Jogi Jab Se Tu Aaya – Bandini – Under The Spell

Bandini (1963) a landmark from so many different aspects. A comeback for Nutan after her marriage, also the patch up of Lata Mangeshkar and S D Burman. Bandini – the imprisoned one, imprisoned in love. Bimal Roy’s poignant tale of an innocent village girl caught between the conflict of love. The bleak saga of inner turmoil, sensitivity and selfless love. The era of black and white cinema in its full glory. Bandini, though a love story, isn’t about the candy floss love but an intense love, unsettling love with some grey shades.

A simple sari clad Kalyani (Nutan) adorns the inner conflict at the defining moment of the film with Mere saajan hain uss paar, main mann maar, hun iss paar the conflict reaching its crescendo with Mera khinchti hai aanchal, mann meet teri har pukar . After all she’s Bandini piya ki, main sangini hun saajan ki bound by love. What an earthy song by S D Burman himself and he pairs again with Shailendra!! If we look at Bandini the music album, it has so much to offer. S D Burman, Asha Bhonsle, Mukesh, Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar, with a bonus of Shailendra and Gulzar as lyricists. What more can a music lover ask for, in a single album. The singing sisters get 2 songs each and the songs contradict their usual singing styles. Asha gets the poignant numbers while Lata gets the playful ones.

So we have Kalyani, who is in love with Bikash Ghosh (Ashok Kumar) and calls him a Jogi. This song is indeed a beauty from Shailendra. Jogi usually means a hermit. The one who has renounced the world. The enlightened one, who knows everything about the mystery called life. But here it means in terms of the one who knows everything about love. Just as a sanyasi or a jogi knows everything about life. Hence the lines say –

Jogi jabse tu aaya mere dware,
Ho mere rang gaye saanjh sakare,
Tu toh ankhiyon se jaane ji ki batiyan,
Tose milna hi julm bhaya re

You know everything about me just through my eyes!! From the time you have entered my life, my days and nights are colourful, joyful like never before. Oh why did I meet you!!

S D Burman gives this playful song an earthy touch again with a glocknspiel played in the beginning. A playful dholak is heard all through the song. The interlude begins with a lively sarangi for a change.

Dekhi sanwali surat ye, naina judaye
Dekhi sanwali surat
Teri chhab dekhi jab se
Naina judaaye, bhaye
Bin kajra ye kajrare

So mesmerised am I with your dark complexion, your pleasant face that my eyes are fixed on you. They see you everywhere. Your dark complexion has hypnotised me so much that my eyes are dark lined without applying any kohl/kajal (my eyes reflect you). And yet with that dark complexion her life has become colourful.

Burman dada infuses the colours of all stringed instruments in this interlude – sitar, sarangi, violin but there’s also his signature flute.

Jaake panghat pe baithun main
Radha deewani
Bin jal liye chali aaun
Radha deewani
Mohe ajab ye rog lagaa re

If we’re talking about a dark complexioned one then it is bound to be followed by Radha. And rightly so, Shailendra compares Kalyani’s mesmeric state with that of Radha. Forgetting her daily chores, like filling the pitchers of water, she sits alone day dreaming about this Jogi, becoming forgetful in his trance as if she is suffering from amnesia.

The interlude here is about a small duet between sarangi and the glocknspiel. It progresses towards the story as Kalyani progresses in love from just infatuation to attraction to carnal love and finally being in love with this Jogi

Meethi meethi agan ye seh na sakungi
Main toh chhui mui abala re
Seh na sakungi
Mere aur nikat mat aa re

He has aroused bouts of love in her with the sweet fire of longing. But she says she is a simple village belle unaware of these feelings and its reciprocation. Going more closer to her might prove to be hazardous for both of them to sustain.
Have you ever been under the magic of someone’s love? It exists for those who believe in it. And the magic is such that you don’t even realise when you are falling for that person without any reason, without predicting and without wanting to be in it. Just as the saying goes – You can cut all the flowers but you can’t stop Spring from coming!! Love makes its presence felt and before you know it, you are under the spell.

https://youtu.be/bjFpUs-pjd8