RMIM Archive Article "275".

From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Ek Hi Film Ke Geet - 1 -  "Benazir"
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# Posted by: malhotra@bedford.progress.com (Neeraj Malhotra)
# Author: Neeraj Malhotra
#



For a while ( well over a year ), I have been  toying  with  this
idea of the songs of those films that are not easily available on
audio.  Queries on  RMIM  +  articles  from  some  other  netters
brought  memories  of  many  such movies. I started writing about
'Usne Kaha Tha' but then found out that a CD had  been  released.
So  the idea went on a back burner.  Then someone asked about the
songs of 'Benazir' - a movie I had on video.

Sat on the keyboard - but never really did finish. I enjoy  music
a lot but I am not much of a writer about music - we have on RMIM
a lot of talent in that area. So my intention is  just  to  bring
the songs of these movies to RMIM.

Hopefully, if you like the idea, will post more movies every  few
weeks.

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		    EK HI FILM KE GEET - I BENAZIR
==================================================================

Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar,  Haveli,  Nawaabs,  Mujra,  Ghazals...
and  a  movie  name like BENAZIR somehow bring the name of ROSHAN
being the MD behind.

No, the music director is S.D. Burman. Somehow his name  did  not
fit  with the theme of the movie. It also turned out to be a very
atypical movie  for  the  maestro.  The  picturizations  in  some
instances  just  don't  go well with the music ( of course IMHO )
and this is from someone who loves SDB music.

Will get into as to why as we go through the songs.  Asst. MD btw
is  RDB.   No singer info was in the credits - I know of one song
by Lata & another by Rafi. A couple songs may be by Asha B.

Bimal Roys's creation starts with an earthquake, a  lost  toddler
watching  one of those old fasshioned dancer 'guDiya' that shakes
her head when touched.

Someone who has lost his daughter rescues this child  &  next  we
know  she  is Meena Kumari dancing on Stage and we have our first
song...

The slow lines:

  F.   'main barkha huun, zamaane pe baraste hain mere aansoo
        khud apne muhn se apna gham kaha nahiin jaata'

The mukhaDa

  F.    'ae mere dilruba, aa mere paas aa
        ye jii chaahata hai tere gale lad jaaoon'
  M.    'o meri aarzoo....'

You can enjoy the song listening to it, but is not one  of  those
that  will  stay  with you once the movie is over.  What is more,
they are dressed very much in a typical 'Hindu'  style  prince  &
princess  with  Mukut,  baajuband  etc...   BUT the lyrics are in
Urdu.

Seemed very odd. Of course if you hear the song on audio - it  is
a perfectly ok song.

This is also one of those rare movies that  you  will  see  Meena
Kumari  dancing  - and you can tell why she did not try this more
often.

Next we have Meena Kumari in a typical  Mujra  style  singing  at
Ashok Kumar's residence to celebrate his son's 'chathi'.  ( He of
course is in love with her & doesn't have a care for  his wife 
Nirupa Roy. )

This time the music & the atmosphere & the lyrics have a  perfect
fit and we have a wonderful song by Lata ...

   bahaaro.n ki mehfil suhaani rahegi
   zubaa.n par khushi ki kahaani kahegi
   chamakte rahenge muhobbat ke taare
   khuda ki agar meharbaani rahegi

Meena Kumari also recites - in tarranum (  learnt  this  term  on
RMIM  :)  some shers after this which I am almost sure are in her
own voice.  I don't know if she has recited shers  like  this  in
any movie that I have seen so far.

ENTER... Shashi Kapoor ( Ashok K's younger brother ) and we  have
a twist ! Meena Kumari's eyes light up and we find that SHE never
was in love with Ashok K.

She completes her sher...
   dekhe jo khwaab dil ne
   tasveer ye hai unki
   humko bhii zindagi ka
   ab aetbaar aaya

We have one more heroine to add to this story. Tanuja !  Love  at
first sight ... Shashi K & Tanuja ( who is Nirupa Roy's sis )

Very sweet & soft Rafi starts this song :

   aaj sheeshe mein baar baar unhen
   dil ki surat dikhai deti hai
   apni surat nazar nahiin aati
   meri surat dikhai deti hai

and then as you were expecting this to turn into a lovely song we
get..

   'dil mein ik jaane tamanna ne jagah paai hai
    aaj gulshan mein nahiin, ghar mein bahaar aayi hai'

Somehow, I never associated this song with SDB. It does not sound 
like his music at all. Average, as far as SDB + Rafi go.

We have Meena Kumari singing again - perhaps the only well  known
song from this movie.

    husn ki bahaaren liye, aaye the sanam
    kaisi badnasiibi hui, mil sake na hum

She is singing literally for Shashi K. who does come to her place
but she does not get to meet him.

In the meantime Shashi Kappor is engaged to Tanuja - which in the
filmworld calls for a qwaali ( I am more and more thinking - this
should have  been a Roshan movie ).

SDB & QWAALI - Hmmm. Does someone have a good example ?  This one
is forgettable..

    hum unko dekhte hain nazaara kiye bagair,
    parde mein chup gaye hain, parda kiye bagair

Through twists & turns of a typical story - the engagement is off
:(.  Tanuja & Shashi K still love each other. See we have not had
a 'birah' song yet !

So here is Tanuja & once again - it is a nice  song  but  somehow
the picturization seems totally off. She is on her 'cHat' singing
a very classical based song  which  neither  suits  her  nor  her
walking around singing it..

    'Jaane jaana, mil ja a aaaaa mil jaaa aaa mil jaaa re'

I think this one is in Asha's voice.

Meena Kumari is back in the story - she saves Shashi's life -  so
Shashi  decides  to marry her - in the meantime whatever happened
to break up Tanuja & Shashi has been fixed and the marriage is ON
again.  Ashok  Kumar is trying to convince Shashi to marry Tanuja
BUT Shashi has promised Meena K. Now she has to do something - we
have another song by her on stage -

The scene starts out in a court - a Mughal scene - She  has  been
asked  to  drink poison ( which she really drinks ) and sings the
last song of the movie  -

Once again - a very nice song but it sounds  too  contemporary  a
tune  to  fit  the  scene. Perhaps these are the reasons that the
songs though nice did not become that popular. If you have  heard
this song before then you know why it does not fit the scene :

    gham nahiin gar zindagii veeran hai
    ishq par ye  jaan  bhii  kurbaan  hai~~     
    gham  nahiin  gar zindagii veeran hai

The lyrics are by Shakeel.  Assistant Director is Gulzar.

The one thing I never figured out - what was the relavence of the
first  scene ? The earthquake.  They don't even show how that kid
grew up to be a dancer.

I have a better movie of SDB in mind for next time - INSAAN  JAAG
UTHA has some wonderful songs.

Till then.

- Neeraj M.

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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian