WHEN ONE SONG SITUATION LED TO THE CREATION OF TWO SONGS

A poet without sensitivity is like an arrow without a bow – unable to reach its target. He may have great command over his language, a mastery over meter and structure of poetry…but unless he has a nuanced understanding of the world around him – his words will ring hollow and not be tinged with reality. And that is the difference between prose that is pretty and prose that is path breaking.

Sometimes filmmakers, music directors and writers themselves find themselves in a piquant situation when it comes to evaluating a storyline or the lyrics of a song. And very often, they reject work because there isn’t a familiar ring about it, a degree of comfort with its expression.

The following story best illustrates this – as it is an example of a song situation that ended up creating two songs of high artistic merit, but only one succeeded in its intent to be really path breaking. The song was for the film “Leader” starring Dilip Kumar and its music was being composed by Naushad. He, along with the director of the film, had briefed Sahir Ludhianvi about the situation of the song – the hero is serenading the heroine of the film under the shadow of the historic Taj Mahal. The song was to be an ode to the beauty and magnificence of the mausoleum – an emperor’s epic of remembrance created in the memory of his beloved Mumtaz Mahal.    

Roughly translated, the words expressed the desire of the lover to meet his beloved, someplace other than the Taj Mahal, because it was so beautiful in its setting and its romantic magic, that anything he did would fall woefully short in comparison. It seemed as if an Emperor had used his wealth and power to make a mockery of the love of the lesser privileged.

When Naushad, Dilip Kumar and the director of the film heard the lyrics, they were stunned. They failed to see that in this mock complaint of the lover was the biggest compliment that could be given to Shah Jehan. They just couldn’t see how a lover who consciously wants to meet at some other place is doing so because he is intimidated by its immense beauty. Unanimously, they rejected the song and as Sahir refused to rewrite it, turned to Naushad’s favourite lyricist, Shakeel Badayuni. 

Shakeel Badayuni when he read what Sahir Ludhainvi had written, secretly admired the verse. He recognized it for its originality, for its freshness of thought and its honesty of expression. He too was a romantic at heart and could identify with the sentiments expressed by Sahir. But at the same time, he understood the apprehensions of the “Leader” team.

So his poem was an unabashed ode to the beauty of the Taj, holding it up an example without parallel to have been constructed out of love. His words were:  

“Ek shahenshah ne banwa ke haseen Taj Mahal

Saari duniya ko mohabbat ki nishani di hai

Iske saaye mein sada pyar ke charche honge

Khatm jo ho na sake woh kahani di hai”

The rest of the song expressed similar superlatives in praise of the Taj Mahal and when Naushad composed the song, it was widely appreciated for its music and poetry when the movie released in 1964. 

However no one knew about the original song that Sahir Ludhainvi had written…till the movie, “Ghazal” released the same year. When people heard this song, they were struck by the power of the lover’s sentiment expressed as a mock complaint against the emperor. And considering that they were all mere mortals who could never build a Taj Mahal, roundly applauded the sentiments it had expressed. 

This second song was composed by Madan Mohan for the film “Ghazal” and it was sung as a solo by Mohammad Rafi. The song, “Ek shahenshah ne banwa ke” was sung as a duet by Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar.