Wahan Kaun Hai Tera- A Complete Story in Few Lines

 

Recall this song from the 1966 film Guide, sung by S D Burman. This was a credit title song in the background as Dev Anand the hero of the film comes out from jail, the song starts right there. The 'Mukhda' starts on a wide shot of the main gate of the jail from inside...'Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jaayega kahan'

Vijay Anand, the ace director, and screenplay writer wanted to start the film with a situation and song that would make the audience curious and uneasy, eager to know the story.....He did this with the help of the great Lyricist Shailendra.

If we look into the song minutely we would find the genius of three great people, S D Burman, the composer, Shailendra, the Lyricist, and Vijay Anand, the director. S D Burman composed a tune (actually his old Bangla song, slightly altered) The song starts with a 'Sitaar' notes used in the introduction music..

The sense of freedom is depicted by a strange-looking shot of a tree seen upside down and a group of birds flying away.... The camera moves back to reveal that it was the reflection of the tree in a pool of water....

In the first stanza "Beet gaye din, pyar ke palchhin, sapna bani woh ratein".... "Bhool gaye woh, tu bhi bhulaa de, pyar ki woh mulaaqaatein..." We see Dev Anand walking with a bundle of his belongings slung over his shoulder...The bundle slips and opens.... A close shot of the things that have spilled out... a few photographs of Waheeda Rehman...

The genius of Vijay Anand can be seen in the last shot of the song, we see a sleeping Dev Anand and the shadow of the unknown man as if he is looking at Dev. When the song starts we see Dev Anand smartly dressed with puff hair and as the song ends, he is now lying among the ruins....covered in saffron

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Kaanto Se Kheench Ke Ye Aanchal - An Experimental Song

EVERY song of ‘Guide’ is still fresh in the minds of people who love music. This 3.44-minute song of Lata Mangeshkar is one of her favorite songs  Could you believe that initially, she didn't like this song. This song was recorded in between the shooting of the film. Dev Anand, who was the producer of the film was also not satisfied with the song.
S D Burman experimented in his music in many of the songs of this film. In this song, he started the song with an Antara. Usually, Hindi songs start with a Mukhada but here Dada Burman started with Antara. The Mukada of the song is "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai" which comes after Antra. Probably a feat no other music director will ever be able to ever repeat
After the recording of this song in Bombay, Dev Anand joined the unit that was shooting at Udaipur in Rajasthan. Vijay Anand who was the director of the film now wanted to shoot the song but Dev Anand who was not satisfied with the song was not interested to shoot, Vijay Anand convinced him to shoot this song if even after he didn't like, they will re-record the song.

The song "was shot at Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan. In fact, the reflection of the heroine on one of the mirrors, during the song, is inspired by the legendary tale of Alauddin Khilji catching a glimpse of Queen Padmini on the same mirror in the main hall.
Composer Sachin Dev Burman fell seriously ill during this film and even requested Dev Anand to engage some other composer for the film. But Dev Anand stood firm to his side and said that he would wait till Dada Burman is fit again. Once cured, the masterpiece compositions started to flow; the first song recorded was the evergreen "Gaata Rahe Mera Dil".

Journey of a Song from Karbala to Guide,Immortalised by Dada Burman

This immortal song " Allah Megh De Pani De" is one of the two songs sung by S D Burman in the 1965 film Guide. This song was adopted by Burman Da from a Bengali folk singer Abbasuddin Ahmed's song, who taught him his signature technique of “voice breaking”.
After Ahmed, several singers have performed this number. Laxmikant-Pyarelal created another version of ‘Allah Megh De’ in the film Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977) with singers Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle. Music director Bappi Lahiri rejigged it in Amaanat (1994) and his disco song ‘De De Pyar De’ (Sharaabi, 1984) is also a variation of the tune. Singers Shafqat Amanat Ali and Shubha Mudgal sang a peppy version for composer Debojyoti Mishra in Ramchand Pakistani (2008) but it is the Burman’s version that is best remembered, most likely because he remained true to the original.
This song had a long journey from Bengal to Mumbai, and finally to Pakistan. This song is a Bengali folk genre Jaari Gaan. The name Jaari is most probably taken from the Persian word "Zari" Most Jaari Gaan was based on the Islamic legend of the Battle of Karbala, In medieval Bengal, this genre of folk songs was performed by mostly Sunni Muslims. The followers of Husayn ibn Ali during the battle of Karbala. They used to cry out to God to send them rain-bearing clouds, or megh. 
In this blog, I am posting  various versions of this song

