This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
“Sone Pe Suhaaga”, as we say in India. First it was the momentous 10K milestone in July last year (20 Jul 2014). Then a little while ago, on the close of the previous financial year (31 Mar, 2015) we had the auspicious and ‘Badhaai Waala” 11K milestone. And then today, we have the next level ‘1’ added, taking the auspiciousness and ‘badhaai’ to the next level on the scale.
Welcome all to the next important century milestone on this blog. After we had the invasion of the blog by an army of eleven thousand young ladies, I mean, after the “Gyaarah Hazaar Ladkiaan” made their auspicious and enchanting appearance a little over a month ago, we have added another 100 wonderful songs to bag of magic that this blog is now transforming into. This segment has been relatively slower, taking exactly thirty two days to complete this leg of the journey. Of course we have an excuse for it. But we are not going to talk about it today. Maybe someday later, hopefully sooner than later. But not today. After getting over with the customary greetings and welcome and congratulations, I want to talk about a friend, a very dear friend. And in our lingua-franca, the term ‘a dear friend’ evidently implies a lover of music.
This gentleman has done a very unique piece of research and work on the Hindi film song. Like a few other rare stalwarts, this gentleman has nurtured his passion, not as a hobby, but almost as an alternate life itself. Like the other stalwarts, this work by him is a work of a life time. His research is now ready to be published; actually it is already at the printers, and should be published this month.
Introducing Shri KL Pandey, a very senior officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service, whose lifetime passion has been his research on the classical base of the Hindi film song. I will present this article in three segments – telling you about the person himself, telling you how we met for the first time, and then I will talk about his work.
Pandey ji is one of the senior most officers in the Indian Railways. Till a few months ago, he was the additional member Railway Board for Tourism and Catering, and has retired from service since. As a post retirement posting, currently he is heading the Railway Claims Tribunal, and is posted at Gorakhpur. He is an MSc in Biochemistry from Lucknow University. In 1977, he joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), and has been rotating through a number of senior postings, up to the level of Additional GM, before being elevated to the level of Additional Member at the Railway Board. Our dear Atul ji has also shared location posting with him. The two were posted in Jabalpur concurrently for some time. Atul ji admits that he was never introduced to him personally, but he knows about his work. Pandey ji is always busy, but he also always finds time to organize programs based on film music and classical music. Atul ji says that he has attended few programs that Pandey ji had arranged while in Jabalpur. And yes, Atul ji remembers with glee that at one of these programs, held in february 2009, he collected the maximum number of chocolates given to the audience for correctly answering some quizzes on film music.
Pandey ji has studied classical music for three years, but he admits that it was at the secondary school level, and part of the overall curriculum, not a full time dedicated course. Whilst that learning in itself, did not make a classical music artist out of him, however the seeds of the research work that he would take up later in life, were definitely sown by this coursework at school.
His love for the Hindi film music, coupled with his earlier training in classical music, created a passion within him to start working on the classical basis of the Hindi film songs. I will describe his work and research also, but first I will tell you about our first meeting.
Our first introduction is as recent as recent can be – 4th April last year, just about thirteen months ago. Pandey ji was posted at the Rail Bhavan in Delhi. On 2nd April, I get this email from Harmandir ji. He informed me that he has to be in Delhi on Friday the 4th April, for personal work. He said that he will have time on hand, and that he has been in touch with one Shri KL Pandey, additional member Railway Board, and that he would like to set up a brief meeting with him. The next day, I checked in on the phone with Pandey ji, and he agreed to meet us in his office around noon time, for about 20 minutes or so. Harmandir ji agreed that it would be fine.
Harmandir ji had briefed me a little bit about the purpose of this meeting. He had told me, in very brief, that Pandey ji was doing research on the classical raags in Hindi film songs. Given that Harmandir ji is the compiler of the Geet Kosh, evidently Pandey ji is a serious user of this compilation. This is the first time even Harmandir ji would be meeting him in person, the earlier communications being either on email or phone. I basic idea was to explore how to leverage the data in the Geet Kosh for his research, and to explore any common ground between the two efforts.
Harmandir arrived from Kanpur by train, and I picked him up at the New Delhi station. We had a very short drive to Rail Bhawan, and we were there on time. I called up Pandey ji. At first he did not pick up the calls, and we were slightly concerned. Then after about 20 minutes of waiting, he called back, saying that he was tied up in a meeting that was in progress, and can we come to his office on a little later schedule, say around 1 pm or so. As our prime purpose was to meet him, we agreed. Harmandir ji and I just walked over to the nearby India Gate lawns, and sat down. In any case, we had a lot to discuss between ourselves also.
