Majrooh Sultanpuri: The Poet For All Reasons
By Manek Premchand
Pages: 534
First Edition: 2021
Blue Pencil, New Delhi
Among the four markers of a film song – the film in which it appeared, the singer, the music director and the lyricist – the last generally gets a raw deal. The music lovers identify a landmark song by the first three, and remember the lyricist the least. Ironically, film experts and writers, too, tend to relegate the lyricists in the shadows. Manek Premchand’s latest book, “Majrooh Sultanpuri: The Poet For All Reasons” is an emphatic thumbs up for the importance of a lyricist – Majrooh Sultanpuri in the present case – in the creation of a song.
The girth of the book would give you an idea that it has everything you would expect from a book on a film personality. Majrooh Sultanpuri’s life history has been given in sufficient detail, and we get a lot of new information and details which most of us are not aware of. We all know that he had strong political leanings and he also served jail for over a year for his political activities. Not during the British rule for taking part in the National Movement or for being an ultra-left activist, but in Independent India. Majrooh Sultanpuri took the Transfer of Power as a great betrayal by the Congress leaders, especially Nehru, that they accepted a dominion status and agreed to be a part of the Commonwealth, which meant Mountbatten stayed on for sometime as the Governor General. He went underground in 1949 after reciting a highly disparaging poem about Nehru at a mushaira. Ironically, he was incarcerated when India had already become a Republic, Mountbatten long gone, Commonwealth was just a slender thread, and his friend, a liberal socialist Nehru, its PM.
Later, his song ‘Jaata kahan hai deewane’ (Geeta Dutt, CID, 1956) got the goat of the ultra-puritan Morarji Desai, then CM of Bombay. He summoned Majrooh Sultanpuri and Dev Anand and asked them sternly what they meant by ‘iffy’ in the second line, ‘Kuchh tere dil mein iffy, kuchh mere dil mein iffy’. Not satisfied with their explanation that these were meaningless words, Desai had the song censored, but the film’s album had already been released before the film’s release, as was the general practice those days. The song, of course, became very famous, leaving us to scratch our heads what in this word could have provoked Desai so much.
Similar absurd objections of the Censors followed Majrooh Sultanpuri from time to time. For example, they objected to the second line in the immortal, Ye raat ye fizaayen, phir aayen ya na aayen, which was originally ‘Aao shama bujha ke hum aaj dil jalaayen’. To satisfy them he changed it to ‘Aao shama jala ke hum aaj mil ke gaayen’ (Bantwara, 1961, Rafi and Asha Bhosle, S Madan), which, according to me, reduces the song a great deal.
You get a lot of such trivia about Majrooh Sultanpuri, as a person and as a lyricist. One which struck me as very interesting was about his famous couplet:
Main akela hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil magar
Log saath aate gaye aur caravan banta gaya
When he first recited this at a Progressive Writers’ Association mushaira, his second line was:
ग़ैर साथ आते गये और कारवाँ बनता गया
Manekji does not spend much time on the change from ‘ghair’ to ‘log’, except that he did it at the suggestion of the other poets at the mushaira. But I have been thinking how radically the meaning changes by the replacement of a single word. The first line shows the poet to be a loner by choice as he does not find many who share his views. ‘Ghair’ in the second line complements his cynicism, and the couplet makes the poet bit of a misanthrope. May be this is what he wanted to express when this couplet occurred to him first. With ‘log’, the couplet becomes sanitised and quite positive and optimistic.
You can make a collection of some real trivia, such as the song in which Majrooh Sultanpuri used his name, or the songs which he jointly wrote with other lyricists, etc.
The book devotes 125 pages at the end giving Majrooh Sultanpuri’s complete filmography, both chronologically and alphabetically, and his complete discography of 1914 Hindi film songs, a few non-film ghazals and some Bhojpuri film songs. That makes him the most prolific lyricist, overtaken only by the later-generation Sameer and Anand Bakshi.
