This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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‘Lalaji’ (1942) was produced by Mehboob Khan under the banner of National Studios and was jointly directed by Chimanlal Gandhi and Lalitchandra Mehta. The star cast included Krishnakant, Yashodara Katju, Yakoob, Vatsala Kumthekar, Amar, Sunalini Devi, Maya Devi, AR Kabuli, Kayam Ali etc. I have no idea about the story of the film. The montages of the film indicate that it was a comedy film with Yakub having an important role as Hiralal and A R Kabuli as Lalaji though the lead pairs of the film were Yashodara Katju and Krishnakant.
There were 12 songs in the film of which one song has been covered in the Blog. As many as 8 songs were written by Arzoo Lucknawi. Two songs were written by Neelkanth Tiwari. The name of the lyricist was not mentioned in respect of one song. That leaves one song which created some curiosity in me as this song was a ghazal attributed to Mirza Ghalib. However, I could not locate the audio clip of this ghazal on any video sharing platform. Finally, I could listen to this song in full on gaana.com and got it confirmed that this ghazal was written by Mirza Ghalib as his name de plume, ‘Ghalib’ appears in the last she’r of the ghazal.
The problem was not yet over as the audio quality of the ghazal was not up to the mark. Moreover, there were some high sounding Urdu/Persian/Arabic words used in the ghazal which made my task difficult to decipher the ghazal. http://www.rekhta.org came to my rescue as fortunately, this ghazal was listed under Mirza Ghalib.
I am presenting the second song from the fiim, ‘Lalaji’ (1942) – hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din which is a ghazal written by Mirza Ghalib and sung by Vatsala Kumthekar and Amar. The ghazal is set to music by Vasant Kumar Naidu.
The original ghazal have 5 she’rs while the ghazal in the film has 4 she’rs. But the second she’r in the ghazal used for the film is not a part of the original ghazal of Mirza Ghalib. Even while reading the ghazal, the second she’r sounds off-kilter with the rest of the ghazal. My own guess is that probably, Arzoo Lucknawi who had written 8 songs in the film may have written this she’r keeping in view the situation in the film.
The ghazal is written as imageries of conversation of the poet with his beloved. Let me attempt English translation of 3 she’r of the original ghazal included in the song with the help of the meanings of some of the high-sounding Urdu/Persian/Arabic words, given by Ali Sardar Jafri in his book ‘Diwan-e-Ghalib’.
hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din
warna hum chhedenge rakh kar uzr-e-masti ek din
ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti= at the time of drinking wine.
uzr-e-masti= pretext of pleasure (intoxication)
You be frank and open up to me while I am drinking wine some day.
Or else, in the pretext of drunkenness, one day, I will tease you (creating a nuisance).
qarz ki peete thhe mai lekin samajhte thhe ki haan
rang laayegi hamaari faaqa-masti ek din
faqa-masti=pleasure in adversity.
I drank wine on credit and yes, I thought that my wine-induced
cheerfulness in the midst of debt would be rewarded one day.
dhaul-dhappa uss saraapa-naaz ka shewa nahin
hum hi kar baithhe thhe ‘Ghaalib’ pesh-dasti ek din
dhaul-dappa=fist-fight
saraapa-naaz= proud from head to toe, coyness from head to toe.
shewa=habit, manner.
pesh-dasti=taking initiative, first move.
She, who is coquettish from head to toe is not in the habit of fighting.
I was the one who did the first move one day to make that (fight) happen.
The role of Vatsala Kumthekar as I understand from IDMb is that of a mujra dancer. Since Amar is acting in the film and is also singing along with her in this ghazal, I thought that the song may have been picturised on Vatsala Kumthekar and Amar. But the last she’r of the ghazal gives a hint that Amar may have sung this song for Yakub when he sings ….
hum hi kar baithhe thhe ‘Ghaalib’
nahin nahin
hum hi kar baithhe thhe ‘Hira’ pesh-dasti ek din
In this film, Yakub plays the role of ‘Hiralal’.
Audio Link:
Song-Hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din (Lalaji)(1942) Singers-Vatsala Kumthekar, Amar, Lyrics-Mirza Ghalib, MD-Vasant Kumar Naidu
Lyrics
hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din
hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din
warna hum chhedenge rakh kar uzr-e-masti ek din
warna hum chhedenge rakh kar uzr-e-masti ek din
tujh se aankhen lad gayin aur dil machal kar rah gaya
kaise
tujh se aankhen lad gayin
aur dil machal kar rah gaya
doob gayi re
lut gayi
haay
haay
lut gayi re lut gayi is dil ki basti ek din
lut gayi re lut gayi is dil ki basti ek din
aa aa aa aaa
qarz ki peete thhe mai
lekin samajhte thhe ki haan
haan aah aaah
qarz ki peete thhe mai
lekin samajhte thhe ki haan
rang laayegi hamaari faaqa-masti ek din
rang laayegi hamaari faaqa-masti ek din
dhaul-dhappa uss saraapa-naaz ka shewa nahin
dhaul-dhappa uss saraapa-naaz ka shewa nahin
hum bhi kar baithhe thhe ‘Ghaalib’
nahin nahin
hum bhi kar baithhe thhe ‘Hira’ pesh-dasti ek din
hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din
hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din
hum se khul jaao ba-waqt-e-mai-parasti ek din