Bee in the bonnet…

After I’d posted a picture of a bee exploring a lotus in bloom, it was only natural it would evoke thoughts of bees. We had a brief discussion about this on a group of alumni from my college. As luck would have it, on the way to the hospital, an oldie radio station played the very song we were discussing. The first time it happened to me, I was spooked, it has now recurred so many times, I have stopped wondering about the how and why.

The song provides a lighter moment in a very intense movie made by Guru Dutt in the 60s. Notionally the direction credits go to his associate Abrar Alvi, the unmistakable GuruDutt influence is very clearly seen. The movie was based on a Bangla novel Saheb, Bibi Golam by Bimal Mitra who adapted his own novel and contributed to the screenplay as well, with Abrar Alvi. The movie has amazing acting by Guru Dutt, Rehman and Meena Kumari. Waheeda Rehman’s role is surprisingly insignificant for an established actress/star at the time. The movie focuses on the decadent feudal (Zamindar) families and the Lord of the Manor spurns his wife’s carnal desires and gives up his young, pretty wife for endless evenings of decadence in many a prostitute’s company. The fabulous musical score by the genius Hemantakumar Mukhopadhyaya undoubtedly contributed to the film’s outstanding success, loved by the critics as well as the aficionados. https://youtu.be/4ray-oIMYd4

I always wonder why Guru Dutt didn’t ask his wife Geeta Dutt to sing this song. She had sung so many immortal songs with and for Hemantada, I am really nonplussed why that didn’t happen. Be as it may, the song is one of Bollywood’s most unforgettable ones. Love the naughty undertone that Asha Bhosle brings into her singing, as in this one. An amazing vignette was the Oscar Awards committee telling Guru Dutt why it was turning down the entry: “it is inappropriate for a woman to be shown as an alcoholic”!!!! The movie did win 8 Filmfares though.

I discovered a wonderful poem on bees by Shakespeare, adapted from Henry V.

The Bees

So work the honey- bees, creatures that by a rule in nature teach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom,
They have a king and officers of sorts;
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings;
Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds; 
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent royal of their emperor;
Who, busied in his magesty, surveys,
The singing masons building roofs of gold,
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrowgate,
The sad eyed Justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering over to executors pale” 
The lazy yawning drone

An amazing song to hear first up in the morning. Hope those of you who are hearing it for the first time like it, too. Have a wonderful day ahead, folks