The aforesaid content itself would have made the book quite substantive, but there is a lot more. There is a long interview of the poet and his favourite daughter, Saba and her husband Raju, a son of Naushad. This reveals a great deal of the human Majrooh Sultanpuri. Though Manekji’s tone is generally hagiographic, you can’t miss that the poet carried a great deal of anger and bitterness in him, which is surprising because he was undoubtedly one of the most successful lyricists, having given a large number of everlasting songs for Naushad, SD Burman, OP Nayyar, Roshan, Chitragupta, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and RD Burman. There are some articles by guest authors, such as Manekji’s wife Lata Jagtiani, well known for her biography of OP Nayyar, who has expectedly written on Majrooh’s songs for him. Antara Nanda Mondal, the founder-editor of the publishing house Blue Pencil, and editor of quite a serious blog on film music, learningandcreativity.com/silhouette, has published this book, as well as some more books on film music. Antara has written on Majrooh’s songs for SD Burman. Monica Kar is another guest writer whose work I am familiar with; she has written on Majrooh-Chitragupta.
There is a very informative article on different forms of Urdu poetry, particularly its most popular form ghazal and its rigid structure regarding ‘beher’ (meter), ‘radeef’ (the last word which is repeated), and ‘qaafiya’ (the word/s coming before the radeef, and its rhyming word/s in the second line of all the couplets after the first). After reading this you wouldn’t commit the mistake of mentioning Sahir’s famous nazm ‘Chalo ek baar phir se’, as a ghazal.
But the meat of the book for those, who love the world of words, is dissection, interpretation of the poetry, imagery, detailed description with reference to the scene of the film, for hundreds of songs in a number of chapters on different themes. At the end of most of the chapters the author has given a big list of songs with some words or lines highlighted, leaving the reader to think over these with regard to the idea the author has floated.
But there is one issue which is likely to raise the hackles of people from the literary world. In Hindi literature, there is quite a strong barrier between literary poets and song writers. In any literary journal or compilation of the best poetry of the 50s, 60s, 70s, I doubt you are going to see the names of Shailendra, Bharat Vyas or Neeraj. In Urdu, the boundary is quite porous, because ghazal is the most common form in both, and many celebrated names in Urdu Adab, such as Sahir Ludhiyanavi and Kaifi Azmi, also had a successful career as film lyricists. Yet, if Urdu literary world treats Majrooh Sultanpuri primarily as a film lyricist, and not as a great adabi poet, so be it. One reason could be that his non-film output is less than one tenth of his film songs. But Manekji overstates his case to elevate him to the high table, at par with Faiz Ahmad ‘Faiz’. I think that also explains the turn of phrase in the title of the book.
But the book is a labour of love and a delight for the proponents of giving greater importance to the lyricists. Majrooh Sulatnpuri is among the best of them, having been honoured with the highest award for contribution to films – Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
AK ji
Thanks for introducing Manekji’s latest book to the readers of SoY.
As is his practice, he must have put in a great deal of hard work in writing the book. Compliments and salute to him and the other writers who contributed their essays to the book.
Regards .
I too have this book waiting to be read, but I will reserve my reading of your review for once I’ve read the book – I don’t want to be prejudiced, even if inadvertently. Will return when I’m done, to compare notes.
Tyagiji,
You are welcome. In this book, the hard work is obvious. Manekji deserves compliments.
Madhu,
Great idea. In fact I would suggest one step ahead. After reading the book, you may like to write your own review. Then comparing notes would be great fun.
Oh!
Sounds really interesting! Should look for it.
Thank you for the wonderful review.
Anup
🙂
Anup,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation of my review. The book is very useful for someone like you.
While I compliment you for what is a balanced review, I have recently been wondering why you haven’t written a book yourself. I say that AK because you clearly have loads of passion for our music, and you write so well too. That can be a lethal combination
Yes I agree with Mr M Premchand as to why Mr AK is yet to open his account in book writing. Your debut awaited.
Manekji,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. And I am greatly flattered by your compliments for my writing skill. This blog gives me a lot of satisfaction as I get appreciation from people infinitely more knowledgeable than me.
The closest I thought about writing a book was in my professional area, ‘Global Power Sector Reforms’. OUP made some positive noises on my long paper, and gave some suggestions to enlarge it to book size. That meant taking a long sabbatical for library research. I was a bit lazy for that.
Thought of a writing a book on film music will be audacity.
Mr Vasudevan,
Thanks a lot for your latent appreciation. My reply to Manekji explains where I come from.
Thanks for an incisive review AK.
I have been a follower of Songs of Yore for long, you are aware of that. 🙂 Drawn references as well from your stories. It’s a site I keep coming back to.
