I hope you liked the first post in the series: ‘Rajinder Krishan Song Of The Week #2 – Phir Wohi Shaam Wohi Gham Wohi Tanhayi Hai‘. Lets begin with this song of his as the Song of the Week #3 as it appeared on my Facebook group ‘Yaad Kiya Dil Ne‘.
Rajinder Krishan Song of the Week (RKSOW)
Week#3
Ye hawa ye raat ye chandni
Rajinder Krishan and Sajjad
Rajinder Krishan’s most memorable pairing with a composer has been with Madan Mohan. Let alone listening to scores of his songs from dozens of movies with Madan Mohan, just the songs of 1958 Kalidas movie Adalat would set him amongst the best lyricists that Hindi films came across. A song that really tugs at your emotions and with extraordinarily beautiful and poignant lyrics is Youn hasraton ke daag mohabbat mein dho liye, khud dil se dil ki baat kahi aur ro liye. Nobody is left unaffected by the personification of Khushi and Gham in the lines:
Ghar se chale the ham to khushi ki talaash mein,
Gham raah mein khade the wahin saath ho liye.
OP Nayyar had once stated that two of the ghazals of Madan Mohan (including Youn hasraton ke daag) were better than all the works of OP Nayyar.
With such high praise of the maestro which he richly deserved, can you imagine him copying a composition of a lesser composer? This was the composition by Sajjad, which Madan Mohan openly copied (and admitted) in his Tujhe kya sunayun main dilruba. It was for the 1958 movie Aakhri Dao and these lyrics (Tujhe kya sunayun) penned by Majrooh were composed by Madan Mohan in exactly the same way that Sajjad did for Ye hawa eye raat ye chandni.
No composer could have paid a better tribute to another composer.
Sajjad Husaain covered himself in controversy as much as he covered himself in glory because of his contentious personality that sought confrontation with almost everybody he worked with including DN Madhok in 1951 movie Saiyan (Wo raat din wo shaam ki guzri hui kahaniyan is one of their songs in the movie that comes to mind). He had problems with Dilip Kumar in the movie of this song: Sangdil. He didn’t like the standard of singing of Lata Mangeshkar.
Anyway, we still recall him for his excellent composition of this song and many others such as for the 1963 movie Rustom Sohrab: Ye kaisi ajab daastan ho gayi hai and Phir tumhari yaad aayi hai sanam.
Rajinder Krishan; what can you say about him and his lyrics? Most of his lyrics seem so natural and effortless. Here pay particular attention to: Mujhe kyun na ho teri aarzu, teri justaju mein bahaar hai?
Why shouldn’t he (Dilip Kumar) entertain aarzu (desire) for her (Madhubala) when there is bahaar (spring) in this quest of his? In other words, he can be forgiven for desiring her as much as any man can be forgiven for desiring spring.
Fourteen years after the Sangdil song, Neeraj used similar imagination in his 1966 Nai Umr Ki Nai Fasal song: Aaj ki raat badi shokh badi natkhat hai aaj to tere bina neend nahin aayegi:
Saara aalam hai girftaar tere husn me jab
mujhse hi kaise ye barsaat sahi jaayegi?
Have a look at the remaining lyrics of the present song under discussion:
Ye hawa ye raat ye chandani, teri ek ada pe nisaar hai
Mujhe kyun na ho teri aarzu, teri justaju me bahaar hai
Ye hawa ye raat ye chandani…
Tujhe kya khabar hai o bekhabar
tujhe kya khabar hai o bekhabar, teri ek nazar me hai kya asar
Jo gazab me aaye to kahar hai, jo ho meharban vo qaraar hai
Mujhe kyun na ho teri aarzu, teri justaju me bahaar hai
Ye hawa ye raat ye chandani…
Teri baat-baat hai dilnashi
Teri baat-baat hai dilnashi, koi tujhse badhke nahi hasin
Hai kali-kali me jo mastiyan, teri aankh ka ye khumaar hai
Mujhe kyun na ho teri aarzu, teri justaju mai bahaar hai
Ye hawa ye raat ye chandani, teri ek ada pe nisaar hai
Sangdil
Sangdil means cold-hearted. It was an adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë classic Jane Eyre. It was directed by RC Talwar and starred Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Leela Chitnis.
In the story of the movie Dilip Kumar and Madhubala are childhood lovers but are victims of unfortunate circumstances (he was very poor). When rumours about her are spread and reach him, Dilip Kumar, now wealthy, becomes Sangdil and encourages his reputation of being some sort of womaniser. Little do the women know that he is trying to seek the image of Madhubala in them.
There are many videos of the song going on depicting the eternal love between Dilip Kumar and Madhubala both in reel and real life until her father broke the relationship between them fearful that if she married him the father’s family would lose her money-amking capacity that supported the entire family. It is similar to Meena Kumari’s story; for many days after she was born her father kept her in an orphanage because he didn’t have means to look after the child.
I saw the movie and the video of the song is only between Dilip Kumar and the actress Shammi who is one of the women throwing herself at him when he becomes wealthy and foot-loose after his unrequited love with Madhubala. There is no flash-back during the song to his days with Madhubala.
Talat Mehmood for Dilip Kumar
I have gone on record saying that the best songs of Dilip Kumar were sung by Mohammad Rafi. However, there have been quite a few of Dilip Kumar’s memorable songs wthe Talat Mehmood. The first song that comes to my mind is from Dilip Kumar Madhubala 1951 movie Tarana (the first movie between them) that displayed the love and chemistry between them: Seene mein sulagte hain armaan. Anil Biswas composed it on Prem Dhawan’s lyrics.
The second one that comes to my mind is the 1950 movie Babul song penned by Shakeel Badayuni and composed by Naushad: Milte hi aankhen dil hua deewana kisi ka.
Please enjoy a really iconic song penned by Rajinder Krishan: Ye hawa ye raat ye chandni…
I hoped my choice of song for RKSOW #3.
Please await the next song in the series.
