I have posted on Gulzar and his poetry umpteen times. Most of these posts dealt with his poems around adult emotions and themes. This post is about some of Gulzar’s poems written for/about children. I believe, this man can articulate adult emotions so deftly because the child inside him has always been alive. Very rarely do we see an artist who can consistently produce work which appeals to all ages.
I am listing some of my personal favorites of Gulzar’s poems written for this incredibly neglected audience in Indian movies and television.
From the movies:
Lakadi ki kaathi
Movie: Masoom Composer: R D Burman Singers: Gurpreet Kaur, Vanita Mishra, Gauri Bapat
Ask any kid who grew up in the 80s and even the 90s to list one song that comes to their mind when asked about a children’s song from Hindi movies – 9 out 10 would go for this song from Shekhar Kapur’s Masoom. I simply love the combination of the rhyming words, and how they play with each other. They make this song so much fun on your tongue (of course RD’s composition is timeless too): Ghoda-Hathauda-Dauda, Sabzi mandi-Ghamandi-Thandi, Charbi-Arbi. On a side note, notice how the young Urmila over enunciated her movements even then!
Saare ke saare
Movie: Parichay, Composer: R D Burman, Singers: Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle
Do re mi’s Indian version you might say. Yes and no! The concept is the same, but the execution is original. Gulzar and RD create sheer magic with this song, there is a touch of optimistic sadness along with the generally happy feel of the song: Papa nahi hai dhaani si didi, didi ke saath hai saare. If you have seen the movie, you know what I mean. To write a song such as this one is tricky, it can easily become deliberate since it has to fit the concept of weaving a song around the seven suras/sargam. Gulzar’s words are anything but forced, they flow seamlessly to RD’s infectious rhythm. It is hard to not have a smile plastered on my face whenever I listen to it.
Masterji ki aa gayi chitthi
Movie: Kitaab, Composer: R D Burman, Singers: Shivangi Kolhapure, Padmini Kolhapure
An absolute riot of a song, filled with nonsensical wordplay which is apt for the kids of the age depicted in this song. While most of the words are innocuous, a touch of fascniation for the adult world has crept in (these are pre-pubescent boys afterall) : jogi and his jogan, zarda paan, mustaches, underwears, etc. The morose kid who says “VIP Underwear Banian” has me in splits every single time.
Kaayda Kaayda
Movie: Khubsoorat, Composer: R D Burman, Singers: Rekha, Sapan Chakravarty
Rekha does a fine job of this “fantasy-rule bending world” song from one of my favorite Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies. The song fits perfectly in the narrative too, where Rekha plays a character of a rabble rouser in a household which is governed under strict “Kaayda”s (rules) by the matriarchial character played by Dina Pathak. The song takes the theme of the movie and applies to a no-rules candy land type place. Kids will certainly be amused by the candies on trees and the flying fish ideas, but adults can derive metaphorical fun by applying it to breaking the rules that come along with growing up – familial rules, societal rules, workplace rules, etc.
After RDs sad demise, there weren’t any more children’s songs from Gulzar until Vishal Bharadwaj arrived on the scene. The Gulzar-Vishal pairing although not as smashing as his pairing with Pancham, has produced some memorable tunes. This song along with the next three listed here are from movies directed by Vishal. This song (along with Tesoo below) are about a gang of kids generally going about their harmless fun at the expense of some characters in the village.
Which kid does not wait for the “chhutti” from school? The word itself sends butterflies through every school going kid’s entire being, the excitement is unbearable and has no comparison with any other form of excitement. The song plays on this magical word and world of “chhutti”. Be it the daily “chhutti” after the school closing bell is rung, or the “ravivar ki chhutti” or the “chhuttiyan” of festivals or the much awaited and cherished ”garmiyon ki chhuttiyan”. You grow up and no other “chhutti” ever feels the same again.
Neeli aasmani chattri
Movie: The Blue Umbrella, Composer: Vishal Bharadwaj, Singer: Upagna Pandya
Gulzar invokes wonderful imagery in this song. Sample these lines where he calls the umbrella nothing but a sliver of the blue sky:
अम्बर का टुकड़ा तोडा, लकड़ी का हथ्हा जोड़ा
हाथ में अपना आसमान है रे
I took a slice of the sky, got a wooden shaft
(and) now I have my own sky in my hand..
In the second stanza he then invokes the longing of this slice of the sky with the larger sky and the clouds and rains contained it it, incredible stuff this:
बारिश से जो रिश्ता है, पानी पे मन खिचता है
बिजली को ये पहचान है रे,
शायद फिर उड़ना चाहे, अम्बर से जुड़ना चाहे
भोली है अनजान है…
Mera tesoo yahin adaa
Movie: The Blue Umbrella, Composer: Vishal Bharadwaj, Singer: Upagna Pandya
On similar lines as the pappad wala song mentioned above, this is also about kids having fun with the townspeople. I love how Gulzar weaves in animals in almost all such songs: lomdi, mendhak, ghoda, kachua, etc.
