A signature tune

Composers can be usually identified by their style and signature tunes. An OPN and a Salilda are easy to identify as is a Jaidev composition. I heard this song after a very long time yesterday on the Car FM. I told Aruna it is definitely a Jaidev creation. Jaidev should have put up a precondition as should Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar, that their compositions for the female solos are meant to be sung only by very accomplished singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. Any lesser singer would fall way short of the expectations of the composer and the resultant musical output would be of far lesser lasting quality than initially expected.

Let’s listen to this song from Tumhare Liye, a movie that cast Sanjeev Kumar with Vidya Sinha as an interesting lead pairing. The movie was directed by Basu Chatterjee but had a surprisingly corny storyline with repetitive rebirths and a spoilsport lady who wants to have the hero for herself (and has been trying this since many births) by attempting to poison the pregnant lady and killing her with the unborn child, thereby making the grieving husband to commit suicide. This merrily goes on through rebirths galore, till Ashok Kumar (a Dr in the current generation who strangely has been a Vaidyaraj in the past incarnation as well) puts an end to the recurrent nonsense of Sanjeev Kumar having to woo Vidya Sinha , marrying her, getting her pregnant and then have her poisoned by the spanner-in-the-works Neelam Mehra, (amazingly she chooses the same mode of murder in every incarnation)only to have the trio die and go through the rigmarole all over again and again and yet again. So Ashok Kumar finally convinces Neelam Mehra of the folly of her act and frustrated, she drinks the poisoned chalice herself and lands up of all the places, in a picture frame on the wall while Sanjeev Kumar and Vidya Sinha, now finally freed of the seemingly endless cycle of rebirth, finally have a baby. Why they opt to at all remember a wannabe murderess (she surely wasn’t a family heirloom worth remembering, was she? Imagine the kid growing up and wanting to know about the lady. What do you tell about her? “She killed your mom and you and I committed suicide in grief….” The kid will rush YOU to the shrink)

Can’t get cornier than that, can it? I am amazed Basu Chatterjee agreed to have anything to do with such priceless tripe. Or that Yashraj Films agreed to distribute it. But the music by Jaidev is just top class, the lyrics by Naqsh Lyallpuri very meaningful too and this composition based on the very melodious raag Shivranjani just too good. Latadidi’s voice just glides through the octaves absolutely effortlessly where others would trip and stumble.

तुम्हें देखती हूँ तो लगता है ऐसे
के जैसे युगों से तुम्हें जानती हूँ
अगर तुम हो सागर ...
अगर तुम हो सागर, मैं प्यासी नदी हूँ
अगर तुम हो सावन, मैं जलती कली हूँ  
पिया तुम हो सागर.......

मुझे मेरी नींदें, मेरा चैन दे दो
मुझे मेरी सपनों की इक रैन, दे दो न....
यही बात पहले....
यही बात पहले भी तुमसे कही थी
वही बात फिर आज, दोहरा रही हूँ
पिया तुम हो सागर.....

तुम्हें छूके पल में, बने धूल चन्दन 
तुम्हें छूके पल में, बने धूल चन्दन,
तुम्हारी महक से, महकने लगे तन
महकने लगे तन.....
मेरे पास आओ ...
मेरे पास आओ, गले से लगाओ
पिया और तुमसे मैं, क्या चाहती हूँ,

तुम्हें देखती हूँ तो लगता है ऐसे
के जैसे युगों से तुम्हें जानती हूँ
अगर तुम हो सागर ...


मुरलिया समझकर, मुझे तुम उठा लो,
बस इक बार होंठों से अपने, लगा लो न..
इक बार होंठों से अपने, लगा लो न....
कोई सुर तो जागे,
कोई सुर तो जागे, मेरी धड़कनों में
के मैं अपनी सरगम से रूठी हुई हूँ

तुम्हें देखती हूँ तो लगता है ऐसे
के जैसे युगों से तुम्हें जानती हूँ
अगर तुम हो सागर, मैं प्यासी नदी हूँ
अगर तुम हो सावन, मैं जलती कली हूँ  
पिया तुम हो सागर.......

Stay safe, folks, stay healthy and far from everything Chinese…. people, country, products and virus

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