Din Dhal Jaaye … Haaye .. Raat Na Jaaye
This article is written by Mr. Shrirang Nawathe, Muscat. 00968 92 89 90 89
While viewing the song, DIN DHAL JAAYE HAAYE… RAAT NA JAA.YE. TU TO NA AAYE TERI..YAAD SATAAYE … from the 1965 film GUIDE, one can easily be filled up by number of thoughts. Even after listening the song NON STOP 3 horus, I still have desire for ONCE MORE…. The beauty of the song lies in the fact of “Dedicated Team Work”. Every member of the team had contributed the best and therefore the product has come out with the tag of Excellent Quality. The quality which lasts for the decades and centuries.
What is the beauty of the song? Beautiful things cannot be expressed in words or for that matter the dictionary of the words is not enough to express the simplest forms of beauty of nature. It just has to be experienced. However, I think of some inherent factors which made the song a Quality Product. Beauty of the song is its melody,voice, music, lyrics, besides direction, presentation and performance by the Legendary Artists.
Mohd Rafi and Dev Anand
Coming down to the song, one can observe that, Rafi Sahab had done full justice to the given situation and to create the moods as expressed by Dev Anand in the film. It is clear that, Rafi Sahab got himself involved to such an extent that, we hardly are able to distinguish whether the song is sung by Dev Anand Sb or Rafi Sahab. What an understanding of the situation and matching of the voice by Rafi Sahab..just unparallel.
The extra melodious low voice was maintained by Rafi Sahab. Throughout the song which produces great impact on our minds whenever we listen the song. Even to-day, the voice of Rafi Sahab creates such vibrations in our nerve cells that, after more than 40 years of recording of the song, we get moved by the theme and situation and tears just roll down on our cheeks unknowingly and we get convinced with Dev Anand’s situation.
Here, equal credit goes to two stalwarts namely, Shailendra and SD Burman. The mysteries of the life were revealed in the simplest words by great Shailendra and this was his extraordinary quality.
SD Burman too did not leave any stone unturned. He created such a melodious, meaningful, lovely music to give due justice to the song situation. A typical SDB style reflected and is quite visible to a music lover, when one listens Flute is used so effectively that, it altogether keeps you going with the song in the same moods. Similarly, use of Saxophone was also a masterpiece. SDB denied signing new contracts when he was busy with the music composition of GUIDE just to give full justice to the job in hand. This shows the total dedication of a music director. Therefore, it is quite obvious that, music created with such dedication has to leave an everlasting impact on music lovers’ minds.
In this song, the helplessness of Dev Anand was exactly expressed by Shailendra right from the beginning. It is evident when we listen the first line of the song i.e. DIN DHAL JAAYE HAI RAAAT NA JAAYE. In fact, we can not ignore the classic efforts put by Vijay Anand directing this song. The helplessness is reflected at every moment of the song. Not only that, but also it gets worsened gradually as the song advances towards completion.
For instance, the almost empty bottle and glass are shown in the hands of Dev Anand & he was shown sitting on the floor whereas his colleague is shown sitting on a chair. Similarly, the door of Wahida Rehmaan’s room was shown locked in the beginning to express her helplessness. These are classic indications and reveals the talents of the director.
Rafi Sahab was all time great and this was proved once again when he had sung this beautiful tragedy song. Rafi Sahab had sung many tragedy songs for that matter, but, this song has a speciality that, the justice to the job was done by every member of the team to produce the everlasting effects.
Therefore, listening DIN DHAL JAAYE..HAI RAAT NA JAAYE.. ultimately leaves only and only feeling of ONCE MORE… in our minds…
Hats off to SD Burman, Shailendra, Rafi Sahab, Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman & last but not the least, VIJAY ANAND who GUIDED the team in such a way that, GUIDE achieved a status of a mile stone in the Hindi Film World, winning 7 film fare awards in the year 1967.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
P Haldar: “Rafi retired hurt at 96, which included several sixers and fours, the likes of which I doubt you will ever see in film music.”
I didn’t get your slang - please explain.
btw…Mr Iyer never questioned SDB’s talent as a composer who could produce hit after hit - he only suggested that even SDB had to be watchful of FICKLE forces in the industry. The SAME fickle forces that overlooked Kishore in 50s, Rafi in early 70s, Madan Mohan for most of his career, RDB during his last years, etc.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 pm
ref post 15:
Mr. Iyer, very interesting story, but it doesn’t tally with the reports I’ve read on Guide. Jaidev had stopped assisting SD in the early 60s. I’m sure Jaidev, along with pancham and n. dutta, were the brains behind many of sd’s tunes, but you cannot survive in the cut-throat world of film music for 30 years if you don’t have super talent. The interesting thing about sd is that no matter who left him — sahir, lata, jaidev or pancham — he not only kept producing quality music, but also “hit” music.
