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“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…

1. Tum apna ranj.o.gham, apni pareshani mujhe dedo – Jagjit Kaur – Shagun (1964)
2. Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to ye haq hai tumko – Sudha Malhotra – Didi (1959)
3. Kabhi tanhaiyon me bhi hamari yaad ayegi – Mubaarak Beghum – Hamari Yaad Ayegi (1961)
4. 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

Youtube link

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!