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Blog Day : |
4397 | Post No. : | 15773 |
In Memory of Meena Kumari :
Mehjabeen Bano, who gained name, fame and huge popularity as Meena Kumari, was born on 1st August 1932. Child artist, tragedy queen, poet and singer, are the various attributes to her name. Had she lived to see this day, she would have been 88 today i.e. the two fat ladies of housie. Really, she was just 40 when she left this world, her temporary abode.
Honestly, I have not seen many of her movies. Some of the earlier movies like “Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam” and “Chiraag kahan aur roshni kahan” I have seen on TV longback. The unforgettable “Dil Apna aur preet praayi” and “Ghazal”, “Kaajal” , “Mere apne” and “Bahu Begum” also on TV. “Pakeeza” is the only film I have seen on the big screen and revisited in recent times. The songs of ‘Pakeeza” are embedded in mind from early childhood, even before I am conscious of listening to radio.
I belong to a family of film buffs, and the only family outings known to my parents and their brothers and sisters was going to watch movies in Theatre. Discussing about the film stars and their lives and their movies was a favourite pastime of all of them. Emphasis has always been on education, doing well in studies, but watching movies was dangled as a prize in front of us while in school. But none of them bought Records or record players as far as I know. I had not seen a record player in my life or touched one till I was in college. One of my college friend’s father had one. That was one L-P record player, kept in his room, alongwith all his prized possessions of school and college days. That was a separate room, a little far from their house where the family lived. So when exams were near and I would go to the friends place and she will take me to that room, where no one would disturb us and it was a quite place. It was in a chawl system, and that room was kept separate and maintained to be used as guest room as and when need arose. So that was my actual ‘darshan’ of a record player. We played some records available on the player sometime. Afraid of damaging it, we left it alone mostly. I recall only one or two names of those records, one of them was ‘Nasbandi” and other may have been “Dastak”.
Then there is the childhood memory of Pakeeza songs. Usually on a Sunday, one of the nieghbours on the floor above us, who had ‘ishq’ with Pakeeza songs, he would play it in on his record player. That sound has never gone away from the consciousness. Right from ‘inhi logon ne’ to ‘thhaare rahiyo’ to “chalte chalte”. Childhood impressions are very strong, there is no denying that. My knowledge of the Gujarati language also belong to the same period. Terms like “advanu nathi” (don’t touch) and “saras chhe” (Its nice) were never forgotten. It was in the BEST officers quarters, so even if we shifted houses, we were in the same building and nieghbours. The kids all played and grew up together even studied together. But we kids would never go to their house as that aunty was a stickler for neatness and cleanliness of the house and the uncle was a disciplinarian sort of person. So that explains why I never actually saw the record player that played “Pakeeza“ songs most Sundays. Let me make it clear that only the songs of Pakeeza were heard from the house and nothing else. Explains the “Ishq” of Pakeeza songs.
Now of course the record playing era is also over. Youtube is, the be all and the serve all for people like me. Meena Kumari, for me is always about her urdu diction and that voice full of emotions. Some of the material read in urdu magazine’s about her is surfacing in the mind. Like someone saying that she was the most beautiful of all the female artists of her time. Meaning, more beautiful than Madhu Bala ? it is difficult to digest. But her voice and diction is the instantly recognizable feature of her persona and more appealing than her beauty, for my generation.
So I found this song of the film “Tamasha” to post on this occasion. I was put up for this post by Peevicie’s Mom. She acted as a prompt or the catalyst for this writeup. The song is a solo of Lata Mangeshkar, picturised on Meena Kumari. Lyricist is Bharat Vyas. The music composer include Manna dey with Khemchand Prakash. It is not clear whether they composed the songs as a team or separately.
The films cast includes Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar.
I will conclude with a factual impression about Meena Kumari, that she was like a rare flower. It bloomed fascinatingly for a long while, but could not deal with its own beauty and frailty. So it wilted fast in neglect of its soul as the real beauty was in the soul.
Hazaaron saal nargis apni be-noori pe roti hai
Tab kahin jaa ke hota hai chaman mein koyi deedawar paida…..
Song-Bhool sakey na ham tumhen aur tum to jaa ke bhool gaye (Tamaasha)(1952) Singer-Lata Mangeshkar, Lyrics-Bharat Vyas, MD-Khemchand Prakash-Manna Dey
Lyrics
Kyun Ankhiyaan bhar aayin een
kyun Phir koyi yaad aaya aaa
Aaaa aaaa
Kyun Ankhiyaan bhar aayin
Bhool sakey na ham tumhen
Aur tum to jaa ke bhool gaye ae
Bhool sakey na ham tumhen
Aur tum to jaa ke bhool gaye ae
Ro ro ke kehta hai dil
kyun dil ko lagaa ke bhool gaye ae
Bhool sakey na ham tumhen
Bewafaa
Ye kya kiyaa aa aa aa aa
Bewafaa aa
Ye kya kiyaa aa
Dil ke badle gham diyaa
Muskuraayi thhi ghadi bhar
Raat din ab roun piyaa aa
Ek pal ab chain na miley
Tum jhalak dikhaa ke bhool gaye ae
Bhool sakey na ham tumhen
Aur tum to jaa ke bhool gaye ae
Bhool sakey na ham tumhen
Kaun si thhi bairan ghadi wo
Jab ke tujh se uljhe nayan
Kaun si thhi bairan ghadi wo
Jab ke tujh se uljhe nayan
Sukh ke meethhe jhoole mein rum jhum
Jhoom uthhaa thhaa paagal sa mann
Din sunehre raatein rupehli ee eee
Tum mile main huyi magan
Aankh khuli to
Maine dekhaa
Dekhaa thhaa ek jhoothha sapan
Sapnon ke sansaar mein
Mera mann bharmaa ke bhool gaye ae
Bhool sakey na ham tumhen
Aur tum to jaa ke bhool gaye ae
Bhool sakey na ham tumhen