Always Dived Deep to find Pearls
Rimjhim and Phuhare Again
When I gave you SSOW Week #3 song, I told you about Shailendra’s extraordinary skill at writing Barsaat songs. Barsaat was also the name of the 1949 movie for which he wrote the title song.
Every poet or lyricist has a favourite expression or phrase, which he/she uses again and again. Rimjhim and Phuhare appear to be the favourite of Shailendra. He used these in the 1960 Kala Bazaar song: Rimjhim ke taraane le ke aayi barsaat:
Bheege tan man pade ras ki phuhaar
Pyaar ka sandesa laayi barkha bahaar
He used it again in 1965 movie Guide song: Din dhal jaaye haay raat na jaay, viz:
Aisi rim-jhim aisi phuharen, aisi hee thee barsaat
Khud se juda aur jug se paraye, ham dono the saath
And in between was the 1963 Bimal Roy movie Bandini wherein in the captioned song, he used both Rim-jhim amd phuhaaren again. Have a look:
Ab ke baras bhej bhiya ko baabul
Saavan ne lijo bulaay re
Lautegi jab mere bachapan ki sakhiyaan
Dejo sandesha bhijaay re
Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko baabul
Ambuva tale phir se jhule padenge
Rim-jhim padnegi phuharen
Lautegi phir tere aangan me baabul
Saavan ki thandi bahaaren
Chhalake nayan mora kasake re jiyara
Bachapan ki jab yaad aae re
Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko baabul
Bairan javaani ne chheene khilaune
Aur meri gudiya churaai
Baabul ki main tere naazon ki paali
Phir kyon hui main paraayi
Beete re yug koi chithiya na paati
Na koi naihar se aaye, re
Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko baabul
Saavan ne lijo bulaay re
Lautengi jab mere bachapan ki sakhiyaan
Dejo sadeshaa bhijaay re
Ab ke baras bhej bhiyako baabul
Bandini
Four and a half years ago, I wrote an article titled: ‘Bengal Based Hindi Movies From Anuradha To Piku‘ and brought out how most of these are based on the emotions and conditions of female protagonists.
The image of a Bengali woman in Bengal based movies is her sacrificing her interests in favour of her man.
Bimal Roy‘s handling of the theme and not just the name Bandini (Imprisoned or In Bondage) has been handled with great sensitivity. Nutan as Kalyani is in prison for most part of the movie due to a murder she committed (more by accident than design). She longs of freedom because she is young and has dreams of her own. However, in the end she herself chooses bondage over freedom offered to her as two choices: Dharmendra as the kind hearted jail-doctor: Deven who cares for her and Ashok Kumar as freedom-fighter (master stroke by Nabendu Ghosh who wrote the screenplay) Bikash who leaves her in the village pining for him but never returns back. In the end, like I said, because of a chance meeting at a railway station, she chooses to be Bandini to Ashok Kumar as the notes of another Shailendra song play: Mere saajan hain us paar.
The conclusion that we draw in the end is that a woman would always be Bandini: if not in physical jail but in the jail of her mind and thoughts.
Role of Songs
Whilst movies have songs that are plain decorative (such as the title song of my Facebook group Yaad Kiya Dil Ne), I am in love with songs that carry a story forward and tell of the emotions of the protagonist.
One of the master-strokes of this film-maker Bimal Roy is that he doesn’t tell of Nutan’s emotions in a direct song by her. He chooses another ordinary prisoner busy grinding wheat and singing this song. By this he conveys to us that although Bandini is the story of the protagonist Nutan as Kalyani, it would be the story of many other women. Absolute class.
And that is where Shailendra came in. This is the movie in which SD Burman had such a serious tiff that Sachin da and was forced to bring in another lyricist: Sampooran Singh Kalra or Gulzar. And yet, look at how well Shailendra delivered:
He chose the theme of the Bandini dreaming of naihar (parent’s place), her brother, her childhood, dolls etc, Quite simply the first three words: Ab ke baras fill us with a poignancy that we cannot get out of; he is talking of life-imprisonment for serious crime such as murder.
Lets just look at the following lines:
Bairan javaani ne chheene khilaune
Aur meri gudiya churaai
Baabul ki main tere naazon ki paali
Phir kyon hui main paraayi
Beete re yug koi chithiya na paati
Na koi naihar se aaye, re
Lets look at it on two planes: One is that she is married off and the parents just forget her because she is praayi now and the other is that she is in jail and they disown her! Shailendra was one of the greatest lyricists. I wonder if an ordinary lyricist (such as the ones associated with, say, Bappi Lahiri) would have gone this deep.
Nutan
The role of Kalyani was offered to Vyjayanthimala who had already done two movies with Bimal Roy: Devdas and Madhumati. She was busy and hence the role went to Nutan who then gave the performance of her life and walked away with the Best Actress Award.
Raag and Tal
Raag Pilu or Peelu in which this song was composed by SD Burman had been the favourite raag of OP Nayyar. Many delightful songs had been composed by OPN in this raag such as Piya O piya na laage mora jiya. However, here, Sachin da chose a poignant and melancholic song in the same raag. Dipchandi or Moghali was the Tal.
Please enjoy: Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko baabul…
I hope you liked my choice for the Shailendra Song of the Week #4.
Please await the next song in the series.
