Published in
The Times of India Online timesofindia.indiatimes.com > Culture Curry
Har ek pal ka shayar[ 30 Oct, 2005 0252hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
Maana ki is zameen ko na gulzar kar sake Kuch khaar kam to kar gaye guzre jidhar se hum (Yes, I could not flower gardens on this earth/But I did lessen a few thorns on the paths I travelled) Sahir Ludhianvi, poet, humanist, rebel and incurable romantic, wrote those lines with characteristic self-deprecation. But of one thing there is no doubt: as far as the film world went, he flowered it in a way no lyricist before or after him did, changing the paradigm of the film song and elevating it to a standard that set a benchmark for generations. Much has been written about Sahir: the pain and rejection of his childhood and early youth that echoed in his poetry; the sublimation of that pain into a humanist vision that embraced the helpless and dispossessed of the world; his style, rich in thought, yet unburdened by complexity, so simple and direct that it went straight to the heart; his social conscience that gave the Hindi film world its most landmark lyrics in films like Pyaasa, Phir Subah Hogi, Sadhana and Dhool Ka Phool. And of course the beauty of his layered, mostly anguish-filled, romantic poetry in films from Girlfriend to Gumraah to Kabhi Kabhie.
But—and this is a personal take, no doubt—the magic of Sahir lay as much in his less celebrated songs. At a time when romantic lyrics didn't go too far beyond chaand, raat and judaai, his takes on love were more innovative: Tum agar mujhko na chaho to koi baat nahin/Tum kisi aur ko chahogi to mushkil hogi or Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao to yeh haq hai tumko/Meri baat aur hai maine to mohabbat ki hai or indeed Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum dono. In Dhund, a little known B film, there is a gooseflesh-inducing song Sansar ki har shai ka itna hi fasana hai/Ek dhund se aana hai ek dhund mein jaana hai. A verse goes: Ek pal ki palak par hai thehri hui yeh duniya/Ek pal ke jhapakne tak har khel suhana hai. Innumerable Hindi film songs have been written on the life-death enigma but few as original as this one. Indeed, Sahir could suffuse the most ordinary film situation with meaning. Take Aage bhi jaane na tu, a mere 'club song' like Zindagi ittefaq hai years after it. In this lyric, on the ephemerality of the moment and the consequent need to live it fully, he spotlighted the elusive pal, garbing yesterday and tomorrow in an ominous darkness: Anjaane saayon ka raahon mein dera hai/Andekhi baahon ne hum sab ko ghera hai/Yeh pal ujala hai baki andhera hai/Yeh pal gawana na, yeh pal hi tera hai.
If you listen to it carefully, it is an amazing song, and possibly the inspiration for two lovely seize-the-moment lyrics that followed later: Gulzar's Aane waala pal and Javed Akhtar's Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi. Whatever the context, few songs of Sahir were mundane. Not too many lyricists would have embedded philosophy in a rag-bone man's call: Khali dabba khali botal le le mere yaar/Khali se mat nafrat karna khali sab sansar. Or imbued a seemingly flip song revolving around a cigarette lighter (Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya/Har fikr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya) with such depth. Main zindagi ka saath... is no smoker's anthem, it is virtually a Vedantic paen to equanimity, and so simply and beautifully expressed at that. To try and bring out the genius of Sahir Ludhianvi in a few hundred words is a frustrating exercise in futility. Does one talk about the little surprises in his songs—a stray line or two that take your breath away when you least expect it—like Marne ka salika aate hi/Jeene ka shaoor aa jaata hai, a line in the essentially romantic song Chehre pe khushi chha jaati hai from Waqt? Does one focus on his uncanny gift of expression, the sheer beauty of his words? Suffice it to say that he was a class apart. Years ago, in one of his most famous songs, Main pal do pal ka shaayar hoon, he wrote 'Kal aur aayenge naghmon ki/Khilti kaliyan chunne waale/Mujhse behtar kehne waale/Tumse behtar sunne waale'. Sahir was wrong. Forget anyone better, there has never been anyone who even came close to him.
