For a person who plays with simplest of the conversational words to
create magical verse, has an amazing array of stories, screenplays &
directorial ventures to his credit, it is indeed an interesting
combination that his names create. Yes, I used the plural “names”,
because he has two – one the real and another the pen name. The real
name “Sampoorna” which means encompassing everything & the pen name
that means a garden full of flowers - Gulzar.
Gulzar and Pancham gave some
of the finest songs to Hindi movie buffs. In fact, there is hardly a
movie where they both collaborated without creating a magic. Starting
their journey together with Parichay they took us on a route that had
milestones like Aandhi, Khushboo, Kinara, Ghar, Basera, Sitara, Golmaal,
Khubsoorat, Massom, and Namkeen before culminating in – at least as
far as a released movie is concerned - at Ijaazat – which according to
me is Gulzar’s best work forever.
The movie - a poignant tale of the eternal love triangle, comes across
like a poem on celluloid. Absolutely stunning locales, breathtaking
photography, very mature handling of the story, crisp direction and
power-packed performances by three protagonists – Rekha, Naseer &
Anuradha Patel ! The movie had everything going for it, and if this was
not enough, the troika of Pancham, Gulzar & Asha lent that extra
something which made Ijaazat into an all time classic.
While all
the compositions of the movie were superb, since Gulzar is well-known
for turning simple conversations into lovely verse, it is befitting to
present a composition where Pancham, after hearing the verse, asked him –
are you going to get me a newspaper headlines next to compose a song
on!
The song, picturised on uff-so-ethereally-captivatingly
beautiful Anuradha Patel, finds Pancham at his creative best. The
composition – difficult one to suit a metre-free verse – finds him using
santoor, sitar, tabla and guitar – in manner that enhances the
mellifluous vocals of Asha Bhosle. The impact is sensuous yet full of a
heart-ache and as mesmerising off screen as much as on-screen when you
hear Maya sing:
Ek Akeli Chhatri Me Jab
Aadhe Aadhe Bhig Rahe The
Aadhe Sukhe Aadhe Geele,
Sukhaa To Main Le Aayi Thi
Geela Man Shaayad Bistar Ke Paas Padaa Ho
Woh Bhijavaa Do,
Meraa Woh Saamaan Lautaa Do
It was interesting that while the music of Parichay got Lata Mangeshkar
& Bhupendra their National Awards, Ijaazat got Asha bhosle &
Gulzar get their national awards for this song. Pancham, however,
remained un-rewarded. That however is a story for some other time. Just
now, listen to this simply amazing song: