Sitar makes a very conspicuous presence on the screen due to its size. But it conveys an entirely different image from the piano or the harmonium. If piano is aristocracy, harmonium is plebian. And what about the sitar? It is elegant classicism; it is not about the social, but musical status. There is gravitas in the Sitar on the screen – either it is a classical raga-based Song, or a song full of pathos. None of the frivolity you might see with the harmonium, such as in the film Padosan. Even piano has been a venue of some romantic love-play between the lovers.

Ravi Shankar’s international appeal made it the most familiar stringed instrument, associated with the Indian (Hindustani) classical music, in the outside world. Yet despite its such close association with our classical music, there is no unanimity among the musicologists about its origin. I tried to get some clarity about its history from Arvind Parikh’s series on Vividh Bharati’s ‘Sangeet Sarita’. There is a fair degree of unanimity that attributing its invention to the 13th century well-known Sufi poet Amir Khusro is erroneous. One school of thought attributes the sitar’s evolution to Muslim influence from the Persian stringed instrument ‘sehtar’ (three strings), acquiring its present form in the 18th-19th century. One text mentions a later ‘Amir Khusro’ of the 18th century, said to be the 15th descendant of Naubat Khan, son-in-law of Tansen, who developed this instrument from the Persian sehtar. This source also gives the names of his descendants who carried forward further evolution of the instrument and playing styles.

There is another school which ascribes to the sitar a very ancient origin from Tritantri Vadya (a musical instrument of three strigs), or Veena/Rudra Veena/Saraswati Veena, long before any Muslim influence. In popular iconography, Goddess Saraswati Is depicted as holding Veena in her hands (this is derived from Saraswati Vandana, या कुन्देन्दुतुषारहारधवला…/ या वीणावरदण्डमण्डित्करा या श्वेतपद्मासना). This association would give sitar almost a celestial origin at par with veena. Veena is a common instrument in Carnatic music.

For lay persons both generally look similar, with a long hollow neck, a big gourd which is a resonating chamber, and a smaller gourd at the end of the neck. Some sitars have only the big gourd. Both are plucked, stringed instrument. The tonal quality of the two, though, is very different. This is due to the difference in their construction, number of strings and how they are placed and tied, frets, pegs and bridges. Another common stringed-instrument with a gourd and a long neck, in the ensemble in a classical concert, is tanpura, which is not meant to provide melody, but to support the soloist. It has no frets, it has only 4-5 strings (as opposed to 18-21 strings in sitar). It just plays two notes, the tonic of the performer (सा) and the fifth (प). The two notes are played, one after the other in a loop, creating a continuous drone throughout the performance. Anything more about these instruments I have to leave for the experts. For this post I would include veena and tanpura songs too, because visually they create the same impact of serious classical music.

Despite such gravitas associated with the sitar, I was witness to some awkward levity long ago at a jugalbandi between Pt. Ravi Shankar and Ustad Bismillah Khan. The Ustad had a child-like simplicity and he must not have heard of the term ‘political correctness’. At the introduction he smilingly made a remark about Ravi Shankar that he was so romantic of heart that wherever he went, he married a female there, Main inko kahta hun ki ab bas kijiye, ab aur shaadi mat kijiye. I don’t think Pt. Ravi Shankar was amused, but he gave a faint smile; Khan Saheb was obviously innocent that the other person might have been offended.

Now let us enjoy some songs in which the sitar is conspicuous on the screen.

1. Dhal chuki shaam-e-gham by Rafi from Kohinoor (1960), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

Any mention of sitar and the film Kohinoor instantly reminds you of Madhuban mein Radhika naache re in Raga Hameer. This song has acquired a legendary status, with stories of how Dilip Kumar took intensive lessons in sitar so that he could play like a real sitarist on the screen (I understand the sitar was played by Ustad Halim Jaffer Khan). This song has featured in the last post, DP Rangan’s tribute to Kumkum on her first death anniversary. The film had another superb sitar song, Dhal chuki shaam-e-gham, with equally superb dance by Kumkum. Rafi’s voice modulation in this song is out of this world, and the music by the Great Naushad is equally delightful.

2. Chandrama ja unse kah de by Mahendra Kapoor and Lata Mangeshkar from Bharat Milap (1965), lyrics Bharat Vyas, Vasant Desai

This is a beautiful classical-based virah song, composed by Vasant Desai, who is associated with classical music more than any other music director. A long-distance duet of separation, are the characters Ram-Sita or Lakshman-Urmila? But the subtle point to note is Vasant Desai has shown the lady with veena, instead of the more common sitar. This I believe is the care he and the director have shown for authenticity. Treta Yug would have veena, the eternal music instrument, and not the sitar. Please recall the film Ram Rajya (1943) had the immortal Beena madhur madhur kachhu bol.