As is SoY’s forte, your review will help readers get a feel of the book and its depth of exploration of Majrooh Sahab’s life and works.
Thanks again
Ak ji
Excellent review.
Majrooh is one of my favourite lyricist and the book I will get within a week. Your review has further fuelled my eagerness to read it.
Though you are very self effacing about writting a book one day you should and it would be a sheer joy to read.
I see a parallel between Majrooh’s plight of not being treated as a ” great adabi poet” and G D Madgulkar in marathi being treated as a geetkar and not a poet. However when it comes to film songs one would find it difficult to put both outside the top bracket.
Antara,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation for the review and my blog. I would be happy if more readers read the book, and give their feedback and compare with different reviews.
Mr Muli,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. When I mentioned the barrier in Hindi literature between literary poets and film lyricists, I felt it might be the same in regional languages. You have given me the confirmation.
I can see the reason why it is so. Hindi poetry has long veered away from rhymed poems. Let me illustrate with one famous poem of ‘Agyeya’ – one of the greatest in Hindi literature:
साँप !
तुम सभ्य तो हुए नहीं
नगर में बसना
भी तुम्हें नहीं आया।
एक बात पूछूँ–(उत्तर दोगे?)
तब कैसे सीखा डँसना–
विष कहाँ पाया?
Very simple imagery. You would instantly exclaim, Wah! It is great literature. Can you imagine it as a film song? The requirement there is different.
I am always on the lookout for well-written books on films, but since I’m only going to be able to get it when I go to India next, I’ll have to wait to read it. In the meantime, your review has piqued my interest, though hagiographies usually put me off.
Anu,
This one may not put you off. In any case an intelligent reader like you makes her own judgment.
I should put the book on my list after reading your review. You are right in mentioning that lyricists very often get short shrift compared to the music director. I myself sometimes struggle to remember the lyricist of a song.
On the topic of lyricists not being considered on par with poets, it may have something to do with the fact that most lyricists had to bow to the music director’s demands of changing words to suit the music. In fact I saw a Youtube video where Javed Akhtar gave examples of some words that are usually not used in songs due to their lack of musicality. Poets have no such constraints.
Soumya,
The lyricists also had to replace some uncommon words with words in common use. But this may not be an entire explanation why lyricists are not considered at par with literary poets.
While books on composers are many published work on lyricists are quite few . Anyway it is a good beginning. Let us look forward for books on more lyricists as well as composers. It is a good trend !
AK,
As soon as I came to know about this book from your post, I ordered it. I thought I would write something after at least a cursory look, but the book has not arrived. Majrooh Sultanpuri has been in the frontline lyricists and I have a lot of regard for lyricists. He has written a number of my favourite songs with Naushad, OPN, SDB (from the Rafi era) as also lot of Chitragupta songs, with some from Roshan, Ravi and MM. Another plus is the style of Manek Premchand of which I am a fan. So getting the book was a must, but your review is very good as always and I noticed you mentioned the hagiographic touch in the interview, which Anu also highlighted.
I have read the Majrooh write up in YMTM. There Manekji puts Majrooh in the exalted company of Shakespeare and Ghalib, when he writes “If you’ve read Shakespeare or Ghalib and marvelled at how they wrote, welcome to the world of one more marvel, Majrooh Sultanpuri.” If you missed or forgot this opening line, he again reminds you at the end of that article “So then, are you convinced about my proposition at the start of this story, that he was a great writer, like Shakespeare and Ghalib.” I will not comment on this as this to me is self-explanatory for the wise readers here.
In that write-up, there was also an interview, which showed a lot of Majrooh. To me he appeared to be narcissist, which in itself I do not consider a bad thing, but he went too far when he alleged that Shailendra purchased the Filmfare award for ‘ye mera deewanapan hai’ as against ‘hum bekhudi men’ (which was not even in nominations). No sensible person gives importance to Filmfare awards, but personal attacks should be avoided, particularly by such luminaries. Common people dont even care for Dadasaheb Phalke which Majrooh got and a number of decidedly better lyricists did not get.
In that interview, Majrooh admits he wrote 99.99% of his songs on the tune provided by the MD. I think that was the reason why he became favourite of father SDB (over Sahir) and also of the son RDB for both of whom he wrote more than 400 songs (based on HFGK upto 1980).
