects to have desires of their own, or else to react according to one’s own desires. Dawkins points out that a certain class of events may occur all the time but are only noticed when they become a nuisance. He gives as an example aircraft noise interfering with filming. Aircraft are in the sky all the time but are only taken note of when they cause a problem. This is a form of confirmation bias whereby the investigator seeks out evidence to confirm his already formed ideas, but does not look for evidence that contradicts them

Similarly, David Hand, emeritus professor of mathematics and senior research investigator at Imperial College London, points out that the law of truly large numbers should lead one to expect the kind of events predicted by Murphy’s law to occur occasionally. Selection bias will ensure that those ones are remembered, and the many times Murphy’s law was not true are forgotten.

There have been persistent references to Murphy’s law associating it with the laws of thermodynamics from early on. In particular, Murphy’s law is often cited as a form of the second law of thermodynamics (the law of entropy) because both are predicting a tendency to a more disorganised state. Atanu Chatterjee investigated this idea by formally stating Murphy’s law in mathematical terms. Chatterjee found that Murphy’s law so stated could be disproved using the principle of least action.[6]

An amateur mathematician from the UK, Phillip Obayda, has another explanation. He drew up an equation combining the factors that influence the performance of a task – urgency, complexity, and importance, as well as skill (or lack thereof). He calculated the likelihood of a few familiar scenarios. He observed that to change the odds, all you have to do is alter one element of the equation. For instance, try to avoid doing anything complex or important when you’re in a rush, particularly if it requires skills you don’t have. But in general, the math proves that the universe really does hate you.[7]

So, whether Murphy’s Law is just a epigram, or some unfathomable probable event or a mathematically possible situation, it seems quite certain that by trying to understand all such possibilities and taking all known possible actions to prevent does have real value. The safety that present day aircraft cockpit has so reliably been proven is a direct credit to the strong belief in Murphy’s Law.

As such, we would also try to see what other variations to this Lawa re, why they came in to being and what are their significance in the next few episodes.

 

[1] Dr. John Stapp was an inveterate collector of aphorisms and adages, kept a logbook of such, and the practice spread to his entire working group. He published a collection of these in 1992 – a witty and humorous book – For Your Moments of Inertia: From Levity to Gravity: A Treatise Celebrating your Right to Laugh. He is also credited with an eponymous law Stapp’s Ironic Paradox.

[2] Murphy’s law’s origin

[3] Finagle’s law of dynamic negatives – “Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.”

[4] Comedian Robin Ince explores Laws that are not laws- Murphy’s Law –

[5] Murphy’s Law is totally misunderstood and is in fact a call to excellence

[6] Murphy’s Law

[7] The Mathematics of Murphy’s Law

Fading Memories…. Unforgettable Songs :January 2022

Jaidev: Brilliant, But Underrated, Composer – 1974 -1975

The career of Jaidev (Varma) – B: 3 August 1919 – D : 6 January 1987 – right from his first foray in 1933 till his own death in 1987 has been a sad tale of fate’s cruel treatment to such a gifted music director. It is so difficult to imagine that someone who had composed so melodious, and hugely popular as well, album was consigned to the ‘art-film music director’ tag by the turn of the decade. The popularity of his songs of 60s could not fetch a Filmfare award for him, but the art film yielded three national awards – a record for Hindi films that that remains unsurpassed in so far as music directors of his generation.

Perhaps the very specific limited ‘class’ audience that the art films sough to cater to, his music too had meet the basic demands of the film. So, one may argue, that that music was never meant to be popular at the mass level. And even when it could have been, the lack of strong marketing push to the film itself, to expect that songs would get that kind of support is probably wishful thinking.

The core creative artist of Jaidev used the constraints of art-film music composition into an opportunity to freely experiment with a wide variety of singers to create songs that could pride any music industry.

Till now, we have covered, the years

In 2018, we listened to his songs from the most successful films phase of 1955 to 1963.

In 2019, we listened to his more remembered songs from his less remembered films for 1964 to 1970,

in 2020, we listened to highly appreciated songs from the films that did not succeed in 1971, and

In 2021, we recalled the songs that have faded out because the films flopped in 1972-1973

in the form of our commemorative annual series in the month of Jaidev’s remembrance anniversary month.

