Chhaayaageet #186 - "Mein har baar isse alag andaaz mein gaaunga.”
The composer and lyricist are completely in the zone. The film they are working on has several songs. The success of the film will rely as much on the music as the story and the cast. They are knocking out one song after another. Once you have the right chemistry, it becomes fairly mechanical. The lyricist is more of a poet. His credibility is well-known in the film circle. The composer understands this well and respects it.
They move on to the next song in the series. This one is more of a ghazal. It is to be filmed on the leading male actor. He is at a dancer's house and expresses her beauty through the ghazal. The composer starts reading the lines. He is ecstatic. The words seem like pearls dropping one after another. The composer is really impressed and starts composing a tune around it.
Oh, wait! Something doesn’t seem right with this specific line. The composer turns his attention to the lyricist. The lyricist is busy penning lines for another song.
“Lagta hai yahan par tum kuch bhool gaye ho. Zara isko theek kar do. Uske baad mein iski dhun bana doonga.” Looks like you have forgotten something here. Just fix it. Then I will compose the tune.
The lyricist glances at the sheet for a quick moment. “Nahi, ye bilkul theek hai.” No, this is completely fine. He goes back to what he was doing before.
The composer wants to be totally sure that it wasn’t an oversight. He reads the lines once again. He even sings it against the tune. He does it repeatedly in his mind to see if it makes sense. It still doesn’t.
“Kuch theek nahin lag raha hai yahan. Is mukhde mein abhi bhi kuch baaki hai.” Something is not right. I feel this mukhda is still incomplete.
The lyricist is now irritated but still obliges. “Nahin, ye mukhda aise hi hai. Mein isme koi aur labz nahin daaloonga.” No, this mukhda is just right. I won’t add any more words to it.
The composer is really disappointed now. He doesn’t want to argue with the lyricist given his reputation but at the same time, he is struggling on the inside. “Iski dhun banaani aur isko gaana bahut mushkil hai.” It will be very tough to compose and sing this song. The lyricist gives him a take it or leave it look. He goes back to his writing.
The composer is in a bind. If he drops this song, he will have to explain to the producer why there is one less song. This will impact the romantic scene that has already been planned. If he goes back to the lyricist to write a completely new song for the same situation, he is not sure how he will react. He might even leave the film.
He decides to discuss this with the singer. The singer is a well-known commodity. The composer is worried that the singer may refuse to sing given the incomplete lines.
“Yeh ek ghazal hai jo aapko gaani hai.” You will have to sing this ghazal. The composer sings the line to the singer over the harmonium.
As he sings the first line from the mukhda, the singer looks puzzled. “Arre is mukhde ko khatam to kijiye. Kuch adhura sa lag raha hai.” Please finish singing the entire mukhda. Something is missing.
The composer is secretly hoping that the singer doesn’t catch the missing piece but it is hard to do that with an experienced singer. “Yehi to dikkat hai. Maine geetkaar se bhi kaha tha ki yahan par kuch aur hona chhaiye par woh maan hi nahin rahe hain.” That is the problem. I told the lyricist that there should be something here but he is not ready to listen to me.
The singer is very perceptive and understands the composer’s dilemma. “Aap fikr mat kijiye. Mein aise gaaonga ki isme kuch bhi adhura nahin lagega.” Don’t worry. I will sing it in such a way that it won’t feel incomplete.
The composer appreciates his willingness to work with him. “Par ye ek baar nahin, gaane mein baar baar aata hai.” But this repeats over and over again in the song.
The singer smiles at the composer. “Mein har baar isse alag andaaz mein gaaunga.” I will sing this every time in a different variation.
Mohammed Rafi sings the song Ye zulf agar khul ke in the film Kaajal (1965). The music was composed by Ravi and the lyrics were written by Sahir Ludhianvi. The song is filmed on Raj Kumar and Helen.
Kaajal had a total of 9 songs and one of the solo songs was a ghazal. Sahir wrote the lines poetically and ended the initial mukhda line with the word “acchha”. Colloquially that doesn’t make any sense. You always have either “accha hoga” or “accha ho” or “accha hai” to make it a legitimate line. Ravi argued a lot with Sahir to adjust the words or add something after “acchha” but Sahir refused to budge. Part of it was his ego as a renowned lyricist. He refused to accept input from anyone about his work.
Finally, Ravi had to approach Rafi to see if he could sing the song in a way that it doesn’t appear unusual. Rafi agreed to do it. In fact, the word “accha” occurs 9 times during the song and Rafi sang each one of those in a slightly different way. It makes it quite hard for any casual listener to even figure out there is something wrong or missing in the song.
The music of Kaajal did very well at the box office. Rafi was nominated as the Filmare Best Male singer for one of the other songs, Chhoo lene do nazuk hoton ko.
Singer: Mohammad Rafi
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
*ing: Raj Kumar
Film: Kaajal (1965)