PK

Movie Review : PK

Director : Rajkumar Hirani

Genre : Drama / Comedy

Language : Hindi

Released : December 2014

Starring : Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani

My Rating : 7 out of 10

I don’t get to watch too many new Bollywood movies, and whenever I watch, more often than not, I end up being disappointed at the waste of time. I have yet to understand the hype behind most of the big names, be them actors, or filmmakers. A few exceptions being Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, all associated with this movie. So it was imperative for me to see it.

I try very hard to watch any movie with as little information as possible. In the same spirit, I will try to reveal as little as possible in this review. So in case you like to watch a movie without knowing any plot details, your enjoyment will not be reduced by reading this.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra, has had both hits and misses in his long successful career. As for his directorial work, nothing will ever come close to the 1989 movie Parinda. As a producer, his teaming up with Rajkumar Hirani has produced wonderful movies. The previous movie "3 Idiots" was phenomenally successful at the box office, both in India and abroad. It was a fabulous movie by all measures, so naturally it raises the expectations when the same team gives us ‘PK’.

Unfortunately, it fails to reach those lofty standards of entertainment. In ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’, Hirani masterfully blended Gandhism with humor. In '3 Idiots', beneath the roaring comedy, the undercurrent had many socially relevant themes that made you ponder. In ‘PK’ the formula is similar, mixing entertainment, with a strong social message. Although here, the concoction lacks potency. Because the comedy is laugh-out-loud only in a few scenes, and the social message is delivered in a borderline crude fashion, lacking any subtlety.

The movie is still very watchable. The topic is blind illogical faith in religion, and it’s misuse by the so called spiritual leaders. It’s a very important topic, and very relevant in India. I would say even necessary.  This same topic was quite nicely handled by Paresh Rawal starring ‘OMG’. I don’t think ‘PK’ delivered the message better.

Aamir Khan never disappoints as an actor. He gets most of the screentime. Anushka Sharma lends perfect support. Rest of the cast, including Sanjay Dutt and Boman Irani don’t get much opportunity.

The music is forgettable, and the picturization just elongates the movie that should have been at least 30 minutes shorter even otherwise. The length of the movie also makes it repetitive. 

I am fond of movies that are entertaining, as well as thought provoking. Over the years, many directors have made commercial movies that are also socially relevant. BR Chopra had his own style. Hrishikesh Mukherjee did it his way. Bimal Roy was the best in my opinion. Now Rajkumar Hirani has established his own style. Using contemporary comedy to drive home the point. For that he deserves full applause.

I recommend the movie, by saying, “good, but not great”. I think it’s appropriate for older teen agers, and they will also enjoy the movie, as well as agree with it.

The Drunkard’s Walk

Book Review : The Drunkard’s Walk

Author : Leonard Mlodinow
My Rating : 5 out of 5 stars

The complete title of the book is “The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives”.

It’s almost a cliche to say that, we as a society are not quite good at math. But what parts of math? How does it matter if on an average we don’t really understand calculus? I say, it doesn’t matter much. I think what does matter is, we are particularly inept at handling probability, or evaluating uncertainty. The success of many lottery systems worldwide is a good indication of that. I would even argue that the entire city of Las Vegas is built upon our inability to handle probabilities correctly.

The need to handle uncertainty goes beyond gambling and betting. Author Leonard Mlodinow shows how it’s part of our everyday life. Probability assessments happen in legal arguments, medical evaluation, large scale data analysis and so on.

He gives numerous examples of how we get it wrong. Ask yourself. What is more probable? A person being vegetarian, or a person being vegetarian for ethical reasons? This example is innocuous. Other examples, alas, are not so. What is more likely? A defendant fleeing the scene of crime, or a defendant fleeing the scene of crime because of fear of being accused? Most people say second is more probable, not realizing that it is a subset of first.

He uses such examples, to explain the subtleties involved, and also to build the story of how the study of Probability became a formal branch of mathematics. As you can expect, the initial reasons were indeed related to winning at gambling. Probability is closely related to Combinatorics. Instead of using mathematical terms like factorials, he tells us the story of Pascal who came with the ‘Pascal’s Triangle’ to help with calculations.

Interesting - as in simple but subtle - examples are numerous and present throughout the book. Consider my favorite. In a family of 2 children, what is the probability that both children are girls? Yes, it’s 1 out of 4. Let’s change the question slightly. In a family of 2 children, what is the probability that both children are girls, if one of them is known to be a girl? Or this. In a family of 2 children, what is the probability that both children are girls, if one of them is known to be a girl with name Florida. Read the book to understand how such conditional probabilities are calculated.

It’s not just for solving puzzles. The author mentions a terrifying personal experience, when his blood test gave a false positive for HIV. The doctor incorrectly concluded that his chance of dying soon is 999 out of 1000. Author mentions that similar erroneous conclusions happen in many forms of testing, including doping tests for athletes. Even more seriously, such wrong logic was used to convict a British woman of murdering her own children, in 1999. Astonishingly a similar mistake had also happened in the all American trial of OJ Simpson. Mishandling probabilities can have serious consequences.

Probability is also closely related to Statistics, and Statistics is closely related to Economics and Finance. This is about large scale data analysis. How do we determine how closely the data reflects the actual probability? How do we infer probability from a series of measurements? Topics such as the Gaussian curve and standard deviation, are wonderfully explained without getting overly mathematical.

In later chapters, there is some philosophical discussion on the role of chance in our life. Similar to luck versus abilities debate. I didn’t think the author handled these intractable problems well. These discussion are way too big and subjective for a book like this. That’s not a major complaint though.

I absolutely recommend this book. The real life examples, as well as topical puzzles are interesting. The writing is smooth and funny. This is the second book by the same author that I have reviewed, the first one being Euclid’s Window. The real strength of both the books, is how lucidly Leonard Mlodinow explains the complex mathematical concepts. It’s a real feat. This book, just like the previous, is immensely accessible, and will leave you educated and entertained.

My First Song ... Deewaana

When I started writing the blog a few years ago, I had no idea that one day I will write a post like this. In fact, I had no idea that I will write such a post just an year ago. But here I am, very happy to share my first song.

I wrote the lyrics of this very sad song about a "break up". While composing the tune I have tried adding some shades of Yaman.

I was immensely fortunate to have someone as accomplished as Kamlesh Bhadkamkar help me in arranging the music, enlisting the artists and getting it professionally recorded. I am a novice when it comes to composing, almost an illiterate. This song wouldn't have been possible without his help. Kamalesh is a frequent music arranger on Indian TV, most famously for Zee TV's "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa".

Ketan Patwardhan has provided his superb voice, and has sung it beautifully. Many thanks to him.

Shruti Bhave-Padhye has played the solo violin. She also frequently accompanies "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" on Zee TV.

Here it is. Hope you like it.

Broken City

Movie Review : Broken City

Director : Allen Hughes

Genre : Crime / Drama

Released : January 2013

Starring : Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones

My Rating : 5 out of 10

When a movie with A-list star cast is released after the holiday season is over, especially the January-April time-frame, it can be taken as a sign of poor confidence from the movie makers. Broken City is not an exception to this rule of thumb.

The movie starts with a brief introduction to the past events. Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) was a NYPD officer. He had killed a suspect, and while he has been exonerated by the court, there is some damaging evidence. The New York City Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe) helps him cover it up, but Billy has to resign. Now Billy is working as a private detective. The Mayor is in the middle of a tightly fought election campaign. The mayor suspects that his wife is having an affair. Billy is called to investigate and find out who is her lover. As we can expect, the investigation reveals that things are not what they seemed at first.

Although not very novel, this is a fine set up for a gripping movie with political manipulations, intrigue, thrilling actions and slow uncovering of a conspiracy. The promises are there, but not much is delivered. The reasons are many. The idea behind the conspiracy itself is not particularly evil, and also not very smart. There doesn’t seem to be a way pull this kind of deal off with any secrecy. The behavior of the characters - especially why someone has an allegiance with someone else, wasn’t always clear to me. It’s fine for the writers to keep the mystery about who is on whose side, but eventually the motives have to become clear. There is a subplot about Billy and his girlfriend, but it’s left unresolved - maybe some scenes were simply removed during editing. Whatever it is, it’s a bit of a mess.

I don’t think Mark Wahlberg was a good choice for this role. Russell Crowe seems to be making an honest attempt, but he is not very convincing either. Catherine Zeta-Jones does a reasonable job, and still looks stunning, but her character doesn’t have much screen time. Casting is an issue, but the real problem is a confusing, unconvincing script.

I cannot recommend this movie, not even as a cookie-cutter action flick.

State Of Wonder

Book Review : State Of Wonder
Author : Ann Patchett
My Rating : 2 out of 5 stars

There was a time when I used to read a lot of fiction. The books I liked are generally not considered “literature”, and that does not bother me a bit. I still remember the immense joy I got from reading Frederick Forsyth’s books - the depth of the plot, the suspense that you never knew was there, the painstaking research, the smart structure of the storyline that makes it impossible to put the book down. I slowly lost interest in reading fiction, as my favorite authors couldn’t keep up the quality, maybe because they were getting older.. I couldn’t find new authors of the same caliber, and slowly I became interested in reading only non-fiction, maybe because I am getting older.

Once in a while, I try reading a fiction, but almost always end up dissatisfied. When I saw the glowing reviews of “State Of Wonder”, I had to read it. People magazine thinks "the reader will start re-reading the book upon completion". Time magazine said, "the story speeds along like a literary thriller". Even NPR praised it. The author Ann Patchett has won numerous awards for her books, and this one was a national bestseller.

After reading “State Of Wonder”, I am not only dissatisfied as I was in other cases, but I am also angry - extremely angry - at these deceiving reviews. I know very well that reviews are subjective. I write a lot of them, and they are full of my subjective opinions. This book also has hundreds of five star reviews on Amazon, so I know I am in minority. But I still think, it’s intellectually dishonest to praise this book so much. Because the plot holes and loose ends are not subjective. The factual mistakes are not subjective. When hard to believe situations are not explained, the lack of explanation is not subjective.

Dr Marina Singh works as a research scientist  for a pharmaceutical company. Her co-worker Anders is sent to Amazon, to track down another employee Dr. Swenson, who for many years, has been conducting secret research on a lucrative drug. Unfortunately, Anders dies due to illness, but the letter announcing his death from Dr. Swenson lacks details. Marina is asked by his wife to go to Amazon, to find out what happened. The book is the story of Marina’s journey and her coming to terms with her past. It also makes a feeble attempt at raising some important questions about medical research.

There are positives. Author Ann Patchett has a knack of expressing what Marina felt at that moment. She also manages to create the sense of place. You feel you are transported to the Amazon jungle.

Style, sadly, cannot mask the lack of substance. If you are in a book club, this book will serve very nicely as a launching pad for passionate discussions. Morality of drug research is a tough and troubling topic. But we get to hear only one side of the debate, the views of Dr. Swenson. That’s not enough to support the claim about how the book poses “bioethical arguments”.

The characters are not very likeable. Now, that alone is not reason to dislike the book. I have liked many movies (e.g American Beauty) where not a single character was likeable. But here, the characters are flat, and except Marina, there is hardly any explanation for the behavior of anyone else. The tribe is Amazon is in awe of Dr Swenson, and meekly submit themselves to her experiments, even though she cannot speak their language. Why? Why do they respect or fear her? No, you won’t find it explained.

The factual errors are mind boggling. First a small one - in Marina’s dream, she finds herself with her Indian father in Calcutta where she hears Hindi all around her. No, Ms Patchett, it’s very unlikely. They speak Bengali there. Maybe it’s a small slip. Then Marina, who is a doctor, keeps taking Lariam as prevention against Malaria, in spite of the nightmares. I am not a doctor, but I know that there is an alternative called Doxycycline. I took it when I went to Kenya. Shouldn’t she have tried that? Dr. Swenson runs a medical research facility in the heart of Amazon jungle. Where does she get the electricity to keep the freezers running? Dr Swenson also realizes in the end that there is a reason why nature doesn’t want women to get pregnant at a very old age. Really? For a doctor who has been researching women fertility for decades, seeing old women in a tribe going through child birth as her research subjects, this comes as a realization when she herself becomes old? As you can see, this is neither nit picking, nor subjective complaints.

The book is no thriller. It’s extremely boring in many sections, and simply takes forever to proceed. Unlike the Time magazine’s claim that it reaches "a tremendous crescendo", what it reaches is height of unbelievability. The author succeeds in maintaining the suspense, but when it’s revealed, it’s just revealed. Then the book winds down in 15 pages, without an iota of explanation as to what exactly happened.

The correct title for the book should have been “State Of Unexplained”. It’s high on feeling, and low on thinking. Of course, I do not recommend this book at all. I am forever going to be suspicious of reviews written in all the magazines and newspapers.