Presently, we will cover Jaidev’s compositions from what is popularly termed as ‘parallel cinema’ films Aaligan, Faslah and Parinay (all of 1974) and Ek Hans Ka Joda and Aandolan (of 1975). By recalling the songs of these films gives us clear opportunity to see the freshness of his compositions and the charm of his experimentation.

Aalingan (1974)

Hamaare Dil Ko Tumne Dil Bana Diya – Mohammad Rafi, Asha Bhosle – Lyrics :Jaan Nisaar Akhtar

The prelude song creates the feeling of speed that the couple riding motor-bike would expectedly feel that they would bring to their singing. The song is set to faster waltz rhythm. Jaidev has also used Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle’s creativity of singing to the hilt.

Pyaas Thi Phir Bhi Taqaazaa Na Kiya – Manna Dey – Lyrics: Jaan Nisaar Akhtar

Manna Dey begins softly in the first line and then gradually goes onto higher scale exemplifying the increasing intensity of feelings that such intimate environment induces. Use of saxophone further adds to the escalation of the intensity of the feeling.

Faslah (1974)

Aa Utha Le Apna Jaam Kya Tujhe Kisi Se Kaam – Ranu Mukherjee – Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Jaidev experiments with Ranu Mukherjee’s heavy tonal qualities to set up the enchanting atmosphere of a club song.

Zindagi Cigarete Ka Dhuan, Ye Dhuan Jaata Hai Kahan Ya KahiN Jaata NahiN Ye Socho, Na Socho Meri Jaan – Bhupinder – Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi

Jaidev, Kaifi Azmi and Bhupinder team up to create a motivational song that does its assigned role in the lighter mood.

Parinay (1974)

Jaise Suraj Ki Garmi Se Jalte Huye Tan Ko – Deen Bandhu Sharma, Ramananad Sharma, chorus – Lyrics: Ramanand Sharma

The measure of this devotional composition in Raag Jaunpuri can be gauged by the fact that this one song has become the identity of the Sharma Brothers quartet who were otherwise also well known in the devotional program circuit.

Mitwa Mitwa Morey Man Mitwa – Manna Dey, Vani Jayram – Lyrics: Naqsh Llayalpuri

Jaidev recreates a 50s period melody in this duet. As can be expected, the duet was well received by the Manna Dey fans and other discerning film music fans.

Asides:

Parinay won the 1974 Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration (known as the “Rajat Kamal Special Award for the Best Feature Film on National Integration” at that time).

The film was directed by Kantilal Rathod, who also has another award winning (Gujarati) feature film Kanku (1969) and a children’s documentary film Cloven Horizon (1965)

Ek Hans Ka Joda (1975)

Saathi Milte Hain Badi Mushqil Se Kisika Sath Na Chhodana – Kishore Kumar –Lyrics: Indeewar

Jaidev has very rarely used Kishore Kumar as playback even during second innings of both. In this soft piano song, he has Kishore Kumar signing equally soft lower scale or slightly elevated scale at the end of lines.

Ek Hans Ka Joda Jisne Pyar Mein Har Bandhan Toda – Ajit Singh – Lyrics: Gauhar Kanpuri

Jaidev’s experimental streak with his melodious core could not have been more manifested than in this credit title song, where in he has used pope singer Ajit Singh to sing a pop-style song with soft strings of guitar and wind instruments to the rhythm of drums.

Mere Dil Mein Teri Tasweer Sada Rehti Hai – Bhupinder Singh, Asha Bhosle –  Lyrics: Indeewar

In this asymmetric duet, Bhupinder chips in with a saakhi that would take the heroine into retrospective pensive mood.

Andolan (1975)

Dar-o-Divaar Pe Hasarat-e-Nazar Karte Hai Khush Raho Ahal-e-Vatan Ham To Safar Karte Hai – Bhupinder – Lyrics: Ramprasad ‘Bismil’

From the very brief information available, it is gathered that Andolan is a film based on the freedom struggle period. Directed by a highly talented, and successful commercial film director, Lekh Tandon, the film, has been consigned to the status of ‘parallel cinema’ probably because,, except Nitu Singh, all other major actors belong to the ‘art cinema’ stream.

The ‘saakhi, first two lines, is taken from a Nawab Wazjd Ali Shah’s poignant poem which he seems to have composed when he was exiled from Lucknow to a faraway Calcutta dungeon.

