#446

     Song:   kis nazar ka mast ishaara hai zindagi
             kis aasmaan ka toota sitaara hai zindagi

     Film:   Raag Rang (1952)
     Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
     Music:  Roshan
     Lyrics: Sarshar Silani
     *ing:   Ashok Kumar, Geeta Bali
 

I've heard this song way too many times just in one day (today, 11 at
last count). Just had to write about it...

kya kashtiyaan rahengi yeh lehron se hoshiyaar, lehron se hoshiyaar
unke hain jinse laakh umeedon ke beqaraar, haaye beqaraar
dariya ka ek behta kinaara hai zindagi
kis aasmaan ka toota sitaara hai zindagi

That's the first antaraa of this maddeningly lovely song. Noted Marathi
literatteur P.L.Deshpande has written an article on Lata's musical
articulation of the word "haaye". And I think one can write an entire
thesis and still not do justice to it; some things just cannot be
captured in words. PL was referring to the terminal "haaye" in the
Barsaat song "barsaat men humse mile" when he wrote that, but numerous
songs before and after have used this forlorn, despairing word, and no
one has come even remotely close to capturing the emotion in it as
effectively and feelingly as Lata does.

Enough of that. That antaraa up there constitutes some of the most
gloriously sung lines in HFM for me, right along with Noor
Jehan's "band kaliyon ne suna mast bahaaron ne suna" from Jugnu.
Especially the second line.. "unke hain jinse..." (are those lyrics
right, btw ? the recording is compromised and the grammar seems
cryptic). Nevertheless, it makes the task of selecting a single
favorite from the Lata-Roshan early-50s vault an almost impossible
task. Lovely lyrics by whoever it is (I forget the lyricist, but I
think it is one of the two I've mentioned above; please correct me if
I'm wrong), and one of the sweetest tunes I've heard.

The song ends rather amusingly too, on a tentatively
questioning "sitaara ?..", like someone just walked in, cutting her
musical train of thought.

Raag Rang is bedecked with magical tunes from this combo, including the
celebratory "yahiin bahaar hai duniya ko bhool jaane ki", the Yaman
bandish "aeri aali piya bina" and some nice duets with Talat ("dil-e-
beqaraar soja"), Trilok Kapur ("karte hain ishaare"), etc.

Buy it. Now.