Song of Guide 1965

                              ALLAH MEGH DE PANI DE : ABBASUDDIN AHMED

Song of Palkon Ki Chaon Mein

                                                    Allah Megh De (Runa Laila)

                                                  Allah Megh De by Shaan

Song of Amanat 1994

                            Allah megh de , pani de chaya de re tui lopamudra mitra

                                            Allah megh de- ramchand pakistani

Navketan's Guide- From Pages to Celluloid

After the Berlin Film Festival in 1962, Dev Anand and his wife travelled to London and later, at the invitation of the Nobel laureate, Pearl S Buck and the Polish-American TV film director, Tad Danielewski of Stratton Productions, to New York. It was while eating a dish called ‘Scorpion’ at a restaurant in ‘The Village’ (as Greenwich Village is commonly referred to), that Dev Anand presented Pearl S Buck with a copy of R K Narayan’s The Guide. He told them that he intends to make a film on this book.
Pearl and Tad were impressed by the possibilities of a cinematic adaptation of the novel, they had doubts about whether Narayan would be willing to part with the film rights of his novel.
R K Narayan was an Indian writer known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao. Narayan’s The Financial Expert was hailed as one of the most original works of 1951 and Sahitya Akademi Award winner The Guide was adapted for film. His first book "Swami and Friends" was published in 1935. Narayan's next novel The Bachelor of Arts (1937), was inspired in part by his experiences at college, and dealt with the theme of a rebellious adolescent transitioning to a rather well-adjusted adult; He wrote nearly three dozen novels and several short-story collections, The Guide was his thirteenth book and eighth novel. It was published in 1958.
Dev Anand in his Biography says “I read it at one go…I thought it had a good story, and the character of Raju, the guide, was extraordinary,”He first wrote a letter to R K Narayan, As per Narayan he got a letter from Anand, modestly describing himself as “a producer and actor from Bombay” and wondering, “I don’t know if my name is familiar to you.” In this letter, he wrote about his interest in making a great film on The Guide. 

After his approval, Dev immediately sought an appointment with R. K. Narayan and signed a contract with him. There was also a broad consensus that the film is made in both English and Hindi. While Tad was de facto director of the English version, for the Hindi, it was a toss-up between Chetan Anand and Raj Khosla. Neither worked out. Finally, Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand was chosen to direct the Hindi version.

Guide(Eng)-Pic-1.

Guide(Eng)-Pic-2

Dev Anand wanted to start English version and Hindi version simultaneously. The idea was to film the scenes common to both versions simultaneously, a Hindi shot to be immediately followed by the same shot in English, to save time and money but it could not be materialised because Vijay Anand was not happy with the script, he wanted to change the script and write a new script. The other reason for the delay of the Hindi version was the music composer S.D. Burman had suffered a heart attack and was not available for the music. Burman Dada advised Dev to sign on a new composer for Guide, but Dev put his foot down and insisted that Burman should first get well and then take over.
As we all know that in the novel the city taken by the author was an imaginary town Malgudi but in the film, Udaipur of Rajasthan was prefered by the director Tad. But it wasn’t only the locations, the scale and the general tenor that shifted from page to screen. It was the characters themselves.  This annoyed R K Narayan but he was later convinced that Tad could not create the town similar to Malgudi. The next change was the name of the hero as Raju Guide whereas in the novel it was Railway Raju. Raju’s childhood and youth don’t appear in the film. Part of the reason lay in popular cinema’s need to be larger than life. All the small town specificity of Malgudi was erased. The film also has many sequences specifically inserted to impress the foreign audience as some kind of Bharat-Darshan.

