Alphabetically yours...

The recent war of words between the political leaders has turned out to be a contest  of  making out a meaner, sharper abbreviation using English alphabet. It appears that their vocabulary is not enough  to say what they have in mind. Rather, they mindlessly concoct abbreviations or try to fit new words on already available letters in the short forms. We have had SCAM, KASAB, names of political opponents  as well as abbreviations of party names being re-worked.

Hindi films, too,  had  instances of clutching on alphabet to churn out popular songs, down the years. Surprisingly, many of them became very popular. In the films,  the lyrics of a song are  meant to   express true love and  the word-smiths have found innovative ways of using letters of the alphabet to convey the message.

As we explore  this genre , a lot of surprises are in store. Read on....


As early as 1958, almost 60 years ago, the musically and lyrically inclined purists were shocked that a song , which sounded like reading from a children's Basic Reader could become so popular.
 The song was from the film Dilli ka thug, starring Kishore Kumar ( who else could pulled it off?) and Nutan , exchanging love  messages through alphabet. Written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, the song was composed by Ravi and became a rage, coming second in the Binaca Geet Mala that year !

The song?
C.A.T cat, cat maane billi, R.A.T. rat rat maane chooha

Those were the days when in a large number of areas, the language used was Urdu. In courts and for property deals, documents were in Urdu.

In films , the name of the film was  always mentioned  in Urdu. It  was, therefore, natural that a creative lyricist will attempt to use the Urdu alphabet. As we know, Urdu is written from right to left and the Alif , Be , Pe etc. are the letters in Urdu. The song written by Rajinder Krishan , however, deals with the vowels of Urdu. If you listen to the song, it will be clear that a child is being taught the phonetics of using Urdu vowels, by Joy Mukherji, in a musical manner  !

Alif Zabar AA,  Alif Ber AE
 

Next up is  a return to English ; not for adopting it, for shunning it !

 Hema Malini was at her  bubbly best , exhorting Dharmendra to stop teaching her English and instead, learn her language of love.The song was written by Anand Bakshi. The film is Raja Jani ( 1972) and the chemistry between the two remained a subject for film periodicals till they married !
For the record, Dharam-Hema did 43  films together, starting with Sharafat (1970)  upto  Tell me O Khuda ( 2011) , making it one of the most enduring relationships of tinsel town.

 In Hindi it is said, Dhai akshar prem ke, because it takes two and a half letter to write it. Hindi films had a rich tradition of expressing love through associations with nature (ek tha gul aur ek thi bulbul ),  metaphors( dil ek mandir hai) and  similes ( kora kagaz tha ye man mera).

However, the love songs in the films were changing rapidly in the 80s.They were more upfront in place of having similes, metaphors and other oblique references, which were a thing of the past. As they say, if you feel it, say so: don't beat about the bush.
A prime example of this trend was in  the film  Kaalia ( 1981), an Amitabh-Parveen   song ( Majrooh, again) which needed to spell out love , literally, by calling out the alphabet !

L O V E   Love.
Simple, isn't it?

The Eighties brought another craze in the Indian youth, a new dance form: Disco !

Such was the rage of disco dancing that every young boy and girl leapt on to the dance floor for a pelvic thrust . Just as there was Twist in the 60s and  Cabaret  in 70s ,  Disco was the dance of 80s. Heralded by a music album by Nazia Hasan and Zoheb Hasan in Disco Deewane, the ambassador of the dance form was truly, Mithun Chakraborty. However, with the emphasis on beats and music, lyrics had to take a secondary status. that is why in  his film Disco Dancer ( a super hit, musically  ) and had a song, written by Anjaan,  explaining the full form of DISCO using the alphabet to creative effect.


DISCO = Dance Item Singer Chorus Orchestra

   

Not satisfied with making out a full form of a dance type, Hindi film writers, kept on inventing phrases  to entice the now dwindling film-goer. The hook-phrases such as "Kero mama" , "Hawa Hawai"  and "Oye Oye"  surfaced from nowhere to become popular tag-lines of more popular songs.

One such tag-phrase was ILU ILU ...an acronym invented for I Love U, by none other than Anand Bakshi.
Lo and behold, there was a full-fledged song Ilu Ilu, in Saudagar 1991, starring Vivek Mushran and Manisha Koirala.

  

In the Nineties, the whole scenario had changed.Anything could be set to tune and when nothing could occur to less-than-fertile minds, the English alphabet became the last resort. There is a   film during the shooting of which, there was another shooting, that of a black buck.

