Fine Tunes

Atul, who recently tagged me, had another tag on songs and tunes (which has been implicitly limited though not expressly so to Hindi film lyrics) too which he passed on to some of his fellow bloggers.

Though unbidden, I feel tempted to take this one up - only thing being that I do it my way!

The first question of the tag is: Who is your favourite lyricist and which lyrics do you remember the most? My entire post is limited to that one query. I confess to being totally in love with Sahir sa'ab and cannot lump him with any other- so this is dedicated only to Sahir songs.

Such a prolific and popular poet, is it possible for me to pick out his best or come up with a Top 20 list? No. For that you may look here though more of his poetry is there. Or hear him here though Amitabh really brings out the best of a part of his talkhiyaan in the bit from the other kabhi kabhi.

So what do I attempt? Not a top 10 or 20 (sacrilegious), not even all my favourites (that would be too long). All I list here are some of his lesser heard songs I love and wish I could hear more often, from films like Shagun and Phir Subah Hogi) The songs are listed in alphabetic order and not in any order of preference- love them all.

(the lyrics of nearly all these songs are available here)

aaj sajan mohe ang laga lo janam safal ho jaaye

aasma pe hai khuda aur zameen pe hum,
aaj kal voh is taraf dekhta hai kum

abhi na jao chhod ke (the Asha part more than the Rafi part)

*(jahaan mein aisa kaun hai ki jis ko gham mila nahi)*

chiin-o-arab hamara, hindoostan hamara

itni nazuk na bano, haay, itni nazuk na bano

kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai
ke zindagi teri zulfon ke narm chhaao.n mein

maine poochha use ke kaun hai tu
haske boli ke main hoon tera pyaar
main tere dil mein thi hamesha se
ghar me aayi hoon aaj pehli baar
- mere ghar aayi ek nanhi pari

parbato ke dero pe sham ka basera hai
surmayi ujjala hai champayi andhera hai

pyaar par bas to nahi hai lekin
phir bhi bataa de ki main tujhse pyaar karu.n ya na karu.n

tum agar mujh ko na chaho to koi baat nahi
tum kisi aur ko chahogi to mushkil hogi

tum mujhe bhool bhi jao to yeh haq hai tum ko
meri baat aur hai maine to mohabbat ki hai

har ek jism ghayal har ik rooh pyaasi
nighao.n mein uljhan dilo mein udaasi ...
- tum hari hai tumhi sambhalo ye duniya

humko taqdeer se be-vajaha shikayat kyun ho
isi taqdeer ne chahat ki khushi bhi di thhi
aaj agar kaampte palko.n ko diye hain aasoo
kal thirakte hue hooto.n ko hasi bhi di thi
- zindagi zulm sahi zabr sahi gham hi sahi
dil ke faryaad sahi rooh ka maatam hi sahi


The enduring spirit of Sahir! And the fine tunes.