Hamming like his brother

Raj Kapoor , arguably the greatest showman Bollywood has seen, made only a handful of movies with Nutan, to me the greatest all round actress in my lifetime. She was born in a generation of great actresses but pretty much held her own against everyone in the field, Madhubala and Meena Kumari included. It is no surprise to me she only made 4 movies that I can recall with Raj Kapoor. Anari, Kanhaiya, Chhaliya and Dil Hi to Hai. The first two of the four had music by Shankar Jaikishan, Chhaliya had music by the filial pair of Kalyanji Anandji and the last movie had music by Roshan Nagrath. Roshan had a somewhat troubled debut into Bollywood – a baptism by fire of sorts and has Kidar Sharma to thank for, for the very existence of his career. The distributors had blamed him unfairly for his debut film bombing and wanted him out of his second project, Baanwre Nain, even offering Kidar Sharma an extra handsome amount to kick him off and hire someone else. But Kidar Sharma stuck to his belief in Roshan , the movie was a huge hit, it’s music highly applauded and Roshan‘s career wasn’t cruelly aborted. He gave the music for this movie of a type that’s referred to as a Muslim social. Sahir Ludhiyanavi and Roshan team up to create magic with all the songs from the film proved to be runaway hits. The team-up of lyricists Sahir Ludhiyanavi with Roshan proved to be popular once again as it had in Barsaat ki Raat, Taj Mahal and Bahu Begum.

The movie’s title actually comes from the opening lines of Mirza Ghalib’s poem ‘Dil Hi To Hai, na sangh-o-khisht/ Dard se bhar na aaye kyun/ Royenge hum hazaar baar, koyee hume sataaye kyun’.

‘Dil Hi To Hai’ has the core of its storyline beautifully etched in two songs. These are, ‘Dil jo bhi kahega manenge’ and the second one, ‘Bhoole se mohobbat kar baitha, naadaan tha bechara dil hi to hai’.

Qawwali, sometimes considered a form of devotional singing, is primarily male-dominated. It is also a form that was best taken to Bollywood by Roshan, who has composed the best known qawwalis in Hindi Films. Bollywood would feature Qawwali contests featuring a group of men and a group of women in Barsaat ki Raat and between two groups of women in Mughal-e-Azam. But Nutan excels in ‘Dil Hi To Hai’, stealing the show in the Qawwali number ‘Raaz ki baat hai, mehfil mein kahe ya na kahe’. 

In the title-song, Raj Kapoor, playing Yusuf, sports the Rumi Topi, or the Turkish Fez Cap, which was very popular in Hyderabad at the time. https://youtu.be/uD5Pe4k3myI

Despite so many wonderful songs and a couple of great Mukesh solo numbers too, I remember two of the most memorable songs in ‘Dil Hi To Hai’ by Manna Dey: this one is based on a Thumri, a semiclassical format, and has so much of a spiritual and philosophical underpinning. ‘Laga chunri mein daagh chhupaon kaise… odhi chunariya Atma mori…..’ is a wonderful song to listen to, almost a devotional number, and the audio and the visuals feel entirely different from one other. The same dichotomy appears in some similar songs sung by Manna Dey for Mehmood. The other Manna Dey song is a duet with Asha Bhosle : ‘Parda utthe salaam ho jaaye, baat ban jaaye kaam ho jaaye’. 

लागा चुनरी में दाग, छुपाऊँ कैसे
चुनरी में दाग, छुपाऊँ कैसे, घर जाऊँ कैसे
लागा चुनरी में दाग…

हो गई मैली मोरी चुनरिया
कोरे बदन सी कोरी चुनरिया
जाके बाबुल से नज़रें मिलाऊँ कैसे, घर जाऊँ कैसे
लागा चुनरी में दाग…

भूल गई सब बचन बिदा के
खो गई मैं ससुराल में आके
जाके बाबुल से नज़रे मिलाऊँ कैसे, घर जाऊँ कैसे
लागा चुनरी में दाग…

कोरी चुनरिया आत्मा मोरी
मैल है माया जाल
वो दुनिया मोरे बाबुल का घर
ये दुनिया ससुराल
जाके बाबुल से नज़रे मिलाऊँ कैसे, घर जाऊँ कैसे
लागा चुनरी में दाग…

स्वर लिपि:
आ.. धिम तानाना दिर्ग तानुम
तान्ना देरे ना धिन
तानाना धिक् ता
नुम ता देरे ना धिन
तानाना धिक् ता
नुम ता देरे ना धिन

ना देरे देरे ताना देरे
ताना तुम्र ता धा रे तारे ता नि
धिम तानानानाना धिर धिर
धिर धिर धिर ता नि
ता नि ता न
ता नि ता न
धिम तानाना दिर्ग तानुम
ताना देरे ना धिम
तानाना दिर्ग ता
नुम ता देरे ना

सप्त सुर न तीन ग्राम
बंसी बाजे
रे सा सा नी, सा नी नी ध, नी ध ध प, प म म ग
म ध ग म म ग र स
धा धा किरता, धा धा किरता, धा धा किरता
चरन धरन धरत पग परत नहीं परन
झांझर झनके छननन नननन
ना धिरन धिन तनुम
नननन तनननन
ना धिम तनन दिर्ग तानुम
ता ना देरे ना धिम
तानाना दिर्ग ता
नुम ता देरे ना धिन
तानाना धित ता

ना दिर्ग तुम्र ध ध
धिम तानानानानना, धिम तानानानानना, धिम तानानानानना 
धिरधिर तुम तानानाना, धिरधिर तुम तानानाना, धिरधिर तुम तानानाना
ना धिर धिर धीर, तुम धिर धिर धिर 
ना धिर धिर धीर, तुम धिर धिर धिर 
धित तुम, धित तुम, धित तुम, धित तुम
धि तुम तो, धि तुम तो, धि तुम तो, धि तुम तो

धा गिर्त त तुम त क्रांधा
धा गिर्त त तुम त क्रांधा
धा गिर्त त तुम त क्रांधा

धिम तानाना धित त तानुम
तान्ना देरे ना धिम
तानाना धित त तानुम
तान्ना देरे ना धिम
तानाना धित त तानुम
तान्ना देरे ना धिम
तानाना धित त ता
नुम ता धेरे ना धिम
तानाना धित त ता
नुम ता धेरे ना धिम
तानाना धित त ता
धित त ता
धित त ता

I am hundred percent sure the song had the swarlipi written by a Classical Music Maestro and not Sahir. It was almost custom-made for Manna Dey.

Surely no one else could have pulled it off successfully.

My cousin Anil Khandekar sings this beautifully , as he does for several other similar songs by Manna Dey.

Stay safe, folks, stay healthy as the rains take over and green the landscape. A season of rejuvenation and revival.

Advertisement