“AABSHARAN” by young talents Kartik Koul and Ujwal Raina; featuring Bismah Meer. Kartik and Ujwal were writing and singing original songs in Hindi. So the brief from me was simple: try something similar in Kashmiri. Few months later they came back with is beautiful mix of Kashmiri, Hindi/Urdu and an element of rap also in the two languages. Surprisingly, the Kashmiri elements didn’t seem forced, instead they played on the motifs from classic Kashmiri poetry. This was about 2 years back, due to covid the video work could not takeoff. Finally, earlier this year I managed to get a team on ground to execute the video featuring a fresh face from valley.
“Maeshravthas Janaan” by Vishal Pandita, lyrics of Rasa Javidani, a song originally immortalised by Raj Begam. Original was a love song, here it becomes exile lament. There is play on Kashmir “paradise”, what we hope to see, and what we actually see when we return, and ends with a famous verse of Lal Ded about soul’s journey home.
As always the brief from my end was that the song has to be shot in Kashmir. The team did a great job at executing the ideas, finding the locations, and even used old images from SearchKashmir site to get the feeling right.
ti tche roozakh [and you will be] jannat-e-benazir [paradise par excellence ] kasheer [kashmir] maeshravthas janaan [my love, you have forgotten me] tche kar yaad pyamai bo [when will you remember me] maeshravthas janaan [my love, you have forgotten me] tche kar yaad pyamai bo [when will you remember me] chukh aze waffa begaane [today you are faithless] tche kar yaad pyamai bo [when will you remember me] dar-e-dil kare mai jaay, mat’hai maay nigaroo
[in valley of my heart i gave you space, love, our love you forgot] kaaba’es me gov but-khan’e, [Kaaba of my heart, is now a desolate temple] tche kar yaad pyamai bo [when will you remember me] akh jalwe haevith aashiqan [ your lovers could only sneak a peek] falwa tche karith gokh [having driven us mad, you were gone] chui aalma deywaan, [whole world having gone mad] tche kar yaad pyamai bo [when will you remember me] maeshravthas janaan [my love, you have forgotten me] tche kar yaad pyamai bo [when will you remember me] [Lal Ded, Vakh] ami pana so’dras, [with weak untwisted thread] navi chas lamaan
[ I am towing my soul boat] kar bozi dai myon, myeti di taar [would my God listen, help me cross] amyn tak’yn poyn zan tshamaan
[like water slow seeping through an unbaked clay pot] zuv chum bramaan ghar gatshaha [the desire to be home grips my lonely heart]
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Audio Credits: Song: Maeshravthas Janaan
Singer: Vishal Pandita
Lyrics: A.Q. Rasa Javidani
Original composer: Virender Mohan Deewan “Virji”
Composition: Music/Mixing/Mastering: Varun (i Music)
Rabab: Swastik Bhat
Translation: Vinayak Razdan
Video Credits:
In Frame: Vishal Pandita
DOP/Director/Editor: Rohit Pandit (RP Films Jammu)
Concept: Karan
Line Producer: Ashish Raina
Team RP Films: Rashika Bhat & Umesh Bhat
Poster Design: RP Films Jammu
Special Thanks: Dr. Ramesh Nirash for pheran, people at Bhagwan Gopinath Ashram Kharyaar, people at Habba Kadal, locals of Dharbagh for helping us find Zooni House, people of Rainawari, the boatmen and people of Kralpoora Budgam.
The new version is a soulful track. The original was was a slow-to-fast-to-slow rhythm of a Chakri. One version was dedicated to Goddess Sharika [Inder jI and Mohd. Yaseen. Lyrics Alok. For Ravi Mech Studios]. This one is based on the version dedicated to Shankar [ by Alok Bhan]. Find the original lyricist is always a struggle, in this case I am told a reader [Hiralal Bhan] that the song was written by one Maharaj Krishan Kaul.
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Lyrics and Translation
Halmo Halmo gulaab, Shankaras pooz laagavhems full of roses, in homage, let’s offer to Shankara Shankaras Basmadharas pooz laagav to Shankara, to Ashen Lord, in homage, let’s offer Rozaan chukh Amarnath chay Womadevi tche saath You live at Amarnath, along with Umadevi chay Womadevi tche saath Umadevi is with you Soorymat Basmadhar Shankaras Pooz laagav Ashen Mad, Ashen Lord, in homage, let’s offer Bhangmayt ha Soorymayt rozaan chukh tche kyati Lord of mad highs, O Ashen mad, tell me where do you live Wantam sa kyati chon ghar, Shankaras Pooz laagav Tell me where is your house, in homage, let’s offer Sharmand chus be syetha naam choun surmaiy ne zah Ashamed I am, your name, I never remembered Galti cham me sara sar, Shankaras Pooz laagav It is my mistake, to Shankara, in homage, let’s offer Halmo Halmo Gulaab, Shankaras Pooz laagav hems full of roses, in homage, let’s offer to Shankara
Rahul Wanchoo and Hempreet Kour team up to give us a mix of Dogri/Pahari folk song with an old Kashmiri sufi song. Together capturing a certain beauty of the two languages. The Dogri song was made famous by Malika Pukhraj ( and later by her daughter Tahira Syed), whose origins are in Jammu and the Kashmiri one is by Sufi poet Wahab Khar (19th century)
A SearchKashmir production.
Second in the series on Kashmiri poetry
Rahul Wanchoo brings alive an old forgotten work of Abdul Ahad Azad (1903–1948). Azad’s work titled “Shikwa-e-Kashmir” had imagined Kashmir as a figure narrating its own tumultuous history, all that it witnessed in all the centuries, concluding that world is always in constant motion, always has been, always will be, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, that man has to learn from history, from mistakes and hope for a better future. The video puts the poem in context of present history of Kashmir, and reimagines it as a lament by a Kashmiri Pandit. In the end, optimism of Azad (of 1940s) is contrasted by pessimism that surrounds us in present times.
I asked Rahul, we need to shoot this in an abandoned Kashmiri Pandit house. I want to see you sing it in those ruins. Finding the house proved to be a challenge, not that there are not many such houses in Kashmir. Fear. There is fear. The people visiting are afraid. The “guardians” and in some cases, the pandits still in Kashmir, are afraid what camera might be used for and how it would impact them. Something so simple became tricky. In the end, Rahul mentioned his mother’s birth house is still there in Kashmir. I asked him, “What about your own house?” He replied, “It is a rubble.” So, the song was shot in Rahul’s matamaal, or what remains of it. Once the song was done, I asked him to give me some Sahir Ludhianvi.
Rahul Wanchoo sings Asad Mir’s “Yeli Janaan Ralem”. Asad Mir (d. 1930) in mystical verses describes love, act of meeting the beloved, as a feeling similar to being reborn, to be a new human, again.
When I meet my beloved
My ailing heart will come alive again
Bruises carved on it will go
My ailing heart will come alive again
When I meet my beloved
Someday, I will lose my speech
Cage around me will fall apart
I will lose all my senses and sheen
My ailing heart will come alive again
When I meet my beloved
zamzam water will purify me
Asad Mir has this surmise
He will decorate me with the graceful attire
My ailing heart will come alive again
When I meet my beloved
My ailing heart will come alive again
Feb, 2016.
Kalaam: “Chan” Rasul Mir
Singer: Rashid Hafiz
Recorded in Srinagar. At place named after a Pakistani Commando who crossed over for Jihad in 1965.
Khaane Kam Kam tchai karith vaeranai Paane ashqo chui katyo dhikaano
Houses many have you destroyed
Love, what is your own address?