SD was not in good health while Guide was being made. But Dev Anand has mentioned several times that he waited dada to recover. And here’s an excerpt from one of his recent interviews:
—————-
Q: Your skills as a man-manager are well known. You got the best work out of a short-tempered eccentric like composer Sachin Dev Burman.
Ans: His greatest compositions were created in the most informal sittings - Dada Burman playing around on the harmonium for hours, and I huddled next to him, rejecting one tune, and egging him on before approving another. It was a great feeling. But he had to be handled carefully. We once recorded a ghazal by an Urdu poet - which Dada composed and got Mohammed Rafi to sing. After the recording, Goldie and I thought it fell short of the mark. Baat bani nahi jo banne chaahiye thi. But we didn’t dare tell Dada right away. That night, I called him and asked how he felt about it. Bahut achha hua Dev, he said. I said, Dada usme kuch zarasi baat reh gayi hai, but I can’t explain what exactly is missing. He said, Nahi, nahi, bahut achha hua hai, and banged the phone down. I sensed he was mildly irritated, but also knew I’d succeeded in sowing a doubt in his mind. And the very next morning, he called to say he was coming over that evening. He came, played the harmonium for a little while and hummed the first notes of a new tune. And I said, that’s it. We summoned lyricist Shailendra who wrote the mukhda, and right there was born the famous Guide song: Din dhal jaaye, raat na jaaye.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
ref to p 15::
k b iyer ji,
are you sure about your story? i read somewhere dev’s interview where he mentioned that he was eagerly wanted sdb to do the score of guide, but dada after completing one song refused to continue bcoz of ill health, he said to dev that hire some odr composer, but dev also refused to do so.
in d same interview dev told d story of “din dhal jaaye” they already recorded the song with rafi sahab but goldie and dev were dissatisfied by the tune, they called dada & told him regarding this but dada replied “song is ok” but goldie & dev said “perhaps it could be better”.. half an hour later dada called up and said that “may be we had a point, he said that arrange a harmonium there for me im coming tommrow morning” and dada came up next morning wd excellent melody of din dhal jaaye than dev called shailendra who wrote up lyrics in juss 5 mins…
iyer sahab, sorry but ur story is just beyond my belief.. there are already various myths & crap regarding dada like pancham & jaidev were major architects behind his compositions, plz dn strengthen these myths. we all should respect these great composers..
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 pm
i also don’t see any connection with rafi and vijay anand (or the other anand brothers for that matter). especially in the 70s (even with vijay anand) i don’t see much rafi. rafi never appears from 70 to 75 except with madan mohan or sd burman in two films. maybe a few appearances in late 70s because of market forces.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I read an interview from Dev Anand where he specifically recounted about “a Rafi song he and Goldie were not satisfied by with”. He called SD Burman to tell him and SD thought it sounded just fine. The next morning, according to Dev Anand, SD Burman calls him and says you may have a point, he makes changes, and the result is what we have today Din Dhal Jaye.
This interview by Dev Anand seems to indicate that some other song must be by Jaidev. I also hear that Dev Anand waited 6 months for SD Burman to recover in order to finish Guide. Is this true and does it have any relevance to who was original composer (Jaidev could have come right back as original if SD Burman was sick. There are rumors that RD called the shots when SDB was ill - so why couldn’t Jaidev for a movie he started himself and RD had yet to reach the big leagues with Teesri Manzil?).
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
myk, please study madan mohan’s and roshan’s track record during 1950-54 carefully, and you’ll be surprised. During that period, Talat was mm’s no. 1 male singer, while for Roshan, it was Mukesh and Talat. You are partly right about SJ, that his music was totally Lata-oriented, but he did give a lot of songs to Mukesh, Manna and Talat during that period too. The reason I brought up this issue was to highlight the intense competion among the male singers those days and the immense contributions nayyar saab, along with naushad ji, made to rafi saab’s career.
I deliberately mentioned the two Talat solos on Dilip Kumar (in Footpath and Devdas) to point out that Talat still had a grip on Dilip, and if you ignore Naushad, you’ll find that SD, SJ, Khayyam and Salil were happily using Talat/Mukesh on Dilip Kumar. For Raj Kapoor, it was Mukesh followed by Manna Dey, and for Dev Anand, it was Hemant/Talat/Kishore.
If you do a dispassionate analysis, you’ll realise what Rafi was up against. And that’s why OP’s contributions were so important. See the kind of success he had in the 1954-60 period. I am sure Goldie took note of what he did with Rafi on Guru Dutt and Dev Anand in films like Aar Par and CID. OP made sure that anyone who could move his lips would sing in Rafi’s voice. Is it a surprise then that SD wanted Rafi for both Guru Dutt and Dev? And then came Tumsa Nahin Dekha, with which began the Shammi-Rafi association.
When I said SD started his innings with Rafi in the mid 50’s, I didn’t mean it literally. If I remember correctly, Rafi sang a few solos and duets for SD in the late 40s and early 50s, but I consider that to be batting practice. His real association with SD began in 1957. Rafi retired hurt at 96, which included several sixers and fours, the likes of which I doubt you will ever see in film music.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Mr. K B Iyer sahab, you have chipped in with vital information that was not known to me earlier. thanks for the useful ‘tidbit’ but like mr anmol singhji opined, it could be 100% true. Mr. iyer seems to know his music thoroughly well for he has named certain ragas and almost inside information about jai dev sahab. keep up this good work all rafians, we learn newer things almost each day through these columns and they are all very interesting indeed. kudos.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Dear Mr Iyerji,
1.-Thank you very much for your inputs.
2.-I was not aware of the fact that, the song was composed by JAIDEV.
3.-Surely after having the input and thinking on the tune one can conclude that DIN DHAL JAAYE might have been from JAIDEV..
4.-Ultimately, the song is a magical song..
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Great Article Nawathe ji,
In fact the song “Dil Dhal Jaayei” is a landmark in music. It is impossible for any singer to sing this song to perfection. The line “Raat Na Jaaye” needs tremendous control sur, where Rafi Saab sings it totally effortlessly. Similar is the Line “Tu To Na Aye Teri Yaad Sataaye”. It is a slow song which needs tremendous power of expression, depth and feelings. Rafi Saab provides every thing. Later Goldie Anand as a director uses Dev Anand to perfection in the picturization.
I agree with Halder Ji theory of Goldie’s association with Rafi. From the late sixties till the late seventies when Dev Anand himself directed films, Rafi was used only on one or two occassions. Other wise the main lead singer was always Kishore.
Mr. Iyer, thanks for the information on Jai Dev’s involvement in Guide. it could be 100 % true.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
DEAR SHRIRANGJI
YOU HAVE DESCRIBED ONE OF THE GREATEST SONGS OF RAFI SAHAB SO VERY BEAUTIFULLY !
THANK YOU VERY MUCH !
BEST REAGRDS/ A.T.M. SALIM.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Since, you have discussed about “Guide” and “Din Dal Jaye…” I would disclose one secret behind “Guide” and this song and also a Great composer who was victimised and sidelined. After the Silver Jubilee Musical success of “Hum Dono”Dev Anand signed Chetan Anand-Jai Dev The Director-Music Director team for his next film, as this is a convention in film industry to reperat a successful team. But later subject selected was “Guide”, and after hearing the subject, Chetan Anand withdrew himself saying that subject is on adultry, and also Vyjayantimala, the first choice of heroin on the same reason. But Jai Dev remained as Music Director. Shailendra wrote two songs which were composed by Jai Dev, which was liked by Dev, Goldie and lyricist. Shailendra took the news to SDB and told him that if his assistant continues like this he (SDB) will be out permanentely from Navketan camp. Hearing the same SDB rushed to Dev’s Bunglow, argued, thretened, and emotionaly blackmaikled
and the result- Jai Dev was out, and SDB got in as MD of GUIDE. But he retained both the songs composed by Jai Dev. On Dev’s insistance Jai Dev worked as chief assistant to SDB in this film silentely. After giving a Big Musical hit Like HUM DONO, Jai Dev has not done a second film for Navketan. Out of two songs composed by Jai Dev. one was a Rafi sollow. “Din Dal jayee.. is based on Rag Bilwar and Yaman. Bilwar is Jai dev ’s personal favourite rag and he composeas atleast one song in each film based on this rag. So it could be Din dal jaye. In Hum Dono, one hit song was Kabhi Kudh pe.. by Rafi sab. which was based on Raag Gara. Even Music composers repeat a successful raag in films. “Terre mer sapne” is based on Raag Gara, so this could be of Jai Dev’s composition. nobody knows, when I asked Jai Dev he didn’t tell which Rafi song is his composition. such a great composer, human being he was victimised by powerfull
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:54 am
On TV show when they asked Dev A u used KK mostly and he answered no also i used mohd rafi,Offourse KK gave great songs to Dev ji.
