Human fascination for trains is kindled by an irresistible promise of distant frontiers. But like films, they too entice and exasperate on more occasions than one with their “fare” although “train songs” of Hindi films have helped us forge a strong bond with Indian Railways. True, everyone is fascinated by the sight and sound of a moving train but it is due to our gifted lyricists and composers that we treat trains as carriers of hope and warmth rather than just another means of transportation!
Understanding the deep connect of our lives with the moving wheels, our song weavers not only gave us pearls of life philosophy but also glimpses into changing patterns of society via musical patterns set as per speeds of respective trains! And in a subcontinent where almost each train carries a miniscule India, every train has had its share of admirers but perhaps none more so than “Toofan Mail” which had a song dedicated to it in the 1942 movie “Jawaab”. Superstar Kanan Devi’s vocals and Pandit Madhur’s lyrics were so skilfully woven by Kamal Dasgupta that even today we can feel the epic train’s steam engine whistling past us. One has to commend Pandit Madhur and Kamal Dasgupta for their profound fusion as they not only brought the body, movement and spirit of the train alive but also set a high benchmark for followers.
That their descendants certainly did a good job is evident from subsequent songs that not only provided gist of the scene but also the technical progress of rail engines and the musical prowess of our recordists. If “Jawaani Ki Rail Chali Jaaye” (“Shehnai”) and “Dhak Dhak Karti Chali” (“Dilruba”) revelled in the dawn of Indian independence at slow speed, the song “Basti Basti Parbat Parbat Gata Jaaye Banjara” (“Railway Platform”) reflected pathos of an injured nation coming to grips with the overwhelming catastrophe of partition. However, “Apni To Har Aah Ek Toofaan Hai” (“Kala Bazaar”) ushered an ode to a new romanticism in late 1950s which helped again by Mohammed Rafi’s golden vocals, Dev Anand then went on to usher a naughty frothiness to courtship on the slopes of Darjeeling with the lilting “Jiya Ho Jiya Kuchh Bol Do” (“Jab Pyaar Kisi Se Hota Hai”). Displaying the pristine beauty of soft clouds atop the Himalayan “toy train” through back projection technique, this song did more for Darjeeling’s tourism than all the advertising campaigns combined together.
In the same year, Dev with Hemant Kumar’s vocals set female hearts aflutter with confessions in “Hai Apna Dil To Awaara” (“Solvan Saal”) to who else but Waheeda Rahman and Majrooh-Dada Burman’s romantic trend was continued by Ravi in tandem with Asad Bhopali through “Ye Rang Bhare Badal” (“Tu Nahin Aur Sahi”). Using Rafi - Asha histrionics alongside guitar strings and drums, Ravi brought alive the wonderful expanse of the royal first class of an electric train. Soon after as trains moved from metre gauge to broader tracks, Shankar-Jaikishan brought forth a faster tempo with “Mujhe Apna Yaar Bana Lo” (“Boy Friend”) unleashing Shammi Kapoor’s energy and angst against social constraints.
While it is always exhilarating to watch reverberations of a whistling train on and off the screen, some old timers say that these Hindi train songs proved extremely invigorating for box office fortunes of films. Though it’s difficult to verify such a claim, it is evident that most of these train songs did motivate hordes of audiences to go to the theatres. And so like their predecessors, songs like “Rukh Se Zara Naqaab Uthaa Do” (“Mere Huzoor”), “Ek Musafir Ko Duniya Mein Kya Chahiye” (“Door ki Awaaz”), “Mere Sapnon Ki Raani” (“Aradhana”), “Gaadi Bula Rahi Hai” (“Dost”), “Hum Dono Do Premi” and “Bombay Se Baroda Tak” (“Rafoo Chakkar”) not just enlivened the stories but also helped pull in the crowds with their intoxicating charm. Listen carefully and one can feel how the rhythmic patterns of these songs are also in tune with the movement and speed of the respective trains on which the songs have been filmed.
Like the foodstuff sold inside rail compartments to cater to all taste buds, train songs come in several different colours and forms, without abandoning the secular blend of philosophy that binds all sane Indians from different walks of life. Be it a beggar’s cry through “Kaisi Tune Reet Rachee Bhagwan” (“Oonche Log”) or travails of a chastised man through “Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jaate Hain Jo Maqaam” (“Aap Ki Kasam”) or a qawwali strain of “Pal Do Pal Ka Saath Hamara” (“The Burning Train”), train songs radiate essence of moral scriptures with such immaculate simplicity that even an illiterate person is able to imbibe grave philosophies with ease. Unfortunately, as action started taking toll on finer nuances in Hindi cinema relegating literature and poetry to the back seat, train songs too had a distinct fall from grace. While “Dhannon Ki Aankhon Mein” (“Kitaab”), “Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan” (“Dil Se”) to “Haathon Ki Chand Lakeeron Ka” (“Vidhaata”) did make an impact upon the listeners, they fell far below in aesthetic quality and content in comparison to their predecessors.
To those who might still have any lingering doubts about the genre’s popularity, all one needs to do is to listen to thespian Ashok Kumar’s splendid rendition of the evergreen “Rail Gaadi” song. The reactions from old and young alike to this immortal composition of Vasant Desai and Harindranath Chattopadhyay are enough to convey why everybody is so enamoured of the train songs. Paradoxically, this best ever advertisement of a train was never filmed on a train but in a park on children playing an imaginary train to an old man’s baritone. If it still remains probably the best ever train song for all ages, it is understandable why… a train has a nostalgic connection to our past as well as future frontiers.
