RRR Songs (Songs of Regret, Repentance and Ruefulness)
I started this new series on 17 Jan 21 on my Facebook Group Yaad Kiya Dil Ne. My efforts failed to involve people in writing their own stuff about songs and music rather than copying and pasting from here and there or worse, just sharing url of songs from YouTube. Hence, I had decided to give the group a burial that it deserved rather than making it like thousands of groups on Facebook about songs with nothing unique about them at all.
Hence this series shifted to my page Lyrical.
I hope you liked RRR Song #15: Muft huye badnaam. Here is the next song:
Song #16
Maine chand aur sitaaron ki tamanna ki thi
Sahir Ludhianvi Whose Birth Centenary We Celebrate on 08 March 2021
He was born on 08 Mar 1921 in Karimpura, Ludhiana, Punjab. A few years ago NDTV did a debate on who was the best lyricist in Hindi movies: Sahir or Shakeel or Majrooh or Gulzar. It was undecided because each one had (has in case of Gulzar) his strong points. However, one can make out that each one was capable of extraordinary imagination.
Sahir Ludhianvi shares his birth date with the death anniversary of the first woman in Indian movies: Devika Rani who was also the first ever recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest in cinematic excellence.
There were poets and lyricists who would get flashes of extraordinary brilliance. Sahir and these others that I have mentioned, maintained this excellence all throughout.
Sample a few:
Kaun rota hai kisi aur ki khatir ai dil,
sabko apni hi kisi baat pe rona aaya.
Ye duniya jahaan aadami kuchh nahin hai
Wafaa kuchh nahin, dosti kuchh nahin hai
Jahaa pyaar ki kadr hi kuchh nahin hai
Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai?
Lehron ke hontho pe dheema dheema raag hai
Thandi hawayon mein bheegi bheegi aag hai
Is haseen aag mein tu bhi jal ke dekh le
Zindagi ke geet ki dhun badal ke dekh le
Khulne de ab dhadaknon ki zubaan
Maine jazbaat nibhaaye hain usulon ki jagah
Apne armaan piro laaya hoon phulon ki jagah
Tere sehre ki ye saugaat kise pesh karu
Ye muraadon ki hasin raat kise pesh karun, kise pesh karun?
A mere sampling tells you that Sahir, if not the greatest lyricist ever in Hindi movies, was certainly capable of expressions that are hallmark of the greatest.
This Song
It is from the 1956 movie Chandrakanta starring Bharat Bhushan and Bina Rai. Let’s start with the beauty of the lyrics of this song full of RRR: Regret, Repentance and Ruefulness:
(मैं ने चाँद और सितारों की तमन्ना की थी
मुझको रातों की सियाही के सिवा कुछ न मिला ) – २
मैं ने चाँद सितारों …
मैं वो नग़मा हूँ जिसे प्यार की महफ़िल न मिली
वो मुसाफ़िर हूँ जिसे कोई भी मन्ज़िल न मिली
ज़ख्म पाएं हैं बहारों की तमन्ना की थी
मैं ने चाँद सितारों …
किसी गेसू किसी आँचल का सहारा भी नहीं
रास्ते में कोई धुँधला सा सितारा भी नहीं
मेरी नज़रों ने नज़ारों की तमन्ना की थी
मैं ने चाँद सितारों …
मेरी राहों से जुदा हो गई राहें उनकी
आज बदली नज़र आती हैं निगाहें उनकी
जिससे इस दिल ने सहारों की तमन्ना की थी
मैं ने चाँद सितारों …
प्यार माँगा तो सिसकते हुए अरमान मिले
चैन चाहा तो उमड़ते हुए तूफ़ान मिले
डूबते दिल ने किनारों की तमन्ना की थी
मैं ने चाँद सितारों …
दिल में नाकाम उम्मिदों के बसेरे पाये
रोशनी लेने को निकला तो अंधेरे पाये
रंग और नूर के धारों की तमन्ना की थी
मैं ने चाँद और सितारों …
You will agree with me that very few would be able to write such strong emotions with ease.
Raag Bhimpalasi, Taal Dadra
This song is such a favourite of mine that I had put it up as Song #3 in my Raaga Songs of the Day series.
Bhimpalasi is a raag of the afternoon. Its mood is often an upbeat one (eg, Aaj mere man mein sakhi) before one gets into the sunset, evening and night raagas with their essential sadness.
Tal Dadra derives its name from Dadra style of singing prevalent in Dadra. It is a six or three beat Tal:
Clap, 2, 3, Wave, 2, 3; that is two vibhags of three matras each. The theka is:
Dhaa Dhin Naa Dhaa Tin Naa
To get the similarity of Raag and Tal, compare it with another favourite of mine: Khilte hain gul yahan khil ke bikharne ko and Hemant Kumar’s Kohra song: O beqraar dil.
