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My ten favourite kaun aayaa songs

I’m sure it must have happened to you as well. Sometimes you meet a person and the mere presence of this man/woman makes you feel good. You need not talk about overtly intelligent topics. You might not laugh heartily, but just being in the presence of that particular person makes you feel wonderful. It makes you feel as if you have experienced inner growth. Few days back, I again had such an experience, where I was left wondering: What was that? I was so elated, that I posted the song yeh aaj meri zindagi me kaun aa gaya on a forum I frequent, which gave me the idea for this post.

Unlike my last experience, the encounters making the characters of Hindi film exclaim “yeh kaun aayaa” are mostly of romantic nature. Some feel that spring has come, while others feel the moon has risen. Everybody has his or her own of exclaiming and rejoicing in this emotion. I personally think that a good song can convey more than the words themselves. So, enjoy my ten favourite kaun aayaa songs and tell me about yours.

1. yeh kaun aaj aayaa sawere sawere – Nartaki [1939]
MD: Pankaj Mullick; Lyrics: Munshi Aarzoo; Singer: Pankaj Mullick

This early morning encounter has left our protagonist here wondering if he has met the full moon itself. Nevertheless, he doesn’t sound to be very happy with the result. He bemoans that his patience is gone and also lost his peace of mind. And all this in the wee hours of the morning. All the same he hasn’t missed the magic of it all. So there seems to be hope for him after all.
The real magic though is of Pankaj Mullick’s voice, which enraptures us big or small! Oops, that rhymes!

2. ye kaun aayaa ke mere dil ki duniya me bahaar aayi – Baazi [1951]
MD: S. D. Burman; Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi; Singer: Geeta Dutt

The stranger, who has come in this girl’s life, has brought in spring. That is if you go by her claims. But the question is if we can trust her. If you listen to her closely, you will realise, that she doesn’t seem to be the brightest of them all. She sings:
achaanak ye mere haathon mein kis ka haath aayaa hai
(which hand is this, which is suddenly in mine)
na main jaanoon na dil jaane wo apna ya paraayaa hai
(neither I nor my heart knows if it is my own or that of a stranger)
Well if a girl of her age can’t distinguish between her own hand and that of a stranger’s she is in dire need of attention. Medical attention I would say!
But my dear reader don’t accuse yourself of carelessness, your attention must have been swayed, just like mine was, by the wonderful music by Burman dada and the siren-like voice of the director’s wife.

3. kaun aayaa mere man ke dwaare, paayal ki jhankar liye – Dekh Kabira Roya [1957]
MD: Madan Mohan; Lyrics: Rajendra Krishan; Singer: Manna Dey

The opening lines do sound as if the singer has been awakened from a deep siesta by the noise of anklet bells. Jhankaar is such an onomatopoeic word, it suggests a ruckus. But you can be assured, dear reader, it is the finer emotions, which the singer is singing about. He might sound a bit as if he has lost his memory and all, but he is in fact singing about some lady who has come in his life and left him out of his wits.
The disadvantages of such a situation are melodically covered by Manna Dey’s velvet voice and Madan Mohan’s composition, whose orchestration doesn’t overwhelm the voice.

4. kaun aayaa ki nigahon me chamak jaag uthi – Waqt [1965]
MD: Ravi; Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi; Singer: Asha Bhosle

At last a song, where the lady is justifiably asking who the he** has come? She is going around on a fine day, in her very own house, thinking of her beloved, only to get uninvited attention of a suitor. To top it all he is a thief. With suave manners though, but a thief all the same! Can’t really blame her for singing, “whose hand is asking something from mine”! Asha Bhosle’s sweet voice though just doesn’t let this discord be expressed.

5. yeh kaun aayaa roshan ho gayi mehfil kisake naam se – Saathi [1968]
MD: Naushad; Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni; Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

People who are not used to poetic hyperbole, might be mislead to think that in this song the arrival of a bald electrician in a party, where the fuse has blown, is sung about. But no my dear readers, the lady, who is inexplicably in love with Rajendra Kumar is singing about his arrival. A lady in love with the aforementioned person can’t be really expected to sing something decipherable. Thus she is singing about sleepy songs stretching themselves and about anklets on the chest. Mmph!
Naushad’s melody and Lata’s honey-sweet voice whitewash the whole thing and make it appear all normal.

6. kaun yeh aayaa mehfil me – Dil Deke Dekho [1959]
MD: Usha Khanna; Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri; Singer: Mohd. Rafi & Usha Khanna

If in the previous song you thought that the electrician has come, here you will find the reason. A lightning has struck there and not just anywhere but in his heart. You my dear attentive, intelligent reader would say, what we need is doctor and not an electrician. But I can pacify you it is again the same old hyperbole. He says he wants only Nina, because alone her presence will light up the lamps on his streets. Talk of alternative source of energy. Nina, you are our hope for the future!
Or was it Meena? Neeta?
Who cares as long as Rafi sings!

7. saamne ye kaun aayaa dil me huyi hulchal – Jawani Diwani [1972]
MD: R. D. Burman; Lyrics: Anand Bakshi; Singer: Kishore Kumar

In the above song, you recommended a doctor. Here we will need two. A cardiologist for the heart palpitations and a psychiatrist (or a psychologist or a psychiatriologist or whatever they call the doctor in the loony bin) for the madness. But such is the passion of the youth that they exaggerate everything! After all the name of the film is Mad Youth!

8. roz shaam aati magar aisi na thi – Imtihaan [1974]
MD: Laxmikant-Pyarelal; Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri; Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

First I thought that this would fit in Pacifist’s last post. But after carefully listening to the song, I realised it does belong here. My sense of hearing was to be blamed again for this mistake. It is story which goes back to my childhood. I thought the opening lines were: “rosha maati”. When I was small, a woman used to come with a donkey loaded with a sack of red soil shouting out loud tambadi maati, which means red earth (no, they were not from the communist party). Thus, I thought that the lady in the song is also selling soil but of a rosha colour. One can’t know everything, can one?
Nevertheless, it is a romantic song and a good one at that, although at times it sounds like a scene from a horror movie (see: daali mein ye kiskaa haath karen ishaare bulaayen mujhe = whose hand is beckoning me from through the branches?).

9. kaun aayaa kaun aayaa – Katha [1983]
MD: Raj Kamal; Lyrics: Indu Jain; Singers: ??

No romantic lyrics here, which would give the impression of a medical case or that dawning insanity. People in this song, in fact the whole neighbourhood, are really wondering, who is their new neighbour. Thereby expressing themselves, as if a long-lost lover has arrived! Such is the pull of curiosity; it surpasses even the quest for love.

10. dekho yeh kaun aayaa – Savere Wali Gaadi [1986]
MD: R. D. Burman; Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri; Singers: Suresh Wadkar & Asha Bhosle

On the face of the lyrics, one would think that he is not at all satisfied with what has arrived. He sounds like an indignant customer in a restaurant, who has ordered Navratan Korma and got Sukha Aloo! Thus her defence sounds logical too, that she can’t help it, it was just the wind, which blew her here. But thank God, Pancham weaves his magic once again and combined with Asha Bhosle and Suresh Wadkar’s voices, this song makes not only for a melodic hearing but also a romantic one.

So much for who has come. So that you can enjoy all the songs together, without my comments, here is the play list!