Shiqwa tera main gaaun
Posted on: July 12, 2013
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
During the early 70s when I got interested in Hindi film songs of the golden era. I had heard from my seniors in this field talking about singers, music directors and lyricists of 30s and 40s with some anecdotes. While, I had almost forgotten many of the unfamiliar names over a period of time until the advent of the internet technology, one of very few names which firmly remained in my mind was that of D N Madhok. From their discussions, I had then realised that he must have been an influential lyricist of his time. He was stated to be one of very few lyricists of that time who used to give lyrics to music director with tunes. While this may be a boon for the struggling music directors, my guess is that the established and self-respecting music directors must have surely resented his ‘value addition’ to the lyrics. One of the music directors of the 40s ( I am not very sure but it was probably Shyam Sundar) had a tiff with him on this issue and he never worked with him.
D N Madhok started his career as a lyricist in early 30s and soon he became a scriptwriter and a director. After the advent of talkies, he is regarded as one of the first generation of lyricists of Hindi films who wrote film songs in a simple language, more like a dialectical prose as compared with somewhat poetic language of early lyricists. His lyrics reflected the day to day lives of the people and the film audience identified themselves with his film songs. His multi-talented personality in the film industry – story writer, screenplay writer, dialogue writer and the director may have contributed in making him one of the better lyricists of his time. Amin Sayani called him Bhishm Pitamaah of Hindi film lyricists.
D N Madhok wrote lyrics close to 120 Hindi films comprising roughly 850 songs during his career spanning over 35 years. He also wrote scripts and directed 18 films (including one Punjabi film). His range of song writing can be judged from some examples below:
ae dard zara dam le karwat to badalne de : Zamaana (1938)
Tu kaun si badli mein mere chaand hai aa jaa : Khandaan (1942)
panchhi baawraa chaand se preet lagaayi : Bhakt Surdas (1942)
nainheen ko raah dikhaa prabhu : Bhakt Surdas (1942)
more baalpan ke saathi chhailaa bhool jaiyyo naa : Tansen (1943)
maine dekhi jag ki reet meet sab jhoote pad gaye : Sunhere Din (1949)
jab kisi ke rukhh pe zulfen : Anmol Ratan (1950)
wo din kahaan gaye bataa : Taraana (1951)
ham ishq ke maaron ko do dil jo diye hote : Bilwaamangal (1954)
Deena Nath Madhok ( 22/10/1902 – 12/07/1982) was born in Karnal (then in Punjab and now in Haryana). He did his college from Lahore but could not complete his BA degree as he was more interested in attending poetry concerts and dramas than studies. After working as a clerk in railways for a short period, he moved to Calcutta (Kolkatta) around 1931 where he became close to Prithviraj Kapoor, K L Saigal and Jagdish Sethi. While his friends got work in New Theatres Company as lead actor, actor-singer and character actor respectively, D N Madhok who wanted to be a writer could not get the job as this slot was not available in the Company. But considering his good height and a good face, the Company offered him the role of Vasudev in the film ‘Krishna Maya’ (1931) which he reluctantly accepted as he was in need of money for his sustenance.
In 1932, he shifted to Bombay (Mumbai) and got his first assignment as a lyricist in the film ‘Radhe Shyam’ (1932) in which he was said to have written lyrics for as many as 29 songs. Soon, he shifted his attention to directing films. Between 1932 and 1939, he directed 14 films and during 1948-55, another four films for which he also wrote lyrics. However, except for his Punjabi film ‘Mirza Sahiban’ (1939), there was nothing much to talk about his films. In 1939, he joined Ranjit Movietone as a writer and lyricist. As a lyrciist, his most talked about films at Ranjit Movietone were ‘Holi’ (1940), ‘Pardesi’ (1941), ‘Bhakt Soordas’ (1942) and ‘Taansen’ (1943).
In 1942, under pressure from his wife, he shifted his base to Lahore as she did not want to stay in Bombay in the background of World War II. In Lahore, he mostly collaborated with Dalsukh Pancholi and wrote lyrics for his films like ‘Khandaan’ (1942) and ‘Zamindar’ (1942) which became super hits at the box office. He became one of the most sought after writer-lyricists and even the Bombay based producers assigned him work while he was in Lahore. It is said that he was so busy in his works that sometime he dictated the lyrics and played the rhythm of the lyrics on his cigarette box through telephone to the music directors of his Bombay based films from Lahore.
