One song at a time - 27. Zindagi Mere Ghar Aana / Allah Tero Naam

(Jaidev)

I write this blog on New Year day and what better song to start the year than the one which asks life to come to the doorsteps. The song of today will be "zindagi mere ghar aana" sung by Bhupinder and Anuradha Paudwal for the film "Dooriyan".

This also lets us pray tribute to one of the most underrated music director in Hindi films, Jaidev. It is paradoxical that while he received the National Award for being the best music director three times, he was not well known to the lay audience!!! In our films, success depends, as in life, on a lot of factors other than just the skill you possess. While that is true, we should also take to heart on this New Year day that talent and skill will finally out. What is indisputable now is that Jaidev is regarded highly by connoisseurs of music and his songs have a good following among them.  Anyone with a good ear for music can immediately make out a highly original and talented mind at work when he hears the songs of Jaidev. Infact I had recent befriended a youngster who said he heard just one song of Jaidev and immediately went looking for Jaidev's complete works. This friend is from the heartland of Tamilnadu and I guess he has no idea about Hindi. Yet his musical sense drew him to Jaidev immediately!!! 

Jaidev had this ability to create lot of complex melodies. While Jaidev was working with S D Burman, it is said that Dada Burman used to admonish him and tell him not to create such complex melodies. We should consider ourselves lucky that Jaidev did not heed that advice and went on to create his own brand of magic, which was highly original. He has composed for films whose music still lives fresh and will continue living for a long time. When you hear these songs you can but feel sad that such a person never got more opportunities while people like Bappi Lahiri ruled the roost!!! 

As I had mentioned earlier, the song for today is "zindagi mere ghar aana". What a melody!! I love the way Jaidev develops the melody. You can hear how wonderfully Kalyani develops in the charanam, reaching its apogee at "badi dhoop hai jo" and then sliding down delicately to rejoin the pallavi. A very different take on Kalyani and Jaidev brings a freshness to the raga with his interpretation. Added to it, hear how he develops the charanam. It is almost like an extended monologue, with the tune twisting and turning along the way. Deliciously original construction, not your standard one. The wonderful words of the song were written by Sudharshan Fakir. 

Now that you have heard this song, let me give you another Jaidev song as the New Year gift. Again a song which would be relevant all the time, not just for this year. "Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam" from 'Hum Dono', one of the big hits of Jaidev. By the way, I have read that when Jaidev had composed this song Lata Mangeshkar was not in good terms with Jaidev and so Jaidev was thinking about calling some other singer to record this song. When Lata heard that Jaidev had composed such a superb bhajan, she is supposed to have called up Jaidev, made up with him and went on to record the song. Such was the power of the tune. Listen to the song and if you were in Lata's place you would have done the same!!!