Let's Go Back: Heer Ranjha (1970)
Asif
yesterday and was hugely impressed with his presentation of the rural
Punjab as the setting of the film. Madan Mohan's magical music just
left me gasping. All those pristinely melodious songs, especially my
all-time favorites 'milo na tum to ham' and 'ye duniyaa ye mahafil',
blended beautifully with the countryside depicted in the film. No
lavish sets, no dream sequences, no beds of roses and tulips, and no
groups of a thousand bikini-clad girls dancing in unison, and yet
those songs left an indelible mark on the film's story as well as my
heart and mind.
The film is probably the forerunner of today's marriage videos like
Dilwaale Dulahaniya Le Jaayenge (1995) and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994),
the only difference being that Chetan Anand treated those rural
Punjabi marriage traditions just as parts of his broader vision where
those video wallahs like Aditya Chopra and Suraj Barjatya just passed
their marriage videos off as cinema.
Anyway, I just loved the hugely expressive yet much maligned (for her
unconventional looks) Priya Rajvansh dancing just lightly enough
amidst those mustard fields and singing 'milo na tum to ham
ghabraaye.n'. If she gyrated even 1 inch more on either side, the
song would have been ruined. However, I was surprised by the filming
of two other songs. Raj Kumar, while singing 'ye duniya ye mahafil',
changes his garb first into a sufi saint and then as a sadhu, both
wandering around in search of his own meaning of love and life in this
world. Did Waris Shah, who originally penned this eternal love epic,
depict Ranjha wandering around like this in an apparent mockery of
religious practices? Also, did any of Shah's original poetry or any
line in it inspire Kaifi to write equally stirring line like 'unako
Kudaa mile hai Kudaa kii jinhe.n talaash, mujhako bas ek jhalak mere
diladaar kii mile'?
The song 'do dil TuuTe do dil haare' has always tugged at my heart
strings, especially with those immortal lines like 'dekhegii mukha.Daa
apanaa abake jawaanii dil ke daaG me.n'. I always knew that Kafi's
poetic imagination had wings of a westerly wind, and I always thought
that the line 'pyaar tumhaaraa dekha, dekhaa tumhaaraa aa.Nkhe.n
mo.Danaa, to.D to Daalaa dil ko, khel nahii.n hai dil kaa do.Danaa,
ta.Dapoge tum bhii saath hamaare' was directed at Ranjha. In the film
though Heer appears to be directing the lines at her father, or I got
unnecessarily distracted?
Coming back to the rural Punjab, I smelled and sensed it heartily in
the evergreen song 'Dolii cha.Dhate hii hiir ne bain kiye'. This
magnificent composition pours forth so much separation pain with just
a background voice of Lata and a set of minimal musical instruments.
I had long been cultivating this song on the screen until I finally
saw it cropping up yesterday. The word 've' at the end of each
antaraa works wonders - what does this really mean in Punjab or in
Punjabi language? The words 'bain kiye' have always baffled me. Can
someone please tell me what the word 'bain' mean here? Also, the way
Lata sings the entire song, is it a Punjabi folk singing style?
The other two splendid songs 'merii duniyaa me.n tum' and 'tere kuuche
me.n teraa diiwaanaa' completes the gamut in this memorable album,
however, I was disappointed to see the latter missing from the film.
So the song 'tere kuuche me.n teraa diiwaanaa' was never included in
the film?
I also did not know that Heer was shown as a Muslim girl in the film.
That was really a big surprise for me. But I could not figure out if
Ranjha also is a Muslim or a Hindu. Chetan Anand either probably did
not leave any clue or maybe failed to tell it in his story, or
possibly I missed it.
Finally, I am curious to know if the film was shot on location in
Punjab. If yes, what part? And where is the original Shah epic set
if not in the same location as in the film? Do you have any memories
of listening to all those great songs from this album when they first
came out, or of watching the film when it was first released? Why do
you think the film flopped? I would have seen it several times over
then. What did you think about the excellent acting of both Raj Kumar
and Priya Rajvansh? While I am not exactly a fan of Raj Kumar, Priya
is another story. She stunned me with her powerhouse performance in
Hanste Zakham (1973). In this film too she impressed me with her
grace and charm, especially in all her songs. Anyway, let's recall
your memories and let's share. Thanks.
Asif
shooganpr...@yahoo.co.in
Asif
Do a google search for "Heer Ranjha" for more info about the story and
Waris Shah.
