42.LOVE - LIGHT AND SERIOUS

42. LOVE - Light and Serious

Romance sparks creativity

Romance was the stuff of Hindi movies till the so called 'action' films (exhibiting naked, mindless violence) took over. Romance was captured in all its moods-from the sublime to the ridiculous, from hilarity to heart-breaks, from happy endings to stark tragedy, from the realistic to the fanciful. The theme was, on the whole, treated in a dignified manner.( though people were not wanting who glamorized the not so licit.) 
This created great opportunities for wonderful music.Our lyricists wrote sublime songs to suit each mood; our great music directors composed nice tunes to capture the mood. The singers sang them soulfully or gaily, as the situation warranted. The songs in those days hardly lasted three minutes on the 78 rpm records, but the mood and memory they created have remained with us! We still hum those tunes, recall  those words!
 Those were the days we had only Radio Ceylon to listen to,[Vividh Bharati was no match even when it came, run by government morons], and we addicts of film music spent nearly 4-5 hours  every day listening to the radio.

Life was leisurely, had not acquired the maddening pace; we led simple lives, were easily contented with what we had, pleased with the native charms; studies were not burdensome, and we did not have much of the gloss of modern distractions; music filled our heart and led us to dream! Realities of life  caught up with us only later, but the joy of youthful dream inspired by the music did not leave or fade entirely. Some things were beyond our grasp, but not our reach!

 I think Wordsworth captured that mood well, though in a different context:

Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy! 

For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood 

Upon our side, we who were strong in love! 

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, 

But to be young was very heaven!

[Auxiliar = help]
Picture: National Portrait Gallery, London.

Vague dreams  and vain hopes!

Our poets came up with nice songs to depict the many moods and some of them have stayed with us, in spite of the passage of years. When we look at the lyrics, it does not matter who is the actor and how the song was picturised. In fact, we did/could not see many of those movies, but only heard the songs on the radio. We were not bombarded with the  unbearable visuals through a hundred channels on the TV. We heard the songs: only the melody, meaning and the voice quality registered with us! They are still with us, despite the passage of decades.

Let us see some of the songs here.

Song: Ye dil na hota bechara

Film: Jewel Thief 1967

Music: S.D.Burman

Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Singer: Kishore Kumar

Right:Kishore& Dada Burman

ये दिल ना होता बेचारा
कदम न होते आवारा
जो खूबसूरत कोई अपना हमसफ़र होता
ये दिल न होता...

Ye dil na hota bechaara

Kadam na hote awara

Jo khubsurat koyi apna hamsafar hota

Ye dil....

This heart would not have been poor,

These steps would not be those of a wanderer,

If someone beautiful had been my companion, 

travelling with me!

अरे सुना, जब से ज़माने हैं बहार के
हम भी आये हैं राही बन के प्यार के
कोई न कोई तो बुलायेगा
खड़े हैं हम भी राहों में
ये दिल न होता...

Arey suna, jab se zamane hai(n) bahar ke

Hum bhi aaye hai(n) raahi ban ke pyar ke

Koyi na koyi to bulaayaega

Kade hai(n) hum bhi raaho(n) mein

Ye dil.......

Oh, the spring season arrived long ago

I have also become a traveller on the path of love!

Eventually, someone will call me!

I will keep waiting on the way!

अरे माना उसको नहीं मैं पहचानता
बंदा उसका पता भी नहीं जानता
मिलना लिखा है तो आयेगा
खड़े हैं हम भी राहों में
ये दिल ना होता...

Arey maana usko nahi mai(n) pehchaanta

Banda uska patha bhi nahi  jaanta

Milna likha hai to aayaega

Kade hai(n) hum bhi raaho(n) mein

Oh, I agree that I do not know her!

Dear, I do not know her whereabouts!

If it is written that we should meet,

she will surely come!

I will wait on the way!

अरे उसकी धुन में पड़ेगा दुख झेलना
सीखा हमने भी पत्थरों से खेलना
सूरत कभी तो दिखायेगा
पड़े हैं हम भी राहों में
ये दिल ना होता...

Arey uski dhun mei(n) padaega dukh jhaelna

Seekha humnae bhi paththaro(n) sey khaelna

Surat kabhi to dikhaayaega

Pade hai(n) hum bhi raaho(n) mein

Ye dil na hota bechara.....

May be I will have to suffer looking out for her!

But then, I  know too how to deal with stone hearts!

She will surely show her face some time!

I am waiting on the way!

Oh, this heart would not have been poor.....

Well, this is just a shot in the dark! Wishful thinking, fancy dreams, so nicely captured in words! Take time to dream, it is hitching your wagon to a star, says an old song. Most of us would only dare dream, those days! What if it does not materialise?

Pearls or tears ?

Song: Hum dum se gaye

Film: Manzil, 1960

Music: S.D.Burman

Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Singer: Manna Dey
Right: Burman&Manna Dey.

[ I could not get a decent  full Hindi version, so I am only giving the English version.]

