Gulaal – a colourful canvas of poetic expressions
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(Long post. There are a lot of comparisons with things(poems, films, songs) that came to my mind first time I listened to the songs and they might appear strange/surprising to some people. The lyrics given below are not complete.)
I have been looking forward to Gulaal songs for so long. More than Dev D, more than any other film this year I have been waiting for Gulaal and its music. Now that finally it is out and I am completely stunned. I don’t know where to start and where to end when I start talking about it.
Gulaal
It’s been a while since I heard so much poetry used in hindi songs. In fact I don’t remember any song right now that would stand with the kind of poetry used in Gulaal songs. Every song seems to have a line or two (or more) that shakes you from within, makes you sit up, rewind and listen to it again and again and again. The best part is that the songs do not take time to get into your head. You listen to a song once and you fall in love with it instantaneously. Every now and then comes a line with a deeper meaning than the rest, that elevates the song to a higher level.
aarambh hai prachand
The song starts with a shankhnaad and that immediately sets the mood.
(The long shot of people walking and the whisteling bit reminded me of ‘Bridge on the river Kwai’)
aarambh hai prachand
bole mastakon ke jhund
aaj jung ki ghadi ki tum guhaar do
aan baan shaan ya ke
jaan ka ho daan
aaj ek dhanush ke baan pe utaar do
As the song started, the structure, the pace and mood reminded me of the poem ‘Himadri tung shring se..‘ by Jayshankar Prasad.
Its a motivational war song (veer-rasa) and what is better than to evoke geeta to motivate people to fight.
mann kare so praan de
jo mann kare so praan le
wahi to ek sarvshaktimaan hai
krishna ki pukaar hai
ye bhaagvat ka saar hai
ke yudhh hi to veer ka pramaan hai
kauravon ki bheed ho
ya paandavon ka need ho
jo lad saka hai wo hi to mahan hai
The way song lifts in the last two lines is awesome. This part, the pace, the phrase ‘aarambh hai prachand’ make the song what it is…a masterpiece. The lyrics and the chorus elevate the song to a different level altogether.
What else did it remind me of? The geeta part and the rhythm and the pace reminded me of Dinkar’s Rashmirathi. Here are some small excerpts from the poem:
(This is a part of Karna’s reply to Krishna)
vritha hai poochhna tha dosh kiska?
khula pehle garal ka kosh kiska?
zehar ab to sabhi ka khul raha hai
halaahal se halaahal dhul raha hai
zehar ki keech mein hi aa gaye jab
kalush ban kar kalush par chha gaye jab
dikhana dosh phir kya anya jan mein?
aham se phoolna kya vyarth mann mein?
In short, the entire dialogue between Krishna and Karna brings Kauravas and Pandavas on the same platform. They both have cheated and used twisted means but people sing praises of those who eventually come out triumphant.
All this captured in two lines:
kauravon ki bheed ho ya paandavon ka need ho
jo lad saka hai wo hi to mahaan hai
I am not done with this song yet. There is more to it.
jis kavi ki kalpana mein zindagi ho premgeet
us kavi ko aaj tum nakaar do
This is probably the best line of the song. Life is not love song…and those who paint it thus perhaps understand very little of life and world around them.
There is a lot more that can be said and written about the song but I’ll stop here. Listen to it and I bet you will feel a strong urge to go back to it again and again.
Aisi Sazaa
A soft sad number that would work like magic in the background. The sound of clouds and rain is as heart wrenching as the song. The song changes tune from mukhda to antara and is not very hummable. It starts off like an average number but by the time you are into the antara it completely overpowers the mood and it has some wonderful lyrics (that would go for all the songs in the album)
aise mein baarish ki boondon se apni saasn ki sehla bhi so
badhti hawa ke jhokon se dil ko nagma koi la bhi do
palkon ke koron pe baithi nami ko dheere se pighla bhi do
You can feel the rain. It’s a song to be played on the lonely rainy nights but its not a regular sad romantic number that one usually encounters in the movies. There is something more to it…a sadness that is inevitable in some way (jeevan ki raahon mein aana ya jaana bata ke nahi hota hai). A sadness that comes with a defeat, a failure, something that you are not responsible for but you still have to go through. What is worse (in the sense of deepening the sad mood) is that the voice very soothing. It is wonderfully sung. Shilpa Rao is brilliant…she can make you cry. It’s a song that might take a while to fall in love with. Spend some time with it.
Beeda
This is perhaps the weakest song in the album. It’s a mujra….a namak ishq ka sort of song. This is the only song that didn’t stay with me except for the chakmak chakamk part.
It has a promising start.
beeda duje thaali ka lage bada masaledaar
maan bole chakmak chakmak haye chakmak chakmak chakmak
khaayi to machal gayi re o kajraari naar
maan bole chakmak chakmak haye chakmak chakmak chakmak
but after that it just goes down and never picks up. The problem is that the lyrics is not very engaging….the music and beats, on the other hand, do get into your head after listening it 2-3 times.