Regards
Sukesh
Naseer
On May 18, 6:47 pm, Asif <alvi.a...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Coming back to the rural Punjab, I smelled and sensed it heartily in
> the evergreen song 'Dolii cha.Dhate hii hiir ne bain kiye'. This
> magnificent composition pours forth so much separation pain with just
> a background voice of Lata and a set of minimal musical instruments.
> I had long been cultivating this song on the screen until I finally
> saw it cropping up yesterday. The word 've' at the end of each
> antaraa works wonders - what does this really mean in Punjab or in
> Punjabi language? The words 'bain kiye' have always baffled me. Can
> someone please tell me what the word 'bain' mean here? Also, the way
> Lata sings the entire song, is it a Punjabi folk singing style?
Dolii chaRhte Heer ne bain kiye mujhe le chale baabulaa le chale ve..
Heer wailed/lamented as she climbed into the (bridal) sedan chair,
they are taking me away dearest father.
As for "ve", this is bit difficult. Let's look at the following
examples, which I hope will exemplify its usage.
tere bharose he Nandlaalaa (Hindi)
tere bharose ai Nandlaal (Urdu)
tere p_harose ve Nandlaalaa (Punjabi)
So, it is equivalent to " In trusting you O Nandlal...". When Lata is
saying "ve" the implication " O people/listeners...."
> I also did not know that Heer was shown as a Muslim girl in the film.
> That was really a big surprise for me. But I could not figure out if
> Ranjha also is a Muslim or a Hindu. Chetan Anand either probably did
> not leave any clue or maybe failed to tell it in his story, or
> possibly I missed it.
Heer and Ranjha were both from Muslim families. {The word "Heer" means
diamond.}
> Finally, I am curious to know if the film was shot on location in
> Punjab. If yes, what part? And where is the original Shah epic set
> if not in the same location as in the film?
Ranjha came from taKHt Hazaaraa and Heer from Jhang-Syaal. She was
also known as Heer-Syaal for she was a Syaal.
Best Regards,
Naseer
irfan
Asif Saheb you can read all about Heer Ranjha here :
http://www.apnaorg.com/poetry/heercomp/heer-english.html
apnaorg.com is the best w/site for Punjabi literature and music.
Regards,
Irfan
maild...@yahoo.com
less
a Hindi version of Waris Shah's original verses in Punjabi. Since, I
don't
have the Waris Shah's complete work, so can not make any comments
about
the rest of the lyrics.
The tune is the traditional style in which 'Heer' has been rendered
for
God knows for how long. Incidentally, any Waris Sha'h's verses
rendered
in this style is called: 'HEER' and this tune has been quite
popular with
the music directors of Hindi Film Music (e.g.: ANARKALI - Ae Baad-e-
Saba,
SHIRIN FARHAD - Na Tajshahi, Na Badshahi, DOOJ KA CHAND - Lo Apna
Jahan Duniya Walo and many more). For film HEER RANJHA, Madan Mohan
added lot of instrumental music to the traditional tune.
Incidentally, LATA sang the original Punjabi song at a Stage
Performace in
in London, which was issued on a 2-LP set. Punjabi folk singer, Asa
Singh Mastana
also sang the same song few years earlier than Lata's performance.
Both songs
are pre-dated to song from film: HEER RANJHA
Sudhir
------------------------------
Abhay Phadnis
(snip)
> The song 'do dil TuuTe do dil haare' has always tugged at my heart
> strings, especially with those immortal lines like 'dekhegii mukha.Daa
> apanaa abake jawaanii dil ke daaG me.n'. I always knew that Kafi's
> poetic imagination had wings of a westerly wind, and I always thought
> that the line 'pyaar tumhaaraa dekha, dekhaa tumhaaraa aa.Nkhe.n
> mo.Danaa, to.D to Daalaa dil ko, khel nahii.n hai dil kaa do.Danaa,
> ta.Dapoge tum bhii saath hamaare' was directed at Ranjha. In the film
> though Heer appears to be directing the lines at her father, or I got
> unnecessarily distracted?
The whole song is directed at an entity spelt out in the second half
of the mukhaDaa (sing on after "do dil Tuute, do dil haare..." and you
have it!).
