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]

"Gumrah", the lost ones who are brought back within the fold of society…and verses penned by Sahir, undermining the logic of that story…

In hawaon mein in fizaaon mein tujhko mera pyar pukare
Aaja aaja re tujh ko mera pyar pukare
Ruk na paun main khinchti aaun …tujhko mera pyar pukare

Laut rahi hain meri sadayen deewaron se sar takra ke
Haath pakad kar chalne wale ho gaye rukhsat haat chuda ke
Unko kuch bhi yaad nahin hai ab koi sau baar pukaare…
Aaja aaja re tujhko mera pyar pukare…

Ilm nahin tha itni jaldi khatm fasane ho jayenge
Tum begane ban jaoge hum deewane ho jayenge
Kal baahon ka haar mila tha aaj ashkon ka haar pukaare
Aaja aaja re tujhko mera pyar pukare

Loot ke mere dil ki duniya pyaar ke jhoole jhoolne waale(2)
Patthar ban kar yun chup kyun hai kuch to keh o bhoolnewale
Ek purani yaad bulaaye ek toota ikraar pukaree
Aaja aaja re…

In hawaon mein in fizaon mein tujhko mera pyar pukare…it is a lover’s passionate cry and receives the woman’s equally passionate response “ruk na paaun main/khinchti aaun main …” the intensity and the passionate images that the song evokes are way beyond the scope of the film which could not even hint at sexual infidelity. If I remember correctly, it has Mala Sinha primly committing the ultimate digression of going over to Sunil Dutt’s house to watch him paint without her husband’s knowledge.

Laut rahin hain meri sadayen deewaron se sar takra ke …the film adds faintly negative tones to Sunil Dutt’s character, he is the aggressor who can potentially break up a marriage. However, in the song, he is the betrayed one and the lovers are the ones whose world has been shattered. “Samaaj” as “deewar”, or phrases such as “tum begane ban jaoge hum dewane ho jayenge” or “loot ke mere dil ki duniya” are all part of the vocabulary of a love story or a passionate romance, in the social drama of “Gumraah” they have no place…


Aap aaye to khayale dile nashaad aaya(2)
Kitne bhoole hue zakhmon ka pata yaad aaya
Nashaad:unhappy

Aap ke lab pe kabhi apna bhi naam aaya tha
Sokh nazron se mohabbat ka salaam aaya tha
Umr bhar saath nibhane ka payaam aaya tha
Aap ko dekh ke wo ehde wafa yaad aaya
Kitne bhoole hue zakhmon ka pata yaad aaya

Rooh mein jal uthe bujhti hui yaadon ke diye
Kaise deewane the hum aap ko pane ke liye
Yun to kuch kam nahin jo aap ne ehsaan kiye
Par jo maange se na paya wo sila yaad aaya
Kitne bhoole hue zakhmon ka pata yaad aaya

Aaj wo baat nahin phir bhi koi baat to hai
Mere hisse mein ye halki si mulaqaat to hai
Gair ka hoke bhi ye husn mere saath to hai
Haye kis waqt mujhe tab ka gila yaad aaya
Kitne bhoole hue zakhmon ka pata yaad aaya

When you came, I remembered my unhappy heart… “Aap aaye” that is the digression that Mala Sinha commits in the movie, she brings back to the lover the consciousness of his forgotten, unhappy heart. And in this song too… “zakm” “ehde wafa” “gila” “gair”(the husband in this case) they are all words that give a certain sanctity to their “illicit” “gumraah” desires… The lover is grateful enough, he says for the favors she has granted him, but…what he had asked for and did not get is what him haunts him…
Intemperance… in terms of the social drama, it is articulated as tragedy in the context of the song.

Penned by the volatile, rebellious Sahir who always found himself in love in the wrong situations, the songs are all presented from the lovers’ point of view; here social concerns don’t function the way they do in the movie. Check out this song from the movie for example; what a superb beginning,

Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jayen hum dono(2)

Na main tumse koi ummeed rakhoon dil navaazi ki
Na tum meri taraf dekho galat andaaz nazaron se
Na mere dil ki dhadkan ladkhadaye meri baton mein
Na zahir ho tumhari kashmakash ka raaz nazron se
Chalo ek baar phir se…
Dil-nazaavi: soothing the mind

“Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jayen hum dono”…Let us become strangers one more time, the lover suggesting bitterly to his girlfriend that they turn back the clock, that they become strangers one more time…

And then follow a series of situations that are stated in the negative…the lover is stating that once that happens (their becoming strangers), the following will not happen:
He will not expect her to soothe his mind
She will not look at him…what a superb phrase used in the context of the erring lovers… “galat andaz nazron se”
His heart will not trip amid his conversations
Her eyes will not reveal the secret of her tumultuous (emotions)
Through these negatives in fact the lover defiantly reveals the present state of the lovers…

Tumhe bhi koi uljhan rokti hai pesh kadmi se
Mujhe bhi log kehte hain ki ye jalwe paraye hai
Mere hamraah bhi rusvaiyan hain mere maazi ki
Tumhari saath bhi guzri hui raaton ke saaye hain
Chalo ek baar phir se…
Rusvaiyan: infamous/dishonoured/disgraced
Maazi: past

In the second stanza the lover is more aware of the social constraints…He knows she is inhibited by some considerations, he is also constrained by social opinion. He has to contend with the “disgraces” of his past and memories of shared passion with her…

Taaruf rog ho haaye to usko bhoolna achha (introduction?)
Taaluk bojh ban jaye to use todana achha
Wo afsaane jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumkin
Use ek khoobsurat mod de ke chodna achha
Chalo ek baar phir se…

The compromise he suggests in the last stanza is underlined with bitterness. If an introduction/knowledge becomes an illness, it is better to forget it. If a relationship becomes a burden, it is best to break it…Stories that cannot reach their logical conclusion should be given a beautiful twist and abandoned... The last stanza contends with the negative images such as “rog” and “bojh” in which their relationship might be viewed hence the compromise he suggests, “Wo afsane jise anjaam tak laana na ho mumkin/Use ek khoobsurat mod de ke chodna achha”

Sahir as the eternally rejected lover-poet has given a "khoobsurat mod" to those incomplete stories and relationships in the form of his songs that have far outlived the films themselves.

For the life of me I cannot locate the full "Chalo ek Baar" that has the crucial third stanza. It is a common enough song, if someone will kindly do the honors...