Folk songs were always an integral part of Hindi films, but somewhere along the line, as our films shifted their focus from villages to towns and cities, folk songs lost their charm. Today, it is rare to hear authentic folk tunes in Hindi film music. There are exceptions, of course, as there always are, but again, the exceptions very rarely make it to the top of the charts.
So, to hark back to a more innocent (or stereotypical) time, when villagers were all very good and city dwellers were all very bad, when villagers danced to the beat of the dhol and the city slickers grooved and jived in clubs (Bad City People! Very, Very, Bad!), and the village women were all Bharatiya naaris and the city women were all arrogant shrews until they fell in love with the hero, and turned over a new leaf and learnt to wear saris while their hair grew astonishingly long and thick overnight...
I must confess that the stark black and white characterisations were sometimes welcome. You knew from the outset who was good and who was bad, and so there was no doubt at all whom you had to cheer for. Of course, there was nary a hope that the bad guy would have some good to leaven the evil, or that the good chap could actually be human enough to have some frailty of his own. Black was black and white was white and that was that! Of course the good guy won, and the bad guy either died or was suitably repentant. Bad girls always died. Redemption, for them, only came after death.
Yet, there were a few filmmakers who attempted to present a slightly more realistic version of life. The songs were great, lyrics and music melding to make a harmonious whole. It is a treat to hear the folk beats, so, putting aside the films and their stereotypes and generalisations, here are my picks.
1. O bichchua
Madhumati (1958)
Music: Salil Choudhary
Lyrics: Shailendra
Artistes: Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey
I first saw this song when I saw Madhumati, first row in the stalls, with each song being accompanied by the totally besuri pardanasheens who occupied the second row. Even from that, umm, 'vantage' point, the song struck a chord. I loved the imagery that just hinted at its sensuality, fell in love with Vyjayanthimala and was in awe of her dancing skills especially towards the end when the pace of the music picks up. Salilda also used a Nepalese folk song (Kancha le kanchi lai lajo) and a Kumaonese folk song (Zulmi sang aankh ladi) in this tale of a mountain lass, reincarnation and revenge.
Do Bigha Zameen (1953)
Music: Salil Choudhary
Lyrics: Shailendra
Artistes: Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey
One of the most realistic of 'village' films, the story (Rickshawaala) was scripted by Salilda who offered it to Bimal Roy on condition that he also score the music. And what a score it was! From Ajab tori duniya to Dharti kahe pukar ke to Aaja re nindiya, each song was inserted by a master director at a point where they added to the narrative. I like Hariyala sawan dhol bajata aaya for its sheer imagery. (Just think of ek agan bujhi, ek agan lagi, man magan hua ek lagan lagi if you want to know what I mean.) There is the anticipation of rain (so important for an agrarian economy), a rejoicing in the village at the sight of the clouds, and the people, poverty-stricken as they are, gather to welcome the rains that will bring new life to the parched earth.
Teesri Kasam (1966)
Music: Shankar-Jaikishen
Lyrics: Shailendra
Artiste: Manna Dey
Shailendra's dream, and his swansong, Teesri Kasam boasted of a great musical score, and great performances. It was indeed sad that Shailendra did not live to see its success. From the many, many wonderful songs in this film about an unusual romance between a nautanki dancer and an innocent cart driver, this particular song is the perfect 'village' song, sung as it is by a group of villagers on the fair grounds as they wait the night out for the nautanki to begin. Like most folk songs, the language is rustic, the song is raw and the enthusiasm is contagious. A bit of inspired singing by Manna Dey for Krishan Dhawan, while Raj Kapoor joins in with a daph. The song sings of a traveller who is entranced by a caged bird; when he lets her loose, she visits the various shops in the village (the halwai, the cloth trader's, the paan seller's) - the allegorical song plays as Heera Bai (a caged bird) listens in appreciation.
Godaan (1963)
Music: Pt. Ravi Shankar
Lyrics: Anjaan
Artiste: Mohammed Rafi
Based on a Munshi Premchand novel of the same name, Godaan dealt with the trials and tribulations that a villager often has to undergo. The song, picturised on Mehmood (who plays a negative role in the film, being the brother who forces a partition of the land on his elder brother (Raj Kumar)) comes at the beginning of the film, when, after a year of working in the city, he begs leave to go home for a while - he had been romancing a village belle (Shubha Khote) and wants to go home to meet her. Bhojpuri has never sounded so entrancing before, and Mohammed Rafi exerted such control over his voice that, even knowing he was a singer par excellence, one sits spellbound! The joy of going home, the sheer exuberance of knowing one is going to meet one's love, Rafisaab sang it with such gusto that it never fails to bring a smile to my face. (It is probably one of the few light moments in a film that is heavy on tragedy.) It's my favourite song from the movie.
Naya Daur (1957)
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Artistes: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
A slightly more filmi village, a dashing, rustic Yousefsaab with twinkle-toed Vyjayanthimala for company; with OP Nayyar's rousing songs to add lustre, what was not to like about Naya Daur? Like almost all of BR Chopra's films, the commercial venture still had its heart in the right place, and a serious topic (that of nation-building) underlay all the gloss. OP Nayyar's score for this film had a very strong Punjabi-folk base, and while folks say that he was inspired by composer Vinod's tune for a Punjabi film called Bhaiyyaji, the truth probably is that both composers were inspired by the same folk song from their homeland. Ude jab jab zulfein teri is a light-hearted song, as the village folk unwind after a long day.
6. Matwala jiya
Mother India (1957)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Artistes: Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi
I know this film is considered a classic, but count me in among the minority who could not understand what there was to like in a film that glorified martyrdom under the guise of motherhood. And I never did like Dukh bhare din. So that was two strikes against me. Much later, I heard this song and loved it, especially the chorus. I loved the cadences of the words, the way the chorus rises and falls. A harvest song, this was one of the few happy moments before everything goes wrong for the protagonists.
