Sunday, July 2, 2000		Article

Mangoes, melodies & movies
By O.P Bhagat

Ambwa ki dali, dali
Jhoom rahi hai aali...

DO you know which film this song — a duet — is from? Most probably not, unless you are an old-timer and saw movies at school or college.

The picture is New Theatres’ Vidyapati (1937). It is one of the classics of Indian cinema. But like most classics it has been nearly forgotten. Only a few hum its songs or listen to them in Vividh Bharati’s slot of Bhoole Bisre Geet.

Anyway, the song is perhaps the first Hindi film song in which the mango tree figures. We have a few other such solos and duets too. They are spaced over about 25 years. However, the next three songs come one after the other in the early forties.

In 1941 was made Bombay Talkies’ Jhoola. Sitting on a swing at its start, the heroine (Leela Chitnis) sings the film’s theme song (music: Saraswati Devi). In it there is a reference to a mango grove,

Did you notice that it is not a koeliya but "preet ki koeliya" that calls in the girl’s mind? This is because in our poetry and songs where there is a mango, there is love — or a suggestion of it.

In 1942, Roop K. Shorey came up with his Nishani. This is one the first, if not the first, Hindi movies in which the twin heroes look alike. Both were played by the comedian Majnu.

In a song of longing, which two sisters sing rather chirpily (music: Amarnath) one says:

Vo aamon ki bagia, vo sawan ka jhoola,
Abhi tak nahin meri ankhon ko bhoola.

The third song is in A.R. Kardar’s Namaste (1943). In it the poet brings in a mango tree at the beginning. This seems to be for lyrical effect and also because the tree is an aid to or a symbol of love.

In the first couplet, one of the lovers feelingly asks a question, to which the other replies (music: Naushad) with the same feeling:

Ambwa pe panchhi bawra,
bolo, bolo kya sunaye hai?
Teri meri kahaniyan,
sara jahan gaye hai.

From 1943 we take a long leap to 1963. In that year we had Bimal Roy’s Bandini. One of its songs mentions mango trees.

As its title indicates, the film is the story of a woman prisoner. While she is in jail, comes the month of Sawan. This is the time when married girls visit their parents’ homes. While there, they, besides enjoying themselves in other ways, swing under mango trees.

While doing their assigned chores, one of the woman prisoner sings a song of Sawan in which she tells of any girl’s yearning:

Ambwa tale phir se jhoole padenge,
Rim-jhim padegi phuar...

It is a haunting melody, sung by Asha Bhosle (music: S.D. Burman). And it is the last Hindi film song in which mango trees come in.

Yes, there are just a handful of such songs in Hindi movies, though the tree has inspired our poets for centuries. There are many such folk and tribal songs too. And now some mango drink jingles as well.

In a way, this is not surprising. In the film songs only five trees — aam or ambwa, ber, neem, pipul and imli — occur by name. Of these the mango’s score is the highest.

The mango scores on another account too. It is alluded to in a film title, and the tree is seen in at least three other movies. The title is Amrapali. It is the story of the Vaishali beauty who was miraculously born in a mango grove.

Of those three pictures one is Nai Kahani (1945). In a scene in it a village woman looks all glee as she shakes down some unripe mangoes from a tree to make chutney for her husband. That’s nothing to write home about, you’d say. But the passing scene becomes poignant when you see that at the moment the man (Jairaj) has got on a train in a wild goose chase of a city girl.

The second film is Shikast (1953). At its outset, the hero (Dilip Kumar) comes to a village in a thoughtful, almost gloomy, mood. And he passes by a mango tree laden with fruit. While it evokes your sympathy, the scene, due to somebody’s lapse, also amuses you. The hero wears a warm suit. No one in the mango season does that.

The third is Sholay (1975). It has the longest and most interesting mango scene, at once comic and romantic.

The film’s bubbly heroine Basanti (Hema Malini) goes out to get some raw mangoes which her aunt needs for pickling. While she is jumping to pluck them from a tree, Veeru (Dharmen-dra) accosts her.

He has already been charmed by her. Now he attempts to get into her favour by offering to shoot down mangoes for her with his revolver. He also offers to teach Basanti how to shoot them down. While he is giving her a lesson in it, his serious-looking naughty friend Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) brings three down with three quick shots of his gun.

Perhaps no marksman in real life would do that kind of shooting. But in films, Hindi films in particular, nothing is odd or incredible. Often after such an encounter in our movies comes a song to put the seal of love on it. In this case you’d expect an ambwa duet. Instead, mangoes lend their fruity flavour to Veeru’s fervour.