Chaudhvin ka chand ho : A tribute to Shakeel Badayuni
iView Author: Akshay Manwani (New Delhi, India)
Email: akshay.manwani [at]gmail[dot]com
Content : Chaudhvin ka chand ho : A tribute to Shakeel Badayuni
The word ‘Shakeel’ in the Urdu language literally translates to beauty. No coincidence then that in 1960, Shakeel Badayuni, the great lyricist from yesteryear, penned perhaps the finest ode to the feminine form through ‘Chaudhvin ka chaand’ in the film by the same name. And while Shakeel saab passed away on this very date in 1970 at the relatively young age of 53, the beauty of his poetry radiates through the poetic landscape of Hindi Cinema to this day.
Pick up a cup of tea, switch that cell phone off, sit back and enjoy!
Shakeel was born on the 3rd of August 1916 and hailed from the small town of Badayun in Uttar Pradesh. He took an interest in Urdu poetry at an early age and was a frequent winner of the ‘mushairas’ organized at Aligarh Muslim University (where he studied), a trend that continued when he moved briefly to Delhi to work as a supply officer. His success at the ‘mushairas’ earned him national acclaim and a couplet from his works goes thus:
Dil thaa kisi ki yaad mein masroof, aur hum,
Sheeshey mein zindagi ko uttaarey chale gaye…….
Shakeel Badayuni (along with Majrooh Sultanpuri) was a disciple of the famed Ali Sikandar Jigar Moradabadi and so belonged to the traditional school of Urdu poets. Their poetry was rooted in romanticism and while Piyush Mishra may not approve of the same – ‘jis kavi ki kalpana mein zindagi ho prem geet, us kavi ko aaj tum nakaar do’ (from the song ‘Aarambh hai prachand’ in Gulaal), there is no denying the quality of Shakeel’s work. In this aspect their writing was different from the leftist oriented work of the progressive writers (Jaan Nissar Akhtar, Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi etc.).
Naushad was responsible for giving Shakeel his first break, by giving him the opportunity to write the hugely popular ‘afsana likh rahi hoon’ in the film Dard (1947). The duo remained a hit pairing till the time Naushad’s star waned in the late 1960’s. In fact the pair was responsible for a number of popular songs that were picturised on Dilip Kumar and these include songs from Ganga Jamuna (1961), Leader (1964), Ram aur Shyaam (1967) and Sunghursh (1968).
A complete understanding of Shakeel’s repertoire is gathered by the fact that while his tenets grounded him firmly to Urdu poetry, he was equally at ease with writing lyrics in Bhojpuri (Nain lad jayee hain – Ganga Jamuna) or Hindi (Ram ke leela ghar aayee, shyaam ne bansi bajaayee – Ram aur Shyaam). In this aspect, Shakeel was perhaps a little ahead of his contemporaries since Shailendra’s work remained largely in the Hindi language by virtue of his association with Raj Kapoor’s persona of the common man while Sahir Ludhianvi ‘s work always had an overwhelming tinge of Urdu poetry. This is not to suggest that both Shailendra and Sahir were not adept with the other language but to drive home the point that Shakeel regularly delivered on the many occasions he was expected to write in a language that was in a sense alien to his upbringing as a poet. Indeed, some of Shakeel’s finest work came in films where the underlying language of the film is Hindi or one of its many associated dialects – ‘Mann tarpat hari darshan ko aaj’ – Baiju Baawara (1952) or ‘Duniya mein hum aaye hain toh jeena hi padega’ – Mother India (1957) or ‘Kaheen deep jaley kahin dil’ – Bees Saal Baad (1962).
But in the final analysis the one characteristic feature of Shakeel’s work was the undeniable tryst with romanticism. Be it the lover’s agonizing wait – ‘Suhaani raat dhal chuki’ (Dulari – 1949) or the freewheeling courting of ‘Beqaraar karke humey yun na jaiye’ (Bees Saal Baad – 1962), from a clarion declaration of one’s love – ‘Jab pyaar kiya toh darna kya’ (Mughal-e-Azam – 1960) to the despair of unrequited love – ‘Na jao saiyyan chura ke baiyyan’ (Sahib, Biwi aur Gulam – 1962), Shakeel effortlessly gave expression to the many shades of romance.
