Khush raho ahl-e-vatan
Ashok
Kishore Kumar, Bhupendra, Pradeep, Rajinder
Krishan, Satyajit Ray and many others ...
What do they all have in common? They all
got touched upon as we (a Bengali friend who
prefers to reamain anonymous and I) started
chasing after information related to a song.
The most memorable line of the song is:
Khush raho ahl-e-vatan, ham to safar karate hai.n
========================
A joyous musical gathering was going on at
the Karbala of Mir Khodabaksh at the other
end of the city [Lucknow] when the Nawab
reached there with his entourage. He joined
in. At one time he broke into a sorrowful
song -
"dar-o-deevaar pe hasarat se nazar karate hai.n
Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham to safar karate hai.n"
The others joined him in singing. A gathering of
joy was soon turned into one of sorrow. The
people of Lucknow bade a tearful farewell to
their last Nawab.
=========================
This was the same night Nawaab Wajid Ali Shah
left Lucknow for Calcutta. Description taken
from a Bengali book "meTiyaaburujer nabaab"
(The Nawaab of Metiabruj), by Shreepaantha.
Published by Ananda Publishers Limited,
Calcutta, 1990.
The book does not explicitly mention the source
of information. Going through the entire book,
it seems that the information can have its
origin in one of these two sources:
1. Accounts of Elu Jaan, a lady who served
Wajid Ali Shah's mother Begum Aulia.
2. Wajid Ali Shah's own account of his departure
from Lucknow and life in Calcutta: "Husn-e-Akhtar"
The English translation of this book is called
"Sorrows of Akhtar". It was translated by Abdul
Wali and published from Calcutta in 1926. This
particular book is about a person called Akhtar
who describes what happened during that period
when the Nawaab left Lucknow for Calcutta. Akhtar,
of course, is the Nawaab himself.
(In an article by Susheela Mishra posted by
Rajan sometime ago in RMIC, it was mentioned that
Wajid Ali Shah used "aKhtarpiyaa" as a signature
for his compositions. The article was principally
about another immortal song
baabul moraa naihar chhooTo hi jaae
firmly attributed to Wajid Ali Shah.)
Shreepantha's book includes a very interesting
piece of discussion of a book of songs for the
newly-married, called "dulhan" written by Wajid
Ali Shah and published from his press at MeTiabruj
in Calcutta. The discussion is taken from a book
by Rajweshwar Mitra.
Wajid Ali Shah ruled from 1847-1856. He never
returned to Lucknow after 1856 and died in 1887
at Calcutta. He was buried at Matia-bruj.
Matia-bruj is a locality in Calcutta. During
Nawaab's stay there it developed into a mini-Lucknow,
with palaces, zoos, poets, singers and of course
dancing girls. He had his own press and published
books on theology, sociology, poems and songs.
>Why the serious interest Bengalis show in Wajid Ali
>Shah?
>
Good question. Frankly speaking, I do not know. The
Calcutta connection surely is an important point,
but then Mirza Ghalib also stayed for some time at
Calcutta and I'm not sure if Bengalis devoted the
same amount of time and energy for him (though I know
of quite a few important translations of his works
in Bengali).
Wajid Ali Shah introduced a lot of new leisures and
pleasures for Calcutta Babus. Remnants of that
culture can still be found at the northern part of
the city with its fascination of pigeons and bulbuls.
A number of Calcutta celebrities (mainly from the music
world) were regulars at his court in Matia-bruj.
Important among them was Jadu-Bhatta who taught young
Rabindranath.
Also...the Lucknow connection could have worked. Both
Atulprasad and Dhurjotiprasad Mukhopadhyay lived in
Lucknow for some time in their life and I think they
have written on Wajid Ali Shah and the Lucknow-i music
and culture. Young Satyajit Ray visited Atulprasad
with his mother's family some time in the thirties.
He was deeply influenced by the city. Lucknow appears
twice as the backdrop of his novels and of course
Shatranj-Ke-KhilaRi is his first Urdu/Hindi film.
There's an interesting account of Satyajit's
hate-love (in that order) relationship with the
character of Wajid Ali Shah while researching on the
story,given in (if I remember correctly) Andrew
Robinson's book.
==================
Back to "Khush raho ahl-e-chaman". It is not clear
who wrote the poem. The account only says that
Nawaab Wajid Ali Shah sang it.
What I remember of the lines is from a film song,
sung by Bupendra under the music direction of
Jaidev for a 1975 film, 'Andolan'. It was a
Lekh Tandon film, starring Nitu Singh and Rakesh
Pande. I don't remember any stanzas, but I think
the song uses both the lines
dar-o-deevaar pe hasarat se nazar karate hai.n
Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham to safar karate hai.n
The poet credited for the song is Ramprasad 'Bismil',
who also wrote
sar_faroshii ki tamanaa ab hamaare dil me.n hai
a favourite song of nationalists, specially
associated with the socialist freedom fighters like
Bhagat Singh.
(An aside: A very interesting song from the film
'Andolan' is the Meera bhajan sung by Asha:
piyaa se milan kaise hoy ri, mai.n jyaanoo naa
It appears Jaidev had the same song recorded in
the voice of Lata sometime in the mid-1970s, for
a film which got shelved: 'Chand Grahan". The
soundtrack surfaced last year. For some reason,
Lata bhaktas and Ashaavaadis haven't locked horns
on who has interpreted it better! Along with
the 'Jeevan Jyoti' of 1950s and 'Rudali' of the
1990s, it offers scope for such a comparison.)
The particular line and even phrases of "Khush raho"
have an arresting quality and have often been adapted
by other poets. Two instances readily come to mind.
One is by Rajinder Krishan for the film 'Main Chup
Rahungi'
Khush raho ahl-e-chaman, ham to chaman chho.D chale
Perhaps a background song, sung by Rafi to the music
of Chitragupta.
A very moving adaptation of part of the line occurs
in Pradeep's "ey mere vatan ke logo", tuned by C.
Ramchandra and sung by Lata. Toward the very end
we have
Khush rahanaa desh ke pyaaro, ab ham to safar karate hai.n
========================
My Bengali friend tells me:
Ranen sen, one of the founders of the Communist
Party of India was in his eighties when he zestfully
sang this song for us ("sarfaroshi ki tamanna"),
a bunch of kids in their early teens. He was the
grandfather of one of my friends. He had an endless
stock of stories of nationalist movement, patriotic
songs, the "non-nonviolent" movement and the communist party.
=======================
At the end of it all, we two ended up with all our
questions intact and a few more added! Hope nettors
can help.
1, Who wrote
Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham to safar karate hai.n?
Is Wajid Ali Shah the poet or is it Ramprasad 'Bismil'?
Facts about the latter, including his period, would be
appreciated.
2. Does any nettor have the words of the complete poem?
3. This is the question that got it all going! Is there
a Kishore Kumar song with this line? (Perhaps with a
different first line than the traditional one. Does
"raaho.n pe rahate hai.n" ring a bell?)
Ashok
Veena Nayak
>
>3. This is the question that got it all going! Is there
>a Kishore Kumar song with this line? (Perhaps with a
>different first line than the traditional one. Does
>"raaho.n pe rahate hai.n" ring a bell?)
Yes. It's the only male solo in
Namkeen and begins with that line.
Music is by the LoRD.
Veena
arunabha shasanka roy
Interesting your mentioning this song, barely a week after I
watched the film (Andolan) .
> What I remember of the lines is from a film song,
> sung by Bupendra under the music direction of
> Jaidev for a 1975 film, 'Andolan'. It was a
> Lekh Tandon film, starring Nitu Singh and Rakesh
> Pande. I don't remember any stanzas, but I think
> the song uses both the lines
You are right. The song does use both the lines , as a kind of prelude to
the song . It appears twice in the film, once at the beginning together
with the titles and credits, and at the end . The song is sung by Rakesh
Pande's character as he is taken to the gallows . A very nice song.
