Ajab si & Main agar kahoon – Om Shanti Om

After Life in a Metro, no Hindi music album appealed to me much. Listening to my old playlist excessively while commuting daily, I was looking for a new addition to bring some variation. One recent numbers I like is Aankhon mein teri Ajab si from Om Shanti Om among the hoards of new songs. Though yet to be subjected to repeated listening to test how long it appeals to me 😛 , I kinda like Aankhon mein teri from Om Shanti Om which has music by my favorite mentor in SRGMP Vishal Sekhar. More so because the background music is minimal like the music director duo’s Tinka Tinka number and tune is melodious and pleasing to ears. Didn’t expect Vishal Dadlani of Vishal Sekhar duo to pen down a soft romantic lyrics considering his stern image in SRGMP. KK proves his versatility yet again and is no doubt my favorite singer of recent time. The music is different from the recent VS style of music. I feel it is more like Vishal Sekhar of Jhankar beats style.

From the promo, it looks like the song is about a fan totally enchanted by his dream women who is Superstar. But in a 70’s set up (?). Well I heard the movie is about reincarnation, so it explains this. And yes the tagline too – ‘For some dreams, one lifetime is not enough.’ Shreyas Talpade is looking funny with the 70 style wig/long hair. 😀 Is it me only or does anyone feel Deepika Padukone looks bit like Gracy Singh? Wonder why the name is Om Shanti Om of the loud-looking movie – Well Shahrukh is Om and Deepika is Shanti in the movie. Anyway, before getting drifting too much from the song to the movie and the stars, here’s the lyrics.

Aankhon mein teri
Ajab si ajab si adaayein hai
Dil ko banade jo patang saanse teri woh hawayein hai
Aayi aisi raat hai jo

Bahot khusnaseeb hai
Chahe jissey duur se duniya
Woh mere kareeb hai
Kitna kuch kehna hai phir bhi dil mein sawal kahin
Sapno mein jo roz kahaan hai woh phir se kahoon ya nahin

Tere saath saath aisa
Koi noor aaya hai
Chand teri roshni ka
Halka sa ek saaya hai
Teri nazron ne dil ka kiya jo hasarr asar yeh huwa
Ab in mein hi duub ke hi ho jaon paar yahin hai duwa

Aankhon mein teri
Ajab si ajab si adaayein hai
Dil ko banade jo patang saanse teri woh hawayein hai

Update: 3rd October, 2007

Aneek Dhar’s beautiful rendition of “Main agar kahoon” in Saregamapa Challenge 2007 made me change my earlier opinion that Ajab si is the best song of Om Shanti Om. I re-listened Main agar kahoon again and am absolutely loving this soft melodious romantic number. No wonder Sonu Nigam is roped in to sing this number as he’s the one among the current lot of singers, who is the perfect for such a song which reminds you of the era gone by. Shreya joins in for a short part in between. Again I’m surprised that this is Vishal Shekhar composition. I think this song also does justice to the re-incarnation theme of the movie. The lovely theme music of Om Shanti Om marks the beginning of the song and interspersed throughout. Here’s a sneak peek to the song from Youtube.

Laari choote from Ek chalis ki last local

The latest song that caught my attention is Laari Choote, the theme music of the movie Ek chalis ki last local. Picturised on Abhay Deol and Neha Dhupia, this song is sung, composed, and written by Xulfi, the lead guitarist of the Pakistani rock band “Call”. I don’t know why I always get attracted to music by Pakistani bands/singers. 😛

Interspersed with Abhay Deol’s narration, this Sufi rock-based music is catchy and the lyrics as well is interesting. Ek chalis ki last local is a plot-driven movie in which the life of the protagonist changes drastically in matter of hours. This song summarizes the mood of the movie and is about the unpredictability of life.

Few days back, I shared this song with a friend who was in low mood due to one particular incident in her life and she liked the lyrics…I knew she had to like it with lyrics like this:

Karlo jo bhi karna hai
hota hai jo hona hai
Guzra do pal yeh phir na aayega
Kya bura hai kya bhala hai
Waqt hi shayad khuda hai
Ho jaane do phir
Dekha jaayega

When I inquired a couple of friends about the meaning of laari or laree as in laari choote/laree choote, none could tell. I would be happy if anybody who knows the meaning of the word leaves a comment here.

Unfortunately, the video for this track is not up to the mark. Instead of the routine dance, the choreographer could have made it more realistic and situational. But dunno if it is actually picturized in the same way in the movie also or just it’s like this in the promotional video. Ignore the video if you don’t like and enjoy this youtube video of this song:

Click here to watch the Pakistani Version of the video, featuring Call the band themeselves, along with Abhay Deol and Neha Dhupia here.

