JAANE KAHAN MERA JIGAR

Song 96:

Its election season in full swing and the rhetoric has reached a strange cat-and-mouse fight levels. Someone's losing his jigar, someone's losing her mind, someone's losing his temper and someone's losing any rational thinking while the chaotic country is losing any semblance of order.

Some people are losing their memory selectively, others are losing allies. People are hunting through each other's past offices and associates to hunt out some piece of information they could use against them somehow or the other. There's a lot of political wooing going on. Some are making a quick buck doing in-your-face propaganda, making complete asses of themselves, some are losing track of what they said last night on national television and rolling back their statements. Not a day goes by without a new explosive video being leaked (yup of the eyeball-grabbing kind) or a hilarious photo-op gone awry being propelled into Twitterverse with punitive condescension.

In this election jamboree new definitions are being coined, of age-old words such as 'secular' and 'communal'. Meanings are being distorted and twisted to suit one's narratives, Principals of colleges are giving political advisories en-masse to students via email, religious gurus are holding fort in their holier than thou garb, betis and bahus in hibernation have ironed their cotton handloom sarees and pulled out their Kolhapuri chappals and hit the campaign trail.

In all of this, a much needed fun song that might help you unwind and take it easy. Geeta Dutt and Rafi are funny and jovial in this song that sounds almost like light hearted office watercooler banter. Johny Walker was perhaps the first comedian for whom songs were conceptualised and sung by A-list singers such as Rafi. His co-star who is probably someone called Yasmin is rather cute and easy on the eye, albeit a one-song wonder.

The song is from Mr and Mrs 55 in which the lead actor Guru Dutt played a cartoonist. All the cartoons depicted in the movie were actually done by the stalwart of the art in India, R K Laxman whose 'common man' is perhaps the most recognisable cartoon character in India. Well let's hope these elections don't yet again make a cartoon of the common man of India. In a strange twisted manner the song  and the mannerisms of the actors are symptomatic of the political scenario today, very little sense but entertaining nevertheless. 

SACH HUE SAPNE TERE

Song 95:

One thing you could not take away from the singing dancing diva was her ability to find many reasons to smile and rejoice about. She could be thrilled to see waves crashing on a sea shore, she could go into raptures over a glorious sunrise, she could giggle away cooking biryani for loved ones.

She was a grateful soul who appreciated the good things in life. Nothing was worth fretting over forever. He was by her side, in spirit always. His one smile, one word of encouragement, one little gesture sparked a wild dance of joy and abandon in her soul.

Yes, he was given to sullenness, he could be pretty pessimistic at times. She too could be a bundle of nerves and low-energy on some days. But together they almost always managed to complement each other. They filled each other's gaps. They finished each other's sentences. They caught a mood, a hint, a nuance miles away.

They did not have to agree on every philosophy in the world. But they came home to the same warmth. After fighting their individual battles all day, they could share a cup of tea watching a pink sunset, tie and renew their bond and melt into each other's horizons. The dawn next day was always memorable....  

NA MAIN DHAN CHAHUN

Song 94:

Geeta Dutt too could be the voice of pristine purity and austerity. In this duet from Kala Bazar written by Shailendra and composed by S D Burman, accompanied by Sudha Malhotra, Geeta Dutt essays a rare tranquillity and peace.

It was in moments of turmoil that one could turn to ones faith. As long as your faith was peaceful and non-intrusive, guiding and correcting, it always showed you the right path. The song depicts the inner conflict of Dev Anand who is set on a path of dishonesty and worshipping money above all. How different is petty thuggery from working for covert organisations to spread false agendas and narratives today. Vitiating the atmosphere with falsehoods and divisive politics is today's biggest mafia.  

Such money brings no happiness or prosperity. At the end of the day you realise that health is the greatest wealth, and two square meals of honesty are better than wrongly acquired riches. The riches dazzle but they eventually frazzle. The riches compete but eventually deplete. The moolah lures but rarely endures. The gold shines but unduly entwines. The feasts fatten but eventually flatten.

If one could be happy with just enough. Two words of love, a glorious sky over your head, cool breeze, enduring music, clothes that don't weigh you down, friends who love and pick up your calls at 2 am or answer those mundane I-wanna-connect DMs, peace of mind, time to work and plenty to rest and recoup, read a book, go for a walk, smell a rose, talk to your kid and not at her, there's enough to be thankful for.

The conflict was gone, the path was clear. If every day some ethereal song could show us the right way, we didn't even need to name that religion, we didn't need religion. 

WOH HANS KE MILE HUM SE

Song 93:

Asha and Geeta were fun-filled voices, frolicksome and full of verve. But there are times when the most fun-filled heart goes through a low ebb. Nothing seems to work. Everything is dark and gloomy. Asha Bhosle could very well carry a pensive song convincingly too.

The movie has one of the rare roles with the hero playing a reporter, Jitendra (Dharmendra) who exposes dangerous working conditions in a mine owned by one of his employer's crooked creditors. He loses his job. When disaster strikes at the mine, Amita (Mala Sinha), daughter of the paper's deceased founder re-employs him. Her interest in him is more than just journalism. Unknown to her, her younger sister (Tanuja) is romantically linked to the reporter. The resultant conflict and anguish culminate in the sisters attempting to sacrifice their future happiness for the sake of the other.

This song composed by O P Nayyar  and written by Sheven Rizvi and Aziz Kashmiri is almost in the ghazal genre, expressing unrequited love and the remorse that comes with it. There were times when no matter how close the singing-dancing diva was to her loved one, there seemed an unfathomable chasm between the two. Call it different ideologies or circumstances. Two hearts were left in the lurch. There were no clear answers.

It all seemed like a big figment of her imagination. Maybe he was just entertaining himself. Maybe this is how he was with everyone, oozing life and laughter wherever he went. Maybe to know him was to love him. But he loved the world, he loved humanity. She was a teeny weeny part of that huge world that he loved. While she felt she was fortunate to have been showered with the warmth of his seamless heart once, could she live by a vague, distant promise? No, maybe not.

She was selfish when it came to love, like all humans are. She wanted to own him, to always have him by her side, come ecstasy or illness. She wallowed in self pity. She shed a few lonesome tears. The night was long and endless and there was no light to be seen anywhere, for now....