Guest article by DP Rangan as a tribute to Bharat Vyas on his 37th death anniversary (18 December 1918 – 4 July 1982)
(One oft-repeated complaint against Songs of Yore is that it does not give due importance to the lyricists. I have given my reasons from time to time, which may not be very convincing. I do not know whether DP Rangan was guided by altruistic motives to come to the rescue of the blog, but his offer to write on Bharat Vyas came as a big surprise. By now we are aware of his tremendous enthusiasm and capacity to write on different themes – this is his 19th guest article – but one thought familiarity with the language was necessary for writing on lyricists. For Mr Ranagn, no challenge is too great to deter him. The result is a comprehensive write-up on Bharat Vyas, one of the most respected lyricists for elegance of his language. The two Excel sheets he has prepared of Bharat Vyas’s Filmography would challenge anyone priding himself as a number-cruncher. My compliments and thanks to Mr Rangan for a very painstaking article. – AK)
Invention of moving films for single viewer by Edison of USA and its further enhancement by Lamar brothers of France for simultaneous view by many in a sort of theatre had added new dimensions to entertainment for the people and the fever grew exponentially from then on. The epoch of silent movies started at the turn of the last century, but introduction of talkies in 1927 in the USA revolutionised picture viewing throughout the world and India joined the bandwagon almost from inception. The first talkie, Aalam Ara, was released in Mumbai in 1931 to a riotous start with the necessity of police intervention for control.
Film music made a dramatic entry and, thus, was born the trio of music directors, singers and lyrists. The three can be viewed as three vertices of a triangle with the Music Director as phylarch. The average viewer was primarily attracted by the rendering of the song by male/female singers and appreciation of lyrics by a handful came later on. The role of importance of this wing can be set down as – singer, music director and lyricist – in that order. Perfect fusion of the three vertices produced immortal songs which overcame the ravages of time. Notwithstanding personal preferences and bias, many songs produced thus were held in universal reverence by one and all.
Bharat Vyas belonged to the illustrious club of great lyricists and reigned in the field from 1940s to 1980s. He had the unique talent to achieve all that was possible for one in the film line – Director, Music Director, Singer and Lyricist. Many others like Manna Dey, Mukesh, Hemant Kumar were music directors/singers in films, but he alone seems to have been involved in all (with the exception of Kishore Kumar in later years). His main deportment was as a lyricist. He entered this world as a hapless waif, probably with a wail of indignation at being held by his feet upwards and soundly slapped by the midwife who assisted in delivering him on 18 December 1918 in Churu, Bikaner state, now part of Rajasthan. After going through the process of growing up like many newborns, he burst into adulthood with a degree in commerce, i.e., B Com from Calcutta. He drifted to Bombay and started his career as a writer with the producer director VM Vyas, (related or not, an unresolved conjecture). His initial ambition was to be a film director, but his talents were honed to song writing and he gradually drifted to that field. Yet he did direct a film in Hindi and a few in Rajasthani in addition to singing self-composed songs, solo and duet, at the beginning of the films.
His first venture as a lyricist was Duhai released in 1943 under the direction of VM Vyas. He composed 9 songs in all. WZ Ahmad, a producer director and owner of Shalimar Pictures, Pune had gathered together several prominent lyricists of the day. Sensing a rising talent, he enticed Bharat Vyas to join him with a tempting salary. Bharat Vyas wrote 12 songs for the film Prem Sangeet (1943) and sang a solo. Next in line was Man Ki Jeet (1944), based on a Thomas Hardy novel. He composed just two songs and sang a duet. The film was a success because of the excellence of its music. In 1945 he acted in the film Ghulami, composed 5 songs and sang a duet with Renuka Devi, titled ‘Oh Geeta ke Bhagwan’ and a solo ‘Is nashwar sansar mein’. None of these songs are available. Prithviraj Samyukta was the next film produced by this banner in 1946. He acted in the film and wrote one song set to music by SK Paul – Chand sa mukhda muskaye. The last picture of Shalimar Pictures was Meerabai (1947), directed by WZ Ahmed. Meerabai’s compositions were adapted in song form by Bharat Vyas. All the 13 songs were sung by Tara Bai, alias Sitara Devi of Kanpur.
Ahmed and his actor wife Neena left for Pakistan after partition, abandoning the studio and leaving the staff in lurch. Bharat Vyas was forced to join Gemini Studios in Chennai, probably like an exile to Kaala Paani for sheer survival. He assisted Pandit Indra in the song department for the film Chandra, Hindi version of Chandralekha, then under production by SS Vasan, head of the studio. No songs from the film are attributed to him. Fortunately it was a brief self-imposed banishment from Bombay filmdom for survival. He returned to his native turf in 1949. His long cherished ambition to direct a film was realized in the film Rangeela Rajasthan in 1949 itself. This was produced by the marooned staff of Shalimar Pictures, but it was not a success.
By now Bharat Vyas had realised his future lay in penning lyrics for film songs. He never wavered from this precept thereafter. His prodigious output from 1950 onwards was truly outstanding. I will reproduce some data in this regard.
I went through the data on films he wrote lyrics for and could place 173 films only. I created an excel document covering all aspects as I understood, which may not be acceptable to many. A summary of his songs as classified is placed below. I quantified films under four categories and posted the balance to social.
In several films he had shared song writing with other lyricists, which was the prevalent practice in the early days. In a few pictures he had written just a solitary song and was the sole composer for all songs in very many films. He had a long spell of nearly 40 years in the field turning out more than 1000 songs. His forte was using chaste Hindi in all the songs, not a very common figure in this genre of writing. He did not have a clean field for himself but had to compete with many veteran lyricists. His unique style and ability to pen songs for many variety of films stood in good stead. From the 1950s to the 1970s his lyrics composition covered all the 5 categories (123/173). He was unjustly typified as biased towards devotional and mythology films when facts indicate otherwise. The overall record shows that social and all other type of films were 49:51. Lyricists tend to get attached with certain music directors and identified as a team. Lots of films produced in the 1950s and beyond were historical-devotional/mythology group and his writing skill flowered to deliver the songs. Alas a majority of the films were B grade and below and he suffered a fate similar to Madan Mohan. The songs he wrote for such films were exemplary. When I see the title of such films, I admire the courage of producers to invest in them with poor returns. It could be a bevy of film makers and I am sure they would have lost. Of course there were many good films, such as Sant Gyaneshwar. In fact a separate post can be written on such kind of films lyrics he penned.
During his long innings he worked with about 36 music directors. It is merely an approximation. He started teaming with Khemchand Prakash from ‘Rim Jhim’ in 1949 and continued till the former’s demise. With some music directors he worked in more films.
With both Vasant Desai and SN Tripathi he had a successful run and penned lyrics for many songs which became a hit in their days and a few of them defied time and are still enjoyed by current generation of listeners. His association with producer Shantaram from Toofan Aur Diya (1956) to Chaani (1977) lasted for 8 films. Four of them, Toofan Aur Diya, Do Ankhen Baarah Haath, Navrang, and Stree, were music gems and the quality of his lyrics spoke for itself.
I start with a crippling disadvantage of having to present mere audios in the guise of videos as uploaded on the YouTube. Possessing a rudimentary knowledge of Hindi, my comments on songs merely scratch at the surface. I would request the expert blog followers to gloss over my inadequacies.
1940s
Duhai, 1943: Bharat Vyas started on his journey as a lyricist and wrote all the 9 songs. Shanta Apte and Noorjehan acted in the film. No video or songs are available. I was able to grab two of the songs both duets by Shanta Apte and Rafiq Ghazanavi, Maan gaye abhi and Mohe neend na aaye. I will try to upload in my Sound Cloud account and upload link. Video is possible with stills of actors and lyricist. I am not sure whether it will not be opposed if posted on the YouTube. He also wrote a patriotic song for the film School Master in the same year, Hamara Pyara Hindustan, set to music by Neenu Majumdar.
SoundCloud link of Mohe neend na aaye by Shanta Apte and Rafiq Ghazanavi from Duhaai (1943), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music Rafiq Ghazanavi
SoundCloud link of Maan gayi main, O sainya re ab maan gayi by Shanta Apte and Rafiq Ghazanavi from Duhaai (1943), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music Rafiq Ghazanavi
Now I present a selection of Bharat Vyas songs from later films, some of which are also sung by him.
1. Main Agra se joota laya re Ho Raniji by Bharat Vyas and Shanta Thakkar from Prem Sangeet (1943), music by S. K. Pal
This was the first film under the banner of Shalimar Pictures with which Bharat Vyas had a long association as a lyricist and he wrote all the ten songs for the film. This is a parody song making fun of some earlier songs. [This song is one of the earliest parodies of some well-known vintage songs. I can recognize ‘Main to Dilli se dulhan laya re’, ‘Aaj Mausam salona salona re’ (Jhoola, 1941); ‘Saawan ke nazaare hain’ (Khazaanchi, 1941); ‘Hua kya qusoor jo humse hain door’ (Basant, 1942). I am missing a couple of songs, it would be fun for the readers to try to remember those songs – AK].
2. Ghayal kar ke humse poochhate ho dard hota hai by Bharat Vyas from Prem Sangeet (1943), music SK Pal
The hero is lamenting at the indifferent attitude of his love and is broadcasting this to the world calling all love a mirage. The song is in slow but steady tempo and in pure Hindi.
3. Chhip chhip kar mat dekho ji, bhanwar ji by Shanta Thakkar and Bharat Vyas from Man Ki Jeet (1944), music SK Pal
The second film under the same banner was a big hit because of its music. Bharat Vyas penned two songs, a solo and a duet. This duet is a love song sung in a light vein, each trying to pull down the other. The other solo, Ai chand na itrana aate hein mere sajan, was sung by Sitara Kanpuri.
4. Ae chaand na itarana by Sitara Kanpuri from Man Ki Jeet (1944)
5. Aa ja re O Geeta ka Bhagwan by Renuka Devi and Bharat Vyas from Ghulami (1945), Music by SK Pal
Bharat Vyas wrote five songs out of a total of nine. He sang a solo, Is nashwar sansaar mein, and also the above song as a duet. Renuka Devi is beseeching Bhagwan Krishna to release her from slavery and reciting how he came to the rescue of Draupadi. The film seems to reflect the feelings of Indian populace under alien rule at that time.
6. Jagmag jagmag karta nikala chaand punam ka pyara by Kishore Kumar from Rimjhim (1949), music Khemchand Prakash
Bharat Vyas (one out of four lyricists) composed lyrics for 6 out of 10 songs. Kishore Sahu and Ramola were the main actors. A young Kishore Kumar, who made his debut in ‘Ziddi’ in 1948, sings in such a melodious voice, rather difficult to believe. Hero is pining for his love and Kishore conveys this in an appropriate intonation. (Kishore Kumar’s debut as a solo singer was in this film, but he had debuted as one of the voices in a song by many singers in ‘Shikari’ (1946) – AK)
7. Ek do teen chaar baaghon mein ayi bahaar by Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar from Muqaddar (1950), music by James Singh
Kishore Kumar and Nalini Jaywant were the lead stars. As was custom of the day, four lyricists and three music directors handled music component. Bharat Vyas wrote two out of nine songs and the above duet was one of them. The other, ‘Madhur pyar ka taar kabhi ye toote na’, was sung by Arun Kumar and Asha Bhosle. A joyous love song with the lovelorn couple roaming and singing. Kishore Kumar is in his element with his trademark yodeling (, which must be his earliest.
8. Saanwariya Bansiwala Nandlala matwala by Ameerbai Karnataki, Mohammad Rafi & chorus from Janmashtami (1950), music Shyam Babu Phatak
All the nine songs were written by Bharat Vyas. Bharat Bhushan and Shobhana Samarth were the leading lights. The song is about Gokul Nandlala of Nandgaon, and the title itself indicates what sort of songs would figure in this film.
1950s (86 films, 568+ songs)
This decade was a busy one for him. His song writing covered almost 50 per cent of his career. Social theme pictures accounted for a shade over 50 percent followed by Devotional Category (20%). He was lyricist for three films on the life of saints: Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Jagatguru Shankaracharya and Sant Raghu. Some of the prominent films for which he penned lyrics were: Parineeta, Toofan Aur Diya, Do Ankhen Baarah Haath, Janam Janam Ke Phere, Rani Roopmati, Goonj Uthi Shehnai, Kavi Kalidas and Nav Rang.
Presenting a few songs out of 568 is a daunting task and my choice may not be a representative one. I will list a few songs that appealed to me, i.e. not heard often. I will try to avoid all the great films like Parineeta, Toofan Aur Diya, Goonj Uthi Shehnai, Navrang, Pyar Ki Pyas, Stree and will deal with them separately.
9. Armaano ki nagri ujad gayi by Lata Mangeshkar from Tamasha (1952), music by Manna Dey
A social film with leading roles by Dev Anand and Meena Kumari, as also Kishore Kumar and Ashok Kumar. Three music directors handled eight songs, Manna Dey taking a major part, and all written by Bharat Vyas. Meena Kumari is in her tragedienne role singing in anguish and the lyrics of Bharat Vyas are in consonance.
10. Raat mohe meetha meetha sapna aya re by Geeta Dutt from Tamasha (1952), music Manna Dey
Meena Kumari is in a joyous mood reliving in her dreams about her loved one and his approach towards her.
11. Preetmay sansaar pyare by Talat Mahmood from Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1953), music by RC Boral
Talat Mahmood had sung two songs and I choose this one emphasising the role of divine love in human life.
12. Daulat ke jhoote nashe mein ho choor by Mohammad Rafi from Oonchi Haveli (1955), music Pandit Shivram
Brimming with philosophy the song depicts the follies of mankind and how they follow wrong goals and will go empty handed when their time to depart the world comes. The song by Rafi was in the top of Binaca Geetmala for several weeks.
