mai.n dil kii dil me.n rakhtaa huu.n

There was a film named "Sanam Teri Kasam" which was released in 2009. No, we are not talking about the "Sanam Teri Kasam" (1982) which had Kamal Hassan and Reena Roy. This one had Saif Ali Khan, Pooja Bhatt and Atul Agnihotri. Its not just the title of the film which is old, the whole film is. It was made in 1995, but wasn't released. It was called "Sambandh" in those days. No, not the 1969 "Sambandh". Anyway, this one had a song sung by Kumar Sanu and Pankaj Udhas, which went: mai.n dil ki dil me.n rakhtaa huu.n bas ye hii meraa dosh hai jisme.n jitnaa pyaar hai utnaa vo Kaamosh hai. Sameer was the lyricist. An older poet Natiq Lakhnavi (878-1950) ha famously written the following sh'er kah rahaa hai josh-e-dariyaa se samandar kaa sukuut jisme.n jitnaa zarf hai utnaa vo Kaamosh hai Listen to the song!

yuuN na rah-rahkar hameN tarsaaiye

Master Madan is known as a child prodigy of astonishing skill who possessed Ghazal-singing abilities. He sang this Saghar Nizami Ghazal in 1935:

yuu.N na rah-rahkar hame.n tarsaaiye
aaiye, bas aaiye, aa jaaiye



Bollywood lyricist Sameer copied Saghar Nizami's words verbatim for this "item song" from film Lajja (2001) sung by Anuradha Sriram and tuned by Anu Malik. What a shocking interpretation of a serious-minded couplet!

rafta rafta woh meri hasti ka saamaaN ho gaye

Some times songs have to take many incarnations before the original version gets due credit! Here's an example of one such song. One of Mehdi Hassan's most famous Ghazals is this one: rafta rafta woh meri hasti kaa saamaaN ho gaye pehle jaaN, phir jaan-e-jaaN, phir jaan-e-janaaN ho gaye Quite a few are aware that this was originally a film song written by Tasleem Fazli for the Pakistani film Zeenat (1975). The tune was composed by Nashaad. Fazli's lyrics are quite good for a film song -- rafta rafta woh meri hasti kaa saamaaN ho gaye pahle jaaN, phir jaan-e-jaaN, phir jaan-e-jaanaaN ho gaye din-ba-din ba.Dhti gayeeN us husn ki ra'anaaiyaaN pahle gul, phir gulbadan, phir gul-ba-damaaN ho gaye aap to nazdeek se nazdeek-tar aate gaye pahle dil, phir dilrubaa, phir dil ke mehmaaN ho gaye pyaar jab hadd se ba.Dhaa saare takalluf miT gaye aap se phir tum hue phir tuu kaa unwaaN ho gaye A full two decades after Tasleem Fazli's song came out, during which Mehdi Hassan had sung it in many live concerts and recordings, Bollywood lyricist Sameer came up with a song for the film Baazi (1995) with shockingly similar and grossly sub-par lyrics. The music was by Anu Malik for the voices of Udit Narayan and Sadhana Sargam: dheere dheere aap mere dil ke mehmaaN ho gaye The less said about these words, the better. Fortunately, the Sameer song renewed buzz around Mehdi Hassan's Ghazal and the latter became popular once again. Good for the "original" version, right? WRONG! Because Tasleem Fazli's version isn't the original version. Almost a whole decade before that, Qamar Jalalabadi wrote a Ghazal with almost the same words for a(n Indian) movie titled Ham Kahan Ja Rahe Hain (1966), with music by Basant Prakash. Compare this Ghazal to Tasleem Fazli's (above). Do you think we can chalk the similarity down to mere coincidence? :) rafta rafta woh hamaare dil ke armaaN ho gaye pahle jaaN, phir jaan-e-jaaN, phir jaan-e-jaanaaN ho gaye rafta rafta woh meri taskeeN kaa saamaaN ho gaye pahle dil, phir dilrubaa, phir dil ke mehmaaN ho gaye rafta rafta unki aaNkhoN kaa nasha ba.Dhne lagaa pahle mai, phir mai-kada, phir mai kaa toofaaN ho gaye rafta rafta husn nikharaa aur nikhartaa hi gayaa pahle gul, phir gulbadan, phir gul-ba-daamaaN ho gaye This song was sung by Mahendra Kapoor and Asha. Oh, by the way, Taslim Fazli's last couplet is also similar to a sh'er of Dagh Dehlavi's: ranj ki jab guftaguu hone lagi aap se tum, tum se tuu hone lagi In spite of being the original, the Qamar Jalalabadi song continues to be very rare and practically unknown. isko kahte haiN qismat! We hope at least now we can give credit where it is due.