One song at a time - 34. Tum Na Jane Kis Jahan Mein Ko Gaye
(From L to R: RDB, Devanand, Dada and Lyricist Neeraj)
My friend Siva's son had hurt his foot badly in a freak accident. I was returning from the hospital and was playing some old Lata numbers in my car. This tape was given to me by Siva long time back for digitization. Suddenly the song, 'tum na jane kis jahan mein ko gaye' started playing. I had plum forgotten this song. In terms of which movie it was from, who was the music director etc. One part of my brain was trying hard to recollect this information while the other part was singing along. The lyrics, the sangathis, the interlude music. Everything was sung in perfect unison (except the pitch ofcourse.) When the charanam started, "maut bi aati nahin", I conituned singing the whole charanam and joined perfectly into the pallavi. The song was embedded deep inside and was not forgotten.
I am sure to many people this is not surprising at all. Some song we knew in our childhood and haven't heard for ages starts playing and we sing along perfectly. We know everything by-heart. Semmangudi Srinivas Iyer in one interview stated that as we was getting old, he was forgetting the lyrics often. (He also stated that whenever he forgot the lyrics, his sishyas singing with him also forgot the lyrics!!) He made the interesting observation that he never forgot the lyrics of the songs he learnt earlier in his career and the loss of memory happened when dealing with songs he learnt later in life. The brain is a mysterious organ. You never know what it can recall and when.
I called Siva and asked him if he knew any details of the song. He too started singing it but did not recollect the movie or the music director. After some time I had a feeling that it was from the movie 'Sazaa' and music by S.D.Burman. Came and searched in youtube and felt relieved that I was right!!
S.D.Burman, also known as Dada Burman, was like 'markandeya'.A man who never lost his musical youth. He wonderfully adapted himself to the times and provided tunes which sound fresh even today. No wonder some great music directors like Illayraja are big fans of his. Raja in one program said that Dada would ask the director lots of details before giving a tune. Details like what was the colour of heroine's saree, if she was wearing bangles or not. I am sure many of the directors would have had no clue about these aspect when they came to get the tune. Dada was adept at tuning melodious songs, folk songs, songs that could make you dance, claasical songs and lot more. He was an amazingly versatile music director, whose ability to conjure up dew fresh tunes is hard to match.
In this song, using very minimal orchestration and taking advantage of young Lata's amazingly melodious voice, he weaves a tune which stays in our minds forever. The lyrics are simple and when the tune and lyrics merge so well at 'loot kar mera jahan', you know this won't be erased from your consciousness anytime soon. How youthful the song sounds though it was done in 1951!!
Comments
When S.D.Burman passed away, Lata Mangeshkar sang this composition in her tribute to him, in All India Radio.
Babla, brother of veteran composers Kalyanji-Anandji, came up with an instrumental version of this song, which was by far the best ever, after the original song. I love that instrumental a lot, because it is played on Saxophone (by Manohari singh) in such a warm and evocative manner!It is a rare piece!
Needless to say, beautiful write up about a 'classic' composition!
Wow. Didn't know this song touched you so much. I guess all of us have some such special songs, which move us a lot. And as you rightly point out, it is the whole effect that moves us and we cannot analyze it objectively.
I haven't heard the instrumental version of this song. If you have it as a mp3 version, do despatch post haste.
Evokes very deep emotions that cannot be explained in words.
Thanks for sharing and the beautiful write-up..
Very true. As Kamal as also pointed out, this song has the ability to touch you heart directly. We must thank music directors like Dada for such songs. We must also be thankful that India has produced so many such music directors.
Dadha was a misfit in the Hindi cinema industry (long before its fanciful Bollywood rechristening). There was more than one occasion when he wanted to go back to Bengal, being tired of the demands of the HFI. He had able competitors such as MM,SJ,OP and others. Steeped in Bengali folk and Hindustani, he took his job very seriously. Even today, his orchestration gets the right attention.
