Songs that Measure (⚖) Love

Posted on 14/08/2021 by Trivia- The Spice of Life

Screen grab Courtesy : YouTube.com

Emotions can only be felt, never measured. Thus, when some one asks you how much you love them, it is rather difficult to quantify it – in fact impossible. I was thus trying to fathom how songs that speak of how much someone loves the other, deal with this question. In some songs, the answer is that this cannot be expressed; in others it is the shama parwana comparison that is made. And then there are those songs where the stars, the sky or the oceans come to the rescue. For example in the song Tum To Pyaar Ho, from Sehra (1963) the lady asks : kitnaa hain pyaar humse itna bataa do (tell me how much you love me) and the man replies : ambar pe taare jitne itnaa samajh lo (as many stars as there are in the sky!).

I have tried to shortlist 10 songs of the golden era that right at the outset, raise the issue of measuring or quantifying love. In all these songs, this issue is addressed in the mukhda. The words that indicate this attempt at quantification usually are itna ( इतना or this much), jitna ( जितना or as much as), kitna (कितना or how much), bahut (बहुत or a lot ), zara zara ( ज़रा ज़रा or a little bit ) and beshumaar ( बेशुमार or uncountable). Here’s my list of ten. These are not arranged in any particular order. I have not included songs beyond the early eighties.

1) Itna Pyaar Karega Kaun (Aas, 1953) Lyricist: Shailendra; Music Directors: Shankar Jaikishan; Playback Singer : Lata Mangeshkar. This song, which is filmed on Kamini Kaushal, speaks of motherly love. It speaks of how the mother’s love for her child is the most seamless and selfless. The song, which also somewhat doubles up as a lullaby, has been penned by Shailendra. The soothing music has been delightfully composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Lata’s tender and sweet voice does full justice to the song.

Itna pyaar karega kaun
maa karti hain jitna

Palkon ki chhaya mein daale
jaan lagakar jaan sambhaale
itna dhyaan dharega kaun
maa dharti jitnaa
itna pyaar karega kaun

2) Itna Na Mujhse Tu Pyaar Badha (Chhaya, 1961) Lyricist: Rajinder Krishan; Music Director: Salil Chowdhury; Playback Singers : Talat Mahmood & Lata Mangeshkar. This is a song whose tune was inspired by Mozart’s 40^th symphony. The song is a lovely duet where the man asks the lady not to love him so much (itna), as he is a wandering cloud but the lady refuses saying that that is precisely why she loves him. Now, it is for the lady to decide how much (kitna!!) to love him. There is also a solo (sad) version of the song which is sung by Talat alone.

Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badhaa
ki main ek baadal aawaara

3) Mujhe Kitna Pyaar Hain Tumse (Dil Tera Deewana, 1962) Lyricist: Shailendra; Music Directors: Shankar Jaikishan; Playback Singers : Lata Mangeshkar & Md.Rafi. This movie was a remake of the Tamil film Sabhash Meena (1958). It is a lighthearted movie with some marvellous songs. It has Shammi Kapoor and Mala Sinha playing the lead roles. This romantic duet has an interesting question hurled first by the man at the lady and then repeated by the lady to the man – if you want to know how much I love you, please ask your own heart!

Mujhe kitna pyaar hain tum se 
apne hi dil se poochho tum
jise dil diyaa hain wo tum ho 
meri zindagi tumhaari hain

4) Karte Ho Mujhse Kitni Mohabbat (Bekhabar, 1965, Unreleased??) Lyricist: Raj Mehdi Ali Khan; Music Director: S. Mohinder; Playback Singers : Asha Bhosle & Md.Rafi. This appears to be an unreleased movie starring Dara Singh, Sailesh Kumar and Sayeeda Khan. The songs of the movie are very hummable. The lady teasingly asks – how much do you love me (karte ho mujhse kitni mohabbat?). The man answers as much as the moth loves the lamp (jitni shamma se parwaana). Shamma-parwaana is the typical metaphor for self sacrificing love – almost the gold standard for the male lover.

Karte ho mujhse kitni mohabbat
jitni shamma se parwaana

Fortunately, a video of the song is available. I am posting both the video and the audio links here, though the quality of both is not great.

