Tere gham se mil raha hai mujhe har tarah sahaara
Posted on: February 8, 2017
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Behzad Lucknowi was one of many Urdu poets who entered Hindi film industry in the 1930s. However, in my view, he was also one of the least visible poet-lyricists among those who had spent over a decade in the Hindi film industry in the 1930s and 1940s. Some of his high quality ghazals like zinda hoon iss tarah ki gham-e-zindagi nahin, tumhaare bulaane ko jee chaahta hai, rehne laga hai dil mein andhera tere baghair are still remembered today. Most listeners of these ghazals would identify these songs with Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar and Begum Akhtar, respectively, as it so often happens in case of popular Hindi film songs.
Behzad Lucknowi’s non-filmy ghazal deewaana banaana hai to deewaana bana de which Begum Akhtar recorded sometime during the second half of the 1920s was instrumental in making her comeback in singing career after which she became one of the most famous and popular ghazal singer all over India and abroad. But this did not help Behzad Lucknowi’s career as a shaayar. Ironically, two decades later, when Begum Akhtar sang ae mohabbat tere anjaam pe rona aaya, the ghazal made Shakeel Badayuni famous. One may call such instances the vagaries of the music industry.
Why did Behzad Lucknowi remain in the ‘side line’ in Hindi film industry where he spent over a decade – 1937 to 1951)? I have done some analysis of his filmy career and I feel that the following factors may have contributed to his subdued career as a lyricist:
(i) Behzad Lucknowi (1895 – 1974) joined Hindi film industry as a lyricist for the film ‘Dhanwaan’ which was also titled as ‘Mazdoor Ki Beti’ (1937). Thereafter, he was away from the film industry until he joined again in 1941. During this stint, he wrote lyrics for ‘Taj Mahal’ (1941), ‘Roti’ (1942), ‘Zameendaar’ (1942) and ‘Poonji’ (1943). He was once again out of the film industry during 1943-46. From 1946 to 1951 he wrote lyrics for 17 films. In Hindi film industry, it is very difficult to regain lost ground if the artist had remained absent for a long period.
(ii) Of the 21 films for which he wrote lyrics for about 60 songs, Behzad Lucknowi never got an opportunity to write all the songs in a single film. In fact, in many films he wrote lyrics for not more than 2 or 3 songs. Furthermore, in 7 films, he wrote lyrics with other lyricists but the distributions among them were not available.
(iii) I also feel that Behzad Lucknowi‘s health issues may have restricted his filmy career as a lyricist. If I go by what is stated in some sources from the internet, since his younger days, he used to become suddenly unconscious due to some cardiac problem making him mentally disturbed. During such period, he would often go to his spiritual ustad and spend time with him.
(iv) As a general trait, most of the poets cannot adjust to the environments of the Hindi film industry where the song situations in the film and the timely submission of the lyrics are more important than the feelings of the poets. Behzad Lucknowi’s temperament may not have been suitable for a career in Hindi film industry on a sustainable basis.
During the later 1940s, Behzad Lucknowi seems to have turned spiritual, devoting most of his time in spiritual activities. Perhaps, this inclination may have got from his spiritual ustad who was instrumental in mitigating his health issues. I get that impression from some of the ghazals he wrote for the films, three of which I have quoted above. Although these may be songs full of pathos and feelings, a careful reading of some parts of the lyrics give me an impression that these had some shades of Sufism.
Sometime in 1951, Behzad Lucknowi migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi to concentrate mainly on writing and singing Naat for the rest of his life. The fact that after his death in October 1974, a big mosque was constructed by the side of his mazaar (tomb) in Karachi, bears testimony that Behzad Lucknowi (later known as Hazrat Behzad Lucknowi) was regarded as no less than a saint.
I am presenting one of the two songs which Behzad Lucknowi wrote for the film DHANWAAN (1946). The song also has some shades of Sufism. The song is ‘tere gham se mil raha hai mujhe har tarah sahaara’ sung by Paro Devi.The song is composed by Shanti Kumar Desai.
The starting verse itself is beautifully crafted with an unusual thought – ‘your sorrows have helped me all round’. Later Shakeel Badayuni wrote a verse in the same metre conveying somewhat similar thought. If I join both the verses, it makes a beautiful she’r:
tere gham se mil raha hai mujhe har tarah sahaara (Behzad Lucknowi)
tere gham hai dar haqiqat mujhe zindagi se pyaara (Shakeel Badayuni)
DHANWAAN (1946) was produced under the banner of Sunrise Pictures and was directed by V M Vyas. The star cast included Jairaj, Paro Devi, Anjana, Dulari, Bhagwandas, Amir Bano, Natwar Lal etc. There were 9 songs in the films none of which have been covered in the Blog.
With this song, the film ‘Dhanwaan; (1946) makes its debut in the Blog.
Audio
Song-Tere gham se mil raha hai mujhe har tarah sahaara (Dhanwaan)(1946) Singer-Paro devi, Lyrics-Behzad lucknowi, MD-Shanti Kumar Desai
Lyrics
tere gham se mil raha hai
tere gham se mil raha hai
mujhe har tarah sahaara
yahi dard-e-zindagi hai
yahi dard-e-zindagi hai
yahi mauj hai kinaara
tere gham se
tujhe kis tarah se paaun
badi door hai kinaara
meri zindagi ek aansoo
meri zindagi ek aansoo
teri zindagi sitaara
tere gham se
tujhe krishn bhi kahaa hai
tujhe raam bhi khudaa bhi
tujhe krishn bhi kahaa hai
tujhe raam bhi khudaa bhi
tujhe kya khabar nahin hai
tujhe kya khabar nahin hai
tujhe har tarah pukaara
tere gham se
meri zindagi ki naiyaa
jo chali ?? se
kabhi chhup gaya kinaara
kabhi chhup gaya kinaara
kabhi mil gaya kinaara
tere gham se
mera dosh bad-naseebi
hai khata meri ghareebi
mera dosh bad-naseebi
hai khata meri ghareebi
nahin iss jahaan mein koi
nahin iss jahaan mein koi
jo de mujhe sahaara
tere gham se
Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
February 8, 2017 at 12:31 pm
By marrying these two Shaairs in a combo Gazal, there is grate risk of ‘badnaami’.
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