The complete ALBUM

There’s a gem in every song of the 1961 classic Hum Dono, says Shankar Mahadevan
For me, the best classic Hindi film scores are those of Hum Dono and Guide. If I have to pick one, it has to be Hum Dono because it features my all-time favourite Hindi film song Abhi na jao chod kar ke dil abhi bhara nahin… . What poetry and what a beautiful metre – for me, it’s the ‘deadliest’ romantic song, ever.
I first heard the song in my college days and since then it has remained a favourite. The song not only flows seamlessly, it also rhymes compositionally. For instance, the melody in the lines ‘…Abhi abhi to aaye ho, bahar banke chaye ho… abhi abhi to…’ is like flowing water. Its composer Jaidev never got the due he deserved as a legendary music director, and every song in that album is a testimony to his genius.

For instance, in Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya…, think of the long pause at the end of the second line Har fikr ko dhuan mein uda-aaaa… Doesn’t it make you see the wisps of smoke blowing in the wind? This is one of those rare albums where not just one or two but every song was a hit with equally memorable visuals. While you cannot but visualize a debonair Dev Anand walking and puffing with a confident charm when you hear Main zindagi ka saath…, the restrained abandon and shy smile of Sadhana in Abhi na jao… remains another appealing image.
The Lata Mangeshkar sung Allah tero naam, ishwar tero naam… remains one of the finest prayer compositions ever in Hindi cinema. It’s a beautifully composed antara, whose every mukhda seamlessly weaves back to the antara. Mohammad Rafi’s Kabhi khud pe kabhi halat pe rona aaya is a beautiful ghazal written by Sahir Ludhianvi, who in all the film’s songs reinforces his uncanny ability to convey great thoughts and messages through simple words.

Hum Dono is a complete album —it has a lovely romantic duet, a life song, a ghazal, a bhajan, a melancholy song (Jahan mein aisa kaun hai ke jisko gham mila nahin…). And each song is a chartbuster on its own. But what’s worth noting is that none of Hum Dono’s songs is an easy composition. Each is a complex, intricate song and yet very popular. The success of the album belies the popular industry notion that only simple tunes are popular—a good tune will always be remembered irrespective of the complexity of its composition.