Music: Roshan
Lyrics: Kidar Sharma
Artistes: Rajkumari, Asha Bhosle
While Baawre Nain was not a great movie (too much contrived tragedy for me to like it), we have Kidar Sharma to thank for giving Roshan another chance, one that the latter grabbed. We were the lucky ones, for if Roshan had indeed left after his debut film crashed at the turnstiles, we would have missed a fine composer and some classic compositions. There is a muted joy in this song, one that is sung by a woman who drives a tanga (Kidar Sharma was always much ahead of his time in his representation of women characters), and one of her passengers.
Ganga Jumna (1961)
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Artiste: Mohammed Rafi
Another rollicking number from the Master's baton, it had the added pleasure of watching Dilip Kumar relax enough from his angst to dance with his compatriots in the village. The man was certainly a graceful dancer, and along with Raj Kapoor, managed to fit in completely in both a rural milieu and an urban background, exchanging dhoti-kurtas for tailored suits and ties with amazing ease. Perhaps that is why my list is so skewed in their favour. (The third member of the triumvirate deliberately stayed away from a rural milieu; the one time he tried it (Insaaniyat) he stuck out like a sore thumb.) What I liked about Ganga Jumna was that it stuck exclusively to the lingua franca of the region in which the film was set, and the film's south Indian heroine trained hard to get her dialect and accent just right.
Do Boond Paani (1971)
Music: Jaidev
Lyrics: Kaifi Azmi
Artistes: Parveen Sultana, Meenu Purushottam
It is from a later period than my go-to period for songs, but my husband introduced me to this beautiful composition by the under-rated Jaidev. The film, set in Rajasthan, deals with water scarcity that is the underlying reality of those who live in that scorching desert state. As the girls make the long trek to the communal well, they are happy at the thought of bringing water back in their brass pots, and so they make light of the trek, laughing and teasing each other. The song ends with a thud (literally) as the pot hits the dry, stony bottom of the well. Lovely, lovely music, and it deserves to be better known than it is.
10. Bole peehoo
Ek Gaon ki Kahani (1957)
Music: Salil Choudhary
Lyrics: Shailendra
Artiste: Lata Mangeshkar
Another village, another village woman going to fetch water, but she is luckier, there is plenty of water. There are all the usual accoutrements of village life - trees, winding paths through the forst, a river, birdsong, and the village belle. It's a happy song, and I love the way the music trills along in accompaniment. This film had some lovely Talat numbers as well, Raat ne kya kya khwaab dikhaaye probably being the most popular.
All the songs I listed had a simple, very realistic background in terms of plot, story and setting. Even the costumes were simple with only the Mother India song looking out of place with the bright red lipstick and the patchy make-up - I wonder if that is the fault of the the cleaning up? It was only towards the 70s and the 80s that 'village belles' meant the women had to look like they had just stepped out of a beauty parlour, complete with long, manicured and polished nails, ethnic wear with enough mirrors or sequins to blind you at ten paces, a whole tube of lipstick that still did not glue their lips together, enough jewellery to make them look like over-trimmed Christmas trees or walking advertisement for silver jewellers, and immaculate braids complete with parandis. I remember a cousin remarking that it must be very nice to be 'poor' in Hindi films.
I write about newer films (and songs) very rarely, but I have seen, and liked, both the films I mention below. I have also liked the songs. It is interesting that of the present triumvirate ruling the roost in Hindi films, all three can switch pretty easily between urban and rural 'heroes' without looking or sounding out of place. So, two new 'village' songs that I have liked very, very much to round off my list.
I write about newer films (and songs) very rarely, but I have seen, and liked, both the films I mention below. I have also liked the songs. It is interesting that of the present triumvirate ruling the roost in Hindi films, all three can switch pretty easily between urban and rural 'heroes' without looking or sounding out of place. So, two new 'village' songs that I have liked very, very much to round off my list.
11. Ghanan ghanan
Lagaan (2001)
Music: AR Rehman
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Artistes: Alka Yagnik, Shaan, Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, Shankar Mahadevan, Kishori Gowariker
It was such a pleasure to watch a 'modern' film where sets and 'villagers' looked real. The film touched our collective consciousness, and it helped that the songs, courtesy a certain Mr AR Rehman were a great hit. I speak of Lagaan. (The only song I did not like was O re chhori - Farhan and Zoya Akhtar should cease and desist from writing poetry. The English parts of the song were an assault on poetry.) The anticipation of rain, the collective joy upon seeing the clouds gather, the underlying anxiety - if the rains do not come and the crops fail, how will they pay the taxes? - the dawning hope when the black clouds cover the sun, the excruciating disappointment that follows - beautiful!
Paheli (2005)
Music: MM Kreem
Lyrics: Gulzar
Artistes: MM Kreem, Sonu Nigam, Shruti Sadolikar
A delectable fable that raises questions about the rights of women to own their own sexuality, the film was lavishly mounted and sensitively directed (Amol Palekar). Once Shah Rukh Khan came on board as the producer, the film's scale went up, and the crew picked up MM Kreem as music director and Ravi Chandran as cinematographer. It was probably one of the finest screen palettes that one had seen in a very long time - the vivid colours of the costumes and the arid landscapes of Rajasthan were lovingly shot, and the music, thanks to Amol Palekar's vision, were not just there to add colour. I dithered between Kangna re and Laaga re jal laaga, finally pitching on the latter for the insight it offers into the story.
So. My dozen 'village' songs that run the ambit from celebrating the coming of rain to the welcoming of a new life. What songs would you add?
