The gang of four : 4 Timeless (Unsung) Beauties
“Geet boodhe nahin hote, unke chehron pe jhurriyan nahi girti
wo palte rahte hain, chalte rahte hain
sun-ne walo ki umra badal jaati hai….”
- Gulzar in Fursat Ke Raat Din
It was an unusually calm and quiet Saturday yesterday. For the first time in last four months, the work had given permission to relax. Though the evening had watched a unusual strong spell of rains and storm, but the night was completely silent. After so many days I got a few moments for myself and I decided to celebrate with my favourite songs.. its been months since I spent time with them… In office, though the worldspace keeps playing for 24 hours, and sometimes they do play good songs too, but the fight of mind and heart makes it difficult to enjoy… many a times the heart conquers the mind and gets me into the song yet a telephone call or a team member pulls me out.. “sir there is a problem!” ..
“mujhe kharchi mein pooraa ek din, har roz milta hai
magar har roz koi chheen leta hai, jhapat leta hai antee se! “
But yesterday was different.. I had time, silence and a few moments for myself and consciously wanted to listen a few favs.. but the new problem was which ones? Kept scrolling the playlist and all the familiar songs and names kept moving Kishore/ Pancham/ Gulzar/ Lata/ Asha/ Geeta/ Rafi/ Mukesh/ Hemant/ Manna/ Talat/ Bhupinder/ Jagjeet/ Saigal/ SDB/ Jaidev/ Madan Mohan/ Roshan, I breathe all these names all the times even at work or home.. (Unconsciously or subconsciously, thru music playing inside or around me)…and I wanted to bypass the most familiar ones…
It wasn’t the eyes on the playlist, but the heart guided me to the song that I really wanted to listen.. A Piano started stirring my mind and the heart started playing the song inside while the eyes started searching for that old favourite of mine “Tum apna ranj.o.gham apni pareshani mujhe de do”. And I knew what exactly I need in this moment for ultimate relaxation – “The gang of four”.. Four beauties who would never get older, will never get wrinkles of age…
four immortal songs makes the gang of four…
- Tum apna ranj.o.gham, apni pareshani mujhe dedo – Jagjit Kaur – Shagun (1964)
- Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haq hai tumko – Sudha Malhotra – Didi (1959)
- Kabhi tanhaiyon me bhi hamari yaad ayegi – Mubaarak Beghum – Hamari Yaad Ayegi (1961)
- Kuchh aur zamana kehta hai, kuchh aur hai zid mere dil ki – Meena Kapur – Chhoti Chhoti Baatein (1965)
Though I consider Lata ji a divine voice and Asha a favourite in all seasons and all genres, these four songs have far more stronger impact on me and far more depth in terms of reaching the heart. Incidentally the four songs share a lot in common, despite been created by different people, for different films, different characters and situation yet they share the same tenderness and hence can be easily grouped as a common gang of songs. What made this gang so special is the four voices of relatively lesser known singers (Jagjit Kaur, Sudha Malhotra, Mubaarak Beghum, Meena Kapur) making a strong impact much more than some of the bests of Lata’s, Asha’s or Geeta’s.
Incidentally three of the four songs have realistic reflection of relationship outside film’s premises. Jagjit Kaur is the wife of Composer Khayyam and the duo had seen a lot of tough times in the industry. Tum apna ranj.o.gham is simply one of the finest creations of Khayyam and Jagjit excels in “Main dekhun to sahi duniya tumhein kaise satati hai”, and infact these were the lines that made Sahir ask Khayyam to keep the song intact in Jagjit’s voice.. as Jagjit just recorded the song as a filler due to non appearance of the scheduled singer (probably suman) at the time of recording and the producer needed the recording badly as they had to shoot the song.. and Jagjit turned the opportunity into an immortal song.. Incidentally Shagun featured another real life married couple as the lead stars, Waheeda and Kamaljeet.. The film failed miserably but “tum apna” made its music immortal. Even each of the other songs like “Parbaton ke pedon par” (Rafi-Suman), “Tum chali jaaogi” (Rafi), “Itne kareeb aake” (Talat-Mubaarak), “Zindagi julm sahi” (Suman) are top class. Simply one of finest of Sahir and Khayyam.