The film was Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999), there was a song which had the singer spell out  from A to H, just to get to I and say I Love You. The lyricist ( does Mitali Shashank deserve to be called one?) had run out of ideas, it seems.
 Wonder whether this was the reason of the black buck episode !

 :)

When we were kids, there were many popular rhymes like "Akkad bakkad bambe bo"  and "chandu ke chacha ne , chandu ki chachi ko".
There was also a Hindi rhyme made out entirely of English alphabet !

Yaad aayi?
It was BBG TPOG IPKIG UPOG ( Bibi ji, Tea peeyo ji, I pee ke aayi ji, you peeyo ji).

Probably Javed Akhtar, the lyricist of the film  Kuchh Na Kaho ( 2003) was going through a writer's block and thought he will pass off a "traditional"  rhyme for his own. But such is the bankruptcy in art and maybe we get what we deserve. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai mouthing what their parents or grandparents  had done, may many years ago.

By now, I am sure you must be thinking that we have reached the rock-bottom of hindi lyrics. And despite the language of films being Hindi , no one has ever though of using Hindi alphabet ka, kha ga, gha ...or so I thought. 

Till I heard this Amitabh Bhattacharya song from the 2016 film, Bombay Velvet, starring Ranbir kapoor and Anushka Sharma.
 Interestingly , this song is said  to be a highly sensual song.
But am I to judge?
Listen yourself. 

All said and done,now that  the politicians have resorted to word-play to get votes, hopefully the hindi film lyricist will go back to literary and artistic manner of wording their song.

Till then,  TATA

Qaid mein hai bulbul...

The suspense over the impending jail term to an almost-there- CM hogged all the headlines this week.  Hamlet-like indecision, coupled with Schrödinger  uncertainty had the whole country waiting with bated breath for most part of the week.

Ironically, being jailed is hardly a discomfiture for the netas . They have AC, TV and even personal Gym in their cells and are able to control  and direct their supporters without batting as much as an eyelid. Surely then, they must also be having opportunities for songs and dances in solitary confinement.

Going by the songs sung in Hindi films, while in captivity, this is not entirely unfounded.

Which brings us to our topic, which is about songs and dance sequences by on-screen prisoners !

One of the early songs in captivity was in the experimental film by V.Shantaram, Do Aankhein Barah Haath( 1957). The bhajan is still one of the most iconic devotional songs to have been picturised. The forward-looking jailor trying to reform the hardened inmates was a departure , from all perceivable angles. The bhajan brings the self close to the Almighty, as you get immersed while listening or singing it. Shantaram and Sandhya , alongwith the half a dozen convicts  ( being reformed) were the dramatis personae in the song.

The epic story of a prince on the edge of spurning the kingdom for a courtesan was best narrated by the showman K.Asif in Mughal e Azam in 1960. A magnum opus, a behemoth of a film and a humongous blockbuster: the film was all these....

Excellent music, exquisite lyrics and heart-wrenching singing made this "Anarkali-in-captivity song" an emotional experience, even if it was not the chartbuster like other songs of the film. Madhubala, as always looked perfect as damsel-in -distress.

 A couple of years later, Bimal Roy wove the story around an inmate sentenced for murder in the eponymously titled Bandini. There were a number of songs in the jail premises. One  of them , "ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul" was a sister's yearning for her home. The other one , however, truly depicts the atmosphere of the prison and those who are captive. Their addressing the birds, who are free is a poignant expression of their helplessness. Though Nutan, the heroine of the film is shown in the song, it is picturised on a small-time actress Dolly Kapoor, who does a fine job.

 The reasons of restraining protagonists  in films are widely varying. From epic films ( where anyone threatening the throne is jailed) to formula films ( hero framed or villain sentenced !) to realistic films ( life of a convict) , there are any number of plots which put a character in jail where he expresses his emotions. This was most emphatically accomplished in Shaheed 1965, where Manoj Kumar, Prem Chopra and Anand Kumar  played the Bhagat Singh-Sukhdev-Rajguru  trio and within the confines of British jail, they sang, "sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai"

The reforms in prisons was a subject fit for the back burner, going by the times in 70s. However,  in the film Samjhauta 1973, there was a pleasant departure to see the message being given to those jailed through a song, which was said to have had therapeutic effect on depressed people, outside the jail, too. Anil Dhawan ( visually-challenged exhorting able-bodied prisoners, which inclde Shatrughan Sinha ) to take life with  a rational, accommodating  attitude. The lyricist is Indeevar, one of the most under-rated wordsmiths.

