Of Trees And Hindi Film Songs

Who doesn’t love nature!? Animals, birds, flowers, fruits, sea, rivers, mountains and trees. Amongst these trees are major contributors towards nature. Trees not only provide beauty to the eyes but also help in maintaining the ecological balance. From giving oxygen to stabilising the soil to providing shelter and food, preserving and supporting wildlife, improving air quality…..yes, they are life savers!! On the other hand trees give inspiration to live. They give philosophical base to some of the best inspiring lines in life.

Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky – Kahlil Gibran

Trees are the earth’s endless efforts to speak to the listening heaven – Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore
Sometimes trees become an inspiration for a poem. Sometimes trees are associated with stories. Historical, mythological and even fictitious stories. Sometimes trees become the main subject of a song or a poem. Trees have also found place and importance in mythology and history. Ancient trees like banyan, peepal, neem etc have found a place in folklores, folk songs and poems. One such poem I remember easily is in Hindi by Subhdra Kumari Chauhan –
Yeh Kadamb ka ped agar maa hota Yamuna teere
Main bhi uspar baith Kanhaiyya banta dheere dheere….
A beautiful nok – jhonk poem describing the sweet banters of mother and son!!
But what have trees got to do with Hindi film music? Well, Hindi films are known for the songs which are mainly picturized around the trees. The lead pair usually does a lot of running around them while singing the timeless songs. But Hindi film music is a lot more than just that running around the trees. Music in Hindi films forms the soul of the film. Sometimes a certain movie is known because of its songs. The songs have different subjects from love to philosophy or there is a mention of flowers, rivers, fruits, animals and even trees. That’s right even trees. Have you ever thought of songs which mention the names of these trees? Earlier I had written one such article about rivers and mention of their names in film songs. Here’s a list which has names of the trees –

1. CID (1956) – Beautiful soundtrack by none other than the rhythm king OPN, starring Shakeela and Dev Anand, this song is picturized on Minoo Mumtaz. Peepal jhoome more aangna, thnadi thandi chhaon re….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shFt7sGaujc

2. Parakh (1960) – Another gem by the combination of Shailendra – Salil Chowdhury. This Lata Mangeshkar number is picturized on the very beautiful Sadhana. Thande thande hare hare neem taley.….

https://youtu.be/YvwWZdK4gog

3. Bandini (1963) – A strong woman oriented movie by Bimal Roy. Having winning music by S D Burman and lyrics by Shailendra. This particular song rendered by Asha Bhonsle is about reminiscing of the younger carefree days. Ambuva taley phir se jhoole padenge…..

4. Samadhi (1972) – Picturized on the energetic Asha Parekh and rendered by Lata Mangeshkar, this Pancham number has seen many remixes. Bangley ke peechhe teri beri ke nichey……

5. Nadiya Ke Paar (1982) – One of the blockbusters from the 80s, the song picturized on lovely innocent lead pair Sadhana Singh and Sachin. Music and lyrics by Ravindra Jain and sung by Hemlata and Suresh Wadkar. Ho budhe bargad ki maati ko sees dhar le…..

6. Saudagar (1991) – The coming together of 2 giants – Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar. This Subhash Ghai film made waves with its dialogues and music by Laxmikant Pyarelal. Imli ka boota, beri ka ped……

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydbgHcJi-rA

7. Laila Majnu (2018) – This latest movie has some good numbers including music and lyrics. This particular song has lyrics by Irshad Kamil and music by Joi Barua. Patta anaaron ka patta chinaron ka jaise hawaon mein……