Dev ji was first romantic actor in bollywood if I am not wrong that was boz of SD and Mohd Rafi as I think.
the crazy actor of bollywood was Shammi Kapoor also because of Mohd rafi and SJ .
there are few other actors jest take out Mohd Rafi songs from there flims there will be nothing.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
Mr. Haldar,
You must be referring to one of the greatest composers of all time, OPN, he was indeed one of Rafi’s best composers.
Interesting you mentioned how Goldie brought Rafi into Navketan, if that had not happened, would SDB not have moved to Rafi the way he did ?. I find it hard to believe that a person of SD’s talent would not recognize another great talent in Rafi. Maybe SD would have moved towards Rafi after but its good to know that Goldie brought Rafi into Navketan territory. After that Rafi became a Navketan pillar. I also find it hard to believe that any male singer was competition to Rafi after he made his mark in the early 50’s. From that point onwards he rose above all others.
You mentioned another interesting point about those composers using other male singers more. With SJ, I see a trend of quite a few female oriented films in the fifties, maybe that could explain why, but even in 1954 for a film like Pooja, it was Rafi all the way and in other films during that time. As for the rest, we can maybe attribute it to various other factors and not anything to do with Rafi’s position or anything related to his singing. For example in 1953, MM’s Chacha Chawdhury is dominated by Rafi.
So we can assume these composers (barring SD who made the switch later on and became a Rafian after) were Rafians from the beginning but due to other factors (i.e female oriented films etc.) could not use Rafi the way they wanted to (as they did after) and when they had the chance to during that period (no factors like female oriented films etc. involved), like in Pooja or CC, they did. As they and the majority were Rafians, I am sure Rafi was always their first choice, if at all in any situation Rafi was not used by them, I don’t think its a case of preference for others, but rather other factors. There are choice exceptions, like MM wanting Talat in 1964 for Jahan Ara, but that doesn’t mean his first preference was not Rafi, it just meant he felt Talat suited those songs better. Imagine Rafi singing “Phir wohi shaam, wohi gham”, what a masterpiece it would have been. However, Talat did a fantastic job with those songs. I don’t know why SD didn’t use Rafi a lot during that early phase, but he definitely made up for it later on.
There has been no male singer in the history of HFM that ruled like Rafi, and that too for so many years. He left the competition far behind. KK’s reign for a few years (with Rafi not being there for a while) can’t be compared to Rafi’s reign, because Rafi, Mukesh etc. were right there in the mix, and not far behind, and Rafi came back to reclaim this throne, and left at the top. I find it amusing when Amit Kumar at his concerts mentioned his father ruled for 17 years after Aradhana, who is he kidding ?.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Magic is magic
February 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
din dhal jaaye is surely among the list of the songs which wud be nothing wdout rafi sahab, i mean this composition was beyond d capability of any singer.. again a sad and divine composition by dada burman..
as Shrirang Nawathe ji mentoned that this song was utter example of dedicated team work, composers of 50s & 60s did their job with full dedication specially naushad ji…
haldar ji,
m agree wd u, goldie really brings magic to the navketan, apart from film making he was also master in d art of picturisation of songs..
it was only goldie’s great picturisation of song dat made me first time to feel the inner view of kutub minaar in d silken romantic voice of rafi sahab.. many times goldie got the invitations from the acting schools to teach the lessons on d picturisation of song..
goldie was nice actor too, my fav rafi sahab song picturised on goldie is
” masti mein chhed ke tarana koi dil ka ” composed by mm…
February 21st, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Interesting article, the song “Din Dhal Jaye Haye…” was specially composed for Rafi Saheb only. No other singer could dare to sing this song. This is Dev Anand ji’s best song. No words to describe how Rafi Saheb sang it! This song is as fresh as it was before 42 years. That’s Rafi Saheb’s magic.
melodiousrafi@yahoo.com
February 21st, 2008 at 7:30 pm
post 4 Haldar hi…
u are talking about the grand old ziddi man : op nayyar for whom
rafi used to sing:
yoon to hum ne kaee sangeet - kar dekhe hai; tumsa NAHIN dekha..
binu nair…..mumbai..
February 21st, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Very beautiful song, sung by Muhammad Rafi Sahib. I m graphic designer in a leading newspaper of Lahore Pakistan. I have my colleagues who do not like old music. But, i would like 2 disclose this fact that when my colleague listened this song of Muhammad Rafi sahib. He said to me, he could not sleep all the night due to the most melodious voice ,great composition and thought provoking lyrics. This is the true fact of the melodious voice of Muhammad Rafi Sahib.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Good article by Shrirang Nawathe. he sang some songs to devanand which became very famous. SDBurman gave most of the music direction in his films. I like the song very much “Tere Mere Sapne aab ek rang hai”, what a soft song it is.
shashank_72@rediffmail.com
February 21st, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Nawathe ji
Excellent article. In fact all the three solos of Rafi sahab in Guide are masterpieces-othet two being Kya se kya ho gaya and Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hai.