Similarly, the Rosie who made it to the Hindi film screen was nowhere near as radical as the original Rosie – the Rosie created by RK Narayan, in his novel The Guide.
Narayan’s character had chutzpah, but he had his awkward moments. But the film was a star vehicle for Dev Anand, and its hero had to be more Dev Anand than Raju. So Anand’s Raju Guide has no self-doubt. He is never worried about the hairiness of his chest. He never wonders if he could be bold enough to woo Rosie. It is in relation to Rosie that he is most transformed – because Rosie herself has changed. Narayan’s Rosie is no sophisticated, but her ambition is never in doubt. Nor is the carnality of Raju’s interest in her, or her reciprocation of it. The novel has none of the high-mindedness that Hindi cinema forced upon its heroes and heroines so Raju can tell us the truth: he is attracted to Rosie; his support of her dance begins because it is the clue to her affections.

The novel’s Rosie is full of plans; Raju need only support them. But Vijay Anand’s film, keenly aware of his conservative audience, turns his Rosie into a bundle of nerves who tries three times to commit suicide, only to be saved each time by Raju, and berated: “Tumhari haalat aaj yeh isliye hai ki tumne apni haalat se baghaavat karna nahi seekha.”
The other sociological element that makes both book and film fascinating is that Rosie is a devadasi by birth, and her reclaiming of dance in a new secular public form formed a fictional counterpart to the actual national reclaiming of Bharatnatyam. Here, too, the film has Marco insult dance, while Raju delivers a lecture on how artists are no longer bhaands.
By June 1963, the shooting of the English version of The Guide was completed and Pearl S. Buck who viewed the rushes found it up to the mark. When Narayan saw the English version in January 1964, he wrote to Dev, labelling the film profound, artistic, and exquisite. In 1964, Dev began promoting The Guide in the US and the premiere elicited encouraging responses from a cross-section of viewers.
The English version premiered at the Lincoln Art theatre in New York in February 1965. The mainstream press in America including The New York Times and the Time magazine didn’t take a liking to The Guide.
The English Guide was a flop but Dev Anand was not bothered, he took the failure in his stride. “The film did not fare well, but it gave me a semblance of recognition in a new arena… The new experience was rewarding enough,” he writes in Romancing with Life. 
Dev Anand had plans to release the Hindi version of The Guide by end 1965. But suddenly, he was faced with a barrage of protests from some quarters who strongly recommended that the film would be banned on grounds that it promoted infidelity, that too of a woman.
Finally, Guide released on 8 April 1966. It had a shaky start, for here was a film which didn’t present Dev Anand as the quintessential lover boy. Initially, the response was lukewarm but the film picked up after a few days when all the critics gave good reviews and also the music of the film became hit.

 Narayan didn’t care for either of the movies, especially the depiction of Rosie as an all-around dancer rather than a Bharatanatyam exponent. Probably referring to the Hindi version, Narayan writes, it “converted my heroine’s performances into an extravaganza with delicious fruity colours and costumes”.

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Song of Guide 1965

Scene from Guide 1965

The Song "Gata Rahe Mera Dil" was the Last Addition in Guide

You would be surprised to know that this super hit song was originally not in the film. Vijay Anand in an interview said that the song Gata Rahe Mera Dil was inserted later, like a patchwork. We shot that song after the film was completed and then it was added. He said he along with Dev Anand thought that there was no song of Kishore Kumar, in fact, Kishore had not sung for Dev since Paying Guest in 1957.
It happened just like that. Firstly, Kishore Kumar was preoccupied with Madhubala’s health. He was not being able to devote time to rehearsals and recordings. And then with Rafi Sahab, their association was working perfectly. But Dev Bhai was missing Kishore for a long time and so he went to meet him. And then caught hold of him and sort of dragged him to Burman Dada’s home.
 The moment he saw Kishore he said in Bengali, ‘why didn’t you come all these days’ and hugged him. They loved each other a lot. Burman Dada then said let us start the rehearsal, we are going to record a song.
That time S D Burman was composing a song for Teen Deviyan and the song was Khwab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat. This song was the first song Kishore recorded for Dev Bhai after a long hiatus under Burman Dada’s music direction. Kishore sang it so wonderfully, he won everyone’s heart. This is exactly what all of us, including Dev Bhai, was missing. Burman Dada kissed his (Kishore’s) head. He was delighted.
Guide was completed and about to release earlier than Teen Deviyan because there was some work still left with the latter. Besides, Teen Deviyan was being made in black and white and on a much smaller canvas. Guide had been mounted on a large scale and it was in colour and thus it was a much-awaited film. So why not include a song by Kishore in Guide.
So immediately Shailendra was called to write a romantic song thus this song was recorded in a record time. The song was a very big hit. It was the only song of Kishore Kumar in the film.