> then. What did you think about the excellent acting of both Raj Kumar
> and Priya Rajvansh? While I am not exactly a fan of Raj Kumar, Priya
> is another story. She stunned me with her powerhouse performance in
> Hanste Zakham (1973). In this film too she impressed me with her
> grace and charm, especially in all her songs. Anyway, let's recall
> your memories and let's share. Thanks.
To each his own, of course, but I wonder whether PR has ever had as
much praise throughout her career as you have showered on her in the
course of one post! :)
I am surprised that you have written such a long post on the movie
without referring even once to the unusual (unique?) use of rhymed
dialogues in the film. I can't recall any other film that attempts
this.
Warm regards,
Abhay
Asif
Naseer Sahab, your explanation of 've' and other stuff was nice.
About both Heer and Ranjha being Muslims, I was actually surprised to
see them living in a culture that does not look Islamic at all - no
cap on any male's head, no salaam/wassalaam by anyone, nor even a
mosque in sight. Chetan Anand might have avoided this all
deliberately in his film, but did Waris Shah portray it clearly in his
verses? I am going to read his Heer in details later - now the whole
thing is becoming very intriguing to me. By the way, I have had a
childhood friend who is Sikh and his last name is Syaal. How come
Muslims in Jhang-Syaal town of Punjab also have the same last name?
Asif
Asif
Irfan Sahab, that website is great and I have bookmarked it for
regular visits in future.
Asif
Asif
Sudhir Sahab, now that is very interesting. I never paid attention to
the fact that other music directors also used this traditional Punjabi
style of singing in their songs. A few months ago I listened to the
Anarkali CD for many days. It remains of my all-time favorite
albums. I love almost all its songs equally, and I was enthralled by
Hemant Kumar's rendition of 'ai baad-e-sabaa aahistaa chal' and I
thought this was a unique song in terms of singing. Now I know where
all the uniqueness came from.
Asif
Asif
> On May 18, 10:47 pm, Asif <alvi.a...@gmail.com> wrote:
> (snip)
>
> > The song 'do dil TuuTe do dil haare' has always tugged at my heart
> > strings, especially with those immortal lines like 'dekhegii mukha.Daa
> > apanaa abake jawaanii dil ke daaG me.n'. I always knew that Kafi's
> > poetic imagination had wings of a westerly wind, and I always thought
> > that the line 'pyaar tumhaaraa dekha, dekhaa tumhaaraa aa.Nkhe.n
> > mo.Danaa, to.D to Daalaa dil ko, khel nahii.n hai dil kaa do.Danaa,
> > ta.Dapoge tum bhii saath hamaare' was directed at Ranjha. In the film
> > though Heer appears to be directing the lines at her father, or I got
> > unnecessarily distracted?
>
> The whole song is directed at an entity spelt out in the second half
> of the mukhaDaa (sing on after "do dil Tuute, do dil haare..." and you
> have it!).
>
> > then. What did you think about the excellent acting of both Raj Kumar
> > and Priya Rajvansh? While I am not exactly a fan of Raj Kumar, Priya
> > is another story. She stunned me with her powerhouse performance in
> > Hanste Zakham (1973). In this film too she impressed me with her
> > grace and charm, especially in all her songs. Anyway, let's recall
> > your memories and let's share. Thanks.
>
> To each his own, of course, but I wonder whether PR has ever had as
> much praise throughout her career as you have showered on her in the
> course of one post! :)
Well, Abhay Sahab, I am not the only one :-) Look at this link that I
found in my search for more information on Heer Ranjha:
http://aboutfilm.wordpress.com/2007/04/08/heer-ranjha-%E2%80%93-the-cinema-of-chetan-anand/
>
> I am surprised that you have written such a long post on the movie
> without referring even once to the unusual (unique?) use of rhymed
> dialogues in the film. I can't recall any other film that attempts
> this.
Yeah I should have talked about it too. Actually, all these years I
always thought how Chetan Anand told the entire story in verses and
had some misgivings about this aspect of the film. But I decided to
order the DVD anyway and was relieved to see that those verses are
just easy, everyday ones and sound just nice and perfect.
Asif
shooganpr...@yahoo.co.in
Asif
There are many punjabi-muslims who still use their original family/
tribal names.
Sethi, Saigal/Saigol/Sahgal, Sial/Syal, Bhatti, Ghumman, Sandhu,
Tiwana, Cheema, Khatri, Chaudhury, Sahni, Chauhan, etc. are some of
the family names that would be in use.
In fact, many of these families probably take pride in using these
family/tribal names.