Closed Circuit

Movie Review : Closed Circuit
Director : John Crawley
Genere : Thriller
Starring : Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall
Released : August 2013
My Rating : 6 out of 10

It seems to me that there are two clear approaches of making movies categorized as "thrillers". One has dazzling action sequences, fast moving story that tries to not give the viewer any time to find any plot holes and a few twists thrown in to wow them. Second type is based on slow build up, believable characters and maintaining intrigue till the end. "Closed Circuit" is of the second type.

A bomb explodes in a busy market in London killing many people. A tip allows the police to capture the alleged mastermind of the attack and he is put on a trial. This is the starting point of the story. We are given an explanation about the complicated legal procedure for trials involving national security, where some sensitive evidence can be presented only in a closed courtroom. As per the British legal system, there need to be two lawyers for the defense. One for the open trial, and one for the closed trial, and they cannot have contact with each other during the trial.

Martin Rose (Eric Bana) gets chosen as the defense attorney for the open trial, because the previously chosen lawyer commits suicide. The defense attorney for the closed trial is Claudia (Rebecca Hall). They had an affair in the past, but they chose to keep that knowledge to themselves in order to get the rare chance to fight a case with the national spotlight. As Martin digs deeper, he starts getting suspicious that things are quite different than what was being publicly acknowledged. Claudia also starts to feel that she is being constantly monitored. As the movie progresses we get more and more clarity about what actually happened.

Director John Crawley maintains the tension very well. Many times throughout the movie, we see the protagonists being constantly monitored via closed circuit cameras, as referenced by the movie title. The pacing is perfect.

The cast selection here is successful. Almost every one gives a believable performance. Eric Bana has acted well in many movies. He was the only bright spot in Troy for me, while Black Hawk Down and Munich were perhaps his most memorable performances. I had never noticed Rebecca Hall before, and she has provided perfect chemistry to Eric Bana here. Ciran Hinds (The Debt, Rome) and others provide able support.

The movie still falls very short of a satisfying experience. The problem is the shallow plot and lack of good surprising twists. We have seen these themes before. We can guess the secret very early, and it’s also revealed much before the movie is over. So the only question that remains once everything is out in the open is, what will be the final resolution? The ending is grounded in reality to some extent, but it’s still pedestrian. It will not leave you excited at the end, rather you will be feeling, “meh”. The same team produced "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", which was far more satisfying.

I can neither recommend for watching this movie, nor against it. It’s a short movie, and doesn’t stray much. For example, the past relation between the leads is covered only in few dialogues. So time passes briskly, but without much payoff. It’s rated R, and should be fine for most teenagers.

Sum Of Consecutive Primes - Part 2

When I wrote the blog post on “Sum Of Consecutive Primes” I said that it was a pure D! activity. This is D!^2 :-)

One of the comments on the post suggested to do the analysis to find even more special primes. I liked the suggestion and modified my code to look for even more special primes. What kind of specialty are we talking about?

Please read the original blog post for more details. As a quick recap, we are looking for primes that can be written as sum of consecutive primes.

Obtaining primes from adding consecutive primes is just beautiful. As the analysis shows, many of these prime numbers can be written as multiple different sequences of consecutive primes. Some of these sequences are surprisingly large.

Within such primes, how about finding some more specializations, as follows.
1. The length of at least one the sequence itself is prime.
2. More specialization of the first, length of EVERY sequence is prime.
3. For a particular prime, the number of different generating sequences is also a prime.
4. Intersection of 2, and 3 : the number of sequences is prime, and length of every sequence is also prime.

In each case, we are looking for the primes below an arbitrary limit, which is 1 million for Problem 50 in Project Euler.

So here are the answers.

1. At least one sequence with prime length

The largest prime is
999983 = 34337 + 34351 + … + 34613 (29 primes)

The largest sequence is for
981391 = 71 + 73 + … + 3917 (523 primes)

The prime 442019 is noteworthy, as it has the six generating sequences, maximum for this subset. Only the first sequence is of prime length.
442019 = 419 + 421 + … + 2621 (301 primes)
442019 = 7529 + 7537 + … + 8017 (57 primes)
442019 = 13229 + 13241 + … + 13567 (33 primes)
442019 = 17569 + 17573 + … + 17807 (25 primes)
442019 = 49069 + 49081 + … + 147347 (9 primes)

2 All generating sequences are of prime length

There have to be more than 1 generating sequences to be qualified for this criterion.

The largest is
999863 = 13723 + 13729 + … + 14447 (71 primes)
999863 = 199933 + … + 200003 (5 primes)

The largest sequence in this subset is for
973691 = 61 + 67 + … + 3907 (523 primes)
Interestingly it’s the same length (523) for the largest sequence for the previous subset above.

Most prime sequences are for
999049 = 4801 + 4813 + … + 6337 (179 primes)
999049 = 7013 + 7019 + … + 8231 (131 primes)
999049 = 21019 + 21023 + … + 21493 (47 primes)
999049 = 199799 + … + 199819 (5 primes)

3. Number of generating sequence is prime

The largest is same as above 999863.

The largest sequence is for a prime that is an answer to the Project Euler : Problem 50, so I cannot give it here.

The most sequences are for
988321 = 113 + 127 + … + 3923 (515 primes)
988321 = 4673 + 4679 + .. + 6247(181 primes)
988321 = 5107 + 5113 +  … + 6577 (169 primes)
988321 = 89797 + 89809 + … + 89899 (11 primes)
988321 =  329419 + 329431 + 329471
Note that 2nd and 3rd of the above are overlapping sequences!

4. Primest of primes

Now let’s see which are the most special of these. These have ONLY a prime number ways of generating sequences, and length of each of these sequences is also prime.

The largest is 999863, same as subset 2 above.

The largest sequence in this subset is also for the same prime as for subset 2 above.
973691 = 61 + 67 + … + 3907 (523 primes)
973691 = 6841 + 6857 + …  + 8039 (131 primes)
So there are 2 sequences, each has prime number of primes.

And the most sequences are for
993367 = 13679 + 13681 + … + 14387 (71 primes)
993367 = 141863 + 141871 + … + 141941 (7 primes)
993367 = 331099 + 331127 + 331141
Now that’s one beautiful number. It’s the largest prime below 1 million that can be written in most prime number of different ways as sum of prime number of consecutive primes :-)

Ignorance

Book Review : Ignorance
Author : Stuart Firestein
My Rating : 4 out of 5

The complete title of the book is “Ignorance : How it drives Science”.

I don’t get too many chances to label a book as “nice little” in my reviews. This book gives me that chance. It is really a nice little book.

According to author Stuart Firestein, there is a widespread misconception that science works using a deliberate “scientific method”. Start with a hypothesis, make an experiment, collect data, prove a new fact etc. He disagrees and says, discovering is more like trying to find a black cat in a dark room, and when more than often, there is no cat to begin with. He also wants to stress that it’s the ignorance that drives science, not the knowledge.

He clarifies what he means by ignorance. There is bad ignorance, which is wilful denial of facts and logic. Then there is good ignorance, the lack of knowledge and hence the desire to acquire it. He explains this in detail in a bit lengthy preamble before he starts the main discourse.

First he explains how there might be limits to what we can know. It’s not that we are limited by our senses, but by our imagination and our intellect. The universe may consist of things that we simply will never find out or understand. That’s an interesting idea, but not new. What I found really novel was his take on two of the most shocking and discomforting discoveries of the last century - Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and Godel's Incompleteness Theorem. They both put a limit on what can be known, or specified. That did not discourage the scientific community, but quite to the contrary, helped drive even more discoveries. This kind of ignorance actually drove more discoveries. I had never thought about it this way before.

Then he explains, how the good discoveries actually increase our ignorance by generating even more questions. Firestein stresses that this is real progress. The rest of the book expands on this idea in many different ways. He makes many good points. The esense is always similar. The real challenge facing science is always about how to choose the dark room to start their search, from a seemingly infinite choice of dark rooms. So our focus as  a society should be on preparing ourselves for managing this ignorance. The real excitement is in understanding what new questions need to be answered, not in accumulating answers of already solved questions. This is a very fresh perspective.

This is really a fun book to read. Quotes and humor are sprinkled throughout the book. The engaging writing style and small size makes it an easy read. Still I hesitate to give this a full five star rating. As much as I like the perspective, I think his thesis is thin even if fresh and correct. Perfect for a nice main article, but not for a full book. So the book doesn’t feel well organized, and similar arguments are repeated. With that minor complaint, I definitely recommend this book.

Sau Shashi Deodhar

Movie Review : Sau Shashi Deodhar
Language : Marathi

Director : Amol Shetge
Genre : Suspense / Thriller
Actors : Sai Tamhankar, Ajinkya Deo, Tushar Dalvi,Avinash Kharshikar, Aniket Kelkar
Released : 2014
My Rating : 7 out of 10

This is my only second review of a Marathi movie, the first being “Mani Mangalsutra”. I don’t get to watch many Marathi movies till they are available on TV channels, or DVD. Thanks to MMBA, who organized a screening, I got to watch this movie in a real theater.

Dr Ajinkya Vartak (Ajinkya Deo) is a middle aged successful psychiatrist. At the beginning of the movie, his car accidentally hits a woman (Sai Tamhankar) standing in the middle of the road on a rainy night. Fortunately she doesn’t suffer major injuries, but loses consciousness. When she wakes up, she gives her name as Shubhada, and her husband’s name as Shashi Deodhar, hence the title of the movie. Dr Vartak accompanies the police as she is taken to her home. But when they reach there, they find out that the house belongs to someone else. They go to the art gallery where her husband is supposed to be organizing an exhibition, but some other artist (cameo by Ranjit, the producer) is holding an exhibition there and her husband is nowhere to be found.

Since none of the information given by the lady can be verified, the police give an ad in local newspapers. The plot thickens when a man named Aniket Kelkar comes claiming that Shubhada is his wife, and her real name is Nilima. He has photos from their marriage to prove his case, but Shubhada refuses to even recognize him. Sensing something amiss, Dr Vartak decides to use his training as a psychiatrist to understand the truth.

This is a potent idea for a story, and it can take many possible routes from here. This will keep you guessing and completely engaged. It’s possible that an alert experienced viewer will be able to guess some of secrets of the story. Still I am sure the impact is no less disturbing due to darkness of the events that eventually get exposed. The credit completely goes to writer/director Amol Shetge who ably maintains the tension without diluting the seriousness of the theme. The movie never loses its focus, a very admirable quality.

There are very few characters in the story, and all actors without exception have done a wonderful job. Sai Tamhankar has played a much different role than what I have seen her in Duniyadari, and Balak Palak. As the central character, she has successfully delivered what was needed. Ajinkya Deo is perfectly cast for his role.

It’s not a perfect movie. Although it is only 100 minutes, it’s still a slow paced movie and not all scenes are convincing. Making a suspense movie is a bold decision, especially for Marathi movies, as the nature of the story makes it very hard for getting repeat viewers. The production, by which I mean the limited number of sets, grandness (or lack of it) makes it feel more like a stage production or TV series, than a movie. I guess you can attribute that to the budgetary constraints of the business of producing Marathi movies. I must add that, it does not take away anything from the movie being a satisfactory experience. This is a maiden production of actress turned producer Shilpa Shirodkar and her husband Ranjit. I applaud their sincere effort and wish them best for future productions.

What I watched had subtitles, and while my Marathi is excellent, this is good for wider audience. I definitely recommend this movie. The theme is uncomfortable for watching with kids, and the movie is correctly rated U/A in India, which I guess is equivalent to something like TV-14 in US.

Taken 2

Movie Review : Taken 2
Released : 2012
Director : Oliver Megaton
Genre : Thriller
Starring : Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace
My Rating : 5 out of 10

Hollywood never gives up a chance to make easy money, and making sequels is just one of the ways to try exactly that. The first movie Taken, made respectable amount of money, so the studios must have thought, why not try the same formula, the same actors, and make Taken 2? The brand is established, the movie won’t go unnoticed and there is a good chance of repeat business. That’s fine, but the problem here is, the entire creative team has the same plan. To just show up for work, collect a paycheck, and pray for a bonus. It rarely works, but they still try it anyway.

The story involves the same people from Taken. This time, the events take place in Istanbul, instead of Paris. The villains are looking for revenge, and have plans to kidnap the entire family and kill them. They succeed in fist kidnapping Bryan (Liam Neeson) and his wife, and then go after his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). From the first movie we know the near super-human abilities of Bryan, so we know he is going to save the day somehow.

It kind of worked in Taken, but it fails here miserably. Both the movies demand switching off our brains, but differ in what they give us in return for that demand. Taken was high-speed, sleek and managed to not give us time to think. Taken 2, on the other hand is bland, slow and hardly manages to get our pulse to quicken. There is a car chase here as well, but like everything else in the movie, the director is pushing the limits of being  preposterous. It’s a different director, and probably the reason for Taken 2 being utterly boring even with the nearly exact idea and short running time.

I think even Liam Neeson knew the foolishness of the whole project from day one. He is a good actor, but it doesn’t seem that his heart was in it. Almost all the performances are forgettable.