Mazloom Kisi Kaum Ke Jab Khwaab Jaagte Hain – Manna Dey – Lyrics :Verma Malik

Jaidev has chosen Manna Dey’s strong tonal quality to capture the brave mindset of the freedom fighters maintain their spirit in the face of brutal physical torture.

Panch Rupaiya Arre Panch Rupiaya De De Balamva Mela Dekhan Jaungi – Minu Purushottam, Krishna Kalle – Lyrics: Jan Nisar Akhtar

The street ‘tamasha’ song genre has one oft-intended use of a red-herring, as is the case of the present song.

Aside trivia:

The bespectacled person with beard siting on the ‘charpoy’, as can be seen clearly @3.41 is none other than vintage era front-line male playback singer, G M Durrani

Piya Ko Milan Kaise Hoye Ri MaiN Janu Nahi – Asha Bhosle – Lyrics: Meerabai

Here we have a musically very rich, but somehow lacking the easy melody of similar difficult and equally melodious songs like, Tu Chanda Main Chandani (Lyrics: Balkavi Bairagi) and Ek Meethi Si Chubhan (Lyrics: Udhav Kumar) – both from Reshma Aur Shera, 1971) or Yeh Dil Aur Unki NaigahoN Ke Saaye (Lyrics: Jan Nissar Akhtar) and  Ye Neer Kahan Se Barse Hai,,, Ye Badri Kahan Se Aayi Hai (Lyrics: Prema Sachdev) (Prem Parabt, 1973) that we normally associate Jaidev with.

We rest here with one more very interesting page of Jaidev’s music direction career before moving on to the next phase, in our next episode.

We will continue remembering Unforgettable Songs that seem to Fading away from our Memories every second Sunday of the month next year too……..

Disclaimer: All images are sourced from net. All copyrights of the respective image remain with the original owner of the image.

Sahir’s Songs of Romance – Eight Films Association

The poet in Sahir Ludhianvi never allowed his lyricist exterior to compromise with the poetry not being given status equal to music. Lyrics for film song normally require very easy words and the meaning for the lay listener to easily align with song. Sahir’s lyrics invariably had perianised urdu touch., That would be just the first hurdle. His poetry was always steeped in the bitter reality of world. The combination ought to be too formidable for lyricist to even stay put in the commercial world of Hindi film music. However, Sahir Laudhianvi could always get a music director who was able to give the structure of his poetical lyrics the wings of music. The end result was Sahir Ludhianvi’s highly successful journey as a Hindi film lyricist during the era which had stiff competition from lyricist of all hues with almost comparable literary competence.

Roshan (Lal Nagrath) -14 July 1917 – 16 November 1967 – was one such music director who had inherent command over the melody. Roshan’s career took off with success of his second film, Malhar (1950). He scored several popular and lasting scores during the ‘50s, and as such, was indeed recognised as a music director with lot of potential. Bu that latent energy had still not reached the stage of escape velocity that could take his career into the orbit of meritorious, versatile and commercially successful as well, music director.it was at that of his career that he was associated with Sahir Ludhianvi in 1960, with Babar and Barsaat Ki Raat. One was a period film, and the other was a sheer romance social. Sahir Ludhianvi also had seen break off with S D Burman after a hugely successful run in the ‘50s till Pyaasa (9157). The association with Roshan in 1960 also proved to be a booster dose to the till now successful run of his career. In the span of seven consecutive years, they did eight films together, with the exception of one (Chitralekha, 1964) all being, more or less, Muslim culture theme ones.

For Sahir, this may have been natural ground for his poetry to Persianized Urdu poetry to flourish, but that also unleashed the Roshan’s potential in the form of composing ghazals, mujhras and qawwalis. The bond had been mutually so strong that when pure Hindu culture-based songs were to be composed for Chitralekha, Sahir brilliantly came up with chaste Hindi lyrics, including for the run-of-the-mill comedy song,  to Roshan’s classical raag based tunes.

Presently, we take up just a few representative romantic songs from this extremely rich treasure of Sahir Ludhianvi’s Eight Films Association with Roshan.