So around 1 pm or so, we walked back to Rail Bhawan, went to the reception, and gave him a call again. He said he is sending down one of his staff to guide us. After a few minutes, a person walked down, and then escorted us up to the 5th floor office of Pandey ji. As we entered the office, we realized that the meeting was still in progress. We were a little hesitant, and asked him if we should wait outside. He insisted that we should sit in the room, on the other seatings available on the side, while this meeting would be concluding in a few minutes. So we waited some more. Tea was served, and the meeting continued. I quietly indicated to Harmandir ji that we will probably get a very short audience, given the seemingly tight schedule Pandey ji appeared to be busy with. Harmandir ji agreed, and we waited to see how much time we would be allowed to discuss the items of common interest.
After a wait of a few more minutes, the meeting came to a close. The customary action items were discussed, and the other people in the meeting took his leave and bid good bye. Now Pandey ji invited us over to join him at his table, while profusely apologizing for the wait that we had to endure. In my mind, the invite to come to table was an indication that our conversation would be short, as he would be continuing to do whatever work he had to get done that Friday afternoon.
But the meeting turned out to be completely beyond my expectations and concerns. We immediately launched into the topics concerned, with Pandey ji’s complete focus and animated energy on our discussion. Can you guess how long the meeting lasted? We were there for the rest of the remaining hours of the afternoon, and beyond the official working hours. Our meeting lasted for four and a half hours. Yes, completely beyond my expectations. And also beyond his expectations, as he also expressed to me later. You can well imagine, a meeting that lasted for so long, must have been full of very energetic exchange on the topics of common interest. Four and a half hours – goodness. I came away from the meeting verily impressed with Pandey ji’s depth of knowledge and his complete and dedicated involvement with the subject, that goes even beyond being called a ‘passion’.
He told us about his work. We talked about missing informations about films and film songs. We talked about rare songs and stories around trying to trace them. He told us about the pervasiveness of the use of classical raags in the film songs. We just went on and on and on. Our meeting eventually came to a close, not because we were getting short on words or topics, but because after realizing it was nearly 6 pm, we were then concerned about other things that each of us had also to take care of, including another meeting that Harmandir ji and I were supposed to be at, and that Harmandir ji had to take the 11 o’clock train back to Kanpur. So that was, in brief, our first meeting.
Of course, we have been in very active communication after our first meeting. The next thing that happened is the monthly ‘baithak’ that we have in Delhi. Unbeknownst to each other, both of us reached there, and it was another surprise meeting again, within a few days of the first meeting. Then the next ‘baithak’ in the subsequent month. Then information exchange on emails. Bakhshish Singh ji, being part of the ‘baithak’ group, was also introduced to him. Then together, Bakhshish ji and I, we used to drop in at his office, and continue our never ending exchanges on searching for difficult to obtain songs, on the classical content of film songs, about lesser known artists, and on and on and on.
Then came the search for rare songs. In our exchanges, he would write about songs that he has been looking for, for a long time. In many such cases I have been able to help, by locating the rare items, in my collection or from other friends. Let us park this thought, as I will come back to it again, later in this article itself.
Now coming to the work that he done over the past almost two decades. Reigniting his interest in the classical basis of songs, he self taught himself the basics of Hindustani classical music. He taught himself the grammar of the raags. In fact, as part of his research, he has compiled a comprehensive glossary and a detailed grammar of individual raags, which has become one of the volumes of the combined publication that is under preparation right now. His passion was (and is) the search for the raag content of the film songs. He first researched into the variety of raags themselves. Starting from the seven basic notes, the combinations and permutations of how these notes can be sequenced together to create music that is pleasing to the ears and the heart, are almost infinite. In fact, every piece of music that has been created, or can be created, eventually has to be built from these seven basic notes. And thus, eventually, every piece of music can be identified with the structure of one of the raags in our classical system. Of course, some of this music is not pleasing to the ears, rather it is offending. That is also part of the same system. Although, maybe not identified as a specific raag, it still is built from the same basic notes, and the ‘displeasing’ sequence could also be defined as a raag. But then, the learned of the yore who created these raags, were discerning enough to identify pleasing music – music that appeals to the mind based on the mood and circumstances, and yes, time of the day.
