Tum Aa Gaye Ho

Last few days, one has seen a plethora of articles & posts about Emergency, that was imposed in India on 26th June 1975 & lasted for a period of 19 months.

Amongst some of the casualties that censorship imposed at that time, was a movie that was released in 1975 & was banned after a few weeks . It was allowed to be released only after the lifting of Emergency & subsequent defeat of Congress in 1977. Of course, the movie went on to become a classic, also getting Best Movie Award in the Critics category for that year from Filmfare.

This was Aandhi, a political drama which saw confluence of an amazing array of artistes;  Gulzar, at the helm of the affairs,  who collaborated with Kamleshwar – one of the leading media & literary persona of the time, Sanjeev Kumar, Suchitra Sen (in her last Hindi movie) & Om Prakash brought their characters alive  on screen. In the background, it was time for Gulzar to also play the role of a lyricist, and with Pancham, Kishore Kumar & Lata Mangeshkar, the movie gave some of the most romantic songs of Hindi cinema.

Though it seems that the key protagonist Aarti Devi (played by Suchitra Sen – her last Hindi movie) was inspired by Nandini Satpathy, a leading politician of Orissa, her gate-up, specially the white streak in her hair led I & B Ministry to believe her to be modelled on Indira Gandhi. As a result, despite the movie being very sympathetic to the character, it was banned for a short while. The music of the movie  became an instant hit, till even that was banned in May 1976 – not because of the movie, but due to an unofficial ban on Kishore Kumar, who had refused to sing in a Congress Rally in Mumbai.

Be as it may be, even after 4 decades, the compositions of this movie have remained amongst the best of Pancham; often compared to Amar Prem for the class of rendition & depth of verse.

It is indeed difficult to really favour any one particular song from this movie, but the one I am showcasing is special for today – this being Pancham’s birthday.

The song has very little prelude & has all favourite instruments of Pancham – Guitar, Sax & Madal, with violin that act as a bridge to carry the tune seamlessly. 

However, what is special are the verse that – despite being penned for a romantic situation, also manage to convey the feelings that all the fans may have about Pancham & his music.

So here is wishing all his fans, a very special day with this lovely song:

Tum Aa gaye Ho

Noor Aa Gaya Hai

Nahin To, Chiraagon Se

Lau Ja Rahi Thi
Jeene Ki Tum Se
Wajah Mil gayi Hai
Badi Bewajah
Zindagi Ja Rahi Thi