#499

       Song:    gehri gehri nindiya men soye matvaale
                kaanon men do meethe bol bolke jagaa le

       Film:    Wafa (1950)
       Singer:  Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt
       Music:   Vinod
       Lyrics:  D N Madhok
       *ing:    Nimmi, Karan Dewan

This forgotten tune counts itself among a marquee list of Asha-Geeta
collaborative efforts, a categorization that boasts of such magnificence
as Sajjad's "dharti se door gore baadalon ke paar aa jaa". While the
Sangdil track still probably retains the distinction of being their most
gorgeous duet ever, this lesser known one from the under-appreciated
Vinod comes across as a valiant contender. (And as I recently
discovered, these two have a lot of duets together in the early 50s,
much more than the commercially released quota would have one believe.)

This is one of those cherished lunge-for-the-rewind-button tracks, set
in an brisk, playful and infectiously sinusoidal tune that instinctively
makes the listener sway to its graceful cadences. Two things multiply
the appeal of this song several-fold. One is the very VERY early voice
of Asha, which, given the release timeframe of this movie, is to be
expected. And the other one is the interplay of the two voices... very
artfully done. For instance, in the mukhada, the first line ('gehri
gehri..') is sung by Asha, and the second one by Geeta, and the vocal
transition is done so deftly, it takes a couple of seconds to discern
the changed voice.

Wafa is a gem-studded soundtrack spanning a spectrum of female singers -
Lata, Asha, Geeta, Shamshad and one Minal Wagh, while Mukesh and Talat
make up the male voice roster. Talat's lovely 'sooni kar gaye shaam
hamaari, soona kiya savera' from this movie has been released by HMV on
their most recent Talat 'Rare Songs' compilation.
 

..Hrishi