Hazaaro Khwaahishen Aisi, Ghalib and more…
A lazy afternoon in near-weekend desperation, no mood to check out any new film from my pending DVDs(BRAZIL/FELLINI/and some hard to pronounce films), sipping beer, I stumbled yet again on a rerun of HKA. With no mood initially to revisit it, I could not resist getting hooked to it, yet again.
I saw Hazaaro Khwaahishen Aisi some 6th time today.
The scene was when Shiney is been taken by the cops, an early foggy Delhi day, an ever-ear-to-ear-grinning-Shiney happily takes a letter from a Sardar with an Agra accent, and the scene slowly fades to the hostel scene and the works.
I yet again go through the heady mix of ideologies, romance set against a political back-drop of pre-emergency days, a youth mired in disillusion, an octogenarian Gandhi lot too stiff and resistant to change, and the aftermaths of the 60’s’ West.
Every time I see this film, it goes further up in my ratings, not only in the Indian milieu, but in any classification/genre/league in any films being made anywhere. The other channel was showing Cape Fear. I didn’t take much time to make the choice. An HKA would beat any other classic in the Rerun Index.
This time again, I noticed some new magical aspects,
what cutting! All rules in the book put to shame and a redefinition.
What BGM! And mixing/fading in of lines in the background.
Check out the cocktail party happening in the typical jazzy hue, suddenly the music changes to MANN YE BAAWRA, and a passionate love-making scene follows, cut to an isolated Shiney standing in acute helplessness. Brilliant!
We see Sudhir Mishra make a fleeting appearance. And who can forget the god of small scenes, Aditya Bhattacharya!
What Talent on display! Minutest of characters make an everlasting impact-pablo, randhir singh(played by Yashpal Sharma), jhanda singh,chitrangdha’s IAS husband, the circuit house servants(kauno chutia raha saaheb), the Delhi cops(perfect), the ministers, their herd, the villagers, tribals, college crowd, people in the Café, the maniacal son of the now-disappearing Prince hell bent at sarcastic self-destruction….I could go on for hours.
I wonder if any other film has made me so engrossed in recent times, or any time for that matter. The few others that have really GOT me are FILMS BY Scorsese, Tarantino, Tarkovsky, Manirathnam, RGV, Kubrick, and may be few others.
If you share a similar crazy passion/obsession for this film, try and notice the finer intricacies-the timing/placing of Ghalib’s poetry juxtaposed in the time period, the kick-ass detailing right from the alcohol brands to music records to vehicle numbers to the newspaper clippings to the radio sets.
I am including some Ghalib couplets along with their translations(done by me last year, so please excuse the naivety) for lovers of Ghalib.
HazaaroN KHwahishaiN ‘eisee ke har KHwahish pe dam nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaaN lekin fir bhee kam nikle
A million desires like these, every desire is worth dying for..
It took all my desires to realize that one dream, but still more are called for.
A heart that has lost all hopes of life, but a heart which yet dreams of a million more desires….
mohabbat meiN naheeN hai farq jeene aur marne kaa
usee ko dekh kar jeete haiN jis kaafir pe dam nikle
In love, living is no different from dying
I live in the sight of the one, who I shall die for one day.
KHuda ke waaste parda na kaabe se uThaa zaalim
kaheeN ‘eisa na ho yaaN bhee wohee kaafir sanam nikle
Let their be a veil on God’s holy stone
For who knows, he might turn like one of us.
na tha kuchch to KHuda tha, kuchch na hota to KHuda hota
duboya mujhko hone ne, na hota maiN to kya hota ?
Before the beginning, there was God
If there would be nothing, there would still be God.
I am a loser at the hands of my own existence
What would happen if I were not there?
huaa jab GHam se yooN behis to GHam kya sar ke kaTne ka
na hota gar juda tan se to zaanooN par dhaRa hota
[ behis = shocked/stunned, zaanooN = knee ]
So much pain has struck me now,
That I am not afraid of being beheaded
If not for this separation with the body,
I would be lying on the knee.
huee muddat ke ‘GHalib’ mar gaya par yaad aata hai
wo har ek baat pe kehana, ke yooN hota to kya hota ?
its been ages since Ghalib passed away, but still I remember his words,
when he said, what would be if this would be…
hum ne maana ke taGHaful na karoge, lekin
KHaak ho jaayeNge ham tumko KHabar hone tak
[ taGHaful = neglect/ignore ]
I agree that you would not neglect me
But I would be gone by the time you realize that.
meherabaaN hoke bula lo mujhe chaaho jis waqt
maiN gaya waqt naheeN hooN ke fir aa bhee na sakooN
Call me if you will, when you will
I am not bygone time, which never comes back.
ye na thee hamaaree qismat ke wisaal-e-yaar hota
agar aur jeete rehte yahee intezaar hota
[ wisaal-e-yaar = meeting with lover ]
It was not my fate to meet my lover
If I would live more, I would wait still..
kahooN kis se maiN ke kya hai, shab-e-GHam buree bala hai
mujhe kya bura tha marna ? agar ek baar hota
Who do I tell that it’s painful to be in pain?
I would have willingly died, if it was only once..
koee ummeed bar naheeN aatee
koee soorat nazar naheeN aatee
maut ka ek din mu’ayyan hai
neeNd kyoN raat bhar naheeN aatee ? [ mu'ayyan = definite ]
I do not see any hope now
Nor do I see any face
When the day of departure is fixed,
Why is it that I still do not get sleep the whole night?
aage aatee thee haal-e-dil pe haNsee
ab kisee baat par naheeN aatee
It was then when I used to laugh at my own fate
Now there is nothing that could make me laugh..
hum wahaaN haiN jahaaN se hamko bhee
kuchch hamaaree KHabar naheeN aatee
I have reached a point in time
Where I can’t hear anything about me..
marte haiN aarzoo meiN marne ki
maut aatee hai par naheeN aatee
I die in the hope of dying
Death comes, but does not come still..
kaaba’a kis muNh se jaaoge ‘GHalib’
sharm tumko magar naheeN aatee
How would you face the lord, O Ghalib?
For it is not you who would ever be ashamed…
TUSHAR SHUKLA
Tags: Dialogues, Direction, English - Other, Medium, Teaching Film-making
Anurag Kashyap
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Navdeep Singh
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Sudhir Mishra
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Shilpa Shukla
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Ghalib is the baap of all Rockstars
‘Hazaron Khwasien Aisi’ and ‘Zulmatkhade Mein Meri’ are my favorite Mirza Ghalib’s ghazals. Even though I barely understand it.
Every-time I see this movie it makes me hate each of the characters even more, but I do like the movie.
HG, for me Ghalib still remains unexplored in the sense of music mixing with the powerful imagery his words created, I would still prefer a Gulzar endlessly reading out the lovely couplets than a badly composed Ghalib. I love the way Gulzar references and recreates Ghalib in his songs, dil dhoondta hai, or songs from dil se.
hazaaro khwahishen aisi in fact was a rather smart work by shantanu moitra n shubha mudgal. they stuck with minimal but good work, but i could not stand a pritish nandy spoiling the ghazals with his uncalled for english rendition of Ghalib! I mean Come on! how lame can you get, i understand that you are promoting and putting your money on good cinema, but you dont necessarily OWN every aspect of the film, do you?
anyways, regarding ghalib, i still relish gulzar-jagjeet singh-naseer’s magical combo, and love the ghazals and nazms from those 18 episode cd’s.
one of my favorite Ghalib couplets is:
Gham mein hansta hoon to log samajhte hain
Ki rona hi nahi aata
Unke dekhe se jo aa jaati hai munh par raunak
Wo samajhte hain bimaar ka haal acha hai
Hamko maloom hai jannat ki haqueeqat lekin
Dil ke khush rakhne ko Ghalib ye khayaal acha hai
as for the movie, even i love to hate its characters, in fact the whole film has a crazy repulsive feel to it, but i end up watching it all the time even while i love to hate it.
hey HKA is one of my all time fav , i must have seen this film some 30 times till now, even if i hear a sing the whole movie appears to me,
till date i havent seen any movie which difines a generation and an era so pricisely , perfectly as HKA .
my urdu is quite weak, can any one explain me the meaning of the word BHAVRA.it appears in the last song BHAVRA MAN.what a song,i just love the song.
DREAMS THAT WILL NEVER BE DREAMT AGAIN
AND A MOVIE LIKE HKA WILL NEVER BE DREAMT AGAIN.
WILL SOMEONE DIGG THIS POST !!!!
great analysis Tushar … Wow .. i feel like watching the film again
Was watching Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron a few days ago. [I liked it less for the content and more for the techniques this time around.] I noticed Sudhir Mishra credited as the Assistant Director and giving his name to one of the leads. It’s taken about 20 years for the man to make his mark? Sad!
Fuck OM is so fucking drunk on a thursday night and listening to Gulzar and Baanwara Mann Dekhne chala ek sapna… Fucking awesome…damn it wheres my 7th Newcastle…
I also simply love the film….have seen it many times and can watch it all over again many times more. Big big fan of its music also.But cant believe that the haunting track of the film…. bawra mann dekhne chala ek sapna…wasnt given any awards that year….music/singer/song/music/ director….nothing. Its the best song in the last…god knows how many years. What a shame it was!!!
BTW, does anyone knows who are the two bollywood big actors who told Sudhir Mishra that the script of HKA was one of the most shittest script they have ever read when he had approached them. Sudhir has talked about this many times but have never given out their names. Khans or Kapoors or somebody else ?
@raghu, the word you are looking for is Baawra, which means mad/uncontrolled/veering/wandering.
@randramble, Sudhir Mishra co-wrote jaane bhi do yaaron, in fact that film was sort of a starting innings for many a contemporary greats, all FTII passouts, in the golden phase.
I feel like watching is raat ki subah nahin, but its disappeared from everywhere like gadhe ke sar se seeng.
@phoenixnu, baawra man did feature in the top 10 songs of the decade, i dont remember who made the list but it sure deserves it.
hi tushar,
am glad u wrote on a film which i really realy liked, as i have worked with sudhir mishra for 2 years and was handling hazaaron’s release…
though u didnt mention chitrangadha singh!!!!
and am glad u appreciated certain moments in HKA as i know how sudhir had conceived those scenes
NU – why dont u write bit more about the film…that will give some insider’s account. Will make for some intersting read.
Also, has anyone seen Sudhir Mishra’s Ye Woh Manzil To Nahi….have heard lot about the film…trying for a long time….unable to get CD/DVD…anything…if somebody can write a post on it.
thanks NU. it must have been great to work with Sudhir Mishra. he is a laidback genius.
whenever i think about chitrangadha singh, i feel bad, such talent and such a path she took :(
we definitely deserve more of her.
it would be great to have you throw more light on your experiences..
of all the films sudhir mishra has made, HKA is the one he is most proud of. but it took quite a while before it got made, and then even after it started, it got stuck midway.
it was an indo french production, the indian producers were Pritish Nandy communications.halfway during the filming, HKA got stuck because of lack of resources.
but sudhir mishra believed in the film so much that he actually spent lakhs to get it completed…the man had vision.Chitrangadha getting the role is another story…
she was never into acting and had accompanied a cousin of hers for the audition. thats when she was spotted and Sudhir mishra cast her…
bavra mann is beautifuly written and sung by swanand kirkire who was an assistant director to sudhir mishra at that time.
he made HKA while he was still making calcutta mail. it was also during this time that Renu Saluja, india’s best editor and someone who was close to Sudhir passed away.May be thats why the film is close to his heart!
And HKA brought all the glory to Sudhir Mishra…
Why was ‘Hazaran Khwashien Aisi…’ released after it did a Film Festival round for a couple of years?
@ NU, thanks for the wonderful insights. i love swanand in o sajni re. tripped on it many a times.
@HG, isnt that so obvious in our country, u either need SRK or MMS controversy or yashraj or a number of Olive leaves on a film poster to have it released all over in time.
Addition to the minute character list could be:
1.the man asking,”ye hitler kon se bhai? :(”
2.the man saying “mhare gaon ko to nahi hai :-?”
3.the old man who wakes up with a start :o when the orator shouts “Jaago!!!”
So symbolic of the fact that the village folks didn’t understand the concept socialism at all.
Lol! That bit was reminiscent of Sholay(”ye suisaad ka hota hai bhaiyya?)
Mishra Ji has mastery over making subtle political statement in film.