Maine Shayad Pahle Bhi KahiN Tumhein Dekha Hai – Barsat Ki Raat (1960) – Mohammad Rafi

ajnabi si ho magar gair nahiN lagti ho
vaham se bhi jo ho naazuk vo yakiN lagti ho
haay ye phul sa chehra ye ghaneri zulfein
mere sheroN se bhi tum mujhko hasiN lagti ho

dekhkar tumko kisi raat ki yaad aati hai
ek khaamosh mulaaqaat ki yaad aati hai
jahan me husn ki thandak kaa asar jagataa hai
aanch deti hui barasaat ki yaad aati hai

jiski palkein meri aankhoN pe jhuki rahti hai
tum vahi mere khayaaloN ki pari ho ki nahiN
kahiN pahale ki tarah phir to na kho jaaogi
jo hameshaN ke liye ho vo khushi ho ki nahiN

Salam-e-Hasrat Qubul Kar Lo, Meri Mohabbat Qubul Kar Lo – Babar (1960) – Sudha Malhotra

udas najrein tadap tadap kar, tumhare jalwoN ko dhundhti hai
jo kwab ki tarah kho gaye, un hasin lamhoN ko dhundhti hai
…..    …….   …….  …… …..
agar naa ho nagwar tumko toh yeh shikayat qubul kar lo

tumhiN nigahoN ki justju ho, tumhiN khayaloN kaa muddaa ho
tumhiN mere waste-sanam ho, tumhi mere waste-khuda ho
….. ……     …….   …….   …. . 
meri parastish ki laj rakh lo, meri ibadat qubul kar lo

tumhari jhukti najar se jab tak na koyi paigam mil sakega
naa ruh taskin pa sakegi, naa dil ko aaram mil sakega
….  ……     ……     …..   ……
gam-e-judayi hai jan leva, yeh ik haqiqat qubul kar lo

Tum Ek Baar Muhabbat Ka Imtahaan To Lo, Mere Jhunun Meri Vahshat Ka Imtahaan To Lo – Babar (1960) – Mohammad Rafi

salaam-e-shauq pe ranjish bhara payaam na do
mere khaloos ko hiras-o-havas ka naam na do
meri vafa ki haqikat ka imtahaan to lo

na takht-o-taz na laal-o-guhar ki hasarat hai
tumhare pyar tumhari nazar ki hasarat hai
tum apne husn ki azmat ka imtihaan to lo

maiN apni jaan bhi de duN to aitbaar nahiN
ke tum se badhke mujhe zindagi se pyar nahiN
yuN hi sahi meri chahat ka imtihaan to lo

Tumhari Mast Nazar Gar Idhar NahNi Hoti, Nashe Mein Chur Fiza Is Qadar NahiN Hoti – Dil Hi To Hai ((1963) – Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar

tumhi ko dekhne ki dil mein aarzuein haiN
…..  …..   ……   …. .   .
tumhare aage hi oonchi, nazar nahiN hoti

khafa na hona agar badh ke tham luN daaman
….   ……   …….   …  ….
ye dil fareb khata, jaan kar nahiN hoti

tumhare aane talak ham ko hosh rahta hai
….   ……   ….  ……. ….
phir us ke baad hamein kuchh khabar nahiN hoti

Churaa Le Naa Yumko Ye Mausam Suhaana Khuli VaadiyoN Mein Akeli Na Jaana, Lubhaataa Hai Mujhko Ye Mausam Suhaana Main Jaaungi Tum Mere Pichhe Na Aana – Dil Hi To Hai (1963) – Mukesh, Suman Kalyanpur

lipat jaayega koi bebaak jhokaa
javaani ki rau mein naa aanchal udana

mere vaaste tum pareshaN Na Hona
Mujhe Khub Aata Hai Daman Bachana

ghata bhi kabhi chum leti hai chehara
samajh soch kar rukh se zulfein hatana

ghata mere nazdik aakar to dekhe
in aankhoN ne sikha hai bijli girana

PaoN Choo Lene Do PhuloN Ko Inaayat Hogi, Varana Hamko NahuN Inko Bhi Shikayat Hogi – Taj Mahal (1963) – Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar

aap jo phul bichhaaye unhe ham thukraaye
 ….. …..  ……   ……
hamko dar hai ke ye tauhin-e-muhabbat hogi

dil ki bechain umangoN pe karam farmaao
…..   …..   …….   ……  …..
itna ruk ruk ke chaloge to qayaamat hogi

sharm roke hai idhar, shauk udhar khichein hai
….   ……   ……. ….. 
kya khabar thi kabhi is dil ki ye halat hogi

sharm gairoN se hua karti hai apnoN se nahi
…..   …..   …..  ….
sharm ham se bhi karoge to musibat hogi

