Last year, this date, I had used this page to wish happy birthday to Waheeda Rahman. I have always admired her as much for her ethereal beauty as much for her grace & elegance.
Now is it not a coincidence that the only other actress, in my opinion, who could match her grace & elegance was also born on the same date - though 19 years later.
There were lot of things which were different between both of them - apart from the generation itself. One was a south Indian, while another was from Punjab. One was a dancer par excellence, another - nothing much to write about. One looked ethereal, while the other was beautiful with a girl-next-door kind of presence.
Yet, these differences in-fact underscored the basics common to both of them - one, they both arrived like a fresh breeze for their time, and went on to win the heart of the millions; two - they both were performers par-excellence; and three - in a world where heroines past their hey-days find it difficult to give up on glamourous looks, they both aged so gracefully and continued to look as beautiful as they were - without resorting to any kind of gimmickry.
So today, while I wish both of them a very happy birthday, the song is devoted not to Waheeda Rahman, but to - Deepti Naval!
The song is from that all time classic comedy of Gulzar - Angoor, based on Shakespeare play, Comedy of Errors. In fact, this is also the only song which Pancham composed with Deepti Naval rendering it on-screen.
Pancham used Raag Yaman Kalyan, a raag in which he had created some more memorable songs - like Is Mod se jaate Hain & Beeti Na Beetai Raina. Well, the one played here is also no less. Pancham used Sitar & Tabla as the base instruments to bring out the absolute flawless & mesmerizing rendition by Asha Bhosle of Gulzar's verse - which are as simple & beautiful as Deepti Naval herself.
बीते हुए मौसम की कोई निशानी होगी
दर्द पुराना कोई, याद पुरानी होगी
कोई तो दास्तां, होगी ना
रोज रोज डाली डाली, क्या लिख जाए
भंवरा, बावरा, बावरा