Regards
Sukesh
Naseer
>
> - Show quoted text -
Asif Sahib, aadaab.
I doubt very much if Waris Shah did not portray the Islamic Punjabi
culture of his time. All such works begin with Hamd (in praise of
almighty God), followed by na't (praise of the Prophet). So, it would
not be logical to deliberately avoid this fact.
As for name, Heer is Heer Sayal for the simple reason that her
ancestors were Sayals before they became Muslims and kept the Sayal
family name. This is the same as Patel,Rajput etc
Naseer
Naseer
>
> - Show quoted text -
Asif Sahib,
There is a style of singing called "Heer" (Heer aakhdii jogiyaa
ch_huuTh boleN etc) just as there is "Maahiyaa", "Tappa" singing. You
may have noticed also that there is a unique way of singing "Mirza
SahibaaN". Many moons back, an uncle of mine asked me to read "Heer".
Of course I had never read Punjabi in Urdu script (Shahmukhi script)
as I was used to reading only Urdu and consequently made a complete
hash of it. He then, quite proudly, began to sing it in his beautiful
voice, but in what I later learnt to be the "Heer" style.
Naseer
Asif
>
> There is a style of singing called "Heer" (Heer aakhdii jogiyaa
> ch_huuTh boleN etc) just as there is "Maahiyaa", "Tappa" singing. You
> may have noticed also that there is a unique way of singing "Mirza
> SahibaaN". Many moons back, an uncle of mine asked me to read "Heer".
> Of course I had never read Punjabi in Urdu script (Shahmukhi script)
> as I was used to reading only Urdu and consequently made a complete
> hash of it. He then, quite proudly, began to sing it in his beautiful
> voice, but in what I later learnt to be the "Heer" style.
>
The song 'rut hai milan kii' (Mela, 1971) has these two sets of lines
each just before each antaraa:
ho ko_ii sajanavaa aajaa
tere binaa Tha.nDii havaa sahii naa jaa_e aajaa
o sajaniyaa jaan le le ko_ii mose
ab to laage nainaa tose aajaa o aajaa
I bet Rafi sang these lines in the same Punjabi singing style we are
talking about here, or they are some different folk stuff and not
Punjabi at all?
By the way, could you please recommend a formally released CD
compilation of such Punjabi songs and also point me to a website where
I can download a couple of them from to sample them? I would like to
buy the CD even if I hardly understand any Punjabi. I guess I am
hooked to this singing style.
Asif
surjit singh
Inder Sabha 1932 with 71 songs is supposed to be like this too.
>
> Warm regards,
> Abhay
Naseer
On May 19, 11:57 pm, Asif <alvi.a...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On May 19, 12:08 pm, Naseer <qures...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > There is a style of singing called "Heer" (Heer aakhdii jogiyaa
> > ch_huuTh boleN etc) just as there is "Maahiyaa", "Tappa" singing. You
> > may have noticed also that there is a unique way of singing "Mirza
> > SahibaaN". Many moons back, an uncle of mine asked me to read "Heer".
> > Of course I had never read Punjabi in Urdu script (Shahmukhi script)
> > as I was used to reading only Urdu and consequently made a complete
> > hash of it. He then, quite proudly, began to sing it in his beautiful
> > voice, but in what I later learnt to be the "Heer" style.
>
> The song 'rut hai milan kii' (Mela, 1971) has these two sets of lines
> each just before each antaraa:
>
> ho ko_ii sajanavaa aajaa
> tere binaa Tha.nDii havaa sahii naa jaa_e aajaa
>
> o sajaniyaa jaan le le ko_ii mose
> ab to laage nainaa tose aajaa o aajaa
>
> I bet Rafi sang these lines in the same Punjabi singing style we are
> talking about here, or they are some different folk stuff and not
> Punjabi at all?
I am sorry I don't seem to be familiar with this song.
> By the way, could you please recommend a formally released CD
> compilation of such Punjabi songs and also point me to a website where
> I can download a couple of them from to sample them? I would like to
> buy the CD even if I hardly understand any Punjabi. I guess I am
> hooked to this singing style.
I an an old fashioned kind of person and don't have much music in CD
form especially Punjabi. If you like, I could e-mail you a few audio
and video links that you might enjoy.
Naseer
surjit singh
has all kinds of Panjabi music, filmi, non-filmi, devotional, folk,
classical etc.