13. Zara saamne to aao chhaliye by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar from Janam Janam Ke Phere (1957), music by SN Tripathi
This song was composed in a mood of grief. Bharat Vyas’s son disappeared from house after a quarrel with his father. The grief-stricken father was approached by a producer to write a song about father and son. He was shown the door by the lyricist, but later on he composed this song highlighting how he is upset with his son’s absence. The following lines will bear it out:
Hum tumhen chaahein tum nahin chaaho, aisa kabhi nahin ho sakata
Pita apane baalak se bichhad ke, sukh se kabhi nahin so sakata
14. Meri godi mein Gopala by Lata Mangeshkar from Mausi (1958), music Vasant Desai
A nice lullaby by Lata Mangeshkar uplifting the wonderful lyrics. There is a well-known duet by Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar in this film: Tim tim tim taaron ke deep jale.
15. Sham bhai Ganshyam na aye by Lata Mangeshkar from Kavi Kalidas (1959), music SN Tripathi
The picture has many great songs and I chose this one sung by Lata Mangeshkar in her inimitable style. Another is a dance song: Main to janam janam ki pyasi re.
1960s (37 films & 267+ songs)
Having reached a zenith in the previous decade, it was now a downward slide and the figures speak for themselves. There were a few notable films, like Angulimal, Hum Hindustani, Saranga and Stree. Fiftenn of the films could be classified as Mythology.
16. Buddham Sharanam Gacchhami by Manna Dey, Meena Kapoor and Chorus from Angulimal (1961), music Anil Biswas
A thief who used to cut thumbs of wayfarers was made to realize the error of his ways by Gautam Buddha and became a disciple. A well-known song and lyrics of Bharat Vyas is the soul behind it.
17. Jyot se jyot jagaate chalo by Lata Mangeshkar from Sant Gyaneshwar (1964), music Laxmikant Pyarelal
The film was a musical hit and this was a popular song. There is another more familiar version by Mukesh. The song is about the power of love and how it can conquer everything.
18. Ye kaun chitrakar hai by Mukesh and chorus from Boond Jo Ban Gayi Moti, music by Satish Bhatia
Bharat Vyas showcased his immense talent in writing this song which is in praise of nature and the Creator who made everything possible. Mukesh rendering in his inimitable manner uplifted the song to great heights.
1971-84 (27 films & 134+ songs)
After such a long and glorious innings as lyrist, the clock was winding down. There were no films of note.
Famous films for which Bharat Vyas wrote lyrics
I will now present a list of his famous films enriched by his all-conquering lyrics. An abridged list would cover films, such as – Toofan Aur Diya, Do Ankhen Baarah Haath, Rani Roopmathi, Goonj Uthi Shehanai, Navrang, Saranga and Stree. The definition is highly subjective and there could be a myriad opinions about what to include or omit. Two music directors, Vasant Desai and SN Tripathi were associated with them. I cannot devote more detail as the post is already a lengthy one. I would expect someone with far better talent than me to attempt a second post on this lyrist.
Bharat Vyas figured as lyricist in some landmark V Shantaram pictures. I would rate Shantaram’s Do Aankhen Baarah Haath (1957) as an all-time great in all aspects – story, direction, acting, lyrics and music by Vasant Desai. I will present a few songs out of a total of six.
19. Main gaaon tu chup ho ja by Lata Mangeshkar
What an enticing song inducing sleep as one hears it. Lyrics are superb. Lata’s rendering is exquisite. One of the great loris one can listen.
20. Ai Maalik tere bande ham by Shanta Ram and chorus
Shantaram as a reformist jailor is taking the lead in singing this song in praise of Almighty and his boundless compassion along with the six convicts in the process of transforming them into good souls.
21. Ai Maalik tere Bande Ham by Lata Mangeshkar
The great jailor loses his life while fighting a bull in rampage. This version is sung at the bier and is heart-wrenching.
After reigning over the field in all capacities as actor, singer, film director and finally choosing lyrics as his avocation, Bharat Vyas ruled the roost from 1943 to 1981 compiling more than a thousand songs. He was an undisputed winner in his field of song writing for mythologies, saint’s biographies, devotional and historical movies. He also scored many hits in films based on social themes. He left for heavenly abode on the 4th July, 1982 in Mumbai.
I hope I have done a fair job of outlining the life and achievements of this illustrious lyricist whose mastery in writing songs in Hindi made him an equal to other lyricists of his days whose main forte was compiling in Urdu.
Here is Bharat Vyas’s detailed Filmography and Song breakup, and here is his Filmography decade-wise and genre-wise
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer: The songs links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. Some information has been taken from Wikipedia or other sources from the Internet, which have been appropriately acknowledged in the post.
{ 129 comments… read them below or add one }
I congratulate Sh DP Rangan ji on the efforts put in to make an extensive study of the contributions of Bharat Vyas to HF industry. For me this is a lot of new information . Great ! I have long been of the view the Sh Bharat Vyas never used Urdu words in his songs . Sh DPR ji has made this observation that Bharat Vyas ji used chaste Hindi for his compositions.
V Shantaram engaged him in at least 3 of his films – Do Aankhen barah haath, Navrang , Stree.
I give the link to one of his compositions in Stree , by Mahendra Kapoor , MD C Ramchandra (1961)
https://youtu.be/saDAJD-9kmM
D P Rangan ji,
Bharat Vyas was indeed an exceptional lyricist. I knew he was also a singer, composer and actor, but didn’t know he was a director,too!
Good write up, well researched.
There are any number of good Bharat Vyas songs one can add. I shall add a few of my favorites.
Tum Gagan ke Chandrama ho
Main Dhara ki dhool hoon…
SATI SAVITRI,1964.
Lata Mangeshkar,Manna Dey; LP
( For some unknown reason,I always think of this song and the MAMTA beauty Chupa lo yun dil mein pyar mera… together!)
Kuhoo kuhoo bole koyaliya…
SWARNA SUNDARI,1958.
Lata Mangeshkar,Rafi; Adi Narayan Rao.
Tere Sur aur mere geeth
Dono mil kar bane Sangeet..
GHOONJ UTHI SHEHNAI,1959.
Lata Mangeshkar,Vasant Desai.
Shyamal Shyamal bharan..
NAVRANG,1959.
Mahendra Kapoor,C Ramchandra.
And, some atypical Bharat Vyas numbers:
Humse nain milana BA pass karke..
AANKHEN,1950.
Shamshad Begum, Mukhesh; Madan Mohan.
Khali peeli kaahe ko akka din baith ke bomb maarte ho…
TAMASHA,1952.
Kishore Kumar; Manna Dey.
( I can not picture Dev Anand Khali peeli baith na!
Two from FASHIONABLE WIFE,1959.
Music: Suresh Talwar.
Bangal ke Babu peete hain
Bambai ka Mister Peete hain
Peene ki aadat vaisi hai
Sub log baraabar peete hain…
Ismail Azad Qawwali & chorus.
Jhoomo re jhoom ne ke din aaye..
Mahinder Kapoor,Geeta Dutt & chorus.
S Joseph ji,
V Shantharam worked with Bharat Vyas in TOOFAN AUR DIYA,MAUSI,BOOND JO BAB GAYI MOTI,PINJRA and CHANI.
D P Rangan ji,
Can there be a small error in saying that the OONCHI HAWELI song topped Binaca Geetmala for several weeks? Actually, JJKP song Zara saamne toh aao chhaliye..was the Annual topper in the year 1957. I don’t think Daulat ke jhoote nashe mein choor…fared that we’ll.
Rangan ji,
Congratulations for a detailed and insightful and informative post. When I did the post, this January, I split it in three parts and presented the songs on basis of his associations with the composers.
It was not possible for me to do it in a single post. But you did it so well, with all the details. That’s why I congratulated you before I wrote anything else.
Hats off to you sir!
The interested ones can visit my blog for the posts.
Anup
🙂
DHUN,1953.
Rafi,Madan Mohan,Babul; Madan Mohan.
Koi ek aana koi do aana
Koi teen aana koi chaar aana
Is duniya mein sab paagal hain
Hum paagal hain solah aana…
A real fun song. I think it has parodies of some earlier songs.
Bharat Vyas and Kaif Irfani wrote four songs each for the movie and P L Santhoshi,one.
KAARIGAAR,1965.
Rafi,C Ramchandra; C Ramchandra.
Baaman ho ya Jaat
Bhikari ho ya Samrat
Governor ho ya chahe Laat
Sabhi mil khaaye meri chaat….
Goes on to highlight the quality of his bhel and paanipuris!
DO DOSTH,1960.
Rafi, Asha; S Mohinder.
Mat samajh mujhe tu kangla
Tujhe bana doon ek bangla
Bangle mein main aur tu
Phir bole gutar goo…
Interestingly, the song has yodelling by both the singers.
Two more fun songs in the movie ,both sung by Rafi.
Hello Hello Hello Hello
Masth Magan ghar ghar mein aaj
Karta hai Telephone…
Ye shehar hai Bambai
Bam Bam Bambai…
But, the movie also has a profound Hemant Kumar song
Ye sone ki duniya
Ye chandi ki duniya
Yahaan aadmi ki bhala baat kya hai?
Ye daulat ki duniya
Ye ameeron ki duniya
Yahan par garibon ki aukaat kya hai?
Almost sounds like the precursor of Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai!
Of the 12 songs in the movie, Bharat Vyas penned 7 songs. Akhtar Romani and Farooq Khaiser were the other lyricists.
AKji
Thanks very much for the nice introduction and concealing my shortcomings as a benevolent blogmaster. I will strive to do still better in any future posts. I am also announcing my desire to rattle blog followers in future in the fond hope of conditioning their mind to accept the inevitable. I am frankly surprised that I have written so many blogs.
Josephji
Thanks for appreciating the article. Biographies have to stick to facts and require more careful writeup. As I wrote in the blog, a separate article is needed to bring out his abilities in lyric composition on such great films. If none come forward, I may have to attempt a few posts on him on various genres of films he was involved with.
Dr. Shetty
Thanks for your kind words. Coming from such an exalted person as you, it is all the more gratifying. It will be next to impossible to write about all the songs he composed considering their sheer numbers. I know you will have a field day along with the technology master Bhatiaji who was undisputed king prior to your landing.
Anupji
Very much obliged to you for your comments about the post. I would like to have a link to your blog so that I can glean through your posts like from here.
D P Rangan ji,
I am concentrating more on Bharat Vyas’s unusual,hatke numbers for the time being.
Anup ji,
Visited your blog and the 3 part series on Bharat Vyas is an excellent labour of love. Congratulations. Will have to do a detailed reading later.
Ranganji,
Believe it or not, I was expecting an article by you, but this one is a real revelation. You have staked the claim to be named the great “Moghul” of SoY. Nineteen post in less than 4 years. I would expect at least another couple of posts by end of this year. When you came out with the posts on the Moon and Stars in 2016 & 2017, we knew that for you sky is the limit. You need to be applauded on several counts; First, for venturing into varied subjects, as disparate as Horses & Tongas to song writers; Two, with a rudimentary knowledge of Hindi, as you have claimed, you have showed the grit to approach a subject, which many a veterans have advocated for but bypassed when it came to action. Thirdly, you have exhibited your perseverance by painstakingly compiling the statistics putting the poser at hand to shame. Lastly, I am sure you will be celebrating a thousand moons soon and hats off to your passion & energy exhibited at this stage.
I have just read your write-up. I would listen to the selection of songs presented and revert soon. It is clear from your statistics that there are plenty of songs available for posting. But I would expect the experts to come up with comments and songs with special attention to the lyrics. I am optimistic, since the post on Vyakaran, Uchcharan & Uthpeedan attracted a lot of relevant discussion.
Thank you Ranganji for this special tribute.
Let me too pay my homage to the Bharat Vyas, the first lyricist to get an exclusive post in SoY.
@Ranganji,
Posting here the links of my posts
First part,
https://mehfilmeinmeri.wordpress.com/2019/01/06/bharat-vyas-the-prolific-lyricist-i/
Second part,
https://mehfilmeinmeri.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/bharat-vyas-the-prolific-lyricist-ii/
And,
The third part,
https://mehfilmeinmeri.wordpress.com/2019/01/21/bharat-vyas-the-prolofic-lyricist-iii/
I would request the other readers as well to go through the posts, if they are interested.
@Pradeep ji,
Thanks for visiting the posts. Plz go through it at leisure.
Anup
🙂
D P Ranganji,
Thanks and salutations for the very good post on great Bharat Vyas. What a contrast that he wrote songs in chaste Hindi whereas the writer of so well researched article considers himself inadequate in Hindi. The way you have lucidly explained the sense and essence of his songs in the writeup, this inadequacy is hard to believe. I can only repeat my salute.
I am optimistic we shall have many more informative articles from you as SOY scales further heights. Thanks to the captain of the ship, AK Jee too, for reposing faith in his post creaters that keeps them inspired.
Mr Rangan has made a template for writing on lyricists which will be hard to match. I used the expression ‘elegance of language’ for Bharat Vyas. Dr Shetty has added many examples of his light-hearted songs, but his métier was Sanskitised Hindi language. It’s converse of songs with heavy Persian/Arabic words was conventionally accepted in film songs, without realising that these may be more difficult for common listeners to understand. Bharat Vyas had the courage to go against the trend, and create many masterpieces with तत्सम words in songs. That is not enough unless it has elegant poetry in the sense of imagery, metaphor etc. And one song that has struck me from a very young age for all this is Aaj madhuvataas doley.
