The eighteenth day of songs in this series.
In the last seventeen days, we have taken up songs of nine male singers: Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor, SD Burman and KL Saigal. We also took up songs of eight female singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur, Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Uma Devi (Tun Tun), Suraiya and Zohrabai Ambalewali. Naturally, stage is set up for taking up our ninth female singer.
Tonight, we shall take up a song of our ninth female singer: Sudha Malhotra. After the failed love affair with Amrita Pritam, Sahir Ludhianvi turned to Sudha Malhotra for loving support and she ended up singing many songs penned by him. This is one of them.
Sudha was born in Kurukshetra (now in Haryana) in 1954. Thanks to music director Ghulam Haider who discovered her as a child artiste, she sang her first song for Dilip Kumar starrer Arzoo at the age of 14. The song was milaa gaye nain. She was hailed as the next singing sensation in the country after Lata Mangeshkar. But then, at the height of her career, she suddenly left film industry after her marriage to Giridhar Motwani whose family owned the Chicago Radio Mike Company. Before her marriage she was romantically linked with Sahir Ludhainvi as far as grapevine is concerned. He had approached her for a song in 1959 movie Bhai Bahen. This led to this romantic linkage which was neither denied nor affirmed by the couple. However, the film industry was rife with rumours of his calling on her early mornings, which was chided by the industry as ‘morning alarm call’. She, however, admitted that the attention that he showered on her resulted in her getting unprecedented success. Some of my favourite songs of Sudha Malhotra are: Awaaz de raha hai koi asmaan se (Gauhar, 1953; song penned by Shakeel Badayuni), Ganga ki reti pe bangla chhavay de (Mirza Ghalib, 1954), Hari tum meri raakho laaj Hari (Dekh Kabira Roya, 1957), Kaise kahun man ki baat (Dhool Ka Phool, 1959), Manmohan mein ho tumhi (Kaise Kahoon, 1964; also penned by Shakeel Badayuni), Mohabbat ki dhun beqraaron se poochho (Dil-e-Nadaan, 1953; also penned by Shakeel), and Salaam-e-hasrat qabool kar lo (Babur, 1960).
Lets turn to Sahir Ludhianvi, the lyricist of this song. Of course, many of his songs were indicative of the situation between him and Sudha Malhotra. For example, this one from 1959 movie Didi. All that one has to do is to ascribe male lines to female and vice-versa and it fits in well with them. It was also rumoured that the Gumraah song Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono was indicative of the ceasing of their affair after she married Motwani. But, then, such was the persona of Sahir Ludhianvi that many situations in the movies were supposedly based on his life: Pyaasa, Kabhi Kabhi are two examples. As far as my favourites penned by him are concerned, there are quite a few. However, here is a shorter list: Aaj ki raat piya dil na todo, Tadbeer se bigadi hui taqdeer bana le (Baazi, 1951), Aap aaye to khayaal-e-dil-e-nashaad aaya, Chalo ek baar phir se, Ye hawa ye fiza (Gumrah, 1963), Abhi na jaao chhod kar, Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe rona aaya, Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya (Hum Dono, 1961), Ashqon ne jo paaya hai (Chandi Ki Deewar, 1964), Ai meri zohra zabeen, Chehre pe khushi chha jaati hai, Aage bhi jaane na tu, Ham jab simat ke aap ki baahin mein aa gaye (Waqt, 1964), Aurat ne janam diya mardon ko (Sadhana, 1964), Baabul ki duyayen leti jaa, Tujhako pukaare mera pyaar (Neelkamal, 1968), Bhool sakta hai bhala kaun (Dharamputra, 1961), Dhadakne lage dil ke taaron ki duniya, Tere pyaar ka assra chahta hoon (Dhool Ka Phool, 1959), Dil ki umange hain jawan, Jeewan ke safar mein rahi (Munimji, 1955), Dukhi man mere sun mera kehna (Funtoosh, 1956), Duniya kare sawaal to hum jawab dein, Log kehte hain tum se kinara kar lein, Sab mein shaamil ho magar (Bahu Begum, 1967), Door reh kar na karo baat (Amanat, 1975), Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi, Maayus to hoon waade pe tere, Na to karvaan ki talaash hai (Barsaat Ki Raat, 1960), Ham aapki aankhon mein, Tang aa chuke hain kashmakash zindagi se ham, Jinhe naaz hai Hind par woh kahan hain, Jaane kya tune kahi, Sar to tera chakraaye, Jaane wo kaise log the jinake pyaar ko pyar mila (Pyaasa, 1957), Husn haazir hai muhabbat ki saza paane ko (Laila Majnu, 1976), Iswar Allah tere naam sabako snmati de bhagwan (Naya Rasta, 1970), Jaayen to jaayen kahan (Taxi Driver, 1954), Jaan-e-bahaar husn tera bemissal hai (Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, 1963), Jise tu qabuul kar le, Kisako khacar thi kisako yakeen tha (Devdas, 1955), Jo waada kiya wo, Paaon chhu lene do, Zurm-e-ulfat pe hamen log saza dete hain (Taj Mahal, 1963), Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai, Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon (Kabhi Kabhi, 1976), Laaga chunari mein daag, Nigahen milane ko ji chahta hai (Dil Hi To Hai, 1963), Maang ke saath tumhaara, Ude jab jab zulfen teri, Ye desh hai veer jawano ka (Naya Daur, 1957), Mehfil se uthh jaane waalo, Phool gendwa na maaro (Dooj Ka Chand, 1964), Mera tujhase hai pehle ka naata koi (Aa Gale Lag Jaa, 1973), Tora man darpan kehlaaye, Chhu lene do naazuk hontho ko, Mere bhaiya mere chanda mere anmol ratan (Kajal, 1965), Mujhe gale se laga lo bahut udaas hoon main (Aaj Aur Kal, 1963), Na tu zameen ke liye hai na aasman ke liye (Dastaan, 1972), Parbaton ke pdho par shaam ka basra hai, Tum chali jaogi parchaayiyan reh jayengi (Shagoon, 1964), Pyaar par bas to nahin hai mera, Raat bhar ka hai mehmaan andhera (Sone Ki Chidhiya, 1958), Rang aur noor ki baraat kise pesh karun (Ghazal, 1964), Teri duniya mein jeene se behtar hai ke mar jaayen, Chup hai dharti chup hain chand sitaare (House No. 44), Thandi hawaayen lehra ke aayen (Naujawan, 1951), Tum ek baar mohabbat ka imtihaan to lo (Babur, 1960), and Ye raat ye chandini phir kahan (Jaal, 1952).
Perhaps it would be better to go through my posts on Sahir Ludhianvi:
The Best Songs Of Sahir Ludhianvi – The ‘Magician’ Lyricist And Poet – Part I,
The Best Songs Of Sahir Ludhianvi – The ‘Magician’ Lyricist And Poet – Part II
Lets turn to the composer of this song: Sudha Malhotra herself. Actually, the music director of the movie was N Dutta who had worked with Sahir Ludhainvi in as many movies as Sahir did with SD Burman before the two broke up in 1957 after Pyaasa. However, N Dutta fell ill during the film’s making and then Suhda Malhotra came forward and helped with this song. Isn’t it a great coincidence that the song was composed by her in the raaga of my home-place: Pahadi and Tal Dadra? She actually made it into a memorable song.
The movie from which the song of this post has been taken is the 1959 movie Didi. The movie was directed by K Narayan Kale and produced by Sadashiv J Row Kavi. This was a remake of an iconic Marathi Movie “Vahininchya Bangadya”. A famous Telugu version also was made in the name of “Vadina Gajulu”. Didi was a story of brother-sister love, but NOT in a tear-tear way but in a very hilarious way. The main roles were done by Sunil Dutt and Shubha Khote(a perinnial sister of the Indian screen). This was also one of the rare films in which the Parsi sisters Honey and Daisy Irani were acting together and both were as boys.
Please enjoy Sudha Malhotra sing (with Mukesh): Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haq hai tumako, meri baat aur hai maine to mohabbat ki hai….
सुधा: तुम मुझे भूल भी जाओ तो ये हक़ है तुमको
मेरी बात और है मैंने तो मुहब्बत की है
मेरे दिल की मेरे जज़बात की कीमत क्या है
उलझे-उलझे से ख्यालात की कीमत क्या है
मैंने क्यूं प्यार किया तुमने न क्यूं प्यार किया
इन परेशान सवालात कि कीमत क्या है
तुम जो ये भी न बताओ तो ये हक़ है तुमको
मेरी बात और है मैंने तो मुहब्बत की है
तुम मुझे भूल भी जाओ तो ये हक़ है तुमको
मुकेश: ज़िन्दगी सिर्फ़ मुहब्बत नहीं कुछ और भी है
ज़ुल्फ़-ओ-रुख़सार की जन्नत नहीं कुछ और भी है
भूख और प्यास की मारी हुई इस दुनिया में
इश्क़ ही एक हक़ीकत नहीं कुछ और भी है
तुम अगर आँख चुराओ तो ये हक़ है तुमको
मैंने तुमसे ही नहीं सबसे मुहब्बत की है
तुम अगर आँख चुराओ तो ये हक़ है तुमको
सुधा: तुमको दुनिया के ग़म-ओ-दर्द से फ़ुरसत ना सही
सबसे उलफ़त सही मुझसे ही मुहब्बत ना सही
मैं तुम्हारी हूँ यही मेरे लिये क्या कम है
तुम मेरे होके रहो ये मेरी क़िस्मत ना सही
और भी दिल को जलाओ ये हक़ है तुमको
मेरी बात और है मैंने तो मुहब्बत की है
तुम मुझे भूल भी जाओ तो ये हक़ है तुमको
Hindi movie industry has a number of love-affairs in real life that have been as famous and fascinating as some of the others in reel-life. Sahir Ludhainvi’s attraction for Sudha Malhotra was the subject of many rumours after the unrequited affair that he had with Punjabi poetess Amrita Pritam. I not only think of this song as the one about another affair that didn’t fructify. I also think of the most beautiful lyrics of this song that destiny directed that the object of his love should compose since the music director N Dutta fell ill. And Sudha not just sang it with passion but put her heart and soul into composing it in my favourite raaga and dhun Pahadi. The song often gives me goosebumps when I listen to it.
I hope you enjoyed it too.
Please await tomorrow’s song.
Almost every place I look it says the words to the song are “ashkon ne jo paya hai wo geeton ne diya hai”. However, when I listen closely it sounds like the words are “ashkon MEIN jo paya hai, wo geeton MEIN diya hai”. You have also used the word ‘ne’ in your writ up above. Are you sure that is correct? With your wide knowledge I thought you would be a good person to look into this. Thank you!
Very well described,my favourite song too
Ravi ur love for good old songs is unmeasurable
Thank you Naresh Sir. Regards
Thank you Pawan ji.
Guess what? Even as I was copying these lyrics from a site, it occurred to me that it should be ‘mein’ and not ‘nein’. Normally, I correct these mistakes but considering that this wasn’t the song of the post, I let it go. Thanks for pointing out.
Thank you for the prompt response.
You are welcome Prithpal ji
Thank you