If you haven’t watched Taken, then just watch that instead. If you have watched Taken, then just forget about this movie. I really hope Taken 3 never happens, but sadly there is a good chance that it will.

Diary Of An African Lily

The "African Lily" is very commonly found in Bay Area. It's easy to grow ornamental plant with striking bunches of flowers in the season.

I have tried to capture the photos through out the flowering phase. The long stems start out with buds, which slowly crack open. Each stem features multiple flowers.

RJGK 36

Thanks to Google, I could dig up the quiz I conducted on GHazals in Hindi Movies. It's a long post, the quiz and the solutions. Just archiving it here. It was conducted in Dec 1996 - Jan 1997 period on the Usenet group rec.music.indian.misc.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                        RMIM-Jhim GeetoN Ki
                             RJGK - 36

                        GHazal in Hindi Movies

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

PRELUDE :
==========

It's around 3 years back, that I conducted an RJGK and almost 1.5 years have passed since I made the booking for this one ! During all these long years, Sami's RJGK quiz established itself quite well in the "entire civilized world". The format is not as bare as it was then, some imaginative themes have been used, bookings are routinely done, great guidelines have been issued, participation has increased and what not. In short, RJGK, is not just a quiz. It's a symbol of the spirit of this newsgroup. It's a lot of fun too. I hope to keep it the same way, and if possible, to increase it.

OPENING : The traditional 1.P-K4
==================================

RJGK is a quiz, where you are given the lines from an "antara" of a song and you have to guess the "mukhada". That's it. If you are not familiar with this quiz, then please have a look at the superb Web page by Sami -
        http://www.lehigh.edu/~sm0e/rjgk.html

If you still have any doubts/questions please feel free to ask me.

Every RJGK is based on some theme, and for this quiz, it's Filmi GHazal.

IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO KNOW WHAT IS A GHAZAL, TO SOLVE THIS QUIZ. Infact, knowing a lot about GHazals, may not help at all ! I would also like to thank the beta-testers for their time and efforts to improve the overall quality of the quiz. Many many thanks to Preeti Ranjan Panda and Samiuddin Mohammed.

A NOVELTY :  1. ... P-QR4 !?
=============================

This quiz is _NOT_ a collection of lines from famous GHazals in films !!
Let's see why this is so.

There are 2 types of mistakes, we make while identifying GHazals. One is considering a non-GHazal as a GHazal. That's not the topic here. The 2nd mistake is to miss out a genuine GHazal when one hears it !

That's far more interesting ! And THIS is the theme here !!

The songs chosen are well-known. BUT they are not always considered as GHazals, even when they ARE. Why does this happen ? Ans : Due to Myths.

Before we proceed, let me stress this. All this talk about what is a GHazal, why we make mistake etc etc is not going to reduce the fun of solving this quiz. My promise is - it will increase your enjoyment ! And my task is - to give you some __nice__ surprises !!

Let's get straight to the point then, and have a look at the promised "Myth Explosion" agenda, of this quiz :-)

1. GHazals are always sad.
        Not really. A majority of them are indeed sad but there is NO restriction on the type emotions. Have a look at the songs here.

2. GHazals are poems about love.
        Not true anymore ! Once upon a time, yes. Not now.

3. GHazals are tuned in a certain way and sung in a certain way.
        Don't get misled by popular GHazal singers. There is a place for every emotion in GHazal, so different types of tunes are necessary.

4. But isn't there a traditional way of singing GHazals ?
        There is. There are various reasons for this, which cannot be discussed in a quiz. But remember that, GHazal is NOT a type of song like Qawwali and THumri. It's a FORM of poetry.

5. Filmi GHazals mean Madan Mohan and vice versa.
        That's insulting both GHazals and MM. Let's not talk about it.

6. If it's full of Urdu words, it's a GHazal.
        Now an insult to Urdu Poetry. Is every English poem a sonnet ?

7. Talat was the best GHazal singer.
        Debatable ! But let's not do it here. :-)

8. Only a small group of MDs, singers, lyricists use GHazals.
        The refutation of this is the QUIZ itself :-)

So the main idea of the quiz is have a look at the songs which help in exploding these myths. Believe me, the Filmi GHazal is rich enough in variety to do this. Or better, don't believe me :-) So you will be set for the surprises. Come, let's explore the fanastic world of GHazals.

TRANSITION TO MIDDLE GAME :
=============================

Here are some peculiarities of this quiz.

1.  Each answer carries 1 point. No tie-breakers. I don't mind joint winners. The quiz is for fun, not to decide, "Who's the best".

2.  I will be using 2 words quite often. Radeef and Qaafiya. This is NOT done to "maarofy style". YOU CAN VERY WELL IGNORE THESE WORDS. But, they are actually your friends in solving this quiz ! So let's make ourselves familiar with these terms.

    Radeef   =  set of COMMON words coming at the end of EACH sher
    Qaafiya  =  the rhyming pattern before Radeef

    Let me illustrate this with an example ...

    1.      koi ummid bar nahin aati
            koi surat nazar nahin aati
    2.      aage aati thi haale dil par hasi
            ab kisi baat par nahin aati
                      ....
    3.      hum wahan hain, jahan se humko bhi
            kucch hamaari khabar nahin aati
    4.      kaabaa kis muh se jaaoge 'Ghalib'
            sharm tumko magar nahin aati

  
Now in this GHazal, "nahiN aathi" appears at the end of the 2nd line of each sher. THAT is Radeef. So by our definition "nahiN aati" is the Radeef of this GHazal and the words "nazar, par, khabar, magar" serve as Qaafiya. You should also note that the Quaafiya and Radeef come at the end of BOTH the lines of the GHazal. This is the Matla of the GHazal, which in a film song is "mukhada". Some times, the Radeef is absent. Technically this is very much valid. So both Radeef and Qaafiya, come at the end of BOTH the lines of the mukhada you have to guess !! If you still have doubts about these being your friends, read the following point.

3.  EACH CLUE IS A COMPLETE STANZA !! A complete sher of a GHazal. You cannot ask for more :-).  So in addition, you get to know what is the Radeef and Qaafiya. This means, you know how each line of the mukhada ends ! Really, you cannot complain now :-) :-) :-)
4.  The selection of the song is based on one principle. If it helps in exploding a myth, take it. The song may be melodious, may not be.  Lyrics may be great, may not be. Such were not the considerations.  So you will find here happy GHazals, seductive GHazal, rainy GHazal and etc etc. Sometimes, it's the contributor, which justifies the selection. So we have GHazals by SJ, LP. And SDB too :-) Read on.
5.  The songs may have featured multiple times in other RJGKs and Chitrahaars. Your friends, Radeef and Qaafiya, will help you in searching the ISB too. But all this is beside the point here.
6.  Don't worry about the technicalities. Also, the songs may not fit the standard metres of Urdu GHazal. That's an involved topic and let's forget it for the time being. Other restrictions apply.
7.  The clues (except the first and last) are in a chronological order, to the best of my knwoledge. But that's no guarantee :-)
8.  There are a few "Technical Diversions" scattered here and there. You can ignore these too, if you are just interested in solving the quiz as any other. But reading them, I hope, will be thought provoking.
9.  All the opinions expressed here are mine. Insert IHMO where needed.  Finally, the GOLDEN RULE of the RMIM quizzes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE DON'T POST YOUR ANSWERS ON THE NET.
        Mail them to    ava...@....
        On or before    10th January 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE MIDDLEGAME :
==================
The QUIZ ! Finally !! If you really have read all that, then THANKS :-)
Here goes the quiz. A 'pooja' begins with, "Shree gaNeshaaya namaH", and everything related to GHazal, begins with ... yes ... GHalib.

01.
    humko unse wafaa ki hai ummeed,
    jo nahiN jaanate wafaa kya hai
The lyricist (!) did not intend to write a duet, but that's what the MD Ghulam Mohammed has done by making both Talat and Suraiyaa sing. I like this tune, but IMO other tunes in this movie, hardly do any justice to the words of the poet, on whose life, the movie is loosely based. I know this is a give away, but then, any GHalib sher would have been so.

02.
    yahaaN aaNkhoN aaNkhoN me, baate huii hai,
    kisi_ne na dekha, kisi_ne na jaanaa
Probably the first surprise ! A happy song, still a GHazal. This is prob the most famous NoorjehaaN solo. MD Naushad. Note - no Radeef. From now, I will be asking a question quite often. Is this tune bad for a GHazal ?

03.
    tute hue patvaar haiN, kashti ke hum to kya ~~
    haari huii baahoN ki hi patvaar banaa le
If the previous one didn't surprise you, this will. Mastibhari GHazal !  By SDB-Sahir. Is this a bad tune for the scene and the words ? NO, IMO.  Anyway. There is one Dev and two Geeta's in this song :-)

04.
    taaj ya, taKHt ya, daulat ho zamaane bhar ki
    kaun si cheez muhabbat se badi hoti hai
Is that the way to tune a GHazal ? How many GHazals have been sung by HemantK ? Is the tune by C.Ramchandra or HemantK ? I was quite relieved to see that this 'background song' did not feature in the last RJGK :-) What do you think about the "Myth Explosion Agenda" ? :-)

05.
    ro ro ke inhi raahoN me, khona pada ik apane ko
    haNs haNs ke inhi raahoN me, apanaaya tha begaane ko
One of the "tandem song" GHazals in this quiz. This is a Sahir-SDB gem.  Has it been taken in Chitrahaar ? Actually both the versions make a good candidate for Chitrahaar. Devsaab and Nalini Jaywant going in a car in both versions ! This sad version is by Lata and the happy one is by KK.
Technical diversion : Is the KK version a GHazal ? The question itself is an answer to another question asked somewhere else :-) :-) Find :-)

06.
    rangeen fizaaN chhaaye to zaraa, vaade pe koi aaye to zaraa
    ai josh-e-wafaa, dil cheez hai kya, hum jaan bhi de de nazaraanaa
Difficult clue. It's Talat singing a typical typical C.Ramchandra tune for the lyrics of Jaan Nissar Akhtar. This tune is way far away from the traditional tunes. Esp. as CR adds "haaye" before repeating the Qaafiya.
(Note - no radeef.) BUT, is there anything wrong ? NO, IMO. The movie name smells of a flower from which the Chinesse tea comes. :-)
Technical Diversion : Recently, on RMIM, the discussion about breaking a GHazal into another form took place. I mentioned "manzile apani jagah" and kept quiet about other such songs. But frankly, I was scared. As there are a few such songs in THIS quiz ! I was almost sure that one by one, all the songs would be mentioned. Thankfully, it did not happen :-) These songs, have an intra-sher rhyming, and can be broken to fit other forms. Can you find more such songs in this quiz ? If you can find the song which is indirectly included, then you are great ! But during your search beware a misleading clue given here ! :-) :-) :-)

07.
    kahiN toot jaaye na, hasrat bhara dil
    na yuN teer pheNko, nishaanaa badal ke
One of the many many great songs by Naushad-Rafi-Shakeel-DilipK. Do you remember the picturisation of this ? Nimmi is really trying to shoot the arrow, in this sher ! Who said GHazal cannot be related to the scene ? Shakeel was indeed a great poet. BTW, there is no Madhubala or Nargis in this movie, but Nimmi still has a hard time keeping Dilip, the Pardesi, all to herself :-).

08.
    dard bhi hame qubool, chain bhi hame qubool,
    ham_ne har tarah ke phool, haar me piro liye
Is THAT a GHazal ? Oh yes. Aren't SDB's GHazals a perpendicular to the traditional tunes ? But, tell me frankly, are they bad ? GHazals don't mean tragedy king, they are for chocolate heroes too :-) And they're not always sung by GHazal Kings, sometimes they are sung even by Kishore :-)

09.
    chhup na sakega ishq hamaara, charoN taraf hai unka nazaara
    parda nahiN jab koi khuda_se, bandoN se parda karana kya
Lovely sher and lovely picturization. I mean the idea of showing the reflections through many mirrors. Suits the words perfectly ! Otherwise, neither Madhubala's dancing nor DilipK's stoneface (at least here) is watchable. The Naushad-Shakeel combo has always been awesome.
Diversion :
No other diversion is needed as much as this ! This song, I admit, was the inspiration to take the quiz along these lines. Long time back, I read Naushad calling this a GHazal. GHazal ? I wondered. Is this really a GHazal or is Naushad wrong ? I started thinking. I won't tell you my conclusion till the results, so you can also give this a good thought. But, after my thinking, I started examining structure of every film song I heard. And the result is in front of you :-)

10.
    suni meri beena, sangeet bina
    sapanoN ki maalaa, murajhaaye
A HINDI GHazal ! This is a difficult clue. So let me add some info about this Lata song. It's from a great Hrishikesh Mukherjee film and music is by a great master of Hindustani Classical music - Pt. RaviShankar. The movie *ed Balraj Sahni and Leela Naidu (?). So find out the movie and listen to the song. "What a song !", you will exclaim, but would you have thought this to be GHazal ? Isn't the word-play on "beena" nice in this sher ? Note : no Radeef.