Over the years many songs were picturised on jail staff, convicts, under-trials and those merely in lock-up, picturised on big stars. There have been comic songs ( zulf ke  phande mein -Johny walker), sad songs ( Kya se kya ho gaya-Dev Anand and  Ghungroo ki tarah- Shashi kapoor), stock songs

 ( mera naam yaaron mahachor hai-Rajesh Khanna) and patriotic songs( Ae watan tere liye-Dilip Kumar-Nutan)

Amongst the various songs in captivity, there is one song which stands out because the lyricist Sahir has eloquently expressed the emotions of a prisoner, destined to wait endlessly for good times to come. This song was picturised on Dev Anand in Joshila, also released  in 1973. In a formula film, this was definitely a touch of class !

The most talked-about film in the annals of hindi cinema was Sholay, released in 1975 and this film, too had a song-and-dance sequence  in captivity. Though the film had an "angrezon ke zamaane ke jailor", a song said to be a qawwali in jail was edited out. However, near the climax, Basanti (Hema Malini)  sings and dances while captive by Gabbar Singh ( Amjad Khan)  despite the "in kutton ke saamne mat naachana" advice by Veeru ( Dharmendra); all part of Sholay nostalgia.
Yes, this is surely a song which qualifies to be a part of this anthology.

All those in prison have a date when they will be finally out, generally. However, in hindi films the power struggle between the "star" prisoner and "strict" jailor have been often played out in a number of ways. The larger-than-life persona of the hero is vindicated when he says " aisi koi jail nahin jo mujhe zyada der tak rok sake"...a dialogue ( or its variant) spawned numerable times. However, there is a whole song dedicated to the thought and this was in Kaalia ( Amitabh the prisoner, supported by Ram.P.Sethi as his friend versus Pran, the jailor)

The hindi films have been churning out crime thrillers and there would be many ore songs in jail and just as nobody can keep a character in a film captive for too long, the politicians are also eminently skilled  to get out from jail till they think it is enough for their popularity.

I, me, myself...

The continuing competition  for  becoming the power centre of Tamil Nadu has over-shadowed other issues this week like cricket and films. Supplementing  this race was the election clamour in five states. All the leaders, in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere ( whether  they deserve to be called   leaders is another matter) are shouting at the top of their voices that they are the best !

Such a departure from the leaders of yesteryears, who were so self-effacing. Not only the leaders, the self-aggrandisement was rarely demonstrated in public by even deserving, well to do and skilled people.It was considered arrogance if someone would start beating their drums.

The scenario , however, kept on changing as the years went by and generations succeeded each other.
In the hindi films too, the protagonists underwent changes, gradual at first and then quite rapid, when they expressed themselves.

From the soft spoken, sacrificing and confessional " sach hai duniya walon , ke hum hain anari" to bombastic, chest-thumping  " I am the best" is a trail of changing mindset of the protagonists ,, both in reel and real life.

The first self-promotion seems to have appeared in the comedy film  Chalti Ka naam gaadi (1957), in which Madhubala declares herself to be the cynosure of all eyes ( she was, actually) but Kishore Kumar was not impressed, wanting his "paanch rupaiyya barah aana" back, irrespective of the charms of the diva.

In the early 60s,  the focus of showering praise shifted from the beloved to self.
Ironically , it was " Anari" Raj Kapoor who, in words of Shaharyar ,  hummed an ode to self in the film Aashiq , not bemoaning any weakness but extolling the virtues !

 

Next up was Majrooh Sultanpuri, who penned a song destined to keep his memories alive in all the beautiful ways he expressed in this song. Roshan's composition ( a legacy of the original Sachin Dev Burman's Thandi hawaayein, which has inspired over half a dozen gems down the years) ensured that this song becomes immortal, pun intended ! 

 

Despite the wish to be in the limelight, there was no touch of arrogance till now. For the one who loved someone, ego is an anathema. But the times-were-a-changing !

While the older heroes like Dilip Kumar ( the tragedy king), Raj Kapoor ( the common man) and Dev Anand (the city-slicker) kept on wooing the heroines by  either praising her looks, dresses and charms or by presenting themselves as martyrs ( called emotional blackmail today ), it was Shammi who kept on his devil-may-care attitude by proclaiming that he is the emperor of all he surveys !