In the almost two decades of this quest, Pandey ji has analyzed almost 15 thousand film songs, starting all the way from 1931 when the first talkie film came, down to the current item songs and hip hop combinations that are passed for so called ‘music’ by a new breed of musicians, most of them without any grounding or any knowledge of the basic grammar of classical music. His method is that he will sit down with the harmonium, assisted by his associates on other instruments like tabla and taanpura. He will play the song on harmonium, and then identify the basic notes that form the basic structure of the song. This structure is then mapped on to the known raags, to identify which specific raag is used in a particular song. His findings are startling, to say the least.
- Every song that sounds pleasing in any way, can always be mapped on to one particular raag, or, many a times, to multiple raags.
- Pure one raag songs were the norm in the 1930s. After that, such pure one raag songs are rarely found.
- Most songs of 1940s and later are found to be using two or three or more raags in their composition.
- Knowledgeable music directors of earlier decades designed the songs around the raags. Many raag maalikas were created by combining multiple raags within the same song.
- The music directors of current era, also create pleasing music. They do not realize it, but they are using some raag or raags in their compositions. They may not be aware of it, but the nature of ‘pleasing’ music knows what it is doing.
- Of the more than 4 thousand raags, sub raags etc., so far only 170 raags have appeared in his analysis, as clearly identifiable.
- In his sampling, the maximum used raag is ‘Pahaadi’ and the next is ‘Khamaaj’.
- His analysis has identified songs with as many as six or seven or even more raags to be present in the same song. The maximum that he has found so far in 10 raags, used in the song “Aaya Tere Dar Pe Deewaana” from the 2004 film ‘Veer Zaara’.
- He has analyzed the latest popular songs. Even the item songs from the current era – songs like “Chikni Chameli” from film ‘Agnipath’ (2012) and the intense song of angst “Chhil Gaye Naina” from the latest film ‘NH 10’ (2015) have a very distinct classical raag based structure.
The discussion on his findings is endless, as one continues to scan the lists of songs he has analyzed. And besides being endless, it is also wholesomely interesting, for the keener minds and serious aficionados of music.
His work is now ready for publication. The entire research is too voluminous to be published as a one volume book. There is one volume of glossary and grammar of classical music. Then there are seven volumes that contain the classical raag structure and details of the 15 thousand songs that he has analyzed. These are organized by raags. Then there is a ninth volume that is an abridged sampling of nearly four thousand of the more popular songs. This ninth volume is arranged by song title. The work is monumental, and has the potential to spawn further research both into the film music and classical music. In fact, there are a number of PhD projects in progress right now, by students from across various universities in India, that have based their theses on one or the other analysis from Pandey ji’s research.
I could go on and on, but then this article has to be sustained to a proper closure. For those interested in this work, I suggest to google his name online, and also on YouTube. There is an immense amount of information available online. He has also set up a web site to introduce his work. This can be accessed here.
And now, coming to this song that I have selected for this post. This is one of the songs that I helped to track down for Pandey ji. On 1st February earlier this year, I got a call from him. As always, there were a few items that we talked about, including a conference on gramophone record that was held at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) in Delhi just about two weeks prior to that call. I had been invited to the conference, and there had been an interesting discussion on Pandey ji’s work that I had started, in a session where someone had claimed that the classical content of the film songs was steadily decreasing. So after going over the three four items already in progress, Pandey ji asked me if I have the film ‘Jaldeep’. The name did not immediately ring a bell in my mind. Pandey ji said that it was a film from 1950s, probably 1955 or 1956, and it contains a couple of fabulous light classical songs. He was looking for the songs, for his analysis, but unable to get hold of them. I promised to search this request and get back to him.
After the call I checked my collection. No I did not have a film named ‘Jaldeep’ from the 1950s. I went back to the Geet Kosh. As I was checking the details, the name in the production banner struck me like a bolt of lightning. Gosh, this is a film by the Children’s Film Society (CFSI). Immediately I knew where to start the search. I opened up the CFSI channel and started searching their content. After some patient search I located the complete film posted on that channel. I quickly downloaded it and then spliced out the songs. And immediately messaged Pandey ji with the song and the details. So this songs is the one that Pandey ji pointed out to me.
On the phone he had said that two of the songs of this film are really very lovely, including this one. When I heard this song, I was simply floored by the simplicity of composition that steals your heart, and the unhurried pace at which it is rendered makes it such pleasing music to listen to. Four antaraas, lovingly rendered in almost six minutes. The lyrics of this song are written by Kidar Sharma, who is also the director of this film. Incidentally, on 29th April that has just passed, was the anniversary of passing away of Kidar Sharma.
