The
other day while listening to Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation’s (“Aap ka Purana Dost Radio Ceylon”, as the
broadcaster nostalgically introduces themselves) morning Hindi programme, the
song ‘Yeh phoolon ki rani, baharon ki mallika, tera muskurana.......’came out
crystal clear in all its glory to our utter delight. This happy, melodious romantic song penned by Hasrat Jaipuri and
composed by Shankar Jaikishen from Sagar
Films International’s ARZOO (Direction: Ramanand Ragar) was a huge hit of those days. In fact for music directors Shankar Jaikishen, who were
riding high on popularity charts throughout the decades of the 1950 and the 60,
the music of the film was an outstanding success, the film bagging four
Filmfare Awards, for best music(SJ), Best Lyrics (Hasrat: Aji ruth karna),best
direction and story(Ramanand Sagar)and best actor(Rajinder Kumar). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sV8tXENi2s
The
song ‘Ye phoolon ki rani’ is rarely
heard nowadays and hearing it suddenly
over the radio was a pleasant experience. Mohammed Rafi had made it his own,
rendering it as only he could, bringing out
the mood of the song and its nuances pleasingly to the discerning ears! Film
ARZOO had a few other outstanding songs in it like ‘Aji ruth karna’(Lata) , Yeh
nargise mastana and ‘Chalke teri aankhon mein (both by Rafi) and the
haunting ‘Bedardi balma tujh ko (Lata).
But for us those days ‘Ai phoolon ki rani’ was closer to the heart as it
touched a chord somewhere. What pains today is the feeling that the musical
duo, S-J, who had given us innumerable wonderful songs in films from Aag,
Barsaat, Chori Chori to Sasural Sangam, Jis desh nein Ganga bahti hai to
Be-iman and so on and who were the kings of the music industry, earning a
record nine Filmfare Awards, for more than two decades are not getting the
deserved prominence nowadays in music related programs and features. Are they
being slowly pushed into the oblivion?
While
listening to ‘Ae phoolon ki rani’ three songs with a similar tune but entirely
different in content , treatment and style flashed through my mind. Two are
from film PYASA with music by S.D.Burman
and penned by Sahir Ludhianvi. While the songs, ‘Jinhen naaz hai Hind par woh kahan
hai’ and ‘ Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jayen to kya hain’ rendered by Rafi are
intense, grief filled and filmed on the
tragic hero of the film played by Guru Dutt , the song ‘Ae phoolon ki’ is simple,
pleasant and romantic. These songs show
Rafi’s range and flexibility in singing songs to the mood of the
situation and the theme of the film. The film PYASA created a sensation when it was released and it became a milestone in Indian
film history and is considered as one of the top romantic films of the
world. Singer Geeta Dutt was at her best
in the immortal songs ‘Jane kya tune kahi’and ‘aaj sanam mohe ang lagalo’ as
was Hemant Kumar in the song ‘Jane woh kaise log they’, argueably, his best remembered
song.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugvtr3VQ2fI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSo3KVwrp8M
The
third song which came to my memory was a ghazal (Nazm) by Jagjit Singh from
film Aaj,viz., Woh kaghaz ki kashti, woh baarish ka paani’ with music by Jagjit
Singh and Chitra Singh for the lyrics
penned by Sudarshan Faakir. The similarity of the tune with the earlier
mentioned songs are clear. But the content and mood of the song are entirely
different . The song takes us nostalgically back to our childhood days with the
beautiful lyrics soulfully rendered by
Jagjit Singh. People often wonder why we always long to hear old songs. They
are not mere old songs; each song evokes special memories and feelings in the hearts of
listeners, especially those who had heard them
and seen the films when they were released in their local theatres giving them immense joy and a sense of
belonging! The song ‘Kaghaz ki kashti’epitomises all that can be said about the
wonderful olden days. 
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