3. Meri veena tum bin roye by Lata Mangeshkar from Dekh Kabira Roya (1958), lyrics Rajendra Krishna, music Madan Mohan

Ameeta is so drained out in virah that she can’t even get her fingers to play the veena which is her partner in her sadness. She involuntarily rests her head on the veena. Madan Mohan creates three great melodies, one following the other seamlessly, as three lovers pine for their respective love partners – Meri veena tum bin roye segues into Ashqon se teri humne tasveer banayi hai, which in turn telescopes into Tu pyar kare ya thukara de hum to hain tere deewanon mein.

4. Hum tere pyar mein sara aalam kho baithe hain by Lata Mangeshkar from Dil Ek Mandir (1963), lyrics Hasrat Jaipuri, music Shankar-Jaikishan

Menna Kumari, once she is married, is the epitome of a sacrificing pativtrata naari. But once the worm of suspicion entered the husband’s head, it was impossible to shake it off. In hospital afflicted with a serious ailment, Raj Kumar takes the moral high ground to ask Meena Kumari to forget him and go back to her former lover. Pained beyond words, she sings this poignant song while playing the sitar.

5. Manmohana bade jhoothe by Lata Mangeshkar from Seema (1955), lyrics Shailendra, music Shankar-Jaikishan

After her parent’s death, Nutan was under the care of her harsh uncle and aunt, who treated her worse than a servant. The ill-treatment and a false theft charge made her run away; her past made her completely wild and untamed in the shelter home, despite the extremely patient and sympathetic manager, Balraj Sahni. Once in a very foul mood, she was breaking windows, while humming Manmohana bade jhoothe in anger. While her act caused terror in the hearts of other inmates and staff, Balraj Sahni noticed her talent for music. He calmed her and made her sing. And how beautifully she sings Manmohana bade jhoothe with tanpura in hand. You can sitar in a corner at the back. This has become the leading film song based on Jaijaiwanti. (KL Pandeyji identifies traces of Rageshree too in the song. Over to the experts. – AK)

6. Ka se kahun man ki baat by Sudha Malhotra from Dhool Ka Phool (1959), lyrics Sahir Ludhiyanavi, music N Datta

N Datta was one of the unlucky geniuses. Here Purnima ‘plays’ beautiful sitar and lip-synchs Sudha Malhotra’s Kafi-based song.

7. Baat chalat nayi cunari rang daari by Rafi and Krishnaro Chonkar from Rani Rupmati (1959), lyrics Bharat Vyas, music SN Tripathi

A man of many parts, SN Tripathi was another high class composer who, in the commercial pecking order, was not counted among the top bracket. The Sultan’s son, music-loving Baaz Bahadur is doing Riyaz with his Ustad, both holding tanpura (though horizontally, rather than straight up reclining on the shoulder). They sing the traditional Bhairavi bandish in the voices of Rafi and the classical singer Krishnarao Chonkar. Geeta Dutt had, some years ago, sung this bandish in the film Ladki (1953), composed by R Sudarshanam-Dhaniram. In the link below the uploader has also included Geeta Dutt’s version. The instrument now is veena in the hands of the lady (Anjali). After sometime, she hands over the veena to her lover Bharat Bhushan who plays the instrument, and she dances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ji_fIosso

8. Manmohan man mein ho tumhin by Rafi, SD Batish and Suman Klayanpur from Kaise Kahun (1964), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music SD Burman

This song would figure in any compilation of the best classical raga-based songs. Naturally so; there is a music Guruji Manmohan Krishna, teaching his daughter Nanda, when his talented disciple Biswajit (strange casting!) joins in. They sing in unison, tanpura being the prominent instrument in their hands.

9. Man ki been matwari baaje by Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar from Shabab (1955), lyrics Shakeel Badayuni, music Naushad

Naushad created a sensation for his classical raga-based songs in Baiju Bawra (1952). But I love the score of Shabab, another music-based film. The two lovers sing this Raga Bahar-based song, while playing the veena.

10. Mohabbat hi no ja samjhe wo zalim pyar kya jaane by Talat Mahmood from Parchhain (1952), lyrics Noor Lakahanavi, music C Ramchandra

Since I have titled this post on ‘sitar’, let me post this beautiful song, sung by the blind lover Shantaram, and unaware yet, Jayshree playing the sitar. A fellow blogger and SOY regular Anita Rupavataram in one of her posts drew attention to the odd use of the synonyms ‘mohabbat’ and ‘pyar’ as if they mean different things. But the song is so good, I had not noticed any oddity until I read her post.

11. Ye kaisa aya zamana by Mukesh, Kishore Kumar and Mehmood from Humjoli (1970), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Laxmikant-Pyarelal

Every rule has exception. One Mehmood can be mad enough, if you have three Mehmoods mimicking the three generations of Kapoor family (Papaji with sitar, the Tramp with duff and Dabboo with guitar), you can be sure the reverence for sitar will be a casualty.

Note: I have not embedded the video of Song #7. You can click the link to play it on the YT.

Acknowledgment and Disclaimer
1. David Courtney’s article on Chandrakanta.com gives an excellent summary of the history of sitar.
2. The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog claims no copyright over these songs which vests with the respective owners.

The post The Gravitas of Sitar in Songs first appeared on Songs Of Yore.