11.
    ye bijalee raakh kar jaayegi, tere pyaar ki duniyaa
    na phir tu, jee sakega aur, na tujh_ko maut aayegi
What a curse ! And you thought GHazals are LOVE songs ?! Do you remember the promised "Myth Explosion Agenda" ? :-) If your views on GHazal are changing, then Mubaarak ho. Ask the writer of the ATMJH series about the name of the MD. :-)

12.
    muhabbat ka sabak sikho, ye jaakar jalanewaaloN se
    ke dil ki baat bhi lab tak, kabhi laayaa nahiN karate
A duet GHazal by Kidar Sharma ! MD Roshan and singers Mukesh, GeetaDutt.  This tune, as discussed in a thread long long long time back, is quite a cousin of CR's "muhabbat aisi dhadkan hai". The Roshan tune is also sweet. I would rate Roshan as high as MM and Khayyam for GHazals. Also, his tunes are more like "geet", if you still haven't changed your opinion about the tunes for GHazals :-) :-)
Technical Diversion.
This song really deserves a diversion. I got the lyrics of this song on RMIM long time back. I don't know, if they are complete, but they are really interesting. You see, in a GHazal, the Matla (first sher) has to have the Radeef in both the lines. The other shers too, CAN have the Radeef in both the lines ! This is very much allowed. When it happens, the other shers also become candidates for being Matla. _Usually_ such shers are grouped together in the begining of the GHazals.  Coming back to this song, out of the 4 shers I have, 3 are Matlas !!  The only one, which is not, is given as a clue :-) :-) Now give this a
thought. Can the Matlas be swapped ?!?

13.
    o neel gagan ke deewaane, tu pyaar na mera pehchaane,
    maiN tab tak saath rahuN tere, jab tak na kahe tu maiN haara
The only GHazal composed by Mozart ... er ... Salil Chaudhary :-) ?  Another tandem song as a GHazal. You didn't expect this, right ? Even I didn't :-) Really. Till a few days back. So in spite of repitition, I decided to include this, as this has a high 'surprise value'.
Technical Diversion.
Won't say much here. Except this - This is an answer to another question asked somewhere else :-) :-) :-) I hope I am not overdoing this "quiz within a quiz" thing.

14.
    jo mujh_se nazare chura rahe ho, to meri itni arj bhi sun lo
    tumhare charanoN me aa gayi huN, yahiN jeeungi, yahiN maruNgi
This is tuned by Hemantda ! Lyrics by Shakeel. Picturised on MeenaK and Rehman. No Radeef. Enough ! But is this a GHazal ? Good question :-)

15.
    sharm roke hai idhar, shouq udhar kheeNche hai
    kya khabar thi, kabhi is dil ki ye haalat hogi
GHazal as sawaa-jawaab ! Amazing Sahir. This is the 2nd time, I myslef, am including this song in a quiz !! I really love this Roshan tune. A duet by Rafi and Lata.

16.
    tumhari zulphoN se khushaboo ki bheekh lene ko
    jhuki jhuki si ghataaeN, bula rahi haiN tumhe
I have a high opinion for Ravi's GHazals. His tunes for GHazals have a lot of variety, and suit the lyrics. This is a gem by Rafi. The words are by Sahir, naturally :-) Picturised on Sunil Dutt and Nanda. But you should be able to take the help of your friend Radeef here !!! Also, by now, you must agree that a "dardbhari aawaaz" is not enough for GHazal.  GHazal too, needs a versatile singer. Myth Explosion !

17.
    tum to raho salaamat, sehara tumhe mubarak
    mera har ek aaNsu, dene lagaa duaayeN
There are 2 Title Song GHazals in the quiz, this OTOH is a "title sher"!  MD is Ramlal and a great rendition by Rafi. No Radeef. The intruments used (Shehnai, chaughada?) and their usage here are absolutely "non-traditional". Do I need to remind you of "Myth Explosion Agenda" :-)
Diversion.
BTW, have you found the 2 title song GHazals ? I have directly mentioned
only one ! Other is half-title song :-) as the movie had 2 titles.

18.
    apane gajare ke har ik phool ke taarif suni,
    zakhm-e-dil hamne dikhaaya, to buraa maan gaye
The GHazal "chalke teri aaNkhoNse" is quite infamous on RMIM. This one, again by SJ is a stiff competition to it. The lyrics here, are not bad.  In fact I included this, as GHazal is being used for "chhedchhad".  That's the novelty. Otherwise, it's a not a good tune. Rafi singing for RajendraK who is teasing a young Saira Banu. And don't forget your best friends, Radeef and Qaafiya ! There are here to help you !! In all their glory. Pay attention to this advise. Otherwise I will have to say
that the participants "buraa maan gaye". :-)
Diversion : SJ were not THAT bad with GHazals. Can you remember some better GHazals by them ?

19.
    ye bhog bhi ek tapasya hai, tum tyaag ke maare kya jaano
    apamaan racheta ka hoga, rachana ko agar THukaraaoge
Iti Sahir uvaach ! The reason why I am trying to use Sanskrit is, this is Sahir's 'bhaashya' on Hindu Philosophy. This is prob the only filmi ghazal directly talking about Hindu philosophy. Now, this contains pure Hindi and is about topics, you never thought would come in GHazals. Am I right ? That's why I included this Roshan tune sung by Lata. No Radeef.  This is the 'atom-bomb' for my "Myth Explosion Agenda" ;-)

20.
    shaam tanhaai ki hai, aayegi manzil kaise
    jo mujhe raah dikhaaye, wo sitaaraa na rahaa
I can hear the entire KKKlan saying a relieved, "hushshsh" :-) OK, OK, I wouldn't have completed this quiz without including KK's best attempt at GHazals :-) This is the 2nd of the 2 GHazals by KK here. The MD (!) too, adds to whatever little variety this quiz has.

21.
    na jaane kaun_sa pal, maut ki amaanat ho,
    har ek pal ki KHushi ko gale lagaate jeeo
Thanks to B.R.Chopra, we have many Ravi-Sahir-SunilD-MahedraK combos :-) This is a fine shouting effort by MKaps. Don't complain about so many Ravi songs here. He is not MM-Khayyam-Roshan when it comes to GHazals, but his contribution to GHazals is quite substantial and good too. This tune is also non-traditional. But the best thing is Sahir's lyrics !  Doesn't this sher fit the scene ? It's sung for soldiers ! Superb.
Diversion :
I have always claimed that Sahir's Nazms are better than his GHazals.  That's also the general opinion. But I was delighted to find so many Sahir songs to include in this quiz on non-traditional GHazals. It was a pleasent surprise. Maybe, we can say that, Sahir has done maximum experiments with GHazal ! A truely great poet.

22.
    barbaad wafa ka afsaanaa, hum kis_se kahe aur kaise kahe
    khaamosh hai lab, aur duniya ko, ashqoN ki zubaaN maloom nahiN
We have noticed that, Roshan has some sweet GHazals to his cerdit. This one has been included as a "ruined GHazal". The lyrics by Sahir are really nice and fit the situation. (No need to say this :-)). But the tune doesn't fit the lyrics at all. It's bad, frankly. Still, let's not rush and put Roshan in the league of SJ for GHazals. Here, I think the culprit is the director. He prob wanted to have a Mujra by Helen and so ordered for such a tune. This MeenaK-PradeepK-AshokK movie otherwise, has some of the best and most famous Roshan-Sahir combos.

23.
    palat ke su-e-chaman, dekhane se kya hoga
    wo shaakh hi na rahi, jo thi aashiyaaN ke liye
        ( su-e-chaman = chaman ki taraf, shaakh = branch)
GHazal as a title song ! A great one by Sahir and tuned by LP !! I like the tune. A nice experiment. Nontraditional tune for traditional poetry.  Rafi's singing for DilipK has always been great. I am not going to tell you anything about the "story" of this movie. No. Nothing. :-)

24.
    ek muddat se, tamanna thi tumhe chhoone ki,
    aaj bas me nahiN jazbaat, qarib aa jaao
GHazal as a rain-song !! Trust Sahir to do these tricks ! The sher is not at all subtle/indirect, OTOH it's direct in an unabashed way. Didn't I tell you, GHazal in films has all the variety you need ? This is a Ravi song, sung superbly by Rafi. This too, is a repitition :-) But how about "myth explosion" :-) :-)

25.
    uTHaaye phirate the, ehsaan dil ka seene par
    le aaj tere kadamoN me, ye karz bhi utaar chale
The famous combination of Madanmohan and Lata ! At last. But the main reason for including this song is someone else. He is the poet who is often criticized on RMIM as a non-traditional poet (to put it mildly).  Here, the notorious Gulzar is seen writting a very very traditional GHazal. A form which has strong syntax ! This is a sign of a great poet.  He can write GHazals and muktachanda with equal ease. And what a sher !
Technical Diversion.
The rules don't say anything about - whether the shers of the GHazal should be on different topics or on the same topics. In fact both the types are valid. The one, in which all the shers are on the same topic is called "GHazal musalsil". The other, where the shers are on different topics is called "GHazal GHair_musalsil". This second type, is much more common. This is the type which we often hear in non-filmi GHazals. But, you see, the first one is better for films, as all the shers could be related to the situation ! So naturally, the filmi ghazals have more from the 'musalsil' type. Is it why we don't consider them as GHazals ?  Is this the only "GHazal GHair_musalsil" in this quiz ?

26.
   din raat ke dono paiyye bhi, kuchh dhul uda kar beet gaye,
   maiN man_aangan me baiTHee rahi, chaukhat se koi guzaraa nahiN
By now a Hindi GHazal or a GHazal by Gulzar is no surprise at all :-).  __BUT__ this is a ghost song ! And still a GHazal !! It also has some typical Gulzarish phrases :-) MD is Hridaynath.

27.
    parastish kee yaaN tak, ki ai buut tujhe
    nazar mein sabhoN_ki, KHuda kar chale
    (parastish = pooja, yaaN tak = is had tak, buut = beloved/statue)
The quiz started with a great shayar and ends with another one. This is the only GHazal by Mir taken in movies, AFAIK. Tell me frankly, don't these two shers stand out ? It also allows me to end it with my King of Filmi GHazals - Khayyam !! This one is from one of his last movies, and the songs were popular too. The movie *ed Smita Patil.
The last diversion.
The word "buut" has two different meanings. Which one in your opnion suits here most ? Can there be two different meanings ? Let me give you a hint. In Islam, it's forbidden to worship a statue.

Your Move Now :
================
So the surprises are over ! Make your move and send in the answers.  If possible, give a thought to the diversions. Here is a last surprise.  An anti-climax ! A couple of songs here CANNOT be called GHazals !!!!!!  Their selection is highly objectionable to say the least. Can you guess which are these ? And why ?? :-) :-) :-) This is a real twist !! I have done this, not to torture you, but to measure the impact of this quiz.  Your answers will tell me a lot about my efforts.

The Endgame :
==============
Even with just 27 songs, it has been a long quiz, I admit. More, who likes endgames ? :-) So let's just wrap it up quickly. IMO, 25 is THE right number of clues in a quiz. Here it's 27 for 2 reasons. As said in the previous section 2 are NOT GHazals. Secondly, 2 of the shers are by GHalib and Mir, so we have 25 shers here by our lyricits. :-) :-) If you think this is a weird justification, then, ... you are quite right !  So forget this and send in you comments/answers to me well before (!!!)
the deadline :-)

And remember the GOLDEN RULE of all the RMIM quizzes ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE DON'T POST YOUR ANSWERS ON THE NET.
        Mail them to    ava...@....
        On or before    10th January 1997
------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a long long quiz, but I hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks !
Answers will be posted next year :-) Till then ....

- Abhay.



-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                        RMIM-Jhim GeetoN Ki
                      GHazals in Hindi Movies
                              RJGK - 36

                     Solutions, Comments and Results

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Namashkaar RMIM !

I am extremely sorry for this delay in posting the results, solutions etc of the RJGK-36. As is the case with such delays, I will blame it on the evil work pressure. :-) Now let's get to the point.

I tried to come up with ways to break up this post, which has become very very very loooong. I couldn't. The original clues, the solutions, comments by participants and the talk about ghazals is so interlinked with each other, that it was impossible to logically seperate these and avoid duplicacy or imcopmleteness. In short there was no way I could "normalize" the entire post. So here it is. A monolithic post. I hope it's as interesting and enjoyable as the quiz.

Participation :
================
Compiling quiz and esp. the results is quite time consuming. It is the participants which boost the morale of the quiz-master and without their encouragement the whole thing is not worth the effort. Let me express my sincere thanks to all the participants. Big thank you !! 
Here is the list of the participants. I hope I haven't missed anyone.
There were in all 44 entries and 60 participants.

