Zarquon is not very punctual

There are many songs that I heard as a kid, could never forget, got haunted by them, and couldn’t find them till the GOD made The Web. The charitraheen title track was one of them. Its time for another one of those illusive treasures.

For this song, it’s not just music that haunted me, but also its situation in the movie. Its from a 1988 movie called Trishagni, featuring Nitish Bhardwaj, Pallavi Joshi, Nana Patekar, and Alok Nath. If you appreciate good cinema, this one is a must watch. And about the song, here are the lyrics:

ऐसा लगे,
कहीं दूर पे,
हर पल कोई, मुझको बुलाए ।
अनजान से,
पर्वत तले,
झरना छलके मन को लुभाए ।

मरुभूमी की,
इस रेत से,
देखो मेरी क्या हुई दशा ।
कभी तन मेरा,
जलने लगा,
कभी मन मेरा शीतल हुआ ।

कहता है यह,
मेरा हृदय,
नदिया जैसी बहती रहो।
मन के मधुर,
इस वेग की,
अब तो कोई सीमा न हो ।

अनजान से,
पर्वत तले,
झरना छलके मन को लुभाए ।
ऐसा लगे,
कहीं दूर पे,
हर पल कोई, मुझको बुलाए ।

And here’s where you can get it from:
http://24.225.170.71/songs/film/Hindi/Trishagni/aisalage.mp3
courtesy again salilda.com

And this is the fourth song on this blog composed by Salil Choudhary. So do expect more of it from me.

In early 90s there used to be a serial on Doordarshan called Charitraheen, based on Sharatchandra’s Bengali novel by the same name. Though I was quite young to get the import of the serial, I quite fondly remembered it title music. I later came to know that it was composed by my favorite composer, the legendary Salil Chaudhary. The melody and the lyrics still used to ‘haunt’ me. Someone today reminded me of the haunting feeling. So here’s the lyrics of the song:

शीतल मंजुल कोमल, तेरा आँचल
मेरी सुधियों में लहराया
झल-मल झल-मल
और एक शाम मैंने तेरे नाम लिख दी

हौले, हौले-हौले; पुर्वा ड़ोले, पुर्वा ड़ोले
ढलते दिन की अरुणाई में सपने घोले; सपने घोले
सपने घोले
और एक शाम मैंने तेरे नाम लिख दी

पंछी एक बिचारा, टूटा हारा, टूटा हारा
सुने नभ में उड़ता फ़िरता, मारा-मारा
मारा-मारा
और एक शाम मैंने तेरे नाम लिख दी

शीतल मंजुल कोमल, तेरा आँचल
मेरी सुधियों में लहराया
झल-मल झल-मल
और एक शाम मैंने तेरे नाम लिख दी

And here is where you can download it from. Salilda.com has done a great job in giving us a chance to enjoy the (sometimes considered long-forgotten) melodies of the great Salil Chaudhary. I don’t know the lyricist of the song, if any of you have any clue, let me know. Also, note that this the third song composed by Salil Da on this blog. So I’m turning out to be quite a bit of a fan.

Okay, I’m gonna do a funny thing today. I just heard the legendary 50s song called “uda jaa bhanwar” from the movie Rani Roopmati. A gem of a song with lyrics supposedly loaded with too much philosophical metaphors. I heard it and the first instinct I had was to write down the lyrics taking care of the number of times each line is repeated. And here is the result:

उड़ जा उड़ जा
उड़ जा भँवर माया कमल का आज बंधन तोड़ के
उड़ जा भँवर माया कमल का आज बंधन तोड़ के
उड़ जा भँवर

रंग इसका लाल है
आऽ आऽ आऽ
रंग इसका लाल है और रूप भी क्या कमाल है
जिन पखुरियों में तू झूमें
जिन पखुरियों में तू झूमें
वो तेरा जंजाल तेरा जाल है
कहीं और जा जा जा जा
कहीं और जा के दिल लगा कलियों की गलियाँ छोड़ के
उड़ जा भँवर

देख वो सूरज की किरनें आ रही हैं झूमती
चल गगन की ओर तेरा मुख हवायें चूमतीं
बावरे उठ ज्ञान से मखमल का घेरा दूर कर
तन है काला इस लिये मन का अंदेरा दूर कर दूर कर
तुझको बुलाये
तुझको बुलाता है सवेरा देख मुखड़ा मोड़ के