Start from the metaphor of मधुवातास (honeyed breeze) – Have you heard this usage is any other song? Then the second line is चाँद को चुपचाप ‘निरखो’. He could have simply used the word ‘dekho‘, but that is very bland; ‘Nirakho‘ is looking with admiring its beauty, and therefore it has to be done in silence. Beautiful.
And every line drips with poetry:
ये चमेली सी सुगन्धित रात मधु मुस्का रही
…
चहचहाते विगह भोले किस दिशा में खो गए (विगह – birds)
मौन है प्रकृति जगत के सकल प्राणी सो गए
…
मूक कलियों से सुनो कुछ प्रणय की पागल कहानी
(Listen to the tales of passionate love from the silent flower buds.)
Please notice the subtle difference between ‘maun’ and ‘mook’, Bharat Vyas uses both the words. The English word ‘silence’ does not capture the nuances of the two words. It will be clear by common expressions मौनव्रत, and मूकं करोति वाचालम्. In the first, the person can speak, but he chooses to be quiet, in the second, he can’t speak. The lady is urging her lover to understand the language of silence. The literal translation for ‘mook’ could be ‘mute’, but that didn’t sound elegant to me.
I hope this is what Venkataramanji meant in his comment #12.
AK jee,
@15. You have so ‘elegantly’ explained the elegance of poetry of Bharat Vyas. Thanks.
Venkataramanji
Thanks you very much for the scale of exaggeration in appreciating my none too extraordinary write ups. The credit should go to our blogmaster who encouraged me all along. I just compiled facts available, strung them together and brought out this. Without the statistics, no biographies can be written in an authentic manner. Your clairvoyance is amazing but not surprising at the way you had anticipated a few posts from AKji earlier. I fully appreciate your views and this will act as a stimulus for future ventures.
Shachindraji
Thanks for the complements. With my limited knowledge I interpreted the lyrics. It pales before the erudition of our blogmaster. I do have some ideas for a few posts and sitting here in US in serene surroundings will start on them. Your appreciation will act as a stimulus.
A Qawwali from the pen of Bharat Vyas would be a rare occurrence. One with the combination of Rafi, Manna Dey,Minoo Purushotham and Hemlata,rarer still.
So, posting this non golden era song from DO CHEHRE,1977.
Sonik Omi.
Aaj ki raat peene de saaqi
Kal se tauba tauba tauba
Ek pal aur jeene de saaqi…
AK ji,
Thanks to D.P.Rangan ji for an article on a leading lyricist, Pt.Bharat Vyas.
The article shows that he has taken lot of efforts to collate information from various sources.
There is an authoritative Biography of Bharat Vyas ( Tujhe mere geet bulate hain), written by shri Sanjiv Tanwar of Delhi, who is my good friend. Shri Harish Raghuwanshi ji has also written an article on him in his book ‘ Inhe naa bhulana’.
Information from reliable sources always gives solid foundation to any write up.
As per this source the Date of Birth is 6-1-1918 and the date of death is 5-7-82. Further, Bharat Vyas wrote songs for a total of 189 films ( list is given in the book) and he wrote lyrics for 75 MDs. There were 6 Regional language films and 15 unreleased films for which also he wrote some songs.
V M Vyas was not related to him, but actor B.M.Vyas was his brother.
Mr. Rangan is very enthusiatic and at this age also is very active. His English language sometimes looks like an younger sister of the language of Mr. Shashi Tharur, making me run for a dictionary. It is a great gift. This tribe is rare these days. We are fortunate to have him at SOY, to get benefits from his writings.
I congratulate you and him to begin what was long pending and fulfil a longing of many readers.
Another point.
Rangan ji listed songs sung by Bharat Vyas and said, none of these songs are available. Then he posts some of these songs sung by Vyas in his article !
Actually, most songs sung by Bharat Vyas are available. I too have many of them with me. Some of them are posted and discussed on Atul ji’s Blog also.
-AD
BAALAK,1969.
Mera Naam hai Mehmood
Rehta har jagah maujood
Peeta rehta hoon beedi
Khata rehta hoon amrood…
Shanti Mathur, Dattaram.
Yes,a song picturised on Junior Mehmood.
Mehmood…. amrood!
We all unequivocally appreciate the wordsmith and are amazed at his use of chaste Sanskrit. The film makers and the composers also have to be acknowledged here. Of course, the mythological/ historical/ costume dramas allowed the lovely lyrics to be incorporated without looking out of place.
My selecting hat ke lyrics is just to show the ability of Bharat Vyas to adapt to the other genres,too…. comical, satirical, nonsensical or just mundane.
Ye kaun chitrakar hai…is one of my favorite BV lyrics. The imagery in….
Tapasviyon si hai atal ye parvaton ki chotiyan
Ye sarp si ghumerdar gherdaar ghaatiya
Dhwaja si ye khade hue vriksha Devadar ke…
….( Indeed) Ye kis Kavi ke kalpana ki CHAMATKAR hai?
I can visualise the ghat section in front of my eyes while listening to this.
In the same movie, BOOND JO BAN GAYE MOTI, he wrote
Lovely lovely hai sama
Hum tum dono ho jahan
Aaj twist karen
Ya shake karen
Ya jerk kare
Ya holle holle hun…
Mahinder Kapoor, Asha Bhonsle; Satish Bhatia.
No great lyrics by any stretch of imagination! But, the point is,he could churn this out,too!
Aside… two other songs that I remember
Ye gaon Pyara Pyara
Ye lovely lovely gaon…..JAADU TONA, Balkavi Bairagi.
Mausam Mausam lovely Mausam…THODI SI BEWAFAI, Gulzar.
Arunji,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation of Mr Rangan’s efforts. I doubt if any source can be 100% accurate about data. I find Mr Rangan’s compilation is very close to your numbers. He would respond to your other points.
D P Rangan ji;
Today I wanted to see Rainbow as it rained a lot yesterday. I am sitting at the back seat of an open roof vintage car enjoying paperback edition of rainbow of songs. Bharat Vyas , Pradeep…..such song writers have created extraordinary work that gladdened many hearts….and were hardcore earth bound . Their lyrics smells of good earth…..like the smell of first raindrops on sleeping earth. Bharat Vyas songs could bring tears to anyone for their shear high quality narration .
Many Thanks for the nice recall of lyricists in this blog.
Now to open my score , a few of my favorites ….the songs I start with the first downpour in Delhi , subsequently following the varying seasonal songs….[ but now swar rasiley ho rahe….]
KALPANA KE GHAN BARASTE- LATA- MAHENDRA KAPOOR FILM- AMAR JYOTI(1965)….VASANT DESAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVHKRYUCCmQ
Badalo Barso Nayan Ki Aur Se – Lata Mangeshkar, Sampoorna Ramayan …..Vasant Desai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8-P5hqFAqA
SAN SANAN SANAN SANAN JA RE -LATA -BHARAT VYAS -VASANT DESAI (SAMPOORNA RAMAYAN 1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTznAt0GPV4
……to be contd.
D P Rangan ji;
In continuation , a song from earthly story followed by Bharat Vyas comic song sung by himself.
Mahendra Kapoor ‘Na raja rahega na rani rahegi ‘ ‘Navrang’1959….CR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aexVxibwMf4
Kavi Raja Kavita Ke – Navrang – Bharat Vyas & Chorus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MexDIip2uao
….to be contd.
D P Rangan,
I never thought you would write a post on a lyric writer you have totally surprised me.
Very little about him (by me) was known thanks for all the information
Bharat Vyas is probably one the few lyricists, who could be recognized, either by choice of words or his style of writing.
I have glanced through the songs you have posted
One complain though, I need to have Webster tab open while reading your post.
This comment was written yesterday, could not post it as I got busy.
Just saw Mr. Desmukh has the same complain
Akji has finally broken the ground rule and has commenced the blog post from a lyricist point of view.
DP Ranganji has an excellent job of presenting an all-round picture of Bharat Vyas.
Kalayanji Virji Shah, when he started working independently before his brother Anandji joined him in 1959, has got opportunity to compose Bharat Vyas songs – first in his maiden film Samrat Chandragupt and then for Bedard Jaman Kya Jane, released in 1959. Both films had some excellent songs. I have presented one from each –
Yeh Sama Hai Mera Dil Jawan Hai ) – Samrat Chandragupta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJFQi9n8a0E
Kyun Mile Ham Tum Bewafa O Sanam – Bedard Ky Jaane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAZ0e6iBAzI
AK, @15
I was equally stuck by his choice of words in aaj madhuavaatas dole.
As Sachindra Prasad has said you have explained it so well. Thanks
His lyrics were mostly in शुद्ध हिंदी he rarely used Urdu words but his Malik tere bande hum surprised me, looking at his command over Hindi vocabulary it is hard to believe that he could not find Hindi substitute . I feel it was intentional.
One of my favorite., beautifully sung by Asha
https://youtu.be/uwr-LH3-HVk?list=RDuwr-LH3-HVk
KARM,1977 must be the only instance of Bharat Vyas working with RDB (and, B R Chopra?). He penned 4 songs for the movie while the remaining 3? were by Indrajeet Singh Tulsi ( his Samay tu dheere dheere/ jaldi jaldi chal being the most popular).
Mukhesh:
1.Karm kaho kismat kaho
Chahe kaho taqdeer
Pehle bane prarabdh
Aur paache bane shareer..
( I doubt there could be any other Hindi song with the word prarabdh in it!)
2. Karm kare kismat bane
Jeevan ka ye maram
Prani tere haath mein
Tera apna Karm.
ksbhatia ji,
A small correction.
Baadalon bharso nayan ki kor se…
Kor_ typical Bharat Vyas.
Mumbaikar8,
I agree, the choice of words in ‘Aaj madhuvaatas doley’ was deliberate. He wanted a particular effect.
Ak,
Aaj madhuvataas was in his uaual flair , I was talking about the odd one that is Ay maalik tere bande hum
Thanks Dr PKShetty ji (4/7/19) for the additional information. But in the movies I mentioned I was sure that the trio Shantaram , Bharat Vyas and C Ramchandra were the common factors.
I feel lyricists alone are not be able to make a song popular and this role is generally in the hands of the — Director/ Music Director /musicians/Singer(s)/ actors /cameraman . On the other hand , if these drivers of the song do their job well , the lyricists can get extra recognition/mileage.
Two songs on the same theme – ‘ praising the beauty of a woman ‘, released almost at the same time may illustrate this .
One is ‘Chaudavin ka Chaand ho …’
https://youtu.be/wRbBORKhGYg
which was a great success and the other , released subsequently is ‘ kaun ho tum kaun ho …’
https://youtu.be/saDAJD-9kmM
which to my knowledge was left far far behind .
One observation…
In ‘ Kaun ho tum… ‘ , though the song is praising the beauty of a woman , throughout the song sequence , the camera is never was used to show the beauty of the woman but instead the camera was focussed on the lead male actor and the musical instrument he was playing . Was the song meant to publicise the musical instrument ?
One song was in Hindi and used words/expressions like … Pratham (5 times ), Ritu , chir virahi , pranaya , madhurim taan , Sarita jal ki tarang , naynon, hridayon ke , and the other was in Urdu and used words/expressions like… Kasam , la jawab , jheel , zulfein, Aankhen , Masti , pyar , maey ke pyale , Tabassum , shaayar , Sajde , khwab , husn , ishq, sharab.
The two production teams were totally different .
Though released a few months after the first , yet the second song on the same theme was left so far behind in popularity is surprising . Was Bharat Vyas another helpless loser as a lyricist in this song due to the role of others ? I do not know if lyricists were choosy in working with a production team.
Ranganji,
Thanks for presenting a good selection of 21+2 songs, some unknown (mainly from the 40s), lesser known and some well known songs mainly covering 3 decades of Bharat Vyas’s career. It appears to be a fair representation of Bharat Vyas’s wide repertoire, like devotional, philosophical and borrowing Pradeepji’s parlance “the hatke numbers etc. etc. I am not exactly qualified to discuss any further about the lyrics and I would leave it to the experts.
Thanks for providing the SoundCloud.com link to the song Mohe neend na aaye. I think you forgot to post the link for the other song Maan gayi main, O sainya re ab maan gayi. Here is the link.
https://soundcloud.com/user-151743896/maan-gayi-main-abi
Presenting two NFS penned by Bharat Vyas, rendered by Talat Mahmood, composed by V Balsara most likely in the 40s. I think I have presented one of them in the post ‘Talat the real mesmeriser”
Raath Andheri door kinara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNshd3p209I
Humne lisi ki aankh mein ye jahan dekha hai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FPCKZz-sJc
Thanks once again Ranganji.
In Bedard zamana kya jaane he also wrote that wonderful song NAINA HAI JADOO BHARE rendered inimitably by Mukesh !
D P Rangan ji;
Bharat Vyas ‘s Lyrical style was a cool one though he was born in one of the hottest place in India ,i.e. Churu …. a city in the desert region of Rajasthan …..a gateway to the shifting sand dunes of the Thar Desert. Churu, like an oasis, situated in the middle of the shifting golden sand dunes, opens the gate to the Thar Desert. Churu’s highest temperature ever recorded is 50.8 °C (123.4 °F) on 1st and 2nd June 2019. Drinking water for the area is from Indira Gandhi Canal……a part of Ghaghar Flood and Drainage Scheme . In addition to the canal systems , main source of irrigation for farmers continues to be rain water and wells at a few places. At few places ….Over Irrigation…..in the area has resulted into high water table levels affecting the village buildings ….mostly giving way for differential settlement of the earthen strata. I happened to have inspected this area long time back in early 80s and submitted my report for remedial measures.
