The wheel of time….

Woke up today with this amazing memory and melody resonating in my mind. As luck would have it, the golden oldies program on the FM radio station played the very same song.

I’ve always been a great fan of Manna Dey. To me the only one in Bollywood who could sing shuddha raagdari with the same felicity as singing rock and roll. And for a man of his class, sadly neglected to a great extent by the powers that be in Bollywood.

This song has wonderful poetry by none other than Gopaldas Saxena, “Neeraj” and music by Shankar Jaikishan who could create some wonderful melodies occasionally despite the large volume of their output. This is from an inconsequential film called Chanda aur Bijli. https://youtu.be/hd-2T2WsxIc

The convoluted plot deals with the heir to a royal household Chanda (Sachin) landing up in an orphanage, then in a gang of petty thieves and street urchins before somehow reaching his original home, id’ing himself and then proceeding to reform the urchins and thieves. Bijli is the beautiful young street dancer (Padmini) who has a great time showing off her dancing skills. Sanjeev Kumar was, incredibly, the male lead in this rather pedestrian movie directed by Guru Dutt‘s brother, Atma Ram.

The movie’s sole claim to fame was this song which was awarded the Filmfare Nomination for Neeraj, as being the Best Lyricist that year. The song truly stands out in an otherwise routine and run of the mill movie. Great meaningful lyrics , melodious composition and predictably, wonderful singing by Mannada.

काल का पहिया घूमे भैया
लाख तरह इन्सान चले
ले के चले बारात कभी तो
कभी बिना सामान चले

राम कृष्ण हरि ...
 
जनक की बेटी अवध की रानी
सीता भटके बन बन में
राह अकेली रात अन्धेरी
मगर रतन हैं दामन में
साथ न जिस के चलता कोई
उस के साथ भगवान चले
 
राम कृष्ण हरि ...
 
हाय री क़िस्मत कृष्ण कन्हैया
स्वाद न जाने माखन का
हँसी चुराये फूलों की वो
कंस है माली उपवन का
भूल न पापी मगर पाप की
ज्यादा नहीं दुकान चले
 
राम कृष्ण हरि ...
 
अजब है कैसी प्रभु की माया
माला से बिछुड़ा दाना
ढूँढे जिसे मन सामने है वो
जाये न लेकिन पहचाना
कैसे वो मालिक दिखे तुझे जब
साथ तेरे अभिमान चले
 
राम कृष्ण हरि ...
 
कर्म अगर अच्छा है तेरा
क़िस्मत तेरी दासी है
दिल है तेरा साफ़ तो प्यारे
घर में मथुरा काशी है
सच्चाई की राह चलो रे
जब तक जीवन प्राण चले
 
राम कृष्ण हरि ...

Stay happy folks, stay safe and enjoy the day that marks the victory of good over evil. Hope the evil represented by the PFI is vanquished forever. My greetings to all of you today, tomorrow and forever.