Rimjhim and the rains
I have never tried to ridicule the presence of song and dance sequences in hindi films. In fact, I feel they can be used beautifully to carry a story forward or to explain the emotions that our character is experiencing. Rains have always played an important part in the song and dance routines. Rains can become a ridiculous reason for crude display of female form which many film makers have tried out. But rains can also been a reason of bringing out the tender feelings, sweeter than saccharine, innocent impressions.
Two songs that immediately come to my mind are Lata Mangeshkar’s version of “Rimjhim Gire Saawan” from Basu Chatterji’s “Manzil” and “O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayi” from Bimal Roy’s “Parakh”. While in the first song, heroine gets drenched in the rain, in the latter, she stays under the shade just watching the droplets.
Rimjhim Gire Saawan is about togetherness. Amitabh Bachchan and Mausami Chatterji are enjoying the rains as the camera captures Marine Drive and general “Mumbai in the rains” ambience as never before (and never after). The excitement of spending a day for the first time, with the person you love is not only brought out in the performances, but also in the lyrics, music and the visualisation. The lyrics say – Is baar mausam mehka hua hai, Is baar saawan behka hua hai… Jane pee ke chali kya pawan, Sulag sulag jaaye man… (The scented weather, the intoxicated monsoon, wonder what the winds have drunk…) Lyrics – Yogesh, Music – R.D.Burman
On the other hand, O Sajna is about rememberance. Fond memories of togetherness that the rains are bringing. A simple, sari-clad Sadhana standing in the balcony, just watching the rains, singing this memorable number by Salil Chaudhary written by Shailendra. You’ve got to salute Bimal Da and cinematographer Kamal Bose for the beautiful framing. I feel, Subhendhu Roy’s art direction should also get a mention here. It’s only when all the team members work towards giving their best, a wonderful masterpiece like this is created.
Rains will always keep on inspiring the poets and filmmakers but it is sad that I am unable to recall a single rain-song of last five years. Not that there haven’t been any, they are just not worth remembering. Please correct me if I am wrong and let me know your favourite rain-song that has hit the screens post year 2000.
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
i can recall only one song
“barso re megha” of Guru
O Boy… what a topic… few songs that immediately come ringing in…
“Bole re papi hara papi hara” from Guddi with Jaya Bhaduri singing and the rains as the backdrop
The song from Hanste Zakham where Navin Nishchol is driving the car in the rains singing “Tum jo mil gaye ho… toh yeh lagta hain… ke jahan.. mil gaya”
The rainy atmosphere in Ijaazat for the songs “Choti si kahani se barishon ke paani se”… and you know what other song…
“Aray ghumad ghumad ke aayee re ghataa” – Do Ankhen Barah Haath (and yes it’s the b&w movie I’m thinking about and not the shitty one)
What was the Suresh Wadkar one (?) “Megha re Megha re”
many more knocking on memory doors… i’ll let others take over from here
pyar hua ikraar hua…
yeh raat bheegi bheegi
ab ke saawan mein ji darre…
aaj rapat jaaye…
kaali ghata chhaye mora..
and more recently the ghanan ghanan song from lagaan…
Manasvi,rains do have a very special place in our culture and milieu and its depiction in our films is unique in cinematic history..your post again makes me nostalgic..infact i covered its romance in one my earlier posts #1752: Rains–Slushy for Mumbai,Sexy for Bollywood.
Also go through Pavan Jha’s coverage of rain songs..very interesting and informative.
Hey Friends,
Good to see the old songs being listed. Talking about songs in the 21st century, thanks SHAILESH for reminding me of Barso Re Megha from Guru. As for Ghanan Ghanan, its about waiting for rains that never turn up.
And Krysh, I’ll definitely go through those articles.
tip tip barsa paani (mohra) – raveena tondon
Rim jhim rum jhum (1942 alove story)
Hi,
MAnzil is directed by Basu Chatterjee and not Hrishida, just a correction.
So sorry! Can’t believe I made such a mistake. Thanks Sonali for pointing out. And to think of it, while paying tribute to Basu Da on my blog, I had mentioned MANZIL.
Sorry again.
ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si… soyee raaton mein jaagi si…
After 2000…nothing good comes to mind..so sad..is Indian song picturizations gone down to such unseemly depths that I do not remember anything at all..except one uncouth gyration from “Uday Chopra” – Imagine!!!!!!
oz,
its papihara,not papi hara.
i hate that song…barso re megha megha… somehow feel its very irritating…my vote goes for ek ladki bheegi bhagi se…n yes….rimjhum rumjhum…from 1942-a love story…was watching ijazzat yesterday….the rainy atmosphere n the song is so sexy…u can almost feel it.
kaante nahi katte from mr india is also very sensuous…
What about Geela Geela Paani from Satya? It’s a rather short picturization, kinda based on the theme of O Sajna Barkha Bahaar Aayee, where she doesn’t really dance in the rain, if my memory serves me right. Koi Ladki Hai from Dil Toh Paagal Hai is also not bad, kinda kiddish (can’t say I like it any more, but it was amusing the first time I saw it).
Anyone remember the song from the movie Bootpolish
Can’t believe no one has mentioned Sri Devi’s ‘Na jaane kahan se aayee hai’ from ‘ChaalBaaz’ or even ‘Megha Re Megha’ from ‘Lamhe’!!
