LATAnjali - 264

guzare hai.n is tarah se
(Bahana, 1960)

Posted by:  Dhananjay Naniwadekar
Contributed by: Dhananjay Naniwadekar

11 Jan 2003

Now that R D Burman has been installed as the golden-age composer, it is no surprise Madan Mohan is regarded as another-worldly figure. He and L are the darlings of participants in talent-spotting competitions.Having enjoyed him hugely once upon a time, I am glad for MM. But here again the straight-and-narrow ways of public taste have served him ill. The same set of his songs
(ranging from the sublime like 'jaanaa thaa ham se duur'to the boring like 'aap kii nazaron ne samajha') is presented again and again and again. The intolerable
'beraham aasamaan' in Bahaanaa is a constant potential threat to one's peace in any gathering of 'educated and cultured' people. Gems like 'sapane me.n sajan se do baate' or 'tum chaand ke saath chale aao' or Talat's beauties in Chhote Babu are less popular. Worse fate awaits Talat's superb brace in Khoobsoorat ('muhabbat me.n kashiish hogii' and 'merii raato.n ke andhere me').Or Lata's indescribably lovely 'dukhiyaare nainaa'. They are not considered worthy of public's attention. Or 'guzare hai is tarah se', the subject of this LATAnjali
post. Never mind. What an awesome song it is. I don't know its setting in the film, but to me, Lata seems to be recounting her sorry story in a serene state of philosophical acceptance of her fate. She has no peer in delivering a song with such intensity.

It is clear from the song's entry in the hfgk that it has a prelude with
'aasamaaN kar le magar' being the opening words. My copy does not have the prelude. I am not sure whether the prelude was actually recorded. Normally, Lata
moves from prelude to the main song without any interludes. But the opening words in my copy are preceded by a longish opening instrumental piece.

Madan Mohan was a master of orchestration. Lata's vocals are beautifully complemented in the song. Let me point it out to those who bother about such things that there are three lines in the first stanza but five in the second.
The song reminds me so unfailingly and strongly of Suman's lovely Marathi song 'yaa laaDakyaa mulaanno, tumhii malaa aadhaar' (its MD is not known to me) that the latter version of the two must have been influenced by the former. This song ranks high among my sentimental favourites by LM-MM pair.

%
\startsong
\stitle{guzare hai.n is tarah se}%
\film{Bahaanaa}%
\year{1960}%
\starring{Meena Kumari, Sajjan, Sheela Vaz, Helen, Mehmood}%
\singer{Lata}%
\music{Madan Mohan}%
\lyrics{Rajendra Krishna}%
%
% Contributor: dhananjay naniwadekar
% Date : 11 Jan 2003
% Credits :
% Comments: Latanjali Series. bahana / bahaanaa.
%
\printtitle
#indian
%

guzare hai.n is tarah se duniyaa me.n din hamaare
bhiige rahe.n hameshaa aa.Nkho.n ke do kinaare

siine se ra.nj\-o\-Gam ko hamane lagaa ke rakhaa
majabuuriyo.n ko dil hii dil me.n chhupaa ke rakhaa
karate bhii kyaa ai qisamat, tere sitam ke maare
guzare hai is tarah se

hasarat bharii kahaanii, kissaa hai bekasii kaa
likhaa hai aa.Nsuu_o.n se afasaanaa zi.ndagii kaa
kuchh naa kisii se kahanaa, ai merii bezubaanii
Gardish nasiib kii hai, kyaa doSh hai kisii kaa
TuuTe chamak\-chamak kar taqadiir ke sitaare
guzare hai is tarah se \threedots


%
#endindian
\endsong
%