"Aaj jeene ki tamanna hai"

                   

            

     

As I sat switching channels on the TV one Sunday morning, I came across an interesting show on “TIMES NOW” on the great directors of our hindi film industry and the show was dedicated to Vijay anand showcasing the super hit movie 'GUIDE' made in 1965. The song which was being discussed was "aaj jeene ki tamanna hai, aaj marne ka irada hai" sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

I was instantly taken in by the music, the pitch, the words of the song which exudes a veritable sense of pure joy and bliss experienced by the young lady 'Rosie' played by waheeda  rehman who is simply overjoyed on having rediscovered herself through her passion  for dancing, on having found true love for the first time in her life. A love she got from  ‘Raju’ played by the charismatic Dev anand who is shown as a humble guide , guiding tourists to historic sites. 

The song epitomizes liberation.   Its been rightly said that the song symbolizes freedom. Freedom for ‘Rosie’ (Waheeda rehman)  who after having spent years with an oppressive and demeaning archaeologist husband, has finally found freedom and true love. Her joy is boundless and she now doesn’t care for anyone but Raju .  She has found in him a real admirer of her talent of dancing and loves him back equally.

 It’s a delight to watch Waheeda clad in a light blue colour saree lying atop a hay stacked truck throwing straw twigs over her face, mindlessly handing over a 1000 rs note to the camel owner, sitting astride a camel swinging a tree branch in one hand, dancing dangerously on a ledge and singing with carefree abandon.

One of the line in the song goes like this : “Kal ke andhero se nikal ke, dekha hai aankhe malte malte phool hi phool jindagi bahar hai, taya kar liya aaj phir jeene tamanna hai, aaj phir marne ka irada hai” which literally means “ Rubbing my eyes,as I step from the darkness of my past into the present, I can see only flowers, life has suddenly become very beautiful, I have regained the inspiration to live again”. How very beautiful , how very true.

Apart from the amazing direction and excellent music one cannot help but admire the womanly grace of waheeda rehman.

I  came across an interesting comment on the utube which said that Amitabh Bachchan once had said “If I were to be reborn as a woman, I would like to be born as Waheeda rehman . She is full of grace and beauty” I couldn’t agree with this more.

In the song “kahin pe nigahein kahin pe nishana” of the film CID, I think of her earliest films, one gets immensely impressed by her simple but elegant movements and a face that exuded charm, innocence and freshness.

I have put the picture of sunflowers on the top as sunflowers symbolize happiness and joy.

There are so many beautiful gems of songs which the Hindi film industry has given us. Sometimes it really helps to take pause from our hectic schedules, dig into the past and relish their beauty all over again. I rediscovered one such gem on that lazy sunday morning flipping mindlessly through the channels !



Lots of love,

Meenal.