So to say…one can have a feel ….how tough living there is when even walking on hot burning sand ….with best of insulated shoes …the burning foot sensation lasts for many hours. I really salute all the Camels and Bullock Carts which were the main source of transportation during my visit to adjoining places like Hanuman gardh , Surat Gardh , Rangmahal etc.
Coming back to Bharat Vyas ‘s songs ….My favorite ones are from Saranga. Every song is a gem and is worth weighing in gold . Each word , each line and each stanza speaks of high standard of lyrics writing and appropriate to the situation and screenplay as well .
While all the songs of Saranga were popular but two songs are worth watching again and again . The Pathos they carries touches your heart and you feel like making a painting on sandy canvas with tear drops as paint …….
Chali Re Chali Main To | Asha Bhosle….Sardar Malik
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_jBByZ8xqk
Likh De Piya Ka Naam Sakhi | Suman Kalyanpur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MAQNTP4WZc
Rangan ji:
In this post you have used your gift for analysis with terrific effect for highlighting the towering stature of Bharat Vyas in HFM. Here is a link to a Radio Ceylon broadcast on July 4 in the memory of the great lyricist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8vQ86D_zIw
Everybody will have his or her own favourite Bharat Vyas song(s). For instance, AKji loves ‘Aaj madhuvatas’. Mine are ‘O Nirdayi preetam’ (Lata in Stree; MD: CR) and ‘Thane Kajuliyo’ (Lata and Mukesh in Veer Durgadas; MD: SNT):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB5c7ICzfO8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV9JFZ13rmY
Dr Pradeep Kumar Shetty @29;
Yes . I stand corrected . Also note the words which no other song writer could have imagined. Like…….
ghatao garjan ko tham lo
mere karun swar se kaam lo
bandh gaya saawan nayan ki dor se
neen jal bin deen ho kar jee rahi
praan tadpe bhagya ke jhakjor
bijliyaan kadkoundh gayi ki or se
Simply brilliant writing….though one may have to find deep meanings for some words in….. hindi shabd kosh .
Here are songs from Rani Rupmati
‘ Aa Laut ke aaja mere meet..’ MD SN Tripathi,
1)Mukesh
https://youtu.be/hyIVG9SM46Y
and
2)Lata Mangeshkar
https://youtu.be/-kdKUKTcVok
The rare Kalyanji Anandji_ Gulzar outing in PURNIMA,1965 , resulted in two beautiful songs:
Humsafar mere Humsafar
Pankh tum Parwaz hum…
And
Tumhe zindagi ka ujhale Mubarak
Andhere hume aaj raas aa gaye hain…
The movie had 4 diverse Bharat Vyas numbers:
Gori nain tere hai kya kehne…. Mukhesh.
Radha tere Kanha ne Murli bhajai..
Suman Kalyanpur, Mukhesh.
O is duniya ke rehnewale, Naari ki Devi kehnewale…Lata.
Ajab khel kismet ka dekho…Rafi
The movie had songs by Gulshan Bawra and Prakash Mehra,too.
Rangan ji,
Congrats to be the first on SoY as regards a post on a lyricist. It is a well researched article accompanied by lovely songs.
AK ji,
We can say that separate posts on lyricists were not attempted, yet SoY has been giving space to the lyrics of songs. Once you took up the Gumraah film’s song “chalo ik baar phir se”. While writing on songs by Mahendra Kapoor you gave full lyrics of ” Aaj madhuvasat dole”. Sometimes you gave English translation also, whenever you liked the lyrics and fancied that reasonably good translation was possible.
Taking up lyricists as theme of SoY posts is a very good step and opens up discussions in a newer direction.
Best wishes.
Dr. Shetty jee,
Thanks for your ‘Zara hatke’ discoveries. It convincingly proves the versatility of Bharat Vyas.
Canasya @36,
Sorry for being a spoilsport. But have you given a thought whether you like Thaane kaajaliyon mana lun for its lyrics or its sweet music by SN Tripathi? I am asking this because the lyrics are, I think, in Rajasthani. Music is always the first driver, in Aaj madhuvataas doley too, but the lyrics are also exceptional, and I really can’t apportion how much of my fascination for this song is for music, and how much for lyrics – probably it is more for the lyrics.
Tyagiji @40,
You have rightly observed my admiration for lyrics in quite a number of songs. I show that by writing something about them, and sometimes translating them. From Mr Rangan’s post we can also infer that he might, after all, write a ‘series’ on the lyricists. No difficulty is too daunting for him. I would not be surprised if he did for Swahili songs too.
Rangan ji,
Pardon me for piecemeal posting of comments.
1. There were a few lyricists who started their careers prior to 1947 and who remained popular in nineteen fifties and sixties, namely Bharat Vyas, Pradeep, Kidar Sharma and Majrooh. Kidar Sharma left his mark as producer-director also.
2. As regards, choosing shuddh Hindi words for songs, Indeevar also had the same inclination as Bharat Vyas.
3.In the comments above, two songs have been mentioned, showing the contrast. One from Chauhdvin ka chaand (Shakeel) and the other from Stree (B. Vyas) The main contrasts are: –
Guru Dutt and his cinematographer presented the song beautifully; Waheeda was not only much more beautiful than Sandhya, she was much more popular also. Furthermore, Mohd Rafi rendered the Shakeel song in a matchless manner. It will probably remain the greatest ‘suhaagraat’ song ever.
Thanks.
Ranganji
Sometime back in one of the meetings with AK, I had offered to write about Bharat Vyas, but due to turn of events I had to shift from Delhi and could not fulfil my promise, which had become time-barred. After going through your write up, I can say that as an introductory article I could not have written such an article. Now it is our duty to supplement your write up.
When I was preparing for this, I had obtained the book referred to by Arunji, when I went to Sudhir Kapur’s place for meeting Harmandir Singh Hamraaz and had also met the writer Mr. Tanwar. I endorse Arunji’s views about Mr. Tanwar and also say that I have yet to see a more modest and simple person than Sh. Hamraaz. He also mentioned how much efforts Sh. Hamraaz and his friends
put in for making HKGK a possibility. In this book all songs of Bharat Vyas are listed with all the details (even more than HFGK) of films in which he wrote lyrics. On each page has also been given life sketches of various film personalities which is another added value to this book. This book is a collector’s item. The only shortcoming of this book is that the data has not been analysed, only simple lists have been provided. There are some articles which provide details about events and character of Bharat Vyas. Overall the book is very useful.
Arunji has also mentioned about VM Vyas and BM Vyas, which is true. I would here relate something which would provide missing links about Vyases. I have lived most of my youth in Charkhi Dadri, which was in Bhiwani Distt of Haryana, but now is a Distt. There was a very respected govt. teacher there whom everyone called Vyasji. His son was my junior in college and also worked in the same Ministry with me. So we were very close. When I thought of writing on Bharat Vyas, I asked him whether he was related to Bharat Vyas to which his reply was no. But, he told me some things which are relevant here. He told me that the Vyases were originally from Gujarat, and they travelled from there through Rajasthan, where some of them settled and some came to Haryana. In 5 or 6 villages around Charkhi Dadri some Vyas families are living. He told me that there predecessors brought some bricks from there old Haveli in Gujarat and constructed a small temple in a nearby village Manheru. Since then, all persons of this surname go to that temple on important occasions like marriage and ceremonies related to newborns. So it was no surprise that he was so close to VM Vyas and Avinash Vyas who came from Gujarat.
Regarding data I am in agreement with AK that it is just indicator of trends and there can never be full agreement between various sources. I have counted the number of songs of the 189 Hindi films and they come to 1203. If we add regional and other films songs which were not released it would almost come to the number you have given. Even in the films listed in the book some songs dont provide details of the lyricist. When details of these songs are known, the number is likely to increase. More than 1200 is a huge number. I think matter of grade of the film is hardly important for a lyricist. As far as I know Bharat Vyas got handsome returns for his songs. In my view, for writing songs in the type of films he wrote, one needs deep study and vast knowledge of our puranas and history and other things. Some of the well known and famous lyricists would have found it difficult to write songs for those type of films for which Bharat Vyas undertook writing lyrics.
I dont agree with the view that there were few takers for devotional or poranic films. In the 50s they were very popular. The difference between the numbers of such films of 50s and 60s for which Bharat Vyas wrote tell the same story. It should always be remembered that in the early part of the history of films, watching films was taboo in Indian Society. But, elders allowed their wards to watch historical, devotional and poranic films. So they were popular and also they were cheap to make, so investment in these films was profitable upto the 50s. In the 60s this trend reversed and there were less number of such films. Besides this state publicity departments promoted such films and other films which had some social message, by showing them free of cost on projectors. Persons like me have viewed many such films like ‘kan kan men bhagwan’, ‘kade dhup te kade chhan (panjabi) and ‘upkar’.
Remaining in the nest instalment.
AKji @ 42:
Your point is well taken. Like you, I also consider MD’s contribution to a song preeminent. However, in the case of ‘Thane kajuliyo’, I find the words adding to its rhythm, energy, and charm in no small measure. This is my opinion.
I have a simple test to apportion credit (between MD and lyricist). Several popular songs get copied across languages by filling in words to the original tune. If the songs retain popularity across languages, most of the credit must go to the original MD (‘Naina barse rimjhim rimjhim’ from ‘Who kaun thi’ would be an example). Popularity of songs that owe their magic to the words rarely transcends across languages. ‘Swapan jhare phool se’ from ‘Nai umar kin ai fasal’ would fall in this category. On this scale, where would one put ‘Thane Kajuliyo’? All versions of this song that I have seen on YouTube have the same words. Perhaps fellow commentators have heard songs in other languages using the tune. It would be interesting to compare the popularity of this song in those languages.
I am not trying to defend Bharat Vyas. But, if I must criticise him for ‘Thane kajuliyo’, my criticism (qualified for reasons of my own lack of knowledge) would be from a different angle. Recall that Harivansh Rai Bachchan had once been criticized for lending his name to ‘Mere angane mein’ (from Laawaris) as lyricist, which was a (traditional) folk song. I do not know how much of ‘Thane kajuliyo’ belongs to Bharat Vyas. But then, traditionally lyricists/song writers (including Nobel laureate Dylan) have frequently borrowed freely from other sources, often without attribution.
Excellent work ranganji,
Vasudev Bhatadwaj,
Welcome to SoY.
BAPU NE KAHA THA,1962, was produced by Children’s Film Society of India.
Satyamev Jayate Satyamev Jayate..
Bapu ne kaha tha sach bolo…
Bharat Vyas, Avinash Vyas.
The song comes at three points in the movie…Lata Mangeshkar,Manna Dey, unidentified voices and chorus.
https:// youtu.be/ t_zkbdfymWs
BALAK,1969.
Suman Kalyanpur, Dattaram.
Sun le Bapu ye Paigham
Meri chitti tere naam…
The test used by Canasya ji (8/7/19) to apportion credit between MD and lyricist is interesting . I know that when you are in the midst of experts , you keep learning more.
In Hindi film songs no best song / song list has ever given a score to each song on some scale(basis) and this has led to many controversies.
I distinguish between best list and popularity lists which mean different . Best list and popularity lists could differ .
The best song / songs list depends on several factors .
(1) Could these factors be identified
(2) whether there can be a method to give a score to each of these factors
(3) whether a weightage can be given to each of these factors
(4) whether these can be worked out by using computers to compile the individual song scores and give a ranking.
I am not an expert to identify the basis to measure song quality exactly . Some day I hope some mechanism of evaluation of Hindi film songs may come out. May be the experts can comment on this .
Such a system of scoring could eliminate bias . There would be transparency . Public would learn to appreciate Hindi film songs more analytically.
Binaca geetmala was very popular and ranked the popularity of Hindi film songs based on some public feedback/survey.
I learnt that though C Ramchandra said that film ‘ Stree ‘ was his best film music , only one song of this film ‘ Stree ‘ figured in the year’s final Binaca geetmala popularity list at serial number 25 viz.
‘ O Nirdayee Pritam…’
MD C Ramchandra , lyricist Bharat Vyas .
https://youtu.be/r894X0PgfDQ
S Joseph ji,
One more V Shantharam movie with Bharat Vyas was LADKI SAHYADRI KI,1966.
Has a beautiful classical song by V Shantharam’s father in law, Pandit Jasraj.
Vasant Desai.
Vandana karo Archana karo
Is Dhara mahaan ki
Swarg ke samaan ki…
AK jee, Anupjee,
As very rightly stated by Anupjee in his blog, prominent music directors like S D Burman, Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, O P Naiyar did not work with Pandit Bharat Vyas.
This is painfully strange. Would it be right to construe that they found his talent and style incompatible to their own OR they kept away from him because he was typecast with mythological/B grade films. None of the two reasons I feel. These great music directors surely didn’t lack vision to recognize merit and associate with it.
It is a sad mystery I wish someone could unravel.
Shachindraji,
Thanks for going through my blog.
It’s strange that these MDs didn’t work with Vyas ji. I think, those days mythological films were not accepted by the stalwarts, or may be the producers of such films didn’t approach them due to budget problems. Those films were considered b grade and in the industry, if someone gets typecast for a certain genre, no one considers them for other genres. This has happened with actors, directors, and composers and of course lyricists.
Bharat ji’s lyrics for the mythological, religious films are also superb. Listen to Sati Savitri, Sant Dnyaneshwar, or even Stree. What great lyrics, fantastic thought process.
Bharat ji fortunately got in touch with V Shantaram, who always insisted for him. Expect for a few films, he chose him even for Hindi versions of the Marathi films, Pinjara and Chaani.
The composers would definitely have had vision for merit, but I don’t know, who exactly used to finalise the lyricist for a film? The producer or the composer or the star actors.