It is indeed a travesty that while many of his contemporaries (Majrooh Sultanpuri and Kaifi Azmi) outlived him right into the 1990’s and the 21st century, Shakeel succumbed to diabetic complications in 1970. This for a man who sweetened the world of Hindi film music through his outstanding poetry. On his 39th death anniversary, I urge the readers of this post to take a trip down memory lane via this link and soak in the magic of Shakeel Badayuni:
Tags: Dilip Kumar, Jaan Nisasar Akhtar, Kaifi Azmi, Majruh Sultanpuri, Naushaad, Raj Kapoor, Sahir Ludhianvi, Shakeel Badayuni
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
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Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
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Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Each and every song of Shakeel Badayuni represents the high quality work. Naushad-Shakeel Jodi has been a trustworthy brandname and one can buy any of their collaborative work with closed eyes.
His lyrics are truly poetical, juicy and at same time they carry deep meaning.
If one can whistle or play any instrument and try Jogan ban jaungi saiyan tore karan then he may witness himself how words start flowing themselves on the flowing body of instrumental sound. A Smooth flow is there and one forgets whether he is following the sound of instrumental music or following the words. That is the deep bonding between Shakeel’s words and Naushad’s music.
and how wonderful devotional songs this pair of musician and lyricist has created.
Great lyricist.
Thanks Akshay for writing a tribute.
@Akshay..elegantly written tribute to one of the greatest poets…
Bana bana ke tamanna mitaee jaati hai
Tarah tarah se wafa aazmaee jaati hai
Jub unko meri mohabbat ka aitbaar nahi
To jhuka jhuka ke nazar kyon milaee jati hai
Hamaare dil ka pata vo humen nahi dete
Hamaree cheez humee say chupaee jati hai
Shakeel door manzil se na ummeed na ho
Ab aa he jaiti hai manzil ab aa hi jaati hai
nice effort…thanx
shakeel badayuni was a very gifted writer and its evident from the kind of songs he penned:
* ye zindagi ke mele from mela
*o duniya ke rakhwale, man tarpat hai aaj, mohe bhool gaye sawariya from baiju bawra
* o dooor ke musafir from udan khatola
* do sitaron ka zameen par hai milan from kohinoor
* all songs of mughal-e-azam, gunga jamuna, bees saal baad, sahib bibi aur ghulam
* phir teri kahan yaad ayi, guzre hain aaj ishq mei and title song of dil diya dard liya
.
he also won 3 filmfare awards [at tat time filmfare awards meant a lot]:
bees saal baad – kahin deep jale kahin dil
gharana – husn wale tera jawab nahi
chaudvi ka chand – title song
.
he was nominated for 2 more filmfare but lost
mughal-e-azam – pyar kiya to darna kya
mere mehboob – mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam
.
he will live on through his songs. people may forget him but will continue to sing the songs he has written
my favourit couplet by shakeel is a from a non-film ghazal:
Main bataoon farq naasih jo hai tujh mein aur mujh mein
Meri zindagi talaatum teri zindagi kinara
NICE POST !!! GOOD TO SEE THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE IN BLOGS LIKE PFC WHERE THE OLD CHARM IS STILL RESPECTED AND APPRECIATED…. a couplet for the for shakeel sahab.
“yaade-maazi azaab hai ya rab, cheenle mujhse haafza mera”
I think the most striking feature about Shakeel Shaeb’s contribution to Hindi film misic is the most unforgettable bhajan he has penned. To name a few – Man tadpat Hari Darshan ko aaj or deeply philospical songs – Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare and Sansar se bhage firte ho from Chitrlekha. Here was a poet totally immersed in Indian ethos, similar to Amir Khusro who is for using Brijbhasha to reach out to people.