Fantastic songs!
Even Madhuri’s ‘I lOve You’ from ‘Mahasangraam’ was excellent.
Oh..and the song ‘Parbat Se Kaali Ghata’ from ‘Chandni’ was great too.
Not much is ever said about that one.
Amirkhan and Nilam’s song “Tip tip basish suru ho gayi. mane ya na mane tu meri ho gayi.” from film Afsana Pyar Ka was also a good song if not great.
Manasvi – thanks for this trip down the memory lane …
the one from mohra – tip tip barsa paani … is sensual … so is Kaatey nahi kattey yeh din yeh raat from Mr India
And of course my personal fav these days is Geela Geela paani from Satya … amazing !!!
Good to see u here manasvi
In Hindi, My favorite is the rain song in Mr.India. SriDevi was fantabulous in that one..
But my alltime favorite rain song is the one in Mani Ratnam’s Geetanjali
You can watch it here..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOLxmdoMRfQ
an old quiz of mine on Rain songs
http://www.gulzaronline.com/chitrahaar/qz1/sundayqz1.htm
Pavan
My Vote — Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolegi woh barsaat ki raat!!!
@Pavan Jha, i sounded off mansavi in an earlier comment about your take on rain songs..To repeat,it was an intelligent and very informative quiz..Few songs being mentioned here have just reference of rains or few lines about it and not a celebration,expectation or picturisation of a whole song in rains..just an observation.
=Pavan, that was interesting quiz,
Few rain songs come in to mind, are as follows
jindagi ki na tute larhee – (Lata, Nitin Mukesh)Kranti
Lagee aaj savan ki phir wo gharee hai – (Nitin Mukesh) Chandani
Megha re Megha Megha re Megha (Lata) Lamhe
Rim jhim ke geet sawan gaye (Rafi) – Ayee milan kee bela?
Rim Jhim ke tarane le ke ayee barsat – (Gita Dutt, Rafi) some Dev Anand film
Na jhatko julf se pani – Rafi, some Shammi Kapoor or Joy Mukherjee film
Badra chaye ke jhule parh lag gaye – (Rafi, Lata)Aya Sawan Jhum ke
Ishq kare tapur tupur tapur tupur – cant recall film name
Barkha Rani jara jam ke barso (Mukesh) – Film?
Gore rang pe na itna guman kar – (Kishor Kumar) Roti
Pyar Diwana hota hai – Kishor Kumar (Kati Patang)
Allha megh de panee de gurhdani de – Kishor Kumar etc( Palkon ki chhanv mein)
Hum Tum dono saath mein bheeg jane de barsat mein ( Shailendra, Usha Mangeshkar) – Tarana
Ye Bindiya ye kangna kare kya Ishare (Some Sudesh Berry film)
@Krysh
I believe every song featured in the quiz has a strong connection with the Rains (barring Aaj ka din – the last one).. let me know which one you felt like having little connection with the rain.. I will come back with an explanation…
@RK
Corrections..
-Lagi aaj was sung by Suresh Wadkar
-Rimjhim ke taraane is from Kala bazaar.. infact this was the opening question in my quiz
- Na jhatako was neither Joy or Shammi but Biswajeet in Shehnaai..
- Ishq kare tapur tupur should be “Vrishti kare tapur tupur” from the film Paheli.. incidently debute song of suresh wadkar
- Barkha Rani was ofc Saawan Kuamr in Sabak
- Ye Bindiya ye kangana is from Vansh (Agni Nakshatram)
@Pavan,u somehow misconstrued the comment..It was not regarding your quiz which i have time n again maintained to be very intelligent and informative..it was about some songs suggested by other fellow ‘pfcites’..(imo)..
But definitely i would like to revisit a song suggested by Vinayak from Bootpolish..Sounds very different with the accompanying imagery as described by Vinayak.
Ab ke saawan me jee dare from jaise ko taisa by kishore & I think asha
Saawan barse Tarse dil from dahek by hariharan
Saawan ke Jhoole from jurmana by lata
rimjhim ke geet saawan gaye by rafi & lata
hai re haye neend nahi aye from humjoli by lata & rafi
But in my opinion Manzil takes the cake as its looks raw and not artficial. Truely what you call the Mumbai Baarish
Pavan: Thanks a lot for reminding me right connections.
Somehow I always had impression that Suresh Wadekar started his film singing career with “Seene mein jalan ankhon mein tufan sa kyon hai” in “Gaman” (Muzaffar Ali’s first film).
RK : The song ‘barkha rani zara jam ke barso’is from film ‘Sabak’.Your list is quite informative though!
@RK
Gaman introduced Hariharan.. Suresh Wadkar came quite earlier in Rajshri’s Paheli..
Pavan
aaj rapat jaayen toh hamein na uthaiyyo
aaj fisal jaayen toh hamein na uthaiyyo
hamein jo uthaiyyo toh
khud bhi rapat jaiyyo ha khud bhi fisal jaiyyo
aaj rapat ha ha aaj rapat jaiyyo toh hamein na uthaiyyo
barsaat mein thi kaha baat aaisi pehli baar barsi barsaat aaisi
kaisi yeh hawa chali, paani mein aag lagi, jaane kya pyas jagi re…….
Can anyone beat this song?