5) Mujhe Tumse Bahut Hain Pyaar (Khazaana, 1951) Lyricist: Rajendra Krishan; Music Director: C.Ramchandra; Playback Singers : Lata Mangeshkar & Md.Rafi. This film is touted to be one of the most important ones made on invention and adventure. The video of the song is, unfortunately, not available. But the lyrics amply suggest that it is a fun song. The lady says that she loves the man a lot (बहुत – bahut ) but the man flatly refuses and says – no, you love me only a little (नहीं जी, ज़रा ज़रा – nahin ji, zara zara).

Mujhe tum se bahut hain pyaar
bahut hain pyaar
nahin ji, zara zara

6) Humne Tujhko Pyaar Kiya Hain Jitna (Dulha Dulhan, 1964) Lyricist: Indeevar; Music Directors: Kalyanji Anandji; Playback Singer : Mukesh/Lata Mangeshkar. A movie based on temporary memory loss – which is a very clichéd theme – is bound to have a song like this. This movie has Raj Kapoor (looking rather jaded and avuncular) and Sadhana as the lead pair. The hero is not modest here as he is heartbroken. He says – who will love you as much as I do? Interestingly, there are two versions of the song – the male solo sung by Mukesh and the female solo by Lata. I expected the female version also to be rather sad since the lyrics seemed to so suggest. However, it turns out that it is a somewhat lighthearted song to clear all misgivings. The opening lyrics (mukhda) are the same in both versions but the antaras have different lyrics. Lata sings the song a little differently and maybe a tad faster.

Humne tujhko pyaar kiya hain jitna
kaun karega itna, kaun karega itna

7) Bol Mere Saathiya Kitna Mujhse Pyaar Hain (Lalkaar, 1972) Lyricist: Hasrat Jaipuri; Music Directors: Kalyanji Anandji; Playback Singer: Md.Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar. Lalkaar, was written, produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar, who sought to continue Chetan Anand’s genre of war movies. But to make it more mainstream, a love triangle was also added to the plot. This song features Rajendra Kumar and Mala Sinha. It is a hummable song sung by Rafi and Lata. The question asked by the man is – how much do you love me? The lady replies – as much as the depth of the ocean and the elevation of the skies.

Bol mere sathiyaa 
kitna mujhse pyaar hain 
jitni saagar ki gehraayi 
jitni amber ki oonchhayi
itna tumse pyaar hain

8) Pyaar Karte Hain Hum Tumhe Itna (Hotel, 1981) Lyricist: Indeevar; Music Director: Usha Khanna; Playback Singers : Manhar & Asha Bhosle. This lovely duet is from a not so famous movie. The movie is about a man who discovers that his new hotel is built on a graveyard, when terrible things start happening. The lead roles are played by Navin Nischol and Neelam Mehra. Manhar is the male playback singer; his voice is very different but melodious. I would rate this as one of the best songs that Usha Khanna has directed the music for. Though the movie is forgettable, the duet is really soothing. Both lovers claim to love each other immeasurably – do aankhen to kya do jahaan mein samaaye na jitna.

Pyaar karte hain hum 
tumhein itnaa 
do aankhein to kyaa
do jahaan mein 
samaaye na jitna 

9) Dekha Hain Teri Aankhon Mein (Pyaar Hi Pyaar, 1969) Lyricist: Hasrat Jaipuri; Music Directors: Shankar Jaikishan; Playback Singer : Md.Rafi. This song features Dharmendra and Vyjantimala; this is said to be the only movie in which they acted together. Rafi once again spins his magic. The song has Dharmendra at the wheel, accompanied by the heroine and her friends who are off, for a picnic. Vyjayantimala was close to hanging her boots around this time. Yet, she looks stunningly beautiful. There is a reference in the song’s opening lines of how the man believes that he has seen/felt immeasurable (beshumaar) love in the eyes and utterances of the lady.

Dekha hain teri aankhon mein
 pyaar hi pyaar beshumaar
paaya hain teri baaton mein 
pyaar hi pyaar beshumaar

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. In the mukhda of this song the lover candidly says he/she does not know how much love there is for the beloved. But one thing is for sure – that the lover cannot live without the beloved.

Hume tumse pyaar kitna
 ye hum nahin jaante
magar ji nahin sakte 
tumhare bina

This brings me to the end of my list of ten. There were a few more songs on this theme but I excluded them for the sake of brevity. I am sure lovers of retro Hindi film music who may visit my blog, would add them. Love is an emotion that cannot be measured. It can only be experienced. Thus, it is best to never ask a person how much he or she loves you.

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 Daily Motion, YouTube and other platforms only to make the post audiovisual. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers and music companies.