#357

        Song:   Na hanso hum pe
                Zamaane ke hain thukraaye huey
                Dar-badar phirte hein
                Taqdeer ke behkaaye huey

        Film:   Gateway of India (1957)
        Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
        Music:  Madan Mohan
        Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan
        *ing:   Madhubala, Bharat Bhushan


So obviously, a tribute to Madan Mohan cannot be complete without
posting one of his forte creations- his ghazals. Here's one of my
personal  favorites-  an  impeccable  nazm  from  the  master.  A
fascinating  number  of  these  abound  this  glorious soundtrack
(which for some reason HMV has decided to sideline completely  in
their  tape/CD  soundtrack releases :-(() but a few of them truly
showcase this man's immense talent. This is one of them.

The  musical  intricacies  in  this   piece   are   breathtaking,
especially  in  the  antaraas -         

        Ek din phir wohi pehli si bahaaren hongi
        Isi ummeed se hum dil ko hain behlaaye huey
or
        Aesi gardish mein na daaley kabhi qismat tum ko
        Aap ke saamne jis haal mein hain aaye huey
..etc.
         

Antaraas  set in  different  tunes sound very charming- here, for 
instance the first one is in high  notes  while  the  second  one  
starts  (of course)  at lower notes, both converging harmoniously 
onto the mukhdaa- true class !

Weird thing though, is that the words of the ghazal  have  little
relevance to the situation in the movie where this is picturized-
it's something like a coerced mehfil where she is about to  be  a
part of a 10,000 Rs 'saudaa' to some rich bloke, and she's trying
to figure out a way to escape... an aberrant environment to  belt
out a nazm like this- almost seems like a waste of poetry.




Guest Author: Hrishi Dixit