Sahir Ludhianvi: Silver Memories, Romantic Sahir Options Rating

[mmuk2004]

Hi

I am starting a topic on Sahir Ludhianvi that has been posted in another forum before. It was started on his death anniversary, a nostalgia trip beginning with some of his romantic lyrics. Feel free to add on songs that make you feel mmmm....warm and woolly-headed , angry and passionate , sad and philosophical or just plain confused and... all those other complex emotions related to the thing called ...love???



Remembering him through his romantic duets:

Situation: Dream Sequence.
To expand upon it: the impoverished hero and the heroine express their love for each other in gorgeous surroundings, which would otherwise not be possible given the hero's depressing penury. Moreover the situation is literally a dream, which is not realised as the heroine later on opts for a more stable marriage with a well established publisher.

Note the wonderful lyrics, the entire song is posed as question upon question with the female counteracting the male's romantic metaphors with her teasing counter images... Wonderfully captures the mood of the film and yet stands on its own as classic romantic chedkhani.



Hum aap ki aankhon mein is dil ko basa dein to
Hum moond ke palkon ko is dil ko saza dein to
Hum aap ki aankhon mein is dil ko basa dein to

In zulfon mein goondege hum phool mohabbat ke
Zulfon ko jhatak kar hum yeh phool gira dein to

Hum aap ko kwaabon mein la la ke satayenge
Hum aap ki aankhon se neendein hi uda de to

Hum aap ke kadmon par gir jayenge ghas khakar
Is par bhi na hum apne aanchal ki hawa dein to

Hum aap ki aankon mein is dil ko basa dein to
Hum moond ke palkon ko is dil ko saza dein to

[mmuk2004]

Thanks BC, Divz and Nimii for your warm response. Sure, Nimii would love to oblige you. In the meantime...

The above were typical postures of love, made unique by Sahir's inimitable style, here are some examples of how he dramatically overturns common perceptions of love...

The most famous example is his nazm on the Tajmahal, the eminent metaphor of eternal love. The famous Shakeel Badayuni song, set to the music of Naushad made famous on the screen by Dilip Kumar and Vajyantimala: "Ek Shahenshah ne banwa ke haseen Tajmahal/Sari Duniya ko Mohabbat ki nishani di hai" from Leader,is overturned in this song from Ghazal, set to music by Madan Mohan. Cannot really say that the song is great(musically speaking), and the nazm(originally published in Talkhiyan), is heavily truncated for the movie, yet the fire of Sahir's pen still glitters in this song...


The man asks his beloved to choose a place other than the Tajmahal to meet him. The grandeur of the structure mocks the common man's love, which cannot be expressed so beautifully even when the emotions are pure...Read it in Sahir's own words, I have given a very rough explanation of some of the more uncommon words used in the song.


Taj tere liye ek mazhar-e-ulfat hi sahi
tujhko is wadi-e-rangeen ki aqeedat hi sahi
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse

(mazhar e ulfat=mazhar of love, wadi-e-rangi=beautiful place, aqeedat=faith)


Anginat logon nein duniya mein mohabbat ki hai
kaun kehta hai ki sadiq na the jasbe unke
lekin unke liye tashhir ka samaan nahin
kyunki woh log bhi apni hi tarah muflis the
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse
meri mehboob

(saadiq=pure, tashhir=advertisement,muflis=common man)


yeh chamanzaar, yeh jamuna ka kinara, yeh mahal(2)
Yeh munaqqash dar-o-dewaar, yeh mehraab yeh taaq
ek shahenshah ne daulat ka sahara lekar
hum garibon ki mohabbat ka udaya hai mazaak
meri mehboob meri mehboob,
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse
Meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse

(chamanzaar=garden, munaqqash=decorated,taaq=arch)

[bawlachintu]

Thanks BC, Divz and Nimii for your warm response. Sure, Nimii would love to oblige you. In the meantime...

