Another classic song in a waltz setting composed by Shankar Jaikishan from that mesmerising psychological thriller, Raat Aur Din. It's all about unfolding all the layers of the heart, letting go of fears and inhibitions and taking life head on. Can't find a good enough video though I remember Nargis was not her best looks-wise, this being her last movie. But there was a very dashing young Feroze Khan waltzing with her. It's a great song to just listen to on a silent night as this. The crickets making that sound outside. The arch shaped moon hangs like a silver swing for imaginative flights of fantasy. Darkness is not the absence of light, but an opportunity to feel 'touch' without the distraction of 'sight'. Ha ha now before I let my loony crab mind go berserk, let's just move to Lata's songs with Manna Dey as I think I am already done with her best ones with Rafi. Nargis looked ok. She had put on a lot of weight by then. Nothing compared to her earlier Raj Kapoor movies but yes, it was a woman's role not a girl's. Hats off to these women who defied to be put into yardsticks measured only by a 24 inch waist or a size zero. In their own elegant, understated yet confident way, these movies and actresses were more progressive and liberated than the ones being churned out today where women are given little to offer than cameras gazing over bare mid-riffs, perfect abs and bossoms with little clue about what goes inside a woman's mind.
A translation of this sublime song by Shailendra. Pardon a few poetic liberties:
Open the knots of your heart,
And all the layers that keep us apart.
Don’t stay quiet, come along.
For God’s sake let’s sing a song.
We are not strangers anymore, you see.
Oh! Come, come close to me.
Let the hearts meet this instance.
Let all constraints pass.
Let all chasms and distance
Drown in this glass.
I will smile into your eyes happily
If you promise to smile back at me.
We are no more ‘you and me’ it seems.
We have become something else.
Lost in the sparkling realm of dreams
We dance to these enchanting bells.
We need not ask anyone for direction
And may not tell them our destination.
Tomorrow someone may ask us
What happened to you yesterday?
Our hearts instruct us to move on thus.
Let us not look back today.
Let’s not call or try to find
people who are left far behind.
But do open the knots of your heart
And all the layers that keep us apart.
We are not strangers anymore, you see.
Oh come, come close to me…
This song is special because it is the first song ever penned by Gulzar for Hindi movies.:-) Gulzar who went on to give stunning gems, songs of such fresh imagery and depth that they came to be remembered for his inimitable style. There are many movies that are still remembered solely for his songs-Mausam, Aandhi, Ijaazat, Kinara, Anand to name a few. This particular song borrows from the very Indian mythical story of Krishna and Radha, who were the eternal lovers. He uses the typical dialect of central India, the Hindi speaking belt. This pure Hindi was used a lot in Thumris, a semi-classical form.
The myth goes that Radha who was fair would seek refuge of a misty night and dress up in a deep blue saree to go meet Krishna, who was dusky and alluring. But invariably her fair skin would give her away. In this song she innocently wants a darker hue like her beloved so she can go meet him. S D Burman uses his characteristic cricket sound in this song that would always endow his songs a rustic charm and the sounds and smell of a dense, dark forest. It is amazing how he has used this sound to express moods from slow seduction to wrecklessness, though this one conveys innocence at its best. Nutan is totally deglamourised yet so simply enchanting. Her acting was her strong point. I have played this song before in Lata classics but do once again to point out how S D, who was born on 1 October 1906, in Comilla, British India, now in Bangladesh, to Rajkumari Nirmala Devi, princess of Manipur and Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman, the second son of 'Ishanachandra Dev Burman', Raja of Tripura based most of his songs on the folks songs of northeast India especially of Tripura, Manipur and Bangladesh. One reason I love these songs is that they so beautifully capture the cultural traditions of such a vast and diverse region.
Here's a translation of this mystic song by Gulzar. Pardon a few poetic liberties. He set high standards in his first song:
Take this fair form of mine.
Give me that dusky hue divine,
So that I can blend with this night’s mystery.
For all I want is my beloved’s company.
My honour tugs at my feet.
While desire pulls at my arms,
To venture out and go meet
Him and be captive to his charms.
I really don’t know which way to go.
Wish someone could tell me and take me in tow.
And oh! You wretched moon.
Why did you have to remove the silken shrouds?
You have revealed my colour as I swoon,
While you smile, gaping bright through the clouds.
Hope you too go through tough times
For making a plaything of these climes.
I have lost something but gained a lot.
I have got something but now I am in a spot.
Where are you taking me, my heart
After shaking my world apart?
I wish I could blend with this night’s mystery
For all I want is my beloved’s company.....
Waheeda Rehman happened to be one of the finest dancers of Hindi film industry. Watch her move like a nimble footed gazelle in this song with unusual lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi that take alliteration to another level and enchanting music by Jaidev (so that's a Punjabi duo at deft work there....Err Punjabi rappers aka Honey Singh, take a leaf I guess!). The surprise package of this song is Sunil Dutt who otherwise had such a genial,sweet and clean visage. He looks particularly menacing with dark, piercing eyes and deadly mannerisms. She a fairy-like nautch girl in pristine white and he a notorious dacoit from the ravines of Chambal. Much of this film was shot in Bhind and Morena, areas we passed everytime we went to our previous location where we lived before Delhi in Babina near Jhansi. This was practically the dacoit hot bed, the outback that created real life anti-heroes once such as Paan Singh Tomar and Phoolan Devi. The dacoits are now long gone but even today when one passes that area at night in a train from Delhi, there is a tendency to check all doors nervously and see if your bags are in order....and if you listen hard enough through the rambling of the rail, you can hear faint gunshots in the background...well almost!;-)
A translation of this masterpiece by Sahir Ludhianvi, one of my favourite Urdu poets ever. Pardon a few poetic liberties:
The night is asplash with drizzle.
Dense clouds overcast.
The brave moon at half mast
Holds fort in the choppy skies.
If you come this way in this mizzle,
The tinkle of my anklets will open its eyes,
And find its lost sizzle.
Whom do I tell this?
How do I tell this?
What is the state of my heart today
My thoughts are in disarray.
There is some peace and bliss
but then only slight.
The pain may have gone away
But a dull ache I still do fight.
The dewdrops of love from your eyes dart
And quell the flames of my scorching heart,
Before my emotions begin to scatter.
As a blazing forest stands to gain
Doused by an incessant rain
Pitter patter pitter patter.
My senses may be in a daze
But my unconsciousness is not absolute.
The will to attain you is resolute.
Even if I end up lost in this maze
And even if the sky today is mostly grays….
And the dense clouds overcast.
But the brave moon at half mast
Holds fort in the choppy skies.
If you come this way in this mizzle,
The tinkle of my anklets will open its eyes,
And find its lost sizzle…………