उड़ जा भँवर माया कमल का आज बंधन तोड़ के
उड़ जा भँवर माया कमल का आज बंधन तोड़ के
उड़ जा भँवर

उड़ जा उड़ जा उड़ जा भँवर
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर,
उड़ जा भँवर माया
उड़ जा भँवर
उड़ जा भँवर माया कमल छोड़ के उड़ जा
उड़ जा भँवर माया कमल छोड़ के उड़ जा
छोड़ के उड़ जा
छोड़ के उड़ जा
छोड़ के उड़ जा
उड़ जा
उड़ जा
उड़ जा

Old Doordarshan serials are something that still keeps me mesmerized. Yesterday I bumped on to a gazal sung by chandan das, which used to be the title track of an amazing serial - “Phir wahi talaash”, aired on Sunday mornings 11:30 or 12. A realistic love story… from the teenage times of mine, when the mushiness has not evaporated.

So here goes the gazal …

न जी भर के देखा न कुछ बात की
बड़ी आरज़ू थी मुलाक़ात की

कई साल से कुछ ख़बर ही नही
कहाँ दिन गुज़ारा कहाँ रात की

उजालों कि परियां नहाने लगीं
नदी गुनगुनाये ख़यालात की

मैं चुप था तो चलती हवा रुक गयी
ज़बाँ सब समझते है जज़्बात की

सितारों को शायद खबर ही नही
मुसाफ़िर ने जाने कहाँ रात की

Oh dont worry I’m not going anywhere. I just needed to chose these lines from the song:

Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again?
My my, just how much I’ve missed you
Yes, I’ve been brokenhearted
Blue since the day we parted
Why, why did I ever let you go?
Mamma mia, now I really know,
My my, I could never let you go.

I know I was just born when ABBA used to sing. And I know that I’m gonna talk about some movies, some socio-cultural traits of the time when I was just born. I also know that I cannot (and would not) have the expression to write about it. But still I’ll try…

If you know me personally you would no what I’m talking about… I always talk about them.. dont I?? And for the rest … I’m talking about the two genres of movies - the Amol Palekar and the Naseeruddin Shah ones. I dont know how else should I define them. That’s why I took those names. Characterized by the really realistic plots and absence of extravagance, they both somehow relate to you.

Things like the Nirmal Anand of Khubsoorat, and the blotting paper episode of Rajanigandha, Julius Nagendranath Wilfred Singh of the Chhoti si baat, the love inspiring local train jorney of Baaton baaton mein, the thode ki zaroorat of Khatta Meetha, “sala ghonchu” with the then amazing looking Swarup Sampat of Naram Garam, and the Durendra Bhatavdekar of Rang Birangi mark the Amol Palekar genre.

And on the other side you have the open ended dialogues of Ijaazat, the red eyes of Smita Patil in Mricha Masala, the ek ek bhoot sau rupaiya of Shodh, the zindagi se hairangi of Masoom, the sabudana-wada-loving Rajaram Purushottam Joshi’s marriage with the lovely Deepti Naval in Sai Paranjpye’s Katha, the very different page 3 from the one we know today from the Party, and the “Hum Dilli haar gaye hain… Khan” cry from Junoon.

Am I being a jerk to see them as different genres? Or even do all of them taken together stand out? Dont know. But those times somehow make me say the above lines - Why, why did I ever let you go? (As if I could have stopped it… anyways)

I was at home this whole week, and managed to browse through my old collection of cassettes. Yes, cassettes are the same plastic objects which were used for storing audio in the last century. Anyways, the collection reminded me of my long lost favorites like - Sufi music. I used to like it a lot … voices of Abida Parveen and Shubha Mudgal … and lyrics by Khusrau, Manzoor Alam, Taji, Kabir. I suddenly fell in love with them again and spent the whole day listening to them. I’m posting a Persian song by khusrau and a Hindi one by Zaheen Shah Taji that I liked the most:

chonani dar nazar nazzaare gaan raa,
ke ronagh beshkani mahpare gaan raa.

[Your lovers behold your limitless beauty so as to make a thousand idols fade away]

to dar khaabe khosho man bhi to har shab,
shomaram taa sahar sayyare gaan raa.

