A reluctant prince with a pet mongoose. A feisty princess with the knack of knocking out goons with brass vases. And a breezy Bollywood fairy tale with some genuinely ROFL moments and timeless songs.
Directed by S.U. Sunny, the 1960 blockbuster Kohinoor had tragedy king Dilip Kumar and tragedy queen Meena Kumari doing a career reset with a comic caper replete with witty quips and spunky fight scenes. Released in the same year as Dilip Kumar’s career-defining Mughal-e-Azam, Kohinoor’s success showcased the leading man’s versatility and hold on the BO.
It also gave us the showstopper Madhuban mein Radhika naache re. For this, music director Naushad drew upon Raga Hameer, a vigorous, fast-paced and playful night raga, and unleashed the genius of Md Rafi to do it justice. Giving Rafi company were the lyrics of Shakeel Badayuni and the distinct soundscape of the sitar, the tabla and the jal tarang. Not to forget the two brilliant but short taans sung by Ustad Niyaz Ahmed Khan.
Shakeel writes in a mix of Hindi and Awadhi:
Madhuban mein Radhika nache re, Giridhar ki muraliya baaje re
Pag mein ghunghroo bandhke, ghunghta mukh par daal ke
Nainan mein kajra lagake re....
Shakeel’s words conjure up a painting of a scented forest in which lord Krishna plays the flute and a veiled, kohl-eyed Radha, with anklets on, dances. Interestingly, Shakeel (August 3, 1916-April 20, 1970), a boy from Uttar Pradesh’s Badaon who was equally proficient in Urdu and Hindi, got his first break in films as a songwriter, thanks to Naushad in Dard (1947).
It’s a difficult composition, but Rafi swings the alaaps, the sargams, the tonal variations effortlessly — and you can hear the smile in his voice. Notice the purity of his diction in words like chhab — Awadhi for the Hindi chhavi or picture.
With so much perfection around, Dilip Kumar, who had to play the sitar while lip-syncing the song, actually learnt to play the instrument so that his fingers didn’t strike any false notes in the close-ups. Dilip Kumar practised for a year — and so hard that his fingers had to be bandaged, Naushad recalled in an old interview.
Dilip Kumar, in another interview, confessed that he requested the film’s director to shoot the song right at the end of the schedule so that he got more time to practise on the sitar.
Padma Bhushan Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan, who played the sitar for the song, was already a name by then. Back in the 1950s, he had collaborated with jazz composer Dave Brubeck.
One song, many stories. And a constellation of talents that came together to make music for the ages. The song sparkles, just like the Kohinoor.