#353

        Song:   Mohabbat ke dhokey mein
                Koi na aaye (2)
                Yeh ek din hansaaye to
                Sau din rulaaye (2)

        Film:   Bari Bahen (1949)
        Singer: Mohammed Rafi
        Music:  Husnlal Bhagatram
        Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan
        *ing:   Rehman, Suraiya, Geeta Bali

Notwithstanding the fact that watching Rehman wail this sorrowful
outpouring  on screen  (through the almost-weeping voice of Rafi)
instinctively triggers off a Jim-Carrey-esque "Lahooosseeherr !!"
reaction   among   the   more   quarry-hearted  humans,  this  is
nevertheless a lovely, soulful  tune  carrying  the  unmistakable
Husnlal-Bhagatram  trademark (which I can't really verbalize, but
it's there!)

The rest of this is for whoever  is  still  with  me  after  that
convoluted  opening statement. This is a glorious soundtrack, one
among the many that year that were  responsible  for  catapulting
Lata into the starlight which still shows no signs of leaving her
(these have been ceremoniously catalogued by  Harish  Bhimani  in
his   'In  Search Of Lata Mangeshkar', a very perceptively penned
biography of the great singer, much better than  Raju  Bharatan's
judgemental,   furiously   partisan   output,  IMO)  ;  this  one
especially famous for  her  wonderful  duet  with  Heml..I  mean,
Premlata :
"Chup chup khade ho zaroor koi baat hai
 pehli mulaqaat hai yeh pehli mulaqaat hai"

Coming back to the song, it is rather similar,  in  style,  to  a
host  of other beauties Rafi rendered for this talented MD pair :
"Ek dil ke tukde hazaar huey" from 'Pyar ki Jeet' (1948), "Too ne
mera yaar na milaaya" from 'Shama Parwana' (1954), which was sung
wonderfully  by  'Chhota  Rafi'  Sanjeev   Ramabhadran   at   the
RMIMehfil. The main thing that strikes you about this tune is its
infectious beat- Husnlal Bhagatram, I think,  had  perfected  the
art  of  adding  a  brisk,  catchy  rhythm to sad tunes and still
managing to make them sound sad (helped in no  small  measure  by
the elongated faces of the lugubrious heroes they were picturized
on).

To sum up, a great piece of music. Nuff sed.


Guest Author: Hrishi Dixit