1. Tum apna ranz.o.gham, apni pareshani mujhe de do
The next song was created in almost similar situation. The original music director N.Datta could not do it due to illness and Sudha Malhotra made the most of the opportunity and created a brilliant song with Sahir. It would be interesting to know that the song was created at a time when in real life Sudha Malhotra was deeply in love with Sahir saab while Sahir never cared for it. And though onscreen it is Shobha Khote conveying her pain (Sunil Dutt not caring about it), Sudha Malhotra composed and rendered it from her own heart for herself..
“Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haq hai tumko
Meri baat aur hai maine to mohabbat ki hai”
Sahir’s reply is quite interesting
“Zindagi sirf muhabbat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai
Zulf rukhsaar ki jannat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai
Bhookh aur pyaas ki maari huee is duniya me
Ishq hi ek haqeekat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai”
For a listener its an outstanding experience, Brilliance stamped all over the song!
2. Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haq hai tumko
The haunting most melody from the gang is “Kabhi tanhaiyo me bhi hamari yaad aayegi”, the song will never leave you alone even when you are the loneliest on the planet. Mubaarak Beghum though could never reach the heights of Lata, Asha aur Geeta, this one song of hers is an unforgettable experience. Such a power of this song, that made me think atleast for a while, she did deserved many more songs (she blames Mangeshkar sisters for fetching opportunities, yet I feel it was her attitude that caused her a loss of work). Today she is not leading a life she deserved, lived for a long longtime in an old mansion in the red light area on mumbai but after efforts of late Sunil Dutt got a flat at Jogeshwari. She lives on a few bucks of pansion from government with a daughter suffering from Parkinson diesease.. Lately people and fans have started taking notice of her condition and helping her and doing her concerts.. Tonight she was performing in Delhi.
3. Kabhi tanhaiyon me bhi hamaari yaad ayegi
Last in the gang but not the least is an immortal song by yet another real life married pair, Anil Biswas and Meena Kapur in their last offering to bollywood, Chhoti Chhoti Baatein (1965). It was a song I heard in Mid 80s when the film was aired on TV and could not get a chance to listen it again for next 16-17 years, but the song stayed with me, within me.. have written earlier on this song on RMIM about 5 years back
Music wise, CCB holds a special place in HFM as it was the last film
of Anil Biswas..The film had not one but two Swan songs… Zindagi
Khwab hai for Motilal and Kuchh aur zamana kehta hai for Anil Biswas
(and Meena Kapoor)..great lyrics by Shailender… Zindagi ka ajab
fasana hai is another popular mukesh-lata duet from the film.. but the
song I am in love with is Kuchh aur zamana kehta hai… the song got
my immediate attention when I was watching the film.. The song was
picturised on Nadira in a boat and even today the frame is freezed in
my memories, .. I searched for the song for many years wih many
recording wala’s to no avail (even posted on RMIM about 5 years
back).. as Nida Fazli said… ‘Mil jaaye to mitti hai, kho jaaye to
sona hai…’ Truely a gold song for me.Last year, I got to know that a Nadira interview is sheduled on Vividh
Bharti..I was sure if she plays some songs, she would definately play
this one.. and she played the song in the end.. unfortunately the
version I recorded was not a good one.. still in search of a good recording…Simply one of
my favourite songs…
and I got the song the same day from not one but 4 friends.. and despite getting it, the gold has not lost its shine.. A gem of a song..
Though the Gang of four keeps playing inside me at a subconcious level, yet yesterday it made one more heavenly session of listening..
