A guest tribute to Talat from Swaraj Mishra...
(this is not from that CD, btw).
--------------
#435
Song:
chal diya caravan, lut gaye hum yahaan tum wahaan
gir padi bijliyaan, jal gaya aashiyaan,
uth raha hai dhuaan
Film:
Laila Majnu (1953)
Singer: Talat
Mahmood
Music: Ghulam
Mohammed
Lyrics: Shakeel
Badayuni
* ing: Shammi
Kapoor, Nutan
On the first death anniversary of Talat Mahmood, when I think
of him, I
instantly remember this song, my favourite Talat number.
About this
song I can say one thing, when someone talks of small is
beautiful,
refer to this number. There can be no more glaring example
of the same.
This song has got so much of gravity in it that, when you
hear it, it
keeps you longing for more, like a rain in a desert.
The lyrics of Shakeel has been excellent, and so is the music
of Ghulam
Mohammed. They are a real deadly duo. Even in other movies
like Mirza
Ghalib the pair is equally breath taking. I haven't
heard of any other
song of Laila Majnu, but this song alone is enough to put
it in the
list of my favourite movies, as far as music is concerned.
Is there any
album of Laila Majnu now available?
Often Rafi is associated to Shammi Kapoor as his voice. However,
inspite of being an ardent Rafi and Shammi Kpoor fan, I can't
even
think of any Rafi-Shammi number matching this song. It takes
one to
some unknown distance, lost in the melody. One is the line
" ja meri
zindagi tera hafiz khuda'" from this song and another is
"alvida,
alvida, alvida, alvida " from Yeh Zindagi Usiki Hai (Anarkali),
that
give me a feeling as if something or somebody very near and
dear to me
is going far from me, giving a nostalgic feeling. I cherish
this number.
Swaraj Mishra
--------
To answer your question, "Laila Majnu" is available on an
EMI CD with
Husnlal Bhagatram's "Shama Parwana" (EMI catalog number CD
120276). A
better ear-catcher therefrom for me is the Asha-Talat duet
"bahaaro.n
ki duniya pukaare tuu aaja".