Duniya
Piyush Mishra’s (or Anurag’s?) take on ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai from Pyaasa. The song, very original in every respect, does show shades of pyaasa.
The lines:
mamta ki bhikhri kahani ki duniya
behno ki siski jawaani ki duniya
or the part where he lists a whole bunch of poets(Ghalib ke momin ke khwabon ki duniya majazon ke un inqelaabon ki duniya…)…all this reminds me of pyaasa and jinhe naaz hai song.
The song starts with an almost cheerful description of duniya:
surmayi aakhon ke pyaalon ki duniya
o duniya
satrangi rangon gulaalon ki duniya
o duniya
alsaai shejo ke phoolon ki duniya
o duniya re
angdayi thode kabootar ki duniya
o duniya re
karwat le soyi haqeekat ki duniya
o duniya
deewani hoti tabiyat ki duniya
o duniya
khwahish mein lipti zaroorat ki duniya
o duniya re
insaan ke sapno ki neeyat ki duniya
o duniya
“khwahish mein lipti zaroorat ki duniya”
what a line!
Then it moves on to the darker sides touching various things on the way…starting with
mamta ki bhikhri kahani ki duniya
behno ki siski jawaani ki duniya
aadam ke hawwa se rishte ki duniya
o duniya re
shayar ke pheeke labzon ki duniya
(This reminded me of this small poem I read few days back -
The truth that worker’s sweat will never utter,
The truth that his empty stomach will never utter,
The truth that his tears will never utter
The truth that his toiling fists will never utter –
Can a drop of ink from a poet’s pen
Ever express it? – Varavara Rao
and a more famous:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Don’t know if this is complete. Don’t know the poet either.)
Not sure if it meant what I wrote above or only that shayar ke (pheeke) labzon ki duniya is not the reality or shaayar ke pheeke labzon ki duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai. Or did it mean all of this and more?
Anyway moving on…
jaisi bachi hai waisi ki waisi bacha lo ye duniya
apna samjh ke apno ke jaisi utha lo ye duniya
chhit put si baaton mein jalne lagegi
sambhalo ye duniya
kat pit ke raaton mein palne lagegi
sambhalo ye duniya
mori duniya
o ri duniya
and finally god and religious fanaticism…
wo kahein hain ke duniya ye itni nahi hai
sitaaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain
hum hi nahi hai wahan aur bhi hain
humaari har ik baat hoti wahin hai
humein aitraaz nahi hai kahin bhi (this part is sung brillantly)
wo aalim hain faazil hain honge sahi hi
magar falsafa ye bigad jaata hai jo wo kehte hain
aalim ye kehta wahan eeshwar hai
faazil ye kehta wahan allah hai
kaabil ye kehta wahan eesa hai
manzil ye kehti tab insaan se ki
tumhaari hai tum hi sambhaalo ye duniya
ye bujhate hue chand baasi chiragon
tumhaare ye kaale iraadon ki duniya
A song which is almost like a journey from a beautiful dreamy world to a dark real world.
raat ke musafir
It a slow, very slow track with hardly any music. It’s not a song….it’s a poem recited beautifully.
raat ke musafir tu bhaagna sambhal ke
potli mein teri ho aag na sambhal ke
My favourite line: dekh teri thokar se raah ka wo paththar maathe pe tere lag jaye na uchhal ke.
It’s not an everyday song. It’s like ‘wahan kaun hai tera’….impactful and awesome but not something you can just play any time and start listening to..
Rahul Ram makes the song sound exactly as it should.
Ranaji
A political mujra! 
Somebody said it’s the ‘emotional atyaachar’ of gulaal. Yes it is that and more.
Why is it the emotional atyachaar? Although it’s a completely different genre but it’s as whacky as the Dev D cult song and it will probably catch up with the young generation as fast as emotional atyachaar did.
Why is it more? Because it has humour. A comment on current political situation.
jaise sar-e-aam iraq mein jaake jam gaye uncle sam
jaise bina baat afganistaan ka baj gaya bhaiyya band
The problem is it’s way too direct (something like ‘aasman pe hai khuda aur zameen pe hum‘ but it never reaches the level of ‘cheen-o-arab hamara‘ ) but then again it’s a mujra.
I can already imagine people going crazy in the theatre when this song starts on the screen.
Sajni ko dear bole
Tharre ko beer bole
Maange hai ingliss boli
Maange hai ingliss choli
Maange hai ingliss Jaipur ingliss Beekaner
jaise bisleri ki (Notice the laughter in the voice!)
Jaise bisleri ki botal pee ke ban gaye inglissman
Rekha Bharadwaj in her elements. Beeda and Ranaji….both sung beautiful with a much needed spring in the voice.