I agree with you that there is a vast gap in the level of film lyrics and Hindi poetry. But that was always the case even when Hindi poetry was replete with rhymed poems. The Agyeya poem you quoted is just great.
I am also waiting for the book having ordered for it.
KB @19,
There are many books on stars, singers and music directors. This is a comprehensive book on Majrooh Sultanpuri.
Hans @20,
I am surprised at the delay. Amazon is quite fast in delivering books. You should be getting it anytime.
Yes, in this book too, Shakespeare, Ghalib and Kalidas are mentioned in the same breadth as Majrooh Sultanpuri. Hagiographic tone runs through the book. You have used the word ‘narcissist’. I have described it in a different way. To me, Majrooh Sultanpuri seemed to carry a bitterness and anger in him, for no apparent reason. I am not here to pass any judgment. For anyone who has followed film music, Majrooh Sultanpuri has been one of the most prominent lyricists.
You have referred to Manekji’s style. I have been an admirer of his blog (now untraceable) for his language. The present book I would give full marks for his labour and archiving valuable data. But in this book the style lacks crispness. In several chapters he wanders around in unrelated areas. The book could have been more compact.
Mr Vasudevan @21,
Waiting for your views after you have read it.
AKji,
Your excellent review is a good motivation to read this book on one of my favourite lyricists.
Majrooh Sultanpuri had stayed proficient and relevant till the end, penning lyrics from 1940s to 2000, from Naushad to A R Rahman.
Personally, I am always impressed with people who adapt and remain sync with changing times.
For me, he is The Lyricist for All Seasons ( or Eras )
Besides his journey and the interpretation of his songs, I am keen to go through the last 125 pages that cover his filmography and discography since I am always keen to know the statistics and the person’s output.
I hope the kindle version of this book is available soon as I prefer the e-versions and kindle versions these days.
I have been catching up with books on Hindi cinema and recently finished Manekji’s The Hindi Music Jukebox.
Just got hold of the latest book on Raj Kapoor by Rahul Rawail.
There is new one by Manekji too..Windows to the Soul: And Other Essays on Music, available in paperback and Kindle.
Has anyone read it?
I appreciate and thank AK ji for the wonderful review of the book by Sh Manek Premchand ji. This is a lot of information on this great lyricist for me as I had never read a book/writeup on Majrooh Sultanpuri. It would be interesting to see how a whole article on ‘ different forms of Urdu poetry …’ has been included in a biographical book.This book is a great service by Sh Manek ji , who is a scholar and authority with so many books and years of study on Hindi Films of the golden era to his credit. Though I know that there would never be a problem in acquiring the kindle version of this book, I doubt if I would be reading this book immediately as I am having a great backlog of TBR books and this number keeps mounting. In recent times I stop at reading a few reviews of most books.
For the benefit of those interested , I am posting here the link to the detailed chats with Sh.Manek Premchand ji and other contributing authors of this book from SILHOUETTE magazine , conducted by Antara Nanda Mondal.
https://learningandcreativity.com/silhouette/majrooh-sultanpuri-the-poet-for-all-reasons-manek-premchand-interview/
Mr Deshpande @25,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. This book is exactly for you. It seems Amazon have not yet come out with its Kindle version. I think it might be a marketing strategy, and they would soon come out with it. I can see your point. I have a large number of books in soft form, the only advantage is that these do not need physical space for storage. But paper books have their own charm. I think they would never go away.
‘For All Seasons’ is the common expression. One can see why Manekji changed it to ‘Reasons’. Different eras, wide array of top music directors, myriad moods. Great ‘poet’ or not, but he was one of the greatest song writers.
‘Windows to the Soul” sounds very interesting. Most of us not into deep delving but savouring a wide variety of dishes.
Mr S Joseph @26,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. I am sure you would get everything you expect from a book on Majrooh Sultanpuri. And also thanks for posting the link to Manekji’s and other contributors’ interview on Silhouette. This gives a very good insight into the creative process in making the book. The author’s deep respect for his subject, and his desire to bring spotlight on the importance of a lyricist in a film sing, is very apparent. Even though it seems that it came out a few days before my review, I was not aware of it. One reason is that my review should be entirely my impression of the book and I was not interested in looking up anything about it.
Ref 24
I am going through the book and would post my comment shortly.
