Phir Le Aaya… Of Pain, Poetry & More…

I had vowed not to talk of Bollywood for at least some time on this blog, after my post on Shafqat’s Bollywood songs … but Phir le Aaya…yes the song from the recently released film, Barfi, brought me back to talk some more about Bollywood again. A beautiful song, that has been playing on the loop on my IPod, and if not that, then in my mind endlessly ever since I first heard it- clutter breaking, simple, yet profound; that stirs something deep inside of you.

I decided to ponder, and probe for a plausible explanation into what makes this song so near perfect!

P is for Poetry

Written by Saeed Qadri, a lyricist who has written extensively for the Bhatt camp, the song has beautiful words in a beautiful language, that is Urdu, and talks of love, regret, desire and more.

If you look at a long list of songs that Qadri has written till date, you realize that his words have contributed a lot to their success.  Doorie, Woh lamhe, Kaho na kaho, Tum mile, Tu hi mera… the list goes on. One of my all-time favorites – In dino dil mera from Life in a Metro comes from the same director, music director & writer team- Anurag Basu, Pritam and Saeed Qadri- and with Phir le aaya the trio has created magic, again. 

Phir le aaya dil, Majboor kya kije

Raas na aaya, Rehna door kya kije

Dil keh raha,Usse maqammal kar bhi aao

Wo jo adhuri si, Baat baaki hai

Wo jo adhuri si, Yaad baaki hai

Karte hain hum, Aaj qabool kya kije

Ho gaye thi jo, Humse bhool kya kije

Dil keh raha, Usse mayassar, Kar bhi aao

Wo jo dabi si, Aas baaki hai

Wo jo dabi si, Aanch baaki hai

Kismat ko hai ye, Manzoor kya kije ye..

Milte rahe hum,Badastoor kya kije

Dil keh raha hai,Usse musalsal, Kar bhi aao,

Wo jo ruki si, Raah baaki hai

Wo jo ruki si, Chaah baaki hai

Translation (that isn’t half as good):

I return- my heart compelled, there was nothing I could do

For it didn’t quite agree with me, the staying away from you!

My heart tells me, that I should go

And find that incomplete, half lost memory

Of very long ago

I confess today, it cannot be undone

I admit to all mistakes, each and every one

The heart stirs again to a lost desire

Wants to stoke again, the embers

Of a dying fire

That’s the way fate would have it, there was nothing we could do

Our paths kept crossing, but in a way the world would want them to

My heart cannot still bid adieu

To that unfinished, stifled, yearning

For being with you…

  

P is for Pain

Love and pain go hand in hand. Pain caused by love has been the pet peeve of Hindi film songs for as long as they have existed. And then there are different brands of pain as well- the pain of rejection, the pain of separation, the pain of remorse, the pain of longing and so on.

The pain experienced when one is young, is usually the most hard hitting, takes you by surprise & then alters the way you think and live life after the experience. It is often the inspiration for the creative types and is known to have produced many a poet and artist.  And that’s the reprise version of the song for you…

“A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets”- The famous quote from the movie Titanic, is what sums up the Rekha Bhardwaj version for me.  For they say that a woman’s heart never forgets love or hurt for as long as she lives, and if she chooses not to tell anyone about it, no one will ever know…

And as you mature and grow wiser the way you handle pain changes, too. You take a more philosophical approach to it ,learn from it, handle it better and live with it… and that’s the Redux version- my favorite of course, as it has been sung by none other than The Shafqat Amanat Ali!

So, like I mentioned in a previous blog, if there is a song that deserved to be sung thrice over, this is the one.

Arijit Singh : Reprise

Rekha Bhardwaj

Shafqat Amanat Ali : Redux

P is for Playback

Anyone who saw Fame Gurukul, a reality music show on TV few years ago will remember this massively talented, youngster, Arijit Singh. He had shown a lot of promise back then but not many would’ve imagined that he would come of age with a song like this. A very expressive voice that feels the lyrics as it sings them.

