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| Mai aur mere khayal aksar ye sochte rehte hain.... |
Howsoever smitten I may be about the handsome Dev Anand or the voice that serenaded the ethereally beautiful Sadhana in this B&W film of the early sixties, I just cannot but help being in the shoes of those two and translate from real into reel. There is something endearing and enduringly romantic about the Hasrat Jaipuri lyrics that puts the adrenaline in me.
The romanticism of the sixties always pumps me, no matter who the almighty Mohammed Rafi sang for because it afforded me the vicarious pleasure of being that hero when the song overtook my senses for the next three or four minutes. But when Hasratbhai's pen dripping with romance wrote lyrics -- more so for someone who could be a permanent mascot of the youth -- love would bathe in honey.
Sample this: "Duniya ek ajaayab khana lekin phir bhi faani, Is dharti par amar rahegi meri prem kahaani. Chahe jitney roop mein aaun tera rahunga, Are mar jaunga pyaar agar main dooja karoonga." If you ignore the sheer utopia that comes through the words, you have Dev Anand's Adonis-like face to give it the mortal expression. And if you still thought that this was romance out of a Bollywood leaf, you had Rafi to reckon with. His vocals would make an ultimate convincing statement that when you put lips to those words, there wouldn't be anyone else left on the Earth to sing it for anyone else. So much for exclusivity!
I distinctly recall my trusted and loving friend Dev Anand once telling me at his Bandra's Navketan Studios that if it were not for Rafi's youth, his own youth would have gone abegging. In that one innocuous statement lay a tribute of a lifetime for a man who handled the romance of Hasrat, Shakeel and a host of others with the aplomb that died with him. I also have vivid memories of that killer trade-mark toothy grin Dev Anand threw at me when I mentioned the song to him. It seemed to be a straight take off from where he had left when Sadhana sported that bashful smile formed out of Hasrat's words and Rafi's emotion.
Devsaab is no more. So are Rafi, Hasrat, Shankar-Jaikishen and the man who made that film -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Their labour of love lives on. And so do I as a parasite.
Please do not ask me why I singled out this song amongst thousands of many. It just kept nagging me all through the day, but I reveled in it. I was Rafi, Dev, Hasrat and S-J all rolled into one and in my fertile imagination, Sadhana with all her pristine smile, had to cope with all of me.
(This one is for you Kishwari Jaipuri, Hasratsaab's daughter.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sgKeQwzg2w
raju garu,
ReplyDeletei doff my hat to you. can any one express with so much of intensity. can any one do more justice with the pen as you have done here. if any one of them could come back here and take a copy for the others to read it would be exemplary.
kishwari is blessed to be hasrat sahab's daughter, but, she is even more blessed to live to see her father's works being truly honored the way you have done.
raju garu - you do carry that golden heart to feel this way and god has blessed you with the power to show case it for all of us to bask in its glory.
god bless you with a long healthy life and many more such pearls floating around.
warm musical regards,
ramesh narain kurpad
So generous and loving as always Ramesh Gaaru. Thank you so so much.
ReplyDeleteRaju da... The passion is so very hard hitting!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Abhijit Dada.
ReplyDelete