#408

          Song:   hans le gaa le o chaand mere, o mere chaand
                  taaron ke sang raas rachaa le, hans le gaa le

          Film:   Jeet (1949)
          Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
          Music:  Anil Biswas
          Lyrics: Shyam Babu Pathak (?)
          *ing:   Dev Anand, Suraiyya

  Suraiyya pretty much dominates this lovely Anilda soundtrack with beauties
  like "tum miit mere tum praan mere", "kuchh phuul khiley armaano.n ke", etc.,
  but there are a couple of Lata songs on it which are among the sweetest I've
  ever heard - this one and the magnificent "mast pawan hai chanchal dhaara,
  man ki naiyya Dol na jaaye".

  "hans le gaa le" is a tough song to sing and make it sound sweet- it places
  exacting demands on the malleability of voice, fraught as it is with little
  convolutions, "murkis' and twists around every corner. To manipulate them
  without missing a single note and without evincing a hint of surplus effort
  takes... a Lata, I guess. And that dulcet, 1949 voice of hers... you do the
  math !

  There is also a lovely devotional piece by Geeta Roy on the soundtrack :
  "suno suno banwaari morii". The movie is one of the earliest depictions I've
  seen of a theme that every new movie coming out seems to be based on these
  days- the unwelcome-ness of American culture in India ; Madan Puri plays a
  cocky, just-returned-from-America gent whose westernized jibes are swiftly
  rebuffed by the desh ke vaasi (esp. through songs like "ban jaao
  hindustani.." ; no place for subtlety, huh ? :-)). Thus is established the
  villain of the piece, right off the bat. Kind of strange to see him at the
  receiving end of the two Lata romantic solos, filmed on I-forget-who, someone
  who plays Suraiyya's sister, IIRC.

  ..Hrishi