May be the producers didn’t dare to sign him for A grade socials. Bharat ji has worked for socials and if you see carefully, his lyrics for a social and a mythological or religious film can be differentiated by mere listening to the songs. He would use शुद्ध हिंदी in Both the films, still he was wise enough to avoid sansktitised words for socials.
If you have gone through all my posts, I’ve included a club song, a lavani, and a Mujra song penned by him. He was really great.
I would say, It was the composer’s misfortune that they didn’t get opportunity to work with Bharat vyas.
Anup
🙂
Canasya @46,
A song getting adapted into several languages and versions could be one measure of a song’s popularity. But this was not a universal practice, therefore, this would be of limited utility.
Lyricists claiming authorship of traditional songs have been quite common, such as Shakeel Badayuni for Mohe panghat pe Nandlal chhed gayo re, Raja Menhdi Ali Khan for Jhumka gira re etc. Changing a few words here and there perhaps gave them a fig leaf.
S Joseph,
We have earlier discussed the dilemma of popularity versus quality. We may take Binaca Geetmala, Farmaishi programmes on radio, record/tape sales as a measure of ‘popularity’. Even if theoretically we get all the data, some of these measures, such as Binaca or farmaishes were prone to gaming.
Measuring quality is absolutely impossible, music being such a matter of subjective taste and emotional appeal. I don’t think an Index has been ever attempted, and it must be due to these inherent problems.
Shachindraji @52,
Every major MD had his favourite lyricist(s) which formed a team: Shankar-Jaikishan with Shailendra-Hasrat Jaipuri; Naushad with Shakeel Badayuni; SD Burman with Sahir Ludhiyanavi/ Shailendra/ Majrooh Sultanpuri and so on. They didn’t need to look beyond their favourites who were part of song sittings, and willing to write to the tunes.
AK ji,
There existed certain big banners in ninteen-fifties:
RK Films
Kardar
SU Sunny
Vijay Bhatt
Guru Dutt
Navketan
AVM
Mahboob
Bimar Roy
Gemini etc
As noted by all, RK worked with Shailendra-Hasrat, Kardar Mehboob & Sunny with Shakeel, AVM with Rajendra Krishan. Except Vijay Bhatt, Bharat Vyas
was not the first favourite lyricist of above filmmakers. Therefore we cannot lament that Naushad, SJ or SDB ignored Bharat Vyas. Above mentioned filmmakers and MDs respected Bharat Vyas and other seniors like Pradeep, Indian etc. So the grievance of Mr Shachindra Prasad is not reasonable.
Thanks.
Sorry
For Pradeep, Indian
Read Pradeep, Indeevar.
The lyricist vs MD debate has always surfaced at many places. In this post Rangaji again started when he said,
“The three can be viewed as three vertices of a triangle with the Music Director as phylarch. The average viewer was primarily attracted by the rendering of the song by male/female singers and appreciation of lyrics by a handful came later on.”
Others have joined. I ask a simple thing, what is a song. Can any tune or instrumental music be called a song. The song is born with lyrics, then how can lyrics be less important. An MD is called superior because he gives music. He gives also background music. I have yet to meet a person who has gone to watch a film to listen to the background music. How many records, cassettes, CDs etc of the background music of the best of our HFM composers have been made or sold. MD became more important because music department has been very important in our films and he was the one who drove all force behind a song. Musicians, singers etc worked in this deptt under the direction of this person. Selection of lyricists by the MD started very late. Director was made responsible for the success or failure of the film and similarly MD was accountable for the music of the film. So one who gets blame also gets fame. Singers took money sang the song and went away and nobody attributed failure of music to them. Similar was the case with lyricists. So naturally the most important person in music department was MD. So his name was publicised. There is an argument that if a song becomes a hit on the same tune in different languages, it would mean that tune is more important than lyrics. So what is the meaning in the cases where a tune is hit in one language but is a flop in the other. Would you say that lyrics were bad then. Even in hindi songs there are instances when the same tune produced a hit song and was a flop when used for another song. Lyrics are the most important and without them you cannot even identify a song. It is as simple as we identify comments of AK or Arunji or Bhatiaji or Venkataramanji or Mumbaikar8, by their names. It is true that simple lyrics have been converted into great songs by great tunes and great singing. But it is also true that great lyrics were converted into ordinary songs by ordinary tunes or ordinary singing.
So, in my view all are equally important. We should welcome the fact that a beginning has been made to give credit to lyricists.
Fully agree with the above comments by Hans bhai. All are equally important.
Since movies are an audio-visual affair, how the song has been presented, how it got set up in the film story are important questions.
Let’s think about the song, “Ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko babul”(film Bandini-1963).It was brilliantly written by Shailendra, lovely music by SDB, superb singing and acting (Asha;Nutan). It was magnificently set up in the story narrative by Bimal Roy. Story by Jarasandha was top class. Result was that a very popular and everlasting song got created.
Thanks.
Bharat Vyas was a real pot. Many of us might have seen – in good old days – the image of moon in an uncovered gagari or matka in the angan and then looked up the real moon in the sky. Bharat Vyas developed this simple happening into a great song. I am referring to the song
मन की गगरिया में तू चमका, कमल खिला मेरी आस का
नज़र उठा के देखा तो निकला, तू चंदा आकाश का
तूने छल किया हाय छल किया , तूने छल किया हाय छल किया
मन मधुबन में तू मुस्काई, फूल खिला मेरी आस का
पलक खुली तो देखा ये मैंने सपना था मधुमास का
तूने छल किया हाय छल किया – २
गा उठा था दिल मेरा किसी के प्यार में
बह गए वो गीत आंसुओं की धार में
किसकी ये नज़र लगी मेरे सिंगार में
कांटे ही मिले हमें तो इस बहार में
इक भँवरे ने काली को बहका खेल रचाया रास का
भोर हुई उड़ गया बेदर्दी, धोखा था विश्वास का
तूने छल किया हाय छल किया -२
इक नज़र से तूने मन को जगमगा दिया
इक नज़र से प्यार का दिया बुझा दिया
इक लहर ने हमको किनारे लगा दिया
इक लहर ने आके भंवर में डुबा दिया
तेरे प्यार में हमने खेला खेल ये आस निरास का
ऐसी प्यास जगाई है तूने अंत नहीं इस प्यास का
तूने छल किया हाय छल किया – २
See the choice of words, in the gagaria he uses the word kamal which can grow in water but for the male singer he uses phool. Now enjoy this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FYEl9wuQH4
In fact I am posting a few songs from this film which will show that Bharat Vyas not just in shudh hindi and also on various situations. These songs also show the versatility of SN Tripathi.
Picnic men tik tik karti – Geeta Dutt, Manna Dey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QEror7_k0
Chhuri bagal men munh men raam – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOop1x3zcdU
Gham chhodo ye sare zamene ka – Mubarak Begum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilQjlo1qTHQ
Hans ji,
Kya Baat Hai!
What great songs. And I always have said all the three pillars of a song, MD singer and the lyricist are equally important.
Nice to see someone giving equal importance to all.
Anup
Arunkumarji
Profuse thanks for your comments on the post. Coming from a cognoscenti of your elk, I am all the more pleased my efforts have borne some fruit. As AK has rightly uttered, statistics differ and with poor records of such past events, difficult to locate correct facts. I generally look for live videos of songs. For vintage era songs, such videos are a luxury if available. It is mostly mp3. with a few stills super imposed. For two songs of first film Duhai, I was lucky to get mp3. versions. I was once banned for 9 months by you tube for so called copy right infringements and hence afraid to create a video, an easy affair for me. So instead I posted them in my account in Soundcloud and sent the links to blog master for inclusion at his discretion. He has done so. The irony was I could not locate soundcloud file for “maan gaye mein” I created and the omission was rectified by Venkataramanji (33) for which I am thankful to him. As regards my language I am nowhere near Shashi Tharoor for bombastic style and throw a few words here and there. What I write nowadays is a watered down version of what I was capable in yester years. Once again I thank you for the appreciation as penned. This will encourage me to write further of this genre despite my Madrasi Hindi and AK has mentioned this in his comment at 43. Looks like I have to stay a few years in Africa to learn Swahali and if opportunity presents through my son may even attempt it.
Bhatiaji
Nowadays you have gone very poetic and describe everything in a wonderful manner. Happy to note you are wealthy enough to afford a vintage car. Thanks for the appreciation of the post. I can expect many gems from you extolling the virtues of this great lyricist. Hope someone erects a statute of him as it was done in Chennai of the great vintage era comedian and social t(h)inker N S Krishnan.
Mumbaikar @25
Happy I could surprise you. Your comments on the post is very much appreciated. I have explained about my writing already. I believe in following the principle – le mot juste . That will explain everything. Arunkumarji was waxing eloquent when he drew a parallel with writings of Shashi Tharoor.
Vaishnavji @26
Thanks for your comments on the post. When I approached blogmaster offering to write about this lyrist with trepidation, he encouraged me all through. The song you mentioned is good to hear and in fast tempo.
Canasyaji @36
Thanks for your appreciation. A deep analysis of his works was a basic necessity to bring out his veracity and volume of work. Songs mentioned by you are really a treat, i.e. “thaane kajhulio”. They were popular during radio era.
Tyagiji @40
Thanks for appreciating a new front introduced in SOY – lyricists-. I am happy to be a pioneer in this.
Vasudevji @ 47
Thanks for your appreciation of the post.
Hansji @ 45 & 59
I am very much moved by your modesty in stating you cannot better my introductory article, a gross under statement. That is the way of the great. I struggled a lot in trawling through internet, only source of historical material, in compiling the list of movies for which he undertook to write lyrics. If the book you mention is in English, I would gladly acquire it to add to my collection. An ebook version would be preferable, but rare of Indian publications. As you can glean from the excel sheet added to the post, details were not available for many films. I am happy my results are more than 90% correct (173/185).
Thanks for reproducing my write up about inter relation ship among the trio of MD,Singer and Lyricist. I agree with you that lyricist is the bedrock on which the song is built and sung. When all the three fuse together, each no less than the other, a great song is created which will outlive time. By the way let me state I sent you an e mail. You must have got it as I did not get a non delivery notice back.
Thought provoking observations have been made by the learned members…
Various production houses had their own lyricists (even though these lyricists were junior to Bharat Vyas ).
Films for which Bharat Vyas wrote have been held to be grade B movies.
Bharat Vyas was also said to be type cast for certain category of films.
At the same time Bharat Vyas was acknowledged as a great lyricist and had good knowledge. A man of many talents.
Let us look at the ground/market realities or say – the environment .
Almost all the lyricists ,actors , producers , directors , MDs had a liking for Urdu . Add to this this the distributors community . The public also apparently preferred Urdu . Our neighbouring countries(which is a big market) also prefer Urdu.
So those responsible for deciding lyricists for their productions would certainly give top priority to their commercial interests.
I feel it is never easy to go against the market forces .
Hans ji @59 onwards;
I congratulate you for your fine comments and very intelligent observations . The comments , that followed by various fellow members are great inputs. When music is taken as input , your future gets calculated . Future events? …. well , higher order functional lives follows in fine progression….arithmetical for some and geometrical for most intelligent .
The songs posted by you are of variety …..with lyrics so perfectly placed that they give character to the music, that we want to remember songs for the rest of our lives by listening to them again and again . …Picnic mein Tik Tik …..surprised me a lot . Yodeling by Manna Dey !!! …. a fine progression by S N Tripathi for his western style tune !
Bharat Vyas songs evoked emotions the same as poetry you have cited ….Its an ambient hygiene for pure listening . One has to take corrective measure to upgrade such lyrics writers and music directors to A Grade category .
For Background Music ……. A person can improve or decline memory with passing time or age …Lyrics can surely help for mindset . For some people, reading a book or preparing for exams may be easier to accomplish in the presence of instrumental music. Similarly I enjoy watching movie clips which are fully loaded with fine background music.I am totally distracted if vocal music is playing in the background when working . I always prefer Instrumental …western and Indian both. When I’m driving I usually listen to music with a lot of lyrics . For relaxation at home I listen to classical piano. While in Kitchen….in older days …listening to songs over Radio …was a good habit for Ladies ….their active mode created fine food [ because of fine music?] . Yes good music and good food always make up together. Valued food brings cheers and added music makes the household merrier .
…..will come back with more songs.
Hans @ 45
You have explained, how you could not fulfill your promise.
नेकी और पूछ पूछ you can offer your services once again, I am sure AK will be more than happy to accept it.
tuu shaahii.n hai parvaaz hai kaam teraa
tire saamne aasmaa.n aur bhii hai.n
The post on Bharat Vyas a veteran lyric writer has been well written by Mr Rangan and it is well received by many and the comments are still coming which themselves are adding more understanding about Late Mr Bharat Vyas.
I would just feel that the photograph of Bharat Vyas looks a bit grumpy but at that age many are grumpy about so many things.
With this nice article a nice photograph of him would have been more suitable.
Mr Rangan has made a conclusive statement that is “Film music made a dramatic entry and, thus, was born the trio of music directors, singers and lyrists. The three can be viewed as three vertices of a triangle with the Music Director as phylarch. The average viewer was primarily attracted by the rendering of the song by male/female singers and appreciation of lyrics by a handful came later on.”
I would like to add to his triangle a few more “vertices” and make the song a multi-angled creation. The over all responsibility goes to the director who probably is more responsible of creating a situation for the song in the storyline, then comes the actors, and scene designers and eventually the editor of the film as well.
Just to give the example the songs in the film “Andaz” especially those acted out by Dilip Kumar, and also other songs well directed by Mehboob need mentioning when a song becomes icon.
Later on RK’s songs very much were his own creations and musicians and even lyricist just gave their skills to save RK;s time who otherwise was capable of writing lyrics and also composing them into songs along with the orchestra.