Sahir was breaking up with SD Burman at that time (he did so after 1957 movie Pyaasa) and latched on to N Dutta and this beautiful song was thus composed by N Dutta.
The movie
As I mentioned, it is from the 1956 GP Sippy movie Chandrakanta starring Bharat Bhushan and Bina Rai.
Here is the story that enabled this song:
“Veerjal vanqishes Chandrakanta’s (Bina Rai) father and takes over his kingdom. On insisting on seeing the most beautiful girl in the land, he is told it is none other than Chandrakanta. To get her to come to him, he whips her father till Chandrakanta voluntarily comes to him and executes a dance at the end of which she is unsuccessful in her attempt to kill Veerjal. He responds by killing Chandrakanta’s father in front of her eyes. She escapes swearing revenge. Landing up in a remote ashram, she meets and falls in love with Kunal(Bharat Bhushan). When news reaches her of Veerjal’s increasing tyranny, she remembers her vow and rouses the people against Veerjal. Finally all’s well that ends well as Veerjal is killed and Chandrakanta and Kunal are united.”
My Own Poetry
BEWAFAI KA INTEQAAM
हरदम खुशी की तमन्ना की थी तेरे प्यार में,
ज़िन्दगी भर के ग़म मिल गए उधार में।
खिज़ा आने का इंतज़ार भी ना किया,
हम तो लुट गए काफिला-ए-बहार में।
मुहब्बत में हो गए रुस्वा कुछ इस तरह,
नज़र आने लगी तौहीन-ए-उल्फत हर जगह,
तेरी महफ़िल में बदनाम होना यकीनन था,
हंसने लगे हम पे सब लोग बेवजह।
ना समझे इस में हमारा क्या था कसूर,
मानते हैं मुहब्बत की थी हमने ज़रूर,
पर इसकी इतनी बड़ी मिलेगी सज़ा,
यह बात तो दिल के बहुत ही थी दूर।
हम लेंगे तेरी बेवफाई का इन्तकाम,
तेरी रुसवाई का भी कर लेंगे इंतज़ाम,
फ़ना हो जाएंगे तेरे प्यार में इस कदर,
के लोग तुझको भी कर देंगे बदनाम।
Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy: Maine chand aur sitaaron ki tamanna ki thi…
I hope you liked Song #16 in this series.
Please await Song #17: Bhooli huyi yaadon mujhe.
This is one of the most important songs of the movie Pyaasa, a 1957 movie produced and directed by Guru Dutt. The movie is all about Love. In 2005, Time magazine rated it among the 100 Top Movies of All Times. In 2011, the same Time magazine rated it among the Top 10 Romantic Movies of all time.
This is what Love can do to you. In its holistic sense, there is no difference between your Love and God (Saanwariya or Krishna). To understand this better, you ought to have a look at the lyrics by Sahir:
To add to the outstanding direction, Guru Dutt has facilitated Waheeda expressing her Love emotions through a minstrel (street singer) just as in Devdas. Of course Geeta Dutt who sang for Waheeda in many movies, sang for the street singer in this.
Padmini Kolhapure (13 years old when the movie was released), acted as the child Roopa.
Divya Bharti was to do this role in 1994 Rajiv Rai movie Mohra. But then she died after just five working days on the movie. In stepped Raveena Tandon and the popularity of this song made her “mast mast girl” virtually overnight. No matter what she did after this song, she is still known by this sobriquet.
Whatever you say, Bada, Badi, Bade has fascination. Hence, in the 1994 Rajiv Rai movie Mohra (some spell it as Mohraa), when Anand Bakshi had to describe the beauty of the woman (in this case Raveena Tandon, the winner of National Films Award for Best Actress for her role in Kalpana Lajmi’s Daman), he didn’t go the Shakeel Badayuni or Sahir Ludhianvi way. He called her a Cheez that is Badi Mast Mast.
Now what did Udit Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy do to the song? They would have been two of the most unlikeliest people for singing Kirtan. However, they did it so well that you feel like singing with them (that’s the effect of Kirtan and how the lead voice or voices of the Raagis inspire you to sing along).
It was a movie directed by K Amarnath and starred Ajit and Shakila. Ajit had been a hero before he took up the villain’s role with such popular dialogues as “Ise liquid oxygen mein daal do; oxygen ise marne nahin dega aur liquid ise jeene nahin dega.” He had beautiful songs to his credit such as Dekho mausam kya bahar hai, Aaja ke intezaar mein, and this beautiful number.
