Raat ki mehfil sooni sooni
Posted on: March 16, 2012
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie songs and a regular contributor to this blog.
After reading my own article on a song from NOOR JEHAN (1967) ‘ sharaabi sharaabi ye saawan ka mausam’ on this blog, I felt guilty for bypassing, in my view, the most beautiful song of this film ‘ raat ki mehfil sooni sooni’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar. In fact the very purpose of ascertaining whether this song was in my VCD or not was a precursor to write an article on this song. But somehow I was carried away by the availability of the video clip of the Suman Kalyanpur song. So I sat down for deciphering the lyrics of ‘raat ki mehfil sooni sooni’ which was not a difficult task due to the clear audio and impeccable diction of Lata Mangeshkar.
As stated in my article referred to above, this song was deleted from VCD version and the comments on YT also indicate that this song was not there in the VHS video tapes. In all probability, this song was deleted from the film itself. So this song joins the list of ‘the best deleted song from the film’. Shakeel’s poetry is heart touching so is the soft orchestration of music director Roshan. The wordings of the song would indicate that the song would have appeared in the film at a point when Jehangir is sent by Akbar to Gujarat for crushing the Pathan rebellion and at the same time Mehroonisa’s marriage is being fixed with Sher Afghan.
I am not being diplomatic when I say that both these songs are extremely well sung by respective singers and it is difficult to judge as to which one is better than the other. Although I am a fan of Suman Kalyanpur, after listening to both these songs umpteen times and the contributions of Shakeel Badayuni and Roshan in shaping this song , ‘ raat ki mehfil sooni sooni’ wins by my casting vote.
Song-Raat ki mehfil sooni sooni (Noorjehaan)(1967) Singer-Lata, Lyrics-Shakeel Badayuni, MD-Roshan
Lyrics
raat ki mehfil sooni sooni
aankhen purnam dil naakaam
sahme sahme armaanon kaa
honaa hi thaa ye anjaam
ho o o
raat ki mehfil sooni sooni
bhool gaye thhe apni hasti
ishq-o-wafaa ke josh mein ham
sab kuchh khokar bebas hokar
ab aaye hain hosh mein ham
pyaase rah gaye dil ke armaan
chhootaa saaqi tootaa jaam
honaa hi thaa ye anjaam
ho o o
raat ki mehfil sooni sooni
sar ko jahaan takraaye jaakar
aisi koi deewaar nahin
haaye ri kismat ham duniyaa mein
pyaar ke bhi haqdaar nahin
dil hotaa jo apne bas mein
lete na ham pyaar kaa naam
honaa hi thaa ye anjaam
ho o o
raat ki mehfil sooni sooni
aankhen purnam dil naakaam
sahme sahme armaanon kaa
honaa hi thaa ye anjaam
ho o o
5 Responses to "Raat ki mehfil sooni sooni"
February 10, 2018 at 7:52 pm
Sadanand ji,
At hindigeetmala.net this song (and two more songs from this movie) are shown composed by Rajesh Roshan. See if you can find the GHOTALA.
D Samant
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February 10, 2018 at 10:17 pm
Samant ji,
I feel the name of Rajesh Roshan may have come through oversight. When ‘Noor Jahan’ (1967) was released, Rajesh Roshan was 12 years of age. More importantly, all the songs of the film bear the stamp of Roshan.
By the way, the film’s credit titles show Shyam and Om Narain as Music Assistants. Mohammed Shafi. scored the background music for the film.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 17, 2012 at 9:14 pm
For once, you have erred, sadanand Ji :))
K S Shenoy
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March 17, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Pasand apni apni, khayal apna apna 🙂
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