Shehar
Back to pure poetic expressions. It’s starts with music that gives you a very eerie feeling. It’s the longest song…a long rich description of the time jab shehar hamara sota hai. It’s a mix of folk dialect infused rhythmic lines and poetic expressiong in pure hindi. Notice the change in pronunciations and dialect mid-way. Some of the expressions like “adh-nange jismon ki dekho lipi puti si lagi numaaish hoti hai” are in the zone of Sahir’s ‘aurat ne banaya…‘ in the sense that it disturbs beause it is explicit and direct.
The song keeps you so engaged with its vivid description and with what it’s trying to say you don’t realize it’s more than 7 minutes. This is also the most hard hitting song.
My favourite part although it’s very difficult to choose would be the following description of the dark night :
sannata veerana
khaamoshi anjaani
zindagi leti hai
karvatein toofani
ghirte hain saaye ghanere se
rookhe baalon ko bikhere se
badhte hain andhere pishaachon se
kaanpe hai jee unke naachon se
kahin pe wo jooton ki khatkhat hai
kahin pe alaawon ki chatpat hai
kahin pe hai jheengur ki aawazein
kahin pe wo nalke ki taptap hai
kahin pe wo khaali si khidki hai
kahin wo andheri si chimney hai
kahin hilte pedon ka jathha hai
kahin kuchh munderon pe rakkha hai
sunsaan gali ke nukkad par jo koi kutta cheekh cheekh kar rota hai
jab lamp-post ki gandali peeli ghupp roshni mein kuchh kuchh sa hota hai
jab koi saaya khud ko thoda bacha bacha kar un saayon mein khota hai
jab pul ke khambon ko gaadi ka garam ujaala dheeme dheeme dhota hai
tab shehar hamara sota hai
tab shehar hamara sota hai
(don’t know when was the last time I read/heard ‘gandali’ word. It’s straight out of those hindi books that nobody seems to read nowadays.)
and then it goes back to description of jab shehar hamara sota tab kya kya hota hai….something like-
idhar uthi hain takrarein jismon ke jhatpat len den mein unchi si
udhar ghaav se riste khoon ko door guzarati aankhe dekhen rookhi si
lekin usko leke rang birange mahalon mein gunjaish hoti hai
nashe mein doobe sehan se khoonkhaar chutkulon ki paidaaish hoti hai
adh-nange jismon ki dekho lipi puti si lagi numaaish hoti hai
laar tapakte chehron ko kuchh shaitaani karne ki khwaahish hoti hai
wo poochhen hain hairaan hoke aisa sab kuchh hota hai kab
ho batlao to unko aisa tab tab tab tab hota hai….
jab shehar hamara sota hai
Its a treat throghtout. Content wise the poetry is more in the genre of political/social critique (Kind of poetry that was written mostly in post independence era).
Swanand and Piyush alternating the wonderful lines of the song are both superb.
Yaadon mein hai
This is arguably the best song of the lot. I love the way this song changes mood.
It starts off with a melancholic romantic music
haan haan yaadon mein hai abhi kya sureela jo jahan tha
hamare haathon mein rangeen gubbare the aur dil mein mehakta sama tha
.
.
.
wo zameen thi aasman tha lekin humko kya pata tha
hum khade the jahan par usi ke kinaare pe gehra sa andhaa kuaan tha
(I have no words to describe the effect of this last line)
and then it changes mood and pace….the music is awesome.
phir wo aaye bheed ban kar
haath mein the unke khanjar
bole phenko ye kitaabein
aur sambhaalo ye salaakhen
.
.
There is so much vigour in the voices that you can feel all the thrill bubbling inside you (listen to when he sings ‘kaat daalo jo ho andar’)
and then once the violent phase is over the despair over things that happened summed up in the lines:
ab hamare laga zaayeka khoon ka
ab bataon karein to karein kya?
nahi hai koi jo humein kuchh bataye
batao karein to karein kya?
This song probably captures the essence of the film as it changes mood from romance to violence to despair.
As I said I don’t know where to start and where to end. Is this all I want to say about it? No there is more. Piyush Mishra is rocking in duniya and aarambh. I don’t think anybody could have sung duniya better. He being the lyricist and the composer sings understanding every word, every meaning, every bhaav to fullest does complete justice to the song. So are Aushim and Rahul Ram in Yaara Maula. The excitement in their voices is addictive.
I want to catch hold of every single person and make him/her listen to these songs.
It’s addictive. It is never seen before kind of lyrics in Hindi film music. It’s out of this world.
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
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Neeraja-I call this act of yours ( posting this) as unadulterated passion for cinema, way to go!!!
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Neeraja- you rock man to the same extent as the songs of gulaal. They are just too awesome ! And piyush mishra … where were you ??
