Romancing other miscellaneous balmas

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After I had written on romancing the major types of balmas, such as anadi balma, pardesi balma, ajnabi balma, bedardi balma and jaadugar balma, I was left with a lurking feeling that there were still many types of balmas which did not fall in any of the above major categories. I had posed a question: In which category would you put the Shakti Kapoor-balma in the film Chaalbaaz (1989)? I don’t have a satisfactory answer. But it suggests we need to have a post on assorted types of balmas who cannot fit in the five major categories.

Chhota baalma

1. Chhota sa baalma ankhiyan neend churaye le gayo by Asha Bhosle from Ragini (1958), lyrics Qamar Jalalabadi, music OP Nayyar

The grown up lady tied with a tender-age balma is quite a common theme in our folk songs. In our traditional marriages, mental compatibility was not a consideration. Traditionally, marriage happened between compatible families. Pedigree was more important than other factors, which led to such distortions. In some folk songs the piya has gone pardes (viz. Calcutta, in the context of Bihar and Eastern UP) to earn a living. The devar is small with whom the pining lady cannot share her agony. I don’t know whether the Chhota sa baalma has a similar connotation in this song.

2. Sainya mile larkaiyan main ka karun by Malini Awasthi (Awadhi folk)

This Awadhi folk song by Malini Awasthi makes the context more clear. The grown up woman is married, but her sainya is still a boy. She is bewildered, Main kya karun?.

3. Balma chhoti si meri baali umariya by Lata Mangeshkar from Bachpan (1970), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Laxmikant-Pyarelal

How about the woman being of a “baali umar”? In this raunchy den, the dancing girl Aruna Irani pretends to ward off the inebriated customers by proclaiming that she is of a tender age.

Mental balma

4. Balma hamaar motor car leke ayo re by Asha Bhosle from Anhonee (1973), lyrics Varma Malik, music Laxmikant-Pyarelal

‘Tum ekdam mental ho’ – this usage may sound odd, but it has become an accepted colloquial expression to mean that the person is quite unhinged (a mental case). The reaction of Sanjeev Kumar to Padma Khanna’s dance gives an impression that he is ‘mental’ like he was in the film Khilona. But from the story available on Wikipedia, it appears he is a CID inspector on to uncover some crime.

Psycho Sainya

5. Ai mera sainya psycho by Dhwani Bhanushali and Sanchet Tandon from Sahoo (2019), lyrics and music by Tanishk Bagchi

A perfect synonym of ‘mental balma’ is ‘psycho sainya’. ‘Psycho sainya’ is more hep, it has a pleasing cadence. It is a sign of development that lovers have started talking about their partner’s mental health openly.

Sipahiya baalma

6. Balma sipahiya haye re teri dambook se dar laage by Lata Mangeshkar from Dushman (1972), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Laxmikan Pyarelal

The uniformed police evoke fear in general populace. But in our films the sipahiya is an object of mocking. But this has not kept our ladies in the films from romancing the sipahiya. In this fun song bandook has become dambook.

Daroga baalma

7. Mera naam hai chameli main hun maalan albeli chali ayi main akeli Bikaner se by Lata Mangeshkar from Raja Aur Rank (1968), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Laxmikant-Pyarelal

Daroga is the boss of sipahiya. But in our films the daroga is hardly shown as worthy of more respect. They are clubbed with sipahiya as an object of comic relief. Look how Kumkum pulls the wool over the eyes of Daroga Babu. She only needs to ask, O darago babu bolo, zara darwajja to kholo, khadi hun main darwajje par badi der se, and Daroga Babu like molten wax can be manipulated into opening the shutters of the jail.

8. Babu darogaji kaun qasoor pe dharle sainya hamaar by Shamshad Begum from Taqdeer (1943), lyrics Anjum Pilibhiti, music Rafiq Ghaznavi

This is Nargis’s first lead role [she debuted as a child actor in her mother Jaddanbai’s production, ‘Talaash-e-haque’ (1935)]. In this one Daroga Babu is not the object of attraction. Here he is literally a Daroga Babu who has detained the lady’s sainya. She pleads with him that her sainya is a clean person, and please release him for her sake.

9. Mera baalam thaanedar chalave gypsy, Haryanavi music video

The New Age Thaanedar cuts quite a dashing figure. He naturally becomes an attraction for the bevy of girls. Gypsy has become identified with police patrolling. When we call Emergency Numbers (100/112), quite often instead of asking to send a police patrol, we ask Gypsy bhej dijiye.

Gaadiwan balma

10. Gaadiwale gaadi dheere haank re by Rafi and Shamshad Begum from Mother India (1957), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

Mother India has a mix of happy and sad songs. In this joyous song of bullock cart procession, romance is in the air in every gaadi.

Seven types of balmas in a song

11. Saat saheliyan khadi khadi, fariyaad sunaven ghadi ghadi by Kishore Kumar and Anuradha Paudwal, Alka Yagnik, Sadhna Sargam, Hemlata, Kanchan, Padmini Kolhapuri, Shivangi Kolhapuri from Vidhata (1982), lyrics Traditional, music Kalyanji-Anandji

I end this post with a song of seven assorted balmas. All the seven women have their own complaints about their miyans. One is saddled with a doctor – Raat bhar mua sone na de, injection lagaave ghadi ghadi. The driver’s woman grieves, he does not let her sleep a wink, Bhonpu bajaave ghadi ghadi, and so on. For each woman, there is a different singer.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
The song video links have been embedded only for the listening pleasure of music lovers. This blog does not claim any copyright over these songs, with vests in respective owners.