And the songs like those in the film of Baiju Bawara were more of Naushaad from the ideas, situations and also telling Bhatt Bros who to direct them.
So a filmy song is a multifaceted creation though presented often as one persons creation like Music director.
Sadly in this mêlée the lyricist often is forgotten.
Even though the work of Kidar Sharma at the New Theatres was vast and founding stone of success of the NT his labour is hardly remembered or saliently mentioned.
Shalan Lal
I was familiar with Pt.BharatVyas, the lyricist from his movies of 50’s and 60’s. But I was not aware of his other talents in composing, acting, singing, and directing etc. Rangan Ji’s post gives amazing details. Excellent research is his forte. Thank you Rangan ji.
I should also appreciate AK for bringing out a full fledged post on a lyricist, making a beginning. I hope more such articles will come in future covering other lyricists. That will complete the three sides of the triangle.
I am also enjoying the comments and lists of songs put forth by the experts.Pt.Vyas cannot be simply classified as a specialist of historical and mythological movies. He has covered all genres including some fun songs.
AKji @53, Anupji @54, Tyagiji @55.
Thanks for your rational analysis of the prevailing factors and the then circumstances due to which Pandit Bharat Vyas couldn’t or didn’t work with OPN, SJ, Naushad, SDB.
I bear no grudge against anyone. I do not impute any blame on anybody. Rather, my grievance is in ‘Hetu hetu madbhoot’, speaking in hindi. My lament is for those possibly great songs that were never created because these great MDs never teamed up with Bharat Vyas. It is remarkable that all of them actively worked for decades but never teamed up. Even providence or serendipity did not do their duty. So, please bear with my grievance against this void.
“Has a beautiful classical song by V Shantharam’s father in law, Pandit Jasraj.” (#51)
I think it is the other way round. i.e V Shantaram was Pandit Jasraj’s father in law.
Shyam
Shyam Chittavoori ji,
Absolutely. I goofed up in my haste.
Yes, Pandit Jasraj married V Shantharam’s daughter Madhura. Shaarang Dev and Durga Jasraj are their children.
Interestingly, Madhura and her sister Chathura have sung Bharat Vyas’s lyrics under ShivaRam Krishna in the movie PHOOL AUR KALIYAN,1960.
PHOOL AUR KALIYAN was also a Rajkamal production.
Tyagi bhai @60
I liked this bhai sambodhan. Thanks. Jignesh Kotadia once posted a long list of reasons which make a song popular or well known. You are almost saying the same thing and I agree. Sometimes the quality is not much appreciated and sometimes lesser quality songs become extremely popular. The golden era got its name because all wings combined to create the best for us. The lyricists contribution was great and the first deterioration was seen in this department. But, the reason for this were the MDs who started asking them to write to tune.
In my view there were two reasons for this demand. One was their will to show supremacy over everyone related to the song creation. Musicians were always under them, and the singers rehearsed with them and generally accepted them as guru, but the lyricists were of another mettle and they also came with recommendations of others. SDB’s example is there he had a long association with Sahir and later Majrooh wrote a number of songs for him, but he is on record that his best association was with Shailendra (who wrote very few songs for him as compared to the two named), who would do the job for him in one sitting with a bottle provided to him by SDB. This kind of subordination of lyricists was the dream of most MDs. Due to this demand lyricists started providing tukbandis instead of good poetry and when some of them became hits, there was this snowball effect which ultimately lead to fall in standards of lyrics. The second reason was their lethargy and the will to get inspiration from other tunes. Ready made tunes, were mostly the result of this inspiration. For original lyrics they would have to work more, while writing to tune put the ball in lyricist’s court.
Anup
Thanks. I have gone through all the articles on your blog and was unable to post comments due to some technical problems. Your selection of songs was really great and one of the songs I posted here was also in your list. I posted the songs to show his variety. Your post also shows your love for Bharat Vyas.
Ranganji
What I said was perfectly from within my heart and no modesty is involved. I never believe in fake praise, that is why with so much love and respect for AK I criticise him a lot. I liked your presentation and simply said the truth. I think your hard word is visible to all and not me alone.
S Joseph @68
I think this hindi-urdu thing has been blown out of proportions. The language used in dialogues and songs has been mostly simple. Spoken urdu is not different from spoken hindi. The problem comes when very complicated language is used without the need to use it. AK once mentioned some dialogues from KL Saigal’s Devdas which were in hard urdu. But those too were perhaps not hard for 1935 cinegoers. They are hard for us.
Bharat Vyas not associating with some MDs was just the matter of personal liking and mutual bonding. There was a film Chitralekha-1964 which had all songs in shudh hindi which were written by Sahir who was a real urdu poet. Roshan or the director of the film did not call for poets like Bharat Vyas for these hindi songs because they were comfortable with Sahir and he did the trick and admirably too. In fact Sahir and other urdu lyricists have written many shudh hindi songs. In the book I mentioned SN Tripathi related a story of the making of film Veer Durgadas. The director Ramchandra Thakur wanted to insert a virah song when Durgadas goes to war front. Bharat Vyas opposed this vehemently on the ground that a rajput women, who is shown as herself sending her near and dear ones to war by putting tilak on forehead, cannot be shown in this manner. He said that if the director insisted on this he can seek another lyricist. In the end Bharat Vyas’s view persisted. Many MDs did not like this approach of Bharat Vyas. Bharat Vyas never the poorer for that because more than 1200 songs is no mean achievement. Very few lyricists have come near this figure.
It is this thinking which brought out a unique song in Jai Chittod, ‘o pawan veg se udne wale ghode’. You will notice that Bharat Vyas uses words like toofan and imtihan in the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKoVPX8ICQs
Bhatiaji
You are write about instrumental music. Everybody listens to this from time to time including me. But I was saying that to constitute a song lyrics is a must and instrumental music cannot be called a song.
Mumbaikar8
Thanks for the encouraging words and the beautiful sher. You may soon be surprised a second time.
Hans ji,
JAI CHITHOD also has a very brief Manna Dey song on the death of Chethak, पवन वेग में उड़नेवाला घोड़ा।
Dhanya Dhanya hey Swamibhakth Chethak tera balidan…
कविराजा कविता के मत अब कान मरोडो
धंधे की कुछ बात करो कुछ पैसे जोड़ो
ये शेर शायरी कविराजा न काम आएगी
कविता की पोथी को दीमक खा जाएगी
भाव चढ़ रहे नाज हो रहा महंगा दिन दिन
भूख मरोगे रात कटेगी तारे गिन गिन
इसीलिए कहता हूँ भैया ये सब छोडो
धंधे की कुछ बात करो कुछ पैसे जोड़ो
अरे छोडो कलम चलाओ मत कविता की चाकी
घर की रोकड़ देखो कितने पैसे बाकी
कितना घर में घी है कितना गरम मसाला
कितने पापड़ बड़ी मंगोड़ी मिर्च मसाला
कितना तेल नोन मिर्ची हल्दी और धनिया
कविराजा चुपके से तुम बन जाओ बनिया
पैसे पर रच काव्य भूख पर गीत बनाओ
गेहूं पर हो ग़ज़ल धान के गीत सुनाओ
नोन मिर्च पर चोपाई चावल पर दोहे
सुकल कोयले पर कविता लिखो तो सोहे
कम भाड़े की खोली पर लिखो क़व्वाली
धन धन करती कहो रुबाई पैसे वाली
शब्दों का जंजाल बड़ा लफड़ा होता है
कवि सम्मेलन दोस्त बड़ा झगड़ा होता है
मुशायरों के शेरों पर रगड़ा होता है
पैसे वाला शेर बड़ा तगड़ा होता है
इसी लिए कहता हूँ मत इस से सर फोड़ो
धंधे की कुछ बात करो कुछ पैसे जोड़ो
Above are lyrics of a song which was sung with energy by Bharat Vyas himself in the film Navrang. This poem was written with different wording earlier by Bharat Vyas and adapted for the film. Here is the link to the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MexDIip2uao
The year of 1959 was the year of Navrang, Kavi Kalidas, Rani Rupmati and also Goonj Uthi Shehnai. But there was also Fashionable Wife in that year. Bharat Vyas wrote lyrics for the film. Here are a couple of songs.
Pashchim se aajadi aayi fashion ki shahzadi layi – Jaymala
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4PFkTkDEyI
Badak rahi zameen, badal raha hai aasman – Geeta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbb1tzZJ98
Sadak pyar ki dadak – Geeta and Sudha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yZKwOCVIPE
All these songs show his variety.
Dr Shetty
Yes. Jai Chittod had many couplet and four liners in the voice of Manna Dey spread over in the film. Manna Dey’s singing was a must in such films like Bharat Vyas lyrics.
Some songs from film Maa – 1952, MD – SK Pal, with variety of lyrics on varied situations.
1. Jiyo jiyo mere laal – Manna Dey, Kishore, Arun Kumar – football team celebrating their win. If anybody thought ‘tum bin jaun kahan’ was first KK song on Bharat Bhushan, he would be shocked and perhaps the first song picturised on Mehmood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTwMFWBX0g
2. Duniya badi charso bees hai – Asha, Afzal hussain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SwRAAVofk4
3. Har din tu rota hai badal – Geeta. Just as in Sampoorna Ramayan song ‘badlo basro nayan ki kor se’, the heroine is addressing badal. Note the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqXjyHO1fZ4
4. Wo ankhen kya ankhen – Manna Dey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Gg9fX3LWw
Hans ji,
It is a treat and great pleasure to read your scholarly and studied comments. There is so much to learn from these comments. Most are highly logical and convincing, with a back up of facts and events to defend the comment.
Thanks.
-AD
Thanks to Hans bhai and all the readers who are enriching knowledge through erudite comments.
I happened to be a cricketer who played for school/college and during service in Min of Defence had a very long stint as a player for Army HQ and for Delhi Colts club in DDCA league. That is why the ‘sambodhan’ Hans bhai.
Regards
Hans Ji @84;
Pashchim se aajadi aayi fashion ki shahzadi layi…..from ….Fashionable Wife ….reminds me of an old hollywood song….He is a jolly good fellow [ hip hip hurray ! ] and one more hindi song from Dhool Ka Phool ….Apni khatir jeena hai apni khatir marna hai…by Mohinder Kapoor . No approximations , tunes finds similarities .
Now a days there are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Colas and those who scratch their heads underneath their wigs searching for right lyrics …..which goes tangent over our own heads !! Very rarely we find songs which are well crafted and pleasure to listen.
Navrang song and the likes of many more such songs shows the witty and funny side of Bharat Vyas ……. deserve a Songwriters Hall of Fame Award for both…….. well crafted serious and funny songs on both sides of the coin. One more of Bharat Vyas comic song….none other than Kishore Kumar …..
Khali Pili Kahe Ko Akkha Din Baithe -Tamasha [1952] Kishore Kumar – Music:Khemchad Prakash, Manna Dey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuZ_ks7ZRLY
Other songs posted by your goodself are enjoyable too.
Hans ji , Venkatraman ji;
For continuity …some more songs to show how versatile was Bharat Vyas in Vintage and high fashion songs too.
nahi bolu,ghoonghat nahin kholoon..Rajkumari_BharatVyas_S K Pal_Tamasha..1952
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScEeW8q6BXY
CHANDNI JHILMIL KARE- LATA- SUDHA MALHOTRA- FILM-CHANDRAMUKHI(1960)….SNT….[ famous radio days song]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSxWni030hM
Tera Man Mera Man Mukesh Lata Mangeshkar Chandramukhi (1960) SN Tripathi / Bharat Vyas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUN5TkSNz1U
PYAARA PYAARA YE SAMAAN HAI – LATA- BHARAT VYAS- SN TRIPATHI ( LAAL QUILA 1961 )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZhZLiCmXs4
DHEERAJ DHAR MANWA DHEERAJ DHAR- HEMANT KUMAR-FILM- BALYOGI UPAMANYU(1958)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FeqeDZcN3Q
…..to be contd.
Ms. Shalan Lal @71;
Unity is strength….lyrics and tunes goes hand in hand ….wonderful things are achieved when there is right collaboration . Starting day one , Mehboob Khan / Naushad / Shakeel combo and RK / Shankar Jaikishan / Hasrat Shailendra combo were well known teams that produced wonderful results . Of course their productions valued most with best of the inputs from other technical departments also. Songs of Barsaat were there as …. walks of life in rain….one can not fly in rain but at least one can walk or dance. Songs themes those days were really a story tellers , often using symbolism .
Bharat Vyas was one of the Lyricist who produced best of his songs with S N Tripathi , Chitragupt, C Ramchandra, Sardar Malik , Vasant Desai ….and many more . No matter what grade of MD or Movie he was working with , his songs were really of the top order. As Hans ji also pointed out he was really a genius of a person for every MD to work with.
Bharat Vyas wrote a number of songs featuring….Badal , Neer , Ghata , Barsaat ….but the one song where all contributed in filming it in excellent way is the one which shows the talent , creativity , skill and innovation of all in one of a song is….
न न न बरसो बादल
न न न बरसो बादल
आज बरसे नैं से जल
आज मन का मोर घायल
न न न बरसो बादल
आज बरखा है दीवानी
नयन जल खोये
बादलो के ही बहाने हिरनी रोये
बुंदलियो की चहुं छनन
बुंदलियो की चहुं छनन
बाजे रे बज़े रे पायल
न न न बरसो बादल
न न न न बरसो बादल
आज बरसे नैं से जल
आज मन का मोर घायल
न न न बरसो बादल
श्याम बिन शयमल घट
मन को नहीं भये
पिया बिन बिजली जिया में
अगन सुलगाये
निल नैनों के गगन से
निल नैनों के गगन से
झरे रे काजल झरे रे काजल
न न न बरसो बादल
न न न न बरसो बादल
आज बरसे नैं से जल
आज मन का मोर घायल
न न न बरसो बादल.
