Listening to : Meri Surat Teri Ankhen (1963)

Would anyone reject a child because of its perceived ugliness? I am not convinced. Yes, India is a country where perfect little infant girls have been abandoned or killed in the past. Yes, it is a country where disabled children have also suffered the same treatment. Yes, it is steeped in the racism of skin colour so I am not astonished at the equating of dark with ugly, much as I disagree with it. This has been the cross for the dark skinned Indians to bear from pre-historic times when the light skinned, Causasoid Indo-Aryans migrated into Northern India, displacing the dark-skinned Australoid Dravidian locals. Yet, a first male child of middle-aged parents being rejected just because of skin colour? That wouldn’t happen. Once I accepted that, the rest of the film was easier to digest.

The script is not too bad and has good character development. The climax however is very poorly scripted. The movie’s message आदमी रंग रूप से नहीं, उजले मन से ख़ूबसूरत होता है  (a man is made beautiful not by colour or form but by an enlightened mind) is a good one and the movie is true to this message. At the end, Ashok Kumar says to his mother ‘सच तो यह है की मेरी सूरत को तेरी आँखों से किसीने नहीं देखा’ accounting for the title.

Ashok Kumar is very good at displaying the angst of someone who suffers from low self-esteem and the negative bias of society.   I so love his diction and dialogue delivery! However, at 52, he is much too old to play this part of a 25 year old. In scenes where he addresses his screen parents, he looks older than them!

Asha Parekh is young and glowing in a role which demands little of her.  Pradeep Kumar is adequate as a dissolute (well, not really)  man but I have great resistance in accepting him as the good-looking brother. Again, he is too old at 38 to play a young man. Is that Iftekhar in a non-police-office-or-military-chap role? I can hardly believe my eyes!

The music is by S.D.Burman, with credited support from R.D.Burman. The album is a credit to SD’s genius which is well matched by Shailendra’s lyrics. 

• Poocho Na Kaise – Manna Dey. Based on classical music in Raga Ahir Bhairav, it has become a classic in itself. Manna Dey shines in displaying his roots in classical music in this superb song. See footnote for lyrics. Iconic. 
• Tere Bin Soone – Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar. A slow, meditative song sung perfectly by Rafi and Lata who show that they have a talent equal to Manna’s in classical ragas. This one is set to Raga Piloo.
• Tujhse Nazar Milane Mein – Asha Bhonsle. A club song which has some nice instrumentals but the melody didn’t appeal.
• Naache Man Mora – Mohammad Rafi. Another excellent classically based song in Raga Bhairavi. Asha Parekh displays her dancing talents in this good Kathak number. Its a pity we don’t see much of this lovely classical dance form anymore in films.
• Tere Khayalon Mein – Lata Mangeshkar. A not very scintillating solo.
• Yeh Kisne Geet Cheda – Mukesh, Suman Kalyanpur. I really liked this rather old-fashioned duet. A lovely melody!

Click here to listen to the whole album.

My choice for the day is of course Poocho Na Kaise by Manna Dey.

I have included the song below for the Kathak performance by Asha Parekh.

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Footnote (lyrics) :

पूछो ना कैसे मैंने रैन बिताई
इक पल जैसे इक जुग बीता
जुग बीते मोहे नींद न आयी (पूछो)

इक जले दीपक इक मन मेरा
फिर भी न जाये मेरे घर का अँधेरा
तडपत तरसत उमर गंवाई (पूछो)

ना कहीं चंदा ना कहीं तारे
ज्योत के प्यासे मेरे नैन बेचारे
भोर भी आस की किरण ना लाई (पूछो)

pooCHo na kaisE mainE rain bitayI
ik pal jaisE ik yug beeta
yug beetE mohE neend na AyI

ik jalE dIpak ik man mErA
phir BHI na jAyE mErE GHar kA anDHErA
tadpat tarsat umar ganvayI

nA kahIn chandA nA kahIn tArE
jyOt kE pyAsE mErE nain bEcharE
BHor BHI As kI kiraN nA lAyI

Do not ask how the night passed
An eon passed in an instant
But even an eon did not bring me sleep

A lamp burned, so did my mind
still the darkness of my home did not fade
A lifetime passed in suffering, in longing

Nowhere do I see the moon or stars
My poor eyes thirst for light
Even dawn did not bring a ray of hope

Listening to: Anarkali (1953)

Anarkali holds a special place for me as all during my childhood I had heard my mum humming these songs to herself. She must have been eighteen or nineteen when this film came out; she learnt the songs then and remembered them for a lifetime. And left me with this beautiful inheritance.

Remembering the songs but not the movie, I sat to watch it recently. Oh, I wish I hadn’t! Bina Rai looks beautiful in the scenes where she smiles. Unfortunately there are only two such smiles hidden within 2 hrs and 28 mins of on-screen misery for her. And Pradeep Kumar, was there ever a more unlikeable or un-admirable protagonist?  Our prince Salim is cowardly at the start, mean when he rescues our heroine from a slave market and then tortures her by pretending to be someone else, unkind when he – at last – is firm with nautch girl Gulnar, petulant when he declares his love and starts a rebellion, and spineless almost all of the time! Now if it were Dharmendra looking like a Greek God in his heydays, I could have sympathised with Anarkali…… As it stands, I would advice Anarkali to wash her hands off this prince and take up a job as a playback singer, she could have gone places!!

Joking aside, the music by C.Ramachandra is indeed beautiful, my mother chose well.  The music is like a showcase for Lata’s talents. What a wonderful find she was to the Hindi movie industry!!

• Yeh Zindagi Usi ki Hai – Lata Mangeshkar. This was the iconic song of Anarkali, very touchingly sung by Lata 
• Aa jane wafa – Lata Mangeshkar. 
• Aaja ab to aa ja – Lata Mangeshkar. Good picturisation, when the heroine is being sold off on the slave market. Beautifully rendered by Lata.
• Mujh se mat pooch – Lata Mangeshkar
• Dua kar ghame dil – Lata  Mangeshkar.  I love the Arabic touch to this music!! 
• Jag darde ishq jag – Hemand Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar. Hemant Kumar is not a personal favourite  and I dislike his pronunciation in this song but the music is good enough to earn a smile 
• Mohabbat aisi dhadhkan hai – Lata  Ah….so beautiful! The lyrics by Shailendra please me especially.
• Zindagi pyar ki do char ghadi – Hemant Kumar
• Zamana yeh samjha ki hum pee ke aye –  Lata Manageshkar
• O Aasman wale – Lata Manageshkar

For those who want to listen to the whole album, here is a link. I could not make up my mind as to which of my two favourites I should show you, so I present for your viewing pleasure both songs below. Happy viewing!

Dua Kar Ghame Dil–Lata Mangeskhar

Mohabbat Aisi Dhadkan–Lata Mangeshkar