A C Tuli
Our ancient and medieval poets have portrayed, in picturesquely evocative language, the amorous dalliance of young lovers with the rainy season forming the backdrop. The lovers, poets tell us, can bear every hardship in the arduous path of love but not separation in the rainy season. When the overcast sky is intermittently lit up by streaks of lightening, followed by prolonged thundering of the clouds, young lovers yearn for each other’s company.
In the golden era of Hindi film music, our music directors often used the classical raga Megh Malhar for composing their rain songs. Megh means clouds. Normally, a raga, including Megh Malhar, takes a long time to be delineated in its entirety by a classical singer. But a film song is of necessity of a very short duration, lasting not more than three or four minutes. So music directors of yore adapted ragas for their songs in a slightly diluted form. But even that requires imaginative skill.
The rainy season has inspired our film lyricists to pen beautiful rain songs. In fact, right from the advent of the talkies in India, rain songs have formed an important part of Hindi film music. One of the earliest songs based on raga Megh Malhar, ‘Barso re, barso re, kaare badarwa piya par barso, barso, jaise mori akhiyan barsen, barso re, barso re…’ was heard in the 1943 film ‘Tansen’. It was composed by music director Khemchand Prakash and sung by singer-actress Khurshid.
Kalidas’s classic ‘Meghdootum’ has some enrapturing descriptions of rain in it. A film based A C Tuli writes on film issues on this literary work was made in 1945. Music director Kamal Dasgupta composed a song for this film that was written by Faiyyas Hashmi. The song, based on raga Megh Malhar, was ‘O varsha ke pehle badal mera sandesha le jana…’. It was sung by wellknown singer Jagmohan. It is still remembered by old-timers.
The post-Independence film in which the rainy season forms a sort of permanent backdrop to the entire storyline was ‘Barsaat’ (1949). It was produced and directed by Raj Kapoor, who was also its hero. The film’s story revolves round two Kashmiri girls, who fall in love with two young men from the plains. One of them (Premnath) is a playboy type.
The hapless girl (Nimmi) who loses her heart to him has no inkling of the tragic fate that awaits her. The innocent damsel sings rapturously to greet her lover when he comes to meet her, ‘Barsaat mein hum se mile tum ke sajjan tum se mile hum….’.
There are some charming rain songs from films which somehow could never get atop the popularity chart. One such song figured in ‘Jagte Raho’ (1956).
A young woman (Sumitra), the charm of whose beauty is lost on her drunkard husband (Moti Lal), sings on a rainy day, “Thandi thandi sawan ki phuwaar, piya aaj khidki khuli mat chhodo…’ While Asha Bhonsle lent her sweet vocals to this touching song, it was Salil Choudhary who composed its music.
In Bimal Roy’s ‘Sujata’ (1959), Nutan played the role of a low-caste girl who was orphaned in infancy. She never dares to express her love for Sunil Dutt, the scion of an upper caste family. So one day when she is alone at home, she sings in a near tearful voice, ‘Kali ghatta chhaye mora jiya ghabraye…’ The song conjures up the picture of a dark and dismal day with the overcast sky threatening rain.
Can you imagine anything more romantic for two lovers than a rainy day and both of them sharing one umbrella? And then they sing, ‘Rimjihm ke tarane le ke aayee barsaat, yaad aaye kisise wo pehli mulakaat…’ The song was picturised on Waheeda Rehman and Dev Anand in ‘Kala Bazaar’ (1960).
While S.D. Burman set it to music, Rafi and Geeta Dutt sang it with their usual élan. Salil Choudhary was one of our most talented music composers. The rain songs he composed for films are simply unforgettable. Two stand out in one’s memory. One of them was from ‘Do Bigha Zameen’, ‘Haryala sawan dhol bajata aaya, roon tak tak man ke more nachata aaya…’. It was picturised on poor farmers of a village who have waited long for the first rain of the season. And when at long last it comes, they dance with gusto and sing this song to the beat of drums.
The other Salil Choudhary song that I have in mind is from the film ‘Parkh’ (1960). It is rather a sad song encapsulating the feelings of a girl whose lover is away from her during the rainy season. The song, ‘Sajna, barkha bahar aayee, ras ki phuwaar layee…’. Incidentally, both these songs were written by Shailendra.
S.D Burman was not only a unique composer but also a good singer. The few Hindi film songs that he sang are so haunting that once one has listened to them, it is difficult to forget them. One such song he composed and sang for ‘Guide’ (1965).
The song, ‘Allah megh de paani de chhayya de…’ implores the rain gods to shower their mercy when the blistering heat of summer becomes unbearable.
It is a dark, rainy night and the trees are dancing and swaying madly in the howling wind. Two strangers – a young girl and a young man – seek shelter from the lashing rain under the same tree.
The rain-drenched girl is seen wiping her face with the pallu of her sari as she stands there beside the young man. The young man steals a glance at her and finds her enchantingly beautiful.
Long after this encounter, this young man, a celebrated poet, is one day at a mushaira to recite his poem. Suddenly, he finds that the girl he had encountered in the dark rainy night is there among the audience. The poet recognizes her, and then instead of reciting the poem he had come prepared with, he spontaneously versifies a fresh one about that dark rainy night when he had met her under a tree. He sings his poem in a melodious voice, ‘Zindagi bhar nahin bhoole gee wo barsaat ki raat, ek anjaan haseena se mulakaat ki raat…’ Penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, this song is from ‘Barsaat Ki Raat’ (1960). It was composed by Roshan. There was another beautiful rain song in this film, ‘Garjat barsat sawan aayo re…’ based on raga Gaud Malhar.
It was sung by Suman Kalyanpur and Kamal Barot. Some of our folk songs beautifully express how the rainy season is accompanied by swift winds and how the people in villages, who have deeper knowledge of the elements than city-dwellers, enjoy being drenched in the rains. In ‘Milan’ (1967) a poor boatman (Sunil Dutt) undertakes to teach the girl (Nutan) from a rich household how to sing a rain song in the right spirit. The song, ‘Sawan ka maheena pavan kare shor, jiyra re jhoome aise jaise ban ma naache mor…’
If for this article I have taken all rain songs from old Hindi films it is because there are none impressive enough in the present-day films to merit a mention here. I have also avoided those old rain songs of the 80s’s and 90s which were a handy excuse for the film director to present the heroine in a thin wet sari transparently sticking to her shapely body, while the hero, with an expression of unbridled sensuality on his face, was all the time pawing and hugging her.
However, there are two good rain songs from recent year films that readily come to mind. One of them is from the Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan starrer ‘Guru’. The song, “Barso re megha…” was well tuned by A.R Rahman. It was a good rain song, but, strangely, it never caught on. The other A.R Rahman-composed rain song, ‘Taal se taal mila…’., was also picturised on Aishwarya Rai. It was in the film ‘Taal’ and so well tuned that long after one has forgotten the film, its melodious tune haunts one in one’s reposeful moments.
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