Rekha Bhardwaj has given us so many delightful songs in recent times and with this one she again proves why she is one of the best female playback voices of our current times. Soft, smooth, silky, subdued… her vocals for this one.

And then there is the version sung by my favorite. He sings it and how!… making it sound so easy and effortless and unconstrained, which is no mean achievement! He hasn’t sung this genre in Bollywood before but it is his home turf because Ghazal singing runs in his great musical family – his father being one of the most accomplished Ghazal singers that the subcontinent has ever seen. Sounding so very different from his recent songs for Jannat 2 and Raaz 3, Shafqat once again reminds you of his versatility and ability to sing different kinds of songs with equal proficiency.

P is for Pronunciation

Diction is what gives Shafqat’s version that extra edge over the other two. The way he says the words is starkly different from the other two singers. In a recent interview he mentions how he always pays special care not to mispronounce any words in any language that he sings in; and tries his best to render them in the way they should be. The way he says baaki or musalsal, or muqammal would make Javed Akhtar, who was famous for his nit picking on the talafuzz on the TV show, Indian Idol, stand up and say- "This is it!" J

P is also for ….

Pritam… Kudos to him for giving this beautiful, very un-Pritam like number, which stands out in this very exceptional album

And Pity… that the number was not fully utilized on the screen… and just one version…. Would have loved to see all 3, and especially my favorite one, on celluloid…

Malhaar -The Music of the Monsoons

The monsoons arrive every year but I can never get tired of waiting for them each time. The fragrance of the damp earth after the first showers, the mystery of the dark overcast skies, the flash of lightening followed by that short moment of anticipation before the thunder rumbles and echoes above, raindrops gliding off the leaf blades of ecstatic plants that seem to be dancing in the rain- ever so grateful for the pouring heavens from above- the magic of the rains could ever cease to amaze me!

No wonder then, that for centuries poets have been inspired by this magical season in our part of the world. Some have talked about the romance of it and some are overwhelmed by its sheer beauty.  There are some for whom the monsoons are a reminder of the power and glory of the creator and that also fills them with a certain kind of grief of being separated from the supreme and a longing to be one with Him. Tulsidas says –

“Ghan ghamand nabh gartjat ghora/ piya heen tarpat man mora”

The thunder echoes in the overcast sky/while my heart pines for my dear one….

Raindrops often become an analogy for the tears of “virah” or separation. Like Surdas wrote:

“Nisdin barsat nain hamare/Sada rahat pavas ritu hum par/Jabse Shyam sidhare

Tears flow constantly/like the never ending rains/ever since my beloved walked away

The rains have also inspired our music. The ragas of the Malhaar group are born form the parent Raga Megh and present different aspects of the rain. So we have, for example, the DhuliyaMalhaar that is about the start of the monsoons, when the first breeze carrying the rains blows over the parched lands marking the end of the dry summer.  And then there is Mian ki Malhaar, created by the maestro Tansen himself, which is inspired by the heavy downpour and the sonorous sounds of the thunder.

If there is any popular song of our times that captures the essence of the rains for me it has to be Shafqat Amanat Ali’s Malhaar from Fuzon’s album Sagar.

   

The powerful voice connects you to the Divine as it laments about the distance between the eternal lovers- the soul and the Supreme…

Raiin Na jaaye, ab din nahin aaye/ tum bin kucch nahin bhaaye

The long night refuses to end, the dawn never breaks/ Everything pales into insignificance, without you by my side

Barkha rut hai shor machaye/kahe yeh mujh pe yoon jal barsaye

Door ho tum mere pas nahin ho/koi use samjhaye ….

The downpour creates such a din/ why does it leave me drenched

You are so far away from me/ why doesn’t it understand

The wonderful blend of modern beats and rhythms makes the perfect package to present the timeless Malhar to the current generation. Just like the magic of the monsoons never fades away and remains a subject of fascination for people of all ages, our musical legacy- of the ancient, season-inspired ragas and such- will also continue to enthrall music lovers in all age and times. And we have artists like Shafqat Amanat Ali to thank for that.