Coincidentally apart from this song, the other new song I like these days also features Neha Dhupia – a song with likeable country flavor –“Kitni dair tak” from Delhi heights.

Read on for the full lyrics of Laree Chooti:

Dialogue:
Woh kehte hai na jo hota hai
acchey ke liye hota hai…

Galat kehte hai

Lyrics:
Kismat ka khel hai saara
Phirta tha main awaara
Yeh kya se kya hogaya
Chaar din ki zindagaani
har pal ek nayi kahaani
Kya tha main kya bangayaa

Kya huwa jo laree chooti
Jeevan ki gaadi luuti
Khwab hai to mujhko na jaga
Zindagi ek pal mein saali
Yun palat gayi hamaari
Jhuth hai to mujhko na bata

Dialogue:
Mumbai sunaa tha yahan aadmi puuri zindagi apni kismet
slow track se fast track lane mein nikaal deta hai
par dhai ghante mein yeh kisko pata tha
aise slow track se fast track par aa jayegi yeh maine kabhi socha nahin tha
Sazaa majaa ban jayegi yeh bhi kabhi socha nahin tha
Last local kya chuuti saala kismet patri par aa gayi

Lyrics:
Karlo jo bhi karna hai
hota hai jo hona hai
Guzra do pal yeh phir na aayega
Kya bura hai kya bhala hai
Waqt hi shayad khuda hai
Ho jaane do phir
Dekha jaayega

Kya huwa jo laree chooti
Jeevan ki gaadi luuti
Khwab hai to mujhko na jagaa
Zindagi ek pal mein saali
Yun palat gayi hamaari
Jhuth hai to mujhko na bataa – 2

Dialogue:
Woh kehte hai na jo hota hai
acchey ke liye hota hai…

Sahi kehte hai

Update (18th April, 07)

Few minutes before, I was studying something and didn’t thought I would be translating this. Now that I ended up translating, so I thought – why don’t I post it…

Translation of Laari Choote (mostly non- verbatim translation, not so good one though)

Everything is just a game of fate
I was just a wanderer in my carefree life
Who would have known life would bring me here?
What was I and what I’ve become now…
For every moment is an unpredictable new story
But Life is a short journey…

So why to bother if I miss the train
Why to worry if my life is crushed
It took just a moment…
for my damned life to become topsy-turvy
If it is dream, don’t wake me up from it
If this is lie, don’t verify it..let it be..

One is helpless in the face of Destiny
My deeds and wants do not count much
Destined events will inevitably happen
Let past problems stay in the past;
And not let them taint the present…
For moments don’t return
What went wrong, what went right?
Who can decide…
Coz only time seems to be the Lord of all
So, whatever happens,
Let it be…
Let me face it…

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Dates with Diva

 

It seems both ironic and incongruous that my relationship with the leading lady of Indian cinema in the late 1940s and early 1950s – a relationship that was among the most meaningful in my life, and not only as a film journalist – should have begun on an inauspicious note. For a scene to be shot at China Creek for a Hindi film whose title I cannot now recall, a ban was imposed by Madhubala, or, more correctly, by her formidable father, Khan Ataullah Khan, on film journalists and photographers from visiting that particular set. Hastily, and rather thoughtlessly, the film press responded by imposing a total blackout of Madhubala in the film press. I was appointed, without being consulted, chairman of the blackout committee.

In my considered opinion, then as now, both the ban and the response to it were uncalled for and, worse, ineffective. I told the journalists that the press needed Madhubala as much as Madhubala needed the press. In the dispute, the reaction of her many, many fans was not taken into account. The matter dragged on purposelessly for a couple of months till, one fine morning, Khan Saheb summoned the photographer Ram Aurangbadkar, my right-hand man in Movie Times which I then edited, and told him that the dispute was pointless and, as a gesture of goodwill, invited the film press to a tea party at Madhubala’s residence Arabian Villa in Bandra.

Arabian Villa, a picturesque little cottage in a Bandra side-lane, was one of many such cottages that sprawled all over the suburb in those days. At the villa’s gate, along with the security guards, stood Khan Saheb with a genial smile welcoming us journalists, eight or nine of us. We were taken to a small but elegantly decorated, richly-carpeted, drawing room. Unlike the other filmstar homes I’d visited, not a single portrait of Madhubala adorned the walls.

I hadn’t met Madhubala (her real name was Mumtaz Begum) earlier, but I had seen several of her films and had been impressed by her attractive personality and her obvious budding talent. I wasn’t prepared for the woman I saw slowly descending a curved staircase from the upper floor. It was as if a vision of beauty had achieved form and presence, in a simple white sari and matching sandals, right in front of my eyes, without a touch of make-up. I was so struck that I forgot my manners and didn’t stand up when, before greeting everyone else, she stood before me, her manicured hands together in a namaste.