#372

        Song:   O duniya ke rehnewaalon bolo
                Kahaan gayaa chitchor
                Kahaan gayaa chitchor

        Film:   Dil ki Rani (1947)
        Singer: Raj Kapoor
        Music:  S D Burman
        Lyrics: Y N Joshi
        *ing:   Raj Kapoor, Madhubala, Shyam Sunder

Given the number of times Raj Kapoor utters this word in it, this
movie  would  more  aptly have been called 'Chitchor', instead of
'Dil Ki Rani' (or 'Sweetheart', it's  alternative  title).  Never
saw a stronger or more recurrent motif in a film.

This charming song is  what  starts  the  movie  off...  a  radio
performance  by  budding poet Kavi Madhav (RK), thereafter hummed
by the entire  city  of  Bombay.  Which  isn't  very  surprising,
because it is a delightful, eminently hummable tune, adorned by a
brisk catchy rhythm. And one cannot fail to be impressed  by  Raj
Kapoor's rendition, something that makes this song some sort of a
rarity, as I'm led to believe (he only sung like 2/3 songs in his
entire  film  career,  apparently-  though  listening to this one
wonders why he didn't do more). The  'murki's  he  takes  in  the
"gayaa" would probably be out of reach for even his future "soul"
and "voice" (apologies to Dr Panda).

The visuals are rather amusing... a young, long-haired Raj Kapoor
earnestly   pouring   his   vocal  output  into  the  microphone,
accompanied by some disconcertingly effeminate overtures,  as  he
goes:           
        koii jaao re koii jaao re
        zaraa mujh pe taras koii khaao re
...cracked me up.

There's a cohort of Geeta Roy songs in this movie too,  but  none
that quite catch the ear as alluringly as this one.

Aside: The Shyam Sunder in this movie isn't the same  as  the  MD
Shyam   Sunder  (of  Village  Girl  (1945),  Lahore(1949),  Alif-
Laila(1953), etc.), is it ?



Guest Author: Hrishi Dixit