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Gulzar And His Topaz Moon
He dons many hats – that of a lyricist, filmmaker, dialogue writer, poet, translator, slogan writer. But at heart he’s a poet. Weaver of words. Slowly and steadily he will entwine the words around your heart and lace it with his unconventional imagery. Before you know, you are already between his criss cross narration, tightly held by the silk, woollen threads of his poems!!
Gulzar is best described by these lines –
Toot ki shaakh pe baitha koyee,
Bunta hai resham ke taage
Lamha-lamha khol raha hai
Patta-patta been raha hai
Ek-ek saans baja kar sunta hai saudaee
Ek-ek saans ko khol ke apne tan pe liptata jata hai
His imagery and euphemism have a distinctive quality which set him apart from his contemporaries. His signature style of using imagery penetrates straight into your. His dexterity makes him unique. Poets are always fascinated by different facets, nature, philosophy which become the subject of their poems. Gulzar seems to be fascinated by the moon. Not only his poems but majority of the film songs written by him have a mention of the moon. Moon is his favourite companion. Gulzar has created a magical phrase from 2 of his well known works – Pukhraj and Raat Pashmine Ki.
Ek sabab marne ka, ek talab jeene ki,
Chaand Pukhraj ka, raat pashmine ki!!!
(In my soul there’s a reason to die, a desire to live,
To relish those topaz moons, to savour those velvety nights)
Here’s a peek into his expanse of songs where he has used Chaand and its synonyms in the lyrics, in a weird way!!
1. Bandini (1963) – His ticket to stardom. Picturised on the beautiful Nutan, where in between the song she says – Badri hataa ke chanda, chupke se jhaanke chanda, tohe rahu laage bairi, muskaaye jee jalaike where Gulzar has brought in mythology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu7JsGN2wHo
2. Devtaa (1978) – Have you ever thought of stealing a moon? Gulzar did, way back in the 70s. Chaand churaake laya hun, chal baithe church ke pichhe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs4lWVCEb0A
3. Kitaab (1977) – The quintessential Pancham song which says – Dhanno ki aankhon mein raat ka surma aur chaand ka chumma
4. Ijazat (1987) – One cannot go past this song if we are talking about Gulzar and chaand. The song has beautiful lyrics which say – ek sau solah chaand ki raatein, ek tumhare kaadhe ka til
5. Angoor (1982) – The Comedy of Errors in Hindi, remake of Do Dooni Char. Gulzar here is ready to bite the sugar moon. Yaad toh hogi kuch bhooli bisri aise barsi thi chand si misri, chand ko chabane ki raat aayi hai
6. Rudaali (1993) – The poignant, grim song has a double version. Lata Mangeshkar and Bhupen Hazarika. O more chandrama, teri chaandni ang jalaaye, teri oonchi ataari maine pankh liye katwaaye
7. Bunty aur Babli (2005) – For Gulzar, there’s a road up in the sky which passes through the moon. Chand se hokar sadak jaati hai, usee pe aage jaake apna makaan hoga
8. Omkara (2006) – We cannot even think of Chaand in an item song. Gulzar has not only used it, he has swallowed the moon. Haan chaand nigal gayi, ho ji main chaand nigal gayi
9. Mere Apne (1971) – Last but not the least. His directorial debut. Sadly, this particular song was not included in the film. Roz akeli aaye, roz akeli jaaye, chaand katora liye bhikharan raat
Yes, there are still so many of his songs with his topaz moon in it. Can you recall and add to the list?
