Owais Mughal
This post has videos of three very famous songs from ‘armaan’
gham-e-rozgaar (work) took me to Canada last week. On a dark and rainy night, I found myself driving on Trans Canadian Highway 1 in Vancouver area. Rain was pouring by bucket loads and windshield vipers were working over time. I was bored and scanning FM spectrum for a good song on car radio. There were English, French, Chinese and many more of the same channels. Suddenly at FM frequency 93.1, I heard a voice in Urdu announcing a song from Pakistani movie ‘armaan’. The song was titled ‘jab pyar mein do dil.’ You could imagine my joy over this surprise find. I immediately pressed set on the radio and started singing aloud with (late) Ahmed Rushdi‘s voice. This song never felt so good to me before as it did on that dark night in Canada. lijiye, aap bhi suniyay (lets listen)
Many of our readers may already know that above song is from Pakistan’s movie ‘armaan’.
armaan was released on March 18, 1966. Movie’s Producer and Hero was Waheed Murad. Its Director was Parvaiz Malik and music was given by Sohail Rana. It is said that in 1966-67 every ‘bacha bacha’ on the streets of Pakistan used to sing the most famous song of this movie called ‘akele na jaana’.
The song ‘akele na jaana’ was at first recorded by Sohail Rana for another movie with the same title as ‘akele na jaana’ but that movie got delayed. In the mean time Waheed Murad was making the movie ‘armaan’ and for a similar situation in the movie, the song got used in ‘armaan’ instead of ‘akele na jaana’.
I have even read in a book that just because of this one song, the movie ‘armaan’ completed its platinum jubilee (i.e. 75 consecutive weeks of screening). It was Pakistan’s first Platinum Jubilee movie. It is also said that despite an unusually extreme rainy season the movie continued to go ‘house full’ in Karachi circuit.
The song ‘akele na jaana’ is sung by Ahmed Rushdie and Mala.
akele na jaana
The movie ‘armaan’ was a complete comedy before the interval and a complete tragedy after the interval but director’s grip on the story never slipped. It is said that in the production of armaan‘s songs Waheed Murad gave a new style of acting and that is why people have not forgotten about this movie 42 years down the road now.
I don’t have to write much about this song. I am sure most of our readers are already familiar with it as well as it has been covered at ATP here.
‘armaan’ was declared the best movie of the year 1966. It got a total of 6 nigaar awards which were as follows:
(i) The Best film for 1966
(ii) Best Director: Pervaiz Malik
(iii) Best Actress: Zeba
(iv) Best Comedy Actor: Nirala
(v) Best Musician: Sohail Rana, and
(vi) Best Singer: Ahmed Rushdie
The Cast of the Movie was as follows:
Waheed Murad, Zeba, Tarranum, Nirala, Rozina, M Zahoor, Agha Suroor and Babbu
ATP’s Other Related Posts:
1. Bandish: Pakistan’s Super Hit Movie
2. Aina: Pakistan’s Greatest Blockbuster Movie
3. Khuda ke liye
4. Lollywood Billboard Art
5. Movie: Ramchand Pakistani
6. kaanch: A tele movie from Pakistan
7. Ahmed Rushdie, Waheed Murand and Ko Ko Korina
8. Waheed Murad: Pakistan’s First Heart throb Hero?
9. Sohail Rana: Musical Maestro
MQ saheb, a quick search on youtube didn’t come up with Fariha’s version of ‘jab pyar mein do dil..’. But I will keep looking for it.
By the way, akailey na jaana fans, in the movie this song (which really was the theme song of the movie) was sung multiple times in multiple situations. I believe the version which was the real tear-jerker and became the super-hit was the one sung by Mala and picturized on Zeba in crutches (towards the end of the when Zeba comes back from hiding and is off to ‘save’ the now delusional and devastated Waheed Murad). Watch that version here.
My own favorite version is also sung by Mala, but without the music at the back, watch here.
MQ, I think Fariha Pervez version of the first song that you mention was sung (or also sung) in the wonderful Indus TV tribute to Waheed Murad (I think that and was one of the verybest of the series of tributes that Indus did; the other really good one was the tribute to Faiz). I have a DVD version of that show and do think that Fariha has done a wonderful version of the song. Although, better than Ahmed Rushdie? I am not so sure.
[By the way, in one of the other Indus TV tributes – to Faiz – Fariha Pervez sang a wonderful version of ‘mujh sey pehli si mohabbat.’] I still believe that after Nur Jahan, no one should ever try to sing that song again, but I must say that Fareeha Pervez did as good a job of it as I have seen anyone do.]
In the same Waheed Murad tribute, Anwar Maqsood recounts wonderful stories about the making of this film. Armaan, was truly a turning point not just for Waheed Murad but for Pakistani cinema (it also shifted, for a short time, the center of gravity of Pakistani cinema from Lahore to Karachi). The genius behind the innovations in Armaan was really Pervaiz Malik, the director, who I believe had just returned from abroad where he had studied film-making and he applied all he had learnt on to this. Of course, the other innovator in the film was Sohail Rana. Waheed Murad, of course, I am a huge fan of. But I mention Pervaiz Malik and Sohail Rana because they tend not to get the credit they deserve in terms of their contributions to Pakistani cinema.
Owais, this is one of the beautiful old songs. Fareeha Pervez (no kin of the former president) has sung this song beautifully, even better than Salman Rushdie. I wonder if you could find that video and also place it here.
akele na jaana:
I thought I was watching Dev Anand and Sadhna