Songs With A Difference – Songs Which Begin With Antara/Stanza

By Deepa | May 31, 2018

Hindi film songs have always maintained a definite pattern, a structure in which the songs are made. Majority of the songs have a fixed pattern. The songs generally follow the structure as – the prelude, mukhda, interludes and the antara. A song begins with a prelude, generally. Followed by a mukhda. Mukhda which literally means face, indeed gives the introduction of the song, its subject and the mood, in words or lyrics. This mukhda keeps repeating after every antara. The antara forms the soul of the song. With some expressive words in the antara, the poets, lyricists often pour out their hearts. The interludes sets a bridge across the mukhda and the antara. So we can say, in a way the interludes connect mukhda with the antara. Thus, whole body of a song is formed. The song structure or the song body is mainly divided as – music arrangements (consists of all the instruments and how and where it should be placed), music composition (which forms the main body) and the lyrics which form the main subject or the song’s character. Keeping aside Hindi film songs, Hindustani classical or Carnatic music also follow somewhat same pattern. In Hindustani classical genre it might be termed as – Sthayi, Antara, Sanchari, Abhog. While in Carnatic music genre it is – Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charnam. Irrespective of all the genres it is a general practice to sing the Sthayi/Pallavi/Mukhada twice or even thrice initially and repeat after every Antara/Anupallavi.
The above description of the song pattern holds true for classical music. But the artists/musicians usually experiment when it comes to Film music genre. Taking this into consideration we have already seen earlier different combinations of mukhda – antara songs. We have No Mukhda No Antara collection, Different Yet Same collection and recently done Male Sings Mukhda Female sings Antara collection. To decorate a song in a different way and make it attractive or make it look different from other songs, the creators have begun with a stanza of that song followed by the mukhda and then rest of the antaras. In general, the antara picks up from the place where the mukhda has been left off, but in this special category the mukhda picks up into the original songs where the antara has left off. This also means refraining from songs having a preamble – say beginning with a doha or a bandish or a poetry of few lines. The beginning antara should be a part of that song itself and merge with the mukhda.
So here’s the collection of few such songs –

1. Baarish (1957) – Music composed by C. Ramchandra, this song is a type of qawwali and begins with a stanza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOQku0JMfSA

2. Paying Guest (1957) – A very well known song composed by S D Burman and rendered by Kishore Kumar begins with a stanza of 2 lines which later merge into the mukhda…Haay haay haay ye nigahein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EoQ0XqOp3s

3. Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1961) – A lovely competitive duet composed by Shankar Jaikishan and rendered by Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh, Manna Dey and Mahendra Kapoor.

4. Guide (1965) – Perhaps the most well known song in this category. The antara is as well known as the mukhda. Composed by S D Burman and rendered by Lata Mangeshkar.

5. Ek Musafir Ek Haseena (1962) – A beautiful duet rendered by Asha Bhonsle and Mohammed Rafi and composed by O P Nayyar.

6. Mere Huzoor (1968) – Composed by Shanker Jaikishan, rendered by Mohammed Rafi, the song begins with a high scale antara.

7. Poorab Aur Paschim (1970) – A very feel Indian song rendered by Mahendra Kapoor and chorus composed by Kalyanji Anandji, this song begins with a long antara.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDrKL0JJrdc

8. Anamika (1973) – A bubbly, teasing song composed by Pancham, rendered by Asha Bhonsle. Apart from this song Dulhan maike chali (Manoranjan) and Ye mere bandhe haath (Bandhe Haath) which begin with a stanza are also composed by Pancham.

9. Bobby (1973) – A lovable youthful duet from this iconic film, rendered by Lata Mangeshkar and Shailendra Singh and composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal has again one of the most known antara lines in the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBJj-3sgcd0

10. Trishul (1978) – A peppy number from Khayyam, rendered by Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Yesudas. This is another song having a known beginning antara.

11. Kaho Na Pyar Hai (2000) – Amongst the new songs, this Rajesh Roshan number begins with an antara. Rendered by Lucky Ali.

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