Having been an ardent follower of Rabinder Sangeet, there is never a jarring note in his singing or compositions. Both descend on you like gentle snow. Both touch you like whispers of breeze. There is never Band Baaja Baraat; but…
Nawab Mirza Khan lived between 25 May 1831 to 17 Mar 1905. He was born in Kucha Ustad Dagh in Chandini Chowk, Delhi. Poets like to keep a takhallus (pen-name) and Mirza kept his as Daagh. Since he was from Delhi he came to be known as Daagh Dehlvi.
Today, both my songs have been sung by Mohammad Rafi. This ghazal has been sung by many including Mehdi Hassan. But, in each genre’ of singing, it comes out that the best has been rendered by Rafi; eg, he has the best raaga based song in movies, best duet, best children’s song and the best romantic and sad songs. Makes you marvel at what Manna Dey had to say about Rafi when Manna Dey was asked what he felt was Rafi’s ranking in singers: “I rank Rafi 1 to 10”. By this he meant that all other singers, including he himself, were at least ten places below him!
This one has been composed by Khaiyyam, the gentlest of composers.
As I said, the Zindagi or Jeevan song today: Tu pyar ka sagar hai, we lost this great singer on this day in 2013. Of course, he was awarded all the best civilian awards in our country (other than Bharat Ratna): Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan and the highest in cinematic excellence the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and several other awards in other states and languages.
Who was LV Prasad. He lived between 17 Jan 1908 and 22 Jun 1994. He too was a recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
The song owes its creation to Majrooh Sultanpuri for its lyrics (my most favourite subject: Maa) and Roshan for its composition. The two sons in the song with Bina Rai are: Kashi Nath and Dileep Raj. Bina Rai is so overwhelmed with the praise that they are bestowing on her that she breaks down half way through. Any mother would:
This was the last movie that Guru Dutt produced and directed. He commissioned Abrar Alvi to write the story that he had earlier asked to write Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam and Pyaasa. Another thing common in this movie was Waheeda Rehman, the actress of choice for Guru Dutt so much so that rumours were rife about their real life romance being reflected in their reel life. To complicate it further, Guru Dutt’s wife Geeta (nee’ Roy) used to be the singing voice for Waheeda Rehman.
SD Burman of Pyaasa continued in Kaagaz Ke Phool. However Burman and Sahir had fallen apart and hence Kaifi wrote the lyrics. In this song, he may have penned his greatest:
She was born on this day in 1935. She is 85 years old today. And yet she is the youngest of the sisters: Lata, Asha and Meena and elder only to Hridyanath Mangeshkar.
Literally, her name translates to Mother of Satisfaction. She emerged as a goddess in 1960s. Devotees of North India particularly hold her in the highest veneration and it is said that if women would keep Vrata (Fast) on 16 consecutive Fridays, it is sure to win favour of the Maa.
Kalyanji Anandji became musicians because someone owed money to their father and instead of paying back, offered to teach them music.
And secondly Jab Jab Phool Khile with Ek tha gul aur ek thi bulbul, Na na karte pyar tumhi se kar baithe, Pardesiyon se na akhiyan milana (three versions), Yahan main ajnabee hoon, and Ye samaa samaa hai ye pyar ka.
This song is from the 1976 Basu Chatterjee movie Chitchor starring Amol Palekar, Zarina Wahab and Vijayendra. The film is a Rajshri Productions film produced by Tarachand Barjatya. It is based on a Bengali story, Chittachakor by Subodh Ghosh.
The lyricist of the song was Ravindra Jain and he composed the song too.



Years before I met my “die-hard fans of Shankar Jaikishan” of SJMF: Anand Desai, Chirag Patel, Uday Joglekar, Rajan Bedke and others, I had done a 45 days feature of these “composers of the millennium”. However, so intense and huge is the contribution of SJMF that every-time one puts up a song of SJ, one bows one’s head to SJMF.
I freak out on this song as one of the best compositions of my favourite duo: Shankar Jaikishan. Every movie of theirs had a song composed in the queen of ragas: Bhairavi, the raga most suited to express devotion. There were movies in which as many as four songs were composed by the duo in this raga. Jaikishan named his daughter Bhairavi because of his devotion to this devotional raga.
The guy who did it for Shankar Jaikishan to provide us with this memorable song arrangement was a Goan music arranger by the name of Sebastian D’Souza. If you notice a quality of music in Shankar Jaikishan songs wherein the music is not apologetically in the background but stand out as much as the lyrics and the voice, then it is thanks to Sebastian.
Shankar Jaikishan were a total musical experience that seamlessly fitted into the scheme of the director, in this case Hrishikesh Mukherjee and the song, its lyrics, its composition, arrangement, singing by Lata Mangehskar, cinematography, emotions and histrionics were all parts of a complete experience that the audience must get whilst watching the song. I am sure, at some time or the other in the song you shift to walking into the hearts of Nutan and Raj Kapoor. So powerful is this experience.