Remembering Sahir Ludhianvi (The Bhajans he wrote for Hindi films)

We know Sahir Ludhianvi (08.03.1921 – 25.10.1980) as a poet, a romanticist, a rebellion, and a true humanist.

(I will not detail on his biography, poetry or filmography either, because there is a lot of information available on him in the domain and in the various books published on his poetry and lyrics that he penned for the Hindi films.)

Today on his death anniversary we remember him and pay our tributes to him.
First of all I express my heartiest thanks to Shri.Raja ji for his kind support and guidance to me in completion and presentation of this article.

‘Sahir Ludhianvi’ the name itself spells magic.

We know Sahir Ludhianvi as a poet of the highest quality, a romantic at heart, and a rebel.
What I learn through his poetry, and / or the many songs’ lyrics that he have contributed to the Hindi Films, I find him as a truly secular individual, a humanitarian, a true patriot, a ‘nature lover’, and an all time motivational philosopher. (Even after considering the various controversies that have been there about him).

Hence for me, he was much more than a poet, a romanticist, and a rebel.
For me he was a truly social, secular individual, a humanitarian, and a motivational philosopher.
He has been taking a ‘dig’ on the society and on the ‘hypocrisy’ prevalent in our society, on the pseudo-secularism, and the ‘system’ which gave importance to all other things over humanity.
His straight forward and hard hitting lyrics are very much relevant even today and very much important in context of the developments in our society and the social issues we face even after 67 years of our independence.

There were many aspects to Sahir’s poetry and writing. But, today, for the purposes of this article, I would like to dwell upon just one of them- The ‘Bhajans’ that he wrote.

Sahir has given us many memorable, or perhaps I should say ‘immortal’, bhajans which lead us to the world of the sublime, to introspect within ourselves, to be inspired and to be motivated in this journey of life. When one looks at these bhajans and the conviction in them, it becomes clear that they come straight from Sahir’s heart.

The Gramophone Co of India Ltd (HMV) had brought out in 1985 a beautiful compilation of ‘bhajans’ from this great poet.

Titled as ‘Bhajans from Films – Poet SAHIR LUDHIANVI’, this audio cassette (which I purchased on 28.11.1988 – I had this habit of marking my signature and date on the cassettes which I used to purchase regularly for my collection) this album has, in all, a total of ‘twelve’ gems.

I shall list out these songs with their links. All these ‘Bhajans’ have been discussed and available on our beloved Shri.Atul ji’s blog of which the respective links have been provided where one can listen these ‘Bhajans’ and/or watch the videos also.
Out of these twelve, so far ten have been discussed on Atul ji’s blog.

Here they are (with the links):
1) Allah tero naam ishwar tero naam from ‘Hum Dono’
2) Prabhu tero naam jo dhyaaye phal paawe from ‘Hum Dono’
3) ‘Tora man darpan kahlaaye’ from ‘Kaajal’
4) The extraordinary view from the loggia extends from buy Cialis Super Active Vancouver Canada Discount Prices Online Pharmacy Cheap buy Cialis Super Active 20 mg Online Cheap Canadian Pharmacy MedsВ buy Valtrex pay pal without prescription the Vatican all the way to the Albano hills. The space has buy ‘Aan milo aan milo shyaam saanware’ from ‘Devdas’
5) ‘Aaj sajan mohe ang lagaalo’ from ‘Pyaasa’
6) ‘Kaam krodh aur lobh ka maara jagat na aaya raas Professional essay writers from ‘Bahurani’
7) ‘Ganga tera paani amrit’ from same film
8) ‘Tora manwa kyon ghabraye’ from ‘Sadhna’
9) ‘Man re too kahe na dhir dhare’ from ‘Chitralekha’
10) ‘Ishwar allah tere naam’ from ‘Naya Raasta’…
Another beautiful song (which is not in the compilation) is ‘teri hai zameen, teraa aasmaan’ from ‘The Burning Train-1980’ Teri hai zameen tera aasmaan tu badaa meharbaan
This is another lovely gem penned by Sahir.

The two songs from the album, (and that remain to be posted on Atul ji’s blog) are:
1) Raam rahim Krishna kareem… sab ki hain ik hi taalim -Mehmaan (1974)
2) O praani re … teri karam kahaani teri aatma bhi jaane – Chingaari (1971*).

*The film itself is said to have been released only in 1989.

I will discuss the first song at another time, but today I would like to discuss the song from Chingaari. (Incidentally, there was a film in 1955 with the same title in which there is ONE song whose lyrics have been penned by Sahir)

This song from Chingaari is a beautiful, philosophical, gem about our ‘Karma’.

Sahir is talking to man, saying that however much he tries to cover up his deeds, his soul (aatma) knows. And He (the Lord, Parmatma) knows. So it is futile to commit sin and then try to cover it up.

Sahir emphasizes that you reap what you sow. the world is the result of karma. And your ‘karma’ cannot be hidden from your soul. And from Him (the Lord, Parmatma)

Such a clear philosophical statement coming from a man, known primarily for his Urdu shaayri!

I will leave all of you with these beautiful lyrics of this song from Sahir Saab.

The song being discussed today is sung by Shri.Manna Dey, who has left us yesterday. We pray our tributes to him. He has been a legendary singer for all of us and through his songs and the vast treasure he has left behind for all of us, he has immortalized himself in our hearts forever. The emotions for him cannot be expressed in words. He is there and will be there forever in our journey of life and in the life of the generations to come forever as long as music will be there on this earth.

And, while on this subject, I would also like to take the opportunity to pray to the Almighty to shower his love and affection on all of us, irrespective of caste, creed or religion.

Teri karam kahaani teri aatmaa bhi jaane (as available in the soundtrack of this film)
O praani re
Praani re
Teri karam kahaani
Teri aatmaa bhi jaane
Parmatmaa bhi jaane
Teri karam kahaani
Teri aatmaa bhi jaane
Parmatmaa bhi jaane
Kahaan chhupegaa re praani
Teri aatmaa bhi jaane
Parmatmaa bhi jaane