My Favourites: Songs of Yearning

Somewhere, some time, as we grow up, we become aware of the possibilities of love. Not just the love we share with our parents and siblings, or even friends, but the very real possibility that out there in the world, someone exists just for us - to love, and be loved. Someone whose very existence makes us thankful to be alive; someone whose presence in our life makes it much more vibrant; someone to laugh with, to cry with, to share in life's vicissitudes, its joys, its sorrows, its worries. 

This 'someone' is a very hazy concept. We don't usually know who, or how or when or where we will meet this particular person; we don't even know that we will meet that special someone. And we do, perhaps - through choice, through circumstance, through fate. Or the someone we find becomes special. But in the meanwhile, we have our own hopes, dreams and expectations of finding that glorious love.

Hindi films have songs for any and every situation; and this one, this waiting for romance, for a beloved, for that someone special, is no different. All that remained was to corral the songs that fit this situation, and I came across many that describe the yearning that they will find that special someone, and their expectations about how that person will be. Here are some of my favourites.

1. Jawaniyaan ye mast mast bin piye

Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957)

Singer: Mohammed Rafi

Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

It is when you see someone who looks like this and realise that he too has the same hopes and dreams that you do (well, at least his character does) that you understand there is hope for you yet. But he is also self-aware - it is not just who his beloved is going to be; he also wonders who will see him as that special person worthy of being loved. 

Na jaane inme kiske vaaste hoon main, na jaane inme kaun hai mere liye... He finds youth intoxicating, even without having imbibed. Mohammed Rafi's voice melds that joy, that feeling of being intoxicated with Shammi's onscreen persona.  This was Shammi Kapoor's breakthrough movie, the one that would see him blaze the screen as the rebel lover.  

2. Hai apna dil toh awara

Solva Saal (1958)

Singer: Hemant Kumar
Music: SD Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

In contrast, you have Dev Anand telling you that his heart is a vagabond; it has never found a place to dwell. It has been fawned upon by beautiful women, it has been willingly embraced, but his heart is a nomad and has never resided anywhere of its own volition. (So true of the man in real life as well.) What is more, when it has been willing, they never did find a priest to make a valid contract: Hua jo kabhi razee, toh mila nahin kazee, jahan pe lagi baazi, wahin pe haara... and he lost just when he had gambled it. And no, he isn't really planning to change the situation either; all he is looking for, is a story. (He does know what he does not want.) Which is good, because the person he is singing to, the heroine, is not very interested in him either, and in fact, has a boyfriend of her own. This was Dev Anand at his mischievous best, charming and debonair, with his endearing gap-toothed grin. 

3. Ban ke panchchi gaaye pyar ka tarana

Anari (1959)

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, chorus

Music: Shankar-Jaikishen

Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri

And if you thought it was only men who dreamed of love and that special someone, here is a heroine out with her friends, who wishes she would find someone to love, but her supposed lover is, so far, only so much speculation. 'Someone' who will fill her heart with love; she has no clue who he is, or will be. Manzil pe aaye koi naina milaaye koyi 
Bhar de ye ulfat ke jholiyaan... the youthful cheer and zest for life pervade both Lata Mangeshkar's voice and Nutan's enactment. Of course, gaining that love will result in jhoome ye dharti, aur jhoome aasman... Lovely! For the longest of time, I thought of the lyrics as Banke panchi gaaye pyar ka tarana (Let's sing the melody of love as birds do) rather than Ban ke panchi gaaye pyar ka tarana (The birds of the forest sing the melody of love). 

4. Laakhon hai nigaah mein

Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon (1963)

Singer: Mohammed Rafi

Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

This time, it is Joy Mukherjee searching for that one special woman amongst hundreds of them. He is hard put to choose, because these woman are young and beautiful, but how does he know who will eventually charm his heart? It is difficult because Tauba ye nigaahein, rokti hai raahein, le leke teer kamaan... (Seems to me that he is a little too sure of himself!) Sometimes he does feel a pang, he confesses, but is she really the one? He isn't sure, but Hai jo yahi baatein, toh hongi mulaakatein, Kabhi yahaan nahin toh wahaan... somewhere, sometime, if not here, then perhaps elsewhere... At the end of the song, he is still searching for that elusive person. As someone who followed in Shammi Kapoor's footsteps, Joy Mukherjee was the one who came closest to Shammi's boyish charm. 

5. Aaja re pardesi

Madhumati (1958)

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Music: Salil Choudhary

Lyrics: Shailendra

Like Wordsworth's Solitary Reaper, here is a maiden on the cusp of womanhood, singing as she waltzes through hill and dale. And like that woman who Wordsworth watches from afar, here too, a man, a stranger to these parts, glimpses this girl through the mountain mists, a will-o'-the-wisp, a woodland sprite, now there, now invisible, only her voice leading him on and on. Like the others on this list, even she does not know who (or what) she is waiting for. But she is waiting - for her lover, someone who she has known over many different lifetimes, even if he doesn't remember. Like a lamp that can neither be doused nor stay alight, she waits for him on the other side of the mountain even though her eyes are tiring from gazing upon the path through which he will appear - one day. He will surely come - her voice is haunting enough.

Main nadiya phir bhi main pyaasi, Bhed ye gehra baat zara si, Bin tere har raat udaasi, o
Aaja re, main toh kab se khadi is paar ye akhiyaan, thak gayi panth nihaar 

 

6. Kahin karti hogi woh intezaar

Phir Kab Milogi (1974)

Singer: Mukesh
Music: RD Burman
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri

Hindi films of that era, it seems, had the usual suspects who rued the lack of love; or rather, the lack of someone to love. With the exception of Devsaab (who should, of course, have known better), they all seem to be confident in their belief that there is someone out there; all they have to do is find that one person who they can fall in love with, and hey, presto! they will be loved in return. (Considering the stalk-the-girl-until-she-falls-in-love routine worked wonders for them, I suppose one cannot blame them for that arrogance.) Biswajeet is wandering the hills and vales, more optimistic than he was previously - because, here, he is not ruing his single state, but is sure that somewhere, 'she' is waiting for him. He has very simple desires: Armaan hai koyi paas aaye, In haathon mein woh haath aaye, Phir khwaabon ki ghata chhaaye, Barsaaye khumaar; Phir unhi beeti din raaton pe, Matwali mulaqaaton pe, Ulfat bhari baaton pe, hum hote nisaar...

7. Hamre gaon koi aayega

Professor (1962)

Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle

Music: Shankar-Jaikishen

Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri
To emphasise that it is not just men who yearn for someone to love them, here we have two heroines - Kalpana and Parveen Choudhary, who are hopeful that one day, a pardesi,  a stranger (quite literally, a 'foreigner', or someone from outside the village) will come, and bind them in the bonds of love. They sing of what will happen when such a man arrives (cue the arrival of a young and handsome Shammi Kapoor), of how their hearts will flutter, how their sleep will be disturbed, how speechless they will be in his presence... and end with a wistful query: how will he be, this man whom they have dreamt of? Ram hi jaane kaisa hoga, Sapna jiska pyara, Haay re jiski aankh ne hum par, Pyar ka jadoo daara... Lata and sister Asha match voices with a vim and a verve. 

8. Kabhi na kabhi kahin na kahin

Sharabi (1964)

Singer: Mohammed Rafi

Music: Madan Mohan

Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan

Dev Anand, again, but what a change! He is no longer the happy lover, with a roaming heart. It is not his heart, but he, who is the awaara. He has been roaming through the wilderness of life, his cup not half-full but empty, hoping that sometime, somewhere, he will find someone to complete him. When everyone has turned against him, perhaps he will find someone to sit beside him and share his woes. Here is the flip side of yearning, the sadness, the despair, of never having found that one person to love and be loved. There is the deep seated desire to hear a voice full of love cut through the silence that fills his life. Kabhi toh dega sannate mein pyar bhari awaaz koi, Kaun ye jaane kab mil jaaye raste mein humraaz koi... who knows when and where he will find her? 

9. Kisi na kisi se kabhi na kabhi

Kashmir ki Kali

Singer: Mohammed Rafi

Music: OP Nayyar

Lyrics: SH Bihari

Somewhat similar (to the above) sentiments are expressed by Shammi Kapoor. Only, being Shammi, he cannot really be sad. Even his sorrow at not having a beloved is offset by his optimism. He is sure that somewhere, sometime he will have to fall in love with somebody. In fact, his problem is different. (Vintage Shammi!) The world is filled with hundreds and thousands of beautiful women; whom will he fall in love with? Who can he call his own? For he knows it is only the lucky few who can inhabit the beautiful world of love. When will he be lucky enough? He begs his heart to lead him there... where he will meet this maiden, so delicate that the dew washes her face, so beautiful that the moon steps quietly aside so she can sleep, a woman whose beauty is so intoxicating that she will fill his world with love...
Aisi nazuk woh ho jiska shabnam munh dhoti ho
Chand bhi sadke hota ho jab raat ko woh soti ho
Aankh sharaabi, gaal gulabi, 
Pyar se sanwaar de jo zindagi meri... 
Optimism rules.  

10. Madbhari hai hawaayein

Anokha Daan (1972)
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Salil Choudhary
Lyrics: Gulzar 
This is a very different song from the others on this list. There is yearning, yes, but also a wish that the waves would bring the man, a stranger whose footprints on the beach have been washed away, back to her. She has made friends with the breezes, and now, they come near, calling her by name. Mera aanchal pakadke pyar se kehti hai hawa, chal jidhar main chaloon jaa milega unhi se raasta, jinki manzil milein unse jod raahein... 

They tug at her clothes, and whisper lovingly in her ears: come with them as they travel the paths he travelled, and perhaps she might meet him again as the paths connect to the destination she seeks. 

So, ten films, ten songs full of yearning. Have you any to add to this list?