Friday, June 14, 2013

Madan Mohan Classic - Naino Me Badra Chaye

Naino Me Bhadra Chaye  - Lata - Raja Mehdi Ali Khan.

Tribute- Dedicated to Dr Subramaniam Ramamurthy mama whose love for yesteryear classics are memorable and worth enjoying. 

My next song in the blog is from another wizard of Hindi Film Music. He was called the “Ghazal ka Shehzadaa” by none other than the great Lata Mangeshkar. His songs brought reality to the fore front. The feeling I get is once I hear his song I get transformed into the lyrical mystery of the song. Maybe the music or the shaayari makes it so I am not aware. But I get goose pimples whenever I hear any composition of his.

Madan Mohan and Lata shared a Brother Sister relation ship as their first meeting was singing a brother sister song. Madan wanted to use Lata for his first film "Anken" but could not. He felt so bad that he promised Lata that she is his Rakhi sister and every movie found her song which was a gem of a composition

By now music lovers should have found out who is such a genius I am writing about. YES it is MADAN MOHAN!! He had the vision of making Rafi and Lata sing many of his numbers. Just because of the reason they were mainly Ghazals and the depth in their voices took the music to a different level. His poets or lyricists were greats like

Madan's favourite lyricists were Raja Mehdi Ali KhanKaifi Azmi, and Rajinder Krishan, but Sahir Ludhianvi and Majrooh Sultanpuri also collaborated with him on a few movies. The Madan-Raja pairing in particular produced the song Aap Ki Nazron Ne Samjha from the movie Anpadh (1962). Among the admirers of the song was the Naushad who reportedly said, "Let me have this ghazal and take all my compositions in return” upon hearing it. Madan and Raja also came up with the tunes for Mera Saaya in 1966, a film starring Sunil Dutt and my personal favorite actress Sadhana as the male lead.
For this posting I found it so difficult to finalize a song from his variety of compositions. But I just took the first song that impressed me way back in 1974 when I was at my aunt’s place in Orissa during my summer holidays. It was from the movie “Mera Saya”. There were many songs to name and this is my favorite- Naino Me Bhadra Chaye-
Mera Saaya was the second of the trilogy by Raj Khosla. The others were Woh Kaun Thi and Anita. The first two had Madan Mohan in the MD role and the last had LP.
Situation is the husband thinks of his wife and imagines her beauty and singing. The beauty is the lyrics do convey the feeling as the composition music wise. Santoor- Sitar – Tabla and Violins are the main players along with LATA!
Prelude – The palace should be set in Jaipur. The song starts with a lovely Santoor piece which is played when the camera shows the river or lake and the palace surroundings to deliver a lovely picturesque scenery. When the camera zeros in on Sunil Dutt the santoor stops and sitar takes over for a lovely routine with tabla and santoor overlaps as a CALL AND RESPONSE mode bringing an awesome effect. We can hear Lata at a far distance and see Sadhana join Dutt saab. Lata’s voice is like honey roasted peanuts. Her modulation of Garva lagaye is just mind blowing. From here on you will hear Lata only!!
Interlude 1 – Santoor starts off again with Sitar taking over and tabla as a percussion support. Violins complete the interlude.
1st stanza – Hear Lata sing Madhira me dube akhiyan. It feels like we really immerse ourselves in the nectar of love. The repeat of the line and the violins roaring emphasize it more. Lovely picturization of the temple and steps where they meet.

Lyrics beauty!

naino mein badaraa chhaye , bijalee see chamake haaye 
ayese mein balam mohe, garawaa lagaa le 

When the rain clouds fill your eyes, and the lightning flashes,
At this instant, oh my lover, hug me forever

madiraa mein doobee aakhiyaan, chanchal hain dono sakhiyaan 
chhalatee rahegee tohe , palakon kee pyaaree pakhiyaan 

My both eyes are restless as if they are heavily intoxicated with Love

My eyelashes will keep fanning you like beautiful fans (pankhees).

sharamaake dengee tohe , madiraa ke pyaale 

My eyes dipped in shyness will offer you cups of wine


Interlude 2 – Santoor effect in water and boating takes it to a different plane. Also we hear Lata’s humming with tabla followed by sitar and violins.
prem  diwaanee hoo mein, sapanon kee raanee hoo mai 

Being a queen of dreams I crave for your love

pichhale janam se teree , prem kahaanee hoo mein 

I was your love story from our previous birth

aa is janam mein bhee too , apanaa banaa le 

Please make me your love in this birth too

My verdict - this is one of the masterpieces from the Ghazal king. It is on my top favorite in a grand list of his compositions.


3 comments:

  1. Very beautiful. You have extracted the exact subtler meaning of the song I was searching.
    Thanks.
    Suresh Bhale,Pune.

    ReplyDelete
  2. who played the sitar?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Raees Khan (he played in most of Madan MOhan's songs the Sitar) and Santoor probably was played by Pt Shivkumar Sharma. Alas, we've lost both Ustaad Raees Khan and Pt Shivkumar Sharma

    ReplyDelete