Song of Guide 1965

"Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hain" An Immortal Art in Celluloid.

Vijay Anand was an Ace Director. His directorial excellence was as much about his deft camera work as it was about his nuanced characters. He was a master of picturising songs. His songs outlived his times. This great song from Guide is an immortal art in celluloid. Both he and his elder brother Dev had a  belief that the songs have repetitive value. Besides the composition of the song, they were very particular about the picturization of the song. Vijay Anand used to say “My camera listens to the song and moves with it,” Long shots, lush backdrops and sharp intercutting brought out the poetry in the prose.
Guide (1965) was Navketan’s first film in colour. Based on RK Narayan’s novel. It became a classic because it excelled in acting (Dev Anand-Waheeda Rehman), music (SD Burman), photography (Fali Mistry), editing (Vijay Anand and Babu Shiekh)... 
There was a situation in the film where the heroine was dejected and to bring hope the hero sings a song. For this situation, three legends, Dada Burman created a tune for which  Shailendra wrote the beautiful lines and Mohammad Rafi gave the voice.  Incidentally, the saxophone that plays in this song was played by Manohari Singh, a music assistant to S D Burman (and later R D Burman).

The song Tere Mere Sapne was shot in the early light(Sun Rise) in Udaipur. This sequence lasts more than four minutes, but it is made up of only three shots, which increase progressively in length – in other words, there are only two cuts in the whole scene. And this isn’t an arbitrary stylistic decision, it is central to what is happening in the film at this point. 
The two cuts in this scene (the first around the 39-second mark, the second around 1.44 minutes) both occur after a movement of the song has been completed, and both have Rosie drawing away from Raju after initially reaching for him. In the first scene, she strokes his shoulder; in the second she hugs him briefly, but then bunches up her fist and moves away. She is still conflicted at the end of both these movements, and in each case the cut serves as punctuation, indicating that the process of reassuring her must begin anew. And this is done at a dual level, by the lyrics of the song as well as by the sympathetic, probing movement of the camera.

 In his book Cinema Modern, Sidharth Bhatia quotes the cinematographer Fali Mistry’s son as saying of this sequence, “It was shot over two evenings and a morning, at dusk and dawn, which means they must have had a very small window of about 10 minutes each time, so they had to ensure nothing went wrong in the acting, camera placement, lighting etc … It required great coordination.” 

Song of Guide 1965

Remembering DEV ANAND on his 5th Death Anniversary

Lesser Known Facts About Dev Anand
Born Dharam Dev Anand, the actor was fondly addressed as DD, an abbreviated version of his first name by his peers in school
Dev Anand's first role model was his elder brother Chetan Anand
Chetan had studied in London and was a man of intellect and refined tastes. While Dev Anand eventually grew out of his shadow, his early acting efforts were inspired by his elder brother's mannerisms.
Dev Anand's first trip was to Venice when he accompanied elder brother Chetan Anand for the screening of their film Aandhiyan
The late star played tennis for his college and participated in inter-college tournaments but was, by his own admission, awful at it.

Apart from Chetan and Vijay Anand, Dev Anand had an elder brother Manmohan Anand, who was an advocate at the Gurdaspur District Court.
The first girl he was ever attracted to was Usha Chopra, an Anglo-Indian girl who was an undergraduate student in the same Lahore college Dev Anand was studying in.

