KISHORE FOR GULZAR

TUM AA GAYE HO NOOR AA GAYA HAI


Today is Gulzar's birthday, so let's hear some beautiful Kishore songs written by Gulzar. Believe me that's a lethal combo!! Gulzar's sublime and metaphor-rich poetry often found the ideal conveyor and communicator in Kishore's sensitive and gentle rendition. Sampooran Singh Kalra, better known as Gulzar was born in the Jhelum district of Punjab( now in Pakistan) and I am told that he even worked as a car mechanic in‎ Delhi before he made his foray into commercial writing. Well, all I can say to that is that he was meant to mend a lot more than mere automobiles. He was meant to mend a broken heart, he was meant to give a solution to solitude, he was meant to eradicate ennui and he was meant to remedy desolation and longing. Gulzar's poetry right from his first song in Bandini called 'Mora gora ang layile' reached straight to the innermost cores of our imagination and sensibilities. His songs are like the heartwarming swig of cognac on cold, lonely winter nights and the very solace, the very spring that blooms in a thousand hues across the mindscape of poetry lovers all over India and the world. This one's got the added punch of RD's music as well:-)))






IS MOD SE JAATE HAIN

Gulzar has the uncanny ability to carve out very realistic characters and delve into human emotions and relationships with the precision of a master storyteller. In a career spanning five decades he has gifted us with riveting stories that broke the stereotypes of screen characters in many ways. While many of his characters seemed like someone real we had met, it was also reality at times that inspired some of his stories. This movie for instance was based on the life of you-know-who. And I love the fact that somebody had the cheek to name it Aandhi!! Well the Aandhi family is yet again embroiled in another aandhi across the country-and aandhi called Anna. Seems like the days of Aandhi family's rule over this country are numbered. While the bahu Aandhi recuperates from a mysterious surgery, Baba Aandhi has to deal with some ba ba 'black sheep' rhymes for now. It is high time the Aandhis of the world stopped considering this country as their personal property. Aandhi or no aandhi, the country is going through the crossroads of change and for now people have found their modern day mini-Gandhi!!;-)))






KOI HOTA APNA JIS KO HUM

This is another Gulzar-Kishore gem with music by Salil Chowdhury. The song captures and strangely mirrors the angst and anxiety of youth today who are looking for a direction. The potential of youth needs to be tapped correctly. Sadly in our country today there are very few names one can truly emulate. The youth probably identifies with a few Bollywood stars or cricketers. There has been a major void, a vacuum when it comes to a statesman one can identify with. It is this void that strangely has been filled by a humble man from Malegaon. That he has managed to raise the hopes and aspirations of a large cross section of people literally due to woebegone, daily encounters with disgusting and back-breaking corruption. Time will tell what comes out of this but as of now there is a palpable energy and verve in the air, a hope that someone has listened to their prayers and is there to represent them. This bond as in this movie, this youth has with the selfless and elderly Meena Kumari is miraculously being felt with this elderly, almost grand-fatherish sweet smiling typhoon from Malegaon!!:-))





WOH SHAAM KUCH AJEEB THI

This is one of my favourite Gulzar songs sung by Kishore. In normal poetic parlance one would rarely come across a word such as 'ajeeb' in a song so sublime but Gulzar has a way with words that is extraordinary. Hemant Kumar's music too is ethereal and sets a very different mood. And no surprises that even though he sang many other songs in the movie himself but he chose Kishore to sing this one. The result is a mesmerising song with a supernatural feel. The two actors too very subdued and bang on and yet there is a third dimension to the song, the presence of a third character like an overlooking spectre, that is built simply through the stupendous lyrics, Kishore's gentle singing, the fluid setting and haunting music.....