Some songs are immortal. Pankaj Udhas’s Chithi aayi hai..., an anthem of longing, a song for those settled far away from their motherland, tugs at the heart strings even after 31 years. No concert of Udhas is complete without this song, which was voted among the top 100 songs of the millennium by BBC.
For Udhas, who launched his career with a ghazal album ‘Aahat’ (1980) and followed it up with three other successful albums — ‘Mukarar’, ‘Tarrannum’ and ‘Mehfil’, this song from the film Naam (1986) helped further his rise to fame. It was a break that helped make his presence felt in Bollywood.
Way back in the early 1970s, Udhas made his film debut in Kamna but the film was shelved. This was a huge disappointment and it took years of struggle to become a ‘singer’.
“The offer to sing in Naam came quite like a bolt from the blue. The film’s producer, eminent actor Rajendra Kumar, I came to know later, was impressed by my ghazals and wanted to include one of them in the film. He also wanted me to play a cameo, which really did not excite me. But Rajendra Kumar got in touch with me through my brother Manhar bhai and I could not refuse,” says Udhas.
Evergreen melody
Udhas remembers the first discussion on the song. “All of them were there — Rajendra Kumar, script writer Salim, the director of the film Mahesh Bhatt, lyricist Anand Bakshi saab and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The situation in the film was explained and Anand Bakshi saab hit the nail on the head with his first few lines. Like it happens with some songs, I had the feeling that I was going to be part of something special.”
What surprises Udhas is that even today the song that has transcended generations brings tears to the eyes of many who listen to it. “I can understand this feeling when I sing this abroad for the core emotions certainly touch the minds of non-resident Indians there. They are those who crave for the fragrance of the mitti (soil) of their land, who feel a loss of sense of belonging. But I really don’t know why people cry while listening to the song in India. Later, I figured out that when I sing in Kochi, there may be a Bihari in the audience who is taken back to his land, his elderly mother at home perhaps, or the festivals there. In a sense the song affects every one who feels displaced.”
Such songs, Udhas feels, are not made every day. “It’s like, say Lataji’s (Lata Mangeshkar) all-time favourite Aye mere watan ke logon...”
Changing taste
While on the subject of films, Udhas talks about how Bollywood almost seems to have given up on ghazals today. A staple of Hindi films in the 1950s and 60s, the ghazal was edged out by the advent of a ‘westernised culture.’ “In those days, we had filmmakers and music directors, who were well-versed in Urdu and Hindi. For instance, Guru Dutt was one filmmaker who groomed classical poets. Just listen to his songs in films like Kaagaz Ke Phool. Filmmakers like him used ghazals whenever the film demanded an emotion-charged sequence. Music director Madan Mohan, for example, created immortal ghazals. I can list at least 20 ghazals sung by Rafi saab (Mohammed Rafi) and Lataji for various composers. Listen to Aap ki nazron nay samjha... (Anpadh), it is a proper ghazal. The producer, who perhaps for commercial reasons, wanted Madan Mohan to make it more racy. But Madan Mohan explained that romance is not all about the pace of the song, rather, it is about the nuances of the composition and the lyrics. And when the film was released, this song was most popular. And it still is.”
That era has passed. “Today we have films and filmmakers who focus on action-packed films, technology-driven, all gloss, where we have exotic locations. We don’t have the mind to think in Hindi. They think in terms of Hollywood. This is certainly a setback for ghazals. Cinema is still a powerful medium and it has always supported ghazals. That avenue is more or less closed.”
Confident approach
Udhas is a singer who has always looked ahead, confident of his beliefs, committed to the mission he has undertaken — popularising the ghazal. He drew flak for the infusion of Hindi into the lyrics and also for his association of ghazals with intoxication and sharaab. This, many believe, is the leitmotif of his ghazals, something that irks him. Incidentally, his latest album ‘Madhosh’, is also about this ‘intoxication.’
Pankaj Udhas | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar
“I have been telling people that intoxication is not sharaab in its literal sense. Classical poets like Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib and Omar Khayyam wrote about it as a metaphor for the world at large, as a Khasiat, a state of mind. It is all about how one perceives intoxication. It is about being intoxicated by love, money, beauty and so on. Getting hooked on to such intoxicants restricts one from reaching the Supreme. In all these poems on sharaab, one should look for a deeper meaning.”
Udhas adds that out of the 500 ghazals he has sung only about 25 on this subject. “Again, unfortunately, they were picked up by one of the music companies and compiled into two albums. They also gave it suggestive titles like ‘Paimana’ (1984) and ‘Nasha’ (1997). It was a bad way of marketing it.”
On the ‘charge’ of diluting pure Urdu with the infusion of Hindi lyrics in his ghazals Udhas remains confident that his means were justified.
For the listeners
“When I started my career, I knew precisely what to do. It was to reach out to a larger audience. For this I had to adopt a simpler approach to language without compromising on the essence or soul of the poems. I was never for profundity at the cost of clarity. There was a time when Urdu was understood by a large number of people in our country. But now there are few who understand the language. So I tried to make poets write in Hindi, insisted that they even use colloquial terms, Urdu terms if necessary. But the themes, ideas and very often the tone itself closely followed what the great poets often wrote.”
Udhas points to one of his ghazals from the many gems in his treasure trove to explain his point. “There’s this ghazal that begins Aap jin ke kareeb hote hain wo bade khushanaseeb hote hain... (‘Jashn’). I think it brings out the emotion, the meaning in a language that is easily understood by the common man. Ghalib is my favourite poet but I feel that today there are not many in the country who will be able to decipher the soul of poetry, which is a mix of Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Hindi words.”
The playlist
Chandi jaisa rang hai...
Chithi aayi hai...
Ke taraf uska ghar...
Thodi thodi piya karo...
Sheeshon ka maseeha...
Sawan ke suhane mausam mein...
Kis pe jaan dijiye...
Niklo na benaqab...
Tere gham ko...
Sharaab cheez hi aisi...