Guest article by Subodh Agrawal
(Subodh Agrawal, a well-known name with SoY regulars for his series on film songs based on classical ragas, is resuming his series after a break of about three years. This was primarily due to logistic issues he faced regarding proper Internet connection and computer. But as he has shown before, whenever he has come back after a hiatus, he has more than made up for the gap. Subodh does it again by choosing Bhimpalasi and her sister ragas for this post. Bhimpalasi is one of the most popular ragas which appeals to connoisseurs and lay listeners alike. The music directors have taken to it in a big way, composing some of their everlasting compositions in this raga. If you watch Mughal-e-Azam, though there are no songs in this raga, you can’t miss the strains of Bhimpalasi permeating in the background for the major part of the movie. Subodh’s presentation is as usual lucid and uncluttered of technical details. Welcome back Subodh and Thank You for this excellent post. – AK)
Classical ragas are associated with a particular time of the day. Mornings, evenings and night are musical times of the day, and there is no dearth of ragas related to them. Afternoon – at least to me – appears to be the least musical time, but some of the most popular ragas are related to this time. There is the entire Sarang family, which deserves a separate post to itself. In this article I would focus mostly on Bhimpalasi and touch briefly upon three related ragas: Patdeep, Madhuvanti, and Multani. There will be passing references to two others – Dhanashri and Dhani.
I have no clue as to what Bhim, the second of Pandava brothers, has to do with Bhimpalasi. One would expect music associated with Bhim to be robust, masculine and martial. Bhimpalasi is anything but that. It is one of the sweetest ragas with an easy appeal to the lay listener – much like Durga, Desh, and Pahadi. Talking of the appeal of the Raga I can’t resist quoting from my favorite classical music site parrikar.org with Rajan Parrikar’s typically irreverent style: “The ati-madhur and ati-priya Raga Bhimpalasi has the penetrating power to infect the human mind and control it for days and weeks on end. There is as yet no known antidote to the Bhimpalasi contagion. Fortunately, it strikes only those with a mind and so the damage is restricted to a very small fraction of humanity.” Unfortunately for readers of SoY, they all belong to this ‘very small fraction of humanity’ and hence they cannot escape the contagion!
Rather than going into the technicalities of the raga like aroha, avaroha etc. myself I would save my effort by giving a link to this video by Anuja Kamat who has a number of videos of similar nature on various ragas. The parts of this video that cover AR Rahman and Western music are interesting.
When I started writing this series I had no idea the Bhimpalasi was so popular with Hindi film composers. I included it in my first article as one of the ragas with only a small number of film songs. I stand corrected now, and I hope readers will like the selection I present here.
1. Bina madhur madhur kachhu bol by Saraswati Rane from Ramrajya (1943), music by Shankar Rao Vyas, lyrics by Ramesh Gupta
I begin with the song I had included in my first article. In my humble opinion it is the best example of the raga in Hindi film music, apart from being one of the finest songs from the 1940’s – a song that tugs at one’s heartstrings. Saraswati Rane was born Sakina, daughter of legendary Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. Later her mother separated from Ustad ji and reverted to Hindu names for her children. Her sister Hirabai Badodekar and brother Suresh Babu Mane also distinguished themselves in classical music.
2. Man mor hua matwala by Suraiya from Afsar (1950), music by SD Burman, lyrics by Narendra Sharma
The starting point of this song doesn’t immediately evoke Bhimpalasi, but the main body of the song – particularly the instrumentals – do establish the raga. Suraiya’s mellifluous voice suits the sweetness of the raga.
3. Taqdeer banane wale ne kaisi taqdeer banayi hai by Pushpa Hans from Sheesh Mahal (1950), music by Vasant Desai, lyrics by Bahzad Lakhanavi
People of my vintage, particularly those who did their early schooling in Hindi medium schools like me, will readily identify the tune from the popular prayer ‘Wo shakti hamen do daya nidhe, kartavya marg par dat jayen’. I wonder what came first – the film song or the prayer. Maybe they are both based on an older classical bandish.
4. E ri main to prem Diwani by Lata Mangeshkar from Nau Bahar (1952), music by Roshan, lyrics by Meera Bai (though Satyendra Atthaiya is also credited)
This is another song in this list that stays very faithful to the raga. Beena madhur madhur and this song can be used by students of classical music to get a feel for the raga.
5. Aasman wale teri duniya se ji ghabra gaya by Talat and Lata from Laila Majnu (1953), music by Ghulam Mohammad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni
When I saw the cast of this film I thought it would be a mismatch – Nutan and ‘Junglee’ Shammi Kapoor. However the video of the song seems to suggest Shammi held his own against arguably the greatest actress of Hindi films. It helped that he had not yet put on the Kapoor khandan weight.
There are many songs complaining about life to the one up there: ‘Teri duniya mein dil lagta nahin’, ‘Zindagi dene wale sun’ and so on. This one is possibly the most sweet-sounding of them all – thanks in no small measure to the raga.
6. Tere sadke balam by Lata Mangeshkar from Amar (1954), music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni
I had seen some earlier films of Madhubala like Howrah Bridge when I was too young to remember anything. Amar was the first one I saw in a re-run during my University days and I was somewhat disappointed after having heard so much about her beauty and charm. The films that made me join her fan club were Kala Pani and Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. She, however, looks quite a charmer in the video of this song. (‘Tere sadke balam’ is a very special song for me carrying many fond memories. I wrote a special post on it titled, ‘Tennis, Pathakji, and Tere sadke balam’. – AK)
7. More mandir ab lau nahin aaye by Asha Bhosle from Mahatma Kabir (1954), music by Anil Biswas, lyrics by Chandra Shekhar Pandey
I discovered this song quite recently. I used to hear an instrumental piece based on this song while walking at the Sukhna lake in Chandigarh. I liked it but couldn’t locate the source. A couple of months back a very close friend of mine posted this song on a WhatsApp group. I managed to lose the link and found it again with some effort. It is lovely composition. Other songs from this film are also very good. (Note: Subodh informs me that a friend has since pointed out that this song is based on Jaijaiwanti, and Subodh agrees the friend is right. But this is a very nice song and should be a new discovery for many readers. Therefore, we have decided to retain it. – AK)
8. Aa neele gagan tale pyar ham karen by Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar from Badshah (1954) music by Shankar-Jaikishan, lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri
One of the most beautiful and haunting compositions by SJ duo, this is a great song but not a very typical example of Bhimpalasi. I wouldn’t have been confident of identifying it as such, if I didn’t have the support of reliable sources on the net. Let that, however, not distract us from the sheer beauty of this song.
9. Maine chaand aur sitaron ki tamanna ki thi by Mohammad Rafi from Chandrakanta (1956), music by N Datta, lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi
This was a very popular song during my college days – about ten years after the film was released. Most wannabe singers would try their voice at this song. I remember one of them very fondly – the devar of a favourite cousin of mine. It is an easy song to try, with a soft and simple movement. It is also very faithful to the raga.
10. Naino mein badra chhaye by Lata Mangeshkar from Mera Saya (1966), music by Madan Mohan, lyrics by Raja Menhdi Ali Khan
It would be sinful to do a post on classical songs from films without including at least one each from Roshan and Madan Mohan. Roshan figures at number 4. I close the list of Bhimpalasi songs with this one from Madan Mohan.
We now move to some other afternoon ragas. Bhimpalasi uses both ‘ga’ and ‘ni’ in their flat or ‘komal’ variant. Changing komal ‘ni’ to shuddha gives us Patdeep – very much like the transition from Malkauns to Chandrakauns. This change takes away some of the softness of Bhimpalasi and adds a certain vigour.
11. Saaz ho tum aawaz hun main by Mohammad Rafi from Saaz Aur Aawaz (1966) music by Naushad, lyrics by Khumar Barabankvi
The vigour of Patdeep is quite clear in this song when you compare it to the songs of Bhimpalasi:
12. Megha chhaye aadhi raat by Lata Mangeshkar from Sharmilee (1971), music by SD Burman, lyrics by Neeraj
The raga is not very clear in this song, partly because of Western interludes.
Changing the fourth note ‘ma’ from shuddha to tivra in Patdeep takes us to Madhuvanti.
13. Ajahun na aaye baalma, saawan beeta jaye by Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur from Saanjh Aur Savera (1964) music by Shankar-Jaikishan, lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri
Intuitively I felt this song to be based on Raga Madhuvanti. Though some sites mention this under Madhuvanti, some other sites state that the song is based on ragas different from Madhuvanti. It is interesting to see Mahmood and Shubha Khote present a seriously classical composition on screen. Mahmood’s disguise suggests he is pretending to be someone else. I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t tell.
14. Rasm-e-ulfat ko nibhayen to nibhayen kaise by Lata Mangeshkar from Dil Ki Rahen (1973), music by Madan Mohan, lyrics by Naqsh Lyallpuri
Madan Mohan, the genius that the system treated unfairly, gave this soulful song in one of his last films – just a couple of years before he passed away.
Finally, softening ‘re’ and ‘dha’ in Madhuvanti takes us to Multani. This is the same scale as the morning raga Todi, although difference in movement makes it easy to distinguish between the two. Komal ‘re’ with its relationship to tivra ‘ma’ creates a mood of transition. Multani provides a transition from afternoon ragas to evening ragas like Marwa, Puriya etc. It has a prayerful mood. I have a souvenir from my only visit to Pakistan – a coffee table book on the country’s culture which describes Multan as the city of saints.
15. Daya karo giridhar gopal by Ustad Amir Khan from Shabab (1954), music by Naushad, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni
There is a popular post that keeps surfacing on WhatsApp groups about how three Muslims: Naushad, Rafi and Shakeel gave us one of the finest bhajans in Hindi films – ‘Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj’. Here is another example of how music transcends all boundaries. I wish this song was better known. Part of the reason for its relative obscurity may be that it is used as background score for the titles.
16. Lag gayee ankhiyan by Geeta Dutt and Mohammad Rafi from Jeevan Jyoti (1953) music by SD Burman, lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi
SDB has used Multani in this racy song. Normally Multani does not have this kind of mood.
A mention in passing of raga Dhani. It is to Bhimpalasi what Bhoopali is to Yaman. Drop ‘re’ and ‘dha’ from Bhimpalasi and you get Dhani. It still has much of Bhimpalasi’s sweetness, but is lighter and more playful. Chandrakantha.com lists only one song in this raga:
17. Prabhu tero naam by Lata Mangeshkar from Hum Dono (1961), music by Jaidev lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi
This classical piece by Sawani Shende gives a better idea of raga Dhani:
Sikh devotional music has a number of compositions in Dhanashri. Frankly I can’t tell it apart from Bhimpalasi, they both sound the same to me. There is a story about the Gurbaani Shabad I am presenting below. Wikipedia says this:
“Famous saint poet of India Rabindranath Tagore was once asked by Balraj Sahni, who used to teach at Santiniketan then, that the way he has written the National Anthem of India, why doesn’t he write one for the world? He replied that it has already been written. It was written in 16th Century by Guru Nanak, and this was sung by Guru Nanak as Aarti at Jagannath Puri to the lord (the omnipresent God), and that this anthem was not only for the world, but for the entire universe. He was so influenced by this aarti that he himself translated it into Bangla language.”
I doubt the veracity of this story. Tagore passed away in 1941. Jana gana mana had not become the National Anthem during his lifetime. But as I had once quoted earlier, facts should not be allowed to interfere with a good story!
There is, however, no taking away from the beauty of this Aarti by Guru Nanak. The imagery itself is amazing:
Gagan mein thaal ravi chann deepak bane,
Taraka mandal banat moti.
Dhoop malayanil, pawan chanwaro kare
Sakal ban raayi phulant jyoti
Kaisi aarti hoyi, kaisi aarti hoyi.
(The sky is the thaal, the sun and moon are the lamps. The stars are the pearls. Breeze from Malaya Parvat is the dhoop, and air is the chanwar (fly-whisk). The forests are the flowers. Behold, what an Aarti!)
I am not a big fan of Shubha Mudgal, but this rendition by her is simply divine!
I have not been able to locate Tagore’s Bengali translation of this Aarti. Maybe Mr Venkataraman will help.
Continuing further with Dhanashri, Mr DP Rangan shared this Thillana by Sharanya Srinivas with me on WhatsApp. This too sounds exactly like Bhimpalasi:
One clarification before leaving the subject of Dhanashri – it is completely different from Puriya-Dhanashri.
On to classical pieces now. A short but magnificent piece by Ustad Abdul Karim Khan whose daughter’s song features at number one in the list of film songs. Prem seva sharan:
From Kirana Gharana to Jaipur. Kesarbai Kerkar’s piece establishes the mood of Bhimpalasi in the first few notes itself:
Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty presents Bhimpalasi in his sonorous voice:
Kishori Amonkar excelled in Bhimpalasi, as in most other ragas. There are longer pieces on YouTube for those whose appetite is whetted by this one:
An excellent piece in Patdeep by Ustad Salamat Ali and Ustad Sharafat Ali Khan:
This one by Shruti Shadolikar is also a very good example of Patdeep:
The incomparable Bismillah Khan presents Madhuvanti:
Hearing the first few notes of this one from Veena Sahasrabhudhe was enough for me to include it as an example of Multani:
I close with this old favourite of mine. Ali Akbar’s Multani was among the first few LPs I bought when I started building up my collection as a student of IIT Kanpur:
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer:
The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over these which rests with respective owners such as Saregama India Limited and others.