Preeti Ranjan Panda
Satish Subramanian
Ashok Dhareshwar
Ambrish Sundaram
Punit Oza
Snehal B. Oza
Harmesh Kaur and Dr. Surjit Singh
Surajit A. Bose
UVRavindra and Pavan Kumar Desikan
Vaishali
MOHAMMED, S  SAMIUDDIN
Hema Khemani
Vedashree
Pradeep Dubey
Prashant Patel
Manjeet Rekhi
Rajashree Kantha
Syeda Fatima and Sangeeta Thakur
Suvarna+Bhat-Hirve
K.K.Ramakrishnan
Ajay Divekar
Ikram Ahmed Khan and Kalyan Kolachala
Mayur Misra and Ravikrishna Raghunathan
Sunil Kosalge and Harish Suvarna
Amrita Joshi
Guri
Nishi Bhatnagar
Arish, Chiru and Anupam
Pintu and Shalini
Sridhar, Manisha & Shalili
David Windsor
Sridhar Ramesh
Veena Nayak & Ajay Nerurkar
Anup Pandey
Madhu Sudan and Anirudha
Ketan Dholkia
Vandana Venkatesan & Buvna Ayyagari
Swatee Naik
Preetham Gopalaswamy
Balaji and Malini
Vinayak Deshpande
Neeraj and Prince
Sonu Agarwal
Archana Kapur

A big big "thank you" again to all of you.  I must thank the beta-testers too. If you find the quiz interesting then the credit goes to them also for providing me helpful hints.

General Comments :
==================
I have enclosed my comments in [] ONLY where it was necessary.

The quiz was intersting to most. The "Myth Explosion Agenda" was quite successful. That makes me happy. It was also an easy quiz. That makes me very happy. :-) The quiz was 'thought provoking' to most. That makes me extremely happy. :-) :-) :-) Ok, ok, ok. Before indulging into this customary self-praise, first some criticism.

Snehal > My complain is about not icnluding some great Ghazals of films.  This, not necessarily be a pointer, only to some particular MDs, is missed the most. Didn't you think to have two seections carrying 20+25 or 20+10 or whatever combination that suits you, and have dedicated one section for those Ghazals ?

That could have been done. It's a nice idea. But I wanted to bring out all the facets of GHazals in films. I wanted to attack some of the most common misconceptions about GHazal. That's what I tried.

Surjit > The "myth destruction agenda" was interesting, as it led to quite a variety of songs being included. The question that arises then, is that if all these songs can be called ghazals by virtue of their rhyme-scheme alone, what's gained by that identification? I mean, OK, so "tadbeer se bigdi hui" is a ghazal. So what? How does it help my appreciation of the song? Or enhance my understanding of the genre? I wasn't always sure.

Valid questions. "What's gained by the identification" is preciseely the "Myth Explosion" ! Allow me to flatter myself. After this quiz I am sure people will not think GHazal as some kind of typical song, but as a form of complete and mature poetry.

Surjit > Jaidev is definitely underrepresented in your quiz.

True. There were a couple of his songs in the first draft. I really cannot explain why I removed certain songs, except to make it a short quiz. There are __so many__ other songs which also have a surprise value ! I have some plans for the future. Let's see.

Hema > There is a genuine complaint though.  There are so many other beautiful ghazals.  Why did you not include them instead of repeating the same songs that have featured n times in the RJGKs and Chitrahaars?

I have the same answer. My primary motive was to attack misconceptions.

Vandana and Bhuvna > You were right in observing that one wouldn't have recognized quite a few of these songs as ghazals. We do have one complaint, though, about the dearth of Mukesh solos & Asha solos in your quiz on ghazals, especially at the expense of too many (unimpressive, one might add) Rafi solos.

This is answered by the following ... :-)

Kalyan+Ikram > Well framed clues and good balance of MD's. Probably too many Sahir songs (7) and Rafi songs (6) but that is to be expected from the host :)

All the criticism is valid. But I honestly did not make any attempt to favour any artiste. Or to ignore anyone specifically. Except MM and Khayyam. But let me stress my motive once again. I wanted to add to your knowledge. Something new. THAT was the prime motive. Everything else is/was secondary.

Ashok > A cracklingly good rightup.  I worked on it over some beer last night and spicy writing made up for the missing chivDaa!  You seem to be inviting disagrements, arguments, and countermoves galore. You won't be disappointed!

Guri > Perfectly enjoyable quiz. probably the best in the series so far!

BalajiMalini > I think Sami deserves all kudos for starting the quiz, as do you for giving it a direction. Of course, the early RMIMers should be congratulated for nurturing it and bringing it to its current shape. Above sentiments hold true for the Chitrahaar series too.

Anand > People may differ on the opinion of which was the best RJGK ever, but for me your RJGK is the clear winner hands down. Perhaps a few RMIMers should learn how to write RJGK after reading your effort.

Ambrish > Congratulations on a very well compiled quiz. If I may say so, I think that this quiz completely meets the guidelines for conducting quizzes on RMIM (Congratulations again for "postulating" these guidelines). Excellent selection of songs.

Snehal > Efforts both in terms of thinking behind the quiz, selection of songs and related research carried out is truly a job showing high class work and is highly noticeable here. I can't resist giving you a Big Congrats on this! This effort of your will go a long way in bringing a considerable degree of awareness and openness towards Ghazals and it's format, if not universally, at least to RMIM community, which itself is no less an achievement. Once something good starts rolling, it will pick up momentum own it's own and will spread all over. Not to forget, the fact that this quiz can be a lighthouse, for Ghazal-bandish and related issues too.

Preeti >  All of us solve these quizzes for the sake of fun, but a quiz is especially interesting to me if it is an educative experience. Your quiz is outstanding from that respect, with all the diversions and intricacies that add to the thrill of solving (or not solving) a clue.

Vinayak > Thanx for your "Myth Explosion" agenda which helped clear quite a few illusions about Ghazals. We were forced to think "Is this a Ghazal?" for a number of songs.

Ketan > Man, that's a brilliant quiz.  Atleast looks easy and the songs ARE a definite suprise.  I would never have thought one of the 2 KK songs to be a Ghazal. Great job.

Ramkrishnan > Thanks for the quiz. I never thought I could get so many answers in a Ghazal RJGK :-) Radeef was the saviour in many cases.

Prince > Enjoyed it quite a bit, esp. the radeef and qaafiya parts.  Never thought I would actually be able to parse them :-)

Harish > The quiz has shattered lots of myths about ghazals. I wondered how in the hell can 'Haaye re o din kyona aaaye', Koi hum dum na rahaa (since it is by KK :-) ) are ghazals. By merely applying the syntax fundaas Ghazal is there in many languages perhaps.It is a great job By Abhay on making Ghazal a pretty earthly thing to many rmimers like me.

Satish >  [commenting on the many visual clues] Or how about announcing that the current RJGK is also a Chitrahaar! :)

  How about some English shers. All plagiarized from the RAFIans'
  punchline! :)

    Love for ghazals didn't make me try this quiz.
    I loved all the clues so I tried this quiz.

    I didn't try the quiz because I understood ghazals.
    I understand ghazals now because I tried this quiz.

    Where would you go without attempting this quiz, Satish?
    By making you a beta-tester He made sure you tried this quiz!


BTW guys, this is the FIRST English GHazal that I have come across.
Satish has made history, and I am happy to be a part of it :-) :-).

Solutions and comments :
=========================

01. -- 40/44 : I had high hopes about this being the a 100% solution.

    humko unse wafaa ki hai ummeed,
    jo nahiN jaanate wafaa kya hai

The lyricist (!) did not intend to write a duet, but that's what the MD Ghulam Mohammed has done by making both Talat and Suraiyaa sing. I like this tune, but IMO other tunes in this movie, hardly do any justice to the words of the poet, on whose life, the movie is loosely based. I know this is a give away, but then, any GHalib sher would have been so.
                              --------

I am sure there are no doubts about this being a GHazal :-).  Many objected to this being the only justice doing tune.

Surjit > Suraiya's voice has never sounded better than it does here; fresh, sweet, pure.
Puneet > The negative point was that Bharat Bhushan was playing the role of Ghalib. How he became such a hit beats me completely.
Anup > What a start and point to be noted that you started with two?  Ghazal kings :)

BalajiMalini > A rather obvious first choice. Indeed, it would have very surprising to see some other clue here. Expect to get 100% response for this clue :)

Song    : dil-e-naadaaN tujhe hua kya hai
          aakhir is dard ki dawaa kya hai
Singers : Talat, Suraiyya
Film    : Mirza Ghalib
*ring   : Bharat Bhushan, Suraiyya
Music   : Ghulam Mohammad
Lyrics  : Ghalib
------------------------------------------------------------------------

02. -- 39/44

    yahaaN aaNkhoN aaNkhoN me, baate huii hai,
    kisi_ne na dekha, kisi_ne na jaanaa

Probably the first surprise ! A happy song, still a GHazal. This is prob the most famous NoorjehaaN solo. MD Naushad. Note - no Radeef. From now, I will be asking a question quite often. Is this tune bad for a GHazal ?
                              --------

Some different opinions ...

Pradeep > I agree, it's 'not a bad tune', but quite an ordinary one, and not a 'great tune' by any means either :-)
Ashok > [about fame] Far from it. Even quality-wise, it's quite second rate. [about tune] The tune is mediocre for a SONG period.
Pavan > Why should it matter if it is a ghazal or a nazm? The question should be is this tune good? and my answer is yes it is.
Puneet > Well what can I say - Naushad and Noorjehan at their best !!!
Hema > I think this tune is not good for a ghazal.  But this is a nice song. Who wants to sacrifice the tune because of the fact that this is a ghazal?
Vinayak > Not a bad tune for the context of the song.

Song    : jawaaN hai muhabbat, hasiN haiN zamaana
          lutaayaa hai dil_ne khushi ka KHazaaana
Singers : Noor Jehan
Film    : Anmol GhaDi
*ring   : Surendra, Noor Jehan
Music   : Naushad
Lyrics  : Majrooh ?? or Madhok ??
------------------------------------------------------------------------

03. -- 40/44 : Is this stanza not there in all versions ? I doubt.

    tute hue patvaar haiN, kashti ke hum to kya ~~
    haari huii baahoN ki hi patvaar banaa le

If the previous one didn't surprise you, this will. Mastibhari GHazal !  By SDB-Sahir. Is this a bad tune for the scene and the words ? NO, IMO.  Anyway. There is one Dev and two Geeta's in this song :-)
                              --------

David Windsor wrote an interesting trivia about this in his post.  SDB was nervous about this western tune being accepted for a GHazal. As it turned out, the tune was very well received. This fact adds a lot of substance to my "Myth Explosion Agenda".

Balaji > You mean two Dev's :) and two Geeta's, right :)

Song    : taqdeer se bigdi hui tadbeer banaa le
          apane pe bharosa hai, to ik daaNv lagaa le
Singers : Geeta Dutt
Film    : Baazi
*ring   : Dev Anand, Geeta Bali
Music   : S. D. Burman
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

04. -- 43/44 : It _WAS_ easy.

    taaj ya, taKHt ya, daulat ho zamaane bhar ki
    kaun si cheez muhabbat se badi hoti hai

Is that the way to tune a GHazal ? How many GHazals have been sung by HemantK ? Is the tune by C.Ramchandra or HemantK ? I was quite relieved to see that this 'background song' did not feature in the last RJGK :-) What do you think about the "Myth Explosion Agenda" ? :-)
                              --------

Ashok > Harish Bhimani's book says that HK might have composed two songs for the film. He specifically mentions this song as a Hemant composition and doesn't mention any other as possible HK compositions.
Hema > I think some "stray capacitance" of Rabindra sangeet can always be seen in Hemant's songs. What do the fellow netters think?
Surjit > Can we declare a moratorium on this song's appearance in Chitrahaar or RJGK quizzes, please? It's pleasant, but not that great- -the sing-song melody sounds like a nursery rhyme and the lyrics are cliched.
BalajiMalini > How about a category, songs which fall into multiple categories :)

David > If we wanted to get technical, this could be said to not fully conform to the requirements of a ghazal, as the rhyming is unsuccesful
                 ...baRi hoti hai
                 ...baRi hoti hai
                 ...ghaRi hoti hai
  as repitition of a word doesn't count as rhyme


Song    : zindagi pyaar ki do chaar ghadi hoti hai
          chaahe thodi si ho ye, umr badi hoti hai
Singer  : Hemant Kumar
Film    : Anarkali
*ring   : Pradeep Kumar, Beena Rai
Music   : C. R. Ramachandra
Lyrics  : Rajendra Krishan
------------------------------------------------------------------------

05. -- 42/44

    ro ro ke inhi raahoN me, khona pada ik apane ko
    haNs haNs ke inhi raahoN me, apanaaya tha begaane ko

One of the "tandem song" GHazals in this quiz. This is a Sahir-SDB gem.  Has it been taken in Chitrahaar ? Actually both the versions make a good candidate for Chitrahaar. Devsaab and Nalini Jaywant going in a car in both versions ! This sad version is by Lata and the happy one is by KK.

