‘Gaata Rahe Mera Dil’ – From the Book – 1 Monday, Apr 30 2007

Translated from: ‘Gaata Rahe Mera Dil’ by Salil Dalal, published by Satya Media. Permission for putting up this post has been sought from Satya Media via email. No response has been received as yet. If Satya Media decides to disallow posting of this passage, this post will be taken down.

SAHIR LUDHIANVI

The Case of the Borrowed Song

Krishna Chander was the dialogue-writer for the film ‘Doraha’. His was a big name in Urdu literature. He obtained permission from Prem Dhawan, the film’s lyricist, to get Sahir an entry in the film as another lyricist. But Prem Dhawan is rumoured to have extracted a favour in return. Nobody is quite certain, but one song was mentioned in hushed tones in this context. Like ‘Doraha’, the Dilip Kumar-Madhubala starrer ‘Tarana’ also had music by Anil Biswas. Prem Dhawan is said to have borrowed a song from Sahir – who was eager to gain a foothold in films in those days – and credited himself with it. Those who have heard and known Sahir’s poetry and Prem Dhawan’s other songs, at least the other ‘Tarana’ songs, can realize that the poetry in this song was coloured by Sahir’s style. Which is that song?

सीने मे सुलगते हैं अरमां, आंखों में उदासी छाई है
ये आज तेरी दुनिया से हमें तकदीर कहां ले आई है

siine me.n sulagate hai.n aramaa.N, aa.Nkho.n me.n udaasii chhaa_ii hai,
ye aaj terii duniyaa se hame.n taqadiir kahaa.N le aa_ii hai

This song, rendered by Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar, though credited to Prem Dhawan, was actually created by Sahir. This fact became well-known later in the world of film music. ‘Tarana’ had three lyricists: D. N. Madhok, Prem Dhawan, and Kaif Irfani. A fourth name – that of Sahir – could have been added. With सीने मे सुलगते हैं अरमां (siine me.n sulagate hai.n aramaa.N) becoming the most popular song of the film, the strength of Sahir’s pen in achieving popularity was tested successfully, although in another’s name!

Note: Devanagari script typed on Monusoft Type Pad

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‘Gaata Rahe Mera Dil’ Monday, Apr 30 2007

This was the title of a Gujarati book I read recently. The book, written by Salil Dalal, comprises biographical sketches of 9 premier lyricists in Hindi film history. The author has been a film columnist in various newspapers and periodicals for more than three decades.

What makes this an endearing book is that the author keeps it unpretentious. He does not make this a highly analytical critique on the poetry or the music in Hindi films. Instead, this is a personal journey through the world of Hindi film music in general and lyrics in particular, from adolescence onwards. So the reader encounters personal remiscences associated with particular songs or films from time to time.

The nine lyricists covered are: Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Rajendra Krishna, Hasrat Jaipuri, Kaifi Azmi, Indeevar, and Anand Bakshi.

Each sketch covers the life and times of a lyricist, concentrating more on his work and his personal qualities. The prose is simple and weaves together the work of each lyricist well. The author uses a lyricist’s own lines to describe some personal quality of his, some incident in his life, etc., which is a nice touch. Best of all, the book is full of anecdotes involving personalities from the Hindi film world, anecdotes that are amusing, touching, awe-inspiring and satisfying the curiosity of trivia-hunters.

There are some errors in the book. One may not agree with all the author’s opinions and statements. One may have heard alternative versions of certain anecdotes. One may not like the non-standard and inconsistent way in which Hindustani words have been transliterated in Gujarati. Nevertheless, this remains a nice, quick and informative read.

There were many anecdotes in the book with which I was unaware and which I would like to translate and place here.

Declaration: Permission for putting up translated passages from the book has been sought from the publishers - Satya Media – via email. No response has been received as yet. However, what I will translate and place here is a small fraction of the content of the book, and I will not claim it to be my original work.

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