“badee hasarat hai pooraa ek din, ik baar main apane liye rakh loon
tumhaare saath pooraa ek din, bas kharch karne ki tamannaa hai!!”
am happy could spent it with the gang of four!
Tags: anil biswas, immortal melodies, jagjit kaur, khayyam, meena kapur, mubaarak beghum, Music, sahir, shobha khote, snehal bhatkar, song, sudha malhotra, sunil dutt
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
The awesome four. Pavanji thanks a lot for including the videos in the post, had never seen them.
Listened to ‘kabhi tanhaiyon mein…’ and ‘tum apna ranj-o-gham..’ after a long long time.
Pavan: awesome songs!! Looking the title, for a moment, I wondered if Mao’s widow and Cultural Revolution had gotten into you.
That Meena Kapoor number is a forgotten classic. She had such a unique voice
I listened to Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein by accident. There used to be this HMV compilation of Sunheri Yaadein (B&W cover) which had this as the last song on in Side A. It is just a 2 minute plus song and for some reason the cassette would get stuck just before this song and I had turn it over to the next side. Till one fine day, for reasons unknown, it just played and I heard it and remained transfixed.
The gang of Four : fantastic four…
never heard before any of the song….
thank u 4 showing such a lost nd hidden treasure….
shagun had only 1 song 4 me by now… parbaton ke pedo par…
so that man.. is waheeda rehmans husband….:)
such a poor actor is husband os such a good actress:d
2. Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haq hai tumko
video is not working:(
Krishn,
Yes the second link seems to be not working properly.. checking that…
You can try following links
http://youtube.com/watch?v=t6BN6zE7IY0&feature=related
or
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_rNUcRz6Tdc
Thanks for the videos …..
amazing stuff – thanks for bringing back the memories…
perhaps a song from Suman would have made a fine quintet..
Dikha diyen hai & zindagi zulm sahi from Shagun is a top contender..also songs from noor jehan composed by Roshan for suman
Nice Memories…I’ll show them to my Mom…I think she’ll like it.
Arun,
Suman is not an “UnSung” name.. also the two songs quoted above are top class, but “to me” no way near to “Tum apna ranj.o.gham” in terms of impact.. Infact Sahir saab was brilliant in the two songs, but suman could not carry that brilliance in her rendering..
Even Sudha Malhotra is not an “unsung” name, but she is an “unsung” music director, and given us one of the most memorable love songs (this is the only song she has composed in films) and sahir saab is absolutely magical with his kalam and heart.. The (virtual) question and answer format of the song makes it an unforgettable experience..
sudha :
“mere dil kI mere jazabaat ki keemat kya hai
uljhe-uljhe se khayalat ki keemat kya hai
maine kyun pyar kiya tumne na kyun pyar kiya
in pareshan savalat ki keemat kya hai”
mukesh:
“zindagi sirf muhabbat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai
zulf-o-rukhsar ki jannat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai
bhookh aur pyas ki mari hui is duniya me
ishq hi ek haqeekat nahin kuchh aur bhi hai
tum agar aankh churao to ye haq hai tumako
maine tumase hi nahin sabase muhabbat ki hai”
sudha:
“tumko duniya ke gam-o-dard se furasat naa sahi
sabse ulfat sahi mujhse hi muhabbat na sahi
main tumhari hoon yahi mere liye kya kam hai
tum mere hoke raho ye meri qismat na sahi
aur bhi dil ko jalao ye haq hai tumko
meri baat aur hai maine to muhabbat ki hai”
One of the most realistic images of love…
Krishn,
To me, Shagun is one of the finest collections of Songs in one album.. The Genius of Sahir and the Brilliance of Khayyam made it one of the meorable listenings for me..
Check out Rafi saab’s Tum chali jaaogi parchhaiyaan reh jaayengi, or a totally diffrent mood in “ye raat bahut rangeen sahi”… then two divine duets in Parbaton ke pedon par (which stamped “Pahadi” on Khayyam’s music forever) and “Itane qareeb aakar”
Similar for Suman, Sahir saab has penned an absolute beauty.. unfortunately Suman couldn’t take it higher.. but managed well..
“hamko taqadeer se bevajah shikaayat kyon ho
isi taqdeer ne chahat ki khushi bhi di thi
aaj agar kaanpati palakon ko diye hain aansoo
kal thirakate hue honthon ko hansi bhi di thi”
“zindagi zulm sahi zabr sahi gham hi sahi
dil ki fariyaad sahi rooh ka maatam hi sahi
hamane har haal me jeene kii kasam khaai hai”
The problem with Shagun is each one of the song outshines other.. the “Angry Young Poet” Sahir has written another memorable one in “ye raat bahut rangeen sahi, is raat me gham ka zahar bhi hai”
“tum raqs karo main sher padhoon, matalab to hai kuchh khairaat mile
is qaum ke bachchon ki khaatir, kuchh sikkon ki saugaat mile”
“ye zulm nahin to phir kyaa hai, paise se to kaale dhandhe ho
aur mulk ki vaaris naslon ki taalim ki khatir chande hon
ab kaam nahin chal sakne ka, raham aur khairaat ke naare se
is des ke bachche anapadh hain, daulat ke ghalat bantavare se”
Fantastic songs no doubt. Meena Kapoor was a big name those days. Also MB & SM were supremely talented but they sang mostly in C grade movies. Some of these songs are simply mindblowing.
We music lovers are at loss , when we could not get more gems from these superb singers, for whatever reasons.
Jis tarah aap ne fursat ka intezaar kiya, usi tarah hum bhi waqt ki antee se ye 20 minute nikaal laaye.
Nice post.write more of such stuff, may you find more such fursat more often
=10,
i m going 2 buy album of shagun
thanks for introducing good old songs 2 me^:)^
Great songs. But how can you describe the singers as +unsung+ when you and uncountable others are still singing their melodies?
Hi Rajendra,
They might not be unsung for U and Me (and ofc uncountable others), but you can make out from the comments above that they are definitely unsung for uncountable many of HUMs at PFC, specially of new generation ( I found many of them on PFC).. and hence I introduced them here..
I was searching for the mp3 for “itne kareeb aakar bhi” on the internet when stumbled upon your blog, and it was truly worth while. Memories came gushing to me, I have not heard most of these songs for almost 10 yrs. But with some effort I could recall the lyrics too.. especially “zindagi ka ajab fasana hai”.. I had forgotten that this song even existed! And the divine poetry..
Dil lagaya tha par na thi ye khabar
maut ka ye bhi ek bahaana hai..
kaisi mushkil hai koi kya jaane
aag ko aag se bujhaana hai.
I am so grateful to you!
hello Pavan,
m trying to get my hands on the lyrics of the number nadira & motilal-although it is mentioned in your list of favs i cant see it beneath…
one of the beautiful numbers hv ever rememebered, this numbers used to be ofcourse on telly and i must have hardly been 8/9 years old-but what beauty and simplicity…if you do have the lyrics do fwd me that.
thanks a lot.
Jyoti
hello pavan,
Found the lyrics, hopefully should be able to hear it somedays, its really deeply embedded in my concious, and i must have heard it just once or so….m sure you would have it, neverthless-sharing the lyrics with you.
thanks
me
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@Jyoti (17),
read discussion on song with lyrics at RMIM
http://tinyurl.com/ccbsong1
in devnagri at
http://tinyurl.com/ccbsong2
Finally finally could relive those moments of 80s today, when hilderband, a friend of mine sent the youtube link of the song… The sound is poor but who cares.. Superb Song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXgBZijpfcM
Hi Pavan ji
Excellent article. Here is a link to a better audio quality version of the song from CCB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAZbvIupCSs
Cheers
Parag
Parag,
Thanks for a better audio quality link.
Nice listening, nice watching!