Technical diversion : Is the KK version a GHazal ? The question itself is an answer to another question asked somewhere else :-) :-) Find :-)
                              --------

This is a GHazal. So is the KK version. The KK version is the answer to the question asked in the diversion in the 6th clue. This is a GHazal with very interesting intra-sher rhyming. Included indirectly here :-)

BalajiMalini > Was the choice of Lata version over KK's based on any hidden agenda :)

David > Is the KK version a ghazal? Well, if the Lata one is, then his is too. Though I had trouble with their metre ('=' represents a long syllable; '-' a short; '/' end of a foot; '//' a caesura):
    = = - = / = = = = // = = - = / = = = =
    = = - = / = = = = // = = - = / = = = =
  which, (if it is a correct scansion - I had to do some doubling of consonants to make it some feet fit) is not as far as I know an accepted Urdu metre. Counting by matras it would be 15 + 15. An Urdu rhyming pattern combined with a Hindi metre? Is it thus using the great example of such a cross-over, Mir's Hindi metre - if so, then we wouldn't have to worry so much about rhythmic regularity.  While both Lata's and KK's versions share the same metre, and both, as far as their rhyming goes, obey the rules of the ghazal, KK's version also has rhymes on the ends of the half-lines and the end of the first line (which to my mind, doesn't necessarily disqualify it as a ghazal - though I have no precedents to back up my prejudice).

Song    : jeevan ke safar me raahi milte haiN bichhad jaane ko
          aur de jaate haiN yaadeN, tanhaai me tadapaane ko
Singers : Lata Mangeshkar (and a KK version)
Film    : Munimji
*ring   : Dev Anand, Nalini Jaywant, Pran
Music   : S. D. Burman
Lyrics  : Sahir

------------------------------------------------------------------------

06. 30/44 : Why ? It's there in ISB !! You can search with Pstats !!!

    rangeen fizaaN chhaaye to zaraa, vaade pe koi aaye to zaraa
    ai josh-e-wafaa, dil cheez hai kya, hum jaan bhi de de nazaraanaa

Difficult clue. It's Talat singing a typical typical C.Ramchandra tune for the lyrics of Jaan Nissar Akhtar. This tune is way far away from the traditional tunes. Esp. as CR adds "haaye" before repeating the Qaafiya.  (Note - no radeef.) BUT, is there anything wrong ? NO, IMO. The movie name smells of a flower from which the Chinesse tea comes. :-)

Technical Diversion : Recently, on RMIM, the discussion about breaking a GHazal into another form took place. I mentioned "manzile apani jagah" and kept quiet about other such songs. But frankly, I was scared. As there are a few such songs in THIS quiz ! I was almost sure that one by one, all the songs would be mentioned. Thankfully, it did not happen :-) These songs, have an intra-sher rhyming, and can be broken to fit other forms. Can you find more such songs in this quiz ? If you can find the song which is indirectly included, then you are great ! But during your search beware a misleading clue given here ! :-) :-) :-)
                              --------

A GHazal with nice intra-sher rhyming.

Song    : bechain nazar, betaab jigar, dil hai ye kisika dewaanaa
          kab shaam ho aur vo shamma jale, kab udkar pahuNche parwaana
Singer  : Talat Mehmood
Film    : Yasmeen
*ring   : Vyjayantimala, Suresh
Music   : C. Ramachandra
Lyrics  : Jan Nissar Akhtar
------------------------------------------------------------------------

07. -- 33/44 : The subclues didn't help ??

    kahiN toot jaaye na, hasrat bhara dil
    na yuN teer pheNko, nishaanaa badal ke

One of the many many great songs by Naushad-Rafi-Shakeel-DilipK. Do you remember the picturisation of this ? Nimmi is really trying to shoot the arrow, in this sher ! Who said GHazal cannot be related to the scene ? Shakeel was indeed a great poet. BTW, there is no Madhubala or Nargis in this movie, but Nimmi still has a hard time keeping Dilip, the Pardesi, all to herself :-).
                              --------

Song    : muhabbat ki raahoN me chalna sambhal ke
          yahaaN jo bhi aayaa gayaa haath mal ke
Singer  : Mohammad Rafi
Film    : UDan KhaTola
*ring   : Dilip Kumar, Nimmi
Music   : Naushad
Lyrics  : Shakeel
------------------------------------------------------------------------

08. -- 43/44 : Why ? Who missed it ? :-)

    dard bhi hame qubool, chain bhi hame qubool,
    ham_ne har tarah ke phool, haar me piro liye

Is THAT a GHazal ? Oh yes. Aren't SDB's GHazals a perpendicular to the traditional tunes ? But, tell me frankly, are they bad ? GHazals don't mean tragedy king, they are for chocolate heroes too :-) And they're not always sung by GHazal Kings, sometimes they are sung even by Kishore :-)
                              --------

This particular sher has some intra-sher rhyming. But not all the shers of this GHazal. That's what I meant by "misleading clue" in 6th.

One team/participant actually missed it ! And he or she or they lost the Gold-Medal for it and had to settle down on Silver. Given answer was --
        yuun hasrato.n ke daag mohabbat mein dho liye
:-) :-) The qaafiyaa/radeef matches !! And I thought people may not use Radeef-Qaafiyaa at all ! :-) :-) :-) A "sleep" of keyboard, I am sure.  A very enjoyable mistake. No offense intended.

BalajiMalini > And this is for all those KKKlaners. Manna De would have been as good in this song, and remember this is not a classical song, so there.

Satish > This song one has one more sher sung by Kishore-Asha:
              jhelte dhoop chaawn ham, phirte gaawn gaawn ham
              sar pe rakke paawn ham, Nau Do Gyaarah ho gaye
        That is how Majrooh ends the movie!

Song    : hum haiN raahi pyaar ke, hum_se kuchh na boliye
Singer  : Kishore Kumar
Film    : Nau Do Gyaarah
*ring   : Dev Anand, Kalpana Kartik
Music   : S. D. Burman
Lyrics  : Majrooh
------------------------------------------------------------------------

09. 44/44 : Of course !

    chhup na sakega ishq hamaara, charoN taraf hai unka nazaara
    parda nahiN jab koi khuda_se, bandoN se parda karana kya

Lovely sher and lovely picturization. I mean the idea of showing the reflections through many mirrors. Suits the words perfectly ! Otherwise, neither Madhubala's dancing nor DilipK's stoneface (at least here) is watchable. The Naushad-Shakeel combo has always been awesome.

Diversion :
No other diversion is needed as much as this ! This song, I admit, was the inspiration to take the quiz along these lines. Long time back, I read Naushad calling this a GHazal. GHazal ? I wondered. Is this really a GHazal or is Naushad wrong ? I started thinking. I won't tell you my conclusion till the results, so you can also give this a good thought.  But, after my thinking, I started examining structure of every film song I heard. And the result is in front of you :-)
                              --------

This song starts with a sher "insaan kisi se ...". We are ignoring such prelude/opening lines in this quiz. This applies to many songs in this quiz. So that we are concerned about the main song only.

It was obvious to most that, the repetition of "pyaar kiya to darna kya" after the word "jab" is necessary to consider this as a GHazal. Very unique song. My position is also unique. No one else likes this "trick" by Shakeel. They feel that Shakeel couldn't think of any better way. But I still disagree. I contend that, here the repetition achieves emphasis.  Here are some opinions ...

Pradeep > I understand how technically it meets the ghazal requirements.  However, Mr Shakeel should have done better than repeating the phrase to lengthen the first line. The producer should have paid him the same rupee note twice in return :-)
Ashok > To make it a sher, you have to double the first line with "jab." Then you get a matlaa.  And you have a ghazal with first line of the shers having internal rhyme.  Okay, bats are also mammals.
Preeti >The repetition of the "pyaar kiya to darna kya" phrase in the first line of the song makes it an illegal (or weak) ghazal, I think.  Naushad may have amply demonstrated his usual overall cluelessness by calling it one :-)

Some different opinions ...

Ashok > [lovely sher]just about the only good thing in this hideous song
Pavan > Maybe the magic combination of Naushad's music and Lata's voice in this movie was too good to be captured by anyone on the screen.
David > Mughal-e-Azam (1960), sung of course by the immortal (and BTW making an appearance in Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses')

Song    : pyaar kiya to Darna kya, jab pyaar kiya to Darana kya
Singer  : Lata
Film    : Mughal-E-Aazam
*ring   : Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Prithviraj Kapoor, Durga KhoTe
Music   : Naushad
Lyrics  : Shakeel
------------------------------------------------------------------------

10. 27/44 : Second lowest.

    suni meri beena, sangeet bina
    sapanoN ki maalaa, murajhaaye

A HINDI GHazal ! This is a difficult clue. So let me add some info about this Lata song. It's from a great Hrishikesh Mukherjee film and music is by a great master of Hindustani Classical music - Pt. RaviShankar. The movie *ed Balraj Sahni and Leela Naidu (?). So find out the movie and listen to the song. "What a song !", you will exclaim, but would you have thought this to be GHazal ? Isn't the word-play on "beena" nice in this sher ? Note : no Radeef.
                              --------

Many could guess the movie name. But still the song eluded them.
Boy, we do need to make frequent trips to the wonderful world of RAM :-)

Ashok > No. I am not sure the first line of the mukhaDa and that of the antara have the same meter.  The song is in couplets and meets qafiya.  I don't know if that is enough.

I am not very strict about meter. So to me this is a GHazal.

Some interesting comments for this song !!

Surjit > Beautiful song in raag Kalavati; some (Balaji, for example) would say it's Jansammohini rather than Kalavati.
Balaji > Now(hopefully) to dispel a popular myth :). This song is not based on Kalavati, in a recent discussion with Surajit A. Bose(the Jaidev fanatic :)) this song has been conclusively(?) identified as a Janasammohini composition.

Following comments are to be read together ... :-) :-) :-)

Ashok > if you had read RJGK-28 beyond the first clue, say upto #31, you'd realize that you need not be defensive about this song. :))
Snehal >  You didn't end by just giving "Zilmil Wo Tare~~~" and aren't enjoying, people really staring at real stars and breaking their heads :-) Great song. I don't know how didn't I get that in RJGK #28 ?
Balaji > Guess after Ashok's 'jhil~mil~ wo taare' this is a piece of cake :)


Song    : haaye re woh din kyooN na aaye
          ja ja ke ritu laut aaye
Singer  : Lata
Film    : Anuradha
*ring   : Balraj Sahni, Leela Naidu, Abhi Bhattacharya
Music   : Pandit Ravi Shankar
Lyrics  : Shailendra
------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. 41/44 : As expected.

    ye bijalee raakh kar jaayegi, tere pyaar ki duniyaa
    na phir tu, jee sakega aur, na tujh_ko maut aayegi

What a curse ! And you thought GHazals are LOVE songs ?! Do you remember the promised "Myth Explosion Agenda" ? :-) If your views on GHazal are changing, then Mubaarak ho. Ask the writer of the ATMJH series about the name of the MD. :-)
                              --------
Ashok > I have doubts about calling this a ghazal.  "aayegi" "jaayegi" as qafiya and no radeef?

That's a valid Qaafiya. And Radeef may be omitted.

Surjit > The bitterness of these lyrics capture perfectly the spirit of this gloomy and twisted movie. I remember the picturization of this song. An impossibly young-looking Pratap Sharma sits on a river bank, gazing away, while Tanuja's outsize, disembodied head floats above, occupying the top one-third of the frame as she mouths these words.  Quite surreal, really.

Song    : kabhi tanhaaiyoN me yooN hamaari yaad aayegi
          andhere chaa rahe honge, ke bijalee chaundh jaayegi
Singer  : Mubaarak Begum
Film    : Hamaari Yaad Aayegi
*ring   : Ashok Sharma, Tanuja
Music   : Snehal Bhatkar
Lyrics  : Kidar Sharma
------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. 43/44 : Good !

    muhabbat ka sabak sikho, ye jaakar jalanewaaloN se
    ke dil ki baat bhi lab tak, kabhi laayaa nahiN karate

A duet GHazal by Kidar Sharma ! MD Roshan and singers Mukesh, GeetaDutt.  This tune, as discussed in a thread long long long time back, is quite a cousin of CR's "muhabbat aisi dhadkan hai". The Roshan tune is also sweet. I would rate Roshan as high as MM and Khayyam for GHazals. Also, his tunes are more like "geet", if you still haven't changed your opinion about the tunes for GHazals :-) :-)

Technical Diversion.
This song really deserves a diversion. I got the lyrics of this song on RMIM long time back. I don't know, if they are complete, but they are really interesting. You see, in a GHazal, the Matla (first sher) has to have the Radeef in both the lines. The other shers too, CAN have the Radeef in both the lines ! This is very much allowed. When it happens, the other shers also become candidates for being Matla. _Usually_ such shers are grouped together in the begining of the GHazals.  Coming back to this song, out of the 4 shers I have, 3 are Matlas !!  The only one, which is not, is given as a clue :-) :-) Now give this a thought. Can the Matlas be swapped ?!?
                              --------

Well, as many pointed out, there is one more stanza and it is not a matla. It starts ... haNsee phooloN ki ...
As far as Matlas being swapped, yes it can be done. One of the offshoot of the definition of the GHazal is - the order of the shers is of no significance. As long as (a) Matla comes first and Maqta (if any) last.