NA NA NA BARSO BAADAL -LATA -BHARAT VYAS -VASANT DESAI (samrat prithviraj chauhan )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v4Vasmsd58
D P Rangan ji;
Continuing with my exploration of the radio days when melodies ruled and lyrics made meanings.
Starting with my school days favorite …usually sung in school assemblies.
Bade Pyar Se Milna Sabse ….Rafi …..Sati Anasuya [1956]….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nq4Gx5Rh6I
Geeta, Rafi, Usha – Sukhi nahin woh..bhaiya kaam karo – Baalyogi Upamanyu (1958
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=295ID8YhnaY
Dohe from the film Saaranga : Geeta Dutt, Hemant Kumar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faOKOtjnF8E
….to be contd.
ksbhatia @ 91
I agree with you. Certain MDs go long way to get the lyricists to work with.
However there is more to a filmy song than a lyricist. The songs often get publicity before the films are released.
One such song I remember is the “Hasta Hua Nurani Chehara”. When we saw the film we were very disappointed with the film.
But that kind of song and the composers got similar publicity as when the songs of Barasaat became popular.
Just to say I like your Radio Songs Days Exploration. Simply wonderful.
This is a subject on its own worth making into a post.
Shalan Lal
Arunji
I feel so proud for the high praise coming from a person like you who is seen as a leading light by so many on SOY and beyond.
Ranganji summarised the period from 1971 onwards in one and a half line. Perhaps his fingers were aching. There was a film Pinjra which came in 1973. This film may not have succeeded at the box office, but songs and music wise it was a class by itself. The lyrics of some songs might whisper in the ears of listeners that the singer might be Asha Bhosle. But, Lata after songs like ‘chadhti jawani meri chal mastani’ and ‘bahon men chale aao’ was in a different mood. So here is the different Lata in Pinjra and different Bharat Vyas too.
1. Kauno zulmi ne mohe yaad kiya mohe aawe hichki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmldZT6sAPs
2. Main patne ki hoon naar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huWTqnnd3Ws
3. Nazariyon ne le li hazaron ki jaan jo kajra laga leti to kya hota
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm5Fq57Nr0I
But it was not Lata only see Manna Dey in ‘Pinjra so pinjra’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuZI3XJTBo4
or Mahendra Kapoor in ‘Nakhredar chali’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcgGxeXpDl8
Tyagi bhai
It was great you got into the Army HQ side. There is a lot of politics and I have had very bad experiences. Look at the national scene how politics and money are at play. Supreme Court wants to control cricket in the name of correction, but it does not care for other sports which are in real bad shape because there is no money in them. Cricket is actually better organised than most sports and there are no govt grants involved like other sports, even then SC comes in and nobody can challenge it. Even in world cup a lot of politics is going on though the country’s pride is at stake. Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav are not given bowling in the hope that as soon as they fail in batting, they will bring in their favourites. In such a situation when they know a sword is hanging how they could have preformed. There is a clamour for Pant’s talent, who cannot keep wickets, who cannot run in the outfield and who cannot defend 5 balls.
Bhatiaji
Your memory is amazing. This Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan song did not occur to me when I posted that Maa song. This is a big favourite of mine and it is songs like these which have made me a fan of Bharat Vyas. You are right that he wrote many songs with nature at its centre. Chand was his favourite topic. I counted more than 70 songs with chand or chandani in the mukhda and there are a number of others with chand coming in the antara.
Now on this song. What a poetry. बादल से पानी बरसता है और मोर नाच उठता है. नयन से जल बरस रहा है और मोर रूपी मन घायल है इसलिए वो नाच नहीं सकता इसलिए बादल तू मत बरस. क्या बात है.
ksbhatia ji,Hans ji,
Look at the magic in कुहू कुहू बोले कोयलिया
काहे काहे घटा में बिजली चमके?
हो सकता है मेघराज ने भादरिया का श्याम श्याम मुख चूम लिया हो।
Dr Shetty
The lyrics you pointed out were perfect combination of science and imagination in the matter of lightning. This was one of the many songs where he uses nature plentifully. I dont know where the lyrics stood in relation with the tune in Tamil and Telugu versions, because I dont understand the language, but as soon as a master like Bharat Vyas enters, the interest shifts to lyrics in this song. The only
jarring thing is that the instrumental music is very loud even where the singer is singing, thus suppressing the lyrics.
Suvarna Sundari was not about only ‘kuhu kuhu’ it also had other totally different songs. One was similar to ‘chhuri bagal men munh men raam’ I posted at 61. This song was a big hit. In this song he uses some common sayings and other prevalent street wit to cobble up a fine song. Here is the link.
Ram nam japna paraya maal apna – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vUuiv-K5KI
Another reason I like his songs is that he was very closely connected to rural life and drew from common situations attending rural people in daily life. And he was from Rajasthan which is just 60 kms away from where I lived. Now look at this song ‘mujhe na bula’ from the same film Suvarna Sundari. In the antara he writes ‘jaag rahi hain saas nanadiya, run jhun bole bhed khole re payaliya’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ2mEZSegTE
I am flabbergasted how these females did not do away with these payals, chudis, bichhuas etc. even in such emergency situations. The lyrics which come to mind are from Pankaj Mallick classic ‘piya milan ko jana, jag ki laaj man ki mauj dono ko nibhana’. There in one antara which says ‘payal ko band ke ……dheere dheere dabe dabe panv ko badhana’.
Hans,
You are a keen observer of lyrics. Mr Rangan has shown the way. Now I am sure you must be itching to write on lyricists.
A Lavani by Bharat Vyas in SANT GYANESHWAR,1964.
Lata,LP.
Darpan dekhoon
Roop niharoon
Mera tan man jhoome…
Hans Ji, Tyagi ji, Shetty ji, Ms. Shalan Lal ji …
I think I owe charms of memory retention to Radio Days…….when every house was a radio station as you walk down the streets or lanes while going to or coming back from school. Each house was at different frequency and radio playing at throat-ed volumes. Thanks to the people who made me listened to radios over the years…..and taught me the technology to look out for ….how the radio works. Later learned about the beautiful designed radio sets….fascinated by the old vintage big sets with big round knobs , the designs which we generally come across watching old world war movies. For us our 1955 mini Phillips model was good enough to tune radio Ceylon and listened to melodies as times moves on.
Radio have given me a warmth and loyalty that I’ve never been able to repay. The way music and songs have reached out to me has certainly been the highlight of my life. TV , no doubt , gives everyone an image, but radio gives birth to thousands of images in scores of brains.
On TV the people can see it. On radio one got to create it.There is a feeling, when you listen to radio, it’s like person to person communication. Presenter as if talking to you only , and you really feel presence of one person who is having same thoughts to share with you.
No doubt Television contracts the imagination and radio expands it beyond imagination. My heart is overjoyed immensely whenever I listen to signature tunes of various radio programmes of those years.
Presently I am overjoyed with two NFS songs of Bharat Vyas whose lyrics and composition have nestled in my heart for a permanent living . Each word , each line and each stanza is written in golden thread on pashmina silky well woven shawl …..a rare silky touch! Indeed Bharat Vyas excelled in songs with nature at its best as a themed intent.
Haule Haule Hawayen Dole..Geeta Dutt (NFS1954) – Bharat Vyas- Nikhil Ghosh.. a tribute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnuwm38J6DQ
Ambuwaa Ki Daari Boley Kaari Koeliyaa – Asha Bhosle, Bharat Vyas, Nikhil Ghosh – Non Film Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRiEUhwmyH8
Like to have more of such NFS of Bharat Vyas from fellow friends.
Hans ji @95;
Some where around 70s I watched the movie Pinjra on two counts ….one that it was Shantaram’s movie which has to be at a higher level of simplicity of presentation thru art …and secondly its story was based on world famous 1936 classic German movie…The Blue Angel . As you pointed out it was a pleasure watching Pinjra that was fully loaded with fine performances and very good music… creating a perfect naughtenky charm. All the songs perfectly fit the screenplay and narration. There was one more song by Lata ji which I am unable to trace on YT . That song was a sad one…of the likes of Saranga song….chali re chali re mein to desh paraye . kindly post that if traced.
In continuation a few more of songs by Bharat Vyas….
VASANT HAI AAYA RANGEELA-ASHA -MAHENDRA (STREE1961)-BHARAT VYAS -C RAMCHANDRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp_BPGKGwRc
RAIN BHAYII SO JA RE PANCHHI – LATA -BHARAT VYAS – VASANT DESAI (RAM RAJYA-1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrepZg6lcZI&t=344s
Dharti Kyon Viparit Hue – Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar, Sampoorna Ramayan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hsN-kk3B8g
Raat Basanti Main Raswanti – Bhakt Prahlad (1965) Asha Bhosle, Bharat Vyas, BN Bali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWUlSuux8cI
…..to be contd.
ksbhatia ji,
Bharat Vyas NFS:
Talat Mahmood,V Balsara.
Humne kisiki aankh mein ye jahan dekha hai…
https:// youtu.be/ 9FPCKZz_sJc
Asha Bhonsle,Nimai Ghosh?
Jamuna ke teer Kanha aao..
https:// youtu.be/ kQjdrq9kcHM
AK
I think most of song lovers here love good lyrics. Bhatiaji and Dr. Shetty immediately connecting to similar lyrics points to that. I have a special place for those songs which have good meaningful lyrics. But I also like different type of lyrics which may not look special to others. Here I am discussing lyrics more because in a post on lyricist his special attributes are brought out through them.
Yes I am working on Ravi-Shakeel now and may soon send the post to you. I have also a fascination for Rajendra Krishan, but his work is vast. But I would like to take up him. I know you are fond of lyrics, but you have a lot of work on hand as blog master and otherwise too you are more busy than me. So I would like to continue this series on lyrics taken up gamely by Ranganji.
Here is a song written by Bharat Vyas on Bikaner. It also mentions many more places. This song does not only show his love for Rajasthan but shows his varied interests. ‘Hum rahne wala hai bikaner ka’ by Shamshad in film Lalkar (1956), MD – Sanmukh Babu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gvJhJLfZpM
Dr Shetty
When Sant Gyaneshwar is named ‘jyot se jyot jagate chalo’ automatically comes to mind, but this film has a lot to offer so far as music is concerned. LP in their second year produced a lot of variety of quality music in Sant Gyaneshwar, Sati Savitri (both with Bharat Vyas lyrics), Dosti, Mr X in Bombay and Aaya Toofan. Lata and Rafi, both provided a lot of support to them initially, which they repaid by always keeping them as their principal singers.
Sant Gyaneshwar besides this nice lavani had a children song ‘ek do teen char, bhaiyya bano hoshiyar’ in which Bharat Vyas brings in simple lyrics befitting a child. Then there is the famous Lata solo ‘khabar mori na leeni re, bahut din beete’. I specially like these deep meaning lines in this song:
सपने में तो दरस दिखा दे कुछ धीरज बंध जाये
सपना भी तो किस बिधि आये जब निंदिया नहीं आये
मोरे श्याम तेरी याद याद में जुग हारी पल जीते
Of particular note are the words जुग हारी पल जीते which have very deep and multiple meaning. The links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTe_Ti0_VyA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-XeM-FW-KM
Here is also a link to the lavani you mentioned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKmhDQCVplE
Bhatiaji
What a true explanation of radio and radio experiences. In those days radio ruled and perhaps music wise that was better. During college days I used to go, on foot, in the evenings for cricket practice after having lunch. I remember once the Rafi song ‘ye duniya ye mehfil mere kaam ki nahin’ started a little after I left home. The voice came from a pan shop and as I proceeded through the local market, voice threads from various sources kept connecting with each other. And the song, being a long one was about to end when I entered into a ‘ber fruit’ garden – which was a short-cut to college. I stopped there till the song ended and then went my way. You have posted good NFS and other songs. The Lata solo from Ram Rajya is my great favourite. Could anyone have written better lyrics for the situation in the film. Ram had ordered Laxman to take Seeta to the forest and leave her there in the morning and the daasi (Sneh Lata) had overheard this but Seeta did not know. The daasi sings the song when Seeta makes a request. What perfect lyrics.
Now it is time for some stats. There are 189 films listed in Sanjiv Tanwar’s book on Bharat Vyas filmography. One of them was twice released as Ram Bhakti in 1958 and Bhakta Raj in 1960 and it had the same 8 songs. These songs I have used only once. So I find 1200 songs for 188 films. Out of these details of singers are available for 1078 songs. Solos account for 771 (505 female and 266 male) and there are 307 duets out of which 232 are male-female, 45 female-female, 7 male-male and 23 duets with more than 2 singers. Decade wise details are.
1940s – films 23 – songs 94 – solos 59 (54/5) – duets 35 (30-4-0-1)
1950s – films 93 – songs 571 – solos 404 (275/129) – duets 167 (124-23-5-15)
1960s – films 35 – songs 217 – solos 159 ( 91/ 68) – duets 58 (42-11-0-5)
1971 onwards – films 37 – songs 196 – solos 149 (85/64) – duets 47 (36-7-2-2)
It will be seen that male-female solo distribution was as per the prevailing trends of more female solos in early periods and increase in male solos in the 60s onwards despite Bharat Vyas writing mostly for bhakti type films where there is abundance of female songs. One of the reasons may be that most of the background songs went to males – mostly Manna Dey and Rafi.