Chand Takata Hai Idhar Aao KahiN Chhup Jaayein, KahiN Laage Na Najhar, Aao KahiN Chhup Jaayein – Dooj Ka Chand (1964) – Mohammad Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur

phul sakhoN se jhuke jaate hothoN ki taraf
jhoke bal khaake mude aatein hai
ho mude aate haiN julfoN ki taraf
…..    …..   …..   …..
chhod kar inki dagar aao kahiN chhup jayein

maiN hi dekhuN sajan duja na dekhe tohe
kya khabar kaun sautaniya tora
ho sautaniya tora man mohe
….   …..   ……   …….
dil pe dalo na asar aao kahiN chhup jayein

sari najroN se pare sare najaaroN se pare
aasmanoN pe chamakte hue
ho chamakte hue taroN se pare
…   …..   …..    …..   …
odh kar lal chunar aao kahiN chhup jayein

Sun Aye Mahjabin Mujhe Tujhse Ishq NahiN, – Dooj Ka Chand (1964) – Mohammad Rafi

yuN maiN tera Qayal huN, Qayal huN
naaz-o-adaa par mayal huN, mayal huN
….. …… ……
jalwoN ka dam bharta huN
chhup-chhup dekha karta huN
par aye pardanashNi mujhe tujhse ishq nahiN

tu wo dilkash hasti hai, hasti hai
jo kwaboN mein basti hai, basti hai
….  …… …..
tu kah de to jaan de duN
jaan to kya imaan de duN
par aye khaslagi mujhe tujhse ishq nahiN

Chhaa Gaye Badal Nil Gagan Par, Khul Gaya Kajhara Saanj Dhale – Chitralekha (1964) – Mohaamd Rafi, Asha Bhosle

dekh ke mera mann bechain
rain se pehle ho gayee rain
aaj hriday ke swapna phale
ghul gaya kajara sanjh dhale

rup kee sangat aur ekant
aaj bhatakta mann hai shant
keh do samay se tham ke chale
ghul gaya kajara sanjh dhale

andhiyaro kee chadar taan
ek honge do vyakul pran
aaj naa koyee dip jale
ghul gaya kajara sanjh dhale

Aise To Na Dekho Ke Bahak Jayein KahiN Hum, Aakhir Koik InsaN Hai Farishta To NahiN hum, Haaye Aise Na Kaho Baat Ke Mar Jayein KahiN Hum, Aakhir Koik InsaN Hai Farishta To NahiN Hum – Bheegi Raat (1965) -Mohammad Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur

angdaai si leti hai jo khushboo bhari zulfein
girti hai tere surkh laboN par teri zulfein
zulfein na teri chum le ae mahjabiN hum
aakhir koik insaN hai farishta to nahiN hum

sun sun ke teri baat nasha chhaane laga hai
khud apne pe bhi pyar sa kuchh aane laga hai
rakhna hai kahNi paanv to rakhte haiN kahiN hum
aakhir koik insaN hai farishta to nahiN hum

bheega sa jo hai naaz ye halka sa pasina
haaye ye naachti aankhoN ke bhaNvar dil ka safina
socha hai ke ab dub ke reh jayein yahiN hum
aakhir koik insaN hai farishta to nahiN hum

Log Kahete Hai Ke Tum Se Kinaraa Kar Lein, Tum Jo Keh Do To Sitam GaNvaaraa Kar Lein – Bahu Begam (1967) – Mohammad Rafi

tumne jis haal-ae-pareshaN se nikala tha hamein
aasra de ke mohabbat ka sambhala tha hamein
sochte hai ke wahi… …… ….. haal dobara kar lein

yuN bhi ab tumse mulakat nahiN hone ki
mil bhi jao …  ….  …. ..  to koi baat nahiN hone ki
aakhri baar bas ab …. ….  jikr tumhara kar lein

aakhri baar khayalo mein bula le tumko
aakhri baar kaleje se laga lein tumko
aur phir apne tadapne …. …. …. ….  . ka najara kar lein

Saahir Ludhianvi’s Eight Films Association with Roshan can best be explored in more than one article, may be at next opportune occasion(s) in the future. For the present, we ready up for Sahir Ludhianvi’s 18 films dream-like association with S D Burman in the next episode.