Surjit > Sweet song. I can't remember on whom it was picturized. I mean, Raj Kapoor, yes; but the chick who's trying to win his love isn't Geeta Bali here, right?

Song    : KHayaaloN me kisi ke is tarah aaya nahiN karte
          kisi ko bewafaa aa aa ke tadapaayaa nahiN karate
Singers : Mukesh, Geeta Roy
Film    : Baawre Nain
*ring   : Raj Kapoor, Geeta Bali
Music   : Roshan
Lyrics  : Kidar Sharma
------------------------------------------------------------------------

13. 42/44 : Why -2 ? It was there in the previous quiz !

    o neel gagan ke deewaane, tu pyaar na mera pehchaane,
    maiN tab tak saath rahuN tere, jab tak na kahe tu maiN haara

The only GHazal composed by Mozart ... er ... Salil Chaudhary :-) ?  Another tandem song as a GHazal. You didn't expect this, right ? Even I didn't :-) Really. Till a few days back. So in spite of repetition, I decided to include this, as this has a high 'surprise value'.

Technical Diversion.
Won't say much here. Except this - This is an answer to another question asked somewhere else :-) :-) :-) I hope I am not overdoing this "quiz within a quiz" thing.
                              --------

I probably overdid this quiz within quiz thing. It could have been confusing to some. I don't think this song qualifies for a GHazal. So this is the answer of the last question of the quiz. It's not breaking any syntax rules. It doesn't satisfy the first criterion given in the definition found in FAQ. In a GHazal each sher/stanza has to be a complete semantic unit. It has an existance of it's own. It's meaning understandable just by itself. Without help from other stanzas. This is a very crucial point, missed in many GHazal related discussion. This is a topic by itself. Now that the quiz is over, I will start discussing these things one by one and in more detail in coming days.

Hema > I am  getting sick of these repetitions.  Aane wali Quizzes ki pidhiyon, PLEASE do not repeat these songs.

Pradeep > Actually, there are at least two ghazals in Salil's Prem Patra . ye mere andhere, ujaale na hote (long behar one) . khush ho rahe the hum to

BalajiMalini > The word is 'chaluu.n' here. 'rahuu.n' changes the meaning of the song quite drastically.

Song    : itna na mujh_se tu pyaar badhaa, ke maiN ik baadal aawaaraa
          kaise kisi ka sahaaraa banu, ke maiN khud beghar bechaara
Singers : Lata, Talat
Film    : Chhaaya
*ring   : Sunil Dutt, Asha Parekh
Music   : Salil Chowdhary
Lyrics  : Rajinder Krishna
------------------------------------------------------------------------

14. 43/44 : Simple.

    jo mujh_se nazare chura rahe ho, to meri itni arj bhi sun lo
    tumhare charanoN me aa gayi huN, yahiN jeeungi, yahiN maruNgi

This is tuned by Hemantda ! Lyrics by Shakeel. Picturised on MeenaK and Rehman. No Radeef. Enough ! But is this a GHazal ? Good question :-)
                              --------

This is the second song which I don't think is a GHazal. The rhyming is not perfect. The semantic unit is also not so obvious. See prev sog.

Ashok > Don't know; how strict should one be about kafiya?  "marungi" "paDungi", etc.?  (Weaker kafiya than, say, "karoongi", "Daroongi"
Hema > Alright Abhay, this is not a ghazal and its inclusion is objectionable.

Surjit > BTW, that should be "jo mujh_se a.nKiyaa.n chura rahe ho.

Song    : na jaao saiNya chuDaake baiNya, qasam tumhari maiN ro padungi
Singer  : Geeta Dutt
Film    : Saahib Biwi Aur Ghulam
*ring   : Rehman, Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman
Music   : Hemant Kumar
Lyrics  : Shakeel
------------------------------------------------------------------------

15. 42/44 : Why -2 ?

    sharm roke hai idhar, shouq udhar kheeNche hai
    kya khabar thi, kabhi is dil ki ye haalat hogi

GHazal as sawaa-jawaab ! Amazing Sahir. This is the 2nd time, I myslef, am including this song in a quiz !! I really love this Roshan tune. A duet by Rafi and Lata.
                              --------

Hema > Really a very nice tune by Roshan, who I think is better than MM for composing ghazals. But again, you could have included "Jurm-E- ulfat pe hamen log sazaa" from the same movie instead of repetition.  Lata sounds great in this song. Also I think "Jurm-E-Ulfat Pe" kind of tunes are nice for filmi ghazals.  Note how the mukhda is not repeated after every stanza, instead the stanzas just follow in continuation without much delay and fancy music in between.

Song    : paaoN chhoo lene do phooloN ko inaayat hogi
          warna humko nahiN, inko bhi shikaayat hogi
Singer  : Lata, Rafi
Film    : Taj Mahal
*ring   : Pradeep Kumar, Beena Rai
Music   : Roshan
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

16. 42/44 : A long Radeef may have helped here a lot.

    tumhari zulphoN se khushaboo ki bheekh lene ko
    jhuki jhuki si ghataaeN, bula rahi haiN tumhe

I have a high opinion for Ravi's GHazals. His tunes for GHazals have a lot of variety, and suit the lyrics. This is a gem by Rafi. The words are by Sahir, naturally :-) Picturised on Sunil Dutt and Nanda. But you should be able to take the help of your friend Radeef here !!! Also, by now, you must agree that a "dardbhari aawaaz" is not enough for GHazal.  GHazal too, needs a versatile singer. Myth Explosion !
                              --------

Ashok > But Rafi is "painful" here! :)
Pradeep > Ravi must have been out of his mind to choose Rafi and not MK for this gem. ho sakata hai hai MK se un dinon Ravisaab ka koi jhagada-vagada chal raha ho :-)
Anup > In this song Rafi sounds like/copying Mahendra Kapoor. :)

Iska badlaa liya jaaega. Zaruur liyaa jaaega. :-)

Song    : ye vaadiyaN ye fizaayeN, bula rahi haiN tumhe
          khamoshiyoN ki sadaaeN, bula rahi haiN tumhe
Singer  : Rafi
Film    : Aaj Aur Kal
*ring   : Ashok Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Nanda, Tanuja
Music   : Ravi
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

17. 34/44 : Turned out to be difficult. The movie name is right there !

    tum to raho salaamat, sehara tumhe mubarak
    mera har ek aaNsu, dene lagaa duaayeN

There are 2 Title Song GHazals in the quiz, this OTOH is a "title sher"!  MD is Ramlal and a great rendition by Rafi. No Radeef. The intruments used (Shehnai, chaughada?) and their usage here are absolutely "non-traditional". Do I need to remind you of "Myth Explosion Agenda" :-)

Diversion.
BTW, have you found the 2 title song GHazals ? I have directly mentioned only one ! Other is half-title song :-) as the movie had 2 titles.
                              --------

The 2 title song GHazals are 11th and 23rd.

Song    : taqdeer ka fasaana jaakar kise sunaaeN
          is dil me jal rahi haiN, armaan ki chitaaeN
Singer  : Rafi
Film    : Sehra
*ring   : Sandhya, Prashant
Music   : Raamlal
Lyrics  : Hasrat
------------------------------------------------------------------------

18. 35/44 : In spite of giving too many hints !

    apane gajare ke har ik phool ke taarif suni,
    zakhm-e-dil hamne dikhaaya, to buraa maan gaye

The GHazal "chalke teri aaNkhoNse" is quite infamous on RMIM. This one, again by SJ is a stiff competition to it. The lyrics here, are not bad.  In fact I included this, as GHazal is being used for "chhedchhad".  That's the novelty. Otherwise, it's a not a good tune. Rafi singing for RajendraK who is teasing a young Saira Banu. And don't forget your best friends, Radeef and Qaafiya ! There are here to help you !! In all their glory. Pay attention to this advise. Otherwise I will have to say that the participants "buraa maan gaye". :-)

Diversion : SJ were not THAT bad with GHazals. Can you remember some better GHazals by them ?
                              --------

Looks like not everybody paid attention to the subclues ! I had almost given the answer. It's right there. I even gave a full point to those who just mentioned "buraa maan gaye" ! The song is not so obscure. In fact the sher I have included is quite good. Anyway.

About SJ's better GHazals

Ashok > 1. mere bhaiNs do DaNDa kyu.n maara
       2. ham kaale hai to kya hua dilwaale hai.n
Snehal > No one asked that ?! :) Following is all IMHO,
        1. Aye Bahar Ban Kar - Raj Hath
        2. Hum Tum Se Mohbat Kar Ke Sanam - Awara
        3. Hum Dard Ke Maron Ka - Daag
        4. Koi Nahi Mera Is Duniya Me - Daag
        5. Hum Unke Paas Aate Haim - Naya Ghar
        6. Unhe Tu Bhul Ja Ai Dil - Naya Ghar
        7. Tufan Me Giri Hai Meri - Shikast
        8. Unke Khayal Aye To Ate Chale Gaye - Lal Pathar ? (Don't know
                                if this will qualify ?)
        9. What @ 'Nain Mile Chain Kahan' Manna-Lata ?
        10. Is 'Hame Bhi Dedo Sahara' a candidate ?

I don't know the complete lyrics of any song right now. So cannot be sure. But only 1 and 8 seem to be GHazals.

Hema > How about " Is rang badalti duniya mein insaan ki neeyat" from Raajkumar?  I think it's much better.

WOW ! Is that a GHazal ? :-) :-) Seriously, it may be. I will have to listen to the song again. I don't rem the full lyrics.

Song    : pyaar aaNkho se jataaya, to bura maan gaye
Singer  : Rafi
Film    : Aayi Milan Ki Bela
*ring   : Rajendra Kumar, Saira Banu
Music   : Shankar - Jaikishen
Lyrics  : Hasrat
------------------------------------------------------------------------

19. 38/44 : Should have been 40+.

    ye bhog bhi ek tapasya hai, tum tyaag ke maare kya jaano
    apamaan racheta ka hoga, rachana ko agar THukaraaoge

Iti Sahir uvaach ! The reason why I am trying to use Sanskrit is, this is Sahir's 'bhaashya' on Hindu Philosophy. This is prob the only filmi ghazal directly talking about Hindu philosophy. Now, this contains pure Hindi and is about topics, you never thought would come in GHazals. Am I right ? That's why I included this Roshan tune sung by Lata. No Radeef.  This is the 'atom-bomb' for my "Myth Explosion Agenda" ;-)
                              --------

This sure was the atom-bomb ! Makes me happy !!

Hema > This is the biggest surprise in this quiz.  Hindu philosophy as Ghazal!!!  BTW, dil nahin mantaa ki this is a ghazal.
Vinayak > Is this a bhajan, dohaa or a ghazal!!! Wow!

Ashok > What is all this about Hindu philosophy here?  Indulging senses is like doing tapasya?  That is hedonism. Kumaragiri's philosophy (Ashok Kumar in the film) is not Hindu, because he objects to the above?

What I meant was, it was Sahir's comment on Hindu Philosophy. He is in a way opposing a main thought in _this_ poem. (I agree with Sahir here).

Surjit > I've always thought this was a really profound sher. In fact, Sahir's lyrics here are first-rate. I can't remember offhand who wrote the lyrics for Amrapali but there's an equally profound verse in that movie
          gyaan ki kaisi siimaa gyaani
          gaagar me.n saagar ka paani (jaao re jogii tum jaao re)
  which says the same thing as the one you've quoted, though in a less
  "theological" and more epistemological way.

Song    : sansaar se bhaage phirte ho, bhagwaan ko kya tum paaoge
          is log ko bhi apna na sake, us log me bhi pachhtaaoge
Singer  : Lata
Film    : Chitralekha
*ring   : Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari
Music   : Roshan
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

20. 44/44 : As expected.

    shaam tanhaai ki hai, aayegi manzil kaise
    jo mujhe raah dikhaaye, wo sitaaraa na rahaa

I can hear the entire KKKlan saying a relieved, "hushshsh" :-) OK, OK, I wouldn't have completed this quiz without including KK's best attempt at GHazals :-) This is the 2nd of the 2 GHazals by KK here. The MD (!) too, adds to whatever little variety this quiz has.
                              --------

Hema > Well, I'm glad you realize that this quiz has very little variety, but do you realize it has very little freshness too? :)

Here I am, thinking that my whole approach is very fresh and novel :-)

Ashok > Why the '!'?  It is a better ghazal composition than any by S-J!
Surjit > Is it "voh sitaaraa" or "vohi taaraa"? And is there any truth to the story that this song is KK's personal tribute to S.D. Burman?
BalajiMalini > Why MD(!)? Kishore did have several good compositions to his credit.

Pradeep > ye to kamaal ho gaya ... KK who was long accused on RMIM on the 'never sang ghazal charge', not only sang, but composed too!