Singer wise details are Geeta Dutt 96 songs (67 solos/29 duets), Shamshad 56(24/32), Asha 200(138/62), Lata 198(122/76), Suman 61(43/18), Usha M 41(30/11) and Sudha 20(8/12). Rafi 143(68/75), Manna Dey 146(90/56), Mahendra Kapoor 73(48/25), Mukesh 31(16/15), Hemant 14(7/7), Talat 10(3/7) and Kishore 9(4/5). Other female singers got 195 songs (72 solos and 123 duets) and other male singers got 108 songs (29 songs and 79 duets).
In the early period Shamshad and Geeta Dutt had majority of songs, Geeta getting more because of her reputation of singing bhakti songs post Jogan. She also had some songs in the 60s. Usha Mangeshkar’s tally increased steeply after her Santoshi Maa avtar. In males the surprise was Hemant whose voice was so suited to bhakti songs. Perhaps the reason was that there were a number of bhakti type films in the 1950s when he was very busy as composer. Most of the male songs were cornered by Rafi and Manna Dey. Manna Dey had more solos on the strength of his solos and couplets of background songs principally in historical films. Rafi had more duets because in social films he got more songs than Manna Dey.
Dr Pradeep Kumar Shetty @104;
Beautiful songs of Bharat Vyas and V Balsara compositions . This always happens when like minded MDs and Lyricists work together . The Talat’s song was earlier discussed and was posted by Venkatraman ji as well. At that moment we were all focussed on V Balsara’s amazing contribution to a certain rich class of music . Now knowing that Bharat Vyas wrote and had association in NFS has added to the further charm of easy listening ….bringing back the radio charm !! I really salute your immediate response to such findings ….your surgical [ sir ji kal ] findings !!
Hans ji @105 onwards , Ashok Kumar Tyagi ;
Hans ji . Another passionate cricketer Tyagi ji has joined the team and it will be a great fun having his share of experiences . You were introduced by my elder brother , Inderjit , and Tyagi ji were introduced by my younger brother Kulwant . Needless to say …cricket and music lives hand in hand….no gloves during our childhood days .
It was a great pleasure meeting Tyagi ji in our last meet about three months back …..and we missed you as you were in shifting mode to your native place.
Yes , listening while walking those days had more than Dolby sound effects . Once I started from my home to school with a start up of a song …..chand chhupa aur taare doobe…..ended up at my school gate and song was still refusing to end . That reminds me of another long playing song by Bharat Vyas….Nirmal se laadiye bhalwan ki….from Toofan Aur Diya. This again was our school days song . Another one….Meri aan bhagwan….was equally good .
I am going thru your wonderful stats . I know some funny songs of Kishore kumar written by Bharat Vyas but is there one like bhajan too ?
Ms. Shalan Lal @71
Madame I very much appreciate your assessment of the post. Despite my language limitations, I managed to put my ideas together. Cinema making is a multi pronged affair involving coordination and fusion of ideas to be executed by the ancillary staff under the overall supervision of Film Director who is the real phylarc. To put your ideas into effect I will have to introduce a polygon of irregular sides as a triangle can have only three vertices. I did not come across photos of the lyrist in his youth and the ones I have are worse than what AKji has posted. A man at that age cannot help his appearance. I always admire your way of delivering comments on posts. Once again I thank you for the comments.
Giriji & Hansji
Thanks for appreciation of the post. Thanks to Hansji, your wishful thinking will bloom into a reality soon if I have read his posts properly. Hansji, the sources on which I laid hands on, did not have much details of 1970s career graph of the lyricist. With the data available with you, I request you to complete the two excel worksheets. I can send them to you by email.
The duet orchestrated by Dr. Shetty and Hansji in the comments section is very illustrative, absorbing and several wonderful songs were unraveled as a corollary. I do have more than 200 songs of the lyrist over his span of 40 years, but limitations force me to leave out many. A plethora of posts on various aspects of his erudition in song writing to cover all situations is a necessity.
Hansji
Even an ignoramus like me can appreciate the magic of his lyrics. Here is a song, a duet from Navrang with the main word “AADHI”. See the innumerable context it is woven in the song.
https://youtu.be/aasw1WDNhgY?t=183
D P Rangan ji;
From Radio to Radiogram and now to Radio Alarm Clock days…..A wake up call simultaneously by ….one ……early morning sun rays peeping thru window curtains ….and ….second by the song over the radio alarm clock . Which one wins depends upon the pace and quality of the song and sharp entry of rays on your pupil.
These are the determination factors for your leisurely wake up over the nice early morning classical tune or conversely not finding so ….reaching out to snooze button for another short nap to be followed by sudden reminder of being late to work. Then half shower , half breakfast but full energy to catch bus or local train .
Songs in the past were of the like this pace ….some time like going back to sleep on bumpy bus rides……. to make up for the sleep lost in transition …..some time eager to find some beautiful shoulders for pillow rest and suddenly woken back with warning signs ……bringing back the eyes from wide shut to wide open mode.
Some songs never saw the daylights. Reason being the project getting shelved for finance or other disputed reasons . A movie…Do Dost ….of 1960 was victim of such reasons . As we listen to its songs now we can guess it to be a comedy film. The Lyrics were by Bharat Vyas and Music by S.Mohinder ….both hailing from classical class of music but here act differently . Some songs fro the movie which was never released shows the other side of their coins……and reminds us of the style of OPN and SDB prevailing during those times.
Ye Shehar Hai Bambai Bam Bam Bai – Do Dost (UR)(1950s) Rafi, S Mohinder, Bharat Vyas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wllltdaoESA&t=19s
OYE OYE BACHKE REHNA – ASHA BHOSALE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imt5vmWvhIM
Do Dost (1960) – magan mast ghar ghar me aaj – Rafi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sYblT7vJ5Q&t=103s
Ye Sone Ki Duniya-Do Dost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaLArLBgUsE
Hans ji;
Never thought of Bharat Vyas associating with punjabi oriented MD Hansraj Behl. But amazingly they team up together in 1951 movie ….Nakhre. With Hansraj when can expect songs based on folk tunes too. Listen and enjoy…
JO MEIN AISA JAANTI, GEETA DUTT , FILM-NAKHRE(1951)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuWozx-m4pg
Nakhre~1951~Yaad Tumhari Kyun Aaye Balma~Lata Mangeshkar~Hansraj Behl~Bharat Vyas [ again with beautiful reference to koyaliya and baansooriya ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJT9spcmSM
a song that reminds me of Pom Pom Pom song of OPN and Vinod’s famous Dholak’s song beats too…
Nakhre 1951 Chal Meri Challo Chamaake Cham Cham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylj1cBaAYn4
Bhatiaji @110
By missing that meeting I was the loser, I could have met Tyagi bhai who has not only accomplished more than us as a cricketer, but he is also a true scholar as is evident from his comments posted from time to time.
Your mention of no gloves brought to memory the number of blue marks and minor cuts we suffered when facing cork balls on uneven surfaces in streets without gloves or pads. I also remembered two funny instances when I was the cause of inflicting injuries to padless and gloveless persons. One of my cousins was a hockey full back of our college team. Hockey and cricket grounds were side by side so we practised almost at the same time. One day his team members had not yet arrived so he was having a chit-chat with us. He was mocking at the lethargic speed of our game. I tried to persuade him by saying all games are good. But he said any newcomer can play cricket. At this I challenged him to play which he accepted. I asked him to wear gloves and pads, but he said he does not need them as he plays as full back daily without them. On such occasions my team mates always asked me to bowl because I could vary my pace and also bowl accurately. I bowled an incutter which suddenly came to him on the matting wicket. He had thrown the bat towards the ball with full force like in hockey. The ball hit his thumb which was immediately swollen and also had a cut. He could not practice hockey for a month due to that. He lost his thumb nail later and the fresh nail was deformed. Even now when he meets he jocularly shows me the thumb and blames me for that.
The other incident was with a physics professor whose surname was also Bhatia by coincidence, but he was mona and not a sikh. The professors quarters were near the stadium, so he one day came to see us practice. As 3-4 of our team were from science stream, they asked him to bat and he started. He would call for dollies and would continue for more than an hour at a stretch. So everyone got fed up because he was spoiling precious time. So they asked me again, I said why me always at which they said ‘yaar jor se to nahin maar sakte aur tumhi nishane par maar sakte ho, kahin galat jagah lag gayi to theek nahi’. The professor also batted without pads or gloves. I bowled a faster off break just at the right place and it hit him smack on the knee cap. After that he never came to play. After that I always avoided coming before him and it was easier because I was in commerce which was in a different wing. After about two years we were standing near canteen and he came. Team members asked him sir come to the stadium some day. He said ‘yaar tum to maar dete ho’. They said sir vaise hi lag gayi thi, but he insisted you hit me intentionally because I was taking too much of your time. I was hiding behind others. He pointed finger towards me and said ‘isne mara tha’, then he called me and hugged me.
Now coming to the music and your query about KK. KK had only nine songs written by Bharat Vyas and there was no bhajan. Here is a good KK song from Dal Men Kala composed by CR and written by Bharat Vyas. ‘Chand chupchap hai sitare gumsum’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OZfqjNC-kA
Now on your comment at 116. There should be no surprise in their teaming up. I think after so many years in Delhi, you have forgotten about Panjab. 🙂 Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan is called mini Panjab. Bharat Vyas was from Churu and his nanihal was Bikaner where he lived a lot because he had lost his parents very early. Both Bikaner and Churu were adjoining districts of Sriganganagar until a new distt Hanumangarh was carved out of Sriganganagar. Bikaner still has common boundary with Sriganganagar. Bharat Vyas was very closely connected with Panjab and Haryana culture. He wrote a folk based song for Anil Biswas in Badi Bahu (1951). This song had a panjabi folk tune for its base. This was Surinder Kaur’s only song for Biswas. Perhaps he did not like her or he already had two singers to cope with Lata and Meena Kapoor. In my view this song was suggested by Biswas’s wife who was producer of the film.
This song has very interesting lyrics on the wedding situation when friends are teasing the bride about her sasural.
Duniya se nyari gori teri sasural hai
ghar men na aata hai na ghee hai na daal hai
One antara says
gudiya teri saas rangilee powder roj lagaye
sasura tera chhori samajh ke iske paanv dabaye
dekho kaisa ye kamaal hai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PquZTbybPJQ
The Geeta Dutta song you posted ‘koi dil na kisi se lagaye’ is my favourite. This is a sad song but tuned on a traditional aarti tune. Everybody knows about the ‘ae malik tere bande hum’. This song became a prayer song in many schools in our school days. Similarly there was an aarati in Navratri ‘ambe tu hai jagdambe kali’ sung by Rafi and Asha which became a popular aarati in temples and bhakti gatherings. Geeta Dutt’s song and this Navratri song has the same tune. Here is the link to the Navratri aarati.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0b8PrT8RBo
#104
Song ” Jamuna ke Teer Kanha Aao….” was sung by Geeta Roy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVeMGZbz9So&list=RDBVeMGZbz9So&index=1
APNI IZZAT, 1952.
S Balbir, Shamshad Begum; Hansraj Bahl.
Kem che?
Tu mera Sahab
Main teri Mem.
Sahab gaya England ko
Mem gayi Japan
Pati Patni ki baat karo ji
Ye hai Hindustan.
Kya Bharat Vyas ji ka beta vapis ghar lout aaya thaa ?
I have a question which Shri Ramesh Kumar Taneja has asked above – “Did his son ever come back?” Read somewhere that after he wrote ‘Aa laut ke aanaa mere meet’, his son came back.
I don’t think we have such personal information. You have to make your own judgement about thinks you read on the Internet.
good soles——–
Seshu,
Welcome to SOY.
Ranjan ji and Ors .
Sir, you have missed one very important phase of Shri Bharat vyasji early life period . That phase is the time he stayed in Kolkata. It was during this period that Vyasji started penning lyrics . The first and foremost person to give him break that too during his most dire financial time was Late Shri Murlidhar Garodia who had started Mohan Record Company in Kolkata which eventually closed soon .He penned many songs for the company which were recorded and bought out on Gramaphone records in name of Mohan Recording Company .Vyasji was humble to remember Shri Murlidharji and remained indebted to him for his generosity and helping him in his dire time till his last days . Shri Murlidhar Garodia was from Sujangarh town in Bikaner district.
Shri Murlidhar Garodia was my cousin grandfather . Vyasji had twice visited our home in Mumbai suburb . A truly humble soul .
Mr Nayan Garodia,
Welcome to SOY and thanks a lot for the new information about Bharat Vyas’s connection with Calcutta and your own family link with him. We are grateful to you for dropping in.
Garodiaji @125
Your comments was a pleasant surprise. I did not have access to books on the lyricist and further impediment of they being in Hindi may be a reason for omitting some details. My work is based on the material I came across. You have given a vital information on his pioneer days in Calcutta for which I am very thankful. The post gets enriched by the comments received and both put together give a complete picture.
I am very happy you went through the post and came out with your views. Please give more such information on other posts of SOY.
Very painstakingly prepared. Compliments to you sir. Bharat Vyas, Pt Narendra Sharma etc who used chaste Hindi in their songs. And yet became very popular.
Naye naye rangon se likhti dharti nayi kahani
Jivan ko pal bhar me badalti rituen badi suhani! Penned by Bharat Vyas was a beauty. Very few remember it though.
Jitendraji
Thanks very much for the appreciation. I also welcome you to SOY fraternity on behalf of the blogmaster.
Song mentioned by you is very rich in meaning describing the seasons and it is a raagmala of 6 raags – Gaud Sarang, Khamaj, Miyan ka Malhar, Desh, Kedar and Basant (source Dr. Pandey in Hindi Cine Raag). It is from film Kavi Kalidas (1959) set to music by S N Tripathi and sung by Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt.