Adil Najam
Readers of this blog know the reverence in which I hold Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The video tribute that I had done based on his hum daikhain gay was not only the very first post on this blog but serves at the ATP Credo – a symbol of our hopes, our aspirations and also our reality. Readers also know of how fond I am of Khansaheb Mehdi Hasan Khan, particularly his ghazals, and of my fascination with old Pakistani movie songs (here and here). This post is a way to pay homage to all three.
Mehdi Hasan, of course, was an icon of Pakistani film music – rivaled, possibly, only by Madam Noor Jahan. But what many people forget is that Faiz Sahib, too, was closely associated with the Pakistan film industry when it was at its zenith. Indeed, some of his most memorable works first became famous as film songs.
Nothing is as symbolic of this combination of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mehdi Hassan and Pakistani movie music as the ghazal gulouN mein rang bharay, baad-i-nou bahar chalay. It is widely considered to be amongst the most popular as well as the very best of Faiz Sahib’s ghazals. Indeed, as many would consider it to also be amongst the best of Mehdi Hasan’s ghazals.
There is a story that I have never been able to confirm (maybe Zaheer Kidvai can shed light on this) that suggests that Faiz Sahib liked Mehdi Hassan Sahibs rendition of the ghazal so much that he used to say that the ghazal no longer belonged to him (Faiz) but now belonged to Mehdi Hassan. Anwar Maqsood has joked that this may have been Faiz Sahib’s way of disowning the song rather than praising it. I prefer the original interpretation.
For me at least, this is one of the most beautiful of ghazal’s, most beautifully sung.
What is interesting is that this was a movie song (for the film Farangi). Yes, this is what Lollywood movie songs used to sound like once. Can you imagine today a song with such depth of meaning, such elegance of poetic craft, and sung with such musical mastery being a movie song!
Here is a video of the movie song. The video quality is not very good; nor, I must admit, is the picturization or the acting by Allauddin. It is, nonetheless, a rare and amazing treat. Enjoy!
For those who may be interested, here are the lyrics:
Guloun main rung bharaye, baad-e-naubahaar chalaye
Chalaye bhi aao kay gulshan ka karobaar chalaye
Qafas udas hai yaaro saba say kuch tou kaho
Kahain tou bah-re-khuda aaj zikr e yaar chalaye
Kabhi tou subah tere kunj-e-lub say ho aaghaaz
Kabhi tou shab sar e kaakul se mushk baar chalaye
kabhii to sub’h tere kunj-e-lab se ho aaGhaaz
kabhii to shab sar-e-kaakul se mushk-baar chalaye
Jo hum pay guzri so guzri mager shub-e-hijraun
Humaraye ashk teri aaqibat sanvaar chalaye
Maqaam faiz koii raah main jancha hi nahi
Jo kuh-e-yaar say niklay tou suu-e-daar chalaye
This is such a great song and so beutifully sung… thank you for putting this here
YLH, I agree that the social decay and this quiet resignation of savagry inflicted upon a fellow being is depicted graphically. i do wish to point out that this is a nazm and not a ghazal…not nitpicking…just correcting..i hope you do not mind….
when there are rays of the sun beaming down on a prisoner in a jail cell, then it is only Faiz that sees this beacon as a ray of hope; any other mortal being would have perished mentally and emotionally if not physically… agar aaj aoj peh hay tala-e-raqueeb to kya, yeh chaar din kee khudaee to koee baat naheem…even forgiveness for those inflicting pain on the prisoner…
in a morbid macabre fantasy world, i would have loved to be Faiz’s fellow prisoner..because his was a world where principles mattered; his was a world full of innocent idealism….hum jahan bhee gayay kameeyab ayay, with this self-belief who can go wrong
coming back to mujh say pehli see mohabat, a totally different version is done by noor jehan in a private mehfil as he sang for faiz. this will cost those who are ardent noor jehan and faiz fans a little bit of money (Rs. 1800)… the Faiz collection released by the Mohatta Palace Museum “Requiem for an unsung messiah”
mujh se pehli see mohabbat is another ghazzal which often misinterpreted as a romantic number… but is one which is deeply humanistic …
It would be great if someone could put it- in Noor Jehan’s voice- up.
Also great… Bol kay lab azad hain teray sung by Tina Sani.
If all these stories about Faiz giving away his ghazals are true, then he seems to be giving away his best work. That is generous.
I must confess that I was also not imrpessed by Runa Laila’s ghazal singing. Her film songs were superb but that last one really belongs to Mehdi Hassan.
Faiz seems to have been a generous man, in the version that I heard, he “gave away” mujhse pehli si mohabbat na maang to Noorjehan.
Difficult to say which one of Faiz’s ghazal’s MH has sung best, but like Naveed, my favourite is “ayay kuch abr kuch sharab ayay”.
In the version of “Guloun main rung bharaye” sung by Runa Laila, the last sheyr was messed up…