Dancing Peacock. Drunken Brawl.

Have you ever seen a peacock in full flow, feathers out, performing its majestic dance? I haven't. The only experience I have with peacocks came about ten years ago, when I tried my level best to ensure that the one nasty bugger that had landed on my balcony didn't steal a biscuit from my hand, and also that it didn't steal a finger from it. I wasn't quite sure if it was after the food or my finger (possibly also food- I have heard they eat snakes, what the hell was the obsession with a bloody finger?). Or maybe the particular individual I met was too sissy for manly peacock stuff and had thus never mastered the ancient art of The Capture of the Cobra. Either way, I hate peacocks; and the only reason a peacock features here is because of its significance to the lyrics of the song I am just about to write about, and to make the name of this post sound cool- something out of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon handbook on how to come up with cool, meaningless names that no one understands. I apologise if I missed my mark.

Anyhow, on to more significant matters. This post concerns some more truly wonderful music from 1950s Hindi cinema. These songs are from the 1958 film Madhumati- it was the closest Hindi cinema got to noir back in those days, and dealt with topics like reincarnation way before modern knock-offs like Karz and Om Shanti Om came into being.

The first song is this piece called 'Jungle Mein Mor Naacha' which is one of the most hilarious songs ever written (link here), the lyrics highlighting the lament of a poor drunk soul, who simply says 'Jungle Mein Mor Naacha kisi ne na dekha, hum jo thodi si pi ke zara jhoome, hai re sab ne dekha'- and in this one beautiful line describes very aptly an experience that most of us who have had any contact with alcohol would have experienced. At those fateful times when one happens to be drunk, people somehow forget about everything else in the vicinity, much of which promises to be far more entertaining (live music, hot women, meteor showers, football matches, Die Hard (brackets within brackets, I know, but Die Hard would make such a fantastic name for a zombie porno- both words make sense)), or is far more important (calls from home, calls from work, calls from girlfriend, calls from nature), and for some godforsaken reason remain transfixed upon the drunk individual until something embarrassing has been wrung from the situation. Depending on which side you're on- it is either absolutely hilarious, or completely lamentable; Johnny Walker in this song is looking to deal with this unhealthy obsession/necessary practice of drunxploitation. Coming back to more pertinent points about the music itself:

• The lyrics of the song are amazing. When absorbed in the humour, what many may not notice at the first listen is the subtle satire that the lyricist, Shailendra, has thrown in. It highlights the natural human tendency to notice things mundane yet irritating and harp on them, while at the same time, we find it easier to excuse certain bigger errors- Shailendra wonderfully highlights this intrinsic folly in the human character 
• Rafi finds the perfect hero in Johnny Walker- while he may have been the undisputed King of romance, the naturally rich, smooth and if I may say so, alcoholic texture to his voice finds its perfect on screen match in the inimitable Johnny Walker

The second song is the beautiful Dil Tadap Tadap Ke (link here)

• Dilip Kumar, aged around 36 when the movie released, retained a very boyish charm, which is very evident in the video of the song. One can only wonder, if he would have been a bigger star had he born in the Shahrukh and Ranbir obsessed times of today.
• Lata Mangeshkar puts in an these beautiful periods of just vocalising a tune while Mukesh sings- back in the era where technology did not exist to record the two voices separately and then piece them together. Making it sound as easy and as wonderful as she does is a sign of the true genius that the lady is blessed with.
• What is not so positive though, is that there are many allegations that this song is a copy of an old Polish tune, and based on the evidence available, that appears to be the case (see here and here). It seems that getting 'inspiration' is not solely Anu Malik's prerogative, even legitimate greats like Salil Chowdhury found it hard to let an opportunity (read: great tune) pass them by. If it only weren't for the comments column on Youtube, I would have never known, and neither would have you. But, since it is such a wonderful piece of music, and putting it in Madhumati after making it a lot nicer to listen to (kudos again to Shailendra's lyrics, sample this: Tu Nahi To Yeh Bahar Kya Bahar Hai, Gul Nahi Khile Ke Tera Intezar Hai, true poetry- and to Lata and Mukesh for producing yet another masterpiece) did make it accessible to a lot more people, I think it's safe to let this little folly pass.

All in all, a fantastic listen, and definitely one of the nicest set of songs ever created for hindi cinema. The other songs in Madhumati are really nice as well, and are definitely worth a listen.

To give it a rating-

Madhumati (1958)- Dilip Kumar, Vyjantimala, Johnny Walker

Music: Salil Chowdhury (and unknown Polish composer), Lyrics: Shailendra

Music Rating: Most certainly a 4.25/5, despite the plagiarism. While many may disagree with such a high rating for a plagiarised song, my logic here is simple- has listening to Dil Tadap Tadap Ke made my life a little bit better? It has. And so the rating stays. 

About the little bit in the title of this post about drunken brawls, maybe more people should behave like Johnny Walker did and sing songs instead of getting into brawls. I have seen him essay the roles of drunk people over many decades of cinema, and the image of a drunkard stayed with him throughout that long period, but never once did he get into a brawl, whether on screen or in real life. Possibly because he was a teetotaller.