#497

       Song:    do bol tere meethe meethe
                dil jaan ke maalik ban baithe

       Film:    Daara (1953)
       Singer:  Lata Mangeshkar, Hemant Kumar, chorus
       Music:   Mohammed Shafi
       Lyrics:  Madhup Sharma
       *ing:    ?

Hemantda's eleventh death anniversary passed on September 26. In remembrance...

Some mentions have been made recently of this transcendental melody from the
lesser known Mohammed Shafi, but this is one of those songs where it takes a
long time to reach time to reach the "enough already!" threshold. It is a
compositional masterpiece, weaving together several seemingly asynchronous
musical threads into a multi-layered yet cohesive melodic theme. The result - an
absolutely enchanting tapestry of music that triumphs on all counts - the
orchestral ambience, the choral coordination, and of course the magnificent
renditions from Hemantda and Lata.

Gorgeous as it is, the song wouldn't be half as good if it weren't for
Hemantda's contribution to it, right at the offset. Amidst a softly whispering
chorus and the softest ever alaapi from Lata, he smoothes his way into the
mukhda with "kuchh nazar jhuki...". It is interesting to analyze the way the
lines of the mukhada have been patterned... () indicates Lata's voice, []
indicates chorus:
 
        kuchh nazar hati (do bol tere meethe meethe)
        kuchh nazar jhuki (dil jaan ke maalik ban baithe)
        takaraake labon se baat uthi
        (ye baat chhupaaye...) [do bol tere meethe meethe]
        (chhup na saki) [dil jaan ke maalik ban baithe]
        hum tumse muhabbat kar baithe
        [do bol tere meethe meethe]...

Describing it this way sounds stupid. But the idea is to give a flavor of the
deft layering in this song, one of the two facets the song excels in. The other
one is the softness of the backing vocals - Hemantda's humming when Lata sings,
Lata's humming when Hemantda sings and the atmospheric chorus all along. If
nothing else, this song should assure Shafi a permament seat in the Golden Era
Hall of Fame.

I'm not sure if this song is available commercially, but I can try to put an
audio clipping of this song up on the Athaah Saagar web site if people are
interested. A song like this should not go unlistened.
 

..Hrishi