The above were typical postures of love, made unique by Sahir's inimitable style, here are some examples of how he dramatically overturns common perceptions of love...

The most famous example is his nazm on the Tajmahal, the eminent metaphor of eternal love. The famous Shakeel Badayuni song, set to the music of Naushad made famous on the screen by Dilip Kumar and Vajyantimala: "Ek Shahenshah ne banwa ke haseen Tajmahal/Sari Duniya ko Mohabbat ki nishani di hai" from Leader,is overturned in this song from Ghazal, set to music by Madan Mohan. Cannot really say that the song is great(musically speaking), and the nazm(originally published in Talkhiyan), is heavily truncated for the movie, yet the fire of Sahir's pen still glitters in this song...


The man asks his beloved to choose a place other than the Tajmahal to meet him. The grandeur of the structure mocks the common man's love, which cannot be expressed so beautifully even when the emotions are pure...Read it in Sahir's own words, I have given a very rough explanation of some of the more uncommon words used in the song.


Taj tere liye ek mazhar-e-ulfat hi sahi
tujhko is wadi-e-rangeen ki aqeedat hi sahi
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse

(mazhar e ulfat=mazhar of love, wadi-e-rangi=beautiful place, aqeedat=faith)


Anginat logon nein duniya mein mohabbat ki hai
kaun kehta hai ki sadiq na the jasbe unke
lekin unke liye tashhir ka samaan nahin
kyunki woh log bhi apni hi tarah muflis the
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse
meri mehboob

(saadiq=pure, tashhir=advertisement,muflis=common man)


yeh chamanzaar, yeh jamuna ka kinara, yeh mahal(2)
Yeh munaqqash dar-o-dewaar, yeh mehraab yeh taaq
ek shahenshah ne daulat ka sahara lekar
hum garibon ki mohabbat ka udaya hai mazaak
meri mehboob meri mehboob,
meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse
Meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse

(chamanzaar=garden, munaqqash=decorated,taaq=arch)

Great work Madhavi. U gave me yet another reason to
enjoy lyrics of Sahir and understand him better.

Keep posting. Always a joy to read your posts.

As a critic and an admirer I would like to quote here few words

The most striking features of the poetry of Sahir (which literally
means 'enchanter') are intensity of thought, utter sincerity, pathos
for the downtrodden and a novel treatment of his subject matter. In
his immortal poem Taj Mahal, Sahir refused to sing of Shah Jahan's
grandeur and the love he ostensibly had for his queen. For him, the
Taj Mahal is symbol of a tasteless proclamation of love, more
exhibitionist than real. Instead, he eulogized the skill of the
artisans who built the Taj Mahal and lamented at the poor reward they
must have received. Finally, he arrives at the grand finale by
concluding that the great emperor, with the help of his enormous
wealth, ridiculed the love of the poor and the deprived. --Shamim Ahmed

My 2 Atthanis

[mmuk2004]

As a critic and an admirer I would like to quote here few words

The most striking features of the poetry of Sahir (which literally
means 'enchanter') are intensity of thought, utter sincerity, pathos
for the downtrodden and a novel treatment of his subject matter. In
his immortal poem Taj Mahal, Sahir refused to sing of Shah Jahan's
grandeur and the love he ostensibly had for his queen. For him, the
Taj Mahal is symbol of a tasteless proclamation of love, more
exhibitionist than real. Instead, he eulogized the skill of the
artisans who built the Taj Mahal and lamented at the poor reward they
must have received. Finally, he arrives at the grand finale by
concluding that the great emperor, with the help of his enormous
wealth, ridiculed the love of the poor and the deprived. --Shamim Ahmed

My 2 Atthanis

BC thank you for the informative quote. The lyrics of the film song completely bypassed the sympathy for the artisans that is the counterpoint to Sahir's criticism of the king. Yet the social criticism is still evident in his identification with the common man... "kyunki woh log bhi apni hi tarah muflis the"...what a wonderful line