> dar-o-deevaar pe hasarat se nazar karate hai.n
> Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham to safar karate hai.n
> The poet credited for the song is Ramprasad 'Bismil',
> (An aside: A very interesting song from the film
> 'Andolan' is the Meera bhajan sung by Asha:
>
> piyaa se milan kaise hoy ri, mai.n jyaanoo naa
> It appears Jaidev had the same song recorded in
> the voice of Lata sometime in the mid-1970s, for
> a film which got shelved: 'Chand Grahan". The
> soundtrack surfaced last year. For some reason,
> Lata bhaktas and Ashaavaadis haven't locked horns
> on who has interpreted it better!
But unlike the Rudali and Jeevan Jyoti songs, the tunes are different
for the two renderings.
Here are the lines of the Andolan song (I'm unsure of a couple of
lines/words )
dar-o-diivaar pe hasrat-e-nazar karate hai.n
khush raho ahl-e-watan ham to safar karate hai.n
ham bhii aaraam uThaa sakate the ghar par rahakar
hamako bhii paalaa thaa maa baap ne dukh sah -sahakar
waqt-e-ruKsat unhe.n itanaa bhii na aaye kahakar
god me.n aa.Nsuu jo Tapake kabhii ruK se bahakar
sirf unako hii samajhanaa dil ke bahalaane ko
apanii qismat me.n azal se yahii Gam rakhaa thaa
dard rakhaa thaa ... (not sure )
kisako parvaah thii aur kisme.n ye dam rakhaa thaa
hamane jab waadii-e-qurbat me.n qadam rakhaa thaa
duur tak yaad-e-watan aayii thii samajhaane ko
dil fidaa karate hai.n qurbaan jigar karate hai.n
paas jo kuchh hai wo maataa kii nazar karate hai.n
??
khush raho ahl-e-watan ham to safar karate hai.n
jaake aabaad kare.nge kisii viiraane ko
naujawaano.n yahii maukaa hai uTho khul khelo
khidmat-e-qaum me.n jo aaye balaa sab jhelo
desh aazaad ho kyaa Gam hai jawaanii de do
phir milegii na ye maataa kii duwaaye.n le lo
dekhe kaun aataa hai ye farz bajaanaane(?) ko
Arunabha
Chetan Vinchhi
>
> 1, Who wrote
>
> Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham to safar karate hai.n?
>
> Is Wajid Ali Shah the poet or is it Ramprasad 'Bismil'?
> Facts about the latter, including his period, would be
> appreciated.
IIRC, Ramprasad 'Bismil' was basically a poet-turned-revolutionary.
He was tried and convicted (and eventually hanged) in the Kakori
Conspiracy Case around 1925.
C
Sambit Basu
> >Shah?
This is a very interesting question. My guess is that,
the time when the cultural identity of the city was getting
conceived, Wajid Ali Shah came to the city. Today,
whatever we know as a "old Calcutta culture" has a lot
of input from the Lukhnow culture through WAS and his
entourage.
That was also the time when the Bengali urban music was
getting shaped, though mostly through tappa-style. This
was another puzzle to me. Rabindranath's early compositions
were mostly influenced by dhrupads and western music. Later on,
his music showed influence of bengali folk (baul, kirtan) and tappa.
But, influence of Thumri was not perceptible at all. Any conjecture
anybody?
> Also...the Lucknow connection could have worked. Both
> Atulprasad and Dhurjotiprasad Mukhopadhyay lived in
> Lucknow for some time in their life and I think they
> have written on Wajid Ali Shah and the Lucknow-i music
> and culture.
Jus as an aside, Dhurjotiprasad once wrote that Calcutta owes
to Lukhnow for WAS, and repaid through Atulprasad.
- Sambit
Padmakar Khandekar
Jafar. Again, I could be wrong since I am giving this information
off-hand.
Chetan Vinchhi wrote:
> Ashok wrote:
> >
> > 1, Who wrote
> >
> > Khush raho ahl-e-vatan ham to safar karate hai.n?
> >
> > Is Wajid Ali Shah the poet or is it Ramprasad 'Bismil'?
> > Facts about the latter, including his period, would be
> > appreciated.
>