Hum dum se gaye hum dum ke liye

Hum dum ki kasam hum dum na mila

Earnestly I sought a companion

I swear on my life

I did not find one!

Phir bhi keh ja tu apna afsana

Saathi miljayega na rukh jaana

O dil teri kali, abhi tho na khili

Abhi wo mausam na mila

Still, go ahead and tell your story!

Surely you will find a companion. Do not stop.

Oh, the bud of your heart has not blossomed yet'

For the season is not yet come!

Aye dil chamka tu apne daago ko

Roshan kiye ja bujhe chirago ko

Tu gaaye ja meri jaan, 

Ye duniya hai yahan

Kisi ko murham na mila

O heart, paint your miseries (forget them)

Keep lighting the extinguished lamps

Keep singing your song.

This world is such a place where-

no one yet found real consolation.

Moti na mile tho ashk bharna hai

Daman bharna teri tamanna hai

Tho pyare tujhe kushi, agar na mili

Tho gam kuch kum na mila.

You have not got the pearls (you sought)

Then, gather the tears!

For it is your desire to accumulate (something)

Even if you have not found happiness,

You have gathered enough sorrow!

I earnestly sought a soulmate, I did not get.

Here, the poet is cautioning against wild dreams, and vague hopes. This  is beautifully brought out in another song.

Not a rosy path!

Song: Mohabbat ki raaho(n) mein

Film: Uran Khatola 1955

Music: Naushad

Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni

Singer: Rafi
Right: Naushad, Rafi & Shakeel
Photo:www.sunbyanyname.com
This is in raag Jaijaivanti.

मोहब्बत की राहों में चलना संभल के
यहां जो भी आया गया हाथ मॉल के
मोहब्बत की राहों में चलना संभल के

Mohabbat ki raaho(n) mein chalna sambhal ke

Yaha(n) jo bhi aaya gaya haath maal ke

Mohabbat ki raaho(n) mein ......

Walk cautiously on the path of love

Whoever entered this path has gone regretting

Be cautious on the path of love.

न पाई किसी ने मुहब्बत की मज़िल
कदम डगमगाए ज़रा दूर चल के
मोहब्बत की राहों में चलना संभल के

Na paayee kisi ne mohabbat ki manzil

Kadam dagmagaaye zara duur chal ke

Mohabbat ki raaho(n) mein.....

No one has reached the destination of love

On the way, their feet got trembling.

Be cautious on the path of love.

हमें ढूंढती है बहारों की दुनिया
कहाँ आ गए हम चमन से निकल के
मोहब्बत की राहों में चलना संभल के

Hame(n) duundthi hai baharo(n) ki duniya

Kahaa(n) aagaye  hum chaman se nikal ke

Mohabbat ki raaho(n)....

Searching for the world of beauty,

See where we have come, leaving the garden!

Be cautious on the path of love

कही टूट जाए न हसरत भरे दिल

न यूँ तिर फेको निषाना बदल के
मोहब्बत की राहों में चलना संभल के
मोहब्बत की राहों में.

Kahi toot jaaye na hazrat bhara dil

Na yoon teer faeko nishaana badal ke

Mohabbat ki raaho(n) mein.....

Take care. lest the heart full of desires should be broken.

There is no point in shooting at a changed target..

Be cautious on the path of love.

The poet is actually cautioning here that true love is difficult to find. It is not what romantic novels and films seek to portray and lead people astray. True love is a commitment to life, it is a sacrifice, no less.

Love - only for the young?

Mainstram cinema being a commercially oriented medium,there are limitations to the extent or degree of artistic impulse or refinement it will take or tolerate. Being a visual medium, the emphasis is on  show, and not necessarily substance. This is especially so after movies started donning colour- often garish and crude.
 The filmi style celebrates love only in certain modes - eg. as between physically attractive youngsters-, and that is also encased in standard formulas. Mature love is hardly depicted. Conjugal love is not much celebrated, except in the old 'family' dramas, with contrived situations. As if people do not love after marriage! Young love may end in marriage, but these days, marriage ends love! But the 50s and early 60s were different, even in films! However, there are not many songs depicting love in marriage! We have just one gem!

Song: Aye meri zohra Jabeen
Film: Waqt 1965
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Singer: Manna Dey
Right: Ravi.
Picture credit:YouTube

एह मेरी जोहरा-जबी, तुझे मालुम नही
तू अभी तक है हसी और मै जवान
तुझपे कुर्बान मेरी जान मेरी जान
एह मेरी जोहरा-जबी

Aye meri zohra-jabeen, tujhe maalum nahi

Tu abhi taq hai hasin aur main jawan

Tujpe Qurbaan meri jaan, meri jaan

Oh my beautiful one! You do not know

That you are still lovely, that I am still young!

I would sacrifice my life for you!

ये शोखिया ये बचपन,
जो तुझ मे है कही नही
दिलो को जीतने का फेन, जो तुझ मे है कही नही
मै तेरी
मै तेरी आंखो मे पा गया दो जहा
एह मेरी जोहरा-जबी

Ye shokhiyaa ye bachpan

Jo tujh mein hai kahi nahi

Dilo ko jeetne ka faen, jo tujh mein hai kahi nahi

Main teri aankho se paa gaya do jahaa

Aye meri zohra-jabeen

The coyness, this attractiveness you have-

that is nowhere else.

You have the art of winning hearts-

that is nowhere else.

I have found my heaven and earth in your eyes!

तू मीठे बोल जान-ए-मन,
जो मुस्कुराके बोल दे
तो धध्कानो मे आज भी,
शराबी रंग घोल दे
ओह सनम
ओह सनम मै तेरा आशिक-ए-जाविदा
एह मेरी जोहरा-जबी

Tu meethe bol jaan-e-man

Jo muskurake bol de

Tho dhadkano(n) mein aaj bhi

Sharabi rang dhol de

Oh sanam

Oh sanam main tera  aashiq-e-jaavida

Aye meri zohra-jabeen

If you speak sweet words and smile,

You intoxicate me, my heartbeat gains colour

Oh darling, I am yours for ever!

[Zohra-jabeen is a very beautiful expression, 
meaning, in essence, 'like Venus'. ]

This is an exceptional song! Sung by a family man, just past middle age, with growing children! It is extraordinary because it is not in the Indian tradition to formally exchange or express love in words among elders , or openly in front of others!
[ Nor do we praise our own children in public!] There are so may other ways of showing love or appreciation! There are many ways to express gratitude than saying a formal 'thank you'.  But this is cinema, and somethings have to be dramatised! So this nice song with beautiful lyrics. This song has been so popular in the North for half a century, it is sung or played in every wedding!

This also breaks the myth that love can only be among the young! This shows the higher dimensions of love, as people mature. Real love blossoms as infatuation fades!

Left: World's oldest couple- with combined age of 211!
They have been married for 90 years! Karam Chand and Kartari-they live in Bradford, England.
Photo credit: MailOnline, 25 November,2014.

Love and Milton!

It was some surprise when I found  John Milton  celebrating mature love! Some of the loftiest and most refined expressions of true love we find in Milton! 

John Milton. Wikimedia Commons.

Milton is not a romantic poet. In his grand epic Paradise Lost are two passages of outstanding beauty depicting true love. Which is far different from the popular notions.

Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught

In procreation, common to all kinds
(Though higher of genial bed by far,
And with mysterious reverence, I deem),
So much delights me as those graceful acts,
Those thousand decencies, that daily flow
From all her words and actions, mixed with love
And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned
Union of mind, or in us both one soul
Harmony to behold in wedded pair
More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.


(Paradise Lost Book VIII.596-604)

This was of course at the beginning of history. Here Adam is talking of Eve. Thus love here is married love. Those days  the wife was expected to simply comply with the wishes of the husband. But the beauty is, here Adam is talking  not of physical beauty but of ' those graceful acts and the thousand decencies' that daily flow out of Eve. These are  indicative of the union of mind,  one soul. [One wonders though, what Eve would have felt!]

But Adam surpasses himself. He finds that Eve has eaten the forbidden fruit. He knows the consequences. Yet, instead of cursing Eve,  he declares his love for her.

How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,
Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote?
Rather, how hast thou yielded to trangress
The strict forbiddance, how to violate
The sacred fruit forbidden? Some cursed fraud
Of enemy hath beguilded thee, yet unknown,
And me with thee hath ruined; for with thee
Certain my resolution is to die;
How can I live without thee, how forgo
Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,
To live again in these wild woods forlorn?
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from my heart; no, no, I feel
The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh,
Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.


(Paradise Lost Book IX.900-916)

And true to his word, when they are finally expelled from Paradise, they walk hand in hand! They fall from Paradise in love!

Some natural tears they drop'd, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and providence their guide;
They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitaire way.

[Paradise Lost, Book XII, 645-649]

This is extraordinary , almost cinematic conclusion to the great epic poem! That Adam and Eve are expelled from The Garden, and they walk together, hand in hand, facing their future in an unknown world! Just imagine the scene! This was indeed revolutionary in the age in which Milton wrote!

Note:
Ironically, Milton supported divorce and even polygamy under some circumstances!
It may be said that all these songs and poems are from the male perspective! What to do? All the poets have been males, and the characters expressing them in movie or literature have been males! Even when the lady characters sing their songs, they are written by male poets! It would be interesting really to know how lady poets would sing in such situations!
There is a quality in these old songs and poetry that the new ones  lack. I recall a poem by Thomas Hardy.

ANY LITTLE OLD SONG

Any little old song
   Will do for me,
Tell it of joys gone long,
   Or joys to be,
Or friendly faces best
   Loved to see.

Newest themes I want not
   On subtle strings,
And for thrillings pant not
   That new song brings;
I only need the homelist
   Of heartstirrings.