filmi number

some memorable film songs in the golden era :

Shailendra’s (who was born in rawalpindi) Ye mera dewanapan hai ya jawani aapki from yahudi picturised on a young Dilip Kumar and suhana safar aur ye mausam haseen picturised a little later in Madhumati

his Aaj Phir jeene ki tamanna aaj phir marne ka iraada hai or Piya to se naina laage re , naina lage re and Kya se kya hogaya all from guide

his kisi ki muskurahaton pe ho nisaar

Shehriyaars Lyrics in Umrao Jaan especially Zindagi jabh bhi Teri Bazm mein Laati Hai Humey and In aankhon ki Masti ke

Shakeel Badayuni in mother india: pii ke ghar aaj pyaari dulhaniyaa chalii

his Nain Larjaen hain to manva ma kasak hoibe kari from ganga jamuna
and
Aaj Puranee Rahon Se koi mujhe aavaz na de for dilip

and apni azadi ko hum hargiz mita sakte nahin sar kata sakte hain lekin sar jhuka sakte nahin penned at Pt. Nehru’s request in 62.

and bhanwara bara nadaan hai from sahib bibi aur ghulam or beqaraar karke hume yun na jaeay

Or almost every song of Kamal Amrohi’s masterpiece on which 4 lyricists worked together, Pakeezah :

Kaif bhopali’s

aaj ham apni duaaon ka asar dekhenge
tiir-e-nazar dekhenge zakhm-e-jigar dekhenge...

and Thare rahiyo o banke yaar re


and Kaifi Azmis

chalte chalte yun hi koi mil gaya tha
yun hi koi mil gaya tha sare raah chalte chalte
vahin thamke reh gai hai
vanhi thamke reh gai hai meri raat Dhalte Dhalte

Kaifi also gave us Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam tum rahe na tum hum rahe na hum


Even an Item number from majrooh Sultanpuri had lyrics like:

Ay haseena Zulfon wali jaane-jahan
Dhoondte hain Qatil Aankhen kiska Nishaan

or Badan pe sitare lapetey hue ae jaane tamanna kidhar ja rahi ho

who can forget his jalte hain jiske liye teri aankhon ke diye in sujata

hum bekhudi mein tum ko pukaare chale gaye in Kaala Pani

Maana janaab ne pukaara nahin or Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko or Ek Larki Bheegi Bhagi Si

actors from saigal to sharukh and aamir khan benefitted from Majrooh’s longivity since he continued to give great songs into the 80s and 90s in movies like qayamat se qayamat tak, jo jeeta woh sikandar and Kabhi haan kabhi naa

or that master lyricist Sahir ludhianvi who wrote in a single night:

Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai

Sahir was essentially a romantic both in the philosophical sense as well as in the poetic and this is reflected in his filmi shairi even though he never paid it as much attention as his serious poetry (many regard him as the greatest poet since Iqbal) and yet he was able to pen deep and meaningful lyrics :

Like Guru dutt walking through the brothels and singing "Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hai" in Pyaasa and in the same movie Jaane Woh Kaise Log The Jinke pyar ko pyar mila.

or the socialist spoof on iqbal - Chino arab hamara, hindustan hamara rehne ko ghar nahi hai sara jahan hamara.(though he himself admitted that the poet he found the most skilled was Iqbal "bavajut nazariyate ikhtilaf" he added). in the same movie (phir subah hogi) he wrote Voh subaah kabhi to ayegi jab qaid se qaidi chhootenge and aasman me khuda.

na to karavan ki talash hai na to humsafar ki talash hai
and Aurat ne Janam Diya Mardon ko Mardon ne Use Bazaar Diya
also Khali Dabba Khali Botal Le Le Mere Yaar Khali se Mat Nafrat Karna, Khali Sab Sansar
and Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam

so many gems mixing poetry with philosophy

melancholic -Jaaein to jaein kahan samjhe kaun yahan,


, happy go lucky -mein zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya, Har fikr ko dhuein mein urata chala gaya

the peppy patriotic: yeh desh hai veer jawano ka abelon ka mastano ka is desh ka yaaro kya kehna

light romantic- Mere dil mein aaj kya hai tu kahe to mein batadoon

Kehdoon tumhe ya chup rahoon dil me merey aaj kya hai

ye hava ye raat ye chandni phir kahan

Aye meri zohra jabeen tujhe maloom nahi tu abhi tak hai haseen aur mein jawan tujh pe qurbaan meri jaan meri jaan
ye shokhiyan ye baghpan jo tujh mein hain kahin nahi, dilon mein jeetne ka fun jo tujh mein hae kahin nahi, mein teri, mein teri aankhon mein paa gaya do jahan


Even here he would get philosophical as in mein pal do pal ka shair hoon pal do pal meri kahani hai, pal do pal hasti meri pal do pal meri kahani hai kal aur ayenge naghmon ki khilti kaliyan chunne waale mujh se behtar kehne waale tum se behtar sunne vale

and in chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaaye hum dono

his social commentary especially on the plight of women and the poor was always paramount: Aurat ne janam diya mardon ko, mardon ne use bazaar diya
and kahiye jee kya kharidenge yahan har cheez bikti hai


I have failed to mention so many smaller ones like Raja mehdi ali khan who wrote jhumka gira rey bareilly ke bazaar mein or rajendra Krishan who wrote Yeh zindagi usi ki hai jo kisi ka ho gaya


Even today we have sampooran singh "gulzar" not in the same league as the above but capable of penning a aye mere pyare watan in kabuliwala, Yaara sili sili biraha ki raat in Lekin, Mera kuch samaan, and a tujh se naraz nahi zindagi bas hairan hu mein in masoom. most importantly he popularised ghalib via jagjit singh in a serial of the same name.

their was also many a pakistani like Qateel Shifai who ghost wrote bolywood songs or sometimes took credit as in Mahesh Bhatts Phir teri Kahani Yaad Aee and like ghulam ali in awargi and nikaah. Much more often songs and ghazals would be plagarised without acknowledgement. and the song that is most often stolen was written By a young Phd student studying at Heidelburg i.e. Iqbal’s Saare Jahan se acha hindustan Hamara, a song that Rajiv Gandhi wanted to make India’s national anthem but was disuaded from.

the decline in the quality of film lyrics was inevitable once partition happened and the teaching of urdu came to an end as also urdu words were slowly replaced by hindi ones in the spoken language of urban india i.e. hindustani. so as language and schooling was gradually sanskritised and made pure, a mirror image of what was happening across the border, the people who wrote the lyrics and more importantly those who understood them both dwindled.