He worked in the postal department of armed forces for a while.The actor was paid Rs 165 a month. His work was to read the letters that came for soldiers and censor any unwarranted information.

Dev Anand’s first acting job was at the Prabhat Film Company, where he was paid 400 rupees per month

Guru Dutt, first met at the Prabhat Film Company in 1946. After they exchanged polite hellos, Dev Anand noticed that Guru Dutt was staring at his shirt. It turned out that the washerman had mixed up their shirts and Dev Anand was wearing Guru Dutt’s shirt. Dev Anand said: “we had a hearty laugh and embraced each other. We were to be friends for all times.

The first time Dev Anand played a leading man was in Ziddi, opposite Kamini Kaushal. The actor got his big break as a hero when introduced thus by Ashok Kumar, already a major star. 
He may have drawn comparisons with Gregory Peck but it is Ashok Kumar he truly admired.Dev Anand aspired to become a performer in Dadamoni's class, awed by his work in films like Achhut Kanya and Kismat. 

When the love story between Dev Anand and the actress widely known as Suraiya was at its peak, Suraiya’s grandmother started monitoring their movements to ensure that the Hindu hero didn’t get too close to her Muslim granddaughter. A scene in “Afsar” (1950) required him to kiss her on the eyes but grandmother, who was on the set, wouldn’t allow it. she stood on the spot where the scene was to be enacted and wouldn’t budge. Ultimately a member of the crew whisked away the grandmother on a pretext and they quickly shot the scene.
The late actor was known for his flambouyant personality that reflected in his outfits.
He owned 800 jackets and his favourite colours were yellow, brown and black. He wore red once in a while.

Dev Anand, who is best remembered for his romantic roles and style statements left an impressive impact on the generations to come. The legendary actor’s iconic, checkered print cap worn in the film Jewel Thief was reportedly purchased from a shop in Copenhagen, Denmark. 
 One of the most handsome actors of his times, Dev Anand was asked not to wear black suit in public apparently because women would go crazy seeing him dressed in black and would jump from buildings.

Dev Anand never wanted to die in films, he did just one death scene in his entire film career,it was in Guide
It is said that Dev Anand had refused to star in Zanjeer,because there was no song situations for him, which turned out to be Amitabh Bachchan's big break. Earlier also he refused Tumsa Nahi Dekha and Teesri Manzil both the films went to Shammi Kapoor.

Dev Anand took keen interest in politics. He formed a party called National Party of India which he later disbanded.He stood up to the Internal emergency imposed by then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. In 1977, he actively campaigned against her with his supporters in the Lok Sabha.
Great Hits Of Dev Anand's Songs

Song from Hum Dono

Song from Teen Deviyan

Song from Hum Dono

Song from Kaala Baazar

Song from Jaal

Song from Solva Saal

Song from Patita

Song from Asli Naqli

Song from Guide

Song from House No 44

Song from Kala Paani

Song from Munim Ji

Song from Bombai Ka Babu

Song from Jab Pyaar kisi Se Hota Hai

Song from Tere Ghar Ke Samne

The Films that are 50:GUIDE-A poetry on celluloid.

I am starting this series with this film which will be 51 on December 2016.Backed by S.D. Burman’s evergreen melodies, ‘Guide’ became a super hit and was also critically acclaimed. It was India’s official entry for the Oscars in 1966. At the Chicago International Film Festival, Waheeda Rehman won the Best Actress Award. Both Dev and Vijay Anand refused to send ‘Guide’ for the National Awards as they abhorred malpractices by the jury.
In 1962 Dev Anand went to attend Berlin Film Festival where he met Author Pearl S. Buck who was very much impressed by R. K. Narayan’s novel, ‘The Guide. ’ The story was appealing. So when she interacted with Bollywood actor Dev Anand at the Berlin Film Festival in 1962, she talked about doing an Indo-U.S. film venture based on the book.
This excited Dev Anand, who was basking in the glory of ‘Hum Dono,’ which had won acclaim at Berlin.As soon as he returned to India, Dev Anand called on R.K. Narayan, whose book had already made him a Sahitya Academy winner. Dev Anand successfully convinced R.K. Narayan about creating a classic on celluloid based on the book and the author sold the rights of ‘The Guide,’ to the actor.