AK @ 23,
You posted your comment at 4 past 4 pm and I received the book at about 3.15 pm. I get such things late sometime because I live in my farm house which about 8-9 km away from the city. I have gone through the first 3 chapters and also Antara Mandal’s and Lata ji’s chapters as well as a cursory look at the discography portion. I also look for stats like Dr Deshpande, but I prefer physical books instead of kindle editions. This is just for convenience because I love to read in the sun or in shade outside the building or even in toilet and also want to avoid too much exposure on computer etc.
I may continue adding my comments later also, but for the present I would focus on the points raised by you. I take first Manekji’s style first. I think what you say is the result of the difference in the format of his books. His earlier books were small essays written at different times and this one is on a single personality and the canvas has to be different. When we were in govt service we were sometimes asked to prepare long notes of 20 or more pages on some topic and when something was to be presented in the Parliament they asked us to bring up short notes of upto 3 pages. The shorter notes, being the summary were always better written, because all important points percolated in these notes. So according to me this may be the case which appears to you to be a different style. There is a phrase “culture-vultures of the Lucknow kind” at page 59 which confirms his crispness has not gone. Such phrases would be found sparingly because of the larger canvas.
You might have noticed the hard work put in by him in looking for lyrics, which is a mightily time consuming work, which I can say on the basis of my experience when writing posts on lyricists for SOY. He has gone through ( I am sure by listening multiple times ) the lyrics of even lesser known songs and also songs of the later period of 80s and 90s which is a very hard thing to do for the lovers of the songs of golden period.
Lots and lots of lyrics have been highlighted and explained in the book. Though this may not be much useful to you and me who can interpret them themselves, but the book is extremely useful for people who need some assistance in understanding lyrics. Manekji’s focus is totally on Majrooh’s work in the book. I decided to go through first the chapters by Antara – as I have met her at Sudhir Kapoor’s house once – and Lataji because she was the author of the book on OPN. Antara’s style is good and her description of the songs great, but the essay gives more focus to SDB when it should have been on Majrooh. On the other hand Lataji focus’s on Majrooh lyrics while also mentioning OPN. To me this focus on Majrooh by Manekji makes all the difference.
contd…
Hans,
Hope Manekji is reading your detailed comments. I am happy that you have got the book and have started reading it. I can see your final evaluation is going to be even better. Looking forward to to your further comments.
AKji,
After going through your review, balanced and meaty, I was inclined, like many of the regular members of SoY, to order a copy. The main reason was,
One: It was on a lyricist. This would be the second book, on a lyricist, that I would possess.
The other one was on Sahir Ludhyanvi by Akshay Manwani.
Two: The author, Manek Premchandji.
I gather, he had received an Senior fellowship from the Ministry of Culture on his paper on “The Changing Face of Lyrics in Hindi cinema”. You may check with Premchandji, whether he could make it available for our reading.
And three: Your excellent review.
Your write-up gives a good glimpse of the contents of the 534- pages-book; His life history, hitherto unknown information, lots of trivia on Majrooh as a person and lyricist, his political leanings, thorough statistics;
enough to arouse one’s curiosity; must make an interesting reading.
And the informative article on different forms of poetry would be a boon to novices like me. And the chapters containing the interpretation of the poetry, detailed description should add to the pleasure of reading and listening to the songs, I presume.
A big thanks to Manek Premchandji .
And thanks to you too, but for you review, due to my current state of mental sluggishness, I would have remained ignorant of the book.
PS: “Transfer of Power”, I guess, was not the view that you endorse, but was in the context of Majrooh’s political leaning, I believe.
While posting my comment, I noticed Hansji’s detail evaluation of a few chapters and will look forward to his follow up appraisal. That should provide an interesting precursor before I receive my copy.
About your comment on the bitterness and anger Majrooh obviously showed, I agree to the extent that he should have some satisfaction about what he achieved as one of the top lyricists of hindi films. But, one thing I will say that lyricists have been a suffering lot in our films. Of the three components alongwith the composer and singer they were not only worst paid, but they were hardly remembered later also. While the composers and singers could add to their income through the concerts etc. the lyricist was forgotten after final payment for the song. This fact was always playing on the minds of a lyricist and Majrooh was no exception. In his case another thought which troubled him was that he wrote for the films and general public and got enough fame from these. But, he perhaps wrongly expected to get praise from literary critics who were a tough nut to crack. He should have been rather satisfied with the praise he got from the film people and his fans in the public. He wrote, but perhaps did not believe:
‘Dard bhi hamen qabool chain bhi hamen qabool
humne har tarah ke phool haar men piro liye’
More later.
Venkataramanji @32,
It is so nice to hear from you after a long gap. Hope you get up kicking again soon. Thanks a lot for your generous words for my review. The book is very useful for anyone interested in understanding lyrics. Hans has already added his perceptions of the book which is more laudatory than mine.
I would surely ask Manekji about his paper, sounds interesting.
‘Transfer of Power’: I suspect you are using the phrase for its loaded meaning. The book does not use this phrase. It is not my phrase either. It was commonly used to describe the process. The British Government declassified their official documents of the period when they ruled over India and published these in 8 thick volumes titled ‘Transfer of Power’ papers. These were actual memos, correspondences between different layers of the government: SDO, Collector, Commissioner, Governor, Viceroy, Secretary of State for India etc. There was a time when these volumes and the compilation of the “Constituent Assembly Debates” were my favourite reading – easy access to a good library.
The CA Debates are now available online, I have not checked up about ToP. But it was absolutely fascinating as if one was living through the era from the eyes of the British Government officials. These were not dull bureaucratese, but full of tongue-in-cheek British humour. One I clearly remember was a memo from a Commissioner to his Collector on Gandhi’s announced fast unto death. It went something like: Gandhi is again up to one of his favourite pastimes. The old man has some strangely strong constitution. Hope everything goes off well and he calls off the fast in goodness of time. But god forbid, if the man kicks the bucket, all hell will break loose. You are obviously aware of the SOP what to do in case of riots and arson. I have full trust in you that you would manage everything. And if it is any comfort to you, I would not be there breathing down your neck, I am going off hunting with Raja Saheb.
My view of history is what I have read from different sources. Now one is hearing a lot that we have been taught a distorted history – whatever was given by western historians and this has been carried through by the Marxist historians post-Independence. My view is there was an inevitability to what happened leading to the Transfer of Power. Does this phrase diminish our Independence movement or revolutionaries, or Subhash Chandra Bose’s contribution? Frankly, I have to admit my intellectual capability is limited.
As per the book, Majrooh Sultanpuri blamed the Congress, Nehru for accepting the Dominion status (suggesting they were in a hurry to take power). My reading is that after WWII, the devastated Britain was no longer interested in holding on to their colonies. As a matter of fact, the original date for Transfer of Power was June 1948. When Mountbatten announced that he had plenipotentiary powers to effect the transfer early, say 15 August 1947, Congress leaders were surprised and unprepared.
Hans @34,
Majrooh Sultanpuri was not referring so much to the lyricists in general getting a raw deal compared to the singers and music directors. He was also referring to other lyricists, when he said that he was always treated as no. 2; at different stages some other lyricist was regarded as no. 1. That was bitterness and anger, for no good reason. He has been a top lyricist and he should have been satisfied with life.
I’m humbled by the interaction here, even as I am delighted that significant minds are finding some merit in this work I don’t agree with all everyone says, but then isn’t that what makes for interesting forums? Reminds me of the saying, “If both of us think similarly, one of us is unnecessary” But thanks gentlemen, I’m grateful for your views. Makes the effort so worthwhile, and inspires me to strive for better. Finally, about the Senior Fellowship, the Ministry of Culture had instructed me before being approved that it would not be shared, that it was theirs once I committed to writing it. But if it helps, my book Romancing the Song is really the same thing, and amplified in fact.
AKji @ 35,
Thanks for your detailed reply on “Transfer of Power”.
“My view is there was an inevitability to what happened leading to the Transfer of Power. Does this phrase diminish our Independence movement or revolutionaries, or Subhash Chandra Bose’s contribution? Frankly, I have to admit my intellectual capability is limited.”
Yes, I do agree with you that there was inevitability to the events leading to the Transfer of Power.
The role of our mainstream movement, the revolutionaries, Subhas Bose’s contribution; each of them hold a significant role in our history, and we cannot ignore or trivialize any of them.
But I tend to disagree with your last line.
The partition and the resultant violence, the gruesome genocide and unprecedented large scale migration that followed, should have left the victims asking “Yeh kaise Azadi hai?” And can we blame them? I would no further dwell on the matter, lest it kicks up a storm.
