ashko.n ne jo bha.Dakaaii / saawan jo agan lagaae

Remember this song?



Of course you do. 'chi.ngaarii koii bha.Dake' is considered one of Anand Bakshi's best writings and is often cited as a profound piece of poetry. Profound probably it is. Original it is not.

Back in 1957, Qamar Jalalabadi wrote 'jab raat nahii.n kaTatii' for Hansraj Behl's 'Changez Khan'. Fourteen years later, Anand Bakshi borrowed one specific thought from this song and more generally the pattern (x causes y, then z helps; but if z causes it, who does) and came up with the famous 'Amar Prem' song.

Here are the specific lines:

Qamar says:
jo aag lagii dil me.n, ashko.n ne bujhaaii hai,
ashko.n ne jo bha.Dakaaii aag, wo kaise bujhegii

Anand Bakshi wrote:
chi.ngaarii koii bha.Dake, to saavan use bujhaaye
saavan jo agan lagaaye, use kaun bujhaaye

'jab raat nahii.n kaTatii's video can be seen at YouTube (embedding is disabled). It was composed by Hansraj Behl and sung ever so hauntingly by Lata M. Go on, listen to it. It's every bit worth the extra click.

[Thanks Asad for inviting me to be a part of this blog. It is one of my favorites and I hope I will be able to add to this unique documentation of HFM's lyrical influences.]