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From television shows:
Gulzar penned lyrics for a number of children’s television shows, a few songs that I personally like are:
Jungle jungle baat chali hai pataa chala hai
TV show: Jungle Book, Composer: Vishal Bharadwaj, Singers: Amol Sahdev
An iconic title song from the 90s much loved by kids and adults alike.
Aaya re baba aaya
TV Show: Potli baba ki, Composer: Gulzar (Probably), Singer: Vinod Sehgal
Not sure if this is your average kids song, but I used to and still like it.
Chipkali ke nana hai
TV Show: Danasur, Composer: Unknown, Singer: Unknown
Dinosaurs as grandfathers (ancestors) of lizards…enough said. Pardon the poor audio quality, couldn’t find a better version.
I am not a cat person, I don’t hate them but I don’t find them entirely lovable, amusing or even interesting. They seem self-absorbed and wear this smug expression all the time. So I was quite taken aback on how amused I was by a small kitten that I encountered on a blazing hot afternoon in a cool corner of the yard. I was not having a particularly swell week myself and was preoccupied with a number of thoughts and concerns about “life”. It had been 45C outside for the entire week frying my body and evaporating my brain. I was not thinking cheerful thoughts and was besides myself. In such a state I found myself strolling in the yard, when suddenly, from nowhere this little kitten made itself appear.
It looked cheerful and engrossed in something that kittens engross themselves with. Its ears were all perky and its eyes eager. At one point it made a fleeting eye contact with me and I am positive it thought of me as a morose being. I could hear it’s thoughts as it set its steely gaze at me for all of three seconds “Wow, your eyes look like glass! Look alive man! ” Now, coming from a cat, this little remark about ‘glassy’ eyes was quite ironic I must say. I stood there and before I could relay my repartee back at that judgmental little feline , it went about its business as callously as only a cat can (which, in measures of callousness is by far as callous as any living thing can get). I was astonished at the volition of that little creature and was reminded in that moment that I am a man of my own will too. I can choose to be whatever I want to be, to feel(or not allow myself to feel) whatever I choose to. Right then, I could picture my evaporated brain cells fusing together and forming a brain like organ over my head. The kitten had by now disappeared in the bushes and I stood there with a feeble smile waiting for my brain to set itself back in the hollow of my skull.
I take the train to go to work every Monday morning and then to get back home on Thursday or Friday evenings. I try to find a seat on the same side of the train so that no matter which direction I am going, I am looking at the same side of the outside world. This is for no other reason than just “habit”. Today, I couldn’t find a seat on my usual side of the train . No big deal, I say. Only, little did I know how big of a deal it was. Doing this week after week, month after month, my eyes and my brain were trained to certain visual cues of the scenes I see outside the window. That small aircraft factory, the gorgeous estuary where the Susquehanna spills into the Chesapeake Bay, the crumbling row houses in an abjectly poor neighborhood outside of Baltimore, the massive IRS building at New Carrollton, etc.: sights that I experience twice every week and which make for familiar markers of where I am in my journey. Well, all of them went missing today. The scenes that were unfolding outside the window were of course very different and unfamiliar. Result – I was disoriented, I could not tell how far I was from my destination, I was lost. It made me sit up and take notice.
No matter how unfamiliar these sights were, they were equally true and real just as the ones from the side I am usually used to. The train was still heading to the same place, but my perspective was different. What is so “blog-worthy” you ask? Well, it was a great reminder of considering “The Other Side” in my day-to-day life. It was a reminder to weigh-in and look at things from all sides possible before making a decision or forming an opinion. Not that I don’t do it, but today’s train ride accidentally reminded me of the “importance” of it and re-iterated that I continue need to do it consciously. Need to imprint on my brain that “There is always another side to everything and that side is worth looking at.”
It’s cliched, it’s hackneyed, and yet there is no denying or arguing against the only inevitability about the happenstance of every life: Death. It won’t be a false statement to say that every living person, as soon as they gain some lucidity (at a variable age for each), knows that ”death” is evident. Yet, most of us spend a lot of the “limited” time we have with so much negativity, and wrapped up in pettiness, that it defies simple logic and rationality. I look around me and am left aghast at the time and energy spent in holding on to grudges that can be easily discarded with a bit of levity. People live and act as if they will exist until infinity and erode themselves with inconsequence.
How does one convey the incredulity of the privilege every living being has been bestowed with? How does one make another to learn to truly and earnestly “let go”. If only they get the essence of the four simple words that I try to abide by “jaane bhi do yaaron“!