I am aware of the (twelve-volume) published declassified documents (twelve-volume) on “Transfer of Power” edited by Nicholas Mansergh and also the online CA debates, both referred by you. At times we have referred to the debates during interactions, if I remember right, relating to Vande Mataram.
Let me turn my attention to readers’ responses to your review, especially that of Hansji, till I receive my copy.
Thanks to Premchandji for his prompt response (@37) to my query.
I read the book—The Poet of All reasons – on Majrooh Sultanpuri (herein after to be referred as MS in short) by Manek Premchand. Very rightly the title of the book is cent percent apt as MS had written songs on all
types of songs, on all seasons, all type of situation in a film and all moods like pathos, romance, patriotic, religious, philosophy, friendship etc.
One more feather in the already crowded hat of the author for bringing out such an absorbingly readable book. He has planned well, did a good R&D, gathering minute details painstakingly on MS and these are reflected in the narration.
M Premchand has traced the early part of the lyricist so well that all important milestones has mentioned. The style of writing is awesome.
The author’s explanation on what is a gazal, rubaayi, nazam is informative. The words Majrooh introduced like Sanam is not known to many.
MS is undoubtedly one of the finest lyricists the Hindi film world has seen and by writing on such a person Manek has by this biography paid his richest tributes to the works of MS. The guest articles add flavor to the narration and mind boggling list of all songs in alphabatical order
at the end of the book which itself runs to 125 pages or so is marathon of a work. Hats off to Manekji.
My top pick of MS songs are as follows:
1, Sad – chaand phir nikala magar thum na aaye (Paying guest)
Jab dil hi toot gaya (Shahjahan)
2 Romance – Pukartha chala hoon mein (Mere sanam)
Hame tumse kitna pyar hai (Kudrat)
3 Friendship – Chahoonga mein thuje (Dosti)
4 philosophy – rahe na rahe hum(Mamta)
ek din bik jayaga maati ke bol (Dharam karam)
5 aloofness – saathi na koi manzil na koi (Bombay ka babu)
muje le chalo (Sharabi)
6 beauty – thyere aankh ke siva is duniya me raka kya hai(Chirag)
leke pahla pahla pyar – CID
7 melodrama – koyi hum dham na raha (Jumroo)
8 Patriotic – aye watann ke naujwavan jaag (sung by Geetha Dutt in Baazi). What a repertoire MS had.
and to write on such a master craftsman of poems
.
The incomplete sentence at the end is a lapse. .Sorry.
Venkataramanji @38,
I think you are talking about the same ‘Transfer of Power’ documents. Only two volumes are available on Amazon at prohibitive prices. These can be available in entirety only in libraries. Somehow I clearly remember 8 volumes, but you may be right. I would love to browse through them again.
Yes, we discussed CA debates earlier. This was an important source for understanding the controversy about Jana Gana Man/ Vande Mataram and the political comprise made at the time. Talking about the correct history, my current challenge is about ‘Aryan migration/invasion’. Was it a hoax, or there was indeed a migration as we have been taught? I have been asking my intellectual friends, they have very strong views on one side or the other. I would be obliged for your gyan on the matter.
Mr Vasudevan @39,
I am happy that you received your book, read it and felt compelled to give your detailed views. I also read ‘sanam’ was first used by Majrooh Sultanpuri. When did he first use the term? Film songs have been around for over 15 years before his use. All such firsts require verification. It would be an interesting research.
Vasudevanji, I’m grateful you found the book informative and a joyful read AKji, the word sanam already existed in our cinema, as I have said in the chapter, with examples. Majrooh came along and used it the most. Just as songs on the horsetrot beat were already around before maestro OP Nayyar arrived, but we associate most him when it comes to such songs
Thank you AK and all the erudite readers here for your appreciation and critique. Makes us all of us associated with the book feel great that it has kindled such incisive discussions and reactions.
Hans ji @30,
Thank you for your feedback on my essay.
Appreciate it. Every review is a revisit with new perspectives.
For information of all the readers here, the book is available as ebook on Amazon Kindle. The paperback version is available in Amazon India, USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Spain and Australia.
Thanks again!
Antara,
You are welcome. You deserve our sincere appreciation and congratulations for the good work you are doing for film music.