My first song in this series was Raat Ke Hamsafar Thak Ke Ghar Ko Chale. This too is:
Our Dedication to a Lyricist who
Always Dived Deep to find Pearls
Now that I have (accidentally) started with a tribute to this great lyricist, I want to quickly catch up with Hasrat Jaipuri or the week count this year.
The Movie
Shailendra had fewer (much fewer) title songs as compared to co-lyricist in Shankar Jaikishan movies: Hasrat Jaipuri. This was an important title song.
The trend of movies during those days was that movies with excellent songs had stories that dragged especially in the second half. DD Kashyap movie Maya starring Dev Anand and mala Sinha had two excellent songs by Salil Chowdhury: Tasveer teri dil se and Jaa re jaa reudh jaa re panchhi. Despite these, most of the movie I saw in fast-forward. It was released in the same year as the movie of this song.
Anpadh had excellent songs by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Madan Mohan (including Aap ki nazaron ne samajha) and yet the second half dragged.
But, Dil Apna Aur Preet Prayi was handled by someone who played Marco in Dev Anand’s Guide: Kishore Sahu. The movie, I would say, was directed well and held our interest.
This song occurs somewhere near the end of the movie and yet it had at least kept my interest alive. Hats off first of all to Kishore Sahu. There is no point having an excellent song but whilst seeing the movie in the cinema you take a popcorn break or seeing it on your com you fast forward it.
As far as I am concerned, a movie song must carry the story forward and aptly express the emotions of the protagonist (s). You see the movie Patita, for example; the song on which I named my group and the song we always sing together when we have a Meet of the group: Yaad Kiya Dil Ne expressed the emotions of both Dev Anand and Usha Kiran but didn’t carry the story forward.
Fast Beat – Sad Song
It was a done thing during those days to slow down the beat of sad songs to have soulful effect. Madan Mohan was a master at it, eg, Main ye soch kar us ke dar se utha tha and Mujhe le chalo phir aaj us gali mein.
Shailendra and Shankar Jaikishan mastered the exact opposite with superb effect. Their Anari song is a representative example: Tera jaana, dil ke armaano ka lut jaana. Incidentally, once gain a song that carries forward the plot and expresses the feelings of Nutan very well both in lyrics and notes.
I sometimes feel that Madan Mohan’s song in Anpadh may have been inspired by Shankar Jaikishan: Vo dekho jala ghar kisi ka; fast beat- sad song.
Shailendra
You may be surprised that I selected this song over the popular other song of the movie: Ajeeb dastan hai ye. The reason is that I cannot think of many title songs that can describe the meaning of the title so well. Take Raj Kapoor’s 1949 movie Barsaat, for example; until the end of the movie I kept wondering as to why was it titled Barsaat. Not so with Dil Apna Aur Preet Prayi, especially after this song.
Shailendra, as always, has given us many expressions to think about and I have highlighted these in the lyrics:
Dil apna aur preet prayi, kisne hai ye reet banayi
Aandhi me ek deep jalaya, aur pani mein aag lagayi
Dil apna aur preet parayi, kisne hai ye rit banayi
Dil apna…
Hai dard aisa ke sehna hai mushkil
Duniya waalon se kehna hai mushkil
Ghir ke aaya hain toofan aisa
Bach ke sahil pe rehna hai mushkil
Ghir ke aaya hain toofan aisa
Bach ke sahil pe rehna hai mushkil
Dil apna aur preet praayi, kisne hai ye reet banayi
Aandhi me ek deep jalaya, aur pani mein aag lagayi
Dil apna…
Dil ko sambhala na daman bachaya
Failee jab aag tab hosh aaya
Gam ke maare pukaren kise hum
Hum se bichhda hamara hi saaya
Gam ke maare pukaren kise hum
Hum se bichhda hamara hi saaya
Dil apna aur preet praayi, kisne hai ye reet banayi
Aandhi me ek deep jalaya, aur pani mein aag lagayi
dil apna…
Aandhi mein ek deep jalaya aur paani mein aag lagayi is a superb expression to express the turmoil that is going through in Meena Kumari‘s mind when on the Deewali night it becomes clear to her that an already married man Raaj Kumar is as much in love with her as she had been with him all along.
Bach ke sahil pe rehna hai mushkil: there are many S-J songs with a boat but none has used the boat so beautifully as in this song. It is as if the lyrics have come alive. When the song ends the coda is so superb that it looks like it is gently rocking the boat and not the sea or the breeze!
Gam ke maare pukaaren kise ham
Ham se bichhada hamara hi saaya
I want you to recall these lines of Dil Ki Nazar Se song put up by Shailendra and S-J:
Kyon bekhabar, yun khichi si chali ja rahi main
Ye kaun se bandhano me badhi ja rahi main
It is because Love is never a reasoned emotion. If it was, you won’t fall in love but you would deliberately tip-toe into love!
However, despite that you and your inner self are in sync; both don’t pull in different directions. But, here, Meena Kumari’s emotions are pulling her in opposite directions: Yes, she loves him but he is already married!
Shailendra has, as always, done an outstanding job of selecting his words.
Raag and Tal
It is in Bhairavi, Tal Dadra almost all throughout.
Please enjoy: Dil apna aur preet prayi…
Of course, the selection of Meena Kumari as the heroine of this movie was the master-stroke; she emoted well on these complex feelings.
I hope you liked my choice.
Please await the next song in the series.