David > Jhumroo (1961), geet Majrooh; md - well, you do like waving the red rag to the bulls (or, given the topic of this RJGK, is it more like playing the flute in front of the oxen :-)

Song    : koi hamdam na raha, koi sahaara na raha
          hum kisike na rahe, koi hamaara na raha
Singer  : Kishore
Film    : Door Gagan Ki ChhaoN Me
*ring   : Kishore Kumar, Supriya Chowdhury, Amit Kumar
Music   : Kishore Kumar
Lyrics  : Majrooh
------------------------------------------------------------------------

21. 44/44 : Again as expected.

    na jaane kaun_sa pal, maut ki amaanat ho,
    har ek pal ki KHushi ko gale lagaate jeeo

Thanks to B.R.Chopra, we have many Ravi-Sahir-SunilD-MahedraK combos :-) This is a fine shouting effort by MKaps. Don't complain about so many Ravi songs here. He is not MM-Khayyam-Roshan when it comes to GHazals, but his contribution to GHazals is quite substantial and good too. This tune is also non-traditional. But the best thing is Sahir's lyrics !  Doesn't this sher fit the scene ? It's sung for soldiers ! Superb.

Diversion :
I have always claimed that Sahir's Nazms are better than his GHazals.  That's also the general opinion. But I was delighted to find so many Sahir songs to include in this quiz on non-traditional GHazals. It was a pleasent surprise. Maybe, we can say that, Sahir has done maximum experiments with GHazal ! A truely great poet.
                              --------

One of the reasons, why I like Sahir is, he seems to express exactly my thoughts ! This sher is one of the many instances.

Anup > Minor correction "lagaate" should be "lagaake".

Ashok > It is really sung for Vimalesh Agarwal (aka Vimi)!
Surjit > I just remember the heroine was someone with the odd name of Vimmi. Probably short for Vimla or something. Or else she was named after a dishwashing powder, but that's unlikely, innit?

Hema > Are you a Ravi fan, Abhay?

Had he not used MKaps so often, I would have been a Ravi fan :-)

BalajiMalini > Tune is non-traditional? You mean for a ghazal or otherwise? This was a very folksy tune(listen to the interlude) inherently. But aren't you contradicting yourself here, if you say that this is a non-traditional ghazal tune?

I meant for GHazal. This type of tune is quite unique for GHazal.

Song    : na muNh chhupaake jiyo, aur na sar jhukaake jio
          ghamoN ka daur bhi aae to, muskuraake jio
Singer  : Mahendra Kapoor
Film    : Hamraaz
*ring   : Sunil Dutt, Vimmi, Raaj Kumar, Mumtaz, Balraj Sahni
Music   : Ravi
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

22. 28/44 : It was difficult.

    barbaad wafa ka afsaanaa, hum kis_se kahe aur kaise kahe
    khaamosh hai lab, aur duniya ko, ashqoN ki zubaaN maloom nahiN

We have noticed that, Roshan has some sweet GHazals to his cerdit. This one has been included as a "ruined GHazal". The lyrics by Sahir are really nice and fit the situation. (No need to say this :-)). But the tune doesn't fit the lyrics at all. It's bad, frankly. Still, let's not rush and put Roshan in the league of SJ for GHazals. Here, I think the culprit is the director. He prob wanted to have a Mujra by Helen and so ordered for such a tune. This MeenaK-PradeepK-AshokK movie otherwise, has some of the best and most famous Roshan-Sahir combos.
                              --------

Surjit > At first I hated the composition. I agree with you that it doesn't suit the lyrics at all. But the melody does grow on you.
Sami > I ADORE this ghazal

Song    : nikle thhe kahaaN jaane ke liye, jaana tha kahaaN maalum nahiN
Singer  : Asha Bhonsle
Film    : Bahu Begum
*ring   : Meena Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar
Music   : Roshan
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

23. 26/44 : What's the "story" behind this ??

    palat ke su-e-chaman, dekhane se kya hoga
    wo shaakh hi na rahi, jo thi aashiyaaN ke liye

        ( su-e-chaman = chaman ki taraf, shaakh = branch)

GHazal as a title song ! A great one by Sahir and tuned by LP !! I like the tune. A nice experiment. Nontraditional tune for traditional poetry.  Rafi's singing for DilipK has always been great. I am not going to tell you anything about the "story" of this movie. No. Nothing. :-)
                              --------

Ramkrishnan > Got this from Sami's Sahir page :))

Song    : na tu zameeN ke liye, hai na aasmaaN ke liye
          teraa vajood hai ab, sirf dastaaN ke liye
Singer  : Rafi
Film    : DastaaN
*ring   : Dilip Kumar, Sharmila Tagore
Music   : Laxmikant - Pyaarelal
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

24. 39/44 : Long Radeef may have helped.
    ek muddat se, tamanna thi tumhe chhoone ki,
    aaj bas me nahiN jazbaat, qarib aa jaao

GHazal as a rain-song !! Trust Sahir to do these tricks ! The sher is not at all subtle/indirect, OTOH it's direct in an unabashed way. Didn't I tell you, GHazal in films has all the variety you need ? This is a Ravi song, sung superbly by Rafi. This too, is a repetition :-) But how about "myth explosion" :-) :-)
                              --------

Song    : door rehkar na karo baat, qarib aa jaaoN
Singer  : Rafi
Film    : Amaanat
*ring   : Manoj Kumar, Sadhana, Balraj Sahni
Music   : Ravi
Lyrics  : Sahir
------------------------------------------------------------------------

25. 40/44 : Expected.

    uTHaaye phirate the, ehsaan dil ka seene par
    le aaj tere kadamoN me, ye karz bhi utaar chale

The famous combination of Madanmohan and Lata ! At last. But the main reason for including this song is someone else. He is the poet who is often criticized on RMIM as a non-traditional poet (to put it mildly).  Here, the notorious Gulzar is seen writting a very very traditional GHazal. A form which has strong syntax ! This is a sign of a great poet.  He can write GHazals and muktachanda with equal ease. And what a sher !

Technical Diversion.
The rules don't say anything about - whether the shers of the GHazal should be on different topics or on the same topics. In fact both the types are valid. The one, in which all the shers are on the same topic is called "GHazal musalsil". The other, where the shers are on different topics is called "GHazal GHair_musalsil". This second type, is much more common. This is the type which we often hear in non-filmi GHazals. But, you see, the first one is better for films, as all the shers could be related to the situation ! So naturally, the filmi ghazals have more from the 'musalsil' type. Is it why we don't consider them as GHazals ?  Is this the only "GHazal GHair_musalsil" in this quiz ?
                              --------

No ! The GHazals by GHalib and Mir are most certainly GHair_musalsil !!!

Both Pradeep & Surjit pointed out that the 2nd line has no "aaj" in it.

Ashok > Calling him [Gulzar] a poet is as correct at calling Ghalib a lyricist! He is criticized not for being non-traditional, but being a poor songwriter, a poetaster, if you will. [On his GHazals] On the other hand, he thinks he has less work to do in a ghazal: he doesn't have to worry about rhyming in the stanzas, which the alternative nameless structure would necessitate!

Hema > nice lyrics.  Who says Gulzaar (although cannot be compared to Sahir) is always "khali bartan"?
Anup > Sahir too used words like "Thaane", "Choti", "Maatha" and nobody on RMIM criticises him for that.  It takes courage to go against traditions and Gulzar has it. :))

Song    : ruke ruke yeh kadam, ruk_ke baar baar chale
          qaraar paake, tere dar_se beqaraar chale
Singer  : Lata
Film    : Mausam
*ring   : Sanjeev Kumar, Sharmila Tagore
Music   : Madan Mohan
Lyrics  : Gulzar

------------------------------------------------------------------------

26. 29/44 : BUT why ???

   din raat ke dono paiyye bhi, kuchh dhul uda kar beet gaye,
   maiN man_aangan me baiTHee rahi, chaukhat se koi guzaraa nahiN

By now a Hindi GHazal or a GHazal by Gulzar is no surprise at all :-).  __BUT__ this is a ghost song ! And still a GHazal !! It also has some typical Gulzarish phrases :-) MD is Hridaynath.
                              --------

Again, the movie name was obvious. Lekin ... kya kareN ?
BTW, the "booddhaa baaba" phrase comes from this song. Got it ? :-)

Sami > Some phaaltu Gulzar song...
Pradeep > This has to be some 'lekin' song, from your clues. But don't recall it.

Pradeep's Presidency of Gullubaba Club is in serious danger :-)

Balaji > 'suniyo ji ek araj' is another candidate from this movie. In fact, HM  has recycled an old tune of his for this song from a Ghalib ghazal that he composed for Lata 'rone se aur ishq mein bebaq ho gaye' BTW, HM is Hridayanath Mangeshkar lest Ashok confuses him for Hrishikesh Mukherjee :)

Song    : maiN ek sadi_se baithi huN, is raah se koi guzaraa nahiN
          kuchh chaand ke rath to guzare the, chaand se koi utara nahiN
Singer  : Lata
Film    : Lekin
*ring   : Dimple Kapadia, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Amjad Khan
Music   : Hridaynath Mangeshkar
Lyrics  : Gulzar
------------------------------------------------------------------------

27. 40/44 : This quiz shows equal respect towards both Ghalib and Mir !

    parastish kee yaaN tak, ki ai buut tujhe
    nazar mein sabhoN_ki, KHuda kar chale

    (parastish = pooja, yaaN tak = is had tak, buut = beloved/statue)

The quiz started with a great shayar and ends with another one. This is the only GHazal by Mir taken in movies, AFAIK. Tell me frankly, don't these two shers stand out ? It also allows me to end it with my King of Filmi GHazals - Khayyam !! This one is from one of his last movies, and the songs were popular too. The movie *ed Smita Patil.

The last diversion.
The word "buut" has two different meanings. Which one in your opnion suits here most ? Can there be two different meanings ? Let me give you a hint. In Islam, it's forbidden to worship a statue.
                              --------

Yes, for me, both the meanings apply. Extra-ordinary sher.

Ashok > [on Khayyam] No.  It's a 1982 film.  He has quite a few films ater that, including 'Razia Sultan.'

Hema > The buut=beloved suits here as this is a romantic ghazal where the heroine is describing the effect of her encounter with the hero who has separated her from herself! (Dikhayee diye yun ke bekhud kiya, hamen aapse bhi judaa kar chale).  In this stanza she is describing the extent to which she worshipped him so as to make a statue as God.  Well, so both the meanings apply here.

David > Well, 'but' is 'idol', na? With both senses - and Pygmalion took the pun literally, didn't he (not to say the Prince in Mughal-e-Azam)?
     I idolised (but-paristished) you so much
     In the eyes of all you were a god

Anup > My guess: Somehow "beloved" is more suited because there was no "statue" in the picture. :)  If I am not mistaken in Islam its also forbidden to worship anyone other then "Allah" so the lines I guess makes sense.

Surjit >  Incidentally, this song doesn't seem to have a matla. Does it still qualify as a ghazal? How come?

Thanks for asking that. The original GHazal by Mir has a Matla, but it
is not taken in the film song. It's extra-ordinary and typically by Mir.
        faqiraanaa aaye, sadaa kar chale,
        "miyaaN, khush raho", ham duaa kar chale

Song    : dikhaai diye yooN, ki bekhud kiya
          hame aap se bhi juda kar chale
Singer  : Lata
Film    : Bazaar
*ring   : Farooq Sheikh, Smita Patil, Supriya Pathak
Music   : Khayyam
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Now for the results !

This was a super-easy quiz. So I am listing only the first few (or
actually first MANY) scores.

Below 20        06 entries
20-23           12 entries

On 24/27 :      03 entries
KK Ramkrishnan, Puneet Oza and Sami.

On 25/27 :      04 entries             BRONZE MEDAL !!!
Daivid Windsor, Vaishali, Hema Khemani, Vinayak Deshpande.

On 26/27 :      10 entries             SILVER MEDAL !!!
Veena Nayak & Ajay Nerurkar
Arish, Chiru and Anupam
Guri
Manjeet Rekhi
Neeraj and Prince
Pintu and Shalini
Preetham
Surajit Bose
Swatee Naik
Vandana and Bhuvna

On 27/27 :      09 entries              GOLD MEDAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ambrish Sundaram
Aunp Pandey
Ashok
Balaji and Malini
Ikram and Kalyan
Nishi Bhatnagar
Snehal Oza
Dr. Surjit Singh and Harmesh Kaur
UVRavindra and Pavan


CONGRATULATIONS to them !!!!!!
And a big big thank you to all the participants.

The previous quiz I conducted had 10 Gold Medalists.
So I guess this quiz was much tougher, only 9 of them :-).


Once again thanks to everybody for making this quiz a success.  This RJGK was also a foundation for the coming discussions on GHazal which I intend to start. And also for the ASAD series, which I am going to restart soon.

Hope you enjoyed !

- Abhay.
        Thanks !