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@Neeraja – This has been undoubtedly the most passionate post about poetry and contemporary cinema in the last few years (Tushar and Amanda notwithstanding) and you will now be a very tough act to follow. And Yes..after so many years you have made me want to go back to Dinkar, Verma, Prasad and Nirala!
I have yet to hear Gulaal completely..I will now..
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Very inspiring and great lyrics! Thanks for the post!
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Wonderfully Written
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I started listening to the songs @ 7am on Saturday and now, five hours later, they are still playing in an endless loop – I am enthralled, captivated, what have you!!! Aarambh hai prachand and Shehar – two of the very best songs I’ve heard in a long long time…Piyush Mishra, you rock!! Take a bow, man, take a bloody effing bow!
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Neeraja, Very well written!
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Thanks for the wonderful post. The album, the music, the tempo, the singing – everything is just awe-inspiring. Mind blowing stuff. I was already eagerly awaiting the release of the movie, but now… can’t wait!
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Thanks guys.
@Indraneel
If it makes even one person to go back poetry it’s a success.
Thanks
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can anyone post link to the songs actually, that would be nice .. i am already charged with aarambh hi prachand..
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@sg here your link for the songs
http://www.musicmaza.com/mp3songs/Bollywood-Movies-Songs/Gulaal.html#
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I am listening to the songs as I write this comment…and I am too overwhelmed to say anything other than WOW…words can’t do justice to the sheer poetry
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lovely post …and a much needed one
wanna go back to the poetry …
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Loved the post.
Loved the music.
Loved the lyrics!
Dint like Beedo (and to a lesser extent Ranaji) much though.
Raat ke musafir kinda reminded me of Naach’s Rakht ka hai yeh gubara (Markand Deshpande version).
The lyrics of Shehar are *quite* weird (in a +ve sense) to say the least. ‘garam lothada’, ‘kutta’ and lamp-post.
Absolutely cant get over Duniya… Me not too much into poetry (Hindi or English) but seriously liked the lyrics and the homages in Duniya (esp to Ghalib and all – “Sitaaron ke agay…”).
And really like the violent tones in Aarambh…
Dunno if its due to AK or more of a coincidence, all his movies have had amazing music (Paanch, Black Friday, No Smoking, Dev.D and now Gulaal). Probably only Vishal Bhardwaj matches him in this area.
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the very few that I could catch, btw. (regarding me liking the homages in Duniya).
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@Kartik
“wanna go back to the poetry”
good!
@rbehemoth
Thanks. words like ‘lothada’ or ‘jathha’ are straight out of hindi poetry/books.
listening to naach song now.
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hey where can i get gulaal lyrics in hindi font
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Hey Neeraja,
Thanks a lot. Had already listened to Gulaal music, and actually have already seen the movie too. Every line of your post seems to resonate the feeling inside. You gave words to what I have felt while listening to the songs.
Thanks a lot for this.
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wonderful post. now, that’s real passion
for cinema and poetry.
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Neeraja,
I was dying to share with someone about the masterpiece that Gulaal’s poetry is because I was getting the feel that this is not getting the recognition that it deserves. And when I saw this post, there was such a sense of relief that someone has analyzed and spoken about this in so much detail.
I have been listening to gulaal’s songs and lyrics and for me, this is unlike anything i have ever heard, esp as a layman who was never into poetry. The songs and lyrics bring just one thing to my mind – “powerful but disconcerting”.
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Hi neeraja,
I am a poet myself(I write in Hindi) and this films songs really left me mesmerized.I just couldnt get enough of them.Piyush Mishra is the person,the lyricist,the singer I was craving for since long as a true hindi poetry lover.I have never such hardcore poetry into a mainstream hindi film.Such high quality poetry.Your post has really given words to all the feelings I had for the music of this movie.I am new to blogging but the first thing I did after introduction was to write my take on gulaal.You guys can have a look at it on vikassinghsongara.blogspot.com .I’ve really fallen in love with the songs of Gulaal.
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Great post. Do expand on “Aarambh hai Prachand” if you can! It has some more meaningful lines.
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Why didnt I see this post earlier? Gulaal’s whole soul is contained in its songs, the visual aspect is almost peripheral.
btw, I liked Beedo very much, my fav line from that song is “Humko duniya ki laaj-sharam ka dar lage hai, humko duniya ki lok-dharam ka dar lage hai”. There’s a telling sarcasm in it, coming as it does from a nautch girl.
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And Neeraja, the similarity of tone between Aarambh and Himadri tung-shrung is something that occurred to me too, as I watched the movie
glad to find it mentioned here
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@ neeraja…..jish tarah se aapne gulaal ke gaano ko samjhaya hai wo kabile tarif hai………piyush mishra ka to jab nahi …..bahut dino ke baad aise geet sunne ko mile hai…….mera dhanyawaad swikar kijiye…..
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