Personally, top of my Dadha list was the Kishore –Lata duet – Tere Mere Milan from Abhiman. I would have heard this song at least a thousand times. I would have sung it at least a hundred times. Even today, I cannot fast forward to the next track, when I hear it. Most of my college mates would ask me one of the following four songs: 1) Tere Mere Milan (SD) 2) Nilave Vaa (Raja) or 3) Jaane Kya Soch kar (RD) 4) Thanga ratham vandhadhu (MSV). Sort of my personal hit list!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8IVa-7-2_w
The second place is for the all time favorite in Guide by Lata – Aaj Phir Jeene Ka Tamana Hai. The life that Lata brings to this song makes it one of her best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1odcNKyfZJU
The third song is Waqt Ne Kiya from Kagaz Ki Phool. Even now, I am blown away by his orchestration in the late 50s. Today’s composers have so much to learn from him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXZR57XQ7yI
The fourth song is by Kishoreda in Sharmilee (he was introduced to playback singing by Dadha) – Kilte Hai Gul. There is also a Lata version of this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=571G9MzqgNU
The fifth song is from Abhiman again - Meet Naa Milan by Kishoreda. Lataji included this as part of her homage to Kishoreda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrZGxLfNUlI
The sixth and last song in this I would include is indeed the last song of SD in Hindi films. This was completed by RD as he passed away, from Mile – Badi Sooni Sooni…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5JiZdaLZ8M
BTW, Kora kagaz from Aradhana was set to music by RD, though SD did the rest of the tracks. Also, RD played the harmonica for dad in the film for the song ‘Meri sapnoan ki rani’.
I can go on and on about Kishore/SD, Lata/SD, but I will stop here.
Cheers
Ravi Natarajan
Songs composed by S D Burman have always been great, I always find them very connecting.
Like you said they'd captured a young Lataji's voice and with so much melody..her voice certainly sounded a little different than the other usual numbers, ones what I am used to with her voice.
Liked when she sang 'Tum Kahaa.. tum kaha.. tum kahaa' in an Avarohana.. hope I am correct on that ?
Suresh, good to know and I appreciate sharing with us a song you've listened to while driving..!
Have a good one~
Prasantha
The one other aspect of SD that stands out (apart from the freshness of the tune, eg., Khilte hain gul yahaan) is the continuituy of the song. The stanzaas and the music interlude are one whole. One merges into the other. Listen to "piya bina.. "from Abhimaan. just flows.
Its the same here. Smooth flow of honey...
To add to Suresh's comment on SD's intimate knowledge of situation, the song "jalte hein jiske liye, teri aankhon ke diye.." of Talat, it was SD's suggestion that it be sung on the phone by Sunil Dutt to Nutan. In the film Nutan, who is in love with Sunil Dutt, learns a terrible truth about herself and is mentally traumatised. Oblivious of this fact, Sunil croons this song (on phone as per SD's suggestion!!). Picture perfrect song, lyrics and Dada's suggestion!!!
Lot of good comments. Let me try and give my response to all of them.
@ravi; :) No, I don't intend this post to be a summation of Dada's works. As I am featuring only one song at a time you can rest assured that more SD songs will be featured in the near future. All the songs listed by you are favorites of mine as well. I am sure those are loved by others as well. My preference would go a few years back into the past as well.
@Pras: Very nice comment. 'Connect' seems to be the right operative word for this song
@Sachin: That you went home. heard this and posted a comment shows how much you like SD Burman (and maybe my blog :) ) I am sure people here would easily understand what you are saying about being moved by his songs.
@Siva If you have observed it, RD made appearance earlier than SD in my blog :) I guess those days of 'or' have gone and now it is 'and'. RD and SD. And a lot more music directors. Given your love for Dada I am not surprised at your inspired comment.
Aaj phir jeeni ki (Guide) starts with charanam instead of Pallavi. He did the same experiment in "Phoolon ke rang se" (Prem Pujari).
Waqt Ne kiya is a landmark song anyway. It combines Guru dutt's vision with SD's imagination. I love even "Dekhi Zamaane Ki yaari", that doesnt have a fixed song structure.But Dada got the best out of Rafi in that song. what a soulful rendition.
If there was one composer, who defied his age and remained young at heart, as reflected in his music, it was only S.D.Burman.
SSK
Very happy to read your post on Dada. After Maestro, Dada is my most fav. composer. The fact that his music can move a 23 year old like me, who never heard there was a composer by that name earlier (Thanks to Raaja sir) tells how great his music is!!
Of all Dada's songs, my all time fav., the one which is always in loop when i play is " Yeh dil deewaana hai" from " Ishq per zhor nahin" in the voices of Legendary Rafi sahib and Didi.
In one of the interludes in "YDDH", Dada employs heavy strumming on guitar to signify the union of bumblee bee with flower. Watch the video below, you will understand y Raaja sir says, its tough to explain situation to this Great man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udu4sbPqlIA
Well can't blame if your eyes get stuck with the beautiful sadana ji ;)
Cheers
Vivek
Nice to see your comment and more importantly nice to know that you are now loving Burma Dada's music. It is astonishing how Dada was able to keep his music fresh after all the years.