[As I see you lost in the darkness of night, I count the stars till dawn (as if they were you)]

The Hindi one…

मै होश में हूँ तो तेरा हूँ, दीवाना हूँ तो तेर हूँ,
हूँ राज़ अगर तो तेरा हूँ, अफ़साना हूँ तो तेरा हूँ॥
[ अफ़साना == a popular story, a legend ]

बरबाद किया बरबाद हुआ, आबाद किया आबाद हुआ,
वीरानां हूँ तो तेरा हूँ, काशाना हूँ तो तेरा हूँ॥
[ काशाना == a flourishing abode, a garden ]

इस तेरी तजल्ली के क़ुर्बाँ, क़ुर्बान-ए-तजल्ली हर उनवाँ,
मैं शमा भी हूँ तो तेरा हूँ, परवाना हूँ तो तेरा हूँ॥
[ तजल्ली == light ] [ क़ुर्बान-ए-तजल्ली == dedication to eternal light or god ]
[ उनवाँ == path, used here as ways of worship ]

तू मेरी कैफ़ की दुनिया है, तू मेरी मस्ती का आलम,
पैमाना हूँ तो तेरा हूँ, मयखाना हूँ तो तेरा हूँ॥
[ कैफ़ == intoxication ]

हर ज़र्रा ज़हीन की हस्ती का तस्वीर है तेरी सर-ता-पा,
ओ काबा-ए-दिल ढाने वाले, बुतखाना हूँ तो तेरा हूँ॥
[ ज़र्रा == dust ] [ हस्ती == existence ]
[ सर-ता-पा == head to feet ] [ बुतखाना == temple ]

The above songs are from the album based on the Jahan-e-Khusrau concert. The album is called “The Realm of the Heart”.

Its not at all like a Monday morning. It’s almost 7:00 in the morning and I’m kind of half awake. Something mysteriously wrong with my stomach is not letting my sleep to be sound. Not that I made my best attempts to make it sound either. Rather, to lend the mysterious ailment a helping hand, I made myself watch a movie. A movie pending on the not-to-be-missed list for a long while now - Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi.

BTW there is an equally mysterious creature standing or rather limping besides me. He just now gazed at the monitor and in utterly disgusted (and half asleep) fashion uttered - “what the hell is Zarquon”. And with an equally disgusted tone, I corrected “What nahi WHO the hell is Zarquon”.

Sorry for the digression, it was Mritunjai. Never mind.

We’re talking about Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi. Ya… Everything about it was amazing. But I can not write a review. After a long time a movie had managed to affect me. No I don’t want to spoil it by writing a review. I’ll just mention what all it managed to affect me with. Everything that in any manner portrays the Delhi of the 70s affects me. I’ve heard the stories of how it used to be in Delhi in those days of Emergency from both of my parents. My parents were (then newly wed) living on the then outskirts of Delhi - Hauj Khas. And took the 26 no. bus to the Regal at CP (oh sorry the then CP ) to watch movies. The movie sort of gave images to what I just happened to know. BTW its not the first movie to give that vivid images of Delhi of the 70s. Chasm-e-baddoor was another one.

I may be sounding a jerk to not mention the theme of the movie and talk about this, probably unnoticed aspect of the movie. But then, somebody must notice the unnoticed. For the regular review I’ve given you the link above, haven’t I??

Another thing that affected me, was probably the fact that all characters were sort of doing there own stuff, and said dialogues in-between as if they were naturally speaking to one another. Unlike some other (offbeat) movies where u can distinctly observe people standing and talking to each other. Even the ones like Ijaazat and Zakhm and Arth and Ardhasatya misses this level of naturalness. Oh forget it!! I’ve started to write a review… comparing… even worse than that…

Oh BTW, I didn’t write the above stuff in one go. Mritun managed to pull me out for cup of tea at the stall outside the campus (I’m on the campus BTW). And on the way back it started raining, and that jerk made a strange remark…. “You know there is nothing else like rain”. Being half-asleep I agreed with him… and took some 20 seconds to remind myself that there is nothing else like anything else.

Okay… did you notices too much of “jerks” and “disgust” in my post… pardon me…I’m reading Joseph Heller nowdays. And I’m a bigger jerk than Mritun at times.