The Milestone I am standing tonight at, is a gem of a song “Main thak gaya hoon mujhe sone do” from the film “Musafir” in early 80s… Another legendary musafir “Kishore da” teamed up in building this milestone Musafir was directed by Dr Jabbar Patel (Jait re Jait and Subah) featured Naseeruddin Shah, Rekha, Pankaj Kapoor, MunMun Sen in the main cast..
“Main thak gaya hoon” is very comprehensive song as far as the picturisation is concern…and it comes at a very important time in the film… If you’ve seen Vijay Tendulkar’s play “Panchhi aise aate hain”… or the film “Thoda sa roomani ho jaaye” or even the Sanjay Dutt-Urmila’s flick “Khoobsurat”.. The storyline of Musafir is some-what on the similar lines… where a criminal [not in all the instances] (rather a suspect) kind of personality reaches an unknown place [running away from his past] and finds a family to stay with…. We find the the members of the family lacks confidence in life [specifically our heroine, in all three instances]… The hero helps them to change their attitude towards life and build confidence…
In Musafir, the hero is Naseeruddin Shah (Man on the run) and the heroine Rekha [a village girl from south india]…. The song comes at a very important place where Naseer is running away [after killing his bewafa wife Munmun sen]… He wants to run away from his past and reach a place where he can start afresh… The song starts Naseer’s journey to an unknown destination…
Just after the murder, Naseer gets into a Taxi, the Taxiwala asks “Kia sahab, kahan le chalun”.. Naseer replies “Jahan tum le chalo”.. The song starts in night, Naseer traveling in Train… and in background Kishore’s voice starts “Ho bahut raat huee.. thak gaya hoon mujh sone do.. ho bahut raat huee, chaand se keh do utar jaaye bhut baat huee”.. The interlude after the mukhda carries on in the daylight and Naseer is shown traveling in the truck…. during the stanza he gets down and walks thru the landscapes in the heat of the day… “Dhoop se keh do utar jaaye bahut baat huee”…
The next stanza begins with some place in Kerla… sunset time… Naseer is shown traveling in a boat… thats where Pancham does his usual Maanjhi act… [Malaiyya chalo dheere dheere, which is very close to Rehman's maanjhi act of "Dil hai chhota sa".. a south indianish maanjhi pattern by Pancham.. infact the whole film had some beautiful south indianish background pieces by Pancham].. Gulzar saab comes this time with “Waqt se keh do gujar jaaye.. bahut baat huee”.. slowly this sunset turns to night with “Mein thak gaya hoon”…and the song ends with the morning where naseer is shown sleeping on a sea shore.. [some village in South India]..
From this point to the end, the film lives on in this village only (Naseer meeting Rekha’s family.. The family is unable to find a suitable match for Rekha)… [a sidenote for Pankaj Kapoor's fans on this forum, this was his first prominent screen appearance...] Coming back to the song, The Singing, Lyrics, Composition and Picturisation every aspect of the song is just perfect…
Aashiyane ke liye chaar tinake bhi the
Aasre raat ke aur din ke bhi the
Dhoondhte the jise wo zara si zameen
Aasmaan ke tale kho gayee hi kahin…
The song travels from Train to Truck to Boat, from Railway track to Road to River to Sea.. from night to morning to day to evening.. One of the best traveling song of our times?
Hats off to the Team of Gulzar-Pancham-Kishore…
Remember another great traveling song by the same team “Raah pe rahate hain…” ? Kishore da and Pancham da “khush raho ahale watan, ham to safar karate hain” gaa kar alvida kah gaye….gulzar saab aaj is safar mein akele khade hain..
Keep listening the immortal melodies…
Song : Thak gayaa hoon, bahut raat huee
Film : Musafir (1984)
Music : RD Burman
Lyricist : Gulzar
Singers : Kishore Kumar, Pancham
Kishore:
गीत : थक गया हूं, बहुत रात हुई
फ़िल्म : मुसफ़िर (१९८४)
संगीतकार : आर.डी. बर्मन
गीतकार : गुलज़ार
गायक : किशोर कुमार, आर.डी. बर्मन
हो बहुत रात हुई..
थक गया हूं, मुझे सोने दो
हो बहुत रात हुई
चांद से कह दो उतर जाये
बहुत बात हुई -२
थक गया हूं....रात हुई
आशियां के लिये चार तिनके भी थे
आसरे रात के और दिन के भी थे
ढूंढते थे जिसे, वो ज़रा सी ज़मीं
आसमां के तले खो गयी है कहीं
धूप से कह दो उतर जाये, बहुत बात हुई
मैं थक....रात हुई
[ओ मलैय्या, चलो धीरे धीरे (पंचम की आवाज़ में)]
याद आता नहीं अब कोई नाम से
सब घरों के दिये बुझ गये शाम से
वक़्त से कह दो गुज़र जाये, बहुत बात हुई
मैं थक....रात हुई
ज़िन्दगी के सभी रास्ते सर्द हैं
अजनबी रात के अजनबी दर्द हैं
याद से कह दो गुज़र जाये, बहुत बात हुई
मैं थक गया हूं, मुझे सोने दो, बहुत रात हुई
[ओ मलैय्या, चलो धीरे धीरे fades out in pancham's voice "O malaiyya chalo dheere dheere"]
So thats all folks for tonight…. Main jaata hoon, mujh sone do, bahut raat huee…
[Originally published on passionforcinema.com]