This post is written by : Arun mudgal
सूने नभ में आग जला कर
यह सुवर्ण सा ह्रदय गला कर
जीवन संध्या को नहला कर
रिक्त जलभि भरने वाले को
अरे कहीं देखा है तुमने मुझे प्यार करने वाले को …..
As it is said that every thing has its own time to happen on the canvas of time and so it happened some two weeks ago before this theme day , and it happened after a tireless search for almost 35 long years!
During a chance conversations with an eminent Hindi writer in 1977 while we were discussing literature and writers in general somehow or other the conversation meandered to the poetry of Chhayawadi Kavis and then I do not remember how it got diverted to the poems of eminent Hindi poets used in Hindi Films and about the eminent poets who wrote for HFM. The number we discussed was not large as the discussion was limited to the most eminent names. Some names were names were discussed like Bhawaniprasad Mishra, Sumitranandan Pant and then Balkavi Bairagi and few other names cropped up. And then suddenly as out of the blue he mentioned a name which took me by surprise as it was neither known to me nor I could have ever imagined that the poet mentioned have had written for HFM. I was also not aware if any of his poems was ever used in HFM. The man with whom I was discussing was Shri Upendranath Ashq and the poet he mentioned was none other than the greatest Chhayawadi Poet Jaishankar Prasad. Shri Ashq also recalled the first line of the poem of Jaishankar Prasad as ‘ are kahin dekha hai tumne……’ but he could not recall the name of the film.
And this information put me on a search for this song as I wanted to listen to it. After a few years the second piece of information came to me from a senior friend and HFM lover that the song is from the 1941 film Sangam which was made by Navyug Chitrpat of Kolhapur, and it also had songs penned by Amritlal Nagar as well. As this was the time when there was no Google Baba or Net forums so the search continued to the Kabari Baazars and enquiring from the known HFM lovers and record collectors who i knew at that time. But success kept eluding me and more the success eluded me more determined I became to search it.
Then in 2009 Bhai Suman Chaurasiya shared four songs of this film with me which i in turn shared with Surjit Singh Ji, who Posted these songs on his wave Site, but the song penned by Jaishankar Prasad was not there in these four songs as Suman Bhai did not have that song. So again back to squire one and the search continued. I sounded Pavan Bhai and Girdharilal Vishwakarma Bhai also about the song so they also started a search for the song with me.
Then suddenly a ray of hope came my way a year back. During a chance conversation on telephone Shri Jayraman of Mumbai told me that he has this song in his collection for sure but he has to locate the record to share it with me. Time passed I spoke to him several times but due his business he could not share the song with me.
A month back I shared this information with Girdhari Bhai about the song being with Shri Jayraman. And at last Girdhari Bhai succeeded in getting the song from Shri Jayraman some two weeks back and shared it with me the same day.
So at last this rarest of the rare song, the one and only song of HFM which is written by the greatest Hindi Poet Jaishankar Prasad (30/1/1889- 14/1/1937 ) , and used in the 1941 film Sangam is here after a long and untiring search of more than three decades!
This song ‘ Are kahin dekha hai tumne mujhe pyaar karne waale ko….’ is sung beautifully by Suresh and Minakshi and is composed by Dada Chandkar. This gem of a melody has a sweet and pleasing tune composed by Dada Chandekar whose orchestration is known for its ‘Surilapan’ in HFM, a melody on all fronts. Superb tune, lovely singing and as far as the lyrics are concerned I am too small a fry to comment on the poetry of the Great Jaishankar Prasad. I consider myself blessed to be able to listen to this beauty of a song and love to share the sheer joy of listening it with the music lovers here on this wonderful place we know as SKS.
I am at a loss of words to express my gratitude and thanks to Shri Jayraman and the one only Girdhari Bhai who made this wonderful moment a reality. But a million thanks Girdhari Bhai for this extraordinary musical gift !
Enjoy this rarest of the rare beauties here
arun ji on sks
Apnaarchive 