Refreshing to see such good article after a long gap. I did not like so many controversial comments , personality clashes in this site and hence took a backseat. I feel this site should keep talking about such gems of Rafi sahab rather then going into endless controversies as who is a better singer/music director etc. This is more so important as Rafi sahab himself stayed clearly away from all controversies and was so humble.
Message to Mr Venkadri–eagerly awaiting your 6th part of rare diamonds!!
February 21st, 2008 at 11:48 am
‘Din dhal jaaye…’ stands out as one of the most melodious songs ever recorded. Rafi Sahab was in his element, and has infused so much pathos into this song that all listeners are still amazed by his incredible rendition! Rafi Sahab has deliberately suppressed his voice to reach the very low notes demanded by the intricacies of the tune. Fortunately, the picturisation did full justice to the singer, poet and composer.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:38 am
Any aspiring singer who wants to playback in films should study this song over and over again. Even if he can achieve 60% of this, he can be considered to be great. I don’t think any singer can cross the 70% mark. Along with “yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai”, this song is a masterpiece in playback singing. And kudos to goldie anand for choreographing this song.
myk and xxx, I have been following your discussion on the decline of the quality of music in dev anand’s films. Other than the sd factor, there is an important factor which you missed: goldie anand. I am glad that mr. nawathe has highlighted his contributions. My guess is that it was goldie who brought rafi into the navketan camp, probably around the time of nau do gyarah. Till then sd was using three singers for dev: hemant, talat and kishore. Rafi’s innings with sd started a few years before ndg. Here’s a song from Devdas, which Venkat ji might label as a rare gem:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tv0ooFyBfVk
But there were other great songs by Talat, Bimal da’s favourite singer, including the beautiful “mitwa, lagi re yeh kaisi”:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cDk9EO20HBI&feature=related
SD hadn’t still made the switch. But by the time sujata came, he wanted rafi to croon “jalte hain jiske liye”. But Bimal da would have none of it and that is why there was so much unpleasantness between sd and talat.
The 1954-60 period was very crucial for Rafi. Till around 1954, Madan Mohan, Roshan, SD and even SJ were using other male singers more. Baiju Bawra happened in 1952, but it took a few more years for Rafi to establish his No. 1 position. And for that we’ll have to recognise the contribution of one of the most loyal rafians, who used rafi’s voice on every hero and comedian: dilip kumar, raj kapoor, shammi kapoor, guru dutt, dev anand, johnny walker, kishore kumar, bhagwan das, joy mukherji, biswajeet… He is one of the pancha ratnas in rafi saab’s life, the other four being naushad, sd, madan mohan and sj.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:10 am
Binuji, I agree with you that any Singer will find it difficult to do justice to this song, one of Rafiji’s best. Rafiji sang throughout at very low voice without raising or lowering but maintaining the melody, the pathos and the feeling throughout the song. Very difficult for any other Singer to do that especially for three antaras. Any other Singer singing this song will become pedestrian and be-sura, out of tune. A very difficult song sung so beautifully. Another important point, even after 42 years, the songs of GUIDE appear so fresh and one will never feel that the songs are 42 years old.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:43 am
Very keen observation sir.
in a recent shailendra - rafi musical tribute , we kept this song out
and included ” tere mere sapne ” for the only reason that no singer
will be able to recast the song as rafi saaheb has done…. we may
have been right and wrong bt the song has enough of passion and
everything else which might should go in to a “immortal song.
the director vijay anand was a great rafi saheb fan and his stamp
of excellence can never be missed.
binu nair….. the rafi foundation… + 9833 250 701
February 20th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Excellent research on this lovely composition nay creation of a world class music that does not loose its sheen even forty years of its recording. One of the all time great musical composition, DIN DHAL JAYE HAI from guide is indeed also one of the finest examples of the indian musical notes. i fully agree that the best of all the players in this creation was achieved and the song remains one of the most sought after by musical lovers of all shades. Great piece of writing too by mr shrirang nawathe sahab. you have laudable writing skills and a very active and knowledgeable musical mind too. keep posting such ‘greats’ among our film music, specially from rafi sahab’s plethora of the best that music can ever produce. thanks for refreshing our memories to the minutest details of this gem of a song. asmurty2@rediffmail.com