Sunday, February 25, 2001		Article

Is it goodbye to bahaar?
By O.P. Bhagat

A fresh tang in the air. New leaves frill the bare branches. Buds open into flowers. Birds chirp and call. And rapturously a voice sings:

This is Pankaj Mullick in Doctor. Almost 60 years old, the film may have been forgotten. But the song lives on. Many stop and listen whenever it is played. By the way, not only Pankaj Mullick sang the song but he also set it to music. And he played the hero in the movie.

Another song that charmingly tells of the coming of spring, though differently, is from Chhaya. Sung by Lata Mangeshkar, it presents spring as a woman wearing anklets. As she comes dancing, plants respond to the tinkling bells as they would to the chanting of a mantra:

Yet different is the advent of spring in the title song of Aye Din Bahaar Ke. The girl hears of it from the throat of a papiha and relays the news to her love:

Among the seasons, spring has always been the poets’ favourite everywhere. English poet Thomas Nashe calls it "the year’s pleasant king". To Sanskrit poets it is Rituraja, the king of seasons.

Equally rich is the poetry of spring in our regional languages. Also in folksongs. Hindi and other film songs keep up the tradition in their own way.

Quite a few Hindi pictures have spring titles. Basant, Bahar and Naubahar, for example. But the word means a happy ending rather than the season there. Similarly, hope or happiness is implied in the titles like Baharon ki Manzil and Baharen Phir Bhi Ayengi.

Baharon ke Sapne connotes dreams of a happy time and Bahaar Ane Tak until the happy time comes. Aye Din Bahaar Ke could be another way of saying Aye Din Pyaar Ke. In our films love and spring always go hand in hand.

All these movies have spring songs. These are merry or joyful lyrics of love in a spring garden or in a lovely landscape. Sometimes, while the lovers sing in not so lush a place, flowers bloom at once and a koel pipes in.

Spring songs have been fitted in many other pictures as well. Some are songs of the season, and some other of love or longing and of the beauty of the season.

In that beautiful Naujawan song, "thhundi hawaen, lehra ke ayen", the word Basant or bahaar is not there. But the mention of rut hai jawan indicates that the season is spring. There are a few other such instances too.

In a few films, at the end, the bleak scene changes, as if by magic, to one of leafing and blossoming when, after a long and sad separation, the lovers happily come together. Then the refrain of their one time love song also echoes in the air.

In some solos or duets spring is a symbol of joy or the happy end of a journey or quest, as in the Arti chant:

Or spring is a word of reassurance to a disconsolate heart, as in the title song of Baharen Phir Bhi Ayengi:

Making love or falling in love goes on at all times of the year. But if you go by songs or poetry, spring is the season for it. Spring urges or invites you to do it. In the romance named after her, Anarkali tells Prince Salim:

Then there is a bunch of songs in which the boy equates his love and spring or takes one for the other. In Sathi the lover tells his girl:

So does the Romeo in Ap Aye Bahaar Ayi. The coming of his Juliet is to him like the coming of spring. The movie’s title serves as the burden of his song. The Hum Dono boy too uses a spring metaphor when, at their meeting, he asks the girl not to go back so soon:

The lover Sangdil words his wish yet differently when he tells the girl:

If Tansen, in the 1943 film of that name, voiced his ardour by telling Tani, Tum Basant ho, tum bahar ho, the 1965 Arzoo lover matched this by calling his love Phoolon ki rani, baharon ki malika.

How do you welcome your sweetheart? It may be quietly or excitedly. But the Suraj hero does it with floral fanfare by asking spring to shower petals on her:

Curiouser still is the Nai Kahani (1943) chap. At the sight of his girl he is so carried away that the seasons lose their meanings for him. To him it matters little whether spring comes or autumn stays on:

With love goes longing. Sometimes longing gives the joy of spring a tinge, or the loving heart a twinge of pain. The sad tone of the Taqdir (1967) song signals it:

Crooning in loneliness is the woman in Akhri Khat. She craves for that joy or beauty which spring can bring to a desolate life:

And full of despair is the Lahore song which the girl sings in separation:

Strangely enough, for a long time there has been no movie with a spring title. And few spring songs have come in. Is it goodbye to bahaar in Hindi films then?

As on the fashion front, trend change on the screen too. While in song and story the spring theme was popular, the rain theme was also there. Then suddenly the rain motif swamped the other. Even when the story or the situation did not demand it, rain songs were slipped in.

Some were nice, very nice. Some others were naughty. Since they boosted the flicks at the box office, more and more were churned out. Some time back they reached the saturation point. Now it seemed to be the turn of spring songs. And at least two trickled in.

One is in Raja Hindustani. Though the use of spring there is figurative, yet it makes a perfect blend with love and the feeling with which it is sung:

The other, is Ishq, is a lilting ditty. It goes well with the lively dance the two pairs of lovers perform then:

This augured well for spring. But before it could rise in a tide, the pop tide swept in. Till pop is on top, there is not much hope for bahaar — unless we have pop spring songs.