Songs of the Unsure/Insecure Lover

If you read my blog posts on a regular basis, you would notice that I have often tried to thematically explore love songs of golden era Hindi films. This post is a playlist of yet another shade of love – that of the unsure/insecure lover. There are a few songs where there is a declaration of love but the same is accompanied by a niggling doubt that the lover may not be true to his/her commitment. A slightly different shade of the same emotion is the insecure/jealous/possessive lover who cannot tolerate any other person appreciating his/her love interest. It is ten such songs that I shall enlist below. A common feature of many of the songs is that they are peppered with questions, many of them rhetorical. The songs are largely of the golden era.

1) Main Pyaar Ka Raahi Hun (Ek Musafir Ek Hasina, 1962) Lyricist: Raja Mehdi Ali Khan; Music Director: O.P.Nayyar; Playback Singers: Md. Rafi and Asha Bhosle. This is a beautiful duet where the lady love is unsure about whether her lover will really walk the talk. The lyrics say it all. The lack of commitment unsettles her.

(Rafi)
Main pyaar ka raahi hun
teri zulf ke saaye mein 
kuchh der thhahar jaun

(Asha)
Tum ek musafir ho 
kab chhod ke chal doge
yeh soch ke ghabraun

There is quite a bit of trivia associated with the song and a lot of it is to do with the eccentricities of the talented music director O.P.Nayyar. If you listen to the song carefully, the percussion instruments cannot be heard at all. This is unique only to this song (in the film) because all the other songs have them used generously. In fact, the dholak is even sported in one of the songs Bahut Shukriya, Badi Meherbani. The reason for not using the percussion instruments in the song is that the percussion musicians came late for the recording. O.P.Nayyar – the music director – was a stickler for time and thus did not let them enter the recording studio. The song was recorded without the percussion beats. If this was not enough, Asha interchanged her lines for the two stanzas. If you listen to the song carefully, Jab bhi chhaye ghata is right for the 2nd antara and na main hoon nazneen is right for 1st one. This song was axed and does not feature in the film, perhaps for the second reason i.e. the inadvertent mistake of Asha. The length of the movie is also cited as one of the reasons for this song being axed. Fortunately, both the correct and the wrong versions of the antaras are now available on YouTube.

2) Zameen Se Hume Aasmaan Par (Adalat, 1958) Lyricist: Rajinder Krishan; Music Director: Madan Mohan; Playback Singers: Md. Rafi and Asha Bhosle. This lovely duet is almost the hallmark song of this post. It has rhetorical questions and doubts all through. If you have seen the movie you would know that, unfortunately, all of the lady’s fears come true. I was at my wits end when I watched the movie for its spellbinding music. The dialogues are pretty retrograde and disgusting; they literally make you cringe! (pati ko patni ke sharir ke tukde tak kar dene ka adhikaar hain !!).

(Asha)
Zameen se hume aasamaan par
bithaa ke giraa to na doge

(Rafi)
Agar hum ye puchhe ki dil mein
basaa ke bhulaa to na doge

3) Main Tumhi Se Poochti Hun (Black Cat, 1959) Lyricist: Jan Nisar Akhtar; Music Director: N.Datta; Playback Singers: Md. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. This is a beautiful duet though Rafi sings only two lines of the vocal prelude. It is effectively a solo by Lata Mangeshkar. The lady wonders why she is blindly trusting her lover and why is it that she feels he will not betray her. There is a slow sad version of the song as well, where perhaps things have gone sour (haven’t seen the movie, so cannot say for sure).

Main tumhi se poochhti hoon,
mujhe tum se pyaar kyun hain
kabhi tum dagaa na doge,
mujhe aitbaar kyun hain?

4) Bhula Nahin Dena Ji (Baradari, 1955) Lyricist: Khumar Barabankvi ; Music Director: Shaukat Dehlvi Nashad; Playback Singers: Md. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. Khumar Barabankvi was a very famous Urdu shayar who wrote about 50 songs for Hindi films. Nashad too was not very prolific. But they both created magic in this movie. The sweetness of Lata’s voice leaves you asking for more. Here, both the lady and her lover are asking each other to be faithful and not renege on the promise of spending their lives together. The on-screen couple Geeta Bali and Ajit are quite natural and impress beyond measure.

Aankhon mein sapne jhum rahe hain
 geet labon ko chum rahe hain
geeton ko aahe bana nahin dena
zamaana kharab hain
 daga nahin dena ji daga nahin dena

5) Tumhara Chahnewala Khuda Ki Duniya Mein (Kahin Din Kahin Raat, 1968) Lyricist: S.H.Bihari; Music Director: O.P.Nayyar; Playback Singers: Mahender Kapoor & Asha Bhosle. This lovely duet is perhaps wasted in this movie. In fact, I did not know that the movie was this mediocre until I saw this song. Both Biswajeet and Sapna (a one movie wonder?) do not impress one bit. The bronze wig that the lady sports makes her look ludicrous. Her face is expressionless and wooden. But despite all this, I can vouch for the fact that the song is fabulous. O.P.Nayyar’s music is top notch, the lyrics are very meaningful and apt for my theme. The playback singers – Mahender and Asha – have excelled. This song is more about a possessive lover than an unsure one. The last stanza has the lady coming in with a fitting repartee.

(Mahender Kapoor)
Yeh baat kaise gavara karega dil mera
tumhara zikr kisi aur ki zubaan pe ho
tumhare husn ki taarif aaina bhi kare
to main tumhari qasam hain ke tod dun usko
tumhare pyaar tumhari adaa ka divana
mere siva bhi koi aur ho khuda na kare

(Asha Bhosle)
Tumhare dil ko kahi mujhse kabhi thhes lage
mujhe yakin hain aisa kabhi nahin hoga
mujhe vafaon pe apni bada bharosa hain
tumhara pyaar hi de jaye na kahin dhokha
dua ye hain ke tumhara khuda ki duniya mein
mere siva bhi koi aur ho khuda na kare

6) Tumhe Main Agar Apna Saathi Bana Lu (Shatranj, 1969) Lyricist: Hasrat Jaipuri; Music Director: Shankar Jaikishan; Playback Singers: Md. Rafi & Asha Bhosle. This duet is from an interesting spy movie which featured Waheeda Rehman and Rajendra Kumar. The movie’s music was very memorable. The lyrics of this song are almost an ode to all the doubting, insecure lovers!

(Asha)
Yahan har qadam par nayi dilkashi hain
kaha tak tumhara bharosa karu main
(Rafi)
Dua hain ke benoor ho jaaye aankhe
kisi aur ki jo tamanna karu main

7) Pyaar Hua Iqraar Hua Hain (Shri 420, 1955) Lyricist: Shailendra; Music Director: Shankar Jaikishan; Playback Singers: Manna De & Lata Mangeshkar. This is a timeless love song from an iconic movie. If you listen to the lyrics of the song carefully, you immediately gather that it is all about treading cautiously. It has been picturized very tastefully, the rain and the shared umbrella augmenting the charm of the song manifold. There is apparently another stanza of the song which I have never heard.

Manna Dey
Kaho ki apni preet ka geet na badlega kabhi
Lata 
Tum bhi kaho is raah ka meet na badlega kabhi
pyar jo tuta, saath jo chhuta, 
Both
Chaand na chamkega kabhi

8) Kisi Raah Mein Kisi Mod Par (Mere Humsafar, 1970) Lyricist: Anand Bakshi; Music Director: Kalyanji Anandji; Playback Singers: Mukesh & Lata Mangeshkar. This is one of my favourite duets of Mukesh. Picturized on Sharmila Tagore and Jeetendra, in a truck, its lyrics strike a chord. Jeetendra thankfully doesn’t indulge in histrionics. The lady is in doubt and the gentleman tries to reassure her.

Mera dil kahe kahin ye na ho 
nahin ye na ho, nahin ye na ho
kisi roz tujhse bichhad ke main 
tujhe dhundhti phiru darbadar
mere humsafar, mere humsafar

9) Hum Jab Honge Saathh Saal Ke (Kal Aaj Aur Kal, 1971) Lyricist: Shaili Shailendra; Music Director: Shankar Jaikishan; Playback Singers: Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle. This is a song dedicated to the idea of love outliving time. Thus, there is the insecurity of physical beauty fading away with the passage of time, which could lead to the relationship losing its charm, if it is not cemented on something more than physical attraction. Featuring three generations of the Kapoor family (which is what the title of the film alludes to), the couple (reel and real) on screen in this song were Babita and Randhir Kapoor.

Rup ki ye mastaani dhun 
ek din to dhal jaayegi
aur qismat bhi chehare pe 
samay ka rang mal jaayegi
tum tab kahi badal na jaana
 qasam tumhe is dhadakan ki
bolo preet nibhaaoge na 
tab bhi apne bachpan ki

10) Hume Tumse Pyaar Kitna (Kudrat, 1981) Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri; Music Director: R.D.Burman; Playback Singers: Kishore Kumar/ Parveen Sultana. I wanted to end this post with this dual version song; the beauty of this song is that the tune is the same in both versions but Kishore Kumar renders it like any other romantic number whereas Parveen Sultana sings it in the thumri style in Raag Bhairavi; she won a Filmfare award for the song. Though the import of the lyrics is the same in both versions, Majrooh Sultanpuri has made an earnest effort to give Sultana’s rendition an earthy touch (with words like jiyaraa, manvaa, nayanva, sajanvaa) while the Kishore version is in Hindustani. The feeling of insecurity bordering on envy is pretty evident from the lyrics.

(Parveen Sultana)
Koi jo daare tumpe nayanvaa
dekha na jaaye moh se sajanvaa
jale mora manva, jale mora manvaa
hume tumse pyaar kitna, ye hum nahin jaante
magar ji nahin sakte tumhare bina

(Kishore Kumar)
Tumhe koi aur dekhe to jalta hain dil
badi mushkilon se phir sambhlata hain dil
kya kya jatan karte hain, tumhe kya pataa
ye dil beqarar kitna, ye hum nahin jaante
magar ji nahin sakte tumhare bina

These were my ten songs dedicated to the unsure/insecure lover. The common thread in these songs is quite perceptible. There is a fear about the uncertain future and the fact that the one you love might actually ditch you at a critical juncture. When such songs are thrown in to a movie, be rest assured that the worst fears will come true. It is almost an indication that melodrama is just waiting to unfold. Which songs of the unsure/insecure lover do you have on your mind?

Disclaimer

anitamultitasker.wordpress.com, claims no credit for any image, screenshots or songs posted on this site. The images and screenshots are the copyright of their original owners. The song links are shared from YouTube/ other platforms only to make the post audiovisual. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.