Songs of Kinare
When I wrote on the songs of nadi and naav sometime back, I thought one kind of journey was complete (with Harvey’s majhi). But I had missed a crucial element as I realised from Ashok Vaishnavji’s comments. The boat has to reach its shore, and the journey is not complete till you have reached kinare.
Does every journey have to end at a destination? With boat, may be. But not with other modes necessarily. Films are replete with train journeys to nowhere. The labour union leader, Satyen Kappu, shamed into running away from home as he surrendered the workers’ demands on being subjected to impossible threats by the mine owner, is next seen in a train. When his co passenger asks him where is he headed, his simple answer is Pataa nahi (Deewar). Devdas takes an endless journey in a train to nowhere, accompanied by his family retainer when he has lost all hopes in life. An interesting train journey is in the recent Jab We Met. While Kareena Kapoor is sure about her destination (or she thinks so), in the same compartment Shahid Kapoor, betrayed in love and estranged from his step-mother, is taking a journey to nowhere. Even on the river bank, betrayed in love someone may sing, Chale ja rahe hain mohabbat ke marey, kinare kinare kinare kinare.
That was of people full of despair and dejected from life. But you may not venture into the uncertain river because Door hai kinara gahri hai dhara, and may prefer instead to enjoy the beauty from the bank. I remember an early Hindi poet wrote तरणि तनूजा तट तमाल तरुवर बहु छाए. Beautiful lines about the river bank.
Parallel to nadi-naav-navik-kinara can be seen raah-musafir-safar-manzil. But what if Raah bani khud manzil because Saath jo aye tum. Thus that is a very different journey which we may explore in a different series of posts. For the time being, to complete the river and boat journey here are some songs of kinare(shore).
1. Man ki naiya lagi kinare by Zohranbai Ambalawali fromShakuntala (1943), music Vasant Desai
This short piece by Zohrabai Ambalawali is special because of the delightful scene of a bevy of girls frolicking in the water.
2. Aaj meri naiya kinare lagi ho by Shanta Apte from Valmiki(1944), lyrics Mahesh Gupta, music Shankarrao Vyas
Shanta Apte was to Prabhat Films (Kolhapur/Poona/Bombay) what Kanan Devi was to New Theatres (Calcutta). Both leading actor-singers of two important epicenters of film making in the earliest era. Both did bilingual films – one Hindi/Bengali; the other Hindi/Marathi. Both came from strong classical and regional traditions – One Rabindrasangeet, the other Marathi Natya-sangeet. Both overcame social prejudices about ladies from good families joining films. Here the similarity ends. While in the radio era, I was quite familiar with Kanan Devi, I do not recall hearing a Shanta Apte song. It is surprising why she was not on AIR’s radar screen. I came to know of her in Doordarshan era and now, of course, in the internet era. But that is a matter for an exclusive post on her. Here is a delightful kinare song. Shanta Apte looks quite filled up compared to what one has seen her in the videos of the thirties.
3. Kathwa ke naiya banaihe malahwa by Chitalkar, Lalita Deolkar, P Chandar, SN Puri from Nadiya Ke Paar (1948), lyrics Moti B.A., music C Ramchnadra
Nadiya Ke Paar is one of Dilip Kumar’s early films which established him as a great star the like of whom Hindi films had not seen before. His off-screen romance with Kamini Kaushal caused a great deal of uproar and excitement how it would ultimately play out (as we know it met some very hard rocks). But their on-screen romance was sizzling. A musical masterpiece by C Ramchandra, this song is unique as it has the boat, the boatman, the river and nadiya ke paar – rarely you get all the four components in the same song. One of my great favourites.
4. Kinare kinare chale jayenge by Suraiya from Vidya (1948), lyrics Yashoda Nandan Joshi, muisic SD Burman
By this time Dev Anand – Suraiya romance was in full bloom. That shows in the joyous expression of the two stars, as they row their boat towards Kinare. On the bank you can make out a young Madan Puri. From his twitching of lips, this must be one of his early villain roles.
5. Roun main saagar ke kinare by CH Atma from Nagina (1951), lyrics Shailendra, music Shankar Jaikishan
A perfect clone of KL Saigal, CH Atma sang some outstanding film and non-film songs. This one is one of his best known film songs.
6. Jamuna kinare jhilmil kare tare by Manna Dey from Saakshi Gopal (1957), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music Chitragupta
The mukhdaa in full throated voice of Manna Dey creates an amazing effect. One of his best songs. I thought Chitragupta was great only with Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi. Here is one of his great pre-Bhabhi songs.
7. Ye ratein ye mausam nadi ka kinara ye chanchal hawa by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle from Dilli Ka Thug (1958), lyrics Shailendra, music Ravi
From Hum to mohabbat karega to Ye raatein ye mausam, Kishore Kumar shows his wild, crazy side, as well as the absolutely soulful, soft and romantic side. Pure genius.
8. Ye hawa ye nadi ka kinara by Manna Dey and Asha Bhosle fromGhar Sansaar (1958), lyrics Majrooh Sultanpuri, music Ravi
One had known Kumkum in side roles which had terrific dance numbers. But here in the lead role she is no less than any top leading lady in this romantic duet.
9. Chale ja rahe hain mohabbat ke mare kinare kinare from Kinare Kinare (1963), lyrics Nyay Sharma, music Jaidev
In spite of the top star cast and outstanding music by Jaidev, this was one of the unsuccessful films of Dev Anand. The gravity in Manna Dey’s voice lends an ethereal quality to the song. Easily one of his best.
10. Sham dhale Jamuna kinare by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar from Pushpanjali (1970), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Laxmikant Pyarelal
There is something in Manna Dey’s voice which makes him very suited for nadi/naav/kinare songs.