Trailer  of English version of Guide

It was decided that the film would be made in two languages, Hindi and English.the English Version was co-produced by Pearl S Buck.She penned the script of the English version and Directed by Tad Danielewski it starred Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman and Kishore Sahu. It was Navketan’s most ambitious and expensive venture in colour. Chetan Anand was supposed to direct the Hindi version simultaneously. But Chetan wanted Leela Naidu as the heroine and intended to shoot her dance sequences in long shot, to which Dev Anand disagreed, as he felt that only Waheeda Rehman was ideally suited for the role of Rosy Marco. Chetan also had differences with Tad Danielewski and left the project.

Extra Scenes from Guide

Dev anand gave direction of Hindi Version to his younger brother Vijay Anand.The combination of the Anand brothers with Kishore Sahu, Shailendra, S.D.Burman and Fali Mistry created history. Shot in exclusive locales of Udaipur, ‘Guide’ was poetry on celluloid.
Backed by S.D. Burman’s evergreen melodies, ‘Guide’ became a super hit and was also critically acclaimed. It was India’s official entry for the Oscars in 1966. At the Chicago International Film Festival, Waheeda Rehman won the Best Actress Award. Both Dev and Vijay Anand refused to send ‘Guide’ for the National Awards as they abhorred malpractices by the jury.

The film GUIDE is one of the earliest efforts in Indian Cinema to actually depict both its hero and heroine in negative shade. While Dev Anand, the hero of the movie is shown going errant after acquiring wealth on the other hand the heroine Waheeda Rehman dares to desert her husband who is high headed and a womanizer, and elopes with her lover who helps her in her ambition to become a famous dancer.The subject of extra marital relation when infidelity was considered a forbidden subject in India. Most people assumed that Indian audience was not ready to confront the story on adultery. 

Vijay Anand presented the subject on the silver screen with such competence that viewers were bowled over by his simple narration laced with dance and superlative music. GUIDE today is regarded as perhaps the best film that Vijay Anand has ever made.Guide was also first film to win all four of the major awards (Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress) at the Filmfare Awards.Surprisingly S D Burman was not given the Best Music Director award for this film.That Award was given to Shankar Jaikishan for the film Suraj.The film's music was composed by Sachin Dev Burman, the songs were written by Shailendra and they were sung by Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey and Sachin Dev Burman. The soundtrack was listed by Planet Bollywood as number 11 on their list of 100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks.
Dev Anand played Raju and Waheeda Rahman played Rosie and her husband's role was done by Kishore Sahu.

Raju's love and support gives the unfulfilled Rosie the courage to make bold and defy societal norms by leaving the oppressive atmosphere of her husband's house and moving into Raju's abode. Her sheer exultation in her new freedom is beautifully captured in her crucial song --- Kaaton se kheench ke anchal, chhod ke bandhan bandhe payal. It is evident in her dancing on the edge of a ledge in keeping with her dangerous new desires; in her riding in a cart and breaking a pot, thereby metaphorically breaking all conventions.

With Raju's glib managerial skills, Rosie becomes a dancing star. But insecurity soon manifests itself. Raju takes to drinking and gambling. His fear of losing his love makes Raju forge a cheque in Rosie's name. She finds it hard to forgive him, and he is sentenced to prison.

When he emerges from prison, he rejects his earlier life. He is mistaken as a holy man by some villagers and goes along with their belief.Circumstances make Raju go on a 12-day fast to propitiate the Gods for rain, and leads him to ponder over and seek answers to the ultimate spiritual question. In the end, the Guide finds the path to his own emotional salvation.

All in all, Guide was an effective film, quite different from your stereotypical Bollywood love story, and quite sensitive, This is one of the best films of Bollywood.

Songs from GUIDE

wahan Kaun Hai Tera

Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hai

Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya