Ik Haseen Shaam Ko Dil Mera Kho Gaya

December 16, 2023

Yesterday evening at 6.30 pm sharp, I was witness to a magic show produced and conducted by a most unlikely magician called Prithvi Haldea.

I joined some 900 lovers of great Hindi and Urdu poetry and great music from old Hindi films. Women and men in their 60s and beyond, with a smattering of younger people. Gathered to witness a ‘curated’ show for an audience, which also the ‘curator’ said he ‘curates’. We were privileged, enthralled, and totally mesmerized by the magic he wrought.

For me, the magic began soon after I entered the foyer. I met Pranav Haldea, Prithvi's son who currently manages Prime Databases, in his new and fit avatar welcoming all of us ‘guests’. And then, I bumped into two friends I had not met for more than a decade, Sucheta Dalal and Debasis Basu. We sat together for the show and they did not protest at my breaking into song, when several others from the audience did too.. At one point, after singing the beautiful song ‘Ik haseen shaam ko dil mera kho gaya’ where we really lost our hearts, Sarvesh waited and the audience sang back to him and the others on stage.. No-one was full-throated but no-one bhatkoed from the sur or the taal…The word ‘lutf’ acquired real meaning for us throughout the evening..

Getting back to the beginning. As we waited for the curtain to rise, I found many names of people whom one would otherwise think of as straitjacketed, listed among the many attendees and appreciators of past programs. I realized that listening to lovely old Hindi movie songs was certainly not my lonely past time – a respectably large number of other professionals too, indulge in it. Prithvi adds distinctive depth by ensuring that the words are not just understood but keenly appreciated.

We re-discovered Raja Mehndi Ali Khan, the poet who wrote 468 songs for 125 films, as Prithvi tells us. The journey begins with Rajasaheb’s childhood and his early poems. We smiled hearing about his complaints of ‘ill treatment’ by his mother, asking if she is his ‘sauteli ammi’.

Quickly and enjoyably though, we moved to the 20 years of his song-writing career from 1946 to 1966.? Rajasaheb’s oeuvre spans a range of emotions from romance to melancholia and from patriotism to pathos.. We were regaled with stories and narratives by Prithvi and Nandita, his co-anchor. The singers were in top notch form with renditions evoking appreciation from mere ‘Wah Wah’ and ‘Kya baat hai’ to foot tapping, hand clapping and finally even singing along.

Aapki nazaron ne samjha pyaar ke kabil mujhe..

Tum bin Jeevan kaise beeta poocho mere dil se, poocho mere dil se…

Lag jaa gale ke phir ye haseen raat ho na ho..

Nainon mein badara chhaaye, Bijali si chamke haye…

Main nigahen tere chehre se hataoon kaise…

Jo hamne dastan apni sunaai, aap kyon roye…

The singing was interspersed with Obaid Azam Azmi reading Rajasaheb’s poetry. Prithvi also read out some, and especially poignant was the one where Rajasaheb is lamenting that ‘bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhta par tera pataa maloom nahin’. And the pathetic humour of the poem written by the Raja as if his dear departed friend Manto had written it to him from heaven, inviting him to come there soon. His straight humour is also on display through poetry readings and his songs like ‘hum se nain milana BA pass kar ke’.

There was beautiful dance by Rashmi Mishra, who gave us a glimpse of how a beautiful figure draped in a simple white sari can be completely enchanting! And then, of course, the ‘jhumka’ dance of Sadhana, re-enacted by another beautiful dancer, Swati Wangnoo. Both dances were even more enchanting as their melodies were tastefully rendered by Sangeeta Melekar and Supriya Joshi. Sarvesh Mishra was Mohammed Rafi and Anand Bahal was Mukesh.

Prithvi’s 6 and 9 year old grandsons - Parth and Dev - did a fabulous pantomime of ‘sikandar aur poras ne kee thi ladaai, jo kee this ladaai to main kya karoon?’

Rajasaheb and Madan Mohan were a historic poet – composer duo. Prithvi was able to secure the presence of Ms Sangeeta Gupta, the great composer’s daughter, who shared personal anecdotes. Included was the letter Rajasaheb wrote to Madan Mohan wondering whether he would need to petition Madanji’s dog to persuade him to give him assignments for song writing.

Jo mazaa aaya who lafzon mein bayaan nahin ho sakta.. And I’m not even trying. Two hours and a half of sheer joy had to be lived. Just can’t be retold.

Around the close, if I remember right, Prithvi had this to say - Humein manzilon ki tamanna kyun ho, jab safar mein hi itna lutf hai!

What a sentiment..The distinction between humanity and divinity!

In closing, Prithvi thanked the event partners Rashesh Shah and Vidya Shah (Edelweiss), Keshav Murugesh (WNS) and Mahavir Lunavat (Pantomath), for sponsoring the show. And Prashant Jain (3P), who said that this was his ‘highest ROI as a value investor’. And Keshav, in fact came all the way from London to witness the show and happily declared that the show was worth the trip. My thanks to all of them, with a promise that I will make my own contribution too…

The finale of the show was Prithvi thanking this great nation of ours for blessing us with so many wonderful shayars and poets. In gratitude, we all sang the rashtragaan. His grandsons joined in the singing.

How little boys can pull out the left half of a tucked-in shirt and still look endearing is completely beyond me. Dev stood like that, with his hands by his sides, and when he saw his elder brother with hands folded, he felt like asking him to drop his hands, but instead ended up half-way folding his own.

The magic continued beyond the show. I had just said goodbye to Sucheta and Debu and was walking out to find a cab, when I saw a well-known face, Mr U K Sinha, former SEBI Chairman. I greeted him and made his acquaintance. Within a few steps after that, I found an empty cab to take me home with a cabbie who was happy to let me play and sing…conjuring par excellence!

Nashaa abhi tak utra nahin, I’ve got up early on a Sunday morning to write these words pretty much as they’ve come, while I listen to ‘Poocho na hume hum unke liye kya kya nazaraane layen hain….’ What a great hangover!

After writing all this, I’m wondering why I wrote. I just felt I must share the sheer pleasure and convey a sense of how it all happened. And, suggest that you get invited to next year’s show if you can manage it somehow. Maybe just enroll on www.ibaadatindia.org.

At the beginning of the show Prithvi says – jo baat ek sher ya chhand mein nihan hoti hai, wo pothi mein bhi bayaan nahi ho sakti. While I felt I was indulging him for his love for shayari at that time, by the end of the show, I was beginning to reluctantly wonder as to the truth of the assertion…

May the Lord grant Prithvi the motivation and energy to keep doing his Ibaadat, and producing these marvelous creations for many more years to come!!