Delicate Desire – Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi – Chori Chori

Being in love is always termed as the best feeling in the world. It makes one feel secure, hopeful, happy, it inspires. It is a whole new world of feelings. It also makes you do some new things which you wouldn’t generally do. Beyond the realm of mind, love is selfless. It is a positive vibration which makes one happy, gives joy.
But when it comes to declaring this feeling to someone, one becomes hesitant. Because love also means trusting the person. There always arises a stage of to say or not to say. Commitment once done is done for life usually. Commitment when you are still not sure about the feelings of the one you love. And this is the time when you start oscillating between your heart and mind. There’s that dilly dally situation and you don’t know how to express, even in a roundabout way.
Q – What do you do?
A – Ask Kabir-raj (Kaviraj) Baba Shailendra for help.
And he comes up with –

Ithlaati hawa neelam sa gagan
Kaliyon pe ye behoshi ki nami
Aise me bhi kyun bechain hai dil
Jeevan mein na jaane kya hai kami
Kyun aag si lagaa ke gumsum hai chandni
Sone bhi nahi deta mausam ka ye ishara
Ye raat bheegi bheegi ye mast fizaayein
Utha dheere dheere wo chaand pyara pyara
The sky is blue like a sapphire (dark blue-night sky), the buds are intoxicated by the dew drops (oh this is so romantic!!!) and when the nature is in its full glory, why is my heart so restless? Am I missing something in life? The night is misty with dew drops falling all over, the beautiful moon has come up in the sky but the moonlight is as if scorching me. The stars and this atmosphere are trying to say something in a muted way. This silent indication has taken my sleep away.
The hesitant love is there and romance seeps in!!

We hear the guitar chords in the beginning of the song, which say the situation of the heart. Look how Raj Kapoor fumbles with his belongings to go out of the room (he wants to stay and say something). The guitar is joined by the trumpets and the violins, they show the fluctuation of heart and mind. And Nargis knows those exact feelings since she is also going through the same situation.
Manna Dey’s clear voice resonates in the atmosphere and he’s joined by an overlapping heavenly alaap of Lata Mangeshkar. A striking entry of female voice, Shankar – Jaikishan at their best.
The interlude has guitar and violins again and the above discreet lines by Shailendra follow as the stanza.
The next interlude arouses one’s curiosity, what next? And Nargis says –

Jo din ke ujaale mein na mila
Dil dhoondhe aise sapne ko
Iss raat ki jagmag me dubi
Main dhoondh rahi hun apne ko
Ye raat bheegi bheegi ye mast fizaayein
Utha dheere dheere wo chaand pyara pyara
Kyun aag si lagaa ke gumsum hai chandni
Sone bhi nahi deta mausam ka ye ishara
Searching for a dream which cannot found even in broad daylight. Drowned in the glittering night, she wants some special to be by her side. What a delicate desire!! And how beautifully Shailendra has expressed it. The camera romances with the very expressive, in love face of Nargis. With an intent-on-romance look on Raj Kapoor’s face, SJ help to take romance further with a teasing guitar and violins. And as if a rejoinder for Nargis’ delicate yearning Raj Kapoor sings –

Aise mein kahin kya koi nahi
Bhoole se jo humko yaad kare
Ik halki si muskan se jo
Sapnon ka jahan aabad kare
Ye raat bheegi bheegi ye mast fizaayein
Utha dheere dheere wo chaand pyara pyara
Kyun aag si laga ke gumsum hai chandni
Sone bhi nahi deta mausam ka ye ishara
Isn’t there anyone around who will remember me in such yearnings? Just with a sweet smile come in my life and be mine forever? Isn’t there anyone who will fill up my life just as she does in my dreams?
What is noteworthy in this song is that even after it being a peppy, romantic number, SJ has kept the use of percussion almost negligible. No extra percussion can be heard except in the background, that too very on a dull side. Yet the song sounds so frothily romantic.
Love is expressed evasively in all its splendour. The sapphire like night is in its splendour too. The moon risen is in its full opulence. Shailendra’s lyrics are in their romantic grandeur. SJ’s music sounds magnificent. Lata and Manna da sound elegant. Nargis and Raj Kapoor make romance rich and dreamy. This song with delicate desires shines bright in the romantic glory!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1DZxkiMjRo

Adding a cover version rendered by Geeta Dutt ?