Songs to Remember - 1

Have you ever tried walking on a hot sunny day on a burning beach on naked feet.... gone near the shore and seen small waves rushing forward like lovable puppies to meet you, to engulf you, play with you and then suddenly realizing that they cannot be with you and then slowly reluctantly moving away from you back to that great mystery from where they arise, leaving back memories of that sweet sensation that you felt when they were around you

The Pain that one feels in Love is also similar to that tinge that one feels and often it's very tough to portray the exact feeling of such a pain.... either they depict the frustration of the Pain or the suffering of the Pain... however there is one song that portrays the feeling of Separation and the inevitable process of trying to reconcile a bleeding heart with the inevitability of reality.

Chitralekha (1964) is a very beautiful movie - everything about the movie is worth appreciation although sometimes I do feel that though Pradeep Kumar has done a great job, it would really be great to see someone like Dilip Kumar or Raj Kapoor essay that role... the depth that Dilip brings to his character or the pain that Raj can portray in his innocent eyes are an out of the world experience and this is what this movie needs in the second half. Pradeep is too much of a regal character to portray the pain. Ashok Kumar as usual shines in his role and Meena Kumari.... well... Meena Kumari is Meena Kumari.

I do not wish to review the film today... on the contrary today I wish to speak of this one song that comes close to studying the feeling of separation and so effortlessly conveys the inevitability of the situation and the frustration of the heart

The song begins such:

Man Re Tu Kaahe Naa Dheer Dhare
O Nirmohi Moh Naa Jaane Jinka Moh Kare
Man Re Tu Kaahe Naa Dheer Dhare

What a way to begin the song!.... the person is asking his heart, his consciousness,his soul, his pain to have patience and bear the pain of Separation. The protagonist - the man who has faced the loss of his beloved - is softly asking his own heart, the one that has born so much to stop being so impatient! He reasons out with the pain asking it to stop crying for the sake of the one whom it loves the most

Feel the way in which Mohammed Rafi in his sweet eternal 'Voice of God' voice pushes the pain across, the sweet caress of the voice as he caresses each sound as it leaves and you feel yourself getting submerged in a mother's caring bosom.... the hopelessness of the situation, the pain of loss, the anguish of frustration all building up against the fact that you have been left alone to fight a war you wanted to fight together

The music is soft and flows like the soft flow of water around a pebble in a stream making you feel the pain but not accentuate it

Sahir with his usual logic moves on....

Iss Jeevan Ki Chadhti Dhalti
Dhoop ko kis Ne Baandha
Rang Pe Kis Ne Pehre Daale
Roop Ko kis Ne Baandha
Kaahe Ye Jatan Kare

What a way to compare the inevitability of the Separation? The great poet that he is, Sahir tries to reason out with his heart comparing the inevitability of the loss to the changing seasons, the changing sunshine.. he tries to explain to his heart that colour cannot be hidden and beauty cannot be stopped... like the sunshine that shines over all the universe, both of them are for the world and cannot remain held by one hand.... so what, if the hand is the hand of Love!

To put the point across, just listen to Rafi put the stress on 'Kahe Ye Jatan Kare' ... the pain is obvious as is the desperate need to move beyond it.... one ends up feeling tired of the possessiveness that is a characteristic of all love....

Sahir and Rafi do not leave it at that.... they move further

Utna Hi Upkaar Samajh Lo Koi
Jitna Saath Nibhaa De
Janam Maran Ka Mel Hai Sapna
Ye Sapna Bisraa De
Koi Naa Sang Mare

Never has unconditional love been better portrayed... entire literatures will fail to prove the depth of these words.... Love is to be given, to be shared... and nothing is to be expected....

The heart is pained because it expects the beloved to understand the pain... to listen to it's needs.... but with this single stroke of truth, the heart is made aware of the fact that Love is not to be stopped... that it has to go.. that it's not to be held but to be released

And what should I say of Rafi.... generations of singers will pass before a voice that can reach the heart so effortlessly, so seamlessly again will resurface...

Listen to the way he uses his voice to point out 'Utna Hi Upkaar Samajh Lo' and then the way in which his voice bears down on the heart with the classic 'Koi Na Sang Mare'.... it's sheer magic in the making

The heart is forced to sit up and take notice... like the last handshake and the last kiss, it has been immortalized.... we have to live and live we shall .... for the sake of the love that we lost, if not for anything else....

And I am reminded of the sensation I felt when the last of the sands left me behind.... I remember, lifting my feet from the sand and found a deep gaping hole staring back at me - just like the one in my heart but surprisingly somehow it felt better. Much Better