There is an extremely popular and supposedly “funny” scene in the blockbuster movie “3 Idiots”. In this scene, a Bollywood-ized stereotypical Madrasi character gives a public speech in Hindi (a language that this Madrasi fellow does not understand). As an “innocent”
prank, the hero of this movie replaces a key word in the speech with “balaatkaar” which means “Rape”. The unassuming Madrasi fellow goes on the stage, delivers the speech verbatim and of course “hilarity” ensues. When I saw the movie in the cinemas – mothers, fathers, their kids – girls & boys were in splits. I was cringing in the darkness (I am sure there were others with me). I am not entitled to make any judgment on the script-writer/dialog-writer and the makers of this film. What’s shocking, is how universally this scene was accepted as “funny”. In my opinion (which I am entirely entitled), this scene was in extremely poor taste. How this scene was received by the majority of the Indian populace, displays what is wrong on how we think and process “Rape”. I do not intend to say that those who were laughing out loud at the scene stepped out of the cinema halls and went about raping wildly. No, what I am suggesting is the acceptance of this extremely brutal phenomenon as “funny” by the regular “educated” and “reasonable” individuals. It shows a deeply disturbing societal perception of an act which is both a physically and an emotionally devastating event for the victim. I bet no Rape victim thought this was funny, I bet no person closely associated with a Rape victim thought this was funny.
Aside from the portrayal of Rape in movies and their reception, there are some convoluted viewpoints toward Rape in the Indian society. A few exhibits:
Rape is considered as taking away the “honor” of the victim/s : in Hindi, the literal phrase is “izzat lootna” (popularized by the cinema of the 70s/80s): This condensing of this extremely brutal act to a mere “snatching of honor/dignity” is deeply disturbing. It directly indicates that a woman is left with no honor/dignity once she has been raped. It leaves no chance for the victim post the event.
Women who wear revealing clothes invite Rape upon themselves: I have no energy to counter this argument.
Rape of women who are promiscuous or are of “poor” character is a non-issue and the perpetrators can go unpunished: Another absolutely retarded viewpoint.
The increased display of promiscuity, flesh in movies makes men horny and hence the spike in the number of rapes: A viewpoint which suggests that men can basically think only with one organ at one time (wherever the blood has flown).
Of course none of the above have any scientific or statistical basis whatsoever: if there is anyone out there (who I know) who gives even a little bit of consideration to any of the above, I have the following words for you : “You may FUCK OFF and sever all ties with me pronto. If you don’t, I will be elated to do it myself and that too with incredible alacrity.”
All of the above “excuses” for Rape are about externalizing an issue which is deeply rooted in how we Indians (men and women) treat our women. I am sure to invite some wrath (some will be open about it, some will be passive-aggressive) when I make the following statement:
“For all it’s proclamation of gender equality & the divinity in the female (devi), India remains a heavily “male” dominated society and a majority of Indian men & women still to this date consider women as the sub-ordinate, the better-half, the server, the receiver, the baby-maker! “
(Don’t even get me started on – “we have had a female Prime Minister way before any of the developed nations did”…yeah well, so did Bangladesh). (Another disclaimer is that this is not a comparison with another country, this is about India, what other countries/societies do or not do, does not discount our shortcomings and failures.)
The politicians are corrupt, the cops are indifferent, there will always be rapists, the system is too slow in exercising justice – yes, yes, yes & yes! What is in our immediate control and capacity is to : truly look within ourselves, accept the rampant indoctrination of the notion attitudes toward women and cultivate the younger generation to know what “equality” truly means (and practice it while preaching it). A very idealistic approach you may say, but it’s not so hard to raise our voice within our family and friends whenever we see the slightest bias in how a woman should be treated, or how a woman should behave or what she can or cannot do. Baby steps. If we raise another generation which just emulates us, we have failed ourselves. If you don’t believe me, observe a woman (who is by herself and not in another person’s company) in a public space in almost any Indian city. This is the usual visual: she is always on a guard, she is always going somewhere purposefully (or pretending to), she cannot just be loitering around (like her male counterparts can), she cannot be checking out or admiring the surroundings but has her gaze downward or ahead of her . All this is to assert her presence and that there is a purpose for her being by herself at that place in the outside. She just cannot be there for no reason, she has to prove her presence constantly. Do you see it? It is at this primitive a level that we have to start. We have a long way to go, truly a mindbogglingly long way to go; but accepting that we (YOU and I) are the problem is the first crucial step.
On one of the many sleepless nights, I found my ears humming to a long forgotten tune and after much coaxing my memory, the song that emerged was one which I had heard only but a few times – Jaag ke kaati saari raina from the 2002 film, Leela. I have not seen the movie, so have no context on the situation of the song. The lyrics are simple, and honestly, quite mundane by Gulzar’s standards. He could have written these in his sleep (couldn’t help the tongue-in-cheek….so pardon me). I love Jagjit’s voice in this song – there is a bit of a hoarseness and a throaty quality to his voice here. He is not his typical Ghazalee self, probably because this is not a ghazal – I do not have an academic sense of music, so take this statement for what it’s worth. Jagjit also scores music for this song and he mixes the tabla with the guitar quite effortlessly.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.