After the end of World War II in 1945, he returned to Bombay and mostly worked as a freelancer. Apart from writing lyrics for films like ‘Do Dil’ (1947) and ‘Parwana’ (1947), he directed a film ‘Naao’ (1948) which did not do well in the box office. By early 50s, his assignment as a writer and lyricists had started coming down as the second generation of lyricists like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sahir Ludhinavi, Shailendra, Shakeel Badayuni, Qamar Jalalabadi etc had entered the Hindi film industry. While he continued to write lyrics through 60s with a smaller output, he wrote and directed three more films in early 50s – ‘Khaamosh Sipaahi’ (1950), ‘Bilwamangal’ (1954) and ‘Naata’ (1955) which was his last film as a director.
D N Madhok was instrumental in promoting Naushad’s career as a music director in the film ‘Prem Nagar’ (1940). They collaborated in 10 films between 1940-44 for 89 songs, the second highest after the maestro’s collaboration with Shakeel Badayuni in about 320 songs. He worked with almost all the top music directors of the 30s and 40s, the prominent among them being Naushad, Gyan Dutt, Khemchand Prakash, Pandit Amaranth, Bulo C Rani etc. As stated earlier, D N Madhok had a habit of giving his lyrics with tunes. Some of the music directors did not like his interference with music composition. He had tiffs with Sajjad Hussain during the song recording of ‘Saiyyan’ (1951) after which both of them did not work together. Interestingly, despite the phenomenal success of ‘Rattan’ (1944) which made Naushad a star music director, they had no occasion to team up thereafter. Another interesting observation is that though both Anil Biswas and D N Madhok started their film music career around the same time, they worked together only in one film, viz. ‘Taraana’ (1951).
During the later part of his life, D N Madhok studied astrology as a hobby. He realised from his astrological studies that the stars which gave him fame in the 30s and 40s would be responsible for his downfall. So he retired from the film industry after penning the lyrics for his last film ‘Samay Bada Balwaan’ (1969). He spent the last few years of his life with his younger son’s family in Hyderabad, the city which he adored for its tahazeeb (manner and politeness) and where he often participated in mushaira during his younger days. He died of a heart attack on July 12, 1982 in Hyderbad.
Note : Some of the information about D N Madhok in the article are based on the interview given by his son, Dr Prithvi Madhok to Amin Sayani in his radio programme ‘Sangeet Ke Sitaaron Ki Mehfil’.
On the occasion of the death anniversary of D N Madhok on July 12th, I have chosen a song ‘ shikwaa teraa main gaaun’ written by him for the film ANMOL RATAN (1950). The song is sung by Talat Mehmood and Lata Mangeshkar and composed by Vinod. The film was produced under the banner of Jaimani Dewan Productions and directed by M. Sadiq. The star cast included Karan Dewan, Meena Shorey, Madan Puri, Gope, Nirmala Devi etc. The film had 11 songs, all written by D N Madhok of which six songs have been covered in the blog. Only the audio clip of the song is available. Since the other female actor Nirmala Devi had sung her own songs in the film, I guess that this song is picturised on Karan Dewan and Meena Shorey.
This was the first film where Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mehmood sang duets together and the song yaad aane waale phir yaad aa rahen hain from this film was their first duet.
Song-Shiqwa tera main gaaun (Anmol Ratan)(1950) Singers-Talat Mehmood, Lata, Lyrics-D N Madhok, MD-Vinod
Both
Lyrics
shikwaa teraa main gaaun
dil mein samaane waale
bhoole se yaad kar le
o bhool jaane waale
shikwaa teraa
ae aah meraa bhed kahin khol na denaa
ae aah meraa bhed kahin khol na denaa
ham ko hai unse pyaar
kahin bol na denaa
ham bhi hain zidd ke poorey
zidd ke nibhaane waale
pi jaayenge aansoo bhi
ham le rulaane waale
shikwaa teraa
shikwaa tera main gaaun
dil mein samaane waale
bhoole se yaad kar le
o bhool jaane waale
shikwaa teraa
mar jaayenge ham
aap hamein yaad karoge
mar jaayenge ham
aap hamein yaad karoge
rovoge phoot phoot ke
fariyaad karoge
dhoondhenge phir sahaaraa
aansoo bahaane waale
aayenge nahin jaa ke
duniyaa se jaane waale
shikwaa teraa
shikwaa tera main gaaun
dil mein samaane waale
bhoole se yaad kar le
o bhool jaane waale
shikwaa teraa
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
July 13, 2013 at 10:01 am
An “anmol ratan”!! Many many thanks for the info on Dinanath Madhok about whom I wanted to know more. Talat and Lata blend beautifully considering that this is their first of the many duets to follow. Vinod-ji, shukriya. Lastly (should have been firstly!!) many thanks Sadanand-ji for this write-up.
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