The music is by Snehal Bhatkar. All information is ok, except for the singer’s name(s). As we see the video clip, very clearly the leading ‘mukhda’ and the last antaraa are sung by a male voice. The middle three antaraas are fully in chorus voices. Now the Geet Kosh lists Rajkumari as the singer of this song, but I think that could be an error. Note: Pandey ji has confirmed via a follow up message that the male voice is that of Snehal Bhatkar himself.
NOTE: Furhter, Pandey ji has informed that this song is based on raag Yaman, with a little bit of raag Pahaadi.
The filming of this song is simply exquisite. The scenario is that a group of school children are returning back to their homes, after celebrating and participating in the school’s annual sports day. The lead players in this film are the boy and girl on the bicycle. They are brother and sister in the storyline. Note: In his comments, Sadanand ji has correctly identified the boy as Ashok Sharma, son of Kidar Sharma. One can recall his slightly elder version in the film ‘Hamaari Yaad Aayegi’ (1961). Also, as Atul ji indicates, the girl is Preetibala. The two names appear in the list of actors as given in the Geet Kosh. Furhter, as Nitin ji has added, Preetibala is none other than the actress who later worked in films as Zeb Rehman. In between we also see a younger and plump boy, who plays an important role in the film. Other boys and girls are co students from the same school. As the students bicycle their way back homes, the scene setting of rural India are so nostalgic, reminding one of the simpler days and simple lives that people led, completely uncluttered with Facebook and WhatsApp ;). It is a very soothing picturization.
And so, eleven thousand and one hundredth song makes an appearance today. Just a little while ago as the writing of this article was in progress, I had an email exchange with Manju ji (Manju Amarnath Das, daughter of producer director K Amarnath). She writes, and I quote, “Sometimes, I wonder, the blog has covered so many songs, are there any more left – and then you all come up with some forgotten gems.”
Ah yes Manju ji, we do. There is a ton of musical gems still waiting to be posted on this blog. This song has been searched and located, courtesy KL Pandey ji. And I must add – this musical journey is far from over.
Song – Dekhi Dekhi Dekhi Panchhi Dekhi Ye Phulwaari (Jaldeep) (1956) Singer – Snehal Bhtakar, Lyrics – Kidar Sharma, MD – Snehal Bhatkar
Chorus
Lyrics
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi panchhi
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi panchhi
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
kaisi pyaari hai har kyaari
kaisi pyaari hai har kyaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
dulhan ban kar shaakhen jhoomen
maa’en bachchon ka munh choomen
it hariyali
ut hariyali
hai koi badaa siyaana maali
jisne ki hai ye gulkaari
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi panchhi
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
dekhi nirmal jal ki dhaara
pighli chaandi behta paara
chhote paudhe oonche Mandir
jal ke baahar
jal ke andar
hai ye kiski mahima saari
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi panchhi
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
sunder phool kahin hai peele
oode laal basanti neele
wo kaale bhanwaron ki toli
kaisi kheli sab ne holi
na hai rang na hai pichkaari
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi panchhi
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
saari duniya jab hai soti
shabnam laati hai kuchh moti
kirnen suraj ki aati hain
ye sab moti le jaati hain
de kar gotaa aur kinaari
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi panchhi
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
kaisi pyaari hai har kyaari
kaisi pyaari hai har kyaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi dekhi dekhi
dekhi panchhi
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
panchhi dekhi ye phulwaari
———————————————————
Hindi script lyrics (Provided by Sudhir)
———————————————————
देखी देखी देखी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी पंछी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी पंछी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
कैसी प्यारी है हर क्यारी
कैसी प्यारी है हर क्यारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
दुल्हन बन कर शाखें झूमें
माएँ बच्चों का मुंह चूमें
इत हरियाली
उत हरियाली
है कोई बड़ा सियाना माली
जिसने की है ये गुलकारी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी पंछी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
देखि निर्मल जल की धारा
पिघली चांदी बहता पारा
छोटे पौधे ऊंचे मंदिर
जल बाहर
जल के अंदर
है ये किसकी महिमा सारी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी पंछी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
सुंदर फूल कहीं हैं पीले
उदे लाल बसंती नीले
वो काले भँवरों की टोली
कैसी खेली सब ने होली
ना है रंग ना है पिचकारी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी पंछी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
सारी दुनिया जब है सोती
शबनम लाती है कुछ मोती
किरणें सूरज की आती हैं
ये सब मोती ले जाती हैं
दे कर गोटा और किनारी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी पंछी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
कैसी प्यारी है हर क्यारी
कैसी प्यारी है हर क्यारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी देखी देखी
देखी पंछी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
पंछी देखी ये फुलवारी