Assisted by Shankar Jaikishan and Shailendrai, Shammi warned all and sundry that he was here to rule

                          jaane walon zara  hoshiyaar, yahaan ke hum hain raaj kumar
                          aage peechhe hamari sarkar , yahaan ke hum hain raajkumar

And so, we had the first avatar of the alpha male , a rockstar-of-sort and a top-of-the-voice singer who let out a mating call with the not-too-subtle "Aaja aaja, main hoon pyar tera"... in Teesri Manzil.
Shammi Kapoor switched to R.D.Burman for this film, but not after he had put the young composer through a litmus test. Supported by R.D.Burman's orchestration, the song indicated the shape of things to come, lyrically speaking.
                                   

   Soon there were others on the bandwagon of self-promotion. In 1967 Jeetendra , in his James Bond avatar in Farz proclaimed that he could do as he wished to (  main jo chaahe yaar  karoon) and the whole world is just for his sake ( saara jahaan hai mere liye). The journey of the hindi film hero to  becoming the centre of universe had begun !

This is not to profess that the heroes were not singing love songs or had stopped playing the "sacrifical goat" roles, but a new kind of brashness was evident. The films were also being named after the character of protagonists, highlighting the "in and as" phrase.
The advent of the first Superstar Rajesh Khanna accentuated this  ( both on and off-screen), despite his mushy romantic image. In the film Shehzada in which the hero literally claimed that he cared two hoots for the "zamana" , despite being a truck driver. 

With the action films taking up all space, there was hardly any time for the song and dance to be reflective of the state of the mind of characters, unlike  the earlier eras. Mindless violence and
"might is right" affirmed the egoistical imagery of heroes ( and heroines, too) leaving little margin for niceties. Amitabh Bachchan got the pick of author-backed roles of "in and as" variety like Don, Kaalia, Muqaddar ka Sikandar, Shahenshah, Coolie and Mahaan, to name a few. Each of these films had songs which were exercises in self propogation.

The time had come to announce to the world that the "good guys" are not inferior to the "bad guys"., even if it had to be sung in a qawwali format or a dahi handi song.

 Films also had titles such as Hum kisi se kam nahin, Humse badh kar kaun, main khiladi tu anadi and the No.1 series ( Hero No.1 , Jodi No.1 etc.) . It was not entirely unexpected that someone could come up with the ultimate expression of supremacy.

King Khan and Juhi Chawla were  spot on when they delivered the verdict in the film Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. The young generation was not apologetic about being the best and was rather proud of it. 

 Ironically, the title of the film is a snatch from a Raj Kapoor song from Sri 420, in which he says

                                छोटे से घर में ग़रीब का बेटा 

मैं भी हूँ माँ के नसीब का बेटा 

रंजो ग़म बचपन के साथी 

आँधियों में जाली जीवन बाती 

भूख ने है बड़े प्यार से पाला

Compare this with the lyrics of "The Best" and you get the contrast , in your face. 




कोई  हीरो यहां 



कोई ज़ीरो  यहां 

कोई स्टार है 

कोई बेकार है 


मैं कौन हूँ, कहूँ 

है सच तो ये दोस्तों 



I'm  the best,  I'm the best 

I am the best

The trend has continued to this date and the tribe of  drum-beaters is increasing. The leaders are reflections of the people and probably this is the reason the saleability ( ability to win the elections) is more when they proclaim to be superior , not subservient to the public they hope to rule.

So, help us God !

बाकी कुछ बचा तो . . .

The most important event this week was, undoubtedly, the budgetary speech by Finance Minister
 ( also speaking for Railways, for the first time ). While the economists and pundits will continue to unravel how good or bad the budget was, it is sufficient for the common man  to know if his pocket will become deeper or it will get burnt by a hole.
The economic indicators associated with the budget like GDP, Inflation, per capita income etc. all converge at one point....
will I spend more or save more ?
महंगाई कम होगी या बढ़ेगी ?

The issue of spending more than one earns had been often picked up by hindi film scriptwriters and lyricists and to good effect.

Remember the fun-filled Kishore Kumar song in , which made his exasperation with no money at hand into a comic question !

Kamaata Hoon Bohut Kuchh- 1954

 While a lot of hindi film content is about money and its manifestations, the issues related to saving money and its falling value have been addressed rarely.We have been en-cultured into believing that जितनी लंबी चादर हो , उतने पैर पसारो , a graphic analogy of avoiding being a spendthrift.

It must have been, indeed, a herculean task to weave a complete story of a film around being economical, when the reigning mood in films was of romance and singing round the trees. It is to the credit of director duo of S.S.Balan and S.S,Vasan, who made the film Teen Bahuraniyan , raising the bar of social dramas above emotional transactions and hitting where it pinches !

The three daughters-in-law have a lot to learn and it is learned the hard way, thanks to the patriarch Prithviraj Kapoor.

aamdani atthanni kharcha rupaiya 1968

The fact that commercial film-makers knew the pulse of the public was emphatically demonstrated by Manoj Kumar in Roti Kapda aurMakaan (1974), when the country was reeling under unimaginable inflation and lack of employment, not to forget hoarding, black marketing and adulteration. No wonder, very soon a mass movement akin to Quit India was perceptible ,leading to clamping down of Emergency in the country.

The words of Varma Malik in the title song sung by Lata, Mukesh, Chanchal and qawwal Jani Babu, making his debut in films, Mehangaayi maar gayi ( which was the top hit song that year in the only hit parade Binaca Geet Mala),  said it all :

 पहले मुट्ठी विच पैसे लेकर 
थैला भर शक्कर लाते थे 
अब थैले में पैसे जाते हैं 
मुट्ठी  में शक्कर आती है

mehangayi maar gayi- 1974

But he was not the only film-wala .
 Dream-maker Manmohan Desai, the sultan of masala cinema came up with Roti in the same year
( actually released on the same date!) and this also had a scathing attack on the the economic offences leading to shortages, expressed by Rajesh Khanna on screen in  the words of Anand Bakshi.
Both films competed for eyeballs and both were superhits, such was the mood of the nation .

हीरे मोती तुमने छुपाये 
कुछ हम लोग न बोले 
अब आटा -चावल भी छुपा तो 
भूखों ने मुहं खोले 
भीख न मांगे, क़र्ज़ न मांगे 
ये अपना हक़ मांगती है 
पब्लिक है, ये सब जानती है

Surprisingly, the art film directors did not see the economic hardships of the middle class noteworthy of a film  except oblique references. ( Gaman, which dealt with rural mass making a beeline for cities in search of employment, Susman-dealing with hand-weaving industry and Sookha-  politics of famine)

They too shifted to showing the underbelly of cities and corporate world.

Opening up of economy in 1991  meant a lot of foreign  goods and  services  and it seems , no  one was complaining. However, after a decade of LPG ( Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) , the murmurs of high prices and low expendable income started getting louder, at least in Bollywood.


Taking a cue from the 1968 song , a slapstick comedy titled Aamdani Atthanni Kharcha Rupaiya (2001)  brought home the sane principle of judicious spending. The times had changed and it was not only the housewives who had to be responsible for running the house: husbands had to contribute ! Comic portions apart, the song gave the message loud and clear---save or perish !

Next up was a great spectacle by Anusha Rizvi and Mahmood Faouqi  in their  iconic Peepli Live (2010) which shows how the common man is snared in various nexuses, leading to his economic deprivation, summed up beautifully in the song ( sung by Raghuveer Yadav and the singers of Brij Mandal of Bhadwai).

An interesting trivia about the song is  that a leading national party challenged the song "Mehangai dayan khaye jat hai"  alleging that the song referred to one its leaders. However, the argument did not sustain and the case was dismissed by the court holding that the said leader  was not responsible for the rising inflation in India. 

mehangayi daayan -peepli live--2010

Following up quickly was Prakash Jha  in his Chakravyuh (2012),inspired by 1973 Hindi film Namak Haraam,  presenting the point of view of the fringes of social ecosystem: the Red Brigade. The confrontation between the ruling and ruled manifested itself in the song , written aptly by  Turaz and sung by Kailash Kher. Interestingly, the entire schedule of shooting was wrapped up in a short period of two months.

महंगाई ने हमारा भट्टा   बिठा दिया 
चले हटाने गरीबी को , गरीबों को हटा दिया

Mehangai ki mahamari-2012

The fact that this is an issue close to everyone ( as they say, पैसा किसको काटता है !), 
it was not long before the non-conventional film-makers took it up. 
The latest kid on the block is Anshul Sharma who had assisted in a few films ( Dev D, Pyar Ka Punchnama , No Smoking etc.) and has come up on his own in satirical Saare jahan se mehnaga (2013), in which he gave credit to the professors of BITS campuses also !

As we try to cope up with the monthly home budget, post- demonetization and imminent re-monetisation, leading to less cash  ( or is it cash-less ) economy, one can only see the pink currency notes and wonder:
 “Use less cash OR useless cash” …

खैर जो भी हो, पैसा बोलता है ( a rarely heard qawwali from Sabri Brothers—re-worked into a Bollywood song.