#397

        Song:   behak chaley more nainwa
                haaye na jaane kaisi chalii hawaa
                kyuun na lagii kal raat ko palak
                mujhe yeh kya ho gayaa

        Film:   Chandni Chowk (1954)
        Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
        Music:  Roshan
        Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
        *ing:   Meena Kumari, Shekhar


Music Director Roshan's death anniversary falls  today  (November
16).  Some of his songs in remembrance.

My favorite song from this movie has already been posted on ATMJH
(Lata's "aa jaa ae jaanewaale, laut aaye bahaaren"), so I have to
content myself with posting one of the  two  that  come  a  close
second.   Come  to think of it, the two sound quite similar (this
one and "dil ki shikaayat nazar ke shikwe"), which is probably  I
have  them  tied  at  second  place :-) Both glow with the gentle
happiness wrought by imminent good news yet trying to temper  the
jubilation  with  controlled restraint ; an emotion well-captured
by the mature melody in Roshan's tunes. It's always a pleasure to
watch  Meena  Kumari in situations like these ; as paradoxical as
it seems, her predominantly tragic image lends a touch of realism
to  her  portrayal  of happiness, the kind of deep happiness that
follows a prolonged period of sadness.

It's a nice movie, btw - set in Delhi in the 1920s ; a  nostalgic
glimpse of a dying culture, as Rafi implores in the early moments
of the movie :          
        zamii.n bhii wohi hai, wohi aasmaa.n
        magar ab woh dilli ki galiyaa.n kahaa.n


Guest Author: Hrishi Dixit